Church; True Unity ~ 20250302 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
03/02 Church; True Unity (Eph.4: Mt.16, 18); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250302_church-true-unity.mp3
We are looking together at what the Bible says about the church. So far, we have seen that the church is made up of those who call on the name of King Jesus, the sovereign rescuing Lord. The church is a Holy Spirit created New Covenant community of born again baptized believers.
We have looked at some of the main metaphors used to describe the church; a family, a flock, a building and a kingdom of priests, a body made up of diverse parts, a bride waiting for her husband.
What The Church Does
So far, we’ve been looking primarily at who or what the church is. I want to turn now to look at what the church does. What are we as the church to be about? How do we function as the church?
Let’s look back through these descriptions of the church; they are given to communicate something about the church. Each picture illustrates a truth, and and each one has implications for what we do, how we live, how we conduct ourselves, how we interact with one another as the church.
The church is pictured as a family; Like it or not, we are related to one another, by blood – the blood of Jesus that washes us clean. We may not have much else in common, but we have been adopted into the same family, made brothers and sisters through the new birth, so we’d better learn to get along, to look out for one another. The family has a family name to live up to, family rules, family values, a family code of conduct. If you are a Christian, you bear the name of Christ. You’d better be living up to that name.
Ephesians 4:1 ...walk in a manner worthy of [consistent with] the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The church is a family; uphold the family name.
The church is a flock.
Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
We were straying like sheep (1Pet.2:25), but the good Shepherd stood in our place, took our punishment, and we have now been returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. Under our good Shepherd (Ps.23), we now get to walk together by still waters, lay down and enjoy green pastures together as a flock. He leads us in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake, and we must follow him. We also will walk with one another through the valley of the shadow of death. The church is a flock. As sheep prone to wander, we must stay close to our good Shepherd.
The church is a building, made up of living stones, stones that are joined together to be a holy temple of the Lord (1Pet.2:5), Don’t be a block sitting out in a field all alone. There is structure, there is design, there is order, there is symmetry and beauty. We together are a dwelling place for God by his Spirit (Eph.2:19-22). His glory inhabits us. We are to be a kingdom of priests, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to him through Jesus Christ. Together we proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light (1Pet.2:9). We were made to worship. We were made to behold the glory of God, to enjoy his presence together.
The church is a body, made up of individual body parts (1Cor.12:7, 12), each one with Holy Spirit enabled grace-gifts and abilities given so that wee can contribute in a specific way to allow the body to function and thrive as a complete interconnected organism. We need each other, every part functioning as parts of the whole; a body connected with and in submission to its one head, the Lord Jesus Christ. As parts of a body, we can’t be proud thinking I’m more important than you, or withdraw thinking I have no useful contribution to make. We can’t be isolated from each other. We need each other. And like a body, we are meant to be interconnected; when one is hurting all grieve together, when one rejoices, we all share in that joy (1Cor.12:26-27). The church is a body and we are each individually members of one another.
The church is a bride, betrothed to her husband, to Christ. Jesus loves the church, he laid down his life to make her his own, he is washing her with the water of the word, making her pure and holy, to present her blameless, in splendor on that glorious day. Our affections must be exclusively his, our eyes on him, our hearts longing for his return, in faithfulness seeking to live in a way that pleases him when he returns. The church is a pure virgin betrothed to Christ.
Unity
All these pictures point us to our corporate identity. The church is bigger than me. It is made up of many parts, many people. Many sheep, brothers and sisters, priests, living stones, body parts. We who are many are one (Rom.12:4-5). The church together composes one bride, the bride of Christ.
This is why Jesus prayed so fervently for our unity:
John 17:11 ... Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. ...21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
Unity Grounded in Truth
And why the New Testament exhorts us so often to unity.
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (cf. Jn.10:16; Rom.12:5; Gal.3:28; Eph.1:10; 4:4)
Notice this is not some superficial ‘lets sing a song together and hold hands and pretend we’re all on the same team’ kind of unity. This is a robust intrinsic unity that comes from the equipping ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers, a unity of faith (that we believe the same things); a unity of the knowledge of the Son of God (that we know and are walking with the same Jesus). This is a unity that is on guard against the infection of false teaching and the disease of different doctrine. This is a unity not founded in feeling but in fact, in truth, in reality. This is why the early church fought so passionately and at such great cost for the truth about who Jesus is against the false teachings and heresies that tried to take root in the church.
Unity and Accountability
This is why being connected, being a part, a member of the body is so essential. It allows the body to recognize and affirm the other members. This is why baptism is so important; baptism is the way believers are meant to respond to the gospel and publicly confess what they are believing, so that the rest of the body can hear and welcome them in as members. This is why accountability to one another is so important, so if I am believing something that is false and dangerous, you can in love point out my error for my good and for the health of the body. We must not let false doctrine in to the church. We must be able to evaluate truth claims by the word of God, and accept or reject them.
A few years ago, I was out in the backyard and decided to throw a stick for our dog. It was a big stick that she had been chewing on already, and when I wound up and released that stick, there was a splinter that the force of that throw plunged deep into my thumb. It was instantly throbbing, and felt like it had gone straight to the bone. I grabbed the chunk of wood that was lodged firmly in my flesh, and with some effort and much pain, pulled it out. It was a sizeable chunk and left quite a hole, which I went inside and cleaned up. It continued to be painful, but eventually healed over. But I could tell something was not quite right. I suspected there was still a fragment of that saliva saturated stick somewhere deep in my thumb. It was red, swollen and inflamed. It affected just about everything I did. At different times, I would dig at it in an attempt to find whatever was in there that didn’t belong, but without success. Finally, I think it was months later, as I was probing, a fairly substantial chunk of wood squirted out of my thumb. My body had been fighting it the whole time, and finally it was out. It was painful, but there was instant relief; the foreign substance that had invaded my body was finally out, and I could begin to really heal.
That’s what it’s like when false teachers make their way into the church. Paul and Jesus used the analogy of the flock and called them ravenous wolves (Mt.7:15 Ac.20:29). The church of the living God is to be a pillar and buttress of the truth (1Tim.3:15).
We are to:
Jude 1:3 ...contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Paul instructed Titus to appoint elders in every town, men who:
Titus 1:9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. 10 For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. 11 They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. ...13 ...Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, 14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth.
Splinters and Timbers
Jesus also taught about helping a brother get a splinter or a speck out of his eye.
Matthew 7:3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Jesus does not say ‘mind your own business, don’t concern yourself with your brother.’ But our tendency is to be hypocrites who ‘strain out a gnat and swallow a camel’ (Mt.23:24). We ought to help our brother with his splinter. But we ought not attempt it with a whole timber lodged in our own eye.
Go After the Sheep Who Strays
Jesus says in Matthew 18(:12-14) that the good shepherd goes after the one sheep who goes astray and rejoices greatly when he finds it. He says:
Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Jesus outlines a process of pursuing a sheep who goes astray. The goal is always the joy of finding them and bringing them home.
This is only the second place Jesus mentions the church, and this concept of binding and loosing. The first was just two chapters earlier in Matthew 16; Jesus asked his disciples if they understood his identity.
Matthew 16:15 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.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Jesus builds his church on the solid foundation of the divine identity of Jesus as Messiah, Son of God. And Peter is given authority to unlock the kingdom of heaven to sinners otherwise destined for hell who turn to Jesus. In Matthew 18, the authority of the keys in binding and loosing is given to the church, followers of Jesus officially gathered in the name of Jesus, and Jesus says that when the church pursues a straying sheep and that one refuses to return, they must assume that that one is not a sheep, because his sheep hear the voice of their Shepherd and follow. That one must not be founded on the true identity of Jesus.
God gives the gift of repentance to his people. A brother who refuses to repent, refuses to walk in unity is not acting like a brother, not upholding the family name, and so puts himself outside. The church is to recognize that one as outside the family and treat them as outside. The way Jesus teaches us to treat those outside is to love them, plead with them, invite them in. That is the Father’s heart (Lk.15); he goes out to that one, pleads with him to come home.
As the church, the family, the flock, the body, the building, the bride, we are called to unity, and our unity must be substantial, real, rooted in gospel truth, giving evidence of real gospel transformation. May we grow together in ‘the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God’.
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2025.03.02 Sermon Notes
The Church; True Unity (Ephesians 4; Matthew 16, 18)
The church is a family; so uphold the family name
Ephesians 4:1-3
The church is a flock; stay close to the Shepherd
1 Peter 2:25; Psalm 23
The church is a building; enjoy God’s presence together
1 Peter 2:5, 9; Ephesians 2:19-2
The church is a body; we depend on each other
1 Corinthians 12:7, 12, 26-27
The church is a betrothed bride; be ready!
2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5
Unity; exhorted and prayed for
Romans 12:4-5; John 17:11, 21-22
Our unity is grounded in gospel truth
Ephesians 4:11-16; Matthew 7:15; Acts 20:29;
1 Timothy 3:15; Jude :3; Titus 1:9-14
Go after the sheep who strays
Matthew 7:3-5; 18:15-20; 16:15-19; Luke 15:11-32
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org