Unity of the Spirit (Communion Service)
Text: Ephesians 4:1-6
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
How many of you remember the millennium celebration? When we moved from 1999 to the year 2000? I remember Samoans beating drums, Germans singing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony at Brandenburg Gate; I remember the French igniting the Eiffel Tower, and something like 2 million people watched the ball drop in Times Square. I remember that there was almost world unification for a brief moment in time; and I was amazed that for a second in world history, humanity universally and simultaneously acknowledged the birth of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Granted, most of the people celebrating would’ve never said that, but in a sense that’s what was happening. We divide time in B.C. (before Christ) and A.D. (the year of the Lord). Of course now days we have secularists who say BCE (before the Common Era) and CE (the Common Era), but they still use the same dates.
And so while many of the people who were celebrating on New Years Eve 1999 missed the reason for celebration, the unity of humanity was an amazing thing to see.
Unity is something we long for, we hope for it, we desire it, but unfortunately, unity is seriously lacking in our world. What’s worse is that it’s lacking where is should be most evident – in our churches. It’s kind of like the story I once heard about a pastor who was walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.
He saw a man standing on the edge about to jump so he ran over to him and said, “Don’t do it!” The man looked at him and said, “Why shouldn’t I?” So the pastor said, “Well there is so much to live for.” “Like what?” Said the man.
The pastor thought for a moment and said, “Are you religious or an atheist?”
“Religious.”
“Me too,” said the pastor, “Christian or some other religion?”
“Christian”
“Me too,” said the pastor, “Protestant or Catholic?” “Protestant” the man answered.
“Me too,” said the pastor, “What denomination?”
“Baptist.” The man said, “Me too,” said the pastor, “Southern Baptist or Free Will?”
“Southern Baptist.” The man answered.
“Me too,” said the pastor, “Post trib or pre trib rapture?”
“Pre trib.” The man said.
So the pastor said, “Die you heretic scum!” And pushed him off the bridge.
Sometimes the divisions within the body of Christ are so ridiculous the world can’t help but scoff at us. Granted there may come divisions over critical issues of theology, but more often than not this isn’t the case. Usually it’s over a non-essential doctrine, and instead of coming together in the unity of the faith to search out what the Scriptures actually teach, people take it as an attack on them personally and we end up with 30,000 Protestant denominations in the world today.
In our text today we see that Paul is concerned that the Christians in Ephesus endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit.
Now last time we talked about how Paul was shifting from doctrine to duty, from creed to conduct, from our wealth in Christ, to our walk with Christ.
Up to this point, Paul has highlighted God’s grace in our lives. He has told us that God has chosen us, redeemed us, and sealed us. By placing us together as the Body of Christ, with the Lord Jesus as our head, we are united to one another. All the old lines of division have been done away with, there is no longer Jew and Gentile, but we are all one in the Lord.
Now I’ve heard people refer to themselves as black Christians, Mexican Christians, Chinese Christians, European Christians, and that’s a real shame. Christianity should never be modified by ones culture. Christianity should modify culture. Yes we may happen to be black, white, Hispanic, or some other racial background. I may happen to be a Christian from Scottish ancestry (in-fact you all have probably heard me roll my R’s from time to time), and that’s fine, but Christianity dictates what is acceptable within my culture, not the other way around.
So Paul tells us here to walk worthy of our calling with which we were called. The Greek word “worthy” is the word axios and it’s actually a mathematical term and it had to do with weights and measures; trying to get a balance. In other words Paul is saying that we should live lives that equal the great blessings that we have in Christ. Let me put this in Oklahoma terms. Our lives should reflect what God has done in them. So what Paul is saying here is that we should be doers as well as hearers, specifically in terms of our unity to one another. So how do we go about this? Well look at verse 2 (Read).
Remember Paul was in chains. That’s what he says in verse one. I don’t know what could be more humbling than that.
Think about it. Paul is a servant of God Almighty, the very same God who delivered the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt by sending plagues upon the Egyptians. He is a servant of the very same God who spoke all things into existence, the very same God who conquered death and the grave, the very same God sets kings upon their thrones and brings them low according to His will. And yet he was a prisoner.
So Paul tells us to walk with all lowliness, and gentleness, with long suffering. That’s almost the exact opposite of human nature if you think about it. It’s natural for us to want the best things, to try and get the best things; we all want to be the top dog. Our entire economic system is built on this premise. But Paul tells us to be humble.
Paul isn’t the only one… We see over and over again in the Bible that humility is a necessary quality for a believer. 2nd Chronicles 7:14 says that God’s people should humble themselves and pray, Psalm 9:12 says that God does not forget the humble, Psalm 18:27 says that God saves the humble, Proverbs 11:2 tells us that with humbleness comes wisdom, Matthew 18:4 says that whoever humbles themselves as a child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and Philippians 2:8 even tells us that Jesus humbled Himself. I think it was Martin Luther who said that the devastation of the soul was an essential condition for faith. As long as we think we can contribute anything to god, we have not understood what Biblical faith is.
Paul not only says we should walk humbly, but also with gentleness. That’s the Greek word praovth, and its talking about a person who isn’t easily ruffled, a person who doesn’t get angry easily by the daily irritations of life. It’s the ability to keep your head when everyone else around you is loosing theirs. Now let me just say this, this word translated as “gentleness” doesn’t mean that you are timid, or weak, or cowardly. The Biblical idea of gentleness or meekness is power under control.
It gives the idea of a wild horse that has been broken. The animal still has all of its strength and power but it’s under the control of its rider. I like to think of it as Clark Kent. For those of you who may not know, Clark Kent is the secret identity of Superman. As Clark Kent he is a mild mannered reporter, but in reality he is Superman, and when necessary he uses his strength and power.
Paul not only says that we are to be humble and gentle but that we are also to be patient when we bear with one another. In-other-words we are to be patient with others, even when they provoke us.
Paul is being realistic here. He knows that there are people within the Body of Christ, people within the church, who are… for lack of a better word… jerks! But being gentle, humble, and patient will help us to live with the imperfections we see in the Body of Christ. And the reason for all this is to keep the unity within the body; the unity of the Spirit.
Now I want you to notice that Paul is not telling us that we have to “create” unity, we are not supposed to be trying to “fix” everyone, no… we are supposed to be – not messing up what God has already done. The unity of the Spirit already exists, our job is to preserve what God has already done. Paul says we are to endeavor to keep this unity, we are to work hard at doing this. Paul knows we won’t always see eye to eye, sometimes others in the church will be wrong; sometimes it’s us who are wrong, sometimes it’s us who are the “jerks!”
So Paul says we have to work hard at it, we have to be gentle, we have to be humble, we have to be patient, we have to bear with one another sometimes, why? Because we are all part of the Body of Christ. Just ask our musicians… when they were learning to play the piano I bet there were times when they just couldn’t reach a note, or couldn’t strike the key the way they wanted, that doesn’t mean that they cut off their pinky finger, no… through patience and practice they eventually got to where they could play the way they wanted to. It’s not our job as Christians to make someone agree with me. It’s our job to walk worthy of our calling. We must be humble, gentle, and patient. I go to the association meeting every Monday, and believe it or not there are pastors right here in our own association that don’t agree with one another on certain points. We have pastors who believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, we have pastors who believe in a post-tribulation rapture. We have pastors who disagree on the scope of predestination. We have pastors who think we should support the nation of Israel, and we have pastors who say that Israel in the Bible is referring to those of the faith of Abraham. We have pastors who are reformed, we have pastors who aren’t. How should I respond to them? Well I had better be humble. If we understand what it means to be saved by grace alone, then I should know that God saved me, as ignorant as I am. And so I should be humble because even though we don’t always see eye to eye on the non-essential things, we do agree on the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.
If we agree on the essentials, then we can gather with diverse people from around the world just as easily as we can with diverse people from across town and join in communion, in remembrance of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
