STUBBORNLY FIRM:
Living the Unity We Have Been Given
Ephesians 4.4-6
S: Doctrine
C: Come ... Together
Th: Living the Unity We Have Been Given
Pr: WE LIVE OUT ONENESS BY STANDING FIRM IN THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS.
?: How? How is the good news defined?
KW: Ways
TS: We will find in our study of the good news about Jesus three ways it has been defined.
Type: Propositional
The ____ way is…
I. PAULINE THEOLOGY
II. HISTORIC DEFINITION
III. 20TH CENTURY SEPARATION
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Live the unity we have been given.
• Don’t ever give up on the uniqueness of Jesus.
• Always find God’s Word faithful.
Version: ESV
RMBC 07 January 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
I think that we would all agree that communicating clearly is important.
When it does not happen, there can be some interesting results.
For example,
Ill Communication (H)
When Raymond Ricci was general manager of a Russian-American radio station in Moscow, they sometimes had to record bilingual commercials for advertisers. Once, when Billy Graham brought his crusade to Russia, they had an ad script that included the phrase "The body is weak, but the spirit is strong."
They wrote the commercial out in Eng¬lish, and Ray’s secretary translated it into Russian. Later Ray asked his program director, Vasily, to review it.
"We have a slight problem," Vasily said, chuck¬ling when he came to that phrase. "In Russian, it says, ’He can’t stand up, but he has good vodka.’"
Well, the translation process broke down there, that is for certain.
We do, though, want to be clear in our communication this morning as we start out 2007.
Hopefully, you will have noticed by now that…
1. Our theme for the year is “Come … Together.”
As a staff, we were driven to this specific theme for two main reasons.
Our latest results from Natural Church Development showed that we still have work to do in the area of worship, so we know we need to work on that some more.
Along with that, we know that a corresponding area that we must grow in is the area of unity, which is a matter of attitude and effort.
Unity does not happen if we possess attitudes that are critical and complaining.
And unity does not happen if we are not willing to work at it.
At Randall, we have two basic philosophies that drive our planning in regard to worship.
The first is that even though the architecture of our room makes it look like that those on the stage are the performers and those in the seats are the audience, there is in reality only an “audience of one.”
It is God who is the audience, and all that we do, whether in our seats or here on the platform, it is to be done in such a way that pleases God, or else we fail in our worship.
The second philosophy is that we purposely design our worship services to be a blend of styles, especially musically, which includes traditional, contemporary and classical elements.
We follow this practice in the belief that no one style should dominate, but rather our worship should reflect the heart-responses of our various generations.
2. Our theme for the month is “Living the Unity We Have Been Given.”
I have developed this theme from the message John Fischer gave us back in September based on the same passage from which today’s study is based.
The church has been given unity.
Randall has been given unity.
We don’t create it.
But what we do or do not do is preserve it.
In other words, unity is like marriage.
It takes work.
It takes active participation on our part.
So, we will either do our part in making it happen, or we will not.
It is a matter of the will.
In the weeks coming, we will be discussing how unity is related to the subjects of love, worship, and attitude.
Today, though, we are speaking of unity around the message.
And here is the proposition of the day…
3. WE LIVE OUT ONENESS BY STANDING FIRM IN THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS.
John MacArthur has made the point that “practical oneness is based on spiritual oneness.”
I agree with this.
Our first point of unity is the good news about Jesus, the gospel.
This is what drives us here at Randall, and it is why the study of the Bible is an absolute priority for us.
So, today, we are asking the question of how is this good news described and defined?
Well…
4. We will find in our study of the gospel three ways it has been defined.
The message today is slightly different than most that I give, as I will be a bit more doctrinal and historical (not hysterical).
And believe me, there is a great need for this in today’s culture.
For note this…
ILL Doctrine (S)
Two researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) interviewed over 3,000 teenagers about their religious beliefs and have written up their findings in a new book. The social scientists summed up the teens’ beliefs:
(1) A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on Earth.
(2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
(3) The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.
(4) God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
(5) Good people go to heaven when they die.
Commenting on the study, Gene Edward Veith writes, "Even these secular researchers recognized that this creed is a far cry from Christianity, with no place for sin, judgment, salvation, or Christ. Instead, most teenagers believe in a combination of works righteousness, religion as psychological well-being, and a distant, non-interfering god. Or, to use a technical term, "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."
Citation: Gene Edward Veith, "A Nation of Deists, "World (6-25-05); source: Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press)
Our culture needs help in understanding the core of Christianity, and demonstrating this is our goal this morning.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first way the gospel is defined is PAULINE THEOLOGY.
In other words, how does the apostle Paul describe the good news?
We find it in Ephesians 4…
(4) There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — (5) one Lord, one faith, one baptism, (6) one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
One body…
1. The church is the body of Christ composed of all believers.
The church is not a building.
The church is comprised of all those who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and who fully trust in Him.
The church is not about denominations.
You don’t have to be a Baptist to be a Christian.
The church is not about geography.
It is not about ethnicity.
The church is the body of Christ, composed of those who believe in Jesus.
Next is one Spirit…
2. The church is possessed by the Spirit (cf. I Corinthians 3.16).
In fact, what makes one a Christian is the Holy Spirit.
Paul reinforces this in I Corinthians 3.16-17…
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
We are absolutely dependent on the Holy Spirit.
He gives us life.
He gives us the ability to share the life with others.
He is our unifying force and power, enabling us to maintain and work for unity in our midst, if we will be submissive to Him.
Next is one hope where…
3. We are called to eternal Christlikeness (cf. I John 3.2).
You see, the hope we all share in common is our anticipation of our glory in heaven.
The apostle John notes this when he writes…
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
When we get to heaven, we will be fully conformed to His image.
We shall be like Him, and all the troubles of this world will be forever left behind.
Next is one Lord where we realize that…
4. There is salvation only in the Lord Jesus (cf. Acts 4.12).
Early in the book of Acts, Peter makes this claim…
“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
There is no other name except Jesus.
Scripture is clear.
There is no other name.
There is no other Lord.
There will never be another Lord.
There is only one Lord.
Next, there is one faith, and…
5. Our faith is based on the revealed Word of God (cf. Jude 3).
It is on God’s gracious heart to reveal to us what we need to know for salvation.
He would not have us eternally lost.
So, He has given us the truth.
And, as Christians, He expects us to respect it and know it.
As it says in Jude…
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
This is why we must be faithful in our study.
This is why we must examine our traditions.
This is why we must be careful about worldly influences.
These will fragment our doctrine into contradictory forms.
Next is one baptism, and this is important because…
6. Our faith is expressed in baptism.
Baptism is an absolutely profound concept in the early church.
It was the public confession announcing a deliberate break with one’s past and one’s past belief.
It was the public testimony of one’s identity with Jesus and His body.
Finally, there is one God.
Here we learn that…
7. In the midst of His plurality, God is essentially one (cf. Deuteronomy 6.4).
No Christian would give up on the “shema” of Deuteronomy 6.4 where it says…
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
This is foundational to our understanding of God.
For as Paul has clued us in on the Trinity in this section, that is God is in three persons, but He is still essentially One.
In fact, the oneness of the Trinity is an example to us of how to live as one in the midst of diversity.
II. The second way the gospel is defined is HISTORIC DEFINITION.
1. The early church described itself by four marks.
The four marks (or some theologians call them “notes”) describe the church as one, holy, apostolic and catholic faith.
This description has been around a longtime, even to the early church fathers, so it is an historic one.
This description, though, has almost been used exclusively by the Catholic church, because of the use of the word catholic.
In spite of that, they are distinguishing marks that still are an adequate description of how the church is to be observed.
The first mark is oneness, and…
2. We are one so to build the kingdom.
As we noted before, we are the body of Christ.
And just as each of our bodies have various and differing parts, so does the body of Christ.
We have different functions, but the same goal, to build the kingdom – to see our family, friends and even enemies populate heaven forever!
The second mark is holiness.
3. We are holy because we are set apart for worship.
We belong to a holy God, who has in His grace, washed us completely and prepared us for the process of sanctification, that is to be made holy.
We are becoming Christlike, and the more Christlike we become, the better we are able to worship.
It is our wonderful task that we will enjoy forever.
The third mark is apostolic.
4. We are apostolic because we follow the teachings of the apostles
To be apostolic means that we are true to the apostles and what they valued.
For the church, it means we are true to their words, understanding God used them to reveal the life of Jesus, and the implications of His life, death and resurrection.
It also means we value what the apostles considered as an infallible authority – the ancient Word – what we call the Old Testament.
We see the Old and New Testaments as a perfect whole to be studied and understood.
The fourth mark is catholic, and…
5. We are catholic because salvation is open to all who will believe.
The word catholic is a very good word.
It simply means “universal.”
In application, it means that the good news fits the whole world.
It is not for a special people or culture.
It is for all who will place their trust in Jesus.
That being said…
6. We are not Roman Catholic.
We are distinctly different from our Roman Catholic friends.
It is their belief that the only way to be a part of the true church is to be Roman Catholic.
It is their belief that they are the only true representative of the body of Christ and, in turn, possess the authority to speak for Jesus, especially in matters that are outside of Scripture.
These are beliefs that we reject with the knowledge that the true church is not based on an organization, but on the Spirit of God alone.
III. The third way we define the gospel is 20TH CENTURY SEPARATION.
One hundred years ago…
1. Evangelicals separated themselves from a growing liberalism by establishing the five fundamentals.
These five doctrines were the basic core of a work called The Fundamentals, published in a multivolume work in 1917.
The purpose was to establish the fundamental, historic doctrines of the faith.
With the acknowledgement that I cannot do justice to any of these doctrines, let us move ahead.
The first fundamental is that…
2. We believe in the authority of Scripture.
When we say this, it is our understanding that it was the original manuscripts that were inspired.
And not just the meaning of the texts was inspired, but the very words.
We understand that we do not possess any of the original manuscripts, but through scientific and literary study, we do know we possess a very reliable text that accurately reflects the originals.
The second fundamental is…
3. We believe in the virgin birth of Christ, thus establishing the deity of Jesus.
We believe that Jesus is fully God and fully man.
We believe that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, making Jesus both God and man.
This has been the essential understanding for historic Christianity from the very beginning.
It is based on an understanding of Scripture and was a repeated conclusion by the early church Fathers.
The third fundamental is…
4. We believe in the substitutionary atonement, that is, Jesus took the penalty that was ours.
It is our belief that when Jesus went to the cross, He took our place.
He not only took our sins upon Himself, He also took the penalty our sins deserved, which was death.
In other words, He was actually punished by the Father on our behalf.
The fourth fundamental is…
5. We believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus.
We believe Jesus rose from the dead.
We believe He rose physically.
His appearance was not just some spiritual, ethereal being.
Neither was it a collective hallucination by witnesses.
Nor was it some conspiracy invented by pious followers years later.
Jesus rose from the dead.
The fifth fundamental is…
6. We believe that Jesus is coming again.
When Jesus left this earth, the angels told the apostles that Jesus was going to return in the same way He left.
He will return physically.
He will return because there is a future time when everything will be righted forever.
APPLICATION:
ILL Belief (H)
A grandfather was driving through Pennsylvania Dutch country, with his grown daughter and his seven-year-old grandson, Michael. If was the first time Michael had been exposed to the Amish, and Michael just could not get over all the Amish buggies. So he asked, "Grandpa, why do they use horses instead of cars?"
His mother explained, "Because they don’t believe in automobiles.”
It was quiet for a minute, then Michael said, "But can’t they see them?"
Well, we know that belief is larger than what one sees or does not see.
So, please note this…
1. We have a solid foundation of belief.
Scripture gives a wealth of material to study and understand.
We do not need to look elsewhere for authority, because it has been given and revealed by our gracious God through the Scripture.
This does divide us effectively from the Roman Catholic church which declares itself as an equal authority to the Scriptures when it comes to belief and its practice.
In fact, it considers itself more than an equal.
This is why we are in conflict over papal authority, the powers of Mary and the saints, and sacramental theology.
They are all extra-biblical, outside of Scripture.
What we do have is sufficient and solid, and makes us wise for salvation.
It is all that we need.
Along with this…
2. We are never to relax on the uniqueness of Jesus.
As stated before, Jesus is fully God and fully man.
This is truly a mystery that is not repeated.
Nevertheless, it is a truth we affirm.
This does divide us effectively from the mainline Protestant denominations, including the United Methodists, Presbyterian Church of USA, American Baptist Church, the Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ.
And though you will occasionally find a conservative pastor or church here and there, these denominations are dominated by liberal theology that has discarded the supernatural elements of Jesus, including His person, His miracles and His resurrection.
This also effective divides us from what we consider cults who almost always give up on the deity of Jesus – including the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, the Christian Science church and Scientology.
We believe the testimony of Paul that says if Christ is not raised than we are without hope, for we are still lost in our sins.
Finally…
3. We are to demonstrate our unity by living according to the Word.
When we accept that Scripture is our authority, then we are to be obedient to what it says.
This is core.
And one of the ways we are obedient is by working at unity.
We can disagree.
God has built variety into the church so that there will be varying opinions.
But how we deal with our differences is paramount!
We do not do it complaining or grumbling.
We do not do it by falling out and leaving the church.
We do do it by applying grace, always remembering that loving one another is the distinctive difference of the Christian.
BENEDICTION:
Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to the good news and message of Jesus, to the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Baldwin, Robert Unity in the Church
Malone, Steve United We Stand
May, James Division and Unity
Metcalfe, Russell The Marks of the Church: The Church is One
Stedman, Ray C. The Cry for Unity
Files:
Bennett, David. We Believe in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, www.ancient-future.net/catholicchurch.html, January 2, 2007.
Five Fundamentals of the Faith, European American Evangelistic Crusades.
Fundamentalism, www.catholic.com/library/Fundamentalism.asp, January 2, 2007.
Kimball, Dan. My Doctrinal Statement Can Beat Up Your Doctrinal Statement, January 2, 2007.
Books:
MacArthur, John, Jr. Ephesians. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1986.
