25/04/2026 - Connecting Through Unity - Serge Papin

Thank

you so much for, especially this last song, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and maybe we could sing it again a bit later, it is so good.

My

name is Serge, and I'm an elder of this church, and I've got the responsibility of this morning's message.

Something

very interesting happened this morning, as I was finalizing my sermon this morning,

I

thought I'd wake up a bit earlier than the family was sleeping, and I went into the lounge where there's a lot more sun, and I could feel the heat of the sun when I sat down on my chair, and I opened my laptop just to look at my, and print my sermon, and as I opened the laptop, the face recognition

suddenly

failed on me. He didn't recognize me because the sun was so

strong

behind me that he couldn't recognize my face, and he asked me to put passwords in.

I'm

getting close to 70, and remembering over more than two days is a bit hard for me, so I tried five passwords, and it locked on me, and this morning,

there

we are.

And

I still would like to share that sermon with you, that message for you,

and

it could go either way. I could finish in 10 minutes, but if we may, you know, we can have a conversation together this morning. But the Lord is here, and we trust in the Lord, and we pray that His Spirit will guide anything and everything that we do. And whatever has been prepared, maybe,

probably

was not the right one for us this morning.

Let

me give you the context

of

what we've been trying to do since last week.

Today,

the message

is

about connecting

through

unity. Why this particular title?

I

don't know whether you can read it properly.

The

very first,

maybe

not South Canberra Adventist, Seventh Adventist Church, okay. However, the vision for our church

is

we are Christ-centered, we are a Christ-centered community which exists to connect people to Jesus, support each other, and grow together. This has been our vision for a few years now.

And

I think as we started the year with our new pastor, we wanted to sit down and revisit our vision to see whether we wanted to change it, to put something new. And when we went through it, we thought, no, we would like to keep it. But actually remind people why this vision is still the vision that we want to go with this year.

And

so last week, when Moses preached,

he

preached on a series that we wanted about that vision based on the book of Ephesians.

And

so he started with saying our foundation,

our

foundation is Jesus.

And

we started well because if there is no foundation like Jesus, where do we go from here? So we started with the book of Ephesians and we talked about Jesus, our friend.

And

today we're talking about we exist

to

connect people to Jesus. We exist

to

connect

to

the people.

And

the first question that comes to mind,

can

we connect with others

if

we are not connected to each other?

What

do we bring people in if we are not connected to each other? If we are not united to each other?

Because

this was the same problem that Paul had when he wrote to the people

of

the church

of

Ephesians.

And

so,

I

pray to the Lord, I thank the Lord that I sent that yesterday.

And

this is the framework that we're going to work on, on Ephesians 2

to

Ephesians 4. So I will take three parts

of

this. The first one is the wall that never walked. I will go through that, the part one, the wall that never walked. Part two, one body but not a pass drawer. I will explain all of this as I go along. And part three, walking the unity we've been given. What do I mean by all that? And we'll conclude.

Let

me start with the first one. Ephesians 2, 11 to 16. I will read that very quickly. Therefore, remember, Paul is writing

to

the people of Ephesians, of the church there. Therefore, remember that formerly, you who are Gentiles by birth and called unconsumcised by those who call themselves the circumcision, which is done in the body by human hands, remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners, to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

But

now, in Christ Jesus, you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

For

he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with his commands and regulations. But there are three things, really three words in the first part that we want to talk about.

Therefore,

remember,

the

very first thing is to remember. What is Paul, when he's writing to these members, asking them to remember?

Well, who? You

who are Gentiles by birth and called unconsumcised, there was, I think, Moses talked a bit about that last week,

that

in the church of Ephesians,

there

was a lot of,

what

we call, non-Jews, Gentiles, who came to the church after they were, the message that Paul got through to them.

But

at the same time, in the church, there were also

Jews, who

were believers, you know, that they were the better ones, the selected ones. They came from Moses.

And

already in the church of Ephesians, there were what we call a bit of, can I call it disunity? That they were separated. They were not the solid church that Paul had preached about. And he said, guys, remember this time. Remember when we were,

because,

you know, there was not Christ in us, we were separated. We were different. We were not one.

And

he said, therefore, remember those times

when

we, you didn't know Jesus, and this was not happening, yet when Jesus came, with the message, with the gospel, of the good news,

you

who are far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

And

I go to verse 13, for he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall

of

hostility.

Because

the wall

has

never worked.

Because

the wall

between

those people

was

preventing, was a barrier.

Let

me just give you an example.

I

know it doesn't happen in your family,

and

sometimes it doesn't, a lot of, never in my family.

Let

me give you that example.

You

have organized a birthday.

And

you've invited,

this

time, a family reunion.

You've

got those family

people, those

of them who come early,

because

they want to help you to prepare.

What

they've brought with them is

cooked

meals from home, from the baked cakes,

from

the oven.

And

they've come and brought that. And they are early. They're helping you. They've brought food.

You've

been invited for two o'clock, let's say,

and

they come at about 1.45 or 1 o'clock and help out.

Then

you've got those family members

who

come at 10 past 2.

Because

they've just been to the shop and bought some chips.

And

they come in.

And

when we have a feast,

those

who came there will be first on the table to get the best out of it. And it doesn't happen in your family. It doesn't happen in my family. It's just an example.

Immediately,

immediately, a wall is set up.

Well,

we are the ones that came early.

We

are the ones who bought all the best food.

And

there we are, we're all eating together.

Listen,

there was no sign on the wall that said you have to be here. There's no sign.

There's

nothing that indicates that. But subtly,

subtly,

without even wanting it, a wall

has

been built.

And

we know as a church

that

there are

walls. I

mean, you've got those who

like

sitting in the front, for example, and those who like sitting at the back. There's no sign that says you should be sitting in the front of the back.

But

sometimes, automatically, if someone sits in your seat,

you

say, well, they don't know. Maybe,

I

don't want to be sitting somewhere else. There are those who, when they sing, like to have their hands up. Others like to have their hands in their pocket when they sigh, when they sing. Immediately,

this

thing of the wall, those people, they're the one raising their hands. Or they're someone or not.

It's

a wall. Sometimes, you say, oh no, those guys are too liberal.

Or

some of those are too,

what's

the other one? Conservative.

And

sometimes, I mean, I'm looking at you, all our guys now. I mean, we come from all parts of the world. Some are true Aussie blues. I don't know, Aussie blue. Yeah, something like that. Some are from Mauritius. Some are from Poland. Some are from New Zealand. Some are from the continent of Africa. We're such a mix. And we've been brought differently. And sometimes, we carry things that we bring in.

And

sometimes, subtly, walls start building up.

But

you know what?

Jesus

says,

and

that's why we start with that foundation. Jesus said, for He Himself is our peace, Jesus, who has made the two groups one.

Jesus, who

has made the two groups one. Jesus has destroyed the barrier.

He

has destroyed the dividing wall

of

hostility.

The

starting point is that not that

we

try to bring that unity ourselves. The reality is that

Jesus

has already brought, has already

destroyed

the wall, destroyed the barriers.

The

starting point

is

a clean sheet.

The

starting point

is

unity.

but

then what happens?

We

start building our own little wall.

Whatever

it may be,

we

start building

our

little wall.

But

the wall

cannot

work.

Let

me move on to the second part.

one

body, not a parts drawer. Therefore, let me read this. Therefore, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,

but

fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household,

built

on the foundation of the apostles and prophets and Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.

In

Him, the whole building is joined together

and

rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

Let

me tell you, I share with

you

an experience.

It

happened

on

Tuesday.

It's

been a while since I've been to Costco

in

Fishway.

And

my wife asked me to take her there.

So

I drove there.

And

you will remember when you turn from the airport, there's a runabout, you turn right into Costco from where we come. Turn right into Costco. I miss it, I turn left.

And

I found myself

in

Ikea.

Do

you know when I go to Ikea,

I've

got palpitations.

And

I will tell you why.

Because

every time I think of Ikea,

I

think of the hundred of parts that I used to buy and used to mount it myself.

And

what I never could understand, why when I've got those, when I put all of this furniture together, I always have surplus of requirements.

I

always have like 10 or 15 screws left over. I've got a bracket here, I don't know why. I've got, I mean, when you open the box, the box is beautiful. I mean, the picture on the box is fantastic. You're going to build this.

But

then, of all the parts that they get, you get a small Allen key. hard.

And

you've got a sheet of paper, like a, a what?

A sheet of instruction.

A instruction. Well, thank you, Omar. An instruction which gives you, I mean, you need to be an engineer

to

be able to read that.

And

what I've done, and what I've done is that every time I put a furniture in,

all

the leftovers that they've left for me,

I

put it in a drawer.

And

I keep it.

It's

amazing.

I

went down on Friday to have a look at the drawer that I had.

It

was full of screws.

Full

of parts.

Still

in the drawer.

But

when I look at the furniture that I built with it,

it

doesn't exist anymore.

And

this brought me straight away to Ephesians,

chapter

2.

Because

if you look over here, we look, we go from a family,

a

household, verse 19, members of this household, and it goes to a structure, to a foundation.

It

goes from family to structure.

Chief

cornerstone. Building. Join together.

We

are like a structure.

We

are

the

finished article. But the finished article

is

based on each part being put together

without

any parts missing.

because

if we've got

a

parts drawer

that

means our foundation and what we've built,

the

finished article

is

not stable, is unstable.

You

see, each one of you

is

a part of that building.

The

danger that we have sometimes is that we love having the visitor's badge.

And

when you're a visitor's badge, you're here, you're greeted,

very

nice, and then you say goodbye and off you go. And you're never part of it.

And

sometimes that suits us

because

we just only need

to

be having a visitor's badge.

But

what

Jesus

wants

is

that as a foundation we are all joined together. There is no parts that needs to be in the drawer.

What

would happen if I've built a table

and the leg decide,

well,

I

don't want to be

part

of it.

each

one of you

is

important.

Without

you

as

a whole

we

are unstable.

Without

you

the

foundation

that

we are building

becomes

weaker. Yes,

our

chief cornerstone we need to have, again, the main foundation is Jesus.

He's

created already that unity.

He's

reminding us to be careful not to start building our own wall.

And

He's reminding us again that we need

to

be

a

structure,

a

building, a whole building joined together and rises to become a holy temple.

How

can we

connect

with others if you and I are not connected?

How

can we connect with others if you and I are not united?

And

listen,

sometimes

I still love speaking French

with

my family, with my friends.

And

you, because of where we come from, sometimes we like to talk the mother tongue that we have.

But

does that mean that we don't have to connect?

there

are things that honestly,

there

are things that we may not agree

upon.

We view things a certain way.

But

can we come together,

sit

at a table,

say

what we have to say honestly,

and

then agree on how we move forward? Because the idea, and as Luke

showed

it

on

one of his

picture, that

he's walking, the whole group was walking together in a direction. They had their steps going forward, but they were moving in one direction.

Can

we as a church

move

together in one direction despite some perceived differences among ourselves?

And

sometimes there are good reasons why people, you know, that, you know, someone prefer not to be involved because, you know, I mean, there's so many reasons.

But

can I put my hand up

and

say whatever I can offer,

I

will join together and we'll walk in that direction. Irrelevant of age, we saw Hosanna

coming

up here

and

saying what she had to say. How old is she?

You've

got me and all men standing up here

and

saying what I've got to say. Each one of us, God has gifted us with something that we can share, we can make a difference

to

the other.

Can

we join all in?

Can

we be a church

that

looks above our differences?

You

and I

cannot

be

in

the parts drawer.

We

need

to

be part

of

this building

that

God is creating

so

that we can connect with each other

and

above all, we can connect with others and show what the gospel can do in our lives.

Let

me go to part three.

Walking

the unity you've been given

because

God has given us that unity

but

it's us again as I said building those walls

as

a prisoner for the Lord then

it's

interesting as a prisoner because Paul here in the original Greek translation uses a word it says therefore therefore as a prisoner and this is the word that changes everything

if

you believe everything that I've told you before

if

you believe that Jesus is a cornerstone of all if you believe all of that therefore

I

urge you as a prisoner for the Lord Jesus then I urge you

to

live a life worthy

of

the calling you have received and he expresses himself now be completely humble gentle patient bearing with one another in love

to

be honest it's not always easy

right

let's be honest about it let's talk

frankly

I've got no notes

so so

you know I mean completely humble man that's tough sometimes

you

know

because

we want to share you know the good thing that we have you know we're proud sometimes but be humble be gentle or sometimes it's hard

man

you should see some of the elders meetings that we have Colin is laughing you know I'm laughing too because sometimes man it's powerful

but

be patient

bearing

with one another and you know what after some of the solid conversation that we have we always finish with a hug don't we call him

we

finish with a hug bearing with one another in love because there will be time

when

things don't necessarily we don't see eye to eye to everything

but

can we finish because we are walking in the same do make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit

my

brother has been very good to me he has given me a nice machine that he doesn't use anymore

I

got that machine

and

I said I need to buy a few other things and there are quite a few things that I decided to buy which is fragile

so

I order them online

oh

man every single white van that I see

I

look at it

to

make sure because I know it's written fragile on it

that

it's when I look at the driver taking whatever box that it comes to me fragile I make sure he gives it in my hand so I am always running to the door and waiting for it to collect in the hand

you

know unity among ourselves is like that it's fragile

it

is so fragile

for

anything

I

mean people could

come

and tell me things that shakes me

unity

and you get disturbed by that unity is fragile

and

when something is fragile you take it with care

you

take it with precaution

you

take it

when

I get those fragile parcels I take it put on the table gently open it quietly making sure I don't disturb everything

because

I know any brusque movement brusque any

sudden

move could break that fragile thing

unity is

fragile

so

therefore handle each other

with

care

earlier

today

I'm

not sure who mentioned it I think you did again Luke

talk

about not

a

choir but a number of musicians coming together

and

together putting in music together

I'm

more comfortable with singing

so

when I sing there's a part I don't like

but

I know it's important it's the baritone

so

I always try to push the baritone to Nigel

but

if you sing the baritone on its own

it's

a horrible part

yet

without the baritone

in

a four part harmony

there's

something missing

it's

not right there we could be making all sorts of noises

in

an instrument it's not a choir it's an orchestra

well

if you just have one of the trombone playing on its own yeah it's nice it's playing on its own oh actually have you seen the warming up of an orchestra

oh

man it's noise absolute noise one is louder than the other the violin is going here the drums are going there there's nothing

but

the moment the conductor comes in it all changes

it

moves from noise

to

music

that's

exactly what Paul

is

telling to the Ephesians

and

this is exactly

what

this vision is all about

how

can we move from noise

to

music

how

can we move from noise to harmony

how

can we move from a

group

of people

to

a church

that

we will hold the name of Jesus

how

do we move

from

people just people coming to church

to

a unit

that

claims the power of God

the

power of Jesus

we

want to connect with others

let's

start with connecting with each other

by

building on the foundation

that

we talked about last week

if

you look at connect

church we

are now in the process of working out what it really means in practical terms

we

are talking about life groups

just

a few elders won't be able to do all of that

if

you are part of that building

if

the table of Ikea that we built and you are the foot of the table

where

do you see yourselves in there

are

you able to help with the part like catered lunch

or

can you help with the welcome community can you help with the busy be can you help with the cafe can you help with anything

what

gift has God given you so that you can be

part

of that building

that Jesus

is creating

at

South Canberra

as

we move on in the series

next

week we'll talk about how to serve in the community

but

what I want to leave with you

this

morning

is

to go back to what we said earlier

we

build on our foundation

without

Jesus

who

has already destroyed

the

walls

the

first thing for us

is

to make sure that we do not

start

building

those

walls

it

all started with Jesus

up

to us

to

do not build the walls

but

what can we do

are

we are we prepared

to

move forward

and

see how

unity

would look like

in

this South Canberra church

God

is talking

to

us this morning

and

I think that's why he didn't want me to bring what I prepared

but

the simple truth

that

without him in our life

we

cannot be united

and

if we are not united

we

cannot

what

is it connect

with

others because what do we bring them into

so

I leave that to you for this week to think about and to pray upon

and

I invite

our

ladies to

guide

us into the last song of this morning

which

is also about one gospel

and

being united in Christ thank you