The Unity of the local Church

I would like to speak to you tonight about a vital subject, biblical unity.

The measure of a local New Testament church is their likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So as we look at ourselves tonight, we are not comparing ourselves with the local church down the street, or another local church perhaps that you have been a part of, but measure ourselves by our likeness or conformity to Christ.

To do this we look to see what the Word of God has to say about the subject.

When we talk about the local church, we are undeniably speaking about the members, that is each one of us in particular, for the body is made up of many members.

So as we look at this passage concerning the church, we can then also apply this passage to ourselves individually.

And this subject matter is of the greatest importance.

Notice what Albert Barnes had to say,

“There is always danger of discord where people are brought together in one society. There are so many different tastes and habits; there is such a variety of intellect and feeling; the modes of education have been so various, and the temperament may be so different, that there is constant danger of division. Hence, the subject is so often dwelt on in the Scriptures (see the notes on 1 Cor. 2ff), and hence, there is so much need of caution and of care in the churches.” - Albert Barnes

Ephesians chapter 4 speaks about us this vital area of unity in the local church. It states that we should be “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace...”

And so tonight for just a few moments, I would like for us to make note of what the Bible has to say about this important subject in Ephesians chapter 4:1-7.

Ephesians 4:1-7 “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

Let’s pray

As we think about our endeavors for this new year, being reminded of the Leaders meeting that we had earlier in this month, the Lord led me to speak about this important subject.

It is spoken about often in the New Testament and is a subject of great importance.

All of us are looking at our respective areas of service within this local church and have discussed many great ideas.

But how are we to accomplish what God has called us to do?

Does it matter how we serve the Lord or just that we get the job done?

Is there a way in which we are to conduct ourselves that brings honor to God?

There is a great temptation for us to endeavor to operate in isolation one from another and not in unity.

If we were to look at the antonym or opposite of this word ‘unity’ found in verse 3, we would say it is disunity or division.

In disunity or division is discord and strife. And in strife and envying according to the Bible is every evil work. (James 3:16)

God’s design and call for us is to avoid this dangerous territory by endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit.

One Bible expositor defined this subject this way, “Unity is not uniformity. Unity comes from within and is a spiritual grace, while uniformity is the result of pressure from without.” Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 35.

We may also fall into a similar pitfall and think that unity is uniformity.

Uniformity is conforming without transforming. One has to do with working from the outside in whereas what we are discussing is yielding from the inside which affects the outside.

As we look at what the Bible teaches concerning the members of the body of Christ and as we know from our own experience one with another we are all different from one another.

God has made us as individuals with different likes and dislikes; different earthly talents; different spiritual gifts, even differing in the ministration of those gifts.

So the idea that we are getting at here is not uniformity or suppression of that which is not like me… but rather a unity that is found in our yielding to the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word.

I. The Defining of Our Call

How is this call defined? Who is it for?

Notice with me in verse 1 of chapter 4, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called....”

In this introductory verse, we see that this is addressed to each and every member of the church.

The Bible says, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy...”

This call which Paul speaks about has to do with our function within the local church, and yea in this world as strangers and pilgrims.

Paul is speaking to Christians who are one in Christ. We are part of the family of God, we are baptized into the body of Christ. We are the church.

We are, as an assembly of people here at Sharon Baptist Church, a local church, who have joined ourselves together for the “vocation” wherewith we are called.

We notice in this passage that God has declared to us the vocation of which we are to be engaged in.

This speaks to our function, this speaks to our mission, this speaks to our activities as God’s people.

As we look at Sharon Baptist Church, we understand that there is definite purpose that God has for us.

The word used here in this epistle that is translated as vocation means God’s divine invitation for you and I.

We have been invited to labour on behalf of our Lord.

It is not a question of whether we have been called, but rather the truth that we have been called.

As such we are to according to this passage:

A. Walk Worthy of our Calling

What does this mean exactly?

Immediately the idea is repulsed in every one of us, that we could possibly walk worthy of our Salvation in the sense of earning or deserving God’s grace.

But rather what is being dealt with here is a life that is lived according to the purpose God has for us.

Philippians 1:27 “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;”

Colossians 1:10 “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”

1 Thessalonians 2:12 “That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.”

We could vaguely think about this by considering an earthly example.

Illustration: Suppose I hire you for x amount of dollars to accomplish a particular job. You are called in for the interview, you applied with certain qualifications and you are hired for the purpose of carrying out a task.

But instead of doing the job that you are intended to do, you do nothing of what you have been hired to do.

We might say, you are not walking worthy of that job of which you a hired to accomplish.

I am not suggesting that God has hired us, but am simply using this as an illustration.

God has in fact bought us with a price. And our motivation is not temporal pay, but the love of Christ.

But nonetheless, we have a calling upon our lives, and we should desire to walk worthy of that calling.

God has through Paul has given us great direction concerning this matter.

In other words, we do not have to guess about what this looks like.

I want you to realize at the onset of this that unity is not accomplished by mandating it.

As a matter of fact there are seven key facts that are listed to teach us this in verses 4-6. In verse you can see the positive statement “There is...” one body, one Spirit, one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God.

So we are to understand that we are to “keep” the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Keeping unity is a byproduct of our walking in fellowship with Christ.

At the moment of Salvation, we are part of the family of God.

This passage is speaking about us keeping or maintaining the unity which God has given to us, not creating it.

It is by our fellowship with God that we walk in the unity of the Spirit.

We cannot walk in fellowship one with another if we are not walking in the light.

AW Tozer stated it this way, “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 [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be...”

Walking implies effort, will, decisions, a goal and a direction of travel.

With that being said, I want us to make note of the following words that characterize this walk:

With all Lowliness and meekness

I think that perhaps that this is listed at the beginning because of the problems we wrestle with concerning our old man.

These two descriptive words concerning are conduct are related one to another.

Lowliness and meekness are the opposite of pride and selfishness.

Lowliness speaks of our attitude and evaluation of ourselves in relation to our need and dependence upon God.

It is not a matter of us looking at ourselves as worthless, but rather looking at ourselves as dependent upon the Lord.

It is the denial of self sufficiency and is connected with our thoughts concerning ourselves.

Notice the following verses:

The Bible tells us in Romans 12:3 “3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

Acts 20:19 “Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:”

Philippians 2:3 “3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

Whereas meekness speaks to our exercise of those beliefs, particularly towards others.

One expositor said meekness “conveys the notions of gentleness toward men and submission to God. It is a disposition that manifests itself in mildness, patience, and quiet restraint.”

I think a good example of this is found in the response of the apostle Paul in his admonishment to the church at Corinth. Notice how the word is used in this verse.

I Corinthians 4:21 “21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?”

Another tremendous example is given to us in II Timothy 2:25 where Paul is counseling Timothy on how to minister to people. He states, “25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;”

Our difficulty oftentimes is not in dealing with people who themselves are “teachable” or willing to listen, but we are tested in this matter of peace and the unity of the Spirit with those who oppose themselves!

The truth for us is this, that if we are going to walk worthy of our calling, we must walk, each of us in lowliness and in meekness.

If we are going to see the byproduct of the unity of the Spirit, we must determine to gauge our actions and our thoughts as to whether they are in lowliness and meekness.

Moses, as an example that God has given us was a meek man.

Numbers 12:3 states, “3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”

Moses exemplified a man that could have exercised great judgment upon the people but rather walked as a man under subjection.

The Lord Jesus Christ, our highest and greatest example is said to be meek and lowly in heart according to Matthew 11:29.

Not only do we see this lowliness and meekness, but next we see longsuffering and forbearance in love.

Longsuffering and Forebearing in love

Further, we see that we should be longsuffering. Longsuffering is descriptive of one who bears injury without retaliating.

Its outworking is described practically by one who forbears in love.

A person who yields to the Spirit “is “able to make allowances for the faults of his fellow believers, to bear with them in their weaknesses and failings”

I want you to realize that in the very word itself is implied the long view in the Christian life. It is suffering long.

While we are in this current state, we will by necessity need to be longsuffering toward one another.

If we were to break down the underlying word we would come to discover that it means “keeping passion at a distance.”

A slowness to anger as the Word of God speaks about in James 1:19-20 “19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: 20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”

I think as we close out this short exhortation that we should look at this summary statement in verse 3.

II. The Determination of our call

Notice what the Word of God says, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

A. The Attitude

Our attitude must be one of careful attention to this subject. The Bible says we are to endeavor —simply defined put effort ---to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

This requires us to examine at what we are doing, what we are saying with our lips, and how we react in consideration of this call.

Interestingly, the word ‘endeavoring’ is the same word translated as studying 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

When we think about studying, we think about careful attention.

We think about contemplation and work applied to grasp what it is that we are looking at.

I would challenge you to study these words further lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearance.

B. The Action

The action is to “keep the unity of the Spirit...”

You and I are to guard over what the Spirit has already given us in being part of the family of God.

To do so we must keep our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His work forefront in our minds.

One example is given by the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs... let me say that i had to look up who won the super bowl because i care nothing for those things… but low and behold it was the Kansas City Chiefs

The coach from 2006-2008, Herman Edwards said this, “The players that play on this football team will play for the name on the side of the helmet and not the name on the back of the jersey.”

When you and I look out at one another, we must guard amongst God’s people this unity of the Spirit.

If something arises that causes disunity, strife, or divisions amongst the brethren we must act at once.

Unity literally means oneness.

And as we look at all that we endeavor to do this year at Sharon Baptist Church I pray that we will

Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we have been called

Walking with all lowliness and meekness

Walking with longsuffering and forbearing one another in love

Determining to pay careful observance to this matter, guarding for any disunity among God’s people here at Sharon Baptist Church.

Think about this, you truly have no control how others walk in this life, but God has given you the ability to make choices on how you will walk in this life.