Unity in Diversity (Part 2 of 4)

As believers, no two of us are exactly like every one of us is different and yet all of us are significant members of the body of Christ notices universal church. But here's the question.

Is it necessary for us to be part of a local church.

Alastair Meg addresses this question today on Truth for Life. We can we continue our series in first Corinthians 12 we start today in verse 12. There are some folks who in their experience of walking with Christ in seeking after Christ use terminology in different ways and what they may be referred to when they say that they experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit is nothing other than a very gracious kick in the seat of their pants moving them out of a time of deep lethargy and uselessness in their Christian lives.

They been living in a time of rebellion, a time of disinterest, a time of indifference have not been reading the Bible that had no boldness in their testimony. They have been diminished in their usefulness for Christ and someone has come along and told them that there is a possibility for them to move beyond that level of expedience if they will only encounter what they have on offer what they have on offer is then explained as the baptism in her with her by the Holy Spirit, and so these people then enter into discovery of God's blessing, the then theology ties it in terms of the phraseology that he been given, and whether using is wrong terminology which confuses them in other people and what they are to be thankful for is the fight that God and his nurse, he met them along the journey of their disobedience gave them a major hog put them back in the in the in the realm of usefulness. Now that's for some in other situations. For example, where there is a real theological divide, and I'm thinking now.

For example, within the Roman Catholic Church and the whole question of Roman Catholic when you over the years I've met many people who will testify within the framework of Catholicism, to having "baptized in the Holy Spirit, or with the Holy Spirit goes along with the whole charismatic renewal thing and there is no question that some of them of come into a measure of spiritual life that they have never known before, does not legitimize the phraseology, absolutely not. Is very dangerous and sinister insofar as what it seeks to do is to trap people in a wrong theological understanding of truth and the need for regeneration and grace and faith while explaining to them that they have now had all of their previous theology authenticated by means of this post baptism post communion post whatever discovery of the Spirit's fullness. What is happened to those people. I believe what happened to them was that they got converted.

They came to faith in Jesus Christ because they can be conducted before because you can get converted by being baptized, and you don't get converted by doing religious things and you don't get converted as a result of somebody doing something to you.

You only are conducted when the spirit of God shows you your sin brings you to faith in him fills you with the spirit, nature, a brand-new person.

Now I'm not too worried about that because eventually if somebody will only teach them. The Bible will begin to understand and it will start calling it the wrong thing so we can rejoice in the fight that God in his vast ministry has brought them to the discovery of himself and will let time catch up with their expression of that. You see, if you turn from moment to Colossians chapter 2.

This idea that the problem in our lives is that were missing something were missing the Holy Spirit or were missing this or that is not in accord with the New Testament documents Colossians 214 Christ all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form. Now tell me how much deity that is all of it right father-son Holy Spirit the whole deal. All that you can get of God the whole business in Christ all of the deity lives in bodily form and you have been given fullness in Christ all that is ours to expedience. All that is ours that is necessary for usefulness for participation within the body for boldness and testimony for impunity of life for exercise of spiritual gifts has been given to us in Christ, who in our coming to Christ baptized. As with the Holy Spirit and made us to drink of that same spirit we need them to live in the awareness that any lack in ours is not a lack of the spirit, I'm constantly confronted by people teach that you never you got a little deposit of the spirit.

When you were converted, that's the way it works and what you have to do is you have to wait around lab pending cost and then you get the rest of it.

There's a kind of 10% initial down payment and you get the other 90% when you get baptized with the spirit that is just a failure to understand the Bible.

That's all it is a very well-meaning people, many of them I'm not worthy to untie their shoelaces, but I think the wrong, and I think it's unhelpful what is D script in the birth of the church should not be regarded as pre-scripted throughout every generation that follows. Please pre-scripted is pink top and made perfectly plain as the acts of the apostles ends and as the apostles themselves begin to write their letters. So what then of spiritual dearth in our lives. What then of the not firing on all four cylinders. It is not an absence of the spirit. I'll tell you what it is. It is an absence of obedience. It is an absence of trust.

It is an absence of submission.

The question is not due. I have all of the Holy Spirit. The question is does the Holy Spirit of all of me. It is not an absence of food. Salvation is not an absence of his indwelling is not an absence of blessing. So let us summarize in Christ we are placed into the church as we are baptized with or in the spirit as we are all made to drink of this one spirit. We are placed in to the universal body.

The great invisible, mysterious body that is the church that is numbered way beyond our ability to Weld and says somebody.

If that is the case, and I am actually placed in the body of Christ. Why is it important for me to be a member of a local church. Surely the most important thing is that I am in the body of Christ, having been baptized into it having been made to drink of the same spirit that are probably not a few of you are sitting out there tonight who, on the basis of this kind of rationale have remained a part from a local body of believers rather than go on from this foundational unity into the diversely in verse 14.

I want to take the remaining moments to address with you this question of why a local church is important. People asked me that all the time. While the deal is this number one. The New Testament takes it for granted that every Christian who joined together with other Christians in the membership of local congregations.

The New Testament letters were not written to the universal body of Christ.

The New Testament letters were written to individual churches to the Christians in Galatia after the Christians in Thessalonica and Ephesus, and so on, and indeed most of the New Testament letters were written in such a way to encourage the believers to excel in building up the local church fight you get that in first Corinthians. So it is with you since you are eager to have spiritual gifts try to excel in gifts that build up the church church.

While this church. What other church are you going to build up as a result of the pie that God gave you the ability to sing what you plan on doing going down Euclid Avenue singing all sums it will either examine building up the universal church know you're not the only way that we can express spiritual gifts is within the context of a local body in the New Testament except for granted. Secondly, the pictures of the church only makes sense only become real. When we meet together in church fellowship. Take for example the pictures will go through a few of the flock household building body write one sheet doesn't make a flock one break doesn't make a house one individual doesn't make a family and one limb doesn't make a body.

The only way those pictures make sense is in togetherness and the togetherness that God intends is within the framework of the local fellowship of God's people are bicycle close relationship with one another and God is to arrange things that we need one another. Thirdly, the local church is the special provision made by the Lord Jesus for fellowship, discipline, worship, instruction, and service. It is a local church that God has given to us for the discovery of fellowship acts 242 after they had repented they had been baptized.

The be made to drink of the one spirit. What is it safe and they devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine to the breaking of bread to the fellowship, to the fellowship you see every so often I meet a student 19 years old.

They tell me they're not involved in a local church they go to the inter-varsity group on the campus Crusade group and that's their quotes church know it isn't. That's a group, but that's not the church. If you are substituting on all ladies Bible study for church you're not in church or on all men's Bible study for church is not church where is it possible to experience fellowship with young and old, black and white, rich and poor right and done fat and thin all variegated panoply of humanity, where does that take place only in the local church and God's or tenant intended that I should be the thing so all of those other things may be supplemental but they are not fundamental and the dare not take its place, neither in instruction nor in-service nor in fellowship, certainly not in worship. So our fellowship is to be experienced in this context because when I'm in a student group. I don't need to worry about old granny so-and-so like old people might soon grow want to do that all men do. I hate babies. I cannot stand those kids with a noses in the whole thing.

That's why I like my student group. That's my thing is my church know it's not that your student group, but is not your church. What about the question of discipline. Where is discipline going to take place for the Christian that is been baptized with the spirit and made to drink of the spirit where we going to be discipline where your kids get discipline in your family because that's the place for them to be discipline. Where does Jesus expect his kids to get discipline in the family and what family the universal family know so therefore church whoppers of America who buys between one place in the next place live without the necessary spiritual discipline in their lives because it is a discipline to sit next to some of these people around us is a discipline to respond to their expectation is a discipline and it is a discipline that takes place in togetherness. None of us is perfect. All of us make mistakes. We all need help. We all need correction and mostly we needed from people who are older than us is another reason why these age graded deals will never take the place of a local church is, you need to be with those who are more mature than you. What about worship.

What is worship take place so I grew up on the hills and worship when that's fine you can do that.

But God desires the corporate worship of his people, and by means of the local church.

He is made it possible for Christians to unite in prayer and to unite and praise. Just take acts chapter 242 to 47 and use it as a paradigm they devoted themselves to the apostles doctrine to the breaking of bread and to the prayers in what context. In the context of one another. What about instruction where is a Christian supposed to be instructed not on the radio's award from the radio.

Aren't we on the radio, yes we are. It's a supplement it's not the issue. God never intended for people to sit in the rooms. The sadness of people to sit in the rooms alone and isolated, but can can be responded to on multiple levels.

God never intended for an electronic church to take the place of the kind of instruction that he is purpose in giving to the fellowship of God's people, pastors and teachers, where God's people supposed to serve, not exclusively here but certainly here to serve in the local church because the local church is God's place for mission and God's place for service and for too long we live with this notion that while you know the local church is not very good. And so we justify our existence for all our parachurch organizations on the basis of the church being no good quotes are local church. Meanwhile, ask number of people who could make the local church that good. By exercising their same gifts within the framework of the church continued to diminish the potential of the church by the exercise of their giftedness and elsewhere will is that an indictment on everything that happens outside the local church know but it is saying this, let us start where the New Testament starts and let us add to without deleting from four we have a mandate in our Bible for this we need to scramble for some of the rest final question which church should I join well don't join a perfect one right if you find it. Don't join it because you mess it up. You want to know what can a church to join join in acts 242 to 47 church join a church that at least has this true of it.

There is faithful preaching and teaching of the word of God.

There is genuine fellowship in the Lord Jesus. There is a rightful place given to baptism and the Lord's supper and there is a recognition of the priority of prayer. I always tell a student when they go away if you're looking for a church in the community go around and look for the ones that have prayer time and be wary of churches that call themselves churches. They don't pray okay that's where I should be in the church. That's the kind of church I should join apart. Should I play will come to this next time. In verse 14, but for now, let me say this before we can play a part in the church. We need to join the church.

We need to commit ourselves to membership in that church. The externals that are involved in that are more than second-rate to the actual issue of our heartbeat involvement so we need to commit ourselves to a church in membership and then we need to determine to discover and fulfill our God-given part to discover and fulfill our God-given partner through our whole weight into things and in that God gives us to do through our whole weight into. We need then to aim at being a healthy member of the body are individual spiritual wellness contributes to the health of the whole. For all that the body is is the congregation of the health or lack of health of individual believers. That's why we need to be on the lookout for one another to lookout for visitors and for strangers to lookout for the hurting for the homeless to lookout for the discouraged and the disappointed to genuinely care, because after all, we have the resources within the church to make the right kind of response provided the gifts that have been given to the church are being exercised in and through the church.

We need to make sure that we get our priorities right, and check them regularly.

We all have commitments to our homes to our families to our chores to our employment. Few of us are able to juggle that really perfectly. We need to check our priorities regularly in relationship to these things we need in playing our part in the church to give generously and regularly and systematically to it's a privilege to contribute to the support of those who labor in the word and in doctrine. It is an immense privilege to contribute to the extension of the gospel throughout the world and ultimately in playing our part within the church. We need to respect and support spiritual leadership and never neglect to pray for them and finally, all of us need to clothe ourselves with humility and expect to serve rather than to be served and as we'll see when we come to first Corinthians 14 one. We are to make love.

Our constant aim in our discovery of living together for all our years for all our numbers for all our journey there remains for us as a church family and immense need to pray that God will teach us and apply in our lives the truths of what we are about to discover in relationship to the remainder of first Corinthians 12 six citing is going to be challenging is going to demand change is going to make comfortable people uncomfortable is going to see isolated people involved is going to see over involved people less involved if we prayerfully get it right. That is Alastair big Truth for Life.

We can with the reminder that all of us have a part to play in the local church. We hope you'll keep listening Alistair's can be back in just a minute to close today's program with prayer.

If you are a regular Truth for Life listener, you know that all of Alistair's teaching is available can be accessed online for free. All of the resources we make available are available at our cost, and the reason for this is because were passionate about giving you access to what the Bible teaches were also passionate about recommending books that will encourage you in your faith and our book selection this weekend is one that will have you looking forward to eternity. It's called heaven on earth.

What the Bible teaches about life to come. This is a short book that addresses many issues surrounding the afterlife that we don't usually talk about things like what happens immediately after we die is there truly a hill. What should we expect when Jesus returns. You can learn more about the book heaven on earth. When you visit our website Truth for Life.work now.

Let's join Alastair as he closes with prayer.

Our gracious God and our father, we thank you for the immensity of your grace, that we who whereby very nature strangers to your love when you were dead in our trespasses and in our sins, discovered that in just the same way as you made light shine out of darkness, when you created the universe so you Sean into our lives, the light of the glory of your gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit, baptizing us into Christ and into relationships with one another, affirming the truth that the unifying factor in our lives is not that we all have an interest in religion. Not that we all come from the same kind of homogeneous background.

Not that we all have signed the same creed or embrace the same doctrine by the ultimate truth is that we have been all given to drink of the same spirit that this is the principle which unifies helpers Lord to lay hold of this so that will then be able to understand the nature of what it means to deal with the diverse city that is expressed in our giftedness in our personalities and our passions and our drives and our hopes and in our dream so that the unifying factor of the spirits abiding presence may give clarity and joy and distinctiveness to the uniqueness of each one.

Thank you for this day and for each other and for you. Thank you for each one. The people around us, our children and loved ones, and those whom we represent. May the Lord bless us and keep us in the Lord make his face to shine upon us and be gracious unto us.

May the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us and give us his peace tonight and forevermore about the pain. Thanks for taking time out of your weekend to study God's word with us.

We hope you can listen next week is Alastair challenges us to say no to isolation and yes to involvement Bible teaching of Alastair big is furnished by Truth for Life.

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