The Work of Staying One
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Preliminary:
Preliminary:
Invite to Eph. 4
Thanks: The Singer’s
Find a resource to talk about in the Book Store: - Perhaps Wilcox if there is still a set there -
The old minister had died, and as they were clearing out his study, they came across some of his notes and sermons. As they were reading through them - at time reminesing about when he preached a certain sermon - and how it impacted them
They came across one sermon that no one really remembered. As they were reading through it they found on one of his sub points a note scribbled to the side - they strained their eyes to see what it said - and finally made out - his hastily written note said, “very weak argument - holler loud” - now we know why preacher’s get loud!
No -
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Bible Translations can be a sticky and tricky subject. I am not wanting to wade into a controversy here at the beginning of my sermon -
Now I may be giving more information that what is necessary or than what you may have wanted to know -
I love the KJV of the Bible - but you have to remember that is not how God spoke the Law or His word.
God is not just an English speaking God - the KJV is a translation of that Law and Word
Today there are almost more English versions than what I can keep up with. I try to read the more credible ones or use my text comparison resource to look at the differences between the version. It can be very helpful and enlightening.
Basically Modern English translations of the Bible are typically placed in three categories. Now a translation can utilize two or more of these categories, but attempt a balance between the two.
The three categories and their purposes are:
Word-for-Word - or formal equivalence - tend to be more literal
Thought-for-thought - or dynamic equivalence - more interested in conveying the thought of the text rather than actual phrasing
Paraphrase - Retelling or rephrasing of the Bible (Easy reading, but not the most accurate)
We started with the KJV - which is a word-for-word translation but I want to read Eph 4:3 from some of these different categories because I think we can learn something about this verse tonight.
New American Standard Bible or NASB for short is a fairly reliable word-for-word translation
the 2020 version says:
“being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3, NASB 2020)
(the only difference between 2020 and 95 editions is the word preserve in stead of keep)
Another great word-for-word translation of the Bible the English Standard Version
“eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3, ESV)
Moving over into the thought-for-thought camp, you sometimes lose some of the phrasing - but they are more interested in conveying a thought or the concept of the verse.
Probably one of the better known versions that accomplishes this with its own set of issues and problems is the New International Version or the NIV
But can I tell you they get it on this one - listen to this: - this is from the 2011 edition of the NIV
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3, NIV)
Then, probably my least favorite the paraphrase - now I do not recommend this version at all for serious reading or study.
Several years ago - I did my personal devotions using this translation - and while it is much easier to read - it misses so many important things -
Are you familiar with Cliff’s Notes?
Cliff’s Notes is in the summarizing business. An author writes a book they take that book and condense it down to the highlights.
Take, for instance, a book like “War and Peace” by Tolstoy of about 587,287 words
Cliff’s Notes version of the book according to one source 20,000 words.
So what happened to those other 567,287 words?
Most sources say the KJV Bible contains 783,137 words
The Message Bible the work of Eugene Peterson, a paraphrase of the Bible, according to the publisher has approximately 550,000 words
But to be fair - I wanted to include it in the mix so we could see a comparrison between the three types:
The Message paraphrased Eph 4:3 to say:
“alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.” (Ephesians 4:3, MSG)
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
I hope you are getting the point - that unity was of extreme importance to the Apostle Paul while he is writing to the Church at Ephesus while he is in prison.
The church at Ephesus was a ministry of The Apostle Paul during his third missionary journey - in Acts 19 we find that Paul comes to Ephesus and he preaches and reasons in the synagogue boldly for three months. The truth was rejected so Paul moves to the school of Tyrannus and preached and reasoned there fro two more years.
it was during this time that the Sons of Sceva try to imitate Paul casting out Demons in the name of Jesus - it turns out badly for these imposters - but I love how the text says, “Acts 19:17 “...the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.”
It so moved some of them that they stopped their occult practices and had a book burning
Paul leaves Ephesus travels to various other places and at the conclusion of his third missionary Journey - he has his mind and heart set on going to Jerusalem for the Feast of Pentecost.
On his way to Jerusalem, Paul’s ship docked in Miletus for several days to load and unload cargo.
Miletus was only 40 miles south of Ephesus, so Paul seized the opportunity to summon the Ephesian elders with whom he had ministered for three years.
His words in Acts 20 are the only record of Paul speaking directly to a group of elders in the entire New Testament.
It is these Elders that he tells; Acts 20:25 “25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.”
They kneeled together and prayed - they wept and cried and fell on Paul’s neck - it was a heart-wrenching scene
The Beloved Apostle Paul was leaving and they would not see him again.
They had such a love and respect for Paul that they follow him to the ship -
I want us to see and notice their love and respect for the great preacher.
While they never got to see his face again - they did get a letter from Paul some time later -
And in this letter - the Book of Ephesians - we find that Paul had several reasons for writing:
To strengthen the believers in their faith -
To express the reality of spiritual warfare - and how to prepare (especially in Eph 6)
He explains the nature and purpose of the church using the analogy of a body - and the term Body of Christ
It is in some of this section on the importance of his explanation of the nature and purpose of the church - that we hear the exhortation of the aging imprisoned apostle:
Ephesians 4:3 “3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
This is part of plea made to the church at Ephesus - that they walk worthy of their calling - and he gives some descriptive virtues as to what that “worthy of the calling” entails
lowliness - humility
meekness - gentleness
longsuffering- patience - we are then told how to have this longsuffering or patience - it is by forbearing one another in love
This is followed by the exhortation to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Now it helps me to have a proper understanding of what I am going to talk about - before I talk about it -
And to get there I attempt to discover working definitions for terms and concepts in the text.
The one before us tonight is of extreme importance:
Ephesians 4:3 “3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Or as I have titled this little message: THE WORK OF STAYING ONE
It is a direct reference to the concept of UNITY among believers
but what is unity? Its a term that is thrown around quite a bit - but do we understand what we mean by it?
Unity has the thought of oneness - or in a biblical sense the quality of being united into one.
The Psalmist David gave vent to his feelings when he declared:
Psalm 133:1 “1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!”
It is said of the early church: Acts 4:32 “32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”
But that still doesn’t give us a clear picture of what unity consists of.
In an attempt to define some terms and phrases - it is sometimes best to identify what it is not:
Some points:
Unity is NOT Optional -
Unity is essential to the very nature, mission, and witness of the Church - It is not an optional extra.
Unity is the essence of Christian faith just as it is the essence of the Godhead.
One put it this way, “Many and yet one, one and yet many. Many members, but one body; many bodies, but one Spirit; many believers, but one spiritual community” (Pulpit Commentary)
So again I remind you Unity is NOT optional:
Unity is not optional for four reasons:
because God commands it,
While our text is found in the passionate plea of the imprisoned apostle Paul - he uses the word we translate into English, “ENDEAVORING”
Its a word that carries with it the imperative tense
generally means:
to hasten, make haste
to be zealous, eager, or diligent
to make every effort
Its a term that carries strong connotations of earnestness, urgency, and intentional effort.
When used in the New Testament, this verb often implies a committed, active response to a divine calling or responsibility
Endeavoring to remain unified is seen as imperative and intentional because of the dire consequences of not doing it -
I think of the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin during the debates surrounding the agreement of the Declaration of Independence almost 250 years ago - It is said that he rose to encourage unity by stating, “Gentlemen we must all hang together, or we shall assuredly all hang separately”
Paul tells the Churches of Rome and Corinth:
Romans 12:16 “16 Be of the same mind one toward another. ...”
1 Corinthians 1:10 “10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”
Unity is not optional - the mandate of unity reverberates throughout the entire New Testament.
It is not optional because God commands it - but also because:
Christ prayed for it,
With the reality of an excruciating death looming on the near horizon we find Christ - not praying for himself, not praying for the success of his legacy, not even for his rescue and relief - but in John 17 we find Jesus praying with the thought of unity weighing heavy on his heart and mind.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
What a beautiful prayer for the unity of the disciples - oh but I’m glad we get to listen in just a little more to the prayer and burden of Jesus:
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
This prayer includes you and me did you catch that - Jesus prayed for our unity - that we may be ONE
Notice it wasn’t just an organizational unity - that can be manufactured and promoted and propagated by the flesh -
But this unity is a spiritual unity rooted and grounded in the Trinity
If unity was so important to Jesus that he made it a matter of prayer, Then it better be a priority to us.
Unity is not optional because it is commanded of God, it is prayed for by Christ and unity is...
produced by the Spirit,
Paul tells them and in doing so is reminding us that we should be endeavoring to keep the unity OF THE SPIRIT
It’s called the “unity of the Spirit” in Ephesians 4:3 — not the unity of effort or personality.
The Spirit joins believers into one Body at conversion (1 Cor. 12:13
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
If we are indwelt by the same Spirit, we are already unified spiritually — but we must maintain it relationally.
By virtue of his having the Spirit, the believer is in union with every other spiritual man, and this is the unity which he is to endeavour to keep.
and the Church displays it.
In the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus he makes mention of how the unity of believers makes it possible... John 17:21 “... that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
And later he says - John 17:23 “23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
Unity is not an accessory to the gospel — it is an expression of it.
Unity is Present -
Present where the Spirit is
Unity is already present, but it must be preserved; it can be lost
Unity (the maintaining of it at least) is NOT Automatic
The Atheistic German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer offered the world some pretty bad philosophy.
He believed that religion was a system of popular metaphysics, a way to explain the world to those who couldn't grasp philosophical concepts.
But he might have been on to something when compared the human race to a bunch of porcupines huddling together on a cold winter’s night. He said, “The colder it gets outside, the more we huddle together for warmth; but the closer we get to one another, the more we hurt one another with our sharp quills. And in the lonely night of earth’s winter eventually we begin to drift apart and wander out on our own and freeze to death in our loneliness.”
We have a tendncy to poke one another to rufle one another
Paul didn’t promise it would be easy or even simple
He just said work at staying one
Unity is not uniformity - sameness in form
I’m glad I can look out across this crowd tonight and see some diversity
I’m glad we’re not all wearing the exact same thing.
The old saying is if we’re all going to be exactly alike then one of us is not necessary
Unity is not unanimity {yoo·nuh·ni·muh·tee}- sameness in thought
John Trapp that old Anglican clergyman from the 1600’s once wrote:
Unity without verity is not better than conspiracy.
What he was saying is that Christian unity must be grounded in truth, or it's not true unity — it’s dangerous compromise.
God help us to have a unity that is based, grounded in, founded on truth and veracity - the truth and veracity of God’s WORD
There can be union without unity: tie two cats together by their tails and throw them over a clothesline.
There is a union
But no unity
How about when you are paired with someone else is it a working together or all out war?
So I hope we are getting a clearer picture of some of the characteristics of unity and oneness are and what it is not.
Unity is not something that we manufacture - but we are to maintain -
How do we maintain unity preacher? That’s a good question I’m glad you asked - let me give you some biblical guidance on what it is to maintain unity:
The first thing - and this probably doesn’t even need to be said - but I’ll preach it anyway - is love
By love I’m talking about 1 Corinthians 13 love.
A love that is kind - we are told later in Eph 4… Eph 4:32
32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
I think it is telling of human nature - that God has to tell Christians to be kind - to be tenderhearted to one another - to forebear one another in love
Are you kind? If you are endeavoring to keep the unity - you are going to be kind - you are going to be tenderhearted to one another.
Tenderhearted is referring to one’s compassionate internal features
We are often looking more for who to kick out, who to criticize, who to talk about, who to dress down - maybe behind their back in a preaching session with our friends and co-horts
How do you know that preacher? Because I used to do that until the Lord delivered me. I may talk more about that later.
We carry around - metaphorically speaking of course - our little black books, and checklists of individuals we have confidence in and those we don’t have confidence in - SHAME ON YOU-
I wonder how many people we have lost - because we have not been kind or tender hearted toward them???
This summer I was going though some sermons by Bro. August Leulf and in one of his sermons - this is also in his book Hot and Cold Parables he tells a fascinating story.
One summer he was in the chicken yard and his sister ran to the door of the brooderhouse and asked him if he wanted to kill a mouse. Bro. August said he would and asked her where it was. She said it was in a big paper feed sack near by.
They kept their chickens in a battery brooder where they couldn’t get on the floor - so as he got closer to the sack he listened very closely and said, “That is no mouse that’s a rat”
With all the force he could muster he grabbed the sack and stomped on it as hard as he could
The first blow must have hit it square on the head because it made a noise like a rat squealing.
He stomped it some more and after he thought he had stomped on it suffieciently he picked up the crumpled limp paper bag and carried outside so the rat couldn’t get away in case he hadn’t killed it yet.
Bro. August said, “I peeked in the bag and what do you think I saw?
No not a mouse
No it wasn’t a rat,
...but a chicken -with a flat head, bones broken and feathers about stomped off”
Bro. Leulf then said, “Let’s get serious -what should I have done? I should have looked in the sack first thing - before I started stomping.
Many a good brother or good sister has had their influence killed or stomped to death
We hear someone say, “He’s a mouse” “She’s a rat”
And a stomping we will go
Who’s in your sack tonight?
Who have you been stomping on?
Bro. Leulf would then say, it’s true the chicken had gotten down in the floor - but he put it this way:Now, let us before we start stamping, look into the sack. Then, when I look into the sack and see the chicken, I say to it, "How come you in the sack?" The chicken answers, "You or some one else left the door open or did not have it latched and I jumped down upon the floor and when on the floor I got scared and I could not jump back to my pen. So to hide I crawled into the paper sack." "Poor chicken, what should I do with you? I know. Instead of stamping or calling you a rat I will lift you and help you up from where you fell.
What am I talking about- ENDEAVORING TO KEEP THE UNITY - working at instead of stomping - checking in on them - what can I do to help — how can I lift you up
Giving them grace
By loving - being kind - tenderhearted
Paul says - by forgiving one another
Some people like to use the excuse of discernment - I have the gift of discernment - that is wonderful - but it wasn’t given to you to stomp on the faithful
Corrie Ten Boom said:
Discernment is God’s call to intercession, never to faultfinding.
Sometimes instead of stomping to death - we talk to death:
We have to watch our tongues:
We need to talk with tact:
Tact is the act of saying nothing when there is nothing to say
Tact is the ability to shut your mouth before someone else wants to.
Take a lesson from the whale: The only times he gets harpooned is when he comes up to spout
If all that we say in a single day,
With never a word left out.
Were printed each night
in clear black and white
‘Twould prove strange reading, no doubt.
And then, just suppose,
‘ere our eyes we could close,
We must read the whole record through;
Then wouldn’t we sigh,and wouldn’t we try
A great deal less talking to do?
And I more than half think
That many a kink
Would be smoother in life’s tangled thread.
If half that we say in a single day
Were left forever unsaid.--Author Unknown
Think of a puzzle
(by two of the same cheap dollar tree puzzles put them together before going to preach. one is glued taped & framed if possible, the other is not)
We are like a puzzle all different shapes and sizes performing different roles and functions within the body of Christ - we are held together by some magnetic adhesive forces
The Holy Spirit
Love
Forgiving one anothe
Someone was pointing ou recently in a dvotional I heard, about Job. Job went through some hard things, his friends stare at him for days and then rant for hours about how Jobmust have had some secret awful sin. In the end Job had to pray for his friends.Those who had said such awful things about him. The forgiveness the Job had to have.
I think of Paul, the very one who wrote our text, he was actively responsible for the persecution and martyrdom of who knows how many people . Can you imagine the forgiveness that had to take place after he became a Christian
I want to share a little of what God has done for me
As a teenager I developed a very critical attitude and spirit.
I criticized the singing, it wastoo slow, too fast, too modern, to sentimental to emotional, not the way it was written etc
I became critical of tetifyers if they said amentoo many times, or if I didn’t like what they said, or if I thought itwas unbiblical
If the preaching was too long or boring or off topic or if I thougt it was unscriptural
I could put on a good smile and go on.But I was in trouble
I lost confidencein almost every one in my church
Not because they were doing anything wrong but because I was critical
You seei knew how everyone else should be.But I wasn’t even sved,I wsn’t a Christian
But I was about as bad as theold Quaker couple who had thought alltheir church too worldly he told her one day, “all thats left is me and thee and i have questions about thee”
Oh but I'll never forget I was at a camp meeting they were holding it in a tent down in Seneca MO i went to the altar at a healing service, June 1999 one of the leaders asked me to come
And God came and changed my heart
Oh yes he forgave my sin and did a lot or me that morning
But one of the most noticable things he did was take that critical spirit
Herbert Buffam wrote
I had hate in my heart I exchanged it
For the wonderful gift of God’s love
Where it went I don’t know but I sure felt it go
When my order was filled up above.
If I start noticing a rise in my critical attitude i run to God,I know I'm getting to lax
What am I talking about
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
I realzed the family of God isn’t perfect people,it's saved and cleansed people
But they’re still the fmily of God
And I'm so glad I'm a part of the family of God
Let us stand
The Family of God
Tonight - is there someone you need to forgive?
Is there someone you have been critical of?
Is there ought between you and a brother or a sister?
This is an opportunity to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace
Maybe you’re still not a part of this family of God
I want you to know this altar is open and if you have a need you come and pray - but I sometimes think we need to work on endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit -
and I want to challenge you tonight - while Bro. & Sis. Miller sing this song - to go to as many people as you can before the song is over
and shake their hands, hug their neck, let them know that through the Holy Spirit in them and the Holy Spirit in you we are made ONE IN CHRIST
You’re so gladthey’re a part of the family of God
