Get It Right Sermon I: Get It Right . . . Get It Done . . . Get Ready To Go Marching In Series

Together We Get It Right - Get It Done - Get Ready to Go Marching In

When my best friend Fred Moore, chaplain of MCG, lay at death’s door, we reminisced about times together when we shared classes at NOBTS, and when, for fifteen years, our families spent time together as neighbors and as members of FBC of Augusta where I served as a minister and he as a deacon.

During those many years of friendship, we often engaged in discussions of theological issues. Never shall I forget our last words: “Well, Charles, pretty soon I’ll find out if I got it right.” I replied, “I suspect you did.”

For most of us who seek to “walk the walk” as well as “talk the talk” of the Christian Faith, our aim is not only to get it right, but get it done, and, in the process, get ready to “go marching in” when our walk with the Lord in “the here and now” culminates in the greatest blessing of all in the hereafter (as conveyed by the psalmist) – “and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.”

When the apostle Paul sat at death’s door in a Roman prison, his last wish was: that the Church of Jesus Christ might get it right.

Thus, in his letter to believers living in the pagan city of Ephesus, Paul’s theme was unity. Together, they were to get it right, get it done, and get ready for the time when God will (as he put it) “bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (1:10).

In so many words, Paul challenged Christ ions to get their act together: In the first part of the letter (chapters 1-3) what I hear him saying is:

Whatever differences there may be in the “when, where and how” of your “walk with the Lord”, there has to be unity when it comes to the basics – the “who, what and why”.

After all, “God’s purpose was to make the two (Jew and Gentile) ONE, thus making PEACE” (2:14-15). Paul’s thesis is stated simply: All true believers are “one in Christ”! Oneness makes for Peace!

“Consequently, you are members of God’s household, built on a solid foundation, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

And in him you are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit . . . His intent was that through you the Church this good news should be made known . . . and I pray that you, rooted in love, may get it right – that is to say: grasp the extent of Christ’s love, be filled with it, and live it out.” (2:19-22)

So, Paul tells us what it takes for unity to occur – Ephesians 4:1-6 . . .

Unity occurs when believers get it right as to calling (v. 1) – God in Christ extended all of us an invitation to come out of sin into salvation . . . urged all of us to follow Christ in paths of righteousness . . . summoned each and every one of us to take up the Christian Cause as our new vocation.

Unity occurs when believers get it right as to attitude (v. 2). A most difficult challenge in life is to maintain an appropriate opinion of ourselves.

We tend to dramatize our lives,, seeing ourselves as the center of some dramatic moment, when what we need to do is set our lives alongside the life of Christ and realize that we need all the help we can get. That’s humility.

Furthermore, it seems to me that a truly humble person has little desire to control others but rather is eager for each person to be aware of his or her value to the body as a whole, with everyone working together with God for the good of all. This type of person always seems to get angry at the right time for the right reason, but never gets angry at the wrong time. That’s gentleness.

Yet, one of the hardest things for even a Christian gentleman or lady to learn is patience so as not to get under each other’s skin. Surely a little bit of irritation has got to be ok, simply because there’s so much of it.

A simple technique I learned a long time ago was to remind myself that if God had been human, He would have long ago, in sheer irritation, wiped us all off the face of the earth. But God’s patience waits for us to get it right.

How is it that we are able to put up with each other? Christian love - new concept to the culture of the first century so that New Testament writers had to invent a word - agape - to express the concept of “unconquerable benevolence” – if we regard a person with agape, it means that nothing a person whom we love can, or will ever do, will make us seek anything other than that person’s highest good!