A Unique, Yet Unified Church

Propositional Argument

The church has been diverse since the beginning.

Application

What are you doing to make sure you are actively engaged in the rich tapestry of God’s church? Does your church have the courage to pursue the hard path of opening up to diversity, or are you seeking an easy diversity?

Let Saints on Earth in Concert Sing

Charles Wesley wrote:

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott “Let Saints on Earth in Concert Sing”

Let saints on earth in concert sing

With those whose work is done;

For all the servants of our King

In Heaven and earth are one.

One family, we dwell in Him,

One Church, above, beneath;

Tho’ now divided by the stream,

The narrow stream of death.

Go Thou and Do Likewise

Romans IV. Life Application: Go Thou and Do Likewise

Paul’s letter to the Romans is an orderly progression through the Christian experience: sin (chaps. 1–3), salvation (chaps. 4–5), sanctification (chaps. 6–8), God’s sovereignty over all (chaps. 9–11), sacrifice, submission, and service (chaps. 12–15), and being sent (chap. 16). In the last half of chapter 15 and all of chapter 16, Paul summarizes his letter by revealing his heart—committed to building, serving, and shepherding the church of Jesus Christ. Paul never stopped being an apostle, a sent one. He lived his life for one thing, to obey the one who called and sent him to the nations of the world bearing the gospel—the power of God unto salvation.

Thankfully, his plan to make the Roman church his partner in the power of the gospel—to spread the good news of Jesus and his kingdom to Spain—occasioned the writing and sending of this letter. While we do not know whether he made it to Spain, we know the most important thing was accomplished—the writing of his letter to the believers in Rome. For in the writing of this letter, Paul ultimately equipped hundreds of thousands of churches and millions of believers to go not only to Spain but to “the regions beyond” as well.

It is not enough to read the letter to the Romans and come to grips with sin, to be saved, to make progress in sanctification, to understand God’s sovereignty and to live sacrificially submissively, and as a servant. If we have not agreed to be sent by God to those who do not yet embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, then we have not embraced all of Romans. God may send us across the street to a neighbor, or across the ocean to another nation. But we must be willing to go. Our salvation, sanctification, and service are all means to the ultimate end of the Christian life—“That all nations might believe and obey him” (Rom. 16:26).

Ethnically and Socially Diverse

Paul writes to the church in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 12:12–13 ERV

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.

Jesus did not design his church to be separate, nor did he design it to where only one gender gets to have a voice....

The church is ethnically diverse, comprised of many nations, but really only two people groups: there are Jews and there are the Gentiles--Gentile being a term for anyone who is not Jewish.

In the temple under Herod, during the time of Jesus and Paul, there were architectural designs in place to highlight the separation between God, Gentiles, and Jews. The Court of the Gentiles was the space farthest from the Holy of Holies but still part of the temple. This court was separated from the rest of the temple by a wall that was approximately four and one half (41/2) feet tall. It had signs on it that warned the Gentiles not to go beyond it. We know this historically because Josephus wrote about it, and we know it archaeologically because in 1871 and again in 1935, two Greek signs that were part of the temple were discovered. These signs warned Gentiles to not cross this wall. One said the equivalent of “Trespassers will be shot on sight.” This created tension between Jews and Gentiles when Paul writes this letter to the Romans. But something remarkable has happened. The first church wasn’t copying the culture; instead it had started to bear witness to culture about a new society. The walls of separation were coming down.....

Question: If Jesus’ death caused the veil in Herod’s temple to rip from top to bottom, then why are still building walls of separation in the church?

The 36th President of the United States Lyndon Baines Johnson desired to create the “Great Society,” but Jesus came to create the “New Society” for God. God formed this new society for himself, and within it are new standards for how we should live and new understandings of our relationship with others. Ephesians 3:8-11 reveals God’s plan to use the church as the display of his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. John Stott uses this word manifold (polypoifilos) to make a point”

“The church as a multi-racial, multi-cultural community is like a beautiful tapestry. Its members come from a wide range of colorful backgrounds. No other human community resembles it. Its diversity and harmony are unique. It is God’s new society. And the many-colored fellowship of the church is a reflection of the many-colored wisdom of God.”

If God created a new society that is diverse on purpose, then, why are we so busy trying to assimilate everyone into the factory mold?”

In verses 3-16, it shows that social diversity that is lacking in the modern church. Paul lists 26 individuals here, and in a male dominated society, he mentions nine (9) women, and four women in particular, Phoebe the deacon are working hard for the sake of others. These verses put the powerful and powerless, the high, the low, the free, the slave all give the church a new meaning, purpose and identity in the church. The church is one of the few places where limits are placed on who can and cannot lead…Gender roles still define what people are qualified and not qualified to do in ministry. Social strata still dominates how people are treated in church. The caste system in America has infiltrated the church. Misogony dominates the church landscape as men assert their dominance, though their female counterparts dominate in the pews and to the “purse.” There is a difference between opinion and overthrow, and it wise that we learn the difference.

The Greatest threat to the Church is Division

“If the greatest threat to division is unity; then, the greatest threat to unity is division.”

-Pastor Marc James

The first church was not ethnically homogeneous. From nearly the very beginning it was becoming a diverse body that was countercultural to its Jewish roots and to contemporary Roman culture. What is your church doing to continue to reflect the new society that God created in Christ? How is your church reflecting the rich tapestry of the kingdom? Keep in mind that true unity among very different groups requires the church’s willingness to change, adjust, and adapt. It means asking hard questions and having hard conversations. It means being open to rebuke and correction. It means not having to be the leader, but sometimes submitting to being the follower. It means being quiet and listening to a brother or sister who might have a very different experience. It means not insisting on being the expert. It means considering that the culture of your church is not the only way to live out the faith. This kind of diversity and unity is not cheap or easy. Real diversity and unity are not just found in website photos and social media posts but substantively engage even when no one is watching or taking pictures. This is not performative. Does your church have the courage to pursue that kind of unity?

The word division here is dichostasia (διχοστασία) meaning the state of being in factious opposition. It literally means to cause two groups in one place of one group. It is also expressed in terms of attitudes, to cause people to be angry at one another, or to cause people not to like one another, or to cause people to think of one another as enemies.

The word obstacles is skandalon (σκάνδαλον) a device for catching something alive.

“Scandalous people can only create scandalous outcomes.”

Paul admonishes the church to be watchful for heretics that come to cause dissension in the community. Let’s understand that those who cause division are not serving the Lord, or seemingly on a righteous cause are not serving the Lord. Trouble is never far away where people are concerned. Contrary to popular belief, trouble makers come to worship as well Just because people use the Lord’s name does not mean the Lord in in what they’re doing. Things that bring division Their teaching is divisive, causing erosion of a community already experiencing problems over the strong and weak factions (14:1-15:13). Secondly, they put obstacles before the believers. It is not just serious error but actually destroys the core doctrines of the Christian faith. The goal is not to excommunicate them, but to wake them up and help them get right with the Lord, but all the while preserving the purity of the church. There are people in the church who are serving the Lord, but are using the church to satisfy their own bellies. False teachers pass themselves off as Christians and ministered out of the church, and danger is tolerating people with contrary doctrine to work in the church. The word deceive here is exapatao (ἐξαπατάω) to cause someone to have misleading or erroneous views concerning the truth.

Application Point: “You are either a participator or a protector of division or unity by the words you speak or choose not to speak about the people you worship with, and the pastor sent by God to lead you. How you handle the pastor and people will label you as either scandalous or a servant. Your silence does not make you innocent, it makes you complicit in the scandal.”

A Strengthen Church

The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott Stability Depends on Fellowship and Depth

Out on the mountains of Switzerland the fir tree is a national symbol. The hillsides are terraced with them, row upon row. The typical English tree is the oak, and its roots are said to go down as far as the tree grows up, to support its massive, sturdy dimensions.

But how shall the tall and stately pines stand firm against winds and snows, when their roots soon hit the rock and cannot grow deeper? It is said that the roots grow outward when they cannot grow downward, and the fibers intertwine with the roots of other trees, and they hold together. So stability depends on corporate fellowship as well as personal depth.

SOURCE: Mrs. Laurie-Walker (1950).

Paul closed his letter with a magnificent doxology. In it are found many of the major themes of the Epistle to the Romans. God is described as the one who is able to establish and strengthen the believer. This was promised in the gospel that Paul so faithfully had proclaimed. It was a gospel not taught by men but received by direct revelation from Jesus Christ (Gal 1:12). It centered in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the focal point of the gospel. Apart from him there could be no “good news” in the ultimate sense of that term. In times past it existed as a sacred secret in the eternal counsels of God. With Christ that mystery has been made known (Eph 1:9; 3:5, 9; Col 1:26). Now it has been revealed through the prophetic writings according to the command of the eternal God. The purpose of the mystery now revealed was to promote obedience to the faith among all nations (cf. Rom 1:5). The gospel is universal in its purpose. It reaches out to all and promises deliverance to all who respond in faith.

Application Story

Charles Colson, former White House counsel to president Richard Nixon and founder of Prison Fellowship ministry, tells a remarkable story of a doxology in an unusual place and for an unusual reason. It seems that a young man named Fred, a convicted thief and heroin addict, had been led to Christ in prison by the family of one of his robbery victims. They visited him and showed the love of Christ so consistently to him that he was won to the Lord. The impact of his conversion on his conscience was so dramatic that, at a parole hearing, Fred confessed to other robberies for which he had not been caught or convicted. As a Christian, he felt that it was his obligation to be completely honest about his sins.

Because Fred’s original conviction was overturned based on a legality he was released from prison. He joined a church, got involved in an ex-prisoners’ fellowship group, and continued to grow in Christ. At his retrial for the crimes he was originally accused of, he again confessed, this time to the trial judge, to the additional wrongs he had committed. He told the judge he was willing to accept whatever punishment was appropriate. An awkward silence ensued while the judge considered what to do with Fred and his previously-known and newly-confessed crimes. When the judge announced the sentence, it reflected a wisdom that gave Fred back his life: ten years for each robbery—suspended (no jail time)—and restitution to his victims for their losses with 50 percent interest.

For a moment no one in the courtroom moved. Then Fred’s pastor jumped to his feet and shouted, “Let’s sing it!” and proceeded to lead the entire packed courtroom in the singing of the doxology. The Seattle Times newspaper captured the scene: “Everyone stood up, little old ladies in spring dresses, ex-cons, girls in jeans, men in business suits, a biker with his motorcycle jacket and helmet, prison guards—and they began to sing: ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow.…’ ” Officials later said that it was the first time a Seattle Superior Court case had ever closed with the Doxology (cited by Hughes, pp. 313–315).

Fred and his friends had a great reason to burst forth with praise to God—the reasonable response to a wise judge. After writing the longest and most detailed letter in the New Testament, Paul is awed at the wisdom of God. It was the wisdom of God that confronted him on a road to Damascus, where he was going to persecute the people of God. It was the wisdom of God that revealed the gospel, long concealed in the Old Testament. It was the wisdom of God that commissioned him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles so that all the nations might come to faith in Christ. By the wisdom of God, Paul had become a builder, servant, shepherd, and apostle of the church of Jesus Christ. Are we surprised that Paul burst forth in his own doxology to the wisdom of God?

The reader of Romans has surely learned by now that Paul was a man passionate about the gospel and its God. What should surprise us is not that Paul had a doxology in his heart and on his lips, but that we do not more often! We may not have been called as apostles, but we have been called as “gospelizers”—those who have experienced the power of the gospel and who enjoy the privilege of telling others as we build, serve, and shepherd the church of Jesus Christ. When was the last time you shouted, “Let’s sing it!” to the glory of God?1

1 Kenneth Boa and William Kruidenier, Romans, vol. 6, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 464–465.