Our text today comes from Ephesians 4:1-16, and is a text that speaks to coming together in Unity. Let’s listen to Paul’s words in his letter to the church at Ephesus:

Ephesians 4:1–16 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

This is a reading from God’s Holy Word,

Thanks be to God.

Walking in Unity

Last week as we opened our worship service, I shared with you my love for the Olympics. I love watching the competitions. I’ve even found myself fascinated by, of all things, ping pong and badminton! Yet it’s not just the individual competitions that fascinate me. Part of the dynamic of the Olympics is team sports. Baseball, basketball, relay teams in track and swimming, and so much more.

Early on in the games there was a story of our basketball team and how rivals had to come together to form a team. Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday of the Milwaukee Bucks and Devin Book of the Phoenix Suns played against each other in the NBA finals. One announcer commented that you could see it in the finals that these opponents don’t like each other much. And yet, they’re called to play on the same team.

The church is a lot like that. Do we have our differences? Sure! Do we as individuals see things from different perspectives? Absolutely! Can we get along? YES!

A pastor friend of mine shared that at one contentious board meeting in his church he commented, “Hey, if we can’t be Christian, can we at least be civil?” He said things settled down after that.

Evidence of passionate disagreement and still the spirit of love I observed at a session meeting once was a very heated debate on an issue within the church, the motion was defeated 11-1. After the session meeting that 1 individuals calmly asked, “So who’s up for coffee tomorrow?”

Disagreement is not unChristian. In the Old Testament we read from the book of Proverbs:

Proverbs 27:17 NIV

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

Perhaps you’ve used the expression “they grate on me.” Well, that sort of puts it in perspective doesn’t it.

Dr. John C. Maxwell puts it this way,

Maxwell: “If two of you agree on everything one of you isn’t necessary.”

Let’s look at Paul’s challenge for us in just that first sentence of our passage today:

Ephesians 4:1–3 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Paul is writing this letter from prison, and he is imprisoned because of his faith in Jesus Christ.

He then urges the Ephesians to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they have been called.

It’s important to Paul that those who follow Christ at the church in Ephesus recognize that they have been called corporately and individually to do so. He then goes on to describe that walk.

…with all humility

…and gentleness

with patience

bearing with one another in love

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

You can’t maintain unity through pride, brutality, impatience, or intolerance.

Paul begins by sharing with us nouns and then gives us a clear verb - bearing with one another in love; and he quickly follows it up with an attitude, “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Then he follows it up with demonstrating why there is a unity:

Ephesians 4:4–6 ESV

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Notice how many times the word “one” is in this second sentence of our passage today.

One body

One spirit

One Hope

One Lord

One faith

One baptism

One God and Father of all.

There is one church - the body

One spirit, one Lord, One God and Father of all - there’s the trinity right there.

One hope, one faith.

So if there is one that we are all called to, think about that, if I said to each of you gather here at this lectern no matter how dispersed you were, you would get closer. You wouldn’t all be moving the same direction because you’re all coming from different places, but you would eventually be at the same place.

Verse 7

Ephesians 4:7 ESV

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Uh oh, there’s that word “but”. What is it contradicting? We know that when we see “but,” it contradicts what came before.

In this case as we read the previous text of all of us being one body, spirit, faith, baptism, etc. it could give you the impression that we should all act and be exactly the same. That is precisely what Paul contradicts here, he’s saying - “You’re not all the same, grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

Now some people might be thinking they didn’t get as much as someone else, but that’s not true. Remember what we read in 1:3

Ephesians 1:3 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,

You’ve been blessed with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the heavenly places, and he went on from there:

Ephesians 1:7–8 ESV

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight

Okay, we’re going to skip down a bit to verse 11 in our passage

Ephesians 4:11 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

for what purpose?

Ephesians 4:12 ESV

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

for how long?

Ephesians 4:13 (ESV)

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

That is so powerful. You and your sisters and brothers, and all those who follow Christ, called together - growing and receiving the full measure of Christ in each of us.

Ephesians 4:14 ESV

so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

I’m going to pause here briefly. There are a lot of really persuasive speakers out there. Some of them are very crafty in how they speak, and are intentionally misleading people for their own gain. In our spiritual journey no doubt we have taken some good paths and some paths that were not good, we were carried for a time by false teachers and false doctrines.

So how do we know a teacher is false or a doctrine is untrue?

Paul in another place speaks to this:

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ask questions - test the spirit as they say.

Does this teaching follow the truth we find in the Scriptures?

Does this teacher seek to glorify God?

Does this doctrine bring glory to God?

And then, don’t be afraid to speak the truth with humility and gentleness - whether in agreement or disagreement.

Paul concludes:

Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way - growing in Christ from whom the whole body is joined together.

And I love that last part, when each part is working properly the body grows so that it builds itself up in love.”

You and I are called to unity. As we participate in Communion this morning we are one church, celebrating our commitment to our Lord and Savior who died for our sins. Who conquered our sin and death for each one of us, so that we might grow in Him, united with Him, united to one another to the glory of our Creator God. AMEN.