Unity Is Confusing for the World and Very Attractive

In one paragraph

Pastor Ryan walked through every use of the Greek word homothymodon in the book of Acts, a word meaning "with one accord" or "according to one passion," and asked what it looks like when a congregation genuinely shares one mind and one purpose. He noted that the word appears eleven times in the New Testament, ten of them in Acts, and treated those ten occurrences as Luke's intentional thread...

Read together

1. Psalm 103:1 quoted to open worship: 'Praise the Lord my soul, all my inmost being, praise his holy name'
2. Acts 1:8 Jesus tells disciples they will be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts
3. Acts 1:12-14 disciples return to Jerusalem and gather in the upper room, devoting themselves with one mind to prayer
4. Acts 2:43-47 believers together with one mind daily in the temple, sharing meals and possessions, Lord adding to their number
5. Acts 4:24-26 Peter and John released, companions raise voices to God with one mind, quoting Psalm 2 about nations plotting against the Lord and his Christ
6. Psalm 2 cited within the Acts 4 prayer about kings and rulers gathered against the Lord and his Christ
7. Acts 5:12-16 apostles together with one mind in Solomon's Portico, signs and wonders, sick healed, believers added
8. Acts 7:54-60 crowd rushes at Stephen with one accord to stone him; Stephen sees Jesus standing at God's right hand and prays for forgiveness of his killers
9. Acts 8:4-8 scattered believers preach the word; Samaritans listen to Philip with one mind and many are healed
10. John 4 Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus already at work among Samaritans before Philip arrives
11. Deuteronomy 18:18 promise of a prophet like Moses, which the Samaritan woman was looking back to
12. Acts 12:20-23 people of Tyre and Sidon come to Herod with one mind for political reasons; Herod struck down for not giving God glory
13. Acts 15:24-29 Jerusalem Council letter sent to Gentile churches, leaders becoming of one mind on not burdening Gentiles beyond essential requirements
14. Acts 18:12-15 Jews rise up together against Paul before Gallio the proconsul at Corinth
15. Acts 19:28-32 crowd at Ephesus rushes with one accord into the theater shouting for Artemis, assembly in confusion
16. John 17 Jesus prays that his followers may be one just as the Godhead is one
17. Romans 15:5-6 quoted as the only prescriptive use of homothymodon outside Acts: God grant you to be of the same mind so that with one purpose and voice you glorify God

Talk about it

1. Pastor Nathan described homothymodon as being united according to one passion or impulse, not just being in the same room together. What is the difference between physical togetherness and the kind of unity Luke seems to be describing in Acts?
2. The sermon pointed out that the early believers in Acts 2 were together with one mind in the temple and at meals, and that the Lord was adding to their number because of it. What do you think it is about that kind of unity that draws people in rather than pushing them away?
3. Nathan showed several examples in Acts where people were unified in the wrong direction, including the crowd that stoned Stephen and the riot at Ephesus. What does it look like to test whether a group's unity is actually aligned with God's purposes, and how do you do that without just assuming you are always the right side?
4. At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, the elders and apostles worked through a hard conflict and landed on a decision they described as seeming good to them and to the Holy Spirit. Nathan said it is okay to just decide together on that sort of stuff without waiting for writing in stone from God. How does your own experience with church decisions line up with that, and where does it get hard?
5. The sermon closed by connecting homothymodon to the Lord's Supper, saying the blood of Christ is what actually unifies the church across different backgrounds and traditions. In practical terms, what does it take for a congregation to move from agreeing on that in theory to actually living it out with one another week to week?