Ephesians 4

Hook

I don’t know if I’ve talked about my friend Taylor from college here before. But I thought I’d share with yall a little about my friendship with him. Taylor started the same year as me and we were in the same dorm section. And at a small bible college like the one I went to, that basically meant that we were in the same small group. Pretty quickly, Taylor, our friend Drew, and I started hanging out. We all had a lot in common so it was pretty natural for us to be friends.

Then about half way through the year, a job as a Resident Assistant opened up. Normally, that job is reserved for sophomores or juniors or seniors, its usually not for freshman, but somehow Taylor applied for the job and got it. And unfortunately, it was hard to be stoked for him because he pretty quickly started to change. I don’t think he actually thought that he was better then us, but sometimes by the way he acted it felt like he did. So, sadly, Drew and I became pretty bitter. We didn’t like Taylor and we didn’t really hide it either. Now of course we knew that our feelings and actions towards him were wrong, but we felt justified so we didn’t really do anything about it. At some points, Drew and I tried confronting him and talking to him about his behavior and stuff would seem like its getting better but then it would go back to bad blood and hurt feelings between us. Then we’d bring in another friend to help mediate our conversation and things would look like there getting better only to fall back to bad feelings.

This went on for our four years of college. Some seasons our interactions were worse, other seasons our interactions were better, but unfortunately, Drew and I never really became friends with Taylor for the rest of college.

The worst part of this whole ordeal was that we were directly disobey what we were supposed to be doing. Even though we were all in bible college studying God’s word, we were not letting our knowledge of the Word impact our every day actions with each other.

Today we are continuing in our series through Ephesians and in chapter 4 we see a very important shift that happens. Up to this point, Paul has been writing to the church in Ephesus and he has been telling them about the truth of the Gospel that has saved them freely by Grace through faith in Jesus. Paul has been clear to tell them that their salvation does not come from their work but that God, in His love for them, sent Christ to die on the cross for their sins.

And now, at this point in the book, Paul begins to make a shift to show how the truth of the Gospel impacts how we walk. And in chapter 4, Paul specifically talks about two ways that we should walk. Now obviously, Paul isn’t concerned literally with how you walk, rather what he means by that is how you live your life. The first way you should walk is in Unity. And the second way you should walk is in Holiness. What were going to do tonight is look at Walking in Unity by reading that section and then talking about it. And then we’ll look at Walking in Holiness by reading the section half of the chapter and talking about it. Sound good?

Book

Can I have someone read chapter 4v1-16 and take a look at why and how we should walk in Unity.

Ephesians 4:1–16 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Look

So Paul begins the chapter by reminding them of his credentials . He is not just some guy writing to them with some ideas that he had about how they should live, rather, Paul has been living out the truth of the Gospel which has naturally led to the world hating him, just like Jesus said. So Paul himself has been walking the talk and now encourages the Ephesians to do the same. Paul encourages the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. That worthy manner is first that they should be unified.

This unity is not a superficial unity. Right? It’s not like when you meet a stranger and find out they support the same team that you support, that type of unity doesn’t really bond you. The unity that Paul is calling them too is deeper because it comes from The God who called them. God is one, and therefore they ought to have unity. The same God who called Paul called each and every one of them too. And that is the same God who called me and Drew and Taylor and its the same God who has called each of you too.

But God doesn’t just call his people into unity so that they can aimlessly walk after Him. He has given His body, His unified body, specific roles so that they can be protected and guarded and instructed in God’s ways. Paul says that God has given us gifts. Verse 11 says that Jesus gave some to be Apostles, some Prophets, some Evangelists, some Pastors, and some Teachers. Why? So that the saints, that is, all of us, would be equipped to do the work of spreading the Gospel to the nations, to doing the work of ministry.

When I think about this truth and I think about you, what gets me excited is thinking about who of you here God is calling into some of these roles. As followers of Jesus, we are all called to do the work of ministry, but some of you may be called to different roles within the church. What I would encourage you to do is start even now prayerfully seeking out and considering what your gifting are and what role you might play within the body.

The purpose of roles within the church is to ultimately edify the body as a whole. So if you are a teacher, then your teaching of God’s word should encourage the body in the truth. If you are gifted in giving, then your gifts should help the body. If you are gifting in evangelism, then your gifts should ultimately help the body grow by spreading the Gospel. And what we need to always remember is that our gifts are never done begrudgingly, but are done in love. I love what Paul writes in v15-16. “Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

So Paul is essentially telling us to Walk in Unity because the one who called us is unified so that we can better be a member of the body of Christ to encourage one another in love.

Book

Can I have someone else read 4v17-32 and we’ll take a look at walking in Holiness.

Ephesians 4:17–32 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Look

If you are to be unified in the Lord, if you’ve truly believed the good news of Jesus dying on the cross for you, if you’ve really been called, then the way you live your life should be drastically different. Not just compared to what it was like before you knew Jesus, but also compared to those around you who do not know Jesus and have not been called.

If your faith in Jesus is only evident because of who your parents are or what school you go to or the fact that you come to youth group, but in no other way, then you might not actually be saved. If there was a documentary made about your life and you had a camera following you around 24/7 every where you go, do you think people would know you were a follower of Jesus? Or is your life marked by what Paul writes in v.19, sensuality or lust, greed, impurity. How do you act when no one is looking? Is your heart mind body and soul focused on the good things of Christ or on the things of this world?

One way you can tell is by how well you are walking in Holiness. Now don’t here me wrong, walking in holiness does not lead to salvation. That is why Paul has already spent so much time talking about the Gospel that saves in the first three chapters. Walking in holiness is the evidence of a life saved by the Gospel.

Paul ends the chapter by listing out different examples of walking in holiness. Things like telling the truth, being wise when we are angry, not stealing, working hard at everything you do, sharing and giving to those in need, loving others.

Took

This back to my friend Taylor. During college, I wasn’t walking in unity or holiness towards him. It wasn’t until after college that we were able to reconcile and become friends again. Thankfully, we were able to see and experience both Taylor repenting from the ways in which he acted towards us, and Drew and I were able to repent of the ways in which we treated Taylor poorly in return.

One of the things that helped us realize our need to repent and reconcile was the fact that we were supposed to be brothers in Christ. And as brothers, Paul tells us in Ephesians that we are supposed to be unified in the Spirit. Taylor, Drew, and I all claimed to follow Jesus and if that was true (which it was) then that meant that we all had the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us. We all served the same Father, we were all saved by the same Christ who died for us on the Cross. We were all supposed to walk in Holiness and yet we weren't. The knowledge of the Gospel that we had was not being lived out. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is gracious and kind to do the work of making us look more like Jesus and helping walk how we ought to, but our hard heartedness made that take longer then it should of. I believe that we were grieving the Holy Spirit in our un-repented sin. But, as Paul as written, Christ died for those sins of mine and the sins of Taylor and the sins of Drew. Christ has died for your sins too. If you believe that then live into your calling. Walk in unity and holiness.

We’re going to go into small group now and talk through this chapter a little more. Lets pray and then we’ll go into small group.