Sermon Tone Analysis

Ephesians 4:1–6 (KJV 1900)

1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are 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.

I believe that Lord expects us, as a church family, to walk together in absolute unity for His glory.

These verses tell us that unity is not just a possibility, it is a divine requirement if we are to be everything God wants us to be as a church.

Notice Paul’s use of the word “therefore” in verse one.

This word draws our attention back to the previous chapters, where Paul has been laying a foundation of biblical, Christian doctrine.

As he begins his remarks in chapter 4, Paul is saying that there is no divorcing Christian doctrine from Christian duty!

What is the difference between unity and uniformity?

You see, uniformity comes by pressure from without.

Unity comes from life from within.

We share a common spirit, the Holy Spirit, and that’s the reason verse 3 says we’re to be “endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

(Ephesians 4:3) Now, so many people think that we have to make unity.

We don’t have to make unity; it’s already there.

What we do is to keep the unity that is already there.

It is the Holy Spirit’s job to promote that unity, to make that unity, to produce that unity.

It is our job and duty to protect that unity and to preserve that unity.

5 Attitudes We Must Exhibit

1. Lowliness

We do not need any big shots in Kentucky MBC.

You know what I like about the grace of God when we talk about this lowliness?

I’m not talking about being a doormat.

I’m not talking about being scum.

I’m not talking about having a poor self-image.

Let me tell you what real humility is: real humility is not thinking lowly of yourself; it’s just not thinking of yourself.

That’s what real humility is.

In essence, it means you realize your own insignificance while you see the worth of others, Phil.

2:4!

It’s not “How great I am!” It’s “I am what I am by the grace of God!” it’s about us getting off our pedestal and realizing that were it not for the grace of God, we would still be a hell bound sinner living for the devil!

Having a “lowly” spirit keeps me reminded of the fact that I am just one heartbeat away from failing God myself, therefore, I won’t look down my nose at others who may have fallen!

2. Meekness

This word means “gentleness; power under control.”

Do you know what the word meekness means here?

Meekness means the ability to be taught and controlled of the Lord, the ability to take instructions, the ability to say, “I’ll walk across the road and get inside the parameters of the Body of Christ so my picture can be made—not necessarily because I thought up the idea, not even necessarily because I think it’s a good idea, but because, for some reason, my pastor in my church wants to do it, and I’m going to be a part of it.

I’m going to be a part of it.

We’re one in the bonds of love.

And, the quarterback has called the signals, and that’s what he’s called.

And, maybe I want to do an end run.

He called a pass, but that’s what we’re going to do.

We’re one in the bonds of love.”

It is this ability of meekness, this ability to be guided.

You know, some people will never be blessed because they’ll never be broken and they cannot be controlled.

It refers to having the power to react against others, but refusing to for the sake of Christ!

Sometimes, it means keeping your mouth shut, instead of setting someone else straight.

Sometimes it means reacting with honey when you want to react with vinegar!

It means being sweet toward others!(Note:

When you are “meek and lowly” you are in good company, Matt.

11:29!

By the way, meekness is part of the “fruit of the Spirit” Gal.

5:22–23!)

Galatians 5:22–23 (KJV 1900)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

3. Long-suffering

This word means “patience, endurance”.

It literally means “to be long tempered.”

My, how we need that!

If you’re a Baptist, you’ve got to suffer long; that is, when the preacher preaches, you got to suffer long.

Longsuffering doesn’t mean long-facedness.

You know what it really means?

It means you’re slow to avenge wrong—you’re slow to avenge wrong.

You see, when we’re one in the bonds of love, when we have this unity, we just … we just let our love cover a multitude of sins.

You know, I can find fault with you if I wanted to; you could find fault with me if you wanted to, but we just are longsuffering with one another.

And, we’re so slow to enter into controversy.

See if you can remember this: we should never, never, never enter into controversy with another brother or sister, number one, without necessity; number two, without understanding; and number three, without love.

Amen.

We ought to be longsuffering.

It refers to having a long fuse!

Do you have a long fuse or a short fuse?

What does it take to get you riled up?

If we are going to promote unity in the church, then we must learn to be long tempered!(Note:

By the way, this is also part of the fruit of the Spirit!)

Galatians 5:22–23 (KJV 1900)

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

4. Forbearance

The word “forbearing” means “to endure, or to put up with”.

Forbearance is just the fruit of longsuffering.

That means we put up with one another, you know.

And, we quote that little couplet, “To live there above with those that we love, that will be glory.

But to dwell here below with those that we know, that’s another story,” isn’t it?

But, we need to forbear one another.

It … this is just a practical outworking of longsuffering.

It doesn’t mean that we’re blind to the faults of one another.

You know what we have a habit of doing?

We have a habit of comparing our strengths with somebody else’s weaknesses.

You know, if you want to be honest, if you were to compare your weaknesses with their weaknesses, you wouldn’t look so good either.

But, we forbear because we know that every member in the Body is important.

It means giving people space to be themselves.

You see, the word “love” refers to God’s kind of love.

It is a love that is unconditional and eternal.

It doesn’t end based on what others do, but it remains constant and strong in spite of injury!

Basically, this phrase calls on believers to give one another to right to be different, to hold different opinions, and generally, to be themselves!

Philip Melanchthon said,

“In essentials, unity.

In nonessentials, liberty.

In everything, charity!”

5. Love

So, he mentions here lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, and forbearance; and then, the last of these is love.

(Ephesians 4:2) You see, Paul is, in just a moment, as we’re going to see, he’s going to talk about doctrine.

But, before he talks about affirmations, he talks about attitudes.