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Preacher: Pastor Chuck Holiday
Jesus said the world will believe our message by the way we love one another. Gospel unity is so essential to our witness but so rare.
Transcript
It’s great to see you all again tonight and U you know this is a just a very U profound passage of scripture as you know we’re getting near the end of Joshua and um trying to think of you know what’s our future going to be in our new church building and as we anticipate really quite a few new people being added to our group um you know I I personally know gosh I can think right off the top of my head at least three or four uh pastors that I know really well pastors who were under my Ministry in Orlando who went all very very talented uh Godly men and went on to Pastor churches and you know within the last three or four years their churches have split wide open and three of them are no longer in Ministry and because of the way God’s people treated each other it wasn’t the attacks from the IRS wasn’t the attacks from atheists it was a spirit of division that came in during that time of Co and all the wokeness that we’ve been living through in the last you know several years and and it’s it’s just and I I just kept as I talk to them I would feel for them I would sympathize and I would say well praise God you know our congregation has been pretty spare you know um and and mercifully you know that’s true you know now now I’d like to think that’s God being merciful to us and that is but the other side of it is we all agree about everything and and I’m not sure that’s so good um you know I hope as much fun to not fighting your brothers um sometimes I wonder are we okay because we agree about everything you know and U you know one of one of the most profound uh remembrances that I’ve become aware of was when when Tim Keller it was a a really profound PCA Pastor went to to New York and spent three or four decades there in maybe one of the hardest cities in the world to reach with the gospel and saw you know tens of thousands of people come to Christ and just built a significant church and one of the tributes and is’s a strong biblical Evangelical um uncompromising on his view of the word of God and one of his best friends and and man who wrote an amazing tribute to him when he died a year and a half ago was was the Archbishop of New York in the Catholic church and when Timothy Goldman heard that his good friend Tim Keller had died you know he he there a it’s longer but let me just read a couple excerpts because this is how I want to end my Ministry you know I I mean I I care about what you all would think about me but boy if if the people that disagree with me could think this way of me you know Keller often said gospel Unity is not that we all believe the same thing it’s how do we treat the people who disagree with us that’s what real gospel Unity is I want you to think this evening with us from this passage in Joshua about the difference between gospel unity and religious
um uniformity is that the right word there’s a religious uniformity that’s almost cult likee where we all have to be in lock step on every detail that’s not driven so much by the gospel but by something in our flesh and there’s a there’s a difference and it can be tricky but listen to some of these things that Cardinal Doan said about Timothy Keller what was his appeal he said my own Catholic young adults and others attracted to Tim affective preaching and writing would answer that that with explanations that usually ended up in one or three categories that he said my own people are getting saved in his church they’d go to visit and find Jesus and when they come back I’d ask them look what is it about this guy all our churches are shrinking and his is growing what is it and he said they they usually had three different categories of response the first Pastor Keller preached the gospel is true he would blush when I told him he was a genuine apologist but he deserved this cherished title as one who in a compelling credible and colorful way could present and defend the basic truths of God’s revelation no watering down no wavering just the truth which he would repeat as a name Jesus the second thing these young New Yorkers would report when I asked them why they were going to Tim Keller and not to Tim Dolan was that this preaching of Truth gave rise to this second magnetic attribute his Joy this quiet Serene sense of Happiness as David Brooks noted would Inspire Pastor Keller to preach cheer up you’re a worse sinner than you ever dared imagine and you’re more loved than you ever dared to hope that was his message one of my young Catholic my own Young Catholic adults observed if you cry at Redeemer it’s not because you’re bored to tears and they’re not tears of Gloom they’re tears of
joy and the third ingredient in Pastor Keller’s recipe of success is noted by his sheep not by the shepherd but by his sheep was that when he told them what they needed to hear and not what they are itching ears wanted to hear he preached with courage biblical truth without compromise but in a way that didn’t feel condescending talking down to people now this is from the Archbishop of New York he said and they kept coming he kept calling me wanting to buy our sadly shuddered churches why were his filled I wondered Again David Brooks speculates him replying hey you’re thirsty I happen to have a glass of water want a sip the Sip came not from him as was clear but from the one who came to bring us the Waters of life my friends can you imagine your religious enemy saying those things about you when you pass now you say you they weren’t enemies no they actually were very good friends but they believed very different things but somehow these two giant spiritual Giants in New York were able to see the gospel in a way that let them love each other as brothers they they would have been seen by the world as competitors people are leaving Nolan’s Church to join Keller’s church but there’s nothing but mutual
appreciation from them for one another now my friends this is this takes us to Joshua 22 I love this story now for those of you who are new of this tonight apologies you know you’re kind of getting in on the end of this story of Joshua but you know the Israelites have conquered the promised land now it’s been a long arduous Journey many lessons in the Book of Joshua but but finally there’s there’s peace there’s rest from war and two and a half of the of the 12 tribes had their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan but they uh were ordered to leave their families there but to come with your brothers to conquer the land and then you can go back so that’s what this is about they they’ve conquered the land and now Joshua says okay you guys have done your job you we’ve we’ve finish the job and go home to your families and bless them and um you know it’s it’s just a great there’s a it’s a great happy time that didn’t last long okay but but notice and I’m going to go through this quickly because of time but but it’s in it’s in your scriptures hey is there a light does anybody know if there’s a light back here because I I uh I have it memorized but you
know just in case I’m wrong there thank you David that’s great um I I want you to notice in verse four real quickly if you have it in front of you now that the Lord your God has given your brothers rest as he promised Return To Your Homes you know Unity thrives in Warfare and disunity seems to find its way into the times of comfort and rest any any of you find a friend in a
foxhole I mean that’s where friends are made in the foxholes of life when you’re in the battle when you’re in the struggle any of you have any best friends from the Cancer Ward you know from the waiting room in the doctor’s office it’s amazing how we can get along with people that we would otherwise not get along with how we can find a friend in our time of need uh you know look what happens to neighborhoods in hurricanes you know it’s probably the most neighborly time of the year right you know all of a sudden we need each other and we find each other and we’re not asking each other about political differences and religious differences you know we we tend to Unity tends to thrive in war you know but when things are come to to a time of peace and comfort now my friends it scares me a little bit for where our church is you know and because this is a sweet time for us and praise God let’s receive it now now the other side the last time I can remember our country feeling somewhat United was right after 911 maybe some of you can remember something since then but that’s about the last time I can remember where it felt like we were we had a chance at actually loving each other respecting each other listening to each other now now here’s here’s the thing for us to remember as Christians we’re always at War
we’re in a spiritual battle we’re in a spiritual warfare That Never Ends until Jesus comes back now that’s good news for Spiritual Unity if we remember we’re in a war whether you have cancer or whether you’re walking in great health whether you have a great job or whether you just lost your job we are in a spiritual war all the time Paul says but we have to remember who the enemy is is who is the enemy in Ephesians 6 for we wrestle not with flesh and blood with but with principalities and Powers There Are Spiritual dark spiritual forces demonic forces behind the arguments that break out in
churches the the friend that used to be your friend that now feels like your enemy that’s not the enemy oh there we’re in a war but that’s not the enemy the enemy is invisible the enemy is behind the conflict we need to remember that and my friends the thing that would would divide us can be the very thing that unites us if we remember we’re on the same team here we’re on the same side so Unity thrives in Warfare so the danger period is you know it’s the war’s over now for Israel go to your homes enjoy life and this is where this this I mean it is so sweet when Brothers dwell together in unity Psalm Psalm 133 says but it is so gut-wrenching when division happens you know you get that phone call you you get that difficult conversation with somebody that you thought you was was your friend or you find out they’re misbehaving or they’ve mistreated somebody and you know your whole you’re just your stomach does flipflops you’re just so sick at your stomach stom that you’re going to I don’t all that piece is blown up in a second like an atomic bomb it’s in your family it could be in your friend at church it can be your neighbor you know it’s horrible how did it happen how did this sweet peace and communion how did it blow up like this and it feels horrible okay now there’s some things we need to get out of this passage next thing I want you to see is there are some things that are worth fighting for the difference between peace and appeasement we have to know the difference getting along at all costs is not okay because there are some things that are worth fighting for now if these two and a half tribes had done what they other nine and a half tribes thought they did there would have to be a
war right there would have to be a war there are times when churches need to
split there are times when the gospel is forsaken the honor of the Lord
is rubbed in the dirt there are times when the Apostle Paul withdrew his disciples from the Jewish synagogue and started something new when they spoke evil of the way okay there are some things that are worth fighting for and uh you know our our some of our church friends have forgotten that and they feel like well that’s their truth they’re entitled to their truth and we have our truth but let’s just all get along in one big tent my friends there are some things that are worth fighting for okay and I’m not going to enumerate try to I mean that’s the problem we don’t agree on what those things are okay but but you know if Jesus is Lord if Father Son and Holy Spirit are one God if we are sinners if Jesus is our only way of of coming to the father through his atonement on the cross if Jesus really physically rose again from the dead those are things that that we we just might not be able to be in the same church with people who don’t believe those
things there are some things that are worth fighting for Matthew 10 Jesus said I’ve come not just to bring peace but to bring a sword father against son and mother Against Child and brother against brother and it’s a horrible reality so the question is how should we fight when when conflict comes how should we fight and I and I want you to look at how how these tribes went about about this now this was a terrible day there they had no doubt given their daughters to the sons of these tribes and vice versa you know they weren’t cleancut this tribe separate from the I mean they were all intermarried in in the nation of Israel they they loved each other they had good friends over in that tribe and and and this this was AI American Civil War would be the closest analogy we could come to a nation divided I mean it was a horrible Prospect but look at how they handled it verse 16 what’s the first thing they did well they they gathered an army they said we might we might have to go to war but then but then in verse 16 the whole assembly of the Lord says says to them they went to them and they asked them how could you break Faith with the god of Israel like this they they they they talked to them first now they suspected something really bad here they were terrified but before they went to war they said we need need to have a
conversation we need to find out what are they
thinking do you know how many times in our present culture we we have wars on the internet without any conversation everybody’s talking and nobody’s
listening instead of walking across the yard to talk to the neighbor we’d rather blast them on the Internet you know anonymously
they said look this looks bad but let’s go talk to them let’s make sure okay and so how do they treat it well they treat it with utmost seriousness this is not good they they prepared for war but said before we go to war we’re going to talk and we’re going to listen and they did listen and not only that but look at verse 19 this is really beautiful he said look is something wrong with your
land do you want to come back we’ll share our inheritance with you if you think you need your own Temple because you’re separated from us by the Jordan River then come on over here and we’ll take part of our inheritance and give it to you so that we can be one and so you don’t have to go into this idolatry I mean it was a sacrificial Overture not just you guys are bad and you better stop it no it was guys what’s going on here this is what it looks like are we missing something and and is there a way we can solve the problem at our own expense can we solve this problem okay and then I love this humble response by the by the people over on the east side of the Jordan what do you what who gives you the right to come in here and tell it no wasn’t that at all was it you see the humility on both sides the east side says guys are we missing something here they come with some curiosity I mean they’re pretty sure this is bad but they come to talk the people on the on the east side humbly receive it oh my goodness if we did what you think we’re doing yes swipe us out but that’s not what we were thinking and they can hear each other isn’t that beautiful they could hear each other it was the humble response it’s like no we agree with you we’re not offended that you came to us in fact thank you for caring enough about us to come to us thank you for caring and now this is the kicker this is how you know is Gospel Unity because when they found out that this this was not a sign of idolatry this was their attempt to make sure they never lost connection with the people of God so look at look at verse 30 when when they come when they come back what’s their response when Phineas the priest and the leaders of the community the heads of the clans of the Israelites heard what Ruben Gad and Manasseh had to say they were pleased and Phineas son of Eleazar the priest said to Ruben gadam Manassa today we know that the Lord is with us because you have not acted unfaithfully toward the Lord in this matter now you have rescued the Israelites from the Lord’s hand and then verse 33 they were glad to hear the report and praise God have you ever been in a conflict with somebody that you had the sense that if they actually knew that you didn’t do what they thought you did that that wouldn’t be make them
happy have you ever been in a fight like that with somebody thought you did something they accused you of something and if they found out that’s not what you did that would not be good news for
them because they were determined to be right that’s how we know this was gospel Unity because neither side was fighting to be right they were glad to find out they were on the same
team it usually doesn’t go that
way and families a terrible misunderstanding happens over an
inheritance you know and people just get completely on opposite sides of a thing and it doesn’t look good and you have a conversation and finally somebody says well that’s not what I meant at all well what’s the other person usually say well okay but it looks that way are you sure shouldn’t have communicated it that way there’s got to be some little rubbing it in right we can put this thing to bed as long as you’ll admit that you were wrong and I was right then we can move on that’s usually how it goes friends that’s almost always how it goes in church I can tell you in 50 years of doing church that’s almost always how it goes somebody has to be right and somebody has to be wrong and we can move on as long as you acknowledge that I was right and you were
wrong and God forbid if you argue with a pastor
I mean I mean I can just tell you David and I confess our sins to each other frequently and and the thing I love about him is it’s never about who’s right it’s about what’s
right and my friends I’m going to tell you that’s not real common in
church because we don’t understand and prize gospel Unity it’s the difference between gospel unity and religious
uniformity now when I say religious uniformity religion is us trying to be right for God the gospel is God being right for us if you’re driven by a need to be right so that God will be pleased with you then you’re going to have a hard time being at one with your neighbor because you’re going to be fighting for my right that I was
right once you’re fighting for your right there’s no hope of gospel Unity now most churches get completely sideways on this my friends our the history of Christianity is ugly the reformers watched their opposers burned at Stakes for things like infant
baptism look what happened in Ireland what the you know the who were the terrorists 50 years ago who were blowing up the car bombs 50 years ago was the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland what wasn’t the Muslims and the Christians it was the Catholics and the Protestants blowing each other up in Ireland my friends this is so ugly and my friends we could be blowing each other up today politically in this
country now I happen to agree politically with almost all of you and I have enough conversations to know what you believe and you know what I believe
but there are a bunch of Christians out there that believe something different I mean real Christians real people who affirm all the Creeds of the church that we affirm believe in the deity of Christ believe that he’s our only hope for salvation believe that Christ is the only hope of the world and if you made a list of the 10 things that are most significant social issues in your mind and they made a list of their 10 there might not be any overlap at
all and it’s uncomfortable and it’s awkward but wouldn’t it be great if we could actually have open conversations with people that really disagree with
us and agree to love each other and to respectfully listen to each other it’s a lot to ask I know but but like wow what if we what if we could do that what if we had a church like Redeemer in New York City there are some really liberal people that you and I spit at every time we see them on TV who go to that
church they do and there are people all through my denomination who despise Tim Keller because he’s too conservative I mean he’s too liberal I mean the the conservatives think he’s too liberal and the Liberals think he’s too conservative but he was able to somehow by preaching the
gospel minister to all of them if you ever listen to Tim Keller preach I would say this was a secret he was an equal opportunity
offender whoever you were and whatever you believed by the end of the sermon it pinched you were more convicted about what it said to you than you were judging your neighbor and that’s what the gospel should do because we go not wanting to find out where we’re right we go because we want to find out where do I need Jesus to forgive me and that he’s my righteousness my friends it could be a beautiful thing now just in closing as we get ready to go to the Lord’s table there’s something that really sweet here the joy they had when they found out they didn’t have to go to war have you ever have you ever thought your one of your kids was in something really bad and you didn’t even want to have the conversation because you were you were so just sick in your stomach about what that would look like and and you finally had the conversation and they said oh no dad not at all or maybe it’s was on the other side in my case it’s usually the other way after the conversation I’m usually one that’s oh my goodness I was wrong and I couldn’t even see it but then the point is when you find out you don’t have to be at odds with somebody you love well that’s a little window into how God feels when he finds out that he doesn’t have to punish us because we just receed Jesus as our Lord and savior this is what happens in Zephaniah chapter 3 it’s a it’s God’s speaking over us and it says he says sing O Israel and be glad why because in I’m not going to look at it because we’re out of time in that passage because it says why does God tell us to sing he says because God is singing over you why is God singing over you because he doesn’t have to punish you not because he thought you were wrong and found out you weren’t but because he knew you were wrong but Jesus died for your sins
that’s why in Luke 15 it’s all about the joy in heaven the joy in heaven is over what finding good people that don’t need to be punished no it’s about finding us the joy is over one sinner who repents and comes to Jesus so my friends this joy that they felt that day this Joy of finding out okay we thought they were wrong they weren’t let’s have a party God feels that all the time when we repent he doesn’t have to punish his children not because we were weren’t wrong but because he punished his son Jesus in our place it’s a real it’s a real gospel Joy Based on what really um has transpired at the cross for us let’s pray together and then let’s worship at the Lord’s table God thank you for Jesus achiev Ching the unity that we could never hope to to um do on our own first of all a Unity between us and you because Jesus died for all our sins all our righteousness is given to us his righteousness is given to us so we don’t need to be right about anything because we are already right in your eyes because of Christ and Lord we just pray that that gospel Unity will continue to grow and permeate this Fellowship our church as we pray that many many lost people who who disagree with us on a lot of things will come here and find Jesus here and be our brothers and sisters and that we will be able to listen to them learn from them that they will listen to us and learn from us and together we can sit at your feet and grow and wanting to know what you think humbly repenting Lord thank you for for Jesus and thank you for the Lord’s table to remind us of all he did for us amen
