Nov 23-29-08 One Flock

CHURCHES-KEYS TO THE CITIES

Acts 11:19 NET Now those who had been scattered because of the

persecution that took place over Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the

message to no one but Jews.


20 But there were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene among them who came to Antioch and began

to speak to the Greeks too, proclaiming the good news of the

Lord Jesus.


21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed

turned to the Lord. 22 A report about them came to the attention of the

church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.


Christianity eventually prevailed as the dominant worldview and social force in

the Roman world. One reason: it planted churches in dozens of the

empire's major cities by the end of the first century.


Acts 1:8 NET But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the

farthest parts of the earth."


Christians spread the gospel "to the end of the earth" by establishing strategic, visible communities in urban areas such as Antioch.


Acts 11:25 NET Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to look for

Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.


So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught a significant number of

people. Now it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called

Christians.


Acts 13:1 NET Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at

Antioch: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius the Cyrenian, Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch from

childhood ) and Saul.


These groups of believers stood apart from the culture in their

belief and values, yet engaged the culture in their daily lives and

work.


The New Testament word for "church," ekklesia, means assembly or

congregation. In the Greek world, the ekklesia was a public assembly called together by a herald to discuss legal

issues and make community decisions.


For example, Paul faced such a gathering at Ephesus, a town meeting

that turned into a riot. Acts 19:31 NET Even some of the

provincial authorities who were his friends sent a message to him, urging

him not to venture into the theater.


32 So then some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly (ekklesia) was in

confusion, and most of them did not know why they had met

together.


33 Some of the crowd concluded it was about Alexander because the Jews

had pushed him to the front. Alexander, gesturing with his hand,

was wanting to make a defense before the public assembly.


34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison, "Great is Artemis of the

Ephesians!" for about two hours.


35 After the city secretary quieted the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, what

person is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the keeper of the temple of the great

Artemis and of her image that fell from heaven?


36 So because these facts are indisputable, you must keep quiet and not do anything reckless. 37 For you

have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor

blasphemers of our goddess.


38 If then Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a complaint against someone, the

courts are open and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges

against one another there.


39 But if you want anything in addition, it will have to be settled

in a legal assembly.


40 For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause we can give to explain this disorderly gathering."

41 After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.


But ekklesia always referred to people—originally to the citizens of a city, and later to a gathering

of believers. There is no evidence that it meant a church building

until the fourth century A.D.


Interestingly, eight times out of ten the New Testament uses the word

ekklesia to refer to all of the believers in specific city, such as "the church that was at Antioch." Acts 13:1a NET

Now there were these prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch:


or "the church of God which is at Corinth." 1 Corinthians 1:2 NET to the church of God that

is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be saints, with

all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord

and ours.


Elsewhere it implies all Christian believers, regardless of

geographic location or time in history—what is often called the universal (or catholic) church.

CATHOLIC, a. 1. Universal or general; (Websters)


Ephesians 1:22 NET And God put all things under Christ's feet, and he gave him to the church as head

over all things.


Ephesians 3:10 NET The purpose of this enlightenment is that through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in

the heavenly realms.


Ephesians 3:21 NET to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus

to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.


Ephesians 5:23 NET because the husband is the head of the wife as also Christ is the head of the church — he himself

being the savior of the body. 24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also

wives should submit to their husbands in everything.


25 Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and

gave himself for her 26 to sanctify her by cleansing her with the

washing of the water by the word,


27 so that he may present the church to himself as glorious — not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and

blameless.


28 In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife

loves himself.


29 For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and

takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church,

30 for we are members of his body.


31 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and

will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.

(Gen. 2:24)


32 This mystery is great — but I am actually speaking with reference

to Christ and the church.


In forming churches, the early Christians did not drop out of society, nor did they form congregations that competed with

each other for members (though sometimes members competed with

each other.


1 Corinthians 1:10 NET I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to agree

together, to end your divisions, and to be united by the same

mind and purpose.


11 For members of Chloe's household have made it clear to me, my brothers and sisters, that

there are quarrels among you.


12 Now I mean this, that each of you is saying, "I am with Paul," or "I am with Apollos," or "I am with Cephas," or "I am with Christ."


Instead, they lived and worked as members of the larger community.

Meanwhile, they related to the other believers in their cities as members of a common family in

Christ.


This proved to be a radical concept—so powerful, in fact, that by the end of the second century, one

author was able to write:


Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by either country, speech, customs; the fact is, they

nowhere settle in cities of their own; they use no peculiar language; they cultivate no eccentric mode of life....


Yet while they dwell in both Greek and non-Greek cities, as each

one's lot was cast, and conform to the customs of the country in

dress, food, and mode of life in general,


the whole tenor of their way of living stamps it as worthy of admiration

and admittedly extraordinary.


This remarkable reputation of the early Christians compels modern

believers to ask: What will the church today be remembered for?

(Word In Life Study Bible)

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Peter explained to Jewish believers what happened to Cornelius. They needed clarification because they mistakenly thought that salvation

was only for Jews.

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Peter convinced the Jewish church leaders of the rightness of

reaching out to the Gentiles, and many Gentiles were subsequently

added to the church, notably at Antioch.

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The Father sighs because he has a dream.

John 10:16 NET I have other sheep that do not come from this sheepfold. I must bring them too, and they will listen to my voice, so that there will be one

flock and one shepherd.

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God has only one flock. Somehow we missed that. Religious division

is not his idea. Franchises and sectarianism are not in God's

plan.

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God has one flock. The flock has one shepherd. And though we

may think there are many, we are wrong.

There is only one.

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Never in the Bible are we told to create unity. We are simply told to maintain the unity that exists. Paul exhorts us to preserve "the unity

which the Spirit gives."

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Ephesians 4:3 NET making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in

the bond of peace. Our task is not to invent unity, but

to acknowledge it.

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I have two sisters and a brother. We are siblings because we came

from the same family. We have the same father and mother.

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I'm sure there have been times when they didn't want to call me their brother, but they don't have

that choice.

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Nor do we. When I see someone calling God "Father" and Jesus "Savior," I meet a brother or a

sister— regardless of the name of their church or denomination.

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By the way, the church names we banter about? They do not exist in

heaven.The Book of Life does not list your denomination next to your name.

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Why? Because it is not the denomination that saves you. And

I wonder, if there are no denominations in heaven, why do we have denominations on earth?

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What would happen (I know this is a crazy thought), but what would

happen if all the churches agreed, on a given day, to change their

names to simply "church"?

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What if any reference to any denomination were removed and

we were all just Christians?

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And then when people chose which church to attend, they wouldn't do so by the sign outside...they'd do

so by the hearts of the people inside.

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And then when people were asked what church they attended, their

answer wouldn't be a label but just a location.

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And then we Christians wouldn't be known for what divides us; instead we'd be known for what unites us

— our common Father.

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Crazy idea? Perhaps.But I think God would like it.

It was his to begin with. (From A Gentle Thunder by Max Lucado)

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We are instructed to build up the body of Christ. Make a list of ways you can be involved. If there are

certain ways you could be tearing down the body of Christ, list those

as well.

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Be brutally honest.Ask a family member or good friend

to be honest with you.(Max Lucado Devotional Bible)

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Unity:John 13:35 NET Everyone will know by

this that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another."

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Ephesians 4:3 NET making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in

the bond of peace.Colossians 3:14 NET And to all these

virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.

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Do you think the idea of Believers everywhere dropping their

denominational names is crazy? Do you think Believers are

unsaved because of the label they wear?

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Perhaps belief systems are flawed because they have believed the

teachings of men instead of proving that teaching with God’s

Word.

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In the early part of the sixteenth century Martin Luther broke the shackles and gave the world the

open Bible. Later, Calvin advocated the divine sovereignty

of God.

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John Wesley agitated the question of more spirituality in the

churches. Around these ideas great denominations sprang into

existence. The people were inquiring for the old paths.

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While all the churches were doing good, had much of the Scripture in

their teaching, and possessed good men, yet they were

weakened and handicapped because they were divided.

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What it all comes down to takes us back a couple hundred years when men

such as Alexander and Thomas Campbell started encouraging

Believers to return to the Word of God to see what the church was like in the

beginning.

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Their goal was to re-capture the unity of the early church doing all

things as they are laid out in God’s Word.

Getting back to the Bible!

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President James A. Garfield, who lived and died a member of the Christian

Church was for some years a preacher in the church. The following is a copy

of Mr. Garfield's statement of our position in matters of faith.

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1. We call ourselves Christians or Disciples.2. We believe in God the Father.3. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the

Son of the living God and our Saviour. We regard the divinity of Christ as the fundamental truth of the Christian system.

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4. We believe in the Holy Spirit, both as to His agency in conversion and as a dweller in the heart of the Christian.

5. We accept the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God.

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6. We believe in the future punishment of the wicked and the future reward of the righteous.

7. We believe that Deity is a prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God.

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8. We observe the institution of the Lord's supper on every Lord's Day. To this Table we neither invite nor debar. We say it is the Lord's Table, for all the Lord's children.

9. We plead for the union of God's people.

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10. The Bible is our only discipline.11. We maintain that all ordinances

should be observed as they were in the days of the apostles.

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We cannot claim to be the only Christians, but we must strive to be Christians only. There is a Universal

Church and we must search the Scriptures and make sure we seek

only to do it God’s way in order to be part of that ekklesia, assembly,

Church.

Nov 23-29-08 One Flock

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Transcript of Nov 23-29-08 One Flock