The Church Jesus Would Attend Part 2-Part B

Now, what does the Bible mean when it speaks of unity?

Well, please hear me out. Let me tell you what it doesn't mean, first of all. It doesn't mean uniformity or unanimity. It doesn't mean that we're going to agree on everything. Also, it doesn't mean that we have to wear the same clothes, vote exactly the same way, read the King James Bible only. When the Bible speaks about unity, it doesn't refer to that. The church has gone through sort of an identity crisis in the past couple hundred years. With so many different denominations and even sub-denominations, how does one determine which church is a good one?

And for that matter, which of the many churches today would be approved of by Christ? That's what we'll examine today here in Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. But first, this update from the Connect with Skip Resource Center. The beating heart of Bible prophecy is the land of Israel and the Middle East. Joel Rosenberg has his finger on the pulse of the world-shaking changes happening right now, and he unveils them in his new nonfiction book, Enemies and Allies. This is the first book of its kind that takes you inside the Oval Office, inside the palaces of the kings and crown princes, the presidents and the prime ministers, in Israel and in the Arab world, as we ask them, what do you think about religious freedom, about making peace with Israel, about the threat from Iran, about U.S.-Arab relations, U.S.-Israel relations? Enemies and Allies from multiple New York Times bestselling author Joel Rosenberg takes you on an unforgettable journey inside the turbulent Middle East. You'll go behind closed doors to hear from the very kings and crown princes, presidents and prime ministers who are leading the charge. Enemies and Allies includes exclusive, never-before-published quotes, insights and analysis from the author's conversations with some of the world's most controversial leaders. Your hardcover copy of Enemies and Allies is our thanks for your generous gift of $35 or more today.

To give, call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com. Open your Bibles once more to John chapter 17. Let's catch up with Skip Heitzig for the rest of this message, The Church Jesus Would Attend. I remember something very vividly. It wasn't long after I prayed to receive Christ back in 19, long time ago, that I felt like I didn't fit any longer. I was a fish out of water. I felt like when I went back to my old friends and my old digs and started hanging out again, I just thought, I am not in my element. This is not who I am anymore. I remember feeling that. It's because I'm in it, but I'm not of it.

But for me to be in it and survive well and make an impact well, I need some preparation. And that's verse 17. I get sanctified, made holy by God's truth, which is His word. So this is what we're like. We're like astronauts. Now you can't go to space just as you are.

It's not your element. You need a specialized suit, a pressurized suit, that gives you the elements of the earth to survive in a hostile environment. Or if you were to try to go under the water, you can't breathe water.

You need a special pressurized suit that gives you the surrounding elements of this environment for you to survive. So it is, as believers, this world is in our element. The only way we're going to survive the pressure of this world and its system poised against God is to have sufficient pressure from within by the Holy Spirit working through the word of God, which is truth, which sanctifies us. That pressure, that realignment week by week, day by day, is what prepares us for the next phase. So we need to know, we need to grow, and then we need to go.

That's the third part of this. We need to go. See, our knowing and our growing should always lead to going.

And I'll tell you what, it's really bad news when it doesn't. It's really bad news when we know who we are and we start growing in our knowledge and become very theologically adept, and we know the fine points of theology, and we do nothing with that for the world. We become fat and sassy, spiritually speaking. We need to exercise.

We need to be going. That's the whole point of verse 18. As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. I've discovered there's five responses the Christians have toward the world, and I think only one of them is the best response.

And it's the last one. One response the Christians have had to the world around them is to isolate, is to isolate. The world's bad. Got to get away from the world. Don't want anything to do with the world. I'll move away from it. That was the whole basis of the monastic movement, monasteries.

The only way we'll survive is for us to leave that and get away over here by ourselves. That's to isolate. Number two is to insulate, to insulate. It's also not a good strategy.

It's very similar to the first, but it's a little bit different. This is the belief that says, okay, the world is bad and I got to protect myself and protect my children and protect my family and remove them from certain institutions and remove us from certain things and just sit here in this little bastion of Christianity and point at all the bad things in the world. There's a third response people have had, and that is to vegetate. Vegetate. They become very apathetic, very apathetic. They know truth, but they have no passion for lost people at all. They don't witness to anybody. They don't care. Their primary concern is their own personal comfort, and that's a very sad place to be in where you just vegetate, whatever, dude. There's a fourth response, and that is to imitate the world.

I want to just be like the world, their values. I'll see what they see. I'll listen to what they listen to. I'll watch what they watch. I'll go where they go. And then it gets even worse when that's taken into the church and says, okay, let's make the church just like the world.

We'll do everything they do, and we'll take all the songs about Jesus and his blood out of the church and make every unbeliever just feel really good about their sin, and they can come here and we'll ape the world. None of those are great strategies. The best strategy is to know, to grow, and then to go. Or, here's the fifth one, permeate. To permeate or to penetrate the world. Rescue souls. Engage the unbelieving world.

Engage them. Here we are today. We're salt. Isn't that what Jesus called us? How many would agree that we're salt?

Well, a lot more of you need to agree because Jesus said, you are the salt of the earth. And isn't it great to get together in the salt shaker? Doesn't it feel really good to get all shaken up together? It's cool. I love it.

I really do. But when we leave, we've got to do this. Turn that salt shaker over.

Get out into the world and engage the world and tell them the good news. There's a story, though you don't have to turn to it now. If you're not familiar with it, jot this down for later. 2 Kings 7. There's a story about four dudes.

I'm paraphrasing, admittedly. Four leprous dudes. How's that? Four leprous men at the gate of Samaria.

You remember that story? Now they're dying of leprosy and starvation because there's a famine. There's a famine in their city. And one guy, one day, he looks at the other guys and he says, why are we sitting here until we die? If we go back into the city, we're going to die because there's a famine.

There's no food. If we stay here, we're going to die. But if we go to the enemy's camp and surrender, we might live. They might accept us and at least they'll feed us.

Now, they might not. They'll kill us. But what do we care? We're going to die anyway if we sit here.

Why do we sit here till we die? So they go into the enemy's camp and you know what they found? Nobody. They had all left and they left all their food behind. And so these leprous guys went into the tent and started taking clothes and food and hoarding it and hoarding it. And one of them said, the thing that we're doing is not right. This is a day of good news and yet we remain silent. This is a day of good news. We need to go back to our town, Samaria, and tell everybody we discovered a food supply. We've got to let this good news go.

You know what? Ladies and gentlemen, this is a day of good news. We cannot keep silent. We've got to tell people how to get from earth to heaven through Jesus Christ. Next, and finally, we are to be a church and one that I believe Jesus would attend is one that rallies over the love of God. This is the final point, one that rallies over the love of God. In verse 20 you'll notice that Jesus is praying for you. I do not pray for these, that is these disciples alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word. How many of you have believed in Jesus through the word of the apostles? I have.

We all have. They wrote it down for us. So now Jesus prays for us. Notice what he prays. Verse 21, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me, and I in them, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that you sent me, and have loved them as you've loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you gave me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me. For you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Now, boy, is that a mouthful. Let me distill it for you. Jesus is simply praying for unity based upon truth and love. That's the nutshell.

That's the kernel. Unity among his followers based upon truth and love. And he prays four times for this in this prayer.

Four times. As if to say, Father, this is really important. And for those of us who read it, this is really important. You got to do this.

You really got to do this. So four times we get the message that we are to have unity. How can we ever preach the gospel of the love of God unless we display that love one to another? Doesn't that make sense?

That's what Jesus is praying. Now, what does the Bible mean when it speaks of unity? Well, please hear me out. Let me tell you what it doesn't mean, first of all. It doesn't mean uniformity or unanimity, that we're all going to agree on everything. And can't we all just get together, every Christian or every believer or anything, and just hold hands and sing Kumbaya in a large chanting? Can't do that.

Not going to work. Get it out of your mind. It doesn't mean that we're going to agree on everything also. It doesn't mean that we have to wear the same clothes, vote exactly the same way, read the King James Bible only. When the Bible speaks about unity, it doesn't refer to that. You know, sort of like a real family, a family here.

If you have more than one child, if you have several kids, they're all different. And they do not agree on everything. One might be very vocal. One may be very quiet. I know some of you are thinking, Lord, give me one of those.

I don't have one of those. One might be a morning person. One might be a night person. We're all different. And even in God's family, we don't agree on everything. We don't hold the same position on every single thing, and that's okay. You know, the disciples didn't get along. Peter and Paul didn't agree in Galatians. Barnabas, in the book of Acts, along with Paul, had an argument.

They didn't agree on certain things. Both brothers in Christ. And so today, there are some Christians who are premillennial. I'm one of those. Others are amillennial. I pray for those all the time.

But they're my brothers in Christ and sisters in Christ. Some are pretribulational in our eschatology. Others are post-toasties in their eschatology.

I think we're going to go through the tribulation. Some, in their style of worship, are different. Some like choirs and robes and the organ.

Others like granola and guitars and the whole other thing. And that's okay. I am so glad that there are a variety of churches and organizations to accommodate those different styles. But when it comes to unity, there are certain things we're together on. And what does Jesus mean by it? I'll show you in verse 8 through 11. For I have given to them the words which you have given me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from you and have believed that you sent me.

I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those you have given me, for they're yours. And all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father. Keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are one. So what is this unity Jesus speaks of?

Here it is. Unity based upon truth, and specifically the truth about Jesus Christ. This is what it means. You're a Christian in exactly the same way I'm a Christian. You believe that God sent Jesus into the world, and that His sacrifice on the cross is enough. I believe that too. You believe that the only Savior of the world is Jesus Christ.

I believe that too. We are united in the person and work of Jesus Christ because that's essential. That's essential. Who God is, who Jesus is, that He is God in human flesh, that He paid the sacrifice for our sins. All of that truth about Jesus is essential for salvation, but then there are certain things that are not essential.

Which Bible version you read? Not essential. Which way you're baptized? Not really essential. Do you speak in tongues or not? Not really essential.

When the rapture happens? Not really essential. Now some will disagree and go, that is an essential.

Then we got to talk to you later because there's some issues there. These are non-essentials. And what Augustine said is this, non-essentials unity in non-essentials liberty in all things charity, love in all things love. Now why does Jesus pray for this four times in His prayer?

Verse 21 tells you why. That the world may believe that you sent me. I just want that part to sink in more probably than any other part of this message. That the world may believe that you sent me. Father, the world is going to believe that you sent me if they're one, if they have unity, if they unify over the essentials and not worry about the non-essentials. The world will believe it. Here's a problem that we have.

Follow me here. A problem that we have in our evangelism, our testimony to the world is God is invisible. It poses a problem. We're telling people about God. They can't see Him. And so that's why they're going to prove God exists.

And I'll tell you what will help is when they see us loving each other. By our love, we are making the invisible God more visible. Now I want you to see this from scripture.

I'm going to read to you 1 John chapter 4 verse 12. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us and His love is brought to full expression in us.

You see that? By our love for one another, we are making invisible God more visible to an unbelieving world. No wonder we're called the body of Christ.

That's visible. We're the body of Christ. Jesus Christ in His physical body ascended into heaven. You can't see Him any longer.

Last 2,000 years. The only way God will be made visible is by us and it begins in loving each other. So we prove the reality of our message by our love for one another. Our unity.

Flip the coin. What would our disunity prove to the world? What would our disunity prove? What does the world think when churches fight over colors of pews and kinds of music and flowers, etc., when bickering divides a church?

John Stott wrote this in that fine book I told you about. We cannot proclaim the gospel of God's love with any degree of integrity if we don't exhibit it in our love for one another. Perhaps nothing is so damaging to the cause of Christ as a church torn apart by jealousy, rivalry, slander, malice, or preoccupied with its own selfish concerns. We live before watchful eyes and they want to see if we're going to live our message that we proclaim. So I'll tell you what my prayer has been. As I went through this and I go through a message, I always preach it to myself first. I want you to know that.

I preach it to me. So after this week, I have a prayer personally. Number one, I want to be renewed in love.

I want to be renewed in love. I want to have such a tender love for God's people that is seen and I just got to tell you why I make that a prayer. I make it a prayer because it is easy to get jaded in the ministry. I've already shared with you in a couple sermons ago how many people leave the ministry. And primarily because they get so jaded. So easy to get jaded in the ministry.

You know why? Because we see so much stuff. We hear so much stuff. We meet people all week long, all day long.

I got this problem, I got that problem, problem, problem, see it. And after a while, we can become very thick skinned to it. I want to remain tender hearted. This is my prayer, that I be renewed in God's love for His people.

And then number two, out of that love, that I would be ready to enter into conversations in the Starbucks at the store, laundromat, car wash, wherever I'm at. Enter into meaningful conversations that will help rescue people out of darkness and be brought into the light so they can also experience His love. So what kind of church does Jesus envision when He says I'm going to build my church and He prays for it? One that will radiate God's glory. One that will reveal God's truth. One that will rescue those who are opposed to Him.

And one that will revel and rally around the love and at first must be seen with us. There was a little boy who was praying Sunday evening before he went to bed. He bowed his head and he says, dear God, Lord, we had such a good time at church today.

But boy, I wish you could have been there. How horrible for Jesus to be outside knocking to get in. So, let's turn the spotlight for a moment from off of the church organization in general.

Because after all, we're not called to be church connoisseurs or judges of organizations. Let's turn the spotlight on ourselves. Let's just think about our own life. What do you personally live for? What are you living for?

What are you aiming at? What do you want more than anything else? Have you been rescued? Do you belong to Christ? Is His plan what's going on in your life?

If not, do something about that today. Give Him your heart and let a whole new start happen. Well, would you like a fresh start? You won't find it just by going to church. But if you go and find Jesus, He's the one that can push that reboot button on your life. Would you like to find out more about how Jesus can give you a new beginning? We'd be happy to talk with you about that. Just call us at 1-800-922-1888 or click the Know God button at connectwithskip.com. That's just about going to do it for today. But before time runs out, I want to remind you if you'd like a copy of today's teaching, The Church Jesus Will Attend Part 2, all you need to do is call us at 1-800-922-1888.

Each copy is just $4 plus shipping. Did you know there's an art to attending church? We'll tell you about it next time as we continue our series, Church Who Needs It, right here on Connect with Skip Weekend Edition, a presentation of Connection Communications. Make a connection.

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