Ephesians - Spiritual Unity - Ephesians 4:1-6

I think it might be good for me and perhaps good for you if every day we'd ask ourselves, "Lord, what did I do today to promote the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?" 

It may not look like it and it may not feel like it, but today God is at work in this world putting things together. Now Satan is at work using the world's system to tear things apart. Ephesians 1:10 tells us what God's ultimate purpose is: that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ. And so God is uniting in Christ; Satan is dividing by leading people away from the truth of God. 

In our Lord's high priestly prayer in John 17, the unity of His people was a great burden. It was a priority. John 17:11, He prayed, "Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are." Now He repeats this in John 17:20: "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me." 

Unity is not uniformity. Where there is unity, there is life from within. Where there is unity, there is freedom and diversity. But where there is uniformity, there's bondage and conformity. It's cultic; everybody is alike. Where you have unity, it's based on truth and love. Where you have uniformity, it's based on propaganda and suspicion. And Paul is urging us in Ephesians 4 to walk in unity. 

You'll notice Ephesians 4:1: "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Now there we have Paul's admonition to us, and he tells us here that if there's going to be Christian unity, there must be humility. Let's consider these first three verses and see how humility helps us to build Christian unity in our homes, our churches, and even in our communities. 

There are three considerations here that I think are important. First, in Ephesians 4:1, the encouragement that Paul gives. This is a loving appeal. "I beseech you, the prisoner of the Lord, I beseech you." Not "I command you," "I beseech you." The word means to exhort, to encourage. Paul said, "I want to encourage you to develop an attitude that makes your walk worthy of your calling." This word "worthy" is an interesting word. It means keeping the balance. Now on one side of the scale is all that we have in Christ. On the other side of the scale is all that we're practicing in Christ. And alas, I fear that too often we know far more than we practice. We are great to hear the word, we aren't too happy about doing the word. 

It's a loving appeal. Paul was in prison because of his love for the Gentiles. Paul believed in unity in the church. There was a group of people that said you could only be saved if you became a Jew; a Gentile must become a Jew to become a Christian. Read Acts 15. Paul said, "No, there is a unity in the church. Jews and Gentiles are one, one body in the Lord Jesus." Well, the Jewish people did not want that, so Paul was a prisoner because he believed in Christian unity. I wonder how many of us are willing to go to prison by promoting Christian unity? 

Well, it was a very loving appeal, a very logical appeal. He says, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, encourage you." He's been talking about what God has done. Now he says, "You walk worthy of what God has done." And so it is that Paul wants us to be worthy saints. The encouragement he gives us is this: if you walk in discord, if you walk in division, you are going to hurt the very gospel you're trying to preach. Are people going to believe that God loves them if they don't see that Christians love one another? Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called—a gracious calling, a hopeful calling, a calling that is the greatest thing in all the world. The encouragement Paul gives. 

Secondly, in Ephesians 4:2, the essentials that Paul names. Now this unity Paul's talking about is not some spiritual unity that only God can see. I've heard people make excuses and say, "Well, you know, the church is one body." That's true; we read that, of course, in Ephesians 4:4. But the unsaved world doesn't see one body. It sees divisions, denominations, all kinds of, sometimes, competitions. And Paul is telling us in Ephesians 4:2 that the only way the world is going to see that there is a unity among God's people is the way we act, how we behave. 

He names four essentials: lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, and bearing with one another in love. Lowliness—with all lowliness. When you have a lowliness of mind, you don't think little of yourself, you just don't think about yourself at all. It sees other people as being bigger and more important than we are. Now Jesus was this way. In Philippians 2, the Lord Jesus Christ is described: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." He's the example. Paul had written to them and said, "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better," or more important, "than themselves." Lowliness of mind. 

Gentleness—this is the word meekness. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). Jesus was meek. He had gentleness. "I am meek and lowly in heart" (Matthew 11:29). You see, meekness is not weakness. Jesus was meek, He was not weak. Moses was meek, He was not weak. Gentleness means power under control. If we want to, we can hurt people. Ah, but we keep that power under control. 

Longsuffering—patience means we are patient in circumstances; longsuffering means we're patient with people. Sometimes it's hard to be longsuffering with people, but God is longsuffering toward us. Oh, how we need longsuffering. Colossians 3:13, "bearing with one another and forgiving one another." That's where the rub comes in. We hold grudges against people. Now when you and I practice Ephesians 4:2, we are making Christian unity visible. The unsaved world looks at us and they see lowliness, not pride; gentleness, not throwing power around; longsuffering, not short tempers; bearing with one another in love, and even bearing one another in love. And they say, "This must be real." And the world looks upon our unity and says, "We believe." 

Now how do we do this? Ephesians 4:3 tells us, the enablement that God gives to us: "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Now the unity is already there. The Holy Spirit has already created this unity. It's not something we have to manufacture. He lives in all believers. He magnifies Jesus, who is the center of our unity. There is one Spirit, there is one Lord, and there is one body. So we don't have to manufacture unity. What we have to do is practice it, and that takes endeavor. The word "endeavor" means to labor, to work at it, to be diligent, to guard and to promote the unity of God's people, to make it visible. The next time one of the saints disagrees with you, this is an opportunity to practice unity. Doesn't mean Christians don't disagree. We do disagree. But we disagree without being disagreeable. we disagree as loving family members, not as enemies on the battlefield. We disagree as those who have the Holy Spirit of God living within us, enabling us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That's our job today. Let's not fail the Lord. 

Well, let's focus on our identity in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:4, 5, and 6: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." You noticed, of course, that Paul is discussing the entire Trinity. Salvation involves the entire Godhead: God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And Christian unity involves the entire Godhead: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And if we emphasize one person in the Godhead over and above any other, we are creating division. 

Well, here are the spiritual bonds that tie us together. Let's begin with God the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4:4: "There is one body." Now this one body is the living organism which is the church. Now Jesus Christ is the head of this body. Ephesians 1:22, "And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." The head of this body is not some denominational leader. The head of this body is no person on earth. The head of this body is Jesus Christ up in heaven. Now this body is made up of Jews and Gentiles who are all one in Christ. Ephesians 2:14, "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross." He took Jew and Gentile and put Jew and Gentile together in the church. 

Now Paul wrote about this in Colossians 3:11, "where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all." In the church, which is His body, Jesus being the head does not see the distinctions that we see. We see black and white, we see various denominations, various kinds of social levels. God doesn't see this. Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus." One body, and we're members of that body. Ephesians 5:30 tells us that: "For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones." 

Now there are local bodies. There are local assemblies of believers, and these local assemblies should bear witness to the fact that they belong to each other, and they need each other, and they affect each other. We can't have independent churches. Now I know what they mean when they write that on the sign in front of the building. They mean by that it does not belong to any denomination. Well, there is no such thing as an independent church because every church made up of true believers in Jesus Christ belongs to the whole body, which means we belong to each other. 

There is one body. Now how did this happen? There is one Spirit. Now there are many unholy spirits, all kinds of demonic forces are at work in this world today, but there's only one Holy Spirit. And the one Holy Spirit who gave Jesus His physical body in the womb of Mary, gave Jesus His spiritual body at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit of God came down and baptized believers into one body. And every time a person trusts the Lord Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit baptizes that believer into the body of Christ. There is only one Spirit. If you are saved, you are saved through the ministry of the same Holy Spirit who led me to Jesus Christ. We do not belong to different camps, different kinds of Christian living. No, there is one Spirit whose great desire is to glorify Jesus Christ. 

There is one hope of your calling. He talked about this in Ephesians 1:18, "the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling." People have different opinions and different convictions about prophecy. Makes no difference. You and I may not agree about the tribulation or the rapture or some of these other matters. That's all right. You and I agree that Jesus is coming again, and we had better be ready. There is one body, one Spirit, one hope. 

Now God the Son is mentioned in Ephesians 4:5. Here we have three more spiritual bonds of unity. "There is one Lord." Now this is the central statement of these seven statements. The thing that ties everything together is Jesus, the Son of God. Now there are many false lords, many false gods, but Jesus is the only true Lord. And knowing Him and having fellowship with Him by faith is what brings about unity. The sad thing is people focus on human leaders. They follow this preacher or that writer or that theologian. There is one Lord. And the test of salvation is what have you done with Jesus? 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God." Now how simple can it get? Jesus is Lord. And no one can say and mean "Jesus is Lord" apart from the Holy Spirit of God. 

One Lord, one faith. This does not mean our subjective faith. One woman was healed by touching the hem of His garment; a man was healed by washing mud out of his eyes. The evidence of faith and the working of faith subjectively is different in different people. He's talking here about an objective faith, a body of truth that is held by all Christians everywhere. All Christians do not agree in their interpretations of individual passages of Scripture, but Paul said, "I have kept the faith." In 2 Timothy 2:18, he warned about those who "overthrow the faith." He's talking about a body of truth that was given by the apostles to the next generation, and they have passed it along to us—the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. 

There is one faith. There is one baptism. I do not believe he's talking here about water baptism because there is not then one baptism; there'd be two baptisms: water baptism and Spirit baptism. 1 Corinthians 12:13 talks about the baptism of the Holy Spirit: "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." How did you get into the body of Christ? By being baptized by the Holy Spirit. Now water baptism symbolizes this. But you start discussing baptism, you'll have division. He's talking about that one baptism that all Christians have experienced, namely, the baptism of the Holy Spirit of God when the Holy Spirit placed us into Jesus Christ. The important thing is that you know Jesus Christ as your own Savior. This one baptism into the one body by the one Spirit, making us partakers of that eternal life. 

Ephesians 4:6, we have the Father now: "one God and Father of all." He is our God, He is our Father. That means we are children in the family of God. You see, when it says here that He's the Father of all, that doesn't mean that mankind totally is saved. We hear so much about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. There's a sense in which God is Father of all as Creator; we are all brothers in that sense. But here He's talking about salvation: "who is above all, and through all, and in you all." Notice that—in you all. That means they are believers. The Lord lives in them. Ephesians 2:22, "in whom you also are being built together for a habitation of God in the spirit." God lives in us. There is one God and there is one Father. And so we all belong to one family, and when we pray, we say "Our Father," not "my Father." Our Father, which art in heaven. We have God the Father living in us through the person of God the Holy Spirit. We are a habitation of God through the Spirit. Oh, what a high and holy calling we have. 

When you know you belong to the one body, you're inhabited by the one Spirit, you have this one hope before you, there's only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and this one God is your Father—above you and around you and in you and through you—that should make it easy for us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.