Podcast Host (0:03)

Welcome to Mariners Church Weekend Message Podcast. Inspiring people to follow Jesus and fearlessly change the world. Discover your purpose and get connected by visiting MarinersChurch.org or click the link in the show notes.

Main Speaker / Pastor (0:27)

Well, Mariners family, good to see you. We're going to talk today about why so many denominations. That's what's on the table. We've been in this on the Table series for a few weeks. We cover topics. Sometimes controversial ones are certainly ones with big questions. We started off the year looking at the Canaanite genocide because nothing says Happy New Year like studying the Canaanite genocide as your first sermon for the year. But Eric is is fearless. Immigration is in two weeks, so buckle up, boys and girls. Tonight we're going to talk about. Tonight, today we're going to talk about denominations and we're going to kind of try to understand why are there so many? Because we know that there are Methodists and Presbyterians and Lutherans, but how do we get here? And to do that, we're going to need to do a little bit of history. So I'm going to draw some on this screen, which is sort of every professor's dream is a room full of people going to watch him draw. So, so let's start with. First, you have Jesus death on the cross. God raises him from the dead. The Holy Spirit descends. And we have the, the earliest church, right? And we call that the New Testament Church. So just right there at the beginning is the New Testament Church. If you talk to a lot of Christians, they want, they all. You often hear them say, we want to go back to the New Testament Church and we want to restore the New Testament Church. But, and sometimes they have a bit of a, I don't know, like it's a golden era, but it's not. So First Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 12, actually talks about what's going on in the Corinthian church. I want you to remember that because we're going to talk about the Corinthian church later. And it says, one of you says, I belong to Paul, I belong to Apollos, or I belong to Cephas, or I belong to Christ. So very early on, there were sort of what you might say, factions, certainly some divisions. That wasn't good. It wasn't great. It wasn't something that the Lord was honored by. But I want you to hear there have always been differences. That's hard to see. But if we're going to talk about denominations, we have to be honest from the beginning that that's what's gone on. And then we get into the first few centuries of the church, right. So we can, we call this maybe the early church era. So during the early church era and we might go up to, up to this is like 300 years or so and got up to a guy named Augustine. And you know, and so we kind of look back to that time and, and, and, and you know, people maybe often have a, maybe a rosy perception that in the same organization or in the same church or denomination, but that wasn't the case. So for example, I just in December I was in Egypt and I was, I was preaching at a church that's our Mariners partner church there called Qasr El Dabara Evangelical Church. While I was there I was visiting in some Coptic Orthodox churches. And they have a different structure, they have a different line of popes, right. So all this is sort of going on, on different. And you know, there's churches in the east. So again even in the, in the, in, in the early church those first 300 years there was already some different parts of the church and expressions of the church around the world. And then we get to the medieval era. So the medieval era is sort of here and during the medieval era the, the church becomes more particularly the main part of the church use, begins to use the word Roman Catholic and becomes more organizationally clear actually develops some new doctrines and as well. And so during this medieval era you see and you know, sometimes Roman Catholic friends say well this is the time when it was all one true church until those Protestants came along later. So and we'll talk about that. But it's actually, there was actually a bigger group that split off before the Protestant Reformation and, and that's called Eastern Orthodoxy. So my, I mean even in like if you're in, if you take high school history of Europe in a public school, you probably learned about this in 1054. In 1054 there was what's called the Great Schism and the Orthodox Church split off from the Catholic Church. Now I will tell you the Orthodox Church would say that the Catholic Church split off from them. And again this is important because what happens is that at this point the Catholic Church was saying that we are the one true church. And the Orthodox Church, Orthodox actually literally means straight way or one way or right way. The Orthodox Church said no, no, no, we're the one true church. Not you, you're not the one true church. But still the Catholics was saying oh, we're the one true church. And so you begin to see some of the division that's there. And just personally, like, my stepfather was an Eastern Orthodox priest, like an ordained priest in the Orthodox church. So this is kind of personal. Well, let me give you more than that. So, so I was, I grew up nominally Catholic. I came to Christ in the charismatic movement of the Anglican Church and I planted Baptist churches. So I'm like, I don't even know what I am in this mess that's here. But even 20 years ago, like my parents were trying to tell me, my mom and stepdad were saying, this is the one true church, the Orthodox church, and you should convert to the one true church, because it literally means that. But, you know, Catholic actually means universal. She's like, well, it means universal. So we are the, we're the one true church, right? And we haven't even gotten yet to Protestantism, which is something we're probably gonna be more familiar. We're about to get to Protestantism, but I wanna remind you, there's all kinds of groups outside, there's all kinds of groups inside. And then we get to the place with, you know, 500 years ago, and then, yes, another bombshell enters the villa. You shouldn't have got that joke. I'm glad most of you didn't. But I got, I watched it on reels. I know that phrase comes from. But anyway, so what happens is now don't misunderstand the. The Orthodox church continues on, right? Still go. Continues on today. My parents among that. The Catholic Church continues on, still does today. But what happens is you have Protestantism and there's this new guy, Martin Luther, who gets a lot of the attention and conversation. Of course, it's more than Martin Luther. Now that's not actually a picture of Martin Luther, in case you were unsure, but Martin Luther is. 500 years ago in Germany, Martin Luther nails 95 theses to the door in Wittenberg, Germany. And that's the beginning, kind of the spiritual beginning of the Protestant Reformation. That's him holding a Bible, saying that scripture alone, not tradition, was the authority in the church. And he was, he was, you know, pushing away, pushing against and eventually out from the Catholic Church. But that little, that little figurine, by the way, is. It's called a Playmobil. Your kids probably had different versions of them. But. But that is the best selling Playmobil in the history of the world that sold a million copies just a few years ago at the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. That's just a weird fact to break up our history lesson. So you might know that you're welcome and so, so then these, these Lutherans, right, We, we now have these Lutherans. And I just realized that my handwriting is actually worse than Eric Geiger's, which was really feet to behold. So, so the Lutherans, they didn't claim to be the one true church, but they did make claims about what was the one true church. And here's what they would write in the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism. They said the church is the congregation of saints, that saints means all believers of all time, in which the gospel is purely taught and the sacraments were rightly administered. So they were claiming this is what the real true church looks like. But I also need you to hear this. They were basically saying that the Roman Catholics, they're not, they're not the real true church, right? Because they're not rightfully administering the sacraments or the gospel is not being purely preached. So, so, so now you've got, you've got this big picture of orthodoxy up here. You've got ongoing Catholicism. Now you've got this new thing of, of Protestantism that starts with Lutherans and they describe the church but clearly saying Roman Catholics are not that. And the idea of Protestantism comes, the word comes a little later, after Luther, the German princes are protesting against their, the abuses within Catholicism. Okay, so, but then out of that comes the whole Protestant Reformation. So out of that comes different groups like Presbyterians, right, Presbyterian. And then you have a little bit, you have Anglicans, right? Anglican. And you have Methodist a little bit after that. So all these denominations that we hear from, Pentecostal. We talked about Pentecostal last week. So, so we have all these different denominations. I don't even know that I can read those, but that says Presbyterian, Anglican again, Methodist and Pentecostal, in case you're wondering. And then, and then a couple centuries ago, inside these movements comes something called evangelicalism, sort of inside these movements. And evangelicalism is actually a word that we use to describe Mariners Church. We're an evangelical church. I want you to say that word out loud with me. It's evangelical. You ready? Evangelical. One more time. Evangelical. So we're part of the evangelical movement, but we're not denominational. We're non denominational. Matter of fact, 2,000 years after this, right. 2,000 years after this, a group of Christians from different denominations, Presbyterians and Methodists and Baptists, I forgot Baptists over there. But they actually formed together to create in 1963amulti denominational event in partnership with the mayor of Newport beach called the Newport Beach Mayor's Prayer Breakfast that met in 1963, a multi denominational event. And the people who did that prayer breakfast said, hey, why don't we start a church out of this, a non denominational church. That would actually be what we call Mariners Church today, which is the one true church. Right? We did it. We're the one true church. We're God's favorite. Now, now, now, now, here's the deal. You might find this interesting that our church founded them 2000 years later out of the evangelical movement in a multi denominational expression. But our church has had Presbyterian pastors and Baptist pastors. We've actually had pastors from different denominations lead Mariners Church. So, okay, so here we are like, but why are there so many denominations? And what should we do about it? Well, we're gonna end up talking about how we are. In what way are we one in Christ? But boy, gosh, it just doesn't look like we're one in Christ. But I want to give you a little preview as we're talking about what we might call familial and spiritual unity. We're in the same family as the body of Christ. We're in the same spiritual unity as the body of Christ versus organizational or visible unity. As you saw from this chart, there's never really been a golden era when everybody was united visibly and organizationally in the history of the church. But we're still in the same family, and we're still united in the same spiritual body as Christians and other churches and denominations. Let me give you an example. So a few weeks ago, I preached at a church here in our community called St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. Some of you probably been there, you know the church, some of you are nodding. And it's a wonderful church, right? We have actual and spiritual and familial unity with them. We're in the same body of Christ. They're born again into the same spiritual family that we are in. But they're in a denomination, they're Presbyterian, we're not in a denomination. But we don't have visible or organizational unity with them. But we are in the same body of Christ that they are. So again, if that's true, why in the world are there so many denominations? Well, our text, two biblical texts are going to help us with that today. The first one is in John, chapter 17. You go start turning there in your Bible or turn your Bible on. In John 17, Jesus prays for oneness or unity. And in Paul, in Ephesians 4, that's gonna be our second passage. Paul actually tells us to make Every effort to keep or maintain the unity. So we're gonna look at both of those passage. Let's jump in now that I've finished up the longest introduction ever in the sermon series number one, let's look at Jesus prayer and our reality. Jesus prayer and our just reality. Right. So 2,000 years ago, we have a recording in John 17 of a prayer Jesus gave. He prayed for believers then and 2,000 years later and 2,000 years later, that means believers inside all different denominations and churches. Here's what he says and prays in John 17:20. I pray not only for these, those are the disciples right there with them, but also those who believe in me through their word. So you are a Christian. If you're a Christian, you're a Christian because you've heard the message that the disciples proclaimed 2,000 years ago. So he's praying for us across all denominations and churches. Matter of fact, he still is praying for us at the right hand of the father. In John 17:21. It tells us the content of that prayer. It says, may they all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us. So the world may believe you sent me. Now here's the prayer of Jesus for unity. But we're not as united as we should be, right? That's just being honest. My chart showed that unity is not evident. There's a lot of disagreements. There's a lot of different denominations. But of course, I would say again, unity doesn't mean we have to all be the same way or look the same way or worship the same way. But unity is not necessarily organizational. What we're going to see today is it's shared life in Christ. But before we get to that, we still need to answer the question why? It's what's on the table, why so many denominations? So let me explain. It's generally caused because there are disagreements because we see things imperfectly and there's disunity because imperfect people lead imperfect churches and denominations. And people usually put these causes for denominations into four buckets that cause people to end up in different denominations. We're going to dig in more in a theological bucket later on. But here are the four buckets of difference. There are four buckets of difference that I want us to look at today. And we're gonna look at them one at a time. First one, the first bucket is theological. We're gonna come back more to that one later. But there are theological differences that cause people to be in different denominations. Protestants divided from Catholics over fundamental theological issues like is salvation by grace alone and through faith alone, Is the Bible our sole authority? But then Protestants divided among, well, meanings of baptism. What's the mode and meaning of baptism? And increasingly in the modern era, as evangelicals like our church and there are evangelical denominations, and as mainline Protestants moved away in many cases from basic biblical doctrines, well, evangelicals either came out of those denominations, started new denominations, or moved away from those denominations. So theological reasons put us in different denominations. Some of those are right reasons. Right. So there are divisions over theological issues. Sometimes there are divisions over structural issues. We don't have bishops at Mariners Church now. We actually. We call this polity. The technical word for this is polity. Our church polity has elders. We have governing and shepherding elders, but we don't have bishops. But as was mentioned earlier, I teach at a school. I teach at an Anglican school at Oxford University called Wycliffe hall, and I train Anglican ordinance to become priests. And when I do, they have bishops. They have bishops. Here's me leaving after teaching the week with the Anglicans at Oxford University. Okay, that's not really me, and that's not really them. You probably figured that out. But. But they do have cooler clues. The bishops just have cooler clothes. But. But again, so sometimes it's structural. We don't have bishops. Some denominations do. For example, sometimes it's cultural and regional differences, and sometimes those are. Sometimes those are, like, not so bad. Like, there's might be, you know, there's Northern Baptist, there's Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, there's the Wisconsin Evangelical. Those are. Those are regional. Sometimes it's cultural, and sometimes the cultural is expressed in. In even racial ways historically. So, for example, the Church of God in Christ is the largest African American Pentecostal denomination. But the Assemblies of God came out of that. The white pastors in the Assemblies of God during the Jim Crow era distanced themselves from the African American Pentecostal denomination that they came from and formed the Assemblies of God. I want you to know now, the Assemblies of God is a remarkably diverse denomination with beautiful reconciliation with the church and God in Christ. But historically, some of those cultural, regional, and even in this case, sin patterns caused some of those denominations. And then there are practices, right? Styles of worship or established rituals and traditions. They. They actually have created some sense of diversity. And sometimes people end up in different denominations because of it. But it's important that you notice that. That these are sort of like weighted differently. There are levels of waiting, how much they weigh. Like this is like theological. Sometimes in the, in the new denomination theology was the main reason. Sometimes structure was the main reason. It's typically not always the same thing. And so knowing some of the history of denomination sort of helps us to think about that. Now. It depends on the denomination which of these buckets is most full. And, and. But again, the existence of these denominations doesn't nullify the oneness that Jesus prays for. So again, I want to give you the history of the background, but we are one with everyone who's a genuine believer in Christ. Unity is not sameness. It's shared allegiance to Jesus. But we all can acknowledge it's not the way it should be. And you're right, if that bothers you. It bothers me that there are so many denominations. Right? But here's the thing I have to remember, like, my Christian life isn't always as it should be. I don't always reflect Christ as I should, but I can still honor Christ. And so can an imperfect church, and. And so can other denominations, even in our imperfection. So theologically, how do we determine how much unity we do have or can have with another different church or a denomination? I've used three categories to sort of describe this. So let's look more deeply at the theological bucket, which can lead and does lead to different denominations. And it can also help us think about how to relate to one another and even to how to find another church. See, one day you might leave Mariners Church and be looking for another church. I don't know why you would. Because it is the one true church. Finally, after 2000 years. By the way, I have to say, every service I've said this, I'm joking about that. Just in case you're unsure. There's a lot of people have claimed that. Or you were down on your phone a minute ago and you heard the one true church and you looked up like, I'm joking about that, Right? But let's say you move and you're going to find another church. Like, how do you choose it? Say, well, you know, the music's good and the pastor's funny. No, no, no, don't. That's not how. We need to ask some real questions. Theologically and in the theological bucket, there are three levels or categories. I call them essential, convictional and preferential. There are essential, convictional and preferential. And you can recognize these levels of theological belief. There are essential beliefs that are doctrines that all biblical Christians share, not just people who say that they're Christian or use the title of Christian, but actual Christians believe certain things. Regardless of their denomination or context, these are essential things. Our brothers and sisters in Christ all believe the essential things. So it's the first and most important level, includes those things. So, for example, if you don't believe that God has always existed as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the Trinity, that puts you outside of being a Christian denomination. Or for example, if you reject the authority of the Bible. I mean, I don't have time to list all these things, but there are essential things that we would believe in common. And I'm one in Christ with everyone who is a follower of Jesus who shares these essential beliefs. And they're kind of a boundary or an in and out category here as well, which is hard for some people. But it's important because I don't want you to go to another church that doesn't share the essentials. However, I can be one in Christ with people and differ on some things. I not one in Christ with people who differ on the Gospel essentials. But there are some convictions that Christians hold that I don't hold. There are some Christian convictions that Christians hold that you don't hold. So essentials are top category. The second category category is convictional beliefs. Convictional beliefs often cause us to end up in different denominations. It's kind of a second level. But for example, it might include the specific practices like baptism or what we believe about God's sovereignty and free will. Right. So I'm still in Christ, the same body of Christ with them. But we might end up in different denominations or churches because of what we believe. Now we don't have to. Right. But let me give you an example. We don't baptize babies at Mariners Church. We dedicate babies at Mariners Church. We only baptize believers. We think that's the biblical pattern. But we are still one in Christ with Saint Andrews Presbyterian Church that baptizes babies. They have a different conviction than us. And that conviction for some has led them to say that that's where I'm going to make my church home. But certainly when your church has a conviction, you often end up in a denomination that aligns with that conviction. So essential beliefs we all should share convictional beliefs. Sometimes Christians disagree and end up in different churches and denominations. And then preferential beliefs, Right? The problem is a lot of people choose their church based on preferential beliefs. They like the music and they got a good youth ministry. But man, you need to base and choose churches based on essential beliefs. What your convictions are, how they align with your church preferences. Still matter, you know, how loud the music is. Or maybe things like, you know, how your congregational is organized or led or the size of your church. Okay. But the essential things are most important. So let me give you an example. My youngest daughter, her name's Caitlin and she's awesome. She's just great. And she's a college student right now. And last year she sat down, her mother and me. Donna's my wife's name. And she wanted to have this conversation. Can I want to meet with you guys and have a conversation. Which, I don't know, I get a little nervous when I get that call. Like, okay, all right, come on over. So she starts the conversation. I just want to know. I love you guys. I'm like, okay. I mean, I think that's a good start of a conversation, but it feels, feels something's coming. And I really love the churches that we've been in. Dad, you were a pastor. You were a church planner. I've loved the churches that you were in. I'm like, okay. And then I love the Lord. And I was like, okay, well, that's good. And then she says, she says, but, mom and dad. And I'm not disavowing the churches you're in. And I love Mariners Church. Right? She said, but mom and dad, I've decided that I want to become an Anglican. And I just wanted to tell you it's not. I don't want to be insulting to you. And she's very, very compassionate child. Very. Just great kid, you know, youngest child. So said. And so. And she was kind of like waiting for our response. She was concerned we were going to be happy. So I started leaning back and said, kaylyn, if this is the long awaited rebellion against your parents, we are so happy. Like, this is fine. Right? Because we agree with the essentials of this Anglican church. Right. Thank God for what he's doing in Anglican churches. Part of the denomination she's in. We shared the essentials. We differ on some convictions. We differ on some convictions. Now, what about a denomination that does not agree on the essentials? Maybe they've added works to the gospel or they moved away from the authority of scripture. Well, if they deny the essentials. Right. They're not gospel partners. It's not a just that's they're outside of the description of biblical Christianity. However, there are probably people in many of those denominations, we know there are, who are genuine believers or inside the body of Christ. They're part of our spiritual family, even though their denomination is not aligned with the Gospel. So Back to John 17. Right, back to John 17. Because we have Jesus prayer and its purpose. Because unity reveals Jesus. Division obscures him. So Jesus in John 17:23 says that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. So if you're here today and this is your first time, maybe you're not a follower of Jesus. I hope that you hearing me talk about Anglicans and Presbyterians and the way that I have and people in other churches, that that actually points you to the Jesus that we are all one in Christ with. See, we are in unity with churches and Christians who share the same gospel, even if they're in other churches and denominations. It's important that the world sees that so they know Jesus sent us. Okay, so first was number one, we looked at the. The John 17 passage. Let's look at the Ephesians 4 passage. Now turn over to Ephesians in your Bible or slide over there in your phone and Ephesians chapter four. And I'm going to jump into it in just a second, but I'm going to talk about family first. I want to talk about family for just a second. And let me tell you more about my awesome family. I have three daughters, all just daughters, all in their 20s now. So this is an opportunity for you to engage in intercessory prayer for me. And I appreciate that. Right. Some of them, you know, some of the journey, it's been wonderful. We're close family, and I'm about to use them as an illustration. My experience is when I use my family as an illustration, illustration, there's always somebody who comes up and says, I can't believe you use your family as an illustration. I want you to know I actually negotiate with them a fee to mention them in a sermon so they relax. They are getting paid a royalty for the forthcoming mention. And I, Eric Geiger's kids just found this out this weekend and they have now negotiated a fee structure with Eric. So relax. Right? So, all right, so. So back to this. So when the. Back to the youngest. We call her the Anglican now. So back to the youngest. We're sitting at a table one day and she suggested to the whole family that we get matching tattoos. My wife's not a fan of tattoos, right? But she kind of made her case. You see, ever since the kids were little, we called them the herd of turtles. I don't know. I never raised girls until these three girls, but I never realized that three young girls can be so slow, you know, Daddy, I Gotta go potty. So you get one and the little, you know, little baby seat, and then the other one's got, well, I gotta take them back. And then the next one, it just, it was all I said. So I would say, all right, herd of turtles, we gotta go, let's start planning. And we gotta go. And so Caitlin said, let's get matching turtle tattoos. And before I could say, that's a ridiculous idea, my wife says, that's a great idea. So here we are, right? So I got wedding ring over here, and I got, right here, I got my turtle tattoo. And they all got. Now they don't have it on their fingers, they got it on an ankle or something. But we all have matching tattoos. And we're still. This day, we're the herd of turtles. But let me show you them not in their 20s, but in their teenage years. Here's a picture of them and they're teenage years. So now all their personalities are perfectly expressed in this one picture, right? You can just see the one picture right here. And they look like they get along. But I want you to know during their teenage years, I mean, they're getting along then because they have weapons and a common enemy. But, but during their sisterly years, their, their unity was a work in progress. I mean, I'd come home sometimes and doors were, were shut or slammed and people were mad. I don't even know what I'm walking into. I mean, those teenage years with three daughters about the same, same age and, and you know, all teenagers at the same time. And I'm like, I'm walking in, I'm like, oh, Lord, what have I walked into? At times it felt like I was the camp counselor at Camp Estrogen. I mean, it was just, it was a thing, it was a real thing. But at no time were they not sisters. They're just sometimes out of relationship or disagreements, right? And you know, those get settled, the teenagers pass and, and they get closer. But, but here's the thing. Likewise, believers remain brothers and sisters even when our closeness varies to other denominations and churches, because denominations are less important than the most important thing, which is the body of Christ. That's the most important thing. So we're not anti denominational here. We're a non denominational church, not an anti denominational church. Here's a fun fact for you. Eric and I both were employees at the same denominational agency before Eric came here, right? So we're not anti denomination. God's at work through denominations. But they're also a picture of the brokenness of our world. We know that to be the case. God is at work through denominations, but they're also a picture of some of that brokenness. So you are one with Christians and other denominations. Remember, it's a spiritual and familial unity, even when it's not a visible and organizational unity. We are one body, even sometimes when it doesn't look like it or we forget it. So what do we do with that? Well, I think our posture really matters here. The posture here of unity is humility, gentleness, and patience. That's just not just me making up three words. That's actually right before Paul's call to unity. In Ephesians, chapter four, he says this with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. So these aren't accidental virtues. I mean, unity requires these virtues. Humility. I don't need to win every argument with someone who disagrees on a convictional or a preferential issue. You know, being the dean at a seminary, I'm at Biola University Seminary. I know that I have really smart professors. I have dozens of smart professors who've actually read the same Bible that I do, love the same Word of God that I do, and have come to some different conclusions about church structure and some theological convictions. I could argue with them. Probably someone's right and someone's wrong, but instead, I just want to walk in humility with them and see imperfectly in this present time. Or gentleness. You know, here's the thing. I can speak of others and other churches and denominations with gentleness and appreciation. I hope you've heard about that here, as I've talked about other churches and denominations that way. Because in my life, I've learned worship from the charismatics, liturgy from the Anglicans, and the Bible from the Baptists, you know, and I'm thankful for the ways that they shaped and spoke into my life. Patience. Patience is a good one because it's something we can have with other churches and denominations, but in a church like ours and on the nominational church. Right. You know, Eric talked last week about spiritual gifts and kind of explained that we even have a position paper on this. And you might not agree 100% with where we are, but you can stay and be a part of this family. But it might require some patience on your part to say, well, you know, my church doesn't necessarily think this, and I'm still going along because we're in this family together. And then it says bearing with one another. I love that. Yes. Sometimes literally putting up with one another. But how do we do it? Well, there's a beautiful thing called the. The one confessions. The foundation is the 71 confessions. Right, the 71 confessions. And we're going to look at that because it tells us Ephesians 4:3. Let's put Ephesians 4:3 up. It says, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the body, bond of peace. Right? So, so, so that's where we're going to make every effort. And then right after that, it tells us the foundation is the 71 confessions. Let me read it. It says there's one body, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all and in all. I actually want you to say it with me. I want you to look. You'll see yellow words highlighted on the screen. I want us as one to say the One. The seven one Confessions. Are you ready? Here goes. One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. So like siblings sharing one father and mother, we. We share one Lord, one faith and one baptism. It doesn't erase our disagreements and our struggles, but unity is built on a shared identity, who we are in Christ and a shared confession, what we believe. So just as my daughter's disagreements didn't put them outside of the same, into a different family, we're in the same family. So it is. And we're called to live into this unity. We already possess the way we speak of other churches and denominations, the way we walk together with, inside our own church and outside with other partners now, a visible manifestation of how it is that we come back to this is actually in the Gospel and pointed to us in the Lord's Supper, Communion or the Eucharist. We're in the same body of Christ with all those who hold this gospel. And for 2,000 years across the communion of the saints and Christians for 2000 years have partaken in the Lord's Supper as a picture of what unites us. We remember the way Jesus told us to do. We celebrate the way Jesus told us to do. And to do that. I'd like you to actually stand with me across this room and you'll have your elements in your hand. If you don't have the elements, if you'll raise your hand, someone from our team will bring them to you. Just keep your hand raised until they come to you. But also I find that when I partake in the Lord's supper. The mechanics of these little cups sometimes distract me along the way because you need an engineering degree to open these things sometime. So let's do that before we partake in the Lord's Supper. If you kind of take the top layer, the thin, clear one, I'm going to take out the bread and hold it in one hand. But then I'm also going to open the second layer so the cup is ready for me to partake in in just a minute. Then I'm going to hold it in my hand, as you might do the same as well. Now here we look at the we're going to take these communion elements and and we'll walk through these together. I want you to know sometimes people are unsure where to take them. I'm very clearly going to say, let's partake the bread. I'm very clearly going to say let's partake of the cup so you don't have about to worry worry that I'm going to surprise you. So just stay with me as we go through this. But the last verse that I want to mention in our service Today is from First Corinthians, chapter 11. Memory started in First Corinthians chapter 1. Summer of Paul, Summer of Cephas, Some were of Jesus. This letter is written to a church that has some divisions, and Paul writes to them later to say, put aside your divisions, a divided church. And he gives them instructions on how to partake in the Lord's Supper. And as part of that, he writes these words in First Corinthians 11. They're not going to be on your screen. I just want you to listen with me. It says, for as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. So in that those very words, what we know is that the Lord's Supper is a backward look at the cross. It says, whenever you eat this bread, you proclaim the Lord's death. The backward look at the cross until he comes, and it's a forward look at his return. See, that's our unity that we're going to proclaim through this communion together. A backward look at the cross, a forward look at his return. Through Christ we're united. And it's something Christians have done together for 2000 years. But he actually warns us to prepare, and I want us to Prepare. Back in First Corinthians 11, it says, so then whenever you whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Okay, so we don't want that. So what does that mean? So if you're not a follower of Jesus, I want to encourage you not to partake in the bread and the cup today. This is for followers of Jesus, and the only way we partake in a worthy manner is because Jesus has forgiven our sins. So one way we partake in a worthy manner today is actually to prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper, ask his forgiveness for any unconfessed sin or any relationship, refuse to reconcile whatever it may be, is actually to say, lord, forgive me so I can partake of this together. So it goes on to say this. It says, let then a person examine himself, and in this way let him eat the bread and drink from the cup. So it literally says to examine ourselves. And I'm going to give you a moment to do that in both song and in prayer. I'm going to give you the opportunity to slow down your heart, to examine your heart and to prepare to partake in the Lord's Supper. You can sing along with us. You can take time to pray, to confess any sin, whatever you need to do. As we prepare to partake in the Lord's Supper, let's worship and pray.