Unity and Diversity as a catalyst for Growth

Introduction

This morning we are going to spend time together looking at a really interesting piece of scripture. It is truly an honour to be able to share with you from God’s word every couple of weeks. I really enjoy the opportunity to spend time wrestling with these passages and seeing what God has in them to share. It is also amazing to look at my life in context to what we are talking about because it is so important for these passages to impact us who share them as much as we hope they impact you all in the seats. And so as I looked at our passage I was humbled and I asked God to forgive me for the times where I’ve not lived up to these what I find in the bible.

So before we jump into our passage I wanted to share a quick story that as I look back at is kinda funny but wasn’t super funny in the moment. You see I sometimes find myself in situations where I’m not always gentle or patient. Like I’m naturally a fixer or someone who likes to just jump in and get whatever I need to get done done. And I find that I take that into relationships sometimes. I remember before Bethany and I started dating I was a brash young 20 something year old who just wasn’t patient. And so as I was trying to be my charming self and get Bethany to like me I spent time trying to orchestrate opportunities for us to hang out. And some of those opportunities were after youth group. She was one of my helpers and so we’d hang out just after students were gone. And one night, again before we started dating, I found myself super impatient and I shared with her that I loved her. And as the words came out of my mouth I was like dude what are you doing? I can’t 100% remember how Bethany responded but I remember going home feeling defeated like I just blew it. But either my charm made up for it or Bethany was super forgiving but it all worked out in the end, and I have to believe that it was God in his infinite wisdom.

But we all find ourselves in situations like that were we aren’t humble, where we jump to conclusions because we can’t be patient, where we aren’t gentle and don’t think about what we say or how we say it. This happens all through our life and I believe the passage we have this morning calls us to change how we approach these situations and how we go through life.

Please turn with me to , “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.

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.

7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say,

“When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”

he led a crowd of captives

and gave gifts to his people.”

9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world.* 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. 15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.“

Over the last 5 weeks we’ve spent time looking at this book of Ephesians. We’ve seen over this time that Paul has been reminding the Ephesians about all that God has done for them. All of the good things, the blessings that they have been given freely by God because of his grace toward them, because of his great love for them.

* 4:8 .

* 4:9 Some manuscripts read to the lower parts of the earth.

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

Over the last 5 weeks we’ve spent time looking at this book of Ephesians. So far as we’ve gone through

And as we move into Chapter 4 this morning we see Paul moving into a call for the believers in Ephesus to live right. Paul reminds them of what God has done for them which should propel them to live accordingly. You see when we understand how much God has done for us, we naturally want to serve and obey him out of gratitude and love. And so in our text this morning Paul gives characteristics of what a life as a follower of Jesus looks like. He gives practical examples of how these Ephesians should live. And as I’ve spent time looking at this passage I really believe that what Paul is talking about are real things that we need to incorporate into each of our lives.

A. CALL FOR THE CHURCH TO BE UNIFIED

1. Live According to Your Calling

Paul begins by urging or encouraging the Ephesians that they are to live a life that is worthy of their calling. What does this mean, a life that is worthy of their calling. If you believe in Jesus

Paul begins by encouraging the Ephesians that they are to live a life that is worthy of their calling. What does this mean, a life that is worthy of their calling? If you believe in Jesus you have been given a purpose in your life that is different from what you maybe used to. When you accept Jesus this purpose will require you to change or to give up sinful parts of your life that are not pleasing to God. You see Jesus calls us to raise the bar. To move away from the things that we once did and to live in a way that follows and honours Jesus.

And the reality is that this isn’t rocket science. I think we instinctively know or begin to know how we should and shouldn’t live. We know what is right and wrong. I know in my own life I get convicted and I have this internal feeling that I’ve messed up when I mess up. And I truly believe that this is God at work in my life in making me aware that I’m not living up to this purpose or this calling that he’s placed on my life. John Trapp writes, “Luther (Martin Luther) counsels men to answer all temptations of Satan with this only, Christianus sum, I am a Christian.”

And it’s important to know and to remind ourselves that we don’t live like this so that God will love us or so that God will do things for us. But we do this because God love us, because of what God has already done in our lives, because of the grace that he freely gives us. Our motivation should flow out of a gratitude and not because we are trying to earn favour with God.

2. Be Humble, Gentle and Patient

Paul then goes on to encourage the Ephesians to develop some specific characteristics in their lives. I think it’s pretty funny that he encourages some of the characteristics that are the hardest for us to master. Which is the case with Christianity. We have to work out of us the worst parts of us. And allow Jesus to fill us up with the right stuff.

These characteristics Paul is encouraging them to work on are humility, gentleness and patience. Paul tells them that a worthy life before God is one that is humble and gentle, its not a pushy desire to get their own way or to push their own agenda. He’s wanting for them to consider others over their own desires and to be gentle with the people around them, their fellow believers.

Not only that but Paul is asking for them to “make allowances for each others faults because of their love”. And I can only imagine the response to this request from the people in the church. Cause it would probably be the same response from me. After hearing from Paul I’d probably be ok with the idea of having to work on my self, my own stuff that I have going on. But then to hear that I need to be ok with other people’s stuff, I’d probably be like whoa Paul now your asking a bit much.

But the reality is that if we are looking to be people who love Jesus and if we want to follow Jesus then we need to be like Jesus and bear with knuckleheads just like ourselves. It’s easy for us to make exceptions for how we act and for our querks or things that annoy people around us. But we have a hard time accepting the same from other people. We complain about how they act and maybe even what they say and we have a hard time telling ourselves that we really need to bear with them. We need to realize that they are who they are, which is a work in progress just like we are, and we need to love them just like Jesus loves us. Which I understand isn’t always easy. But is always required of us. We need to make sure that the inevitable wrongs or annoyances that occur between us do not go against God’s purpose which is to bring us together and unite us. says, “13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”

I like how Charles Spurgeon just hits us in the right way when we says, “Satan always hates Christian fellowship; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. Since union is strength, he does his best to promote separation.”

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

3. Be United

Then Paul encompasses all of this and tells them that they need to make every effort to remain unified. And to be unified in the Spirit. This is the Spirit, the Holy Spirit that is present in each heart when you accept Jesus. It is that Spirit that is the bond that each believer has.

Paul says to make every effort to maintain this unity in the Spirit. To be bound together with peace. Paul is saying that the evidence of living a life that is humble, gentle and patient is unity in the community of believers. He’s telling them that that is what they are to strive for. What they are to hope for in their community. So this natural humility, forgiving attitude towards each other will naturally fulfill this gift of unity of the Spirit.

What we can get from this is that unity isn’t manufactured. We don’t create it. What God is saying through Paul isn’t for the believers to create unity amongst themselves. God has already created unity by His Spirit, and our responsibility is to recognize that and to keep it.

I think we can also get from this the understanding that what Paul is telling them isn’t to strive for unity in our church structures or denominations, what he is asking them to do is way beyond that and hits to our core which is a spiritual unity. The evidence of this is when there is fellowship between Christians of different races, nationalities, languages and economic classes. I don’t think Paul is calling us to necessarily be the same church, because many churches meet the needs of a specific group of people. What he’s saying is not to let the little things that separate us; like minor differences in how we interpret the bible or worship styles or bible translations cause us to not be unified. We should aim to put aside all of these minor things that pull us apart and worship our God together and to model this love for one another because of the things that we have in common. Because in Jesus our passage reminds us that we share one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Father. Each of these common areas is greater than any potential difference that we might have.

So we need to strive toward this unity that is found in Jesus, to make every effort to do this by God’s Spirit. Charles Spurgeon says, “We want unity in the truth of God through the Spirit of God. Let us seek after; let us live near to Christ, for this is the best way of promoting unity. Divisions in Churches never begin with those full of love to the Savior.”

Jesus sums it up great when he shares in his prayer to God in , “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.” Jesus is saying that perfect unity will not be achieved without us having Christ. And as Christ and the father are one we will have the father. And he perfectly shared that all this is done so that the world may know Christ and his love for them. This is what we are striving for.

, “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.” Jesus is saying that perfect unity will not be achieved without us having Christ. And as Christ and the father are one we will have the father. And he perfectly shared that all this is done so that the world may know Christ and his love for them. This is what we are striving for folks.

B. HOW GOD WORKS OUT THIS UNITY (v. 7-13)

Paul makes a case to the Ephesians that they are to be unified and tells them why they need to do this. And then he goes on to tell them how this takes shape in their communities. He tells them now how God accomplishes this in the church.

1. God gives spiritual gifts to the church.

Paul says that the first gift that God gives is grace, through Jesus. Are all given grace; which is the free unmerited gift of God because of what Jesus did on the cross. We don’t deserve or are able to earn this gift.

Then in verse 11 Paul says that the gifts that Jesus gives to the church are the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

With these gifts to the church the starting point is the understanding that Jesus created/established these roles. The humbling reality is that these roles are the work of Jesus and it is Him who appoints people to these roles, not man.

The four roles that Paul presents are:

Apostle, these people are special ambassadors of God’s work. They are your church planters, those who go out and begin the work. They are not to be confused with the first century apostles who provided the foundation of the church.

Prophets, who are people who sometimes speak in a predictive sense but are people who help to guide and encourage the church who have the gift of seeing the big picture view of the church.

Evangelists, who are people who are specifically gifted in preaching the good news of salvation in Jesus. These types of people are able to communicate what it means to follow Jesus with great clarity and understanding that people just get it.

Pastors and teachers, these are people who guides and trains the church through teaching the bible.

The purpose of each of these gifts are clear in this passage, which is to equip those in the church for the work of ministry. The job that God gives those of us who work for the church in pastoral ministry is a calling to give the people in the church what they need to do God’s work in the world and to build up the church.

So what this looks like is that we in pastoral ministry get the privilege of sharing from God’s word you, sitting down with you to talk about what’s going on, to do our best to guide you based on God’s amazing word, and then your responsibility is to use that and to go out into the world and to minister and to share this good news to the people around you. Because in most cases you are surrounded by people who need to hear this good news. Your co-workers, your family who don’t know the Lord, your friends, or the parents that you hang out with from your kids school or sports team, and the list goes on. You have this great pool of people that you interact with on a daily basis who have this need for Jesus. And so when we come together for times like this on a Sunday morning, or in our life groups or bible studies, our desire should be to come and to get equipped, to get ready for these opportunities that we’ve been given. The reality is that God’s people do the real work of ministry. It’s the regular interactions that we all have with the people around us that draw them into wanting to know about Jesus, it’s seeing a life that is changed by Jesus that makes someone want to know what that means for them.

PAULS CONCLUSION

Paul then uses the last paragraph in this section as a bit of a conclusion to these ideas.

1. These gifts help to mature and grow the church.

Paul shares that the desired goal in doing all of this is the development of maturity and growth in the church. That when we all work toward unity and when the offices of the church work as intended and the people in the church are properly equipped that Christian maturity increases. And that then leads to greater intimacy in the experience of God.

This maturity will also lead toward greater stability in the church. When we are equipped in our understanding and maturity we will be less likely to be swayed or influenced by false teaching. This should be a goal, to work on all these things in order to mature in our beliefs. And we do that because of what is at stake. If we don’t get mature and stronger in our understanding then we can be easily deceived and lead astray. And it is easier than ever to fall into this type of trap. We consume content all the time which tells us that we should just do whatever we want to do. Or we hear that truth is what you want it to be, or we hear phrases like “that’s my truth”. Or we hear that you make your own destiny. And the list goes on and on. The general idea is that truth and life is whatever we want it to be. But we know that when we place our trust in Jesus that our lives are no longer what we want but gets flipped to us asking the question what does God want for my life.

And when we are strong in our faith we are able to speak against anyone who will try to deceive us and pull us away from this. We are able to speak the truth that we know in a way that will still be gentle and bring peace, that we will speak this truth in love. Because that person who is deceiving us is still loved by God and God wants to change their heart too.

CONCLUSION

As with any message we have to figure out where do we go from here. What is it that you need to take from this into your week.

There are a number of places where you can find yourself right now.

You could be someone who is just checking out the Christian faith and my suggestion to you is to keep seeking and my hope is that you see that Jesus is the truth that you need. That a life with Jesus is filled with hope and forgiveness and joy. And in all of that there is a calling to live like Jesus and to desire that unity that we’ve talked about.

Or you can be someone who is new to the faith, you’ve said yes to Jesus and you’re learning and understanding what this all means. Any I want to encourage you to continue learning and listening and gaining that understanding. As you grow in your faith God will give you humility, gentleness and patience and God can use you in incredible ways in the lives of the people around you.

If you’ve been apart of the church for years I would encourage you if you’re feeling like your not moving forward to come and talk to one of us. Our job is to help equip you and encourage you in your walk with Jesus and we’d love to see where you are and how we can be there to help you and to guide you.

As Bob shared last week God wants to make his home in us and grow us and guide us and he does all of this because of his amazing and unending love for us.

Let’s Pray.