Sermon Tone Analysis

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

1 Corinthians 15:3–5 (HCSB)

For I passed on to you as most important what I also received:

that Christ died for our sins

according to the Scriptures,

that He was buried,

that He was raised on the third day

according to the Scriptures,

and that He appeared to Cephas,

then to the Twelve.

The gospel: so simple that as a 6 or 7 yr old child I could grasp my need of a Savior.

The gospel: so deep that theologians spend their entire career trying to understand the power and reach of the Good News of God.

The gospel: so simple, so deep, and unfortunately at times divisive.

According to The Pew Research Center, there are at least 15 different Evangelical Protestant groups in the United States:

Baptists (8 different types of Baptists); Nondenominational (6 types); Methodist 3 types); Pentecostal (4 types); Lutheran (3 types); Presbyterian (3 groups); Restorationist (Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ..and others); Episcopalian/Anglican [Church of England] (3 different types); Holiness (Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist, others…); Congregationalist (United Church of Christ, others…); Adventist; Anabaptist; Reformed; Pietist [ Mennonite Brethren Church, the Baptist General Conference, International Federation of Free Evangelical Churches (such as the Evangelical Covenant Church and the Evangelical Free Church)…); and Friends (i.e.

Quakers) as well as Others - Non Specific.

Wow!

And this doesn’t include Roman Catholics; Greek Orthodox; and other older groups of believers.

All claim the same gospel, all adhere to similar understandings of Scripture, and all look forward to the visible, audible, and bodily return of the resurrected Jesus Christ.

No wonder many of those around us who are not believers wonder about our sanity!

Can’t we all just get along?

This is not a new challenge.

Let’s go back to Antioch just a few years after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ.

Read Acts 14:26-28

After a remarkable trip Barnabas and Paul (note: name change in Acts 13:9) return to Antioch.

As they reported to their church family they were able to share how God had worked through them to bring numbers of believers into the kingdom.

They were able to share news of new groups of believers, new leaders in those communities, and new opportunities for the spread of the gospel.

After some time of rest and recuperation, men from Judea - very likely from Jerusalem - and began to teach the believers in Antioch a slightly different gospel.

Their message was that circumcision and obedience to Moses’ law were necessary in order to be saved.

Peter had already been confronted by this group after his experience with Cornelius, a Roman Centurion recorded in Acts 10.

When news of this Roman soldier coming to experience salvation reached Jerusalem, those of the ‘circumcision party’ (Acts 11:2) challenged Peter.

In both cases the issue can be summarized like this: In order to experience genuine conversion, Gentiles (males), on behalf of themselves and their families, should be required to be circumcised and take an oath to obey the law of Moses as part of their experience in coming to know Jesus as Lord and Savior.

In other words, in order to fully experience what the Bible describes as salvation one would need to become a Jewish convert as well.

It was common for Gentiles to ‘convert’ to Judaism.

Gentile males would be circumcised, and they would state their commitment to lead their family to observe all the law of Moses, as recorded in the books of the Law (Genesis - Deuteronomy).

Yet when Peter went to the home of Cornelius, as Paul and Barnabas traveled in a primarily Gentile area, they watched as God poured out His Holy Spirit on all who confessed Jesus with their mouth and believed that God raised Him from the dead - WITHOUT BEING CIRCUMCISED!

For many Jews, the mark of circumcision was absolutely necessary.

This sign of God’s covenant, passed down from Abraham set God’s people apart, identifying them as a unique people, set apart by God for His purposes.

Paul, Barnabas, Peter, and all of Jesus’ original twelve were Jews - having been circumcised on the 8th day after their birth, and being raised by their families in observance of the Jewish law given through Moses.

Yet, Peter, Paul, Barnabas (and Philip in Acts 8) all had experienced how God’s good news came into the lives of ‘uncircumcised’ men and women who had no prior connection with Jewish law.

There could be no compromise.

After days, perhaps even a few weeks, believers in Antioch commissioned Paul and Barnabas to go to Jerusalem and sort out the issue.

On their way south, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria (area’[s of non-Jewish and half- breed Jews).

As they shared their report of all God had done, believers rejoiced!

Arriving in Jerusalem, the conflict reignited:

You can read how the matter was resolved later in the rest of Acts 15.

For the rest of our time together this morning I’d like to share with you some reasons doctrine is important, and to identify some reasons why we can’t all just get along!

Jesus’ Desire for Unity

John 17:20–23 (HCSB)

I pray not only for these,

but also for those who believe in Me

through their message.

May they all be one,

as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.

May they also be one in Us,

so the world may believe You sent Me.

I have given them the glory You have given Me.

May they be one as We are one.

I am in them and You are in Me.

May they be made completely one,

so the world may know You have sent Me

and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Shortly prior to Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension He prayed with and for His disciples.

In this prayer, Jesus expressed a desire, a hunger, a powerful passion that all who believe in Him should present a united front to the world, and to the adversary.

The adversary, however, several specific and effective strategies to hinder God’s people from experiencing all that Jesus prayed for them.

Calling God into Question

Just as in the Garden the adversary plants seeds of doubt.

Remember how the serpent opened the discussion with Eve:

Genesis 3:1 (HCSB)

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

Are you certain you heard God correctly?

How confident are you that your husband accurately reported what God said (see Genesis 2:16-17).

We don’t have time to follow this trail, but throughout God’s Word we read of His people experiencing doubt, and the result is always division.

Confusing the Physical with the Spiritual

Circumcision is important in the account of God and His people.

The physical act was given to Abraham at a rather advanced age.

He and his male servants - regardless of age - experienced circumcision.

After Abraham, boys would be circumcised (yes, even Jesus) on the eighth day after their birth.

This symbol (and that’s what God intended it to be then) was a physical reminder of a spiritual truth.

Much like the baptism we just saw, the physical act of circumcision - done on 8 day old male children - isn’t really the point.

Even Moses said,

Deuteronomy 30:6 (HCSB)

The Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul so that you will live.

It’s not about a piece of flesh.

Circumcision is about the heart.

Those Jewish believers arguing with Paul and Barnabas were focused on externals, forgetting the real significance of the act itself.

Fearful of the Future, Holding to the Past

By the time of Jesus’ birth the Jews had spent more time as slaves/subjects then they had as a free and independent people.

Generation after generation Jews were subjugated by Babylonians, Assyrians, Geeks, and when Jesus was born, Romans.

Circumcision and obedience to the law of Moses was a powerful reminder of God’s promises in the past, of God’s assurances of His presence.

Those who don’t know the past are likely to repeat it.

So, holding to the past may - in many ways- keep us from failure and disaster.

God’s story, though, isn’t going in circles.

The past is not to be repeated.

God’s promise is for a future beyond description.

Earlier in this service we read together part of John’s vision of what this future will be like - and it’s nothing like our past!

STEPS TO DOCTRINAL UNITY

Healthy Discussion

Acts 15:2 (HCSB)