Ephesians 4:1-16
Thesis: God unifies diverse people for the mission of Christ.
Introduction
It was the first day back on the job after his vacation. “How did you enjoy your trip?” asked the fellow worker. “Well,” sighed the weary traveler, “have you ever spent a week in a station wagon with those you thought you loved best?”
Unity of the Church, 4:1-6
A. Worthy Living
- Humility, people in the ancient world despised humility. Humility is a necessity to unity, because pride stands behind discord.
- Gentleness, strength under control, necessary for church leaders.
- Patience, patient people demonstrate long-suffering in dealing with insulting and aggravating people, as God in Christ acts toward us.
- Forbearance is a mutual tolerance without which no group of people can live together in peace.
- Love, if the church is to demonstrate unity before a watching world, love must characterize God’s people.
B. Illustration of the Unity in the Trinity
- Work of the Spirit is to create one Body in Christ.
- Work of the Lord Jesus is to create one hope, one faith, and one baptism.
- Work of God the Father is to bring about one people of God.
- Further illustration: Sometimes unity can be a difficult thing to maintain, especially if we are willing to settle for something less. Unity necessarily involves giving up our own insistence upon having our way in order that singleness and harmony can thrive. Too often, we settle for union instead of unity. England and Northern Ireland have union, but they lack a spirit of unity. All marriages have union, but they lack a spirit of unity, but only unity can make a real marriage. Union artificially binds together dissimilar elements into a single element. Every church has dissimilar elements. When we come together under one roof to worship, we have union, but God calls us to move beyond that into a deeper spirit of unity. Whenever we are able to recognize a distinct group in the church that we can refer to as “them,” we are settling for union. God help us to change “them” to “us.”
C. Application–The call for unity among God’s people takes high priority in the Scriptures.
- We must confess our sins of disunity and ask God to renew His people.
- The church must visibly exhibit an attitude of unity.
Variety in the Church, 4:7-12
A. Spiritual Gifts to the Church–>Leaders
- Apostles–missionaries (this is not the office of apostle, the term is different)
- Prophets–revealing God’s will for the present and the future.
- Evangelists–church planters.
- Pastors and Teachers–spiritual drill instructors
B. Illustration
Konnie Stevens was called to Pastor a large southern church after spending eight years ministering in Moscow and other Eastern European cities. Things had changed a lot in America, especially in the world of technology. Cable, computers, cellular phones . . . it was all so confusing. So when Pastor Stevens complained to his new secretary that he didn’t think that the pager the church gave him was working, she was gentle in pointing out that he was wearing his garage door opener. That of course explained why his pager wasn’t having much success opening the garage door.
Pastor Stevens had all the tools. He just needed a little good information on how to use them. Today, the body of Christ is facing a similar information crisis when it comes to spiritual gifts.
C. Application–Exercising our gifts leads the church to unity, stability, and maturity, rather than to immaturity, instability, and gullibility.
Goal of the Church, 4:13-16
A. “Equip the saints for works of service/ministry so that the body of Christ may be built up,” v. 12.
- the word equip was often used to describe “mending or restoring” people for ministry.
- every member is to be a minister
- mature saints in faith, doctrine and practive.
B. Illustration–a mother asked her little boy why he fell out of the bed. “Guess, mama, it’s cause I stay too close to the gettin’ in place.” We need to move forward in our church if we want to keep from falling.
C. Application–Love will make us tell the truth and will strengthen the fellowship and work of the church.