Sermon Tone Analysis

Good morning and welcome to Mission Church.

Our mission is to partner with God to see His kingdom come in Las Vegas as it is in heaven and we accomplish this as we Love Jesus, Live like Jesus, and Lead others to Jesus.

This morning, we continue our pilgrimage through Paul’s beautiful letter to the Ephesians.

A journey that we’ve entitled, “God’s Plan for God’s people.”

We have been invited to be a part of God’s plan for the world.

Despite our brokenness.

Regardless of our weaknesses, God plans to use His Church to transform the world for His glory!

If you would, please grab your copy of God’s Word and open it to Ephesians 4.

Paul wrote this amazing letter to the Ephesian church while being chained to a Roman Soldier in a Roman prison.

And he spent the first half of this letter, chapters 1-3, focusing on how we receive new life in Christ.

Chapter 4 is a turning point in the letter as Paul now begins his instructions on how we are to live out this new life.

You see, Chapters 4-6 address the working out of chapters 1-3 and chapter 4 instructs us how to live out this new life in the church.

For the Christian, the church is the sphere of life that should determine and shape all other areas of our lives.

With this in mind, Paul begins his practical exhortation by writing a manual for the church.

In fact I have coined the next two week’s sermons...

An Owner's Manual For The Church.

And this morning is Part 1: Maintain the Unity.

Now, If you are able, I would like to invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Pray

This morning, my goal is to help make sense of our text, practically and relationally, especially regarding the Church and the gospel unity that should characterize us.

Jesus, through His life, death, and resurrection, He put to death the hostility that had at one time defined us, and He reconciled us both to God and to each other.

Now, because we share the same identity, testimony, and family, we must be intentional and vigilant to maintain our unity.

But let’s be honest; we live in an era of tension and confusion.

The time and space in which we live is centered around disunity, and this conflict is served to us on a silver platter from an endless buffet of media, social media, and streaming services.

It seems as though we can not escape the chaos.

But this isn’t a new reality.

We can wander to and fro through the halls of history and see a never ending reality of conflict and disunity, along with various attempts to solve the problem.

People have pleaded with popular phrases such as, “Can't we all just get along?”

Musicians such as John Lennon have written songs charging us to imagine the world’s people living in harmony.

But to no avail.

Hostility and conflict are the cultural air that we breathe.

And this disunity has even crept into the Church.

We are a reconciled people who have been charged with the ministry of reconciliation but we look and function no different than the chaotic world that surrounds us.

Rather than being defined by a supernatural gospel unity, the world looks at us and sees envy, pride, bitterness, and impatience.

Our behavior has not matched our savior’s, and our conduct has not complemented our confession.

So, what do we do?

How do we live differently?

What is it that unifies us?

And how can we maintain a supernatural gospel unity in an era of confusion?

Paul is helpful as he addresses these issues and answers our questions in his Church Manual found in chapter 4. In fact he is going to compel us to consider 3 important realities of the unity that we have in Christ.

1.

The Priority 2. The Urgent Expression 3. The Foundation.

1.

The Priority of Unity in the Church

Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord,

Again, Paul is writing this letter from a Roman prison, under the authority of Nero the emperor of Rome.

But rather than identifying himself as, ‘I, Paul, a prisoner of Nero,’ he wants us to know that God is the ultimate authority and that he is first and foremost a prisoner of the Lord.

You see, Paul is emphasizing here the sovereignty and the lordship of Jesus.

Paul…he might be in chains but God is still in control and there is nothing that can or will prevent God’s plans from being fulfilled.

So, from this place of authority, Paul instructs these Ephesian Christians on how to live like Jesus and he reveals to us the priority of unity in the Church… look back at v4

I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

Underline or take note of the phrase “walk worthy of the calling.”

This phrase speaks to how one is to conduct their life.

You see, Paul clearly laid out the gospel in the first three chapters, and now he is urging us to conduct our lives in a way that is in keeping with the gospel.

Brothers and Sisters, we have been called by God out of the world and into the body of Christ.

You see, the church consists of those who have been called out of the world, called out of darkness, and called out of damnation so that we might become members of the body of Christ…the church.

And friends, this is the highest possible vocation, and this is an amazing reality especially given the fact that we were not called out of the world because we were worthy.

No! We were called because God is gracious!

God called us to be his children, and in response to His amazing gift of grace, we should do everything in our power to live our lives worthy of our calling.

You see, it is the grace by which we have been saved that motivates us to attempt to live a worthy life.

In other words, the Christian who is living like Jesus is one whose daily living corresponds to their high position as a child of God and fellow heir with Jesus Christ.

Their life matches their spiritual position of being in Christ.

Personal holiness, or walking worthy of the calling we have received, is about becoming... in practice... what we are in position.

Paul illustrates what this looks like in his own situation.

Remember.... he is a “prisoner in the Lord” …Paul had surrendered his life to the lordship of Christ, and his dedication to Jesus ultimately led him to being chained up in a Roman prison.

Now, you may not be sent to prison for obeying Jesus, however, as a redeemed believer, you are called to sacrificial obedience.

No matter what it costs .....you and I are called to pursue holiness.

We have been called to live like Jesus.

And our common calling unites us.

In other words, when we live with a priority to walk in a manner that is worthy of our calling we are united by Christlike conduct.

But what does this unity look like?

What does it look like for you and I to live in a manner worthy of our calling?

Or, in other words, how is unity in the Church expressed?

Well, the answer to these questions are found in Paul’s second reality of the unity we have in Christ.

2. The Urgent Expression of Unity in the Church.

Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

There is no one who exemplifies these character qualities better and more fully than Jesus.

Jesus is the most pure and supreme example of humility.

Consider Paul’s charge in Philippians 2

Philippians 2:5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited.

7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.

And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death—even to death on a cross.

9

As for gentleness, Jesus invited us to...Come to him… because he is gentle and lowly in heart (Matt 11:28–29).

The patience of Jesus is unmatched, unparalleled, and extraordinary (1 Tim.

1:16).

And as for love, Jesus is the embodiment of love and His most vivid demonstration of love is seen at the cross (Rom.

5:8).

And as far as peace, Jesus is the ultimate peacemaker (Eph.

2:14).

In other words, the more that you and I strive to live like Jesus individually, and the more we live like Jesus relationally, the more united we will become!

Now, with this in mind let’s take a look at each of these Christlike virtues starting with humility.

I think Paul begins with humility because humility is the root, it’s the foundation, and the center of all other virtues.

Augustine says this about humility,

For those who would learn God’s ways, humility is the first thing, humility is the second, humility is the third.

- Augustine of Hippo

In other words, humility should be the essential defining characteristic of a Christian.

Humility should be the defining characteristic of the Church.

All throughout Paul’s letters he points to humility as an essential characteristic of believers.

He also speaks of humility in relation to unity.

You see, if there is no humility you will not have unity.

For unity to exist, humble…selfless people must be intentionally living for the good of their brothers and sisters in the Church.

Consider Romans 12:3

Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think.