“Spare No Effort”
Preliminary NOTE: In order to know how we got from the First Session of “The Good
Fight of Faith” to this second on “Spare No Effort”, you need to make sure that you have
read the first two chapters of the Appendix: A1 of “Group Self-Denial and Individual
Separation” {Christ for Individuals}; and A2 of “A Harmony of Life”.
The complete quote from Ephesians 4:3 in the New English Version is, “Spare no effort to
make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives.” The New King James Version
requires the total context of Ephesians 4:1-3.
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with
which you were called {called to be a Christian we would say today, but at the origin of
Christianity and Christian churches, and as an introduction to the only bonds of peace
Christians have, the phrase for the calling was in the words of Ephesians 4:4b “just as
you were called in one hope of your calling”}, with all lowliness and gentleness, with
longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 NKJV)
2-1: In this summary of “Spare no effort”, supplemented with the 7 ONEs of Ephesians 4:
4-6, all the work is done for you to understand the book of Ephesians, and thus all of the
14 letters of the Apostle Paul.
The only foundation for peace are “these bonds of peace” with which the inherent unity among
Christians is to tied up with individual efforts by individual Christians. These are the only bonds
of peace. There are no more bonds of peace than the Seven ONEs of Ephesians 4:4-6.
{Also there are no other major doctrines of Christianity than those 7 ONEs. You see how
Ephesians 4:1-6, six verses when the supplement to “Spare no Effort” in the 7 ONEs is
added.} Do you mean that Study of these major seven doctrines of the Bible will provide
peace among Christians? Yes, this is the only God provided means for peace; however it
goes beyond just the study of these major doctrines, to the living of and with these 7 ONEs of
the Bible. Living with the realities {doctrines} of one body, one Holy Spirit, one hope of your
Christian calling, one Lord Jesus Christ, one faith, one baptism, and “one God and Father of
all”.
1. This unity is an inherent unity provided only by the Holy Spirit of God. First of all for clarity
sake it must be stated, as you can see from the context of “Spare no effort to make fast with
bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives” where this unity comes from. It is an inherent
unity that can only come from the Spirit of God. No way, as man has learned throughout
history, can you provide more than a temporal unity in any creations of man. Man has tried to
create local church organizations, denominations, and other groups to control and make this
unity; but most generally it is a lack of peace that destroys or hampers any real unity.
2. The fundamental principle from Jesus of “many are called but few are chosen”--that is,
distinguishing throughout Christian history, today, and even in the Old Testament times {like in
Jeremiah where we have been studying} God “called out a larger group”, say like from Egyptian
bondage; and then from that larger called out group selected a few to be “the elect”.
3. Today there always remains the difference between the called out assemblies in local
churches and the few from each of those local assemblies that God “has chosen”, the names
of whom are written on the roll of the called out assembly of the first born in heaven. (Hebrews
12:23) The history of churches and denominations is that men have made drastic and special
efforts, sparing no efforts in mis-direction, to make their own local church or denominations
synonymous with the church of the firstborn written in heaven. Even today, it never works. For
one thing, none of these men, no matter how religious, how competent, or how organized have
access to the church roll of the Firstborn Christ in heaven. Only the Spirit of God, Who is still
here on earth, has access to that roll in heaven; and it is He that provides, with the 7 major
doctrines, this inherent unity.
2-2: Peace among all Christians is shattered anytime a group {church, religious
business, or denomination} takes just one doctrine out of context, running with it alone
to the neglect of the other six; and primarily to the neglect of a frontal movement with all
Seven.
Splits and denominations, as for example the community church movement, occur as a group
of groups take an isolated text of doctrine, and “go everywhere preaching with it” as preacher-
boys are famous for describing preachers or evangelist who do not stick to their announced
subject or text. The same problem that created Ted Haggard in his fall from a pastorate in
Colorado Springs and as head of the National Evangelistic Association, still exist in the church
that ran him off to cover up the larger church wide and denominational wide problem, and to
wash their hands, like Pilate, of any guilt in the larger body. What is that problem: tangential
efforts on only one doctrine of the seven isolated from the rest?
Bless their hearts, each generation a group arrives on the world scene, having recognized all
the Falling Away problems in the world and the church, offering a single, simple solution to the
problems by an emphasis of only 1 out of 7. Our God is not a simple God, and our God’s
solution plan and program is not simple, it requires a simultaneous frontal movement with all 7
doctrines to make real progress. Goodness, Paul made it simple for us {or really God through
the Apostle Paul} when in the history of the writing of the guidance of the 66 books of the Bible,
God had Paul summarized all the truth of the first 10 epistles in the book of Ephesians; and
then further from the God-given truths of Ephesians to summarize all Christian teachings in 7
major doctrines. And now along comes each few years a group of religious businessmen, who
by the way are making large sums of money to the extent of becoming millionaires, goes off on
the tangent of one doctrine like “tongues” or “the cross”.
There is no single doctrine of the Bible any more important for salvation than the preaching of
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ; but the word itself “cross” is not magic without a proper
description in context of how Christ died on the cross for our sins that we might believe and
have salvation. You see how quickly the preached of one doctrine, the cross, must lead into
others: like the One Lord with a description from the 4 Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ with all
that He lived and did; like with the One God, the Father of Creation and the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who thought up salvation and sent His own Son to die on the cross; like God the
Holy Spirit who provides in the One Baptism the God-ward side of salvation after initial and
continuing faith, after the new birth, and during the yearly internal sanctification process as
Christians become more like Christ until more perfectly like Him at the Second Coming; and
then there must be the realization and preaching of the One Baptism as the One Salvation.
1. Most generally when this binding of the peace bonds is shattered anew every few years,
these man-make programs, unfortunately based on the Bible but only a very isolated portion of
the Bible, the religious group or business has continued to violate all the requirements for
speaking in unknown tongues of I Corinthians; and if you will look closely at them you can
detect an enlarged ego, where they “think of themselves more highly than they ought to”
(Romans 12:3); and their unbalanced emphasis on one or two doctrines of the Bible, comes
out of the enlarged ego as condemned in the bottom line of I Corinthians 14:36, that the Word
of God came to them only or that the Word of God came out of their group only.
2. Singular doctrines like repeating “the cross, the cross, the cross” or “tongues, tongues,
tongues” is a good rallying point and cry for highly skilled public relations and money-making,
even organizational expansion sometimes called “evangelism”; however they are not even the
same as any one of the Seven Majors of the Bible and of Ephesians 4:4-6. The cross is one
aspect of the One Lord Jesus Christ and is also part of the one salvation provided by the One
God through the One Lord Jesus Christ and the One Spirit.
3. You don’t see One salvation in the seven ONEs of Ephesians 4:4-6; and that is because it
is covered under the One Baptism; and you will not see in the One Baptism the doctrine of the
One salvation as long as certain groups can waylay you on both baptism and salvation.
However, since one of the chosen titles of this series of Bible Studies, from the topical
standpoint, is both “Believe and Be Baptized” and the “One Baptism”, you if you persevere in
the Bible Studies will acquire a much more balanced doctrinal approach to the total Bible. It
was God who gave us Ephesians and Ephesians 4:4-6 to summarize all the great truths that
circle about His own character and personality; and nowhere in this summary of doctrine do
you see “one salvation”; and since in all the previous letters of the Apostle Paul leading up to
the writing of the book of Ephesians as a summary at Caesarea Philippi, salvation is discussed
in so many words, terms, and concepts, you know that one of the Seven has to be about the
One Salvation. Which one? Well, the One Baptism naturally. But as long as Baptists can feed
their ego that this is water baptism by immersion and as long as the Assemblies of God can
feed their ego that this is a second blessing beyond initial salvation in the anointing of the Holy
Spirit with the speaking in unknown tongues, the minds of Christianity are cluttered to prevent a
full realization, even with all the Bible on “baptism” as the one salvation, of the One Baptism as
the One Salvation.
4. This matter of the One Baptism chosen by Paul and God through the Bible to describe the
One Salvation is so important that we momentarily pause here, before sessions on it later in
the study of the Life and Letters of Paul, to look briefly at the F. F. Bruce paraphrase of
Romans 6:3-14 on the “meaning of baptism”. In other words, go to the Bible itself as properly
explained and understood for the ultimate, large meaning of the One Baptism. Is Swaggart
right that itis the anointing of the Holy Spirit with a second blessing after initial salvation and
with the speaking in unknown tongues {by the way not Swaggart alone but in the tradition of
the Pentecostals and the Assemblies of God--in fact, the doctrinal tangent that has really
made that denomination as a split off from the main One body of Christians}? Or are the
Baptists correct in their tangent of water baptism by immersion, likewise ignoring the larger
meaning as the One Baptism of the One Salvation.
“Do you not know that when we were baptized into membership of Christ Jesus, we
were baptized into participation in His death? That is why we were buried with Him in
our baptism {Colossians 2:12}.
The purpose of this participation in His death and burial was that we should for the future live a
new life, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the Father’s glorious power. You see, it
follows inevitabley that if we were identified with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall also
be identified with Him in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him.
2-3: All we have for PEACE and UNITY among all Christians of the ONE BODY...all we
have as avenues of efforts at evangelism and Bible teaching, and in order to MAJOR on,
is the Seven ONEs of Ephesians 4:4-6; and that, if it is to promote real peace and unity of
the one body rather than scatter and shatter that peace and unity must be a balanced
movement on all 7 fronts. In other words, since the total Word of God was given for “our
instruction”, we as a body of Christ must advance forward in efforts, peace, and unity
with a balanced approach on the total Word of God.
NOTE: The second third of "Spare No Effort" in a newsletter will be available by email in
October, 2011; however you can read the entire message now either on the website or
by the download of the PDF. The PDF download affords you the opportunity to see and
read all the original footnotes in Adobe FrameMaker. For a download, you must have
Adobe Reader on your computer. It is free from www.adobe.com. Just click on the
button below. And if you care to dialogue on this subject, or any other of the www.
biblecombibleman.com official website of SunGrist_Bible, you may use the submit form
below to email us.
Thank you,
SunGrist_Bible
Announcement: you will be glad to know that
now a paperback copy of FRIENDS OF JESUS
is available on Amazon.com. To view and order,
simply click on the cover picture below. Believe
me, for these times, you need it!
Preliminary NOTE: In order to know how we got from the First Session of “The Good
Fight of Faith” to this second on “Spare No Effort”, you need to make sure that you have
read the first two chapters of the Appendix: A1 of “Group Self-Denial and Individual
Separation” {Christ for Individuals}; and A2 of “A Harmony of Life”.
The complete quote from Ephesians 4:3 in the New English Version is, “Spare no effort to
make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives.” The New King James Version
requires the total context of Ephesians 4:1-3.
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with
which you were called {called to be a Christian we would say today, but at the origin of
Christianity and Christian churches, and as an introduction to the only bonds of peace
Christians have, the phrase for the calling was in the words of Ephesians 4:4b “just as
you were called in one hope of your calling”}, with all lowliness and gentleness, with
longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3 NKJV)
2-1: In this summary of “Spare no effort”, supplemented with the 7 ONEs of Ephesians 4:
4-6, all the work is done for you to understand the book of Ephesians, and thus all of the
14 letters of the Apostle Paul.
The only foundation for peace are “these bonds of peace” with which the inherent unity among
Christians is to tied up with individual efforts by individual Christians. These are the only bonds
of peace. There are no more bonds of peace than the Seven ONEs of Ephesians 4:4-6.
{Also there are no other major doctrines of Christianity than those 7 ONEs. You see how
Ephesians 4:1-6, six verses when the supplement to “Spare no Effort” in the 7 ONEs is
added.} Do you mean that Study of these major seven doctrines of the Bible will provide
peace among Christians? Yes, this is the only God provided means for peace; however it
goes beyond just the study of these major doctrines, to the living of and with these 7 ONEs of
the Bible. Living with the realities {doctrines} of one body, one Holy Spirit, one hope of your
Christian calling, one Lord Jesus Christ, one faith, one baptism, and “one God and Father of
all”.
1. This unity is an inherent unity provided only by the Holy Spirit of God. First of all for clarity
sake it must be stated, as you can see from the context of “Spare no effort to make fast with
bonds of peace the unity which the Spirit gives” where this unity comes from. It is an inherent
unity that can only come from the Spirit of God. No way, as man has learned throughout
history, can you provide more than a temporal unity in any creations of man. Man has tried to
create local church organizations, denominations, and other groups to control and make this
unity; but most generally it is a lack of peace that destroys or hampers any real unity.
2. The fundamental principle from Jesus of “many are called but few are chosen”--that is,
distinguishing throughout Christian history, today, and even in the Old Testament times {like in
Jeremiah where we have been studying} God “called out a larger group”, say like from Egyptian
bondage; and then from that larger called out group selected a few to be “the elect”.
3. Today there always remains the difference between the called out assemblies in local
churches and the few from each of those local assemblies that God “has chosen”, the names
of whom are written on the roll of the called out assembly of the first born in heaven. (Hebrews
12:23) The history of churches and denominations is that men have made drastic and special
efforts, sparing no efforts in mis-direction, to make their own local church or denominations
synonymous with the church of the firstborn written in heaven. Even today, it never works. For
one thing, none of these men, no matter how religious, how competent, or how organized have
access to the church roll of the Firstborn Christ in heaven. Only the Spirit of God, Who is still
here on earth, has access to that roll in heaven; and it is He that provides, with the 7 major
doctrines, this inherent unity.
2-2: Peace among all Christians is shattered anytime a group {church, religious
business, or denomination} takes just one doctrine out of context, running with it alone
to the neglect of the other six; and primarily to the neglect of a frontal movement with all
Seven.
Splits and denominations, as for example the community church movement, occur as a group
of groups take an isolated text of doctrine, and “go everywhere preaching with it” as preacher-
boys are famous for describing preachers or evangelist who do not stick to their announced
subject or text. The same problem that created Ted Haggard in his fall from a pastorate in
Colorado Springs and as head of the National Evangelistic Association, still exist in the church
that ran him off to cover up the larger church wide and denominational wide problem, and to
wash their hands, like Pilate, of any guilt in the larger body. What is that problem: tangential
efforts on only one doctrine of the seven isolated from the rest?
Bless their hearts, each generation a group arrives on the world scene, having recognized all
the Falling Away problems in the world and the church, offering a single, simple solution to the
problems by an emphasis of only 1 out of 7. Our God is not a simple God, and our God’s
solution plan and program is not simple, it requires a simultaneous frontal movement with all 7
doctrines to make real progress. Goodness, Paul made it simple for us {or really God through
the Apostle Paul} when in the history of the writing of the guidance of the 66 books of the Bible,
God had Paul summarized all the truth of the first 10 epistles in the book of Ephesians; and
then further from the God-given truths of Ephesians to summarize all Christian teachings in 7
major doctrines. And now along comes each few years a group of religious businessmen, who
by the way are making large sums of money to the extent of becoming millionaires, goes off on
the tangent of one doctrine like “tongues” or “the cross”.
There is no single doctrine of the Bible any more important for salvation than the preaching of
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ; but the word itself “cross” is not magic without a proper
description in context of how Christ died on the cross for our sins that we might believe and
have salvation. You see how quickly the preached of one doctrine, the cross, must lead into
others: like the One Lord with a description from the 4 Gospels of the Lord Jesus Christ with all
that He lived and did; like with the One God, the Father of Creation and the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who thought up salvation and sent His own Son to die on the cross; like God the
Holy Spirit who provides in the One Baptism the God-ward side of salvation after initial and
continuing faith, after the new birth, and during the yearly internal sanctification process as
Christians become more like Christ until more perfectly like Him at the Second Coming; and
then there must be the realization and preaching of the One Baptism as the One Salvation.
1. Most generally when this binding of the peace bonds is shattered anew every few years,
these man-make programs, unfortunately based on the Bible but only a very isolated portion of
the Bible, the religious group or business has continued to violate all the requirements for
speaking in unknown tongues of I Corinthians; and if you will look closely at them you can
detect an enlarged ego, where they “think of themselves more highly than they ought to”
(Romans 12:3); and their unbalanced emphasis on one or two doctrines of the Bible, comes
out of the enlarged ego as condemned in the bottom line of I Corinthians 14:36, that the Word
of God came to them only or that the Word of God came out of their group only.
2. Singular doctrines like repeating “the cross, the cross, the cross” or “tongues, tongues,
tongues” is a good rallying point and cry for highly skilled public relations and money-making,
even organizational expansion sometimes called “evangelism”; however they are not even the
same as any one of the Seven Majors of the Bible and of Ephesians 4:4-6. The cross is one
aspect of the One Lord Jesus Christ and is also part of the one salvation provided by the One
God through the One Lord Jesus Christ and the One Spirit.
3. You don’t see One salvation in the seven ONEs of Ephesians 4:4-6; and that is because it
is covered under the One Baptism; and you will not see in the One Baptism the doctrine of the
One salvation as long as certain groups can waylay you on both baptism and salvation.
However, since one of the chosen titles of this series of Bible Studies, from the topical
standpoint, is both “Believe and Be Baptized” and the “One Baptism”, you if you persevere in
the Bible Studies will acquire a much more balanced doctrinal approach to the total Bible. It
was God who gave us Ephesians and Ephesians 4:4-6 to summarize all the great truths that
circle about His own character and personality; and nowhere in this summary of doctrine do
you see “one salvation”; and since in all the previous letters of the Apostle Paul leading up to
the writing of the book of Ephesians as a summary at Caesarea Philippi, salvation is discussed
in so many words, terms, and concepts, you know that one of the Seven has to be about the
One Salvation. Which one? Well, the One Baptism naturally. But as long as Baptists can feed
their ego that this is water baptism by immersion and as long as the Assemblies of God can
feed their ego that this is a second blessing beyond initial salvation in the anointing of the Holy
Spirit with the speaking in unknown tongues, the minds of Christianity are cluttered to prevent a
full realization, even with all the Bible on “baptism” as the one salvation, of the One Baptism as
the One Salvation.
4. This matter of the One Baptism chosen by Paul and God through the Bible to describe the
One Salvation is so important that we momentarily pause here, before sessions on it later in
the study of the Life and Letters of Paul, to look briefly at the F. F. Bruce paraphrase of
Romans 6:3-14 on the “meaning of baptism”. In other words, go to the Bible itself as properly
explained and understood for the ultimate, large meaning of the One Baptism. Is Swaggart
right that itis the anointing of the Holy Spirit with a second blessing after initial salvation and
with the speaking in unknown tongues {by the way not Swaggart alone but in the tradition of
the Pentecostals and the Assemblies of God--in fact, the doctrinal tangent that has really
made that denomination as a split off from the main One body of Christians}? Or are the
Baptists correct in their tangent of water baptism by immersion, likewise ignoring the larger
meaning as the One Baptism of the One Salvation.
“Do you not know that when we were baptized into membership of Christ Jesus, we
were baptized into participation in His death? That is why we were buried with Him in
our baptism {Colossians 2:12}.
The purpose of this participation in His death and burial was that we should for the future live a
new life, just as Christ was raised form the dead by the Father’s glorious power. You see, it
follows inevitabley that if we were identified with Him in the likeness of His death, we shall also
be identified with Him in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him.
2-3: All we have for PEACE and UNITY among all Christians of the ONE BODY...all we
have as avenues of efforts at evangelism and Bible teaching, and in order to MAJOR on,
is the Seven ONEs of Ephesians 4:4-6; and that, if it is to promote real peace and unity of
the one body rather than scatter and shatter that peace and unity must be a balanced
movement on all 7 fronts. In other words, since the total Word of God was given for “our
instruction”, we as a body of Christ must advance forward in efforts, peace, and unity
with a balanced approach on the total Word of God.
NOTE: The second third of "Spare No Effort" in a newsletter will be available by email in
October, 2011; however you can read the entire message now either on the website or
by the download of the PDF. The PDF download affords you the opportunity to see and
read all the original footnotes in Adobe FrameMaker. For a download, you must have
Adobe Reader on your computer. It is free from www.adobe.com. Just click on the
button below. And if you care to dialogue on this subject, or any other of the www.
biblecombibleman.com official website of SunGrist_Bible, you may use the submit form
below to email us.
Thank you,
SunGrist_Bible
Announcement: you will be glad to know that
now a paperback copy of FRIENDS OF JESUS
is available on Amazon.com. To view and order,
simply click on the cover picture below. Believe
me, for these times, you need it!
 |  |  |  |
| Previous Bible Sessions of Life and Letters of Paul FIRST SECOND THIRD FOURTH "Fight the good fight Group Self-Denial and Harmony of Life "Spare No Effort to make fast with bonds of faith" Individual Separation of peace the unity of the Spirit" Note: The second and third Bible sessions are downloads in PDF, and require that you have Adobe Reader or the equivalent on your computer. It is free from www.adobe.com, just click on the ADOBE button below! |
