Unity in the
churches of God
sermon by
Manfred Schreyer
>>
Psa 133:1-3 A song of ascents. Of David. How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! :2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes. :3 It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
John 17:23
I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.Rom 15:5-7 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, :6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Several years ago I made some friends with members of the German Baptist denomination. They were (are) wonderful people, not because they were (are) German Baptists, but because they were (are) just great people.
I had much interest in their church history and we discussed many issues of our faith.
One day, they told me that they had an upcoming Love Feast, just as we have our Love Feast at the church of the Brethren, followed by Holy communion.
They invited me to attend, but in their invitation they made it clear to me that I would not be welcome to partake communion with them. I first thought it was a joke, and I teased them with sentences like: "Don’t you have enough juice and bread" and "Are you once of a sudden adopting Catholic practices?" You see, Catholics believe that you must be baptized into the Holy Catholic faith in order to partake Holy Communion.
But their face changed from a humorous smile to an embarrassing and somewhat resentful face. The conversation had become serious! No, I would not able to partake communion . . .that was their single reply
In my mind, I felt resentment, and I felt drawn away.
In our society and in this century we have institutionalized our faith into a boxed religion.
Some of our churches/institutions attach labels to become self-righteous. They believe that they are the only ones chosen to serve God and to proclaim salvation by practices they adopt and believe only they can practice.
How? I sometimes believe that some people sit around a round table discuss the Word of God and come up with a new idea, a new revelation which they claim for them. And they claim it in order to proclaim that they are the ones who are chosen.
When Jesus met with Nicodemus, Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again. We are all born once in the flesh, but our spirit must be born again. And Jesus says later that we must believe in Him, that only through Him can we come to God and then . . . we have found eternal life and then we are open to be transformed
That is the entire message of the New Testament! That is all! It does not talk about separation among us when we partake communion.
Martin Luther in the midst of the 16th century decided as a catholic priest that what the Catholic church proclaimed was wrong. The catholic church sold literally forgiveness. And Martin Luther said from the pulpit that that is not right. Only God can forgive and forgiveness cannot be bought.
And so with Martin Luther church changed. Not only did he start the Lutheran church, and has brought us back on the right track and helped us understand that we can’t purchase forgiveness, but people took his understanding as if we don’t have to ask for forgiveness anymore and that we do not need to repent as we did daily in the Holy Catholic church.
Martin Luther was right! Martin Luther was faithful and I know that God placed Martin Luther into God’s history to fulfill God’s history among his people.
But Martin Luther has brought a great disservice to humankind. He allowed diversity of truth to appear on the horizon of human intellectualism.
His disservice was not so much his proclamation as a revelation by God, but his founding of "another church." If he had found it in his heart to call out the truth within the Holy Catholic Church we still would be united.
Today we are to the point when we almost acknowledge Mormons to be Christians and we almost except Jehovah Witnesses as a Christina denomination.
We have separated on so many issues that God’s church has lost it’s unity. I have visited many churches and it is amazing how much we have separated:
Some believe that you do not need a doctor, but that God will heal you.
Some believe that you should have communion every week.
Some believe that if you are faithful God will bless you with earthly wealth.
Some believe that you get sick it is a sign of a sin you have committed.
Some believe that baptism leads to salvation.
Some believe that we are predestined by God . . . in other words God brings us to this earth and he guides us.
Some believe that if you do not believe in tongues you are not filled with the Holy Spirit.
Some believe that you must be baptized at an early age, some believe at the age of consciencness and then . . . there is the problem of baptism as a whole . . . is it by sprinkling? Is it by immersion? . . And if it is by immersion, is it one time forward, or one time backward and three times forward? Or is two times forward and . . . well, you get the idea.
Some believe that a woman can’t wear pants in church.
Some believe that women have to sit on one side and men on the other.
Some believe in war and some believe in peace
. . . .and the list goes on . . .
And as we quarrel about these minute, inferior issues I look around and I see people who a wandering in this world and have never given their life to Christ and they could care less how to be baptized, or whatever.
People need hope in this world, they need hope in their daily living, they need to know that God is a forgiving God, they need to know that there is an eternal life that is awaiting them
I want you to know that we as churches are destroying our foundation of faith. We scratch and take away from the cornerstone which Peter through the commission of Jesus Christ has built for us. We chisel pieces of rock away and the cornerstone becomes fragile. And those who want to find Christ and visit the house of God find a house that sits on a weak foundation.
People seek structure in their life and for their life. The entire book of the bible reads of complex experiences as humanity and how we deal with the purpose fo life and how we are able to conquer death through Jesus Christ.
In this very small village of West Alexandria we have several denominations or non denominational churches, UCC, Church of the Brethren, Baptist, nondenominational, Pentecostal, Lutheran and although you may think this appears to be a fine smorgasbord of faith . . . it is not!
Each of us tries to hold Jesus Christ hostage. And we expect the world to believe that all of us believe in Christ as our Savior, but that he only can be found in our church.
Paul said: Rom 15:5-7 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, :6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
:7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
When you are at the end of your rope and you can find no hope in this life any more and you are seeking something, you will seek light in your internal darkness. The light can only be found in the place that gives freedom to the word of God and that does not hold the Gospel hostage and claims it for themselves.
Every time I am here with you my brothers and sisters from the UCC church and when I am with you brother Ron, I feel that our love for Christ is the example of what He asks from us.
I feel free, I feel not threatened and I feel the Gospel is guiding our lives not for the sake of self righteousness but for the sake of bringing people hope, strength to endure, and eternal life.
We cannot change history and we are who we are and where we are in history. But in all of that we must be determined to proclaim the resurrection:
John 11:23 Jesus said to her,
"Your brother (Lazarus) will rise again." :24 Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." :25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; :26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" :27 "Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
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