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The Church of Jesus Christ, is the body of Christ. Christ gives us new birth by His Spirit. https://youtu.be/02KEB9AonQ4This should be a very unifying truth.

The Apostle Paul said “There should be no division in the body.” Sometimes I wonder if we are keeping this command very well?

Are we divided? Or are we One? Pastor Chris Fluitt preaches a stern message about denominational divisions in the body of Christ.

Hello to the beautiful people in the room!
Hello to the beautiful people online! – I’m so glad that I get to share the word of God with you today.

Welcome to Redemption Church in Plano TX. My name is Chris Fluitt.

Twenty Twenty One

We are in the final week of January 2021. Wow that went quickly. Where did this month go?

We are also in the last week of our series “twenty – twenty ONE.” You can catch all weeks of this series on our website complete with my sermon notes. Go search “twenty – twenty one” at our website –“www.RedemptionPlano.com.”

Jesus prayed that we would be One. Jesus prayed a prayer that we (you and I) can play a part in answering.

We have talked about the importance of unity. We need Unity… to be one within ourselves, one in our home, one in our marriages and relationships, we need to be in one place together.

ONE in the Church

Today we are going to talk about being one in the Church.

Before we dive into the Word, I want us to do something very unifying… and very Biblical.

1 Timothy 2:1-5 (NIV) I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,

“I urge you first of all,” Paul said. Pray! Make petition, intercession, thanksgiving be made for all people. And then Paul highlights “kings and all those in authority.”

We are commanded to pray for our leaders. Now, politics is usually a divisive topic, but we should be united in prayer for our leaders.

Pray for…

Their salvation;

Sensitivity to God’s voice;

Obedience to God’s voice;

Godly wisdom;Righteousness and Peace

This is not an endorsement of a political party, or the policies of a government. It is SOO MUCH more powerful than that. This is an endorsement of the Word of God. We will obey your Word, Lord, and we will pray.

Stand with me! Stand in Unity! Lift up your voices and begin to pray for our new president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris and our other elected officials.

(Biden, Harris, Senators Cornyn & Cruz, Representatives Van Taylor, Burgess, Allred, Gooden, Johnson, Veasey, and Governor Abbott)

Thank you for praying. Let us continue to pray for our leaders. I challenge you to pray for your leaders more than praise your leaders… I challenge you to pray for your leaders more than criticize your leaders…

ONE in the Church

I want you to get your Bibles out and turn to 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12.

Scripture has a lot to say about unity within the Church. It has many commandments concerning unity. It has many warnings about those that cause division… those that are wolves in sheep’s clothing. There are prayers for unity. There are places where apostles beg… earnestly plead with the Church to love one another and walk in peace & holiness.

Christ Himself made sure we knew the most important commandments were to…
#1 Love God completely
#2 Love our neighbor at the same level of love you have for yourself.

Christ would have us know that the most important commands unify you to God and unify you to the person who stands beside you.

In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about a unity within a body.

1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV) Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

A natural body has many parts. The Human body has many distinct parts. There are over 200 bones within an adult body. You are made up of so many parts… yet there is ONE BODY. The apostle Paul says “So it is with Christ.”

Christ Himself (Matthew 3:11) will baptize you by His ONE Spirit into ONE body. Even though we are one body, we are still made up of many parts.

There is oneness in the body of Christ, yet not sameness. Paul continues…

1 Corinthians 12:21-22 (NIV) The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,

There is distinction in this body, just like we are all very distinct people. Some of us are extroverts & some introverts. Some of us are gifted in art. Some of us are gifted in serving. Some of us are gifted in administration. Some are gifted in technology. Some are gifted with a pen & paper.

We are all so different and this is not by accident. This is by design.

And to those who feel weak… those who feel like they may have less value to offer, Paul wants you to know that you are “indispensable.” The part you play is indispensable. Do you believe this?

Be A PART of the Body, not APART from the Body

You are invited by Jesus Himself, to be a part of His body. You have an important part to play within the Body of Christ – His Church.

When coming to Jesus, we often describe that there was Jesus shaped hole in your heart. There was a part of your heart missing that only Jesus could fill. This is true.

Now Jesus says to us, there is a YOU shaped whole in your Church. There is a void in His body that you were created to fill.

It is so powerful to know that you have a part to play. It is so powerful to be able to stand with the revelation of your purpose within the Body.

God wants you to do more than attend His Church. He wants you to BE His Church. He wants you to play your part within the Body. Are you?

1 Corinthians 12:25-27 (NIV) so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

“There should be no division in the body.” I don’t think the Church of Jesus is living up to this statement.

“There should be no division in the body.” 1 Corinthians 12:25

Have you ever had someone ask “What kind of Church do you go to?”

And you answer, “Well, I go to a loving Church. They are so friendly and they do so much in the community and in worldwide missions. They preach the Gospel with passion. They love Jesus Christ and honor His Word.”

And then they look confused… like how could you possibly misunderstand their question? “I mean what kind of Church is it… you know, what denomination is it.”

Denominations are a division in the Body of Christ. I am not against groups organizing so that they can combine their efforts in reaching the world with the Gospel… but let’s get real. Denominations are more about division than reaching the world with the Gospel.

Don’t believe me? Ok… ever hear of the Baptist Church? You have… which one…?

The Alliance of Baptists
American Baptist Association
Association of reformed Baptist Churches
Association of regular Baptist Churches
Christian Baptist Church of God
Christian Unity Baptist Association
Conservative Baptist Association
Free Will Baptist Church
Holiness Baptist Association
Independent Baptist Church of America
Liberty Baptist
Landmark Baptist
King James Version Only Baptist
Missionary Baptist
Nazarene Baptist Church
Old Baptist Union
Primitive Baptist
Progressive Baptist Convention
Regular Baptist Churches General Association
Separate Baptists Alliance
Seventh Day Baptist
Southern Baptist Convention
Sovereign Grace Baptists
Strict Baptists
United Baptist
World Baptist Fellowship

We need to know which Baptist division you belong to…

Not Baptist but Methodist? Ok which one?

African Methodist Episcopal
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church
British Methodist Episcopal
Christian Methodist Episcopal
Congregational Methodist
Evangelical Methodist
Free Methodist
Primitive Methodist
Southern Methodist
United Methodist
Wesleyan Methodist

Have you heard enough? Do you want more of this?
Doesn’t this grieve you? Doesn’t this make you want be angry and cry at the same time?
WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST! We have split and then we split again… over and over we have divided what was supposed to be ONE BODY.

“There should be no division in the body.” 1 Corinthians 12:25

There should be ONE BODY with many parts. Yet, we have divided the body over and over and over again.

Matthew 16:18 (NIV) …on this rock I will build my church…

Did Jesus say CHURCHES or CHURCH? Jesus promised to only build ONE CHURCH!

Where do we find the birth of this Church Jesus built? Where in your Bibles is it? Acts 2!

Yet, when you ask Catholics to point to their beginning they point to the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD.
Eastern Orthodox Churches point to the 11t^hcentury where they divided from the Catholics.
The Lutheran Churches point to Martin Luther in the 16^th century where they divided yet again.
Calvinist Churches point to John Calvin in the later 16^th century where they divided from the Protestants.
Presbyterianism points to John Knox in the 1560s.
Baptists point to John Smith in the 1600s…
Methodists point to John & Charles Wesley in the 1700s where they split.

Church, need I remind you we are to point to no one but Jesus Christ?
Our start is no other than the day Jesus baptized with the Spirit in Acts 2.

1 Corinthians 12:13 (NIV) For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

There is one Church and the only Church history we should really care about is found in the book of Acts.
God still only has one Church and that Church should look like the Church in the book of Acts.
We don’t need to try to be like the Church in the 1900s, the 1800s, at the reformation in the 1500s, or the church at the councils.

Lord, make us Your ONE CHURCH that you baptized with Your Holy Spirit.

Be A PART of the Body, not APART from the Body

Denominationalism is division that has driven us apart.

And worse… we don’t love each other.

I have been the fly on a wall at more than one denominational gathering.
I have been in meetings where they talked about “that other church.”
I have been privy to conversations at the table beside me at the restaurant on a Sunday afternoon.

I have heard how churches view other churches as the competition, instead of how darkness is our competition.

I have witnessed the lightest disagreement on scripture let brothers in the body become enemies.

We have a YouTube page filled with the meanest hate-filled comments from people on another side of a denominational aisle.

Over here you have the Church of Christ.
Over here you have the Church of God.
Over here you have the Church of God in Christ.
…AND Lord, help us if they are ever to be found in the same room. You’ll have a fight on your hands.

This is nothing new. It is true that pagans burned Christians at the stake, but it is also true that Christians have burned other Christians at the stake.

In the 1500s, a Spanish physician and part-time theologian named Michael Servetus started a letter correspondence with noted theologian John Calvin. They had a disagreement over the Godhead and wrote many letters to each other. The debate obviously grew heated…

Calvin used his political sway & power to mark Servetus as a Heretic… Orders for Servetus’ arrest came and he ran for His life and was trying to leave Italy…. But before he would leave the Nation he stopped in Geneva where Calvin Pastored. Michael Servetus attended a service and listened to Calvin preach a sermon.

After the service, Servetus was arrested, imprisoned, and later burned at the stake.

Here is their disagreement in a nutshell.

Servetus believed in 1 God who reveals himself in 3 distinct modes or manifestations: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

John Calvin believed in 1 God who is 3 distinct persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.

Not only are we supposed to be one… we are supposed to LOVE ONE ANOTHER! Maybe we should not argue doctrine… If we haven’t learned to LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR!

The Hattabaugh family are some of the sweetest people you will ever meet. They are planting churches, feeding hungry Syrian refugees, and training up a new generation as we speak in Beirut, Lebanon. When I first met Matt & Julie we sat in a coffee shop and talked and I remember asking where they were getting their support from. The Hattabaughs are ordained in a Spirit-filled organization, and I asked them do people from their own spirit-filled organization help them?

I asked Julie & Matt. “What about this really large Spirit- filled organization…? Do any of them support you…? …Your beliefs lineup 100%.”

“Matt told me they have called countless of their churches, but have always been told no. They even refuse to meet with us.” Matt went on to explain that this particular organization used to have a work on Beirut, Lebanon, but it died and they have never sent anyone there since.”

I sat dumbfounded. I still am dumbfounded. It shouldn’t be this way. We should have equal concern for each other. If one suffers, every part should suffer… if one part is honored, every part rejoices.

It would appear, denominations are more interested in the names of their organizations than they are the name of Jesus.

It is time we stop caring about who gets credit and give all glory to God.

One of the most frustrating things I have ever endured as a pastor is to see people come through our Church. They like what they feel here. It is different for them, but there is something that keeps them coming back… and yet I have seen many come but resist ever being members here at Redemption and helping us with our mission… and it is because we aren’t FILL IN THE BLANK DENOMINATION.

It is time we lift the name of Jesus above all names.
It is time we do away with division in the body.

I don’t care what your denominational background is. You are A PART of the Body!
I don’t care if we disagree on some things in the Bible. You are A PART of the Body!
You have a part to play in His Church.

Church, we need to become one in the Church. We need to be ONE in our Savior Jesus.

musician

The Church in Acts 2 was united. What was it that united them?

Jesus Unites Us

The message of the book of Acts Church was Jesus.
The only name that mattered was Jesus.
The only thing that was newsworthy was what Jesus was doing.
We don’t need a Pentecostal revival… We don’t need an Episcopalian revival… We don’t need a Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, or Catholic revival. WE NEED A JESUS REVIVAL.

We need a revival where the only name that matters is Jesus.
We need a move of God where the only thing people can talk about is Our Savior.

Is there anyone who is hungry for a Jesus revival?
Redemption Church, we are nothing without Jesus. But, with Jesus, we can do all things.

It is so easy to feel hopeless when we look at the church world… I get it. But let me tell you what Jesus said.

Matthew 16:18 (NIV) …on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

We are still His Church. He is still building His Church. The very gates of Hell will not overcome us IN JESUS NAME.

Do you want to just add our names to the roles of countless denominations today… Or do we want to be a Jesus Church…

Built on Jesus.
Worshipping Jesus.
Our hope in Jesus.
Filled with the power of Jesus.

I want you Jesus. I desire you Jesus. Forgive us Jesus of being after the traditions of men and not after you.