The "One Anothers" Committing to the Hard Work of Unity (Pt 2)

After Paul gives his thesis statement in v.1, he begins to explain in more detail what walking worthy of our calling looks like in the context of a growing church. In vv. 2-3 Paul gives us specifics of what a worthy walk looks like.

Walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called. How?

Ephesians 4:2 ESV

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

A healthy church is filled with members who don’t think too highly of themselves, who exercise strength under control, who patiently endure painful circumstances without isolating themselves or abandoning the church, who put up with each other and all of it is done in a self-sacrificial divine love.

Paul continues with this thought in v. 3

Ephesians 4:3 ESV

3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

ἀξίως περιπατῆσαι

to walk worthily

τῆς κλήσεως ἧς ἐκλήθητε,

of the calling to which you have been called,

2μετὰ πάσης ταπεινοφροσύνης καὶ πραΰτητος,

With all humility and gentleness

μετὰ μακροθυμίας,

with patient endurance

ἀνεχόμενοι ἀλλήλων ἐν ἀγάπῃ,

constantly bearing with one another in love

3σπουδάζοντες τηρεῖν τὴν ἑνότητα τοῦ πνεύματος

constantly being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit

ἐν τῷ συνδέσμῳ τῆς εἰρήνης·

in the bond of peace

The final descriptive phrase of what it means to walk worthy of our calling is being eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit.

Being eager- Constantly being zealous, constantly making every effort

We are to make every possible effort possible to maintain unity.

Notice first of all that you don’t produce unity, the Holy Spirit does. It is the unity of the Sprit. God has already made possible our unity (more on that in just a moment). All we are required to do is to maintain it. Or keep it. Or preserve what is already in existence.

So now the five dollar question, what is unity? Practically speaking in the context of this local church what does it mean for every member to be united with each other?

Positionally we understand that we are united in Christ. The Spirit has united us into the body of Christ and we are all one.

Practically what does that look like in the church? Who is Paul writing to? Ephesian believers. Both Jew and Gentile. Did they like each other very much? It is kind of like the Jew and Palestinian relationship today. Do they like each other? Now imagine you have a new church made up of both Jew and Palestinian believers. OK, you are now one in Christ- maintain that unity.

What would that look like?

“Walking into church, doing the grip and grin routine, sipping coffee out of a white Styrofoam cup or your favorite travel mug, listening to a teacher, then a preacher, then going home, is NOT engaging in relationship. It is not true togetherness.” —Dean Taylor

That is not unity! So what is unity? And how do we make every effort to maintain it?

Dean Tylor give three actions that you must engage in to unify your church.

1. To have unity, you must cultivate relationships

What kind of relationships? Deep level gospel relationships. Disciple-making is one of the best ways to form these.

You cannot form relationships by sitting in the same padded chairs facing the same direction as everyone else. You must proactively cultivate relationships. This is essential to a healthy growing church.

2. In order to have unity, you must protect relationships

How do you protect relationships? What causes division in the church? Gossip, slander, pride. If you know of a sin problem in the church talking about that person instead of to them.

What attitudes and dispositions protect unity? Humility, gentleness, patience, putting up with each other in love, making every effort to biblically solve divisions.

3. To have unity, you may need to restore relationships

Matthew 5:23–24 ESV

23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 18:15 ESV

15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.

This is what we promise each other when we become members.

Significant Statement: We promise to be proactive in maintaining and restoring unity with one another (Eph. 4:2-3)

If we will commit to doing that for one another we will remain a healthy unified church that has the potential for growth!

Ephesians 4:3 ESV

3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one more phrase in this verse that we need to think about this morning.

We must make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Some of you might be wondering, “Pastor Jon, is the unity you are talking about even possible?” Have you seen so-n-so? I don’t think what you are describing can become a reality.

This is why the last part of this verse is so important. This bond of peace is what makes the unity that I have been describing possible. What is “the bond of peace” that Paul is talking about?

Bond- that which ties together, fastener, fetter

Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary a. Exhortation to Unity (4:1–3)

The noun σύνδεσμος primarily means “that which binds together,” like the binding together of a defense structure or the fastening of garments.7 Metaphorically it is used of the bond that keeps a state together, namely, its good citizens, or the bond between children and parents.

Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary a. Exhortation to Unity (4:1–3)

The concept of binding is vividly portrayed in Col 2:19 where it refers to the “ligaments” of a body.

Colossians 2:19 (ESV)

19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.

For Christians what is the thing that ties us all together? Now think about the word peace.

Ephesians 4:3 (ESV)

3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We could translate this phrase as “the bond which is peace.”

Believers have peace with God and with each other because of this bond. What bond ties us all together?

Ephesians 2:14–15 ESV

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,

Ephesians 2:16–18 ESV

16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Our bond is Christ- He himself is our peace. He has made both Jew and Gentile one.

Galatians 3:28 ESV

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Unity with one another is a theological truth. It is more than a possibility because of Christ. Now, go out and practice it! Do your part to maintain it!

Ephesians 4:2–3 ESV

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.

Friends, if we want to be a growing church then we first need to become a healthy church or a unified church.

Our unity has already been provided for us. It is a unity of the Spirit. The bond that joins us together is Christ who is our peace. Yet it is our job to maintain it! How are you doing at maintaing the unity of our church?

Are you helping or hindering growth in our church?

Are you maintaining unity? 1. Are you actively cultivating deep-level relationships within our church?

2. Are you making every effort to protect those relationships?

3. Are you proactively seeking to restore broken relationships?

What is required for there to be unity in our local church?

Every member engaging in a Spirit-filled worthy walk.

Every member proactively seeking to maintain unity within the church

The third requirement for there to be unity in our local church is…

III. Every member humbly understanding the miracle of unity (4-6)

V. 3 is a transitional verse. There is a transition between our human responsibility to maintain unity and the divine power that makes unity possible in the first place. Remember we cannot manufacture unity. We can only maintain it. It takes the divine power of the triune God to produce the unity that we are called upon to maintain.

Practically we are called to maintain unity, because positionally we have been graced with this incredible unity by the working of every person of the trinity.

So V. 3 states- make every effort to maintain unity. This is our human responsibility.

BUT… It is a unity of the Spirit- this unity that we are to maintain is a produce of the Holy Spirit of God. And we are called to maintain unity in the bond which is peace. Our peace is none other than Jesus Christ. So there is this transition from our responsibility to God’s miraculous power.

It is this miraculous power that Paul goes on to magnify in vv. 4-6

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—

Unity is stressed by the sevenfold use of “one” (εἷς, μία, ἕν).

And in each of these three verses a different person of the trinity is highlight. In v. 4 the Holy Spirit is the unifier.

One body- this is a reference to the universal church. This is the spiritual and positional unity that has been provided for us by the miraculous power of God.

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer:

John 17:11 (ESV)

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

This is an incredible prayer! Jesus prays that we (the church) may be one— EVEN AS WE ARE ONE!

Jesus prayed that we, the church, would enjoy the same kind of unity that the Father and the Son enjoy. This is a miraculous, incredible prayer!

John 17:20–23 ESV

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just 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 have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

How is this oneness possible?

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—

One body and ONE SPIRIT!

This oneness is possible firstly by means of the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

Ephesians 2:22 ESV

22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This is a great mystery! Yet it is what the Scripture teaches. We, the church-age saints, upon our salvation, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. We are united with Christ, we become one with his body, we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

This is the unity that God has made possible for us! It’s incredible!!

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—

One body, one Spirit— just as you were called to ONE HOPE that belongs to your call.

Because we have been united into one body by means of the Holy Spirit we also share the same hope! As believers we all have ONE HOPE, it is the hope that is produced by our call.

Romans 8:29–30 ESV

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

All members of the trinity are involved in our calling, yet here in Eph 4.4 the Holy Spirit’s role is highlighted.

Ephesians 1:16–18 ESV

16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

How is our oneness possible? How is our unity possible? First- because of the miraculous working of the Holy Spirit of God.

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—

Second- because of the miraculous working of Jesus Christ, the Son.

Ephesians 4:5 (ESV)

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One Lord- κύριος most logically refers to Christ. Paul just discussed the Holy Spirit in v. 4 and in v. 6 he discusses the Father. So here isn v. 5 Paul highlights the importance of the Son, Jesus Christ to the unity that we have been graced with.

Jesus is the “one Lord” who provides for us our redemption

Ephesians 1:7 ESV

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

He provides for us our hope!

Ephesians 1:12 ESV

12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

He is the head of the one body, that which all members are connected to and held together by.

Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Jesus is the one who makes it possible for all to be united together in the first place, both Jew and Gentile.

Ephesians 2:13 ESV

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:14 ESV

14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility

Ephesians 3:6 ESV

6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Ephesians 3:12 ESV

12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

We have unity because of our ONE LORD, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:5 (ESV)

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One Faith-

We are all saved the same way! By faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. This word faith can be used objectively to speak of what we all place our faith in or subjectively describing our own individual act of believing.

Every child of God is born again the same way- through faith in Christ.

Our unity is made possible because of this faith. When we place our faith in Christ we are united together. We all receive this unity the same way—through faith in Christ alone. No one is born into this unity based on their family tree. No one earns their way into this unity by means of their good works. No one buys their way into this unity. It is only possible by means of faith in the Jesus Christ alone. And we all have this common experience if we are part of the the one body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:5 (ESV)

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

Could be either Spirit baptism or water baptism. Both views are held. I lean toward water baptism. V. 4- the about the working of the Holy Spirit. One body, one Spirit language points towards the baptizing work of the Spirit in v. 4.

V. 5- is all about the working of the Son, Jesus Christ. V. 5 is Jesus’ verse. It seems natural to follow the one Lord who make possible our unity, with the one faith that is how each of us receive our unity, with one baptism. That is water baptism that follows faith that is a public declaration of our faith in Jesus Christ and is a picture of our union with Christ.

Romans 6:2–5 ESV

2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

Every member of this church shares in these truths. We all have one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have all trusted in Christ by means of faith. And we have all followed the Lord in baptism as a public declaration of our faith, and our baptism is a vivid picture of our union with Christ- the basis of our unity. Our unity is based on the miraculous working of the Spirit. It is based on the miraculous working of the Son. And it is based on the miraculous working of the Father.

Ephesians 4:6 ESV

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

This is the climax of this miraculous description of the mighty working of the Trinity in providing for us our unity. One God and Father of all-

He is over all- The Father is sovereign over all of us believers.

He is through all- The Father is uniquely working out the good purposes of His will through us all.

He is in all- The Father makes His abode in all believers. He is the grand architect of our unity— of our salvation.

Ephesians 1:3–6 ESV

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

So what makes the unity we enjoy possible? Answer: The miraculous working of every person of the triune God!

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.

How does this help us with our job of maintaining unity? How do vv. 4-6 help us obey v. 3? Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit?

Scottish theologian John Eadie says this, “All of the elements of oneness… are really inducements for Christians to be forward to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” When we understand everything that was necessary by the triune God in order to make our unity possible how could we not make every effort to maintain it?

To do anything less would be to bring disgrace on the spiritual reality that God has already made possible.

We already have unity! We are one! Because God made it so! To live our lives in a way that disparages that oneness is an affront to the grand plan of salvation that God has been effecting since before the foundation of the world. What arrogance! In other words, we are one because of our great God— act like it!

Illustration: My young kids drawing father’s day cards, or birth day cards for me. They might look like stick figures to you, but to me they are precious. They deserve positions of honor. What is the highest position of honor in the home? Front and center on the kitchen fridge. And there they stay for several weeks. Why? Because I treat those drawing for what they really are- expressions of love and affection from my boys.

Do you treat the unity that God has provided for us that way? Do you treat the unity with your fellow church member that way?

Do you see the unity that we enjoy as made possible by the eternal foreknowledge and wise plan of the Father?

Do you see the unity that we enjoy as made possible by the humility and sacrifice of the Son on the cross?

Do you see the unity that we enjoy as made possible by the the uniting power of the Holy Spirit? If so are you ready to go to that church member you don’t know very well and start building a relationship? Are you ready to protect those relationships by walking in humility and gentleness, by exercising patience with each other, by putting up with each other in love. Are you really willing to constantly make every effort to maintain the great unity that God has so wonderfully provided for us?

God wants us to be a growing church. We cannot be a growing church until we are a healthy church. And we cannot be a healthy church without unity.

What is required for there to be unity in our local church?

Every member engaging in a Spirit-filled worthy walk.

Every member proactively seeking to maintain unity within the church

Every member humbly understanding the miracle of unity.

Remember our questions as we work our way through Ephesians 4!

What is growth?

What causes growth?

Am I helping or hindering growth in my church?

How can I help my church be a growing body?

How has the Lord worked in your heart in this vitally important area of unity?

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