Welcome + Why Unity Matters Right Now

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Welcome to the Monday Morning Men podcast. My name is Josh Swart. I'm here with Thomas Dillinger, who still does not have his iPad case. I don't know where Amazon's done with it. Um this is the Monday Morning Men podcast. We are trying to bridge the gap between Sunday morning and giving men a practical way to walk out their faith on Monday. Um today's topic is unity. It's a very interesting one. Um if you've got topics that you want us to cover, if you got questions, prayer requests,

The Problem: Division Everywhere (Culture & Church)

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whatever it is, you can email us at info at mondaymorningmen.com. And with that, we'll dive into today's episode. Um why is unity important?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Yeah, the it well, before we get into to why it's important, if you have not listened to humility, pause this and go back. Otherwise, uh this humility is kind of the precursor before any of what we discussed today. So pause it, come back to this episode, hit the one on humility to kind of give you the right disposition. Um, because unity is a big

Unity vs Agreement (Big Misconception)

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issue, I think, today, as not only Christians, but even in our nation, right? Everybody says we're the most divided, you know, than ever before. I don't know if that's true or not. We have no idea. I mean, right. Uh other countries were killing each other or all that. Like, I I don't I'm like, everybody says that, but but we are super divided, at least in the sense of uh, you know, politically, there's extremisms on both sides, or or you know, we we look at our denominations and there seems to be so many different sects in that. It's like, oh my gosh, what are we super divided? Are we unified? This is a big question. And then you I don't know if you've paid attention or not, but there's a lot of like even you've got these people on YouTube where there's a lot of exposing of you know, certain Christian leaders or even political leaders, if you get on, you know, Twitter or X or whatever, it's like you see all this exposure of people who are in Epstein files or whatever it is. Yeah, right. And now we all have to have an opinion or we have to have a hot take. And all of a sudden, if you and I are sitting across from each other, and I like you, I like your family and everything, and then all of a sudden you're defending this Christian leader that I watched a YouTube video on and I can't stand. All of a sudden, well, we're in disagreement now, we're not unified. And we're finding ourselves where our unity is easily broken. We're extremely dismissive, both as a nation and easily as Christians, which is super sad. But on top of that, um, that that idea of like we view unity in the wrong light, that this is a a deal breaker for us. And unfortunately, it plays out in every little attribute of kind of who we are, and it can really affect our relationship. So ultimately, if we're trying to walk as Jesus walked, biblically applying everything that he is, then uh ultimately we should be walking in unity. It's a requirement and a request from him. Uh, so it should be our goal to walk in that obedience. Um, most people think unity is agreement. I mean, I'm curious. What do you like when you think of that? I mean, I'm not I would say most people think that agreed, maybe. Yeah, like you're walking in harmony with somebody else. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

You agree and you're skipping together.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yes, you're holding hands. Holding hands and skipping. It's the 1960s all over again, right? Everybody does view it that way. And

What Unity Actually Means (Oneness Explained)

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and it's you're not necessarily wrong. There is a sense of agreement, but understanding the kind of the nuances of what that really looks like. Uh, Noel Webster in his 1828 dictionary, which you'll learn as as we go along, defining terms is really important to me. Everybody wants to say something, and a lot of times you can clear a lot of air just by defining terms. Yeah, you know. Um, but as the the best dictionary, uh, you can't you gotta go with the original, Noah Webster, man that loves God. And and then he wrote it in, you know, you got to go old school, you can't let the the new stuff kind of infiltrate our definitions anymore. But he said this it's the state of being one or oneness. He's ultimately pulling that from the Greek when it says uh unity in scripture, it literally means oneness. So he's using that. Unity may consist of a simple substance or existing being as the soul, but it usually consists in close junction or particles or parts, constituting a body detached from other bodies. Listen to this. Unity is a thing undivided itself, but separate from every other thing. I love the way that he kind of breaks down unity and ultimately even scripture breaks this down. It's the same verb or way it's used as uh marriage. So unity is one flesh, but two bodies. And it's really important for us to understand that unity doesn't just look like we're the exact same. Uniformity does not mean unity, it means the agreement of one thing. One of the definitions I saw said wholeness, even. It's fully

Unity ≠ Uniformity (We’re Different on Purpose)

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whole. My body is not whole without my right arm, but it's different than my left arm. We understand that God has given us in scripture that we are different parts of the body. This is, you know, stuff that you hopefully you've learned in Sunday school, right? As a kid. Basic concepts. But the reality is we've forgotten a lot of this and we have not allowed ourselves to walk in unity with brothers and sisters. Um, and I've thought to myself that because we don't have a proper view of uh unity, it's affected not only every aspect, but I think we've missed opportunities to actually be unified in things that really maybe aren't a big deal or things that we should forgive or move on. And then at the same time, understanding there are false senses of unity that are out there in the world that you think you're unified in, but you're not, and understanding what that what that actually means. Um, if we go off of where scripture defines it, uh something I was thinking

Why We Break Unity So Easily

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about, like politically, we love to align ourselves with somebody, right? I mean, I get it. We like to have that person agree. I mean, this could be an unsaved person, right? And yet we will feel more unified with that individual than we will with a brother in Christ who you know loves Jesus and you've seen the fruit, and they disagree on this one senator or whatever it is, and it just you can't overcome it, you can't see it. Yeah, and this is the way that we view everybody, and it's it's really unfortunate. Just something to encourage you. I uh I had a uh recent, I say relatively recent disagreement with a with a good buddy of mine, nothing personal, no offense, but we disagreed on some spiritual matters. And I don't remember just talking with him, and I could feel like there was this part of it, like, oh my goodness, is this gonna really affect the relationship? And I remember telling him, you know, unity is not agreement. And he was like, So Frank, you said that. I was

Real-Life Example: Disagreement Without Division

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like, dude, we can be completely on opposite ends of this, but we're unified that we love Jesus, right? That we're gonna follow him, and we can be on different sides of this coin. And I looked at him and I meant this, and I say it to everybody now. The person I disagree with the most, I crawl into bed with every single night. And I love that woman, and she is the best. We argue, right? I argue more with her. Obviously, she lives in my home. I argue more with her than anybody else. We can have the they're small disagreements, but we are unified in our marriage, that we are pursuing God with each other, yeah, that we are parenting our kids together, we're loving each other, we're pouring into that marriage. So all of a sudden, this person that I have complete intimacy with also has this conflict or disagreement. We're still unified. People don't understand this. Ken Hulser said this to us one time. He said, true intimacy always requires conflict. So even if we understand that, or if iron sharpens iron, as scripture says, which is an actual

Biblical Foundation (Ephesians 4 Breakdown)

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clashing of two things together, right? If this is even how we grow, we should actually embrace disagreement with our brothers and sisters. We're unified ultimately, right? There are some, I'm not here to break down every single caveat. I can't understand, you know, there are differences, but there's a beauty in our differences as Christians that ultimately make us grow. I can't believe I'm gonna drop this name, but Nick Fuentes. I saw him say that. I'm embarrassed that I even said that. No, I'm just gonna say he said, he said, you know, he's a Roman Catholic, and he said, how can as a Protestant, I remember him making just he was basically making fun of all of our different denominations as that were so not in uniformity, right? Which is ultimately what he's saying. Yeah. And he viewed it as unity. That how could it be true, right? That he's really walking in this true faith as a as a Catholic, because he's like, you guys are so all over the board with different things. And as soon as he said that, I'm like, he has a misconception about unity and what God wants in that. I mean, even Paul says, I'm not, he's like some. Some have misconceptions about a lot of things, but yeah, this podcast is not here to break down all of his ideas or thoughts. No, thank God. Oh my gosh. But no, but like even Paul says, hey, some are students of Apollos, some are students of me. Ultimately, right? We're students of God. Right. And and and the best passage of scripture is Ephesians 4, right? This is the unity passage, and I'm I just want to read it. We're gonna give always space for scripture. Ephesians 4, 1 through 7. As a prisoner, this is listen to this, as the prisoner for the Lord, then just pause right there. He didn't say, hey, as a Republican or a Democrat, he didn't say, oh, as a charismatic or a Baptist. He didn't say any of those things. I belong to God. I don't belong to a country. Yeah, I don't belong to a denomination, I don't belong to even my own opinions and ideas. I belong to God. I am a prisoner for the Lord. What a beautiful way he opens that up. He says, I'm a prisoner for the Lord. Then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you've received. A life worthy of the calling you've received. Be completely humble and gentle. And that's why we made you pause, right? You got to be humble and gentle. You want to walk in unity, a requirement. Be patient. Lord knows you have to be patient. I mean, if you're trying to give an example in your mind as I'm reading this, like if you're married, it's really easy to see. I need to be humble, gentle, patient, right? But maybe you have a relationship that you're thinking of, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. Here's a couple of things that we should be unified in, right? There is one body and one spirit. Doesn't mean you can't have different denominations. It doesn't mean you can't have different ideas, but we are ultimately one church, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope, right? Jesus, when you were called one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and the Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. He gives a couple of guidelines that are pretty basic, that are super general, right? Yeah. Important, but general. I think a lot of times that we're walking in, we can be walking in unity, but unfortunately we're not, because we're allowing certain things, certain either niche or nuanced things in our life that we're like, I'm not willing to forgive or to move on. And because of that, I really want to get into the application today because I think we can all understand that unity is important. Yeah. What I do think we struggle with

How to Actually Practice Unity (Practical Steps)

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is actually applying it. And what does that really look like? Uh the first would obviously to be remember to walk in humility. Like we know, like I think that this is gonna solve so many problems if you truly walk in humility. Yeah. And remember, you don't have everything figured out. I always tell people I'm like, one of the things that has helped me the most was I walked in a season of my life where I thought I knew better on some topics than everybody else, and I've changed my viewpoint on them. And when I go back, I always remember that. And it helps me just like be a lot more diplomatic and be like, okay, you didn't have it figured out. Obviously, Paul knows what he's talking about, Romans 12, 16. It says, live in harmony with one another. You used the word harmony earlier, do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. That's really hard. Proverbs says every man's wise in their own sight. So the reality is it's like don't ever think you know it all. And instead, right, if we're viewing ourselves in the right light of Christ that we read in Philippians before in humility, then we're gonna walk in a lot of love and it's gonna help kind of bridge that gap. Practically speaking, let's say I right now there's somebody, and if you're listening to this, I bet there's somebody that immediately came to mind that you're like, ugh, I am not walking in unity, but I could be. Yeah. There are some people, look, I'm not, I can't speak to every situation, right? I mean, you God gave you a brain, you can think through it. Like if you have a bad relationship with a, you know, a parent that's unhealthy. I mean, that's those are different conversations. But there is somebody that you should be walking in unity with that you immediately thought of that if you ask, God will bring to you. So you're like, how do I even just kind of bridge that? That practically speaking, and I've learned to do this, is that especially even when you're actually walking in a relationship or having a conversation, it typically is better than what you viewed online or your text message back and forth, or just your thought, or whatever it is, having them in person is a big deal. So have them over for dinner if you're able. Make that table become a unifying place. You don't have to necessarily talk about it if you've already addressed it. You can realize you're in disagreement, but all of a sudden, allow that table to be a place of unity. Buy them a gift. Nothing says, hey, I love you, and I'm I'm I'm I'm looking, moving on. Buy them a gift, write them a note, send them a message, right? You're trying, you're trying to love on them, right? These are just super simple things. This is nothing clever. You realize you just probably don't want to do it. This is, you know, if you want to walk in unity, these are just a couple of things that can come to mind. Um, but in that, let's say maybe you thought, okay, I'm willing to do that. Maybe they don't realize there's a disagreement, or maybe you've not addressed the disagreement. And that should be done. God wants us to walk in unity, but he also wants to us to walk in honesty and address things. If there's some offense or there's something we're carrying, Matthew uh 5, 23 and 24 says this.

Reconciliation, Prayer & Final Challenge

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Therefore, if you have an offering, right, you're going before God and you have a gift at the altar, and there you remember your brother or sister has something against you, right? I I view this as yes, it's an offense. I even you could even make that a hey, this is a disagreement that we're having. Leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them, and then come offer your gift. It doesn't mean that you're gonna, like scripture says, if possible, live peaceably with all men, right? There are some, I'm not here speaking to every circumstance. Yeah, we're not, we're not walking around just, oh, we love everybody and and we forgive everybody and we're never gonna talk about things. No, you should have that discussion and be honest, but also remember that the goal is to be unified, not to just have them agree with you. Have that conversation of honesty and then come back and present your offering. This is what God wants. He's like, I want you unified in spirit because there's probably something you're carrying if you're not unified. A great way to do this is obviously we read Philippians in the humility podcast, but or the one before, Philippians 2, 3, do nothing out of selfish ambition, ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourself. I mean, if you're thinking of someone better than you, even if you disagree and you think you're smarter than them, because that's really what you're thinking, and I esteem them. I'm giving them way more grace. Like so much more grace. And then ultimately, this is like you can do this in your car or your truck right now. Pray for them. We talked a little bit about this in prayer when we we covered that. You can write down their name, even if you're struggling with what you don't like or what you're dealing with, you can write that down. But Matthew 5, 44 says this. This is the amplified Bible. I don't usually use that translation, but I love that what they put in parentheses here. It says, But I say to you, love, and they put this that is unselfishly seek the best or higher good for your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If you're genuinely wanting that person to be reconciled to you or you're wanting to walk in unity, you're esteeming them higher than yourself. You're praying for their good, you're wishing them the best, which is not our mentality. We want to get on Twitter and we want to see every person that we can't stand or disagree with fall because it validates us.

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Yeah.

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Instead of validating us, how about we validate the the actual relationship we're trying to preserve? Because God, it's important to God, it's who God is. But think about the things that God probably disagrees with us on, even as believers that are being sanctified, the wrong ideas, the wrong thoughts, the sin that's in our life. Yet love covers a multitude of sin. Unity is important to the heart of God. And we live in a day and age where, if, you know, I bet, you know, especially as men, we're super opinionated, we're right in all these things. That's great. But may we be more relationally minded. Not that we can't stand on honesty, that we can't stand on truth, that we need to stand on those things. But the reality is that we need to pursue Jesus and love others and esteem them better than ourselves. I'll conclude with this. Like, I'm I'm this might be a thing that I'm gonna start doing because I love quotes. But C.S. Lewis puts this and he's talking about love, right? And he's kind of even referring to marriage. But if we understand marriage is a unity and we understand our relationship and covenant relationship with others, it's important to listen to this. He says, love as a distinct from being in love is not merely a feeling, right? We love to just have it as a feeling. It is a deep unity maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by a habit. So we're Monday morning men. We want to see you take something on Sunday, apply it Monday. You want to walk in unity. It's not this euphoric moment, it's a habit of praying for them, esteeming them better than yourself, having them over for dinner, writing them a note, reaching out to them, whatever you have to do, which ultimately means lowering yourself, crushing that pride.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Because you may be 100% in the right.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Yeah.

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And they may be completely wrong. But love covers a multitude of sins or a multitude of wrongs, and you're going to pursue it. And it's a habit that you're going to have to make. You're not just going to wake up and it's going to be better. This is something daily that you're going to have to decide. So hopefully, this encourages some men. You have some relationships. Maybe you can patch up and clear up, walk in unity.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yeah, that's good stuff. I mean, it's a daily choice to walk, walk that way. I mean, dying to yourself, it's it's never easy. It's never fun. No, it's not. No.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Because I'm right. Exactly. 100%. Uh my buddy Flip always says, he says everybody wants to follow Jesus until they find out where he's going and he's going to the cross. And it's like that daily dying. Yeah. And you're right. And you feel justified in that. But that doesn't make it okay. Because guess what? It's not about being right. It's about walking in unity and love. I mean, not that you're not honest. Again, I'm not, I'm not saying you just shove your opinion to the side.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

But we're patient, we're gentle.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

For for us as believers, does this apply towards everybody? Like, meaning just to your brother in Christ or to your unsaved friend in the workplace? Like, how do you how do you walk that out? Unity with maybe somebody who doesn't believe the same values?

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Well, I think that like unity is a it is different for a believer, right? It's we're in a covenant relationship that we're not with a non-believer at that point, right? Like just like I can walk in, I say unity with with you know a friend, but I walk in a different unity with my wife, right? Right. So uh you can walk in agreement probably more with with someone at co uh a coworker, but you got to ultimately, if you're loving them and you're walking in humility and you're gentle and you're patient, and you're ultimately hopefully trying to lead them to the Lord, right? You're event, you know, being evangelistic to them. That's a whole different uh you don't have to agree with them on every like, and you wouldn't sit there and try to agree them into something. I would encourage nobody do that, right? Honesty is still key, but it but but it comes with the disposition of humility, love, and patience and understanding that they're better than yourself. So those things can be practiced to anybody.

SPEAKER_00 21:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

But could you walk in unity with them? Maybe not. Probably not. Somewhat scripturally, you probably should be very careful when you say unity or walking along someone that's of a different belief system. That that would probably not be wise.

SPEAKER_00 21:33

It's very easy to get swayed by culture in what unity looks like. Correct. Like a united front against an injustice or something like that. And just being very careful for people not to get sucked into a false sense of unity uh with the world.

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Yeah. Well, you know what? Paul Washer said this. I will never forget. I was at a conference and he looked at you can be unified in good things. But this is I actually this came just came to me. I think this is really important for people to hear. You can be unified in good things. He was at this conference and he sat there and he's like, I see kids in this room that are reading their Bibles, that are journaling, and they're doing all these great things. And he listed off a bunch. I just remember him saying this, and I was like, Yeah, it's awesome, right? He was setting everybody up. And he goes, But you know what I see? That their banner is a lot of good things, and it's not Jesus. He said, I'm not meeting kids whose banner is Jesus. You can be united, right? On a lot of things. But is the banner over you Jesus? Like, is that who ultimately is what unifies us? Or is our unify, you know, are we unified over something, you know, over our president or whatever? Those are some things that you should take into consideration. What are you unified over?

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

Awesome. Um, great word. Love it. Uh, if you have questions, prayer requests, or anything, you can always email us at infotmondaymorningmen.com and like, subscribe, share this with somebody, maybe that person who popped into your head.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

Let's work on this together. Let's work on this one together, buddy. Friend?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Yeah. Uh yeah. Share this with somebody who you think would be blessed by uh the message of unity. And until next time, we're signing off.