Unity UNITY. A four week biblical study on unity. by Darvin Wallis

Transcription

1 UNITY A four week biblical study on unity. by Darvin Wallis 1

2 UNITY Welcome to this four week study on the topic of unity! This study seeks to accomplish two things: First, it will dive into four biblical passages that are essential in how we think about unity. At South Suburban one of our church s values is unity. Our value of unity reads like this; As a unified body we will put aside our own interests, resolve conflicts peacefully, and together champion the objectives of the church. By studying this topic of unity we are seeking to come to a deeper understanding of who we are as a church. And second, this study will introduce you and give you practice in SOAP. SOAP is a basic, four-step method of studying the Bible. SOAP stands for: scripture, observation, application, and prayer. -The first step of SOAP is Scripture. This simply means reading the passage! -The second step is observation. What does the passage say, what does it mean? -The third step is application. What does this passage practically tell us about how we should live our lives? -The fourth step is prayer. If you are able, study the passage and complete the worksheet before coming to your group each week. This will give you personal practice using the SOAP method and will prepare you to share your insights during your group. The hope is that by the end of this this study you feel comfortable enough with the SOAP method that you could use it to study any passage in Scripture. 2

3 Week 1: Philippians 2 Philippians 2:1-4- Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being likeminded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Scripture Start by reading the passage. Now read the context of the passage in your Bible. The passages before and after the passage you are studying are its context. Write down the verse that stuck out to you the most in this passage: Observation What did you observe that struck you in Who is writing, who are they writing to, and why might they have been writing Make a few basic observations, such as: Are any words or thoughts repeated? Are there any specific actions these verses are calling the audience to do or not to do? What is the overall tone of the passage? What are the key words? 3

4 How would you summarize the passage? In one sentence, explain the most important argument or lesson of the passage: Application How should this passage change how we live? What does this passage tell us about our role in being a source of unity at our church? One of the values of our church is unity; As a unified body we will put aside our own interests, resolve conflicts peacefully, and together champion the objectives of the church. What does this passage tell us about the unity of our church? 4

5 What is one action you could stop doing because of what you have learned in What is one action you could start doing because of what you have learned in Prayer Ask God to help us each implement this in our lives. Ask God to make the truths He revealed in this passage real in our church. Pray for the needs of everyone in your group. 5

6 Week 2: Ephesians 4 Ephesians 4:1-7, As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Scripture Start by reading the passage. Now read the context of the passage in your Bible. The passages before and after the passage you are studying are its context. Write down the verse that stuck out to you the most in this passage: Observation What did you observe that struck you in 6

7 Who is writing, who are they writing to, and why might they have been writing Make a few basic observations, such as: Are any words or thoughts repeated? Are there any specific actions these verses are calling the audience to do or not to do? What is the overall tone of the passage? What are the key words? How would you summarize the passage? In one sentence, explain the most important argument or lesson of the passage: Application How should this passage change how we live? What does this passage tell us about our role in being a source of unity at our church? 7

8 One of the values of our church is unity; As a unified body we will put aside our own interests, resolve conflicts peacefully, and together champion the objectives of the church. What does this passage tell us about the unity of our church? What is one action you could stop doing because of what you have learned in What is one action you could start doing because of what you have learned in Prayer Ask God to help us each implement this in our lives. Ask God to make the truths He revealed in this passage real in our church. Pray for the needs of everyone in your group. 8

9 Week 3: 1 Corinthians 12 1 Corinthians 12: Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, I don t need you! And the head cannot say to the feet, I don t need you! 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. Scripture Start by reading the passage. Now read the context of the passage in your Bible. The passages before and after the passage you are studying are its context. Write down the verse that stuck out to you the most in this passage: Observation What did you observe that struck you in 9

10 Who is writing, who are they writing to, and why might they have been writing Make a few basic observations, such as: Are any words or thoughts repeated? Are there any specific actions these verses are calling the audience to do or not to do? What is the overall tone of the passage? What are the key words? How would you summarize the passage? In one sentence, explain the most important argument or lesson of the passage: Application How should this passage change how we live? 10

11 What does this passage tell us about our role in being a source of unity at our church? One of the values of our church is unity; As a unified body we will put aside our own interests, resolve conflicts peacefully, and together champion the objectives of the church. What does this passage tell us about the unity of our church? What is one action you could stop doing because of what you have learned in What is one action you could start doing because of what you have learned in Prayer Ask God to help us each implement this in our lives. Ask God to make the truths He revealed in this passage real in our church. Pray for the needs of everyone in your group. 11

12 Week 4: John 17 John 17: My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one 23 I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. 25 Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them. Scripture Start by reading the passage. Now read the context of the passage in your Bible. The passages before and after the passage you are studying are its context. Write down the verse that stuck out to you the most in this passage: Observation What did you observe that struck you in Who is writing, who are they writing to, and why might they have been writing 12

13 Make a few basic observations, such as: Are any words or thoughts repeated? Are there any specific actions these verses are calling the audience to do or not to do? What is the overall tone of the passage? What are the key words? How would you summarize the passage? In one sentence, explain the most important argument or lesson of the passage: Application How should this passage change how we live? What does this passage tell us about our role in being a source of unity at our church? 13

14 One of the values of our church is unity; As a unified body we will put aside our own interests, resolve conflicts peacefully, and together champion the objectives of the church. What does this passage tell us about the unity of our church? What is one action you could stop doing because of what you have learned in What is one action you could start doing because of what you have learned in Prayer Ask God to help us each implement this in our lives. Ask God to make the truths He revealed in this passage real in our church. Pray for the needs of everyone in your group. 14

15 Other passages on unity for further study: -Romans 12-1 Corinthians 1: