ONE CHURCH
1. A few days ago the office phone range; the caller was a sales rep for a phone book company.
2. She wanted us to have a church listing that stood out among all the other religious listings.
3. She had lots of ideas to make our listing distinctive.
WHETHER WE LOOK IN THE PHONE BOOK OR SOMEWHERE ELSE, EACH RELIGIOUS GROUP IS TYPICALLY UNIQUE IN AT LEAST ONE AREA.
a) A group may stand out because of when it worships (i.e. the primary day for services).
b) It may receive attention because of how it is organized, or what it does.
c) People have commented on how certain religious groups build their buildings.
2) Within the churches of Christ, there are many distinctive features.
3) We are unique in the sense that we do not have what many other groups have or do.
4) We stand apart from others by in our organization, worship, purpose, and other things.
5) Some of our distinctive beliefs have been severely criticized.
6) One denigration has been expressed in these ways:
a) “You people believe you are the only ones who please God.”
b) “You believe that only church of Christ people will to go heaven.”
c) “Anyone outside the churches of Christ will be damned.”
d) “If you want to be saved, you must be a member of the church of Christ.”
7) This morning I want to direct our attention to four New Testament books.
8) We want to look at Romans, First Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians.
9) My intention is to divide this lesson into two parts.
10) First, we will look at a particular New Testament expression.
11) Once we have established the existence of this expression, we will then see what it means.
12) Our expression for study is “one body.”
13) In the ASV we find these two words joined together ten times.
a) If you have the KJV OR NKJV, you will find them 11 times (1 Cor. 12:20 uses these words twice).
b) References will be given and read in order starting with Romans.
c) Again, all of today’s verses will come from Romans, First Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians.
d) Our beginning text comes from Rom. 12.
14) Here is how Rom. 12:4 reads – READ.
15) God recognizes many members (i.e. Christians), but He has only “one body” for them.
16) Perhaps to drive this point home even more forcefully, it is repeated in verse 5 of Rom. 12 – READ.
17) When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he made this same point.
18) In 1 Cor. 6 the apostle presented several arguments against sexual sin.
19) One of his arguments is based upon the one and only one body.
a) If we are part of Christ’s one body, we cannot join (align) ourselves with another.
b) I will read verse 17 and then back up to verse 16 – READ verses 17 & 16.
c) Christians cannot be joined to a harlot because they are joined to the Lord.
d) If we are in the 1 body of the righteous, we cannot also be part of a body containing unrighteousness.
20) Later in this letter we find references to the Lord's Supper.
21) Much of Lord's Supper information comes from 1 Cor. 11; there are a few details in 1 Cor. 10.
a) 1 Cor. 10:16 refers to the “communion” (one more name for the Lord's Supper).
b) In verse 17 we find the “one body” mentioned again – READ.
c) God views the saved as “one body.”
22) Teaching this to the Corinthians was important because Corinth was a divided congregation.
23) Whether we are looking at a local, regional, national, or world level, the church is “one body.”
24) Skipping 1 Cor. 11 we come to another reminder of this in 1 Cor. 12:12 – READ.
a) What is really interesting about “one body” is found in verse 13 – READ.
b) Sometimes people say “I was baptized into this church or that church.”
c) This kind of expression or thinking is foreign to the New Testament.
d) All who became Christians were baptized into the “one body.”
25) There are “many members” in this one body, but there is only one body – 1 Cor. 12:20 – READ.
26) In the past we have heard the old idea that “people are different. There are different spiritual needs.”
27) “To meet various and distinctive needs, we need more than one body.”
28) God denies that these ideas are true. In fact, He calls these ideas are wholly false—lies.”
29) Listen to Eph. 2:16 – READ.
a) “Both” refers to Jews and Gentiles.
b) Jews and Gentiles were vastly different from each other.
c) When it came time to save them, God had, used, and still uses “one body.”
30) It is also in the book of Ephesians that we have “seven ones.”
31) Here are some of the divine ones, Eph. 4:4 – READ.
32) Col. 3:15 is the final reference – READ.
IN ALMOST A DOZEN PLACES WE FIND GOD SAYING IN THE MOST EMPHATIC WAY THERE IS ONLY “ONE BODY.”
a) To affirm anything other than this is to flatly deny the Scriptures.
b) Someone might say, “Ok. We agree there is only one body.”
2) “We cannot, however, agree on what this one body is.”
3) “You say it is the church; we believe it is something else.”
4) We ended up with the book of Colossians; let’s start the second part of our study here.
a) Colossians 1:24 – READ.
b) We read about “one body” in the New Testament.
c) In the passages we have already introduced, we heard how this refers to the Lord.
d) Here we find another reference to Christ’s “body.”
e) This body is now identified as the church.
5) There are times when the Bible interprets itself.
6) Such is the case with the words “body” and “church.” These two words are used interchangeably.
7) If Col. 1:24 is not enough proof, let’s move back to Col. 1:18 – READ.
8) Here “church and body” are shown to be the same thing.
9) If the Colossians passages are not enough, let’s back up a little more to Eph. 5.
10) We want to find Eph. 5:23, a chapter which compares Christ to a husband.
11) Eph. 5:23 – READ.
12) Jesus is the “head of the church”—the same group of people who we know as the “body.”
13) Because Jesus is the “head” of this body (group), He is also its “savior” of it.
14) If all these are still not sufficient proof, we saved the strongest passage for last – Eph. 1:22-23.
15) – READ Eph. 1:22-23.
16) When we let the Bible speak for itself we find these facts:
a) There is only one body.
b) Almost 12 times in this New Testament this point is practically shouted at us.
c) This one body is another description of the church.
d) Tied in with these two facts is the word “one.”
e) There is only “one body.”
f) If there is one body and only 1 body, and that one body is the church, there is only one church.
17) When we look in the phonebook or the signs around town, however, we find many churches.
18) In the Bible we have God telling us Christ is the head and savior of only one.
19) These facts anger people; this is information that offends many, it sounds harsh.
20) We did not make up what was just read. Neither can we apologize for it or try to explain it away.
21) Christ has only one church and He is only going to save one church.
22) Sometimes people say, “all denominations constitute the one church.”
23) God said this idea is also not true.
24) 1 Cor. 12:13, a passage already introduced, said this:
25) “For in one spirit were we all baptized into the one body.”
26) People in Christ’s church all got there following the same plan; they all take the same course.
a) In the denominational world people follow multiple plans.
b) Some are voted into a church; others say a sinner’s prayer; there are claims about the Holy Spirit.
c) Jesus established only one church; what came after His were imitations created by men.
d) If people really believed that all churches are one, denominations would merge.
e) Instead of a community with 200 churches, they could merge into 1 or just a few groups.
f) People will not do that because they pay lip service to the truth of “one body.”
27) God has only one body (church) and it is for all people.
28) It is a body that is very distinct from the rest of the religious world.
29) In fact, it is so distinct most denominations hate it.
30) God’s church may be hated by man, but it is loved by Christ.
31) We know that because of Acts 20; Christ died for His church.
32) He gave His life for a body He wants to love, protect, and save.
33) To get into this body we obey Jesus’ instructions.
34) Jesus said these instructions include faith, repentance, confession, and baptism.
35) These commands constitute the “one spirit” that will take us into the “one body.’
36) If we are a religious person, to what body do we belong?
37) Is it a body established by men, or the one body established by the Lord?
38) We hope you know about and have become a part of the one body.
39) If you are not familiar with the church Jesus built, there are tracts in the foyer.
40) We would like to study the matter with you at a time convenient for you.
41) Jesus believed the one body was so important He died for it.
42) If you are not a member of it, but want to be, you can do that now.