AMC, 05.10.2025
Text: Ephesians 4:1-13,
Theme: Walk worthy of your Call
Greetings: The Lord is good and His love endures forever!
Text analysis: ‘Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.’ (Ephesians 4:1),‘Make every effort to keep the unity’ (Ephesians 4:3), ‘to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up’ (Ephesians 4:12), ‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.’(Ephesians 4:30).
Today, I would like to remind Paul’s call to us to give attention to maintain the Unity, Appreciate the Diversity, and await for the eternity. Unity is impossible without having agape love, acceptance of diversity is hardest reality without understanding the dimension of the Faith, and we can’t await for eternity without having hope in Jesus. Unity, diversity and eternity are the expressions of Love, faith and Hope.
Call:
At the outset, let me explain the word CALL from the biblical perspective. The first three chapters of this epistle vividly describes the doctrines of the gospel. Last three chapters describes on the practical life. It’s a moral section of Paul’s letter. It is designed for the direction of our lives and manners. I therefore, being prisoner in the Lord, pray you that you lead a life worthy of the divine calling.
Christian life is a call from Christ for distinctive and a definite purpose. kaleo (Call) in the New Testament is synonymous to select or choose. Kaleo is a technical term for special relationships. The “calling” is mentioned because of the obligation it imposes upon us.
2. MAINTAIN UNITY
Illustration:
Once a pig and a chicken decided to open a restaurant. A chicken and a pig propose opening a restaurant together. The chicken proposed to provide daily an egg. The pig role is to provide ham. In the business ultimately one has to lose and one has to gain. One is involvement and the other is commitment.
William Barclay: ‘Jesus has brought to a disunited world the way to unity. This way is through faith in him and it is the Church's task to proclaim this message to all the world. The Church is the Christ's instrument of universal reconciliation between man and man, and man and God within the world.’
Call to maintain unity in Christ. Make “every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Basically, they were Jews and Gentiles from varying customs, culture, family backgrounds, food habits and dress codes. Therefore there was a need for unity.
In Jesus we share one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Father. The sevenfold use of the word “ONE” (4:4–6) forms the center of a poetic statement of the church’s unity. These common areas are greater than any potential difference anyone can claim.
The means of unity are Lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, and forbearing one another in love, (Ephesians 4:2).
Matthew Henry: “The best Christians have need to bear one with another, and to make the best one of another, to provoke one another's graces and not their passions.”
Meekness is an excellent disposition of soul and unwilling to provoke others. Long-suffering implies a patient bearing of hurts and harms without seeking revenge. Forbearing one another signifies bearing their infirmities out of a principle of love.
Barclay: ‘Christian humility comes from self-knowledge. It is the virtue by which a man becomes conscious of his own unworthiness. It is the gem casket of all the virtues.’
“It is not a desirable thing that all Churches should melt into one another and become one; for the complete fusion of all Churches into one ecclesiastical corporation would inevitably produce another form of Popery, since history teaches us that large ecclesiastical bodies grow more or less corrupt as a matter of course.” (Spurgeon).
The unity is the matter of the heart and not the matter of principles or programs. It is not the one day event but a lifelong commitment to one another in Christ. It does not lie in one set of thoughts, nor in one form and mode of worship but understands in the Spirit.
The unity of the church is a reflection of God’s gift of reconciliation in Christ. This unity of heart doesn’t demand for uniformity but acceptance, and appreciation of the diversity.
2. APPRECIATE DIVERSITY
Illustration:
We all are individually having different strengths and capacities but if it all put together then you see the strong bond of Unity. In the construction sites we can see the Steel Rods for the pillars when all of them are joined together, bonded together they sustain for years together and becomes load bearers. Individual strength is limited but unity is stronger and mightier.
Paul described about the qualities of the members of the Church is the unity. Now he talks of their functions in the Church. Consider the variety of gifts that Christ has bestowed among Christians for spiritual strength of the Church. Christ has equipped the church with gifts (Ephesians 4:7, 11) so that the church may reach maturity.
Pau refers to Psalms 68:18 to describe the diversity of gifts bestowed on each believer as spiritual office bearers. Psalm 68 describes a king's conquering return. The king ascends on high, climbs the steep road of Mount Zion into the streets of the Holy City. King released the captives, leads them as bands of freed prisoners, at the same time he dragged his enemies through the streets in chains behind him to demonstrate his conquering power. The Psalm speaks next about the conqueror receiving gifts. Paul changes it to read, "Gave gifts to men." Grace is the basis for God’s distribution of spiritual gifts. No one deserves or has earned spiritual gifts, unmerited giving of God.
William Barclay comments to this passage that the early church had three fold ministries such as the Apostles; the Prophets and Evangelists; and the Pastors and Teachers.
The “gifts of the Spirit” to be gifts that any believer may possess and use for the good of the body of Christ, the church (1 Corinthians 12:4–11). Here, the gifts seem to belong exclusively to church leaders. It is the wisdom of God in its rich variety. The assumption is not that all distinctions will cease, but that even with the persistence of differences, the church may nevertheless grow together as a body.
Today the local church is having different measures of Gifts. The gift of singing, the gift of Music, the gift of preaching, the gift of encouragement, the gift of evangelism and soul winning, the gift of administration and so on. We have not earned it, we can’t work for it but freely given by Christ. He is the bountiful author and designer of them, he bestowed on us for the same great ends. The gifts of Christ were intended for the good of his church, and to advancement of his kingdom and for the interest of men. As a conqueror distributes his kingdom among his princes, lieutenants God has distributed his gifts among us. Nothing is so prominent and nothing is insignificant in the church. All are for the edification of the church.
3. AWAIT FOR ETERNITY
Ephesians 4:30 ‘Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption’. (NASB). Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, do not offend or vex or sadden Him, by whom you were sealed marked, branded as God’s own, secured for the day of redemption of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin. (Amplified Bible).
Christians must live with certainty if eternity. Martin Luther counselled men to answer all temptations of Satan with one sentence “I am a Christian.” The unity and the diversity of Gifts are for one greater purpose that is to await for the second coming of Jesus Christ. DON'T CUT OFF THE FLOW OF YOUR SUPERNATURAL POWER!
The day of redemption - Ephesians 1:14; Hosea 13:14; Luke 21:28; Romans 8:11, 23; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 15:54. The saints’ perseverance does not depend primarily or decisively upon their own free will, but upon the purpose, grace, and preserving power of God.
Topical Encyclopaedia: ‘The "Day of Redemption" is a significant eschatological concept within Christian theology, referring to the future event when God will fully realise the salvation of His people. This day is associated with the final deliverance from sin, the resurrection of the body, and the ultimate fulfilment of God's promises to believers.’
The Day of Redemption is a pivotal moment in Christian eschatology, representing the culmination of God's redemptive plan. It is the day when believers will experience the fullness of salvation, including the complete eradication of sin and its effects. It assures believers that their present sufferings and struggles with sin are temporary and will be overcome.
As the "seal" and "guarantee" of their inheritance, the Spirit works within believers to sanctify them, and transform them into the likeness of Christ. It is a day eagerly awaited by believers, as it marks the fulfilment of God's redemptive purposes and the consummation of His kingdom. The anticipation of this day motivates a life of holiness and perseverance.
Conclusion:
Christianity struggles with unity issue despite serving one God and believing in one Bible. Unity is possible with the maturity, with the appreciation of diversity.
