Unity
A Week Of Prayer And Fellowship • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 14 viewsAs a Church we need to move in the same direction
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As a church we want to move in the same direction.
That cannot happen if there is no unity.
1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
In v. 1 both times the word “you” appears it is plural.
This is written to the church.
Beseech = to beg or exhort.
Paul begs this body of believers to walk worthy of their calling.
You have been called to be saints, so live like saints.
This is talking about the calling to salvation (Romans 1:5-6; 1Corinthians 1:9).
This is the idea of practicing what you preach.
You say you are believers, prove it by your actions!
The only way to walk worthy is through surrender to the Holy Spirit.
These first 3 verses are building to a climax.
V. 1 - walk worthy.
How?
V. 2
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
Lowliness - an accurate view of self. Christ is everything.
Meekness - controlled strength. Moses and Jesus.
Long-suffering - patient endurance.
Bearing with one another in love.
Bearing has the idea of putting up with faults.
So with these two words, bearing and long-suffering, we get the idea that we are to patiently take wrongs and bear with the faults of others.
Paul specifically says that this is toward one another.
Paul also gives the key in treating others with these kinds of attitudes.
The key is love.
This is what unity demands.
A high view of Christ and a proper view of self.
A willingness to patiently take wrongs and bear the faults of others.
We do these things in love.
That is how unity is kept.
V. 3
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Endeavoring = to exert oneself, give diligence.
We are to make a determined effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.
Keep = guarding with watchful care something that you possess.
We are told to “keep” the unity.
Not create it.
We have unity; it is our job to maintain it.
Again.
Paul doesn’t say we are to make unity.
He says we are to keep the unity that we already have.
In a church setting there needs to be unity between members as well as between members and attendees.
Not necessarily agreement but unity in purpose & direction.
In order for this to be true there must be purpose and direction.
The local church should be functioning together to accomplish a goal.
This unity that we have is of the Spirit.
We will have unity if we all pursue Christ and quit looking at each other.
Does that mean that unity will be easy?
No, Paul said to work hard to endeavor to keep the unity that you have.
But if we always seek peace, and strive to keep unity, we will learn that unity is possible.
Having called us to maintain our unity, Paul now reminds the Corinthians of the unity that already exists.
V. 4
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
Why are we to exert ourselves and be diligent to keep unity?
Because we are one!
We are all part of one body.
All those who believe on Jesus Christ as their personal savior are part of the Body of Christ.
In 1:13, 14 Paul explained to the Ephesians that the HS is the seal for all believers.
If you know the Lord as your savior you have been sealed by the Spirit permanently.
The calling that each of us has received for salvation gives us the same hope.
Because we are called we have a hope!
It doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, as believers we all have the same hope that someday we will be like Christ because we shall see Him as He is!
Our hope is the hope of redemption and eternity with Christ!
We will spend eternity together, be unified now.
V. 5
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
All believers have the same Lord.
We all have these things because of our common faith.
This faith speaks of salvation faith.
All who come to know the Lord as their savior are justified by faith.
Not only do we all have the same Lord and faith, we have the same baptism.
The word has the idea of being placed into.
When we place our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation the HS places us into the body of Christ, we call this His baptizing work.
V. 6
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
In contrast to the many God’s that the Ephesians served before salvation, now they have one God.
And this one God is not an impersonal unknowable God; we have an intimate relationship with Him because He is our Father.
He is the Father of all who believe.
He is above all.
This has the idea of supreme ruler.
As the sovereign almighty ruler of the universe He is above all!
But He is also through all.
The word “through” means pervading or indwelling.
God in His awesomeness is alive in each of us; He is everywhere at once and in each believer.
Now here is the fantastic thought.
This God who is above all and through all is also “in you all.”
God, the supreme ruler, the sovereign Lord of the universe is in you and me.
What an amazing truth!
This is the basis Paul gives for unity.
Ephesians, you are already one! You are one in body, in Spirit, and in hope.
You have one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
You have one God and Father of all.
So strive to keep that unity!
But notice what he does not say.
He doesn’t say you are one in music, in translation, and denomination.
Why? Because those things are not the essentials of our faith!
As we look at this, what motivates our unity is love.
Unity is a heart issue.
If we are going to have unity with the body of Christ as a whole we must undergo a heart change.
When love is our motivation the forgiveness, kindness, and everything else Paul talks about will flow out of that love.
I believe the bottom line is that we must want unity.
Many times it seems like we don’t have unity because we don’t really want it.
If we really wanted it we would be willing to sacrifice to get it.
Unity is something that we must work to maintain.
It means being willing to surrender our rights to others.
Being willing to forgive when they don’t deserve it.
And being kind to those who are not kind to us.
We do all of this out of Love.
Christ loved and forgave us, when we do the same there is unity.
UNITY - Ephesians 4:1-6
As a church we need to move in the same direction
PRAYER TARGETS
That we would walk worthy of our calling.
That we would patiently take wrongs and bear the faults of others.
That we would surrender to the Holy Spirit.
That we would have agreement on essential doctrines.
That we would have grace and love in non-essentials.
That we would desire unity.