Ephesians 4:3-6

Introduction

Aesop has a fable of three bulls that fed in a field together in the greatest peace and safety. A lion had long watched them in the hope of making prey of them, but found little chance so long as they kept together. He therefore began secretly to spread evil and slanderous reports of one against another till he fomented jealousy and distrust among them. Soon they began to avoid each other and each took to feeding alone. This gave the lion the opportunity it had been wanting. He fell on them singly and made an easy prey of them all.

God has instructed His church to stay united. We are meant to get along with one another, love one another, work together in the building of the Kingdom of God. We are called to be a family and be united in Him. And Unity is critical to the success of our calling.

But this unity does not come easy. It is not a natural thing for any group of human beings to remain unified. We are all different and unique. Eventually, if our unity is thought to be based on our uniformity or homogenous nature, we are going to find a divide, disunity and split.

To Keep the unity — Our bond or unity is already established. It already exists. It is a work of the Holy Spirit. It exists as a spiritual reality. Our job is to keep it intact. To keep it a physical reality in our experience.

Keep — Watch; to keep guard over

“Make every effort” — We are to be eager, zealous, diligent to keep guard over the unity of the church.

In order to do this we need a deeper understanding of what unites us. Some would here simply claim it is Christ that unites us and you would be right. But, Paul explains how that works. There are seven foundational “ones” that unite the church in every generation and forever in eternity.

These seven “ones” are grouped into three triads or groups of three each represented by one of the Persons of the Trinity…Holy Spirit, Son and Father…in that order.

Seven Fold Basis For Our Unity: The First Triad

These are seven things that we absolutely have in common across every denomination. If you are an actual believer in Christ then these seven things are true of you.

One Body — This means the universal church. This is not just Harwood or the Baptist church. It is not just the church in our generation or even the one on earth. This is the church here, in Heaven and across any moniker placed on the sign out front. There is only one church and it is everyone who has placed faith in Jesus for their salvation.

The church of Jesus is represented in many places among many people all over the world but it is still His one church.

We are all members of the same church. We may have disagreements on minor points of theology. We may have different preferences and practices for worship but we are all members of the same church.

One Spirit — The word Spirit should be capitalized in your Bible because it is a reference to the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13

1 Corinthians 12:13 CSB

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

All who know Christ as their Savior are filled with the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Take a moment to think about that. God indwells each of us. What could possibly produce a greater intimacy of relationship than that???

One Hope — We do not all have an individual, personalized hope but a public and corporate kind of hope. We have the same hope.

Some day we will be as Christ is now. 1 John 3:2

Someday we will be with Him in heaven forever in uninterrupted, unhindered fellowship with Him. Revelation 22:1-5

Revelation 22:1–5 CSB

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Can we just mediate on this. We have the hope of eternal life. We are forgiven of everything. We are forgiven of our every sin. We are cleansed, made holy, perfect and righteous in Jesus.

All pain will be removed. All conflicts resolved. All disunity remedied. All hurt healed. All tears of sorrow gone. This will be life with God forever in a place of beauty and fellowship that will never ever end.

This life is not all there is and someday we will be together with Him forever.

The Second Triad

One Lord — Jesus is Lord of our life. He is God the One who commands us. Romans 10:9

Romans 10:9 CSB

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

We are not the boss of our life. We do not make the decisions. Jesus is responsible for the course of our life now. Our job is to look up to Him for directions.

God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.  — Andrew Murray

This Lordship encompasses everything not just our moral choices. It affects each of us personally and this then of course affects who we are corporately as well.

Jesus is the one who makes the decisions for what we do as a local expression of His church here at Harwood. We must remember that we are a part of His universal church and eternal plan.

Our finite time here and very local expression of that plan is a part of the bigger picture. A picture that our Lord is painting Himself. We look up to Him.

One Faith — Context is important in our understanding of this word faith. Throughout the book Paul has referenced it as saving belief and trust in Christ for our salvation.

So Paul is not referencing it in terms of system of theology or doctrine. This is not a creed but the experience of faith and trust in our one Lord, Jesus Christ. All of us share in the same experience of faith in Jesus and this unites us.

One Baptism — “The point of this verse is that there is one Lord who is to be obeyed and adored; one believing experience that brings people into saving union with that Lord; and one outward, visible ceremony by which believers confess their faith and are openly incorporated into the fellowship of God’s people.” Vaughan, C. (2002). Ephesians (p. 90). Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press.

Out on the cattle ranches of the West the unbranded calves that roam at large are known as "mavericks." They are claimed by the man who, is first to get his brand on them at the annual round up. A little Western girl had been baptized one Sunday by the Methodist minister of the town. Her schoolmates questioned her the next day as to the meaning of the ceremony. "Well," she said, "I will just tell you. I was a little maverick out on the prairie and that man put the Jesus mark on my forehead so that when He sees me He will know that I am one of His children."

It is understood that if you are a genuine believer in Jesus that you would demonstrate this outwardly to the world through water baptism. All believers in Christ are baptized.

Third Triad

This Triad has God the Father for its point of emphasis and how we are united by His unique work over, through and in us.

There is only one God — There are not many ways to Him. There are not many different expressions of Him. There is only God.

Over all — God is sovereign (Sovereign — He possesses supreme, unshared, ultimate power). This power over us, everyone else, all of creation, heaven, earth and everything, period! All of us are ruled over by the power of God.

Through All — This is an expression indicating God’s immanence. His presence is everywhere, pervading, controlling and sustaining all things.

We do not exist at any time apart from God. And He works through us to bring glory to Himself. he allows us the privilege of participating in His glory as He works and lives His life through us. All of us have the same God over us, working His life through us.

In All — A reemphasis of the point that it is the same God who lives in each of us. We are the dwelling place of God. Each of us have a personal and intimate relationship with Him. Ephesians 2:22

Ephesians 2:22 CSB

In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.

Conclusion

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

We are united in God the Spirit, Son and Father. We have one Body, Spirit, Hope, Lord Faith, Baptism and one God and Father of all. These are the things that unite us and unite us eternally.

If we take our eyes off of what truly unites us and begin to look for something else to unify us, we are in danger. Our unity will be threatened.

Each of us must take serious our responsibility to be diligent, eager and zealous to protect and guard the unity God has given us in His Holy Spirit.

We must remember we are family and united at the deepest levels possible.We really must choose to love one another; to have right attitudes, actions and words with one another.

We must pray that God would protect the unity of the Body through us. Philippians 2:13

Philippians 2:13 CSB

For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

Emotions, politics, preferences, socio-economic and racial differences have plagued the Body of Christ throughout our history. These are tools of the enemy to separate and divide us.

1 John 4:7-8

1 John 4:7–8 CSB

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Love is of God and we are meant to love one another…not always agree with one another but to love one another. Sometimes we all need to be reminded of this.

Let’s love, be kind, focus on what unites us and enjoy our common privilege to love, enjoy and glorify Christ.