COME … TOGETHER
Ephesians 4.1-3
S: Unity
C: Attitude
Pr: WE ARE TO WALK AND WORK TOGETHER.
?: How? How do we achieve this kind of unity?
KW: Virtue
TS: We will find in Ephesians 4.1-3 four virtues we are to practice in order for us to achieve unity.
Type: Propositional; topical
The ____ virtue is…
I. HUMILITY (pride)
II. GENTLENESS (harshness, critical)
III. PATIENCE (hurried)
IV. SERVICE (hindrance)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Understand that unity is a sacred purpose.
• Understand that unity is practical in terms of achieving kingdom purposes.
• Put to death: pride, “me-first”, my way is best, critical spirits…
Version: ESV
RMBC 26 August 07 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Personal
I don’t remember much from Kindergarten . . .
. . . but I do remember that I had the prettiest teacher ever, Mrs. Forsythe.
. . . and I do remember being taken for an orientation day by my mom and I thought that the room had the coolest toys I had ever seen, but I was afraid of the other kids that were already playing with them.
. . . and I also remember that we were required to take naps, lying out mats on the floor, and we would rest (after all these years, I have come to the conclusion this was for Mrs. Forsythe and not for us).
. . . and I remember playing tag a lot outside; as I recall it the girls were always chasing me.
During those days, there were not many, if any, nursery schools and day care centers.
Kindergarten was the first opportunity for many children to develop socialization skills.
One of the things we were graded on was whether we did work and play well with others.
That was on my report card.
Was it on yours?
By the way, how are you doing on that today?
1. Do you work and play well with others?
This is something that God cares about.
God cares about our relationships with each other.
He cares about the application of the oneness He has given us.
But sometimes, admittedly, we want it our way.
We would rather not be one, but something else…
ILL Unity (H)
There was a pastor that was giving a "children’s sermon" to all the young children. And as they sate before him, a bright-eyed three-year-old girl listened intently as he explained that God wanted them all to get along and love each other. "God wants us all to be one," he said. To which the little girl replied, "But I don’t want to be one. I want to be four!"
Marilyn McCoy, Chester, Vermont.
Christian Reader, "Kids of the Kingdom."
I don’t know what you want to be, but God wants us to be one.
But this is harder for us than we might understand, because…
2. We live in a culture that elevates the importance of the individual.
We live in a culture than emphasizes equality and rights.
We believe that our individual rights are important.
We believe in “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Sometimes, however, our application of these principles contradicts biblical truth.
For while we emphasize the importance of the individual, over and over again, God gives us instruction on unity and how we are to behave in community.
God not only cares on how we conduct ourselves individually, He really cares on how we do it in the context of the church.
That being so, we must understand that…
3. WE ARE TO WALK AND WORK TOGETHER.
Hear today’s text…
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.
We are all on a journey today.
And Paul is telling us to walk in such a way that is worthy of our calling.
In other words, we must realize that we carry the name of Christ upon us.
We are Christians!
We must live worthy of this name.
We must live our faith.
It is not to be a matter of convenience.
You see, the Christian life is more than just believing.
It also includes belonging.
So how do we achieve this kind of unity?
Well…
4. We will find in Ephesians 4.1-3 four virtues we are to practice in order for us to achieve unity.
First, we must realize that unity has already been given to us.
We just need to live it out.
ILL Unity (S)
Paul Thigpen has written:
Division is actually a lie, a sin against the truth, because the truth is that we are indeed one – one family, one household of faith, whose dividing walls of hostility have been torn down by Christ’s sacrifice. When we see ourselves as divided, we’re failing to see aright; we’re ignoring and denying reality.
Unity has already been given to us.
The hardest work has already been accomplished through the cross.
This means then, that our responsibility is to live oneness out – live with right attitudes, and put away any attitude that causes disunity in the recognition it is sin.
So now…
OUR STUDY:
I. The first virtue is HUMILITY.
1. We are called on to make ourselves low before others.
Someone has said that “Humility is that grace that, when you know you have it, you have lost it.”
ILL Humility (H)
I don’t know if you have heard of the new book I have written. It is called “The Ten Most Humble Men, and How I Met the Other Nine.”
I think that sufficiently expresses the difficulty I have with this subject.
The meaning here is the lowliness of mind.
It is the concept of counting others better than yourself.
For many of us, that is unnatural.
We are often trying to be better than someone else, because we have an inflated opinion of ourselves.
I know that this, perhaps, is an over-obvious statement, but…
2. Pride promotes disunity.
When we demand our way over others…
When we think our way is superior…
When we try to be on the top…
We hurt the community.
So when we are humble, we are promoting unity.
When we are promoting ourselves and our thinking, we are promoting disunity.
II. The second virtue is GENTLENESS.
This is the same word that is often translated as meekness.
With that in mind, it means that…
1. We are called on to have our emotions under control.
The best definition of this particular word that I prefer is “strength under control.”
I think this aptly describes Jesus who showed a great variety of emotion, but it was always under control.
Other secular Greek uses of the word also give us insight into its meaning.
It was used to describe a soothing medicine, a colt had had been broken, or a soft wind.
Each of these situations describe power and strength under control.
Again the opposite is true…
2. Harshness injures unity.
When we are critical…
When we are rude…
When we are asserting our rights…
When we are aggressive…
When we feel we can say whatever we want…
We hurt the community.
ILL Criticism (H)
A hot-headed woman told John Wesley, “My talent is to speak my mind.”
Replied Mr. Wesley, “Woman, God wouldn’t care a bit if you would bury that talent.”
We come now to…
III. The third virtue is PATIENCE.
1. We are called on to endure through difficulties.
This word in the Greek is the idea of enduring and persevering through tough situations and times.
It is literally the idea of being long-tempered.
In other words, it is the principle of handling adversity without overreacting – keeping a level head, while everyone else is losing theirs.
ILL Personal
We have the opportunity to exercise patience with each other.
We have been here long enough to know the strengths and weaknesses of each other.
You know that I am not perfect, but neither are you.
This means, then, that we practice the art of relationship.
We exercise patience with each other.
We take advantages of each other’s strengths.
We are patient with each other’s weaknesses.
Again, the opposite is true….
2. Hurriedness encourages disunity.
What I mean by “hurriedness” is that we need to discipline ourselves from not overreacting to matters that upset us.
So when we fume because something is taking longer than it should…
When we want to fight back…
When we “lose it”…
We need to realize that we hurt the community.
I believe God wants us to bear patiently remarks and injustices which hurt and threaten us, and let Him take care of justice.
Now we come to…
IV. The fourth virtue is SERVICE.
1. We are called on to lift each other up.
The word that is translated here as “bearing” means to “hold up.”
In other words, we serve one another.
We carry one another.
We hold each other up.
I think a related principle is submitting to one another.
You may remember how I described submission months ago.
It is not a matter of putting someone lower.
It is a matter of raising another up.
Again, though, the opposite is true.
When we don’t help each other as we are called to do, we end up being a hindrance.
And…
2. Hindering the journey wounds unity.
We hinder another’s journey when we…
…put someone down
…or tell them off
…or ignore them
It hurts the community when we do that.
Instead, we are to bear with each other’s imperfections, even if they are totally obnoxious.
We are to tolerate each other’s weaknesses.
We are to live in harmony.
CHALLENGE:
Next Sunday, we begin our annual discipleship emphasis.
We do this emphasis because we are disciples.
We are deliberate followers of Jesus.
But we are to be humble enough to understand that we need correction from time to time.
Because…
Christians, like pianos, need frequent tuning.
So the tune-up is beginning for us this morning as we apply these four challenges.
The first challenge is…
1. Focus on the truth that unity is sacred.
Note this…
Unity is God’s idea.
Unity is God’s priority.
It is something we must get right.
This is an absolute for us.
There is no debate about it.
Unity is holy.
So we have to get it right.
This is not to say that we can’t disagree.
Disagreements are a part of being a family.
But how we disagree is very important.
Every once in a while, I hear someone say, “I don’t want to disagree because I don’t want to be accused of disunity.”
You are right.
You don’t want to be accused of disunity, because unity is sacred.
You see…
If we voice our disagreements with anger, we are wrong.
If we voice our disagreements with a critical spirit, we are in the wrong.
If we voice our disagreements by talking about people, instead of to them, then we are in the wrong.
But if we voice our disagreements with a spirit of love, grace and compassion, it can lead to a healthy discourse as we work to discern the Spirit’s leading.
This brings us to our second challenge which is to…
2. Practice unity since it is essential to accomplishing our purpose.
The ESV translates part of verse three with “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit…”
Other versions translate it this way…
“Make every effort…”
“Stay together…”
“Being diligent to preserve…”
“Striving earnestly…”
“Do your best…”
In other words, we are called to give an all out effort when it comes to unity.
So why is this so important?
It is important because God uses unity to enable us to achieve kingdom purposes.
Unity is the vehicle the church rides to fulfill its mission.
And what is our mission?
We are called on to multiply, by making disciples of Jesus, intentionally reaching the spiritually lost of our community.
This brings us, then, to our third challenge which is to…
3. Control any attitude and/or action which prevents us from experiencing unity.
In one of my old nursery rhyme books, there is this limerick:
ILL Unity (H)
There once were two cats of Killkenny.
Each thought there was one cat too many.
They fought and they spit,
They clawed and they bit,
Till instead of two cats there weren’t any!
We know that is not what we want to experience.
But the truth we must face is that a divided church is a dying church.
This means, then, we have to be deliberate about putting away the attitudes and actions that are hurting us…
…pride
…a “my way is best” type of thinking
…critical spirits
…gossip.
Let me stop here for a moment and answer briefly this question, what is gossip?
Gossip is when you’re sharing a problem or criticism with someone who is neither part of the problem or part of the solution.
If they are not participating in the problem or in the solution, we don’t talk about it with them.
God wants us to discipline our tongues.
It is a mark of real maturity.
Gossip, on the other hand, is immature.
Control every attitude and action…
We must guard every thought, control every word, and discipline every action to be sure that we are sowing unity, and not discord.
The final challenge, admittedly, might sound self-serving, but I want to assure you, it is biblical…that is…
4. Support God-given leadership.
Leadership is to be a joy, not a burden.
It can be difficult, though, to be a leader if there are too many chiefs and not enough Indians.
There are times in the church, we are called on to support and follow those who are given elder responsibility in the church.
As you know, we have been working with a consultant to help us increase the effectiveness of our church family.
You have participated already in filling out a survey that is helping us evaluate the state of our church.
Since then, the surveys have been collated and the data is in our hands.
Please understand this…
Regardless of how we got to the point that we are now as a church family, we need to be supporting the leadership team – specifically the pastoral staff and the deacons – as they have been given the responsibility, at this very point in time, to help us move forward as a church.
They have already been putting in hours way beyond the normal expectations, praying, thinking, talking, and pouring through the information and materials.
So what can you be doing to support them?
Pray for them…
Love them…
Trust them…
Respect them…and,
Follow them.
ILL Unity (S)
In April of 1940, German tanks rumbled across the borders of yet another peaceful European country — Denmark. Already possessing control of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, the powerful Nazi invaders encountered little resistance from the small northern nation.
As part of their systematic method of intimidation and oppression, the Germans announced that every Dane of Jewish descent would be required to wear a yellow Star of David. Any Jew who failed to comply would be put to death. The Star of David, a symbol of their faith, would be used to mark them so they could be robbed of their possessions, their dignity, and even their lives.
The Danish government and its people were in no position to do battle against the powerful German army.
The legendary story is told, though, that their leader, King Christian the 10th, made a bold move to prevent the Nazis from persecuting the Jewish people among them, one that risked his own life. After the proclamation was made by the occupying army, the Danish monarch called for every one of his country’s citizens to wear the Star of David, including himself.
What would you have done had you lived in Denmark in 1940? Tremendous fear must have gripped the hearts of those first Gentile citizens to venture from their homes the morning after the king’s announcement. Would they be the only ones who had heeded the call? Would they be singled out? Would they be scooped up along with the Jews and executed? What they saw was nothing short of a miracle. There were Stars of David everywhere. The Jews among them wept when they saw the people’s love and support. And because the people stood together, the Nazi’s full plan of persecution against the Jews was never carried out in that country.
John Maxwell, The Power of Partnership in the Church (J. Countryman, 1999)
When I hear that story, that’s the kind of unity that I dream of for our church.
I dream that we would be a people that stood together, in spite of our differences…
…in spite of our preferences…
…in spite of our generations…
…in spite of anything else that might potentially divide us.
I dream that we would walk, work and play well together, united together for fruitful service to God, fulfilling our God-given mission to make committed followers of Jesus in this community.
For Further Study: Psalm 133.1-2; John 13.34-35,17.20-26; Romans 12.9-10, 14.1, 15.5-6; I Corinthians 1.10, 13.4-8; II Corinthians 8.5; Ephesians 4.29; Colossians 3.14; Hebrews 13.17; I Peter 3.8
BENEDICTION:
Note Cara…
Here is the challenge this week…
Are you going to walk, work and play well together?
Is God’s priority of unity going to be your priority as well?
After the service is concluded and the postlude is finished, I will return to the platform.
If you have any need of prayer, I will be available to you.
Perhaps, you would like to know what it is to live a life of faith…
Or perhaps, you know that you have not been living your faith as you should, and you would appreciate prayer…
Or perhaps you have some other prayer need – physical or spiritual, please feel free to come up.
“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” (ESV)
RESOURCES:
Sermon Central
Coget, A. Todd I Will Save the Unity of Our Church
Floyd, Lynn How to Protect Our Church
Huss, Davon Protect the Unity
Palaroan, Ted The Walk of the Believer
Sparkman, Chris Walking Worthy of Your Call
Books & other…
Bible Knowledge Commentary: New Testament. Cook Communications Ministries, 2000.
Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. ed. Horst Balz and Gerhard Schneider. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1990.
Keener, Craig S. The Ivp Bible Background Commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. 3 vols, ed. Colin Brown, vol. 2. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979.
Reid, David R. We Are One in the Spirit. Accessed Feb. 1 2006. Available from www.growingchristians.org/dfgc/spirit.htm.
Thigpen, Paul. "Why Should I Care About Unity?" Discipleship Journal1997, 34-39.
Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament. Colorado Springs: ChariotVictor Publishing, 1989.
