Sermons

The Offering Is Our Duty (October 25, 2026)

October 28, 2026 by Ian Calhoun

A sermon by Ian Calhoun on 1 Corinthians 16:1–4
Hot Springs Reformed Church · Hot Springs, SD

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 16:1–4

Please turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. The title of our sermon today is “The Offering Is Our Duty.” Starting in verse 1:

Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem; and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Introduction

So why this passage? We have recently added a time for offering in our public worship, which we will be doing shortly after the sermon. So we thought this would be a good opportunity to teach and explain why we have an offering and what it is for. This passage in 1 Corinthians 16 is probably the clearest instruction in the New Testament on what offerings should look like today for a Christian.

Offerings perverted, but not wicked

In our current culture, the idea of giving money to the church can almost be laughable to some people. The common worldly narrative is that churches are nothing more than financial scams, thieves tricking elderly women into giving away their last dollars so a wealthy pastor or priest can buy a private jet while his people can barely afford groceries.

While there have been wicked churches and wicked men abusing the offerings people make for their own personal enrichment, that is not because offerings by themselves are wicked. Scripture explicitly condemns leaders who exploit vulnerable people to get rich. Proverbs 22:16 warns us:

He who oppresses the poor to make more for himself
Or who gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.

God sees when men misuse the ministry to crush the poor for personal gain, and He promises it will lead them straight to ruin.

Consider modern marriage. Our culture has deeply perverted it from God’s original design, through same-sex unions, no-fault divorce, ignoring male headship, and so on. Yet we do not throw marriage away. The problem is not with the institution of marriage; the problem is with how man has twisted it. The same is true with offerings. Just because man has sometimes perverted them does not mean they are wicked. They, like marriage, are good and glorious. If any evil flows from them, it is because we have distorted them from God’s original purpose and meaning. Proverbs 3:9–10 commands us:

Honor the LORD from your wealth
And from the first of all your produce;
So your barns will be filled with plenty
And your vats will overflow with new wine.

When we do offerings according to the Word of God, Scripture paints a beautiful picture, the opposite of the world’s.

An offering, not a donation

Along this line of perverting them from God’s original purpose, we have to understand the difference between making an offering to the Lord and simply giving a gift to a religious nonprofit. When the treasurer passes the offering bags around today, you are not being asked to give a gift to this church. The local church is not merely a worldly charity, and this is not a common financial donation. It is a holy collection for the saints commanded by Christ. When you place your money in those bags, you are making an offering directly to the Lord. Let us read Malachi 1:11:

“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense is going to be offered to My name, and a grain offering that is pure; for My name will be great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.

Malachi is showing us that under the new covenant, true worship would spread to the Gentiles, who would offer pure spiritual sacrifices of prayer, praise, and substance to the Lord. Malachi gives us a powerful picture of what an offering is meant to signify to God.

A gift is something you give to an equal out of your own personal discretion. You can give a gift whenever you want, to whomever you please, and however you see fit. But an offering is a tribute you bring before your King. It is a commanded ordinance of the Lord’s Day worship. When we treat the offering as merely giving a gift to a religious nonprofit, we strip it of its holiness and its power. The offering is not the act of financing a business. It is an act of worshiping the living God with our earthly substance.

So when those bags pass before you after we conclude this sermon, do not look at them as a financial transaction, or a tax, or a donation to a religious nonprofit, but see those bags as an offering of thanksgiving. God does not need your money, but He does command you to worship Him. He is correcting our hearts so that we desire to open our hands before our holy King.

To fully understand how Christians bring a tribute to the Lord, we have to look back at how God’s people have always done this. We have to see how the law taught us to rightly align our hearts to God’s, so that now, in the liberty of the gospel, we can truly worship our Lord.

1. The Continuity of the Collection

This brings us to our first point: the continuity of the collection. Let us get back to 1 Corinthians 16. Look at how Paul begins here in the first half of verse 1: “Now concerning the collection for the saints.” Paul is not making up something new. He did not say, “Starting now, there will be a collection for the saints.” He is just assuming there will be, because there always has been.

This is not just for New Testament worship. Paul knows his Old Testament very well, and he is drawing a direct line to historic Old Testament worship. In ancient Israel, God had set up the tithe, which was mandatory. This tithe was used for taking care of the temple, the priests, and the poor among them, the widows and the orphans. In essence, it was mandatory for God’s covenant people to take care of one another. As we read in Numbers 18:21:

“To the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they perform, the service of the tent of meeting.”

And in Deuteronomy 14:28–29:

“At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your town. The Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and the alien, the orphan and the widow who are in your town, shall come and eat and be satisfied, in order that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.”

General equity

So this raises a question: if the old national laws of Israel and the temple system are no more, then why are offerings still happening in the church every Lord’s Day? The answer comes down to understanding general equity.

General equity is the foundational moral principle underneath God’s Old Testament law. In everything God commanded in the Old Testament law, God revealed a moral truth. And since God is perfectly just and perfectly righteous, each moral truth reveals His personal character. So while specific methods might change, the general principle, or moral truth, behind it never changes. God is always the same. John Calvin wrote on general equity:

Equity, as it is natural, cannot but be the same for all. And therefore, this alone ought to be the proposed goal, rule, and limit of all laws. For the statement of Moses, although it varies from our civil law, yet agrees with that rule of equity.

In other words, Calvin is saying the specific civil laws change, but God’s standard of justice never does.

For example, in your house there is probably a rule that prohibits your three-year-old child from sticking anything into an electrical socket: you shall not touch any electrical socket. When that child grows up and turns 23, the literal, strict rule has expired. He is free to touch an electrical socket, because he now understands how it works and uses it correctly. But what was the general equity, the underlying principle of the rule? Protect human life and prevent the destruction of a home. That principle never changes. Even though the application can change, the moral truth does not.

Let’s look at a specific example from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 22:8:

“When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone falls from it.”

A parapet, in our modern English, is a railing. In this building code God commanded for Israel, He is revealing a specific principle: if you build something that is a potential danger to someone else, it is your duty to make it safe, or safer, for other people. Otherwise, you will be at fault. This is where we get the idea of having a railing along stairs or balconies, a fence around a pool, or a cover for a well. All of this is driven by the underlying principle to preserve and protect human life. While the application has changed, the moral truth has not.

This raises another question: how do we know this is how we are to read and understand the Bible? Because that is how the writers of the New Testament constantly interpret the Old Testament. For example, in 1 Corinthians 9 Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4. Starting in verse 8:

I am not speaking these things according to human judgment, am I? Or does not the Law also say these things? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. (1 Corinthians 9:8–14)

So what did Paul just do here? He took the general equity of an Old Testament agricultural law and applied it to show that a gospel worker deserves to be financially supported.

So when Paul turns to the Corinthians and says, “Now concerning the collection,” he is doing the exact same thing. He is looking at the Old Testament system of mandatory tithes and taxes for Israel’s worship and pulling out its timeless moral truth. The church, and the spreading of the kingdom through the proclamation of the gospel, still require financial means to operate. The saints are morally commanded to support the new house of God and its ministry: the church, the elders, and the deacons. The saints are still morally commanded to support the poor among them, the widows and the orphans.

The mandatory collection in the Old Testament was a shadow, like a father’s household rule for his three-year-old child. The collection in the New Testament is the fulfillment. The child is now 23 and makes weekly offerings freely, because he desires to obey God the Father and live a righteous life.

2. The Principle of Preparation and Proportion

This brings us to our second point, the principle of preparation and proportion. Let’s continue with 1 Corinthians 16, looking at verse 2:

On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.

Now we are getting into the meat of the sermon. Here in verse 2, Paul lays out the blueprint for how Christians are to make their offerings. He reveals the when, the where, and the how.

When: the first day of the week

First, Paul addresses when these offerings are to happen. Look at the timing of these collections: “on the first day of every week.” We know that the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, as Jeremy pointed out. Paul is commanding that our Lord’s Day gathering for public worship is to include the collection for the saints. This is entirely consistent with the timing of worship we find in the Old Testament, as we read in Numbers 28:9–10:

“Then on the sabbath day two male lambs one year old without defect, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and its drink offering: This is the burnt offering of every sabbath in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering.”

Where: private preparation and public presentation

Second, Paul addresses where this is happening. Continuing in verse 2, he says, “each one of you is to put aside and save.” In the original Greek, the phrasing implies a deliberate two-step process for worship. This offering starts with private preparation, individually at home, throughout the week. We see the heart of this preparation in Leviticus 27:32:

“For every tenth part of herd or flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth one shall be holy to the LORD.”

But this private preparation is designed to end with public presentation. We bring what we have privately prepared and corporately cast it into the church’s treasury, just as God commanded His people in Deuteronomy 16:16:

“Three times in a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.”

How: as he may prosper

And lastly, Paul addresses how we are to give. He gives a specific proportional measurement: “as he may prosper.” The individual amount is distinct to each person, tailored to your household’s wealth, your age, and the stage of life you are currently in. The amount is unique to the individual and directly tied to how much God has materially blessed your labor. As we continue reading in Deuteronomy 16, now verse 17:

“Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you.”

Matthew Henry captures this perfectly when he writes:

They were to lay by as God had blessed them, in that proportion. The more they had, through God’s blessing, gained by their business or labour, their traffic or work, the more they were to lay by. Note, God expects that our beneficence to others should hold some proportion to his bounty to us. All we have is from God; the more he gives (circumstances being considered), the more he enables us to give, and the more he expects we should give, that we should give more than others who are less able, that we should give more than ourselves when we were less able.

Paul is using the general equity of the mandatory tithe from the Old Testament law as his blueprint for free, voluntary offerings under New Testament grace. While the outward application looks different, the underlying moral principle remains completely unchanged. Under the old covenant, God used the rigid law of the ten-percent tithe to train His people like young children. But under the new covenant we have grown up in the gospel. Now that the law has been written on our hearts, we give voluntarily. We look directly at the cross of Jesus Christ, who gave His entire life as an offering for us, not because He had to, but because He freely chose to. It is the liberty of the gospel that compels us to give. No longer are we bound by the shadow of a mandatory law to give a strict tenth. Now, in the clear light of the gospel, our hearts cheerfully desire to give in abundance for the expansion of the kingdom of Christ.

Planned, not last-minute

This brings us to the end of verse 2, where Paul says, “so that no collections be made when I come.” He is calling for deliberate thought and orderly religious practice to govern this part of our worship. This requires real discipline and organization.

To apply this directly to our lives: making an offering on the Lord’s Day is not some last-minute thing we throw together on our way out the door to church. Each offering is to be prepared throughout your week as you labor. In fact, a primary motivation for your labor should be the preparation of your offering for the coming Lord’s Day. Practically, this means knowing your household budget. It means looking at your income and making God’s portion a priority over non-essential spending, like vacations, entertainment, or the constant pursuit of having the latest and greatest version of everything. You do this private preparation so that you are fully ready to present your offering in our public worship to the Lord. Remember, we don’t have to make an offering. We get to make a joyful offering to our Lord and King.

3. The Principle of Accountability

Our third and final point is the principle of accountability. Let us now see how Paul concludes his instructions in verses 3 and 4:

When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem; and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.

There’s a shift here in Paul’s writing. He is moving from the theology to the administration of the collection. The church handles not only the collection of the offerings but also the use of those offerings. Paul is establishing two principles for the church’s collection: first, congregational approval, and second, accountability.

Congregational approval

Let us look closer at verse 3, where Paul says, “whomever you may approve, I will send them.” Paul knows that the authority to select the right men to handle the collection belongs to the local congregation. Paul does not tell them, “Give me your collection, and I will do what I determine is best.” He knows this power is assigned only to the local church. This is entirely consistent with what we see in Acts 6:3 in regard to selecting the first deacons:

“Therefore, brethren, select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.”

Accountability

The handling of the collection is never to be done by one individual. It requires congregational oversight, both to avoid any potential temptation and to protect against false accusations. Having multiple eyewitnesses is how we protect the collection and the ones handling it.

Paul continues, “with letters to carry your gift.” In the ancient world these letters served as a paper trail. They proved authorization, helped prevent fraud, and verified these men as the church’s true representatives.

Let’s continue with verse 4: “and if it is fitting for me to go also, they will go with me.” Paul is again recognizing the church’s authority over the matter. He does not say, “I will go also.” No, he says, “if it is fitting for me to go also,” leaving the final say entirely up to the local church. Paul is setting the example of how each local church is to handle the offering in an ethical, professional manner. As we read in 2 Corinthians 8:20–21:

taking precaution so that no one will discredit us in our administration of this generous gift; for we have regard for what is honorable, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.

The church leadership must be honest before God, but also in the sight of men, which requires a real level of transparency and order. This is why we have set up a formal treasury with a treasurer. We do not hand the money to be counted and recorded by just one individual. We have at least one elder accompany the treasurer in the counting, and then we verify that the exact amount ends up in the correct bank account. We do this, ensuring that every dollar is accounted for, so that we, the church, are using the offering precisely for the advancement of the gospel, the honorable maintenance of its ministers, and the diaconal care of our vulnerable saints. We have a duty to make sure we do things in a way that protects Christ’s church from slander, so that the gospel is not hindered because of our apathy.

Conclusion

So as we close, I want you to remember these three points we learned from Paul:

The offering is a historical, continuous moral duty.
It is a deliberate, prepared act of Lord’s Day worship.
It is to be handled with the highest standard of biblical accountability.

Our confession reminds us that while the gospel frees our hearts from legalistic bondage, it does not free us from Christ’s appointed order. The elements of public worship are not left to human invention; they are instituted by God Himself. Therefore, when we bring our substance today, we are not performing an act of optional charity, but a commanded ordinance of the Lord’s Day. We bring a holy tribute, prescribed by our King, to be joyfully rendered by His subjects in the courts of His house.

Let us now transition from learning from God’s Word to actually applying it and living it out. Let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You for this opportunity to learn from Your Word. Lord, we thank You for Paul and his teachings on proper worship on the Lord’s Day. Lord, work on our hearts so they better align with Your giving nature and loving Spirit. As we come to our time of offering, set our hearts and minds on Your glory. Accept our offerings not as works, but as thanksgiving for Your works. Give wisdom to the leadership of this church to be good stewards of the saints’ collection. Help us to use these offerings for Your glory, for Your kingdom. Bless these offerings, that through them more would come to know Christ. Help our hearts, Lord, to view our things not as our own but as Yours. You bless us with abundance, Lord. You are too good to us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Copyright notice

(Editor’s note: This transcript may have been lightly edited for clarity and/or condensed for internet attention spans.)

The Tools of Unity (October 18, 2026)

October 21, 2026 by Jeremy Isaac

A sermon by Jeremy Isaac on Ephesians 4:1-6
Hot Springs Reformed Church · Hot Springs, SD

Introduction: Unity Is Harder Than It Sounds

You can open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4.

Last week we began our study of Christian unity. We all know that unity among believers is a good thing. In fact, we’ll sing Psalm 133 at the end of the sermon today: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” It’s easy to sing a song, or to say we should be unified. It’s much harder to know what that looks like, and harder still to actually do it. Being unified in the face of normal, everyday interpersonal messiness is hard at times. Maintaining unity when we are sinned against is certainly difficult. And being unified in spite of theological differences can certainly be complicated. But that is the unity we are called to.

As we study this, I have no doubt God will give us opportunities to practice it in the coming weeks. It’s been interesting, just the things that have arisen in the last couple weeks personally, opportunities to actually put what we’re studying into practice. I say that to encourage you: as we go through this, take it to heart and consider it, and then, when God gives you opportunities to practice it, be ready. Because He may.

I said last week that our goal for this series was to understand what unity actually is (to get past the lazy platitudes and understand what God is calling us to) and also to know practically how we should conduct ourselves in pursuit of that unity. We still haven’t nailed down a tight definition for our purposes; we may get to that next week. But today we’ll talk about more of the practical side: how we should conduct ourselves as we pursue unity. And I think that will also help us start to see the vision of what that unity actually looks like.

So let’s begin by reading our passage, just the first six verses of Ephesians 4.

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:1–6

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 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.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Review: The Requirements for Unity

Our focus today is verse 2. But before we dive in, let me very briefly recap last week, when we looked at the requirements for Christian unity.

Unity requires a calling, a mission of sorts. Verse 1 reads, “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” We need a common mission in order to have unity. This is why we spent time a few months ago on the dominion mandate and the Great Commission: it is only when the church understands this divine mandate that practical unity becomes possible, because we are actually working together toward something. In Philippians 1:27, Paul says “with one mind” (that is, unity) “striving together for the faith of the gospel.” And we noted that our view of last things, our eschatology, makes this even more important. If we believe the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and that this will happen through His church, not in spite of His church, then obviously we need unity, and obviously He intends for there to be unity in order for that to come to pass.

Unity requires diligence. In verse 3 he says, “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit.” It’s hard work. After all, you don’t really need diligence for things that are easy.

Unity requires preservation. We are to be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit. This was our third point last week. We already have unity in an objective sense. God is already building us into one temple; He is already building us into one body. That’s the objective reality, and that’s why we are told to preserve it. Unfortunately, we don’t always act like it, and that is what we are called to do. And there is still an element of striving toward greater unity and toward actually demonstrating that unity. We see that in verse 13, where Paul says, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith.” So in one sense we are still striving, seeking to attain a greater unity of the faith. But at the core, we are seeking to preserve a unity that is already there.

Unity requires truth. Verse 13 again: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” Unity must be based on actual truth. Many people wrongly assume we achieve unity by subtraction, that we just take away the things we disagree about so we can have unity. But it is only by focusing on the truth that we can have unity. Doctrinal minimalism, as we called it, does the opposite: it takes away opportunities for unity. You can’t unite around nothing.

The absence of conflict is not unity

And I’d like to note something here that I don’t think I said very clearly last week: the absence of conflict is not the same thing as unity. It’s a good place to start. If you are unified, there shouldn’t be conflict. But simply to equate the two would be simplistic. You may not have conflict because you’re simply apathetic, or because self-interest has motivated you to avoid it. The lack of conflict does not mean unity. At times we may need simply to avoid conflict in order to preserve the opportunity for unity. But the absence of conflict is not the actual goal. The goal is unity.

So today we move to verse 2, and we’ll look at what I’ve called the tools of unity. (I think I mentioned this last week.) Next week we’ll get to the doctrines of unity. If you’re keeping notes, there are four points.

1. Humility

Point number one is humility. If you have the King James, it may read lowliness. Humility is, to use that word, a lowliness of mind that values others above oneself. It is a sense of our own moral littleness.

The word all precedes humility as well: “with all humility.” I think this is expressed well in the NIV. I don’t quote the NIV often, but here it renders it “be completely humble,” which I think is a good explanation of what’s being said.

In Philippians 2:3–5, Paul explains to the Philippians what humility looks like:

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

And of course, we know this was the attitude of Jesus, who expressed humility many times, perhaps most notably in John 13, when He washed the disciples’ feet, though there are many other examples we could cite.

Abram and Lot

But in an effort to give us a picture of what this looks like, I thought it would be good to go back to Genesis. You can turn there if you’d like: Genesis 13. We have a good example of humility here, I believe. I think it’s helpful at times to find narrative examples of what we’re trying to understand, because they tend to be easier for us to grasp than a bunch of words and definitions. So we’ll try to do that for each of the points today.

Here we have the account of Abram and Lot. I’ll read a few verses, Genesis 13:5 and following:

Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me: if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” (Genesis 13:5–9)

This is an excellent example of humility on the part of Abram. As their households grew, conflict arose between them, between their herdsmen. And Abram, as the elder and as the recipient of the promise, had every right to choose his territory first. Instead, he gave Lot the choice. Lot was his nephew. And by deferring to his nephew, Abram avoided the family war that could have followed, and preserved the unity of his clan.

By the way, to tie this back to last week: notice that they were already united as a family. There was already unity there, objectively speaking; it was a matter of preserving the unity that was already there. And notice that unity didn’t necessarily mean joining together, either. In this case, unity actually involved each party having its own space, of sorts. Abram didn’t say, “Let’s just take all the sheep, mix them together, and work it out.” He gave Lot his space, let Lot choose, and then took what was left.

When humility comes into play

I’m saying this in contrast to our next point, which is gentleness: humility tends to come into play when we’re wronged, or when we’re in the wrong. When we’re on the receiving end of some conflict, when we’re being corrected because we were wrong, or when someone sins against us, those are opportunities to demonstrate humility. Hold that in mind, because we’ll come back to it in a minute.

2. Gentleness

The second point is gentleness. Gentleness is strength under control. It is what the KJV calls meekness – not to be confused with weakness, but on the contrary – It’s strength or power that has been yielded to God and restrained toward others. Matthew 5:5:

“Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.”

Jesus is saying, “Keep your power under control. You’re already going to inherit the earth.”

This word for gentleness is used of an animal that is completely disciplined or controlled. Imagine it used of a draft animal, an ox there to plow the field, and you start to get the picture: there is tremendous strength in the animal, but it is, hopefully, under control. And this picture illuminates another verse, Matthew 11:28–30:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

The yoke is what goes over a team of two oxen. Jesus, in describing Himself as sharing the yoke with us, describes Himself as gentle: having strength and power, but using it in a way that is restrained and ultimately for our good.

When gentleness comes into play

This is where I want to go back and contrast gentleness with humility. Unlike humility, gentleness tends to come in when we are in the position of correcting, or in the position of initiating a conflict, perhaps even a necessary one. Let me show you what I mean. In 2 Timothy 2:25, Paul says:

with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

This is exemplified in many other places as well. In Genesis 33, when Jacob and Esau meet, I think you see a contrast between the two. If you recall the story, they had been estranged for probably 20 years at this point. And when they meet, Jacob demonstrates a tremendous amount of humility in how he interacts with Esau, sending gifts and seeking to reconcile what needed to be reconciled from years before. Esau, on the other hand, demonstrates gentleness in how he responds to Jacob. He doesn’t respond in anger or violence, as he could have, and he likely would have prevailed.

So, if you’ll remember this: humility is primarily the attitude we demonstrate when we are wronged or when we are in the wrong. Gentleness is for when we are correcting another, or when we are in the position of initiating some action that may result in conflict but is nevertheless necessary.

Jesus restores Peter

John 21 provides an example of this, I believe. I’ll read just a couple of verses, starting in verse 15. This is after Jesus’ death and resurrection, after Peter had denied Him three times, and here Jesus is seeking to restore Peter:

So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.” (John 21:15–17)

We aren’t going to dive deep into this passage, but I believe it’s an example of Jesus, while addressing a painful topic, nevertheless gently seeking to restore Peter and prepare him for the ministry to come.

3. Patience

Our third point, from Ephesians 4: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience.”

Patience means being long-tempered. It means slow to anger, slow to retaliate. It is the endurance of others’ faults and failures without giving up on them, reflecting, obviously, God’s own patience toward us. Second Timothy 2:24 says:

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,

Patient when wronged. Jesus demonstrated this patience throughout the Gospels. Every account of the disciples was another opportunity for patience on Jesus’ part. Mark 4:33–34 says:

With many such parables He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it; and He did not speak to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

He was patiently taking the time to teach them and explain things they often should have understood already.

David spares Saul

Turn to 1 Samuel 24, a passage we saw a few months ago as well. In 1 Samuel 24, David demonstrates this patience for us. He had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he chose instead to wait on the Lord’s timing rather than taking matters into his own hands. And this was profound patience for someone under threat of death.

Now when Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of Engedi.” Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to seek David and his men in front of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. He came to the sheepfolds on the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave. The men of David said to him, “Behold, this is the day of which the LORD said to you, ‘Behold; I am about to give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it seems good to you.’” Then David arose and cut off the edge of Saul’s robe secretly. It came about afterward that David’s conscience bothered him because he had cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. So he said to his men, “Far be it from me because of the LORD that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD’S anointed.” David persuaded his men with these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. And Saul arose, left the cave, and went on his way. (1 Samuel 24:1–7)

We have a very similar instance two chapters later, in 1 Samuel 26. In both cases we see David patiently waiting on the Lord. He knew he was to be king. He also knew, obviously, that Saul had to die for him to become king. But nevertheless, he did not take matters into his own hands. As our definition of patience said, he was always slow to anger and very slow to retaliate against Saul, even though we’d probably say it would have been justified in many respects.

4. Tolerance

So we are to be humble, to be gentle, to be patient. And then we are, in the words of Ephesians, to have tolerance: “showing tolerance for one another in love.” Another way of reading this would be “bearing with one another”; if you have the ESV, that’s probably what yours says.

It is the act of putting up with another’s flaws, or differences, or even sins against us, out of love. The implication of this word is that the other person probably truly is in the wrong. There’s probably something you actually have to put up with. It’s not saying you’re imagining things or that you weren’t sinned against. You actually were sinned against. Or maybe you weren’t sinned against directly; maybe they’re just difficult to deal with.

Colossians 3:12–13 gives us some insight here. It’s a close cross-reference to our whole passage, but it sheds particular light on this word:

So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

You’ll recognize some words there: humility, gentleness, and patience. And “forgiving each other” is tied to “bearing with one another,” again indicating that you actually were sinned against.

Galatians 6:1–2 uses the same language of bearing one another’s burdens:

Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

Remember our point on gentleness: restore. Gentleness is expressed in confronting sin and seeking restoration. And then “bear one another’s burdens,” where the context is the sins of others.

By the way, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are very close cross-references, very similar ideas, in Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Galatians. It’s as if this was something Paul was teaching all these different churches. Every time he wrote a letter, there was something in it that mirrored what we’re going through today: the need for unity and how to get along with each other.

And our passage says we are to do this in love. First Peter 4:8:

Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.

Why do we need to cover those sins? Because, among other things, it allows for unity.

Paul bears with the Corinthians

First Corinthians 13 is the example we have for this bearing with one another. Turn with me, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 13, a passage you’re undoubtedly familiar with. In verse 7, describing love (or charity), Paul says that love

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:7)

It bears all things. And Paul isn’t just saying this; he actually does it. We know this because of the last verses of 1 Corinthians:

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen. (1 Corinthians 16:23–24)

Paul is expressing his love here, and I think we can go back a few chapters and define his love the way he did in 1 Corinthians 13. That may not sound like much until we consider what Paul was tolerating, what he was putting up with, what he was bearing with in the Corinthians.

So let me remind you who the Corinthians were. If we go through 1 Corinthians (not even 2 Corinthians, just 1 Corinthians), Paul addresses the issues going on in that church. There was factionalism in chapter 3. There was gross immorality. They were suing each other. There was abuse of the spiritual gifts. They were toying with idolatry, profaning the Lord’s Supper, and some were even flirting with a denial of the resurrection. These were the people Paul was bearing with.

Now, might I suggest that you don’t take any hints from them? I don’t think Ian and I have the apostle Paul’s level of sanctification. We may not handle it as well if you try all those things, so please don’t, for your own good as well.

But Paul, in spite of all this, did not abandon them and did not cut them off. He bore all things and endured all things. He was humble when he could have taken offense. He was gentle when correcting them. He was patient in dealing with them. And he bore all these things because of his love for them. Love bears all things.

So those are the tools of unity: humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance in love. Next week we’ll go on to verses 4–6 and see the doctrines of unity.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the time we have to study it here this morning and to meditate on it. Thank You for giving us these tools to help preserve unity in Your church. Lord, I pray that You would help us to learn from this, to take these tools and apply them in our lives, that we might help preserve the unity of Your body and of the temple You are building. Lord, as we take up the offering in a moment, we thank You for the opportunity to give back to You a portion of what You’ve given to us. And Lord, I pray that You would take our tithes and offerings and use them to expand the work of Your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright notice

(Editor’s note: This transcript may have been lightly edited for clarity and/or condensed for internet attention spans.)

The Requirements for Unity (October 11, 2026)

October 14, 2026 by Jeremy Isaac

A sermon by Jeremy Isaac on Ephesians 4:1-3
Hot Springs Reformed Church · Hot Springs, SD

Introduction: Unity Without a Definition

Unity is probably something you’ve heard about. At various times and in various places it’s a buzzword, both in Christian circles and elsewhere, and the emphasis on it is rightly placed. Psalm 133 is a good example (a psalm we may sing next week; we didn’t have it this week):

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

Unity is important. In John 17, the great high priestly prayer, Jesus says, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me” (John 17:23). So we are told that unity is good, and that it’s something we ought to seek.

But in my experience, not only is it hard to find examples of unity, it’s really hard to find anyone even willing to define what Christian unity looks like. People write articles about it, but when it comes time to land the plane, they obscure any concrete conclusions and leave us with empty platitudes. At best we might get something like the saying you’ve probably heard, almost certainly attributed to the wrong person: “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”

That probably sounds familiar. The proper attribution, by the way, is a German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century, Rupertus Meldenius. You all knew that, I’m sure. It was not Augustine, it wasn’t Lewis, and it wasn’t anyone in between. It was this Rupert guy.

Anyway, it sounds good, doesn’t it? “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” But even that statement, when you really get down to the nitty-gritty, doesn’t tell us how to have unity, or even what unity really looks like. In fact, the statement may be more problematic than it first appears. It has long been the official motto of the EPC, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. And while the EPC was formed in the early 1980s for the express purpose of pushing back against the liberalism of other Presbyterian denominations, it is with this motto leading the way the EPC itself has gone down the same well-trodden path as most who focus on unity. For whatever reason, as soon as a church puts the word unity in its name, or its denomination’s name, we can see exactly which direction it’s going.

If we didn’t know better, we’d think unity only goes in one direction: toward compromise and what we might call, to be charitable, minimalist theology, a belief in only the bare minimum required. Now obviously, when Jesus prayed for unity, or when Paul preached unity here in Ephesians, this is not what they had in mind. So we must find a different way.

My goal for the next few sermons is quite simple, though perhaps a bit ambitious in light of what we’ve just discussed. One, I simply want us to understand what unity truly is. And two, I want us to know practically how we should conduct ourselves in pursuit of that unity.

Having said that, you might expect me to give you a definition now. I’m not going to do that just yet. Instead, we’ll start by gathering some of the pieces, parts of the whole that hopefully we can grasp, and then come back around in a week or three and, hopefully, give you a succinct definition you can remember. For now, we’ll gather the pieces and start putting the picture together.

Then, once we finish discussing unity, we will put it to the test as we move on to discussing baptism. We’ll seek to maintain our unity, and even grow in it, while discussing what has historically been one of the most polarizing issues in the church. So the next couple of months should be exciting.

With that, let’s read our passage to orient ourselves, and then we’ll get into it. I’ll start in Ephesians 3:20 and read through chapter 4, verse 16.

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 3:20–4:16

Ephesians 3:20 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,

“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,

HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,

AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”

9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

The Big Picture

I’m going to begin with a quick summary of this entire passage, so we see the overall lay of the land, and then we’ll dive a little deeper into the first couple of verses.

We started at Ephesians 3:20, which we talked about a couple of weeks ago: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.” Then in verse 1 of chapter 4 he says, “Therefore.” When we see that, we look back and ask what was taught previously that he is tying into. While we could say it’s really the whole first half of Ephesians, I think he’s also tying back very specifically to those last couple of verses. As we seek unity, it will require the power he promises in chapter 3, verse 20.

Paul says, “I… implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” Paul is pleading with the Ephesians. This is not something academic for him; it’s near and dear to his heart. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Jesus’ intense and fervent appeal to the Father in John 17, when He prays for unity.

Walking worthily

He goes on to say we are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. To walk here refers to our overall manner of life. If you’re in the King James, the old English word is conversation; it’s the same idea. It refers to the whole manner of how you go about living in this world.

Colossians 1:10–11 explains what it means to walk in a worthy manner:

so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience;

In a word, when he implores us to walk in a worthy manner, he is desiring our sanctification. That is really what this is. The call to walk worthily is a call to sanctification: a call to live your life more and more like Christ Jesus, our example, every day.

This theme of walking comes up throughout the rest of Ephesians as well. So I want to pause for a moment and point out that I believe “walk in a manner worthy” actually describes the rest of the book. All of chapters 4, 5, and 6 could be lumped under it, because it’s all about our sanctification, all about walking worthily:

It was first mentioned back in 2:10, where we were prepared to walk in good works.
Here we have walk in a worthy manner (4:1).
In 4:17, to walk with a renewed mind.
In 5:2, to walk in love.
In 5:8, to walk as children of light.
In 5:15, to walk in wisdom.

So for the rest of the book, Paul is instructing us in our walk, in our life. While the first part of the book was heavier on theology (how we were to understand things, what we were to believe), he now makes it very practical and instructs us how to walk in light of that.

And then, almost as if Paul had a sense of humor, he tells us that the first way we’re going to start working on our walk, on our sanctification, is in dealing with other Christians and striving for unity. We might say, “Paul, maybe give us an easier one to start with.” But that’s right where he jumps in. He narrows the focus from our sanctification broadly to this particular concern: preserving “the unity of the Spirit,” as we see in verse 3.

A preview of the passage

And this becomes the main theme for the next sixteen verses, everything we just read. Today, in verses 1–3, we’ll look at the requirements for unity. Let me give you a quick snapshot of what’s coming, because I think it will help us understand today’s passage as well.

The tools for unity. In the coming weeks we’ll look at what I’ve labeled the tools for unity: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.”
The doctrines of unity. Later we’ll look at the doctrines of unity, which you might call the foundations of unity, in verses 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.”
The practice of unity. Then, in verses 7–16, we’ll see the practice of unity and how it works out in the local church, particularly from verse 11: “And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.”

So that’s the big picture. Now let’s back up to the first few verses and look at the requirements for unity.

1. Unity Requires a Calling

First of all, unity requires a calling. Verse 1: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.” And again in verse 4: “just as also you were called.”

This calling is, first, the effectual call of salvation. We see it, for example, in Acts 2:39: “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And we know that those who are called in that effectual sense cannot refuse the call, and they become children of God.

But beyond that: yes, we’ve been called, and yes, we are saved, but to what end has God done that? His call on our lives goes beyond just our ticket to heaven. There are other things we are called to. In the case of Paul, for example, Romans 1:1 says Paul was “called as an apostle.” So he was called to salvation, but he was also separately called as an apostle.

What I want us to see is that, in order to have unity, we need a common call. You might say a common mission. This is why, a few months ago, we spent time talking about the dominion mandate and the Great Commission. It’s when the church understands this divine mandate that the practice of unity becomes possible, because we are actually working together toward something. In Philippians 1:27 Paul says:

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

“One mind” there is basically the same idea as unity. Striving together: there was something they were working toward. They had an objective in mind, something they were seeking.

Sometimes this common mission can take the form of a common enemy. I think we all still remember so-called pandemic of 2020. You saw a spirit of unity among many churches of varied and diverse theology, because they were fighting the same enemy. (I’m speaking of the churches that actually stood up and did something.) And we all did this without compromising our distinctives. It allowed us to focus on a common purpose, in this case a common enemy, and therefore to have a real sense of unity in the church. Philippians 2:1–2 says:

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

They were to be of the same mind and united in spirit, and they were also intent on one purpose. They were going the same direction.

This is all the more important for those of us who embrace a postmillennial eschatology. If you’re premill or amill, you could, in theory, just ignore unity and wait for Jesus to show up, and it would take care of itself. I don’t mean to say that’s what they’re doing, but you could, and it would still all work out. That doesn’t work for us. If “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea,” that is going to require unity in Christ’s church. If we say Christ is going to win through His church rather than in spite of it, then we need unity. I believe I mentioned this verse already, but John 17:21: “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe…” You see, the purpose of the unity Jesus prays for there is that the world may believe.

Babel reversed

As I considered examples of this point, my mind kept going back to something that may seem odd at first: the Tower of Babel. Let’s turn there briefly, Genesis 11. There is so much in these nine verses that connects to other parts of Scripture; I find myself thinking of Babel often because of those connections. Starting in verse 4, I’ll read a few verses:

They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. (Genesis 11:4–8)

So here God actually causes disunity, because they were using their unity for evil. God says there was nothing they would not be able to do on account of their unity. So God caused disunity to prevent them from accomplishing great things. But when it comes to His church, Babel is reversed. God wants unity, so that we can again do great things, through Him and for Him. Chapter 3 again: “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

So unity requires a calling, a mission.

2. Unity Requires Diligence

Number two, unity requires diligence. Back in Ephesians 4:3: “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

To be diligent is to make haste, to exert oneself. It’s hard work. You don’t need diligence to do something easy. Unity is not something that just happens, or God wouldn’t tell us to use diligence in pursuing it. It’s going to be time-consuming.

I think we have a good example of this in the account in Acts 15 of what we call the Jerusalem Council. There was disunity in the church on account of certain teaching. And we see the elders and apostles of at least two different churches go to great lengths: travel, meetings, presumably many intense discussions, communications with various churches, and no doubt lingering conversations for months, explaining things to the holdouts or to the people who just missed the meeting. All things that are time-consuming and, frankly, pretty annoying. But they did this because they needed to do the hard work of seeking unity in the church.

We sometimes direct good-natured jabs at our Presbyterian brothers, who will spend inordinate amounts of time and effort doing exactly these kinds of things, adjudicating doctrine and practice in their churches. And while they may not get everything right, there is something good about the idea that when we have conflicts, they need to be hashed out and figured out, and we need to do all we can, as much as it depends on us, to come to a position of unity. For significant matters of doctrine or practice, it’s not good for these things to remain perpetually unresolved.

So unity requires diligence.

3. Unity Requires Preservation

Number three: unity requires preservation. “Being diligent to preserve.”

And here the plot takes a twist you might not have expected. We tend to think of unity as something to be fought for, or sought. Even as I’ve been speaking today, that’s more or less how I’ve been describing it. In a sense, that’s true: we do need to fight for unity and seek it out. However, Paul tells us here to preserve unity. So what exactly is going on?

If we consider where we’ve been in Ephesians already, we see that God is already building us into one temple. He’s already building us into one body. That is an objective reality, and we cannot stop or derail that plan. We are unified.

In fact, as I alluded to earlier in the service, when Jesus prays, what He prays for happens. To read the fuller context of His high priestly prayer in John 17:

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20–23)

When Jesus prays for unity, it happens. Jesus gets what He asks for. So there is already unity, and that is why we are told to preserve it. It’s as if Paul is saying, “You have unity; now act like it.”

Or we can put it another way: as Christians, we are never commanded to become one in Christ. We are simply told that we are one in Christ, because that is already an objective reality. Rather, we are told to make our subjective experience match the objective fact that already exists.

That being said, we are also to look ahead to greater unity and diligently pursue it, as I’ve already mentioned. We get a hint of this in verse 13 of chapter 4: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith.” So there is a sense in which there is still something future to strive for and attain more fully. But objectively, we are already unified.

There’s a good example of this in Philippians 4. We won’t turn there for the sake of time, but in Philippians 4:2–3, Paul says, “I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord.” And a verse later he speaks of those “whose names are in the book of life.” So these ladies are united in Christ. Objectively, they are unified; both are written in the book of life. But their present experience is not one of unity. They didn’t need to become unified, strictly speaking. They needed to exhibit the unity already achieved by Christ.

So unity requires preservation.

4. Unity Requires Truth

And fourth, unity requires truth. For this we’re cheating a little and going ahead to verse 13, which I read a moment ago: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God.” And then verse 14: “As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

So we see that unity actually has a lot to do with truth: “the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” so that we are no longer “carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

Unity is not achieved by subtraction

This goes against what many people wrongly assume, which is that we achieve unity by subtraction. People think we just take away the things we disagree about so we can have unity. That is precisely backwards. It’s the mistake all the so-called “united” churches make. As soon as that word is your denomination or the name of your church, the way it always seems to work (show me an example to the contrary) is that we unite by stripping away all the differences and uniting on what I earlier called minimalist theology.

The problem is that this actually takes away the opportunity for unity, because you cannot unite around nothing. There’s no unity in believing nothing. Even non-religious organizations understand this. Think of fraternal orders, like the Elks Lodge or the Shriners. They end up creating some kind of objective something they’re supposed to be working toward, some greater good, because they need something to unite around, something to hold things together so they can move forward.

Our church constitution

I was working this week on our church constitution, and it touches on this same issue. This is just wording we’re working with; it’s still a draft. But the draft presently speaks of our unity in the context of the creeds. There are the three ecumenical creeds we subscribe to, one of which, the Apostles’ Creed, we confess every Sunday. The draft says:

We hold to the ancient ecumenical creeds as articulating the faith once for all delivered to the saints, and we hold that no one rejecting the truths proclaimed in these creeds can be right with God.

You might call that the minimal part. But that’s the creed; what’s in those creeds is absolutely paramount.

Then it talks about our confession. Our confession is the Savoy Declaration; similar confessions are the London Baptist Confession and the Westminster Confession. These are documents that go to great length to articulate biblical theology: how we should properly understand the Scripture. Speaking of the confession, the draft says:

We hold to the distinctive truths of our confession. Knowing that many faithful Christians have differed with portions of this confession, we confess our view that our confession faithfully represents Scripture, but we do this not as a means of dividing with Christians who differ, but to make a faithful testimony of what we believe Scripture teaches.

You see, even with the confession, the goal ultimately is to make a faithful testimony of what the Scriptures teach. Not for the purpose of division, but ultimately for the purpose of unity, and of seeing more and more like-mindedness in the church.

Diversity is not our strength

And this brings up an interesting topic: diversity. There’s always talk about diversity, that “our strength is in our diversity,” and other silly things like that, whether in the context of diversity of race, diversity of religion, diversity of culture, or whatever it might be. None of those are actually a strength. And likewise, theological diversity is not our strength. We should realize that theological diversity among Christians is, by definition, due to our lack of conformity to Christ. To the degree that we have theological diversity, it’s because some of us are not properly conforming our beliefs to Christ.

This is why I’m not a big fan of another terrible platitude: that we should just “agree to disagree.” Now, I know that usually when people say that, what they’re communicating is fine. It’s a way of saying, “We’re not going to argue about that today.” And that’s okay. We don’t argue about everything every day; that’s totally fine. But the goal should not be simply to agree to disagree in perpetuity. The goal should be to work through those things and, as a church, to come to a unified position as much as possible.

Who is the divisive person?

I want to make one other point about unity and truth, and then we’ll bring this to a close. There are many warnings in Scripture about being divisive. And I think we often picture the divisive person as someone who speaks in the wrong tone, or who just has different ideas about something. And they might. They might have some silly ideas, and they might talk in the wrong tone; that’s very possible. But ultimately, when we see the divisive person in Scripture, what makes them divisive (and the reason we’re talking about it under this point) is that they are wrong. The divisive person is the one teaching something that is wrong. Romans 16:17:

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.

The person causing dissension and hindrance is the person teaching contrary to Scripture. And in 3 John 9 the apostle says:

I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.

There was obviously an issue of pride as well: “who loves to be first among them.” But it explains his divisiveness: he “does not accept what we say.”

Next week we’ll discuss some counterpoints to this. We’ll be talking about humility, gentleness, and patience. This doesn’t mean we go around bludgeoning people with the Scripture or arguing over every item all the time. But truth is something that must be preserved. And it is only through our focus on what is true that we can have any kind of lasting and substantial unity. Again, without believing something, there is no unity. We absolutely do not obtain unity by reducing the things we believe.

So next week we’ll continue our study and look at the tools for unity. But we’ll stop there for today. Let’s pray.

Jesus, You prayed that we would be unified, in order that Your love might be displayed to the whole world. Lord, we know that Your plans will not be thwarted. We know that what You ask, You will receive, and we thank You that Your church is one. And Lord, we pray that we might diligently work to preserve the unity You have, in fact, already delivered to us. It is in Your name that we pray. Amen.

Copyright notice

Part 3: The Civilizational Mandate (May 24, 2026)

May 25, 2026 by Jeremy Isaac

I want to quickly recap the last two weeks and then get into something new for this week.

Two weeks ago we talked about why we are doing this — why Hot Springs Reformed Church — and discussed the example of Paul and Barnabas, and how there was a place for them to minister separately in order to preserve the peace and unity of the church. That parting was the way for us to worship according to our conscience, to serve freely (since our doctrinal convictions would limit some of our options for serving in other bodies), and to train our children in what we believe.

Last week we talked about the distinguishing marks of Hot Springs Reformed Church — both in doctrine and practice, some of the things that set us apart, some of the things that people might say make us weird. We mentioned the primacy of the church and her worship, sexed piety, a right understanding of the church and Israel, and Christ victorious — that He is going to be victorious through His church and not in spite of it.

This week I want to begin looking at the vision for Hot Springs Reformed Church and where this is going. This will end up taking both this week and next week. Today we are going to lay some of the groundwork. We will not get to as much of the vision itself this week, but I think you will understand where we are going.

Turn to Genesis chapter 1. As we look ahead to where we are going, we are going to look all the way back to creation to get some instruction.

I am going to read starting in chapter 1, verse 24, and then a couple of verses in chapter 2.

”And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle and creeping things, and beast of the earth after his kind. And it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind. And God saw that it was good.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of the tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat, and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life. I have given every green herb for meat. And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

And then chapter 2, verse 8 & 15:

“And the Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed… And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

The Basic Premise

The basic premise I want to convey over the next couple of weeks is this: God has given us a mandate to build Christian culture and civilization, and that mandate has not fundamentally changed from the first Adam to the second Adam — and by extension, to us here today.

Today we are going to talk about the first Adam. Next week we will talk about the similar command given in the New Testament by the second Adam — namely the Great Commission — and how that ties back to what we have here as the creation mandate.

In verse 27 of Genesis 1, we see that God created man. In verse 28, He immediately gave man a mission. I should clarify: He gave man and woman a mission together. They were both created and both given the mission, so this is not solely for men. But that said, I would argue that for men in particular this is especially critical. Men need a mission, because without one they will wander through life aimlessly, and invariably, unfulfilled.

I was thinking about this last night, and recalled something I had not thought about in a long time — back in the early 2000s there was a very popular book called The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. Not a great book. But the fact that the book sold millions of copies — speaks to this need. It shows that people felt they did not have a clear purpose or mission. Whether or not the book actually answered the question is a separate matter, but it had its finger on a real need in the church.

I was also considering this in relation to something I mentioned last week about AI. Everyone is concerned that AI is coming for jobs, and by extension, their income. Maybe that is true — but I think the bigger risk, if it is true, is not that AI takes our jobs and we cannot earn an income. The bigger risk is that it takes our jobs and we are left with no purpose, because there is nothing meaningful left for us to do. The greater danger is the potential loss of purpose, not the loss of financial means.

So God gave man a purpose, and man needs that purpose in order to be fulfilled, and in order to honor God with his life.

The Civilizational Mandate

What is that purpose? We see it in verse 28: “God blessed them and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over it.”

I have already referred to this using a few different terms, so let me give them all to you. Sometimes this is called the Creation Mandate — this is perhaps the most common term. Sometimes it is called the Dominion Mandate, the Civilizational Mandate, the Cultural Mandate, or the Stewardship Mandate. All of these refer to the same thing, and all are good terms depending on what aspect you are focusing on. I tend toward “Cultural Mandate” or “Civilizational Mandate,” but they can all be used more or less interchangeably.

If I were to summarize it, I would say the Civilizational Mandate is just this: to build Christian civilization, through multiplication and expansion, for the purpose of taking dominion of the world as God’s stewards.

You’ll notice that the specific commands here are sequential — not that they don’t overlap in time, but that they follow a logical progression. Be fruitful and multiply; as you multiply, fill the earth; as the earth is filled, subdue it; and ultimately take dominion over it.

The English rendering is fairly straightforward here – these words mean about what you think they do – but let me just very briefly define each term.

Be fruitful — Productivity, bearing fruit, flourishing. This goes beyond biological reproduction, though that is certainly included.

Multiply — Simply numerical increase. It means exactly what it sounds like.

Fill the earth — Fill or to saturate. I cannot help but think of Isaiah 11:9 here: “The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” Part of filling the earth is not simply to fill it with people, but to fill it with the knowledge of the Lord through those people.

Subdue — Bring under control or to harness. There is a fairly wide lexical range for this word. It is not the strongest Hebrew term for subjugation; it simply means to bring something under your power.

Have dominion — This is a much stronger word than subdue. This is a royal term denoting rule and authority.

And then in chapter 2, verse 15, man is told to tend and keep the garden. This is where the stewardship emphasis can come from. God planted the garden, and man was then to make the whole world a garden, as it were. (This also has deeper implications when we understand the garden as a temple — making the whole world a garden is not simply about beautifying it, but about filling the earth with the worship of the Lord. If you want to explore this further, David Chilton’s Paradise Restored covers the garden-as-temple concept extensively.)

Implicit in all of these commands is also the fact that they were to be done for God’s glory. Man was to rule not for his own sake, but on God’s behalf. While this is unstated in verse 28, it is clearly implied.

The Mandate Through Genesis

We see this illustrated in Genesis 6, verse 1, where men had begun to multiply — fulfilling part of the mandate — but God condemns what is happening. They were doing part of it, but not in the way God intended. He was not looking only for numerical multiplication. That multiplication was for the purpose of filling the earth with the knowledge of the Lord, not simply filling it with people.

In Genesis 9, verses 1 and 2, the mandate is renewed after the flood: “And God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.” God essentially says: I have cleaned up the mess — now try again.

But then in Genesis 11, man again disobeys the cultural mandate again. Verses 1 through 4: “And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech, and it came to pass as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there, and they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

There are at least two things wrong here as it relates to the civilizational mandate. First, they specifically say they do not want to be scattered — they are refusing to go out and fill the earth. Second, they are doing this for their own glory and their own name, not God’s. God intervenes again and confuses their languages, essentially forcing them to at least complete part of the mandate by filling the earth.

Two Observations

I want to point out two things about the Dominion Mandate for us to consider.

First, I would submit that most of the other commands in Scripture flow out of this first command. In many ways, this is the overarching command, and much of the rest of Scripture tells us how to fulfill it. The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks: “What is the chief end of man?” The answer: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” How do we glorify God? Ultimately, by doing what He put us here to do. How do we enjoy Him forever? The best way to enjoy your Creator is to start by doing what He created you to do. This is the overarching purpose of our lives. The precise details will look different for everyone, but this is fundamentally why God put all of us here. And as we will see next week, even the Great Commission — which receives more attention today than the creations mandate— is actually part of this same instruction, just restated in the New Covenant era with a couple of nuances we will address next week.

Second, the command to multiply is the same as the blessing to multiply that we see throughout Genesis and all of Scripture. God fitted man to do the very thing he was called to do. He tells us to do something, He created us to do that thing, and then He blesses us with the ability to do it, and blesses us in our obedience to it. It’s a virtuous circle — God commands us to do something, and then He does it alongside us and through us. We can’t even quite see where our obedience ends and where the blessing begins.

Leviticus 26:9: “For I will look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you, and confirm my covenant with you.” Is this a command or a blessing? It is both.

Exodus 32:13: “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven.”

Genesis 35 — God speaks to Jacob: “Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee.” Then in Genesis 48:4, Jacob recounts this to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and will make thee a multitude of people.” The same thing (be fruitful and multiply) — first given as a command, then recounted as a blessing. I think this should be encouraging to us. When God commands us to do something, He enables us to do it, and then the doing of it becomes a blessing as well.

Does This Still Apply Today?

You might say: this is all in the Old Testament. The Dominion Mandate doesn’t apply to us today. But I would ask you a few questions. Was the mandate ever actually completed in the Old Testament? Did anyone ever fully succeed in obeying it? No. Did God ever indicate He changed His mind about it? Is there any biblical evidence that this is no longer what He wants? If not, then would He not want us to continue toward its fulfillment?

We assume continuity between the Old and New Testaments in most cases, primarily because our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Unless He tells us He is going to do something different, we can assume He will continue to deal with His people in much the same way. But just in case you are unconvinced, next week we will look at Jesus essentially restating this in the New Testament through the Great Commission so you’ll be able to see it in the New Testament directly.

Closing: Psalm 72

I want to close by reading Psalm 72. Christians may disagree about exactly where this psalm fits in the sequence of the things to come, but regardless of how you parse that, what we can all see is that this is a picture of creation restored — a picture of the civilizational mandate being fulfilled. The earth in this psalm is fruitful, it has been filled, it is being stewarded and ruled by man as God’s vice-regents. God is blessing His creation, and throughout the world men are worshiping our Lord and Savior.

“Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness to the king’s son. He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice. The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness. He will bring justice to the poor of the people, he will save the children of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor.

They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. In his days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace until the moon is no more.

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. Those who dwell in the wilderness will bow before him, and his enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles will bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba will offer gifts. Yes, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him.

For he will deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also, and him who has no helper. He will spare the poor and needy, and will save the souls of the needy. He will redeem their life from oppression and violence, and precious shall be their blood in his sight.

And he shall live, and the gold of Sheba will be given to him; prayer also will be made for him continually, and daily he shall be praised. There will be an abundance of grain in the earth on the top of the mountains; its fruit shall wave like Lebanon, and those of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

His name shall endure forever; his name shall continue as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him; all nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. And blessed be his glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen.”

Let us pray.

Lord, thank You for including us in Your plan of creation. Thank You that we are not just here to kill time, but that You have given us a job to do. As we look ahead as a church, we pray that You would give us a vision for a Christian Hot Springs, that You would use that vision to encourage us along the way, and that we would keep our eyes fixed on You and be faithful stewards of the vision You have given us. In Your Son’s name we pray. Amen.

Sermon by Jeremy Isaac at Hot Springs Reformed Church: May 24, 2026

(Editor’s note: This transcript may have been lightly edited for clarity and/or condensed for internet attention spans.)

Part 2: The Distinguishing Marks of HSRC (May 17, 2026)

May 18, 2026 by Jeremy Isaac

As we embark on this new thing called Hot Springs Reformed Church, I wanted to answer some obvious questions, which is what we started doing last week. Last week we talked about why we are doing this. Without rehashing all the details, we said it was so that we could worship according to our conscience, serve freely in the church without being held back by doctrinal disagreements, train our children in what we believe, and preserve the peace and unity of Christ’s church. God used the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas to actually advance His kingdom — where they had started with one missionary team, they ended up with two on account of their divinely orchestrated disagreement. Both still had work that God had for them, and both continued to serve and maintain a respectful relationship with one another going forward.

Next week we are going to talk about where we are going and what the vision is for Hot Springs Reformed Church.

This week we are going to discuss what are some of the key differences in doctrine and practice — what are some of the distinguishing marks of Hot Springs Reformed Church. Last week I gave a sneak peek of what those items would be. The items I mentioned were: the primacy of the church and her worship, sexed piety, a right understanding of the church and Israel, and Christ victorious. This will be our framework for today.

Now I had this list in mind for a long time, along with some other things. And then I started working through Ephesians in preparation for preaching through it in a couple of weeks, and I realized that just about every item I had thought of as particular to our project here is also something Paul addresses in Ephesians. It is not just these four — there is a whole list of other things that I think are somewhat unique to us that also get addressed there. The scope of Ephesians is actually quite broad. But today we are going to use passages from Ephesians to introduce these four distinguishing marks and talk briefly about each one.

Before we dive in, I want to clarify one thing. When we talk about the distinguishing marks of Hot Springs Reformed Church, we are not saying these are necessarily the most important teachings of the church. We are saying these are the things that set us apart — that make us somewhat different from other churches – even good churches – that we have been part of previously.

By way of example using another topic found in Ephesians — Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.” Most of us could probably quote that from memory. It is one of the most important verses theologically in all of Ephesians, possibly in all of Scripture. But thankfully, there are many churches in this town that preach Ephesians 2:8–9 and preach it correctly. So that is not really a distinguishing mark for us, because other churches agree with us on it — and we are grateful for that.

There are other verses, though — such as Ephesians 1:3, where Paul addresses the doctrine of election and the doctrines of grace — that, while very important, do not rise to the same level as salvation by grace through faith. And the doctrine of election would be something where we differ with many churches in Hot Springs (though not all of them).

Another way to put it: you have all seen the truck I drive, and if I asked you to describe it, you would describe it as having six doors. That is the distinguishing mark. But it would be foolish to say the six doors is what is most important about the truck. The four wheels are far more important — they are what make it a truck. The six doors just make it unique – they are the thing that distinguishes it from other trucks.

One more thing worth noting as we go through these: they are all, to one degree or another, battle lines in the church today. We do not get to pick the hot issues of our day. As you will sense going through this list, these are things very much in dispute in our culture and unfortunately often in our churches.

1. The Primacy of the Church and Her Worship

We live in a time and place where many who claim the name of Christ — perhaps genuinely — dismiss His visible church as an afterthought. They will acknowledge the importance of the church in some general sense, but to them the church is just an invisible collection of individual Christians out there doing their own thing, not necessarily being part of any visible gathering.

Paul addresses this indirectly in the very first verse of Ephesians: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus.” Most of the New Testament epistles — and epistles simply means letters — are written to churches. A few are directed to individuals, like Titus and Timothy, but most are written to churches. So when people say the New Testament doesn’t teach that you need to be part of a church, the entire literary structure of the New Testament actually indicates otherwise. Paul did not make a hundred copies and mail them to individual Christians in Ephesus. He wrote the letter to the church which was to be read to the church.

We see the same in Philippians — “to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons” — where the reference to church leadership makes clear this was written to the church collectively, not to individuals. Colossians is similar: “to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse.”

The word “church” itself appears nine times in Ephesians — and that does not count other references to the church as the body of Christ or to “the saints in Christ Jesus”, etc. As we have discussed before, the word church is the Greek word ekklesia, meaning a gathering. That word itself precludes anything less than a physical gathering of the saints.

Ephesians 4:11–13 reinforces the same principle:

“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.”

Our gifts, whatever they are, are to be used to minister to the body — not sequestered for our own personal use, but for the edifying of the body of Christ. This is reinforced throughout the rest of the New Testament as well. Hebrews 10:24–25:

“And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.”

Or in Acts 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” The NIV renders that last verse as “they devoted themselves” to these things — I think that is a good translation.

Part of a properly functioning church is her worship, and that brings in a couple of additional distinguishing marks. Psalm singing is one — Ephesians 5:19 speaks to this, though we have discussed it previously, so I’m not going to dwell on it again today. Another unique aspect of our worship is found in Ephesians 6:1: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” How does that verse apply to worship? This letter was written to be read aloud to the gathered church. Paul does not say, “Fathers, tell your children to obey their parents.” He directs the instruction to the children themselves — implying the children were present when the letter was read. We hold firmly that children ought to worship with the body of Christ. There should be one gathering, not many separate little gatherings in separate rooms. We are speaking specifically about the corporate worship gathering, not Sunday school or other learning opportunities.

By way of application: make the gathering of the saints a priority. Start with Sunday worship. Include your children. Sing the Psalms. We recognize there are legitimate exceptions — considerations of health, emergency services workers, and the like. Yes, there are biblical exceptions. But, generally, what we are doing here is not optional for the Christian

2. Sexed Piety

We live in an egalitarian world where everything has been flattened and men and women are viewed as essentially interchangeable. Paul addresses this as well in Ephesians 5:22–26:

“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word.”

There are exactly zero instructions in these verses given to both spouses identically. The instructions Paul gives are different for each. Undoubtedly there are things that apply to all of us — we are all called to love one another — but rather than simply saying “love each other,” Paul gives unique instructions to each person based upon their sex. That is what we mean by sexed piety: your created sex affects what God demands of you, because we were created differently, and therefore we have different duties to God based upon that created order.

We also believe this applies across spheres, not just the family. The verses in Ephesians primarily deal with family dynamics, but because sexed piety is part of the created order, it carries over to all parts of life.

In the family: husbands are to lead and provide; wives are to submit to their own husbands — not necessarily to all men, but to their own husbands — and to be a helper and keeper of the home, as Titus 2 describes. This does not mean a man cannot change a diaper or that a woman cannot be involved in the family business. We are not trying to lay down a rigid Pharisaical code specifying exactly which tasks belong to which sex. But there are general principles and categories where men and women ought to be properly serving God.

(People are very concerned about AI stealing all our jobs. If that concern is genuine, I have a simple suggestion: send half the workforce home, and there will be plenty of jobs for the men who remain.)

In the church: Titus 1:5–6 says, “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I have commanded you, if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife.” Paul is not even arguing for male church leadership — he simply assumes it.

In society: there are not many explicit verses on this because it was simply assumed throughout most of human history. When there are biblical exceptions — Deborah, for example — they seem in context to be exceptions that prove the rule rather than exceptions that establish a new norm. Deborah leads because the men had abdicated. She is not held up as a model for women to aspire to, but as an indictment of the men who had failed. Romans 13 instructs us that civil government is to bear the sword and avenge evil. Knowing that women are not suited to wielding the sword, it follows that they would not be suited to the office of civil ruler. Many of the problems we see today in law enforcement and the judiciary traces back directly to this confusion.

None of this is arbitrary. These are not capricious commands — they are commands given for our good, because they align with how God designed us. Rather than fighting against it, if we lean into what we have been created to do best, we will all serve God better.

3. A Right Understanding of the Church and Israel

There is mass confusion in the church about the relationship between Israel and the church, and the downstream problems from this misunderstanding can be massive. I am not primarily concerned here with eschatology, though it certainly connects to that. I am more concerned with our basic understanding of the continuity between the Old and New Testaments. Ephesians 2:16–18:

“And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father.”

I would argue that there is one people of God from Adam until the consummation of all things — always and only one people of God. Ephesians 4:4–6 makes this even clearer: “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.” One body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God — and two peoples of God? No! All through chapters 2 and 3, Paul is talking about the bringing together of Jews and Gentiles into one household of God.

Ephesians 4:17 is also instructive. In the King James it reads: “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind.” Other translations render it: “walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind.” The significance is this: Paul is no longer using “Gentiles” to distinguish between Jews and Gentiles. He is using the word simply to refer to the unregenerate — because by this point in the letter, he has already established that all of God’s people have been made one. In Paul’s mind, there are simply God’s people and those who are not God’s people.

Psalm singing, mentioned in Ephesians 5:19, is actually another unexpected proof of this. For example, we frequently sing Psalm 83, which speaks about Israel throughout and includes lines like, “Come, let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” As New Testament Gentile Christians being instructed to sing psalms that are all about Israel — it seems an odd thing to do if we are not Israel.

We need to reclaim the Old Testament as Scripture for us. We are not merely New Testament Christians. We believe all of Scripture. When Paul tells Timothy that “all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,” the scriptures he is referring to are the Old Testament — that is what Timothy had. When Acts says the Bereans searched the scriptures to see if these things were so, that was the Old Testament they were searching. When Jesus on the road to Emmaus told His disciples they should have known Him by knowing the scriptures, there was no New Testament yet. All of Scripture is for us, and we would do well to restore it to its rightful place rather than relegate it to some past dispensation.

4. Christ Victorious

As with the last point, this connects to eschatology — but it is more than that. Set aside your end-times framework for a moment and focus on what we believe is happening right now.

I want to suggest to you that Jesus is reigning now. He will continue to reign until He has put all enemies under His feet, and the last enemy to be conquered will be death. Ephesians 1:19–22:

“And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.”

Verse 20 says God the Father set Christ at His own right hand in the heavenly places. Verse 22 says He has put all things under His feet. This is a direct quotation from Psalm 110:1: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.” Psalm 110:1 is by far the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament — directly cited or strongly alluded to over twenty times. Jesus Christ has been reigning at the right hand of God the Father since His resurrection and ascension nearly two thousand years ago, and He will continue reigning until He makes all enemies His footstool.

1 Corinthians 15:25 adds one important detail: the last enemy to be destroyed is death. This is one of the reasons His reign cannot be simply pushed off into the future — His reign happens before He conquers death. It cannot be purely a heavenly reign after the consummation of all things, because that would be after death has already been destroyed.

So I ask you: what kind of king is your Jesus? Is He weak? Is He nonchalant? Is He lazy? I hope we would all say “No.” And if “No” — and if He is indeed ruling now — then we must accept the inevitable conclusion that the expansion of His kingdom is in fact inevitable. Psalm 2:7–12:

“I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.”

King Jesus does not sit back and merely pretend to rule the earth for two thousand years without making any progress toward subduing His enemies. I think it would be appropriate to say that His rule is efficacious — just as we speak of His call being efficacious. If He is ruling, there ought to be some evidence of that rule. Psalm 72:7–14 describes His advancing dominion:

“In his days shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring him presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall be their blood in his sight.”

This is not describing a state of perfection after his final coming — we know this because we still see the poor, we still see oppressors, there are still vestiges of violence and deceit. But the dominion of Christ is advancing.

And Revelation 11:15: “Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. And He shall reign forever and ever.” I would submit to you that this is about Jesus’ reign now, not merely in some future time.

By way of application: Go out in confidence. Take dominion, as we are told to do in Genesis, knowing that your King is winning. Rather than hunkering down waiting for the apocalypse, build things. Start churches. Get married. Own productive capital. Start a business. Have children. Teach others. Run for office if you are a man. Do productive things.

There is a place for prudence too — a prudent man sees the evil and hides himself, and there are times to keep your powder dry and survive to fight another day. That is not always wrong. But at a macro scale, we need to be doing things, not hiding in the woods. The defeatist attitude prevalent among many Christians — just biding our time, waiting for God to helicopter us out — is a counterproductive lie that has castrated the church and renders her impotent to actually advance Christ’s dominion in the world.

Your King is winning. Act like it.

Sermon by Jeremy Isaac at Hot Springs Reformed Church: May 17, 2026

(Editor’s note: This transcript may have been lightly edited for clarity and/or condensed for internet attention spans.)

Part 1: Why Start a New Church? (May 10, 2026)

May 11, 2026 by Jeremy Isaac

Today we begin the first of a three-week mini-series about this project we are calling Hot Springs Reformed Church, answering some of the basic questions that should probably come to mind. Specifically, I want to answer three obvious questions as they relate to starting a new church.

First: why are we doing this? That is the topic for today. Second: what are some of our distinguishing doctrines and practices? That will be next week. And then, where are we going — what is the vision for Hot Springs Reformed Church? There are certainly other questions we could answer, but I think that will cover the basics and make sure we are all on the same page.

So today we cover the why. Why a new church? Why did we feel this was a good and indeed a needful thing to do?

For that, let’s turn to Acts chapter 15, starting in verse 35.

“Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. And some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder from one another, and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed into Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by their brethren. And he went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches.”

Now this might seem like a strange passage. After all, we are not really involved in any fights with anybody, and we have no particular conflict with other churches here. In some ways this may not seem directly applicable. But I do believe this passage has implications for us as well, even if the situation is not exactly the same.

At the most basic level, this passage is about Paul and Barnabas parting ways in their ministry. And as we look at starting a new church — what is starting a new church, if not in some way parting ways with brothers from other churches?

Background

Paul and Barnabas had returned from Paul’s first missionary journey, and they were back in Antioch here in chapter 15. The Jerusalem Council had taken place earlier in chapter 15, running through about verse 34 or 35, and that would have been about AD 49.

Some have suggested that between verses 35 and 36, the events of Galatians 2 may have played out — where Paul confronted Peter to his face over the Judaizing that was going on. Barnabas is actually mentioned in that passage as well, having gone along with Peter. Some have suggested that this recent background between Paul and Barnabas had created an underlying tension that lead to the situation we read about today. Galatians was written around AD 50, so the timeline fits. However, the text doesn’t mention this, and whatever rift existed from that incident had clearly been mended by verse 36, or Paul wouldn’t have suggested they begin another journey together.

Paul says to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit all these churches where we have ministered and see how they are doing.” Barnabas was apparently on board — except for one major point of disagreement: who to bring with them.

Barnabas wanted to take John Mark. Paul most definitely did not.

1. The Cause of Their Parting

The cause was this disagreement over John Mark. Going back to Acts 13:13, we see where it originated: “Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John departed from them, returning to Jerusalem.” On the first journey, John Mark had bailed on them. We do not know exactly why, but he went back while Paul and Barnabas continued on. Paul, perhaps in wisdom, did not want a repeat. Barnabas — who was John Mark’s cousin, or possibly his uncle — perhaps wanted to give him the opportunity to redeem himself. But there was a disagreement, and whether it was due to principle, pride, or simply a difference of opinion, this was something they could not resolve. The Greek word used here denotes a very strong disagreement — this was not a simple matter of preference.

The obvious question, at least for me, is: who was actually in the right? Should John Mark have gone or not? Matthew Henry sides with Paul. G. Campbell Morgan says his sympathies are firmly with Barnabas. Other commentators point out that Luke, the author of Acts, seems very intentionally not to be casting either man as clearly right or clearly wrong. It seems that Luke portrays it as even-handedly as possible, and I think that ambiguity is part of the point. The passage is not really about whether John Mark was a good prospect for another trip. The point seems to be in how the conflict played out, how it was handled, and how that led to the work going forward.

I do not think we even have to say that either man was in sin. While this is certainly possible — they are but men and sin during a sharp disagreement is the norm for men — we do not know their hearts or their attitudes. It is also possible that two men could disagree sharply and yet righteously, with no need for repentance afterward. Either way, they were clearly on good terms afterward.

In 1 Corinthians 9:6, written in the mid-50s — about five years after these events — Paul speaks of Barnabas in a way that clearly implies no hard feelings. Colossians 4:10, written in the early 60s, says: “and also Barnabas’ cousin Mark, about whom you received instructions — if he comes to you, welcome him.” That is Paul writing warmly of both men. And by 2 Timothy 4:11, written in the mid-60s — roughly fifteen years after the parting — Paul says: “Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry.” His opinion of Mark has completely turned around. Over the ensuing fifteen years, Paul clearly maintained a positive view of both Barnabas and Mark.

2. The Need for Their Parting

The need for the parting is not explicit in the text, but it does seem implicit. Amos 3:3: “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” Here, the two could not really walk together because they were not agreed. Regardless of who was right, neither man was able or willing to compromise. Both had drawn a line in the sand. And yet both still had a calling from God — God still had much for each of them to do. The only option remaining was to part ways as peacefully as possible and continue to minister on parallel tracks, not at cross purposes, but no longer side by side.

We see a parallel in Genesis 13, the account of Abraham and Lot. Starting in verse 5:

“And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together, for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdmen of Lot’s cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.”

Abraham simply said: you decide where you want to go, and we will go the other way. You do your thing, we will do ours. There was no way to continue in the current arrangement. And just as with Paul and Barnabas, there wasn’t obvious ill will from this parting — rather it was intended to eliminate the source of their strife. In fact, just a few chapters later, Abraham is interceding passionately on Lot’s behalf when God is about to judge Sodom — pleading for fifty righteous, then twenty, then ten, and so on. He still had genuine affection for Lot despite the separation.

Going back to Acts: the two men part because there is simply no other option. Neither was disqualified from serving, and as we have already seen, both continued to serve the church for decades afterward.

3. The Effect of Their Parting

Verse 39: “And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed unto Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas and departed.”

The effect was that God sent out two teams rather than one. Instead of just Paul and Barnabas, He sent out Paul and Silas, and He sent out Barnabas and John Mark. Matthew Henry said: “Even the quarrels of the apostles should tend to the furtherance of the gospel of Christ.” And that is exactly what we have here. Because of this conflict, God sent them each out separately to proclaim His gospel.

(One line in verse 40 is worth a brief comment. It says Paul departed “being recommended by the brethren.” Some have argued this shows Paul was in the right — that the church endorsed him. But what we really have here is Luke picking up the story of Paul and following it through to the end of the book. Paul is the main actor through the second half of Acts, and this is simply Luke saying, “That happened — now back to Paul.”)

Application: How Does This Apply to Hot Springs Reformed Church?

Our catalyzing cause may not seem as dramatic as a sharp argument between an apostle and a disciple. But similarly, many of us reached a point where disagreements over doctrine and practice — in spite of every effort to live at peace — have made it difficult to serve in our previous church contexts.

This raises the obvious question: what exactly are those disagreements? What are the things where we go in a different direction? Next week we will address that question directly, and discuss the key areas of doctrine and practice that distinguish us from many other local churches.

Here’s a quick peek at what we’ll be covering next week:

The primacy of the church and her worship — the Christian life is much more than what we do on Sunday morning, but it is certainly not less.

Sexed piety — the idea that the characteristics of a godly Christian man and those of a godly Christian woman are not exactly the same. There is certainly overlap in living a godly life, but there are also distinct things required of men and distinct things required of women. We are not interchangeable.

Christ’s victory through the church — 1 Corinthians 15:25–26 tells us that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. We believe the church, though slowly and over a long time, will ultimately be victorious — that Christ will defeat His enemies through the church in this age.

And closely related to this: A proper understanding of the relationship between Israel and the church — the Israel of God. Some may question whether this belongs on the list, but as I read the New Testament, a huge portion of the New Testament is devoted to precisely this question. It is a major theme of Galatians, of Ephesians, of much of Acts, of several chapters in Romans, and countless other places. It is good for us to understand it rightly.

For many of us, because of these convictions, it was difficult if not impossible to fully participate and serve in many other churches — and this is not a criticism of those churches. They are responsible to God for ensuring their understanding of Scripture is taught in their church. But this led us to the need for something new — a place we could worship according to our conscience, to serve freely, and to see our children taught in accordance with our beliefs.

Lord willing, the effect will be not a divided church in Hot Springs, but a multiplying one. Our goal is to maintain peace, worship according to our conscience, and teach right doctrine and practice as we understand it. And then, Lord willing, He will use even our disagreements to advance His kingdom.

Sermon by Jeremy Isaac at Hot Springs Reformed Church: May 10, 2026

(Editor’s note: This transcript may have been lightly edited for clarity and/or condensed for internet attention spans.)