Ephesians - 4

Ephesians - 4

Ephesians 4:1-6

Introduction

In his seminal work, The Pursuit of God, author A.W. Tozer wrote, Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So, one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become “unity” conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.

It is only when Christians look to Christ that unity is possible. Having established the twin realities of the faith, Union with Christ and Unity with Christians, the Apostle Paul turns now to flesh out what that unity looks like and how we are to live out its reality in our lives. All of it is based on our posture as believers. If we get together and all talk about our differences and how best to overcome them to live in unity, we will never actually live in unity. Instead, we don’t base our unity on one another, but on Christ. We all look to Him. If we are each in Union with Christ, then Unity will be the inevitable consequence. It is our Union with Him that creates our Unity together.

Ephesians 4:1-6 - Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you to walk worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

3 being diligent to keep 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.

TS - As we look now to the everyday, real-life aspects of what it means to be a Christian, the Bible outlines two particular kinds of unity that must exist among God’s people.

PRACTICAL UNITY (V. 1-3)

Verse 1 begins with that forceful ‘therefore.’ This is the primary turning point of the entire letter. The first three chapters have been the theological foundation of the gospel, salvation, all of who Christ is and what He has accomplished, all summed up in the twin doctrines of Union with Christ and Unity with Christians. Now that the stage is set, it is time to flesh this out. Because all these things are true, therefore…Because of who Christ is and what Christ has accomplished, therefore…because of your being united to Christ and to His Church, therefore…. And from this point on, Ephesians will unleash 40 of the letter’s 41 commands to show how to live out this unity.

Paul will now exhort them to live out the reality Christ has created for them. Exhort is the great word parakalo, the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit by Jesus in John 14, the Paraclete. The one who comes alongside. Paul is now putting his arm around them to urge them, to call them, to implore them to live a certain way. They are to ‘walk worthy of the calling’ they have received. Ephesians has already used ‘walk’ as a metaphor for lifestyle and will continue to emphasize it over and again. Who Jesus is and what Jesus has done has enormous implications for how you live your life.

You are to walk ‘worthy,’ a word that means to bring equilibrium. Walk worthy of your calling, a reference back to all that Christ has accomplished for you. He has saved you. He has loved you. He has shown mercy to you. His grace was poured out on you instead of wrath on your sin. His kindness has shone on you. He adopted you into His own family and calls you son or daughter. You are placed in Union with Christ. And you are not alone there. He has placed you in Unity with all of His people.

What do you do in response to that? You live up to it. You see the radical grace and kindness that He has shown you to accomplish it and you seek to live a life that matches the greatness of that. Now, this isn’t some sort of works-righteousness sort of thing. All of this is in response to the saving work Christ has already done. From the place of His merciful salvation, you launch out and live to honor that. You don’t continue to live in a way that would dishonor the work Christ has done for you. You honor Him, you obey Him, you live in such a way as to show that His work is real in you.

ILL - let’s say that when you first started your career you had some veteran in your field take you under their wing and mentor you. They trained you well. They put up with your mistakes. They put your name in for promotions. And once you get settled into your career, do you approach your job with apathy and laziness? No, you work hard to honor the investment made by those who have helped you. You want to put their influence on display. That is what Paul is talking about here. Consider all that Christ has done for you and work hard to put it all on display. So what does that look like?

v. 2 - with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Isn’t that an interesting place to begin? After reaching the heights of theology, his first application is this. So mundane. So earthy. So common. Nothing profound. Just everyday, gritty, character qualities that make or break relationships. Why these qualities in particular? Because without them you will absolutely destroy any unity you have with other people.

Be humble. Because if you are prideful, you will alienate everyone in your life. You will seek after yourself first. You will place yourself first. You will worship the god of self. And if you are only committed to you, then you can never be in unity with anyone else. Humility is commanded 7 times in the NT, but never before. It is a uniquely Christian concept. Epictetus, the famous Greek historian, placed humility first on a list of character qualities that are to be avoided! But here, Paul lists it first to show its prominence as a necessary characteristic to achieve unity. Humility is not some false sense of thinking you are terrible and denying the good qualities you have. In his great little book called The Freedom of Self-forgetfulness, author Tim Keller defines humility as ‘not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.’ Humility means that when decisions are made, you are not a factor…your only concern is how it affects others around you.

But humility is not the only one…he adds gentleness. To be gentle is to show a conscious exercise of self-control, as opposed to the use of power for retaliation. So instead of communicating a form of weakness, gentleness actually communicates a form of formidable strength. It takes resolve to choose to NOT react the way you want to react when someone wrongs you. To be gentle is to not punch someone in the throat when they mouth off at you. To be gentle is to not cut someone off in traffic because you think they’re a bad driver. To be gentle is to speak calmly when you want to yell to put someone in their place. To be gentle is to care more about the relationship than about your retaliation.

Then he adds, with patience. To achieve unity, patience is required. The original word for patience is makrothumia, a combination of two words…thumos, anger…makro, long period of time. To be patient is to take a long time to get angry. It is the opposite of someone who has a short fuse and blows up at every little thing. Patience goes with the next statement he makes…bearing with one another in love. Literally, to put up with one another. In fact, a literal translation of the word would mean, hold yourselves back from one another. You can really begin to sense a theme in these character qualities can’t you? Humble, gentle, patient, hold yourself back…why? Because people are hard to deal with. People are sinners. And sinners sin. They hurt one another. Unintentionally, and sometimes intentionally. So how in the world could you ever be expected to live in unity with people like that? With people like you? That is why these character qualities are absolutely essential. Unity will never be a reality without them.

Because here is the goal…verse 3 - being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Being diligent…make every effort…the word implies a sense of zealousness and eagerness to make sure this happens. In fact, the word could even imply a sense of crisis. So the picture is God’s people working tirelessly, constantly, to ensure unity is our reality.

But notice the critically important detail…we are to ‘keep’ the unity. Not create. Keep. Last week we looked at Ephesians 2:11-22 to show the great gift of Unity with Christians that Christ has given to us all. Christ is ‘our peace’ 2:14. The Jew and Gentile Christians were brought together to ‘create the two into one new man, making peace’ 2:15. We don’t have to invent some false form of unity. We already have it. I am in Union with Christ. You are in Union with Christ. Therefore, we are in Unity with one another. So now our job is maintain that unity, to keep it as a reality. To work with all our might to live out the practical realities of unity.

To make this point, Paul offers a clever play on words here. In verse 1 he described himself as a ‘prisoner’ in the Lord. Prisoner is the greek word desmos. Now he instructs to keep the unity of the Spirit in the ‘bond of peace.’ ‘Bond’ is sundesmos, literally ‘prisoner with.’ Paul, who is bound in chains instructs us to be bound together in peace. We are held captive together by the peace that Christ has provided for us.

This is what it means to ‘walk worthy’ of the calling we have received. He has saved us. He has forgiven us. He gave His life for us. Now we are in Union with Him. And we are to live in light of that reality. In response to that work. And how do we do that? Of all the things Paul could have said, this is where he starts. Keep the unity He has gifted to you. Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Bear with one another. Do all you can to stay united in peace.

THEOLOGICAL UNITY (V. 4-6)

Verses 4-6 show us that our unity is not based on our relationships alone. It is not based on our personalities. Our unity is built upon the foundation of our theology. And our theology is built around who God is and what God has accomplished for His people. Just as 1:3-14 described salvation through the lens of the Trinity, he does the same here, showing that all that God is, and all that God has done, is what unites us.

v. 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 who is over all and through all and in all.

Paul is likely drawing from a known creed from that era, a confession of the core tenets of the faith. And he repeats the word ‘one’ seven times. And that sevenfold confession of ‘one’ shows us that it is our theology that unites us together. And without that theological unity, there is no unity.

There is one body. Again, notice that this where he begins our theological unity. One church. One body. We are not divided, but united. There is one Spirit. It is God the Holy Spirit who seals our salvation (1:13), regenerates our dead soul, and places us into God’s family. And because of His work, there is one hope in our salvation calling. 1:13-14 - 13 In Him, you also, after listening to the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

It is the Holy Spirit who guarantees our eternal glory with the Lord. He is the pledge of our inheritance, guaranteeing that we are heaven-bound. Our hope.

There is one Lord. We bow to the Lord Jesus and to no one else. He is the sole head of the church. He is the sole ruler over His people. Because of who He is and what He has done, only He deserves the rightful place of King over us all. This title of Lord would have been meaningful to the Jewish Christians. In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew OT, the Bible used by first century Jews, only God is given the title Lord, kyrios. Here he applies it to Jesus. So this is Paul alerting them…Jesus is God. He alone is Sovereign Lord. And this title would have been meaningful to the Gentile Christians who came out of paganism and worshiping various gods and goddesses. There is only one Lord you answer to. And because there is one Lord Jesus, there is one faith. Faith, not referring to your faith in Him, but to THE faith, the one objective body of truth that is built around the person and work of the Lord Jesus.

Jude 1:3 - 3 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you exhorting that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.

1 Timothy 4:6 - 6 In pointing out these things to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, being nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.

There is only one body of teaching that is built around the person and work of Christ, the gospel. And it is this ‘faith’ that we stand upon. Therefore, there is only one baptism. Baptism is a picture of the gospel, of the saving work of Christ for His people. This is what Paul was talking about in Romans 6 when he says we have been united with Christ in baptism, uniting with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection. The faith we stand upon, the body of doctrine we believe, the core of our theology (pictured in baptism) is who Jesus is and what He has done for His people.

There is one God. This has been the testimony of Christians throughout the centuries. This has been the clear teaching of Scripture since Genesis 1:1 as the one God of the universe creates all things. And He is absolutely Sovereign, as shown by the repeated use of the word ‘all.’ He is Father of all, over all, through all, in all. The ‘all’ is not referring to people, but to things. He is the Father/Source of all things as Creator. He is over all things as Sovereign Lord. He is through and in all things as the God who is sovereignly orchestrating history to accomplish His will and His purposes.

Our unity is a theological unity. Here is why that is so important to emphasize…it is tempting to, in the name of unity, in the name of being kind and charitable, to deemphasize theological distinctives so that we could unify with more people. So, let’s drop our exclusive views on Jesus and the Trinity so that we can be friends with Mormons and Jehovah’s witnesses. Let’s sacrifice the Bible’s teaching on sexuality and gender so that we can viewed as relevant to the homosexual and transgender community. Let’s soften our views on the gospel so that we can pretend that Protestants and Catholics live in one Christian brotherhood. Let’s get all excited when a politician or celebrity mentions God once and pretend he is a Christian like us.

Any kind of unity that has to sacrifice theology to accomplish it is not true unity. When I was in college, this is how I was trained to do ministry. There was a phrase that was hammered home to us in the classroom and at conferences…belonging before belief. People need to belong at the church before they come to a place of belief in Jesus. So here is how to make that happen…create a great experience for the guest. Learn customer service practices from Chick-fil-a and Starbucks. So that when customers come in, they have such a great experience they want to come back.

Now, I get it…we don’t want people to have a bad experience. We want you to feel loved and valued here, because you are. But churches take this even further. Since we want people to be comfortable here, we need to sing some secular songs to show that we are hip and relevant. We can’t talk about things like sin, Hell, or the gospel. Just talk about things like happy families, being successful in the workplace, and how to be a better human being. It doesn’t matter what sin they are committing or wresting with, we aren’t going to talk about it anyway. Just talk about how much God loves them because they are so wonderful. Then those comfortable people will keep coming back.

Then…then, once they have been thoroughly deceived and manipulated, with a gigantic bait and switch, then tell them the gospel. Then tell them they are sinners. Then talk about Hell. But here is the problem…they never really get around to doing that. Because now that you’ve got them coming, you have to keep them coming. So they never get around to telling them the truth. What started out as a ministry strategy with good intentions turns into a false church creating false Christians.

Belonging before belief…nope. Without belief there is no true belonging. If you want to belong here. If you want to be part of this unified Church. If you want to join in this group who are humble, gentle, patient, loving, kind, and generous to one another…you can. Turn to the Lord Jesus, confess your sinfulness to Him, and cry out for Him to save you. And when He does, He will place you into this Church, uniting you with God’s people here. When you believe, you belong.

Christ has accomplished His saving work. And He has accomplished a unifying work. As He places us in Union with Christ, we are placed into Unity with Christians. He has already gifted us the Unity that exists among us. Our job is to keep it. To maintain it. To work hard to ensure it is our reality. To tirelessly commit to do whatever it takes to stay in unity with God’s people. This is how we walk worthily of the salvation Christ has accomplished.