May 18, 2008

"Peace and Unity in the Church"

Ephesians 4: 1- 14

When I was doing post graduate work at Baylor University I took a class on the history of philosophy.  The course consisted of our writing short papers on major philosophers in Western history and then discussing each other's papers in class.  We came from many different religious backgrounds.   One student was a fundamentalist Baptist, another was a Mennonite, one came from a liberal church, one was an agnostic, another was a communist from China, and, of course, I came from a Reformed background.  And we had some great discussions, but seldom came to agreement.  One time I was speaking with the student from China. This man's father was an official with the communist government.  And even though he was raised by his father to be an atheist communist, he told me that he was interested in the Christian faith, which was one of the reasons he was studying at Baylor, a Baptist university.  And he said that he would be interested in becoming a Christian.  But, one thing stood in his way. 

"All, but one of you, claim to be Christians," he said.  But, you can't agree on anything.  You tell me that Christianity is the truth, but which Christian truth should I believe, the professor's, Andy's Jim's, yours? "

I tried to explain to him that we were united in believing in Christ as our Savior and that we agreed on many basic teachings.  But, he wasn't convinced.

"Then why don't you worship together?  Why are there so many churches?"

Brother or sister in Christ, how would you have answered him?   And his comments do bring up a related issue.  "What does it mean to be one with other Christians?  And more practically, how do we show we are one?  And it may not be Christians from other churches who are the hardest to get along with.  The biggest fights today happen within denominations and congregations, and often not over matters of Biblical teaching.  The songs we sing, the hymnals we use, domineering members, the lifestyle decisions of others in church and other such things also divide us.  How can we be one with those who anger and irritate us, with Christian brothers and sisters who are harder to get along with than our unchurched neighbor.

In the scripture we read for this morning the Lord is calling us through his apostle Paul to

to live a life worthy of the calling you have received

The calling to which he is referring is our calling to live the saved life-to live as Christians.  God is calling us through his servant Paul to live a life worthy of the name Christian.  He calls us to live like a member of God's family.  And what does that mean? Paul explains what it means in the rest of this chapter and in chapters 5- 6.  Now we don't have time to deal with all of that this morning, so we concentrate on the first area Paul addresses.  It's found in verses 2- 3.  If we are to live like a Christian then we must

²Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We must live like Christians in every area of our lives, but it's important that start at home.  It's important that we start living like Christians in our dealings with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  If we can't deal Christianly with each other, how can hope to deal Christianly with those outside the church.

Notice that Paul doesn't begin with a set of rules.  That's not that he has anything against specific commands.  In chapter 5: 3 and following he is very specific.  But, living as a Christian is not simply a matter of following certain rules.  If we are truly a Christian then the Holy Spirit has taken our dead hearts and made them alive again.  And in doing so he has changed the direction of our lives from a self-centered selfish short-sighted sinful way living that leads to death to a new Spirit-led way of living that leads to life.  Turn with me to Galatians chapter 5: 16.  Let's begin reading there.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

And what does it mean to live according to the sinful nature.  Look at the next verse.

¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

And note what it means to live by the Spirit.  It means that our lives are characterized by the fruit of the Spirit.  Verses 22- 23

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Now what does all this have to do with being united with other Christians.  Did you notice that Paul repeats some aspects of the fruit of the Spirit in verse 2 of our scripture: patience gentleness, and love.  He adds humility.  These are all evidences that Spirit who made us alive is guiding our lives.

Now when we live that way we keep the unity of the Spirit.  The by-product of living as Spirit-filled Christians is unity.  Unity doesn't come from agreeing on everything.  Unity doesn't come from being part of the same organized church or denomination.  Unity does not come from worshipping the same way.  It comes from living like Spirit-filled Christians rather than like self-centered people of the world.  And that is what we as Christians have failed to do time and time again. 

Verse 3 concludes with the phrase, in the bond of peace.  The unity that we have through the work of the Holy Spirit is made possible by the bond of peace that Jesus established between God and us.  If you have your Bibles open, turn over the page to chapter 2: 14.  Let's begin reading there.

Ephesians 2:14 - 18 (NIV) ¹⁴For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,  ¹⁵by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,  ¹⁶and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.  ¹⁷He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  ¹⁸For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

The peace that Jesus established between God and his people made possible a peace between people-in this case between the Jews, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who followed the Old Testament laws, and the Gentiles, who not physically related to Abraham.  Together Jew and Gentile were made one people, who belonged to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

So that's why Paul goes on to say that because of the peace Jesus established on the cross all believers (Jew, Gentile, male female, slave, free, Chinese, American, German, Dutch, Italian, Navajo, Baptist, Christian Reformed, Lutheran) have been made one. 

And how are we one?  Look at the list in verses 4- 6.

Ephesians 4:4 - 6 (NIV) ⁴There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called- ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism;  ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Our time is limited so we cannot examine all of these.  Let me just pick a few. 

One body:  Certainly this refers to what Paul writes about in 1 Corinthians 12, where he says that in the church are one body with many parts, each having a different function.   Now, the fact that we are one body means that we are connected to each other.  And as those connected, we keep bumping in to each other.  I recall that there was a certain high school administrator I didn't like at all.  In all my dealings with him he seemed so arrogant and unreasonable.  Years later I was directing a youth group on work project at Roseland Christian Ministries in Chicago.  Guess who was a member of that youth group?  She was a very friendly Christian young woman, who had nothing but good to say about this man, her father.  It reminded me that although he may have demonstrated some of his weaknesses in his dealings with me, he nonetheless was a Christian brother whom God had used to raise a fine young Christian woman.

There is also one Spirit.  I spoke earlier about that Chinese man who couldn't quite come to faith because of the disagreements we Christian had expressed in matters of philosophy and theology.  During the time our class was meeting he became ill.  All of us forgot our differences and prayed for him; some of us, who could, offered to help him financially.  I don't know if he later became a Christian, but he mentioned that this certainly made an impression on him.

There is one hope.  Has it ever dawned on you that you are going to have to spend eternity with some Christians with whom you strongly disagree and with some who irritate and anger you?  Why not get better acquainted now.

There is one baptism.  Baptism reminds us that we are not saved because we are correct in our doctrine or because we are such good people, or because we have such great personalities.  We are saved because of what Jesus did on the cross.  His blood washes away our sin.  Before God we are all in the same boat.

And so by reminding us of these ways in which we are one, our Lord through his servant Paul calls us to strive to be one.  But how in this sinful word, with our stubborn sinful natures, can we achieve unity.  The answer:  By remaining in the body and diligently working to become what Jesus saved us to be.  Some Christians, who have been hurt, drift away from church and from the church people whom they believe have done them wrong.  That is an unwise move.  I call it unwise, because the more we distance ourselves from the body, the more we miss out on the grace that can only come through the body.  As scriptures like 1 Corinthians 12 point out, God gives his grace to us within the body of believers as we serve one another. And that's what Paul says in verses 7 and following of our scripture for this morning. 

Now, it's also important to note what Paul says in these verses about truth.  Sometime churches are willing to compromise on Biblical truth to achieve unity.  In verse thirteen Paul writes that one of our important goals is to achieve unity in faith and knowledge.  For in verse fourteen he warned against those who are tossed back and forth by every wind of teaching.   Understanding Biblical truth is very important.  The question is,  "how do we achieve that goal?"  What does Paul say in verse 15?  We achieve it by speaking the truth in love.  When you think of all the divisions that have happened among Christians over doctrine, was the real problem the doctrinal differences or was it the lack of love?  Paul seems to say the latter.

 Listen to how he concludes in verse 16,

Ephesians 4:16 (NIV) ¹⁶From him [that is Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.   

That is how a church not only grows in knowledge, but also how it becomes all that Jesus saved it to be.  Among the things we discussed during our last two council meetings were the strengths and weakness of our church.  Together we praised God for all the new members he has given us over the last few years.  We praised him for the good relationship we have with each other and for the friendliness of our people.  We praised him for our meaningful worship times and our other activities and ministries.  But, there was one area that we thought we needed to work on.  And that was the glue that holds us together.  How committed are we to each other, beyond meeting together for Sunday morning worship 2 or more times a month?  As a council we wondered about that.  What do you think?  Do we need work that area?  If we do, where do we go from here?  How many of you would like be a part of that discussion?

At my daughters' school the theme this year was Christian unity.  All year they did activities to build unity among the students and staff.   Students in different grades were assigned to unity groups, led by 7^th and 8^th graders, who were challenged to be role models for the younger students.  About a week ago they had Unity Day.  During the afternoon of that day the unity groups played games and did other activities which were intended to help them work together.  It didn't matter who won or lost.  They were encouraged to help each other have fun.  In one of the activities the feet of the students in a unity groups were all strapped to two long two-by- six boards.  And then they were told to see if they could walk.  Of course, the only way they could do that was to take their steps together.  And they really struggle.  Sometimes the whole group would fall over like dominoes.  But, each time the teacher encouraged them to get up and try again.

People of God, that is what our Lord is doing this morning.  He is encouraging us to get up and try again.  And when we do we have his promise:  We can be confident that

that he who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Amen!