Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

In the hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, there is the line: “…we are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity....”

Is it the case that is true?

Or is it more the case as we read in something that has been going around the internet for years along these lines

I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off.

I immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Why shouldn't I?" he said.

I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"

"Like what?"

"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"

"Religious."

"Me too!

Are you Christian or Jewish?"

"Christian."

"Me too!

Are you Catholic or Protestant?"

"Protestant."

"Me too!

Are you Anglican or Baptist?"

"Baptist."

"Wow!

Me too!

Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"

"Baptist Church of God."

"Me too!

Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God."

"Me too!

Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"

"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"

To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.

That can be pretty depressing!

But what we will see today in our passage we’ve just heard is that there is

Now, in the lead-up to these verses Paul has instructed us

The Apostle Paul writing by the Holy Spirit that we are to be eager, that we are to rush to the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

This unity we have in Christ as His people, His Church, is already something that has been brought about, already something that has been declared and worked by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, as He tells us earlier in Ephesians.

He has joined Jew and Gentile together.

In this new reality that Paul has been declaring in Ephesians is something that has been brought about by the blood of Jesus being shed for us on the Cross and in the declaration of our justification in God raising Jesus from the dead, this salvation brought brought to us by his Holy Spirit drawing us, and indeed, a great multitude a people to himself from every nation and tribe and tongue and people.

As a result of this saving work accomplished by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the name of the Lord is to be proclaimed in every land, by every tongue to the glory of God forever and ever.

By this glorious working of God, the reality is that there is this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the Church, the redeemed people of God.

We are called upon, exhorted to maintain this, to advance this, to keep this, and we are to do this.

And why is it that this is to take place?

Well, Paul is telling us now in verses 4 through 6 is that the work of God the Father and Son and Holy Spirit is what has brought this about, and we are to work to maintain this because of that work of the Trinity.

Today we’re going to look at the first part of verse 4, "There is one body and one Spirit...."

There is one body of Christ

There is one Spirit

Implications of these truths

First,

There is one body of Christ

He says there is one body and we see that this is the body of Christ.

All Christians, all believers are in Christ.

He is the head of the body, the church, As Ephesians 1:22 tells us:

In this next verse in Ephesians 1 tells us that the church is his body,

the fullness of him who fills all in all, and it was important for the Ephesians to see there are not churches such as a Jewish church and a Gentile church, there is one church, one people of God, that unity that God has affected and brought together, one body in Christ.

There is perfect unity in the Church

There is this perfect unity here: one body, and one spirit.

It is difficult to understand that there is perfect unity in the Church.

Why so many denominations?

Why do things seem so fractured?

In theology, we like to speak of the Church in terms of the

the universal church

the visible church

The universal church

The universal church consists of everyone through time and in all places who are elected and redeemed in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells.

But only God sees and knows all who are His.

That number is invisible to our eyes so it is referred to as the invisible church.

The visible church

The visible church, which was at first mostly seen in the covenant line from Adam down to the Jews in the Old Testament and is now since Christ, made-up of all, Jew and Gentile, who profess the name of Jesus as Lord and their children.

We see this manifested in the various groups and denominations and congregations.

It is to this universal, visible church that Christ has given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God for the gathering and perfecting of the saints in this life, until He comes again.

He makes these means of carrying out His plans and purposes in the Church to be effective by the working of His Spirit, just as He promised:

And we know from Scripture there are those who profess to be Christians in the visible church and yet aren’t born-again by the Spirit of God.

They profess salvation but don’t possess it.

So we see throughout time and in different places the faithful, those truly redeemed in Christ, this universal church, existing more or less visible, as those churches and individuals in it more or less hold true to the Gospel and worship God in Spirit and Truth according to His Word.

We also see that some churches have so degenerated to no longer be true churches.

But we can also rest assured that God will preserve those who are His and that there shall always be a church on earth to worship God according to His will.

We must live our lives in the context of the visible church

The reality is this: we are called to live in in our our profession of our faith in Christ in the context of the visible church.

We don’t live in an abstract world.

None of the commands of God are to be lived out in an abstract way.

We are called to love this brother and serve that sister.

We are exhorted in Hebrews 10 to gather with God’s people for worship, to encourage one another as members of body of Christ, engaging one another in our particular congregations.

If you profess Jesus as Lord, you have an obligation from God to publicly identify with and formally unite with the visible expression of the Church as it meets locally.

There is no concept of an unaffiliated Christian in the Bible or just having a membership in the “invisible church.”

There is only one Church

This is driven home further when Paul says "one," There is one body.

There is one and only one.

One and only one body.

One and only one Spirit, and so forth.

Not one among many, not one that is in a range of choices, there is one unique work of God.

We don't have a God who has to make a replacement.

We don't have a God who has to function according to a Plan B. We have a God who has no substitutes, no work-arounds.

There's one and only one body.

We can't put forward an alternative to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is no salvation ordinarily outside of the Church.

Why?

Because it is through the church that God has declared that his Gospel is to be preached.

It is through the church that God is manifesting this marvelous work of salvation and holding out before us the means of grace of the word as it is read and preached, of prayer and of observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.

There is no other institution, no other organisation, through which God works in this way.

It isn’t through the family, it isn’t through the State.