OPEN: Today is our “Unity Service”. We have 3 different languages represented: Burmese; Spanish and English. A lot of us look forward to this worship service because (despite the fact that we come from different backgrounds) we all really seem to like each other.
I believe that this is the type of thing Jesus had in mind when He prayed: “I have given them the glory you gave me, that they may be ONE as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete UNITY to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:22-23
Jesus prayed for UNITY. For ONENESS.
And that got me to thinking: what is it that makes us ONE church? I mean, we all come from different backgrounds, we all speak different languages, and we’ve been raised in different countries and cultures. How could we possibly be ONE church? Is it just because we’re all meeting in one building… does that make us one?
Well, you could put a whole bunch of cats inside a burlap bag, and you have ONE bag filled with cats. But you don’t have much unity going on. Those cats would only agree on a couple things: 1) They don’t really like being together and 2) they REALLY want out of that bag.
So what is it that makes us… ONE?
I think the answer to that question is found here in Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
First, what makes us ONE is that Jesus has ALL AUTHORITY for us.
ILLUS: I drive the bus to pick up kids for our Wednesday night youth group (JAM), and a couple of times kids have asked ME “Do you own the church?” Well, they wouldn’t know any better… they’re just kids. And it kind of makes sense – I’m here a lot. But I don’t own the building. Well, if I don’t own it, who does? Well, Jesus does.
In fact - there’s a sign on the front lawn that says: “The Church of Christ at Logansport.” In theory that means that the building belongs to Jesus (thus the “Church of CHRIST”). But (just to be clear) the building is not the church. You are the church. The building is just the place we meet to worship Jesus. So, the sign is declaring that we (who meet here) belong to Christ. We are the church of CHRIST!!!! We belong to Him!!!
I was impressed by a comment someone once made: The “Church of Christ” should not just be a NAME. It should be a MARK OF OWNERSHIP. The church should “belong” to Christ, and the church should abide by Christ’s doctrine.
And so, it should always be our intention to BELONG TO Jesus. We should always want Him to have TOTAL AUTHORITY in personal lives and TOTAL AUTHORITY over this church that we’re part of. We should want everything we do here to give glory Jesus. Jesus must have total authority. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus, and if you’re a Christian, that means He has all authority over you, and over us.
And so, because we believe that, THAT’S the main reason we are ONE! It’s all about Jesus.
Now, how did Jesus get that authority over us? Well, He has that authority because He OWNS us, He BOUGHT us, He REDEEMED us.
I Corinthians 6:19-20 “do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were BOUGHT at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
I Peter 1:18-19 declares “you were redeemed (purchased) from your empty way of life that was inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.”
ILLUS: Down here in front is a Table that we call it the “communion table.” Every Sunday (except this one where we’ve opted for communion packets handed out ahead of the worship time) we put trays there that hold the Communion elements: The Bread… and the Cup.
On the night that Jesus was betrayed, “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Then “… after the supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.’” (Luke 22:19-20)
And ever since Jesus rose from the dead, every Sunday Christians have taken piece of bread and a cup of juice, and they have remembered that Jesus’ body was broken from them and that His blood was shed for them. It was by his sacrifice that Jesus bought us.
Now apparently, early church took of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, because they always wanted to remember what Jesus had done, and to remember why they were worshipping Jesus. In fact, it was so much a part of their worship that the pagans mocked them for it.
At the communion table we proclaim that we are ONE because Jesus bought us with His broken body and His precious blood.
So, our SIGN out front declares we are one because it’s all about Jesus; And when we take of COMMUNION we declare we are one because it’s all about Jesus; And when we were BAPTIZED into Christ, we declared that we became one because it’s all about Jesus.
That’s what I Corinthians 12:12-14 tells us: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit...”
So Jesus tells His disciples: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
I’m sorry… why would that make us ONE???
Well, we become one, because we all enter the Kingdom in the same way. Baptism is a recognition that you don’t deserve to get into heaven. You can’t get in because of how powerful you are, or because of how important you are, or EVEN because of how many good things you’ve done.
The Bible says (before you became a Christian) you were an enemy of God and you were children of wrath. Every last one of us deserved to go to hell.
Colossians 2:14 says “you were dead in your sins.” Well, what do you do with dead people? You bury them! That’s why Romans says: “How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:2-4
So baptism is the recognition that we had to die to our past. We ALL had to die to our past, because – as we were – we didn’t have a chance. We ALL had to be BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST; We ALL had to be BURIED WITH CHRIST; And then we ALL had to be RAISED FROM THE DEAD… just like CHRIST.
Just like Communion, baptism points to the fact that our ONENESS - our UNITY - is based upon our belonging Jesus. It’s all about Jesus.
ILLUS: Now, there are some churches who baptize people into THEIR church. And when people go from one church to the next, they have to be baptized all over again. I once visited with a man (I swear we didn’t talk about baptism up to this point) who asked me if he’d have to be baptized again if he came to our church. I asked: “Baptized again? How many times have you been baptized? “Five times,” he replied. “Why?” I asked. Every time he joined a different church, they baptized him all over again. Then I asked “Have you ever been baptized into Jesus.” “Yes, once,” he said. “That’s all we ask. All that matters is if you’ve been baptized into Christ.”
We don’t baptize people into OUR congregation. We baptize them into Jesus, because Jesus is what makes us ONE with each other. And in order to be baptized into Jesus, you need to BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ; REPENT of your sins, believing that Jesus can take away your sins; CONFESS that Jesus will now be your Lord; and then you can be BAPTIZED into Jesus.
Just like communion, baptism is all about Jesus… Jesus… Jesus. It’s Jesus that makes us one.
Lastly, Jesus said we should be “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Now, where am I going to find what Jesus has commanded us to teach? How am I going to know WHAT to teach people about Jesus? Would I look in… an encyclopedia? Would I discover it by watching the History channel or any number of documentaries on the Internet? Would I find out about Jesus’ teachings by talking to great philosophers and theologians?
Now those sources might QUOTE Jesus, but that’s NOT where you’ll find Jesus’ teachings. So, if that’s not where you’d find Jesus’ teachings, where will you find them? (Hint: the Bible)
There’s an old Children’s song that goes: “The B.I.B.L.E, yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God. The B.I.B.L.E.”
Now that’s cute, and… it’s simple. In fact, there’s people who believe that it’s too simple (pause). That’s too childlike to believe that all you need to know is in the bible. And I’ve actually heard people say that.
But, it wasn’t too simple for Jesus. In His prayer, before He was crucified, Jesus prayed: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17
Your word is truth? What WORD is that? Well that WORD is… the B.I.B.L.E.. And when we stand alone on the Word of God, God can sanctify us. Because it is in that Bible that we learn what Jesus wants us to teach. In fact, you’re not going to find Jesus’ teachings anywhere else! Because everything we know about Jesus, and what He taught, is right here!
The whole Bible - it’s all about Jesus. From Genesis to Revelation, it all points to Jesus. In the Old Testament it repeatedly tells us – He’s coming. In the New Testament it repeatedly tells us –He HAS come. And in Revelation we’re repeatedly told – He is coming AGAIN. It’s all about Jesus!!!
And Jesus is why we are ONE. Nothing else matters… but Jesus. There’s an old song that says what this sermon has been saying. If you know it singing it with me (we put it on the screen in English, Spanish and Burmese).
“Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there’s just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, let all heaven and earth proclaim - Kings and Kingdoms will all pass away, but there’s something about that name.”
INVITATION
