Ephesians 4:1-16 - Maintaining Unity in God’s Family

Belonging to God’s Family (Part 5)
Maintaining Unity in God’s Family
Ephesians 4:1-16
Jeff Garrett

For three chapters Paul has explained God’s eternal purpose and now we come to …

Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Earlier (3:1) Paul referred to himself as a “prisoner of the Lord for the sake of you Gentiles” (as if he were a prisoner of Jesus, not Rome) and now he refers to himself as a “prisoner for the Lord” (for the sake of Jesus and his passionate conviction for a united Jew-Gentile church). The word “urge” means “to call near”, “to invoke”, “to impel by force and vigor.” His urgent appeal is to live a life worthy of the high calling you have received. You’ve received a high calling (chosen and predestined, sealed and seated with Christ) – so now, live up to your calling in four areas. To live a life worthy of the calling you’ve received …

• Unity (4:1-16)
• Purity (4:17-5:20)
• Family (5:21-6:9)
• Spiritual Warfare (6:10-24)

Paul’s first concern is the unity of the church. In 4:1-16 he shows three ways to maintain unity.

1. The attitude of unity (4:2-3)

4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul lists five qualities of a Christ-like attitude which enable us to maintain unity.
Be completely humble – “completely” means thoroughly, totally, always humble. Humility is means “lowliness”– the humble recognition of the worth and value of other people. Prior to Jesus the Greeks and Romans viewed humility as a character deficit. But Jesus exalted humility as a virtue and taught us to be like little children, to wash each others feet to think of others as better than ourselves.
Gentleness means to be kind and tenderhearted and meek (not weak but strength under control. Patience means to be longsuffering with people (especially those who aggravate you). Bearing with one another refers to mutual forbearance and love embraces the preceding four).

These five qualities describe the attitude of unity. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Paul did not say “make some effort” or “make a good effort” – he said “make ever effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” We do not create unity by believing identically. The Holy Spirit created unity and we must be eager to keep the unity the Spirit created

2. The foundation of unity (4:4-6)

4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

These three verses contain the seven “ones” of Christian unity, three refer to the unity of the Godhead (One Spirit v.4, one Lord v.5, and one God and Father of all v.6), the remaining four refer to our relationship with God. Our unity is related to the unity of the unit of the Godhead. There is only one body, one hope, one faith and one baptism because there is only one God – Father, Son and Spirit. You can no more multiply churches than you can multiply Gods. You cannot split the church anymore than you can split the Godhead. Is Christ divided? If you cannot divide Christ, you cannot divide his body. Somebody says, “If that’s true, how do you explain all the split churches?” In the mind of God the church is not divided. When God looks at the church he sees one big family. When we get to heaven we are not going to be divided by denomination. Our church has a history of being exclusive.

There was a joke that made the rounds years ago and it went like this. Peter was taking people on a tour of heaven and he showed happy of people (e.g. the Baptists and Methodists and the Lutherins and the Catholics and Presbyterians) but then he came to a door and they could hear people on the other side of the door. But Peter said “sssshhh be quiet. This is the church of Christ. They think they are the only ones up here.

Now the sad thing about that joke is that it was true. That’s exactly what I believed. On Sunday mornings I would see people gathering at different churches and as I drove by I thought how sad it is that all these people think their Christians but they’re not – their all deceived. What was wrong with me? Well, there were many things wrong with me but I want to highlight two. First, I didn’t have the attitude of unity (I was proud, not humble. I was judgmental, not gentle). Second, I added to the foundation of unity. I counted things that were not essential as though the were. Then I learned about Jesus and the grace of God and I begin to change. I learned a little motto that helped me maintain unity and I use it often, hoping to weave it into the fabric of teaching and our church.

Repeat after me: In essentials we have unity (echo). In nonessentials we have liberty (echo). In all things we have love.

What are the essentials? We just read them in Ephesians 4:4-6 (One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all).

What are the nonessentials? The nonessentials are things that fall outside the realm of the seven ones of Ephesians 4. Romans 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. In Romans 14 Paul illustrates the principle of accepting people without passing judgment using three disputable matters: diet, drink, and days – and he says in Romans 14:4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand Let me give you a little test. I am going to list some issues and I want you to respond and tell me whether they are essential or non-essential.

One Lord
Mixed swimming
Instrumental music
Organizational structure
One body
Smoking
Celebrating Christmas
One Spirit
Using different Bible translations
Watching soap operas
One hope
Praise teams
One baptism
Dancing
One faith
Sunday school
Frequency of the Communion
Women’s role
The name of the church
One God and Father of all

Now, don’t get caught up in these issues and miss the point. The point is clear. We have to be mature enough to differentiate between nonessential (disputable) matters and the essentials. That’s why I like the motto: In essentials we have unity. In nonessentials we have liberty. And it all things we have love.

You’ve got to have the attitude of unity. You’ve got to stand on the foundation of unity. And third you need to discover and use your spiritual gifts.

Discover and use your spiritual gifts

4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. In v.7 Paul said “to each one of us” grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. He’s not taking about “saving grace” here – he’s talking about “service grace” – he’s talking about spiritual gifts. A spiritual gift is a God-given skill or ability that enables Christians to be fruitful and fulfilled as they build up the body of Christ. Some people confuse the gifts of the Spirit with the gift of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. These three are not synonymous. The gift of the Spirit (Acts 2:38) is the Holy Spirit himself, who indwells every Christian. The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) are the Christ-like qualities that the Holy Spirit produces in us such as love, joy, peace, patience, etc. But the gifts of the Spirit are God-given skills or abilities that enable every Christian to be fruitful and fulfilled as they edify the body of Christ. And that is what Paul is referring to in Eph 4:7-11.

8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." 9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers ...

Christ descended from heaven, died on the cross and God raised him from the dead – then Christ ascended higher than all the heavens and sent the Holy Spirit who distributed spiritual gifts to each one of us. He mentions five here. We no longer have apostles and prophets like the 12 and Paul and the inspired prophets who served as the foundation of the church. Eph. 2:20 says that church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets who gave us the Bible (although both gifts are used in a general since e.g. missionaries sent forth and people still exercise the prophetic gift in a general since i.e. not giving more revelation but giving us greater insight into what has already be established). But the three remaining gifts “evangelists, pastors, and teachers” remain along with all the other gifts that are mentioned in the Bible.

If you would like to discover your spiritual gifts pick up the “Unwrapping Your Gift Inventory” at the Welcome Center after the assembly or check your email and download the attachment I will send this afternoon.

The point I want to make is that Jesus has given each one of us spiritual gifts and we nee to discover what they are and use them. A common mistake is to view hired staff and volunteer leaders as ministers who are responsible for the work of service.

How many ministers do we have in our church? Somebody says “The ministers are the hired staff and the elders.” No, every member is a minister. Look closely at Eph 4:11-12. The role of the evangelists, pastors and teachers is 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

How can we maintain unity? We’ve got to have the attitude of unity and stand on the foundation of unity and each one of us need to discover and use your spiritual gifts.

Prayer Time

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Small Group Questions

Maintaining Unity In God’s Family
Oct. 12, 2007


Ice Breakers

As a child, did you play well with others? When and how did you learn that basic skill?
Are most of your friends like you or different from you?

Text - Read Ephesians 4:1-6

1. What kind of life is worthy of your calling (vs. 1)? Do you view your life as a calling?
2. Having urged the Ephesians to live worthily, Paul then begins to list characteristics which are important in the Christian life. First on the list is “humility”, coupled with “gentleness”. How would you define humility? Gentleness? Why are these two characteristics important in the church? Isn’t there a danger of Christians who are humble and gentle to also be weak?
3. Can you recognize ‘false humility’ when you see it?
4. Next, Paul lists “patience” and “bearing with one another in love”. How do these two work together? Why are they important?
5. How do you develop the ability to ‘put up with others’?
6. These virtues together have been called ‘the four graces of unity’. How do these graces foster unity?
7. What are the opposites of these four traits?
8. What is the foundation of unity in the church? What causes a lack of unity? If the church lacks unity, what is the result? What are the symptoms of the disease and how can the damage be repaired?
9. Why does unity require so much effort? What has caused the church to be sidetracked from its true calling?
10. Read verse 11-13, Unity does not mean that we are carbon copies of one another….from these passages in what ways are we different and how can people who are essentially different become unified?
11. How is maturity measured? How can you tell the difference between a mature Christian and immature Christian?
12. What are some ‘winds of teaching’ and cunning and craftiness’ and ‘deceitful scheming’ which are prevalent today, which may be traps for immature Christians? How can you help someone who is caught in one of these forms of false teaching?
13. When it comes to ‘speaking the truth in love’ which is more important: the truth or love?What is your role in Christ’s body, that is, what body part are you?