EPHESIANS 4:1-6 - A Worthy Walk

Introduction

A number of years ago a standup comedian told a story that has since been called one of the best religious jokes ever. Now, at the risk of gaining the dubious distinction of a preacher who opens his sermons with a joke, I’m going to tell it to you. (But since we are Baptists, as long as we don’t laugh at the joke it doesn’t count.)

The story goes, “I was walking across a high bridge and saw a man crying in despair that no one loved him. So I asked, ‘God loves you--are you a Christian?’ ‘Yes’… “Me too! What denomination?” “Baptist”--really? Me too! So I ask him, Southern Baptist or Northern Baptist? “Northern Baptist...” “Me too!” So I ask, “General Association of Regular Baptists, or Reformed Baptist?” The man says “Reformed Baptist”--really?? ME TOO! 1646 London Baptist Confession or 1689 Second London Baptist Confession? The man says “1646”--and I said “DIE HERETIC!!” and shoved him off the bridge!

See, the reason that joke works is because we really can identify with the sentiment behind it, can’t we? And it’s not just the theology geeks with John Calvin RefToons stickers on our water bottles that can get so persnickety about divisions between Christians--we’re all guilty of it on one level or another. Part of this is because of the basic fallen human tendency to want other people to validate our personal preferences--if we meet another Christian who reads the same Bible version and sings the same kind of worship music and listens to the same podcasts or reads the same authors we feel an immediate kinship.

But if we meet a Christian who belongs to a different denomination or has a different worship style or who goes to different conferences or holds to different doctrinal positions or administers baptism differently or structures their church government differently, we all of s sudden feel walls go up--we may not come right out and doubt their actual salvation (in fact, most often we don’t), but we still have an uneasiness about how to get along between different congregations or different confessions. (And this instinct is even stronger when we encounter those who take the name Christian while holding to grave and damnable errors in their doctrines of salvation—how are we to relate to them?)

The Apostle Paul has just completed three chapters of the most magnificent exposition of the work of reconciliation God has accomplished for His people through Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Here with the beginning of Chapter 4, he is moving from what we have in Christ to what we are to do with what we have in Him. In Chapters 1-3 Paul has shown us the glorious work that God has done to draw us near to Himself and to each other--we were dead in tresspasses and sins and He has made us alive together with Christ, we were far off and He has brought us near, we were full of hostility and hatred toward one another and He killed the hostility and made us into one body with each other.

At the end of Chapter 3 Paul expresses his heartfelt prayer that we would have power through the Holy Spirit to grasp the extent of Christ’s love for us “together with all the saints” (Eph. 3:18). And here as the second half of the book opens Paul moves from telling us what we are in Christ and now shows us what we are called to do in Christ:

Ephesians 4:1 LSB

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

And then he goes on to describe exactly what that worthy walk looks like--it is a walk in unity with one another:

Ephesians 4:2–3 LSB

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Here is the way I want to summarize Paul’s main point in these verses this morning--what I aim to show you here from our text is that

A walk WORTHY of Christ is a walk in FAITHFUL UNITY with His PEOPLE

What does God’s Word say here in these verses about the way we interact with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ? What does a worthy walk in Christ look like? How are we to relate to other Christians, both inside and outside our own fellowship? What kind of fellowship is even possible between Christians with fundamental, irreconcilable differences in the very essential doctrines of the Gospel itself? What kind of unity is there to be had with Pentecostal Christians, Roman Catholic Christians, Orthodox Christians, charismatic Christians?

These are consequential questions, and I believe God’s Word provides us with wise counsel and direction in our text this morning. So let’s begin laying out the groundwork for an answer by examining

I. The SHAPE of Faithful Unity (Ephesians 4:1-3)

Look again at Verse 1:

Ephesians 4:1 LSB

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

Again, Paul calls himself the “prisoner of the Lord”--he is a slave to Christ, and he is also in prison (as we saw previously) because of his commitment to see a unified church between Jew and Gentile.

There are at least four marks of faithful Christian unity that Paul calls us to here. The first sign of faithful Christian unity is found when

We walk in HUMILITY (cp. Phil. 2:3)

Ephesians 4:2 LSB

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

The word Paul uses here for “humility” in Greek can be literally translated “lowliness of mind”--it is the same word that we find in Philippians 2:3:

Philippians 2:3 LSB

doing nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind regarding one another as more important than yourselves,

Now, this does not primarily mean that you constantly run yourself down or criticize yourself or continually play the wretched loser in every social situation. That is not humility--that is an attitude of sinful pride that will use a pathetic appearance to bait people into saying all the wonderful things about you that you really want to hear.

The idea here of “lowliness of mind” (as the old King James puts it) is well-expressed in Philippians--it is a genuine and unaffected interest in others! Think about it and you will see it to be true--the most interesting people you know are the people who are genuinely interested in you--and the most boring people you know are only interested in themselves.

A walk worthy of Christ is a walk of humility with others--genuinely interested in their spiritual welfare, in how you can strengthen them in their walk with Christ, how you can encourage them or pray for them.

And closely related to humility in our walk with others is that

We walk in GENTLENESS (cp. Matt. 11:29)

The Greek word underlying the English translation “gentleness” was also used to describe domesticated animals--they are willing to be led, they can be worked with and trained. (Come to the farm and watch Caleb working with his cows, and you’ll have a good idea of what that looks like!)

Applied to us, that word refers to a calm acceptance of God’s dealings with us, trusting Him and not resisting His direction and His discipline. As it relates to others it refers to an even-tempered, quiet and calm disposition--not the type of person to fly off the handle or get all spun up into all kinds of drama or tense exchanges. You don’t have to choose your words wisely or walk around on eggshells; they have an inward disposition of peace and contentment before God and others.

The third and fourth marks of faithful Christian unity are very closely related; they are found at the end of verse 2:

Ephesians 4:2 LSB

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

When we are walking in faithful Christian unity,

We walk with PATIENCE and FORBEARANCE (Rom. 2:4)

These two words are used right together in another place in the New Testament; in Romans 2:4, we read

Romans 2:4 LSB

Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

In the immediate context of that verse in Romans, Paul is condemning the behavior of those who judge others for their sins. They are sinfully judging others’ bad behavior while being guilty of the exact same sins!

Here in our text, patience and forbearance does not mean letting sin slide; it does not mean that you do not confront a brother or sister in Christ when you see pattterns of sin in their life, which Scripture clearly demands that we must lovingly and patiently address (cp. Gal. 6:1). In the context of these verses, I would suggest the sense is more of patience and forbearance with people whose personalities or demeanor don’t jibe well with yours—they aren’t indulging a pattern of sin in their lives; they are just different than you!

Imagine how often this would have come up between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Ephesian churches—different sensibilities, different tastes, different ways of looking at the world. United by repentance and faith in Christ, to be sure, equal members of His New Covenant people, but who just tend to rub you the wrong way. A sense of humor that you don’t get; a hobby you don’t find appealing; an educational level or economic status different from you—these are all opportunities for the Evil One to sow discord and impatience between fellow church members. Paul says that we are to respond with patience and forebearance instead of exasperation or taking offense, bearing all things, believing all things, hoping all things, enduring all things--in short, “...bearing with one another in love.” (Eph. 4:2).

This then, is the shape of faithful Christian unity--this is how we are to walk worthy of Christ with one another--with humility, with gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. This is the baseline expectation of the way believers are to relate to one another.

But where does the power to do this come from? Where do we draw the strength and understanding to conduct ourselves with this kind of faithful unity? After describing the shape of faithful unity, Paul goes on in verses 4-6 to describe for us

II The SOURCE of Faithful Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

Look at verses 4-6 with me:

Ephesians 4:4–6 LSB

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Remember one of the habits we want to develop in Bible study--look for repeated words or phrases. Anybody see a particular word repeated here? Paul uses the word “one” no less than seven times in these three verses! Some commentators suggest that this was actually an early creed or confession of faith in the early church--it’s certainly one that Paul would have heartily endorsed (if not actually create it himself!)

If you look carefully, you will see that three of these uses of “one” refer to the persons of the Trinity: there is one Spirit (v. 4), there is one Lord (v. 5, referring to Jesus Christ), and one Father (v. 6). So the first thing we learn about the source of faithful unity is that it is grounded in the unity of God Himself. There is one God, Who is perfectly united in His nature--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--in absolutely perfect fellowship, love and unity from eternity past through eternal ages to come. And through Christ we have been invited into that perfect unity!

The other four instances of the word “one” follow from the oneness of the Father Son and Holy Spirit in their unique roles that they play in our salvation. first, see in verse 4 that

Because there is one SPIRIT, we have one BODY (v. 4; cp. 1 Cor. 12:13)

“There is one body and one Spirit”. It is the Holy Spirit that knits us together in one body--Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 12:13:

1 Corinthians 12:13 LSB

For also by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

You’ll also remember when Peter preaches to the Gentiles gathered at the Roman centurian Cornelius’ house in Acts 10, that as he was preaching, “the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the word, and all the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too! (Acts 10:44-45). When Peter made his report to the apostles in Jerusalem in Acts 11, they all realized that the Holy Spirit had created one new body of believers:

Acts 11:17–18 LSB

“Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as He gave to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could prevent God’s way?” And when they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”

The source of faithful unity in which we walk is found in the unity of our Triune God—because there is one Spirit, there is one body. And

Because there is one LORD, we have one HOPE...

Our hope is found—whether Jew or Gentile, whether rich or poor, educated or not, urban or rural, blue collar or white collar—we have one hope in one Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures express our hope in Christ in two specific ways (as Paul lays it out here in our text): Because we have one Lord Jesus Christ,

—-We have one FAITH (Acts 4:12; 16:31)

This is what Peter proclaimed about Jesus when he was brought before the Sanhedrin in Acts 4 for healing the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple:

Acts 4:12 LSB

“And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

And it was faith in Christ that Paul and Silas proclaimed to the jailer in Philippi who was terrified for his life after the earthquake that freed the prisoners:

Acts 16:30–31 LSB

and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your house.”

The one hope we have in faith in Jesus Christ—we have one hope in Christ, and

—-We have one BAPTISM (cp. Gal. 3:27)

in Christ. Paul makes this clear in Galatians 3:27, where he writes

Galatians 3:27 LSB

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

The source of our Christian unity is the unity of our triune God. We have one hope in Jesus Christ—one faith, one baptism. Because there is one Spirit we have one body; because there is one Lord we have one hope. And

Because there is one FATHER, we have one FAMILY (v. 6; cp. 2:18-19; Rom. 11:36)

Paul says that we have

Ephesians 4:6 LSB

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

In the context of the rest of the book of Ephesians we can see that Paul is not referring to (as the old ecumenical movements of the past century put it) the universal “Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man.” Of course God is the God of every human being that ever lived on the face of the earth; but Paul has just gone to great lengths through the first three chapters of Ephesians to demonstrate that God is Father specifically to those who have come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ as the Son. Our unity with one another in the church comes from the fact that we all have the same Father.

A walk worthy of Christ is a walk of faithful unity with His people—and the source of that faithful unity is that we serve one triune God, Who is Himself in perfect fellowship and perfect unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Father creates the one family. The Son creates the one faith, one hope, one baptism. The Spirit creates the one body, the Church.

In his commentary on this passage, John R. W. Stott writes:

Indeed, we can go further. We must assert that there can be only one Christian family, only one Christian faith, hope and baptism, and only one Christian body, because there is only one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You can no more multiply churches than you can multiply Gods. Is there only one God? Then he has only one church. Is the unity of God inviolable? Then so is the unity of the church. The unity of the church is as indestructible as the unity of God himself. It is no more possible to split the church than it is possible to split the Godhead. (Stott, J. R. W. (1979). God’s new society: the message of Ephesians (p. 151). InterVarsity Press.)

You can no more divide the unity of the Church than you can divide the unity of God. But then how do we account for all the divisions we see in Christendom? Here in Sykesville alone—a town of about two thousand people—there are four churches within shouting distance of each other?? Is God’s Word here in this text saying that we should all just tear down our current buildings and just build one great big church and all meet there? Are we sinning when we meet here, Holy Trinity meets up there, Grace United Methodist over there and ABVM on the other corner?

At first glance, our text seems to draw us toward that conclusion:

Ephesians 4:3 LSB

being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The word translated “diligent” here (or “eager” as the ESV puts it) carries the idea of “sparing no effort”, or “leaving no opportunity unpursued”. What then, are we to do? How do we obey this verse in real time, with real neighbors who also confess Christ?

So I want to suggest to you three ways for us to think about

III. The SCOPE of faithful unity (Ephesians 4:3)

First of all, and most immediately, we consider the scope of faithful unity

INSIDE the church

Here is where a walk worthy of Christ begins—faithful unity with one another here in this body. If we do not get this unity right within these walls, then we will not be in a position to walk in any kind of unity with Christians outside these walls.

This is one of the reasons that we are so intentional about church membership—a formal relationship as members of Bethel Baptist is the foundation of cultivating the kind of humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance that the Scriptures command here. You see it most clearly reflected in our Member’s Covenant that we read from time to time before the Lord’s Supper. It reads, in part, that

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; To remember each other in prayer; To aid each other in sickness and distress; To cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy of speech, To be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay (BBC Membership Covenant, lines 35-43)

This is what it means to “be diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace”—if it isn’t present here, it will never be present out there.

Because the scope of our Christian unity does not end with the doors of this building—we must be eager to maintain this unity here, to be sure, but the scope of faithful unity must also extend

BETWEEN the churches

I hope you can readily see how Paul’s instructions to the church in Ephesus extends outward beyond the bounds of a single congregation to other believers in other churches? Even if they baptize differently than we do, even if they structure their church government differently, even if (and I know this is a bitter pill)—even if they have a drum set up on the platform—we can still love our brothers and sisters in Christ with humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance.

Mark it well, beloved, you can freely fellowship with a church that you do not belong to! You can freely fellowship with Christians who do not belong to this church! We can meet together to encourage one another, we can pray for one another, we can share in one another’s joys and sorrows, we can bear with each other’s differences, we can worship together. We belong to one Father; we are filled with the same Spirit; we belong to the body of the same Christ. Whatever other elements of our relationships with Christians from different churches or denominations, this kind of unity—eager to maintian the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace with humility, gentleness, patience and forbearace—must characterize our unity together in Christ.

But these verses also compel us to recognize the limits of this kind of unity—we have

Ephesians 4:5 LSB

one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

As we consider what this kind of worthy walk in faithful unity looks like, it must always be a unity

WITHIN the truth (cp. Gal. 1:6-8)

God’s Word makes it crystal clear here—if we lose the Gospel, we lose any basis for unity as Christians. If we are divided on the definition of saving faith, then there is no basis for wakling together. Paul makes this abundantly clear as he dealt with the false teachers in Galatia who were attacking the churches there—

Galatians 1:6–8 LSB

I marvel that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed!

Remember that there are differences between Christians that we are prohibited from dividing over—Paul gives the examples of believers who differ over matters of conscience about eating meat sacrificed to idols in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8, for example. These are matters of indifference; what we call “third-order issues”. More serious issues, that we call “second-order issues”, are differences of conviction that make it impractical to function as a church with those who differ. Christians that do not agree on the nature, mode and timing of baptism, for instance, really do not have enough common ground to practice church membership—you can’t have it both ways; the impact on everything from membership to church discipline to discipleship is affected by who is baptized and when. But nothing prevents believers from those separate communions from otherwise walking worthy in faithful unity.

But then there are the first-order issues; the ways in which the essential truths of the Gospel itself is denied—that cross beyond the limits of Christian unity. When the Biblical Gospel of salvation by faith alone through grace alone by Christ alone to the glory of God alone is denied, there is no Christian unity possible.

And so what does this mean for our relationships with (for instance) our Catholic or Orthodox friends and neighbors and relatives? Does this mean we refuse to associate with them, that we do not speak to them unless we are disputing with them? Of course not—in fact, we could do far worse than to follow these same instructions—walking with them in humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance—yet making no pretense of Christian unity. If your Catholic neighbor invites you to come to a pro-life rally with them, then by all means go! If your Jehovah’s Witness co-worker invites you to join her for lunch, then take her up on it! If the Mormons knock on your door, feel free to talk to them and get to know them for the sake of gaining a hearing for the Gospel.

Don’t pretend that you believe the same things; don’t be afraid to make it clear that there are fundamental, irreconcilable differences between what you believe and what they believe that mean you cannot affirm that they are Christians—but you can do that in humility, and you can share the Gospel with gentleness, and you can deal with questions and objections with patience and forbearance; not because you are one with them in the Gospel, but because you long for them to be one with Christ in salvation someday (and through Him, one with you!)

What is God’s Word showing you about your walk with your brothers and sisters in Christ this morning? Are you growing in a humble walk with them, genuinely seeking their good over yours, more interested in their growth in Christ? Or are you always seeking for everyone else to know how mature you are in your faith? Are your conversations geared toward your fellow believer’s benefit, or are you always looking for a chance to put yourself forward?

Would your fellow members here at Bethel say that you are walking with them in gentleness? Does your calm disposition of contentment in the way God is leading you overflow into the lives of others? Or does your anxiety or unbelief or fearfulness roll downhill into the lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ, creating anxiety in others through snappishness, self-centered pity or emotional fragility rooted in unbelief?

Would your fellow members here say that you are patient in your walk with them? Are you able to get along with those who struggle in their faith, whose progress in holiness seems slower than you think it should be? Are you able to overlook those matters of indifference that are governed by conscience, are you able to celebrate the small victories in their walk without immediately pointing out how far they still have to go? Or does your impatience get the better of you and you find yourself grumbling in your heart towards those whose walk with Christ has not measured up to your standards? (In fact, go back to the point about humility earlier in verse 2!)

Are you eager to find as much of this unity as possible with every Christian you meet? Are you looking for ways to walk in humility and gentleness and patient forbearance with other believers outside these walls? Do you long for more opportunities to encourage members of other churches, and not just these members? Does the prospect of wider fellowship outside of just this church family excite you, or would you be content with only ever fellowshipping with these saints (or at leastd most of them?)

Can you see here in God’s Word that the shape of faithful unity in Christ means that there are limits to what we can call “Christian” unity? The recent election of Pope Leo XIV, for instance, has brought to the surface a lot of expressions of Christian unity that need to be very carefully evaluated in the light of Scripture alone.

One prominent Evangelical, for instance, recently posted on X:

“We talk about a golden age in America… I am an Evangelical Christian, but I pray that the new Pope will help usher in a new Golden Age of Christianity… If the new Pope defends the faith, defends the West, defends biology and eternal truths, I will be his biggest fan.” (Charlie Kirk, @charliekirk11, posted 5/8/2025, x.com)

Tweets like this that express solidarity and Christian unity with the Church of Rome are demonstrating a fundamental break with God’s Word—there can be no Christian unity with the Roman Catholic Church as long as it continues to preach a different Gospel. And while we can (and should) walk with humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance with our Catholic friends, it cannot be a Christian unity until there is unity on the Gospel itself.

Because this Gospel—this one faith once for all delivered to the saints—is the only basis of unity between God and man—and between one another. A worthy walk in faithful unity begins with being reconciled to God through Christ. You cannot have any real unity with others in Christ if you are not walking in unity with Him first. If you are here this morning and you do not have that unity with Him, then nothing else matters—you may come from the same town as everyone else, you may have gone to the same high school, you may work at the same kind of job or have kids the same age, you may have the same political leanings and the same hobbies, you may drive the same kind of car and watch the same kind of movies and read the same books and like the same foods—but if you have not been united with God by repentance of your sin and personal faith in Jesus Christ for your salvation, then you will never belong here.

But as harsh as that sounds, it is by far the least of your worries. Because if you do not belong to Christ, if you have not been united with Him through faith in this life, then there is no place for you with Him in the next.

Matthew 7:22–23 LSB

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, in Your name did we not prophesy, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

The only hope for real unity with God and His people starts with turning away from all of the false promises your sin is making to you. You may find some kind of solidarity in your sin—drunks love being with other drunks, the LGBT community boasts about how “accepting” they are, the dingy internet basement of the alt-right movement and MGTOWs and incels will all promise a twisted kind of brotherhood based on anger and lust and bitterness and ethnic vainglory—but all of those are false, fickle caricatures of unity and gentleness and patience and humility. Your sin will never be the basis of any kind of real unity; the only way to find real belonging is to forsake your sin and call upon the grace of Almighty God:

Isaiah 55:6–7 LSB

Seek Yahweh while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to Yahweh, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

Turn away from all of those false promises of solidarity and unity; turn away from the guilt and shame and ruin of your rebellion and be drawn near to the only unity that matters—be united by faith to your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

Jude 24–25 LSB

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, might, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION:

Why is unity important in a local church? Describe a typical church that models unity and one that demonstrates division. What are some of the characteristics of each?

How does our unity as a body of believers find its source in God’s unity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit? In what way is your unity with other members at Bethel Baptist strengthened by your understanding of the unity of God in the Trinity?

In light of this passage, how are we to relate to other Christians who hold different convictions from us? How are we to relate to those who claim to be Christians, yet deny the Gospel?