Summary of Foundations: Essential or Non-essential?

Introduction

Last several months we have gone through a series entitled “The Faith’s Foundations.” We laid out some of the primary essential teachings/doctrines of Christianity. They were doctrines that make Christianity Christianity. As Jude 3 would say, it is the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

In that series, we went through only Christian doctrine or theology; we did not really focus upon Christian practice per se. There is a reason why this was done and done first. Behavior follows belief: we must have correct beliefs in place before we can have a changed life in practice.

“Christian belief comes before Christian living. The mindset must be changed before one’s conduct can follow suit.” ~Grant Osborne

Christian conduct, or practice, is another sermon series, which I would like to get to at some point. In today’s message, however, I want to focus upon a question the inevitably arises when going through a series like Faith’s Foundations. Perhaps the question came up in your mind at some point in the series: “How do we know what teachings ought to be foundational?” A follow up question may be, “Is there any room for tolerating differences of understanding? If so, where and how do we do it?”

These are very important questions which require spiritual maturity to answer and which our text today focuses upon today. Not every idea or teaching must be agreed upon by all. There is a core that must be, but not by all. There are going to be some differences. I hope to give some practical tips on how to distinguish between the two later on.

But first, we need to understand that Scripture commands us to have (1) unity on the essentials, and (2) tolerance with one another on the non-essentials.

1. The Call to Live with Tolerance

Ephesians 4:1 (NASB95)

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

“Implore” = “Exhort, urge, to call upon”

“to walk” = picture of living

Walk in a manner that is worthy (4:1-2a)

Ephesians 4:1 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”

“To walk” = action

“in a manner that is worthy” = there is a right way to live with one another in the church of Jesus Christ; one that is appropriate

“worthy of the calling with which you have been called” = the calling in the Ephesian letter = heavenly inheritance, eternal life, redemption of Jews and Gentiles alike — the calling to be one people in Christ who are redeemed and share the inheritance to come

Ephesians 4:2a “. . . with all humility and gentleness, with patience . . .

With humility, gentleness, and patience:

Humility: you do not think you are better than anyone else, or too highly of yourself

Gentleness: opposite of gentle: fits of outrage, losing temper

Patience: endure one’s weaknesses for lengthy period of time; longsuffering

What is this manner in which Paul wants us to walk that demands humility, gentleness, and patience? It is two-pronged: first, to show tolerance and love toward one another:

Show tolerance and love (4:2b-3)

Ephesians 4:2b–3 “. . . showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Tolerance = “to bear/endure” = “to endure something unpleasant or difficult whether on one’s own behalf or on behalf of someone else

We do this because we are to love one another. We must tolerate because we love. Another way to think about it: tolerance/endurance is an aspect of love.

1 Corinthians 13:7 Love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Application

All sorts of things we need to be tolerant of:

those who have a weaker faith

those with lesser knowledge and wisdom

those who have yet to learn the difference between what hill to die on and which one not to die on

The primary point for us: those who hold differing opinions about non-essential matters; tolerate other peoples’ views and non-sinful actions.

people who behave badly

=> Does NOT mean tolerate sin or false teaching, esp essentials of the faith. This would be the cultural definition of tolerance. Our society demands that everything be tolerated. Furthermore, society often sneaks into the definition of tolerance the idea of acceptance and do not judge. And so there is often a demand (!) by our culture to accept what Christianity calls sin and false ideas.

=> Note that tolerance is applied in love. We endure differing opinions on non-essentials of the faith in love. In other words, love tolerates differing opinions and actions of others that are non-essentials of the faith.

There are, however, some things that we ought not tolerate or have differences accepted. There are essentials, and we ought to be united on these. This was the emphasis of the series Faith’s Foundations. These are what we ought to be united on. (We didn’t cover everything in the series, but quite a bit.)

2. The Call to Live in Unity

Preserve it (4:3)

Ephesians 4:3 (NASB95)

. . . being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

“Diligent to preserve” = be zealous, earnest - it will take work

Recognize it (4:4-6)

Ephesians 4:4–6 (NASB95)

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Note “One”: indicates these are essential, there is only one. There is no room for differences of opinion.

One Body - universal “invisible” church

One Spirit - Holy Spirit

One Hope - salvation and all it entails (heaven, resurrection, etc.)

One Lord - only Jesus saves

One Faith - there is only a single content of faith: “a confessed set of beliefs and doctrines” [Grant R. Osborne, Ephesians: Verse by Verse, Osborne New Testament Commentaries (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2017), 115.]

The early church was united by its common core of doctrines, and still today, though there are many different denominations and groups, often separated by differing theologies, those with a core of cardinal doctrines like the Trinity, the deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, and others find a higher degree of unity in Christ. They can differ on the secondary issues (for example, predestination, charismatic gifts, the rapture, and the mode of baptism) yet remain one on the central tenets of the faith.

~Grant Osborne

One Baptism

One God

This is not a complete list of essentials. But it is representative of a lot of them. We cannot possibly lay out every single essential. We would definitely need to agree also upon what actions are sinful.

3. What This Looks Like

How do we achieve tolerance and unity? How does this play out?

We must strive for spiritual maturity

Ultimately, we must be concerned about growing into mature Christians.

Ephesians 4:14–15 “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ.”

Explanation

1 Corinthians 14:20 “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.”

Hebrews 5:12–14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

Part of being spiritually mature is having the ability to distinguish between what is essential or not essential, or what hill to die or not to die on. I.e., what can be tolerated and what should not be tolerated.

We must distinguish between Essential and Non-essential

This is the essence of the injunction in Ephesians 4:2–3: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

This is not always easy. Some guidelines:

Unity on Essentials

Distinguished by Clear Biblical Teaching

Some teaching and principles deduced from Scripture are more clear than others. We must be united on the clear ones. As we noted earlier, the Ephesians passage delineates some of those and the sermon series Faith’s Foundations also.

Examples: Truth, Faith, Scripture, God (his nature and works), Jesus, HS, humanity, sin, salvation, the church, the second coming, sin, etc.

Some not mentioned: “ordinances” of the church (baptism and Lord’s Supper), ministry to the poor, identification of sexual sins, the observance of the Lord’s Day (Sunday),

To Aid us in clear biblical teaching so we can have unity, it is helpful to be Guided by Church History

The Apostle’s Creed, The Nicene Creed, Chalcedonian Creed

Theologians who went before us - doesn’t mean we accept everything they say or something without good biblical and theological reflection.

Helpful Guidance by Those Who Have Studied

Tolerance and Love on Non-essentials

(1) Ask, “Should This Iron Be in the Fire?” I.e., is this a hill worth dying? Should this be a priority, or are there more important things?

One Sunday morning, there was a pastor who preached the Gospel with passion and fervency. He spoke about the death and resurrection of Christ, and the hope he provides to those who believe in Jesus and repent of their sins. Everyone could feel the Holy Spirit using the message that morning.

The evidence of the Spirit’s work became evident at the time of the invitation song at the end of the worship service. Ten people responded to give their life to Christ and be baptized.

There was a special wonder and amazement concerning the work of God that morning. It had been five years since anyone had responded to the invitation and given their life to Christ at the church. And just the week before, the church had a special prayer service, asking God for the Holy Spirit to move people to salvation. And now they were witnessing the answer to those prayers.

The pastor took the confession of faith by all 10 people, and then he baptized them. As each person came out of the water, mini celebrations and worship broke out.

After the pastor baptized the last person, he came up out of the water and began to dry off. As he turned around to head to the bathroom to change his clothes, a woman with a semi-scowl on her face approached him. “Were you aware that the shirt you have on today kind of blinded some people, especially when the stage lights were shining on it? You might want to wear something a little more subtle to preach in. Plus a little different shade would help you not look so pale.” The woman turned around and walked away.

A few moments later, a man walked by but then stopped in front of the pastor. “Hey, pastor! I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but I just wanted you to know that you didn’t say anything during worship about my Aunt Sue helping out with the greeters this morning. This was her first time, you know.” The man chuckled, slapped him on the shoulder and walked away.

Then yet another lady approached the pastor. “Hey, pastor! A couple of us ladies got together just a moment ago, and we really think it’s just not right to have all these people sticking around in the parking lot so long after a baptism. People need to get home, you know. People want to eat dinner and watch their football. So, we’re going to print up some signs and send out an email about how people to stay out of the parking lots after baptisms. Ok? Ok! Thanks!”

Jesus’ once rebuked the Pharisees: Matthew 23:23–24 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”

What is important? What irons should we have in the fire?

Some things we really ought not to even have a dog in the fight:

(2) Obvious Non-essentials

Color of carpet, style of music, length of music, length of sermon, decor of any kind, how schedules for the teachers are made, what curriculum is used (as long as its not false doctrine), color of hair we have, clothes we wear (as long as not promoting sin or immodest), if we ought to have food or not have food at a particular church event, if we have or do not have a choir, if we have or do not have an orchestra.

With all these types of things, which are non-essential, we ought to tolerate in love with one another, AND not spend an inordinate amount of time on them.

We may call these “sacred cows,” but they are not “sacred doctrines.” As such, they are non-essential. We do not have to have them in any certain way or even have them at all.

Illustration: the wooden pulpit with the order of worship service etched into it.

There are some non-essentials that are not as obvious, and thus require us to be even more spiritually mature:

(3) Can We Agree to Disagree? (Not so obvious Non-essentials)

Second Coming and the events that surround it:

There are at least 4 main views with subviews within each view.

Rapture? Anti-christ? Book of Revelation? 1000 year reign?

Finer points of theology:

Exactly how predestination works, exactly how God’s foreknowledge works, exactly what effects Adam’s sin had on all of humanity (total depravity? how do we define that?)

How to bring science and the Bible together

Age of the earth?