Turn with me to Ephesians chapter four, please. Ephesians chapter four. Very excited to have the privilege to preach to you guys tonight. Ephesians chapter four. And I was sitting there and I was able to enjoy hearing you guys sing. Because oftentimes I'm playing in the orchestra and I'm worried about missing the wrong note and so on. But it was beautiful to hear different parts and how you guys harmonized. It kind of goes along with what I'm preaching tonight. You know, in singing, there's tenors, right? There's melody, there's sopranos, there's bass, right? It's all these different parts, yet, when they all come together, they make a beautiful song. They make a beautiful harmony. And so, in Ephesians chapter four, we're gonna be talking about what it means to have unity and purpose. Unity with a purpose, because singers don't just come together, right, and sing a bunch of notes, and have no melody or have no harmony. They have purpose. These notes, though they be different, they come together to make a certain harmony. And so in Ephesians chapter four, Paul writes this, you know, first of all, Paul writes this epistle to the church in Ephesus. Because at that time, Ephesus was a very sinful and indulgent place. Man, people just did whatever they wanted, lived however they liked, and they were very, very loose morally. And so Paul writes this letter to the Christians in Ephesus and he calls them and he charges them unto holy living, right? The first three chapters, he talks about how, you know, the workings of what Jesus did, providing salvation to mankind and that how, since that we're saved, we ought to be grounded in love and we ought to grow in our knowledge of Jesus. And in chapter four, he begins and he starts telling them, now that we're saved, now that we are Christians, we should start acting like what we've become. So looking at chapter four, verse one, Paul says, I therefore, because of everything he's spoken about in the first three chapters, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, beg you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, that you live worthy according to the vocation, to who you are, to what you are now, that you are called. And so Paul says, hey, Christians in Ephesus, you're not like the other, you know, Ephesians that live in Ephesus. You don't live like them anymore. You're not like them anymore. You're not lost. You know who Jesus is now. So we'll live according to that, live like a Christian. And we're going to talk about unity today and what it means to be a Christian and to be unified as a Christian amongst other believers. Let's go ahead and pray and we'll get started. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in the building, gather in your house, and preach your word, God. I pray that you be with me, help me have peace, help me have calmness. And Lord, help me with my cough, God. I pray that it doesn't be a bother, it doesn't become an obstacle in getting your word out. I pray that you be with us, help us to have open hearts, open ears to hear from you. Lord, I pray that this time you put your hand upon it and that it be glorifying unto you. In Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. And so Paul calls out, he says, Christians, we ought to live by what we've become. A Christian, someone who's been redeemed by Jesus Christ, someone who has the righteousness of Jesus imputed upon them. Right? As a Christian, there ought to be certain Expectations there are to be certain like like standards. A question should have right when we think about a five star Michelin restaurant, right? Boom. We immediately have standards. It should have impeccable service. It should have elegant. The core elegant lighting and service has to be immaculate. The food has to be. you know great or it has to be those like impractical small foods that look cool but doesn't really fill you up right and that's what we expect from a five-star michelin we're not expecting them giving us food in like a tray right with a burger or or them giving out doggie bags right no it's a five-star michelin restaurant it's different it has different qualifications and so paul is saying as christians we ought to start living worthy of the vocation in which we've been called We all have expectations, right? Well, guess what? The world has expectations of Christians too, and oftentimes it's very, very high. And so he says, you guys got to start living accordingly. And look at how he says in verse two, how we are to behave. He says, with all loneliness and meekness, with long suffering, bearing one another in love. And so with all loneliness, humility, right? And that oftentimes, you know, even me, I confuse humility with, Oh, beating yourself up, telling yourself you're trash and, and making sure you, you know, don't feel good about yourself at all. Right. And I often have that idea. and misconception of humility, but humility is to see yourself as God sees you. Someone who has infinite and inherent value, but has no more or no less than anyone else. I mean, the price that was paid for all of us is the same. It's Jesus. You know, it wasn't Jesus and then some, or it wasn't just, you know, a little bit of Jesus. It was all of them. So, humility looks at each and every one of us and says, hey, we're all in the same boat. The ground is level at the cross. We're all the same. Right? And he says, in meekness, in meekness, Strength under control, not boastful, right? It reminds me of war horses. Man, back then when people used to use horses for war, they bred them for it. They were stronger, they were faster, and they were trained to ignore gunshots. They were trained to ignore cannons, or they were trained to ignore metal clanging. They were focused, or they were trained to listen only to their master. Man, these horses were powerful. They were mighty, but they were under control. It reminds me of Moses. Man, the Bible calls Moses to be one of the most meekest and most humble people in all of time. And that always made me laugh as a kid. I was like, didn't Moses write this? And so while the Bible calls him meek, while the Bible calls him humble, he was a great leader. He stood up against Pharaoh. He led the children of Israel. He had some power in him. Yet he had strength under control. So as Christians, we shouldn't go around living like, oh, I'm better than you now. I'm not, I don't want to get in touch with you. I don't live like that anymore. Get away from me. No. He said, but rather in humility and loneliness, know where you come from, know who you are. We're saved by Jesus Christ. And he goes on, he says, with long-suffering patience, forbearing one another, in love. Paul says, as Christians, you guys ought to treat each other with patience, with patience. Don't expect just because now they're saved, just now they're Christian, they're now perfect, right? They're now never going to offend me. You guys shouldn't act that way. How dare you? Aren't you a Christian? No. He says, have patience for bearing one another with love. Have forgiveness, show grace, give people time to grow. He says, Paul says, ask questions, we ought to act that way. Why? Why? All of this has a purpose, verse three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. All of this, simply to keep the unity of the spirit, simply to keep us unified. because Christians do not thrive by themselves. We don't grow, we don't thrive in individualism or isolation. We are to be unified. This is what God wants us to be. Just like how a single red blood cell can't keep a body alive, how a single red blood cell can't keep itself alive, a single basketball player can't be called a team or even win against a team, a single Christian cannot be a church. A single Christian needs to have a unified body. See, Christians, as representations of God and His love, we ought to be able to keep our peace with each other. It's expected and it's reasonable. Look at it in verse four. Paul explains why. He tells us that there are much greater things and a much greater person that unites us. He goes, for there is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in you all. He says that we are one body of born again believers. All of us here got the same way and all of us are the same thing, a Christian. We have one God, we're on the same team. And it's funny because Paul says, we have all of this uniting us, right? But he didn't mention race. Oh, we're all the same race. He didn't say that. He didn't say culture. He didn't even say language. He didn't even say language. Gender, wealth, status, he didn't say any of that. He said what matters, what unifies us is our God and our faith. That's what matters. See, the world will separate over these tedious things like race, culture, language, and all of that. But as Christians, that's not who we are. That's not worthy of our vocation. See, the only thing stopping unity within our church body is sin. Whether it be pride, we refuse to be humble, we refuse to show meekness, bitterness, or anger. Someone wronged us and instead of being patient and giving forgiveness, we keep it, we hold a grudge. Apathy, we don't show love to one another. But being able to live in unity with fellow Christians is a part of our vocation. That's what is expected. Jesus did not give out different Christian teams. He started one church. And so Paul says, guys, you have to be unified. You guys have to keep together, live in a way in which you are able to stay unified. But then Paul in verse seven, he says, but I'm like, wait, what does that mean? Well, Paul is going to help us out because sometimes like me, we confuse unity with uniformity, unity with uniformity. You see, unity means to be able to work and to function together. Uniformity is everyone stays and is exactly the same. There's a difference. Unity is explained here in verse 7. Look, Paul says, And Paul goes on in a few verses, he begins to show text and reason, right? He gives Psalm 68 verse 18, In verse 9 and 10, Paul just reasons that Jesus, the same one who ascended into heaven, is the same one that first came down from heaven onto earth. He's the same guy who gave all of us gifts. All of us. He says, verse 7, unto every one of us is given grace. Now, Paul begins to list them in verse 11. He says, and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. There's different jobs. There's different gifts that he gave out. And so Paul is saying, oh, you have to be unified. We have to stay together. But Jesus, he gave us different gifts. Now, oftentimes you look at that and say, wait, how does that make sense? How can we be different? How can we have different roles and still be unified? Well, it's just like an orchestra. Right? An orchestra has different instruments. They have percussions, they have woodwinds, they have strings, right? And all of them play different parts of the song, but all of them, all of them play the same song. All of them come together to make a beautiful song. And so these different gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, they all have a purpose. They all have the same purpose. That's what they're unified in. Not in the fact that everyone's pastors, or everyone's preachers, or everyone's teachers, or everyone's evangelists. No. They're unified in their purpose. Look at it in verse 12. Paul tells us what they're for. He gave them apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints. Again, he says, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Perfecting of the saints, that just means equipping and preparing Christians for the job. Work of the ministry is doing said job and edifying the body of Christ means maturing and refining and getting better at our job. And it reminds you of like a DIY project, right? A DIY project, man, you look at it, right? And you see, man, I could do that. You look up a YouTube video or a guide, you're like, man, I could do that. And you begin to grab equipment. You begin to grab the tools you need, right? And you go and you try it out, and it's hard. Harder than you thought it would be. Man, you're figuring out, you're going through, and it's pretty, you get there, you get there, it's not as perfect as the video, but you got there, right? And finally, now when someone wants to try it, or someone is doing another project similar, man, you have a few tips to help them out. You're able to help them. And so Paul is saying, the Bible says that Jesus gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, gave us all of these different gifts so that we can be equipped, that we can do our job and we can help each other grow and be more refined in doing our job. And you might be thinking, what is this job? What is this ministry that we're supposed to do? Well, look at verse 13, verse 13. It says, till we all come in the unity of the faith. and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Paul says all of the gifts, they're used to build and grow the church's faith and knowledge in Christ. He says that we, so we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. and unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." We're supposed to help each other, unified, we're supposed to help each other to grow and exhibit the attributes and qualities of Christ. He says that's our job. We are supposed, ourselves, we're supposed to grow and we're supposed to help others grow in maturity and to show the attributes of Christ. But there's a qualifier there, a qualifier in verse 13. At the very beginning it says, Till we all come in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Together. God wants us to grow in our knowledge of Christ, in our characteristics of Christ together. God wants everyone to grow together. He doesn't want any superstars or any special people who they're the ones, they're only the ones who grow. No, He wants everyone to come alongside. He wants everyone, the whole church to get up and become like Christ. Maturity is everyone's responsibility. And it kind of applies in both ways. Maturity and growing to like Christ is our responsibility in a way that we ought to grow. We ought to be more like Christ. But it's also everyone's responsibility in the way that God gave everyone these gifts. And God says these gifts are used to mature other Christians, are used to edify the saints, are used to equip the saints, perfecting them. So yes, it is our responsibility to mature as Christ ourselves, but it's also our responsibility to use the gifts that we have been given, everyone has them, to help others grow like Christ. So yes, maturity is everyone's responsibility in two ways. God gave everyone these gifts. We ought to be able to be unified and not just, you know, to have fun or to enjoy life, but rather so that we can grow as Christ together as ourselves and helping others. And verse 14, why do we need to grow? It says here in verse 14 that we henceforth be no more children. tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of man and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. He says that Christians, man, we ought to grow in our knowledge and our faith that we're able to stand in our truth. We're able to stand on our Bible knowledge. He says we shouldn't be able to be easily deceived and swaying about, unsure of what we believe or who we are, but rather not be like children. Paul pretty much calls the Christians, Ephesus, you guys are children at the moment. You guys are tossed to and fro. You guys look at the world of Ephesus and you say, man, maybe I can do that. Man, maybe God is okay with that. And they're tossed to and fro and they're getting deceived. But no, Paul says we ought to mature in a way that when we hear what's wrong, when we hear something that is opposed to the Bible, we're able to identify it and stand our ground. Unable to be moving. And he says, not only that, there's more. Look at verse 15. But speaking the truth in love. So we ought to know it enough and capable enough to speak it, but not only that, to speak it in love. In love. You see, immaturity shows in two ways, right? Either one, We have all this truth, we have all this knowledge, but we have no love whatsoever. And we just come in and we just shove hard truth down someone's throat. You ought to change, you ought to switch this up. That is wrong, you know it is, and fix it. And we come down hard. Another side of immaturity is we have all this love. and no truth, right? We believe that sometimes, man, I don't want to tell them just this yet, because I want to shield them. I want to spare them the pain. And both sides, all it does is slow down someone's maturity, right? If you get hit with hard truth and no love, and just pure callousness, that doesn't get you to grow. That discourages, that tears down the soul. But if you're given all love and no truth, then you're not going to change. Nothing about you is going to be different. And so Paul says, as Christians, we ought to grow and be mature that we're able to teach truth, know truth, and teach truth in love. He says, just like Christ. He says that when we grow up into him all things, which is the head, even Christ. Man, Christ, the embodiment of truth and love. Jesus went around preaching the word. Jesus went around teaching the gospel and bringing the truth to people in love. He showed them mercy. He showed them grace. And as our job as Christians to mature into Christ, is that not something we ought to do? To know the truth, to be able to defend the truth, to be capable with it and loving with it. To go around and not just smack people with the Bible or smack people with hard truths, right, and make them face their sin, but rather show them love and truth at the same time, just like Christ did. Just like Christ did. And so, Paul is saying, you know, as Christians, you ought to be unified. That's a qualification of a Christian. You should be able to live in unity with one another. Why? So that you guys can mature, you guys can help each other grow more like Christ. He says here, and he keeps going, verse 16, right? From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. He says here, Christ, the head of the body, the person we take our lead from, the person who is our example, the person who we align ourselves with, the person who is the embodiment of love and truth, the church ought to mature more like Christ. The way he wants us to, is to be unified. He doesn't want just one person growing like Christ, and this one person, while he's growing and he's thriving, to be isolated and to leave everyone else in the dust. No, God gave us these gifts of people who can teach the Bible, those who can tell what's right and wrong. He gave us these apostles, these pastors, these teachers, so that we're able to grow together, right? You know, we know the illustration of the church body being described as a human body, right? Christ says he wants all of us to participate, all of us to get along, all of us to be a part of this maturing process. Because if not, man, that's not a healthy body. I mean, diseases in the human body are caused by you know, are sometimes caused by one part overacting or one part being inactive, right? Like autoimmune diseases. That's your immune system getting way too active and just coming after everything, right? Or muscle dystrophy. That's when your muscles, the genes that protect your muscles, they stop working and they don't want to participate in the body anymore and your muscle starts decaying or organ failure, right? That's not, we want to consider that a healthy body. So God says, all of you, I want all of you to participate. I want all of you to be a part of this maturing process. And he goes and he says, I want everyone to be a part of this. You see, each member ought to utilize the gifts that we have been given. Utilize the grace that God has given each and every one of us so that we can help the entire church body to grow into maturity. The church, yes, it's responsible for growing Christians, right? Helping each other and teaching those who are recently saved. But the Christians, the individual, are responsible for growing themselves, doing our part in the body of Christ. We ought to go and help those who are growing. And so Paul says, we ought to be unified, we ought to grow, we ought to keep going, and we ought to live towards maturity together. And goes verse 17, he says, this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. He says all of this, right, you guys are unified, you guys are growing in Christ, all of this, He said, I say this therefore that ye walk not as the other Gentiles. While Paul is talking to these Ephesian Christians, he says, you don't have to live like them anymore. Because you're a Christian, because you're unified and you're growing, your job is to mature like Christ, therefore you shouldn't be living like the Gentiles are. You shouldn't be living like those who live and do whatever they want in Ephesus. Those guys in verse 18, having the understanding darkens. being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart. who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanliness with greediness." He says those guys, that's how they live. Man, they just live by impulse, whatever they want to do. They have no care for who God is. Their lives are so far away that the ways of a Christian, the lives of a Christian is so alien to them. Why would you do that? Why would you show up on church? Why would you Why would you miss out on these things? Why would you keep yourself holy? Why not live like us? Why not celebrate and indulge? Life is great. Enjoy the things life has to give you. The Apostle says, but ye have not so learned Christ. That's not what you've heard from Christ. That's not what you've learned from Him. That's not what you've seen Him do. He says, if so be that ye have heard in verse 21, and have been taught by Him, as truth is in Jesus, He says, you've seen Christ, right? And you've seen what he's said, or you've seen what he's done, you've heard what he said, and you know the teachings of Jesus. It doesn't match the world. It doesn't match what the world wants you to do. He says, and because you've seen it, because you've heard what he says, verse 22, ye put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Paul is saying, you know what God is teaching. You know what God has lived for. You know what God has tried to teach you. It doesn't match what the world is trying to say. It doesn't match what the world is trying to get you to live by. And so because of that, put off the old man. You're not a lost person anymore. You're not bound to sin anymore. You're dead to it. You're free. And so renew the spirit of your mind. Renew it. Don't think like them anymore. Change your priorities. Live differently. Continue to grow into Christ. And he says that she put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Paul is calling these Ephesian Christians to holiness. He says you've heard what Christ has said. You've listened to what he's taught and you've seen how he's lived. You've heard the teachings about him. And so put on this new holiness. Put on this new knowledge. You know better and so you should act better. And he says, you don't have to follow the world anymore. Don't live like them. That's not worthy of your vocation. Instead, live as the new man. Live for God. And so Paul, he goes and he tells these Ephesian Christians in Ephesus, and he goes and he says, I get it. The world around you seems so much fun. The world around you seem like they're thriving and they're doing whatever it is they want. But remember, you're saved now. God did all of it in the first three chapters. God did all of this for you, provided your salvation so that you may grow in love and in your knowledge of Jesus Christ. And he says, now that you're Christians, now that you know what you are, be unified. live in unity, not just so you can have fun, not just so you could have a new group to hang out with, but rather because God wants us to grow together. God wants us to mature into Jesus together. And he wants all of us to help each other do so. So as I take away from this, One, Christians are to be unified. We ought to behave and live worthy of our vocation and loneliness and meekness, giving each other grace, giving each other some mercy and forgiveness. And Paul says it's expected. It's reasonable because we have more weightier things that unite us than divide us. Christians are to be unified. We're not supposed to be distant from each other. We're a church family. We're a body. A body that is not unified dies. A body that is not unified, it dies. It doesn't function well. It is not a healthy body. It doesn't grow up into an adult. And so Christians ought to be unified. Number two, maturity is for everyone. It's everyone's responsibility. We all have a hand in it. We ought to grow ourselves, right? Paul says it right there. We ought to be grounded in love and grow in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. And we ought to grow and continue to learn more about it. But not only that, God gave all of us gifts. And God says, these gifts are used to help others. Therefore, it is our responsibility to take part in growing others. It is our responsibility to invest and to look at others and say, hey, I want to invest in you. Let me walk alongside of you as you grow in Jesus Christ. Let me walk alongside of you and grow and work together and thrive. Number three, we're not just unified for fun, we're unified for a great purpose. We're unified not just so we can hang out and church becomes a nice social club or we can see our friends. No, we're supposed to be unified to grow more like Christ, to reach the lost, to live a holy life, to live according to the standards of Jesus. We ought to be unified in growing and becoming like Christ. And so I challenge you guys that, you know, our church, I feel like we are thriving. We are growing, man. We're about to send out men in our church to Zambia. But I challenge you that those of you who are kind of just sitting back, enjoying the view, I encourage you to partake, be a part of this body, help us grow. Help us go get in here and take part of the ministry. You have skills, you have gifts that we could use. You have gifts that God has given you, use that. He expects you to. He doesn't just want 80% of the church body growing. He wants all of it. He wants all of it. He didn't choose certain superstars. He didn't just say, oh, only the staff gets to grow, only the staff gets to be blessed. No, he died for all of us and he wants all of us to be like his son. So I encourage you guys to be unified and not just getting along or being friends with one another, but rather be unified in your growth with Christ. Let's pray.