SPEAKER_00: Hey, if you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and you can open it up and uh we can all meet together in First Peter, toward the back of your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the book of Hebrews, you haven't gone far enough.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in 1 John, you've gone too far.
SPEAKER_00: Uh 1 Peter is toward the back of your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And we're in chapter 3 today as we continue our series called Exiles.
SPEAKER_00: The reason our series is called Exiles is because Peter, that is the disciple and apostle, uh, wrote this letter to the elect exiles of the dispersion.
SPEAKER_00: So the church spread abroad that he called elect exiles.
SPEAKER_00: That is, the people of God, because of their faith in Christ, awaiting still promises to come, meaning they're not home yet, exiles.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's who we are.
SPEAKER_00: We are elect exiles.
SPEAKER_00: We are, because of Christ's first coming, his people, because of our faith in him, his people, but we still await his second coming, where we will be home with him forever.
SPEAKER_00: He will make his dwelling place with us, he will descend from the clouds, and he will consummate all of his promises in the establishment of the new heavens and new earth.
SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, though, we are called to live holy and humble lives.
SPEAKER_00: That's what 1 Peter calls us to.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to just start right out of the gate and say this morning we are going to talk about church unity.
SPEAKER_00: We've been talking about relationships for quite some time.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we talked about marriage relationships.
SPEAKER_00: The week before that, we talked about relationships with the government as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: This week we'll talk about our relationships together as Jesus' church.
SPEAKER_00: Finally, all of you have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
SPEAKER_00: On Peter's mind is a church's unity.
SPEAKER_00: Anytime a pastor talks about unity, I feel like in the room there's just like this, hmm.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe like the pastor who's preaching thinks there for some reason is disunity in the body.
SPEAKER_00: Let me assure you, this is just the next week of our series, and that is not my um my thought here.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think we are disunified in any sort of specific way.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the Bible tells us, as I'll make clear, that though we have been united by God through Christ, a peace that has been made for us, we are prone to wander, as believers, this side of heaven, not only from a faithful father, but especially from a flawed family.
SPEAKER_00: That's why Paul's point in our text is simply hey, put work in to maintain the unity that has been made for you.
SPEAKER_00: Put work in to maintain unity.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see that that must be done by individually humbling ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: We're to put work in.
SPEAKER_00: We're to be, as Paul says in the book of Ephesians, eager to maintain the unity that has been established for us by Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now, it should just be said that a church's unity is very important to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you were to look at what has been called this high priestly prayer, in John chapter 17, Jesus prayed for the church's unity.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the few things that I want you to see as we just discuss unity.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in this prayer, I do not ask for these things only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.
SPEAKER_00: That is the word of the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: So we have believed in the scriptures, we are the people Jesus is talking about.
SPEAKER_00: That they may be, or that we may be all one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
SPEAKER_00: The glory you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one.
SPEAKER_00: I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one.
SPEAKER_00: You think about other passages in the New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: After Jesus ascends, in the book of Acts, right after that happening, in Acts chapter six, you have a potential church split between the Hellenistic Church and the Hebraic Church, because the Hellenistic widows were arguing that they were being neglected in the daily distribution of food.
SPEAKER_00: And so, as early as the church began, it looked like it might split.
SPEAKER_00: And the apostles thought, hey, the church's unity is precious, so let's grab seven men who are going to act like proto-deacons, deacons before there were deacons, and serve tables at the church so that the church would unify together.
SPEAKER_00: It's an important moment.
SPEAKER_00: The church might disunify, might divide.
SPEAKER_00: Then in Acts 15, you have another issue of potential disunity.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, when uh the church in Antioch is growing.
SPEAKER_00: The church in Antioch is a Gentile and Jewish church.
SPEAKER_00: You've got people that are uh historically not the Jewish people coming to know Christ and they're not participating in like the kosher food laws of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: And some of the Jewish people are concerned, and so there is a council that happens in Jerusalem and conversations happen.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ now, do we or must we follow the Mosaic law?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer was, well, no, Christ has fulfilled the law.
SPEAKER_00: Again, crisis averted, unity kept.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus prayed for this sort of unity.
SPEAKER_00: But not only does Jesus pray for the unity of his church, he also tells us that a unified church filled with people from different backgrounds, socioeconomically, ethically, coming together for one purpose, and that is glorifying someone else rather than themselves, will be a unique, a unique witness to an onlooking world.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it'll almost like form an apologetic for who we are.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said in John 13, 35, the world will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another.
SPEAKER_00: So our unity in an angry and frustrated world that's very polarized gives a unique apologetic witness, a visible yet nonverbal witness of who we follow.
SPEAKER_00: Moreover, the Bible teaches us that our corporate witness of unity is actually worth self-sacrifice, worth laying down our rights.
SPEAKER_00: You think in 1 Corinthians 6, you see that a Christian has a rightful claim to wealth that had been stolen from them, and it's impacting the church's witness in Corinth.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's words to the one who had been defrauded is hey, it might be worth you being defrauded for the church's witness to still be pure.
SPEAKER_00: You think, well, he's owed that money.
SPEAKER_00: Well, Paul says, you weren't owed salvation.
SPEAKER_00: It might be better for the church's witness for you just to be defrauded.
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe here's another story.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians chapter 8 through 10, we see that a Christian's freedom, sorry, freedom is worth unity.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians chapter 8, you had these Christians who said, idols are deaf, dumb, and blind.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they don't really exist.
SPEAKER_00: So we should be able to eat meat in the marketplace that has potentially been offered in the Ephesian temple or in the temple, sorry, in Corinth to idols, because idols they're not real.
SPEAKER_00: They can't speak, they're mute.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, Yes, you're right, and that idols don't have any real authority.
SPEAKER_00: They're deaf, dumb, and blind.
SPEAKER_00: They represent false gods, not real gods.
SPEAKER_00: But for the sake of your weaker brother who still struggles, having worshipped some of those gods, maybe you should just not partake of that meat.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, your rights and freedoms may not be worth your brother's faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Unity is worth self-sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: And even more than that, think about this.
SPEAKER_00: God caused sickness and death in the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11, because some arrogantly participated in the Lord's Supper, excluding those that they didn't want a part of their gathering, who were believers.
SPEAKER_00: Said, You can't come eat with us, and they got drunk off of the wine of the Lord's Supper before the others could even come in and partake.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says that's why some of you have died.
SPEAKER_00: Unity is that important.
SPEAKER_00: That important.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the unity of our text is not made, it's been made.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has made us one people of his own possession, one bride of his own taking, one body for his own service, and one nation for his own rule.
SPEAKER_00: So think of Paul's call to the Ephesian church.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling, that is the calling of the gospel, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
SPEAKER_00: So the text there again doesn't say, make unity among yourselves, but be eager to maintain it.
SPEAKER_00: Maintenance takes a work.
SPEAKER_00: Look at our text.
SPEAKER_00: It takes sympathy, verse eight.
SPEAKER_00: It takes tenderness, verse eight, and it will take humility, verse eight.
SPEAKER_00: Where there is a corporate unity problem in a church, there is most likely a personal humility problem in the church.
SPEAKER_00: We are to look not only to our own desires, but for the desires of others.
SPEAKER_00: We are to outdo one another in showing honor.
SPEAKER_00: We use our spiritual gifts not for our own platforms, but we use them to serve and help those in need in our church.
SPEAKER_00: It takes work consistently to maintain unity.
SPEAKER_00: And here, there have probably been times in your life in a church that the Lord has had you in where you have felt tempted because of whatever's going on there to give up.
SPEAKER_00: To give up on your church, or even to give up on the church altogether.
SPEAKER_00: But in those times, I think the scriptures would have us remember that the glory of Christ in his church and the gift of his church to you is worth the work.
SPEAKER_00: It's worth the work.
SPEAKER_00: The question for us all is like, will we be eager?
SPEAKER_00: We'd be eager to maintain unity.
SPEAKER_00: We would be eager to live at peace with one another.
SPEAKER_00: Will we do all that we can to live at peace with one another?
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 12, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with one another.
SPEAKER_00: So since the call is for unity and tenderness and sympathy and humility, I think it would be very wise for us just to think through some things from the scriptures that instruct us how there might be barriers to unity.
SPEAKER_00: Let's get real practical, almost like the book of Proverbs here for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: What are common unity killers in the church that would be the opposite of what he calls us to?
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's what I want to look at for a minute.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have notes and you want to take them, if you could think of, for just a moment, sitting there, what are three of the most common unity killers in a church?
SPEAKER_00: Well, what they were in the New Testament is what they continue to be today.
SPEAKER_00: So before we get to what we're called to, when we look at tenderness as a word and sympathy as a specific word and what it means, let's think through, hey, what would keep us from what we're called to?
SPEAKER_00: The three most common church unity killers I submit to you from the scriptures and from our lives today are these three.
SPEAKER_00: Conflicts, conflicts, the perception of clicks, and controversies.
SPEAKER_00: Conflicts, the perception of clicks and controversies.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll distinguish conflicts from controversies in just a moment.
SPEAKER_00: So let's take those one at a time.
SPEAKER_00: Conflicts first.
SPEAKER_00: Relational conflicts have no limit to the reason for their existence.
SPEAKER_00: But the consequences of unchecked conflict have typically one of two consequences we can identify that exist in our day as they existed in Jesus' day.
SPEAKER_00: The first is gossip, and the second is grudges.
SPEAKER_00: We'll actually take them in reverse order, grudges first, and then gossip.
SPEAKER_00: Where do we identify grudges in the New Testament?
SPEAKER_00: And how should we think of grudges?
SPEAKER_00: Well, grudges exist in the heart of someone unwilling to forgive another person.
SPEAKER_00: Grudges thrive where unforgiveness exists.
SPEAKER_00: How do you eliminate a grudge you may have against another person?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you first have to deal with the conflict that existed, that led to the grudge.
SPEAKER_00: We often, you know, we hold grudges because we did not go through the process or the hard work of resolving the initial conflict that got you there.
SPEAKER_00: That conflict between you and another believer.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what resolution am I talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Can you think of any text specifically that talks about conflict resolution in the New Testament?
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 18.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, if you have something against your brother, or if your brother has sinned against you, go to them in private.
SPEAKER_00: Make known to them the issue.
SPEAKER_00: If they will not hear you, if they will not repent, take another.
SPEAKER_00: Go to them.
SPEAKER_00: Say you are willing to forgive.
SPEAKER_00: Address the conflict with them.
SPEAKER_00: If they are not willing to hear it, it persists.
SPEAKER_00: They're living in unrepentant, egregious sin.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to bring it before the church under some circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: This is that conflict resolution in the local church that Matthew 18 talks about.
SPEAKER_00: And again, we should probably just be careful here.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew 7, in this sort of resolution, gives us even more to think about, and that is be careful judging someone else, lest you be judged.
SPEAKER_00: So look at the log that may exist in your eye before you help your friend with the speck.
SPEAKER_00: And don't forget, so that you may help your friend with the speck.
SPEAKER_00: The text would tell us that if you have sinned against if they have sinned against you, your brother, tell them what you believe their fault is, so that you might what?
SPEAKER_00: There's a so that in Matthew 18.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: So that you might gain your brother.
SPEAKER_00: The problem with grudges is that you begin to feel like your brother or sister in Christ is no longer gain.
SPEAKER_00: That's the problem.
SPEAKER_00: That they're not worth it.
SPEAKER_00: That the problem is them, that it is too painful to go through the process, and that going through the process won't be worth it because they're no longer a gain.
SPEAKER_00: We would rather lose a brother or a sister in Christ than address them.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you one uh more encouragement from the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Matthew chapter 5 and verse 24, Jesus talks about bringing your sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, they were still under the Mosaic law, and there was a sacrificial system in place, and people would bring sin offerings to the temple.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, Hey, if you're on your way to bring your offering to the priest to make an offering before the Lord, and you know that you have someone uh something against someone, or something has something against you, you need to go to your brother and try to be reconciled first.
SPEAKER_00: It's that important.
SPEAKER_00: You need to go reconcile with them before you bring a sacrifice to God's altar.
SPEAKER_00: Grudges alter your worship, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: Grudges affect your worship to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: What about gossip?
SPEAKER_00: Another type of conflict.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I would argue gossip isn't just a unity killer, gossip is a church killer.
SPEAKER_00: Gossip is uh relaying the sins of someone else without realizing the significance of your own.
SPEAKER_00: I'll say that again.
SPEAKER_00: Gossiping is relaying the sins of someone else without realizing the significance of your own.
SPEAKER_00: It's concerning yourselves with the shortcomings of another to the dismissal of the shortcomings of yourself.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Timothy 5, uh, Paul writing to Timothy calls gossips busybodies because they're busying themselves with the affairs of others instead of with kingdom work.
SPEAKER_00: They're in everyone else's business, so they're not doing God's business.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how do you fight gossip from the scriptures?
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that our posture toward fellow believers should be believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things.
SPEAKER_00: So if we hear something we don't know is true, we should take it as straight to the person it concerns instead of taking it to someone it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: So here's a simple principle.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, all of our parents taught us, especially if you grew up in a Christian household with Christian morals.
SPEAKER_00: If you wouldn't say something about a person when they're in the room, you shouldn't say something about a person when they're not in the room.
SPEAKER_00: Have you heard that before?
SPEAKER_00: That's a Christian principle.
SPEAKER_00: Let me encourage you this way.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I used to say this, and I've heard a number of other pastors say it before too.
SPEAKER_00: When gossip comes around, be the person where it dies.
SPEAKER_00: Be the person where gossip goes to die.
SPEAKER_00: Gossip can kill a church.
SPEAKER_00: It is not being tender-hearted or sympathetic.
SPEAKER_00: It is not being humble.
SPEAKER_00: It kills unity.
SPEAKER_00: So the first common church unity killer is festering conflicts, grudges, and gossip.
SPEAKER_00: That will stop us from being the sort of people who obey the call of Peter in chapter 3, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: The second most common church unity killer, I would argue, is clicks.
SPEAKER_00: How many times have you heard, hey, I didn't like that church because of the clicks that were in them?
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I couldn't kind of get in the click of the youth group.
SPEAKER_00: And truth be told, that might be accurate.
SPEAKER_00: And churches struggle with clicks just like any job that has that employs a lot of people might have clicks just like any, you know, membership at a golf club, might have specific clicks.
SPEAKER_00: I would encourage you as a pastor, speaking pastorally, anytime we have the perception that there may be clicks within a church or within a ministry, we must ask ourselves this question.
SPEAKER_00: Is the sort of exclusion that I feel here intentional?
SPEAKER_00: Is it intentional?
SPEAKER_00: Meaning, are they keeping me out?
SPEAKER_00: Because while there are some cases of intentional exclusivity, sometimes the clicks that we see are more like affinity groups.
SPEAKER_00: Affinity groups.
SPEAKER_00: All of us naturally gather with those uh with others based on two factors familiarity, we know them, and commonality.
SPEAKER_00: We like the same things they like.
SPEAKER_00: We just naturally gather to those people, all of us, right?
SPEAKER_00: Those we know, it's comfortable, it's less work, it's less awkward to start a new relationship.
SPEAKER_00: And those we do do the things that we like.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, conversations come easily.
SPEAKER_00: If we can talk about golf, or we can talk about basketball, or we can talk about volleyball, or we can talk about sports, or we can talk about, you know, I don't know, fashion, art.
SPEAKER_00: So again, is the exclusion I may perceive intentional?
SPEAKER_00: If it is intentional, there is sin.
SPEAKER_00: And it needs to be handled like a conflict.
SPEAKER_00: So go back to Matthew chapter 18.
SPEAKER_00: If it's not intentional or malicious in nature, or someone is not intentionally excluding you or your family, here's what I would tell you.
SPEAKER_00: Guard yourself from complaining about the group and creating gossip about what may just be a blind spot to them.
SPEAKER_00: This might be blind.
SPEAKER_00: More so, keep yourself from establishing a new clique based on anger.
SPEAKER_00: I don't like those people, instead of affinity.
SPEAKER_00: So now you got more cliques starting, one based on affinity with potentially just blind spots, and then you got a new clique starting because they don't like those people.
SPEAKER_00: And they're gathering based on anger and not even affinity anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And so goes down disunity or unity, you say, in a church.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, intentionally tell them how you feel.
SPEAKER_00: Is it hard?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Is it right?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: What is right is often hard.
SPEAKER_00: So, in short, a church is a family.
SPEAKER_00: Clicks can be bad, but let's not immediately think the worst.
SPEAKER_00: Let's admit we're all prone to gravitate toward those we know and like what we like.
SPEAKER_00: Let's all commit to do our best in this young church plant to keep our eyes up toward others, off of our phones, right, when we're together, and our circles open.
SPEAKER_00: There's many times we can have closed circles outside this room, but hey, we're in the room.
SPEAKER_00: Let's have circles open.
SPEAKER_00: And if necessary, let's do the hard work of reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: I hope I'm talking to you and saying, hey, let's let's strive to this.
SPEAKER_00: The third and final most common church unity killer is controversies.
SPEAKER_00: Like ones I may start and even talk, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, controversies.
SPEAKER_00: The two categories of controversy I have in mind theological and then matters of conscience.
SPEAKER_00: Theological would be interpretive disagreements.
SPEAKER_00: Matters of conscience would be personal convictions.
SPEAKER_00: You might say it like this.
SPEAKER_00: Matters of theological difference would be matters of like orthodoxy.
SPEAKER_00: Matters of the difference in your conscience or personal conviction would be matters of orthopraxy practice.
SPEAKER_00: Let's start with theology.
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm a pastor, and so of course, you at least I would hope you would think that theology matters a lot to me.
SPEAKER_00: Um, what we believe matters because it shapes how we view God and how we live.
SPEAKER_00: Theology is the study of God as he has revealed himself in his word and how he's revealed himself in the world he has created.
SPEAKER_00: Every single one of us should be able to agree that there are Christians, genuine Christians, who may disagree with us on some certain matters of theology, and we can still believe they are Christians.
SPEAKER_00: As well, there are several people who disagree with us who might call themselves Christians, but because of what they b disagree with us on, we cannot faithfully call them Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Like there are things we can and should fight for theologically.
SPEAKER_00: This is why the church has had creeds and confessions over the years, so that we might agree and cooperate geographically while being assured that truth will prevail.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we hold to our confession.
SPEAKER_00: We hold to a mixture of the New Hampshire Confession and the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 from the SBC so that we can, in good conscience, cooperate with 46,000 other churches in the United States.
SPEAKER_00: But confessions do not contain every ounce of doctrine because not every theological hill is worth dying on.
SPEAKER_00: We have to recognize that there are interpretive matters on which we must agree, and there are interpretive matters on which we may disagree.
SPEAKER_00: And not every disagreement within a church has to lead to its disunity.
SPEAKER_00: So it is healthy for us all to consider disagreements we might have.
SPEAKER_00: And I should just say that a cursory knowledge of church history is very helpful here because it helps us recognize where Christians have been able to disagree and remain faithful and friendly over many years.
SPEAKER_00: So let me propose three circles that you'll see behind my head.
SPEAKER_00: These three circles represent different ways that we might disagree and reactions to those disagreements, how significant they are.
SPEAKER_00: The first circle that you'll see on the top left is circle number one.
SPEAKER_00: In that circle, you'll see things that I believe we should fight for or even die for theologically as the church of God.
SPEAKER_00: In category number one, we would consider people who cannot agree with those things to not be Christians.
SPEAKER_00: Think of what could be in that circle, you'll see it on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: What about the exclusivity of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: That there is one way to have a relationship with God the Father for eternity, and it is through Christ the Son.
SPEAKER_00: John 14, verse 6.
SPEAKER_00: I am the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: First John, if you do not know the Son, you do not know the Father.
SPEAKER_00: If you can't agree to that, we would say you're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: Another thing in that category might be justification by faith alone.
SPEAKER_00: The only way that you can have a saving relationship with Jesus is by faith in Jesus, not by your own work.
SPEAKER_00: We would say if you don't believe in that, you're not Christian.
SPEAKER_00: What about the Trinity?
SPEAKER_00: The church has long understood that Christ to be sorry, God is represented in three persons, that he is three and one, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: If you cannot agree with the counsel of Nicaea, the church has long understood you're not a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: The inerrancy of Scripture, that God has spoken in his word clearly, and what he has said is true and right, and there's no error in it.
SPEAKER_00: We would say, hey, if you can't hold the Bible as God's standard for truth, then you may not be a Christian.
SPEAKER_00: In category number two, this is things that we would say, hey, you're a Christian and we love you and we can serve alongside you, but we might not be able to unify totally together, and so we might divide in where we gather.
SPEAKER_00: This would be matters of like church governance.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, we're not comfortable with you having this person in charge or this group or this hierarchy, or so on and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: Other matters might be um infant baptism.
SPEAKER_00: We're Baptists, we believe in believers' baptism.
SPEAKER_00: You should be baptized after you've come to know Christ personally and can confess that.
SPEAKER_00: We're creedal Baptist, meaning creed, you can say you confess Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then you're baptized.
SPEAKER_00: But there are Presbyterians who uh would would believe that baptism is the covenant sign like circumcision was, and that doesn't make you saved, but it identifies you as a part of the people of God until you come to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of Presbyterian friends.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they're right in that, but I think they're believers.
SPEAKER_00: That would be category two.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we may not cooperate together on a Sunday morning because we're not going to baptize our children, but I think they're believers.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual gifts and service.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you might disagree over uh minutia of this, but how a church practices them in a service, it might divide where you go to church.
SPEAKER_00: Category number three are things I think uh you might you might put in there that I think even pastors could disagree and lead a church together.
SPEAKER_00: These are issues that we can debate together.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that would be like your view of the end times.
SPEAKER_00: Are you premillennial, all millennial, or post-millennial?
SPEAKER_00: If you need that straightened out, I'd love to sit down and talk with you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00: Um maybe uh, you know, how often you celebrate the Lord's Supper, how often you should celebrate the Lord's Supper.
SPEAKER_00: Uh that might be like continuation of the spiritual gifts or cessation of the spiritual gifts where you land on that matter.
SPEAKER_00: I give you these three categories because what's clear and necessary for salvation should be held with a closed fist.
SPEAKER_00: This is what's necessary, tier number one.
SPEAKER_00: We don't open our hand here.
SPEAKER_00: We don't close our fist to fight, but we're holding dear to these doctrines.
SPEAKER_00: And then tier number three, hey, we hold our hands pretty open here.
SPEAKER_00: We can join together, serve together, sing together, and have some disagreement.
SPEAKER_00: Let's move on to conscience.
SPEAKER_00: I have some other notes, but but uh I do want to say that sometimes theological differences fuel conflict.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to say that 1 Timothy chapter uh six and Titus chapter 3 warns us that our theology should not be wielded with a hammer, even though it might divide us.
SPEAKER_00: That the goal of theology is not analysis merely or anger, but affection for God and attention to our fellow man.
SPEAKER_00: Conscience.
SPEAKER_00: What is conscience?
SPEAKER_00: What am I talking about there?
SPEAKER_00: Well, conscience pertains to the personal conviction or lack thereof regarding the exercise of freedoms the Bible deems permissible.
SPEAKER_00: That was a long definition.
SPEAKER_00: Are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: Conscience pertains to the personal conviction or lack thereof regarding matters the Bible deems permissible, the exercise of freedoms.
SPEAKER_00: So what if the controversy is not a matter of theology, but a matter of practice, a matter of personal conviction?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Bible does teach there are practical matters Christians may disagree on with one another and still live in unity with some work.
SPEAKER_00: With some work.
SPEAKER_00: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, he goes on to say, It is sin to go against your conscience.
SPEAKER_00: So for one person in their freedom they may, according to their conscience, enjoy eating this.
SPEAKER_00: But if in your conscience you cannot, it is against your convictions, you should not eat it.
SPEAKER_00: It is sin.
SPEAKER_00: And you should not argue with one another to bring the weaker brother, that is the one who cannot eat, to make them eat, it's sin.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 8 through 10 goes further and teaches us what I'm gonna put on the screen as a chart that I think would be very helpful.
SPEAKER_00: This is 1 Corinthians 8, 1 through 10 spelled out in a chart for matters of conscience.
SPEAKER_00: You can see it there.
SPEAKER_00: It's real small text.
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't get it much bigger.
SPEAKER_00: I stole this from somebody and I can't find who made it.
SPEAKER_00: So just want to give you that.
SPEAKER_00: Uh does the Bible allow it?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: What do you think you should do?
SPEAKER_00: Don't do it, right?
SPEAKER_00: Does the Bible allow it?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Does my conscience allow it?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 14, don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Does the Bible allow it?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Does my conscience allow it?
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Well, 1 Corinthians 8 through 10 would give us another series of questions to think through.
SPEAKER_00: As he writes to the church in Corinth, Paul says, Well, what's the effect on other Christians?
SPEAKER_00: Because love is more important than knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: What's the effect on non-Christians?
SPEAKER_00: A gospel witness is more important than your rights.
SPEAKER_00: What's the effect on your spiritual life?
SPEAKER_00: Hey, spiritual health for you is a lot more important than your freedom.
SPEAKER_00: You can read 1 Corinthians 8 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: That is a very helpful chart.
SPEAKER_00: That is spelling out 1 Corinthians 8 through 10.
SPEAKER_00: Whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: That's how that section ends.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God should be your aim.
SPEAKER_00: It might keep you from certain things, and that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: So you can enjoy the freedom of some different personal practices within the church so long as it's biblical permissible, so long as you're fully convinced it's all right that it doesn't go against your conscience, and so long as you don't constrain others to do the same and still maintain unity as a church if you're humble.
SPEAKER_00: All that said, it's okay to have differences within a church body, but we should do all we can not to disunify, and that takes work.
SPEAKER_00: To agree and still live with one another.
SPEAKER_00: And not only live with one another, but love one another.
SPEAKER_00: It takes work.
SPEAKER_00: Is it worth it?
SPEAKER_00: Is the question.
SPEAKER_00: I hope so.
SPEAKER_00: I want to leave you with this.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to look at verse eight.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at verses nine through twelve next week.
SPEAKER_00: Verse eight says that we should have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
SPEAKER_00: What does that look like?
SPEAKER_00: We talked about what keeps us from that, from the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go through just each word real quick and give a simple definition, and then we'll close together because I want this, hopefully, to be said of us and our church.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: To have unity of mind.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word there is homophrones or homophrones.
SPEAKER_00: Peter is calling believers.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe your text says to live in harmony with one another.
SPEAKER_00: That word homophrones is where we get the word harmony.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I am not a singer.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I sing, it just doesn't sound good, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm supposed to sing, Bible calls me to sing.
SPEAKER_00: It didn't sound very pretty.
SPEAKER_00: I can hit notes, just not pretty.
SPEAKER_00: All right.
SPEAKER_00: But this is the intention of what he is saying here.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know when you see someone sing really, really good, and then another person singing next to them, and they're also singing really good.
SPEAKER_00: They don't always sing the same note.
SPEAKER_00: Have you noticed that?
SPEAKER_00: It's called singing harmony.
SPEAKER_00: And so sometimes you hit the same note, and then sometimes another person goes off.
SPEAKER_00: And it creates this beautiful combination of notes that's intentional and beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: He says that that's how your life together should be.
SPEAKER_00: You're not always doing the same thing, you're working alongside of one another for one purpose that's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: Work together even if you're working on different things.
SPEAKER_00: That's the intention of that word.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are gifted in different ways than one another.
SPEAKER_00: You serve in different parts of Knoxville.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are older, some of you are younger, some of you have different backgrounds.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you had bad parents, some of you had great parents.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you like stacking chairs, some of you like watching kids.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you like sharing the gospel outside, which we're all called to, but some of you are better a one-on-one.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, how can we put all of those together and be faithful as a church and give beautiful witness to the world on what it looks like to serve with one another?
SPEAKER_00: Unity.
SPEAKER_00: Harmony.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the other word.
SPEAKER_00: Sympathy.
SPEAKER_00: You know what sympathy is.
SPEAKER_00: The Greek word is sympathies.
SPEAKER_00: It literally means means sympathy.
SPEAKER_00: It means to care deeply about the needs and the joys and the sorrows of others.
SPEAKER_00: To care deeply for one another.
SPEAKER_00: You may not be able to feel their hurt, but you care for them in it.
SPEAKER_00: Brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: There are three types of love in the Greek language.
SPEAKER_00: Um, one of, of course, is uh agape, that sacrificial love that Christ has displayed on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And then you have brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: Um like uh it's like family love.
SPEAKER_00: And then you have, of course, eros, which is uh the love that's uh for marriage, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, Philadelphoi is the Greek word for brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the uh the city of Philadelphia is the city of love, right?
SPEAKER_00: Well, God's telling us here for brotherly love that we should love one another like a family.
SPEAKER_00: A love that's deeper than a club or a sports team, in some cases, even deeper than a biological family.
SPEAKER_00: Because Jesus said, You may have to leave your mother, brother, father, or sister to follow me.
SPEAKER_00: So, in some cases, like for my friend Manish, who was just accepted Christ but is from a persecuted part of India, going back home where he is a student at USF may mean he does not have a relationship with his family anymore, but he has a church.
SPEAKER_00: Brotherly love.
SPEAKER_00: A tender heart.
SPEAKER_00: Use planktnoi.
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like you're sneezing.
SPEAKER_00: Use planktnoi.
SPEAKER_00: This is compassion.
SPEAKER_00: We are to be compassionate toward one another.
SPEAKER_00: We should hurt when others hurt.
SPEAKER_00: We should sing when others sing, and our hearts should be to help.
SPEAKER_00: My dad was my high school anatomy and biology teacher, which was kind of interesting, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: My girlfriend attended the same anatomy class with my dad teaching about anatomy in high school.
SPEAKER_00: It was awkward.
SPEAKER_00: But the way God has designed our body is that when you get really sick, you run a fever, right?
SPEAKER_00: I Googled this and it looked like it was true, right?
SPEAKER_00: So biologically, it was actually from a good website, not like a weirdo, like, you know, whatever.
SPEAKER_00: All right, so biologically, a fever raises the body's temperature, and a fever is the body's reaction to infection by warming the body up enough for certain immune cells.
SPEAKER_00: You can call them helpers, a scientist did, so I'll call them helpers, to crawl along blood vessel walls to help get to invading microbes that are hurting the body.
SPEAKER_00: So God has designed our body for parts of it to help other parts when those other parts need the help.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, for many reasons, calls his church his body.
SPEAKER_00: Not all of us are hands, not all of us are feet, not all of us are ears, not all of us are eyes.
SPEAKER_00: We all serve different parts of his body.
SPEAKER_00: We've been gifted in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: But when an arm hurts, the other arm helps.
SPEAKER_00: When a leg hurts, the other leg helps you walk.
SPEAKER_00: When you can't see, your other senses help.
SPEAKER_00: So when we hurt, we help one another.
SPEAKER_00: Compassion.
SPEAKER_00: Lastly, and I'll end here, a humble mind.
SPEAKER_00: All of this requires personal humility.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Philippians teaches us: that where there is a unity problem, there is most definitely a personal humility problem.
SPEAKER_00: So would we all humble ourselves with Jesus as our example, seeing others as more important than ourselves, outdoing one another and showing honor?
SPEAKER_00: And would we be a church unified, giving witness to Christ who has unified by his death, his bride?
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, we thank you for your love for us and your care for us.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to glorify you as we ought to in our witness.
SPEAKER_00: And we know our witness is not as strong as it should be when we can't stand one another, when we're frustrated with one another, when we're angry or just can't get along.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to lay down our pride so that we might be a pure bride.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to lay down even our freedoms for the faith and strength of our brother.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to be charitable and compassionate, long-suffering and loving, believing all things, enduring all things, and hoping all things.
SPEAKER_00: Help us to be a picture of heaven and this world in our love.
SPEAKER_00: In your name we pray, and for your glory we aim.
SPEAKER_00: We all say, Amen.