PRESERVE UNITY! EPHESIANS 4:1-16

Adapted from a Jim Black sermonwww.sermoncentral.com/

print_friendly.asp?ContributorID=&SermonID=55378

Ephesians 4:1 NET I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live

worthily of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and

gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of

peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope

of your calling,

5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of

us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he captured captives; he gave gifts to men." (Psalm 68:18) 9 Now what is the

meaning of "he ascended," except that he also descended to the lower regions,

namely, the earth?

10 He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the

heavens, in order to fill all things. 11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to

build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the

knowledge of the Son of God —

a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature. 14 So we are no

longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who

craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting

ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

God calls Christians to live worthily of the calling by making every effort to keep the

unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace among Christians.

It challenges our selfish tendencies towards division and strife & to re-examine how

fervently we are striving for unity.

A boy happened to be an “only child.” He had two loving parents whose lives seemed to revolve around him; their only aim in life

seemed to be to keep him happy. Grandparents spoiled him rotten– that’s

what Grandparents do. The house was all his! The toys were all his! He was the

center of the universe! And things were good, and then, the most awful &

unexpected thing happened!

On a cold January morning when he was five years old, his Mom & Dad came to pick him up when he had spent the night at his grandparent’s house and introduced him (for the first time) to Debbie . . . his new baby sister! He didn’t realize at first what

happened. He was happy to meet her, she seemed harmless enough. But he soon

came to realize that his previous way of life was in jeopardy.

Now, instead of having everyone’s full attention all the time, he would have to

share it with his new sister. And he really couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. She couldn’t do very much. She couldn’t

run around, play ball, couldn’t do anything but fuss & cry all the time. As she grew

though, you might have expected things to improve, but they only got worse!

Before she could even walk she was following him around the house on her

hands & knees wherever he went! When he wanted to go outside and play, Mom would

want him to take her with him? She had toys of her own, but what she really wanted was to play with his all the time. She never

respected his privacy and she just assumed that if something was his it was hers, too.

But that didn’t quite seem fair, because her toys were all girl toys (dolls & stuff) and so he couldn’t really play with her stuff. Fights

& squabbles became a routine event at their house with Mom playing referee all the

time. And again, it just wasn’t fair. There was no way for him to win a fight.

When his sister got mad she would come at him with arms flailing, but he couldn’t really

fight back, partly because she was five years younger than him and partly because she was a girl. So, she’d dig her fingernails into him or punch him with her little fists and all he could do was hold her down until she gave up...or Mom came in and broke up the

fight.

Why is it often so difficult for brothers and sisters to get along?

There’s just something about being family that makes it tough for us to get along with

each other sometimes. That’s true for spiritual families, too, isn’t it? Often,

Christian brothers and sisters squabble, fuss & fight, and usually over the most trivial of matters. Why is it that we just sometimes have a tough time getting along as family?

Paul is writing to the Christians at Ephesus to encourage them to BE the CHURCH that God wants them to be! The church is family,

members of God’s household together. They have been ‘blessed with every

spiritual blessing…in Christ’ (1:3) and been given the power from God to change their

lives.

They have gone from life ‘in the world’ to life ‘in Christ’ and that has made all the

difference! He has shown them “through the church the multifaceted wisdom of God

should now be disclosed.” (3:10) It all hinges on whether or not you “know the love of

Christ that surpasses knowledge.” (3:19) In today’s text, he turns towards what all of this means for individual Christians, the ethical section, the “So What” part of his

letter.

1 I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which

you have been called,Paul is languishing under Roman guard in prison where he writes many of his letters.

He regards himself as a prisoner for the Lord and he’s continuing his work of

ministry EVEN under difficult circumstances.

Verse 1 stands as an introduction to this entire section. He’s still going to talk about

the church and will continue building a theology of the church (so to speak), but his primary emphasis in Chapter. 4-6 are going to be on holy living, on living the Christian

life. He calls us to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called. He has

saved us. We are Christians, so ACT like it, he says! Well, how?

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of

the Spirit in the bond of peace.

The very FIRST thing Paul mentions towards this ‘holy living’ is unity among

believers.

Paul says, I want you to live worthily of the calling by PURSUING UNITY! Oh, but that’s

SO difficult today! We all love the idea of unity, but it’s really hard to practice. We

remember Jesus’ prayer in John 17 where he prays for unity among believers who

would come after him.

John 17:20 NET "I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who

believe in me through their testimony, 21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe

that you sent me.

God’s plan was that all believers would be ONE! Unified! It was never his design that when someone says, “I’m a Christian” we’d have to ask “what kind?” Denominations are

certainly NOT what God intended! And it seems a crying shame that so many

throughout the world CLAIM to serve the same Lord and yet cannot work with one

another.

It’s even more shameful (in my opinion) that many in Christian Churches/Churches of Christ cannot get along with one another. Jesus’ prayer may explain why we’ve not been as successful at evangelism as we’d like. We can’t get along with one another,

so what kind of testimony is that to the world? How we need to understand and

have unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace today!!! But how can we get it?

By what means should we seek unity? I suppose there are at least three options.

This is where we try to gather folks into the church who pretty well are just like us. They

look like us, talk like us, walk like us, etc. That way there won’t be any

disagreements. We’re all from the same culture; the similar backgrounds; interested

in the same things.

Sociological factors

And you just MIGHT be able to get a consistent enough group to have some sort

of ‘unity.’ But, folks, that’s NOT Biblical unity, that’s unnatural uniformity! God

created each of us different and unique and for a purpose. In fact, I’d suggest that trying

to achieve unity on this basis is sinful!

God calls all kinds of people from all kinds of different cultures and all kinds of different

backgrounds into his Kingdom. To not recognize that fact is to go against the will of God! The biggest challenge in the 1st century church perhaps was in getting

Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians to come together, but they did! They

worshiped together, ate together and loved one another.

Galatians 3:28 NET There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,

there is neither male nor female — for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's

descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Doctrinal opinions

This is where we only accept folks who agree with us on all of the important

‘issues.’ The problem is in getting folks to agree on what those fundamental ‘issues’

are. Do we have to agree on every issue in order to have unity? Then we’d have a lot of

churches of one! If not, on how many of them must we agree in order to have unity?

Does the fact that we disagree on even one of them mean that we must break

fellowship? Well, you say, let’s just go by the Bible and do what it says, then we can have unity on what the Bible says. Okay, I agree with you, but let’s at least admit that

it’s a lot harder than we would like to think it is. For example, I believe it is wise to pool our resources together with other churches

to sponsor a missionary in the field.

You might strongly believe that would be wrong. That a missionary needs to be under one church or one Eldership. Does the fact that we disagree mean that we must break

off our unity?

Or you might think that because Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper by taking ‘a

cup’ that we need to only use one cup today in the assembly. Just pass it around as is

the practice of some churches.

I don’t think that example is particularly binding on us today. The point is in

remembering Jesus and partaking together, NOT on the cup. If we disagree over this

issue, can’t we still find some way to worship together? You see how difficult

trying to achieve unity on this basis can be?

What Paul calls us to in this text is unity based on Theological fact.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all

and through all and in all.

Unity should be motivated by Theological Oneness

By that I mean, because there is one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism! That’s the way God designed it! That’s the

way it is! God is one! Jesus, the Lord is one with God! They are one with the Spirit! And if we’re to be one with them, we are to be

one with each other!

For example, my brother and I are vastly different. Growing up we were nothing alike.

He was the cowboy in the family and was very involved in FFA raising hogs & cattle. I

enjoyed riding my horse, but you would usually find me on the ball field, on stage

with the High School Choir, or in the woods with my squirrel dog. We’re different, but

we’re family. We’re brothers NOT because we’re alike, but because we have the same

FATHER!

We are brothers & sisters, not because we’re alike or even think the same on the same things, but because we have the

same Father!If people have the same Lord, believe the same gospel, have experienced the same

reality of being baptized into the same Christ, should they not live out this same unity? The Bible says so. Wouldn’t it be a

sin not to?

Towards Unity, Each Person Has a Part to Play!

7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Therefore it says, "When he

ascended on high he captured captives; he gave gifts to men." (Psalm 68:18)

9 Now what is the meaning of "he ascended," except that he also descended to the lower regions, namely, the earth? 10 He, the very one who descended, is also

the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things. 11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some

as pastors and teachers,

God has given each of us gifts, that’s the point of another one of Paul’s ‘asides’ here

in verses 8-10. The God who ‘descended’ to this world in the form of Jesus, taking on the very nature of man in the flesh is the same

Jesus who ‘ascended’ back into the heavens after his resurrection from the

dead. This all powerful & mighty God gave gifts to men.

At least some of these ‘gifts’ include the roles of apostleship, preaching, evangelism, shepherding and teaching. We shouldn’t get too hung up on this list, Paul doesn’t claim

that it’s an exhaustive list, there are certainly a number of other ‘gifts’ he gives Christians and a number of other roles in

his church (like deacon) that aren’t mentioned. But it’s good to be encouraged that we ALL have a part to play in the work

of the church!

Too many times the impression some churches give is that people come, listen to a preacher and do little else. Their picture of

the body of Christ must be one big mouth with a lot of little ears! But his point is to

emphasize that all of these different functions (or body parts) all work together

for the common goal.

The Common Goal: To Equip The Saints…To Build Up The Body

12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of

Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of

God — a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ's full stature.

14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried

about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their

deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him

the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows

in love.

You’ve been given a gift, a talent, an ability that not everybody has! And God’s given it to you for a reason, to build up the body of Christ, the church. How are you using what

God has given you for the kingdom? Are you using it to build up or tear down? Or

(maybe worse) are you not using it at all?

The using of our gifts towards the building up of the church helps us to mature. That’s

the point in verse 14. We will “grow up” more and more into Christ. Notice the fundamental characteristic present in

verses. 15-16 . . . LOVE! Love is the key to achieving Biblical unity!

See, I don’t think the problem is that we are so much unalike that we just can’t achieve unity. And I don’t think the problem is so

much that we just can’t get in agreement on the ‘issues.’ I think the problem is a heart

problem.

Do we really value unity in the church like Jesus did?

If so, why do we tend to focus on our differences rather than on commonalities?

Do you do that in your families? Do you pray for unity like Jesus did? Do you

even really want unity?Every family has squabbles and

disagreements, right? Not every family is even alike?

Right there in your own family you might have Republicans & Democrats, obnoxious Cardinal fans & fanatic Royals supporters, those in a higher tax bracket and those in a lower, but you all still sit down at the same

table at Thanksgiving and eat together, don’t you? You’re still family, right? Why?

Because you love one another! Love is present FIRST- and you know THAT whenever you disagree or fuss. And

because there is love, you can still sit down at the end of the day and enjoy just being

family, even if you have to agree to disagree on some things. Why, in the family

of God, do we allow fusses and honest disagreements to divide us so bitterly? Could it be that there was never really

LOVE there to begin with?

In our lesson from chapter 3 when we talked about the love of God, that if we

didn’t know that love we wouldn’t understand the rest of the letter. This is

what I meant.

The kind of love God has for us is the kind of love that we’re to have for God and for each other! It’s the kind of love that goes

out of its way for someone else.

It’s the kind of love that rejoices with someone else over their celebrations. It’s

the kind of love that bears itself out in action. It’s the kind of love that

demonstrates self-sacrifice. And it’s the kind of love that is unconditional- that says,

regardless of what you do, I’m going to love you- whatever it takes!

Folks, that’s a challenge for the church today! I’m not sure we exhibit this kind of love for our brethren! In fact, I’m sure we

don’t always!

Are we “bearing with one another in love” as Paul says in verse 2? In other words, do

we “cut each other some slack?” Do we “give each other a break?; the benefit of the doubt?” Strong’s Concordance says, that is, (figuratively) “putting up with one another in love.” Sometimes its difficult to ‘put up with

each other’, but that’s exactly what God calls us to do!

Are we really “making every effort” to demonstrate this unity? In other words, “are we zealous” for unity? Do we “strive for it?” Are we “working at it?” What kind of priority is it in our Christian walk? Too often instead of ‘making every effort’ we sacrifice it at the first sign of disagreement. We jettison it at

the first airing of differences!

Do we value differences over unity or over people? Isn’t there something about us that wants to set ourselves apart from others?

Isn’t this a form of egotism? Disunity originates in pride!

Are you ready for the test: this is the “Heart Test” for unity What is your initial response to the proposal: “What if all believers did

truly become one?” “Praise God?” or “Oh, I’m not sure it’ll work!” or “Oh, there’s some

I really don’t want to be one with.”

I’d suggest that if you’re reaction was more like the second then there’s something in your heart that is standing in the way of

your pursuing unity among Christians. What is it? You need to get it out of your heart

today so that you can get your heart right with God!

Well, again I’ll suggest that if you don’t know the love of Christ, you’ve had a

difficult time understanding how we might even want to get along with one another. You need to know the love of Christ that

surpasses knowledge! God loves you so much he sent his Son to die for you. Won’t you accept that love this morning? Won’t you commit your life to him this morning? How can we encourage you

as we sing this invitation song?