LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

Paul's Appeal to Unity
Attributes Needed for Unity
Common Beliefs Create Unity

Ephesians 4:1-6

INTRODUCTION

As is typical in nearly all his letters, Paul in Ephesians first deals with the theological issues of the matter he is addressing (unity, Eph. 1-3) and then deals with the way our theology should affect our behavior (Eph. 4-6). By doing this, Paul is following the framework Moses himself laid out in the 10 Commandments: the first 4 deal with God, while the last 6 deal with man. Our relationship to God should always determine our relationship with others. Jesus put it best: "[First] love the Lord your God . . . and then love your neighbor as yourself." In fact, the only true way to love your neighbor is first to love God wholeheartedly. Now that Paul has established the theology behind unity (Eph. 1-3), he will show how this should affect our behavior (Eph. 4-6).

PAUL'S APPEAL TO UNITY (4:1)

I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

Here Paul lists 2 overall reasons Christians should foster unity among themselves. First, he is a prisoner for the very cause of unity. Paul could have rejected God's calling for him to unite the Jew and the Gentile by means of a faith relationship in Jesus Christ. If he had just gone to the Jews and preached Jesus AND added circumcision and the Law as important for the Christian life, he would have not suffered like he did. Instead, he was faithful to God's calling on his life; he preached the unity of Gentile and Jew which could come only by faith in Jesus and not by works of the Law. It cost him dearly. As he was writing Ephesians, he was sitting in a Roman prison because the Jews were angry at him for reaching out to the Gentiles. Look at what happened to him in Jerusalem which led to his arrest. He had gone quietly into the Temple at Jerusalem and offered some alms for the Jewish poor. Some Jews from the Roman province of Asia had turned on him because they claimed he had brought a Gentile into the Court of the Jewish Women. When he defended himself before these men, they got really angry at him when he shared with them that God had told him to focus on ministering to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21).

Well, Paul is languishing away in a prison for the sake of the Gentile Christians which included the EPHESIAN CHURCH! If they refused to create unity in their congregation, they were basically rendering his ministry meaningless. He was suffering for nothing!

Second, Paul is urging them to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. By “calling” Paul is referring to the great and noble task God has entrusted to them: the task of unity all creation (including Jew and Gentile) under the lordship of Jesus. Now the word “calling” has behind it the idea of royalty. Royal persons are called upon to perform royal tasks. Princes are to act princely. Princesses are to act like princesses.

One of the great men of the ancient world was Alexander the Great. By the age of 33 he had conquered what was then the known world (or the vast portion of it). He, not Julius Caesar, was known as the great man of eastern Asia and Africa. One day he came upon a young man who had committed a crime. When asked what his name was, the young man replied: “Alexander.” Alexander the Great replied, “Young man, either mend your ways or change your name.” The same applies to us. We have a great name: CHRISTian. Either live up to this great name—by creating unity or else change your name from CHRISTian to something else.

ATTRIBUTES NEEDED FOR UNITY (4:2-3)

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Strive for Unity

Unity doesn’t just happen, at least not on this side of eternity. When Christ does return, He will transform us completely into His image where there will be no sin, no divisions, just unity and peace. IN THE MEANTIME this unity is something we must work for in the church. When Paul writes that we are to be “diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit,” he is demanding an all-out effort to produce that unity. Markus Barth, the great commentator on the Book of Ephesians, translates Paul’s words this way: “Yours is the initiative! Do it now! Mean it! You are to do it! I mean it!” Paul, who is suffering in a Roman jail for this very cause, passionately calls us to exert the utmost effort to produce unity within our midst.

That means many times that we are not to use our positions in church to criticize church leadership. We are NOT to use our Sunday School lessons or departmental times to undermine the ministers or the programs of the church. Prayer requests are NOT times to get in our digs at people in the church. I was in a meeting one day and somebody prayed something specifically regarding me. My first response? Do the exact opposite of what they were praying for. But if I did that, then I was letting them control me. So, I decided to do what I believed the Lord wanted me to do, even if it agreed with their prayer request regarding me. Many, though, would have understandably totally reacted and done the exact opposite of what that person prayed for. Such behavior would not create unity in that situation. Regardless the person or the situation, take the high road and create unity.

The Four Characteristics

• So what attributes should we have in order to create unity? First, exercise humility. This trait was one the ancient world looked down upon. The proud man, the confident man, the self-made man—this is what the ancient world (and even our world today) admires. Christ, though, calls for humility. He not only called for it; He demonstrated it first by leaving the glories of heaven and becoming a Man and second by dying on the cross for OUR sins, not His sins, but for OUR sins. Whatever humility is, it is basically making life about others AND NOT ABOUT YOURSELF. It is truly putting others first. Paul writes: “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of the others” (Phil. 2:3-4).
  

  So what is humility? It is not putting yourself down as some think. If you dress up, put on make-up, and apply some perfume and some guy comes up and tells you how beautiful you are, don't lie and say, "I am not!" when in fact you are. Rather, just thank him sweetly. But that is not humility either. Humility is basically putting others first as Paul says in the Philippians 2 passage. It is not that you neglect yourself; it is just that you put others first.
  

  There is always the danger that if I don't put myself first, then no one else will and I will fall through the cracks of life. The truth, though, is that if I and everybody else put others first, instead of one person putting me first, a lot of people would be putting me first.
  

  I experienced this to a wonderful degree on a mission trip in 1986. I took a bunch of hoodlums on a mission trip (hoodlums I really loved) to Colorado. Before we left, we made 2 pledges to each other: first, wherever we went, we would allow the adults to get at the head of the line, the young ladies next, and finally the young men. It created such a noble and gentlemanly atmosphere on the trip. Second, we committed to putting each other first instead of ourselves. I can honestly and accurately tell you that that was probably one of the best trips I ever led as a youth minister. There was such sweetness and harmony on that trip—all because of humility. This is what Christ wants us to create in our churches.
  

  I applied just this same principle this morning in one of my philosophy classes. I had each person put themselves first by having them give themselves a neck rub. Then I told everybody to get into large circle and give the person in front of them a neck rub. Guess which way worked the best? Guess which way brought about the most amount of job? (These are rhetorical questions.) It really was a wonderful exercise.
  

• Second, exercise gentleness. By "gentleness," we don't mean "weakness" or "wimpy-ness." Only the strong person (physically or emotionally) can truly be gentle because the idea in this word is that of controlled strength, the best example being the trained horse. A wild stallion is powerful but is good for nothing. A powerful thoroughbred which has been tamed and which can be controlled can win the Triple Crown of horse racing.
  

  Many of us are wild stallions, tons of emotional strength but not under control, not winning any championships. Christ commands us to exercise gentleness; in fact, He blesses the gentle person: "Blessed are the gentle for they shall INHERIT THE EARTH" (Matt. 5:5). That is a truly amazing statement because we are taught that the self-confident, the proud are the ones who inherit the earth. Yet, Jesus was so gentle that He demonstrated it by blessing the little children. The great Creator of the universe who with one word could snuff out creation (that is power!) sits down and hugs the children. That is the true meaning of gentleness. This kind of gentleness produces harmony in all our relationships, even the church.
  

• Third, exercise patience. This is one attribute we expect, in fact demand others to exercise towards us but one which we excuse ourselves from exercising. When someone does something wrong that we don’t like, we criticize that person. When confronted by someone about our critical spirit, we defend ourselves by saying, "I'm just human!" AND when we ourselves do wrong and people criticize us, then we defend ourselves again by saying, “I’m just human!” (That phrase totally gets overused.)
  

  Two responses to this.
  1. Like Kathryn Hepburn told Humphrey Bogart in the movie The African Queen, “[Human] , Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.”
  2. “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.” If we should rightfully expect people to be patient with us, then they in turn should expect us to be patient with them.
  

  A quick glance at the Greek word for “patience” (makrothumia, pron. “MACRO-thu-mee-ah”) helps us to understand even better what it means to be patient. Part of the Greek word—macro—has the idea of “largeness.” Instead of being petty creatures gripping about every little thing that doesn’t go our ways, we need to be large persons.
  

  This past week, I received an email from my sister praising our soldiers who are fighting overseas. It showed different pictures of our soldiers in their extreme circumstances. Under one picture which has a soldier all alone playing a game on the computer, the caption says: “When a soldier comes home, he finds it hard.... to listen to his son whine about being bored.” Under another picture with a soldier in a tank riding over a bridge that has basically been blown to shreds, the caption reads: “When a soldier comes home, he finds it hard.....to keep a straight face when people complain about potholes.” Under another picture in which the soldier is fast asleep on top of his Humvee, the caption reads: “When a soldier comes home, he finds it hard ...to be understanding when a co-worker complains about a bad night's sleep.” It keeps on and on with these kinds of pictures and captions, showing us how “large” in spirit these men are and how small and petty most of us are at times. Large souls, though, are what are necessary to create the kind of church Jesus died to give us.
  

• Finally, showing forbearance to one another. Many of us can be patient towards somebody else for a short period of time. No problem there. The problem occurs when that person repeatedly does the same irritating thing over and over and over and over again. Now that is different! (At least that is what we think.) The words translated “showing forbearance,” though, addresses this very issue. We are not to be patient just once or even twice, not even just seven times, but rather seventy times time. In other words, unlimited patience is necessary for relationships.
  

  But isn’t it unrealistic for people to have to show patience continually? Isn’t enough ever enough? Jesus claims that you and I will be treated the same way that we treat others (Matt. 7:1-5). Since you do need to receive unlimited patience not only from others but especially from God, then how much more should you show unlimited patience. AND in case you don’t think you need unlimited patience from others, just ask them how hard it is to put up with you. Don’t ask your closest friends who would never tell you the truth; ask your enemies who will more than gladly tell you the truth about yourself. You need unlimited forbearance from God; therefore, you need to demonstrate unlimited forbearance towards others.

COMMON BELIEFS CREATE UNITY (4:4-6)

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

For the past 500 years the Christian church has been ravaged by divisions over doctrine. First, Martin Luther separates from the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of the way a person is saved (saved solely by God's grace received through faith). Second, Luther's emphasis on the individual's need to have faith splintered the church even more, resulting in numerous denominations, especially the Anabaptists and Mennonites. Third, a new force in Calvinism emphasized certain doctrines, such as predestination, and then used logic rigidly to support these doctrines. Finally, you have the emergence of churches which almost exclusively emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit in a person's life, the Charismatics. These divisions don't even account for the split between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church in 1054 caused by different views of the papacy and the person of the Holy Spirit.

So much division in the Christian church with everybody going around claiming that they are right and everybody else is wrong. Christians have burned other Christians at the stake for these claims. It really is a sad commentary on the state of the church.

C.S. Lewis stated that he hoped that all these divisions in the body of Christ indicate that we are in the infant stage of the church, that as the church grows and matures, we will once again experience unity in the church. For this reason, he wrote Mere Christianity which focused on the basics of Christianity which should unite all true Christians regardless of the denominations they support.

Even though much divides Christians (and maybe even legitimately so), there is still much that should unite us. I should be able to worship in church that is part of a different denomination than Baptist. In these verses, Paul lists beliefs which should be COMMON to ALL Christians.

Notice in this list that Paul divides our beliefs into 3 major categories, each category focusing on ONE person in the Godhead: God the Holy Spirit, God the Son, and God the Father. In fact the great creeds of the ancient church are structured around the 3 persons of the Godhead in reverse order: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We don't simply believe in God; we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Moreover, look at Paul's emphasis on the word "one." Seven times in this passage Paul uses this word "one" to emphasize our oneness, our unity. Paul will also use the word "all" to express this same unity. God is not just for one particular set of people; He is for ALL! As long as they respond to His Son in faith.