Walk the Walk

Before we dive into the text this morning, I would like to share something with you all. I can’t take credit for this idea, it is something I heard, but it made real sense to me so I would like to share it, and it goes along with what we will be studying today. (GPS).

Context

Paul wrote Ephesians while he was imprisoned in Rome. He had started the church in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, where he stayed longer than he did in any other city. The purpose of this letter was to develop fully the doctrine of the church and to instruct the church about the importance of holy conduct. This letter also presents the church as God’s focal point of displaying God’s glory forever. We are going to be looking at chapter 4 over the next few Sundays. We find chapter 4 which if you were to break this letter up into sections it would be two sections, the first chapters 1-3 which are doctrinal and chapters 4-6 which are practical or exhortation. The reason I plucked chapter 4 out was it goes along with what we have been talking about, and it takes some of what I hope we have learned and put it into practice.

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:4–6 ESV

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

I have two points we are going to look at this morning

Call to Unity verses 2-3

The Foundation of Unity verses 4-6

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

You will notice I did not include verse one within the two points that we have today, that is because it stands alone. This verse can be seen as the pivotal verse of the entire letter. In a single phrase it sums up chapters 1-3 “Walk worthy” and it shows the emphasis of chapters 4-6. Remember Paul wrote this letter during his Roman imprisonment. We also see another therefore here, this one points us to chapters 1-3 and all of the doctrine that Paul covered. He is urging the Ephesians believers, and in essence us as well, this again is a gentle command like we saw last week from Romans. Believers are to walk worthy of the calling. We see the word walk, this represents all of ones journey thorough life, our life as Christians, called by God to serve Him, and work in His kingdom. He speaks of a manner worthy of that calling, and the only thing worthy is complete and total surrender to our Lord. Remember the standard of Matthew 5:48, we must be striving towards that goal, I know we are not perfect, but it is about the direction of our lives, not the perfection of them. We are to live our lives according to God’s word, according to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Call to Unity

Ephesians 4:2 ESV

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

Here we get to the qualities of the walk we are called to. These qualities apply specifically to our relationships with our brothers and sisters in Christ. They should look familiar they are parts of the fruits of the Spirit that Paul talks about in Galatians 5.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

It is these spiritual qualities that are needed to maintain the worthiness of our calling, we cannot do it on our own.

Ephesians 4:3 NASB95

3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I used the NASB translation here. We must be “diligent” some translations say “eager” and some say “endeavoring”. So, we get the idea here this takes effort on our part, we must be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit.

The Foundations of Unity

Ephesians 4:4 ESV

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—

You see Paul’s use of the word one several times here to emphasis the unity that he is talking about. Paul will cover seven areas that are the foundations for our unity. He starts off with “one body”, here he is talking about the church, a body of believers who are ultimately united through one thing. Like in Romans 12:4 where Paul tells us we are one body with many members. There is also one Spirit, there is only one Holy Spirit. Paul also shows us that our calling was through one hope, and that hope is Christ. There is no other hope that we can trust in, or that will unite us.

Ephesians 4:5–6 ESV

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Because there is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith and one baptism we should live our lives in unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ. There is so much dissension in our world today, and satan is loving every minute of it, because he is the god of chaos and disorder. God is just the opposite, He is the God of order, the God of unity. So, we must be very careful that we are living our lives according to God’s word, living a unified life.

Ephesians 4:6 ESV

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

The list of unity foundations is culminated in verse six. There is only one God, and Father of all. This brings everything together, this is why we are called to unity, because we serve one and only one God. These verses with this list of things that unit the church also debunks a common error in some teachings. There are those who agree that there is only one God, but they say there are many ways to get there, which is wrong. There is only one way, “one faith”. Then there are those who believe there is more than one God. There is only one God, and He is over all things, this phrase in the last of verse six stresses the supremacy of God, and that this is how we have on Lord, one faith, and one baptism. With out a relationship with God there can be no unity.