Unity In the Body
Text: Eph. 4:1-6
Introduction
1. Illustration: There can be union without unity: tie two cats together by their tails and throw them over a clothesline. There you will have union, but certainly not unity!
2. A wise Christian leader once said, "In essentials, unity; in differences, liberty; in all things, charity [love]."
3. For any church to succeed there needs to be unity.
4. There are two things that Paul says we need to do.
a. Lead a Life Worthy of Your Calling
b. Be United in the Spirit
5. Read Eph. 4:1-6
Proposition: For us to succeed as a church we need to be united in the Spirit.
Transition: First, Paul tells us to…
I. Lead a Life Worthy of Your Calling (1-2).
A. Lead A Life
1. Paul now moves from his pastoral prayer to expectations he has for the church.
2. In v. 1 Paul says, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
a. Whenever you see the word “therefore” it connects what was said previously with what the author is about to say.
b. Paul has talked about the blessings we have a believer’s all because of the grace of God. It is because of these blessings that we should act as those who have received this wonderful grace from God.
c. Paul refers to himself as “a prisoner serving the Lord,” so he knows all about living what he preached. With that in mind he “beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling...”.
d. How can we live “worthy of our calling?” The Greek word translated “worthy” refers to a balance, like on a scale. As believers, we are to live in balance, in other words, what we preach and how we act should be in balance.
e. As one bible scholar put it, “If God’s love is so great, if his salvation is so powerful, if God has granted such reconciliation, then believers should live accordingly. They should value God’s love enough to be shaped by it” (Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (p. 196). Zondervan).
f. If God’s love, blessings, and grace is so awesome we ought to be changed by it!
3. One of the things I love about Scripture is that it doesn’t just tell us to do something and then leave us hanging; it tells us how to do it! So how do we lead a life worthy of our calling? Here, Paul gives us a list of four things to do in living out our faith. We don’t just go to church, we are the church, and so we must be together, serve together and worship together. In v. 2 Paul says, “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”
a. Both Greek and Roman culture thought very poorly of humility and gentleness. They thought of them as weaknesses rather than strengths. However, in the OT we see a very different picture. In Is. 57:15 it says,
b. “The high and lofty one who lives in eternity, the Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” (Is. 57:15)
c. And Jesus certainly saw humility as something to possess. In Jn. 13:13-15 he says, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. 14 And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.” (Jn. 13:13-15).
d. Now being humble is an attitude and gentleness is the action that results from it. Gentle people do not try to step over others in order to move up. On the contrary, gentle people are considerate of others.
e. If everyone in the church displayed characteristics of humility and gentleness, we would see a whole lot less trouble among believers.
f. Those who show patience are able to deal with the shortcomings of others. An early church father, a man named John Chrysotom, referred to this as have a “wide and big soul.” Patience is the exercise of a largeness of soul that can endure annoyances and difficulties over a period of time (Snodgrass, K. (1996). Ephesians (p. 197). Zondervan).
g. This leads us to “making allowances for each other’s faults.” This is patience in action and is the willingness to forgive one another’s faults. Doing this is proof that we love one another. Let’s be honest, there will be times when we will all get on one another’s nerves. But we need to make allowances for the fact that none of us is perfect and we all make mistakes.
B. Show Others Jesus
1. Illustration: “Go out today and preach the Gospel, and if you must use words” (Francis of Assisi).
2. Our actions should match are confession of Christ in our lives.
a. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony. (Col. 3:13-14).
b. As Christians our words and our actions must be in balance. We cannot say one thing and do another.
c. People look at how we treat one another. If they hear us speak badly about someone in the church it makes them think less of Christ.
d. They think if that’s what Jesus does to you, I don’t need it.
e. However, if they see us loving one another, helping one another, being kind to one another then they will want to know more about Jesus.
f. People are looking for something genuine and real in their lives, and if they see us loving, forgiving, and caring for one another they’ll want to be a part of the church.
Transition: We should also…
II. Be United in the Spirit (3-6).
A. Make Every Effort
1. Paul now shows the reason for why he begged us to live a life worthy of our calling, that we all be unified.
2. In v. 3 he says, “Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
a. We cannot possibly be united without the Holy Spirit. Without him we cannot be unified, and we won’t be able to do things Paul has already spoken of nor any of the things he’s about to say.
b. To love each other, which the presence of the Holy Spirit brings, makes peace possible.
c. Being united in the Spirit enables us to bind ourselves together with peace. This binding holds us all together.
d. I imagine you’ve seen the commercial where the guy uses this spray to seal up anything that will leak. In fact, he takes out the bottom of a rowboat, replaces it with a screen, and then coats with this spray. The next thing you see is the guy out in the middle of lake rowing a boat ( of course a disclaimer pops us encouraging people not to try this at home!)
e. But it this idea of allowing the Holy Spirit to bind us together which brings peace and harmony.
f. Paul knew that maintaining unity among believers was going to bring challenges.
g. We constantly face things that attempt to tear us apart. We need to work hard and be faithful to see that nothing tears us apart.
3. Now if someone uses the same word 7 times in three sentences do you think it might be important? So, Paul says in v. 4, “For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.”
a. The repeated use of the word “one” shows the importance that Paul places on unity.
b. He says there is one body and one Spirit. There is unity in the body because the same Holy Spirit lives in all believers. Without the Spirit the body could not exist.
c. Christianity is not a club to join or an unreal organism. True Christianity is a spiritual relationship with Christ as well as with other believers.
d. The one Spirit guarantees that we are all called to the same glorious future.
4. Paul continues his focus on the concept of oneness with a focus on Christ. In v. 5 he says, “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
a. One Lord refers to Jesus, whose Lordship brings unity to the church. As Christians we worship one Lord. There are not many gods with whom to choose, there is only one, Jesus.
b. Jesus made this clear in Jn. 14:6 where he said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
c. Next, Paul refers to “one faith.” This is not the act of believing but “the faith,” in other words, one gospel.
d. There is a unity in the faith we are a part of as Christians.
e. Like Jesus half brother Jude says in v. 3 of his letter, “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.” (Jude 3).
f. It is this one faith that brings us unity. Another thing that brings unity is the fact of one baptism.
g. This shows the great importance that the early church placed on baptism. It was a sort of initiation rite for new Christians.
h. The one baptism is a reference to water baptism rather than Spirit baptism, which makes us part of the church.
5. The final of the “one” statements has to do with the ultimate one, God the Father. He says, “one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
a. There are not many gods, but there is only one God. As the one God, he alone deserves our worship and praise.
b. The fact that he is Father of all means that he is the creator, and all people were made in his image.
c. The fact that he is over us, means that he is in control over all creation.
d. He also is in all of us who believe, and he also lives through us.
e. Again, we should notice the repeated word “all,” which again stresses unity in God the Father.
B. May They Be One
1. Illustration: Dr. Bilezikian adds, “Christ desired that his church would be the earthly community of oneness modeled after the eternal community of oneness. Jesus went on to declare that he had provided his followers with everything they needed to bring about this oneness. He prayed, “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (v. 22). All the resources the Father had entrusted to the Son were now made available to his followers for the purpose of creating the new community of oneness. Despite this almost embarrassingly repetitious insistence on oneness, Jesus went on praying, “That they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me” (v. 23 NRSV). Just prior to his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus’ heart ached for his followers to band together in communities that would reflect authentic oneness so that their witness to the world would be effective.” (Bilezikian, Gilbert (2009-08-30). Community 101 (pp. 36-37). Zondervan. Kindle Edition).
2. It was Jesus’ desire that we are all one.
a. 21 I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. 22 “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. (Jn. 17:21-23)
b. When we think of oneness, you cannot have a better example than that of the Holy Trinity.
c. Going all the way back to Genesis, we can see the perfect oneness of the Trinity, the three persons in the one God.
d. In the creation they said, “Let us make man in our image.”
e. We can see the oneness of the Trinity at Jesus birth, as the Father sent Jesus who was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
f. We can see the oneness of the Trinity at the baptism of Jesus as the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove and the Father spoke from heaven.
g. We can see it here in John 17 as Jesus asks the Father to make us one as they are one.
h. Notice the reasoning, “May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.”
i. We need to be one as the Trinity is one so that people will know Jesus.
j. Let us be one as the Trinity is one.
Conclusion
1. For any church to succeed there needs to be unity.
2. There are two things that Paul says we need to do.
a. Lead a Life Worthy of Your Calling
b. Be United in the Spirit
3. What’s the point? When we are one as the Trinity is one people will know the power of Christ and come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.
