Unity of the church

Unity of the church

Eph. 4:1-6

It is safe to say that every family has at least one person that is hard to get along with. Every family has that one person that others dread gathering with for the holidays. And if your family doesn’t have someone like that, it’s safe to say, “you are that guy.”

It is easy to get along with people you don’t spend much time with. I can tell you I get along great with people when I’m all by myself. But it’s when we are forced to live together and spend time together, then we really start to get on each other’s nerves.

I heard a story this week about a young couple that got married and on their honeymoon the husband said to his wife, “honey, sweetie pie, now that we are married, I want to be honest with you and tell you all the little faults you have that drive me nuts!” And his wife said, ‘Oh honey please do, because I want you to know, it’s because of those little faults of mine I couldn’t find a better husband.”

As all of us who are married know, when you put two people together from different backgrounds, different personalities, and different genders, sooner or later there will be misunderstandings and conflict. If you add children, the potential for problems increase. Now, expand the numbers out to 40, 50 or more in a local church, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out you are going to have problems.

There will always be people in the church we don’t get along with, but Paul urges us to put our differences aside and strive for unity for the sake of Christ. What we learn from this passage is we faithfully live for God by living in peace and harmony with each other. (Read Eph. 4:1-6)

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

3 being diligent to preserve 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. (Pray)

In our passage this morning we have come to a transition in the book of Ephesians. Paul begins with the word, “Therefore” and that sets up a shift in Paul’s letter.

In chapters 1-3 Paul has been laying out for us some important doctrine about who God is, and who we are in Christ. And now in the second half of the book, chapters 4-6, he will explain what our duty is to God.

So, you could say, “the first half of the book is doctrinal, and the second half of the book is practical,’ and that is typical of Paul’s letters. We see the same thing in Romans 12:1 and Col. 3:5. And what Paul is saying here is because of all I have told you about God, “Therefore” this is how you should respond.

And what we learn first is, we are to be unified as a body, United as a people. We are to work together as a team to serve God in the world. There may be people in the church you don’t get along with. In fact, there may be people in the church you can’t stand.

What is interesting is God doesn’t only force us to get along with those people, but God uses them to grow us and make us more like Jesus. And that is what we learn from this passage is, we faithfully live for God by living in peace and harmony with each other.

The first thing I want you to see in this passage is the call of unity, Vs. 1. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ Paul says you have been called to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. This is a call to unity.

Notice Paul begins in Vs. 1 by reminding us he is the prisoner of Christ? This is the second time in this letter Paul mentions that he is in prison, and we know he is in prison for preaching the gospel, for proclaiming Christ, and uniting Jews and Gentiles.

But this time I think there is another reason he brings it up. This time he is emphasizing his credentials. Paul reminds us he is in prison because he is walking in a manner worthy of his calling. He isn’t asking us to do something he is not willing to do. He is setting the example and living for God.

Too many preachers today ask us to live in ways they don’t live. I read a story this week about a very famous preacher on television who was videoed at P-ditty’s birthday party.

Now, I don’t know if you know who P-diddy is, but he is a rapper who is notorious for throwing wild parties, and this person claiming to be a man of God was right in the middle of it.

Listen, I’m not going to judge that man, I don’t know his heart, maybe he was partying with them and sharing the gospel. But I can tell you this, that man could never urge me to do anything. Paul could say, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling.” Because he is a living example of doing it himself.

We know the word walk refers to the way we live our life. Because that is a metaphor Paul uses in his writing over and over.

But the word “worthy” is interesting because it means to have an equal balance. The picture here is of weights that are placed on a scale. On the one side you have the glorious gospel of Christ Jesus, who came and died for our sins so that we could be saved and spend eternity with God in heaven, and on the other side is the conduct of our life and Paul says that weight should balance. Our conduct should be equal to what Christ has done for us.

I recently came across an old black and white picture of a bunch of women sitting around a table at a saloon in the old west. And there was something about that picture that was strange, it just didn’t look right, and then I noticed it was a picture of my wife, my mom, and my sisters when they were on vacation. They wanted to share the memory, so they got all dressed up like they were living in the 1800’s and took this picture.

Well, it might have fooled me for a moment, but I figured it out quick, and the same thing is true in the life of a Christian. If we don’t walk in a manner worthy of our calling the only person, we are fooling ourselves.

But how do we do that, how do we walk in a manner worthy of our calling? Paul says by preserving the unity of the Spirit. It is what we are called to do.

The idea of our calling goes back to the very beginning of Paul’s letter. 1:3 tells us God has called us to Himself by His grace. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens. Now, we are to live up to the privilege of that calling.

It is important that we understand this isn’t just the call to Pastor’s and teacher’s, this is a call to every Christian to grow and become like Christ.

We are to walk worthy of our calling at work, school, home with our neighbor’s, our family, and our friends because every relationship with have is a reflection of our relationship with God. 1 Cor. 10:31 says, “Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.’

So, the first thing we see here is the call of unity. We faithfully live for God by living in peace with one another.

The second thing I want you to see in this passage is the practice of unity, Vs. 2-3. Paul teaches us how to practice unity in the church.

And what’s interesting is, after telling us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, you would expect him to say, “with all holiness and righteousness,” but that’s not what he says. Instead, he lists four qualities that should be a part of every Christians life.

Notice Vs. 2, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.” The very first step in walking in a manner worthy of our calling is humility.

As Christians growing in the grace of God we should be growing in humility. The word humility means “lowliness of mind” but it’s not the idea of thinking low of yourself. It is the idea of not thinking about yourself at all, putting your trust in God.

The more we grow to see how incredibly God is, the more we depend on Him. The world would tell you to believe in yourself, trust in yourself, and don’t rely on anyone, but the Christian says, I am totally dependent on Christ, because everything good in my life comes from Him.

What is interesting is humility wasn’t a popular word in the first century, some people say that Paul made it up, because the whole idea of humility was foreign to the Romans.

I mean they valued strength and dominance. They believed in conquering people. Humility for the Romans was unheard of, and really that is the point that Paul is making here. A Christian life is totally different from the way the world lives and the way the world thinks.

So, while the world is promoting itself and exalting itself, we as Christians are doing the opposite. We are denying ourself and taking up our cross and following Jesus.

The second virtue of a Christian life is gentleness, Paul says, “with all humility and gentleness.” Notice he uses the word “and here and not the word “or.” We don’t get to choose between humility and gentleness. The word “and” connects these two words together because humility will always lead to gentleness. It is a package deal.

Gentleness does not mean weakness, but in the original language it means self-control. It is a choice we make, and it is the opposite of being unkind or rude to people. In the b attitudes Matt. 5:5 it is translated as meekness. Jesus said, “blessed are the meek.” That’s the same word used here.

The picture is of a stallion, a wild horse that has been captured in the wilderness. It has to be reigned in. It has to be trained. It has to be brought under control and made meek.

Well as Christians we were running wild before we met the Lord Jesus Christ, and now we are under His reigns. So, we no longer treat people however we want, but we treat people the way Jesus would treat them.

That’s what it means to be gentle. All of these are virtues of Christ. I mean think of how humble and gentle Jesus was. He meant business and didn’t play games with the scribes and the Pharisees, but He treated the common people around Him with dignity and respect.

Now, consider He was God in the flesh, creator of the world. He had the power of life and death in His hands. He shows us what humility and gentleness look like.

Next Paul says, “with patience.” We walk in a manner worthy of our calling with patience. And again, Patience grows out of humility and gentleness. A person who is not humble and gentle is not going to be patient. These work together as we grow in Christian maturity.

The word patience is the idea of not having a short fuse, but being able to endure people who rub you the wrong way. It is the God given ability to be kind and love people who are different from us. Have you ever noticed you never have to be patient with someone you get along with.

Anyone can get along with someone like minded. It’s great when we connect with people right away and love each other from the beginning, but Christ brings people into our lives that requires patience, and He does that to grow us and mature us.

We have the habit of just staying in our own little groups because that’s safe, but you will never grow in the attributes of Christ by doing that. The challenge is to deal with difficult people head on, and to practice patience.

This applies to every area of our life. It applies at home, at work, at school, as well as in church. Jesus said in Matt. 5, “we are to love our enemies, we are to turn the other cheek, we are to go the extra mile.’ It takes patience to go the extra mile with people, but that is what we are called to do.

Finally, Paul says, “we are to show tolerance for one another in love.” And the word tolerance here doesn’t mean we are willing to put up with anything, but it means that when we are interacting with others, especially in the church, we need to be more forgiving.

We need to be more gracious. It doesn’t mean we accept immorality or bad behavior, but it means we accept people who are a work in progress because all of us are a work in progress.

Notice Paul says, “with patience showing tolerance.” We practice being patient by showing tolerance. And the word “love” here is the word “agape’ so it is describing an unconditional love.

I think King James uses the word “forbearance” instead of tolerance, and I like that because there are some people you have to forbear. Sometimes I’m the one you have to forbear.

There are people who move around looking for the perfect church and that is the wrong approach because the moment they get there it won’t be perfect anymore. Because the truth is none of us are perfect and God calls us to plant ourselves among the imperfect and grow with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.

Notice Vs. 3,” being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Unity in the body of Christ isn’t something we create. It is something that already exists. Our job is to preserve it.

I have the Spirit of God living inside of me and you have the Spirit of God living inside of you. When we are surrendered to God’s Spirit, we have unity. Disunity comes when one or both of us refuse to surrender to the Spirit of God. Instead, we want our way.

That leads me to the last thing I want to show you in this passage, the reason for unity, Vs. 4-6. Paul teaches us why we are to live in unity with each other. He says, it is because we serve the same God.

Most scholars believe verses 4-6 are an early Christian creed they would recite. But I want you to notice it talks about all the things we share together. Paul uses the word “one’ seven times.

He says, we are one body. This is a metaphor Paul uses a lot to describe the church. We are the body and Christ is the head. We come from different backgrounds. We have different gifts, but we function together the same way a body functions. The head needs the eyes, and the eyes need the hands, and the hands need the feet. In the same way we need each other to do the work of the Lord in the world.

He says, we have one Spirit. If you are a believer, you have the Spirit of God living inside of you. It’s the same Spirit that creates unity and empowers us to preserve it.

Paul says, we have one hope. The common bond we share is that our hope is in Christ Jesus. He came into the world so we could be forgiven and set free. And now we have an eternal home waiting for us in heaven when we leave this place.

We have one faith. He is reminding us that we believe the same thing. We share the doctrinal truths of the Bible. There might be differences between denominations on minor issues but every true Christians faith is in the apostolic creed.

We believe in God the Father, the maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. We believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. That He was crucified, dead, and buried, but on the third day rose again.

We believe He ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of God and He will return one day. And we believe in His promise of a life that never ends. These are the essentials of the Christian faith.

We have one baptism. We share the common experience of a public confession of Christ. When we are baptized, we are identifying with Jesus in His death and resurrection.

To be baptized is an act of obedience to faith. It says that my life has been changed by God and I want to share that with the world.

We have one God and Father. We might be brothers from another mother, but we share the same father. We might be black, white, red, or green but we have been adopted into one big family that is growing and filling the earth.

Do you notice the trinity in this creed? God not only creates unity in our lives, but He serves as the example. Jesus prayed in John 17:21, “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

Notice the reason for unity with God is to be a witness to the world. I believe the biggest problem people have with Christianity today is, not that they don’t believe in Jesus, but it’s the disfunction of the family of God. People think, “why should I go to church and fight with those people I have enough conflict in my own home?”

So, God calls us to unity. He calls us to surrender to Him and allow His Spirit to work in our lives. But He tells us it is not going to be easy. He is going to use us to help each other grow.

My imperfections and your imperfections are the tools of the Holy Spirit. They produce humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance. And if we are willing, in love we can preserve the unity of the Spirit.

But it is a choice we make. We don’t have to get along with each other. We can stay in our own little world and demand our own way, but we will never grow to become like Jesus if we do that. Or we can be diligent to be kind and forgiving to each other, by overlooking each other’s faults.

Unity takes work. It takes a willingness to surrender to God, but it is how we walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We faithfully live for God by living at peace with each other.

Scripture reading Phil. 1:21-27

Primary sermon resources

Steven J. Cole, Steven J Cole Commentary Series, Ephesians.

Tony, Merida, Christ Centered Exposition Commentary.