One

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon Christian Church. Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 4.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Read Ephesians 4:4–6- “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.”

Pray.

We ended last week with a call to unity along with the character and conduct necessary to accomplish such unity.

But now, we might respond with a question- why? Why should the church find unity among the people making up the church.

Taken a step further, unity seems somewhat unnecessary in a culture that highlights individuality and individualism.

Perhaps now, more than ever, we are prompted to ask the question of why unity is necessary in the church.

Paul begins to answer the question of why these Ephesian Christians ought to pursue unity.

His answer is trinitarian in nature.

1. One Spirit.

One body.

The body of Christ is created through the work of the Spirit.

Always enjoyed this imagery that is employed to describe the church, both local and global.

The human body is so tightly connected that one part suffering causes the suffering of the whole thing.

Thinking about this yesterday, getting a splinter on the side of my finger shuts down work momentarily.

Easy to think that the church is quite divided, given the number of denominations and arguments.

Paul here highlights the oneness of the body of Christ- what it is that we all share in common.

One hope.

The work of the Holy Spirit creates such hope in our hearts.

Not wishful thinking- “Boy I sure hope this all works out…”

Instead, what we know to be true.

One direction in which we are all aimed.

We are all to be working toward the same end.

Kids cleaning the living room.

Lathey cleaning, Z wrestling by himself on the floor, Ainesis singing and dancing, Eva carrying on a conversation with herself.

At times, this is the condition of the church, so Paul calls us back.

We find unity in the work we accomplish in all heading the same way.

Why the mention of one Spirit?

Holy Spirit has been mentioned multiple times thus far in Paul’s letter.

Note some of what the Spirit does:

Ephesians 1:13–14- “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Sealed with the Spirit- all of the promises given by God guaranteed by the existence and character of the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:18- “For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.”

By the work of the Spirit, we find entrance into the presence of God.

Ephesians 2:22- “In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

By God’s Spirit, God dwells in the body of the congregation of believers.

Ephesians 3:16- “…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,”

God’s Spirit gives us strength of God’s power.

Here is what is fascinating about all of this. The Holy Spirit accomplishes all of these things in the lives of ALL believers.

What is true for me is true for you.

Because we are one body with one hope given by one Spirit, we are to seek after unity.

2. One Lord.

Our focus is now turned from the Spirit to the Son.

Reminded first of Jesus’ status as Lord- we find ourselves subject to Him.

One faith.

Specifically, one faith in Jesus.

Here we find the core, the foundation, of what it means to have eternal life, to be a part of the church.

This is what separates Christians from every other life, or worldview, or philosophy, or religion on earth.

We all share in common our faith in Jesus, but also, the message of our faith in Jesus.

Easy to desire right behavior out of others, but do we desire what will truly transform one’s person and character?

If we all share one faith in Jesus Christ, if we all share the same starting point, shouldn’t we seek unity with one another?

One baptism.

Specifically, one baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

What happens when we are baptized?

Going into the water communicates the death and burial of our old, fleshly life.

Coming out of the water communicates the resurrection of our life, life from death.

Romans 6:3–4- “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”

We have all been baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, of course we ought to seek unity.

3. One God and Father of all.

Familial terminology- God is Father of us all.

We share a common identity.

Dysfunctional families- Rather than place our experiences on the words of Scripture, we are instead to see the model that is given by Scripture.

Beauty of this sort of language- family dwelling with one another in harmony.

Kids in the car trying to earn points for being kind to one another.

Beyond knowing God as Father, how are we to understand the person of the Father? What is our relationship to Him?

Over all.

God is both sovereign and transcendent.

Job 42:2- “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

Through all and in all.

Immanence and personal relationship.

Jeremiah 23:23–24- “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.”

Psalm 145:17–18- “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.”

In Paul’s descriptive language, we find a Father who cares and a Father who is able to provide all that He promises.

4. Why the trinitarian language?

In any conversation of unity, we find at the core the reality of the godhead, three persons in one God, all sharing perfect unity with one another.

In any endeavor, we must know at what we are aimed.

Paul states that Christians are to be humble, gentle and patient, causing us to bear with one another and seek after unity.

What does such unity look like?

John 5:19–20- “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.’”

Here we see a glimpse of the oneness between two persons of the godhead.

The Father and the Son have unity in purpose and unity in devotion.

John 16:13–15- “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The Father, Son and Spirit all share unity in message and purpose.

The godhead is set before us as the ideal.

When we wonder at the unity that Paul describes, we are to remember that all believers share one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all.

And the way that these three persons relate to one another and love one another is to be the basis for our earthly relationships in the specific context of the church family.

Thus, the difficult question- Is this the unity we seek? Is this the unity that we are actively pursuing?