All For One and One For All (Part 2)
This morning, we began a discussion about the unity God has set up in the first century. All that God has done through Jesus and his Spirit has a singular goal of unification. God wants to bring everyone under one system where we can all share in the same blessings and work together to glorify God.
There is one body. The believers who put their trust in Christ are all one. It doesn't matter where you came from or what you look like. We are all joined together in the body of Christ. We can't make a new body or divide the body up. It is singular, and we must be a part of it. We do not want to ask Jesus to head up our body that we create. The answer is an emphatic, "NO!" We want to be a part of his body, whatever that looks like.
There is one Spirit. The Holy Spirit is providing a consistent message throughout the inspired writings. His word breathes new life in us, and he is working to sanctify us. By God's Spirit, we live and move and glorify God. We have the life-giving Spirit seal us when we believe what he has inspired and conform our lives to the word. Many people hear that the Spirit is working in our inner man, and they assume some kind of personal inspiration, but that is never promised. God promises to be with us and work all things for our good, but he does not give us each personal revelation. There is one message from the Holy Spirit, and it never changes. That message is found in scripture.
There is one hope of our calling. All of us have the hope of being children of God. We should anticipate the spiritual growth of children who are loved and cared for by their fathers. God does not abandon us. He has given us the great calling to be his image-bearers on the earth, and he promises to work in us and develop us toward that goal. He will help us become to the praise of his glory.
Finally, this morning we looked at our one Lord. This is the idea that Jesus is the one we listen to above all others. His commands stand alone as our highest initiative. Jesus must be Lord of our time, money, family, and our hearts.
The Last Three
Now, I would like for us to consider the last three elements of unity. He says, There is "One Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and in all." Like the first four elements, God did not intend for his people to divide over these. There can't be multiples. Either we submit to the one God has established, or we are refusing to join ourselves with the one true body of Christ. So, as we go through these final three, we should have open hearts and minds. If I am wrong, I need to change and submit to what is true.
One Faith
First, Paul tells us that there is one faith. Is there really one faith? How many faiths are widely accepted in the world today? We are as pluralistic in this category as ever. When someone says they believe in god, it is not entirely clear what their version of god is really like. We put "In God We Trust" on our money, but money is the god we trust for many of us. If you try to tell your people that there is one faith around here, they might agree with you, but they would want to tell you how their faith is the right one. If you go to a more liberal city and say there is one faith, they will call you intolerant and uneducated. Paul clarifies that we cannot believe anything we want and still have a relationship with God. We cannot follow our hearts or what we think is right.
What is the one faith Paul is talking about here? Paul is talking about the faith that comes by hearing the word of God.
Romans 10:16--17 (ESV) --- 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
If we are going to be united, truth can't come from my heart. It can't come from some man with a flattering tongue. We must not put our faith and trust in our hearts or the hearts of other men. Uniting can only happen if we put our faith in the word of God. This is so foundational for there to be unity. We have spent the last year and a half learning about who Jesus is and growing our faith in God. We now have a common faith that God will deliver his promises through the salvation offered by Jesus. If the entire Christian world would hold God's word up as the standard and humbly discuss our understandings with a willingness to change, we could be unified. If we had open and honest hearts, we would not conclude that 2+2=23. We would probably benefit from cleansing every book from every man who has ever written on Christianity and starting all over with the Bible alone. Those who have the truth need to be humble, gentle, patient, and bearing with others in love. But those who are wrong have to be willing to change.
One Baptism
What does he mean when he says, "One Baptism?" What is the one baptism? How do we know what the one baptism is? When we read throughout the New Testament, we read about two different baptisms. There is the baptism of John and the baptism of Jesus. The baptism of John is called temporary by John. He says there is one coming after him who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. Many people believe that there is water baptism and baptism of the Holy Spirit. Did you know that the Bible never mentions these as separate in the New Testament? There is the baptism of water where the gift of the Holy Spirit is given, and there are two times where the Holy Spirit descends on believers as a sign. Nothing in the text calls that descending of the Holy Spirit baptism. Also, nothing in the text indicates that this will happen to every believer. It happens on the day of Pentecost, and it happened when the very first Gentiles were saved. Believing that there are two baptisms goes against the unity of the Spirit's revealed word. There is only one baptism, and it is the baptism of water where we receive the gift of God's grace.
What is the one baptism? Most people say that baptism is a sign or a seal. They think it is a sacrament. Did you know that the Bible never calls it that? Baptism is not a sacrament. It's not a ritual that we do like the Lord's Supper. The Bible calls it an appeal to God for a clean conscience (1 Peter 3:21). It calls it faith in the powerful working of God to cut off our body of sins and nail our record of sins to the cross. You might wonder why we are such sticklers about baptism, but this is why. There is only one, and we are united in that belief.
One God and Father of All
Finally, Paul points us to the one who is over all. We are united in the body of Christ so that we can have access to the God of all. This is the ultimate prize that Jesus gives us. We can call God our Heavenly Father and enjoy a relationship with him. Notice the way that he is described. He is over all, through all, and in all. The God of the Bible has complete authority, power, and control of everything, and we get to call him our Father. His is God alone. There is no other. If we stray from fearing him and seeking after him, we will lose everything of eternal value that Jesus offers us.
He is one with the Son and one with the Spirit. Is he one with us? That's what Jesus hoped for before he died. Jesus wanted us to be joined with God, with one another, and with himself in John 17. So much of the Christian world is united on the belief in the trinity, but we need to be united on all seven of these truths. These are the elements of unity that God has established. They are not man-made. All of this comes from God, who is the author of our salvation and hope.
Where Is Our Loyalty?
Unity requires commonality. We can't say that we are united while we go our own way and do our own thing. This one body doesn't have multiple spirits, multiple callings, multiple lords, multiple faiths, multiple baptisms, or multiple gods and fathers. If there are multiples, there is no unity. If there is no unity, there is no glory for God. How do we find common ground when we are at war with one another over all these topics? Should we all just do what feels right to us? Should we all follow our hearts? No, we have to do things that don't feel good. We have to do things that our heart tells us are wrong, but God's word tells us it is correct. The compass of the world is the heart, but our compass must be the word of God. So many times, I have talked to people who felt like something that will glorify God is wrong, but the only thing wrong with it is that they didn't feel good about it. If you don't feel good about it, by all means, step aside. But don't hinder the work of others based on your feelings. If you have a scriptural basis, share it and let there be a discussion. But don't hinder others or cause others to stumble over traditions or opinions that are unfounded.
Ultimately our loyalty and allegiance must be to Christ and not to ourselves or other men. It is so easy for us to be united as a group today. We might all be from different backgrounds, but we can all unite to pull for a football team we love. So many times, people join together to support a cause, and they devote so much to that cause. They are willing to march beside people from very different belief systems and opinions about many things. They are willing to be arrested or lose their lives because they are united in their cause.
One thing we see all over the religious world is a push for people to be united to men. Agree with our traditions and agree with our opinions. Don't let go of them at any cost. This is why so many people reject coming into our church building or being associated with us. Their family is a part of a different group with a different name. They have an allegiance to that group. That loyalty and allegiance are ingrained in them from a young age. Maybe some of you feel that. But if your loyalty and allegiance are to the church of Christ, it should only be because their allegiance is to Christ, himself. If my children choose to go to a different group, I do not pack up my things and follow along. If my parents choose to move, my allegiance is not to my parents. It is to what is true. This is what Paul is trying to help us understand. God gave us one body, spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, and Father. Where ever I go and whatever I do, I must be seeking the one true way he has created for those who are his children. That is what glorifies God! I am loyal to God, not men. I do not seek to impress men or to satisfy the desires of men. I seek to magnify my God.