Unity in the Church
Part 2
By Nick Bibile
Ephesians
4:4 There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
We will continue where we stopped before. Remember I said when the
unbelievers are united one in mind it can be very dangerous. We saw the example
of the
One Body.
When you say one body it means there is only one true church consist of
different denominations. As we saw last time there are lot of churches who call
themselves Christians but they do not hold to the fundamental doctrines of the
Bible, they are not part of the body of Christ. Just because it has the banner
of Christ, the name of Christ it does not mean they are in the body of Christ.
Again I ask this question why is it that the Reformation broke away from Roman Catholicism? Because Roman Catholicism believes it is not
Christ that leads us to the church but it is the church that leads us to
Christ. All the emphasis is given to the visible church here on earth.
That’s why there was a Reformation as the reformers broke from the Roman
Catholic view and saw that the church is a spiritual organism, it emphasized
there is no church apart from the redemptive work of Christ.
When did the church
begin?
According to dispensational theology the church began in the New
Testament as the dispensational theology believes God has two people.
C.I. Scofield. (Scofield Ref Bible); L.S Chafer; C.C Ryrie; J.F. Walvood
, Dave Hunt, Chuck Smith and others.
Reformed theology way before dispensational theology flatly deny as
Reformed theology believe God has one people, that’s the church. The
church began in the O.T.
What is the meaning of
the church?
We know which one is correct when we look at the meaning of the church.
There are two Hebrew words used. One is qahal which comes from the root word
qal meaning to call. The second word is edhah which comes from ya’adh to
appoint, to come together to an appointed place. The word qahal is used for the
assembly or the congregation. When Moses told the people that the Lord said to
him, “Gather the people to me.” The Hebrew word qahal is used
meaning to summon or assemble. The New Testament word for church in Greek is
ekklesia which means the same assembly.
Stephen used the word church for the children of
Ac 7:37 This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto
me; him shall ye hear.
38 This is he that was in the church
in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the
Ps
Compare Ps
Heb
What do you mean by
body?
Eph
23 Which is his body, the fullness
of him that filleth all in all.
Body is a metaphor of the church. There are other
metaphors given to the church. The church is called an olive tree, branches of
a vine, a building, a kingdom, a family, a temple, a bride and here we see it
is called the body.
The body of Christ is applied not only to the universal church but also
to a single congregation.
Why is it called a body in this context? It is the
body of Christ because of its union with Christ. Body is made up of different parts but one
unit, the parts of the body work together. Do you know that 747
airplane is made of 6 million parts, next time when you fly at a speed of 500
miles per hour 35,000 feet high you will be glad to know that one part does not
fly itself! But all 6 million parts are assembled as one machine then it flies
as one. One body stresses the unity of the church and the relationship to our Lord
Jesus.
There is one body, means there is one true church and the church is the
body of Christ. There is one head of the church and that head is the Christ. We
the members are knitted in love together and to Christ the head.
Eph
1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and
hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one
body: so also is Christ.
1Co
1Co
The church which was mainly Jewish now Gentiles are grated in, the
mystery of God is that the Gentiles too are in the body of Christ.
Eph
20 And are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief
corner stone.
Now if we are in one body knitted together in love there is unity, we
rejoice together and we weep together as our love to each other cannot be
separated.
1Co
26 And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members
rejoice with it.
One Spirit.
Paul is not saying that we are one spirit as we are one in mind united in
our goals. But the Spirit is capitalized; we are one because what the Holy
Spirit has done in us. Who convicted of sin, which awakened us, gave us life
when we were dead in sin? It is the Holy Spirit.
It is the Holy Spirit who brings us from spiritual death to spiritual
life, there are different spirits of religions but there is only one Spirit
that convinces of sin, enlightens, regenerates and makes us alive. Bring us into the body of Christ. It is only
one Spirit that comforts the saints, helps in prayer in access to God through
Jesus Christ. It is the spirit of adoption and sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise.
This same Holy Spirit creates a holy fellowship in the bonds of love.
(Gal 5:22) No matter what background or
what nationality we come from it is the Holy Spirit that has united us together
in the church.
Just like in Acts 4:32 it is said there was one heart and one mind so
Paul tells us there is one body and one Spirit, means to say that we are all
one in Christ Jesus. We are joined together like the fingers of one hand. We
will have brotherly love and union with Christ not in the flesh but in the
spirit of God. God’s spirit governs us, reforms our affections in a way
that we are joined together.
One hope of your
calling.
The word hope has suffered much in our English language speech. In
today’s meaning it is something we hope for but not sure, something
perhaps may come true. The biblical idea is different. The Greek word elpis
means a confident expectation. It is not an uncertain hope. It is a certain
hope. A sure hope. It is a true hope.
Hope is the anchor of our soul staying amidst the storms of this life.
Heb
A blind man who became a Christian, at his death bed he said, “My
eyes are going to be open in heaven and the first person I am going to see is
my Lord Jesus Christ.”
We have a glorious hope laid up in heaven. There are no degrees of hope,
meaning I hope a little, or more, or God loves the pastor more and the laymen a
little. If one goes to school and study hard he can get a good job and a good
salary. Your salary depends on your education, experience and your skills. So
you hope for these things. That’s
not the way it works when it comes to Christianity.
We are loved by the same love, and purchased with the same price of
Christ’s blood, justified with the same righteousness and equally the
sons of God, heirs to the same heavenly inheritance; all are made kings and
priests unto God into one kingdom. Therefore we should be united in our
affections to one another here on earth.
Jesus will come back, we will be with him, and there is a home for us in
heaven. If we believe this we can be united together as a church. We should
labor and strive to live together as because we shall be one in glory in
heaven.
We cannot walk alone in this pilgrimage as we need one another.
Ps 133:1 Behold, how
good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Before King David came
into being there was confusion and division in the kingdom. He was alienated
and there were divisions among King Saul’s people and his people. But
David praise God in the highest terms for the peace and the harmony which came
from the goodness of the Lord when he became king. There was peace where it had
never known before because of the brotherly love.
Application
A Brahmin from
The apostles lived Christianity. Today many Christians live like the
unbelievers and the only way that they can be distinguished when they carry a
Bible to the Church. When we see someone with a Bible we think they are
Christians and without the Bible it is hardly noticeable. The apostles and the
early Christians did not have Bibles at that time and they did not carry Bibles
all over with them but the Bible carried them. They lived Christianity.
During puritan era, there was this little boy carrying large Bible for
family prayers. His Dad said, “My boy, you carry your Bible now, but the
time is coming when you will find that the Bible will carry you.”
Out of the seven churches in the book of Revelation, what is the only
church that the Lord did not rebuke? The
1Jo