Sermon Tone Analysis

Spiritual Passion and Unity

May 12, 2002

 

One of the greatest speeches made in Washington DC, during the 20th century, was not made by a president, but instead by a King.

On August 28, 1963, on the mall in Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood before the throngs that were gathered and delivered one of the most heart-rending, culturally challenging speeches of that era.

The “I have a dream” speech, was one man’s rendition of what he hoped he would see, that is the walls of racism, injustice, and segregation torn down, a nation in which people would be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Why has it taken so long for us to even approach Dr. King’s dream?

Why is it so difficult, not only in the world, but even more so in the church?

Why is it that alcoholics can get drunk across racial lines and athletes work on the same team, but then on Sunday everybody goes their own way.

What is the root that has produced the fruit of our inability to address this situation?

I would contend this morning, that the racial, cultural, and class problems that continues to plague the Church are due to the fact that Calvary has been diminished.

In other words, we have lost touch with the deep and abiding meaning of Amazing Grace.

That’s a *keyword *today*: Grace.*

We just really do not understand what happened on Calvary when our /Savior was lifted up,/ His /Blood was poured out/, and His /life was given /for the sins of the world.

In other words, we do not understand peace.

We do not understand, nor have we embraced,  what the Scriptures call “the peace that passes all understanding.”

*Peace – *that’s another* keyword* today.

Peace – that is, /the eradication of all previously held hostilities./

And I will flat out tell you my sisters and brothers the absence of peace, or to put it another way, the absence of *unity (*our final* keyword*) along racial, social, and theological lines with fellow believers in Christ, is stifling our hunger for God.

God will not pour His passion into a person who is not at peace with His body of believers.

Where do I get this?

Well, Jesus prayed a prayer just prior to His Crucifixion in *JOHN 17*, and He said these words: *V21.*

Jesus as He prays this prayer, prior to His death, asks that His followers would no longer be divided by the “evil one,” but instead would be one.

(i.e.

– in unity.)

*/But unity is NOT uniformity/*.

*Unity is uniqueness moving toward a common goal.

*Jesus called for unity, but unity is NOT everything being the same: for the Father is not the Son, and the Son is NOT the Spirit, and the Spirit is NOT the Father, yet they dwell in perfect unity with the same essence.

Jesus said in His prayer, “*that they might be like Us.*”

That is one in purpose and nature, yet distinct in personhood – that’s the Trinity.

And so Jesus prayed that upon His departure, God would bring about unity, in history, through the Church for a purpose, and that is this – that the world may know that Jesus was indeed the “Real Deal,” the One and only Messiah of God.

In other words, Jesus makes the validity of the Church and Her message about the Christ before the world, contingent upon Her unity.

IOWs,  a lack of harmony in the church discredits the validity of Jesus as the Christ.

If that is not true then Jesus would not have needed to pray this prayer, and the fact that He needed to pray this prayer says it is not automatic.

In fact, so significant was this prayer, that God has made Jesus’ prayer for oneness, a criteria, even for our relationship with Him.

That is to say, that God has decided that His Son’s prayer is so critical to the carrying out of His plan in history, that He says to every believer and every collection of believers, that if reflecting the oneness of God in His one body the Church is not a priority in our life and ministry, He will not have fellowship with us.

Have I over reached here?

Well let’s look at it in *1 John 4: vv.

20-21.*

In other words, this is a “both-and,” not an “either-or.”

He goes on: *5:1*  So, let me say it again – God has made our fellowship and intimacy with Him, contingent on our relationship with other believers.

Therefore, we are not to make judgments about other believers based on the false criteria of place, race, or face.

*PLACE*—That is their station in life, IOWs they don’t live in the same neighborhood, they don’t make the same amount of money, they don’t have the same standard of living, or *race* – the color of their skin or their ethnicity.

Or *face* – that is, they don’t have the same personality or taste.

There’s a lot of talk about revival today, so as Dr. Tony Evans was being interviewed about the book upon which this message is based today, he was asked if he thought revival was close at hand and Dr.

Evans said “No, I don’t.”

Shocked at his response, they asked him why he felt that way, and he answered simply, “There’s too much division in the Body.

You cannot have a revival where Christ’s body is divided.”

So critical is this issue that Paul warns us in *Romans 16:17-18.

*Paul says if you have folk who are splitting up the body, you keep your eye on them, don’t let them out of your sight, and take whatever measures are necessary.

Why – because God has lifted up the unity of the church as a critically important issue.

Okay, but how do we achieve it?

Well, go to *Ephesians 2,* pls which will frame the rest of this message, and give us the basis and the means of unity, and that is grace: *VV 5b, 7,  8.*

It’s a great passage, and remember grace is getting something you don’t deserve.

Don’t forget that, it’s a critical understanding for this message.

*/Grace is getting something, you do not deserve/*.

This definition is critical because once we forget about grace, we begin to think more of ourselves than we ought to think.

You see, when we focus on what everybody else has done wrong, we tend to forget that /we’re one of the “everybody else’s/.”

So having discussed grace in the first 10 verses of Ephesians 2, it’s interesting that in the rest of the chapter, verses 11 to 22, Paul talks about race.

You see, Paul had a social problem on his hands.

Jews and Gentiles who were being saved, were now sitting in the same church.

And as they did, the Jewish Christians were coming to Church with their history, background, culture, and traditions, but the Gentile Christians were also coming to church with their history, background, culture, and traditions, the problem was, they were totally opposite.

But they not only came with their different backgrounds, they came with name calling: *V 11a* You see, the Jews called the Gentiles “uncircumcised dogs,” so they were both coming in from a world where they called people names.

You see, the Bible was not written in a vacuum.

We’re not dealing with theory here, Paul had a problem on his hands.

But in addressing the problem, Paul starts out with grace, we want to start out with race.

Paul says no, let me spend some time reminding you who you were when you found grace.

Then and only then can we talk about race.

Then Paul introduces a word that is the theme of the section, one of our keywords – PEACE:   *VV 14a, 15b, 17*

 

What Paul says in this passage is that because of peace, the issue of unity has already been solved, it has already been addressed.

Now how do I know this?

Because in John 17, Jesus, knowing He was going to the Cross, as the /Prince of Peace/ in order to */make peace/*/ between the Father and us/, prayed that we would be united as believers.

And the Father always grants to the Son what He has asked for.

And so Paul writes: *VV 13-14a.*

IOWs, mortal enemies have been reconciled:  it’s a done deal Jew – Gentile; Black – White; Red-Yellow; once a person comes to faith in Christ Jesus, they come into a realm known as peace.

Now this may not sound like much to you, but it has staggering repercussions.

It has staggering repercussions because if you’re trying to make unity happen, you are looking in the wrong direction.

That’s why Paul says… in *Ephesians 4:3…*.

Notice he said preserve it, why – because it has already been established

 

IOWs we cannot make unity happen, in fact, unity meetings are a waste of time.

Reconciliation services reconcile no one.

If they did, it would mean *our* efforts are greater than the cross.

You see, if the cross can’t do it, what makes you and I, in our feeble humanity, think we can do it.

We spend too much time trying to solve a problem Calvary has already addressed: *V 14.*

When Christ died on the cross, the Bible says, “The veil in the temple was rent.”

(That is, torn in two).

In other words, the artificial walls that had kept Jews and Gentiles separated for centuries, was now irreparably destroyed, and it was done so by the death of Christ.

In other words, to contemporize it for us, the blood of Jesus Christ has removed the Mason-Dixon Line.

So what does this mean?

This means that nobody, based on race, or color, or class, or denomination or any of the other artificial barriers we erect, has any spiritual advantage over anybody else.

That’s why Paul says in *Galatians 3:27-28.*

Paul keeps driving us back to the cross.

He keeps driving us back to the person of Jesus.

But notice, Paul still continues to use the descriptive words, Jews and Gentiles, why – because it was never expected that Jews would become Gentiles or that /Gentiles would become Jews,/ he just wanted them to understand there was now something bigger than being white, something bigger than being black, something bigger than being Hispanic, something bigger than being Asian and that was their commonality in Christ.

The marvel of the American experiment, flawed as it is – is that people from around the world are invited to set up shop here, and it has continued to happen.

But even so in the cities you can still find ethnic expressions of that diversity.

In other words, there might be a China town, or a little Italy, or you name it, sections where people still represent the uniqueness of their culture… in their dress, in their food, whatever, but even as they express the uniqueness of their culture, they’re all a part of something bigger.

So you might be an Asian-American, or an African-American, or a Hispanic-American, or an */Irish-American/*, but all that means is there is a recognition of your distinctiveness, but also the common recognition that you are part of something bigger; that you are connected to something national, under which your uniqueness must come or submit.

That’s why it’s wrong to try to make somebody else… what you are.

Because if we do that, it eradicates their uniqueness which is a necessary ingredient for unity.

Unity assumes uniqueness, not Uniformity.

But here’s what it does mean: *2 Corinthians 5:16* – that is we do not make judgments based on illegitimate criteria.