This morning, we’re going to talk about “Living a Noisy Life”… To help you understand what I mean, we’re going to do something a little different… Does everyone know how to clap? You can clap both hands together, or you can clap one hand on your leg… you can even stomp your feet if you want… But I want you to make some noise without using your voice. Does everyone understand? OK… let’s practice to make sure… go ahead and start making noise... [let applause develop organically for about 10-15 seconds]
OK… you can stop… Good job! Now I’m going to have you do the same thing, but I want you to listen for my instructions while you are making noise… don’t stop until I tell you to stop… OK? Go ahead... [wait about 5-10 seconds]
OK… everyone clap in unison… now clap at a faster beat… now slow it down… now stop. Good job!
I want you to notice something… How did you go from all making noise on your own to making noise together? All I said was to clap in unison, but I didn’t set the tempo… You all did that naturally on your own… You listened to what each other were doing, and you came together in unity all on your own. When I said faster, you went faster using a tempo that the group chose… Same thing when I said to go slower.
I want you to notice something else… Not only were you able to experience unity, but the noise you were able to make was louder when you clapped in unison than when you did your own thing.
To see what it means to Live a Noisy Life, let’s turn in our Bibles to Ephesians 4:1-6…
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Let’s PRAY…
1. WHEN YOU’RE LIVING A NOISY LIFE, YOU’RE AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT
When you’re Living a Noisy Life, you must first be an active participant… Not a spectator. In the first 3 chapters of Ephesians, Paul lays the solid theological foundation of salvation thru Jesus Christ… We are all sinners… We all have done things that fall short of God’s perfect standards of holiness… and what we deserve, what we earn for being found guilty is a death sentence… BUT GOD… (read Ephesians 2:4-9)…
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Jesus paid the price of death for our sins... We are rescued from our death sentence when we place our faith in Jesus Christ… There is no other way… You can’t Live a Noisy Life until you have trusted Jesus to save you… God doesn’t look at how much good and how much bad you have done to see if you deserve punishment or not… God only looks at whether or not you have Jesus.
But once we have placed our faith in Jesus, we become a Child of God… We are children of the King of Kings and the Lord of all Lords… We are heirs along with Jesus Christ… The kingdom of the One True Living God is our inheritance!
With that theological foundation in place, Paul then spends the last 3 chapters of Ephesians telling us how then we should act as believers… Let’s read verse 1 again from Ephesians 4: “1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,”
God Himself has called us into His kingdom! He has called us His children… His heirs… and we didn’t deserve any of it… He did this out of His great love and His great mercy toward us… So then, we should walk in a manner that is worthy of what He has done for us!
When our children were younger, we would teach them how to behave. We would tell them that how they acted around other people was a reflection on our family. You can either act in a way that brings embarrassment and shame to our family, or you can act in a way that honors our family. We are all part of God’s family… Paul is almost begging us to behave in a way that honors God and honors the family of God… We are to walk in a way that is worthy of the salvation we have been given… worthy of the name of Jesus Christ.
We are to walk… This implies action… He didn’t say, “I want you to stand still in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called”… He said to walk… move forward… keep going… you cannot be a healthy Christian and be a spectator… How can you make noise and live a noisy life unless you do something? When you’re sitting doing nothing, you’re not Living a Noisy Life.
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 …
9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.
10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.
11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
What we do and how we do it matters... It matters to the kingdom of God… and it matters to each of us personally… Let’s not be empty-handed and ashamed when we are face-to-face with Jesus!
2. WHEN YOU’RE LIVING A NOISY LIFE, YOU’RE WALKING IN PARTNERSHIP
When you’re living a noisy life, you’re an active participant… but the second point is that you’re doing this in partnership with others… God designed us to be in fellowship with Him and with other believers. We are a family… but we're also much more than a family... the Bible calls us a Body… One Body with every person making up the various parts.
Maybe you are a member of this church… or maybe some other church… Regardless of which church you are associated with… As we walk worthy of our calling, all Believers are also commanded to walk in UNITY.
But how can we walk in unity with each other when we don’t all share the same culture, or the same values, or even the same understanding of the Bible? How can we walk in unity if we don’t agree on things like speaking in tongues, or whether it’s OK to have tattoos? How can we walk in unity if one church worships quietly and with hymns while another church is shouting and raising their hands as they worship?
Let’s look back at our verses from Ephesians 4 to find out…
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
It all starts at the foundation… The solid doctrinal foundation that Paul set in the first 3 chapters of Ephesians… To be in unity does NOT mean that we have to agree on everything… What it DOES mean is that we agree and have unity on the essentials… the foundation… That we are ONE BODY. That there is only ONE SPIRIT of God who dwells in each of us. That there is ONE HOPE of salvation from death and the promise of eternal life. That there is ONE LORD… Jesus Christ who is Lord over everything and everyone. That there is ONE FAITH… the faith we place in the Risen Savior Jesus Christ. That there is ONE BAPTISM when we place our faith in Jesus… that our old self is dead and buried, and we are raised up to walk in newness of life. That there is ONE TRUE LIVING GOD who has all power and all authority over all creation, and who is dwelling in us.
If we don’t agree on these foundational truths, then we are not worshiping the same God. In that case, walking in unity makes no sense. Amos 3:3 says… “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?”
But remember, unity does not mean we agree on everything… but we at least agree that we share the same foundation. Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist, Pentecostal all have different approaches to ministry and worship, and have different understandings of certain Scriptures… but we share the same doctrinal foundations… As long as we agree on who Jesus really is, and we have genuinely placed our faith in Him and Him alone for our salvation, then we are all members of the same Body… and God has called us to work together in unity.
When we work together with each other, and with other churches and other ministries, we are a more effective Body. There’s no room for jealousy or competition in the Body of Christ… Why should my toes be jealous of my ear? My toes are where they are for a reason… they have a purpose just like my ear does. Our church is here for a reason… God has a purpose for each of you here this morning in His kingdom. It’s important for each of us individually and as members of our local churches and ministries to discern what our purpose is… Where do we fit in the Body?
We work in unity for the benefit of the Body… for the kingdom of God… for Jesus Christ… not for our own benefit… It’s all about Jesus... It's all about God's glory! But when a part of the Body is not doing what it’s supposed to do, the whole Body suffers. What would happen if my eyes decided not to do what they were created to do? Or if my stomach decided not to do anything anymore? Each part of the Body of Christ is important! Let me say it a slightly different way… The Body of Christ… the Church… is not going to be healthy unless we all do our part.
3. WHEN YOU’RE LIVING A NOISY LIFE, YOU’RE PROGRESSING
Which takes us to our last point this morning… When you’re living a noisy life, you’re growing in your faith and becoming a stronger, more mature believer… more and more like Christ. Let’s read Ephesians 4:11-16…
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
When we Live a Noisy Life, our faith and our walk with the Lord grows and becomes stronger… and as a result, the Body grows and becomes stronger… When we live a noisy life in unity with the rest of the Body from all around the earth… then the Church grows… God’s kingdom grows and becomes stronger…
I’m going to close with this mental image… Imagine drawing a picture with Jesus at the top of the page, and 2 people or even 2 churches or ministries spaced far apart at the bottom. As those 2 each get closer and closer to Jesus… as the Holy Spirit works in them so that they think and act more and more like Jesus every day… then not only do they get closer and closer to Jesus, but they get closer and closer to each other. Unity gets easier the closer we get to Christ!
God has called us to be part of the Body of Christ… to work in unity with other believers not just in our own church and ministry, but across our communities, across this country, and around the world… Let’s Live a Noisy Life!
Let’s PRAY
