WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.900 It's good to see you all again. We've been diving into some of Paul's letters, haven't we, on Sunday evenings. 00:00:06.820 --> 00:00:16.019 And tonight we're in this chapter in Ephesians 4, particularly the first six verses of the chapter, chapter 4 of Ephesians. 00:00:16.019 --> 00:00:23.859 Please keep that open in front of you. And the main message that I want us to hear tonight is the message on being together, 00:00:23.859 --> 00:00:39.299 being united when we're separated, being one whole church when we're spread very thinly, aren't we, tonight? 00:00:40.679 --> 00:00:45.920 Because it would be a great shame, wouldn't it, to start getting comfortable with this situation. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:53.100 After quite a while, it is possible, isn't it, that we're sort of getting into the groove of this, how this works on a Sunday. 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:55.719 Hey, we're used to the routine a little bit, aren't we? 00:00:56.939 --> 00:00:59.880 It is possible that we are getting into the groove of it. 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:08.240 If you're not getting into the groove of it, maybe have you at least entertain the thought that it could be like this for a while. 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:15.439 Just think if church life was like this from now on, could we get comfortable with it? 00:01:16.859 --> 00:01:22.939 No more rotas. No more rushing out on a Sunday morning, feeling embarrassed when you're late. 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:33.579 No more church. No more run of the mill pains of church life together. 00:01:34.119 --> 00:01:39.079 Not being able to mute the preacher at will. Rubbing each other up the wrong way. 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:40.139 No more arguments. 00:01:40.140 --> 00:01:43.320 Could we get used to this? 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:46.719 Of course, the answer is no. 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:50.719 We couldn't and we shouldn't. 00:01:52.060 --> 00:01:56.799 Paul speaks to us here on being together when we're apart. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:02.840 I've got two main headings for you tonight with some smaller points in the first heading. 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:08.420 Paul urges us, number one, to be eager to stay together. 00:02:08.900 --> 00:02:10.360 Be eager to stay together. 00:02:10.640 --> 00:02:11.500 Do you see his command? 00:02:11.680 --> 00:02:16.699 He urges the church to walk in a way worthy of the calling of the gospel. 00:02:16.939 --> 00:02:23.900 And verse three, to be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:36.400 He means that to be people in the previous verses like humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love. 00:02:37.400 --> 00:02:40.580 But focus with me tonight on the word eager. 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:45.379 He doesn't just say maintain unity, does he? 00:02:45.379 --> 00:02:48.219 But be eager to do that. 00:02:49.159 --> 00:02:55.139 So even when the normal ways we do that are hindered at the moment, we should still want to do that. 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:56.500 We should be eager to do it. 00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:00.199 We shouldn't be getting comfortable with this. 00:03:01.859 --> 00:03:04.359 This is a really ideal time, isn't it? 00:03:04.400 --> 00:03:12.419 To rethink and to reassess how much we value the church family that we're part of and our church unity. 00:03:12.419 --> 00:03:15.839 To value being together physically. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:19.399 When we're forced to be apart. 00:03:21.359 --> 00:03:26.719 Absence should make the heart grow fonder or more eager. 00:03:28.419 --> 00:03:31.739 The Smiths with God's people. 00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:38.239 I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord together to worship God. 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:44.500 How good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity. 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:53.240 As for the saints in the land and believers, they are the excellent ones in whom is all of my delight. 00:03:53.400 --> 00:03:54.300 Psalm 16. 00:03:55.540 --> 00:03:58.780 The eagerness for unity, the eagerness for togetherness. 00:03:59.340 --> 00:04:00.820 It's all over the Bible, isn't it? 00:04:00.860 --> 00:04:02.920 And especially in the letter to the Ephesians. 00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:09.259 Paul has a massive agenda in Ephesians to bring home the Trinitarian mission. 00:04:10.079 --> 00:04:13.659 The mission of God, the Father, God, the Son, God, the Holy Spirit. 00:04:14.199 --> 00:04:19.719 In uniting himself with his people through Jesus Christ for his glory. 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:26.419 There's quite a lot of evidence to show that this letter was circulated amongst lots of different churches. 00:04:26.420 --> 00:04:28.680 Disparate church groups. 00:04:31.080 --> 00:04:33.860 The plan of unity is all over the letter. 00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:35.660 Chapter 1, verse 10. 00:04:36.100 --> 00:04:42.460 In the fullness of time, all things are to be united in Jesus Christ to the praise of his glory. 00:04:42.860 --> 00:04:45.420 All things are going to be united under Jesus Christ. 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:49.759 And that will be seen most wonderfully in his church, in his people. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:53.719 Who are, he calls, chapter 1, verse 22, his body. 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:56.740 The fullness of him who fills all. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:02.719 He calls us fellow citizens and fellow members of the household of God. 00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:06.219 Not in different households, but in one household. 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:09.879 Members of the commonwealth of Israel. 00:05:10.879 --> 00:05:12.120 Members of the same body. 00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:14.539 One man, he calls us. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:18.719 We're members of one another, says in chapter 4. 00:05:18.720 --> 00:05:20.060 One flesh. 00:05:21.540 --> 00:05:26.320 So, he's not saying tonight, is he, we need to create this unity. 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:28.260 Make it up. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:29.020 Form it. 00:05:31.540 --> 00:05:33.440 Hear the meaning there. 00:05:33.520 --> 00:05:35.260 Be eager to maintain the unity. 00:05:36.280 --> 00:05:39.140 You can only maintain something that you've already got. 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:42.440 Something that you've already been given. 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:42.620 Listen. 00:05:44.199 --> 00:05:51.819 The unity and the oneness of the people of Jesus Christ, the church, the world over, is not a man-made thing. 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:58.339 And then in our passage tonight that we're going to focus on, the first few verses of chapter 4, 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:02.659 Paul kind of goes into machine gun mode on unity. 00:06:03.300 --> 00:06:05.259 He pulls the trigger on unity. 00:06:05.259 --> 00:06:06.060 Listen. 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:06.139 Listen. 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:08.300 There is one body. 00:06:09.019 --> 00:06:09.959 One spirit. 00:06:10.539 --> 00:06:11.259 One call. 00:06:11.699 --> 00:06:12.300 One Lord. 00:06:12.759 --> 00:06:13.480 One faith. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:14.719 One baptism. 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:16.039 One God. 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:18.300 One Father of us all. 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:20.300 Do we get the message? 00:06:20.740 --> 00:06:23.199 We are one tonight. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:27.240 So, let us not get comfortable with this. 00:06:28.939 --> 00:06:40.879 The command to unity comes from a declaration of what is true of us, what is real about us, of what we already are as God's people. 00:06:41.599 --> 00:06:47.039 And this eagerness to keep it flows out from that unity of what it already is. 00:06:47.519 --> 00:06:49.159 Maintain what you've already got. 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:52.120 Guard what you are. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.060 In verses 4, 5, and 6. 00:06:56.579 --> 00:07:03.899 You'll notice as I read that list of things that we're united in, he uses the word one a lot, doesn't he? 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:06.819 About seven or eight times, depending on how you read it. 00:07:07.259 --> 00:07:15.500 There are seven or eight different aspects, different facets of the diamond of the unity of the church. 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:29.120 Ephesians 4, verse 4, 5, and 6 is probably one of the most intense and significant places in the whole of the Bible on the togetherness of the church. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.600 The wholeness of the church. 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:36.180 I want you tonight to try and digest the ones. 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:39.379 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, etc. 00:07:40.640 --> 00:07:41.879 There's a lot to digest. 00:07:41.879 --> 00:07:45.500 So I hope that some categories will help in that. 00:07:46.379 --> 00:07:51.079 The first category he speaks about is a unity in the spirit. 00:07:51.079 --> 00:07:54.620 A spiritual unity. 00:07:54.620 --> 00:08:00.319 Be eager to stay together because you are together in one Holy Spirit. 00:08:00.539 --> 00:08:01.699 Look at verse 4 again. 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:05.740 There is one body and one spirit. 00:08:05.740 --> 00:08:08.879 He's talking there about the Holy Spirit. 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:10.560 It's got a capital S, hasn't it? 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:17.960 The Holy Spirit unites every believer into the one body of Jesus Christ. 00:08:19.340 --> 00:08:23.720 So the unity we have tonight, first of all, is a spiritual unity. 00:08:24.780 --> 00:08:26.819 It's not a geographical unity. 00:08:26.819 --> 00:08:31.400 It's not where you are that joins you to Jesus. 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:36.600 It's not a chronological unity. 00:08:36.779 --> 00:08:38.539 It's not when you are that matters. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:40.340 It's not linguistic. 00:08:40.679 --> 00:08:42.199 You don't have to have the same language. 00:08:42.360 --> 00:08:43.340 It's not cultural. 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:52.959 There is a unanimity that is given by the Holy Spirit, which transcends where you are and when you are. 00:08:54.179 --> 00:09:00.480 The true united nations of the world are God's people joined by the Holy Spirit. 00:09:01.399 --> 00:09:06.399 We are separated by time, separated by space, but together. 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:12.600 Not by the power of the Internet tonight, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:23.920 I am united in one body with you tonight, just as much now, while we're apart, as much now as when we're together. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:32.600 We are united with brothers and sisters all around the world that we've never met before. 00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:37.019 Just as we are united with a family that we know really well. 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:41.579 It doesn't depend on space or on time. 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:45.519 It's a unity that we can't see in a sense, isn't it? 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:51.059 It's a mystical union with Jesus and his church, a spiritual union. 00:09:52.120 --> 00:09:55.620 The Holy Spirit makes us one in Jesus Christ, his body. 00:09:55.620 --> 00:10:00.259 And it comes into our lives and it causes us to be born again. 00:10:00.379 --> 00:10:01.500 That's Jesus, his language. 00:10:02.799 --> 00:10:04.519 And so we're given a new nature. 00:10:05.340 --> 00:10:09.580 We're given the same likeness, the same spiritual DNA. 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:17.220 We're born into one family, one household with, verse six, one father over us all. 00:10:17.220 --> 00:10:22.080 Jesus uses the picture of a vine and branches, doesn't he? 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:28.639 In John chapter 15, we're joined together in one vine as different branches. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:31.160 The one vine, Jesus Christ. 00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:35.200 And the life of that vine lives us. 00:10:37.500 --> 00:10:41.460 John Calvin said that the Holy Spirit is the bond. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:45.840 It's the glue by which Jesus Christ unites us to himself. 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:50.379 So it doesn't matter tonight, does it? 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:53.680 In one sense, whether you're in Australia or America, 00:10:54.399 --> 00:10:58.100 Hanwell or Greenford, whether you're in Drayton Green or Ealing Common, 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:03.240 we have this unity wrought by the Holy Spirit. 00:11:04.379 --> 00:11:05.720 Unity in the one spirit. 00:11:07.700 --> 00:11:11.340 Then there's another category that he speaks about in these verses. 00:11:11.780 --> 00:11:15.139 Unity in the spirit and then unity in one summons. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:17.160 One summons. 00:11:17.240 --> 00:11:18.080 Verse four again. 00:11:18.700 --> 00:11:26.280 Just as you were called to the one hope or summoned is a good word to the one hope. 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:29.019 When was it? 00:11:29.280 --> 00:11:32.420 When did the Holy Spirit join us together in this way? 00:11:33.879 --> 00:11:34.879 Well, we. 00:11:36.280 --> 00:11:39.580 Call of the spirit through the message of the gospel, 00:11:39.580 --> 00:11:40.980 the good news about Jesus. 00:11:42.100 --> 00:11:49.520 Just as God's word went out at the beginning of creation and brought everything together. 00:11:50.080 --> 00:11:54.240 God's word in the gospel goes out and it brings and forms his people together. 00:11:55.040 --> 00:11:57.060 He summons them together. 00:11:57.059 --> 00:12:03.639 We're united by the one call of Jesus into our lives. 00:12:04.339 --> 00:12:08.179 It's like the shepherd and the sheep image that Jesus gives, isn't it? 00:12:09.239 --> 00:12:12.619 The sheep hear the summons of the shepherd. 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:18.539 He calls his own sheep by name, Jesus says, and they all respond. 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.459 All of the sheep look up and listen, don't they? 00:12:22.460 --> 00:12:24.220 And they say, did you hear that? 00:12:24.300 --> 00:12:25.519 And they say, yes, we heard it. 00:12:25.580 --> 00:12:26.259 It was the shepherd. 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:34.259 We're all defined by hearing and receiving the calling of the shepherd. 00:12:34.259 --> 00:12:48.200 It's a nation that sits metaphorically opened and received and RSVP'd on every mantelpiece of every Christian home tonight. 00:12:49.319 --> 00:12:56.580 And so as well, there is a united aspiration of hope in that summons. 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:10.879 We are united in our expectations of the future and are looking forward together of a united destiny with one inheritance, sharing together in one new creation. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.800 Our goals are the same tonight. 00:13:14.580 --> 00:13:17.879 Our aims are the same to bring Jesus praise. 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:25.879 And we've all been summoned by the summons of one Lord in one faith, verse 5. 00:13:27.139 --> 00:13:31.879 As we're summoned, we acknowledge Jesus has summons his call to be true. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:34.879 We've received one faith. 00:13:36.799 --> 00:13:41.120 And his word that he's given. 00:13:41.120 --> 00:13:46.580 It's not just that we all say the same creed on a Sunday morning, is it? 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:51.279 But that we inwardly all embrace his word to be true. 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:53.419 We trust in it. 00:13:54.259 --> 00:13:56.539 And he is one Lord over us. 00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:03.759 His lordship over us unites us all as his one possession, as his people. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:12.159 And remember that Heidelberg Catechism says that I belong, body and soul, to my faithful saviour, Jesus Christ. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:16.480 So we're all under his authority. 00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:19.559 He is owner and sovereign of us all. 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.340 We're all stamped with the mark of his ownership. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:24.039 The Holy Spirit. 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:28.580 We're all branded, if you like, by the same mark. 00:14:28.580 --> 00:14:33.440 So you can, this evening, separate us physically. 00:14:34.980 --> 00:14:37.020 But you can't break us apart. 00:14:39.300 --> 00:14:45.940 His name, his brand, remains on us whenever and wherever we are. 00:14:47.400 --> 00:14:53.860 And the more absolute his claim over us, the more united we are, isn't it? 00:14:53.860 --> 00:15:01.480 The more absolute his lordship over us, the more together we are brought. 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:05.840 Jesus claims not just my body, not just my soul, but all of me. 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:16.759 And so when his lordship extends to all of me, there is nothing that is about me that is not also united together with my fellow servants under his lordship. 00:15:18.039 --> 00:15:22.940 It's a lordship that brings unity and love and joy together. 00:15:23.860 --> 00:15:26.620 So it's a spiritual unity. 00:15:26.879 --> 00:15:31.060 It is answering the summons of the lord in one faith. 00:15:32.200 --> 00:15:36.759 But thirdly, Paul also mentions another kind of unity, a reality. 00:15:41.220 --> 00:15:43.180 Look at verse five. 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:47.240 One lord, one faith, one baptism. 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:49.019 One baptism. 00:15:49.019 --> 00:15:52.220 That's one of the two sacraments, isn't it, of the church? 00:15:52.220 --> 00:16:00.899 You know, the good thing about this spiritual union that we have tonight together is that nothing on earth can separate it. 00:16:02.100 --> 00:16:08.840 It's an invisible union, which visible and physical things can't touch. 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:12.840 It's kind of like a husband and a wife, really. 00:16:13.060 --> 00:16:22.740 And maybe for a while, the husband or the wife has to go away from the home, maybe on business or something or even just the everyday commute into London. 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:27.299 And when the husband or the husband or the wife leaves the house at 6 a.m. 00:16:27.299 --> 00:16:27.799 Or whatever. 00:16:28.759 --> 00:16:33.240 Do they cease to be man and wife for the time that they're physically apart? 00:16:33.240 --> 00:16:39.080 Does physical separation break their union? 00:16:39.080 --> 00:16:53.440 And in a similar way, that is the way that the nature of this spiritual, invisible union works that we have by the Holy Spirit with God and each other. 00:16:53.440 --> 00:17:02.200 But the challenge is, isn't it, that it's quite difficult for us to see that union because it's invisible. 00:17:02.460 --> 00:17:03.940 We can't discern it. 00:17:04.539 --> 00:17:06.120 That's the same with a husband and wife. 00:17:06.120 --> 00:17:12.400 If you see a husband or a wife on the tube going to work, there's nothing about them that is different, is there? 00:17:12.940 --> 00:17:15.059 That you think, oh, he's definitely married. 00:17:15.059 --> 00:17:28.980 Until you put a sign with him, until you see his or her wedding ring, until you place a visible sign to point to a hidden reality, a hidden union. 00:17:29.919 --> 00:17:36.379 The wedding ring tells people something that they wouldn't be able to see normally anyway easily. 00:17:37.119 --> 00:17:39.980 But I am married to Emma. 00:17:39.980 --> 00:17:47.480 And the same unity that we have together with God in the church. 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:54.599 The invisible union by the Holy Spirit is given a visible sign and a seal. 00:17:55.880 --> 00:18:01.900 A sacramental accompaniment, a union that is sacramental in the kindness of God. 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:03.740 Now, he doesn't have to do that at all. 00:18:04.860 --> 00:18:09.579 Having the sign doesn't make us more or less united. 00:18:09.980 --> 00:18:14.460 You can be married without having a ring, actually, can't you? 00:18:15.960 --> 00:18:21.200 But God knows that we find the invisible union very difficult to discern. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:28.360 So the visible sign is given by God to help us in sacraments. 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:30.860 Paul mentioned baptism. 00:18:31.140 --> 00:18:33.059 We've got the Lord's Supper as well, haven't we? 00:18:33.059 --> 00:18:47.819 So when someone is baptized or we take the Lord's Supper together, they are visible signs that God gives us to help us to understand the invisible union that we have with Jesus and each other. 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:50.419 They're covenantal signs, aren't they? 00:18:50.420 --> 00:19:03.519 We're bound together by the promises of God and given signs to show that we're all under the same contract, if you like. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:10.720 So think about the unity that you already have and be eager to maintain it. 00:19:10.779 --> 00:19:11.960 That is what Paul is saying. 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:19.799 But the second big point tonight, slightly shorter point, is where the problem is, isn't it? 00:19:19.880 --> 00:19:24.779 Be eager to be together even when you're apart. 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:27.240 Even when you're apart. 00:19:27.240 --> 00:19:35.920 Because at the moment, there is a very particular and very, very extraordinary challenge in the church today. 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:47.579 It's that in the providence of God, the visible signs of our invisible spiritual union have been diminished. 00:19:49.160 --> 00:19:50.620 Not removed altogether. 00:19:52.019 --> 00:19:53.099 But lessened. 00:19:53.099 --> 00:19:54.099 Significantly. 00:19:56.719 --> 00:19:57.779 And heard this morning. 00:19:57.939 --> 00:20:05.279 Tonight should have been the night that we met together around the Lord's table and enjoyed the Lord's Supper together. 00:20:06.019 --> 00:20:08.139 Sunday, the third of May in the evening. 00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:17.039 This Wednesday, we've got an online prayer meeting, but we should have been meeting together in the lounge to pray physically together. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:27.879 And what I can see behind this iPad are stacks and stacks of empty chairs at the back of church. 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:31.639 You are not here, are you? 00:20:31.640 --> 00:20:34.640 We are not here together. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:44.780 Some of you who are married might take off your wedding ring occasionally for certain jobs. 00:20:44.900 --> 00:20:48.100 Maybe if you're, I don't know, clearing the drains or something like that. 00:20:48.900 --> 00:20:51.400 The wedding ring comes off for a time, doesn't it? 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:52.520 Maybe when you were washing up. 00:20:52.519 --> 00:21:00.819 It's a bit like the wedding ring has come off for a time. 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:07.720 We aren't able to see and enjoy the signs that God gives, are we? 00:21:07.720 --> 00:21:14.200 we're not able to baptize ourselves at home if we become a christian in this time 00:21:14.200 --> 00:21:18.400 we're not able to give ourselves the lord's supper at home 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:28.559 those things are given only as things to do together physically the spiritual oneness 00:21:28.559 --> 00:21:36.240 is shown actually in the oneness of the physical signs it's the point the sharing of one bread 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:44.140 and the sharing of one cup together and gathering together physically and as we do those things it 00:21:44.140 --> 00:21:51.720 speaks to us precisely about togetherness but we can't do those things and we shouldn't try to 00:21:51.720 --> 00:22:03.440 they are the signs of unity to be it's kind of like isn't it buying a kfc family bucket 00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:10.019 and treating it treating it like a meal for one which is not a good idea anyway is it 00:22:10.019 --> 00:22:17.920 or even better it is like buying a wedding cake and then going home and eating it in private 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:28.600 one piece for you one piece for me kind of thing the food that is precisely designed to celebrate 00:22:28.599 --> 00:22:37.539 union it's not just any old food is it the lord's supper eaten with others it's kind of like 00:22:37.539 --> 00:22:45.679 bridget jones way of doing sacraments so the physical things the things which god has given to us 00:22:45.679 --> 00:22:53.119 are specially designed to make the invisible unity visible tonight have been diminished massively 00:22:53.119 --> 00:23:03.019 we can't do those things we can't do those things and coffee together we can't even put out the chairs 00:23:03.019 --> 00:23:11.419 together but i think tonight that gives us a great opportunity we have an opportunity to rethink and 00:23:11.419 --> 00:23:21.639 revalue the things that we normally can do together because those things point to and make visible 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:30.580 invisible realities that we receive by faith it was never just about the signs was it 00:23:30.580 --> 00:23:39.180 it was never just about being in church it was never just about simply looking at the visible 00:23:39.180 --> 00:23:47.259 without those visible things being expressions of the invisible of the meeting with all of god's 00:23:47.259 --> 00:23:54.819 people around the throne in heaven being joined together by the holy spirit it was never enough to just enjoy 00:23:54.819 --> 00:24:04.759 the ceremony of it all the sermon and the readings on their own was it it was never enough to be part of 00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:13.079 committees that could meet up and to organize stuff but those things are real and have their place 00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:21.460 and are effective and valuable when they're heard and seen and eaten and touched and swallowed and done 00:24:21.460 --> 00:24:27.399 by faith in the ministry of the holy spirit forming us together in christ 00:24:27.399 --> 00:24:36.379 like paul said this morning isn't it to appropriate all that jesus christ has done for us the passover lamb 00:24:36.380 --> 00:24:44.680 and perhaps just perhaps we don't know do we but perhaps for a time those things have been removed 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:51.080 or lessened to give us the chance to think about how we how we should be receiving those things normally 00:24:51.080 --> 00:24:56.980 we ought to be receiving those things not just as physical nice things to do 00:24:56.980 --> 00:25:09.200 but things springs of something glorious and invisible spiritual glories of union with the lord jesus 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:16.259 and with each other that as we see a baptism or as we pass the cup down the road and as we share the 00:25:16.259 --> 00:25:22.599 bread our senses should be flooded with the truth that we are one 00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:30.799 one in spiritual union under one lord and under one summons and in one faith 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:38.899 and do you remember that verse that paul uses in uh one corinthians chapter one he says christ sent me 00:25:38.899 --> 00:25:47.199 not to baptize but to preach the gospel and sometimes i've wondered is paul saying that baptism doesn't 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:55.080 really matter and he's not saying that at all but why does he say that i think it's because 00:25:55.080 --> 00:26:04.759 he recognizes that simply baptizing people isn't enough people the physical signs and seals of 00:26:04.759 --> 00:26:12.279 of the gospel and of unity with jesus and each other is is not enough they have to be given along with the 00:26:12.279 --> 00:26:19.940 word and received by faith in that word with with the summons of the lord jesus if that wasn't the 00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:24.879 case then the elders would be out wouldn't they with super soap is just baptizing everybody and we'd 00:26:24.879 --> 00:26:34.119 have done with it but the gospel the good news about jesus not baptism is the power of god for the 00:26:34.119 --> 00:26:42.099 salvation of those who believe and baptism and the lord's supper are wonderful ways that god gives us 00:26:42.099 --> 00:26:53.019 to receive um as as aids to faith in that good news about jesus but without faith they are useless 00:26:53.019 --> 00:27:04.099 i don't think we have to panic tonight um i remember that my engagement ring sometimes on the 00:27:04.099 --> 00:27:10.719 windowsill when she was washing up and i didn't think at that time mom and dad are not married anymore 00:27:10.719 --> 00:27:17.519 this situation doesn't mean that jesus is destroying the union that we have with him 00:27:17.519 --> 00:27:24.980 and i'm not saying that because we can't receive the sacraments tonight that we're separated from christ 00:27:24.980 --> 00:27:34.079 not at all the sacramental physical elements of our union is is more difficult at the moment 00:27:34.079 --> 00:27:44.220 for sure and the wedding ring is off for for a time at least but those physical visible things god gives us 00:27:44.220 --> 00:27:51.480 in his church are not the cause of the union but the signs and the helps that we get 00:27:51.480 --> 00:27:58.779 and to to receive that union by faith the wedding ring isn't the cause of the marriage 00:27:58.779 --> 00:28:01.160 the sign of it 00:28:01.160 --> 00:28:09.920 we'll meet again won't we but we still need to feel the separation of this 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:15.940 in the things that we can't do in the sacramental life of the church 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:20.980 but you know the problem isn't just being together when we're apart 00:28:20.980 --> 00:28:29.860 this is an opportunity this is a challenge to think about being together actually when we're together 00:28:29.860 --> 00:28:39.079 have we gotten into the habit of treating physical meetings treating god's sacraments trivially 00:28:39.079 --> 00:28:46.599 treating them frivolously thinking that there's nothing more to it than what we see with our eyes 00:28:46.599 --> 00:28:53.959 or taking for granted the physical privileges the means of grace that we have as a church when we come 00:28:53.959 --> 00:29:02.980 together and not receiving them with faith with an eye on the invisible blessing we have 00:29:02.980 --> 00:29:12.740 that they all point to well perhaps for a time god is teaching us that absence makes the heart 00:29:12.740 --> 00:29:24.059 grow fonder and we should be more eager to meet again and more eager to use the means of grace that god 00:29:24.059 --> 00:29:34.819 has given to us and to express and to see again and feel and touch and taste what is still true of us tonight 00:29:34.819 --> 00:29:49.899 the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace one body one spirit one call one lord one faith one baptism 00:29:49.899 --> 00:29:58.279 one god and one father of us all that we are one amen