Okay, so turn to Ephesians 4. You should have it on their page there. We are just kind of grabbing what Jeremy had mentioned last week when he started with those first three verses, and we're gonna grab four through six and just think about it. So let's read together these first six verses of Ephesians 4. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is over all, through all and in all. Okay, so let's just start. Clearly, this whole passage and the things that come after it have to do with unity, right? It's pretty clear there that Paul's goal as he turns to this chapter is, how do I get the church to be on the same page. Okay, so Jeremy was talking last week, as he turns to chapter four, there's a certain kind of, there's character issues at play as to what's needed for the church to be able to get along. The humility, the gentleness. We're going to come back to those in a second, because what he does is he front loads the kind of character that's needed for unity, but then he comes back in verses four through six, and he reminds us all of the things that are part of our unity, the things that we have to be unified. All right. So, if you read verses four through six, there's seven things of which he says there's one of. Okay, what are they? What are some of the things that he says there's one of? One. One body. Okay. What else? Yeah, one spirit. One. Okay. I'll put that one down here because we'll be to it in just a second. What's in between spirit and Lord? One hope. Okay. What else? Okay. Next. One baptism. Yep, and one, God. And specifically, you can tell there he's thinking of the fatherly relationship that God reveals, right? So, God the Father. Okay. So, Now, we're not going to dwell on it too much, but clearly seven in the Bible has significance as far as things associated with God, right? And so there's certainly something to say the fact that Paul pulls out seven of these ones to make a point of when we're talking about the unity that God provides Okay, it's the unity of the spirit. So this is this is not ours. It's something God has provided That that seven seven's important in kind of symbolizing that in some way But even within the seven you can you can see as you read through that some of them are kind of grouped in clusters All right, so you have one one body one spirit and one hope Seems like one Lord, one faith, one baptism before he takes a break and he talks about God the Father. All right, so even within this, he seems to be kind of clumping some of the things together. All right, so before we jump into this, I just wanna kind of back up for a second and think about unity as it's presented more broadly, okay? I would say unity has to be one of the most important themes that almost all the New Testament letters are trying to get at. All right, so if we're just thinking, how important is us being able to be unified around the gospel in our relationships so that they are peaceable and those kinds of things? How important is it, just as you're reading through the New Testament, Romans? Okay, this is just a survey over it, Romans. What there's an issue in Romans, right? You've got some people who are taking food and they're okay with eating it. That's come from sacrifices. You've got, you've got days, right? It was a diet and days when we were talking about the conscience where the kind of things that, that caused and Paul spends three of the three chapters on what's essentially the most important theological letter that's ever been written, trying to get unity in the church. 1 Corinthians. Well, 1 Corinthians starts with, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Jesus. Okay, how are we going to get unity? And pretty much the whole rest of the letter, right, is finding people in these different factions and how to bring them together. What happens when Christians are suing one another? What happens when there's sexual immorality in the church? What happens when eyes think they're more important than ears, think they're more important than toes, and the body is something different, right? Unity. Second Corinthians is on a lot of the same kinds of themes. There's false apostles coming in and the church isn't unified to be able to recognize that false teaching and get rid of it. So he spends a lot of the letter talking about what's in common. Galatians. Any issues with unity in Galatians? Yeah, because you got false teachers coming in saying, you know, You've got to be circumcised as well. Paul says, no, you know what's around your gospel. And then the fruit that comes should come out of the freedom that's in Christ. We got Ephesians, right? Well, we talked about a few weeks ago, Ephesians mentions in Christ, there's one new man, one new humanity that's happening. Philippians, right? Think about Philippians and being in chapter four and being one of the two ladies that gets called out and your name written down for the rest of history. because you weren't getting along. I appeal to you, you know, Yodia and Syntyche, get along. Colossians, there's different days, different squabbles going on. Paul's trying to get them unified. Thessalonians, right? You've got people who are taking advantage of the system within the church, you know, busy bodies they're called. And Paul is trying to get the church to rally around of giving them instruction. Right? Peter, all of the conflict and the attacks and the persecution is coming. And Peter's, he's busy giving instruction of, this is our gospel, this is the thing we're centered around, regardless of whatever, you know, we're being persecuted about. First John, those who were of you, who left, they were not really of you. They said they were, but obviously because they didn't hold to the body, they didn't hold to the teaching of Christ, they left. Unity is always far more important than we give it credit for, and yet it's nothing like, for the most part, the world talks about as far as unity goes. Every new president that comes into office talks about unifying the nation. Well, you see where things go, regardless of whatever presidency, whatever ruler comes in. There's no kind of unity like what Jesus Christ has purchased. Okay, so a quick survey of, you know, that's just what's happening in the New Testament. But specifically, turn over to John 17 for just a second. The Lord Jesus Christ, the last, you know, some of the last thoughts, his last prayers, his last plea before God as he's headed to the cross, what is he thinking about? What is he praying for? So this is John 17. And let me just start reading at verse 20. So he's prayed for different groups of people. He prays for himself. He prays for the immediate disciples. And then he thinks about all of us in the future who are going to believe the word the apostles gave. And what does he pray? I don't ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. just as Father, you are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them as you loved me. Right? So the last kind of mindset that the Lord Jesus is in, as he's getting ready for the cross, is he's thinking about the unity of the people who are going to kind of come around the word, listen to the apostles' teaching, and center themselves on. He's thinking about their unity and praying for it. Okay? So, why is that? Right? Well, at least some of the reasons are, is because unity within the body teaches doctrine. This is, this is just one of the most mind, kind of mind-blowing thoughts that Paul has said, but this is, this comes in Philippians 1. But let's listen to this. This is what unity teaches the outside world. Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. Sounds like unity, right? And not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God. So when the church strives for the same mindset, the same truth, living in accord with one another, living in unity, the outside world learns that there is a judgment that is coming for them, as well as a salvation for those who are part of that. So unity has this teaching effect on those who are watching. It's true because there's no person, regardless of how callous their conscience is, that doesn't know that unity is a good thing. That doesn't know that unity is where the world should be in some regard. And yet they can't manufacture it. They can't produce it themselves. And so it teaches them that when they watch a unified, loving, holy pursuing body, holiness pursuing body, they learn that there's a judgment. There's a judgment for them. Right? As much as we have to also explain that with our words, it's that in tandem with the kind of lives we live together that shows them that that is a real truth. Okay, so the Lord Jesus is all about unity. and unity confirms the kind of doctrine. So now flip back to Ephesians, and we want to talk about what is this unity as it's been presented in Ephesians. Okay, so if you're starting to just work through this list, these seven items that Paul has presented, It helps most of all to think, okay, Paul's probably, we don't know how many of the other New Testament letters are out and available for the church in Ephesus. Most likely, he wants you to be able to understand what that unity is. Yes, from the time that he spent preaching to the Ephesians, but you can probably look throughout the rest of the book of Ephesians so far and see how these things have been presented, right? Makes sense that he would have at least touched on some of these items. So he starts, right? He starts with, there's one body. Okay, where else has he mentioned so far that there's one body? So far in Ephesians. Okay? So Paul has purposely, Jan mentioned, there's one body that has now brought Jews and Gentiles together, that body being the Lord Jesus Christ. So his body was put forth so a new humanity can be formed. So there's a mention there of one body, not us as a unified body, but that there's something that's going to to come out of his one body being sacrificed on our behalf. Okay, then also, look at 3.6. So Paul turns his attention, turns his attention now to this responsibility that he's been given to preach about Jews and Gentiles being brought together and he says, This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So it's important at least for Paul to get out. There's not a, like to Jan's point, there's not a body of death that was killed and crucified for Jews and then some other incarnation that had to happen for Gentiles to be saved. We only needed one Savior to die that could bring both together. And so, now we, as a result of that, by faith in that gospel, in the Lord Jesus Christ, are brought into that one body. Okay? So now, I tied it to the Spirit and these three together, Paul seems to there in chapter 4, but what's the connection between the body and the Spirit? What's the connection between them? Good, so Amanda's point is just that it's the Spirit's work, right, that creates the body, that creates the relationships of all the people who are being brought in. Look, just look up one verse. Let me remind you of verse three there in chapter four. So you're supposed to be eager to maintain, not create, you're eager to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, right? So Paul is saying this unity that we have, this one body cohesion, all of us fitting in, is something that originates from the spirit. Okay, now where have you seen hope so far in Ephesians? Right? Jan points out chapter one. Flip back there, this is the prayer in the beginning of Ephesians. Starting, let me read verse 18 first. So your heart, imagine it, big eyeball, and all of a sudden the scale falls off and it's, psh, you can see everything. Having the eyes of your heart enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. So the first thing he prays for, what's the hope to which he has called you? Okay, now go back up just a couple of verses. Verse 16. May give you the spirit. of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened. So it's the spirit then revealing to you the one hope of your calling, right? So if there's anything, right? So if we're talking, all of these things are part of our unity. We have one spirit. He seals us. He guarantees our deposit. He also puts us into one body. where we relate to one another. We are members, right? We talk about membership. We don't talk about membership as if it's like membership in a country club, or you're on a long list of some kind. Membership is body language. We're members of the same body, which the spirit makes. But of course, what goes with that is the spirit reminds us that each one of us, each one of us that's united to Christ, we share the same kind of hope, our hope of heaven, our hope that, you know, of where we, that we will be with Christ forever, that it is secure, that he has done the work in order to bring us to God. All of that, which comes because of our calling. Because calling, right, is God's effectual call. He called you out of darkness to himself. He regenerated your heart. He brought you to himself, right? So in the gospel, sometimes there's this general call. You know, I call to everyone. Come, come, come. But in Paul's letters, calling becomes almost synonymous with God regenerating us, giving us new life, bringing us from darkness to light. So here you can see that these three are tied together in a lot of ways. And you can see how you can't have unity if you don't associate your connection to the body as spirit made. How are you going to think? If we don't all share in the fellowship of the spirit, like we say every week at the end of the service, then there's no way we're gonna think of each other as part of the same body, and therefore members one of another, therefore caring about hurting, when we're hurting, when we're rejoicing, all of those kinds of things, because we're not even gonna be thinking about the same hope that drives us all, the same hope that is constantly the motivation for all of the things that we're thinking about and doing as people who have been won by the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's also these things that now are associated with the Lord. Now, I think when Paul thinks about, when he uses one Lord, he could have said Jesus Christ specifically, but he's bringing up the fact that all of the promises that have been made All of those are now fulfilled in Jesus Christ. So everything, when you're thinking in terms of reading your Old Testament, and Yahweh this, and Yahweh that, and Yahweh this, and Yahweh that, all sorts of those types of language and that kind of communication is now passed over to the Lord Jesus Christ. The things that Yahweh did, the New Testament writers have no problem now saying, this is what the Lord Jesus has done, and just bringing those right over. So he is our one Lord. And Lord has been brought up over and over and over again in Ephesians that this is the man to whom you are connected to, you are brought to, you are united with. He is able to safely deliver his people. Now, how is faith connected to the Lord? What's that? Okay, faith is required by the Lord. Okay? Yeah, it's a gift. We just learned that in Ephesians 2. That God is, for by grace we are saved through faith, not of ourselves. It is the gift of God so that works are removed. How else is faith connected to our Lord? Good, good, right? So our unity doesn't make sense at all if the faith that has been handed down isn't one that is constantly directed to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who secured our salvation, and so our faith can only be in him. It can't be in, like Ephesians 2 mentioned, it can't be in additional things, quality attributes of the people that are here. The unity that's tying us together is that, for by grace we have all needed to be saved by faith, not by our own doing. So the unity is that the Lord Jesus Christ gets exalted week in, week out, week in, week out as the object of our faith. Okay? So there's the faith that unites us all. What about one baptism? How is baptism connected to the Lord? Yes, both, Dave. Dave asked, is it spirit baptism or physical baptism? Good. So Dave's first point was that as far as the reason the Spirit is here, the reason we can be, the reason we can have the Spirit with us is the Lord's work on the cross and then as he ascends and pours out the gift of the Spirit. Okay. Right, yep. So Dave was just saying, then as far as physical baptism goes, it's the presentation of someone who is verbally saying, I now belong to Christ. Right? So our baptism, every time somebody gets dunked, they get dunked into a name. They are removing their own, they're verbally proclaiming in their confession, and then when they go into the water, that all of those things that belong to them, that were connected to them in the old life, are washed off and put off, and now they are putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's our picture that that has happened internally. So we have one baptism that the Lord has given to us as a sign and a symbol that they are connected, that they have a new name. They're called Christian. They're called Christian. Their name, their old self, everything that was associated with their connection to the old man is gone. And they are now connected to this new humanity, this new unity that has been won for them. Okay, so you can see how this is just forming a unity that everyone who's going to claim to be a Christian is a part of. Okay? Now God the Father, who is over all, through all, and in all. What have we learned about the Father in Ephesians so far? Yep. Jenny's bringing it up back in chapter 2, verse 4. There's the father out of love, out of a desire to show the supreme riches that he has. He's made us alive. By grace, you've been saved. Any other passages stick out so far in Ephesians? Okay. Which, which, any verses in particular you're thinking of, Jan? Yes. So, Jan's just bringing up the letter begins with an emphasis on the Lord Jesus Christ sitting in the heavenlies with his riches and then just bestowing blessings on these people. He's taking the initiative that he's choosing them. He's predestining them in love to himself. He's sending the son. He's initiating a plan by which you as the people of God can be rescued. You as the people of God can be brought to salvation. He is, I mean, this idea of overall and through all and in all, In one sense, you could easily say that the alls there that he's talking about are he's doing all things. I mean, that's kind of the first place, at least my mind kind of went as far as thinking, you know, he's just supreme. He's over everything. He's controlling everything. He's determining everything. But I think specifically, because the next place in chapter four that he goes to is, but to each one of us, he's giving gifts. I think probably in verse six, he's talking to all of you believers. So God the Father is over all of you. Back to chapter one, he is over your salvation. He's initiating your salvation, the blessings that you've received, the precious kinds of being chosen in Christ, being loved by Christ, having a Redeemer who come for you, washing away your sins, all of that, he's been over that, your father has. Through it, he's, I mean, he's carrying it along, he's providing for the body to have all of its necessary attributes so that it hangs together, so that it is unified. And then in, He's the one who is personally invested in each one of us moving on through our salvation to finish well. So you can see even within this kind of seven-fold list, all of the persons of the Trinity are at work, all of them fulfilling the roles, accomplishing the tasks, bringing our salvation to final fruitfulness, to its final end. What do we need, essentially, to get to heaven? We need a unity that can be purchased, okay? So I think that's what verses four through six, it's helping to now emphasize What kind of attitude, what kind of, really not even necessarily attitude, what kind of character is needed in order for this to be preserved and maintained within Crosspoint, within our church? Well, if you just move up the verse before, you actually need to be eager to maintain it. There's a striving, right? So conflicts happen regardless. Difficulties between people, we get sideways with one another for a host of different reasons. Is there eagerness? Right? One of Jesus' words as far as how interactions are to be carried out in Matthew 18 is, if your brother has something against you, you go to him. Well, I mean, you can, in some ways, you can some ways be, you know, kind of, oh, fine, I've got to, I got to go deal with this person. He's obviously holding a grudge against me. We haven't talked in, you know, how long, I guess I'll do it. But according to verse three, there's an eagerness that goes with, I don't want, I don't want unity to be broken and crushed and our relationship to be lost. for months on end. So I'm eager to maintain it. Now, that doesn't mean that all of a sudden you love interpersonal conflict. There's almost no one who loves interpersonal conflict. And if you find someone who loves interpersonal conflict and working it out, there could be something else going on in the meantime. I mean, really, almost nobody loves, but you can love the end result of pursuing people and being eager to maintain this unity that we've been given. Okay? The flip side of that is Are you the kind of person that if somebody else is eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, you're open to somebody coming to you and pursuing that with you, right? This is where those character – you can work through each one of those character in verse two and you can start to ask, not the question of, am I humble? Am I gentle? But am I the kind of person, have I developed the kind of character that somebody would be – that I would feel approachable if I had sinned against them? that I have enough, I'm working enough on my character as far as being gentle that somebody would feel like if they came to me, I don't immediately kind of, you know, flare up. So here, in my mind, here's one of the connections between character and how what we're supposed to do is supposed to match up. Okay, so they say not having character, but knowing what you're supposed to do is kind of like having a checkbook without any money in the bank. I think that's probably a fair illustration. So if you don't have any character, When you go to someone to do what you're supposed to do, if your character has constantly just been complete, has been opposite or has been, you know, is constantly full of pride or harshness or those kinds of things, there's no way you can actually accomplish keeping the unity that you're supposed to have. You just think about a husband and wife, right? I know I'm supposed to love you and you're supposed to submit to me. And he goes home and he reminds the wife, hey, you're supposed to submit to me. But there's no character behind that that is full of love and humbleness and gentleness He hasn't been long in patience and being willing to win that person. He doesn't have the money in the bank to actually cash and bring to fruition and keep the unity that he's supposed to have. It's the same thing with patience, right? Patience is the kind of attribute that especially comes up in like the pastoral letters. You see, right, you see a young believer who's growing up in the faith and you see, okay, you know, sometimes someone gets converted and especially if they get converted out of really rough circumstances, we've got all sorts of patience for them at first. All sorts of patients that this is where they came from. I understand. I can work with that. I can befriend that. But you get five or six, seven, 10 years down the road, 20 years down the road, and you still see some of the flaws that that person has. I still see how they're failing in this area, in that area. And all of a sudden, patients has run out and all of a sudden you're a lot quicker to have kind of a mocking word or a harsh word that kind of comes alongside of like, really thought you'd be over that by now. Really thought you had grown up past that by now. So without patience, this can't be kept. Bearing with one another in love. Right? In love. I mean, a lot of us, we can easily talk about bearing with one another. But is it done in such a way as to we each, you actually get down, you're carrying half the load of the weight, the trials, the tribulations that another person is going through. Also, when you're going through those things yourself, Do you allow other people to actually join with you and feel whatever embarrassment it might kind of feel like that you're having to ask for help to allow people to come in and share those burdens with you? Right? We can easily get in the kind of thing where I don't mind telling you what you need to pray for for me. but I just don't want you close enough to where you might know far more of what's going on and actually know that I really just need help. I really can't seem to get control of what's happening in my relationship. I need someone who knows me well enough that can actually be asking the right kinds of questions. We can keep things at a certain kind of distance, but to actually share burdens with one another, you have to know a certain amount of information. And obviously then, we can't do that necessarily for every other person in the body, which means... You have to be working at developing the kinds of relationships of the people that you're with, some of the body, that you are sharing burdens with, and also having them share them with you. Because you know how life is. It goes up and down, and we each kind of take our turn getting beat up by different portions of life and forgetting all the things that we have in the Spirit. So you can see, you've got to have the character now that comes along if this unity is going to be maintained among us, okay? And those are things that you can then focus on becoming as well as being able to receive. Because nobody likes to receive criticism, right? And what's the first thing we kind of tend to do is self-justify? Well, they're not. become a patient person that says, I don't know that all of what they said is true, but maybe there's something there that they're seeing that I need to take a moment to reflect on. Maybe there's something there that I don't have to suddenly respond with, okay, yeah, but, but instead am open to receive it. So you can see without those character traits, this is lost. So from here, now, Paul is gonna turn and say, if this is our unity, that doesn't mean we're all lemmings of some kind of just, we all exactly made in the same mold, but instead, it's unity in diversity. That is, each one of us is pulling a different kind of weight, a different kind of gift, in order that we all are actually built up, because how does it end in verse 16? Look at Ephesians 4, verse 16. What's the goal? Right? Verse 15. Right? So the goal is the body achieves love for one another. It's built up in love. Now move just a few verses back. What's the other goal of what we're to attain? Verse 13, until we all attain to the unity of the faith. Unity of the spirit, unity of the faith. Our goal is to come to that. All right, let's stop there and get ready for worship.