Ephesians 4:1-3 How to maintain the unity of the Spirit
Can you believe that it is already the 4th week of Nov 2020? We know it is about time to plan for the new year as a church. And I know some of us are already involved in making a plan. Indeed, we might need a new way of being the church and doing the church next year. At the same time, you and I have to remember that the best way for us as a church to do a ministry is not necessarily to find a new way, but actually to go back to the old way. Not just one year or ten years ago or even 30 years ago when ANCC started, not 100 years ago or 1000 years ago but 2000 years ago as it was described and prescribed in the N T.
I believe, for us, the new way for the church is always the NT way. Do you
realize that all the writings of the New Testament except the gospel books according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, are concerning the church? So I would like to start by sharing about the nature of the church as described in 3 different
letters of Paul.
1 Co 12:13 "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews
or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit." (NIV)
Rom 12:5 "We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other." (NLT)
Eph 4:1-3 "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (make every effort NIV; do your best GNB)
Paul describes each church as one body or the unity of the Spirit, where the members belong to each other. But, Paul is also calling the church members to be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Paul is saying, "Do not take the unity of the Spirit for granted. Rather, Paul is urging as NIV puts it, to "make every effort to keep the unity." or as the Good
News Bible says, "do your best to preserve the unity of the Spirit."
Then, here is my question. Have you ever belonged to such a church where you felt the unity of the members or where you felt you belonged to each other as members? I mean, have you ever felt a sense of belonging in any church you used to participate in? Have you ever been in any church where you made every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit?
How about us, ANJC? I know that we all belong to the Lord. But, can we say that we belong to each other in this church? Are we doing our best to maintain the unity of the Spirit in ANJC?
Why is this question so important? Ephesian 4:1-3 "I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." (make every effort NIV; do your best GNB)
You and I have a calling individually as well as corporately as a church. In fact, the Greek word for church, Ekklesia, means "a group of people who have been called out of the world and to God." So God called us out of the world as a church. Then the verse 2 explains how we can walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called." You and I have to have "all humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, (and verse) 3 eager (or make every effort - NIV; do your best -GNB) to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
If we fail to have "all humility and gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, then we will fail to live up to His calling. If we don't do our best to maintain the unity of the Spirit as a church, we will fail to live worthy of His calling. So if we are serious about God's calling, then we have to be serious about "making every effort to maintain the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Then how can we maintain the unity of the Spirit?
1. (First, I would say) We have to believe in the gospel and publicly confess our belief in the gospel by baptism.
As you know, the churches in Rome, Corinth, and Ephesus were all comprised of both rich and poor, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, masters and slaves. Therefore, there were always tensions and strifes among them due to their differences. There were divisions, they even sued one another in public courts, they despised other members, they lied to each other, and also there were all kinds of immoral problems.
Yet Paul is saying, they were baptized into one body, the body of Christ, and each one of them is a part of it (1 Cor 12:27)
Paul is saying "the members belong to each other" (Rom 12:5) because "they have been baptized into Christ Jesus" (Rom 6:3)
Paul is saying they are united in the Spirit or in "the Unity of the Spirit"
because they share one baptism. (Ephesians 4:5)
They became one body despite their difference and problems because they were
baptized into Christ Jesus. Baptism is like a marriage ceremony. Just as you and your spouse become one body through the marriage ceremony, through baptism, you are united with Christ and you joined into the body of Christ.
But on the other hand, let's suppose if someone married without love by force would their wedding make the husband and wife one body? The answer is definitely 'No" The same is true with baptism. I was baptized at 17 years old, but I didn't know the gospel. I simply wanted to be baptized because everybody was baptized. Would my baptism make me united with Christ and with the body of Christ, the church? The answer is "No." Jesus commanded, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." (Mk 16:15-16)
Jesus is saying that only those who believe in the gospel are to be baptized. Therefore, baptism without believing the gospel is nothing more than a human religious rite that can't save you.
What unites us into one body is not the baptism itself, but our belief in the gospel
expressed through baptism. When you publicly confess your belief in the gospel and your decision to follow Jesus as your Lord and Savior through baptism, you are united to Christ and His body, the church. Now you are in the unity of the Spirit with other members of the church because according to Ephesians 4:4-6, as believers in the gospel, you share one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.
So if you are serious about 'unity in the Spirit,' you have to believe the gospel and confess your faith in the gospel through baptism. Therefore, if you are not baptized yet though you are a believer in the gospel and if you are serious about keeping the unity of the Spirit, then I would encourage you to be baptized as our Lord Jesus Himself commanded.
Secondly, how can we maintain the unity of the Spirit? My second answer is that we have to commit ourselves not only to Christ but also to the body of Christ; that is, we have to commit to one another in our relationship as church members.
We just learned that in order to maintain the unity of the Spirit, it takes ‘our making every effort’ or ‘doing our best’. Do you think we can make every effort or do our best without a commitment to one another? When Jesus gave us the New commandment that we are to love one another just as Jesus Himself loved us, do you think we can obey His commandment without the commitment to one another? In fact, one of the most important reasons why we have to commit to the church is because Jesus Christ Himself committed to the church: "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her" (Eph 5:25) Christ died for the church and Jesus Christ paid the highest price for the church because to Christ there is nothing more valuable than his church. That’s why Christ wants His church protected from any division, conflict, and disharmony. That's why He commanded us to love one another just as He loved us. That’s why He prayed for the unity of His followers. If Christ is committed to the church as much as He would give His own life, wouldn't that be enough reason for us to commit to the church?
I met Pastor Peter Hong 3 and a half years ago. Since then, I have learned a lot from him, and I am still learning. And one of the most important lessons I learned from pastor Hong was about Paul's commitment to the Christian brothers: "After all, who is our hope, our joy, our crown of boasting, if it is not you yourselves in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?" (1 Th 2:19) Paul is saying here that the church members in Thessalonica are his hope, his joy, his crown of boasting until he would stand before Jesus at. Paul is saying he would cherish them and love them and care for them and pray for them until his last day. I think this is the kind of commitment we all have to learn from Paul.
As I retired last January from the church I served for 20 years, I prayed about which church my wife and I would join after the retirement. I was concerned about how I would do ministry after retirement. Bit. God seemed to say to me, "don't worry about ministry, but just put your focus on loving people." So it didn't take long before I decided to join ANCC because I knew Pastor Hong would love us, Jennifer and me, and try to care for us to the end. And I also want to learn and practice such love.
The Christian life is more than just a commitment to Christ; it includes a commitment to other Christians. The Christians in Macedonia understood this. Paul said, "First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God's will, they gave themselves to us as well." (II Co 8:5)
The church is the family of God so Paul called the brothers in Ephesus, "You are members of God's family." (Eph 2:19) The church is not a place to attend but a family of God where we belong to one another and live and love united as family members of God as we commit to one another. We are called not only to believe in Jesus but also to belong to His church.
Why do I have to emphasize this? In the New Testament, there were not solitary saints isolated from other believers and deprived of fellowship because they all belonged to a church. The only Christians who were not members of a local fellowship in the NT times were those under church discipline who had been removed from the fellowship because of gross public sin." But, today, we have so numerous Christians who do not belong to any church that there might be more Christians without a church home than those with a church home. But, the scripture says a Christian without a church home is like an organ without a body, a sheep without a flock, or a child without a family.
We have a self-centered nature. In addition, many of us grew up in families with unhealthy relationships. So we can easily offend other brothers and we are easily offended by others. That’s why we need all humility and gentleness and patience and bearing with one another in love in dealing with other brothers. Only the Holy Spirit can create real fellowship between believers, but God cultivates it with the choices and commitments we make. That’s why we need to commit to making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit. But, it is a worthwhile effort because we can grow up to be Jesus' disciple, living a life worthy of His calling.
3. Lastly, I would talk about one more suggestion in order to maintain unity in the Spirit.
Ever since the Christian church started 2000 years ago, all the Christian churches practiced two Christian rites: baptism and the Lord's Supper. We all know that Christ terminated all the religious ceremonies, festivals, sacrifices, and rituals. Yet, Christ commanded us to keep Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Why do you think Jesus commanded Baptism and the Lord's Supper when Jesus has removed all the other religious rituals? We may not know all the answers, but at least two reasons are clear.
Do you realize both baptism and the Lord's Supper symbolize the gospel, the death of Jesus? Jesus never commanded baptism before His death. He commanded baptism only after His death and resurrection because water baptism by Immersion symbolizes Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, that is, the gospel. Jesus commanded HIs disciples to keep the Lord's supper just before He died on the cross because Jesus wanted His disciples to remember His sacrificial death. The bread symbolizes His broken body for us and the wine symbolizes His blood shed for our sins. So both baptism and the Lord's supper symbolize His sacrificial death, the gospel.
Then there is another meaning. Baptism is like a wedding ceremony where the believers are united to Christ and His body, the church. And the bread in the Lord' supper symbolizes that we are one body: "And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body." (1 Co 10:17)
Thus baptism and the Lord's supper serve as a reminder of the Gospel that Jesus died for our sins and as a reminder of our being one body in Christ.
I am of the opinion that baptism and the Lord's supper are fundamental ways Jesus commanded so that we may keep the unity in Christ. But, as the churches didn't follow the scriptural prescription for baptism, they baptized people without their repentance and without belief in the gospel, and without committing to Christ. When non-believers are baptized and become members of the church, they would corrupt the church, there would be no difference between the church and the world and there would be no unity in Christ.
In addition, when the believers take the Lord's supper lightly without examining themselves, without repentance, without reconciliation as was the case in the Corinthian church, there would be no unity in the church. But, if we take the Lord's supper seriously, examining ourselves concerning our relationship to the Lord and other members and repenting from our sins, and reconciling with one another as necessary, then we would more likely maintain the unity of the Spirit.
(Let me wrap up - summarize): We learned today that we can live worthy of God's calling when we make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit. Isn't it amazing that whether you and I would live worthy of God's calling depends on our relationship with other brothers and sisters in the church? Obviously, God called us to love Him with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.' But, do you realize that we can't love God unless we love other members despite their problems and shortcomings? (John 14:21)
How could we keep the unity in Christ? The scripture is full of how we keep unity. But, I talked about only three things today which I believe are fundamental.
First, I talked about the baptism as a public confession of faith in the gospel because what unites us is the belief in the gospel. If we believe in the gospel, we have one faith, one Hope, one Lord, one Spirit, One God the Father, all of which would unite us.
Second, I talked about the commitment to the church, the body of Christ. If you want to make every effort to maintain unity, you have to commit to the church you belong to.
Third, I talked about taking the Lord's Supper seriously by examining ourselves about
our relationship with the Lord and other brothers and repenting and reconciling
with others as necessary before we take the Lord's supper.
So I would encourage each of you. If you don't believe in the gospel, then you need to learn what is the gospel and believe in the gospel accepting Jesus as your Lord and the savior.
If you believe the gospel and accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, yet you haven't been
baptized, please be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
If you were baptized yet you didn't make any commitment to a local body of Christ, I would invite you to make a commitment to belong to this church.
If you haven't taken the Lord's supper seriously, then make a decision that from today on, you will examine yourself and repent before you take the Lord's supper.
I hope and pray that by doing our best to keep the unity of the Spirit in the church, we may all live worthy of His calling.
