One Heart and Soul: Living as a United Church
Edited directly from the sermon transcript of Matthew Miller’s message at Highland Hills Church of Christ on March 1, 2026. Adapted for length and readability while preserving his voice and message.
What does it look like to be Jesus people when Jesus has ascended to the throne and has sent us to carry his message into the world?
In Acts, we have watched the Holy Spirit’s fire spread wherever these people go. Their message is simple and powerful: God sent Jesus because of his great love for humanity. Jesus taught God’s way, demonstrated its truth through his works, and died as he had foretold. What looked like defeat became victory when he rose from the dead.
That message spreads like wildfire. But in Acts 4, opposition begins. The authorities bring the apostles before the council and order them never to speak in Jesus’s name again. The apostles make clear that they will continue. Then come further threats.
That is the end of the story, right? No. They see it as an invitation. Under pressure, they choose to continue following Jesus together.
In Acts 4:23, after their release, the apostles return to their companions and report what the chief priests and elders have said. The believers lift their voices to God with one accord. They recognize him as the maker of heaven and earth and remember how opposition to Jesus fits within the story of God’s purposes.
They ask for boldness to speak his word and for his work to continue through Jesus’s name. The place where they gather is shaken. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and speak God’s word boldly.
Luke then tells us that the believers are of one heart and one soul. They share what they have. The apostles continue witnessing to Jesus’s resurrection, and great grace rests upon them. People sell property and bring the proceeds to be distributed according to need. No one among them lacks what they need.
On the other side of mounting opposition, they choose unity. They draw together, allow the Spirit to keep working in them, and take seriously Jesus’s warning that following him will bring opposition. They want to continue going, and they want to go together.
One of the beautiful convictions in our heritage is that the church can return to its biblical foundations and gather around these common practices: prayer, the word, generosity, and shared life in Jesus. That is what we see here. A whole people orient their lives around him.
The moment after the apostles’ release is a defining moment. What will they choose now that following Jesus costs something?
They begin by praising God and turning to him together in prayer. Opposition confronts us with a question: How should we live now? The message had been spreading unhindered, but now there is real pressure. As Acts continues, that pressure will even lead to death.
A witness originally meant someone giving testimony about what they had seen. We now also know that word as “martyr.” It is a sobering reminder that telling the truth about Jesus came to cost people their lives.
Yet the believers unite and pray for boldness. We rightly want to care for people and provide safe gatherings. But following Jesus has always required courage. They kneel together, and their unity begins there.
Luke’s phrase “one heart and one soul” takes us deeper than the structure of meetings or leadership. Those things matter, but their bond comes from a shared identity: they are a people about Jesus.
Paul describes that life in Ephesians 4. He calls believers to walk worthily, with humility, gentleness, patience, and love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Jesus occupies the central place, without a competitor.
In our day, competitors for that place can be subtle. Idolatry may look less like a little figure on a shelf and more like something good we have elevated above God: security, work, education, or even family. Something begins to command the attention and devotion that belong to him.
Here, a shared heart and soul directed toward Jesus binds his people together. Unity is a work of the Spirit. It takes intention, love, sacrifice, and reaching across differences, but we cultivate something God has already given rather than manufacturing it ourselves.
Look at the fruit of that unity. Nobody treats possessions as something unavailable to others. The apostles witness to the resurrection, grace rests on the church, and needs are met.
Generosity is the evidence of unity. And this is more than offering spare change. People sell things that matter to them. Their giving is sacrificial. They see their brothers and sisters in need, love them, and respond.
Luke gives us a practical example in Barnabas, whose name means “son of encouragement.” He sells land and brings the proceeds to the apostles. Unity becomes visible through real people making real choices that cost them something.
Unity does not require everyone to be identical. It means shared devotion to Christ that takes shape in the way we live together.
That is a powerful witness. Look around the world and you see broken relationships, broken systems, and divisiveness. People try to elbow one another out of the way to get ahead. But when people look at the church, they should see a family working through its faults, bearing with one another, showing love, and practicing generosity because they love Jesus.
Some may disagree with our faith while recognizing something they don’t see elsewhere. Others may begin to wonder whether what we say about God is true. Shared life can invite them to learn more.
God is forming individuals into a family. Fear is being transformed into boldness. Their lives are held in common because they are bound together in him. A unified church practices generosity and becomes a witness to the gospel.
What does this look like for us? We begin by practicing the foundations God has given his church. He does not use a cookie cutter to make every person or congregation look exactly the same. But his people are about Jesus, his truth, his love, and showing the world what he is like.
We can begin this week by prayerfully attending to the needs of our brothers and sisters. Jesus gives us a picture of judgment in which people are asked about food, drink, clothing, and visits. They wonder when they ever encountered him in those circumstances. He tells them that what they did for the least of his brothers and sisters, they did for him.
Think about how simple those acts are. Great mission projects have their place, but Jesus also names everyday care within our reach. We can be present. We can offer food, something to drink, clothing, companionship, or another practical expression of love.
A church united in Jesus attends to those needs together. Our vision is to help people follow him. Generosity and care are part of that following.
We can soften our hearts before the Holy Spirit and allow him to shape us into one heart and one soul. We can hold out our hands together and ask Jesus to lead us where he wants us to go. Each morning, we can look for what he is doing and seek to join him in it.
That is the next step toward unity: a family following Jesus together, allowing his love to take practical form in our shared life.
