Walk as One Pt. 1

Preachers tend to love doctrine. We love to talk about what we believe. We like to talk about who the Bible says God is and who the Bible says that we are and how Christ has work to bring salvation. We love to talk about the nuances of salvation.

Doctrine is essentially what the first thee chapters of Ephesians put forward. So up to this point we discovered how rich we are to be a part of the new humanity created by faith in Christ. We are a part of the body of Christ created by his work of life, death, resurrection and ascension. Because of Christ work, we are part of a new society reconciled with God through faith.

What are we suppose to do with doctrine? We are suppose to live it. We are to let our beliefs live through our behavior.

I think that it is important to note important of both here: right doctrine and right behavior. Some people will say, “Don’t bore me with all that boring Bible teaching about what to believe. It’s boring. Just teach me how to live; how to cope with life. Some people think that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you live right. But that is not how the Holy Spirit works. Paul starts first three chapters of Ephesians with doctrine because what you believe absolutely impacts how you behave.

So we have to get what we believe right. That being said, we must also be concerned that our the way we are living is consistent with what we say that we believe. The way we live can invalidate what we say we believe. So we really only believe what we live. God wants both: belief in right doctrine and lives that lives that reflects that belief.

Paul writes the last three chapters of Ephesians to show them what their lives should look like if they believe what he has taught them about the gospel to be true.

God has created this new society who make up the body of Christ to live a certain way. Since we are that church, we should listen to him. What does Paul tell us concerning how believers should live? He wants us to live together in peace.

Paul wants us to walk through life together in oneness and peace.

That’s what Paul means when he says,

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

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

The word walk means live. What is living worthy of our calling?

I. Relate to each other with Grace

The idea here is that we are show each other the same grace that Christ has shown each of us.

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.

Christians can’t be unified unless we can get along. We can’t get along being mean and selfish with each other. Our attitudes must model Christ and the fruit of the Spirit. What attitudes should we live with to maintain unity and bonded by peace?

5 Attitudes worthy of our Calling:

A. Humility

Humility- this is esteeming oneself as small at the same time recognizing the power and ability of God. It’s saying God is big and I’m not. That’s the opposite of the way that most people live. People that live like that can’t get along with God or others.

B. Gentleness

Gentleness is an attitude that expresses itself in a patient submissiveness to an offense, free from malice and a desire for revenge. This is saying, “Yeah I know that I’ve been done a bit wrong here, but I’m willing to overlook it because I don’t have to defend myself. My identity is in Christ and he’ll take care of any true wrong doing.” It’s also being able to say, “I feel a little offended, but it’s really possible that my struggle with pride can’t see how I may have brought this on myself.”

C. Patience

This is the same kind of idea. It’s the ability to be longsuffering. Or, you might think about being long-tempered. Trusting that Christ can use suffering to make us more like him.

D. Mutual Forbearance

“bearing with one another” (v. 2) This is the practical application of all these attitudes as we relate to each other. This is really honest. It’s the recognition that, “You are going to rub each other the wrong way. Why? Because you all struggle with sin, selfish and pride.

This is really important to remember. The church is made up of forgiven people, not perfect people. The old saying is that if you ever think you find a perfect church, don’t go there because you will mess it up.

*I have known people over the years that ended up leaving the church I pastored. I followed up with them and they left because they were offended by something or someone. Sometimes it was something that I said, did, or sometimes didn’t do that offended them. I didn’t mean to but it offended them. I had to apologize. Sometimes they still left. Sometimes they didn’t. More often than me, it was something someone else did something or said something that offended them.

I want to go on the record saying something here, “If you think you should leave the church every time someone says something or does something that offends you, you won’t ever stay at any church anywhere for any decent length of time.”

How do you bear with one another when you get offended? How do you overlook an offense? Answer: you apply that good doctrine that you say that you have. You expect to be offended from time to time because these brothers in sisters in Christ are marred by sin. They still have a sin nature. They are broken. They are going to mess up. They are going to say things from time to time they don’t mean. They are going to wish they could take back something they say or do from time to time. Also, they are not the only broken one in this scenerio. You are marred by sin. You say things you don’t mean from time to time. You can relate to them falling into sin because you are pretty good at it too. Jesus looks and your sin and forgives it. Based on that, we can look at other’s sin and forgive them.

Why would you do that?

E. Love

“bearing with one another in love” (v.2)

The one overarching characteristic that is to describe the church, the followers of Christ is love.

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 John 13:

This whole passage sounds like another very famous passage doesn’t it.

1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor

Love can’t be shown in a vacuum. It can only be shown to other people who try your patience, people whom you will tempted to be prideful and want your own way. Showing love assumes you are going to have to bear under things you don’t want to, endure some times for a long time, and believe and hope when others around you see no reason for either.

II.Desire for each other peace

Ephesians 4:3 ESV

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

The church is to “maintain the unity of the Spirit.” There is something really strange about that phrase. First of all, unity of the Spirit means a unity created by the Holy Spirit. God has created this unity in the oneness that comes in Christ. Why is it that we are suppose to maintain it? If it is created by God, you would think that it would be indestructable.

I think the point is that the oneness created by God in Christ in the church is indestructable, but what is not indestructable is our display of it. We can say the church is one body. We can call each other brother and sister in Christ all day long. But, if we are fighting and devouring each other, the rest of the world looks at the church just thinks we are the heigth of hypocrisy. So when we share the gospel and how God restore sinners to God and each other, they just think that we are lying. Or at best deluding ourselves.

*I think that it is somewhat like the preacher who was marrying this young couple who said, “It’s great that you two are in love, but if you are going to have a happy marriage, you are going to have to work at it!”

The word “maintain” implies that unity doesn’t accidently happen. It’s something that you have to work at everyday.

Why would we work so hard at it. It’s because divine unity is the only way to enjoy supernatural peace. We can’t be constantly at war with other believers on the outside and expect to live with inner peace on the inside.

And I think that I should note here that usually an outer war is signs of an inner war. If you are a person that always seems to be at war with other people, it’s probably because there is a war on the inside between you and God.

The late, great Warren Wiersbe once said, “If a believer can not get along with God, he can not get along with other believers.”

Colossians 3:15 ESV

15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

Spurgeon one made this observation about unity.

Feathers for Arrows Zeal—Causing Unity

THERE was a blacksmith once who had two pieces of iron which he wished to weld into one, and he took them just as they were, all cold and hard, and put them on the anvil, and began to hammer with all his might, but they were two pieces still, and would not unite. At last he remembered what he ought never to have forgotten; he thrust both of them into the fire, took them out red-hot, laid the one upon the other, and by one or two blows of the hammer they very soon became one.

Unity doesn’t come easily. But it is always worth the fire. We can never pursue peace without first pursing unity. Unity with God and then with each other.