When we come to faith in Christ, we become part of His family. We have unity with others who trust Him. Paul urges us, in Ephesians 4, to keep the unity.
You can play, download, or read the transcript of this Take Note Podcast below.
Keep the Unity
Ephesians 4:1-7
- Paul urges the Ephesian church to remain unified in our passage of the day
- This is an encouragement every church needs, every individual disciple needs
- Those who have faith in Christ, and Him alone, for salvation, are one
- The Apostle provides some explanation of how we are one in this text
- While we have our individual responsibilities
- And our individual relationships with Christ
- We need each other
- And we have a unity that cannot be changed
- Our assignment is to keep it
- That is really our theme today
- From the text: Ephesians 4:1-7
- We’re urged to “Keep the Unity”
- Paul begins by talking about his own discipleship
- He describes a mindset and a current set of circumstances
- But he immediately transitions to the Ephesian church
- To their mindset and to their calling
- We get into the discussion of unity and the character required soon after
- Let’s read the entire passage, then take a closer look…
Ephesians 4:1-7
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
- How can this “prisoner of the Lord” help us with our vocation and our unity?
- Further details as we explore verse by verse…
Ephesians 4:1
1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,
- The Apostle begins with something that is literally and figuratively true
- He is a prisoner of the Lord
- Locked up for preaching in His name
- And eternally connected to Him, serving without reservation at His command
- He beseeches the Ephesian church
- That is, he summons them to his side, on the matter of walking worthy of their calling
- He wants them to join Him in demonstrating their commitment
- To show a worthiness that is in no sense their own
- Rather it is Christ’s showing through them
- In essence, he is encouraging them to have the courage to rely on Christ
- Because they have work to do that is impossible
- He was doing that same impossible work of reflecting Christ in the world
- Thankfully, both had the Holy Spirit within
- Making the impossible, possible, but only by His power
- That’s why they had to do it in a certain way
- And he describes it…
Ephesians 4:2
2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
- We have lowliness because of reality
- It is Christ in us that does the work
- Therefore we dare not think too highly of ourselves
- Our meekness is a gentleness
- It is a strength under control
- We go about the work with this disposition
- And we should have a patience and endurance that is called longsuffering here
- We will need it
- Paul could testify of this
- As we work together, we will need forbearance
- To hold one another up, to sustain one another
- Because it won’t be easy
- And in order to do that, we will have to love one another
- All of this will be done in love
- For our Savior and our fellow laborers
- That is how we will do what comes next…
Ephesians 4:3
3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
- To endeavor has two general meanings if you look it up in a Bible dictionary
- To make haste
- And to exert one’s self
- In essence, we have to do both in regard to unity
- To exert ourselves in keeping it
- And to do it quickly
- There is no time to waste
- The work of preaching and teaching and reflecting Christ must go on
- And we have been unified by Him to do it
- It’s going to take work
- But we share in one Spirit
- And have a bond of peace in Him
- So we can do it
- The unity isn’t brought about by us
- It is Jesus who brings us into God’s family
- But we work to maintain it
- For it can be disrupted
- Because our calling is so important
- And His name must be glorified
- We have the duty and joy of doing it
- The reality is described as we go on…
Ephesians 4:4-6
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
- As we can see, the unity of God’s family is real
- He has brought us into one body
- And made us one in many ways
- We have been made His body, the church
- We have one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, living within each of us
- And we are called with one hope that comes from Him
- The only Lord we have is Christ, Lord over all
- We share in one faith
- And have all been baptized into Him
- He is One God
- One Father
- And He is over all
- Above all
- Shines through all that trust Him
- And in all who are His children
- It is key to understand this as we work
- God gives us grace to do it…
Ephesians 4:7
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
- We have a calling
- God has given this calling to each of His children
- And it won’t be easy
- It wasn’t easy for Paul
- But we are unified to do it
- So we have to carry it out in a certain way
- But God gives grace to accomplish it
- And each one of us, individually, have this grace