| Introduction The main idea that Paul has been developing in Ephesians is the Church. Chapters 1-3 speak of her origin in the mind of God in eternity past, the outworking of God's plan, and how he is gathering his Church in history. In chapter 4, Paul starts to teach how the plans of God and salvation in Jesus Christ look like as we live in the community of the local church. Ephesians follows Paul's usual pattern in which he lays down the doctrinal foundation of the faith and then applies to the life of the church. A common element of this pattern is that doctrine is always lived out in relationships. Paul doesn't instruct each person on how to live by himself or herself. The instructions on how to live as a Christian always involves community. I. The Rest of the Letter in Light of the Command to Walk Worthy of Our Calling in Jesus Christ, 1. A. Christians should walk in unity, 4:1-16. B. Christians should walk in holiness, 4:17-32. C. Christians should walk in love, 5:1-6. D.Christians should walk in light, 5:7-14 E. Christians should walk in wisdom, 5:15-6:9 F. F.F. Bruce titles this whole section of 4:1-6:20 "The New Humanity in Earthly Life." II. A Review of What It Means to Walk Worthy. A. If you have been born again and have place your faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, you have been declared to be a child of God. B. Your calling in life is to be sons and daughters of God, sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ. 1. Your calling is clearly described in 2:1-10, especially 2:4, 10. 2. God has made us alive together with Christ and re-created us in order for us to do the good works (live life) that he has set out for us to do. C. Therefore, we are to live our lives in a way that is consistent with having been brought to life by the love of God for us in Christ Jesus. 1. The word translated worthymeans equivalent. 2. Paul is not telling us to live a life that makes us worthy of what God has done for us. 3. He is telling us that our lives must be equivalent (have the same value) of our identity in Christ. 4. In essence, Paul is saying, "Be on earth what you have been declared to be in heaven." D. This is not only a matter of what we believe, but what we think, do, and feel. 1. The whole person is involved in this walk: intellect, volition, and emotions. 2. It is a total and complete commitment to the new identity that we have been given in Christ. III. We Live out Our Identity in Christ in Unity with Our Brothers and Sisters, 2-6. A. We are to have great zeal in seeking unity – that's what endeavoringmeans, 2. B. Notice that the striving for unity is a selfless action, 2-3. 1. Look at the four terms Paul uses to describe how we are going to strive. a. Lowliness = humility (thinking of others rather than ourselves). b. Gentleness – works hard at not hurting the people around us who we are supposed to love and serve. c. Longsuffering – patience. d. Bearing with one another – not being easily offended. 2. These four terms include a great deal of dying to self, which is key to unity. 3. Simply, walking worthy of our calling involves the fruit of the Spirit be seen in our lives – the fruit of the Spirit is the basic display of faith in Christ, not the stuff of advanced Christians. C. Our union and unity with each other are based on the union and unity of God, 4-6. 1. At the center of the discussion on unity is the fact that we have one Lord. a. Notice that the word Lordis the fourth term in a series of seven, making it the focal point of the passage. b. The word Lordby itself in Paul's writings is a refence to Christ. c. This is made clear by the reference to the Father at the end of the List. d. So, we strive for the unity of peace because we have a common Lord – more on this in a minute. 2. We strive for unity because we are all part of one body. a. That body is the Church as represented by the local church (Paul very rarely refers to the church apart from its local flesh and blood representation). b. So, we are united because we are all part of the same body – when the body starts fighting with itself, we call it disease – it is never healthy. "… we suffer divisions only at great personal loss, and we should not let them happen." James Boice 3. We strive for unity because we are all born of and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. a. We are connected to the Spirit (Rom 8 speaks of our spirits/souls communing with him). b. And through the Spirit we are connected to one another. 1) Even though we all have unique conversion stories, we all have a common element in our stories. 2) The same Spirit regenerated us because of the same work of Christ on our behalf. 4. We strive for unity because we all have the same hope. a. We are not computing for different futures. b. We are all joyfully expecting the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of our bodies. c. We are united in the blessed hope that we will see Jesus as he is for we will be like him. d. We were all called to that end. 5. We strive for unity because we have the same Lord. a. This is the crux of the matter. b. We keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace because we have a common Lord and his name is Jesus Christ. c. We are united because we are all going the same way as we follow the same Head. 6. We strive for unity because we have the same faith. a. One creed, one confession that at its most basic level is "Jesus is Lord." b. We are united in what we believe at the most basic and foundational level. 7. We strive for unity because we are all baptized into Christ and by it ingrafted into his body. a. We are marked by the same mark. b. We are united by water and what that water represents. 1 Cor. 12:12-14– For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also isChrist. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many. 8. We strive for unity because we have the same Father. a. The Father who gave us the Son and the Spirit unites us. b. He is the Father of all who believe. c. He exists through us, that is, we are agents or instruments through whom he works. 1 Cor. 12:6– And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. d. As Paul has already said, we are God's dwelling place, 2:22. D.As the Triune God is one, we are one. 1. The church reflects the unity of the Godhead. 2. But unity is not the same as sameness. 3. In the same way that there are three distinct persons in the Godhead, there is diversity in the Church of Jesus Christ. a. God has and is bringing all his people together from disparate social, economic, ethnic groups into one body. b. It is in this unity that the diversity of the gifts of Christ are practiced. IV. In the Unity of Church, We Practice the Diversity of Gifts, 7-10. A. These verses should really be considered with verses 11-17, but because of time we will consider them today and the remaining verses next week, Lord willing. B. To the members of the body who follow the same Lord, Jesus Christ gives varying gifts that are to be used in the context of the body, 7. "Within the unity of the body each member has a distinctive part to play, a distinctive service to perform, for the effective functioning of the whole." F.F. Bruce 1. These gifts are gracious gifts (that is already implicit in the concept of gift). 2. And grace in this context is the ability to perform the service to the body that God calls us to perform. Rom. 12:5-8– … so we, beingmany, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:if prophecy, let usprophesyin proportion to our faith; 7or ministry, let us use itin ourministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. "No member of the body of Christ is endowed with such perfection as to be able, without assistance of others, to supply his own necessities. A certain proportion is allotted to each; and it is only by communicating with each other, that all enjoy what is sufficient for maintaining their respective places in the body." John Calvin C. The proof that Christ gives gifts in exact this way is that he has ascended into heaven victoriously, 8. 1. This is quote from Ps. 68:18. 2. The ascended Christ gives gifts to the church as the conquering king shares the spoils with his people. D.But in order to become the victorious king and ascend on to his throne in heaven, Christ had to first descend, 9-10. 1. He had to humiliate himself, leave the courts of heaven and become like us. 2. He had to lower himself even to the death of the cross. 3. But having done that, the Father exalted him. Phil 2:6-11– who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, andcoming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point ofdeath, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and thatevery tongue should confess that Jesus Christ isLord, to the glory of God the Father. 4. Now Christ fills all and was given to be our Head (1:23), so we follow him. 5. And though he ascended bodily into heaven, he is still present with us since he fills us. V. Living out Our Diversity in Unity – Being an obedient member of the any local church means that you humbly exercise the gifts God has given you for the good of the people in the church and for the glory of Christ – listen to what Paul says in Rom. 12:6-8. Rom. 12:6-8– Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:if prophecy, let usprophesyin proportion to our faith; 7or ministry, let us use itin ourministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. A. Each believer has received from the Lord gifts that needed by the body. 1. The gifts are from God. 3. These two truths will help us strive to unity in humility. B. The word giftitself includes the word gracein it, but Paul does not want us to miss the point at all, so he says that these gracious gifts were given to us by the grace of God, 6. C. Theses verses also tell us that Christ is the one that makes each Christian different from each other. 1. Sure, we can look at providential moments in our lives, some of them even prior to our coming to faith, as what equipped us to be able to do what we do now. 2. But those providential moments were in the hand of God to make you who you are so that you could serve God and others. D.Paul lists seven representative gifts that God gives his people in order for them to use them in the church, 6b-8. 1. This is not an exhaustive list. a. There is not an exhaustive list of gifts in the Bible. b. Even if we combined all the lists of gifts in the whole Bible, the resulting list would still not be exhaustive. c. Paul is giving us examples so that we can learn to apply it. d. In essence, any lawful skill/ability can and must be used to serve Christ and the brethren. 2. Notice that these gifts are skills that may be acquired or natural. 3. Notice also that they are precise and should be used for the purpose they were intended. a. Sometimes we become discontented with what God has equipped us to do, so we just don't do whatever that is. b. The problem when we do that is that what we were supposed to be doing just goes undone. 4. A final word about these gifts is that they are the type of things that everyone in the church should be doing a measure of it, but there are some that have a greater propensity at being good at these things.
In all of this we see that the command to walk worthy of the calling that we have in Christ Jesus always involves living in community.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2019/09/diversity-in-unity.html
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