One Faith . . . Putting All Our Eggs In One Basket
Ephesians 4:5
Language is amazing . . . how we use words to describe ideas or thoughts. Do you know what an idiom is? It’s a phrase or expression, a group of words that has a meaning different from the literal meaning of its parts taken together? Kind of like, you scratch my back and I scratch yours . . . when we say that we’re not actually talking about scratching backs, are we?
We use idioms all the time, and probably don’t even realize it. This week I learned some new idioms, they’re actually old idioms that at least in my generation we don’t really use anymore. And I’ve been thinking, maybe you’re a younger person in our church and you’re wondering how to get to know someone who is a little older, and so you may want to ask some of our more experienced folk if they know what some of these idioms mean . . .
Like if you’re a city boy you may want to ask one of our ranchers in Carhart’s or wrangler’s what a 3 dog night is. If you don’t have any military background you might want to track down Ray Boyer, one of our vets and ask him if he knows what kilroy was here means.
I hazard to guess if it’s safe to mention, but I know this idiom doesn’t come from our generation but probably our parents or grandparents generation. So you might want to ask a grandparent why they may have used the expression . . . don’t try to teach your grandma to suck eggs. It’s a good law to follow in more ways than one.
Its hunting season, you may want to find one of our older hunters and ask him what let the dog see the rabbit means. As I understand it, Le Snider used to have some pigs on his farm, so you may want to ask him if he ever tried to put a pig in poke. I trust Le has a lot more integrity than that. Do we have anyone that has British background among us? You may want to ask them if they’ve ever been guilty of losing their rag, I think most of us have.
If you’re astute in your knowledge of English idioms, your right with me, we’re clicking (pardon the idiom), however some of you are totally lost, hopefully you’re writing some of these down . . . But lest I try gilding the lily with a good sermon opening I should probably move on to tell you about the idiom I’d like for us to focus on this morning, Putting all our eggs in one basket. Or you may have heard it as don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When I say that I don’t doubt that the great majority of you know exactly what I’m talking about. When we put all our eggs in one basket we are entrusting all our resources to one thing. We are putting all our riches in one investment
This morning we continue to focus on the ONE’s of Ephesians 4, and looking at verse 5 we read that there is. . .
One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
In case we have forgotten what faith is . . . it is belief and trust. Believing that something is true and trusting it. The biblical idea of faith does not separate the two, belief and trust.
So what does Paul mean when he states that there is one faith? Remember this series of ones in Ephesians 4 points us to the idea of exclusivity. That God, His church, and his provision of salvation are all exclusive.
Paul’s words are revolutionary for today . . . because exclusiveness is shunned upon, especially the idea of the exclusiveness of a single faith.
In our pluralistic society . . . you might get away with presenting the idea that there is really only one God, after all, most people on the street in our culture who believe in God’s existence would say in explanation of all the world religions that after all there is one God but many different ways to approach that one God. Many different paths leading to the same destination . . . one God but many and varying faiths.
Paul’s assertion that there is but one faith is not to be mistaken for a belief that people do not believe in other gods, or trust other means of salvation. His assertion that there is one faith though should be understood as an exclusive claim to a rock solid belief in something, particularly someone who is true and an exclusive claim to a sure place and in particular, a person in whom we can put our trust.
There are many faiths (beliefs about God, gods . . . and ways of attaining salvation) and they do not all lead to the same place or to the same person. This morning . . . before we head anywhere else, we need to be really clear and sure about what our faith is, or at least where it should be if we are going to call ourselves Christ followers. Just so we’re all clear that we’re reading the same map and are on the same path, it would be helpful for us to look at what Paul wrote earlier in Ephesians about faith . . .
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9
What is our Faith?
Allow me to bring us to the words of Jesus, along with Paul’s words here in Ephesians 2:8-9 to describe what our faith is. Jesus says of himself as recorded by John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” These are extremely exclusive statements that need to be grappled with. In Ephesians 4 when Paul says there is one faith, and when he says that we have been saved by grace through faith, not at all by the result of our works, and when Jesus says exclusively of himself that he is thee way, that he is thee truth, that he is thee life, it lays it out for us what we communally believe about Jesus Christ and our salvation. That Jesus is the way to a right relationship with God that His word is true, and that without Him there is no life. What we believe is that Jesus Christ died his death brought us right relationship with God because He was a perfect sacrifice for our sins. We have life because Jesus did not stay dead, but conquered the grave by resurrection. And we have relationship with Him today because of the free gift he has given to us in Himself. Paul states boldly and clearly that this is not something that we earn. He states it in a couple of different ways. In chapter one he tells us that we were chosen, that we were predestined that we’ve been given an inheritance. When was the last time we earned an inheritance? Well, you may say "Pastor, you didn’t grow up with my parents, I earned every bit of my inheritance!" Not as a result of works that no man may boast, says Paul. But salvation happens through faith. Through believing that Jesus is who he says he is, and did what history and the Scriptures tell us he did for us. And putting the egg(s) of our life in the one basket of Jesus. The mark of faith is repentance, by changing how we handle our life. Changing who we hand our eggs of trust to. Mark Twain was a brilliant writer who used his fair share of idioms, and he used our idiom this morning when he wrote Pudd’nhead Wilson in 1894. This is what he wrote,
Behold, the fool saith, "Put not all thine eggs in the one basket" which is but a manner of saying, "Scatter your money and your attention"; but the wise man saith, "Put all your eggs in the one basket and watch that basket." (Mark Twain, _Pudd’nhead Wilson_, 1894)
I trust that this is what we have found with Jesus, that he’s more than a basket to put one of our eggs in, but that he is the basket that we are to fully entrust ourselves to, trusting ourselves fully to Jesus and watching him like a hawk (excuse the idiom). But in our day and age so many of us struggle with this question . . .
What should we believe?
Our North American culture functions from a perspective of different baskets for different eggs. There are so many baskets, there can’t really be one, can there? For this egg Christianity works, but can’t Hinduism work for an egg of another kind? Or the Choose Your Own Adventure style of faith. I’ll weave my own basket of belief. There are many forms of belief, many baskets in our world that people entrust their lives too, is the one faith of Christianity any different? Yes it most definitely is.
Humanism – believes that God is non-existent and that our real problem is ignorance, salvation is found in education
Muslim – believes that God exists and that he is to be obeyed, but Islam teaches that salvation is attained by observance of the 7 pillars . . . and even then it’s a crap shoot, the Muslim is never assured of their salvation. It is not salvation by grace through faith, but as Paul cautions against it is a works oriented path to relationship with God.
Hinduism – Is a mish mash of belief that might be summed up as saying that “our present existence is actually an illusion. That there really isn’t a supreme being, however, there is a supreme or ultimate reality.” They believe in karma, that one gets what one deserves, which doesn’t sound too bad, until we all look at ourselves and make up our mind that none of us deserves much good. Because of karma, human beings are in a state of reincarnation, the only way to break such a state is by becoming one with ultimate reality by doing the right kind of yoga or meditation or by making sacrifices, or by living a good life.
The Christian faith is truly distinct. The different baskets of our world have different ideas of the afterlife, of sin, but they all really point to an earning or a working towards a goal. Christianity is markedly different. Not that we are not concerned with works, as James would say, faith without works is dead. But what you and I really trust in is Jesus Christ and his grace readily available to us.
There are so many who put their eggs in the baskets of the works oriented religions of our world, jumping through hoops to salvation, ultimate reality, or nirvana. But the real question, if there really is one faith as Paul says is, “Who is Jesus Christ?” This is they key question that we have to constantly bring people back to. Jesus Christ is our distinction. He is our distinctive. Muslims believe in Jesus, Hindu’s do to, Jews do not even deny his existence and neither do Jehovah Witnesses or Mormons, but at the end of the day, they all believe distinctly different things about Jesus from what the Scriptures tell us.
I don’t know about you . . . but I see few Muslims, and Hindus around us, and few people who really care about different baskets of belief or even wondering about what they should believe. When I walk through the Prairie mall, or sit down for breakfast at the Husky or the Blue Apple, I don’t observe many people asking themselves how they’re getting to heaven. I actually believe that we live in a bit of a spiritual vacuum in some ways. Fewer and fewer care about what to believe? Ed Stetzer is a church planter and the director for the Center For Missional Research, recently they polled people in the United States, and I don’t think the results would be any better in Canada, but they polled people in the states asking them this question . . . “How often do you wonder, if I were to die today would I know for sure that I’d go to heaven?” 20% daily, weekly and monthly were right around 10%, annually was just under 10% and just over 40% admitted they never even ask themselves the question. In our culture, I believe the biggest barrier to people gaining the one faith that Paul talks about is not about what they believe, they’re almost willing to believe anything . . . They’re not so much asking themselves the question, what should I believe, but they are living in such a way that shows that they have already answered the question . . . What should I trust?
What should we trust?
As human beings you and I are famous for putting our eggs in human baskets. The biggest challenge today for us in sharing this One Faith that Paul reminds you and I about is the fact that almost half of the people we would pass by on the street already have a faith, and they’re not searching for another. They will believe almost anything or don’t think that it is really all that important to believe anything at all and they trust . . . you and I know what they trust!
Isaiah’s words in chapter 31should ring in our ears, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord.” I’m sure you’ve sung it before . . . some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Or do our eyes burn when we read Psalm 49 . . . “Why should I fear in days of adversity, when the iniquity of my foes surrounds me, Even those who trust in wealth and boast in the abundance of their riches? No man can by any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him for the redemption of his soul is costly, and he should never cease trying forever – that he should live on eternally, that he should not go under decay. For he sees that even wise men die; The stupid and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others. Their inner thought is that their houses are forever and their dwelling places to all generations, they have called their lands after their own names. But an in his pomp will not endure. He is like the beasts that perish.”
And here’s the things friends . . . in our culture it is not too hard for this faith to invade those who are to be his holy ones. I’ll tell you the currency of faith that is often traded in our midst, in our communities, in our world, with our neighbors and heaven forbid maybe in some of our lives.
It’s the gospel of I’m a good person and God should be pleased to include me among the righteous. It’s in our quads and snowmobiles. It’s in our homes and trucks. In our investment portfolios and our early retirement plans. We will put our faith in a high Canadian dollar, or high oil prices, or good prices for cattle and grain, or even a ridiculous housing market. And all these good things that God created soon crowd out trust in the giver. They’ll keep us by doing the right thing by our family or by our church, or by our world. They can keep us from trusting God.
This week Charles Spurgeon preached to me, and as I read his words God spoke into my life, “When you have no helpers, see your helper as God. When you have many helpers, see God in all your helpers. When you have nothing but God, see all in God. When you have everything, see God in everything. Under all conditions, stay thy heart only on the Lord.”
If the people of the ONE FAITH are unable to believe rightly and trust thoroughly the promises of God through Jesus Christ and trust in His name only rather than the things of the world, then what hope does half of our community have.
We must sing and celebrate the faith that we have. The belief and the trust so well presented by Paul’s words in Romans 5:8-9, “But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” Friends we have been saved by grace through faith, and that gift is as new today as it was when you first received it and it is still available to maybe someone today who has never received it.
C.S. Lewis has said, “Relying on God has to begin all over again everyday as if nothing yet had been done.” That’s faith in action!
Friends we have been given one egg, and the only true basket is Jesus Christ. What I want us to do as we close this morning, as the team comes to lead is in praise of our trustworthy God is to ask you to proclaim anew our ONE FAITH by putting our eggs in the one basket of Jesus Christ. You can come forward as we sing and release it to God in one of the baskets we have on the stage, acknowledging that He is our hope, He is the object of our faith.
There may be someone here today who has never put their faith, trust in Jesus Christ. I’d challenge you this morning, the basket of Jesus Christ is available to you.
ADMIT your need, that you are a sinner, that you need God and what Christ has accomplished for you in His death and resurrection.
BELIEVE that Christ is who he says he is and did what the Scriptures tell us he did to bring us into right relationship with God. He is the way, the truth, and the life.
COMMIT your life to Christ, this means to leave your old life and start a new life, where God becomes your authority, not the horses and chariots you’ve been trusting in.
INVITE God to take up residence in your life by the presence of His Holy Spirit to help you be committed to Him.
