Good morning everyone. Good to see you, dear souls. Brother David is going to be handing out copies of the bulletin. If you need one, just raise your hand. There are places for you to take notes there, and I invite you to do that to make it easier to stay awake. There are times as a preacher that I try to figure out what it is that you might need to hear. And it’s a challenging thing, especially when you’re new for a congregation or new with a congregation.
You don’t know where everybody stands and what everybody’s issues are. It It’s easier, I guess, when you’re just brand new if you start stepping on people’s toes. They know you didn’t do it deliberately because they don’t you don’t know their situation. So, that’s pretty easy. But there are other times when I speak about things that I need to hear in hopes that you need to hear it, too. And that’s what this morning is. It’s speaking about something that I’ve been struggling with for years and especially um in the last few months here.
And it has to do with a word that may be unfamiliar to you. I don’t know if in your daily vocabulary you were use the word accuminism much, but there’s a definition of accuminism that comes from the dictionary. And I’ll not take time to read all of these different six parts of a definition that you find from the dictionary, but the idea is to use a reference to a book that was popular back in the 80s. I’m okay, you’re okay. When it comes to religion, it’s the idea that um you know, you do you, I’ll do me, and we’ll all get along in terms of how we worship.
It’s that spirit of cooperation among folks who have different beliefs in in the details of their faith. So ecumenism ecumenical is an idea that’s very popular I think in the world and um popular right now. And this becomes personal for me because of two recent um invitations that I’ve received. And I’ve received invitations from the Gideonss every place that I’ve been. And they are a fine bunch of fellas. And I’m not sure if they both genders now.
They started with two businessmen back in 1899 in Wisconsin. Two traveling salesmen were in a hotel and they got the idea, wouldn’t it be good to just hand out texts of the Bible, Bibles to people? And from that has grown an international organization as you see Gideonss International. They’re everywhere. And if you’ve ever been in a hotel room and open up the drawer, you’ve probably seen a Gideon Bible. They put them there and that’s their their thing that they do. And they reach out and they support preachers and you know, they just try to keep all of Christendom working together.
That’s their mission. And so got an invitation from a local fellow when after I got here. um would you like to come and be part of what we do? And boy, it was a it’s a nice invitation. There’s something about getting invited to do things. It’s just kind of uh gratifying and it you feel honored, I guess, when people reach out and say, “Hey, we value you. You we want you to be part.” And then we had another invitation just a little bit ago. I don’t remember if you remember when Connor uh was visiting with us.
real nice young fell from the Christians of Brevard and he goes around and worships with a lot of different congregations. He worshiped with us. He wrote up uh what his visit was like. He posted it in his website, Christians of Bvard. And then he wrote to me after, you know, let’s um would you like to be part of what we do? And so I’ve had these these nice invitations from these nice groups. And as I said, it feels nice to be invited. And on the right, you know, distributing Bibles, what could be wrong with that?
Um, just giving out the word of God, doesn’t that make perfect sense? And getting together with other other Christians, doesn’t that make perfect sense? And to to turn down a nice invitation from nice people, it just feels a little weird. Feels a little weird to me to say, “No thanks. I’m not going to do that.” And and it feels weird to me to disagree with their with their programs when they’re so nice and they’re so inviting and and what they’re doing seems pretty pretty innocuous at least and maybe pretty great at most.
Did you sense did you sense a butt coming? But but I get stuck with this idea of accuminism and I’ll tell you why for the next hour and a half no next couple of minutes. The idea of accuminism is not found in the Bible be what happened in the scriptures. You know the the the timing of the scriptures I think everyone agrees that the the last book that we have was written before 100 AD. So it was the early days of the church. We think the church is pretty sure it was founded in 30 AD. So 70 years of development.
The denominations that we see in the world today had not developed by that time. And so we don’t see any record or or statement that says all you churches need to work together. There was supposed to be one. There was supposed to be one church. And we’ll see some of the scriptures that talk about that as we go on. So the idea of multiple different forms of worship working together is not something we find in the scriptures. And another thing that gets me about that is if I just join a group of folks that are doing all sorts of different things all sorts of different ways.
Isn’t my membership in the group kind of an approval for not only them but for what all the other folks in the group are doing. I’m in fellowship with them. And so am am I not kind of saying, “Yeah, you’re okay. I’m okay. You’re okay. we can all worship. Uh I remember I don’t know if you remember Ross Perau uh years ago he ran for president. He was from Texas and he talked in that Texas twang and he say worship at the church of your choice. That’s accuminism. That’s really accuminism. You just pick what you want to do.
But as you’re associating with those folks, I think it implies some approval of what they’re doing. And really what we find in the scriptures is that there is a faith and it is referred to as the faith and it is to be contended for. And we’re going to see some scriptures about that too. And so let’s keep going with accumnism not being found in the Bible. Matthew 16:18, this strong statement by our Lord and Savior. He says to Peter, you are Peter and on this rock and that rock would be the fact that he is the Messiah, the son of God.
On that rock I will build my church. My church. He says this church belongs to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is his. Now let’s never forget that. Sometimes we’ll use the the phrase accommodatively. I’m going to my church. But it’s not as though we own it. It’s just that that’s where we worship. We have an ownership in that sense. It’s not ours. It’s the Lord’s. And always keep that first and foremost in your mind. and the state the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
He goes on to say in Matthew 16:18 in John chapter 17 the prayer that Jesus uttered just before going to the cross just before going out to the garden of Gethsemane he first prayed the first few verses are about his relationship with his father the next few verses are about his relationship with his apostles who were going to have to go on without him very quickly he was going to be gone and then as he gets to the last part of that prayer he prays for us what what do I mean well, you know, we weren’t there at the time.
Yeah, but he prayed that all those who would come after, who would learn by what these apostles would do as the apostles went forth with the word. Jesus prays that they all may be one. Why? So that the world may believe that you have sent me. Jesus says a unity grounded in the apostles word that he said the spirit was going to guide them in and in the father and in the son. He didn’t talk about interdenominational cooperation there. He just talked about there being one church and our unity and unity is a little different than union.
Someone said it’s probably not politically correct. I’m not going to use that one from way back. Sorry, but there’s a difference between unity and union. Um, unity is being together. As the father is in the son, the son is in the father. That’s unity. And that’s the unity he desires for his followers to have as well. In Jude verse three, this is the verse about contending for the faith, the one faith that was delivered. I appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints once and for all.
Did you ever use that expression maybe with a child? Once and for all. No. But here Jude says the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. It doesn’t give you the idea that they’re going to be a lot of different congregations or a lot of different denominations as it went forth. There’s one faith and we are supposed to contend for it to fight for it that it is right and that it is pure. In Ephesians chapter 4:es 4-6 as was read in our scripture reading this morning by brother Paul.
One body, one spirit, one Lord, one baptism, one faith, one God and father of all the ones of the faith. We’ve got to agree on those. At the very least, we’ve got to agree on all of those. There’s a lot of other stuff we have to agree on, too. But just carve those in stone. We’ve all got to line up with that. Galatians 3:es 6-10. Paul, as I said, I really get the impression he slapped his forehead. G, oh, you foolish Galatians, what are you doing up there?
You’ve gone off after a counterfeit gospel. Some folks are saying it’s a gospel, but it’s not. It’s not the gospel and you shouldn’t be following it. If anybody brings something other than the gospel, that person should be accursed. And he says it in case they missed it, he says it again early on in that Galatian letter. So can’t support the idea of a dis a different kind of a gospel being preached. There’s a real message for unity in 1 Corinthians chapter 1:es 10-7.
And I could take the time to read that all to you, but I guess I’ll just summarize it for you. It might be worth your time later today to read that all 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. But I appeal to you brothers. I beg you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you. No divisions among you. That you be united in the same mind and in the same judgment. He goes on in the second Corinthian letter and he says in verse uh 14 of chapter 6, do not be unequally yolked with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness? So when you get in a kind of a relationship with someone who’s not a believer, that can be a problem. It’s interesting though when I bring this scripture up from 2 Corinthians that those folks are talking about a relationship between a Christian and a non-Christian, a believer and an unbeliever. And I don’t think any of the folks in these organizations that I’m talking about, any of them would call themselves unbelievers, but I think the principle might still apply because there are differences in in what we believe.
So I this is part of why I struggle with this. Um, and I and I imagine you see my struggle here, but membership in these organizations to me seems like I would be endorsing some things that we know that are not right. And one of those is infant baptism. There’s no evidence in scripture to support the idea of baptizing a baby. Yet many, most denominations practice it as a manding doctrine. And I’ll tell you what, imagine what whatever your big whatever event you’re the biggest fan of, whether it’s a concert, a particular band, or a sporting event, maybe the World Cup, that’s a big thing right now, and someone gives you a ticket and says, “I care so much for you.
I took care of this at a very early age. I’ve got you a ticket for admission.” And imagine your excitement getting to go to this once in a-lifetime kind of event. And you get there and you present the ticket and they scan it with those scanners they’ve got and they say, “Sorry, that’s not a valid ticket. Wait a minute. For ye for for months I’ve thought this was a valid ticket and you’re telling me it’s not. It’s not.” And it’s too late at that point. There’s no way to scramble and get another another ticket. I’m telling you, that’s the scenario that’s going to play out with folks who have been baptized as infants.
That’s the kind of thing that we see mentioned in Matthew 7. There will be those in the day who said, “Lord, Lord, haven’t I done all these things?” And he’s going to say, “Depart from me. I never knew you. You accepted a counterfeit for baptism that is not endorsed in the scriptures. You relied on it.” And there’s no hope now. I mean, all you had to do was be immersed like it says in the water after believing. Folks who baptized by sprinkling infants are doing a terrible service, a disservice to the Lord.
Because if somebody trusts that counterfeit, they stop looking and they have confidence in that. And I can’t have any fellowship with someone who endorses infant baptism. I can’t I can’t can’t stand side by side and say, “Yeah, I’m okay. You’re okay with that.” I’d also have to endorse different names for the church. There are on the left hand side, you’ll find a lot of the names that you see in the scriptures. These are all scriptural names. You’ll find the church of God, the churches of Christ, the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, the house of God.
I think Acts chapter 20 and verse 28 is maybe the best one. The church of God which he purchased with his own blood. Okay. Well, which personality in the Godhead spilled his blood to purchase the church? Jesus Christ. So, church of Christ really seems to me to be the best name for the church and that’s why we use it. There are all sorts of names that folks use in the world today that we don’t find in scripture. There’s no authorization to be a Methodist, a Catholic, a Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Mormon, Salvation Army.
How can I go shoulder-to-shoulder with people that are worshiping that way, using the wrong name for the church and imply that they’re okay? There’s organization that we see for the church in the scriptures. Philippians 1:1 where it talks about the saints with the bishops and and the deacons or the elders and the deacons. Different translations translate that word for bishop def uh differently. And you can go to 1 Peter 5:es 1-3 and pick up on some of the synonyms for that work of elder or shepherd or overseer.
And those are three of them. There’s also the deacon and there’s also an evangelist mentioned in Ephesians 4 and 11. There’s nothing in there about a pope. There’s nothing good in there. I guess 2 Thessalonians kind of refers to him in a way. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, but it’s not mentioned as something that’s going to come. No mention of cardinal. And even some of the folks in the world in denominations who have these proper offices like elder don’t define it properly.
You know when you see a 20-year-old elder walk up to your door knocking, do you not even understand what elder means? No, they don’t. As patently across their whole organization, they do not understand what an elder is. And so how am I going to be shoulder-to-shoulder with people like that and imply that it’s okay? Sometimes you know there’s a priest mentioned in the Old Testament. Lot of different groups have priests and there’s no mention about a priest in the New Testament except that we are all a royal priesthood.
We’re all priests if you will rendering sacrifices to God in a way. There are some groups that tell you they have apostles today. And look at the definition of apostle in Acts chapter 1. See those who were there from the time that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan till he was taken up. From one of those they chose the replacement for Judas who turned out to be Matias. And then there was Paul Saul of Tarsus who was chosen. We’re going to talk about that this afternoon in our 4:00 Bible study about his conversion.
As an apostle out of season, a wholly different kind of a choice, but there are no apostles today. A lot of groups think that there are. And so there are all these different errors that are present in the denominational world, and they’re not to be glossed over as I’m okay, you’re okay. Another one is the the Lord’s supper. There are people that make the case that when we celebrate the Lord’s supper on a Sunday, that is the most important thing that we do. And as a preacher, I hate to hear that cuz, you know, I want to think I’m most important.
But I can’t really argue with our celebration of Lord’s supper as being the most important thing that we do when we gather together. And a lot of the groups in the world, the denominations abuse that. Either they don’t have it often enough or they have it too often or they morph it so that isn’t even the bread and the fruit of the vine. It’s just a wafer that symbolizes both. Can’t even get that right. How am I going to imply in any way that modifications and changes like that are all right?
when I wrestle with this and I do wrestle with it because these are nice people and you always feel a little weird when you say you know I don’t approve of that but I don’t approve of that I I come down to ecumenical associations not being necessary whatever the church is called to do it’s equipped to do and I don’t need any parurch organization to help me do the work of the Lord if we want to get Bibles out we can get Bibles outmen If we want to have some sort of association, I guess we can just talk to people.
But I don’t know that we need to be shoulder-to-shoulder with folks that are feeling differently. I don’t think we it’s necessary. And I just don’t think it’s wise. The Lord purchased his church with his own blood. It means that much to him. The Lord wants his church to be truly one. And I’m going to keep fighting for it to be one unified group in the word, all following the word. Right names, right practices, worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth.
And I haven’t got a lot of patience for folks that don’t do it right. And and and especially the folks that preach some form of salvation that we don’t find in the scriptures. 1 Corinthians 1:10, I appeal to you brothers, there will be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. The words of the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, the words of Jesus. Actually, I haven’t used all my time this morning.
I kind of got to the point. And there you have it. Cuminism. It’s a popular idea and you kind of have the the reaction, well, what could be wrong with that? They’re nice people. It’s really a nice idea. Yeah, but it’s not tight enough. It’s not good enough. I think a higher standard for the church, a higher respect for the church keeps us from getting involved in ecumenical organizations. You’ve listened well. We’ve got an invitation song. Only a step.
And isn’t it amazing that wherever we are, we’re only a step away. It’s pretty great that our Lord has made it so possible uh so convenient for us really now. And you might be thinking, well, you know, I’m going to have to make some changes if I come to the Lord. I’ll tell you what, it’ll never be easier than it is today. It doesn’t get easier. You just commit and you say, “I’m going to take that step today. I’m going to come and confess Christ before God and before my brothers.
I’m going to repent of my sins that I have committed and all the things that I’ve done that have been contrary to him. And I’m going to be immersed from the rich in my sins. I’m going to rise and walk in newness of life. That can happen, dear ones, in a very short period of time. If you’re subject to the call, come and let us help while we stand and say,
