Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father
of all, who is over all and through all and in
all. Several years ago now, a friend of mine
accepted the challenge of a church which had
at its beginning of his ministry 33 people, including
the children, only 12 of whom were members. After
one and a half years of sacrifice, prayer, hard
work, teaching the word, over a hundred people
had trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and
followed him in baptism. Think of what was accomplished
in those 18 months. And then one man became negative
and critical of my friend's ministry. For example,
on visitation night, instead of going visiting,
he would go with another man, but the two of
them would sit together and in the entire time
of visitation talk about the pastor's ministry.
The result was that there developed within that
church of 150 or so people a small group of critical
people who gossiped. primarily about the pastor.
The result of that was that the blessing of God
lifted from that church. After just two months
of that kind of activity, missions giving dropped
off to nothing, and it was not long before the
pastor left, to his own admission, probably prematurely.
But he heard the noise of the minority. and the
majority was quiet. Sad to say, that church has
not to this day recovered from that incident.
Nothing is more important to a local church than
the unity of the Spirit in the body of that church.
The loss of spiritual unity is really the death
knell to its ministry. Oh, it may exist all right.
but it cannot thrive and it will not be effective
because of the lack of unity. Our text today
in Ephesians chapter 4 deals with this very practical
topic. The unity of a local church is a sacred
treasure, which is to be appreciated, encouraged,
and it says here protected. It is essential for
that unity. to be thusly treated for that ministry
to be God -honoring. I want you to think with
me, first of all, regarding the source of unity.
It is supernatural in its origin. The unity of
the church does not come from the natural state
of the people who belong to it. It does not come
because everyone pays a certain amount of dues.
It does not come because they meet together and
they eat a certain meal one time a month, as
some clubs do. Rather, the origin of the unity
in the church is a supernatural origin because
it comes from God himself and is personally administrated
by the Holy Spirit. Thus, it is called the unity
of the Spirit. That unity is not merely some
vague spiritual identity, but rather it is, as
George Johnson says, quote, a profound oneness
made possible by God's Spirit. That unity exists
as a reality due to the work of the Holy Spirit
in placing us together into the body of Jesus
Christ. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter
11 speaks to this when he says, excuse me, chapter
12, when he says, even as the body is one and
yet has many members, and all the members of
the body, though there are many, are one body,
so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were
all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greek,
whatever our ethnic or national origin may be,
whether slaves or free, whatever our social position
may be. He says we were all made to drink of
one Spirit. That, my friend, is the source of
the unity in a local church. It is the result
of a supernatural work of God who, by the Spirit,
places us together in identity in Jesus Christ.
The diverse members of the body are organically
united by this work of the Spirit. Now think
with me secondly concerning the seal of the unity.
For it says here in our verse, we are to preserve
that unity in the bond of peace. The word bond
means that which binds together. In Colossians
2 .19, the same word is translated, ligaments,
the ligaments of the body, holding it together.
Again in Colossians 3 .14, the same word is translated
in the Greek literally, the bond of peace. completeness.
Skevington Woods says this peace is the clasp
that ensures that this God -given unity will
not fall apart. What is being said here is that
the peace in a local church is the indication
that everything is in place, that it's in order
in the church. Many churches have lost their
bond of peace. signifying the unity of the Holy
Spirit. It can be recovered, but only as the
Holy Spirit is able to effect cleansing and renewal
or restoration within the body. It cannot be
achieved by human effort. It's impossible. Only
the Holy Spirit is able to cause that unity and
the resulting peace in the church to be rekindled,
to be real. Of course, all of us are concerned
about that which would divide the body. Equally
as dangerous as the immoral person or the one
who may murder or steal is the church troublemaker
who divides the body and destroys the unity of
the church. I'm not referring, of course, to
one who speaks against false doctrine. that may
arise in the church, or one who may expose hypocritical
living, that needs to be done in the right way.
It needs to be done with meekness and love. But
that kind of thing must be brought to the surface.
I am glad, frankly, that I am not one of those
privileged to the information about PTL. Because
to have that kind of information and be responsible
for it is a tremendous burden. Yesterday, a lot
of us saw John Ankerberg on the television set,
and even Friday night, talking about some of
the details that he claims to be true. I think
it's wise for all of us just to sit back and
not get too excited until some of these things
are brought out in a way that the proof is clear.
But the fact is it's a tremendous responsibility
to have facts and information about false teaching
or false living within an organization or a mission
or a church. Because one must handle that in
some proper way. It cannot be overlooked. That
kind of a person is not a troublemaker in a bad
sense, although he may be a troublemaker in a
good sense. I remember King Ahab called Elijah
a troublemaker, and Elijah turned the word on
him because it was Ahab who was really the troublemaker
in Israel. And in talking about this, I'm not
speaking about the person who may have a legitimate
complaint or who voices a dissenting opinion
on an issue. That is not a troublemaker. We do
not all think the same way. We do not all have
the same perspective on everything that happens.
seek to express our differences in the right
way at the right time. That is proper to do that,
and that is not making trouble in a church. So
that's not the kind of thing that we're talking
about in division. But rather I would define
a troublemaker in a church as one who takes peculiar
pleasure, and it is peculiar, believe me, in
habitually opposing the church's philosophy or
direction. or one who attacks others within the
church to destroy them, or one who continuously
complains, murmurs, slanders, or otherwise negatively
influences people. I tell you, as dangerous as
cancer to the human body is the malignant spirit
of a divisive person. I thank God that we've
had as little of that kind of thing in our church
in these six years as I think anywhere I've been.
We've had some, but we've really had very little.
And it's surprising to me that that's the case,
if I may speak just very honestly with you for
a moment. Of course, I'll speak honestly for
more than a moment. But about this issue, because
a church that has gone through what we have,
in the first six years with the rapid growth
and so on, tends to attract people who are disgruntled
in other churches. Sometimes that disgruntlement
is proper and right. There are things wrong there.
Sometimes the unhappiness is not right. And so
there is a tendency for a church like ours to
attract some people who come with a wrong kind,
of disgruntlement. And usually, if they don't
get themselves healed of that inwardly and restored,
what happens is, in a period of time, they become
disgruntled in their new church. It takes a little
time for that to happen. It may be months or
it may be a few years. But unless God does a
cleansing work, setting the heart of that person
right, there begins to be the same pattern in
the life. I have seen people like that in my
ministry, and undoubtedly in your church experience,
you've seen people like that. They're around
for a little while until they get unhappy and
complaining and griping, and then they move on
to another church. The same pattern, the same
cycle occurs all over again, and it's a very
tragic thing in their lives. Almost inevitably,
the issues are predictable. And it's true whether
it be a mission, or if it be a local church,
or it be a Christian college, or it be some Christian
organization. Almost inevitably, the issues are
predictable as to what a particular troublemaker
will attack, will land upon as, quote, his issue.
And of course, the one obvious one is the leadership
of the organization. whether it be the president
of the mission or the president of the school
or the pastor of the church or the board of directors
or the trustees or the elders or the deacons.
Often anyone who's trying to do his job as best
he can by the Spirit of God in leading that Christian
group. I say anyone who's trying to do his job
will become the focus of attack, especially by
one who has a malignant spirit. And all questions
come up, well, why is it being done this way?
Because where I came from, this is the way we
did it. There are too many staff members. Not
enough of the staff has been to seminary. Now,
I haven't heard that within our church, but I've
heard that outside of our church about our staff
because I think only about half of us have been
to seminary. That doesn't include me. I've not
been to seminary. I don't brag about that. I
thank God for it sometimes because I didn't have
to spend the five or ten years getting over it.
But there are some of the tools, undoubtedly,
that seminary would have given me that I don't
have. But this has been the will of God for my
own life. And yet that has been a criticism focused
at me, again I say by some outside the church.
But inevitably church leadership is one focus
of attack by troublemakers. And often these attacks
come out of misunderstanding. They come out of
poor information or gossip. They sometimes come
out of jealousy. They sometimes arise out of
hatred and dislike. but inevitably there will
be that kind of an attack. And then a second
one that is obvious to you, I'm sure as it is
to me, is that of finances. Organizations are
attacked for this, and sometimes those finances
have not been rightly handled, as is one of the
allegations now against the ministry that I mentioned
a few moments ago. Time will tell, I suppose,
as to whether that's the case. But since we're
talking in the realm of a local church this morning,
let's just limit it to that realm. So often there
are people with malignant spirits who question
and attack the allocation of money or how it's
spent or how it's raised. And the fact is that
few people, few even of the dedicated and sincere
people of a church, really understand the unique
aspects of a church's finances. There are some
parallels to business, but there are also some
contrasts to business, some ways in which a church
is not run like a business. Budget control and
expenditures and control of expenditures is an
important aspect of any organization, including
a church. But you really can't compare the way
it's done in the church to a business just across
the board. For example, You're a physician, let's
say, or you're an attorney. Let's suppose that
your clientele paid for your services by freewill
donations. Let's suppose that you sent out a
statement each month and said, well, your charge
is this. Now, please remit whatever you feel
like remitting. How would you control the finances
of your organization, of your office? Or let's
say you're a salesman. And let's say you sell
cars, and you sell a car to somebody, and you
say, well, now sign here in the dotted line,
and we sure would appreciate a donation toward
this car that we're selling to you today. It
doesn't quite work that way, does it? And yet
a church must operate on the basis of what people
choose to give to it, on the basis of donations.
I think you can obviously see there how that
can affect. budget -controlled and expenditures
in a church. Let's suppose that if you own a
business or even if you're employed by a corporation,
let's suppose that every financial decision of
your corporation, every one of them had to be
decided by the stockholders. Can you imagine
calling the stockholders together every time
you needed to make a little decision in your
church? And yet there are people who expect a
church to operate that way who think that every
time a church spends more than $50, some say,
or more than $500, the church should call everybody
together and everybody together should make that
decision instead of the board of deacons or trustees
or elders, whatever is appropriate in the church.
I think you can understand what I'm saying there.
you in your business, your small business, had
to annually post for your customers to view what
your income is. And not only that, but they were
allowed to vote on whether that was the proper
income for you. Would that make you feel good?
And yet there are some churches that insist that
the salaries of their staff members be publicly
disclosed to the whole congregation so that everyone
can... can have a vote and whether that is the
right amount or not. Ignorant of the fact, apparently,
that there's no larger church that I know of,
at least, with a multiple staff that does that
sort of thing. But somehow there seems to be
this insistence that public disclosure of those
kinds of details is important to everybody. I
guess when I've heard that before, my response
is probably a little carnal, if you'll forgive
me. But my response is, if we're going to have
public disclosure, let's post everybody's salary
so that everybody knows what everybody makes.
And then beside that, in the second column, let's
post what everybody gives. Right? And then we
have public disclosure. And we have all the information
out there so we can all gossip and talk about
it. Whether it's common issues like those that
I've named or it's some other unusual or minute
issue, as is sometimes the case, in what kind
of an organ to buy or what color to paint the
classroom or whether to buy new tires for the
bus. And all of those have been causes of church
splits. We need to understand how destructive
that kind of squabbling can be because it destroys
the unity of a body and it cripples its effectiveness
for this reason. It absorbs energy which should
be used in ministry. Not only that, it quenches
the Holy Spirit. The peace that arises from oneness
of mind or singleness of purpose and unity of
heart is a powerful testimony to Jesus Christ.
And that is why the Apostle emphasizes it so
strongly. as he does in our text today, the oneness
of the body. What does God say about discord?
Let us look quickly at two or three passages
of Scripture. First in Proverbs chapter 6. I'm
going to begin reading in verse 12 to get the
context here. But it says, a worthless person,
a wicked man, is one who walks with a false mouth,
who winks with his eyes, who signals with his
feet, who points with his fingers. Now here you
have people who have inside information and they're
sharing it by signals that are secret. And he
says, who with perversity in his heart devises
evil continually. who spreads strife. Therefore
his calamity shall come suddenly, instantly.
He will be broken, and there will be no healing.
There are six things which the Lord hates, yea,
seven, which are an abomination to him. Here
we have God's hate list. Haughty eyes, a lying
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a
heart that devises wicked plans. feet that run
rapidly to evil. Notice the anatomy of evil here.
He talks about the eyes, the tongue, the hands,
the heart, and the feet. He continues, a false
witness who utters lies, that's perjury, and
one who spreads strife among brothers. The word
spread there means to send, just as God sent
the prophets, or it means to loose, to let loose,
just as captives were. let loose from Babylon.
So he says, the one who loses strife or quarreling
or contention among brothers. And so we see quickly
what God's attitude regarding that sort of thing
is, because God prizes the unity of his people.
Turn with me in the New Testament to Galatians
chapter 5. The specific problem here was one
who was bringing in false teaching and was thus
bringing division and confusion to the Galatians.
And he says in verse 7, Galatians 5, 7, You were
running well. Who hindered you from obeying the
truth? When I read that verse, my mind goes back
to the illustration I started with this morning
in that little church that knew God's blessing
and then lost it. Who hindered you? This persuasion
did not come. From him who calls you, a little
leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have
confidence in you and the Lord that you will
adopt no other view, but the one who is disturbing
you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. And
so the Apostle Paul was quick to isolate the
troublemaker and to warn of judgment. And then
in Philippians chapter 4, verses 2 and 3. You
say, is it just up to the apostles to isolate
troublemakers? No. Here, however, Paul did name
a couple. He did it publicly, and he did it for
all of eternity in the sense that it's written
in God's eternal word. And it says in verse 2,
I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in
harmony in the Lord. It says to be of one mind,
literally. And he says, indeed, true comrade,
I ask you also to help these women who have shared
my struggle in the cause of the gospel. Please
notice that these were not careless women. These
were not lazy women. These were women who were
active and involved in serving the Lord Jesus
Christ, even with the Apostle Paul. that something
had come up, whatever it may have been. They
were at one another's throats. And Paul was concerned,
and you see it in the whole book, he was concerned
about the unity of the church in Philippi. And
so as he brings it to an application, he names
the two sore spots. And then he says, I urge
you, true comrade, to help these women. That
word help means to take and to bring together.
So you see, all of us have a responsibility.
That's my point. All of us have a responsibility
when there is discord in the fellowship to seek
to bring about resolution, to seek to bring about
harmony and peace. Now the significance of unity,
going back to our text today in Ephesians, the
significance of unity is this, that the oneness
of mind, and Spirit in the church reflects the
unity of our faith. Notice the triads here in
verses 4, 5, and 6. In fact, you will notice
that there are three of them, each one related
to a person of the triune Godhead. In verse 4,
the Holy Spirit is in focus. In verse 5, it is
the Son. Our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 6, it
is God the Father. Now notice with me what is
said here regarding the unity of what we believe,
of our faith. He says there is one body. Why
is it that we should be concerned about unity
in our church? Because there is one body. It's
not Jew or Gentile. It's not rich or poor. It's
not middle class or lower class. It is one body.
And why is it one body? Because there is one
Spirit, as we've said before, the Baptizer, the
one who brings us into identity with Christ and
with each other, resulting in what he calls one
hope, that which the Spirit has called us to,
the destiny of glory with Jesus Christ. We shall
share that with all of God's children. Why should
we not be fighting with one another? Because
we're all going to be in heaven together. We
might as well learn to get along together down
here. And then he mentions our Lord. There is
one Lord, that is Christ, who is the head of
the church. Christians can call no other one
Lord but him. And there is one faith. That could
refer to the body of doctrine, we believe, but
most probably refers to the way that we're saved,
by faith. There is one way to be related to the
Lord, and that is through faith in him, by repentance
of our sin and commitment to him and trust. And
then he mentions one baptism. Now, he's already
talked about the Holy Spirit in verse 4. This
baptism in verse 5 is undoubtedly water baptism.
Water baptism, which demonstrates the unity that
believers have with Jesus Christ and his death,
burial, and resurrection, and with fellow believers.
One baptism. And then in verse 7 he says, One
God and Father of all. All believers, that is.
This is the redemptive fatherhood of God. He
is saying there's only one God that we have.
We are not polytheists like the pagans. There
is one God and Father of all, and it says he
is over all. That is, he is sovereign and supreme.
He's over all believers. And he is through all.
What that means is he's operated in all. He is
effectively working in all of his people to make
us salt and light in our world. And he is in
all. Of course, he's everywhere. He is in the
world he created, separate from it. But God is
everywhere present in this world. But there is
a special and unique sense in which he is in
us by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And
so the unity of a fellowship, a local church
like ours, either upholds and honors this unity,
these onenesses, or it's disunity and discord
denies this doctrine. That's the significance
of it. You see, the way that we operate, the
way that we conduct ourselves, reflects upon
what we say we believe about God. That's why
it's so important. And then finally, the security
of unity. Notice that he tells us in verse 3
that we are to preserve the unity of the Spirit.
Each one of us, that is, is responsible for that.
To maintain, to guard the unity within the body.
And notice that that is not to be done casually.
It is not to be done as an afterthought. But
that is to be an upfront issue for all of us.
It is to be on the front burner. Diligently preserve
the unity of the Spirit, making every effort
we can with determination and resolution that
the body remain united. I've wondered what might
have happened at my friend's church if 95 % in
the body who supported him actually had taken
this command seriously. And instead of sitting
on the sides and saying nothing when the few
were attacking him, had actually done what the
scriptures told them to do, to confront the troublemakers
and to maintain the unity of the body. I wonder
what might have happened in that church and how
the last 12 or 15 years might have been different
than that part of the Twin Cities had that taken
place. is posted by God as a sentry for the body.
Again, not to suppress legitimate concerns, but
to see that those are addressed and answered
in an appropriate way. Not to ignore falseness
or hypocrisy or wrong and just try to put it
under the carpet and never face it. Not that.
not thinking that we might otherwise create a
disturbance if we did point it out, but on the
other hand dealing with those things in a biblical
manner. We are posted as sentries that we might
be on the lookout for any who would be sowers
of discord and dividers of the brethren, emissaries
of the enemy, to disrupt the work of God. Say,
how do you know them? Well, Jesus put it very
simply and I think very plainly. By their fruit
ye shall know them. And let's remember the blessed
words of our Savior. I say blessed because it's
a part of the Beatitudes. For he himself said,
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be
called the sons of God. Let's bow together in
prayer. Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed.
I wonder in this matter of the unity of the Spirit,
just what... the Spirit has said to you today?
And how would you respond to that? Would you,
in the quietness of these moments, address the
Lord and tell him what your own concerns are,
what your commitment is as one who has received
the challenge of our text today? There may be
someone that you need to approach regarding an
opinion that you have. Or there may be someone
that you need to approach because you're aware
of discord being sown. It may be that you are
the one who needs to repent. Father, I thank
you for the peace that you, by your Spirit, have
engendered within the body of Grace Church Roseville,
and for the healthy way in which the body has
responded in past years, and even for the unity
and peace that we sense is in the body at this
very time, this moment. I pray that we will not
take that for granted, that none of us will be
careless and casual, Neither may we see this
work as drudgery, but may we be excited and committed
that we might obey the Scriptures and with diligence
preserve the unity which the Spirit administers
in our local church. And Lord, we pray that as
that unity continues and as it is manifested
in even greater ways, that the result will be
more energy used in ministry and a clearer testimony
of the oneness of our faith in you, the great
three in one. We thank you that we are one in
the Spirit. We are one in the Lord. But I'm aware,
Father, there may be some friend here today without
Jesus. who does not know what it is to be born
into your family, who does not feel and experience
that oneness because it's not there, I pray that
that one will come to understand the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ and would respond in repentance
and faith to receive Jesus Christ as Savior and
Lord. Bring that one into the family. Make him
a part of us. And we pray, continue using our
church in whatever way that it pleases you to
use it. In Jesus' name, amen.