Sermon Tone Analysis

Unity in Christ

Revised on 3~/2~/06

Lesson Text: Ephesians 4:1-6

Preached in Southbridge on 8~/8~/04

Preached in Worchester on 3~/5~/06

 

*1)    **Introduction*

a)    Quote

   Thomas Carlyle said, /"Ten men banded together in love and unity can do what ten thousand separately would fail to do."/

This Morning I would like to talk about Unity.

b)    Definition of Unity

The Definition of /Unity is/:

1: the quality or state of not being multiple.

ONENESS (2): a condition of harmony.

ACCORD 3: the quality or state of being made one

Thesaurus: /Unity/:

Synonyms: singleness.

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2) *United in the one Jesus*

How are we in this room united?

Are we united?

Well, those of us who are Christians might say well we are united in Christ, by His body and blood shed on the Cross for our sins.

And that would be the right answer.

That’s true, but what does that mean?

And how do we grow in our understanding of unity with one another?

The first thing we need to look at is; who is Jesus?

Because the Bible teaches that Christians are united to other Christians in a very special way.

United in what is called the body of Christ.

But again who are we talking about?

/Mat 16:13-16 ESV  Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  (14)  And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

(15)  He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  (16)  Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."/

Jesus in Matthew 16:13-16 asked the disciples a question, He wanted to know who people said He was and the disciples said “people are saying you are Elijah or one of the other prophets” all kinds of different views.

Then Jesus asked who do you say I am? and Peter said you are the Christ the son of the living God.

Peter proclaims Jesus’ deity and his humanity.

Jesus asked the disciples and important question who do you say I am.

We are asked that same question.

Who do you say Jesus is?

We need to believe in the same Jesus, the biblical Jesus.

If we all have a different Jesus then we are not going to be united in the one Lord, the one faith.

Ephesians 4:3-6 says:

/Careful to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one Spirit: as you are called in one hope of your calling.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism.

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.

/

 

So we can see from this passage that there is only one Lord and we know that this Lord is Jesus Christ.

But the question still remains who is this Lord?

Who is Jesus?

If we ask this same question today you end up with many different answers.

a) Some say Jesus was just a good teacher or a prophet but that is not what the Bible teaches.

The bible teaches us that Jesus Christ of Nazareth was and is much more than that.

In John 14:6 Jesus said himself, /"I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me/.

Far from being just a good teacher or just a prophet Christ says that He alone is the way to the Father.

That He alone is the truth.

That He alone is Life.

b) Some say that Jesus was an angel or some other created being or that he was a spirit and never really walked the earth but again that is not what the Bible teaches.

In John 1:1 we are told that Jesus is God, very clearly, people through out history have tried to change and twist the word of God to deny the Truth of Christ’s deity.

In Titus 2:13 it states: we are /“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” /

 

John says in John 1:1 that the word was with God and the word was, as to his nature, God and in John 1:14 says the word became flesh.

The Word is the pre-incarnate Jesus.

Jesus was God in the flesh.

Fully God and fully man.

We must believe and put our faith in the one Biblical Jesus if we are to be united in the one Lord and the One Faith.

Does that mean if we don’t all believe in the Jesus of the Bible that we cannot talk and enjoy each others company?

No, but it does mean that we are not united in Christ.

People may say I believe in Jesus.

But who is that Jesus you believe in?

It’s not the name Jesus that is important it’s who you believe Jesus was and is.

There is only one Jesus who is Lord and God, who is prophet, priest, and king.

It is only in the biblical Jesus that we can find life and find unity.

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*3)* *United in what we believe and teach*

This next point is related to the first point.

And that is that we need to have the same biblical beliefs and teach the same things.

That is the foundational things.

Those things that are clear in scripture those things that are foundational to the faith.

1Co 1:10 /I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment./

The word that here is translated agree is the Greek word /LEGO/ and can also be translated speak so some translations say all of you speak the same things.

Are we going to differ on some things?

Yes, but we need to be united in the major foundational truths of the Bible.

God knows that we are all in a processes of learning and understanding.

Some people are at a level of fuller understanding than myself.

We are all at differing levels, but to deny the foundational doctrines of the Bible because we may not fully understand them is not only unwise but leads to disunity and not unity.

For example some of the foundational truths of the Bible are:

 

a)    There is only one God.

That’s an undeniable fact.

Over and over again we are told that there is only one God Isaiah 45:5 says:

/Isa// 45:5 ESV  I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; /

And Isaiah 46:9 says:

/Isa// 46:9 ESV  remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,/

/ /

and yet this one God is revealed in the scriptures as three persons.

The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

In John 1:1 the son is called God, in Acts 5:1-9 the Holy Spirit is called God, and in 1 Corinthians 1:3 and other places yet there is not three gods but One.

That is just what the word of God states.

God never asks us to reason through His nature we are told it’s true and to believe it.

We are told that the Christ was born of a virgin, that he lived a sinless life.

a)    We are saved by grace thought faith in Jesus at the point of baptism.

Acts 2:37-38.

These are foundational and plain.

We have to believe what the Bible teaches.

Jesus, in John 17 is praying to the father and in vs. 20 He says that the prayer He is praying is not only for the Apostles but for all who will believe in Him through their message (all the Apostles taught the same thing from one Church to another if they didn’t there would have been chaos and disunity 1 Corinthians 4:17 says: /That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church./)

Christ continues in John 17 with his prayer to say that we all might be one.

Unity in Christ is linked with what we believe and teach.