Biblical Unity

Introduction

Ephesians 4:1–7 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.

John Piper gives a great statistic // In Ephesians, Paul gives 41 commands. Do you know how many are in chapters1-3? ONE. 40 of the commands that Paul gives come from the last three chapters.

What does that tell us? That we must have a solid foundation and grasp on what God has DONE for us, before we can do anything for the Kingdom.

It is the same reason that we do not allow our 14 year olds to become engineers and doctors and lawyers. Years upon years upon years of foundation in education must be laid before they can properly do.

That is what the word, “Therefore,” signifies in verse 1. Jesus has done all of this.... therefore, live this way.

Warren Weirsbe would state that 4-6 would be the walk of Christians because of the wealth they have in Christ.

Think of what Steve Jobs children can do that you will never be able to do.

It is because they have inherited something that you have not.

In the same way, the life that we live comes out of the abundance of what we have been given.

Anyone who knows Jesus can serve Him, but Paul does not underestimate how easily one defaults to doing for God rather than resting in what God has done.

With that being said, faith without works is dead, and God calls his people to serve Him.

BIG IDEA: God commands His church to be unified in Christ.

Explanation

Ephesians 4:1-2 “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,”

What constitutes a worthy life, according to Paul? I can tell you what it isn’t!

It isn’t respectability. He’s in jail after all.

In fact, Paul is reminding the church in Ephesus that following Jesus in a “worthy manner” might mean that you end up in jail.

A worthy call is “to endeavor to do everything in our power to live lives worthy of our salvation.”

Notice, I did not say we should do everything in our power to earn our calling.

I said, “we should live lives worthy of our calling.”

In other words, because something has been done for us, we should live in light of it.

One of the quickest ways that a marriage dissentegrates is when it becomes transactional. I will do this so that you will do that.

Instead of a transactional marriage, we do for the other out of love.

Our relationship to God is the same thing. We aren’t trying to be transactional, but we do all things out of love.

In fact, the moment our relationship becomes transactional, we start to become resentful and defeated

because either we cannot do enough to make up for what we have done against God

OR we don’t think God has given us enough.

When Christ has made peace with God for us in the gospel, we live in light of that truth.

There is an individual responsibility in unity. (Wiersbe definitions)

Humility and Gentleness

Humility is putting Christ first, others second, and ourselves last. (Weirsbe)

Could you imagine how many arguments might get avoided, not only in the church but in family life or relationships, if we had that thought process?

Meekness is power under control.

It is lacking the need to exert your power.

I don’t have to prove how good, smart, talented, etc. that I am to other people.

Patience (Long-suffering)

“The ability to endure discomfort, (often at the hands of others), without fighting back.”

Do you have a long fuse or a short one? Does it take just one or two minor inconveniences for you to blow up and get mad, or is it in everything that you do.

Bearing with One another in love

You must be willing to deal with the failures of others for the longterm good of what everyone is doing.

Everyone makes mistakes. Some people make a lot of mistakes. Paul tells us that we put with each others mistakes in the same way that Jesus puts up with ours.

Ephesians 4:3 “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

Let’s break this verse down quickly

Eager means that you want unity.

You would be surprised at how many people actually don’t want unity.

Caveat // We should never be unified around something that is untruthful. Martin Luther said, “Truth at all costs. Peace if possible.”

Maintenance means that it is continual action towards the goal.

Unity isn’t a one time thing.

We must continually assess and labor towards the goal.

The Spirit tells us how we are unified.

Unity comes from the Holy Spirit. It is supernatural

Unity isn’t just deferring to others opinions. Unity is knowing which gate to storm by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We aren’t just trying to get along. We are trying to push back the domain of darkness from the world around us.

This only happens by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The bond of peace is the right relationship with God that we have that leads us to better relationships with others.

Ephesians 4:4-6 “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.”

The reason that Christianity is fragmented in so many ways is because we have a value different things. Seven basic spiritual truths unite all Christians.

One Body - We are apart of the “one body” the universal church.

Everywhere you go in the world, if Christians are there, you have family.

Your baptism shows your adoption into the family of God’s sons and daughters.

This does not exclude the necessity of your belonging to a local body, but we must remember that we are firstly the universal church.

One Lord - Jesus is our Lord.

We obey His commands. A general does not tolerate a single soldier out of unison because lives are at stake. Paul reminds that we must work together under the banner of Christ.

We follow His rules.

We listen to His voice.

One Faith - If we do not believe that Jesus has saved us from our sins by his death on the cross, they we do not have the right thing in common.

One faith and one faith alone saves.

Every other faith damns a man to an eternal hell.

Only faith in Jesus as the Son of God who died for the sins of the world is a salvific faith.

One Baptism - Every believer who has ever been baptized is baptized into Christ and into the church.

In our baptistry room, we have several walls filled with signatures of everyone who has been baptized at MHBC in the past 20 years. It covers the walls.

When kids walk into that room, it is a neat experience. They see their friends, brothers and sisters, and sometimes even a parent. It calms even the worst of nerves.

They are instantly calmed by standing in that place. People have gone before me. People have done this before I have.

One God and Father of all

We are a part of the same family.

Every Christmas, we go to my grandfather’s house. Sometimes, it is Christmas day, other times it is the Saturday before the weekend of Christmas.

My grandfather is 94 years old.

Everyone is opening gifts, talking, visiting, wrangling great grandchildren, and my grandfather sits over it all as proud as he could be. The only thing that could make His day any better is if the few family members who have gone to be with the Lord were there.

He knows how many family members he has, and he calls each of them on their birthday.

See the Father’s pleasure in his family.

Invitation

A call to unity is a call to union with Christ.

Unity isn’t getting along. It’s likemindedness. If you aren’t serving towards the goal, then you aren’t walking in unity. Resolve to pursue what God wants.