Christian Unity

♪ music playing ♪ Good morning, everybody. I'm very happy to be back here, and I'd like to tell you that over the Last few weeks, six weeks in total by now, I think, I've had the opportunity to work with the elders and the session of this church. And... I had the privilege of getting to know them all pretty well. And let me just tell you, you have a bunch of really good men, both elders and pastors, and you should trust them.

because they really love this church they love jesus and they're doing good work together so when this process of searching for a new pastor moves forward trust that your elders have spent time and effort and prayer on this and by the grace of god we'll do everything What God intends for this church. Now, our sermon text this morning comes from... - Thank you. The Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 4.

Verses 7 to 16, this is the sequel to what I preached on a few weeks ago. And so let me read that text. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. This expression, he ascended, what does it mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth?

He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. And he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of man, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

Now you realize Paul is a difficult writer and Greek is a difficult language. This is all one sentence in the Greek language and it's a bit difficult to follow, but here we go. Bye. Earlier in this letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul has reminded us of one great and important truth, a truth about Jesus. Every Christian believer a truth about the church. And the truth is that Christian believers everywhere belong together as one big family.

Jesus died for every single one of us. In fact, Jesus died for every single believer individually. Jesus didn't die for some people. He died for individual human beings. And that is how precious everyone in this room is who believes in him as his Lord and Savior. Thank you. Purchased by the blood of the Son of God. Every believer. All around the globe today, every believer in history and every believer in the future who will ever be has that same worth.

He has been purchased by the divine blood of the Son of God. And since all believers... have been purchased for the same price, there can be no distinction between them in terms of value. You know, if I buy two eggs for the same amount of money, They have the same value. There cannot be any distinction between the value of these Christians and those Christians, not according to sex, nor to race, nor to citizenship, nor to nationality.

The Bible tells us that all mankind consists of only two people. Now, those two people are not Americans and Canadians. Those people are the people of God who, Chosen by God before the foundation of the world and all others. As the apostle Paul emphasizes in Galatians 3, where he says, There is neither Jew nor Greek. Now, this is ethnicity, not nationality. Today you might insert, there is neither German nor American nor Mexican.

you And then he goes on and says, there is neither slave nor free. And this is social status. Today, you can't, You might insert there is neither black nor white, neither rich nor poor, neither citizen nor immigrant. And then Paul says there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Amen. So if you belong to Jesus Christ, you're a son of God, a child of God, and you have with him and with all believers inherited the kingdom of God. Now you have to understand something about law here. For us, an inheritance is something that... We will own when the person who owns it today. will have died. In ancient law, If you have an inheritance, you already owned it while the person who would...

be your father or your uncle maybe, while that person was still alive. You can see that in the parable of the prodigal son where the son says, Father, pay me out my inheritance. It was already his. And then later when he returns and the older brother complains, the father says, look, son, everything I own is yours. Wow. His inheritance was already in his ownership. And so that's true of the kingdom of God.

It belongs to you. Even now it belongs to you. And that is where you belong. And you know, we talk a lot about Christian nationalism today. The truth about Christian nationalism is this. The kingdom of God is Christ's home, Christ's home country, and it's your home country. There's no better place in the world. So be happy to own the kingdom of God. That would be true Christian nationalism.

Now then, the apostle goes on and emphasizes this. All Christians everywhere and at all times have this in common. one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. All Christians are members of the Holy Catholic Church. Not the Roman Catholic Church. It's the Holy Catholic Church of the Apostles' Creed that we prayed a few minutes ago. That's the all-encompassing community of all believers together with Christ.

right And at the same time, all Christians naturally and necessarily are members of a local church. You are members of the Holy Catholic Church and you are members of this local church, Cleono Church in Indianapolis. And as a Christian, you have to join a local church because you can't really be a Christian unless you join the fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters. Now, earlier in this letter, the apostle said that he, by divine revelation, had known the mystery of God.

And the mystery in the Bible is not a secret. It is something that had been unknown for a long time, but it had already been there, and now it had become revealed. And this mystery, Paul says, is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So who are the Gentiles? Well, the Bible uses this word for everyone who is not born into the people of Israel.

If you were not born a Jew, which I assume is true for most of you, if you were not born a Jew, you are a Gentile, and so am I. And so is every American of native descent, Caucasian descent, African descent, and Asian descent. Thank you. The will of God revealed through Christ is that we should all be members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.

Through the gospel, fellow heirs and citizens of the kingdom of God. And now, Paul says, now that this great mystery has been revealed, the church must make this particular wisdom of God known to both rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Thank you. God wants the church to show that it is possible for people from all walks of life, from many different social classes, cultures, countries, and backgrounds to be united.

in loving fellowship together because they all have this in common, one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all. That's Brothers and sisters, what God expects from this church, unity. you Christian unity, the unity of the church, the Catholic church and the local church, is an important blessing. Jesus prayed for it in the last night with his disciples.

Paul exhorts the Ephesians, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Now, then as now, they were within the Catholic Church worldwide and within the local church. churches, people from different cultures and traditions, and within the local churches, different groups. just like today. The unity of the church is not easy to achieve, but it is your mandate from God, and you have to work on that.

The question is how? Then, in the time of the apostle and now, some churches try to achieve unity through conformity. all members must be of the same ethnicity, the same culture, the same social status, even the same age. Amen. One of the churches I served in Germany when I started working with them, they were all old people. And at some point... An old woman in a congregational meeting raised her hand and said, there's nothing wrong with being all old people.

Can't we just be the church of old people in our city? And I said, yes. No, because the church of old people is going to die. And if you want this church to continue, you can't be the church of old people. In conformity, everyone must believe the same thing, think, say, and do the same things. But conformity suffocates the life of the church with legalistic rigidity until it eventually dies.

Other churches, that's the other extreme, they try to achieve unity by indifference. They pretend that there are no difference. Everyone can believe and think and do what he wants, but... Without addressing the differences that exist, it's not unity, it's hypocrisy. Without clear boundaries and binding doctrine, the contents of faith and confession goes away, withers. The church suffocates in a mush of pious religiosity and idle chatter. Many, many other recipes for unity.

lie in between these two extremes, conformity and indifference. And all these recipes fail. Because they conceive of Christian unity from the perspective of man. And that's the wrong perspective, as Paul shows us here. He directs our thinking in a different direction. The body of Christ is to be built up until we attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to the measure of the fullness of Christ.

So, The church is to be built up. Cleono Church Indianapolis is to be built up spiritually in order to attain the fullness of Christ. unity arises from the fullness of Christ, from the knowledge of the Son of God, and from truthfulness in love. Only in that way we can achieve it. And then the question is, well, what is... the fullness of Christ. The most prominent place we find in the Bible is...

The Gospel of John. The apostle speaks of it and he says, From Christ's fullness we have received grace upon grace. Now remember, the Apostle John traveled with Jesus for three years, and during this time, he and the other disciples experienced Jesus in countless different ways. Jesus was a man of wisdom, a man of friendship, a man of joyful celebrations with outcasts and marginalized figures. Jesus knew God's law like nobody else, and he sharply rejected loveless legalism.

Jesus healed the sick and cast out evil spirits. As a preacher, Jesus captivated hundreds of people at the same time. And then Jesus often sought quiet time for prayer. Thank you. Sometimes he was sad, sometimes he was full of joy, sometimes full of fear, and sometimes very angry. Jesus was infinitely patient with his disciples. He entered his city of Jerusalem as a king, and shortly afterwards, he washed the disciples' feet.

as a servant. Thanks to the gift of the Magi from the East, Jesus was actually a wealthy kid. But when he died, the only thing he owned was the garment he was wearing. Whoever met him found in Jesus the ideal friend, brother, teacher, healer, and savior, because he lacked nothing. And as an obedient son, Jesus placed the will of his heavenly father above everything else. All this was Jesus.

All this is Jesus. And so much more. That's the fullness of Christ. This incredible, this rich diversity of all his attributes, all of which radiate goodness and grace. And despite all this diversity, Jesus is one Lord. There are no contradictions in him because his entire person in all this multifaceted glory, Heaven and love. for people who believe in Him. No. And in all this multifaceted glory, his entire person is oriented towards love for the Father in heaven and love...

for people who believe in him. Now, in Ephesians 1, verse 23, Paul says, the church is the fullness of Christ. Thank you. Which means as the body of Christ, the church unites the fullness of Christ of the Lord within herself. The entire diversity of Jesus' personality should be found in the church. But brothers and sisters, we ordinary human beings, we cannot each possess the fullness of Christ individually within us.

And so we must draw together from many, many different people the fullness of Christ. you The church not only has room for many different personalities, it needs many different kinds of people so that together... it can unite the fullness of Christ into one body. Thank you. And now brothers and sisters, think about your church. Cleono Church, Indianapolis. And ask yourself, do we have the fullness of Christ in this church?

you Do we have people from very, very different backgrounds? social status, ethnicity, cultures, so that Christian unity can arise here from the fullness of Christ. Pray to God that he helps you to bring many, many people into this church so that you can experience the fullness of Christ in this church. Christian unity means that there is room in the church for everyone who loves and honors Christ.

Honest the Father in heaven. and loves his brothers and sisters in the faith. In the fullness of Christ, there's no quality that harms people and does not honor God. And therefore, no one who harms other people and does not honor God has a place in the church. Christian unity arises when very, very different people from very, very diverse backgrounds, with very diverse qualities, unite with their Lord.

Focusing on him and on his love. Thank you. And now the apostle gives us three principles for... This... to happen Number one, Christian unity through grace. The apostle says grace has been given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Now, Biblically, there are two kinds of grace. There is the saving grace of God, the standard that makes all people in the church, and therefore all people in this church, are saved.

Equal. We were all born in sin. Through our lives, words, thoughts, and actions, we were all dead in our sin, completely separated from God, that means. And God has given us saving grace by calling us through faith in his son, Jesus Christ, to life in fellowship with him and with one another. By grace, Paul says, you have been saved through the gift of faith. And in this, brothers and sisters, we're all equal.

And we need no more equality for the unity of the church than that, than to recognize that we're all sinners who have been saved by grace. Amen. But... Besides saving grace in the Bible, there's also the grace for service to Jesus and his church. Grace for service begins with gifts of grace, qualities and abilities that Jesus gives to people who turn to him, believe in him, and join his church.

In Romans 12, Paul gives us a list of gifts of grace. Prophecy, Service of various kinds, teaching, exhortation, generosity, leadership, active mercy. And that's not meant to be an exhaustive list. but rather a bunch of examples, which is shown by comparison with 1 Corinthians 12. There the gifts of grace that Paul names are service of various kinds, wisdom, strength of faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpreting tongues.

And so in this diverse array of qualities and abilities, there is no hierarchy. neither of importance nor of value. Leadership is a great gift, but it's not a greater gift of grace than mercy. or the ability to exhort. Or speaking in tongues. These are all gifts of grace that Jesus bestows upon his church through the Holy Spirit. They are diverse so that the church is equipped with everything she needs.

And then Paul says something really wonderful. He says, for each of us has received grace. No one in the church has been left out. There is no one in this room who has not received grace. And has means you already have it. No one must think, oh, I can't contribute anything, or I am too old, I cannot contribute anything. contribute anything anymore There are gifts of listening and encouragement, gifts of kindness and welcoming.

You know, when these old people in that church told me, oh, pastor, we can't do anything, I told them, look, you just... Be friendly to people who come. Smile at them. Welcome them. And then sit in your benches and listen. And you don't know what kind of encouragement that is to the pastor. older people in particular often have a great deal of these gifts. you Paul says grace has been given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Now, that means each of you has received as much of a gift of grace as Jesus has allocated to him or her. So not only the type, the quality of the gift of grace... But also the quantity of the gifts that you have received has been determined by Christ himself. That excludes any pride in your gifts or your talents. They are not your merits. They are gifts from Jesus.

Maybe you're a great musician. Be happy about that, but don't be proud of it. Because it's not your merit. God has given it to you. and this also should encourage you to practice and use the gifts that Jesus has given to you. It should remind you to respect and rejoice in the gifts of your brothers and sisters, for they, like yours, are from Jesus. 1 Corinthians 12 says God's gifts are very diverse.

And from this understanding... arises the unity of the church. The diversity of the people in the church and their gifts is not an accident. it's the will of God. Second principle, Christian love unites the diversity of gifts in service. Paul says he appointed some, Christ that is, appointed some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors, and some as teachers. So now Paul turns our attention to the tasks and ministries that need to be fulfilled in the church.

And here again there is Christ. There is no hierarchy of importance or value. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul mentions various kinds of service. Think about cleaning the building or caring for others. The tasks are varied. but they are all equally ordained by Jesus Christ. And Jesus has gifted people in the church with different talents, different gifts of grace, so that all the tasks... can be accomplished. each member of the church does something different.

And yet all together contribute to the life of the church. Again, there are no different degrees of importance or value. Teaching is not more valuable than cleaning the building. If God has given you the gift of teaching, you That's good. But it's not more valuable than the service of those whom God has given the gift of cleaning. Thank you. The purpose of this diversity, Paul says, is to equip the saints for ministry that builds up the church.

God equips you with gifts so that you use them to serve the church. The word for service, diakonia, here encompasses all kinds of ministries. Up and down in her house to entertain Jesus and his disciples. That's called service. In Acts 6. The service is the daily provision of the church with everything the disciples needed. And Paul uses this word diakonia in several places to describe the ministry of the pastors and the elders.

So there are very different services, different ministries in the church, and all of them, Together serve the good of the church. Christian unity requires that all members of the church be included in In ministry. Each person in the service for which God has gifted him or her. There should be not a single person in the church who is not serving the church in some function. Bye. And you know that reminds me of a personal experience which has become very sweet to me when my wife and I back in the late 1980s first came to Bloomington and then we we began to attend a small church in Bloomington.

After a while, one of the people there came to me and said, Oh, Juergen, I hear you're a professor at Indiana University. And I took a deep breath and said, Yes. And the man said, Well, you know, we thought that your wife and you could clean the stools. Okay. You know, that was great wisdom because we had just come to the country. We had very little understanding of American culture and American Christianity.

But cleaning the stools was something we could do. And it was very wise for them to ask us to do that, because that gave the church an opportunity to say, Thank you, Juergen. Well done. And that gave me an opportunity to feel at home. So when you people come here, don't be shy. Give them something to do so that they may feel at home through the service that they do to the church.

Now the other side of this is that if one person tries to do and take on all the services, that person will be overwhelmed and the church will suffer. you And brothers and sisters, this applies especially to elders. John, this applies to you. If a man thinks he should do all the services to the church, the church will suffer. And it's a great temptation, especially to elders and pastors.

We had an example of that yesterday when we had a meeting and some issue came up and then the question was, well, who of the elders will do it? And I said, brothers? find somebody in the church who can do it, because you already have such a burden of work. If you take on something else, it won't be done properly. Christian unity consists of using the diverse gifts that we have in the church in such a way that all ministries and all their breadth and all their diversity well and serve one purpose to honor God and to do good.

For the church. And no single person can do that alone. And therefore Paul says. Each one should contribute. Christian unity requires that you. Everyone here individual. You discover, nurture and develop your gifts of grace together. you Whoever has received a gift is accountable to God to use it for the good of the church. Every one of you must give an honest answer to the following question. What gift?

Has God given you faith? to serve the church. How can you use that gift and serve the church? And then when you have an answer... Do it. Act on it. The Apostle Peter says, as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. So people, be a good steward of your gifts. So that one day, Jesus will smile at you and say, well done, good steward.

Enter into my joy. But what will he say to those who neglected and wasted their gifts of grace? Thanks. Thank you. Hello. Thank you. But then there's also a warning. We have to keep in mind that there are times in a Christian's life when he or she serves the church by serving God. their families. The same Apostle Paul who says everyone should contribute also warns against busy bodies.

People who are constantly busy in church activities and neglect their families. We had a man in our church in Bloomington who was like that. If something needed to be done, he was always there. But you should have taken a look into his home. It was completely neglected. And he neglected his career. He didn't finish his studies. That's not... what God expects of us. principle number three Christian unity through growing together The goal, Paul says, is that the body of Christ may be built up until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God.

In other words, you all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God together. or you will not attain it at all. The task of the various ministries is, Paul says, that we may grow in every way into him who is the head, from whom the whole body joined together. and held together is joined to one another, each part supporting the other according to its strength, so that the body may grow and build itself up in love.

An organic structure like a body must emerge, a body in which everyone depends on everyone else. Each member supports all others, Each one... supports all others, all are focused on Christ, just as my hand and my foot help each other, and both are controlled by the head. Thank you. And then there is this little word, grow. The body of Christ must grow together. So Christian unity is a process of growth.

And a process of growth takes time. And it often fails precisely because we become impatient and we try to speed it up. Thank you. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says about the growth of growth. God. It always takes time. And it often fails precisely because we become impatient and we try to speed it up. Thank you. In 1 Corinthians, Paul says about the growth of growth. God sets the pace.

Don't despair if you don't have perfect Christian unity in this church today. What is important is that you keep growing together in your shared service to Jesus and his church. That you learn to see your diversity as a gift and use it for the good of the church. What is important is that you learn to see your diversity as a gift and use it for the church and trust God to grant growth.

perhaps it will take a few more years. And until then, keep practicing your very different gifts patiently. Rejoice in how your church grows and becomes more diverse. And thank God for it. And learn to serve one another. to the glory and joy of our Father in heaven. The goal of growing together, Paul says, is that we may no longer be infants tossed about by every wind of doctrine and blown about by the deceitful games of men with which they cunningly lead us astray.

astray. Bye. You know, there's the unity of a hen house, where all the chicken cluck peacefully among themselves. But when the fox comes, they all run away. And the fox catches the weakest one. Thank you. There's the unity of a haystack where many, many blades of grass lie quietly together, but woe to them when the wind blows back. And they all disappear and nothing remains. That's not Christian unity.

Yeah. The church is in constant danger of being attacked, being confused from the outside. People come into the church, perhaps even become members, and they pursue their own goals. They want to elevate themselves at the expense of others within the church. New movements come up, new doctrines emerge that confuse the disciples and lead them astray. Paul says. The church must be able to calmly. Assess new things and new people.

To accept what is good and to reject what is bad. And to achieve this, it must grow together as a unified body. So that everyone knows he or she can rely on everybody else. You learn this by understanding that the diversity of your qualities and gifts is a shared gift from Jesus. and by experiencing in your shared ministry that you can trust one another. Bye. Paul illustrates this by using the image of the human body.

The whole body is joined together, one part in the other, each part supporting the other according to its strength. mutual dependence mutual support is the love paul speaks of love that unites the members and builds up the body Now, brothers and sisters, that's risky. It is risky. Because if you make that happen, if you live that way, unity makes you dependent on one another. Each Christian realizes that he or she can only live if the others support him.

But then every Christian also knows that the others can only live when he or she supports them. And so unity consists in everyone being dependent on everyone else. Can you take that risk of mutual dependence? Yes, you can. But only if you all agree that your lives and your church do not belong to you. They belong to your Lord Jesus Christ. He is the head. on whom the whole body depends.

He guides you. He governs. He equips the church with gifts and ministries. His love is the growth hormone of the church, making you grow together in love. Brothers and sisters, only if you trust in him can you embark on the risky path of Christian unity. But if you trust in him, you will succeed. You will experience your mutual dependence, your very unity, as a great joy and a great gift. And thanks be to God for Christian unity. Amen. ♪♪♪