Preserving the unity of the body. Immanuel church, Winchester 7/3/4am Eph 4:1-13
UNITY & DISUNITY
Had a friend drop by to stay Mon Tue pm while at leadership conference
- Shocked when told: ¡§30% of a leaders energy will go in conflict and stamping out fires¡¨
- you: ¡§oh, that¡¦s what happens in these older churches¡¨
o it was the Vineyard leaders conf
- Steve said: we¡¦d consider that a disaster in the business world. Huge proportion of energy spent on something unproductive
My experience: at times 70%. Currently 10% (praise God!)
I think, as Christians, we are often blind to the enemies tactics
- shouldn¡¦t be . 2 Cor 2:11 ¡¥we are not unaware of his schemes¡¦
- spend our time & energies fighting his ways ¡¥out there¡¦
- but my belief of the nature Satanic strategy¡K attack is that it comes from within the body
- friendly fire
Most of the distractions and destructions to us being fruitful, soul-winning churches, are our battlings within
- they don¡¦t WANT to join us
- (they will know you are my disciples if you love one another)
- see us as fighting over petty differences between our churches and within our churches
- many of our leaders are too exhausted trying to manage the baby, stamp out fires to do what we should be doing
o = saving the lost, whatever the cost
I do church now on the premise that what EVERYBODY¡K Christians and non-Christians¡K. need is to see lives changed by Jesus
- I¡¦m not negating pastoral care- but, seriously, 2/3 of our insular problems vanish when we see someone transformed
- it¡¦s what we were made/saved for
But many of our churches are too busy battling ¡¥the enemy within¡¦ to prioritise this
- hence: miss the testimonies¡K discouragement¡K death
So, when I¡¦m talking about unity- let me first start in the context of US
IN A CHURCH
Paul says ¡¥make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit¡¦
He says in Phil
PHP 2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
So- IF you really ARE blessed in the Spirit¡K really are united with Christ
- then SHOW it by considering one another and being united
Make the effort. Put your energies HERE. Be united
Now- does this mean we should all be uniform. Agree on everything
- nope. Phil passage¡¦s focus is being one in PURPOSE. You can be one in purpose and have loads of ways of getting there!
- In the Eph passage Paul speaks about unity within the diversity of different gifts and approaches
Unity is not uniformity. Nor is it feeling that I have to agree with you on everything!
-Paul PHP 3:15 All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16 Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Maturity (as Paul holds out as a goal here in Eph 4) is knowing what differences matter and which ones don¡¦t
- it¡¦s okay to have different opinions of minor things.
o In fact- it¡¦s healthy. I want it
o (cf Jewish synagogue: pattern of Phars & Sads!)
- on the creedal things, central things- nature of God, Jesus, salvation we are agreed
o but many other things: you may be right! Or may be wrong- but, if you love Jesus and are united in the purpose of bringing Him to all people: you¡¦re my brother/sister! I can work with you! Let¡¦s go for it
„X ¡§that the world may believe¡¨
Paul himself (a pedant and dogmatist!) accepts that there are some matters that are not worth ¡¥picking a fight¡¦ over
RO 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.
And it is true that we often choose to get upset over someone who feels differently. Or choose to take offence about something:
’It is not that you have offended me, but that I have TAKEN offence’ or ’It is not that I have offended you, but that you have TAKEN offence’ (i.e. we make CHOICE to take offence or not) Revd Brian White describing how he taught his church about godly, Christian responses
Don¡¦t do it. Learn to respect and get on and see what really matters. Make every effort for the sake of the church. Your church
While working on the wording of the USA declaration of independence (the wording took 2 days, and those who were to put their name to it were seen as guilty of treason- in rebellion to the British crown) one of the signatories, while they were having difficulties, said ’we must hang to gether on this’. Benjamin Franklin’s reply was ’We’d better hang together, or we’ll hang separately!’
Frankly- we are hung out to dry and passed by by many unbelievers because they can see that we don¡¦t hang together.
Now- what¡¦s the dividing line? When does someone cease to be saved because they¡¦ve got false doctrine? Or, when should we actually stand up and out for what we believe to be truth (rather than disputable matter)
- well- on the salvation bit: I really don¡¦t know at what point false doctrine loses salvation. I leave that one to God
But for me the non-negotiables of our faith are found in the understanding of the Apostles creed, concept of the trinity and salvation by grace
- historic Christianity and mainline churches agree on these things
o creed- Apostles or Nicene. (say it)
o trinity: One God three persons. Divinity & personality of Jesus & HS
o salvation by grace- only by grace
How do you deal with someone who is off the wall on these things¡K or off the wall on their behaviour¡K or causing waves/disunity etc
- all in the same way- and the principle is shown in Mt 18:
MT 18:15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that `every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
Start small. Speak to them one to one. Doesn¡¦t even have to be a leader who does it. It¡¦s YOU if you¡¦ve been affected by it
- if they won¡¦t listen: take it further. Take someone along. Maybe even take it higher- take a leader along
- if they still don¡¦t listen then you take it to the local church- and (to me) THEY make the decision to disfellowship the individual
o (remedially! Not retributory or retaliatory)
It¡¦s too big a responsibility to be on the head of any one leader/individual that someone should be disciplined so hugely as ¡¥disfellowship¡¦. There¡¦s too much possibility for resentment.
- it¡¦s the role of the whole church
So- let me clarify. The Bible shows the clear role and value of leaders. They are here in the Ephesians passage. They are there to release and equip people and help them mature.
- In scripture you find people being hauled before the apostles, elders and the Jerusalem council- particularly wrt issues of DOCTRINE
But as issues of discipline grow- so do the number of shoulders on which it is placed¡K and the major issue of disfeloshipping falls to the whole church
So- we¡¦ve covered unity, disunity and discipline within the local church
- and in summary: Paul says ¡¥make every effort¡¦. I¡¦d add- ¡¥don¡¦t be tool of the accuser¡¦. Do be wise to his ways- and do get SO close to God that you can overlook irritations/differences and the prompts of the adversary
A WWII pilot is anxious as he flys noting that there are rats in the cockpit chewing at the wires that control the plane. he radios back to Mission Control "what should I do, return: to base?". They say, "No. Climb higher. You have an oxygen mask- and as you get into the rarified atmosphere the rats will die but you’ll be okay"
God is mission control. When Satan attacks, or the rats get bad- he tells us to fix our eyes on higher things. On Jesus. To fly higher. That will kill the rats
Higher things: our purpose. The Lord Jesus.
BETWEEN CHURCHES
Now- what about our unity BETWEEN churches
Well- here we have a problem, because I reckon God doesn¡¦t see different churches
- they are our making not His. He only sees one! One bride, and one church in Winchester
- I¡¦m not saying they are not necessary¡K at the moment¡K
o But isn¡¦t it great that the Lord is bringing us together?
o ¡¥that the world may believe¡¦¡K or Winchester, at least!
We are recognising that the things that divide us are much smaller than the things that unite us
- the things that divide us are ¡¥disputable things¡¦. Secondary things
¡§What- you mean baptism is a secondary thing?¡¨
- yep. Being baptised isn¡¦t¡K but HOW you do it (and whether you call it baptism or baptism & confirmation) IS. To me.
- If I stick to what I think (which is right) showing no respect for others- I can be a block to the work of God.
So- it¡¦s just like I said about unity within/in our churches. We make EVERY effort to be one with other Christians, as well
- this means GOING to the MW celebration¡K Pentecost celebration (Charles Stewart!)
- only ever speaking respectfully of others¡K other churches
- we overlook things for the sake of the gospel. Don¡¦t take offence and don¡¦t get picky
And there¡¦s something special about the way we relate together. So much so that, when I was talking with Robin recently about a far away bap Minister who is going off the rails- and has no accountability I said
- I hope that wouldn¡¦t happen here. Someone would go to my friends in MW and they¡¦d give me a talking to
I¡¦m not setting us up as an authority body in Winchester- but I am saying there is safety in good relationships
- and I¡¦d want that ALL churches were part of active relationship in MW or CTW
Neither am I saying WE (MW) are ¡¥the church¡¦ in Winchester. We¡¦re obviously not!
- and it¡¦s no good saying ¡¥MW is my church¡K. Therefore I can flit from flower to flower¡¦
- what we¡¦ve clarified about unity, division and discipline is that the all important thing is being in accountable loving relationship with people
If you¡¦re a ¡¥butterfly¡¦ for Jesus- you can¡¦t be that, and you¡¦re probably running away from relationship and accountability
Get tucked in to YOUR local church. Get into relationships. Work at building it not criticising or tearing it¡K AND be part of the wider picture, as well.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace- that the world may believe
