Ephesians 4:1-6
1. last week I launched us into a new series from Ephesians 4 entitled: church – the way it’s supposed to be. Last week – unity; this week – unity once more. Let’s pray together as we begin this journey into God’s plan for the church.
God I pray that you will begin to do things in our church that we are not used to….things that will align us with your mission & heart, things that will surprise & excite us, and things that will glorify you & increase your reputation in our community. In the name of the Father Son Spirit.
Identity
1. In all of creation, identity is a challenge only for human beings. For example, a tulip knows exactly what it is. It never tries to be a rose or a Dutch Iris or a sunflower. It doesn’t face complicated decisions in its process of becoming a tulip.2. The same is true of dogs, rocks, trees, stars, electrons, steelhead, coyotes, and rain. Says David Benner in his book, The Gift of Being Yourself, "all give glory to God by being exactly what they are. For in being what God means them to be, they are obeying him."
3. This series is about the church’s identity, what we are supposed to be in God’s eyes.
4. But since the church is made up of people, this is a challenge. Sometimes we simply don’t know what God intends the church to be. Other times we may know but we may not like it & rebel. These messages are my attempt, using Ephesians 4, to get all of us on the same page about our identity as the church.
Unity once again
1. Wednesday evening after dark I was out walking around the track at Ackerman. Trying to get some exercise. Doing some praying.2. I sensed God telling me to speak on unity once again. Why? Because unity is very close to God’s heart.
3. By way of review, Ephesians 4:1-6 gives us the theological foundation of our unity & how we are to express it within the church:
* theological foundation – one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism & one God
* expression – humility, gentleness, patience, tolerant love & peacekeeping
4. Now the “why” – why is unity so important to God? I have 3 reasons that I want to share with you this morning:
* 1st, God himself is a unity of 3 persons: Father. Son & Holy Spirit
* 2nd, the church’s unity will help convince the watching world that Jesus and his love are for real.
* 3rd unity is our final destiny as the people of God.
Why is unity close to God’s heart?
God himself is a unity of 3 persons – Father, Son, & Holy Spirit (theological reason)1. God has always existed as 1 God made up of 3 persons – God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. Not 3 gods but 1 God in 3 persons. What the church calls the Trinity.
2. How God can be 1 and 3 at the same time is a mystery. God is incomprehensible. The finite (we all of us) will never totally understand or explain the infinite.
3. The 1 God is a unity of 3 persons. Unity lies at the essence of God’s nature. If you could cut God he would bleed unity.
4. Unity is close to God’s heart because unity expressed is God expressed. We only know of unity & experience unity as human beings because of God’s unity. We are made in his image & likeness.
5. This means that we are made for unity, made for oneness. With God. And with each other.
6. Where do I find this in Scripture? – John 17:11 is one place: I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father. protect them by the power of your name – the name you gave me – so that they may be one as we are one.
7. Jesus prayed for our protection. Protection from what? >From disunity. From division. From being split apart. He prayed that his followers would live together in unity just like he & his Father did. As goes the Father & the Son, so goes the Church, prays Jesus.
8. I want to be an answer to Jesus’ prayer. I want my life to speak unity. A godly person is a woman or man who values unity within the people of God.
The church’s unity will help convince the watching world that
Jesus and his saving love are real (missional reason)
Jesus and his saving love are real (missional reason)
1. John 17 is the longest prayer of Jesus’ that we have in the Bible. John 17 provides us with an inside view to Jesus’ heart. This prayer has become one of the most significant sections of the whole Bible for me since I preached on it 2 years ago this fall.
2. Jesus prayed for a unity a 2nd time in John 17:20: I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
3. When the world around us sees our unity as followers of Christ, they will be helped to believe that God the Father did in fact send Jesus his Son as the Savior of the world. Part of the mission of Jesus in our world is this – he intends to reach the world through the avenue of our unity.
4. Which means that when the church is divided, when the church is separated, when the church is splintered, when the church is fighting, the mission of Jesus to save lost people is gutted. When that happens, we have blood on our hands, so to speak.
5. Jesus prayed for unity a 3rd time in John 17:23: 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.
6. When the church gets it right & lives in love & harmony, its easier for lost people to apprehend & accept the love of God for them. Because the church is the only Jesus, the only God most people will ever know.
7. Part of the mission of Jesus in our world is this – he intends to reach out to the world through the avenue of our love for each other.
8. the church’s unity is an unmistakable witness to the love of God the Father. The stakes are high on this one. Every sign, every manifestation, every scent, every word of disunity in the church invalidates the gospel to the watching world.
Billy Graham
1. I think one of the greatest unifiers the church has seen in the last 100 years is Billy Graham. He was a bridge-builder.
2. "Billy’s ever-broadening perspective and bridge-building efforts cost him many supporters but won him others. He became a tremendous bridge builder, reaching across denominational, political, racial, and religious boundaries (the leadership secrets of billy graham by harold myra & marshall shelley)."
3. He 1st attempted to build bridges with the mainline denominations – Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians & Lutherans. He invited them to become a part of his crusades. Christ was the center that he refused to give up. And he united a diversity of churches in that Center who was Christ.
4. 2nd he built bridges with Roman Catholics. He invited them to become a part of his crusades. TIME magazine reporter David Aikman wrote, Graham’s exemplary warmth toward Catholics, without his giving up any core Protestant beliefs, may have done more to heal the wounds of the great Protestant-Catholic schism of the Reformation than the actions of any other Christian in the last 500 years.
5. Next Billy Graham attempted to span the divide between Christians & the Jewish community.
6. Next Graham reached out to those on his theological left who criticized his message & method – Karl Barth, Emil Brunner, Helmut Thielicke & Reinhold Niebuhr. Once they got to know his message, got to know him, they endorsed hs message, they supported him.
7. In my lifetime Billy Graham has been the greatest churchman I know of. I believe this is one reason why God has richly blessed his ministry. I want to be like Billy Graham.
3 – Unity is our final destiny as the people of God (eschatological reason)
1. Genesis through Revelation – eternity past to eternity future. What is God up to?
2. The Old Testament = Adam & Eve. Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph. Moses, Joshua, Deborah, Esther, Hannah. David, Solomon. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Amos, Micah, Hosea.
3. The New Testament = Peter, James & John & the 12 disciples. Paul, Barnabas, Stephen. Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Lydia, Phoebe.
4. Church history = Augustine, St. Benedict, Gregory the Great, Thomas Aquinas, St Theresa of Avila, Madame Guyon, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Amy Carmichael, Mother Theresa, Corrie Ten Boom, C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Pope John Paul II.
5. what’s it all about? What is God doing?
6. Eternity past = the Father Son Spirit in everlasting communion. Love, unity, harmony.
7. Eternity present = the all-out effort of God to form an all-inclusive community of loving persons on the earth who call him Lord.
8. Eternity future = the people of God in everlasting communion with each other & with God the Father Son Spirit.
9. Unity & oneness, as they flow out of the heart of God, into his creation, into his people Israel, into his church, into people of every time, race & culture. Unity & oneness, in a very real sense, form the sub-text to God’s work of creation, salvation & consummation.
10. in Revelation 5:9-10 the 4 living creatures & the 24 elders fall down before Jesus, the slain Lamb of God. And they sing a new song:
You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased men for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests
to serve our God and they will reign on the arth.
11. This is a picture of the all-inclusive community of loving persons that stands as the end of all that God is about in our world – creating a people for himself.
12. We read in Revelation 21:22:
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
13. unity with the Father Son & Spirit & with God’s creation is our ultimate destiny. Its where we started out in the Garden & its where we’ll end up in heaven.
14. as I preached 2 weeks ago – on earth as it is in heaven. In John 17 Jesus prays for us his church.
And he prays that the unity of heaven, the unity of he & his Father, would come to earth in his followers. So that the watching world will find it easier to believe in Jesus and his Father’s saving love.
Unity once again
1. because God himself is a unity of 3 persons & we are made in his image & likeness.2. because our unity will assist God in convincing a lost & watching world that he loves them in his Son Jesus
3. because unity is our final destiny for all of eternity.
This week – ask God to show you where you have fallen short of unity, where you need to change, what you need to confess. Then ask him to give you his heart for unity.
1 comment:
Here are notes from the comments made during the class that discussed the sermon today:
JH: Comment about fitting in to other cultures’ churches. Thoughts @ upcoming Israel trip. Story about a church that reserved the back seats for African Americans (years ago)
DB: Shared @ Bible study in Salt Lake City (quite a few mormons in attendance).differences there was in agreement, spirit
BS: Billy Graham’s breaking through the barriers is what made him special.
ES: Amazed at the silly things people divide the church over (# of times they have communion, etc.)
DB: As we draw closer to Christ those differences mean less
VM: Knew about a church that split over the color of the paint used there. (Sounded like some people pushed on ahead and did things their way, so it was really more about “turf” than color).
CB: Long hair in the 60s was a problem. Brother grew it out, tension in church
WG: Question: what is the long hair issue of today?
JH: Piercings, though admits that the problem is within him, not the individual
CB: She pierced her ears as a teen. Created tension in church. Others could not seem to get past it.
BH: People doing things far out of the norm are doing it as a form of rebellion.
VM: Nephew w/ earring. She told him: “If that’s all you do. . . I’ll love you anyway.” Comment was to point out how minimal it was compared to other things such as drugs and alcohol.
DB: We come for a common purpose, participating together, fellowship, we learn from that and begin to conform to a norm. his own work has moved to casual business dress. Formal business dress would be seen as breaking the norm
BN: Quote: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” Ephesians 4:1 Emphasizes “Walk worthy” like Christ, loving others.
BS: Told @ standard of dress at his father’s work place (suits). Sharp, professional, gave a sense of pride to employees
JH: Story about being an usher (dif. church, years ago where everyone wore suits). Part of duties was open & close doors, seating late comers. Late arrivals were dirty, wearing sandals, asked if they could come in and worship. He asked pastor. Pastor said to turn them away., and they left. J never felt good about that.
BG: When a person is going to church, reads the Bible. they begin to change, grow. They will learn at their own pace what to wear.
WG: Shortly after fire there were five youths waiting out front, trying to figure out what to do about their Narcotics Anon. meeting which was to be held there. W stopped and spoke with them. First impressions: dirty, strange piercings, smell clothes. They were very polite, very concerned for the impact the fire must be having n the people of the church. The asked, very respectfully, if it would be ok for them to just sit on the grass for a while. Very loving toward each other.
BN: Definition of Unity in his Bible: “Unity is the responsibility of each believer and is to be persued earnestly.” Made connection to how he does not get to know more people who attend this church but sticks with long time friends.
ES: Referenced 2 Samuel passage where King David was dressed in just his underwear and sang praises to God while dancing before the Ark. his wife criticized him and was punished by God.
BG: “My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show favoritism. Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes, and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Here's a good seat for you," but say to the poor man, "You stand there" or "Sit on the floor by my feet," have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him? But you have insulted the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? Are they not the ones who are slandering the noble name of him to whom you belong?” James 2: 1-7
ES: 1 Corinthians 1:11-13: “My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided?”
CB: The key to unity is getting to know people.
VM: Jesus looked at the heart of people. That is what we need to do.
BG: When I see people I think I might not like, I try to see them with Christ’s eyes
DB: All of us bring our own baggage, and as we grow that falls always.
ES: Story about James McGee and his wife. His wife felt uncomfortable about the tobacco smoking in the church parking lot (in the south, tobacco country), and he felt uncomfortable at her church in California where there was a coed swimming event w/ women dressed in bikinis. Both needed to grow.
BH: Christ loves everybody regardless of how they look, act, and we need to also see beyond those things.
JB: Standards are temporal & Christ has standards too. He sees the heart -- We need to be as open and nonjudgmental so they come back.
ES: First Church of Canby --Being one w/ Christ. Raised Catholic --Led father to the Lord. When father went back to Cincinnati he went back to a Catholic church. E did not have a problem with that. If you asked Catholics about the basic things about salvation they would be in agreement.
Told story about a friend who had been in many, very different churches. Asked how he dealt with the differences. Friend said that he just concerns himself with the core values/beliefs.
BN: Read: I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name —the name you gave me —so that they may be one as we are one. John 17:11
He closed us in prayer.
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