For our Scripture reading this afternoon, let us turn to Ephesians, Chapter 4. We turn in God's Word to Ephesians, Chapter 4, and we will read the first 16 verses of that chapter, and we do so in connection with Lordsay 21 about the Church. Let us read together out of God's precious Word. from Ephesians 4, verses 1-16. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, they grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make an increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love. Let us also turn to Lord's Day 21, as it is on page 49 in the back of your psalters. Page 49 we have Lord's Day 21, and we will read question and answer 54. There we confess what belief is now concerning the Holy Catholic Church of Christ. That the Son of God, from the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends, and preserves to himself, by his Spirit and Word, out of the whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life, agreeing in true faith, that I am and forever shall remain a living member thereof. Dear congregation, when we look at something, it's always important to distinguish between what is essential and what is not. Essential things are things that are basic elements of something, so that if you take away one of those elements, you don't have that thing anymore. For example, if you have a bicycle, If you take away the wheels, you don't have a bicycle anymore. It can't meet its purpose anymore. You have a bicycle, and you take away the bell on the bicycle, while you still have a bicycle. The bell is useful, but the wheels are essential. We have an appendix in our bodies, may have a purpose, but if that appendix is taken away, you can still live. But if you take away your heart, then you can't live. Your heart is essential, and your appendix is not. Now, when we come to the church, what is essential for the church? What are the essential characteristics of the Church? Things you say, if the Church doesn't have these, then it's not the Church. The Apostles' Creed describes it as one holy Catholic Church. And the Nicene Creed, which is the other creed from the early Church that we subscribe to, speaks of it as one holy Catholic Apostolic Church. It says those four things are the attributes of the church, that if you take away those attributes, you don't have the church anymore. You may have something that people call the church, there may be the name outside a church building, that this is whatever church, but if it isn't characterized by these things, then it is not the church. That may lead us to a question. That if that is the standard, that for a church to be the church, it has to be holy, one, Catholic, apostolic. What can we say as a church? Isn't there so much unholiness and disunity and all those other things? Shouldn't we rather say that this is what the church ought to be? That church ought to be holy and ought to be one? Can we really say that the Church is one and is holy and is apostolic? Well, let us see. In this morning, our theme is One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. That's a quote from the Nicene Creed, One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. We have two points. First, these are God's grace in His Church. And secondly, these are God's calling to His church. First, these four things are God's grace. And secondly, they're God's calling. Last time we said already, when we focus on the church, our first thing is not to go by what we see about the church. Then we can see all kinds of different things, and we can be so confused we don't know what to say about the church. We first have to go not by what we see, but by what God's Word says about the Church. And that's why the confession is, I believe in Holy Catholic Church. I believe means I believe based on the Word of God. Let's take that first attribute. One Church. Unity. If we simply look around, we may say, how can we dare say that, that the church is one? The Roman Catholic Church says it's the church, the Protestants say they're the church, the Orthodox say they're the church, and there's all these people and they have such huge differences between them. How can we say the church is one? If we only confine it to churches of Dutch Reformed origin, there's so many different denominations. How can we say it's one? Well, what does Scripture say? It says, the church in the beginning was one. After Pentecost, we read in Acts 2, all that believed were together, continuing of one accord. And the last verse of Acts 2 tells us, and the Lord added to the church, day these such as should be saved. You may say, what church? He doesn't specify. He doesn't have to say this church, or that church, or the other church, but THE church. Because there is only one church. Christ's church. Someone may say, well, that was then. That was in the days after the Pentecost. Well, what does the Scripture say about the church? Not just then, but throughout time. Remember those pictures. The church is one temple of the Holy Spirit. The church is one people of God. The church is one holy nation, royal priesthood. John 10, last time we saw, the church is one flock in one fold. That it's the one body of Christ. That it's the one bride of Christ. He doesn't have two brides. He doesn't have three bodies. He doesn't have four flocks. He has one. That is a unity rooted in what we read in Ephesians 4. There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. God is one. His work is one. And if the church is His workmanship, then the church is one. Christ, the Saviour, is one. There is no other. And, therefore, the ones He saves, He brings into one, sharing in the same salvation. The Holy Spirit is one. And, therefore, when He dwells within His people, He makes them one. The Father is one. And, therefore, He brings all his children into one family. It's because God is one that the church is one. And that's why you truly belong to the church. Then you have a unity with others who are also living members of the church. You have a bond with other children of God because you're in the same family of God, having the same Father. God has established that bond. See, the unity of the church is not the work of man. It's not created by trying to take all different people and fit them into a, press them into a mold and make them one. It's not by church leaders coming together and ignoring all their differences and saying, now we're all going to be one. That's not how church, how the unity comes about. It comes about through the work of the triune God, bringing into His one flock scattered sheep. It's the work of God. God's grace makes the church one. It's the grace of God that also makes the church holy. If people ask you, what church do you belong to? And you say, I belong to the Holy Church. They look at you and think, oh, there's another one of those holier-than-thou people. People who think they do everything right and look down on everyone else. And yet, that's a confession. One holy church. And if you don't belong to the holy church, it's not the church you belong to. How can there be that claim that the church is holy when you look about and there is so much sin? And there is so much unholiness. And that is so apparent in the lives of the members of the visible church. And when there's enough in church who live perhaps even worse than other people who don't go to church, how can we say that when we also confess elsewhere in the catechism that the holiest have only a small beginning of that new obedience? How can we confess every Lord's Day again? I believe in holy church. Again. That's what the Word of God says. 1 Peter 2, Ye are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. 1 Corinthians 6 says of the church, Ye are sanctified. You have been made holy. Fast sense by God. The epistles call the members of Christ's church saints, and saints are holy ones. For example, Ephesians 1, Paul writes, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. How do we understand that? Something is holy when it's set apart from common use to be devoted to God. I think in the Old Testament there are a lot of things which were pronounced holy. There were spoons in the temple. And those were spoons that were set apart from daily life. You wouldn't use them to eat your dinner. They were set apart to be used in the temple for holy purposes. And so also the church is a people that is set apart from the world to be devoted to God. In that sense, the church is holy. belonging to Christ, then you are consecrated to His use, to Him. How can that be? As a member of Christ this afternoon, you confess, I am so unholy. Right? 1 Corinthians 1 says, By God are ye in Christ Jesus who of God, who by God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. It's saying God makes Christ the sanctification, the holiness of His people. So that when God looks upon you, He doesn't see your unholiness, but He sees the holiness of Christ as if it were your holiness. And in that way, God can look at His church as a holy church, because they're covered in the holiness of Christ, they're washed by His blood. There's also another aspect. If you belong to the Bride of Christ, then the Bridegroom has begun to cleanse you from your sin. He's changed your heart. There's that new desire in your heart to walk to His honor and to please Him. There's that new will to do His will. There's a beginning, a walk of holiness. So, when we confess each Lord's Day, I believe in holy church. It is not something too much to claim. It's the teaching of the Word of God. that the Church is set apart from the world to belong and be devoted to Christ. It's covered in the holiness of Christ before the sight of God, and is renewed by the Spirit to begin to walk in the way of holiness. That holiness is not just for a part of the Church, just some people, but is to characterize the whole church, because that holy church is also the Catholic church. Again, if someone would ask you what church you belong to, and you said, I belong to the Catholic church, what would they think? They would think you go to that local church, St. Vincent, Paul, or whoever else, the Roman Catholic church. And if you went to a Roman Catholic bishop, and said, what is the Catholic Church? He would say, we are the only Catholic Church. Because we are the only church that is unified, and that is spread over all the countries of this world, and that has existed since Christ was on earth, and that forms the majority of those who call themselves Christians. Is that so? A word for Catholic is not in the New Testament. It arose in the second century to describe the church. That word Catholic means related to the whole, to be entire, to be universal, as opposed to being partial, just part of something, or being separate from. The term was used to show that local churches were linked with other true churches. that they were part of that general church in contrast to belonging to sects or heretics or apostate Christians. Catholic came to mean that the church includes all true believers from all different places and throughout time. Catholic means there are no barriers to the Church that exclude any specific type of person from entering into it. The Catholic Church means it is not confined to any particular type or place. Colossians 3 says in the Church there is neither Jew nor Greek circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bonds nor free, but Christ is all and in all." That means that Christ's people in Malawi, in Africa, are essentially the same as Christ's people here, as Christ's people in Siberia, as Christ's people in China, as Christ's people in Holland, as Christ's people in Nepal, or wherever else it may be. It also means that God's people are essentially the same throughout the generations since the church has begun. At bottom, they're the same. That's why I read of a man going to China for business, and he met a Chinese man, and he could not talk any Chinese, and the Chinese could not talk any English, and yet he sensed that that man was a Christian. How do you communicate? So he took a matchstick and he pointed up, then he pointed to his heart, and then he broke that matchstick. Then he pointed up, and he pointed to his heart, and then he set that matchstick as if it weren't broken again. As if to say, God, my heart broke. God, my heart healed. A Chinese man, he recognized it. You could see that there was that recognition. Two such different men, and yet part of that Catholic Church that transcends all cultures. Why is that so? It's the final point, that the Church has that same foundation And that's what we mean when we speak of the church as apostolic. In that word apostolic, children, you hear the word apostle, apostle. And an apostle, they were the ones who followed the Lord Jesus, weren't they? Peter, we heard of this morning. James and John and those other apostles. Paul was also an apostle. And when we say the church is apostolic, it means that the church is founded, is based on the apostles. The young person says, no. The church isn't built on the apostles. The church is built on Christ. That's what we heard some weeks ago. What is it? In Ephesians 2, verse 20, we read, ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. The Apostolic Church is the Christian Church, and the Christian Church is the Apostolic Church, because the apostles were the ones who were eyewitnesses of Christ and his grand work of redemption. And the apostles were commissioned by Christ to establish that New Testament church, to lay its foundation. And they were filled by the Spirit and led into the truth. And the Spirit inspired them to record that teaching that Christ had given them into those books of the New Testament. And those books of the New Testament which were inspired by the Spirit and written by the apostles also serve as the foundation for the church. Together with the prophets, we might say, the Old Testament. What makes a church apostolic is that it is built on the foundation, not of the persons of the apostles. That's what Rome teaches. We're apostolic because we have the successor of Peter as the Pope. It's based on the teaching of the apostles. What made the church apostolic after the Pentecost was not simply that the Apostles happened to be in that church, but Acts 2 says they continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship. Again, this isn't just an ought. The church ought to be grounded on the truth. But we confess the church is grounded on the truth. God roots and grounds his church on the Apostles' doctrine. The Spirit uses that Word of Truth, that Old Testament and New Testament, which the Apostles preached, to call sinners into His Church. And He uses that doctrine to bless and to guide and to change and to renew them. He's the one who gives that love for the Word and to those truths of the Word which are ancient, which aren't just reformed, which don't just go back to the Reformation, but which go all the way back to The Word of God. The Spirit gives discernment to see the difference between what's true and what's false. He causes the sheep of Christ to hear the voice of Christ as it sounds through His Word. His flock is apostolic because it hears His voice in the Apostles' doctrine. What is that teaching? What is that doctrine? What is that foundation? When we read the New Testament, what do we find? Don't we find such a reverence for the Word of God? Don't we find it quoting so often and appealing to the Scriptures? An apostolic church is a Word-based church. And when we read that further, what do we find? We find that they would always point to Christ time and again, don't we? We find Paul, when he went around, he preached Christ and Him crucified. Or in Athens, they heard about that he preached Jesus and the resurrection. They always pointed back to Christ. And when they pointed back to Christ, they also insisted so strongly on that salvation is by grace alone. Because they knew there was nothing that man could contribute because man was corrupt and depraved. They thought that it was by faith alone and not by works. They also thought so clearly that it's about the glory of God. that life and salvation is all to be to the glory of God. Those are those essential teachings of the apostles on which the Church is founded. This, then, is what God makes His Church by His grace. One, holy, Catholic, apostolic Church. Because He unites each member to the one Saviour, sanctifies each by the grace of the Saviour, founds them upon Christ as the Saviour. And in that way, they share in common that grace, together with people of all places and ages. Makes it very personal, doesn't it? We can tend to think of the Church so abstractly. Yes, the Church is one holy Catholic Church. But it all seems so abstract. But that oneness and that holiness is to show itself in the members. And that's why that question is, how do these four characteristics relate to you and to me? Do these things characterize us as members of the Church? We have our names. written in a church membership book, whether it be in this congregation or another congregation, we are part of the church, you would say. But are we part of the church in more than just in name? In other words, are you and I saints? You say, that's something too high to say. And yet, remember what we said to be a saint is essential for being a true member of the Church. And that's so that question comes to us, have we learned to find as unholy ones our holiness in Christ? His holiness as a covering for all my unholiness. Have we learned to approach unto that holy God through Christ? And have we been separated from the world to be devoted to Him? as a spirit being at work in our hearts, giving a hatred for sin and a love for holiness. The Church is holy, its members are holy, if this isn't present in our lives. Even though we may have our name in a membership book, even though that may mean a lot, then we still have everything missing. The Church is one. Spiritual unity transcends all other unities. 1 John 3 says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Is there that bond with those who evidence the grace of God? That you're drawn to those who have a reverence for the Word of God and a humility before Him and a love to Him. And that very grace that you see in them draws you to them. It also relates to that Catholicity, doesn't it? That it's a bond that transcends cultures or backgrounds. It even transcends time. That your friends can be those who passed away before you were even born. And you read in their books. And you recognize in those books that you read the grace of God. And you learn and you profit from those books of men of the past. Because the church is Catholic. not limited to today, but was there also hundreds of years ago. Church is apostolic. You're a living stone, and you're grounded on the Word of God. You're grounded on the center of the Word of God, and that is Christ. And you have no other foundation, and you desire to hear no other message than what the apostles taught. then your first concern is not what you think and feel that other people say, but what does God say. Irrigation of these essential characteristics of the church are essential and they're also essential in the lives of the members and in the hearts of the members. And if they are missing, then everything is missing. If they are lacking, if they are not present, How can we say we're a living member of the body of Christ? They have a name, but not in truth. God, remember last time, God gathers a church to Himself. If you find these things missing, do not be content to simply have your name in the membership book. Do not be content that in baptism God has brought you into the church, but let that reality so weigh upon me. This is what I am to be, but this is what I am not, that it would bring you on your knees before God this day. O Lord, make me what I am not. Cleanse me. Make me holy. Ground me upon that only foundation. Let me be part of that temple filled with the Holy Spirit. Let me be part of that Bride of Christ who knows the love of the Bridegroom. He said these things are essential. And yet, there may be others who say, I do not dare deny the Lord has united me to Christ, When I hear about this holiness, and I hear about this apostolicity, and when I hear about that unity, then I find everything so lacking. And if that's so, then the problems in the church aren't just around you, are they? But they're also with you. And if that is how you feel, then I am glad that you don't just point fingers at others around you. because we are so prone to do so. We can talk about the church and all the ills and all the wrongs in the church as if we had no share in it. As if we were not to blame in any way. But how different when the Lord teaches us, you see, that the problems are not just in others but also in ourselves. And the lack in the church is also due to a lack in my own heart and in my own life. And that's why there's that constant call. for the church to become what it is in Christ. In Christ, the church is holy. In Christ, the members of Christ are holy. And there is that call flowing out of that to be holy. In Christ, that church is one. And flowing out of that is that call to be one in life. And that's why our second point is that the one, holy, catholic, apostolic church, that that's not just a grace, but it's also a calling. The apostolic church is called to be more apostolic. While it's true that the members of Christ are stones in the temple, founded upon the apostles, with Christ as the chief cornerstone, there's still so much learning that is needed. We saw it this morning with Peter. Peter was founded upon that foundation, and yet he had so many misunderstandings that led him in the wrong way, and that is why he had to be grounded more upon that foundation. The Church may be apostolic and yet not be scriptural in every practice and every belief, and that's why the calling today is even when you are grounded on that foundation, to learn more about that foundation, to learn more about the teaching of the Word of God, that your life would become more and more conformed to it, so that it would be less and less in your life, what do I think and what do I feel, and more, what does He say, and discernment in His will, and discernment in His Gospel. That's why Colossians 2 exhorts, As ye therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Founded on him, that calling is not to be unshamed of that foundation, of that doctrine that has been entrusted to you, not to be ashamed of those teachings that you are convinced are scriptural, To love that foundation. To treasure it. To prize it. To rejoice in it. To thank God for it. And to become more and more grounded upon it. And not, as it says in what we read, tossed to and fro as children by every wind of doctrine. Grounded. That calling for individual members is also a calling for the church as a whole. It's a calling for the visible church, isn't it? There's such a danger of shifting away from that foundation. And that's not just today. That was there already shortly, or during the time of the apostles still. Paul wrote a letter. He wrote it to the churches of Galatia. They were churches. See, they're founded on Christ. Yet he is a great concern. And he writes in verse 6 of his first chapter, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. The danger is that those churches which had been founded upon the gospel, the teachings of the apostles, were shifting away to another gospel. and that God's people were being led astray, and that others, that it would show that they had never really been founded upon Christ. How does Paul respond? Does he say that teaching of those people there in Galatia, they still teach about Christ, they still say He came and He lived and He died and He rose, they still say that He's the Savior, they still say that we need grace, they still say that we are to live according to God's will, they still say a lot of things which we hold in common, and so let's not get so upset when they differ in a few things. He says in that same chapter, though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. He said if there is anyone who tries to move you off this foundation, Let that person be accursed, because he is destroying the church. He saw that in these teachers, they were trying to add to Christ. Christ plus our works. Christ plus what we do. And in doing so, they were removing the church from its foundation. He was utterly convinced that the church must remain on that foundation or it will be destroyed. Irrigation, are we also utterly convinced? Have we been so gripped by the law and gospel of the Word of God that we cannot stand departures from those fundamental teachings of the Scriptures that we cannot leave them for the sake of what people may call peace and ease and unity because we realize that that wisdom from above is first true and then peaceful. The challenge that is also today in the midst of so much toleration and so much confusion and as long as Christ is mentioned and everything is okay and as long as people say they're part of the church and everything is okay, in the midst of it all there is that call to hope. to the Word of God and to hate, everything that draws away from the Gospel. That call of the Reformers was Semper Reformanda, which means the Church must be continually reforming, because there's that continual danger of the Church shifting away from its foundation. That call is not to make us sectarians, to make us think that we as a handful of people are the only ones who know the truth and practice it and everyone else is wrong, because that church is also to become ever more Catholic. Paul was also concerned that the Galatian teachers were introducing wrong marks for determining who was a true member of the church and who was not. One of them was circumcision. They said, if you're circumcised, then you're a real member of Christ. And otherwise, you aren't. Or at least, at best, you're second-rate. And that's why Paul stressed in Galatians 3, verse 28, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female, but you're all one in Christ Jesus. To be a Catholic church, means we cannot establish our own man-made criteria for who is a true Christian and who is not. We can have beliefs which are scriptural and which are important and yet realize God may have his people who think differently, for example, about baptism. We may have practices which we are used to and which are good in themselves and yet we cannot make them the shibboleth that determines whether someone's a true Christian or not. We may have one way of worship, and in Africa they may have another way of worship, and yet, also there, there may be a unity with them when you recognize in them that same three things that we need to know to live and to die happily. The Catholic Church, to become more A Catholic Church is to recognize more and more the work of God in different parts of the world. Another aspect of being more of a Catholic Church is to recognize more what you share in common with the Church throughout the ages. Especially today, there's such a great pride that things that can ignore 2,000 years of God's work in the Church It's almost a sectarian idea that we have discovered the truth for ourselves and live as if no one in the past has known it. And that's why we don't have to read or learn from anyone in the past. When we live that way it's most dangerous because the danger is that we will simply repeat the mistakes of the past if we do not learn from the past and God's teaching through men of the past. A Catholic church is a church that recognizes its oneness with the past. A Catholic church is a church that doesn't have generation gaps. The ones who are living learn also from those who have passed away, but also that young and old in the church can have fellowship with each other because they're taught by the same God, the same truths, and they recognize in one another the same grace. Catholic Church is throughout the world and also with no generation gaps. And is that not the calling? The calling for us today. And it's in the way of the Church being one or being apostolic, Catholic, but also beholding. It's a calling as well, isn't it? A call to holiness. A calling that rests on us all by virtue of our baptism. There God already says, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Especially rests when we are living members of His temple, living stones. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. It's the very receiving of the grace of God. It's that grace of God which is the force behind that call to holiness. For example, in 2 Corinthians 6, we read, "...come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and I will be a father unto you." And then it says, "...having these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." That is a call, as members of the Church, to holiness in life. If you're a saint, you'll feel so much sin within you, so much unholiness, so much self-centeredness rather than devotion to God, so much focus on your own ease rather than His glory, such dishonoring of Him and failing to be what you ought to be. And that's exactly why this is a continuing call to holiness. And it's a call that's to lead you then back to Christ as that Bridegroom who shed His blood to wash and to cleanse His Bride from her sin and her defilements. And it's the more that you know of that washing and that cleansing, the more powerful a witness that is to the truth of the Gospel, to the grace of God. It's not only a personal call, but also for the church as a whole. It's a painful thing. When a short while ago a research institute in America had to conclude that religion is gaining ground, but morality is losing ground. It's a painful thing when a leading evangelical minister has to write one of the greatest weaknesses may be the great weakness of the Church today is the absence of radical godliness that would set us apart from the world. It's a painful thing. And also, among us and in Reformed churches, there may be so much profession of being a believer, and yet so little holiness. So little godliness. So much conformity. Cannot do. Cannot be. The Church is holy and therefore must be holy. And if it's well, the desire of your heart is to be holy. Because He's changed your heart. And that's why you're burdened about your unholiness. And pray, O Lord, cleanse me. holiness, oneness. And when those things, holiness, leads also then to oneness. We reverse the order in our second point, don't we? We began with unity in the first point, and now in our second point we end with unity. And that's to show that the more grounded on the Word of God, and the more holy the more true unity there will be in the Church. True and spiritual unity of spiritual people in the truth. At first sight, those graces may seem to divide. Faithfulness and love for the truth will divide families, may divide congregations, may divide friends. And it divides between those who love the truth and those who don't. Holiness may also divide It may divide between those who love holiness and those who don't. But it's that holiness and that love for truth and love for the teaching of the apostles which also gives true unity. It's when sheep hear the voice of the Good Shepherd and follow Him. It may mean leaving certain others, but it also means joining with others who also hear the voice of the Shepherd and follow Him and want to go in His way. And that is what gives the greatest unity. And that is the call also, individually in the first place, to pursue that unity. that involves what Philippians 1 says, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Or what Philippians 2 says, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not only at the things of yourself, but also have a concern, it says, for the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2 says. That means, involves what we read in verse 3 here, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. Endeavoring. Do we endeavor? Do we put effort in? to keep that unity. Do we seek that unity, not only within the congregation, but also outside the congregation with others, in humility, and love, and concern, with patience for others? Unity, so need it. It relates not only to individuals, but also as a calling for churches, isn't it? Ought it not trouble us that there is so much brokenness in the visible church? Is that true unity not something to seek? Not simply to write off congregations, to write off denominations, but to seek that true, spirit-worked unity in the churches. to come on our knees before God, that God would work in all the different churches, in all the different denominations, and that He would clear away all those obstacles and all those barriers of our own ideas, and of our own opinions, and of our own practices, and that He would lead into that true unity, which is rooted in that fellowship with Him, the one, only, true God, Christ Jesus, whom He has sent. God's grace is what makes a church united, holy, Catholic, and apostolic. He's the one who places scattered sinners upon that one foundation, and unites it, and sanctifies it, and blesses it. And it's flowing out of that grace that that calling comes to be what you are. And that's why there's no ground for defeatism that looks at the condition of the church and thinks, how can we ever press people into that mold of being holy and Catholic and one and founded on that foundation? And you realize you cannot do so and you despair. You realize there's a God who gives that grace. At the same time, it comes with that calling to pursue it. to seek it, to desire it, to experience it, to live it, so that the world would indeed see there is indeed one, only, holy, catholic, apostolic church. Amen.