COMPROMISE: THE ONE BODY
1. A few days ago I was in Meijer’s.
2. I noticed that a lady wanted to cash a check.
3. Since this was a government check the people at the cash register got out an inkpad.
4. This woman had her thumb inked and recorded before her check was cashed.
5. We live in a time when we have a number of tools to identify people.
6. One well-known tool is DNA.
7. The “A” in DNA stands for acid.
8. I’ll not try to pronounce what the DN stands for.
9. The DNA in our bodies makes each one of us distinct.
DNA ALLOWS US TO IDENTIFY PEOPLE. THIS MORNING I WANT TO PROPOSE THAT THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE DNA FOR THE CHURCH.
1. Just as we can identify people with DNA, so we can identify the church built by Christ.
2. God has provided us with sufficient knowledge to determine which religion is right.
3. In the scriptures that were read we heard Paul speak of a “body.”
4. Paul said there is “one body” (Eph. 4:4).
5. What is the one body?
6. In Eph. 1:22-23 Paul identified this body as “the church.”
7. Paul used the words “body” and “church” interchangeably.
8. In Eph. 4:4 Paul said that there is only “one body.”
9. If there church and body are used synonymously, and there is only 1 body…one church.
10. When we look at Paul’s statement we find that it does not harmonize with our modern society.
11. At the present time there is not one church.
12. Neither is there “one faith” for Christians.
13. We have a world full of churches and they are all different.
14. Paul said there is only one but we have a phone book full of different religious groups.
15. How do we reconcile Paul’s statement with all the different churches?
16. Since the Lord can have only one body, the “extra bodies” are joined to someone else.
17. How do we find which body is the Lord’s?
18. How do we determine which church belongs to Jesus?
19. We need to use the DNA.
20. This morning I want to present 3 ways to identify the church described in the New Testament.
21. The first way is related to the world.
THE CHURCH ESTABLISHED BY CHRIST IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT IS SEPARATE FROM THE WORLD.
1.
In 1 Jn.
2. The “world” is a way of life that is contrary to God.
3. The “world” is the way of life that is not associated with the church built by Christ.
4. The church established by Jesus is to be unlike and separate from the world.
5. One of the places where this is described is Jas. 4:4.
6. James said that the people who received his letter were guilty of adultery.
7. In this passage the word adultery has a unique definition.
8. The word adultery is often used to describe sexual unfaithfulness in marriage.
9. In Jas. 4:4 the term has a different definition – READ.
10. James spoke of people who wanted to be joined to both God and the world.
11. James said that this is impossible.
12. God is good; the world is evil.
13. God is holy; the world is not.
14. Trying to be joined to both God and the world is not possible.
15. The church (the people who make this spiritual body) are to be unlike people from the world.
16. That is, Christians are different in how they live.
17. They are to be different in how they dress, talk, and approach life.
18. A Christian’s concerns and priorities are not the same as the unsaved.
19. In life we often associate certain things by what we observe.
20. If we see a man in a $500 suit we may draw some conclusions.
21. We do not expect him to go in and make hamburgers at Wendy’s.
22. Neither would wee expect such a man to get on a garbage truck & collect trash.
23. A similar thing is true concerning the members of the church.
24. When people observe a Christian they should draw some conclusions.
25. They should see that God’s people are different.
26. Rom. 12:2 speaks of our being “transformed.”
27. 2 Cor.
28. Eph. 4:22-24 says that we have “put away” some practices.
29. Col. 1:22 says “holy, unreprovable and without blemish” before God.
30. Col. 3:10 speaks of a “new man.”
ONE IDENTIFYING MARK OF THE CHURCH BUILT BY CHRIST IS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SAVED ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER PEOPLE IN LIFE. THIS IS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT HELPS US IDENTIFY THE LORD’S BODY.
1. There is also a second identifying characteristic.
2. Members of the Lord’s church all follow the same guide.
3. This is the New Testament (the new covenant that is described in the Bible).
4.
The church built by Christ follows the “apostle’s
doctrine” (Acts
5. When we look at the religious world we find a lot of traditions.
6. People practice things that are 50 or 100 years old.
7. Some may go back 200 or even 300 years.
8. The church built by Christ is like the first century church.
9. The true church does what Jesus taught through His apostles.
10. This makes the church built by Christ easy to identify.
11. By using the New Testament we can evaluate any religious group.
12. An evaluation of a religious group will reveal one of the following conclusions.
13. The group is very unlike the church of the New Testament.
14. We may find that a group is following the New Testament to some degree.
15. Perhaps a group is following the Bible in most ways.
16. It is also possible to model the pattern found in the Bible.
17. In other words, it is possible to mimic (copy) the church of the New Testament.
18. At the present time we copy a wide variety things.
19. We can take a photograph and copy it.
20. People copy great works of art.
21. Counterfeiters copy money, passports, driver’s licenses, and other documents.
22. We live in a time when many are experts at copying things.
23. Yet, when it comes to religion people seem to be confused.
24. Some do not see the need to copy the pattern God has given to us.
25. Other say that it can’t be done.
26. The need to copy God’s pattern is seen in Heb. 8:5 – READ.
27. Moses was given a “pattern.”
28. The tabernacle was to be built in a specific way.
29. Moses was warned about making any deviations to this pattern.
30. Did God use any less care when He built the church?
31. Did God care more about the Old Covenant tabernacle than the New Covenant church?
32. Paul answered this question in 1 Cor. 12:28.
33. This passage is in a context of miraculous gifts.
34. These gifts are gone but this text still makes an important point.
35. READ 1 Cor. 12:28a.
36. God “set” (put, placed, laid down these positions) in the church.
37. The EDNT (3:356) says SET means “he appoints the members of the congregation just as he did the apostle.”
38. God put together the church in a way that He choose.
39. God has set up the church.
40. If a congregation follows the
pattern God has given it is a
41. If a religious group does not follow the divine pattern it is the church of someone else.
42. If people do not do things the Lord’s way it is not the Lord’s church.
43. Church signs say a lot of things.
44. I seriously doubt that anyone would ever want their sign to say “the church of someone else.”
45. This is what a sign should say if people are not following the New Testament.
46. Without strict adherence to the New Testament a church does not belong to Christ.
A THIRD MEANS OF IDENTIFYING THE CHURCH IS TO SEE WHAT IT DOES.
1. At the present times religious groups do a lot of things.
2. Some in our area have put on fireworks shows.
3. Others are known for being something like the YMCA (lots of social programs).
4. What did the church in the first century do?
5. The book of Acts describes three basic jobs of the church.
6. The church built by Christ is an institution for salvation.
7. Thus, the church built by Jesus strove to serve souls.
8. Christians went out and taught the Bible – Acts 8:4 – QUOTE.
9. The gospel was taken into all parts of the world – Acts 1:8.
10. Those who were saved were strengthened (Acts 16:5).
11. Members of the church tried to
live good lives and do good works (Acts
12. The church of the New Testament is not hard to identify.
13. The people who were members of it lived in a way that was different from the world.
14. These people followed the God’s plan for the church without addition or subtraction.
15. Christians then tried to tell
others about the
16. Members of the church tried to strengthen and encourage their fellow Christians.
17. They also did their best to be involved in good works.
18. This is a simple plan but it is God’s plan.
19. This plan works and this is the plan we need to follow.