Striving for Unity in Your Walk

We are continuing our study on Building on Our Heritage. This study allows us the opportunity to not only thank God for all the ways He has chosen to bless our church, but it also allows us to think about the ways that God wants us to continue to build.

We neither want to rest on our laurels and get so busy shining our trophies that we lose sight of the purpose for which God has called our church to do. We also do not want to get so wrapped up in creating new ways of ministry that we stray from the foundation of truth that this church has been built upon.

We have spent the first 4 months of this year focusing on some incredible truths from the first half of the book of Ephesians. We have learned a lot about the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of the church, and as we saw last week we observed Paul’s prayer for the church. The first 3 chapters of Ephesians were heavy on the Theology side and we will notice a bit of shift in the next 3 chapters to the practical side.

Sure we will still see some deep theological truths, but a lot of the focus is on the now what do we do with the truths that we have learned.

By the way let me encourage you in case you have not done this recently to read through the whole book of Ephesians from cover to cover in one sitting at some point in the next week. It really is a remarkable book and so many things pop as you see it laid out for you.

Turn with me in your Bibles to Ephesians 4:1-6. That is page _________ of the back section of the Bible located under the chair in front of you.

Let’s Read our passage together!

“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 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. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1–6, NASB95)

This past week I am aware of at least 2 people who accepted Christ as their personal Savior as a result of the counseling ministry here at Faith Biblical Counseling Ministry. For at least one of the cases you see the Holy Spirit working over the last 3 weeks as the counselee wrestled with what to do with their relationship with God. And then they humbled themselves and accepted God’s free gift of salvation.

And then the question is, Now what do I do? You have repented of your sin and your grip on sin, and now you are changed by the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. This can be seen clearly in Paul’s words in

In fact, Paul teaches in the book of Romans that in order to not be conformed to the course of this world, our minds need to be renewed with the word of God so that we will live lives that are holy and are acceptable to God.

Romans 12:1–2

¹Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

²And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

And here in Ephesians 4, Paul is calling for a change in the way people are reacting to each other due to their new relationship in Christ.

And part of that change is wrapped up in the idea of being unified with others you would not normally be unified with.

Earlier we talked about how offensive the idea was that Paul was presenting the Gospel not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. In fact, we observed that the only thing these 2 groups of people were unified on was being not unified with each other. The only agreed on their hatred for each other.

So since the doctrine of salvation is so amazing there must be a change and that change needs to lead to unity.

If God’s people are going to walk in unity together, they must do it according to the identity they have already been given.

So, this morning let’s take time to understand how we should be…

Striving for Unity in Your Walk

3 truths to embrace concerning your walk as a Christian

I. Walk in a manner worthy of your calling (4:1)

I want you to pick up on a truth that you can see if you study the book of Ephesians by reading through it in one sitting.

The introduction to the book and the introduction to the second half of the book are very similar.

Ephesians 1:1

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 4:1

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

Now as you look at this you may think these are trying to say the same thing, but since Paul mentioned in his prayer at the end of Chapter 3 that he was in prison than Paul is just adding that line into his introduction.

Paul is imploring the Ephesians to live out their Christian walk in a way that honors God and he wants to make it clear that he is doing that exact thing in his own life. Paul was willing to walk in a manner worthy of his calling to the point that he was willing to go to prison and would eventually die because of how committed he was to that walk.

And when Paul calls this a walk, he’s just using the term walk as a metaphor for the Chirstian life. It’s what you do with your life each day.

Your walk or your life should correspond with what God has called you to and to do that…

Understand your calling.

Let’s think about this calling for a little bit.

The whole point of the beginning sections of the book of Ephesians is to point out how little we had to do with the process of our salvation.

1:4 - He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

• How much involvement did you have in that process?

1:5-“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,”

• He adopted us after He chose us. Not a whole lot you can brag about your involvement in this verse.

1:7 -“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace”

• Not only did he call us and adopt us He did it by paying all the price for you. You did not even contribute one little bit of it.

1:13-“In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,”

• Here is another beautiful truth to reflect on. Not only did you need God to call, adopt, and pay the full ransom for your sin. He also has preserved you by sealing you with the Holy Spirit, because if you were left alone to maintain your newly purchased righteousness than your righteousness would be gone quicker than a pizza at a youth activity.

2:7-“so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

• Not only are we overwhelmed by the grace of Christ in the process of salvation, but we will continue to be overwhelmed by the grace of God for all eternity.

• Why did he do all this in His calling of us?

1:12-“to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.”

• When you understand the incredible love of Christ in the salvation process it leaves you with no room to try to steal some of that glory.

• There is not part of the salvation process that leaves you with any room to look down on another believer.

• There is no bragging in your works that led you to be loveable, because you were a filthy wretch.

• There is not bragging about your transformation, because if God did not do the work you would not be transformed.

• So when you understand all that theology of salvation from the first half of Ephesians it should greatly impact your unity and relationships with those who also were redeemed in the same way.

So now live your life with the clear understanding of the way God changed you.

You have a choice in how you walk.

Here is a truth that is radically true.

• It makes absolutely zero sense for a person that understands the theology of salvation that is laid out in this book to then decide to live in the very way they were living before they called, adopted, and redeemed.

• Or to use the terminology of Ephesians 2, it makes zero sense for a person who was dead in their sin, but was made alive through the unexplainable love, mercy, and grace of Christ. TO then decide to not live for a new purpose.

Peter said it this way.

2 Peter 1:10–11

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble;

¹¹for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.

Are you walking in a way that is obviously different because you understand what God has done in saving you?

II. Your walk should display godliness (4:2)

Character is the defining trait.

How many of you have ever tried to make a change in your life, but you just tried doing it on your own strength?

• I am going to be angry less.

• And then boom you lose it.

• And then you catch yourself eating ice cream to celebrate your new change.

• Until the alarm goes off for the 4^th time and you just decide you will start tomorrow.

To be able to please God with your life, it must be energized and fueled from the heart. Godliness is something that God works in you according to His power. You cannot just put godliness on like you would a different piece of clothing. Godliness come by the power of the Holy Spirit.

It is shown in your love for others

The characteristics found here in verse 2 can be seen as a progression of love for others and at the foundation of this progression is humility.

Humility is the direct opposite of pride. Pride is the absorption of oneself. It is self-serving, self-justifying, and self-worshipping at its core. It’s not concerned with others around them, and it’s most definitely not concerned with what God thinks.

Humility is pride’s contrast in that humility is concentrated on others far more than it is on self. It sees the needs of others over the needs of self, and it goes out of its way to always do what is right in God’s eyes. It’s not trying to take from other people but rather trying to give in every way.

Humility is at the center of this kind of life because it realizes that it has everything it needs in God and because of that it can afford to give everything it has for the sake of others. The humble person can freely give sacrificially because they know they will never run out of God’s riches. He or she has no need to exalt themselves because they know that God has given them an inheritance far beyond their comprehension.

And this humility in one’s walk produces gentleness. Gentleness is not an attribute that is typically applauded in our day and age because it is a sign of weakness. It’s a sign that someone doesn’t have strength or that they can’t do anything on their own. But that’s not what this word means. This doesn’t mean that we should be wimpy or cowards. No, this word means that we should be self-controlled people with a mild spirit. It’s to not be quick to be angry but rather quick to be compassionate. People that are gentle can most certainly be people that are strong and courageous.

Have you ever played with or interacted with someone’s pet German Shepherd? They can be the most playful, furry, and family friendly dogs, gentle toward the children in the home. But although they are dogs that are gentle and compassionate toward their own, they can also be a very strong dog. Just go on the internet and type in police dog videos if you don’t believe me.

So, we should be gentle, not prone to fighting or getting angry but prone to self-control.

And this attribute of gentleness goes on to become patience.

Patience is probably easier for us all to at least comprehend. It’s doing what is right and choosing to love other people even when we are wronged. It’s doing what is right when everything wrong is coming at you and never giving in.

This is exactly what Paul did while he was in prison. Paul didn’t revile or scorn those who had put him in jail. He didn’t call them names and return injustice for injustice. No, he suffered patiently. Waiting for the Lord’s timing for him to be released and to continue spreading the gospel as he had been called to do.

This kind of patience that comes from the Spirit then progresses to be tolerance.

Now when you hear the word tolerance in 2024 you might just be taken aback at first. Wait a second, isn’t that what the world teaches? That we should “tolerate” everyone else meaning we should accept and affirm what everyone under the sun is doing?

That’s obviously not what Paul means here. Paul is in no way saying we need to compromise on what is righteous, in fact this kind of tolerance toward one another is righteous.

This word tolerance can also be translated to bear with or to put up with. When all God’s people come together to worship we are reaffirming the truth of the gospel and what God has called us to. We firmly believe together that God is calling us to live holy lives and we firmly agree together that none of us has arrived at that perfect holiness.

Tolerance or putting up with one another is essential to this walk otherwise we would be nit picking at each other every day. We should all be regularly repenting, reconciling to one another, asking for forgiveness, granting forgiveness, and even sometimes overlooking sin we see in our brothers and sisters.

Now where else do we see this in Scripture?

Proverbs 19:11

¹¹A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression.

It is easy to see others sin and to be ready to confront them. But it takes the Spirit of God in us to help us to overlook sin on occasion. We have to be wise in how we overlook sin. Some sins are too serious to be overlooked and in other times there is such a pattern that confrontation needs to happen. But one way for Christians to show love to other believers is by having grace be the first reaction and by tolerating a degree of sin knowing that none of us have fully arrived yet.

So, this walk is defined by humility that produces gentleness and then moves on to patience which allows us to tolerate one another which then culminates in what?

In unity.

III. Your walk must be defined by unity (4:3-6)

Unity is a daily choice

Unity is rooted in God’s character

Unity is seen in God’s redemptive plan