Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning Church,

This morning we are continuing our series on The Lost Art of Loving.

This is looking at how to love people and how to change the world with love.

This morning particularly we are going to look at this idea of love and unity and what the scriptures say about this.

This idea of unity is an important concept; whether it be in our homes, in our work places and in the church and amongst our body of believers.

In my life so far I’ve had a few jobs and in those jobs I have worked on a number teams.

I’ve seen my fair share of good and unified team environments and definitely had my fair share of work environments that didn’t quite work as well as they should or could have.

One of the best work environments that I’ve had a chance to work in, other than here in Sicamous, was my few year stint as a part time zoo keeper at the Zoo in Bermuda.

I was part of a weekend team and we had such a great work environment.

Each of us on the team would show up each weekend and push hard to get our regular chore stuff done and then we’d save up the afternoon for various projects.

We were generally known to be the team that did the heavy lifting projects and we loved it.

I think a core aspect of that team environment is that we had a healthy respect for one another, we recognized what we were there to do and we just got down to doing it, we were unified as a team.

And you know what it ended up being so much fun; it was hard work but we had fun while we were getting stuff done.

And I can tell you that I looked forward to working with and hanging with with those people each and every Saturday while I worked there.

I really think that our passage this morning will help guide us into a talk about unity and what it should look like in each of our lives.

So our question for this morning, and what I want us to be thinking about as we continue is, “What should unity look like in our lives?”

and for some of us we will make it even more specific “What should unity look like in the life of a follower of Christ?”.

Our passage this morning will give us great insight into this.

So if you could please grab your bible or flick on your bible app.

We also have bibles in each row if you don’t have one.

We are going to turn to , “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 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.

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.”

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 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.

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.”

Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle.

Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.

Print.”

Let’s pray.

*Prayer*

Holy Spirit we ask you to come this morning.

Open the word of God for us as we seek to follow you in how we love those around us.

Lord I pray that you will guide my thoughts and words this morning.**

Background on

The book of Ephesians is such an interesting book in the writings of the Apostle Paul.

Paul is writing to the church the body of believers in Ephesus.

Ephesus is a fairly large city located in Asia, modern day Turkey, and is quite an interesting place.

The city of Ephesus wasn’t much different than many of the cities that are around now.

It was a large and and very influential city in Asia, it is known that this city had influence over the politics, commerce, and religious atmosphere of the province in Asia.

Ephesus was a major port city; this is important because it brought with it many different types of people travelling through the city from various backgrounds and a variety of beliefs systems.

Because of this Ephesus was known as a “religiously pluralistic city”.

So we know that because of this religious plurality there was a large number who believed in and practice of magic.

This practice of magic was founded on a worldview that recognized the presence and influence of good and evil spirit powers on every area of life.

Along with this Ephesus also had a strong Jewish population, with some scholars suggesting that it was between 5 and 10 percent of the population.

The city of Ephesus was as large and influential city in Asia, with Clinton Arnold describing it as having, “influence over the politics, commerce, and religious atmosphere of the province”.

It was a major port city of Asia which would have brought with it many different people from various backgrounds with a plethora of beliefs.

As such Ephesus was known as a “religiously pluralistic city”.

The prominent pagan deity for the city was the goddess Artemis (also known as Diana); who was the virgin goddess, a divine hunter and a fertility deity.

Due to this religious plurality there was a large belief and practice of magic.

Arnold notes, “the practice of magic was predicated on a worldview that recognised the widespread presence and influence of good and evil spirit powers on every area of life”.

Ephesus also had a strong Jewish population, with some scholars suggesting that it was between 5 and 10 percent of the population.

This letter to the Ephesians is viewed as general in nature.

Meaning that the letter could really fit for a number of groups of believers.

In Paul’s letter where he tells the Ephesian believers to stop their previous practices and to seek their identity from the one true God that they believe in.

See the Ephesian church believed in Jesus but they were allowing their old practices and belief into their current lives.

We sometimes find ourselves here.

Where we have moments where the people who we were before Christ and the things we did before we accepted him come back into our lives.

In the first 3 chapters before our passage this morning we see Paul spending a bit of time on the doctrine of the church, giving them a refresher on what they believed.

Then in our chapter this morning we see him move from theology to how they are to live this out practically.

Folks this is a good model for us.

When we get our theology down the natural progression is toward proper living, how we live this out in our lives.

This is important because if our theology doesn’t push us toward proper living then there is something wrong with our theology because God’s word should spur us on to living like Jesus.

In the first 3 chapters before our passage this morning we see Paul spending a bit of time on the doctrine of the church, giving them a refresher in what they believed.

Then in our chapter this morning we see him move from theology to how they are to live this out practically.

Folks this is a good model for us.

When we get our theology down the natural progression is toward proper living, how we live this out in our lives.

This is important because if our theology doesn’t push us toward proper living then there is something wrong with our theology cause God’s word should spur us on to living like Jesus.

We also have in this Ephesian church a mix of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.

And so naturally there is some carryover of the roles that were played outside of the Christian faith, where Jews were viewed as superior to that of the Gentiles.

Paul is encouraging them against this and tells them that there should be unity in the body of Christ.

Then in our passage this morning we see Paul giving them the practical steps and of how they are to live in unity with one another.

As I said before the question that is before us this morning almost 2000 years after this was written is, “What should unity look like in our lives?”.

Point #1 - Recognize we are all called ()

says, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ”

Explanation

Paul begins by appealing to the Ephesian believers to live up to the calling that God has on their lives.

He sees this as so important that he urges or begs them toward leading a life that is worthy of this calling on their lives.

And I love that Paul includes the statement that he is a prisoner for serving the Lord in this passage.

He identifies with the fact that he is in bondage and is serving a sentence for preaching and teaching about his saviour.

And you know what even in this he is still seeking to serve the Lord by teaching and encouraging through the letters that he writes to the various churches.

Paul shares that the whole of his Christian life is ‘in the Lord’, so the mere fact that his is in prison chained to a soldier will not stop him from living according to the calling that God has on his life.

What Paul is saying here is that the believers are to lead a life that is worthy of the calling of God.

In a complete sense as believers we know that we cannot on our own live in a way that is worthy of the calling of God.

On our own we are unable to do this.

So Paul is effectively telling the Ephesians that they are to live within the calling of God and relying on him the whole way through.

We all have a calling of God on our lives.

Not all of us are called to be a pastor per se but we are all called to share in and give out the love of Jesus to the world around us, that is our calling.

We are all called to partake in the greatest commandment in , which we talked about a few weeks ago, says “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

38 This is the great and first commandment.

39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.