The Bond of Peace (Ephesians 4:1-6)

We're going through Ephesians verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and we're going to be starting off chapter four here this morning.

It's really the part of the chapter where things kind of turn.

You know, the the beginning part was a lot about God, a lot about doctrine.

The second half of Ephesians is very much about practical application, really speaking to the church in Ephesus, but we can glean and gain from exactly what Paul is teaching this church in Ephesus as well.

So we're going to be reading Ephesians chapter 4, and we're just going to be covering verses 1 through 6 this morning.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word here this morning?

It's just something we simply do out of respect for God's word.

Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 6.

Ephesians 4:1–6

Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Let's pray.

That we get the chance to come together in this way to glean from it.

So I pray that as we approach these scriptures here this morning, that you would be the one speaking, that I would be able to step out of the way, and that you would be able to deliver exactly what we need as individuals, but as a whole church body here this morning, so that we can get to know you more and that we can become more like Jesus from your word.

So we pray that you would do that work here this morning, that you would have your way and that we would come before you in all humility, just realizing that we are nothing without you and we can do nothing without you.

So have your way in our hearts here this morning, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

You may be seated.

I want to start off this morning with a question.

What is the greatest gift that we could ever receive?

It is the Sunday school answer.

So if there's Jesus, yes, absolutely.

But I don't want us to just say that and move on.

The gift that we have in Jesus, it's not only the forgiveness and the holiness that we receive from him, which is huge.

Through his death, his burial, and his resurrection, but it's the constant grace that we continue to receive from Jesus.

It's the eternal inheritance that we share with him.

It's being seated with him in the heavenly places.

It's being one with him.

The gift of Jesus just keeps going on and going on.

And there's really no greater gift in any area of life, or in the universe for that matter, that's even close to the greatness of the gift that is Jesus Christ.

You know, we can't even begin to imagine the magnitude of this gift and of his love that we're going to be able to enjoy throughout all of the rest of eternity.

Colossians 2, verses 9 through 10 says, For the entire fullness of God's nature dwells bodily in Christ, and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.

Colossians 2:9–10

That's what we've been filled with.

And Paul wants to remind this Ephesian church of this before he gets into this practical application that we've been talking about, before he gets into talking about this church continuing to mature in Christ.

You know, the things that are to come in this book, they cannot be done on our own.

We need to recognize that every sermon that we're going to have through the rest of Ephesians, none of what Paul is saying can be done on our own.

It's only, as he talked about last week in our message, it's only through the power of the Holy Spirit.

It's only if we're allowing Christ to make a home in our heart, in every corner of our heart, so that we can be firmly established in God's love, as we talked so much about last week, and knowing the depth of God's love, and then therefore being filled with the fullness of God.

It's only after that that we then are able to do anything that's of eternal worth.

And if you remember, Paul ended chapter 3 with the reminder that only God is able to do those things through us.

Look back, chapter 3, verse 20.

Just up in your Bible, just a hair.

It says, Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen.

And then the very next word that we see in our passage here today is therefore.

And I really think that it's not just regarding that last sentence that Paul said.

This therefore is the turning point in the book.

It means regarding all the everything that we've learned in the last three chapters.

And that's regarding the vastness of God and how he gives us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and all of those things that we've talked about so far in Ephesians, all of that put together, therefore, and then he moves on here in chapter four.

So, what keeping all of that in mind, what should we do with it, with all that Paul has taught us so far through the Holy Spirit so far?

So look at verse 1 in chapter 4.

He says, Therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received.

So I think first we need to define the word calling.

So I want to put the Hebrew, or not the Hebrew, the Greek definition up behind me.

It says, a calling, calling to, a call, invitation to a feast.

Of the divine invitation to embrace salvation.

So think of an invitation that we would receive in the mail.

Think of maybe like a wedding invitation that asks us, it invites us, but then asks us to RSVP to it.

You are invited, please respond yes or no.

You know, God has given each one of us a divine invitation into salvation, which he asks us to respond to.

Paul's writing to the Christian church here in Ephesus.

So he's writing to a bunch of people that have responded yes to God's invitation to salvation through his son.

Just like if you're a follower of Jesus here today, God gave you that divine invitation and you responded yes to him.

So he says, I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received.

Warren Wearsby has a quote I want to share with you.

He says, He does not say as he did to the Old Testament Jews, if you obey me, I will bless you.

Rather, he says, I have already blessed you.

Now, in response to my love and grace, obey me.

You see the difference there from the Old Testament to the New Testament?

If we are believing everything that Paul has written so far, which I hope you do, because I do, how we live out the things to come in this book, how we live out our faith really, the walking worthy of the calling, needs to be a natural result of our love and appreciation for him, not an obligation.

Now, as we read verse 1, at first glance at least, it's easy to wonder why Paul would interject the prisoner of the Lord statement here, don't you think?

He could have simply just put, I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received.

But he puts that in there intentionally.

The prisoner of the Lord, to remind them that he's writing this in chains.

He's under house arrest.

You know, he's writing to this church in Ephesus that is surrounded by wealth, if you remember.

Surrounded by beauty and amazing architecture, amazing art, some of the best in the world is housed in Ephesus at this time.

Everything that the world has to offer is in Ephesus.

And Paul's gonna challenge him now with some really hard things.

You know, I think what Paul's doing here is he's reminding them mid-letter that if he can do these things that he's about to mention in change, that they can do them in freedom.

You know, if he can do these things through great persecution, they have no excuse but to do them in no persecution, or maybe in mild persecution, or maybe like Paul, under great persecution.

It doesn't matter the amount of persecution, we can be faithful to do the things that Paul is saying here.

So Paul says to live worthy of the calling they have received, the highest calling to follow Jesus.

Now, verse 2 is going to show us the how to do that.

Look at verse 2.

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

Let's break this down into smaller sections because there's a lot right there in verse 2.

Let's just start looking at the words.

But before we do even do that, I want us to think about something.

Every word that we are about to see are words that describe Jesus Christ.

Because in the end, what Paul really is calling us to do, and we're gonna see that at the beginning of chapter 5, is to love each other as Jesus loved and loves us every day.

That's what this is all gonna come down to.

That's the key to how we walk worthy of the calling that we have received.

Actually, just jump there real quick.

Chapter 5, starting in verse 1.

Next chapter, very first verse, says, Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, and walk in love, and here's the key, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us.

That's where we're headed in chapter 5, and Paul's just building up to that right now with the how we can start doing that.

So let's look at that first word, humility.

That just means having a humble opinion of oneself.

So this isn't just acting humble, this is actually being humble.

That your opinion of yourself is modest.

You know, Philippians 2.3 says, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

That's not just being humble because the Bible says we need to, but believing that others are more important than ourselves.

If you remember, Jesus washed his disciples' feet and right before he did that said that he did not come to be served, but to serve.

That's the love of Jesus Christ.

You know, Paul's also an example of this.

He called himself both the least of the apostles and the chief among sinners.

I don't think he was just writing that for optics.

I think he really believed that.

We're not talking about false humility.

This is about treating others as better than yourself and not elevating ourselves.

Even in our own mind.

Not elevating ourselves above others.

And that really needs to be our honest assessment.

Not just what we're shooting for, but an honest assessment of ourselves.

Then Paul goes on and says, and gentleness.

This means mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness.

Not weakness, but meekness.

So humbleness is how we should deal with ourselves.

Gentleness is how God wants us to deal with each other.

The people that are sitting next to you in the greater church body.

You know, there's enough hate and yelling and posturing in the world, isn't there?

Just watch the news and that's that you're gonna see it all over the place.

We don't need more of that when we come in to gather as the body of Christ, as the church.

Paul, through the Holy Spirit, calls us to humility and gentleness, and then he adds, with patience.

Patience means endurance, constancy, steadfastness, and perseverance.

It also translates in some of your Bibles as long-suffering with one another.

I want to make sure we're not thinking that Paul is calling us to passiveness.

You know, oh, they're just a passive person, nothing bothers them.

That's not what this is talking about.

This is an active choice to be patient and long-suffering with endurance with one another.

Until, of course, that person just pushes it too far.

And then we have the ability to do whatever we want.

Because they deserve it, right?

No.

Really, that's what Peter was getting at, though, in Matthew 18 when he asked Jesus, you know, Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?

As many as seven times?

That seemed like a lot in Peter's head.

And Jesus said, I tell you, not as many as seven, but seventy times seven.

That is patience and longsuffering, isn't it?

And if you think that's too many times?

More than somebody that you know deserves, or that that would make you a doormat if you actually forgave somebody up to that many times.

How many times has Jesus forgiven you in your lifetime?

I will attest that it's way more than 490 times for me.

I'd probably hit that limit in a week if that was actually the limit that Jesus was talking about.

You see, this list is simply what Jesus is already doing with us.

How he is loving us daily, how he's forgiving us daily.

And this is how we get to be, if we're able to do these things through the power that God gives us through the Holy Spirit.

This is how we get to be Jesus to the world.

This is how we get to be Jesus to one another, by loving others as Jesus loves us.

Paul continues at the end of verse 2.

He says, bearing with one another in love.

Now, when you think of bearing, the the Greek definition is actually to hold up.

It also translates as suffer and endure with one another in love.

So think bearing one another's burdens in love, helping each other stand erect in the hardest of times.

You know, there are times when we can't stand on our own.

And we need people alongside of us with their arms around us just helping us to stand erect because we can't do it on our own.

There are times where we're gonna be that to others, putting our arms around them and helping them to stand up.

Paul says, don't do that because you have to.

Don't do that with annoyance.

He says, do it in love.

And this love right here is the agape form of love.

So Paul's saying do it sacrificially and unconditionally with godly love.

Let's have a moment of honesty with ourselves here.

Verses one and two don't sound very fun, do they?

If we're being completely honest with ourselves.

Anyone feel like they're good at verses one through two?

You can raise your hand.

Like you've got this stuff nailed down.

Well, if you do, you already failed the humility test, which is at the verse, at the beginning of verse two.

We all need improvement on all of these things because we cannot do them on our own.

And we fail at them all the time if we're being honest.

Because our human nature hates to do all of the things that we've been talking about so far.

But like Paul ended chapter 3, to him who is able.

Now look at verse 3.

We find more instruction here.

Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Notice he doesn't say that we need to create unity amongst ourselves.

He simply says, keep it.

You know, I heard a pastor say one time that you can't create it, but you can sure mess it up.

There should be a natural unity among believers.

Because God is in us, and Jesus bonds us together.

I don't know if this has happened to you.

It's happened to me where you've met another Christian, and even though you're only just getting to know the person, there's just this instant unity that you feel with them.

That's because you have the Holy Spirit in you, and they have the same Holy Spirit in them.

Now I've told you this before, but my office used to be at Malibu Brew when we first planted this church.

You know, all of my meetings, discipleship appointments happened there.

They knew my drink before I ordered it.

I was there so much.

And one day this new guy shows up.

You kind of get to know who the regulars are.

This new guy shows up, and I kept seeing him there, and I just knew that he was a Christian.

I don't know why.

Well, I know why, the unity of the spirit.

But I I just couldn't put my finger on it at the time.

But I knew, and I think it was because exactly what we're talking about.

There was a unity there before I even met him, before I even ever talked to him that I could sense in this guy.

It turned out he was the new director of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for North County after we finally did meet.

Now his desk over at Story Labs is 15 feet from mine.

I've gotten to really get to know him.

But I knew it.

It was a natural unity that we didn't have to create.

It was already there before we even met.

And though we don't have to create this unity, Paul does say that we need to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.

Really to guard and protect that unity.

You know, it's easy to divide over small things within a church, isn't it?

That have no bearing on our salvation.

Secondary issues or tertiary issues for that matter.

You know, well, I'm this denomination and you're this denomination, so I don't want to hang out with you.

You know, or well, I'm a five-point Calvinist and I'm a two and a half-point Calvinist, and you there could be that separation between there.

You know, they wanted green carpet, I wanted blue carpet.

They got the green carpet, I'm an elite.

You know, they moved the piano from the left side of the stage to the right side of the stage, stuff like that.

I didn't make up those last two.

Those are actual things that have caused church splits in the past.

Just ridiculous things where we allowed non-unity to come between us and to split a church.

Romans 12.18 tells us, if possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with one another.

We have to make every effort, as we see in our passage here today, because whenever there's peace and unity that are present in a church, you can know that the enemy is going to work overtime to blow that up.

Placing divisive thoughts in each one of our heads.

You know, that person just walked right by me.

They must not like me.

You know, that person said this.

I wonder what they really meant.

You know, I'm underappreciated in this church.

No one cares about what I do or my needs, so I'm just gonna close off, or I'm just gonna leave.

Miscommunication is a huge tool of the enemy to lead us down all of those roads that I was just mentioning.

Or the enemy is gonna come at us and he's gonna give us self-doubt.

Well, you shouldn't be here.

You sin too much.

Nobody likes you here.

If these people ever found out what really goes through your mind and how you struggle with sin, they would just kick you out of here.

You have nothing of worth to contribute to this congregation.

That's what the enemy sounds like.

And I want to encourage you, whenever.

You hear that voice, that voice that sounds like that, you need to combat that voice with the truth of God's word, with the truth of Scripture, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ.

And you know what that takes?

Effort.

It takes work on our part to not allow the enemy to tell us those lies and for us to not believe those lies.

Our flesh wants to dwell on the what-ifs and the lies and the doubts.

It takes work to not believe the lies of the enemy.

Not just about church unity stuff, but just in our own life.

It takes work to have tough conversations with other believers, to clarify things, with those that you feel at odds with.

Living in unity with each other takes effort, and that's why Paul puts this right here.

There are only a few instances that I can think of where the Bible says, try harder, at least in the New Testament.

And this is one of them: making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

You know what's interesting here in the Greek, the word bond is used to refer to ligaments in the body and how the body is held together with those ligaments.

How the body of Christ is held together through the ligaments of peace.

That's what he's talking about here.

Think of ligaments and how they hold our joints together.

And we already know Christ is peace.

He already told us that in 2.14.

He is the one, Jesus is the one that bonds us together within the body of Christ.

God has created diversity in the body, and it's a beautiful and it's a wonderful thing.

So we're not talking about uniformity here.

That's not our goal.

We aren't trying to all be the same.

But in that diversity, there has to be unity in Christ.

Just like ligaments in the body.

You know, the palm of my hand and my index finger, they're very different.

But they are bonded by ligaments that make them function in unity to accomplish whatever my head is telling them to do, right?

They don't look the same, they don't function the same.

They have very different purposes within my body.

But they're connected, they're united through the ligaments.

And that's the unity Christ desires in us, and He's the one that provides that unity.

Colossians 3.15 says, and let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts.

Look at those last three words, especially.

Rule your hearts.

If we desire unity in the greater body of Christ, it begins with Christ ruling our hearts.

If he isn't ruling our hearts, we have no chance of unity with each other.

I've never seen or heard two people who had Christ ruling their hearts have a disagreement that caused a church split.

It's Christ ruling our heart that then leads to Christ bonding us together in unity with the ligaments of peace.

Which Paul reinforces here in verse 4.

There is one body and one spirit.

So in chapter 2, Paul wrote, you know, in him you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit.

In the same spirit.

So all Christians over all time are one church.

That ultimately makes up the body of Christ.

There's some that are in heaven, some that are still on earth, like you and me.

And we may hold differing opinions on end-time events and how many points of Calvinism we believe in, and what spiritual gifts are for today and which ones aren't.

But as long as we believe in Jesus being the Son of God that died for our sins, and as long as we all have Jesus as the ruler of our heart, as we just saw, and the savior of our soul, then we have the same Holy Spirit living inside of us, and that makes us one.

Which means we should make every effort, as Paul said here, to keep the unity within us.

Now, Paul goes on with some other things that we are also one in.

Look at the second half of verse 4.

Just as you were called to one hope at your calling.

Our hope is in Christ.

Our hope is Christ to take it one step further.

1 Peter 1:3 calls Jesus our living hope.

1 Peter 1:3

And when you think about hope, it has to do with our future, doesn't it?

You don't find people placing hope in their past, do you?

I hope last year goes better for me.

No, it's always, I hope next year goes better than last year, right?

Our hope is always pointed towards the future.

You may have memorized Jeremiah 29, 11, you know, the declaration of the Lord.

The plans, um, where the Lord says that his plans for you are for your well-being, not for disaster, but to give you a future and a hope, right?

It's when we lose hope that things really start to get dark.

When depression can then onset, you know, when dark thoughts start to creep in.

Hope is so important in the Christian life.

You know, as Christians, we have a living hope that lives in us, that desires to make a home in us.

You know, and in Christ, we have the hope of salvation.

The hope of living on this earth without fear.

The hope of eternal perfection with Christ in heaven.

We have a hope that is preparing a place for us right now.

And through the Holy Spirit sealing us, we are guaranteed of that future hope of eternity with Jesus Christ.

We as believers, all Christians, we share that same hope.

We have one hope, and that's in Jesus Christ.

Now, I want you to look at verse 4 in its entirety now, now that we've broken it apart.

It says, There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called, to one hope at your calling.

As hard as it would be for us today, if we lost everything in this world, we should still have hope in Christ.

Where's Paul writing from right now?

House arrest, chained to a Roman soldier right now.

He probably only owns the clothes on his back at this time.

Probably has nothing else in the world to his name at this time.

And he writes about hope.

Think about that.

The hope that we have in Jesus from his own personal prison under house arrest in Rome.

You know, I think if Paul maintained hope through his persecution, through his thorn in the flesh, through his imprisonments, through his lashings and his beatings, through the loss of everything that this world has to offer, that means that we can maintain hope as well, doesn't it?

We so often want to tie our hope, you know, to our next big purchase.

To tie it to the possibility of a relationship in our life.

To tie it to a promotion at work or a different job.

Sometimes we're just hoping for the weekend, that we can just make it to the weekend or make it to our next vacation.

And none of those things are bad things.

But all of those things are gonna pass.

All of those things are gonna leave us empty if that's where we're placing our hope.

But not when we tie our hope to Jesus, and not when we tie it to him alone.

Paul goes on with the theme of oneness that we all share.

Look at verse 5.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

This verse really goes against those that say many roads lead to heaven, doesn't it?

All you have to get to is one Lord, one faith, and that's all you need to hear.

Paul asked the questions in 1 Corinthians 1.13, is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified for you?

Or were you baptized in Paul's name?

To which we can answer a resounding no to all of those things.

There is one Lord to whom we belong.

If you're a believer and follower of Christ, there's one Lord, the Savior of our soul.

There's one faith that leads to salvation, and that's through Jesus Christ.

There's one baptism that we all share, that we are one in.

You know, the word baptism here, I want to just explain this.

It means immerse or submerge.

That's the literal meaning of baptism.

And there's debate over whether Paul is talking about water baptism or a subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit after salvation here.

A lot of debate about that.

And there goes the unity out the door, right?

I don't think he's talking about either one of those arguments at this point.

You know, the moment that we come to salvation in Christ, we are immersed in the Holy Spirit.

He comes and he dwells in us.

Think about it.

That's the only baptism that we all share, no matter what.

You know, if Paul is referring to water baptism here, what about the thief on the cross?

What about the guy that died on his deathbed while giving his life to Jesus Christ?

I don't share water baptism with those two guys, and neither do you.

If this was a subsequent baptism of the Holy Spirit happening after salvation, some people will say, I never had that.

There's some denominations that'll say, I don't ever want to have that.

So again, all Christians don't share in that.

But we all share in the baptism of the Holy Spirit that takes place the moment that we give our life to Jesus.

And he dwells in us from that point forward.

As Paul said in our passage last week, to be strengthened with the power in your inner being through the Holy Spirit.

That's something that we all share in as soon as we decided to follow Jesus Christ.

And that's regardless of all the other stuff, and regardless of the denomination that you're in and what doctrines and theologies you might believe in.

You know, it's all another part of this one big oneness that we're called into with Christ and with each other.

We share so much in common as believers, even if we are completely different from one another.

You know, for you that are parents out there, have you ever desired for your children to just get along?

To actually love each other?

You don't have to raise your hands, that's okay.

As a parent, we desire for our children to live in unity, to work together, to stop bickering with each other.

God the Father desires the same thing for his kids as well.

Because look at the end of verse 6.

There is one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Now, Paul can say this because he's writing to a church, these all statements.

He's writing to believers.

That we have one Father who is above all, who is sovereign, who is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent.

Then he says, through all.

Paul's going back to this idea of being filled with all the fullness of God, just like he ended chapter 3.

And him then empowering us to do things that we could never do on our own.

Like loving each other as Christ loves us.

I can't tell you how many times I've prayed that prayer for myself.

Lord, teach me how to love like you love me.

I think that's a prayer we should all be praying all the time.

Because it's hard.

Our flesh does not like doing that.

And we can only do it through the power of God working through us.

Especially with difficult people.

You know, it's easy to love friends, isn't it?

But the ones that kind of great on us, that we really don't like being around, we're not able to love those people.

But to him who is able to do above and beyond what we could think or imagine.

That's where our dependence needs to be.

Through his power, I think this is our challenge today.

Let's make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace, which is Jesus Christ.

Will you please pray with me?

Lord, we readily admit that we can do none of this on our own.

But we thank you that Jesus showed us by perfect example what this looks like all through the Gospels and how He continues to love us in that way.

So, Lord, would you teach us to love like you have loved us?

Would you give us that same humility and compassion and long-suffering and endurance and forgiveness, all of those things that we are unable to do on our own?

Would you empower us through your Holy Spirit to do those things that we are unable to do?

Help us to recognize how much we need you, how much we need to lean on you and depend on you and realize that we can do nothing on our own.

So would you show us how to do that with each other, with the greater church as a whole, Lord throughout the world, throughout eternity?

Lord, show us how to dwell in unity in a way that is a beacon of light, that stands out so differently from the world around us that people can't help but look and say, man, those people are different.

Jesus, you said that the world will know that we are your disciples by the love that we have for one another.

So would you help us to do that well?

Would you help us to make every effort, as much as it depends on us, Lord, to live in unity and in peace with one another?

And may that just be a great example to one another and to attackero and to all over North County, Lord, and throughout the world.

However, you want to do that.

But I pray that it would start in our hearts, that you would rule our hearts first, and that the unity within the body would be an overflow from that.

We pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.