Unity - Ephesians 4:3-6

We're discussing these days Ephesians 4. This begins the practical section of this particular letter. As we've pointed out in previous studies, Ephesians 1, 2 and 3 deal with doctrine, Ephesians 4, 5 and 6 deal with duty. The key word in this last half of the letter is the word "walk." In Ephesians 4:1, "walk worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called." Ephesians 4:17, "that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk." Over in Ephesians 5:2, "walk in love." Ephesians 5:15, "see then that ye walk circumspectly or accurately, exactly, not as fools, but as wise."

You can divide these three chapters into four walks: Walk in unity, Ephesians 4:1-16; Walk in purity, Ephesians 4:17-5:17; Walk in harmony, Ephesians 5:18-6:9; and Walk in victory, Ephesians 6:10 through the end of the letter. Here are four walks of the believer.

The Christian life is a walk. It's a day-by-day fellowship, a step at a time. We cannot walk faster than the Lord wants us to walk. Some Christians want to run all the time. Well, there are occasions when we have to run. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Sometimes the emergencies of life come upon us, we have to run. And God helps us to run. But the daily Christian life is just simply a walk, a step at a time. "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord." God wants us to live deliberately, a step at a time. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path." The word of God shows us a step at a time. God's not going to show you what's going to happen next year, or next week, or even tomorrow. "Down knows not what a day may bring forth" warns the scriptures. So, just simply be a walking Christian, walking with the Lord, walking with one another.

Now, we noted that Paul is dealing here in Ephesians 4:1-16 with the matter of unity. "Walk in unity," Ephesians 4:3, "endeavoring to keep, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Now, please notice that Paul does not tell us to create this unity. It's already there. This unity is already there. We are to endeavor to maintain or to guard as a treasure, this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. It is a spiritual unity.

Now, much is being said these days about church cooperation and church union. Paul doesn't say one word here about uniformity or union, but unity. That's a big difference. Uniformity is outward agreement. You watch 100 soldiers marching on the parade ground, that's uniformity. For all you know, they all may hate each other and hate the drill sergeant who is drilling them. Unity comes from the heart. Uniformity is pressure on the outside. Unity is love on the inside.

Now, I have four children, each of them is different. You have children in your family, perhaps, and they're not all the same. But a family still has unity, not uniformity. My what a dull world this would be if every human being was exactly alike. Our God is a very creative God. He is infinitely creative. Every snowflake is different, every flower is different. Crystals have a beauty all their own. People have a beauty all their own. God doesn't want us to be exactly like one another. God never told us to be like D.L. Moody or William Carey or Hudson Taylor or some great preacher. He told us to become like Jesus Christ. And the more we become like him, the better ourselves will be. God wants us to have wonderful unity, but not uniformity.

Now, I believe all Christians can walk together. And I believe in many things Christians can work together. I do not believe that all Christians are supposed to belong to one great organization. Nor do I believe that God expects churches to lay aside their own individual beliefs, that they might merge together simply for the sake of merging. You see, God wants each of us to be like Christ, not like each other. And the more we are like Christ, the more we'll be able to walk together and to work together.

Now, I want to point out a very startling fact, it's very obvious, but we miss it. Before Paul talks about unity, he spends three chapters talking about doctrine. Did you notice that? He talks about predestination, election, salvation, grace, mercy, peace. He talks about all that God has done for us in Christ in Ephesians 1, 2 and 3. Then he talks about unity. Now, that leads me to believe you cannot divorce unity and doctrine. Some people want us to do this. They say, well, your church believes differently about some doctrines, so you just throw yours out the window. Oh no. Now, the only way we can really have unity is if we have a solid foundation of doctrine. Not man's beliefs, not the decrees of some church, but what does the Bible have to say? Now, it's been my privilege to preach in churches of many denominations. The outward trappings of a church may differ from some other church. But I want you to realize that among evangelical Christians, among those who accept the Bible as the word of God, who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and who believe in salvation by grace through faith, there is a wonderful unity among these people.

For years, it was my privilege to serve on the staff of an interdenominational organization, an evangelical organization dedicated to winning young people to Christ. I worked with people of different denominations. And yet we had wonderful unity because we believe the basic fundamentals of the faith. Now, you come along and say, I don't believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. I can't walk with you. I'm sorry. I can't work with you. You say, I don't believe that men are sinners. I'm sorry, I can't walk with you. I can't work with you. You say, I don't believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I'm sorry. I can't walk with you. You say, then you're not showing Christian love. Now, wait a minute. Paul talks here about Christian love, but he also talks about the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and he talks about the faith of Jesus Christ. For three chapters, Paul has been saying, this is what is true about Jesus Christ and the church. If a man holds to these basic beliefs, then you can walk with him. And you can together maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Now, Paul goes on in Ephesians 4:4-6 to give us the ground, the basis of our unity, this unity already exists. In every professing church, there are true believers. I believe this with my whole heart. I have met people who belong to different churches, different denominations, who know Christ as their savior. It was my privilege a few years ago to minister to a lovely group of people up in Canada at a conference grounds. I'd never met people from those churches before. And yet they knew Jesus Christ as their savior, they believed the word of God, and we had wonderful spiritual unity.

Now, the word of God teaches us that this unity among all believers already exists. Notice please, "there is one body." Now, there are many churches, but there's one church. There are many local assemblies of believers, but in the eyes of God, there is but one body. This is the body of Christ. Over in 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul explains how this body came being. In 1 Corinthians 12:13, "for by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one Spirit." Now, this baptism here in 1 Corinthians 12:13 is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is not water baptism. Many people have experienced water baptism who have never been saved. They just been dipped or sprinkled or poured. Paul is saying here, there is in the mind and in the heart of God, a wonderful spiritual body. This body is the church, the body of Christ. We saw in Ephesians 1 and 2 that Christ is the head of this body, and you and I as believers are members. We're parts of the body. We're living parts of the body.

In our church, when people present themselves for membership, we meet privately in a new members meeting and we explain to them what the church believes, what we stand for, what we're seeking to do. We think this is a good. It helps people to understand the full meaning of their church. And yet some people are just joiners. They aren't members. You see, a member is a living part of the body. A joiner is just something attached to the body. As I speak to you right now, I'm looking at my arm. My arm is a member of my body. It is a living part of the body. The watch around my wrist is just a joiner. It's just attached to the body. I can take it off. Every night I take it off. Now, some people who are members of local churches are not members of the one body. The Spirit of God has never come into their lives and attached them, so to speak, to Jesus Christ.

There is one body. And "there is one Spirit," says Ephesians 4:4. "Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling." Now, Ephesians 4:4 emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit: the one body, the one Spirit, the one hope of your calling. Now, all Christians have the same glorious hope: "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ." There is one body. This one body has been formed by one Spirit, and this body is looking forward to one hope.

Now, "there is one Lord." By the way, there are seven items in this listing: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. There are seven items. And the middle item, the central one is one Lord. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the church. No man on earth is the Lord of the church. No man or woman in heaven is the Lord of the church. Jesus Christ is the Lord.

Now, the reason there are divisions and dissensions is because people will not bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God has written the Bible. The Bible leads us to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And where people will not bow to his Lordship, there can be no unity. I cannot walk with someone who does not bow to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If you put anyone else alongside of Jesus Christ, he must have the preeminence. He is over all prophets, all teachers, all men who ever they may be, who claim to be religious leaders, Jesus Christ is the one Lord.

Now, "there is one faith." This has a twofold meaning, I believe. Faith in the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints. There's one faith. One common body of truth possessed by all Christians. Now, we may differ on how to organize the church. We may even differ on how to baptize people. We may differ on how often to have the Lord's supper. We may differ as to the kind of robes or not. We may differ as to the kind of music that we use. These are the outward things. When it comes to the basic faith, there is one faith.

Now, Titus and Jude call this "the faith once for all delivered to the saints." One and for all, God has given to us in his Bible, a body of spiritual truth, a body of doctrine. And this is the faith. What a scientist does in a laboratory depends upon the basic principles of science. And what a church does depends upon the doctrine of the faith.

Some churches don't preach anything. A friend of mine worshipped in a church in New York City some months back and the preacher preached on the trees of New York. Now, I don't want to go to church to hear a nature lecture. Nor do I want to go to church to hear someone tell me how to run the country or politics. I go to church to hear the doctrines of the faith. This is the food on which a saved person, a Christian, lives.

"There is one baptism." As far as the one body is concerned, there is one baptism. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now, water does not put a person into the body of Christ. Any preacher who says, I baptize you into Jesus Christ is not using Bible language. The words may be in the Bible, but not the truth. We are baptized into Jesus Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit. When a person trusts Christ as his savior, the Holy Spirit immerses him in Jesus Christ, identifies him with Jesus Christ. And so as far as the one body is concerned, the church, there is one baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

"God and Father of all, and through all, and in you all." Notice the inclusiveness of this all, all, all. God is above all. He is through all. He is in you all. And therefore, we all belong to God.

Now, this is the unity Paul's talking about. Paul is not telling us to put this unity together. Paul is not telling us to strive to work for a unity. He says, brethren, this unity is already here. You all belong to one body, you have experienced the one baptism. You belong to the one Lord. You have the one Spirit. Now, maintain this unity in the bond of peace.

May Jesus Christ be glorified through the lives that we live. Bless those who are listening who are members of local churches. Help them to be a part of unity and not disunity. Help them to show peace and harmony and not discord. And may the world see through our wonderful unity the blessing that it means to belong to Christ. For we pray in his name and for his sake. Amen.