Sermon Transcript
This is the second sermon in this series entitled, “A Biblical Examination of the Cultural Marxist Movement”. I want to remind you of two things before we begin. (1) In my first sermon, I stated how we will have a thesis for this entire series. That thesis is, “Cultural Marxism, and all of the ideologies that are associated with it, are both cancerous and incompatible with the Christian faith and message.” We will seek to confirm this thesis by the end of the sermon. (2) The way we will prove this thesis is a very straight-forward approach. As I said in the first sermon, “How we will do this is quite simple, much like examining a hundred dollar bill for a fake, we will begin each session by going through Scripture and reaffirming what we hold as truth and then the second part of each sermon will consist in ‘holding up’ the teachings of Cultural Marxism with the truths of God’s Word. In the light of God’s Word, the errors will reveal themselves.”
Our topic for this evening is biblical unity. When I speak of biblical unity, I am speaking specifically of the doctrine of Christian unity. In our culture today (and in all human history) we see so much brokenness, fighting, division, and animosity. As Christians, the questions we need to be asking are these, what unites us as Christians? What is the basis or foundation for Christian unity? How are we united, or supposed to be united, according to the Scriptures? Thankfully, God’s Word is sufficient to answer these questions.
It is these very answers that the world needs. Look momentarily at Titus 3:3, for context, this is near the end of Paul’s letter to Titus; he is giving final instructions to his fellow worker on how to direct the church in Crete. He is using this verse for a particular reason, but I want to look at one point he makes in this short, yet profound, understanding of fallen men, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” I must ask, has there ever been a moment in human history when this did not describe humans? I remember from a Paul Washer sermon that he quoted someone else, who was describing the constant conflict and wars throughout human history, who said something like, “Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading.” The unity of Christians is one of the many things that separates us from fallen man and helps us stand as salt and light to a broken, divided world. So, we will seek to understand Christian (or biblical) unity under three headings: (1) its reality, (2) its picture, (3) its protection.
Its reality: In God’s providence, the last few sermons through Colossians have really helped lay the groundwork for the reality of Christian unity. Pastor Ernie, last week, expounded upon how it was the Father’s pleasure to, “reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross;” (Colossians 1:20) He also spent time expounding upon propitiation and justification, and what Jesus accomplished for His people on the cross. Today, we sung and were reminded of what Jesus accomplished upon that cross 2,000 years ago, “He took my sins and my sorrows, and He made them His very own. He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone.” Our sins were many and deserving of the wrath of Almighty God, but His mercy truly was much more. As Isaiah 53:4-6 prophesied of the suffering Savior to come, “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging (wounds) we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness, was accomplishing much through the cross of Christ. The NT makes clear that not only did Jesus reconcile the vertical (us to God) through His substitutionary death, but he also did something remarkable to the horizontal (us to each other).
Through Adam’s sin, all of creation was plunged into sin and this led to disunity and hatred amongst his children. But God has reversed this horrible reality by purchasing a people for His own possession who are unified and reconciled to each other. Brothers and sisters, I declare to you that through the Gospel of Jesus Christ true reconciliation has already been accomplished once for all. Let me make this absolutely clear, through the blood of Christ, unity has already been made. Turn to Colossians 3:9-11. Ernie will eventually work his way to this portion of the letter, but we will start here to see Paul explain how in Christ a new unity has already been accomplished. “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him – a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.” Paul had been instructing the recipients of this letter on how live out their new identity in Christ but notice that he points them to ‘a renewal’. He is speaking of the reality of what it means to be in Christ, as he told the Corinthians, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2nd Corinthians 5:17) When anyone looks by faith towards Christ and repents of his sin, God is doing a miraculous thing in bringing forth something new. No matter what sin you have committed, the blood of Christ is sufficient for you. What we also see from these verses is that your very identity is changed, this is why Paul says that in this renewal ‘Christ is all, and in all’. Please notice that all previous distinctions whether they are: covenantal, ethnic, or socioeconomic status (position in the world) are no longer what define you.
For the Christian, his ultimate identity is that he is in Christ. Paul makes this same point in his letter to the Galatians. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27-28) According to Paul, all who are part of this ‘renewal’ have (1) clothed themselves with Christ and (2) are one in Christ Jesus; and notice that Paul declares the result means that ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek … slave or free man … male or female …’.
Its picture: The reality of Christian unity is seen even more clearly in its picture. Let me say first, the NT gives multiple pictures of our unity. According to Ephesians 5:25-33, we are the one bride of Christ and in 1st Corinthians 12:12-13 we are the one body of Christ, “For even as the body is one and yet it has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” But the greatest picture of our unity is the one seen at the Lord’s Table. Think about it for a second brothers and sisters, we have different people from different ethnicities, men and women, and people with different standings in society. We were all raised in different families, with different values and goals, and we have different cultures. So, what unites us though we are all different? The reality that, though we are different, the blood we drink and the body we eat signifies that we all have an equal share on the one life that was laid down to save us from the wrath of God and the same righteousness given to us by God’s grace. The Lord’s Table displays that though we are all different, in one sense, ultimately, we are now all one before God. That is why there is one blood we drink and one body we eat. Notice that we don’t separate people by ethnicities, genders, or socioeconomic status at the Lord’s Table, no, as James White puts it, “This is a Christ space!” All those other identification markers are left out, the only identification at the Lord’s Table is that you are in Christ. At the Lord’s Table we declare the reality of our unity as we have seen from the Scriptures. Justin Martyr said, “We who formerly hated and murdered one another now live together and share the same table. We pray for our enemies and try to win those who hate us.”
One last verse that we declare at the Lord’s Table is the truth found in Ephesians 2 that we, “… who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ… (that) He Himself is our peace who made both groups (Jews and Gentiles) into one … so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” I will also add that Voddie Baucham has an amazing sermon using this passage that is about biblical unity that can be found on YouTube. I believe it is also a chapter in the book ‘By What Standard’, but on YouTube it is entitled “Racial Reconciliation”. The Lord’s Table is a time where we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes, as we are commanded in Scripture, but in our gathering around it, as one body, we declare that He has established peace between all who join in partaking of His blood and body.
Its protection: Having seen how the Lord’s Table is the picture of the reality of Christian (or biblical) unity, the last thing to note is the protection of our unity. Paul states, in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” He is reminding the Ephesian believers of our Christian unity because he had just instructed them on how to walk in a worthy manner towards each other. We are commanded to be humble, gentle, patient, and to have love towards one another so that we can, “be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3) Protecting our unity is at the heart of most of the NT teaching on how we Christians are called to act towards each other. There is much that could be said with regards to this topic; I will simply state that there seems to be two primary ways in which we are called to protect it. (1) By loving each other through service and being patient, gracious, long-suffering, (fruits of the Spirit) etc. towards each other. (2) By guarding the church from dangerous error and false teachers/teachings. I would never want to downplay the significance of the first way, but for the purpose of this series, we will only look at the second way.
In Jude’s epistle, he wrote to his audience and told them, “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” (Jude 1:3) The presence of false teachers and error had so crept into the church that Jude felt compelled to change the subject of his letter to contending against these men. Paul, in Acts 20, called the Ephesian church elders and warned them, “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.” (Acts 20:29-30) The NT gives abundant warning of false teachers and clear instruction on what to do with them and their false teaching:
- “Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.” (Romans 16:17)
- “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15)
- “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!” (Galatians 1:8-9)
To protect the unity of the church, we have to be united in fighting against error that comes into the church through false teaching. As the Galatians learned from Paul, “This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.” (Galatians 6:8-9) Error and false teaching is like a little leaven, if left unchecked it can leaven the whole lump. Paul was willing even to publicly rebuke Peter (though it wasn’t for false teaching) but for acting as a hypocrite and his hypocrisy led others into it as well. We must protect the unity by applying what the NT commands us to do with false teaching. Some of the heroes of the past had strong words on this topic. John Calvin said, “Peace is not to be purchased by the sacrifice of truth.” J.C. Ryle said, “There is one thing which is even worse than controversy, and that is false doctrine tolerated, allowed, and permitted without protest.”
Before we move onto the last portion of this sermon, I want to remind you of some key points we just covered:
- In the Christian church, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as the NT teaches, true peace and reconciliation is an established reality.
- At the Lord’s Table, the only identification marker is being ‘in Christ’. All other identification markers are left out because we are all one in our Lord.
- We are commanded by God’s Word to protect our unity specifically by being united in fighting against error that comes into the church through false teaching.
Having examined the Scriptures to see what Christian (or biblical) unity is, we will now simply hold up the teachings of the Cultural Marxist movement and allow the errors to expose themselves.
My first point from all that we head learned today was, “In the Christian church, through the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as Ephesians 2 teaches, true peace and reconciliation is an established reality.” I will not go through the entire worldview of Cultural Marxism again but if you remember what was said last time, remember that the whole underlying idea behind this worldview is a view of conflict and power dynamics. According to Cultural Marxism, all of society is divided, not into individuals, but into groups that are at constant conflict. The hegemony, or majority-culture, has created everything to amass all power and has oppressed every minority class. This whole worldview stands on the ground of conflict between classes. The Bible clearly has words about conflict and oppression, but when it comes to His bride, the church is a united body of people from every ethnicity whose new identity is being found ‘in Him’. Sadly, we have much case study of what happens when Cultural Marxism is brought into the church. Different authors, conference speakers, pastors, churches, and denominations have allowed this into the church and the results are the same, as James White once said, “There is now much condemnation in the woke church.” That dominate narrative of oppressor versus oppressed ends up choking out the belief that Christ has accomplished peace between different groups. In Cultural Marxism there is no victory over class warfare … there is just class warfare. In summary, if we accept Cultural Marxism and its assumptions of constant class warfare, we will have to reject the reality that Christ has already accomplished reconciliation through the cross; thus, proving that it is both cancerous and incompatible with the Christian faith and message.
My second point was this, “At the Lord’s Table, the only identification marker is being ‘in Christ’. All other identification markers are left out because we are all one in our Lord.” In Cultural Marxism, the individual isn’t a reality, and neither is being allegedly ‘in Christ’. In this worldview your ultimate and supreme identity is found in your group. You are either an oppressor, (part of the hegemony or an ally to them) or you are oppressed. Intersectionality determines how many victim classes you can claim and just how oppressed you are. James White, a great brother in this fight, has taken so much heat for standing up to men like Eric Mason (author of ‘Woke Church’) and Jemar Tisby (author of ‘The Color of Compromise’) when they taught that we should have black spaces and white spaces at the Lord’s Table. These men are deceived by these worldly and hollow philosophies and so seek to bring division into the greatest picture of our unity, the Lord’s Table. In summary, if we accept Cultural Marxism and the doctrines of intersectionality, then we will ultimately have to reject our true unity that we have accomplished at the cross and symbolized at the Lord’s Table; thus, proving that it is both cancerous and incompatible with the Christian faith and message.
My last point was, “We are commanded by God’s Word to protect our unity specifically by being united in fighting against error that comes into the church through false teaching.” As I detailed last time, Cultural Marxism is an empty and hollow philosophy that stands opposed to our biblical worldview. We cannot compromise with it or those who seek to promote it but instead we must be vigorous in our defense against it. Paul said that he destroys arguments and every lofty opinion raised up against the knowledge of God, should we not follow in his footsteps? We cannot go the way of adopting, promoting, or ‘letting it slide’, we must protect God’s sheep by standing firmly against it. In summary, if we accept Cultural Marxism then we will fail in our duty to protect our unity by defending the church from false teaching; thus, proving that it is both cancerous and incompatible with the Christian faith and message.