How to Live in Unity

Do you enjoy getting something new? And then for some things, they just become “The thing”? at least for a while, there is nothing else that you want to think about. Somehow every conversation came back to that gift and the anticipation of putting it all into use…

For me that would be the way I have gotten about a new set of golf clubs. I certainly don’t play as much golf today as I had in years past, but that has not meant a reduction in the enjoyment I get from an afternoon outside at the golf course…so that has meant that about every 10 years or so, I would look at new clubs…

Then after all the time to work through the selection, then that set of clubs would be out in the garage, all shiny and waiting for the next available afternoon. Now next available really means the next non-rainy day where I can ignore all of my other responsibilities and get out to a course.

What I really want to do, is to play the course and see how each of those clubs is going to help me. Will the driver bring a straight tee shot that lands in the fairway with a clear line to the green? Will each of the irons give me the distances that I need in order to land the ball on the green, as compared to the water or the sand? When my swing fails and I miss the green, will the short irons pitch the ball up so close I could hardly miss the putt? Then will the putter smoothly roll the ball right into the cup. I need all of those new clubs to do the things that they have been designed to do to bring a unity to my golf game from tee to green, over, around and through the hazards all for the purpose of bringing me glory in my own mind…because I am realistic that none of that will ever change my paycheck…it is just about the joy of the game…and every swing with every club counts the same. A 275 yard drive counts the same as the 50 yard pitch which counts the same as the 6 inch putt, because I missed the 3 foot putt, oh yeah, that counted too…But all that is to say that every club is different, in design and purpose, but all are made to work together for the unity of the game.

Building on Our Heritage

As we have begun to look at Ephesians chapter 4, we have also begun to see that God is bringing all of us together in the church, made to work together for the unity of the church.

Eph 4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called

Not using 1-3, circle slide or Eph 2:11-14, 16, 3:1, 3:6, 3:10-12

Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, just as you were called in the one hope of your calling…

And we have also found as Paul continued that each one of us has been gifted by grace according to the measure of Christ’s gifts. Not unlike the differences in a set of golf clubs, some of us are very similar with common giftings of differing amounts and others with very different gifts, like the difference between a driver and a putter, but each equally valuable with an common purpose, that the church might be built up

Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of god to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ

For all of this we would find the result to be a unity that comes because we are not tossed about by the winds of culture or even of false doctrines, but that as one we would be speaking truth in love following the headship.

How is it possible that all of this could happen with such a diverse group of people when we consider the Jews and the Gentiles at the time of the writing of this letter, or even such a diverse group of people as we see right here at Faith North, but then add in the uniqueness’s of Faith East and Faith West. WhenI speak of our three campuses, I talk about the unity between them with the differences that come in the personality and make-up of each campus…

How to Live in Unity

How is all of this possible to bring us all together to joyfully seek the unity of the body?

Because in Jesus Christ, we have something new, something very, very new that changes everything about the way that we play the game, no, not the way we play a game, but the way that we live our lives worthy of the calling with which you have been called…the ways in which we find that the unity of the church is more attainable.

With all of that in mind, I would like you to open with me to the Letter to the Ephesians, this week we are going to unpack the truths in verses 17-24.

I will let you know today, that because of the depth of all that is within this passage, we will be covering it over the next two weeks where today, I will cover the whole of the passage and next week Pastor Mora will help us break down the last 3 verses with a focus on how the heart is renewed.

Join me as we read together, starting at Ephesians 4, verse 17

READ EPH 4:17-24

With the time that we have available to us today, I would like us to unpack

3 aspects of our new life in Christ that makes unity in the church more attainable.

The first aspect that we are going to look at from our text today is that we each have a new walk.

I. You have a New Walk

And we are not talking about a walk on the golf course, because Golf has often been described by saying that “golf has too much walking to be a good game and just enough game to spoil a good walk.” But then we are also not talking about a new set of clubs, and I know that my illustration with golf clubs might be meaningless to you…but what about that new set of mechanics tools with 500 pieces so that there is no job for which you do not have the right tool…or maybe you are thinking of when you received a new computer, tablet or phone that promised to bring you together with all your friends, and to solve your issues of connectivity and productivity.

We might see any of these as life-changing, but the truth is that none will have the same impact, or bring the same joy as a new life in Jesus Christ. These other things might bring the fleeting desires of our hearts in this world, but none of that will last…

This is why Paul has implored us to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

As such to seek this new walk in the unity of the body, we must understand the parts of our old life that hindered our ability to find our joy in seeking unity in the body of Christ.

First we find that it is a new walk because it is

Not in the futility of your own mind

Eph 4:17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, (Not v. 18)

Even though Paul was writing to the Gentiles, he is calling them, and us, to a new way of thinking and living, that we would no longer live as we all once did, like the Gentiles, of which he was referring to the pagan nations of the times, that we might continue in the futility or the emptiness of their thinking.

This could have included the superstitious idolatry of the day and the worship of gold or silver idols or the reverencing of a specific animal or place as spiritual or even prayer to the dead and the idolatry of the bones of the dead as if they might be of some help

The futility of the mind could also include the empty platitudes of common beliefs, such as the thinking that our favorite uncle who treated us so kindly, though he professed clearly that he did not believe in God, we want to believe that he us happily smiling down upon us, or that he lives on in our hearts…these are kindly motivated sentiments with a goal of making us feel better in a time of grief, but they are all still just myths.

Or maybe it is simply the belief in the goodness of God and that if I just do enough good in my life, he will find that his scales of justice have been tipped in my favor and he will welcome me into heaven…

All of these come to be from the futility of our own minds. We were created to worship and when we ignore the truth of our creator, we naturally seek to find something else that we will worship, something else that will fit within the box that our futile hearts create to try to explain this world and our lives in away that we might desire them to be…

The world would tell us that we ought to simply follow our hearts, but God’s word would warn us against this futile thinking….for

Jer 17:9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?

Jeremiah goes on to say that only God is able to search the heart and test the mind even to give to each man according to his ways

So then, how do we find this new walk and a change in our thinking…

It begins with the truth of God’s Word. He does not leave us to figure it all out on our own, but he has provided all that we need for life and godliness.

2 Tim 3:16-17 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

By seeking God’s word, rather than the thinking of this world or the futility of our hearts we can step our on a new walk with the Lord.

Now you may say, that I just don’t understand god’s Word without hearing it on Sunday…let me recommend a couple things to help…

• Consider which translation you study in…If you find the English difficult to understand, then you can read God’s Work in a different translation that may be of help. I found the New Living Translation helpful when I first began reading for myself. This does not mean spending money on new bibles of every translation for your home…you can use Bible Gateway or Blue Letter Bible for free to gain access to many translations to help you see God’s Word as a new mercy every morning.

• Then if you say, I just struggle wanting to read the Bible. That may be a residual of futile thinking telling you that you can’t or don’t need it…What do we do then? Ask God for help, pray before reading God’s Word to ask God to reveal Himself and give you a growing joy in seeing His guidance for a new walk.

Through the word, the grace given to each of us along with the help of the Holy Spirit changes that such that we can walk in ways that are pleasing to God first instead of walking in way that seek to please ourselves or others.

We are able to step out on a new walk because of seeking God's thinking and because we are no longer

B. Not apart from the life of God

Eph 4:18a being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God

When we walked as the Gentiles walked, there was something else that Ephesians told us was true about our lives.

Eph 2:1-2 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

(No pics from Harvest)

When we walked as the Gentiles walked, we were separated from God because of our own unrighteousness, because of the one whom we were following, whether we believed it or not, we were then walking according to the prince of the power of the air.

We do not have to worship Satan to live in a way that he is satisfied with. In truth, the majority of us lived lives that were separated from God not because of the works of the devil, but simply because we were living with a darkened understanding, not seeking God, and as such Satan did not find a need to expend his limited power or limited forces to try and keep you away from God.

That is the story of my testimony, that for years, I believed I was good enough, my life and family certainly looked good to others yet my heart was darkened, I really did not want anything more and I did not even realize that I was separated from God because of my sin…

But He changes all of that…

Eph 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

It is only through His work, through His grace that we can be made new, to be made alive again so that we can begin a new walk no longer apart from the life of God…

And we can step out on this new walk, with a renewed cardio, and a pep in our step because we are no longer walking with

Not with a hardened heart

Eph 4:18b-19a because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart and they, having become callous,

Where Jeremiah had given us the ugly truth about the wickedness of our hearts, he has also gone on later to show the people of Israel and foreshadowed for us God’s plan for redemption and provision saying…

Jer 31:33 “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

As he laments the truth that “My covenant they broke although I was a husband to them…” was an indicator that their hearts were hardened and not ready to accept the Word of the Lord and that would have been true for us before being made alive in Christ…but again – God has the answer

He tells us through the prophet Ezekiel

Ezk 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them.

Ezekiel was pointing us to the unity of the body that comes with a heart ready to receive the Lord, a heart that has been redeemed through the New Covenant, through Jesus Christ, by the blood shed on the cross.

This is a part of why we will gather together again tonight for Church Family Night as a demonstration of the unity of the body and as a means to celebrate the new covenant written upon the hearts of flesh of God’s people. If it is not your regular practice to attend Church Family Night, would you consider changing your schedule tonight and joining us to celebrate the Lord’s Table together, witness testimonies of those growing in their walk with Christ, and to remember the New Covenant sealed by the blood of the Lamb.

Then to understand this new walk, we can see what it does not look like, because it is

D. Not with endless impurity and greed

Eph 4:19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

Paul is describing our old walk. And we certainly must consider what we remember about the old walk, cautious to not desire the old walk, but to understand it as a means to protection from returning or from judging others.

Before we were new in Christ, our old selves were callous to the sin in our own hearts and to the sin that we watched all around us. And that callousness, or insensitivity set the stage that we might gradually surrender our selves to three kinds of wickedness, “sensuality” meaning shameless debauchery, “impurity” that is riotous immorality and greed, an insatiable desire for our wicked desires, a desire that can only stop with a change of our hearts, which only comes from the grace of God.

When we begin our new walk, it is not that these desires instantly disappear, because our sinful nature remains, but because we have been redeemed and made new, now sealed by the Holy Spirit, he begins our life of change, this new walk.

Paul is exposing for us here that immorality is not just harmless fun, enlightened liberty or something exciting to spice up life, but rather that immorality and impurity and greed corrode the soul. This is not just a problem for a life without Christ. It is also the poison that can remain in the heart that has chosen Christ, but is not making new choices on their walk

Who can help us when we are trapped in sensuality? If you find yourself constantly drawn back to a sexual relationship outside of God’s design between one man and one woman in marriage, including the temptation of pornography, you may still feel trapped. One man described it saying “it’s as if we were imprisoned in a stinking cell and even though we sometimes gazed through the bars and wondered what life would be like outside, we believed we couldn’t leave. But on the cross, Christ paid the ransom price to open the door of our cell when He redeemed us with this precious blood. He has brought us up into the bright sunshine and blinking with the amazement we began to realize in the light of the sun just how filthy we had become and how beautiful life and the light can be.

What we need to hold on to is the truth that the blood of Christ has paid not just to set us free but to keep us free. We can find our hope in knowing that Christ walks with us so that we do not have to go back into that cell to be trapped.

- Greed can also be a very deceptive trap – about money, about our things, about our time, even about things that God says are good…When we are believing that we never have enough, and if only I could (fill in the blank), then I would be satisfied, but again, only when we find our satisfaction in the blood of Christ, can we find that we are able to make the new life choices that reflect our new walk in Christ.

I am not standing here denying the challenges of our lives, I am not preaching that this would all be easy if you just had more faith…

I want us all to see that we are setting out on a new walk, along a new path, with a new destination that has been chosen by our Lord and that we can find all that we need to continue on this new walk because we have

II. You have a New Source of Truth

In our old walks, we each listened to what we believed was a form of truth…If you just follow your heart, everything will be ok…You can do anything you put your mind to…or we would see the examples of this world, success stories, or at least what we thought success looked like and we would follow…But each of those paths led to a destination that we could not even see…

But In Christ we have a new and better way

You learned and heard of Christ

Eph 4:20-21 But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus

(No Heb 4 or Rom 11, or Acts 4:13)

Let’s simply begin with believing what He has told us…

In comforting his disciples before his arrest and crucifixion, Jesus told them He was preparing a place for them and Thomas asked – but Lord we don’t know where you are going, how will we know the way…

I expect many of you know what Jesus said next

He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me

When we seek to continue in our new walk with Christ, the difference we have today from our old way is that we have learned and heard of Christ.

The truth about Jesus Christ, who he is, and what he has done becomes our motivation and our reason for making new life choices, choices that are pleasing to God, in our personal lives, in our marriages, in our parenting, and in our work.

These are the choices that will draw others to ask the questions about you and your life that open the door for sharing the gospel and sharing the walk in Christ that we have been given.

When they ask, Why is your walk different? You seem to have the same challenges as I do, but you are handling them differently. You work in the same place I do, but when everyone else chooses to go out and drink or to laugh at crude jokes, you respond differently? Why?

They might even say – I know you go to church and all, and I have heard all that, I’ve read the bible…but I don’t get what is different

You can answer in your owns words and in your own way that share that you have learned and heard of Jesus…you can share the truths that have helped you to walk in a new way…

And if they are ready to hear, you can share that gospel that they too may know that “whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Because you have learned and heard of Christ.

How will they hear if not from you

Rom 10:14-15 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”

We all have the opportunity to have beautiful feet this summer, and I am not talking about wearing sandals…and if were up to me, that would be without socks…but it is not up to me…

We all have the opportunity to have beautiful if you will choose to include VBS on your walk this summer.

We hope to have about 100 kids here at VBS and over 600 across all three campuses. Can you share your new source of truth by being a greeter and sharing with parents why we are so happy that they are trusting their kids with us for VBS? Can you share your new walk while helping kids navigate their own heart issues with listening and learning and sharing the bounce houses, games, and crafts? Maybe you are one of our kids coming to VBS? Can you make a new friend and invite their family to come on Sunday because you love learning about Jesus?

It is not too late to be a part of sharing our new source of Truth, and really, it is only new because we used to believe something else, Will you be a part of sharing the only source of truth that has ever existed and you are walking different in Christ because

You have been taught in Him

Ephesians 4:21 - if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him…

(No pic of dedication program)

I am so thankful that we have the time and opportunity to gather together on Sundays and even sometimes throughout the week to come together and learn from our source of truth.

We have to acknowledge that there are plenty of others out there who will seek to, in the futility of their minds, try to change the way that we think and change the source of the truth which we believe.

Parents – this is an area where we all have to see the importance of what God has called us to do. We will spend several weeks later this summer on issues of parenting, but for today, I just want us to see the command we are given

Eph 6:4: Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord

and this is not something we do just one…

Deut 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Because we have been taught, we must choose to be the one who will teach our children. And If we do not teach them that Christ is the only source of truth, what will they learn?

For example, in the way of human sexuality and even gender identity, we can choose to teach them the beauty and the blessing that is found in God’s truth…or we can allow teachers, internet influencers, celebrities or when they get older, college professors who have a different source of so-called truth to seek to lead them on a walk that will take them away truth.

Last month, Pastor Viars was invited to speak at the Universalist Unitarian Church on the invitation of a friend who believes differently than we do…While speaking, the reception was expectedly rocky because Pastor Viars presented the gospel, the truth that turned all of their beliefs upside down…one person responded to him simply saying that these verses he’d been quoting are all fine, but the Bible is just not his gig.

But then, universalism is not taught in the Bible, rather the exclusivity of the gospel…remember the verse I mentioned earlier

John 14:6 - Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

Only those who have decided that the Bible is their gig can truly say that they have been taught in Him.

And that common commitment brings great unity becasue

C. You find your truth in Jesus

Ephesians 4:21 - if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

(No Powlison Quote)

How we understand and use the truth impacts every part of our lives including how we even address disagreements because when we find our truth in Jesus, something becomes even more important than being right. When we find our truth in Jesus, we can speak and respond to others in a way that does not have to compromise while at the same time we are able to minister to their soul.

Remember from last week our call to speak truth in love…that must then be covered over with the description of how we are called to walk…

Eph 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

When we find our truth in Jesus, how we present our truth must also present Christ.

If you are talking with a friend, co-worker or family member who disagrees with you about what the Bible says or how we are called to apply His Word, will you stand up and use the truth as a weapon to beat them down, or will you hold firm to the truth and seek to build them up to the unity of the body.

We can have hope in this effort called preserving the unity of the church because we have a new walk, with a new source of truth in Jesus.

Then as we walk in this, knowing that the battle with the old self is not yet done…

III. You have a New Process of Change

We’re going to develop this is much more detail next week, Lord willing…but there are 2 issues here that can help us both conclude today and be prepared for next week…

Understand the primary difference between the “unsaved life” and the “saved life.”

There is a contrast between two approaches to living in this text…people who live by their feelings will often cause problems in all sorts of areas, including Christ’s church.

Thank the Lord we’ve been given a new way of handling times of disagreement…

Understand the 3 steps to change and growth

We often call verses 22-24 the putting off and the putting on…there is a reason that we are not covering this in detail today, because these truths deserve the time to truly dig in and unpack what it is that we are putting off and putting on…

The world often says things like – you need to just have to take me as I am…or you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…but God’s word gives us better…“new people” say that God has given us a process to continue to grow each and every day…

This week, I would encourage you to take some time to write out some areas of your life that you believe you need change…things that you would want to put off and then take a look at them through the lens of the old self. What is it about these thoughts, feelings, decisions that reflects that old way in which you walked…How do they reflect the futility of their minds, the darkening of understanding, or a hardness of heart

Then I want you to begin considering, and I recommend doing this with pencil and paper, not just in your thoughts to begin to lay out what a new walk would look like, what do you want to put on?

And then we will help you begin the steps to understand the key element of the renewing of your mind…

If you begin with that step for identifying the put offs and the put ons, you will be better prepared to grow even more from hearing God’s Word next week.

When we walk together with the hope and knowledge that we each are on a new walk, no longer what we used to be, that we have a new source of truth which is unchanging that we can find hope in that we have a new process for change.

I look forward to walking with you all in unity as god does the work to grow our church in Him.