Another Church Organization Splits

Well, happy Sabbath once again. Good afternoon. I learned this week of another church split in the Church of God movement, and I was obviously very saddened by it. About 15 years ago, the first president of the United Church of God resigned to start his own church with about 1,000 people.

Like a few presidents that we've had, he didn't quite understand that our bylaws have meaning. We are a church that is governed by a council, and that the council has authority over the executive, over the president. He didn't quite understand that, and he wasn't very happy with it at the time. The reason I bring this up is at least four of his ministers have left, resigned, depending on whose side of the story you hear, including an individual who served in the Cleveland Church as an associate pastor in the mid-1990s. You know, what will become of what's left of this particular church?

Who knows? In my archives, I found a letter that he sent me. When he left, he tried to recruit as many ministers as he could in the United Church of God. This is dated April 15, 1998. He says, I'm delighted to be able to send this first official letter to you as a start is made on a viable work once more. Well, that didn't quite come to fruition since 99.999999. percent of people who live on earth never heard of him or his viable church. So again, it's very sad when those things happen. Jesus said in Matthew 16 that he would build his church, didn't he?

He didn't say his church would be fragmented, that his church would be scattered, that his church would be destroyed. He said he would build his church, and the gates of hell would never prevail against the Church of God. So why does the church have splits? And we're not the only ones, I might add, who have a history of splits. This is statistics. It's a few years old, but a number of years ago, I looked in the Internet, and there were something like 20,000 separately incorporated churches in the United States. So churches splitting is a very, very, very common practice in virtually all churches.

Someone once said to me, well, the Catholic Church hasn't had any splits. I said, really? What do you call Protestantism? So every church has splits. Every church, unfortunately, suffers these kinds of things. So I thought I would ask the question today, what is the Church of God?

Because we need to understand when we hear about these things, some of us have experienced and lived through some of these things in the past, just what is the Church of God? And I thought that might be a good thing for us to discuss today. Did you know that in all four of the Gospels, the word church is only mentioned two times?

Scour Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word church is only mentioned two times, and both are by Jesus Christ in the book of Matthew. So let's take a look at these. Matthew 16 and verse 13, and see what he said about the church. And obviously, the reason that Jesus doesn't speak a whole lot about the church is officially the church was born on the day of Pentecost after his resurrection and when the Holy Spirit was given to the church on the day of Pentecost.

So that's why we don't find extensive scriptures about it beforehand. But Jesus did mention his church. Matthew 16 and verse 13 is where we'll begin. It says, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they said, Some said John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Then he asked, the next question was really tough. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Jesus was saying, In other words, when I'm outside of earshot and someone comes up to you and says, Who is this Jesus character?

Why are you following? Who really is this man? So that's the second question he asked. And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, Said him, Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, the Greek word pethros, and on this rock, pethra, pethros meant a small stone, a very small rock.

Petra is actually the feminine form of pethros, and it means a large boulder or a large ledge. I will build my church. And this is the first time the word church is found in the Bible, in the Gospels. The Greek word is ecclesia, and it means a calling out. It means a community of members on earth. We call it today the church. Jesus stated that physical death cannot prevail against the church. Why is that? Well, let's read about it. Again, let's pick it up here in verse 18. And I send to you the you are Peter, pethros, and on this rock, pethra, I will build my church, that's ecclesia, that Greek word that we talked about, that means called out once, an assembly of believers, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

So what did Jesus mean by this phrase, the gates of hell or the gates of Hades would not prevail? It's because even though through generations and generations people die physically, they die and they are replaced by new generations of believers, even though they are physical, the reason the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, as we're going to see, is because the church is a spiritual body.

That's what Jesus meant here. Verse 19, and this is what he, by the way, let me just mention this, what I just explained from the Believer's Study Bible that I think helps us to understand this phraseology of Peter being pethros and Christ is referring to himself as pethra. Here's what the Believer's Study Bible says, quote, Matthew provides a play on the Greek words in this crucial quotation from Jesus. You are pethros, a small throwable stone, and on this pethra, the feminine form of pethros, which indicates an immovable ledge of rock, I will build my church, end of quote.

Again, that's from the Believer's Study Bible. So with that being said, now let's go to verse 19 and see what else he tells Peter here that's been misinterpreted by some major faiths. Verse 19, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.

Now what does it mean here? Does it mean that a church can make mistakes and a church can say to someone who's innocent and lives a godly life that they're as communicated and heaven says, okay, you're out, your name's blotted out of the book of life. Does any church have that kind of authority that heaven just responds to what people do, what a man does, what a church does?

Well, of course not, as it says here in weary Bible notes, quote, heaven, not the apostles, initiates all binding and loosening, whereas the apostles announced these things. An example of the apostles' binding practices on people are found in Acts chapter 15 and verse 20, end of quote. So what weary Bible notes are saying here is an example of this, is if you go back to the ministerial conference in 49 A.D. it was very controversial. It was over whether Gentiles needed to be circumcised in order to be saved, to be part of the church.

Again, this was the ministerial conference of 49 A.D. And if you look at that, we don't have time to go there today. In the letter that they sent out, the conclusion of the conference, it says in verse 28, quote, it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, not to lay on you any other burden.

So what were they were giving credit to God's Spirit guiding them to the right decision. They didn't make the decision and heaven said, okay, from now on Gentiles don't have to be circumcised. No, that came from the will of God. That was revealed to them through the power of the Holy Spirit to come to that decision, to come to that conclusion.

Now let's ask this question. He said, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. How was Peter, of all people, given the keys to the kingdom of heaven? Well, first of all, it was Peter's fervent preaching on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D. that opened the doors of the truth to the Jews. He put that key in, he turned that key, and he opened the door, and on the day of Pentecost, thousands were baptized and responded to his powerful preaching. A little bit later on, who did God call, used, to go to the house of Cornelius and to preach to him and to baptize Cornelius, and to open the door for the Gentiles to come into the church? It was none other than Peter himself. So he was given the keys to the kingdom. He opened one door, the Jews were called on the day of Pentecost. A few years later, he opened another door with those spiritual keys, and the Gentiles, beginning with Cornelius, were called into the truth of God's way of life. So this is the first time, one of the two in the Gospels that we see the word church mention. Now, let's go to Matthew 18 and see the second place that it is mentioned just a few chapters later.

I always like to stress context, and hear context. Let's see who Jesus is talking to.

Matthew 18 and verse 1, at that time the disciples came to Jesus, not Peter alone.

All of the disciples came to Jesus, saying, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Isn't it amazing, particularly with men? It's always about authority, it's always about power, right? It's always about who's in control, who gets to be boss, who gets to call the shots, who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Then Jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them. They're kind of surrounding this little child and said, I surely I say unto you, unless you are converted and converted, unless you are converted, that means change, that becomes a new creature in Christ, what he's saying to them in a nice way, unless you start to think differently than you're thinking right now, worrying about power and position and authority, unless you are converted and become as little children.

Little children tend to be teachable. Small children, they just absorb. You give them a little book and they just turn the pages of the book and they study it and look at that. They're just absorbing the world around them and have an attitude of a little child that's the love God and just to absorb his word, to communicate with him in prayer, to talk to your father in heaven through prayer, and to have an innocence about you, not to be skeptical, not to lack faith, but to have that simple humility that a little child has. Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me. So that's how important it is. And something a good reminder for us is we see little runs run throughout this congregation that we should talk to them, that we should ask them how they're doing, we should spend a little time with them, because Jesus said whoever receives one little child like this at that age, with that sense of innocence and humility in my name, it's like receiving Jesus Christ himself. The point I wanted to bring out here in the context in verse one is that Jesus is talking to all of the disciples, not simply to Peter alone.

Let's drop down now to verse 15. I wish I had time to go through the other scriptures, but we would be here too long today, but it's the same discussion.

He's talking about offenses. Moreover, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained a brother. Now, this is not talking about a sin that they didn't compliment you and the way your tie looks today. This is talking about a moral offense. If your brother steals from you, if your brother boldface lies to you and you are offended, then you need to talk to your brother about it.

Verse 16, but if he will not hear, take with you one or two more that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he refuses to hear them, if he's still adamant, he's still lying, he's still a thief, he's still acting in a way that lacks morality, if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. Ecclesia, that's that same Greek word, tell it to the called out ones. But if he refuses to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. In other words, he needs to be put out until he comes to his senses.

Can you think of a time when Paul did something similar to that? Well, in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, Paul confronted in his letter someone who was committing incest in the congregation. Paul was telling it to the church, the whole congregation. He said, you're too tolerant, you need to put this person out. Now here's something you may not know and understand. Most scholars believe because of the internal evidence from 1 Corinthians is that there was a book before 1 Corinthians. There was an original letter before 1 Corinthians. It's lost. Nobody knows where it is today.

What we call 1 Corinthians was actually the second letter that he wrote. Now odds are, I would say, knowing Paul and knowing this principle, that in the first letter that is lost, he probably corrected this individual and it fell on deaf ears. And because he did not respond, the next letter that Paul sent that we call 1 Corinthians, he said, you're out.

You are like a heathen and a tax collector until you come to your senses, until you understand that the way that you're living is not in sync with God's laws and God's values. Now let's go to verse 18. He said, assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind in earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose in earth will be loosed in heaven. You know who he's talking to? Peter alone? No. He's talking to all of the disciples.

So the same thing he had said to Peter is what he's telling all of his disciples. He says, again, I say to you that if you agree on earth, that if too you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. Now the catch is, is he doesn't say it'll be done for you immediately. He doesn't say it'll be done for you soon. He doesn't even say it'll be done for you in your lifetime. Lots and lots of generations of God people have prayed every day, thy kingdom come.

And they lived and they died and the next generation prayed, thy kingdom come. But you know what? You can be assured of the fact that it will be done for them.

But that is a prophecy. That is a promise that will come to pass. Verse 20, for where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them. So again, the principle of binding and loosening is not given only to Peter, but to all the disciples.

And it is a reflection of what God's will is in heaven. They're not imposing their will in God. They are responding through God's Holy Spirit to what God's will is in heaven. Those are the only two places that we just mentioned in the four Gospels that you find the word church. Now naturally, after the day of Pentecost, we find the use of the word church in many scriptures, most by Luke and Paul, but also by James and John.

I'd like to go to the first time in history where the church is split. Acts 7 and verse 59. You know there are two reasons that the churches can be split. Two reasons. Reason number one is God is trying to shake someone out of their lethargy. It is time, church, to wake up. That's one reason churches are split. The second reason, sadly, are because of charlatans who have the title minister are too interested in power and prestige and control, and they're controlling ideas and people and money, that they divide and re-divide and divide and divide churches. But we're going to see this example here is the first reason.

It's not often, it's not common that this happens, but God certainly does do it. Acts 7 and verse 59 is where we're going to pick it up. Continuing here, Luke writes, And they stone Stephen as he was calling on God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down, and he cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with his sin. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

That's biblical language, meaning he died. His life forces ceased. He didn't flitter off to heaven. His immortal soul didn't leave his body and go up and pluck harps up in heaven. It says he died. He's dead, unconscious, waiting a resurrection. He fell asleep. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time, a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea, Samaria, except the apostles.

So the church, which had been one at this time, located in greater Jerusalem, now because of the persecution, was scattered, was split, was fragmented, and was forced to go to different areas of greater Judea. And as we'll see, even into the Greek world in a little bit, the only ones who hung together were the apostles. They apparently were able to stay together as a team, as a group in Jerusalem.

So let's pick this up again. It says, persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. They were all scattered throughout the regions. Verse 2, and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him, because he was a tremendous gift for the church of God. They were very sad over that. Verse 3, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

By the way, how would you like to live with that on your conscience for the rest of your life? You know, he broke up families when he did this. He took moms and sent them. Who was to take care of their children? He took dads and workers. You know, at that time, there were no federal government programs. If the head householder went to prison, went to jail, there was no way to eat. There was no way to provide for your family. Paul did that. That's something that he had to live with later on. It's the reason that he mentions it a number of times in his writings, because I think he struggled with the guilt and shame of having done that to people.

Verse 4, therefore those who were scattered went everywhere, preaching the Word. So in this case, these people, the church was split by a persecution, but the end result was good. You see, it was important because God has a plan. And what is His plan? His plan is to preach the gospel to the entire world.

They had gotten too comfortable. They hadn't gotten out of the confines of greater Jerusalem. They went through their comfort zone. Oh, this is good. We're all Jews. We're all the same color. We all dress alike. We all have this same culture. There aren't too many weird questions coming in. There aren't too many challenges in our church. We're just vanilla, and we're all happy and life is good. And God said, no, no, no, no, no. That's not what you were asked to do.

That's not what your calling is about. God wanted the persecution of the church to force them out of their comfort zone and into action to do their job.

And most of the time, church splits are the result of one of two things. Number one, something like this where God initiates action to wake up the church to get it to do its thing. And then also, as I said, sometimes, usually the majority of times, church splits are the result of selfish and carnal individuals desiring to control ideas and people and money. Let's take a look at Acts chapter 11 and verse 19. Acts chapter 11 and verse 19. Let's see what the result was of this split. There's a breakthrough that occurs in the church. Acts chapter 11 and verse 19. Now those who were scattered after the persecution of the Rose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia. You see, they're no longer in Israel, in Judea. Now they're getting out of their comfort zone. They went to Phoenicia and Cyprus, which is an island in the Mediterranean Sea, an Antioch, preaching the word to no one but Jews only. Oh, isn't that quaint?

Preaching them to their own kind. That's all they were doing. God says, I've got other plans for you. Verse 20. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenist preaching the Lord Jesus. Who were Hellenists? Well, these were ancestral Jews who spoke the Greek language and lived according to Greek culture and Greek religion and outlook. You see, they basically were Greeks who were just genetically Jews. You can say the same thing, and I don't mean this in an offensive way, but the same thing about many Americans who are Jewish heritage. Many of them, when their grandfathers came here from Poland or Russia or somewhere, they were devout Orthodox Jews and they went to synagogue and they were very practicing religious Jews. Three generations later, they're keeping Christmas. They don't know what a Sabbath is. They don't keep the Sabbath. They're Jews genetically, but culturally and socially, they're like everyone else, and that's what the Hellenists were. So what do they do? They begin preaching the Lord Jesus to these Hellenists. This was a breakthrough for the early church. No longer were only native Jews being converted in Judea who spoke Aramaic and were Jewish in culture and outlook, but those who were of Jewish ancestry living far from Judea were now hearing the word of Jesus Christ and they were accepting it. They were being called. They were being converted.

This was a necessary step to accepting Gentiles as converts. The chapter before this in Acts 10 is when Peter was called to talk to Cornelius and to convert him. And you know what Peter got when he went back to Jerusalem after he converted Cornelius? You know what he got? Flack. What did he get? Grief. Criticism from many of the brethren in the church. How dare you go to the house of a Gentile? How dare you eat a meal with a Gentile? How dare you take the truth of this word to a Gentile person? This all happened because God used persecution to drive the church into separate pockets of faith. Now let's see an example. We've seen an example here of where God initiated a situation to force the church to wake up and do its job. Let's also, just a few chapters later, see an example of a splitting apart of the ministry, the more common type of church split that we see in the New Testament church. If you go to Acts chapter 15 and verse 35, this is an event, amazingly, that happens soon after the conclusion of the ministerial conference in 49 AD. Acts chapter 15 and verse 35. Acts chapter 15 and verse 35, you want to know how far back ministerial contention and ministerial attitudes lead to splitting of the church. You need to go no farther back than Acts chapter 15, about 49 AD. Let's see, Jesus died about, what, 31 AD, so it took a whole 18 years. Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us, hey brother, let us go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have re-preached the word of God and see how they're doing. Verse 37, now Barnabas was determined to take with them John called Mark, but Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from Pamphylia who had not gone with them to the work. So they had a difference of opinion here. Now, did they like very mature Christians say, well, I appreciate your opinion on this matter. Surely we can come to an understanding and agree to work together. Do you think that's how this resulted? Verse 39, then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. They could no longer work with each other. And so Barnabas took Mark and he sailed to Cyprus. He did what he was going to do anyway. And Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. What we see here, brethren, is by far the biggest reason why churches split.

The biggest reason is ministerial arrogance, pride, and stubbornness. And I don't know if I can put it any more frankly than that. History tells us, history records, by the way, that this was not Paul's finest moment in his ministry. John Mark grew to become a loyal and excellent servant who Paul relied upon for support near the end of his life. He misjudged this young man. And I don't know why this young man was on a missionary trip, but baptizing tour and left early. I don't, I wasn't there. I don't understand it, but I can tell you this. History tells us that Paul misjudged who and what this young man was. So unfortunately, that has been occurring a long, long time.

Church splits and difficulties in ministers not getting along with another. But I'll say this about Paul and Barnabas. At least their contention did not split Christian families from worshiping together like it does today. Let's read more about the body of Christ. Let's leave our history from the book of Acts and take a look at Paul's writing in the book of Colossians and see a little bit more about what we can understand regarding the church. Colossians will begin in chapter 1 and verse 1. I'm going to just allow these beautiful verses, verse 23 verses, to more or less speak for themselves because if you want to know what Christianity is really about, these verse 23 verses tell you they are Christian living class 101. So, I'm going to read the book of Colossians and see what it is. I'm going to read the book of Colossians and see what it is. Here's what he says. Are we doing that? Are we always praying for each other? Paul prayed. He loved his congregations so much that he prayed for them. That's something I try to do every day. I even have prayer cards to remind me that I need to do that in case I forget. Are we praying for one another? Verse 4, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before the word of the truth of the gospel. So Jesus Christ is bringing his reward with him to this earth. That's very clear by the Scriptures. Verse 6, Which has come to you as it has also in the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you, since the day that you heard and knew the grace of God. In truth, he's talking about who and what Jesus Christ is, responding of the gospel, loving one another, and bearing fruit, changing our lives. Having that reflection of being a new creature in Christ. Verse 7, As you also learned from Epaphras, our fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, did not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And understanding the truth and the will of God, and having spiritual wisdom and discernment are very important principles as we carry on our race, as we carry on our Christian life. Verse 10, That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. So you're growing, you're learning more about God's Word, more about his values, more how to apply his laws spiritually to your life, and what is the result? It's good works. It is the demonstration of fruits. Verse 11, Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy. I want you to notice that. Patience and long-suffering with joy. I'm a master of long-suffering with whining.

Eh!

But the key is to have long-suffering with a smile on your face, with joy in your heart, being contented. That's the tough part. Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.

Verse 14, In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And that is the key. Jesus Christ has to be the foundation of our lives. And that foundation is the fact that he sacrificed himself and shed his blood for the forgiveness of your sins and of my sins. Verse 15, He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. In other words, he has dominion over everything. All things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things and in him. All things consist. The reason I read those verses up to that point is he's now going to be talking about the church, beginning in verse 18.

And I wanted to lead us up with that background. We call this, again, Christian Living Class 101. Think about what he mentions in his paragraph. He talks about thanking God, praying for the brethren, conversion, bringing forth spiritual fruit, gaining wisdom and understanding, demonstrating good works.

He talks about redemption, forgiveness, and the fact that Jesus Christ is the foundation of everything in your spiritual life. Kind of wraps it up. Kind of sums it up, doesn't it? Now let's go to verse 18 because he's going to begin discussing the church. And he, speaking of Christ, is the head of the body, the church, Ecclesia, that Greek word again, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence. You see, the church always has to point to Jesus Christ as preeminence. Not any man, not the group of men, not the organizations, but the one who is preeminent is Jesus Christ himself.

Verse 19, So it's the shedding of his blood that makes peace. It gives us an opportunity to have a relationship with God and to be at peace with ourselves and to be at peace with God.

Verse 21, So why are we holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight? Because we have Jesus Christ in us. Because Jesus Christ was his complete atonement. And the fact that he lives in us, morphs us into the eyes of God so that when God sees us, he doesn't see sin and evil and wickedness in his children. He sees them as holy and blameless and above reproach because of what his son did for them and because his son dwells in them through the Holy Spirit.

Verse 23, Now this is an important part here. Verse 23, He said, That's contrary to this concept among some religious organizations that once saved, always saved.

That you can be attending a religious service and an emotional preacher makes you feel like you need to walk up the sawdust trail and give your heart to Jesus.

And you walk up and you give your heart to Jesus and you just go back to your frat party the next night.

And you continue to live a life of sin and evil and thinking, well somehow I'm saved because I accept that Jesus Christ is my Savior. It doesn't work that way. He is not a Disney character.

Jesus Christ, it was very serious that he shed his blood for us.

And the result of shedding his blood for us means that we should change and become new creatures and develop the mind of Christ.

And we should do that continually, as long as we draw breath.

As long as we are given the gift of another day, we should be growing in grace and knowledge.

Continuing here in verse 23, If you continue in the faith, grounded in steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Now here's the point that I want to emphasize. The one and only true Church of God is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, composed of genuine people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who have been called out of their former lifestyle into a new life in Christ. This spiritual body is scattered among all the nations of the world.

And we need to understand that the one who has preeminence of his Church, the head of the Church, is none other than Jesus Christ. He is not any man or group of men and not any organization. Jesus Christ is our Chief Shepherd. He is the Captain of our salvation. He is our High Priest.

Even Paul himself said to imitate me as I imitate Christ. What Paul was implying as a minister is when he doesn't imitate Christ, don't follow that example that Paul would give. He said that in 1 Corinthians 11. And it is wildly presumptuous for any church organization to think that its membership encompasses the entire spiritual body of Jesus Christ.

I have to tell you that history is littered with the remnants of corporate churches who proclaim to themselves the one true Church. Early in my life, I belonged to a church organization that believed that it was the one true Church. It's gone. Dead.

What it morphed into when it changed its name has nothing to do with the corporate church that believed it was the one true Church of God.

It's been dismantled. It does not own a piece of land the size of a postage stamp. Campuses are gone. Church camps are gone. Printing presses are gone. It is dead.

And I have to tell you that history is littered with organizations who claimed and thought that a corporate name makes you the spiritual body of Jesus Christ.

To highlight this point, God has often seen fit to shake people out of corporate dependency and into the real world of their own personal accountability and not relying on a church organization for salvation or not relying on following a man for your salvation.

It's between you and God and you have to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

And a minister, a good minister, should be one who loves you and one who gives you the spiritual guidance and encouragement to grow in your relationship to God.

That's what their job is. But it is not to promote themselves. It is not to promote some preeminence that they think that they have because if they do, they are abusing their responsibility.

God calls us and puts us into His spiritual church by giving us His Spirit. His Holy Spirit is our membership card in the Church of God.

In a secular world, a church incorporates for a number of advantages, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

For example, a corporate name identifies who and what it is to distinguish it from others.

The United Church of God, because we have a name and we've incorporated that name, distinguishes us from the Catholic Church, distinguishes us from the Philadelphia Church of God, and we want to be distinguished from organizations.

So that's one reason you create a corporate name. Another reason is to receive tax advantages.

And there are tax advantages by being a church. Being a 5013C gives you from the IRS particular tax advantages.

It protects its intellectual property, its booklets, and the things that it uses to promote its message.

These are good things, but we have to understand that they are not the spiritual church.

I have brothers and sisters in Christ residing in many, many different church organizations under the umbrella of many, many different church names.

They are my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ because their membership card is the gift of the Holy Spirit that God gave them.

That is their membership card. Now, I don't have the distinct pleasure of knowing who most of them are.

I don't know who many of them are, to be honest with you, because so many are in various areas around the world.

But my point is that God makes that choice. I don't get to decide who my spiritual brothers and sisters are.

No more than being the youngest, I had a choice in whom my physical brother and sister were.

They were there when I came along. I didn't get a choice. I didn't get to choose colors or hair lengths or whatever. They were there.

And the same is true of our spiritual body. God calls whoever He wants, and we have to believe and understand that this is something that Denny Luker tried to emphasize very strongly.

And it's something that we need to understand and appreciate.

I choose to be in the United Church of God because I agree with its doctrine, because I agree with its spiritual values.

I participate actively in the United Church of God because I want to be part of an organization that is promoting the preaching of the Gospel to the world, and not just locally doing something on its own.

Those are the reasons that I prefer that I choose to be part of the United Church of God.

But we must understand that the cligia that Jesus spoke about and the disciples wrote about is a spiritual body, not a corporate name.

I don't want you to misunderstand. I have no problem with organizations. I have no problem with corporate names.

As I said a minute ago, there are reasons for them. Organization is important to God. God wants His people to do things decently in an order.

We need to be organized, perform, and do the great work that we do. We need to be organized to nurture one another.

God is not the author of confusion. The ability to do great work requires organizational structure, and it requires leadership and teamwork and coordination.

It is necessary to create and support a corporate church, a church name, a corporate church. It is necessary to do that to fulfill the Great Commission.

Because if you have 300 congregations all doing their own little thing, trying to advertise in their local newspapers, and trying to do their things locally, going door to door, knocking on doors, or whatever they think is their goal of preaching the Gospel, it just simply is not God's way, and it does not work.

Again, the biblical definition of a church is not a building, it's not a campus, it's not a corporate name, it's not an organization.

Let's go to 1 Corinthians 12 and verse 11 and see what Paul says about the body of Christ being composed of many members.

1 Corinthians, I'm sorry, chapter 12 and verse 11.

1 Corinthians 12 and verse 11.

Paul writes here, chapter 12 and verse 11, but one and the same spirit works in all of these things.

In context, you just talked about spiritual gifts, distributing to each one individually as he wills, that is, as God wills, Jesus Christ wills.

Verse 12, That makes sense. We all have human bodies.

Your heart is a separate organ, but it's part of your body.

Your little toe is separate from your heart, but it's part of your body.

Your knee is a separate part, but it is part of your overall body.

He continues this analogy.

For by one spirit we have all been baptized in the one body, again he's talking spiritually, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves are free, and have been made the drink of that one spirit.

For, in fact, the body is not one member, but many.

One body composed of many parts.

Verse 15, Now, we may not think a foot is something that's very dignified.

We put a sock or a nylon over it. We put shoes on it.

We don't consider it one of the most beautiful parts of the human body, but it is essential because if you don't have a foot, then it's a little difficult to get from here to there to see the world, to explore the world and participate in all the things going on on earth if you're not mobile.

Verse 16, And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body?

So, if we can only hear, but we can't see, we can't touch, and we can't taste, our lives would be pretty limited, wouldn't it?

We all need all of those parts that compose our one body.

Verse 17, Verse 18, Verse 19, If we were all just one big eye, you couldn't hear, you couldn't walk, you couldn't hear, you'd be quite limited.

Verse 20, And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor the head to the feet, I have no need of you, no much rather those members of the body, which seem to be weaker, are necessary. As I said, we may not think a whole lot of our toes, they don't smell very good, we hide them most of the day, yet without toes and without feet we couldn't walk, could we?

So it's an essential part of our physical body. The same is true in the Church.

There may be members who seem to be weaker, maybe they're elderly, maybe they don't do much, maybe they can't get around much anymore, but they can pray, they can encourage, they can pick up the telephone and encourage someone who's struggling, they're necessary.

They're an important part of the spiritual Church and the body of Christ.

Verse 23, And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our unprecedented parts have greater modesty.

We have parts that are unpresentable. You know what most of us do?

We surround those parts either in cotton or in silk. Women surround those parts in silk.

In other words, they're unpresentable, but we hide them in modesty, but we still take care of them.

We value those areas of our physical bodies. He's saying the same is true of the Church.

But our presentable parts have no need.

But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it.

Verse 25, There should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care, one for another.

Why is it important that we are together as a spiritual body of Jesus Christ? Well, the analogy of a physical body, what if somebody lops off your arm?

That's going to be painful, isn't it? That's going to hurt.

That's going to lose you 100% effectiveness of your body if somebody lops off your leg or lops off your arm.

If there's a schism in your physical body, and when there is a schism with the body of Christ, it hurts.

It affects people. It affects families. It harms people.

He says, but that the members should have the same care, one for another, in contrast to schisms.

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it, or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it, now you are the body of Christ and members individually.

He's talking about God's two great works.

First of all, God is doing a great work on earth through His church, but He's also doing a great work in your life, allowing you to go through the experiences and the opportunities and the challenges so that you can become a new creature, so you can shake off the flesh, shake off these carnal desires and things that we have, and become more like God.

So again, God uses the analogy of a human body for His church.

The body is a marvelous example of God's purposeful design with its varied integrated parts and systems, all organized for functional, productive purposes.

Some parts may be more prominent than others, and some parts of the body are a distance from other parts, but their purpose is connected with the head. Spiritually speaking, that head is Jesus Christ.

Let's take a look at some examples here. Let's talk about a corporate body, a church.

First of all, to be organized, to have a work, to pool resources together.

That's what a leader does. All a leader really does is a leader realizes that one person alone cannot have all the skills and talents and abilities to do anything great.

All a leader does is say, hey, you've got this talent, you do this. You've got this talent, which is different than you do this part, you do this part, you do this part, and pretty soon you have a team. Pretty soon you have everybody contributing what they do well, what they know, to get a great job done far more than you could do alone, or a group of people individually could do all by themselves.

Take a look at a corporate body. You need managerial skills. You need people who have the ability to manage.

You need people with technical skills, people who know about the web, people who know about video production.

You need accounting skills. You need people who can add. You need people who can do the complex accounting skills required by the IRS and to do payroll.

That's a different mindset, that's a different half of the brain than most of us have.

You need someone with legal knowledge, people with legal knowledge, someone who's an attorney, to be able to get around all the complicated litigation and the things that exist in our world today.

You need people who can be teachers, teachers at ABC, ministers who can be teachers on our sermons and on our broadcast.

You need people who can speak, who have the ability to motivate and inspire others.

You need to have people who can write. And oftentimes, people who are good speakers are lousy writers. It's a different side of the brain.

So you need people who are also good at shipping and receiving skills. We have millions of booklets come in. They have to be labeled.

And each year, those booklets are sent out all around the world, literally. You need people who have those skills.

You need building maintenance skills, someone who can change the light bulb, someone who can keep the floors clean, someone who can maintain the daily wear and tear on the building.

These are all different parts of the body that people play that support the church, a church organization, a church name.

And of course, you need people who can offer financial support. How about locally? We have a lot of members.

We have hospitality skills. We have brethren in this congregation who are very good at hospitality skills. That is a skill set.

Not everyone is hospitable. Some people, because of their background or their DNA, are just not very hospitable people.

Some people are naturally gregarious and enthusiastic. We have people here who are servants, people who call me and say, Mr. Thomas, what needs to be done? Is there anything that I can do anywhere in the church?

We have people who are prayer warriors. They sit down every day and they go over either our bulletin or email requests that they get and they pray about everyone that has a need.

We have people in this congregation with cleaning skills, who keep our hall clean, who prepare it for the Sabbath, who clean it after we have a potluck, who do all of these various things. These are all parts of the body. None of us has, not one of us has, all of these skills.

That's why we need one another. That's why God is called a variety of people into his church.

People with organizational skills. We just take for granted that after services today, magically all of these chairs will disappear, tables will be put together, there will probably be aprons on tables, chairs will be set up, and magically it will seem, this hall is prepared for a nice meal. That doesn't happen by accident.

Somebody had to organize that. They used the skills that they have organizationally to get that job done.

Locally, we have teachers. We have teachers in ABC. We have teachers who come up and give sermonettes to teach us about God's way. We have song leaders.

There are a lot of different members of the body and a local congregation that comprise the Church of God.

Now, let's go to the book of Hebrews. I want to contrast the physical assembly of ancient Israel with the spiritual assembly we have today we call the Church.

The reason I want to emphasize this is that there are still far too many people, including on the so-called blogs, who if they had their way, since their theology basically comes from the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, who had their way would have us have a mindset of ancient Israel.

I reject that. That we should have somehow the fear that we should constantly be pounded because we're never good enough.

Or here's some other law, some big civil law that you're not keeping, and you're bad and you're evil.

This mindset I totally reject. And Jesus Christ rejects it.

Here's what it says in Hebrews 12, verse 18. And again, I want to contrast the mindset that far too many spiritual Pharisees have today with the kind of church that Jesus Christ called.

Hebrews 12, verse 18. He says, For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and burned with fire, and the blackness and darkness and tempest.

He's talking about you have not come to the mountain that received the law like ancient Israel did, and they were terrified of God.

The mountain shook. The trumpets blew. The people didn't want to hear the word of God.

Verse 19. And the sound of the trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.

Verse 20. For they could not endure what was commanded.

And if so much as the beast touches the mountain it shall be stoned, shot with an arrow. Verse 21. And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.

This is the God that far too many people today still want to portray.

The God with the big whip. The God with the one thousand rules.

And if you inadvertently forget one of those laws, you somehow are bad. You should be afraid. You should be terrified.

You're never good enough. Balderdash! That's a lie.

And we're going to read about this lie right now.

Verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven.

You see, when you are part of God's spiritual body, when you have His Spirit, you are registered in heaven. That is your membership card.

Only Jesus Christ decides who's going to be written in the Book of Life.

Men don't decide who's written in the Book of Life. Groups of men and organizations don't decide who is written in the Book of Life.

Only Jesus Christ, who are registered in heaven to God and the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.

That's the church that I belong to. I'm not just because I'm righteous, because I struggle with my carnality every day.

I am just because I accepted the shed blood of Jesus Christ and He lives within me. He makes me just in the eyes of God.

He fills the perfection where I fall short as I continue to grow and desire and become more like Jesus Christ Himself.

To the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. Not a covenant of fear, not a covenant of constantly being put down and judged by others because you're not doing what they say is important.

The mediator of a new covenant in which Jesus Christ lives His life through you. He becomes your righteousness. You're not righteous. I'm not righteous.

But with Jesus Christ living on us, in God's eyes we are righteous because of Him.

To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Abel's offering was an animal offering. It was the shedding of blood. And that's cool. Sure, a lot better than his brother's.

But it was nowhere near the impact of the shed blood of the true Lamb of God who shed His blood once and for all so that you and I can be forgiven of our sins and our transgressions.

The church is and always was the spiritual body of Jesus Christ. Neither you nor I were baptized into the name of any sect or any church or denomination, but into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

And I know that because I have seen our baptism creed since the earliest version that I saw was in the 1940s.

And nowhere has ever said that you were baptized into the church of...

It always said specifically that you were not baptized into any church or denomination of this world, but into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

And those of you who have been baptized by me hopefully can recall those words.

Let's now go to James chapter 5 and verse 13.

The church is a very important part in our lives, and the reason that we should be involved in the church, the spiritual body, corporate organization, is because we want to be part of something that's far bigger than ourselves.

As I said, all the things that it takes to provide literature and knowledge and encouragement, none of us have all of those skills by ourselves.

It takes a pooling of people with talent, with compassion, with conviction for God's way of life, to take all of their various talents together that make a congregation work, that make a corporate church organization function the way that it should.

You are important. Each and every one of you are a member of that body of Jesus Christ.

James chapter 5 verse 13.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing Psalms.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Now, I want you to understand this doesn't mean the elders are superior.

This doesn't mean the elders are any better than you are. If you call for the elders of the church as an act of faith, I am respecting that God is within his church, his spiritual body, and these are men who have been called to be teachers.

And respecting that, I am going to, as an act of faith, request that I be anointed.

Verse 15.

And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Confess your trespasses one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed.

And again, James means this. He's talking about one-on-one in a relationship.

If you have a sin you're struggling with, please don't ask that it be put in the announcements.

That's not what he means here when he says, confess your trespasses to one another.

It means hopefully you have someone in the church, someone, a close friend, that when you're struggling with something, you can talk to them about it.

You say, I'm struggling with overcoming this sin. I need your prayers. I need your encouragement. I need your help.

That's what it's talking about, not making a public announcement to everybody about how sinful we are.

The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

I want you to notice who's involved in the church, as James writes.

Remember, there are elders and they are your spiritual brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.

And again, the reason one goes to an elder is an act of faith.

The elder is not superior and the elder never gets between you and God.

You have a mediator and that is only Jesus Christ. Never a man, never an elder.

Well, what if ministers fall far short of their responsibilities?

What if they grieve the Holy Spirit with shameful conduct?

I'm embarrassed to say that this is the most common reason for church splits, including the one that I began this sermon with.

It's the same old, same old story.

This is the reason that Jesus had deep compassion for common people, yet strong condemnation for religious leaders he contended with.

I've said before, and I will reiterate, that there will be more people in the lake of fire with religious titles.

Minister, pastor, rabbi than any other occupation. To whom much is given, much is required.

People sin, people are weak, people make mistakes.

But when you get to the point that you are breaking up Sabbath-keeping families from worshipping together, you have crossed the line.

There is no excuse for that kind of conduct and behavior.

Let's go to 3 John, chapter 1 and verse 9.

3 John, chapter 1 and verse 9.

This is an interesting scripture.

Because you would think that the Apostle John, who now was an elderly man, probably close to 90, because of his years of loyalty and faithfulness to the Church, would have received some respect, would have been honored by those who came after him, would have been given just a certain amount of decorum and healthy admiration for all that John had been through for probably by that time 60 years in the ministry.

But unfortunately that wasn't the case.

3 John, chapter 1 and verse 9.

He says, I wrote to the Church, but the Iotrophys, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.

Remember who Paul said is the one who is supposed to have preeminence?

Jesus Christ, not any man.

It says he loves to have the preeminence among them.

He does not receive us.

He would not even receive the teachings or the advice from the Apostle John. Unbelievable!

Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds, which he does, prating against us with malicious words.

And not content with that, he does not receive the brethren and forbids those who wish to putting them out of the Church.

Can you imagine being put out of the Church because you were hospitable to other brethren? That's the situation that existed here. This isn't a very pretty Scripture.

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good.

He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

So, sadly, there have been a lot of these types of individuals in our history, including in our time today. And here was an elder whose ego was distorted, and it hurt many people in the Church, including wounding John himself by this individual's slander.

John obviously had a deep affection for the brethren being hurt by this individual, and he felt helpless.

There wasn't a whole lot that he could do.

Well, brethren, we are gathered here today as God's Church, as his spiritual body, to worship him. Our spiritual membership continues, and we are written in the Book of Life that is near God's throne.

Jesus Christ has written your name into the Book of Life.

This book contains the names of the scattered flock, the elective God, his precious sons and daughters throughout all time, all over the world, of everyone whom God has called and given his spirit to throughout history, who have remained faithful to the end of their lives.

No one but Christ has the authority to add or remove a name from this book, and that is the Book of Life.

One purpose of the United Church of God is to preach the gospel to the world, and we try very hard to do that.

But another purpose that is equally as important is to mold us into the image of God by allowing Christ in us the rule and guide and fashion our lives.

The purpose of the Church is to move us Godward so that we become more like the Father and Son in mind and in character and in productive, fruitful living.

We don't know where all the true Christians are, only God does. But we do know where some of them are today, because they are right here in this room.

Part of God's spiritual body is certainly part of the corporate name of the United Church of God.

Certainly part of God's spiritual body is right here today, worshipping God on his Sabbath as part of the Cleveland congregation. Continue to bloom where you were planted, and let no man or group of men take your crown. Have a wonderful Sabbath.