Ephesians: Unity in Christ (4:1-16)

Hello, friends.

This is Pastor Creighton.

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The second lesson is from Ephesians 4, 1 to 16.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in life, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to the one health that belongs to your core.

One Lord, one faith, one victory, one God and Father of all, who is over all and free and in all.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led it host to the host of creatures, and he gave gifts to men.

In saying he ascended, what does it mean that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth?

He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful scheme.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body is joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly.

Makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The word of the Lord.

So let's pray.

Heavenly Father, you are the God who calls us, redeems us, and seals us by your Holy Spirit in Christ.

So, Lord, give us grace to walk in a manner worthy of the unity to which you've called us.

And Lord, send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead us, let them bring us to your holy dwelling.

And we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So, dear friends, today we continue our study of Paul's letter to the church in and around Ephesus with a particular question on our mind, and that question has been: why bother with the church?

We've come to the conclusion of the first half of the letter, chapters 1 to 3, where we've seen that the church is God's chosen, redeemed, and sealed people.

To the church belongs a hope.

The church is God's inheritance.

And to the church belongs power and the Holy Spirit.

See, it's in the church and through the church that God helps the helpless in Christ.

He does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

And in so doing, he makes distinct groups, like Jews and Gentiles, otherwise at odds with one another.

He makes these distinct groups into one body.

And makes this known through his authoritative and inspired apostles and prophets.

And he makes this manifest in the shared life of the church.

And we saw that through this, it's through the strengthening of the Holy Spirit that we the church are indwelt by Christ Himself, that we learn more and more of Christ's infinite, unfathomable love, and that we are filled up by Christ who fills all.

It's been the first three chapters that Paul has laid out his doctrine of the church and what it means to be the church and what it means to be in Christ as the church.

The question in front of us is what does that look like in practice?

What does it mean to put that into action?

To give that some wheels, so to speak.

That's what part two is all about from chapters four to six.

This is very in keeping with how Paul writes his letters.

He wants to establish the gospel truth first, and then he wants to exhort us to put that into action.

And this morning we have an exhortation in front of us, an exhortation that we carry or are meant to carry through the rest of this letter.

The exhortation is this walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

We have a calling.

Well, this word for calling relates us to what we've already seen in chapter 1, verse 18.

Paul has prayed for this church in Ephesus that you may know what is the hope, that is the eternal life in union with Christ, that you may know the hope to which He has called you.

The church is a called people, a summoned people.

It's kind of like getting a court summons.

You don't really have a choice in the matter.

God has chosen you from before the foundation of the world in Christ.

He has summoned you, church, to himself.

This is the calling.

This is the calling to hope that God has given to us.

And Paul is telling us to walk in a manner worthy of it.

This isn't to say, try your absolute hardest to earn this calling, so that God sees how hard you're working at it and goes, yeah, I think they deserve eternal life, sure.

Eternal life is the free gift of God that He has given to us in Christ.

We saw that in chapter 2.

Paul is telling us, don't walk in a way to earn your calling.

God has called you.

Now live it out.

Let your life be consistent with the call that defines you, that finds you and brings you to himself.

Let your life and the practice of your faith be consistent with God's summons and his hope.

So the question for us is what does it look like to live a life worthy of this calling?

Paul gives us a couple of answers here.

He gives us a couple of ideas in verse 2.

What does it look like to walk worthy of this calling?

Verse 2, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.

Humility and gentleness were not virtues in Paul's day.

Humility was seen as weakness, putting the other in front of yourself.

This is a dog-eat dog world.

You better go get what's yours.

But for Paul, humility and gentleness are Christian characters, characteristics.

It's our Lord's character, who says he is gentle and lowly in heart, who says that if anyone would be first, he must be last and servant of all.

Because our Lord is the humble servant, we therefore practice humility and gentleness towards one another.

We practice patience.

And when we do so, we make manifest our Lord's own character towards us.

As early as Exodus chapter 34, one of the most profound statements of God's character toward his sinful people in the Bible, the Lord says to Moses, The Lord, the Lord is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

In other words, there is no limit to the Lord's patience with us.

We therefore are called to be patient with one another.

And if you're like me, that's easier said than done.

Paul also tells us to bear with one another in love, and we're going to return to this idea later.

But the essence is this through God's grace, we the church put into practice the very character of who God is towards us.

We the church, his body, put into practice God's character and love and disposition towards us.

And this brings us to the very heart of the matter.

And I think it's the heart of the matter in verse 3, because this is the idea that Paul wants to spend the rest of our passage unpacking.

The heart of the matter, the heart of our calling is this: that we be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

This word unity should stand out to us.

Oneness, holding things in common, being joined together.

I suspect Paul has in mind the call to unity between Jews and Gentiles who are otherwise two ethnic groups in conflict with one another within the life of this church body.

We saw that in chapter 2.

Paul wants the whole church to maintain unity, oneness with one another.

But not just any unity, a unity of the Spirit.

And we should notice this phrase because it's the Spirit who works this bond of peace amongst Christians.

We don't manufacture our unity together.

The Spirit works this unity among us.

It's not our job to create it, it's our job to maintain it.

Which you could also translate as guarding our unity, watching over our unity, protecting our unity.

We value our common life together, so we're willing to do what it takes to live life together in our daily relationships, in our shared life together as the church.

We walk worthy of our call to Christ when we keep unity with fellow Christians.

We walk worthy of our call to Christ when we keep unity with fellow Christians.

So what does the unity of the Spirit look like?

What does it look like when the church walks in unity?

I think it looks like three things.

I think Paul wants us to see three things that that unity looks like.

It looks like unity in confession.

It looks like unity in our ministry, and it looks like unity in love.

Confession, ministry, and love.

And so, new song, this is a word for us this morning.

Because if we, like the Ephesians, want to glimpse this glorious call of God on our lives, and we want to see the glory of God bear upon our shared life together as a church, then we must reckon with how to live lives worthy of this call that God has given to us.

His humble people, gathered even today on the last Sunday of Epiphany.

We are called to keep unity in the Spirit.

So let's dive in.

If you've got your order of service, your Bible, I would encourage you to open that to Ephesians chapter 4.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

Let's look at unity in confession, verses 4 to 6.

Ephesians 4.

Paul says that there is one body and one spirit, just as you are called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.

So there's probably one word that stands out to you in that passage.

I know it stands out for me, and that one word is the word one.

Truthfully, I can't read this passage without having you twos one playing in my head.

But I will spare you me singing that.

We have one body, one spirit, one hope, which is to say we are one church bound together in the one spirit who brings us this one eternal hope of a life spent forever with Jesus.

We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, which is to say we have one divine master.

And we know that he's talking about Jesus because of how he introduces the letter.

He introduces himself, sorry, as, well, an apostle.

He says, Grace to you and peace from our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul has in mind one divine master, Jesus, who is the object of our faith, with whom we are united by faith, the covenant sign and seal of which is baptism.

And we have one God and Father of all, one creator of all things, whose loving care and sovereign authority upholds all things.

So we should notice something at this point.

That Christian unity is grounded upon definite and objective propositions, which is to say, Christian unity is grounded upon truth claims based on God's own self-disclosure to us and to his people in history.

So here's what I mean by that.

There's doctrinal content to how we live our Christian life.

There are truths that we hold to be that true.

To be a Christian is not to chase after religious feelings, but to understand and live in accordance with the truth claims of God's word.

Having feelings is not a bad thing.

If that's the only thing you take from this sermon, I suppose that's not a bad thing.

Having feelings is not a bad thing.

But having feelings is not what we chase after as Christians.

We believe not because it makes us feel a certain way.

We believe because it is true, because we hold these things to be true because God has spoken them, and they are such.

This means that there is doctrinal boundaries to our unity in the Spirit.

Notice that what Paul is saying here, these truth claims that he's making, they may be not, they may not be an exhaustive creed, but they are distinctly Trinitarian.

And they suggest that we hold to doctrinal truths together that unite us in our common confession of who God is and what he's doing in the world.

To deny an essential tenant of the faith is to deny our Christian unity.

We might say if we just are a little, you know, if we're willing to fudge a little bit or give on a little bit of doctrine, we can maintain a lot more unity, but we make a trade.

We shouldn't.

We can't.

J.C.

Ryle, bishop in the 19th century, that said that unity without the gospel is a worthless unity.

It's the very unity of hell.

Which might sound like a powerful statement, but think about it for a minute.

If you needed a team of electricians to do some work at your home, would you hire a team that isn't at unity with a common understanding of how electricity works?

They were bickering with one another about how it is that electricity functions.

Such a team wouldn't be a team at all.

They'd be at odds with one another, and nothing would happen.

So too with Christian unity, we hold together those essential truths of the gospel so that we may move forward in our common witness and mission.

Friends, it's for this reason that the Anglican network exists.

Because we stand firm for the truth of the gospel.

And it's for this reason that I'm convinced we can, we don't need to fracture into different denominations.

We can affirm an essential unity even amongst denominations.

The failure is not different denominations within Christianity, I think.

It's the failure to recognize the common truths of the gospel that we hold together within different denominations.

I'm not interested in making Baptists into Anglicans.

I'm interested in us holding together to the gospel truth.

We, the church, walk in a manner worthy of our calling when we keep unity in our confession, when what we say of God accords with what God Himself has spoken.

And so, friends, we express this unity when we say the Apostles' Creed together, when we say the Nicene Creed together.

It may seem like a strange part of our service that we seem to interrupt our, you know, the flow of what it is that we're doing to say this same thing that we say week in and week out, maybe without a whole lot of tie-in to our theme for the day or whatever that is.

But why we stand together to say it is to give expression to that unity that we hold in the gospel.

We believe that God has revealed such things to be true in His Word, and therefore these things bind us together and unite us in our common confession.

But it's not enough that we just give word to this unity.

We have to understand it.

We have to be students of it.

We have to learn of it on an ongoing basis and practice deeper unity with one another through our own personal study and prayer, through discipleship, even through living life together in small group settings, which binds us together in a deeper understanding of who God is.

We walk in a manner worthy of our calling when we keep unity in our confession.

But lest we think unity in confession means the church's unity just kind of collapses into a dull uniformity where we all just end up thinking and saying all the same things with one another.

We find unity in our ministry, even in our diverse ministry.

Let's look at verses seven and eight to begin with.

But grace was given to each one of us, writes Paul, according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men.

So Paul wants it known that grace, gifts of grace, were given to each and every one of us in Christ from the ascended and reigning Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

The image is like a victor sharing the spoils of war, and that's why he quotes from Psalm 68 here.

This isn't a reference to saving grace, that grace that God gives to us in our call to Christ.

This is a grace, rather, to serve.

A special grace given to Christians to build up the body.

And we know this because of what Paul goes on to say in verse 11.

Paul has a little bit of a rabbit hole here to explore the ascension of Christ.

Let's pick it up at verse 11.

What's this gift of grace about?

And he, that is God, gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers.

What is the gift of grace that God has given to his church?

He's given ministers.

Or maybe we could say he's given ministries.

He's given apostles, uniquely commissioned by Christ, inspired and authoritative in what it is that they teach.

He's given prophets, those commissioned by God to speak his word to his people.

He's given evangelists, and the New Testament lists Philip and Timothy as evangelists, those who are gifted.

To proclaim boldly and publicly the gospel.

He's given shepherds, which you might have a footnote there that says you could translate this as pastors.

He's given those who are called to preach and lead and nurture the flock, folks like myself.

He's also given teachers, those who instruct others in the faith.

And I do think that those two things are distinct with one another.

I think Paul understands that, yes, shepherds, pastors are called to teach, but not everyone who's called to teach is called to be a pastor.

I don't take this as an exhaustive list.

I think when we look at other places in Scripture, like 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we're reminded that there is a whole plethora of gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to his people.

1 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

1 Corinthians 12 especially reminds us that our common life is enriched by a diversity of gifts.

And it also reminds us not to obsess or privilege some gifts over others.

It's very easy to think some gifts are particularly spiritual.

It's very easy to think some gifts elevate others over others, or certain people over others.

But the gifts that Christ gives to his people, the church, are gifts meant to unify us, to draw us as different members of one body together for a common purpose.

And what is that purpose?

Well, we see it in verses 12 to 13.

He's given these ministries to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ until we attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, which you could just as well translate to full maturity and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

He's given us these gifts to equip the saints.

So keep chapter 1, verse 1 in mind.

The saints are not elite Christians who live flawless lives and have it all figured out.

The saints are all Christians, those who are in Christ.

That's you, and that's me if you're in Christ.

He's equipped the saints, Christians, for the work of ministry, which should make us think that all Christians are called to minister.

All Christians are called to ministry, not just pastors, which sometimes we can be inclined to think.

Pastors might they might get paychecks, they might not, but they're equipped for a particular kind of ministry, and the kind of ministry they're equipped for is to equip those who minister.

We all of us have a ministry in front of us that we are called to live out.

For the building up of the body of Christ, which is to say, to bring the body to a maturity, to a steadfastness it otherwise couldn't have.

See, friends, we the church walk in a manner worthy of our calling when we keep unity in our ministry, which means we serve in accordance with the diversity of gifts that God has given to each and every one of us to build up a stronger body of Christ, even right here at New Song.

And friends, that means you have a gift, and that the church needs your gift.

You might think little of your giftings, you might think much of your giftings.

One way or the other, God has given you gifts to build up his body.

To build up the body such that we would no longer be children tossed to and fro by every fad and false doctrine, but that we would together be strengthened.

So what's your gifting?

Are you serving accordingly?

I just have to say this is one of the things I'm most thankful for about our parish.

Ours is a serving parish.

And it's no accident that our mission statement is to lift high Jesus Christ as we worship, grow, and serve.

We have a parish that answers the call, that wants to understand our giftings and how we can put those into practice for the building up and strengthening of the body.

Nothing delights me more as a pastor than to have those kind of conversations with folks who want to understand what my gifting is and how I can put that to good use.

But none of us can neglect our gifts.

To do so neglects the unity we're called to share in Christ.

We walk in a manner worthy of our calling when we keep unity in our diverse ministries.

Finally, friends, we keep unity.

We walk in a manner worthy of our calling when we keep unity in love.

This is where I want us to land this morning.

Verses 15 to 16.

So, in contrast to being immature children tossed to and fro by every fad and false doctrine, Paul says, Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow, so that it builds itself up in love.

Point of all this is this to grow up into the head who is Christ.

It's easy to get stuck in a spiritual adolescence when we don't serve.

When we start to think church is about me and meeting my needs, and failing to recognize that we in fact have giftings that can meet the needs of others.

What does it look like to grow up in this sense?

The body in each member is to look more and more like its head, like Christ, who makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

How do we know that we're being built up in love?

I think Paul gives us a couple of clues.

He says, verse 15, that we speak the truth in love.

This is not permission for Christian passive aggression, by the way.

Well, I'm just speaking the truth in love.

This is not meant to be a blunt instrument, nor is it meant to speak my truth in such a way that it crushes another.

Paul is saying that what we say matters.

What we say needs to be truthful and honest, but it also matters how we say it.

So when we speak truth to one another, consider do I want to squash my brother or sister with what I'm saying?

Or do I want to build them up?

Do I want their best?

Do they have permission to speak truth and love to me?

And does my attitude reflect what we see in verse 2?

Humility and gentleness and patience.

This brings us back to verse 2.

We're being built up in love when we bear with one another in love.

This isn't loving one another when it's an easy thing to do, when we like one another, when it's easy for us to get along.

This is choosing to love one another even when it's difficult.

This is a deliberate choice, a commitment of the will to will the good of one another, even at the risk of our own self-sacrifice.

Such is the love of God for us sinners, by the way.

Jeremiah 31, God says to his people, I have loved you with an everlasting love.

That is a love that bears with through each and every season.

He bears with us sinners, even at our ugliest.

And even at our worst, he is unswervingly committed to us.

And the cross is proof of that.

So when we turn to love one another with this bearing kind of love, the self-giving love of Christ is made more and more real and demonstrable amongst us, his members.

And in sharing this love, we keep unity in the Spirit with one another.

It's why I think it's so important that we, the church, make a priority to gather in person.

I know right now is a challenging time to gather in person.

I know for everyone that that's not the best idea right now for any particular concerns, and that's okay.

But we're going to come to that point where we're on the other side of COVID where we can freely and truly confidently gather together.

And we need to do so because we cannot bear with one another in love online.

And friends, it's important to bear with one another in love because I'm convinced the world needs this kind of unifying love.

Especially when all other means of man-made unity fail.

And friends, we have seen the means of man-made unity fail this week, haven't we?

We've watched with horror as Russian tanks have crossed the border into Ukraine.

And we've seen war begun, and it leaves us with big questions.

In the middle of war, in the middle of all communities, we need a unifying love that transcends borders and people groups and political interests to bear witness to a unifying love of God for sinners.

We need this unifying love to spill out into our communities, whether in Kyiv or in Port Perry.

I read this week an article by a pastor serving in Kyiv.

It's an article called To Stay and Serve, Why We Didn't Flee Ukraine.

And this pastor raises two questions.

He asks, How should the church respond when there is a growing threat of war?

When there is constant fear in society.

He concludes, we will shelter the weak, serve the suffering, mend the broken.

And as we do, we offer the unshakable hope of Christ and his gospel.

I'd like to suggest that what the pastor is getting at here is a bearing with kind of love.

Bearing with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and bearing with the community that God has called us to serve.

This isn't to offer a cheap solution to geopolitical crises.

Just go to church and you'll be fine.

It is to recognize that the world needs the hope that the church bears witness to.

The world needs a church that walks worthy of her calling.

A church that is the source of unity and love.

And when we do so, we point forward to that day when the kingdom is realized and perfect love unifies us forevermore.

I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We are called to a glorious hope of eternal life, saints, in union with Christ our Savior, and we walk worthy of our call when we keep unity with fellow Christians, in what we confess to be true, in our diverse ministries with one another, and in our love which bears with one another.

Amen.

Thank you for listening today.

We worship a generous God who calls us to follow Him in giving willfully, cheerfully, and sacrificially.

Newsong Church's mission and ministry is one hundred percent funded by the generous gifts of those worshiping and journeying with us.

If you'd like to offer a gift towards Newsong's ministry, please visit Newsongportperry.ca slash giving for more information on how to do that.

May God bless you and keep you today and every day.