The Temptation of the “Many”

Text:  Ephesians 4: 4 There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope…--  5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. INTRODUCTION:  My dear friends in Christ, Our present culture likes to teach that there are all sorts of gods, all sorts of ways to heaven, and that all religions are equally true.  Let’s call it the temptation of the “many” or the many mantra. The temptation for sinners—even with the best of intentions—is going to be to go with the  “many.” There’s a many, many, many, many, many, mantra. The world divisively turns us to the many, many religions and divides us.
I. You can see the “many mantra” in the world’s insistence that there are many ways to heaven, that Jesus is just one of the many.
	A. Now even among those who seem Christian we hear, the many, many, many, many, mantra.  And it’s common to hear: “I believe in God.  I believe the Bible is a good book.  And then I believe whatever I want.”….  And many follow this route.
			1. The thought presented is that Religion is personal, private and individual, and our individual paths to enlightenment are cobbled together from bits and pieces we picked up in Sunday School, sophomore religion class and our latest Google search.
					a. The notion that there are authoritative creeds, confessions, and standards, challenges our inner individual like speed bumps on a stretch of open highway. b. The isolated individual is the judge of his or her own truth.  If it feels right, smells right, tastes good, seems like the right thing to do, then it must be good and true. c. Unfortunately, many have learned this subtle art in church and Bible classes, where they have pondered the question, “What do this Bible passages mean to me?” rather than “What does this objectively mean?” Any notion that beliefs can be right or wrong offends our subjective sensitivities….
			2.  Thus each of us is the judge of our own truth, the master of our own destiny, the god of our own religion.  And this is idolatry of self which leads to our ruin and destruction.  In effect we all become little gods – and then  there are many, many, many gods
	B.     And of course this effects the church:
			1. As little gods we determine what we want to hear, not what God wants us to hear.  God’s word is subjected to the many, many  sensitivities of man.  The voice of God is replaced by the voice of many men.  Salvation among other things is undermined. So even, among Christians, it’s tempting to opt for a manmade “many” mantra. 2. And we see the process as we look at denominations.  Painful though it may be to acknowledge, the reason that there are so many different denominations is not because God has so many different facets or provides different plans of salvation: it’s because people—often with the best of intentions—misinterpret Scripture in a way that doesn’t agree with others, and thus a new church body forms. The large number of denominations today doesn’t testify to a godly diversity, but indicates the many different ways in which man has interpreted the Bible in accordance to mans’ many, many sensitivities.  We need to be constantly on guard against allowing our sensitivities to set our beliefs.
II.     God in His mercy delivers us from ourselves.  He turns us from “our way,” to Jesus’ way.
	A. Our way leads to death.  But Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  His way through suffering, cross and resurrection leads to life eternal.  And there is no other way.
				1.  Only Jesus can adequately deal with sin.  Only Jesus’ death carries the value to pay for the sin of the whole world.  One death, but it’s the death of God for us. 2. [video]  The Hanging Tree was a classic Gary Cooper western film. In that film a young man had been shot and he was dying. Cooper takes out a knife, digs into this young man and pulls out the bullet, stops the bleeding, and bandages him up and nurses this young man back to life. Later on, after he had recovered from his wound, he looked at Gary Cooper and said, "Sir, for what you have done to me, what should I do for you?" Gary Cooper, in the movie, says, "You're going to be my servant for the rest of your life, because that is how long you would have been dead if I hadn't saved you." When God looked down at us He saw us mortally wounded, and took out the knife of His grace, and dug out the bullet of sin that we might enjoy His life forever. Now he calls us – not like Gary Cooper with coercion – but in love.  And we gladly serve Him for the rest of our lives on earth, and throughout eternity because we know his love has saved us from eternal suffering.
	B.   One. One. One. One. One. One. One.  The word “one” appears seven times. St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is all about the Church. In Christ we are all one. In Christ the Church is united.
				1. On the one hand, Christianity is intensely personal: not only do we declare that Jesus died for the sins of the world, but we also declare that Jesus died for you. But since you are now part of the Church, it’s not just between you and Jesus.
						a. Sin isolates and divides; God gathers and unites in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Nothing of the Christian life and faith is ever purely a private, individual matter, neither our sin nor our salvation…. b. He puts us into Christ.  He preaches the Gospel into our ears.  He baptizes us into Jesus’ death and life, a washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.  He gathers us into His family. c. Therefore, in humility and gentleness we say, “I am here for forgiveness, but I am not the only one here.” And with patience we say, “We are all here because we are all sinners in need of forgiveness. Some may do distracting things, but they are my family in Christ. I will bear with them, even as I try not to be a distraction to others.” Humility, gentleness, patience, all of these maintain the unity under Christ.
				2. And Paul tells us: We believe, teach, confess and worship in common together.  We share common creeds and confessions.
						a. The Bible is the Church’s “community property,” God’s gift to the whole Church, and the Church congregates to hear the Word preached and taught.  b. The creeds and confessions of the Church guide and govern our conversations and guard us from repeating the errors of the past.  The Church is always engaged in holy conversation, hearing God’s Word and repeating what was heard. …
III. We need to learn to trust God’s objective Word and not our subjective feelings, to say “no” to the desires of sinful nature to have things “my way.”…. .  Thus St. Paul describes the Christian faith in such a way as to emphasize how the Gospel unites us. One. One. One. One. One. One. One. Seven times he says “one.” The message of the Gospel makes us one in Christ, for He has joined us to Himself.
		A. Our unity in the church can be illustrated like this: The late humor columnist Mike Royko relates a story told him by his "friend," Slats Grobnik (a rough-edged Chicago character of his own creation who frequently shows up in his columns). Slats, who that year was selling Christmas trees, told of a poor couple who showed up, late in the season, in search of a tree. There wasn't much left on the lot, and certainly nothing in their price range (which was next to nothing). Finally, they came up with a Scotch pine that looked okay on one side, but was bare on the other. Nearby was a similar tree that was much the same. They asked Slats if he'd sell them both trees for $3. Realizing he wasn't likely to sell either sad-looking tree for any price, Slats agreed. A few days later, Slats was walking down the street and saw a beautiful tree in the couple's apartment window. It was thick, full and well-rounded. He knocked on the door and asked them where it had come from. They told him how they had placed the two trees close together where the branches were thin, and had interwoven the good branches. Then, they had wired the trunks together. "So that's the secret," Slats asserts. "You take two trees that aren't perfect, that have flaws, that might even be homely, that maybe nobody else would want. If you put them together just right, you can come up with something really beautiful.”  God takes us, who aren’t perfect and puts us together to make something beautiful.  That’s one picture of the Church.  B. And that something beautiful is put together to work like this: 1. [The Movie: Witness, The barn-raising scene,]  Much gets done united in Christ 2.  And as we work He turns us inside out—from the “many” mantra—to Christ in faith and to our neighbor in love.  Like this: I read a story recently about a circuit riding preacher during the frontier days of our land. He was a humdinger of a preacher named Jesse Lee. He once preached a sermon on Acts 17:6 that reads like this in the new King James Version: “These that turned the world upside down have come here also.” The thrust of his sermon was that sin has turned the world upside down, and the design of the gospel and the business of the ministry are to set the world right side up again. Well, the people of the town decided to have some fun with this passionate circuit rider and so the next day when he rode into town nearly everything looked ridiculous. Everything that could be turned upside down had been turned upside down: wagons, signs, gates, etc.  The people of the town got a laugh at the preacher’s expense, but at least they got the point. The purpose of the church is to turn the world upside down or better right side up.
CONCLUSION:    You and I have a tendency to look to the mantra of the many.  But God turns us right side up.  He gives us the unity of the one.  Through Jesus He makes us one in Christ.  And He unites us to be God’s agent, Christ’s body at work in the world.  Amen.