When Beliefs Collide

From the outside looking in, the Christian Church is hardly monolithic. Besides Catholic and Orthodox churches and many cults, there are more denominations of Protestants emerging every day, leading one to wonder who has the most correct doctrine. Today, Dr. Erwin Lutzer continues his series on Christians in Conflict and how we can discern truth from error and make wise choices on where to worship.

Stay with us. From Chicago, this is The Moody Church Hour, a weekly service of worship and teaching with Pastor Erwin Lutzer. Today, we'll hear the second of four messages on Christians in Conflict.

Later in our broadcast, Erwin Lutzer will speak on what happens when beliefs collide. Our service today begins with singing. Holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning our songs shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, loving, reversal, hospitality. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the highest high, holy, idol, sinful and blind for we may not see. Holy, holy, holy, blessed and beside Thee, heavenly, loving, glorious Thee. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the highest high, holy, idol, sinful and kind for we may not see. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, loving, merciful and kind.

Father, we love You. We worship and adore You. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the highest high, holy, idol, sinful and kind for we may not see. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the highest high, holy, idol, sinful and kind for we may not see. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the highest high, holy, idol, sinful and kind for we may not see. Glorified by Thy Name, glorified by Thy Name, glorified by Thy Name in all the earth. Spirit, we love You. We worship and adore You. Glorified by Thy Name in all the earth.

In all the earth. Pawsome, power, boundless race, firm and fathom all your ways. Truth and love are found in your heart alone. Righteousness around you come. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the South. Holy, holy, holy, Lord of the South.

Hallelujah. And peace thy glory hath left thy way, And sorrows like sleep in the storm, O God, ever thy God, thou hast taught me to say, It is my way. It is well with my soul. It is well with my soul.

O Satan, should the fan of triumph should come, Let business assurance control, Let prices be guided by purpose and state, Let the shepherds of love grow my soul. It is well with my soul. I sing o'er the place of this glorious thought, I see not in part, but the whole, Is fair to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord! With the Lord my soul, With the Lord my soul, And there is the day when the praise shall be signed, The flood we roll back as a storm, The trial shall be done, And the Lord shall be sent, In this hell, with my soul. It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well with my soul.

What a marvelous ministry. It is well with my soul. I've often thought that I'd like to have that song sung at my funeral. I think that that doesn't mean that the choir has to keep it primed anytime soon, but what a song. And if it were sung there at my funeral, at least I wouldn't stand up at the wrong time. I hope you all have a good time at my funeral, because I'm not going to be there, actually.

Wow, what a song. My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. It is well with my soul. Can you say that today? I hope so.

I hope so. God bless you. And if you can't, hurry to Jesus to cleanse your conscience and to take away your sin. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you.

God bless you. Praise God from the Lord, blessings Lord. Praise Him all, praise just hear me Lord. Praise Him above the heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Amen. Therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Amen. Speak, O Lord, as we come to you, to receive the food of your holy Word. Take your truth, plant it deep in us, shape and precious in your kindness, that the light of Christ might be seen today. Be our acts of love and our deeds of faith. Speak, O Lord, and your filthiness, all your purposes for your glory. Teach us, O Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility.

Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity. Our faith to arise, must arise to see your majestic love and the holy spirit. The words of God that can never fail, let the truth begin over us. Speak, O Lord, and renew our hearts, help us grant the light of your presence for us. Truths are changed from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity. And by grace we'll stand on your promises, and by faith we'll run as one with love. Speak, O Lord, till the church is filled, and the earth is filled with the glory.

I have a reading I'd like to share with you. It's entitled Baptists on the Bridge. Once I was in San Francisco walking along the Golden Gate Bridge when I saw this guy on the bridge about to jump. I thought I tried to stall him, detain him, long enough for me to put film into my camera. I said, don't jump. He turned his head. He said, nobody loves me. I said, God loves you.

How do you know there is a God? I said, of course there's a God. He said, I guess you're right.

And a tear came to his eye. I said, are you a Christian or a Jew or a Hindu or what? He said, a Christian. I said, me too, small world, Protestant or Catholic or Greek Orthodox. He said, Protestant.

I said, me too, what franchise? He said, Baptist. I said, me too, Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist? He said, Northern Baptist. I said, me too, Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist? He said, Northern Conservative Baptist. I said, me too, northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, or northern Conservatives Reform Baptist? He said, northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist. I said, me too, northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes region, or northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, eastern region. He said, northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes region. I said, Me too, Northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes region, council of 1879, or northern Conservative Fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1912. He said, Northern conservative, fundamentalist Baptist, Great Lakes Region Council of 1912. I screamed, die heretic, and I pushed him over.

I have a question to ask you today. Whatever happened to the church that Jesus built? Millions of people say that they belong to the church that Jesus built, but we are so divided. And the divide isn't only between Catholic and Protestant. You look at the Protestant side of the ledger, and you find that there are Methodists and Baptists and Presbyterians and Episcopalians. And then you find that within those groups, you have various categories. And you have different kinds of Baptists and different kinds of Presbyterians. Why do we differ?

That's the question. And what can we do about it if we need to do anything about it? Some people say that we have too much unity already and that we're sacrificing truth. Other people say what we need is more unity.

Where do we go? On a superficial level, it's understandable why we might disagree, because if you read the Bible for the first time especially, it is a vast book treating many different topics in many different ways. And it's difficult to get your mind around it, and some differences are very understandable. It is sometimes said that Martin Luther opened the Bible to the common person. That's true, but he was against the idea that I have my own little interpretation going on. He said that if everybody interprets the Bible in their own way, then each person can go to hell in his own way. We need to stand on the shoulders of those who have preceded us. We need some collective wisdom when it comes to interpreting the Bible.

Let me give you some reasons why we do have differences. First of all, we could point to such things as the limitations of man, the limitations of man. It's understandable that there would be disagreements regarding free will versus predestination. I mean, there are all kinds of mysteries connected with that. And so some come down on one side of that ledger, and others come down on the other side.

And so that's understandable. Also, some of the verses in the Bible need to be interpreted within a larger context. For example, let's suppose that the only verse in the Bible regarding salvation was Acts chapter 2 verse 38, where Peter said, repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Now, if that were the only verse about salvation, we might conclude that baptism is necessary for salvation. But then you've got hundreds of references in the New Testament, particularly in the book of John, that clearly say he who believes is saved.

So what do you do? And then you look at chapter 2 verse 38 of Acts, and you realize that there is a reason why Peter connected it with baptism, but baptism isn't necessary for the forgiveness of sins. So you can understand that that happens, and so differences arise. Also, we have not only the limitations of men, the perversions of men, our bias, our sinfulness. We all have a tendency to go to the Bible to find out what we want it to say. And if we want to say that we are part of our salvation and that we contribute to our salvation, we can find texts that seem to say that, and then you can build a whole system of doctrine, and sacraments, and good works, and penance, and you can build all those things around certain theories because of our desire to say that if salvation is free, people are going to misuse it. Also, you have the power of the church throughout history. For example, in medieval times, it was believed that grace was communicated through the sacraments.

Now, think of what that meant. That meant that the priest had in his hand the destiny of the souls of his parish. If he didn't give them the sacraments, they would go to hell. In fact, there were times, such as in the days of John Hus in Prague, where the pope issued an interdict. That meant that there could be no sacraments, whatever, in the city because Hus was preaching the gospel. And it was known that if there were an interdict, people would become so angry with him that they'd kick him out of Prague, which is exactly what happened. Because you see, if you're told that there are no sacraments, it means that you're all being consigned to hell.

The power of the priest was absolutely overwhelming. And people love power, don't they? So you have the perversions of men. You have the unbelief of men. There are some splits in Protestant denominations, for example, that are legitimate and that are right. Because you have certain bodies of believers who have moved away from the truth of the gospel. The Episcopalians are facing the possibility of a split over ordaining gay clergy. And there are some Presbyterian churches that no longer preach the gospel, if I might say. And so there were different groups that broke away. And now you have many, many Presbyterian churches that very clearly preach the gospel, but they had to separate.

So some of that is all understandable. Then you have the preferences of people. Oh, we're into preferences. We're into worship styles. I go to this church because I like its worship style.

I like its music. But I can't take that church because I don't like its music. And personal preferences today trumps doctrine. It trumps oftentimes the vision of a church because we want to go where it just suits us perfectly. You know, when I'm at pastors conferences, I'm always asked, is Moody Church a traditional church or is it a contemporary church? And I smile and I say, we are a biblical church. Isn't that wonderful?

And thank God we have both traditional and contemporary as we try to take the best from both. But where does this leave us? Now, I do have to distinguish between what is sometimes called the invisible church.

I don't like that word very well. But it refers to the whole body of Jesus Christ, the church universal. Everybody who belongs to the universal church, the church invisible as it is called, is a born again believer and will be in heaven. And that transcends denominations. Sometimes God's people are found in the most unlikely places.

That's why we do not consign people to hell just because they don't belong to our denomination. Because we realize that even in some of these churches that no longer preach the gospel, there are saved people. And so what we recognize is that there is the invisible church. The invisible church includes the living and the dead. Paul says in chapter 3, verse 14 of Ephesians, he says this very clearly, the father before whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named.

And someday we'll all be together in heaven. And that group of the elect is called in theology the invisible or universal church. Everyone who's a member of it is a born again believer. But now let's talk about the local church. Let's talk about Moody Church. What can we say about it? First of all, it's a mixed multitude to some extent because we're not God. When you become a member of Moody Church, you are interviewed by someone who asks you your understanding of the gospel.

It's not a huge theological test. We just want to know whether or not you've savingly believed on Jesus. About 15 or 20 years ago, I had lunch with a man over at Michael's. And I could go to the table that we were sitting at, who was a member. And he was saying things that were far out there. And he sits there and tells me that in no sense does he want Jesus to bear his sin, that he will bear his own sin for himself and the penalty of it. He said, I can't expect somebody else to bear my sin. I said, of course you can't.

But that's where grace and love come in. Now you have to understand, he's sitting on one side of the table and I'm sitting on the other. And I'm sure I took off my glasses. And I looked at him and I said, if you keep believing what you are believing, you are going to hell. And then he said something very shocking. He says, if I have to go to hell to bear my own punishment, to hell I will go.

Chilling. Now he was a member of Moody Church. Back then, maybe we weren't very good at screening membership.

I think we maybe improved a little bit on that. But let's not kid ourselves. We don't always know who's saved and who's lost, because we can't see the human heart. So you have a mixed multitude in that sense. You also have a lot of people who are part of the church who are not members. And there's another thing that you need to know about the visible church is it is very, very imperfect. My friend, if Moody Church were a perfect church, I would urge those of you who have never joined to be sure that you never join.

Because if you joined, it would be perfect no longer. But we're just imperfect sinners. And we recognize that there is carnality, there is all kinds of struggle, there's struggles with sin. Spoke to somebody yesterday who's related to me who doesn't go to church, a nephew of mine. And he said, well, you know, we don't go because there are so many hypocrites in the church. Well, I know there are, but maybe it's better that they are there than any other place. Maybe some of these hypocrites will get converted someday if the gospel is preached. I'd rather have the hypocrites in the church than somewhere else, yes.

Now, where does this leave us? How are we unified? Ephesians chapter 4, very briefly, Ephesians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul says in verse 1, Ephesians 4, 1, I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called.

Live up to who you are. You'll notice he says, with all humility. And now what he says is, we are unified in our attitude. Humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. We're patient with one another.

We don't insist on our rights. We're not saying it has to be done my way or else I'm out of here. We are willing to forbear and to work with and to bear with one another and the bond of peace because you see, Jesus purchased our unity at high cost. And so we want to walk in the unity that has been created by the Holy Spirit when we receive Christ as Savior.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if every church split that ever happened, that one of the requirements, before you stand up and go to the microphone in a conference, that one of the requirements would be that you would have humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. That's what the Bible calls us to. And you see, that's why we have to come to church.

We have to meet believers who are imperfect. And we have to put up with them and do so in a loving way because we are members of the same body. All right, now, our attitude unites us. Our life unites us. Verse 4, it says, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope. We are unified because we're members of the same body.

And when one part of the body hurts, the other part hurts also. We are a part of those who rejoice with those who rejoice. But it isn't just that we're committed to each other. It's because God has metaphysically connected us together.

You've had this experience as I have. You can go to another part of the world and you can meet a believer in Jesus. And even though you've never known him or her, there is a whole area of commonality that you know instantly. Because they, too, have been born again of the same spirit. They are part of the same body.

Paul says that you are one. There is one body. There's one spirit. There aren't many bodies.

There aren't many spirits. It's all one. There's one hope by which you were called. If you're a believer here today in Jesus, it's because God called you. And the same call to salvation that I answered at the age of 14 is the same call to salvation that you answered at some point in your life when you believed in Jesus. So what you can see here is that what the scripture is saying is we are one loaf. We are members of the same body. We share the same attitude.

We share the very same life. We're all connected to the head. And we're members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. We are one, even with people with whom we disagree, and people who it is difficult to love. We are also united because of our beliefs. Here I'm thinking about the next passage where it says, there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

One Lord, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. One faith, that is the body of doctrine that has been given to the church. And that's where the disagreements come, folks, because they're those who leave the one faith, some of us believe. And therefore, divisions happen when you leave the faith and the faith that you have in Jesus. So you'll notice it says there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism. You almost have to smile because baptism has divided the church, has it not? You have infant baptism. You have believers baptism. You have different understandings of baptism. There are those who believe that baptism is the entrance into the Christian family. There are those who believe it is simply a sign of the covenant. You have different understandings of baptism. Isn't it interesting that something in the scripture that should unite us divides us? The same can be said for the Lord's Supper.

That's why Melanchthon, one of Luther's associates, said regarding these divisions that they are deserving of tears and they are deserving of tears. Now, perhaps the baptism that he's talking about is not water baptism, but spirit baptism. There's one baptism. Second Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13, for by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Greek, rich or free, and have been all made to drink in one spirit. You see, it's the baptism of the spirit that puts us into Jesus. It's the baptism of the spirit that makes you one with him and therefore one with the rest of us. That baptism is never commanded that we should be baptized with the spirit.

Why? Because when you put faith in Jesus, you are baptized with the spirit and you become the one body that Paul is talking about here. So there's one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. We're united by our attitude, by our common life, by our common belief, the one faith that we have in Jesus, and we're also united by our service. It says in verse 11, and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, the teachers to equip the saints for work of ministry. There are about 19 different gifts in the New Testament and that might not be the total.

There might be some things that aren't necessarily listed as gifts. And that's the whole purpose of gathering together. We gather to worship most assuredly, but we also gather to serve. When I say that we have a parking need, need for those who are willing to sacrifice and perhaps have to miss a service once in every four or five weeks, there should be such an army of people, and by the way, you don't need to be a member to do that. There should be such an army of people willing to sign up that the folks over there at the kiosks that I hope you find say, enough already. We've got more than we can use. When I say that we need children's workers, they should be saying there at the kiosk today, I should get a phone call this afternoon. Pastor, we had so many people who wanted to work with children's ministry that we don't know where they all are going to fit. Wouldn't that be a wonderful phone call?

I'll wait for that one. But that's what the body is all about. It's to function. It's to volunteer. It's to sacrifice on behalf of others. It's to say if I'm part of this, then by God's grace, I am going to be united with believers exercising my gift for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. You are here for yourself today, but you're not just here for yourself. You are here for other believers who are sitting next to you and for the whole work of God that God has graciously given us the privilege to be involved in. And with a new building and new opportunities to extend the gospel in God's glory, we're gonna need more people than we ever have. We're gonna need more people to give.

Can you imagine what that new building adds to our budget? And so together we work. What's the bottom line?

The bottom line is this. The church is not just a group of people who gather together because they've decided to follow Jesus. That's not just what we are. The church is the Father's family, as we emphasize. The church is the Son's bride. He's going to marry us at the marriage supper of the Lamb when we show up, clothed in the good works that we did.

Yes, the good works that we did. Good works don't save you, but if you wanna be dressed appropriately at the marriage supper of the Lamb, you'd better do good works because that's what the Bible teaches. And so what you have is it is the Father's family. It's the Son's bride. It's the home of the Holy Spirit. It's a unity created by God miraculously.

That's what the church is with all of its imperfections and all of its divisions and all of its headaches from time to time. If you're the kind of person who says, I don't wanna be involved in a church. I don't wanna join. I don't wanna have any responsibility. I don't wanna have any accountability.

I like to be a free floater. Like it here, depends on the length of the sermon. I'll go somewhere else if it's more suited to my taste. If that's what you were thinking, you have to at least ask the question as to whether or not you are saved, whether or not you are a Christian. You should ask that question. You say, well, isn't it possible to be like that and be a Christian? Yes, it is. But biblically, it's an anomaly. It's an exception.

Can't find it anywhere in the New Testament. There was no believer who did not attach himself onto some local assembly, some visible church with all of its problems, whether it's Corinth or the church in Philippi or wherever, because the unity that God created is the unity that has to be lived out in our own lives. And that is so critical, so critical. Are you connecting with my heart today about this or am I all alone up here today?

Are you getting what I wanna tell you? You know, if you've never been to Ravinia, you should go up there. It's in one of the northern suburbs.

Forget which one, but here's the deal. There's a band shell there and they have symphony orchestra. The symphony orchestra comes and plays. And you don't have to buy an expensive ticket to get into the band shell because it's open.

So what you do is you buy a cheaper ticket like my wife and I do and then you sit on the lawn with hundreds of other people on a wonderful summer evening, listening to the best of music. Number of years ago, we were up there and brought some lunch with us and finished that and sat on the blanket that we brought and a chair that we brought and just to enjoy the beautiful outdoors and beautiful music. Next to us was a man who also brought his blanket and he fell asleep. And proof of this was the fact that he snored very loudly. My wife and I wondered, you know, should we actually move? Well, if we move everybody around, we'll see, hey, they moved because he's snoring.

So we can put up with a little bit of snoring. From time to time, your mate has done that. So I said, yeah, we'll just stay here and we did. But when Schubert was finished, and by the way, that's where you get Mendelssohn and Schubert and Strauss and all of that good music. When Schubert was finished, which was the end of the program, everybody jumped up and gave them a standing ovation. This guy woke up, looked around, saw what everybody was doing, hopped up and clapped along with everybody else. That's the way some believers are.

Spiritually speaking, sleep through life, uninvolved, unwilling to sacrifice, distantly related. And then when Jesus comes to receive his saints, when Jesus comes to receive us, and at the marriage supper of the lamb, and that was for emphasis. I worked on that a long time before it worked out. They're gonna be one up there in the front row saying, well, here I am, I'm clapping too. But they snoozed through the war. This morning I woke up with the song in mind, I gave my life for thee, my precious blood I shed, that thou mightst ransom be and quickened from the dead. I gave, I gave my life for thee. What hast thou given for me?

That's what I woke up thinking about this morning. In a few moments, we're gonna have communion. And we're going to say, this cup is the cup of the new covenant in my blood. And this bread represents my body, which is broken for you. Jesus is saying, this is what I've done for you. And by the way, if you've never received benefits from what he has done, you accept your sinfulness, recognize it and come to him and trust him. And as the choir sang, my sin not in part, but the whole has been nailed to the cross.

You can have that also. But Jesus is saying to those of us who know him, I gave myself for thee, what hast thou given for me? What is your contribution to my body?

Terms of time, talents, treasure, involvement. That's the question that I have burned into my heart this morning. And I want it to be burned into your heart as well. Let us pray. Father receive us despite our imperfections and our sins. Receive us as a church, despite our limitations, despite the fact that there are those who perhaps have been disappointed with various aspects of ministry. And we haven't lived up to everything that we could have lived up to. We acknowledge that Lord.

We have nothing to hide. We have nothing to say, except that we need you as a leadership and as a congregation. We pray for those who've never trusted Christ and for those who have. We ask today that you might challenge us and transform us through connecting with your body, that cost you so dearly, in Jesus name, amen. So why don't we sing the first and the last stanzas of 675.

675 and while we sing, the servers are going to be coming and they are going to be preparing our hearts and our ministry of communion, 675. On today's Moody Church Hour, Pastor Lutzer spoke on When Beliefs Collide, the second in his four-part series on Christians in Conflict. Getting along with fellow Christians can at times be challenging.

Next week, join us as our focus turns to what happens when personalities collide. Sometimes we make bad decisions, but God can meet us in our need even when we choose the second best. Pastor Lutzer has written a book on Making the Best of a Bad Decision. It Can Be Yours is our thank you for your gift of any amount to The Moody Church Hour. Call 1-800-215-5001, that's 1-800-215-5001 or you can write to us at Moody Church Media, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Online, go to moodyoffer.com, that's moodyoffer.com.

When you write or call, mention the book, Making the Best of a Bad Decision. Join us next week for another Moody Church Hour with Pastor Erwin Lutzer and the Congregation of Historic Moody Church in Chicago. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church.