Christian Unity

Charles Street Methodist Church (Pulpit Exchange) Jan 24 1993

Ephesians 4:1-6

Today we are at the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. I want to suggest this morning that we should really be calling it a "Week of Celebration of Christian Unity". That for two reasons: one in eventuality and actuality, the other in reality.

So first we should celebrate and give thanks for what has happened over the last three decades or so. I can recall when the various churches of the land looked at each other with an almost open questioning and distrust. I must be honest. I would have called this place a 'chapel' in a way which meant I was rather looking down on it. How the scene has changed! So now we can see each other for what we are: fellow-Christians, followers of the same Lord. Let us celebrate and thank God for his goodness, that we can meet in open and real fellowship.
Yet, if we remain rooted at this level, there is a real danger. That is, that we shall see our unity as something which has been 'achieved;- something to be furthered by more effort. Now don't misunderstand that. There is a very real sense in which we must continue to work and pray- to take indeed Jesus' prayer as our own. I pray for all those who believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one (John 17:20-21). Yet in all this, let us beware of the outward, imposed, corporate unity that would make a mockery of that true unity we have, and of that for which Jesus prayed. For that is the second reason for celebration, and the one on which I wish to concentrate: the unity we have in reality.
Church division is nothing new and one catches more than a whiff of it in many of Paul's letters. So let us take his words in Ephesians 4: Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace (v3). And he goes on to enumerate what in reality and truth join us together, and I want to come to them and address them in a moment.

But first let's just take that phrase 'through the bond of peace'
We are bound together by peace. The 'bond of peace' and that word 'bond' would equally well be translated by the word 'band'; that which goes round something and holds it together. We are encircled and held together by peace; by that peace which is of God, In chapter2 Paul had said:

(Christ's) purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two

(Jew and Gentile)

, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through his Cross

It is as we stand at the foot of the Cross and receive forgiveness and reconciliation with God that we are bound together in unity. The Cross and the way of the Cross is our unity and as we walk the way of the Cross in faith in the Crucified One that we are held together.
You know, I'm rather sad that the Christian Council has abandoned the Good Friday procession of witness. We, by that, declared to the town and to ourselves, that which first and foremost gives us access to the Father, but also unites and bonds us together. Indeed, a as you look over the last decade or so, you'll see that the fortunes and vitality of the Council have been led by that procession. I would say to the Council: "Please reinstate that procession". Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace

So now. let's spend some time thinking about verses 4 to 6 of chapter 4. Here Paul lists and celebrates for us those things which we have in common and which denote our unity.
Take first one Spirit and one Body; with that I would include one baptism. These three things are joined together in verse 13 of 1 Corinthians 12: we are all baptised by one Spirit into one body.
The 'one Spirit' is of course the Holy Spirit. And he is the essential key to our one-ness. All true unity, all Christian union depends on the Holy Spirit. That is why I sounded a note of caution about a structural union being imposed. Such could so easily be the work of man. The work of the Spirit has often seemed to divide and separate. Perhaps I don't need to spell this out in a Methodist Church. For it was when John Wesley, an Anglican minister, went to his bishop and told him of his experience of the Holy Spirit that he got a rap on the knuckles- "Away with you, sir! Away with your ungodly doctrines!" That was the start of Methodism, was it not? For it is a sad fact that many tares have been sown along with the wheat- and there are many within the Christian churches who know very little of spiritual reality. The Spirit may seem to separate, but only where there is no true unity.
So, says Paul, we have 'one baptism'. By one Spirit you were all baptised into one body. Oh how much havoc has been wreaked by a misunderstanding and misuse of that word 'baptism'. And without making an issue of this: how much havoc has been wreaked and eternal harm done by confusing the baptism of infants with that of believers? My heart cries out for thousand upon thousand who have been taught (as I was) that by having water sprinkled on me as a baby, that person is per se a rightful heir of heaven.
But no! Paul is speaking here about something different: the 'one baptism' is that by which we were baptised by the Spirit into one body. This is the baptism which saves and which unites. It is the work of the Holy Spirit within a person: that work of regeneration, of new birth, by which a person is united to Jesus Christ. There is not, and never can be, any true unity between regenerate and unregenerate. But for the true believer there is celebration; common celebration of the one Spirit, who by his one baptism unites us into one body. That 'body' is the 'body of Christ' which is the true church. The true church can never be divided:

We are not divided, all one body we,

one in hope and doctrine, one in charity

Paul asked i none of his rhetorical outbursts: Is Christ divided? (1 Cor 1:13) and goes on to the point of the centrality of the Cross over and above any baptismal rite So we celebrate are true one-ness in Christ. In Christ we have true fellowship- true koinonia- true 'shared life'. And there's that real joy, isn't there, in that special fellowship we can share with true fellow-believers? It's that love for one another which Jesus actually commanded: A new command I give you: love one another (John 13;34); a love which can only be there where there is first true love of the Lord.
Let us indeed celebrate its reality; our unity with Christ. A unity rooted in one Spirit, one baptism, one body. But let's also celebrate those things we hold and possess in common and theses too are listed here. the unity we hold is like a diamond, multi-faceted. Let's hold some of these faces up to the light and rejoice in them: one hope, one Lord, one faith, one God and Father.

One hope just as you were called to one hope.
In chapter one our hope and calling are also linked. That you may know the hope to which he called you (v18)
We all have our hopes, wishes and desires. Often we lump these three together. How often we (perhaps) have an outing planned and say, "I hope it will be a fine day tomorrow". That debases the word hope. What we are actually wishing for is a fine day- unless we have access to an accurate weather forecast! Otherwise 'hope' implies a wish for what may or may not be. Or we have our private hopes for the future; hopes perhaps for our children's futures. Yet surely experience teaches us that nothing is sure in this life. "The best laid plans of mice and man..." We all hope and plan this, that and the other for the future.
The Christian has one sure hope. One thing is for certain. As I consider this I have a tape playing of the 1991 New Wine worship with the song: "One thing I ask, one thing I seek, That I may dwell in your house, O Lord....One thing I ask, one thing I desire, To see you". That is our hope.
It is the hope of our calling. God called us to this hope through Jesus Christ. And therein lies the certainty. It's not a "best laid plan". It's God's work and God's promise. Oh the joy and the peace and the certainty in God's calling of us! We share it! We share this hope! One day we will see his blessed face, his pierced hands; those marks which bought our salvation. Just as you were called to one hope when you were called. All else pales into insignificance when set alongside this glorious hope- all our fears, all our petty divisions and squabbles. We take issue over minor little details with the eternal glory in front of us. Out with such things!

One Lord
Iesous Kurios was probably the earliest Christian confession. No-one can say that 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12:3) Do you see it all fitting together? One Spirit, one Lord. It is the Holy Spirit who makes Jesus Lord on the mean, lowly altars of our hearts.
I think it was David Watson who said "Jesus is not Lord at all unless his is Lord of all". That fact, that confession costs. It cost the first Christians their lives when Nero decreed they should bow the knee and say "Caesar kurios" (Caesar is Lord). Yet Paul could write from prison

Every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of the Father

(Phil 2:11)

We belong to that true church which is the Body of Christ, that has as its head the Lord Jesus Christ. We all have Jesus as Lord as well as Saviour. I'm a mite suspicious of that evangelism which invites people to 'receive Jesus as Saviour' without naming him as Lord. Compare that with Peter's Pentecost sermon in Acts 2:

God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. When they heard this the people were cut to the heart

(how much modern preaching 'cuts people to the heart'?)

and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ"

(Acts 2:36ff)

We have one Lord, or our claim to be 'Christian' is dubious

One faith
Faith, and again it's in Ephesians, is the gift of God. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. (2:8) Faith is the gift which accompanies the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration and in uniting us with Christ. I won't labour this point any more; we all share this gift of faith which God has given us. None of us can boast of our faith: it is God's gift. So we come to the conclusion of this great statement of unity. There is one Spirit...just as you were called to one hope when you were called- one Lord, one faith, one baptism...

And now the final 'coda'- One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Here is the richest treasure of our unity. One God and Father of all. We not only believe in and worship the one God. He is 'Father of all'. So we belong to one family with one Father. We are those of whom God has said "You are mine". God chose each one of us to be in his family- called to one hope when you were called- remember? So as we celebrate our unity we celebrate our security and we celebrate that we are in one family, and family and security go together, don't they? Show me an insecure person and I'll show you the absence of family; certainly of any family which provided security.
One other thing follows in our shred family security- and let's assert this boldly. If we are one in Christ through the new birth, then we are members of God's family, born into it. We stay members of that family. You can't be un-born out of a family. Humanly we are biologically our parents' children and nothing can alter that fact. You may neglect your family and not have much to do with them; you may fall out and disagree. But you remain family Remember God has looked on each one of us and said "You are mine! You are my child and in my family"- and that's wonderful security.

I would close by putting a few questions to you:

Have you disagreement our quarrel with any member of the church family here? If so then put it right, if possible before you leave.
Have you run away, in shame maybe, from your heavenly Father? Then put it right. He wants you back. Remember the Prodigal Son.
Have you differences within the wider Christian family? Then make it right as soon as you can.
Fundamentally, have you assurance that you personally have been baptised by the one Spirit into the one body?; assurance that you have received the new birth? If not, then tell God this is so and that you want and desire this gift. Ask, seek, knock. It will be given, you will find, the door will be opened.

My Christian friends; brothers and sisters:
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. And this morning let's celebrate. Back