Ephesians 4:1-6 (Zeal for Peace)
Introduction
Tradition claims that Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchure is built over the cave in which Christ is said to have been buried. In July 2002 the church became the scene of ugly fighting between the monks who run it. The conflict began when a Coptic monk sitting on the rooftop decided to move his chair into the shade. This took him into the part of the rooftop courtyard looked after by the Ethiopian monks.
It turns out that the Ethiopian and Coptic monks have been arguing over the rooftop of the Church of the Holy Sepulchure for centuries. In 1752 the Ottoman Sultan issued an edict declaring which parts of the Church belong to each of six Christian groups: the Latins, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Copts, and Ethiopians. Despite the edict conflict over the church remains.
The rooftop had been controlled by the Ethiopians, but they lost control to the Copts when hit by a disease epidemic in the 19th century. Then in 1970 the Ethiopians regained control when the Coptic monks were absent for a short period. They have been squatting there ever since, with at least one Ethiopian monk always remaining on the roof to assert their rights. In response a Coptic monk has been living on the roof also, to maintain the claim of the Copts.
And so we get to a Monday in July 2002, when the Coptic monk moves his chair into the shade. Harsh words led to pushes, then shoves, until an all out brawl is going, including the throwing of chairs and iron bars. At the end of the fight 11 of the monks were injured, including one monk unconscious in hospital and another with a broken arm.
How tragic that a church which serves as a memorial to Christ is the scene for such bitter conflict among his followers. This is a far cry from Christ’s call to love one another, turn the other cheek, and his prayer that his followers might "be one".
What this passage highlights for us is the importance of being a unified body of Christ and it also offers some practical ideas as to how we might attain that unity.
1. CHRISTIANS ARE TO ENDEAVOUR TO LIVE A LIFE WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL VV. 1-3.
Therefore.
A good question to always ask whenever you you see the word ‘therefore’ is why is the word ‘therefore’ there for. Well, for Paul, vv. 1-3 must be understood in view of his elaborate, vibrant, poetic, lavishing language of God’s salvation. In view of that, this is what he wants them to do:
Walk in a manner worth of the calling to which you have been called.
Paul immediately draws a contrast with their previous lives walking according to trespasses and sins, much like Ephesians 2, where they pursued and indulged the flesh and were under the power of the devil. But now they are to walk and live in view of God’s gracious call of salvation. So God’s call brings both privileges and responsibilities.
The greatest cause of unbelief in the world, is not the theory of evolution, it is not postmodernism, it is not secularization of the West, it is one thing – the hyprocrisy of those who profess to be Christians. Against those who preach love, but practice hate. Those who speak of sexual fidelity, but defile themselves in sordid affairs or with prostitutes. Those who proclaim unity, but are divided into countless factions. And the world looks on: amazed at what we believe and repulsed by how we can act. Bertrand Russell, the great atheist philosopher once said, that if Christians practiced what they believed they would change the world. Ghandi said he would love to become a Christian, he was just waiting to meet one. Ask this of yourself then
Does your BEHAVIOR match your BELIEFS?
Does your WALK match your WORDS?
As James would ask of you: Are You a Doer of the Word.
But how do we do that? How do you live a life worthy of the gospel? Well, according to Paul here, you do it by exhibiting certain personal qualities.
Humility and Gentleness
In the Greco-Roman world, these weren’t considered virtues as much as vices. You won’t find Plato or Aristotle extolling the virtue of humility – it was servility. They were considered a sign of weakness and a lapse of personal ambition. Yet what the world despises we are to be. When the world says look out for number one, look out for number 2, 3 and 97. Best way to tell if you have a servant’s heart: how do you act when you’re treated like one? How do you argue with others: with compassion or with hatred.
Patience and Bearing One Another in Love
Both of these qualities are predicated of God in OT.
Ps. 86:5 - You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Ps. 145:8 - The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
The meaning is, in our witness we are to present the character of God to the world. When people look at you, do they think of you as God-like. Not in a sense of power and prestige, but instead in patience and love to all. Do you exhibit a supernatural kindness and compassion that leaves those around amazed and confused by the depths of your heart? What attracted me initially to Christianity, was not any argument or proof, but by a small church where people exemplified Christ-likeness
Eager to Pursue the Unity of the Spirit
The word for ‘eager’ means to be passionate, excitable or zealous. What are you zealous about? Football, Politics, the Environment, the War, the King James Bible, Home-schooling, Worship Music, End-Times Theology. One of my regrets of my time in Bible College, in retrospect, was that I was known more for my zeal for Reformation theology than for my zeal for Christ. Are you known more for you zeal for Christ than anything else. Paul in Philippians 3 that he was once zealous for the law. He boasted that of Israel’s possession and performance of the Law. And like the Maccabean heroes or the Zealots, Paul’s zeal was manifested in his murder of those who denied the Law. But Paul says now, he is zealous only for Christ. We are commanded to be more zealous or passionate about maintaining the unity that we have in Christ rather than in our own respective hobby horses. Moreover, it is a command. We are to possess resolute determination in maintaining the unity of the body. There are things which we must all agree on: authority of the Word of God, the atonement, so forth. But we must be willing to extend loving grace to those people who we don’t agree with on peripheral issues. Problem is in determining what is peripheral and what is essential. Regardlessly, keep your convictions – discuss them openly and lovingly. But do not make them boundary markers of fellowship. Most Church divisions are over things which should not be divisive. There is great wisdom in what Augustine said, ‘In the essentials unity, in the unessentials liberty, and in all things charity.’
A man was out on a walk one day when he saw another man about to throw himself from a bridge into the river. He ran over to save him.
"Why are you killing yourself?" he asked.
"I’ve nothing to live for!"
"Don’t you believe in God?"
"Yes I do"
"What a coincidence - so do I! Are you a Jew or a Christian?"
"A Christian
"What a coincidence - so am I! Protestant or Catholic?"
"Protestant
"What a coincidence - so am I! Anglican or Baptist?"
"Baptist"
"What a coincidence - so am I! Baptist Union church or Independent Baptist?"
"Baptist Union"
"What a coincidence - so am I! Premillenial or Amillenial?"
"Premillenial"
"What a coincidence - so am I! Partial rapture or full rapture?"
"Partial rapture"
At this the first man pushed the suicidal man into the river shouting "Die heretic die!"
Sad story that despite having so much in common we often divide over petty issues, like style of worship music, floral arrangements and frequency of having communion. But that’s not how it should be. Listen to what John Stott says:
Paul sets before us the picture of a deepening fellowship, an eagerness to maintain visible Christian unity and to recover if it is lost, an active, every-member ministry and a steady growth into maturity by holding the truth in love. We need to keep this biblical ideal clearly before us. Only then shall we live a life that is worthy of it.
2. THE BASIS OF CHRISTIAN UNITY LIES IN OUR COMMON EXPERIENCE AND BELIEF VV. 4-6.
Here in verses 4-6 Paul gives the objective ground for the experience of unity that we are to pursue.
One Body, One Spirit and One Hope
The Church is a single visible community of believers. Its unity is evident in that Jews and Gentiles are both reconciled to God. The Church brings unlikely people together. For us here today we have a German born speaker, speaking to a Chinese congregation, in Australia. We are not here by the grace of the Immigration department but because in Christ there is neither Greek nor Barbarian. Anyway, why are we here now? Well we share a common experience of partaking of the Spirit We are born of the Spirit, being renewed and filled by the Spirit, and try to walk in the Spirit. The same Spirit is the one equipping us with gifts for the ministry of the body.
Paul says in Eph 2:12 that once they were without hope, now they have hope in Christ. C.S. Lewis defines hope as ‘a continual looking forward to the eternal world.’ Fact is that believers share the same one glorious destiny – to rise and be seated with Christ.
Just as prisoners of war bond together in waiting for their rescue, so too do believers join to hope together for the redemption of their bodies. Once a group of Christians ran a stall at a New Age Festival – pretending to be a new age cult they called themselves ‘The People of Hope’. An apt title for a group of persons who lay their confidence in God to bring them home.
One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism
The most basic confession of being a Christian is: KURIOS IESOUS or Jesus is Lord. One the one hand this confession identifies Jesus with the God of the Old Testament. It also rejects any other person who makes a claim to the same title: like the Roman emporers Caligula, Nero or Domitian. Consequently, it is the risen Jesus who commands their undivided faith and obedience.
In this context, faith is meant in the sense of Jude 6 – the faith delivered to the saints. I don’t think it refers to a later doctrine statement like the Westminster Confession or a Systematic Theology text book. It’s the kind of material we find in 1 Cor 15: 3-8. The common confession of faith accepted by all Christians, without the finer nuances of denominationalism, what C.S. Lewis called, ‘Mere Christianity’. Very quickly the early Christians formulated short creeds and songs that helped them to define themselves over and against Judaism and paganism – how do we differ. It allowed the Church to know its own mind – to articulate what they believed. It also enabled them to check wandering prophets, apostles and teachers to see if they were sound.
One occasion where this faith would be professed was at Baptism. So what baptism does Paul have in mind here – water baptism or baptism in the Spirit. All we can say is that it is Christian baptism. It means participating in the death and resurrection of Christ and being initiated into the visible body of Christ. This is something Paul appeals to as something they all have in common. Their unity lies in their profession of the faith they learnt and the faith they expressed in baptism.
One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all
We shouldn’t confuse this statement with the idea of pantheism – that God dwells in everything. God is in the flower, the trees, the seas and the peas. I’m not even sure Paul means this in the cosmic sense of God being omnipresent. I think Paul means that God permeates his Church with such thoroughness that the basis of unity lies in God’s continuing presence in his people. Like the exodus of the Old Testament, God dwells with his people.
Conclusion
Overall, Paul’s point is that the oneness of the body, the oneness of the Spirit, the oneness of our hope, our Lord, faith and baptism and the even oneness of God himself are the objective grounds of the oneness we should have together. It is about the power of one in truth and in practice. We should have a radical commitment to Christ and a radical commitment to unity.
During the war in Rwanda there was a Christian Church comprised of both Tutsi’s and Hutu’s. A Tutsi gunman and his henchmen came into the Church and demanded that all the Hutu’s come out of the building. The pastor of the Church replied, "There are neither Tutsi’s or Hutu’s in this building, only Christians."
The gunman had strict orders and he asked again, "Bring out all of the Hutu’s so we can kill them, or else."
Again the Pastor of the Church replied, "There are neither Tutsi’s or Hutu’s in this building, only Christians."
The gunman was infuriated and he screamed and pointed his gun at the Pastor, "Give me the Hutu’s now or I’ll kill you all."
Yet the Pastor still replied, "There are neither Tutsi’s or Hutu’s in this building, only Christians."
The gunman was on strict orders to kill all the Hutu’s, so he did it the only way he could. He killed the entire Church.
Now that is what I call radical unity?
Sources:
Peter T. O’Brien, Ephesians (Pillar).
‘Zeal’ TDNT
