One Church, One Hope | WE BELIEVE | Ephesians 4:1-16

You're listening to City Church Manchester. We are a church that invites everyone to enjoy Christ for the glory of God. If we can serve you in any way, then visit our website at citychurchmanchester.org to find out more. As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is overall and through all and in all. But to teach one of us grace has been given, sorry, but to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, "When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people." What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service. So that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the conning and craftness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head that is Christ. From Him, the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds Himself up in love as each part does its work. Amen, amen. Well, good afternoon, city church. Keep those fans wafting as we go. I have wafting, wafting immediately. I forgot to have a speak about it. It's that hot in this room. I have my own little personal fan up here, so I am going to be looking like a Laurie Aliver as we go. Let me pray for us as we jump into this text together. Last week Ralph gave us a challenge and it was a challenge that kind of stung me as he said it in a good way. How often do you come to church expectant? How often do you get into this warm room today and are ready to hear from the Lord? Let's just pray that the Spirit of God will come and move among us now and speak to us as we open the Word. Let's pray together. Lord, we know that the gospel goes out not by wise and persuasive words but by a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And so Lord, we just pray by your Spirit, would you come and speak to us now? Open up our hearts, our minds that we may be ready to receive you, Jesus. I pray these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Got a question for you that's going to be on the screen. Is church worth it? Is church worth it? Now maybe you're someone here today and you're exploring Christianity and that is awesome. If that's you, it's great to have you here with us. If you are exploring who is Jesus, what is church all about? It is really, really good to have you here. Please keep coming and exploring. But as you come into this room, you might notice and we just actually heard from the front, people are ready and willing to give up a lot in order to be a member of this church. People are giving their time. People are using their talents, their gifts. People are giving financially to the life of this church and you might be standing on the sidelines leaning in and genuinely asking yourself the question, is it worth it? Seems like a big commitment to be a Christian in this church. Is it worth it? Or maybe you're actually somebody who you are doing those things, you know, you are serving, you are giving, but if you're honest with yourself, and I hate being honest with myself, but if you are honest with yourself, sometimes you get to a point in your week, in your life, where you go, I just don't know if this is worth it. Maybe you're somebody who you hear that invitation again to come and serve on a serving team and again you just can feel yourself going, "I don't want to. It doesn't feel worth it. I've got more valuable things that I can be doing with my time." Maybe you're a Christian, you're a member of this church and you're not giving yet. Every time giving's mentioned, you think, "I should get round to that." But honestly, deep down somewhere, there's this battle where you go, "I don't feel like it's worth it." Because actually, I'd like to spend my money on other things, on things that I think are more worthy than the life of the church. Let me just put this, it's a pretty blunt question, "Is church worth it for you?" The reason I ask that is because Paul, who wrote the letter of Ephesians, some of the words that we just read here in Ephesians chapter 4, Paul clearly thought it was worth it. Being a follower of Jesus, planting churches, starting up new churches, it cost Paul so much. He had stones to hold him, he was shipwrecked, he was beaten, he was rejected, and here, verse 1, looking at it with me, keep your Bible open. He starts chapter 4 by saying, "As a prisoner for the Lord." He's just dropping it in there. He's just reminding you, "Hey guys, remember, I'm writing this letter to you, but I'm writing it in chains. I'm a prisoner for the Lord." I think that's in there because Paul is, he's wanting to throw in a bucket of ice-cold water in your face, and I know right now that sounds really appealing to us. He wants you to wake up. He's saying, "Maybe you're somebody like the church in Ephesus. Maybe you've started drifting a little bit. Maybe you've started kind of sluggish in your walk with Jesus. Maybe church is no longer the priority that you know it should be." Paul is saying, "Hey, wake up. Look what it's worth to me. I'm in prison for being a follower of Jesus. I have chosen mission over comfort. I've chosen generosity over my own financial gain." I think if you go through Ephesians that are courage to go read it, he's saying, "Hey church, see the beauty of the church again. See the beauty of the bride of Christ. I'm writing this to you in chains. Wake up." Belonging to the church for Paul, it's costly, but he writes his letter to say, "It's so worth it." It's just really interesting, man. That's the context. What is it that he wants to wake us up to? What is it that he really wants us to hear here in chapter 4? Look at it with me. Verse 3, "He writes, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit. Make every effort to keep unity." Unity. You know, for Paul, pursuing unity in the life of the church was worth everything. It was worth suffering for. It's so interesting. He doesn't say, "Hey church, make some effort sometimes." You know, once a month, make a bit of effort for the unity of your church. Make the occasional effort. Give a little bit towards the unity of the church. He doesn't say any of that. He says, "Make every effort with everything you have. With everything that God has given you, with this life that you have, the limited time you have on earth, with all the blessings that God has given to you, make every effort with everything you have to maintain." To maintain the unity of the church. Why is it so important? I don't know how you dance to that. Why do you think it's so important to Paul that we seek unity? I think it's this. The moment we stop seeking unity is the moment we stop believing the gospel. I want to say that again. I really want you to hear it. You know, our unity, our oneness that we experience in the life of the church as believers and followers of the Lord Jesus, those who believe in the good news that by faith in Jesus' accomplished work, we believe we have been brought into union with God Himself. At you and I, we actually know God. We don't just pray up to an empty ceiling. We pray our prayers to a living God who we are united to. We have relationship with. I mean, John 17, that's what Jesus says in the garden. I'm just going to read this. Can you hear it in the mic a little bit? Okay, all right. John 17 in the garden, Jesus prays for you. He prays for me. He prays for the church. If you're discouraged this afternoon, go home tonight and read John 17. see Jesus kneeling down praying for you because Jesus o y pwsy treated wneud pan ei sy'n dda esprush dar bi tak try ynогоillai y uży Steph 16, ac y bu ddygedgla mewn fyrddel MarchioStopd Majdol a golyll ce pr睡 yn a y pwodraedd Ayoddi $ldi cael ei rhyniliw Prodeb frinhaill AT yeni Shufa, safdo b 코로나 reformailloddi betho wybraedd yn unedair a'r pwydraedd yn unedair y pwydraedd y pwydraedd ymgylwyd, bwydraedd y unedair y pwydraedd yn unedair ymgylwyd, a'r pwydraedd yn unedair y pwydraedd ymgylwyd, a unedair y pwydraedd yn unedair y pwydraedd. Bwydraedd, gydol, gydol, gydol, gydol, gydol, gydol, gydol, gydol, gydol y pwydraedd y pwydraedd y pwydraedd y pwydraedd y pwydraedd. Bwydraedd y pwydraedd yn unedair y pwydraedd, Źw preocup a lath phlusywn yn gweithio beth eu gwneud i ddatbly Tún. Treatyion yr codi bod chi bywoughs a petundaul ac chiっau mutationan a natydd yn g یہau bod ddedd yn gallu Demon o Gothym drofeldench mewn tuna honiadwch byddai fel ac unid. Grapes a rhywun 'Nsen nhwcommerce – canfysrat yn o eich dwi gyda beth a brewn Mae'n p graduates加入u 809 o reelau anwau hyderwyn beth racneu fe Gimmeeth Bydd pay dress lwn beth a yw gwiek benn, mewn urcommikts mity pethau a powder�� shared neu i'm a utwna hynnyedd, cael yr Κrewbilli toid supportedau ac y Бi yn Lydwr hynny a'r це wneud ei'r drafgodaeth a wedi'r rhan ddoderdd Medh'n instru mefyd yn gwlu a wneud'r CR swrdd a rhind yn ybyg chi'n Ond Couldaethau a gykaethBayad a hynny hynny yn ch hynny eisiau a wneud hynnyr, ach chi wrthb bob unig ac memon honig neu fel, acfer doudwywriaeth. wchyn i fyrnyg yn ei fydd i gynhot. E niewais yw'n sydd hynny, mae'rnya'n sydd wedi eisiau fy нез unr sofais. Bewch chi neu. Eraill. Prosynniig wedi yr hynnych ymrunningol ddingan y�� y byg am synwar'i gyningaadau ni hunuti getting Corea Badeath elir a'w ywy'n syétaitau ni ' Hotstäu' ' stressful to down' eich llingwodr suremon yellow a Howack mywas? ' one holy catholic and apostolic church' ' we acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins' ' we look for the resurrection of the dead' ' and the life of the world to come' ' are men' ' just two things I want to draw out of these few lines' ' if we want to live in obedience to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 3' ' and make every effort to keep the unity in the life of our church' ' two things' ' I think we need to remember what we are and we need to remember what we will be' ' what we are and what we will be' ' first thing, what we are' ' according to the creed, there are four markers of a truly unified church' ' we just read them' ' one holy catholic and apostolic' ' and just for the next few minutes' ' I just want to unpack those four things' ' the first one to quote people we are one' ' do you guys remember that song?' ' ' woke up some few years ago' ' we are one' ' let's just sit in this a minute' ' the gospel has truly genuinely united us' ' if you are a believer here today' ' we are one' ' we are family' ' because the Bible says that before you were a Christian' ' you were cut off from the source of life itself' ' Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 12' ' says at one time you were separate from Christ' ' at one time you were living in rebellion against Him' ' at one time you were cut off from the life of God himself' ' without hope, without God' ' I was given the reminder of what that life can look like' ' just last week I was speaking to a woman who just felt like she had no hope whatsoever in this world' ' she said there's just nothing worth living for' ' devastating to hear' ' somebody, like somebody made in the image of God' ' saying that they don't think anything is worth living for' ' nothing in this world she was telling me has satisfied her' ' nothing has brought the hope, the joy, the pleasure' ' that she is seeking' ' she's desperate' ' she's in a desperate place' ' maybe that's you' ' maybe you've come into this room this afternoon' ' and you're in a desperate place' ' and I just want to encourage you, if that is you' ' being in a desperate place before God himself' ' is the best place to be' ' because you are reminded of that dependence' ' that you need that you need to lean on Him' ' that if you are desperate and without hope' ' come to the one who can fill you' ' come to the one who can give you hope' ' because this world will leave you without hope' ' I'm sure I don't need to preach on that too long' ' you probably know that already' ' this world will leave you without hope' ' if you can chapter 2 verse 13, the next verse' ' for those who are now in Christ Jesus' ' it's on the screen' ' for those who are in Him united to Him' ' one with Him those who are once far away' ' that was me, was that you?' ' once far away have now been brought near' ' by the blood of Christ' ' I love that' ' the gospel says you didn't have to climb to be near to God' ' you didn't have to build up some sort of moral behaviour' ' you didn't have to earn your way into the presence of God' ' you were brought near' ' gathered' ' that's what we see at the cross' ' Jesus comes down' ' He gives up his life' ' he brings us to Himself' ' we're found, we're lifted, we're held, we're united' ' the gospel finds us' ' and so the gospel has brought us near' ' but there's also this tension in that the gospel continues to bring us near' ' we've been brought near and we're continuing to be brought near' ' hands up if you ever been on one of these' ' man I'll be able to tell from where you're sat' ' that's a space ball, I mean that's an AI one, it's literally in space' ' it did not understand what I was trying to ask it to make' ' but you know these water parks, you can't just like a big funnel' ' you go round and round and round and eventually' ' you're kind of always moving towards that centre point' ' by the way don't look at that image too close to you' ' that man actually has three arms' ' this could be bothered to keep trying to fix it' ' anyway, space ball let's get why are we showing this' ' I think the Christian life is a little bit like being flung into one of these' ' let me explain why' ' you've been brought near' ' if you're in the space ball, nothing can stop you' ' if you're on that you're heading towards the final destination' ' no matter how I'm trying to grab at the side, jumping off the floor or whatever' ' you are you're moving, you're constantly moving forward to the end point' ' and if you're a Christian you have been brought near' ' and nothing can separate you from him' ' you know in John chapter 10 Jesus says that no one can snatch his people out of his hand' ' there's no power, wrongsate, no height, no depth' ' no depth, not even death itself can separate you from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ' ' if you are a Christian you are, you can be confident you know where your story's going' ' it's going forward, it's being drawn ever nearer to him' ' and it is being brought ever nearer' ' you are being brought near' ' second Peter chapter 3, you are, you will grow in the knowledge of the Lord as you walk with him' ' Romans 8 you will be conformed more and more into the likeness of Jesus' ' growing in the likeness of who he is' ' and of course for all of us, for those of us who belong to Jesus' ' the day that we will see him is growing ever and ever nearer' ' there is a day coming where we will truly see his face' ' but if I was to take this analogy a little bit further' ' if we were all somehow on this space ball' ' you know the whole church, all of church, we're riding this together, that'd be a fun weekend away' ' if we were all on that slide we would all as you individually move ever nearer to the centre' ' what else is happening? You're moving ever nearer to one another' ' you're moving closer to the person next to you' ' and that's the point I'm trying to make, this is what the gospel does' ' it brings us as we are brought nearer and nearer to the Lord' ' we are brought nearer and nearer to one another' ' unity' and that's why I think you know in our reading today Ephesians chapter 4 and verses 15 and 16 have gone on the screen again Paul talks about the church, he talks about Christians as being like a human body where we are the body and Christ is the head Now looking around the room, none of us in the room right now are Lego people you know you can't swap your body and no matter how much you might want to do that or swap your head for a new head no matter how much you might want to do that our head and our bodies are uniquely joined, you cannot separate them we share a central nervous system, we share vessels if you take your head off there's no life to be shared anymore right? it's a basic but powerful analogy that Paul is using here you say that is true in the life of the church verses 3 to 6 He's saying that the church shares in the same life of the head. The head and the body cannot be separated in the flesh and the head and the body cannot be separated in the church, in the spirit because we share the life of the spirit, supernatural union by the spirit. And who's the spirit? God Himself. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We share in His life. This is amazing because what does that mean for you? It means that when you became a Christian, it was the Holy Spirit who brought you into the life of God Himself. And it was the Holy Spirit who joined you to the body of Christ, the church. We cannot separate those two things. You cannot keep going on being a Christian whilst not thinking that you should be joined to the body. You know, if we are divided against one another in the life of the church, we are living as though we want to be divided from the head Himself. We are living like we don't want to be joined to the life that unites us, the one who brings us near. And so, here's the application, I think. It means that it is impossible for any of us to be fully happy in Jesus when there are divisions in the church. It's impossible to be fully happy in Jesus when there are divisions in the church. You know, if there are divisions in the life of the church, what at stake is our joy in Him. And if we have no joy, we start looking at church and we go, "It's not worth it." I'm not getting joy from this. And if we think it's not worth it, then we start thinking, "Maybe I'll go look for help and hope elsewhere and as soon as the church starts doing that, there is no hope for us to see. There's no hope for hopeless people because we, as gods, elect chosen, redeemed people are no longer displaying to the world what true unity looks like." And so, sit your church, verse three, it's such a challenge. Take every effort to keep unity. We need to keep coming back. We need to keep coming to gather around the gospel. We need to keep coming to gather around that reality that brings us to God and to one another. And as we do that, as we continue to grow, as we continue to unite around the gospel, we should see the spirit at work and us making us more generous towards one another. Do you know how generous God has been to you in Jesus? Romans 5, 8, one of my favorite verses, "While we were still sinners, while we were still living a life divided from Him, while we were still looking for hope and help out in the world, while we were still in that position, Christ died for us." God in Christ has been so radically generous to every single one of us. For those of us who trust in Jesus, we should never have to question whether God loves us. Never have to question whether he is a generous God. All we need to do is look to the cross when we see God gave us his best to bring us to himself. And so now, as people who have been united to that God, that God of overwhelming generosity, now by the help of the spirit, we should be looking something like that. We should be looking generous. We should be seeking to show that kind of radical generosity, a generosity that doesn't make sense to one another here in the life of the body. Here's good news. The gospel doesn't simply offer us forgiveness. The gospel offers us the opportunity to also forgive. We get the joy of forgiving one another. In the life of the church, maybe a brother or a sister has said or done or acted in a way that has hurt you, that has stung you. It's really easy. Human instinct, "Ch" don't want to talk about it. Just want to avoid them. The gospel says, "We can forgive." Jesus has already paid the down payment for forgiveness. Now you and I, we get to cash in on that. We get to receive radical forgiveness that we can then share with one another here in the life of the church. Why? Because we are one. We are one with him and we are one with one another, united by the spirit. That's the first thing we need to remember. We are one. Second one is we are holy. We need to remember we are holy. Now, see church, you may well have walked into this room today and you might be going, "Mount, I really, really don't feel holy today." You might not feel holy because maybe sin still has a bit of a hook in your life. Maybe you still feel the effects of sin at work in you. Now, the interesting thing about sin is that sin is the absolute opposite of the gospel. They have the opposite effect, don't they? The gospel unites us to God, unites us to one another, sin separates us, separates us from him, separates us from one another. And even as redeemed people, we can still feel that power at work in us. I mean, I feel that. I'm sure you feel that, so my deep in your bones, you still feel that battle against sin. But the Bible says, "If you belong to Christ, whoever you are, if you belong to Christ, despite sin's effects in your life, you've been made holy." Just think the lecture of the Corinthians where we were about two or three months ago. One Corinthians 1 verse 2, be on the screen, "Paul writes to the church in Corinth, and it's like the best way, if you receive this letter from the Apostle Paul, you'll be like, "Wow, we must be such a great church." He says to the church in Corinth, "To those who have been sanctified," what does that word mean? "Cleanced." You know, you've set apart, purified, dedicated to God. To the church that has been sanctified, how in Christ Jesus you are united to Him, be confident of that church. You are united to Jesus, call to be His holy people. You read the opening of the letter and think, "Man, the church in Corinth must be an amazing church." And then immediately after these verses, what does Paul talk about? "Divisions, major divisions in the life of the church, they're dividing over leadership, they're dividing over sensual morality in the life of the church, they're dividing over idol worship, and on and on the list goes." And the plea of the letter to the Corinthians is, "Come back, come back to the gospel, gather around the gospel again because church, remember what I said in the very opening words of the letter, you are holy." Now clearly there's major sin issues in the church. Things really needed to change in the life of the Corinthian church. But here this, holiness didn't begin with changed behavior, changed behavior, came from being made holy. I want to say that again, holiness didn't begin with changed behavior. They didn't change themselves and then they were made holy. Change behavior came from being made holy. That's the way round it has to be. We are made holy, we are cleansed, we are purified, we are washed clean, and then we can be holy. So let me put this question to you. Do you want to change? Probably every single one of us somewhere deep down says, "Yeah." Does that divisive power of sin still have something of a hold in your life? The gospel says, "Come again to Jesus. Trust in Him, be united to Him, lean into Him, and as you do, be made holy because God's people are holy." And then the call is to then go out and be who you are, church we are holy. Are you a Christian who just finds yourself just keep bringing to old sin, old struggles, the way you lived before you came to Jesus? Prish that to your heart tonight, I've been made holy, I'm righteous in his sight, not because of what I have done, but because of what he has done for me, I've been made right. Christians are those who can be confident. We've been brought into the body of Christ. We've been brought into his family. And why is it then? If that's who we are, why is it we so often go and live off the scraps of sin like beggars on the street when the invitation is to come feast with the King of Kings at the table? Why do we so easily give in to sin? I think it's partly because we forget that we are holy, rebuke sin in your life. Pray. Pray with Jesus, don't listen to the lies. Remember who you are, be who you are. God has made us holy. And as we seek unity, we are one, we are holy, but we're also Catholic. That's our next one. Now, some of you might be going, what? I didn't expect that to be said today. You might be confused to hear that I'm saying we are Catholic. To be clear, we are not Roman Catholic. We don't submit to the church and Rome. We don't submit to the Pope. In fact, we belong to the church that actually protested against the church and Rome. We are Christ. That's what that means. word means when the church and Rome strayed from the gospel the Protestants movement the reprimation began. But we are Catholic. We're not Roman Catholic, we're Catholic. Catholic simply means universal. The church is universal. This is a beautiful truth. Ephesians chapter 1 verses 20 and 23 tells us here it's on the screen that God the Father exalted God the Son. It's a big thing to get your head around. God the Father exalted God the Son and appointed Him, that is Jesus, as the head over everything for the church which it is body. That's what we're just talking about. The fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. Okay, that's one you got to spend about three hours to even begin to try to understand. But what we're reading here is Jesus is the eternal head of the church that spans space and time. It's a beautiful thing to think. I was thinking this just last night. The church began in the mind of God himself and now it is a reality. Before time itself God had a plan and now it's a reality that you and I have been brought into by the blood of Jesus. And so do you know what that means for us? I'm very conscious. It's really hot. We're talking about super heavy theological things. What that means for us in real time right now in Manchester today. It means that as you and I seek the gospel, the unity of the gospel here together, as we gather around the gospel as we live by the life of the spirit, you and I, we are joining with a cosmic family that spans location and tradition and even time itself. We've been brought into a story that is far bigger than any single one of us. John Bradford, we, Matt was talking about John Bradford a few weeks ago. He was a preacher, Christian from the 1500s. He was from Blakely. Anyone here from Blakely? Hands up. Nope, okay. He was from Blakely, which is in Manchester. And John Bradford was burnt at the stake for ironically defending the unity of the church. Ironically burnt by the Roman Catholics who have been named universal in their church. So anyway, the point being, John Bradford was burnt at the stake for defending what we're going to be celebrating a little later. The Lord's table. He was convinced by Scripture, just as we are convinced by Scripture, that the table is for those who have come to Jesus by faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone, who looked to Jesus and see that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient, what we were singing earlier, to pay the debt of our sin. And so now all sinners, wherever we come from, wherever our ethnic, wherever our background, wherever our culture, all sinners by faith can come to Jesus, can be brought near as we depend on him. His sacrifice was enough. That's what John Bradford preached. But before he was burnt at the stake in London, he knelt in a church in this city. I can't find what church it is. No history book records it. But he knelt in a church in this city. And he prayed famously that there would always be true ministers of the gospel here in Manchester. If you're a Christian here in Manchester, you've been brought into the biggest story. God may even use you to be a part of the answer of that prayer that was prayed 500 years ago. But God may use you to go and take the gospel to the other side of the world. And that is so good as well, because we are a universal church. It doesn't matter where we are. We are united. Being Catholic means that we are united with Christians across space and time, location, all of us declaring that Jesus is Lord. And why could we be so confident that that is true? Why could we be so confident that, yeah, we can stake our lives on this message. It's the last point. The last mark of a truly united church is we are apostolic. How are we all doing? It's warming here. Give me a nod of you still with me. Ralph big nod, thanks Ralph. What began with the apostles, those apostles that they're the first followers of Jesus, the ones who God used to begin the church to build the church, what began with the apostles has now, through the ages, been passed down to us, on to the next generation, to the next generation, to the next generation. How, how the apostles' teachings been passed to us? Right here, in this book, in the Bible, all the teachings of the church, all the teachings that the apostles built the church on are here in this book. And so, in simple terms, to be apostolic means to have the Bible as the ultimate source of authority in the life of the church, and even outside the life of the church. Here's the thing. We're talking about unity in the church. And I've been talking a lot about unity amongst us. But maybe sometimes you kind of look out the window and you actually find unity in the church a really hard thing to believe. You look out and there are all shades and colors of all churches out there. You've got churches where they're wearing robes, and other churches where they're dressing like Jimbrose. You've got churches where they're the frozen chosen, then you've got the Carries Maniacs. And you've got a lot of people who are like, "Well, who's right? Everyone seems divided. How can I trust that we are truly actually united?" Here's what I want to say. I think we can be really quick. This is humanity. We can be so quick to point out flaws in other people. Let me just say this. Apostolic, being people of the word, people who love this, who lean on this, who depend on this, who study this, who receive from this, being Apostolic should caution us to make any sort of arrogant claims against other church traditions. Now, hear me clearly. I'm not saying we agree on everything with every other church denomination. We don't. We don't agree with everything. I'm not saying issues like baptism and communion and church leadership and views of the end times, all these things aren't important. They are really important. The Bible has so much to say about these things. But, if the church down the road is holding out the gospel of this book, if the church down the road is preaching Christ and him crucified, if they are holding out the message of hope that he alone is our salvation, if they are calling sinners to repent, to come as you are, but not as stares you are, to allow the spirit of God to work any or life to change you. If they are preaching that salvation comes by faith in Christ alone, then honestly we should just thank God for them. And we should pray for them even if they look a bit different to us. We should be praying that they would continue to hold out the Word of life which this city so desperately needs, nearly 3 million people who don't know Jesus, where are they going to go? Half my family aren't Christians. And two years ago I found out that my cousin who's really not a Christian, that she started going to a church, it blew my mind when I heard it. She started going to this after school club where she was taking her children. And she started going to this local church. Now let me say this, it's not the kind of church that I probably would choose to go to. It's kind of church where I would have some question marks about maybe there a bit of a loose on some doctrinal things. I think there's some health there that needs to be a bit healthier. But when I spoke to the minister at that church and I heard his heart for the lost people in his city, his heart I wanted to just hold out the simple message that Jesus died to save sinners and to call people to put their faith in him. Do you know how much I started praying for that church? Even though it was different to my church because traditions don't save Jesus does. And I just, I wonder, I do wonder if we're all going to be a bit surprised in the new creation. When we stand before Jesus and we look around the body and we go, "Oh, you're here." And when that happens, I can finally bring my friend to an area before Peter and say, "Tell him that I was right." You know, I do wonder. Guys, we hold on to this Bible. We are apostolic. But we hold out the message of this Bible. We hold out the message of Jesus out to the lost. And so the apostles' creed, it shows us what we are. We are a people here united in the gospel. We are one holy Catholic apostolic church. And I'm literally going to just wrap up here some conscious of time. Just last thing I want to say, it shows us what we are but it also shows us what we will be. 'do you know how much damage we could cause against the powers of darkness and evil that are at work here in Manchester if you and I could just stand confidently united in the Gospel?' There's a book called 'The Screw Table Tours' written by C.S. Lewis and it's fiction but it's really interesting. He writes from the perspective of a demon who's training another demon how to be a demon basically like his apprentice. In this book the demon gets a glimpse of the church and he describes the church as being spread through all time and space and rooted in eternity terrible as an army with banners. I love that description. You know, men, women and kids who have all been bought by the blood of Jesus walking out following King Jesus into the battleground to go do battle against sin and death and evil following the King who's already won the battle for us. That's who we are and that's who we will be, the closing words of the nice and creed invite us to see ourselves I think like this. Wake up, don't be sleeping. This creed points us to who we will be. We are resurrection people. It's on the screen. I'm not going to read it again but just notice what it says says we acknowledge one baptism, that picture that we've been, we've died with Christ and we've been raised to new life in him. We look for the resurrection of the dead. That's the end of our story. We know where our story goes and we wait for the life of the world to come. This is where we are going. It points us to our future reality. And right now, I don't know what you brought into this room this afternoon but right now I'm sure every single one of us at points and it's seasons in our life we can so easily feel the sting that this unity can bring. Christians, we can upset each other. We can go through difficult seasons and in our discouragement it can be so easy to just ask ourselves a question, "Here's it even worth it. I feel so discouraged. But if we could just see ourselves in this light, in the light of who we will be resurrected people, no more death, no more death of relationship, no more divisions among us, perfect unity. I think on that day we'll see it was worth it. It was all worth it. And army with banners. That's who we are. We can go out into this week. And we can be confident that we are part of the body that when Satan sees us we leave him shaking in his boots because he sees that we belong to the king, the one who is alive, the one who is set as free, the one who has brought us near and the one who is bringing us home. That's why I want to see. I want to see Manchester one for Jesus. I pray that's your hope and your prayer as well. Let me close with this. Jesus knew the worth of his bride. Do you? He was willing to die for her. Are we going to make every effort to keep the unity of the bride? Let me pray. Oh Lord, we thank you that in the name of Jesus we have been brought near. God, we thank you that though we will want to fire off, once we were though, once we were separate, we were distant from you. God, by your love and your grace, you stepped into the story to redeem us, to bring us near. God, I just pray that by your spirit right now, would the words that we've just been receiving together, God, would they be planted deep in our hearts? Lord, would we truly believe, would you apply this message to our hearts? Help us to be a church that strides after the unity. Help us to be a church that shows the world what it looks like to belong to Jesus. And help us to go out into this week, like that army, to do battle against the powers of evil in this city. Lord, we love you. We thank you for the cross. We thank you for what you've done for us. We pray all these things in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.