‘United we stand, divided we fall.’

This slogan has much truth in it. Unity is highly prized in the Bible (see Ps 133, Eph 4:3) and should be the aim of all Christians. Jesus prayed for unity among His followers based on the very unity that exists in the Godhead. (John 17:20-23)

Unity implies wholeness and togetherness, but is not the same as uniformity. The diversity within the church is God-given and to be embraced in the same way that a body is made up of many different functioning parts but is still one body (see Rom 12:4-8, 1 Cor 12:12-26). ‘Churches Together’ accepts this diversity in form (how we choose to worship, sometimes with liturgy and choral music, sometimes with spontaneous prayers and modern songs, for example) but strives to work together on core truths, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

The church is meant to be the place where unity and diversity fit together like pieces of a jigsaw, where all are accepted and valued, but a common, higher purpose is served.

Unity within an individual is also necessary. This is often called integrity, wholeness or congruence, when how we live is not compartmentalised. We are called to wholeness and not to fragmentation, to lives that are undivided. David prayed, ‘Give me an undivided heart’ (Ps 86:11), a prayer which is the first step to unity in every area of our lives.

Dave spoke this morning from Matthew 17:22-23 on the subject of destiny. Often, we ask ourselves the question ‘What will tomorrow bring?’, and even try to find out the answers ourselves. Some ways of doing this – horoscopes, consulting mediums etc. – are wrong, but Jesus knew that His destiny was to die. He told His disciples this on many occasions, but they failed to understand. Jesus was steadfast, knowing that God’s plan for His life meant increasing opposition and ultimately a painful death.

This was not simply random or the consequence of evil men, but part of God’s plan for our salvation. Christ’s suffering worked for our benefit. He was punished for our sin by death, but this led to our freedom and life. Jesus was condemned and suffered not only the physical agonies of crucifixion but the sense of being cut off from God. He embraced this as His future (Heb 12:2), knowing what it would achieve for us.

Our destiny, therefore, is not a mystery. Our destiny ultimately is determined by our relationship with Jesus, by the decisions we make to follow the truth and to embrace Him.

1 Samuel 26 sees us back in familiar territory, with this chapter almost a re-run of 1 Samuel 24. David, hunted by Saul for so long now, once again has the opportunity to dispose of his enemy if he wants to (and Abishai, his loyal servant and nephew, is more than willing to take the decision out of his hands and do the deed himself.) But David refuses to contemplate laying a hand on the Lord’s anointed and absolutely refuses to harm Saul, taking a spear and water jug as proof that he was close enough to harm him if he had wanted to, but assuring Saul subsequently that harming him has never been on his agenda. Once again, David appeals to his actions and integrity and assures Saul that he has nothing to fear from him.

We might wonder why life is repetitive and tends to throw the same problems at us, but learning lessons often takes time. We see this in school; it’s why we have to tackle the same problems (maybe with different clothing!) over and over again before we truly master them. We see this so often in our daily lives. Learning to trust God, learning to rely on His power rather than our own, learning to walk by faith and not by sight are all lessons we find difficult to master, and so God often brings us back to the same kind of problem. In 1 Samuel 24, there was perhaps a part of David that would have liked to ‘sort’ the problem himself (hence the cutting of the corner of Saul’s robe); now, he is firmly of the opinion that God will sort Saul out: ‘“As surely as the Lord lives,” he said, “the Lord himself will strike him, or his time will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord’s anointed. Now get the spear and water jug that are near his head, and let’s go.”’ (1 Samuel 26:10-11)

David was slowly learning that God was in sovereign control and that he needed to learn both patience and how to handle power. Both are vitally important to our spiritual growth. The impulsive, sort-it-my-way approach to power is not God’s way; even Jesus Himself did not come to be served but to serve. (Mark 10:45) Dictating our timescales onto God also does not work, for there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the sun. (Eccl 3:1) David knew all about the agony of waiting (see Ps 13:1-2) but he was also slowly learning that waiting for God is not the same as simply being passive. Waiting and hoping are inextricably linked in the Bible, and as Eugene Peterson writes, ‘Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying.And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let God do it his way and in his time.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’)

We may feel a sense of déjà vu about this chapter, but its lessons of patience, submission and humility are ones that definitely need to be grasped by 21^st century disciples.

This morning we looked at living according to God’s will (see Luke 22:42). It isn’t always easy to know God’s will and there are times when His will definitely goes beyond our understanding (as Joseph and Job could both testify.) Nonetheless, as we read the Bible, pray and have fellowship, there are many things which God makes plain are His will – and if we want to know His will, we have to start by doing the things He has plainly commanded.

The first thing to note is that it is God’s will that people are saved and come to repentance. (2 Pet 3:9) We know that God wants us to have eternal life (John 3:16) and that our chief work is to believe in Jesus (John 6:29). Since faith is essential to pleasing God, then our lives must be faith-filled.

1 Thess 5:18 gives us sound advice for living according to God’s will: we are called to give thanks in all circumstances. This is possible because God is with us in every situation and is working for good in all things. (Rom 8:28) We have to let reason, faith and hope into our emotional turmoil when things are difficult and choose to give thanks.

Micah 6:8 outlines other ‘obvious’ areas which please God: acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with Him. In this, we are simply reflecting how Jesus lived and being salt and light to the world. We cannot afford to be hypocrites; we need to reflect God’s nature to a world which desperately needs to see the invisible God through His visible followers.

We may well wonder why so few people choose God’s will above their own. God’s will is never forced upon us, since He gave us free will and we must now choose – either to follow His will and ways or to follow our own choices. If we want to be blessed and live life to the full, we need transformation by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2) and can then know and obey His good, pleasing and perfect will.