From Many One

September 17, 1989 AM

Ephesians 4:4-7 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

INTRODUCTION

The profound message of this chapter [maturity in Christ] begins with the importance of UNITY. Christians are to understand that they have important things in common with all other Christians. Jesus prayed that we might be ONE. It is written on the top of our worship folder: ONE Lord, ONE Faith, ONE Baptism.

But 'lesson two' lets us know that UNITY and UNIFORMITY are not one and the same thing. Even if suddenly, somehow, all genuine Christians were to achieve the ideal of perfect love for all other Christians [which obviously we have not] WE STILL WOULD NOT ALL BE ALIKE!

[I am not sure just how this fits in here, but] THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN ALL GOD'S CREATION IS PERSONALITY. And God has certainly got Himself a VARIETY of characters, doesn't He!

And the amazing thing about it is, God loves ME! God loves YOU! Just as you are— He sees something so very precious that He wants to perfect it and preserve it and develop it through all eternity.

So the first thought today is

I. GOD LOVES VARIETY IN HIS ONE GREAT CHURCH

I would like to read a companion passage (from I Corinthians 12:4-14:)
"Now there are VARIETIES of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are VARIETIES of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are VARIETIES of effects (results?), but the same God who works all things in all persons.
"But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.
"But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills."
God has as many different gifts of grace as there are people. In God's SOVEREIGNTY He wills your very best, and mine!
Still—

II. GOD INCLUDES EVERYONE IN HIS GREAT PLAN

(text)" to each one..." (& I Corinthians 12:14"to each one ..")

WE ARE CALLED [We do not need to worry about being excluded.]
"Am I really 'called'??" Am I among the chosen? [We have all— well MOST of us— had the experience of being the last to be chosen for "sides."] YES YOU ARE CALLED! YOU ARE CHOSEN!
WE ARE CALLED ON GOD'S TERMS [A call to COVENANT]
We DO need to COVENANT with God. We DO need to begin to grasp THE COMMON MISSION.
WE ARE CALLED TO FULL MATURITY
But every one of us is DIFFERENT! And GOD says: GOOD!
We speak of "gifts"- properly- and yet—

III. GOD HAS BUT ONE GREAT GIFT

[It is true that God has many, different GIFTS; and leaves out not one of His children; and ]
ALL GIFTS RADIATE FROM GOD from I Corinthians:
Variety of GIFTS: ONE SPIRIT. Variety of MINISTRIES: ONE LORD. Variety of EFFECTS: ONE GOD AND FATHER.
This has to do with our individual development, and our place within the Body of Christ. There is a place for each of us. And if we will seek to "fit in" we can bless and help each other, and do God's best will!
In this local church we have an opportunity to demonstrate the truth that UNITY does not mean UNIFORMITY.
Sometimes I hear you say that '"YOU" don't fit into this "BIG CHURCH."' [Come on, get perspective. "Big" is very relative. But perhaps YOU are exactly what is needed: as we all submit to the Master Craftsman, He is meting out grace to make us EFFECTIVE in His kingdom.]
But there is ONE GREAT GIFT
The text does NOT say giftS; rather it says "grace was given according to the measure of CHRIST'S GIFT(singular!)"
1. It is CHRIST'S Gift: GRACE: [What a beautiful word!] Undeserved love. Unmerited favor. God loves the GOOD people. But NO one is GOOD. No one can get near God, because our hands are filthy, and we can't wash them. Our hearts are foul and we can't make them clean.
  We admire Mother Teresa for going among the smells of death in Calcutta. But what do you think WE smell like to God? We smell of death itself!
  CHRIST died for us! GOD COMES AMONG US. He doesn't enjoy the filth, the odor. He does, somehow, genuinely care about US!]
2. It is Christ's GIFT: GRACE: A word about Christ's GIFT
  It is LIFE. It is RECEIVED and not earned. There is no reason to brag or be "superior" because we have this Gift.
  Christ DIED for us! Jesus paid it all. There is nothing we can ever do to repay Him. But we may take His GIFT!.
3. GOD'S GIFT, AND HIS GIFTS, ARE FOR YOU
  (text:) "to EACH ONE OF US grace was given..."
  God apportions grace to each person. God loves each person. We do not see people as equally worthy of love. But the Bible says that God does not just see us as we are, in our rebellion, but that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!"

Christ died FOR US!

CONCLUSION

You have to be ALIVE in order to MATURE

GOD IS CALLING YOU TO FULL MATURITY IN HIM
It is exciting to be part of God's Plan; to be an important co-laborer with God in His work of Creation and Redemption. It is pretty exciting to realize that God has a great diversity of gifts, and that He apportions them to each one of us in a unique way. Each of us within the Body of Christ has special grace apportioned to us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
But the first GIFT is LIFE itself!
BUT BEFORE WE CAN GROW AND MATURE WE MUST BE ALIVE!
The GREAT Gift is Life itself!
And there may be those here today who are not sure in their hearts that they have ever really received THE Gift!
This Gift is a PERSONAL COVENANT WITH GOD. It is more than just trusting in the fact that we were baptized somewhere, sometime.
It is more than living all one's life in church— even in the Church of the Nazarene. It is more than studying the Bible, important as that is!
The fact is: RECEIVING THE GIFT OF CHRIST, OF LIFE MEANS EITHER YOU HAVE- OR YOU HAVE NOT!
AFFIRM YOUR COVENANT WITH GOD THIS MORNING!
We cannot simply begin using our gifts for Jesus unless and until we are "IN GRACE."
God wants YOU more than He wants what you can do! God loves YOU more than He loves what you can bring to Him. God NEEDS YOU to make His family complete! Have YOU received the GIFT OF CHRIST?

It is not too commonly known that the great evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, had an elder brother.

Shortly after their father died, the elder Moody brother left home without word, without a forwarding address, without a word to his widowed mother. Years and years went by, and it was a perpetual grief on the mother's heart. She waited for a letter, but none came.

Years went by, and the mother had grown old and grey. One summer afternoon a sun-burned man came to the village of Northfield, and came up the drive of the Moody home. He knocked at the door, and old Mrs. Moody herself opened the door. She invited the stranger to come in.

But the man held back, and tears of shame started. He said, "No, mother, I can't come in until you forgive me!"

He didn't stand out on the porch for long. Mrs. Moody's mother heart forgave him, and in later years she rejoiced more over her prodigal that had returned than over her other children who had never run away.

Jesus never keeps sinners waiting outside the door of His love and grace. The forgiveness of all our sins is the very first GIFT OF GRACE that a penitent heart will know!

GOD IS CALLING EACH OF US TO BE MEN AND WOMEN, TO COVENANT WITH HIM TO BE PART OF HIS BODY.

Ephesians 4:4-7 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Prayer:

#202 And Can I Yet Delay! (C. Wesley)