One Body Series

ONE: The Unity of the Spirit (1)

Scott Bayles, pastor

Blooming Grove Christian Church: 1/7/2018

Snowflakes are funny things. Individually, they’re beautiful, yet benign. A single snowflake doesn’t pose a threat, isn’t much fun and can easily blow away in the wind or melt away on your fingertip. Yet, when billions and billions of snowflakes fall in unison, they can create dangerous driving conditions, shut down schools, or even cause churches to cancel. They can turn a dry, empty field into a beautiful winter canvas. They can be tightly packed into a ball and thrown across the yard. They can provide a surface for sledding. They can even be sculpted into a snowman, an angel, or an igloo. A single snowflake doesn’t make much of an impact, but when thousands upon thousands of them blanket a city or community as one, the impact is immense.

The same is true for followers of Christ.

On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus lead his followers in an unforgettable prayer. Part way through, he says, “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one” (John 17:20-21 NLT).

Jesus’ greatest desire for his disciples and all future generations of Christians was that they would become one—experiencing the same kind of unity and togetherness that exists between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. About thirty years later, the Apostle Paul picks up on this “oneness” concept making it one of the themes of his letter to the Ephesians.

He writes, “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all” (Ephesians 4:3-6 NLT).

The very fact that Paul has to make this plea, suggests that this kind of unity doesn’t come naturally for us. Often differences among people can lead to disagreements, division and disharmony. That’s why Paul urges us to work diligently, making every effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit.

But he also goes a step beyond that, providing us with seven uniting elements that bind believers together. The more points of agreement among members of a group, the more they will be unified, the better they will perform, and the less likely they will be to fight among themselves. Paul gives us a built-in list of “ones” that can bind believers together in harmony and unity.

Over the next seven weeks, I’d like to take a closer look at each of these seven “ones” and discover how they can help us answer Christ’s prayer that we may all be one.

Paul begins his list, saying, “For there is one body…” (Ephesians 4:4). First off, what is this body? As you may have guessed, it’s the body of Christ or the church. Paul identifies it as such later in this same chapter, where he mentions, “the church, the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12 NLT).

So this morning, I’d like to touch on three aspects of the body of Christ that promote unity and oneness among all believers. First, let’s talk about the parts, or members of the body.

• THE MEMBERS OF THE BODY

Many believers are discouraged today because when we look at the landscape of Christianity, we don’t see one body. Rather, we see many bodies—Christians churches, Baptist churches, Pentecostal churches, Methodist churches, Catholic churches, and countless others.

Many of these divisions began shortly after the Reformation in the 1600s. One of the most prominent Christian leaders at the time was John Wesley, who unwittingly founded the Methodist church. Concerned about the rise of these denominations, Wesley spoke of a dream he had. In the dream, he was ushered to the gates of Hell. There he asked, "Are there any Presbyterians here?" "Yes!", came the answer. Then he asked, "Are there any Baptists? Any Episcopalians? Any Methodists?" Each time the answer was, “Yes!” Greatly distressed, Wesley was then ushered to the gates of Heaven. There he asked the same question, but the answer each time was “No!” So, Wesley asked, ‘Who then is inside?” The answer came back, “There are only Christians here.”

Many of you may not be familiar with our history, but the Christian Church was built on a very similar dream.

It all began on the American frontier. As families began to move out west, denominational borders became less and less important. Think about it—if you’re trying to endure a harsh winter on the frontier, it doesn’t matter if your neighbor is Presbyterian, Lutheran, or Methodist; survival necessitates working together. It was against this backdrop that the Restoration Movement was born.