One church, one heartThis was God’s intention from the startNo fuss, no fightWe can walk together in the Light

Tear down the walls that causes divisionGet back to Jesus and renounce religion

(Chorus)Denomination DemolitionLife shouldn’t be a competitionWe can fulfill the great commissionDenomination Demolition

“Denomination Demolition” Mylon & Broken Heart

Denomination demolition Part 1: Why so many splits in the

Christian Church? 2 Gal:1-10

Mainstream denominations/cults/ inter church movements/independent churches/apostolic

churches/non denominational churches

This matter arose, because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. Gal 2:4

“Fringe” denominations

“Fringe” denominations

Totally exclusive orTotally inclusive approach

“Non denominational” exclusive churches

Would Paul be surprised at the divisions among Christians today?

• I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30

• The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 1 Tim 4:1

• For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itchy ears want to hear. 2 Tim 4:3

• For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached…you put up with it easily. 1 Cor 11:4

• Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. Hebrews 13:9• His (Paul’s) letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which

ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other scriptures, to their own destruction. Peter 3:16

• Many deceivers who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. 2 John7

• Letters to the church in Pergamum, Thyatira. Rev 2:14-15, 20

Danger signs that you may be in a wrong church.

1) There is a claim of bring the “one true church” (or more true than other churches).

The Judaizers believed only Christians who observed Jewish

ritual laws and were circumcised were part of the “one true church”.

Birth of the first “denominations”

Church in Jerusalem• Principle leaders are all

Apostles.• All leaders were Jews.• Church mission was to

reach out to Jews.• Independent but in

fellowship with Antioch.• Jewish Nationalistic

structure, same Gospel.

Church in Antioch• Only one leader is an

apostle (Paul).• Leaders were of mixed

races, including 2 Africans (Acts 13:1-5)

• Church mission was to reach out to Gentiles.

• Independent but in fellowship with Jerusalem.

• Universalistic Gentile structure, same Gospel.

Your spiritual life My spiritual life

Danger signs that you may be in a wrong church.

1) There is a claim of bring the “one true church” (or more true than other churches).

2) You feel pressurized to conform to certain church practices and beliefs.

• We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. 2:5

• But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 2:12

• The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy. 2:13

• Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. 6:12

Social pressure can strongly influence our understanding of biblical truths

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are. Matt 23:15

Danger signs that you may be in a wrong church.

1) There is a claim of bring the “one true church” (or more true than other churches).

2) You feel pressurized to conform to certain beliefs. 3) Your understanding of the bible is mainly shaped by

what the church leaders tell you.

• …to those who seemed to be leaders. 2:2• …for those who seemed to be important. 2:6• …those reputed to be pillars. 2:8• The Judaizers were claiming to have endorsement

“from James” (2:12), and implying the Jerusalem apostles were more credible than Paul.

David “Moses” Berg

Is your faith based on your own study of the bible or what some people tell you what the bible says?

I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. Gal 1:11

Danger signs that you may be in a wrong church.

1)There is a claim of bring the “one true church” (or more true than other churches).

2) You feel pressurized to conform to certain beliefs. 3)Your understanding of the bible is mainly shaped by

what the church leaders tell you.4)Salvation is preached as the Gospel AND some other

requirement.

Gospel plus circumcision

• Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: “ Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” Acts 15:5

• The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming- not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. Hebrews 10:1

Gospel vs Gospel plus

• Gospel plus circumcision and following ritual food laws (Judaizers)

• …those men (the Jerusalem Apostles) added nothing to my message. 2:6b

Gospel plus

Gospel plus… •Mode and place of Baptism (True Jesus Church)•Speaking in tongues (Pentecostals)•Sabbath keeping (Seventh Day Adventist)•Style of worship (Int. Church of Christ, Charismatic)•Liturgy and traditions (Catholics, Orthodox, High Anglican)•End Time Prophecies (Christian Zionist) •Health and Miracles (Christian Science)•Church governance (New Apostolic Church)•Strict moral Code (Conservative evangelical, Closed Brethren)•Additional revelation (Mormon)•Financial success (Prosperity Gospel)•Social Action (Liberals)

…to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 2.4b

“We have taken the command of Christ to go, baptize, and teach all nations, and mutated it into a comfortable call to come, be baptized and sit in one location.”David Platt

The evangelical heresy: Gospel Minus

The impact of Gospel plus or Gospel minus in our lives.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self indulgence. Matt 23:25-26

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1:16

A Gospel centered church is the best safeguard against false teachings.

• The Gospel alone and nothing else is required for salvation.

• The Gospel transforms lives through the Holy Spirit.• Every believer should come to own personal spiritual

convictions anchored in the Gospel, and not through social pressure to conform.

• Teach the bible through the Gospel.• Pursue unity among churches on the basis of the

Gospel alone.

What is emphasized in the bible

• Sin and repentance.• Salvation through the Cross.• God the Father, Son and

Holy Spirit.• Love and forgiveness.• Grace.• God’s Judgment.• Holy living.• Glorifying God.• Building each other up.

What is not emphasized in the bible

• Speaking in tongues.• Mode of baptism.• Mode of keeping the

Sabbath.• Material prosperity and

health.• How the church is

governed.• Mode of worship.• Subjective moral

restrictions.

The emphasis of the bible is Jesus Christ

..to prepare God’s people for service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Eph 4:13-14

• Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preached among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. 2:1-2

• Paul’s meeting with the Jerusalem apostles had 2 agendas- one on verifying Gospel truth and the other on encouraging Gospel unity.

Genuine gospel truth and life requires connecting with believers from other churches

How Charismatic Christians view themselves.

How evangelical Christians view Charismatics.

How Evangelical Christians view themselves.

How Charismatic Christians view Evangelicals.

Denomination demolition The most profound experience I ever had in this regards, one that drew

me out of a cloistered perception of the evangelical- fundamentalist movement, was a summer of missionary work and evangelism in Austria, in the summers of 1973 and 1975. There I encountered genuine Christians who were: (1) not from my denomination which was Baptist at that time(2) unable to read the KJV of the Bible; (3) happy to use guitars and drums in church services; (4) charismatic; (5) non- American and even anti- American; (6) unconcerned about issues that I thought were important, like drinking, dress codes, and hair length, and (7) profoundly godly and spiritual. My world was partly shattered because I came to realize that what I thought was Christian was no more than a reflection of inter-tribal debates that were occurring in the United States. The consequences of those two summers changed my perception of the entire church. I recognized that God works in different ways with different people in different parts of the world.

Scott McKnight, Evangelical Bible Scholar

The church…………………………OR……………….the Church?

The Gospel alone for salvation – the basis for unity