4-3: Cooperation

Good morning! I’m Pastor Bill Connors, and it’s a joy to get to be a part of such a great group of God’s people. If you’re a guest or visitor this morning please take a moment during the service to fill out a Welcome card that you’ll find in the back of the pew in front of you. You can put that in the offering plates by the doors at the close of service, or better yet, you can bring them down to me when service is over so that I can meet you, thank you for being here, and give you a gift from the church. If you’d rather fill out an information card online, you can text the word WELCOME to 505-339-2004, and you’ll get a text back with a link to that digital communication card. You can use that number if you’re joining us online as well.

Announcements

Men’s Breakfast this coming Saturday at 8 am

Business meeting next Sunday night at 5:30 pm. We’re going to try something new: a soup potluck before business meeting, starting at 4:30 pm. You can come, have dinner, and then be a part of the meeting.

LMCO: $23,695 Including today, three Sundays left in this focus. Goal is $35K

Opening

We are nearing the end of our series covering our church Statement of Belief, during which we have taken time to consider EHBC’s position on various doctrines of the faith, and what those doctrines mean for our practice as well. This morning, we will have our third-to-last message in this series, this time on the concept of cooperation. This speaks to how Christians should work together to accomplish the work of the Kingdom of God. Our theme passage comes from Ephesians 4. Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read verses 1-6:

Ephesians 4:1–6 CSB

1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

PRAYER (Iglesia Bautista Betania Central)

When I was in the 4th grade, I lived in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. If you didn’t know, it snows there… a lot. The elementary school that I attended had a big open field behind it. One winter day, just before Christmas break, a couple of my friends and I decided to start a snowman in that field during lunch. We started rolling the base. After it was about 2 feet in diameter, some other kids from our class joined us to roll the snowball. And then others, and others. But the time we were done with lunch recess, the snowball was easily as tall as I was, and maybe even taller (I wasn’t very tall, mind you), and we couldn’t push it anymore, even though there were probably 20 of us trying. We thought it was the biggest snowball that could have ever been rolled (it wasn’t). But it was a triumphant moment of cooperation for the kids in Mrs. Hines’ 4th grade class that day.

There are lots of ways that we learn about cooperation. We learn it as we get along with our families when we are growing up. We learn it on teams as we participate in sports. We learn it in our workplaces as we have to get along with others for a common goal. We learn it in our marriages, our friendships, in the church. We even learn it when we are little as we work with friends to try to set the world record for the largest snowball. If you think about it, much of our lives involve some form of cooperation with others. What would happen if NO ONE cooperated in traffic laws? What would your home be like if all everyone in it did was pursue their own goals and desires to the detriment of everyone else? Cooperation is an important concept in life.

Cooperation is also an important part of church life. We don’t exist for ourselves, but for God. And we are His children, brothers and sisters in Christ for the common goal of pursuing His glory and His Kingdom on earth. Therefore, when we come together and choose to join as a church family, one of the things we are choosing to do is cooperate. The church doesn’t exist primarily for us, although the church should care for each other. The church IS US, and we are each a vital part of this body, and we have things that we must be about if we are going to fulfill that goal. This requires cooperation. And in addition to that, there are lots of other churches both here in Albuquerque and throughout New Mexico, the U.S., and the world who are doing the same kinds of things that we are doing, and with whom we can cooperate to do the work of the Kingdom of God.

The Article in our Statement of Belief on Cooperation, Article 17, says:

EHBC’s Statement of Belief, Article 17: Cooperation

“Christ’s people should… organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. … Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.”

In simple terms it says that we should, when necessary, join with other believers to advance God's kingdom, but all the while respecting the autonomy of the local church and not compromising our doctrinal convictions in the process. As Southern Baptists we do this on several levels, at the local level we are part of the Central Baptist Association of churches which work together to plant churches and do other ministry work in the Middle Rio Grande Valley. At a state level we have the Baptist Convention of New Mexico, and we cooperate to plant churches and reach the lost in New Mexico in lots of different ways, and at the national level we belong to the Southern Baptist Convention, which consists of more than 43,000 churches working together to reach our world. Obviously, this article speaks to far more than we will be able to cover this morning. It addresses the issues of denominational structure, church governance, and cooperative relationships between Christians, churches, and denominations.

Very briefly, I want everyone here to understand one thing clearly about the SBC. The authority in the SBC lies with the churches, not with the convention. That’s why our Article 17 specifically reads this way. When we think about ecclesiastical structure, we often think of the big whig at the top, and then some lesser big whigs underneath that big whig, and then so on and so forth on down to the local church. The SBC is flipped upside-down. The representatives of the churches convene, and make decisions about the direction of the denomination, and appoint people to take the actions necessary to the denomination to move in that direction. This is of course greatly simplified, but to put it as succinctly as I can: the SBC doesn’t tell the churches what to do. The churches that make up the SBC decide what the SBC does and doesn’t do.

But rather than get out in the weeds of too much focus on denominational structure or church governance, we are going to spend out time this morning looking at what the Bible has to say about those things which unify us or divide us, both in our personal relationships and our kingdom endeavors. Along the way I want to show you how these truths apply to our lives, not only as a church, but as individual Christians.

If you’re as old as I am or older, you likely remember that on March 3, 1991, Los Angeles Police, after chasing a car for some time, stopped a man for speeding and beat him soundly. A bystander videotaped the incident, which gained international attention. When the officers were acquitted of any wrongdoing in 1992, a four-day riot broke out in LA, much like the riots we saw around the country following the death of George Floyd in 2020. By the time the police, the U.S. Army, Marines, and the National Guard restored order, there was close to $1 billion in damages. 55 people were killed in the riots and more than 2,300 more were injured. On the third day of the riots, the man who was beaten by police, Rodney King, appeared in public on television to make an appeal for peace. King said, "People, I just want to say, you know, can we all get along? Can we get along?"

What Rodney King passionately, and yet naively asked as he faced the television cameras, is something many well intentioned people in Christian circles have been asking for millennia, "Why do there have to be so many things which divide us? Why can't we all just get along?"

First, I want to show you this morning why sometimes we can’t work for the advancement of the Kingdom of God with other people who claim to be Christian, and then I want to wrap up by suggesting three ways where all true Christians can and should get along.

1) Why we can't get along

At first blush, it would seem that this is a valid question. After all, don't we all love Jesus? Don't we all want to do His will on this earth? I mean, aren't we all His children? Why can't we all just get along?

Perhaps more than any other day since the first couple of centuries of Christianity, we are living in a day of religious pluralism; a day when the most highly touted virtue is toleration. Toleration, acceptance, and even sometimes forced agreement are the mottos of the day. These fit hand in hand with the philosophy of the day, which denies the existence of objective truth, as we talked about last week. Thus, when we, as New Testament Christians, because of deep doctrinal differences, refuse to join forces with others who also call themselves Christians, we might come off as being intolerant, narrow-minded, or elitist.

There are those within nearly every church who might question why we cannot simply join hands with just anyone or any group of people who call themselves a Christian. But when we think that way, we have failed to recognize that we are bound, not by what seems right to us, not by what the world would dictate as being tolerant, but we are bound by Scripture itself. We are bound by the Word of God.

And the Scripture has a lot to say about unity; about with whom we are to associate in fellowship. But it also has a great deal to say about who we should avoid, about those with whom we should intentionally disassociate ourselves and why.

There are basically two realms wherein we are called to be circumspect, vigilant, or cautious about our relationships. One is in the area of personal relationships and the other is in the area of our religious practice. Interestingly enough, the two have a way of influencing one another.

Beginning back in the book of Exodus and throughout the Old Testament, God is clear that His people should not sully themselves by allowing themselves to be in fellowship with the pagans around them. In Exodus 34, as God was making a covenant with the Israelites, He warned them against being in fellowship with the nations who occupied the Promised Land at that time.

Exodus 34:12–16 CSB

12 Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you. 13 Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles. 14 Because the Lord is jealous for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god. He is a jealous God. 15 “Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. 16 Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

God has always warned His people to keep themselves from being in intimate fellowship with those who are not believers. Invariably, when we are too close to the wrong people, they have a tendency to draw us away from the Lord.

Psalm 1:1 CSB

1 How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers!

Proverbs 4:14–15 CSB

14 Keep off the path of the wicked; don’t proceed on the way of evil ones. 15 Avoid it; don’t travel on it. Turn away from it, and pass it by.

Look through the Old Testament: you will find that the Israelites were consistently disobedient at this point, and the compromise God warned would occur should they be in fellowship with the nations around them was the very thing which lead them into sin. There's probably no greater example of this than Solomon himself, whose foreign wives caused him to compromise his walk with God and brought the practice of idol worship back into the land.

The New Testament carries this thought forward, warning us against being in league with the lost who surround us.

1 Corinthians 15:33 CSB

33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

2 Corinthians 6:14 CSB

14 Do not be yoked together with those who do not believe. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

This speaks to who we are in business with, it speaks to who we marry; it speaks to every intimate relationship in our lives. Students: before you start dating someone, one of the first conversations you have should be about what that other person believes about Jesus. If they don't believe in Jesus like you do, if they don't hold to a sound doctrine about who He is, then don't date them. The Bible does not advocate “missionary dating.” You say, “Bill, that's really radical, don't you think?” Yes, it is in today’s world. Actually, it's not only radical, it's also scriptural. Don't be unequally yoked.

The Scripture does not tell us we cannot befriend lost people or be acquainted with them or spend time with them, and in fact we should do this, but rather the Bible tells us that our intimate relationships, our closest relationships, should be with others who are committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to His truth revealed in Scripture.

In 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 Paul writes the church at Corinth about this issue. And if there was ever a church which faced this issue it was the church at Corinth.

1 Corinthians 5:9–11 CSB

9 I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. 10 I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. 11 But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

In 1 Timothy 6:3-4, Paul tells Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:3–4 CSB

3 If anyone teaches false doctrine and does not agree with the sound teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching that promotes godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing, but has an unhealthy interest in disputes and arguments over words. From these come envy, quarreling, slander, evil suspicions,

And again in 2 John 9-11, Scripture clearly directs us not to be in fellowship with those who claim to be Christians but do not hold to sound doctrine.

2 John 9–11 CSB

9 Anyone who does not remain in Christ’s teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your home, and do not greet him; 11 for the one who greets him shares in his evil works.

The clear teaching here is that we are not to be in close fellowship, much less join in Kingdom endeavors with those who do not hold to sound doctrine.

In 2008, my friend David Roach, who actually served as the youth pastor intern here at EHBC the summer before I started on staff and who is now pastoring a church in Alabama, was reporting for the Baptist Press on the General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a splinter group of former Southern Baptists who broke off from our convention over a variety of doctrinal issues.

In his article, David reported on one of the workshops offered at the general assembly that year in Memphis, Tennessee. The workshop was led by John Killinger, who was the executive minister and theologian in residence at Marble Collegiate Church in New York City at the time.

In his presentation to the CBF, Killinger denied the deity of Christ and pronounced that doctrine was no longer important. Listen to what Killinger said, and you judge for yourself whether or not this man holds to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Killinger said:

“Doctrine isn’t the driving force to many people today (except) to the fundamentalists who insist on it. But doctrine is a thing of the past now religiously.”

“Now we are reevaluating and we’re approaching everything with a humbler perspective and seeing God’s hand working in Christ, but not necessarily as the incarnate God in our midst. Now, that may be hard for you to hear depending on where you are coming from, but we can talk more about it.”

“I’m just suggesting that I think we need to be a little less certain about what Jesus meant, what He was about, what His life and work were about.”

The article goes on to say:

For example, Jesus did not conceive of Himself as the Savior of the world and may not have viewed Himself a sacrifice at all until the crucifixion, Killinger said.

All quotes from “CBF Presenter Questions Christ’s Deity” by David Roach https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/cbf-presenter-questions-christs-deity/

Folks, this is the very reason doctrine is important. This is the very reason that over the last four decades conservative Southern Baptists have been busy making sure that our doctrine is pure and that our seminary professors only teach the truth. If you ask Mr. Killinger if he is a Christian, he would tell you “yes.” But he does not mean the same thing you and I mean by Christian. He does not believe that Jesus is the Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He does not believe the Scriptures: that Jesus came to shed His blood to atone for the sins of the world. He does not believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, but rather that Jesus is A way and A truth and A way of life. And this is just one example.

I ask you, do you want to belong to a church that espoused such heresy? Should our church be in fellowship with a church that taught such things? And should we join our hearts and hands in joint Kingdom efforts with those who believe this way? Of course the answer is no. 2 John 9-11 expressly forbids it.

This might sound like a really hard line, but think about it: What would we do together? How could we evangelize together when they don't believe in the atoning work of Jesus Christ? How could we build churches with those who don't see the Kingdom of God as we do? Who would we reach and what would we preach if Jesus were merely one of many ways? Could we do “good” things from a physical or social perspective? Yes. But truly Kingdom things? No.

This is why sometimes we can't all get along. Fundamental views of truth and falsehood separate us. Foundational differences over the nature of Scripture, the person of Christ, the nature of salvation, the eternal destiny of man and the end of the ages must forever be the line of demarcation between those of us who hold to biblical truth and those who are willing to compromise with the spirit of the age. These are first-order things, and we must hold to biblical orthodoxy in them.

While the world may call us sectarian; while they may accuse us of intolerance and of being narrow minded; our concern should always land on what Jesus tells us, not on what others say about us.

The late Christian Missionary Alliance preacher, A. W. Tozer, spoke of this situation over 50 years ago in his book, God Tells The Man Who Cares. In his chapter entitled, “Divisions Are Not Always Bad,” Tozer says:

"To divide what should be divided and unite what should be united is the part of wisdom. The first divider was God who at the creation divided the light from the darkness. This division set the direction for all God's dealings in nature and in grace. Light and darkness are incompatible; to try to have both in the same place at once is to try the impossible and end by having neither the one nor the other, but dimness rather, and obscurity. In a fallen world like ours unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise. Loyalty to God, faithfulness to truth and the preservation of a good conscience are jewels more precious than gold or diamonds. Power lies in the union of things similar and the division of things dissimilar. Maybe what we need in religious circles today is not more union but some wise and courageous division."

The reason we can't all get along is that we weren't meant to. Jesus Himself said this in Matthew 10:34 when He said:

Matthew 10:34 CSB

34 Don’t assume that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

We are the light of the world and were not meant to be mixed with darkness. That does not give us a license to be mean for Jesus or to have a holier than thou attitude, we are still called to speak the truth in love, but at the same time we must be prudent in our relationships, both personal and ecclesiastical.

But we need to bring balance to this truth about division. As Ecclesiastes 3 says, there is a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.

What does God word have to tell us about joining in with other Christians to do the work of the kingdom of God? How does it direct us in terms of our personal relationships?

Allow me to suggest three broad areas where we as Christians are to be united.

2) Where Christians must be united

A. United in the truth of the Gospel

The fellowship of the saints is not based on some type of sentimental feeling or on what the world would describe as doing good deeds. The fellowship of the saints, that thing which initially and most substantially unites us is the truth about Jesus Christ, not just believing it is true, but having trusted in Jesus and having His Spirit live within us. This is the foundation of our unity, the truth about Jesus which we have believed and His Spirit living within us who is in the process of transforming us into the image of Christ.

Peter addresses this clearly in 1 Peter 1:22-25:

1 Peter 1:22–25 CSB

22 Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly, 23 because you have been born again—not of perishable seed but of imperishable—through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like a flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.

Last week, we looked at Ephesians 4:11-12 in light of education and the Christian church. Paul continues the thought and the purpose of the church in the following verses.

Ephesians 4:11–15 CSB

11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.

There are many superficial things which divide us, man-made things which have no eternal significance. But the foundational thing which unites all Christians, regardless of their age, race, color, language, social status, economic standing, or whether you are male or female, is that we all believe the same truth about Jesus; the truth revealed to us in the pages of Scripture, that He is the preexistent immortal God incarnate, born of a virgin, lived a perfect life, died a vicarious death, rose from the dead and is coming again to judge the living and the dead. He is the one and only Savior of the world and there is no salvation except through His blood, because it is only through His sacrifice that our sin can be cleansed and we can be forgiven.

B. United in the love of Jesus

We could spend all day in the Scriptures which over and over again command us to love one another, not merely in word, but in deed. In fact, the passage we read from 1 Peter tells us that we are to love one another reverently and with a pure heart: With the right emotions and the right motives.

When we hold the same truth, then we are all bound to the same commandment Jesus gave us in John 13:34-35 where Jesus says:

John 13:34–35 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This love is not only a commandment Jesus has given us; it is the essential identifying mark of an authentic believer. The person who does not have this love for his brother is not a true Christian. That's what John says in 1 John 3:10:

1 John 3:10 CSB

10 This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.

If we are really and truly in love with Jesus, that love will inevitably flow over into our relationships with one another. We will love one another and it will be evident to those around us.

C. United in the work of the Kingdom

1 Corinthians 3:9 tells us that we are God's coworkers. We are to join together to further the Kingdom of God. Cooperation in God's kingdom is working with people who share our faith, our values and our worldview. Allow me to suggest several ways we do this here at our church.

As individuals and as a church we put this teaching into practice every week when we give our tithes and offerings. 10.5% of every dollar you give here at Eastern Hills goes to what is called the Cooperative Program, which is basically a vehicle which allows all 43,000 Southern Baptist Churches to join their financial resources to support missions and Christian education around the world. As we give our dollars help fund more than 5000 missionaries on foreign fields and thousands more right here in North America. A portion of our money goes to support six theological seminaries. We support the Ethics and Religious Liberty commission which serves as a lobby for our Christian values in Washington D.C. All of this is a cooperative effort through what we give. Another 3% goes to the Central Baptist Association, which exists to help churches and church plants in the greater Albuquerque-ish area.

We put this teaching to practice when we go on short term mission trips down the street, to another state, and around the world. Not only do we financially support missions, we physically support missions when we support church plants locally, help out other churches, or go to foreign fields and work alongside of other Christians, together sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. We are united when we serve alongside other Christians.

We also put this teaching to practice when we serve alongside of one another here at Eastern Hills. Whether you are teaching Sunday School, singing in the choir, on the AV team, or taking care of kids in the nursery, every time you serve here at the local church, you are practicing this truth, you are employing the biblical truth about cooperation. Each of us have a different spiritual gift mix and each of us are called to do that which is in consonance with our gifting. Being in a church family isn’t supposed to be a perpetual spectator sport. This is one of the ways we put this truth about being unified in service into practice.

The Word of God is clear. We are to love the truth, love one another, and love the lost so much that we join with other Christians to reach them.

Closing

What do your relationships look like this morning? Who are you close to and how are they influencing you? Are they drawing you closer to Jesus or pulling you further away? Are they encouraging you in the work of the Kingdom or are they pulling towards the things of this world? We are to be people who hold to the truths of the Word of God, who follow Christ’s example in how we live and serve.

If you’re not in Christ, then you don’t have His Holy Spirit within you. If you don’t have His Holy Spirit within you, then you can’t be truly united with His people, because it is the Holy Spirit which binds His people together in peace as we saw in our opening passage. Do you belong to Jesus? Have you surrendered to Him in faith, trusting in His sacrifice for your forgiveness, and in His victory over death for eternal life? He is Savior and Lord, and the only way to be saved is through faith in Him. Surrender to Jesus in faith this morning. I’d love the opportunity to talk with you about salvation, so in a moment the band is going to come down and play, and I invite you, if you’re surrendering to Christ this morning or if you have questions about faith and salvation to come and let me know. If you’re online, you can send me an email at bill@ehbc.org, so we can connect and we can help you as you start this new journey of faith.

If you believe that Eastern Hills is a church family that God can use you in and that God can use to help you to grow in your cooperation and faith, and you’d like to talk about joining the church in formal membership, please come and let me know that as well.

If you need prayer, you can pray where you are or at the steps, or you can come and pray with myself, or with Trevor or Kerry.

The invitation is also a good time to give your tithes and offerings if you’d like to do so using the mobile app or the website.

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

Bible reading: Zeph 2 today. Finish Zephaniah tomorrow, then read Haggai, then 1 and 2 Timothy.

Pastor’s Study tonight at 5:30 in Miller Hall.

Prayer Meeting Wednesday night at 5:45 in Miller Hall.

Instructions for guests

Benediction

1 Corinthians 1:10 CSB

10 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

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