YouTube video sermon
Ephesians 4:1-16
Four-year-old Johnny falls down on the sidewalk as he’s running to greet his dad, who just pulled into the driveway. Johnny’s two-year-old sister, Susie, just took away his favorite toy, so he’s crying harder than is really justified. Daddy picks him up and says, “There, there, you’re a big boy. Act like it.”
Princess Margaret, as a young girl, sits beside her mother, Queen Elizabeth, at the princess’s first presentation to the British public. She’s called upon to walk to the microphone and say a few words to the gathered dignitaries. As she prepares to stand, her mother learns over to her and says, “You’re a princess. Walk like one!”
Eighteen-year-old Chuck has just gone through 12 of the toughest weeks of his life in the hallowed sands of Parris Island, SC. During his last week, he’s forced to crawl under rolls of barbed wire with live machine gun ammunition blazing just inches over his head. He freezes. His hands dig into the mud beneath him as panic sweeps over his soul. Just then, a friend crawls up beside him and says, “Get a hold of yourself, Chuck. You’re a Marine! Act like one!”
All throughout our lives, from beginning to end, our identity is linked to our actions. Who we are affects how we should act. This is Paul’s point as he transitions from Chapter 3 to Chapter 4 in Ephesians. So, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Ephesians 4.
As you’re finding your place, let me just remind you that this letter divides rather nicely into two (2) sections. Each section has three (3) chapters. The first section is chapters 1-3, and the focus in those chapters is all that God has done for you in/through Jesus. It’s the “who you are” part, if you will. The second section is chapters 4-6, and they focus on the “act like it” part. So, the next several weeks, until we get to the end of the Book, we’ll be hearing/seeing Paul give us specific details on how we’re supposed to act in light of being redeemed people. Contrary to popular opinion, there are right and wrong ways to act, if you consider yourself a Christian.
I also want you to notice the order that Paul uses when making his argument. Chapters 1-3 are focused on our identity (specifically our identity in Jesus). Chapters 4-6 are focused on our behavior (specifically our behavior as followers of Jesus). Chapter 1:1, “…To the saints who are in Ephesus…” Identity. “You used to walk this way, but God…” chapter 2:4 (paraphrase), remember that? But God… Identity. “I pray that your eyes would be open, that your heart could comprehend just how much God loves you,” chapters 2-3 (paraphrase), remember? Identity first. Behavior second. Do you see that order?
It’s imperative that we recognize the order (identity first, followed by behavior). Why is that so important? Because our world is filled with people that are preaching it the other way around. Our society is flooded with people that don’t know who they are. They’re confused about their identities. And since they don’t know who they are, they’re allowing their emotions and their behaviors to lead them to their identity. Now, to be clear, my heart goes out to folks that truly struggle with these issues. And they don’t deserve our scorn or mockery. God knows, that’s the furthest thing from my mind. But Ephesians 4:15 (we’ll read it here shortly) says that we need to speak the truth in love.
So, if you consider yourself a Christian, if you’ve confessed your sin and fallen on the mercy and grace of Jesus, then your identity should affect the way you live your life. If it doesn’t, if there’s no discernable difference in your life or my life, if we’re as worldly and ugly and mean and hateful and not quick to seek forgiveness and confess our sins and serve one another and love one another, if we aren’t seeing the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control grow, then perhaps we should take a long hard look in the mirror of our souls and ask God to renew us, refresh us, convict us and draw us near to Him once again.
I just want us to recognize that Paul begins his letter by focusing on our identity in Jesus, followed by our behavior in light of that identity. There IS a proper order to things, and in this case, it begins with knowing who we are, which then leads to behaving a certain way. Okay, enough of an intro. Let’s read Ephesians 4:1-16:
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call – 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“When He ascended on high He led a host of captives,
and He gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) 11 And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
“Our great God and Father, with our Bibles open before us, we ask that You speak to us, that we would receive the truth of Your Holy Word. Take Your truth, plant it deep in us; shape and fashion us in Your likeness.’ For we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.”
As Paul turns to the application of truth, I find it significant that he doesn’t talk about evangelism, or prayer, or worship – not that any of those things are bad, indeed they’re good and great things – but first on his list is unity. Now, I suppose that I shouldn’t be as surprised by that as I am, primarily because that’s exactly what Jesus prays for in John 17, but because of our usual understanding of who Paul was (missionary to the Gentiles) you’d almost think that he’d spotlight evangelism. But no; he begins with unity. And while I normally have three points to emphasize, today I have seven (7). Don’t worry, we’ll go through them fairly quickly. All seven points are identified by the word ONE… You’ll find them in verses 4-6:
- one body,
- one Spirit,
- one hope,
- one Lord,
- one faith,
- one baptism, and
- one God and Father of all.
One Body
No, not our human body, but the body of Christ. It’s made up of every single person who has ever accepted Christ at any time in history. Every true Christian is a part of the same body – the Church. This is what’s meant in The Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed by the phrase “one holy catholic church.” Catholic, in that sense, simply means universal. The word “catholic” comes to us directly from the Greek. It’s made up of two words κατά “about” and ὅλος “whole.” While there might be different Christian denominations, there aren’t different bodies of Christ. There’s only one body. All of us here come from various denominational backgrounds, but we’re all family members in the one body – the Bride of Christ, the Church.
One Spirit
Likewise, there’s only one Holy Spirit. There isn’t a Pentecostal Holy Spirit and a Lutheran Holy Spirit and a Baptist Holy Spirit, or even one for America and one for Africa and one for Asia. There is only one Spirit that indwells every Christian in the world. In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he says the same thing, “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jews or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:13). And this Spirit is also connected with the Body. The Greek word for spirit means breath, and unless the breath is in the body (speaking literally), the body is dead. In the same manner (speaking spiritually), the vitalizing breath of the Church is the Holy Spirit. Another way of putting it is this: there is no true Church without the Holy Spirit. Oh, you can find many buildings that look like churches (or don’t, in many cases) and names of marquees, but if the Holy Spirit of God isn’t moving and working in the hearts and lives of those gathered, then it’s not a Church.
One Hope
With all of the different views and interpretations regarding the end-times in the Church today, it seems hard to believe that there could be only one hope. Many people, myself included, find it hard to understand. If there’s only one Spirit teaching the Church, and that’s what John 16:13 says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.” So, if that’s the way it ought to work (according to the Bible), then why are there so many views on prophecy and the end of the age? Ego and limited human capacity to understand and comprehend. Ego because once we’ve been convicted of a particular understanding that’s the only possibility. Limited human capacity because so much of future prophecy is described in otherworldly language. The main thing to remember about “hope” is that Jesus is our hope. As long as we remain focused on Jesus as our hope, then we’ll remain united.
One Lord
Now, I don’t want to make a big deal about this one, but notice where this particular point falls. It’s right in the middle. Christians weren’t persecuted because they believed in the Christian God. Nobody was more tolerant of religions than the Romans were. In fact, many of you have visited a building in Rome called the Pantheon – that temple dedicated to “all gods.” It wasn’t that Christians had their own God that caused them to be persecuted. It was because they believed He was the only God. In fact, many scholars believe this verse was the basis of one of the earliest creeds – Ιησούς κύριος (Jesus is Lord). Caesar wasn’t lord. Jesus was Lord. He’s the only Son of God, the only bridge between God and man.
One Faith
This isn’t talking about personal faith. This a declaration that there’s only one system of belief, one body of ultimate truth. There’s a little book, right before Revelation, a single chapter book called Jude. In verse 3 of that teeny tiny book Jude writes this, “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” That’s what this means. Our faith includes our understanding of who God is. It includes who Jesus is. It includes our understanding of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It also includes our understanding of man, and sin, and salvation. Certainly more, but no less than this is what constitutes our faith.
One Baptism
Again, we come from a variety of denominational backgrounds and thus a variety of baptismal practices. Some sprinkle, some immerse; some baptize people of any age, some only adults; some baptize three (3) times – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, it would be easy to think that there are many baptisms, but in reality, there’s only one. In the early church, there was a higher price attached to baptism than today. It was often done in the presence of the local community, not just the Christian community, and so it took a serious step of faith to make a public declaration of your decision to follow Jesus as Lord. To submit yourself to baptism was the formal entrance into the life of the congregation, the body of Christ. If you’ve repented of your sin and, by faith, have cast yourself on the grace and mercy of God through Jesus, but you’ve never been baptized, then I want to invite you to come see me. We’ll be having our annual baptism service in another month or so, and we already have one or two people signed up. Come see me or talk with me. We’d love to celebrate your confession of Christ Jesus and your commitment to His Church.
One God
Deuteronomy 6:4 is a verse in the Old Testament that every Jew recites twice each day. It’s commonly referred to as The Shema or Sh’ma Yisrael. The name is taken from the first two words in Hebrew, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Paul reminds us that true worship of God is understanding God as the Bible presents Him.
One of the trends of liberal Christianity is to allow cultural accommodation to dictate how we understand God. And there are some churches and some pastors that reject this title for God because they perceive it to elevate the male gender above the female gender. And while it’s true that God doesn’t have a gender – He’s Spirit, light and love (John 4:24; 1 John 1:5, 4:8). Nevertheless, the biblical authors most frequently used this word to describe God. In fact, it’s the way that Jesus described God. He’s the Father. Paul didn’t say that God was king or judge, although He’s both of those too. Paul singled out God as Father. Jack Hayford wrote a short hymn in 1973 that captured the essence of what Paul was saying here. The words go like this:
Father God, I give all thanks and praise to Thee
Father God, my hands I humbly raise to Thee
For Thy mighty power and love amaze me, amaze me,
And I stand in awe and worship Father God.
And finally, there are three further adjectives that Paul uses here to describe our great and mighty God and Father.
He’s over all. That means that He’s sovereign. He’s in control. Everything and everyone is under His rule. We like to think that we’re the master of our own domains. We call the shots. We’re the only sheriff in our lives, but that’s just not true. God is over all.
Paul says that God is through all. That means His will and His way will be accomplished. It’s another way of speaking about the providence of God. One of the faulty images that people have of God and His creation is that He created everything and wound it up like a child’s toy or a watch, and then let it go. When it runs down the world will come to an end. Folks, that’s just plain wrong.
Again, according to the Bible, God is all through His world, guiding, sustaining, and loving. This idea of God as Sustainer captured my heart several years ago and it’s been tremendously humbling. He’s not only the Creator, but He’s the Sustainer. Think about it. Every breath you and I breathe is only because of the sustaining grace of God. Again, we get so caught up in living life that we rarely think about these kinds of things. We wake up… We get dressed… We have our morning routines… We check our calendars… We go here, we go there… We make our plans… We go days, weeks, months, maybe even years and never pause to think, “You know, it’s only because of the sheer grace of almighty God that I’m still alive.” God is through all.
And last, God is in all. Now I know what you’re thinking, and that’s not what this means. God isn’t in the trees and in the rocks and in the animals. That’s a form of pantheism; coming from the Greek words πᾶν (meaning “all”) and θεός (meaning “god”). No, no, this is Paul’s affirmation to the Ephesians (and you and me) that by faith in Christ the Holy Spirit of God resides in His followers. Paul wants us to remember that we live in a God-created, God-controlled, God-sustained, and God-filled world.
Unity doesn’t mean uniformity. It doesn’t mean we all have to be cookie-cutter Christians. Nor does it mean unanimity – we don’t have to agree on every single statement and every single doctrine. Nor is unity an ecumenical movement where we set aside core beliefs to find the lowest common denominator of agreement. Unity is embracing Jesus Christ as Lord of life and Lord of the Church, and bowing before Him in all things. Paul said, “When I came to you, brothers and sister, I didn’t come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
In these days of great disunity and strife and separation, may we (the Church) “…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we’ve been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Perhaps, the great revival that so many of us have been praying for will be ignited when those who are fighting in the streets outside the Church see such a beautiful and divinely sustained unity inside the Church that they come in to learn more.
At the same time, however, may we be on guard that we don’t compromise our core convictions: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all in some desperate attempt to broaden the banner of Christianity to include anybody and everybody – even those that reject the perfect Son of God as their precious Savior.
It’s not a simple task, but look around… It’s not an impossible task, either.