God's Heart for Unity - Part Three

 (Based on a sermon I preached at a 55+ community)

Sermon November 21, 2021

A Plea for Unity

Part Three

 

During the last two weeks I appealed for unity among all Christians, regardless of our church labels. It is the unity for which the Lord Jesus prayed in His High Priestly prayer. You will find it in John 17:22-23. Further, the Lord Jesus warned us: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” (Matthew 12:25) And Satan has used that principle of division since the earliest days of the church.

 

I demonstrated from the Scriptures that neither the Lord Jesus, the prophets, nor the apostles EVER compromised essential Biblical truths for the sake of unity. But that begs the questions: What ARE those essential Biblical truths essential to salvation? And who has the authority to decide what are those essential truths?

 

I also demonstrated how God established the Church councils, beginning with the first council in Jerusalem, to protect the Church, which is His Body, from heretical teaching.

 

St. Peter was one of the apostles who warned the church of the first century to be on guard against false teachers who would rise up even from within Christendom. Peter wrote: “False prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; (2 Peter 2:1-3)

 

In the next chapter of his epistle, Peter warned about those who misrepresent what the apostle Paul wrote in his letters, saying: “the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:13f)

 

It was BECAUSE of such distortions and misrepresentations that the later church councils convened. Which brings us to the Nicene-Constantinople Creed of A.D. 325 and 381.  These two councils came about because of a demonic-inspired heresy that nearly took over the early church. A bishop names Arius had amassed a huge following by teaching that Jesus was a created being and not Jehovah God in the flesh.

 

Were it not for the early councils such as Nicene-Constantinople councils, the work of Christ on the cross would have been in vain. Christianity would have disintegrated into various heresies, such as typified by the modern Jehovah Witnesses, denying the deity, co-eternality and the co-existence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit with the Father.

So, here again is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. I read it to you last week, and will do so again today for context of today’s message. It is this creed in particular that set out what was considered orthodox Christian faith, essential for all Christians to believe for salvation. It was the Nicene Creed which also provided a basis for Christian unity among the diverse churches scattered throughout the Roman Empire.

 

I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consub-stantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Let’s now look at this one line at a time. Of necessity, because of our time limitations, I will be brief.

 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

 

One aspect of Christian unity is rooted around the belief in one God who reveals Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Why? Because according to the Scriptures and the early teaching of the church councils, those who do not believe in the Triune God are not, by definition, Christians. They might be nice people, but they are walking along the broad road toward the wide gate that leads to eternal destruction.

 

This is an important point for Christian unity, because there are many well-known religious clergy who will tell you other faiths are saved simply because they are of Abrahamic faith, such as Jews and Muslims. Jesus and the apostles and the early church councils tell it differently. “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus said. “No one comes to the Father but by Me.” (John 14:6). St. Peter declared to the Jewish religious leaders, “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

 

So, those – and only those – who believe the Biblical teaching of one God in three persons are united in at least that point. Which means we can move forward to the next:

 

The Nicene Creed declares that the one God is the “Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.” All Christians unite around this statement as well.

 

Focus with me for a moment on the word ‘Father’ in this phrase. While God is Creator of all humankind, He is Father only to those who by faith in Jesus’s sacrifice for their sins follow Him in obedience. St. John is not the only apostle to proclaim that point: “But as many as received [Christ], to them He gave the right to be called children of God, even to those who believe in His name’ (John 1:12) Again, this is yet another scriptural point of doctrine around which all true Christians, regardless of their denominational label, agree – that being, only those who receive Christ as their God, their Lord, their savior, their atoning sacrifice for sins – only those are united in that essential doctrinal point, and can move further still in unity.

 

As an aside, though, when the Creed addresses God as Father, it is good to ask, “What was your father like? Did you even have a father in your home?” Sadly, many men and women did not have a good relationship with their father. Their fathers were cruel, or distant, or absent. I know people in our age group whose father never – or only rarely – hugged them. Or encouraged them. Or spent more than a few minutes with them in any given week.

 

For those children now grown into adults, the concept of God our Father is not so endearing an idea. That is tragic. And it must breaks God’s heart when our image of God is so spoiled and tainted by our own bad life experiences.

 

But I am here to remind us – our Father in heaven is nothing like our earthly fathers. Even those who had the best of dads, our heavenly Father is infinitely kinder and compassionate and loving and protecting and nurturing than even the best of earthly parents.

 

God is loving and compassionate. And He longs to be our Father. How can that truth become part of our psyche? Only by the supernatural grace of God through the Holy Spirit. And may the Holy Spirit cause us all to imitate him better.

The next thing on which I want us to focus in this section of the Creed, and around which all early Christians united, is this: Our Father is the one who created heaven and earth, and everything visible and invisible.

 

That means, if you are a Christian, your Father – and once again, only Christians have the right to call God their Father – your Father is utterly sovereign over every person, every event, every atomic particle of His creation. There is not one electron out of place. There is not one person among the 6 billion people living today – including political giants – not one who can take his or her next breath without our Sovereign God’s express permission.

 

“The king’s heart,” Scripture tells us, “is like channels of water in the hands of God. He turns it wherever He wishes.” (Proverbs 21:1)

There is not a person reading this who does not know that fear has spread like a gangrenous cancer throughout our society. And if we are as close to the second coming of Christ as many Christians believe, then no one should expect the global fear to dissipate. It will only increase, and the love of the many will grow cold and colder.

 

And THAT is why God commands us in Isaiah 8: “You are not to fear what they fear or be in dread of it. It is the Lord of hosts whom you should regard as holy. And He shall be your fear, and He shall be your dread. Then He shall become a sanctuary.” (Isaiah 8:13-14a)

 

What powerful national leader was not subjected to God’s control? For example, Pharaoh and his government forced God’s chosen people into cruel subjugation. But here is what God told Moses about the pompous Pharaoh: “[F]or this reason I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth.” (Exodus 9:16)

Israel believed Pharaoh was too powerful to be vanquished. But He was not. Many Jews probably believed God had abandoned them. But He had not. He was just waiting for the right time according to His timetable – and His timetable alone – to bring their deliverance AND to demonstrate across the millennia even to us in the 21st century that the mighty ones who think of themselves as gods are nothing more than tools in the sovereign hands of the Almighty God.

The same can be said about the Babylonian tyrant Nebuchadnezzar some 900 years later. If you remember the story, God reduced the pompous pagan king to the level of a beast eating grass in the fields.

Fast forward to 2021. For anyone paying attention with spiritual insight, it is impossible to watch world events unfold and not recognize that a supernatural evil is fast spreading across the globe. But for those with eyes of faith, united around the Scriptures as the foundation of our faith and the teaching of the early church councils that inform our faith, we MUST stand together, informing our world that it is our God alone who is in total, complete, and unassailable control of all the events of this growing darkness.

 

Don’t you know that is why Satan is working so cleverly and maliciously to keep the Church – which is, as St Paul said, “the pillar and support of Truth”? – that is why the devil works so resolutely to DIVIDE God’s children and keep us at each other’s throats.

 

And that is why God’s children must stop acting like childish teenagers fighting about whose football team is better – and unite behind those things which united the early Church – that being the inerrancy of Scripture and the teachings of the early church councils.

 

Let’s move on to the next point of the Nicene Creed which states: “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, begotten not made, consubstantial (of the same essence) with the Father, through whom all things were made.” (For example, John 1:1-3; 8.58; 10:30; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:3-6)

 

There can only be one Lord of creation. It is illogical to think of it otherwise. And so, when the Church council referred to both Jesus, and later, the Holy Spirit as ‘Lord’ they were doubling down on their emphasis, in response to Arius – that Jesus is Jehovah God made flesh. When they formulated their litany of God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, of the same essence as the Father – they were again trumpeting their decision based on the Old and New Testament inerrant and infallible words that Jesus is Almighty God made flesh. They could not have made it any clearer.

 

To be unwilling to confess that fundamental truth about Christ was to set oneself apart from true Christian faith and place oneself on the broad path that leads to eternal damnation.

 

My brothers and sisters: We do not have time to finish talking about the rest of the Creed statements of faith, but let it suffice for now to remind us all that it was their belief in the full inerrancy and infallibility of the Scriptures, along with the teaching of the church – the pillar and support of truth – that united the early Church.

 

Why, then, is it so today that what united the early Christians – that being the ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES OF FAITH for salvation – why must it be today that those essentials of faith are not sufficient to unite all Christians today?

 

I hope you will think long about that question. As I have said in the past, I do not believe you here at Ashwood have a problem with unity of faith. Look at yourselves – Baptists, Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, and others. But you may have friends and family members who seem forever focused on the non-essentials of faith leading to salvation. I hope you can use this information, and what we will look at in later sermons in this series, I hope you can use this information to help unite those who live with division.

 

We continue our examination of the Creed next week, paying attention to its foundation in God’s word and how the Creed still applies to us in the 21st century.