Welcome to Mill Creek Church in Belleville, Texas, where our worship service is in progress. Today, Pastor Monty Byrd continues with his sermon series on the Book of Ephesians. And now, Pastor Byrd. Show me a prayer, please. Father, as we approach your word this morning, I just pray that you'd open up our hearts and minds to your truth through the dwelling of your Spirit. I pray, Lord, that you'd continue to conform us into the image of your Son. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4 as we continue our study this morning of Paul's letter to the Ephesians. We studied verse three last week, but I want to read verses one through five before we progress to our focal verse, which would be verse four. Ephesians four, starting in verse one reads, therefore, I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you've received with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and the father of all who is above all and through all and in all. As we studied verse three last week, you'll recall that I mentioned that the bond of peace, the bond of peace is the life and work of Christ. He's our commonality. He's our bond. He is how we receive the offer of the New Testament, which is peace. And if you look at verse three, it says that we have to make every effort. In other words, Christianity isn't just textbook. It's not an idea. We live out our life with Christ in the service of his kingdom, and we realize that we are living in an environment that's not perfect. This is why he writes, make every effort. because we don't live in a perfect world and we're not perfect people. In addition, as the body of Christ is together, we are all at different points in our life. Some of us just accepted Christ. Others accepted Christ 30, 40, 50, 60 years ago. We're at different phases of our growth. And so we encounter people at different spots. So we have to be graceful and we have to recognize that God is working in every one of our lives. And so we have to make every effort as we live out our Christian life. So he's pointing out that there is unity. In verse three, make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. We can do this when you and I keep our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ. When we keep our focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be graceful with one another. We can be gentle with one another, which is what Paul tells us in verse two. We can bear with one another if our focus is on the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's calling us to walk in unity. And then we get to verses four through six, which is beautiful. Four through six is beautiful. Look at it. There's one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and end all. Some people believe that this was a hymn, that Paul was reciting a hymn. And there's other examples of that in the New Testament. We can't know for sure if that was an actual hymn. Hohner in his commentary rightly states that we tend to want to ascribe hymns to any verses that have meter, and that's definitely a possibility. But regardless, it is beautiful as Paul outlines the elements of unity. He calls us to unity in verse three, but in verses four through six, he points out seven elements of unity. And to emphasize his theme of unity, look at the word that he uses, one. One, there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to, one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all who is above all and through all and in all. No room for Unitarians there, right? One. You and I as believers, as brothers and sisters in Christ, come together as one. which leads us to the first element of unity, one body. There's one body in one spirit. Now, I think as we study this verse, it's important to realize something that I pointed out over the last several Sundays. You can divide Ephesians in half starting here at chapter four. It's the second half. It's the second half of the letter. The first half of the letter deals with the doctrine of Christianity. The second half of the letter, starting in chapter four, deals with the duty, our duty as Christians, how we're supposed to act and live. And if you think about it, and you're gonna see this throughout this study of verses four through six, I should be able to combine the first half with the second half because the doctrine should equal how we should live. In here on the first element, you see that he has called us to one body. Now, if we go back to the doctrinal half, Let's go to Ephesians 1, Ephesians 1 verse 20, reading through 20 through 23, this is what Paul wrote. He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body. See it? The fullness of the one who fills all things in every way. Jesus Christ is the head of the church and we are all called into the body of Christ. Quick aside, it's not like a body of water. You know, if you go by a lake or an ocean, it's the body of water. I'll never forget the first time I was in Chicago and I saw Lake Michigan. I thought, oh my goodness, I've never seen a lake look so big. It's a body of water. That's not the body of Christ. We're His hands and His feet. We're His mouth. We're the body of Christ. And we've all been called into His body. You see it again in Ephesians 2. And in fact, as we continue on in our study, you'll see how all of these words pop up again and together inside the focal verses. You're going to see body. You're going to see spirit. You're going to see all of the words contained in verses four through six in all of the reference verses because they're together. Ephesians 2, verse 14, for he is our peace. I referenced this last time as I pointed out that we are bound together through Christ. He is our peace. Who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulation so that he might create in himself one new man from the two resulting in peace. He did this Pay attention to verse 16. He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body. that he might reconcile both the God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away in peace to those who are near." How did the New Testament Jew come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? How did he do that? It wasn't through the law, it was through the cross. How did the Gentile come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? It was through the cross. He reconciled us together in one body. Our commonality, our commonality is the same. We get there the same way. It is our bond. We're together in his body. That's an element of unity. And so as we gather together on Sunday, as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, we proclaim our unity. This is our common belief. What's the next element of unity? The Spirit. There is one body in one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope at your calling. Again, let's go back to the first half. Ephesians 2.18, we're gonna read 18 through 22. Through him, we both have access in one spirit. in one Spirit to the Father. So then, you're no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's households built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him, the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit." you and I have access to one spirit. And the spirit isn't just sitting there. The spirit is at work. We believe that. The Bible says that. In fact, if you go to 2 Corinthians 3, it's lengthy, but I think it's important that we see this in light of today's focal passage. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 7. And what Paul's doing here, he's comparing the Old Testament law to Jesus Christ. And in verse seven, it says, now, if the ministry that brought death chiseled in letters on stones came with glory so that Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses's face because of its glory, which was set aside, how will the ministry of the spirit And let me emphasize those words, ministry of the spirit. How will the ministry of the spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry that brought condemnation had glory, the ministry that brings righteousness overflows with even more glory. In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was set aside was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious. So then, we have such a hope. We act with great boldness. We're not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from gazing steadily until the end of the glory of what was being set aside, but their minds were hardened. For this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains. It is not lifted because it is set aside only in Christ. Yet still today, whenever Moses has read, a veil lies over their hearts. But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now, the Lord is the spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. We all with unveiled faces are looking as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, That is from the Lord who is the Spirit. Now let's think about that in the context of you and I being in the body of Christ. You and I are in the body of Christ. We're brothers and sisters in Christ. And as we're called together in Christ, we also have another commonality and that commonality is the Spirit. And there is a ministry of the Spirit, just as it said in verse eight, the ministry of the Spirit. Well, what is the ministry of the Spirit? The ministry of the Spirit, if you look at verse 18, is we are being transformed. We're being transformed. We're being sanctified. We're being moved into holiness. We progress in our holiness. In other words, the church isn't just people sitting in pews counting until the hour is up. The church is a group of people bound together by the blood of Jesus Christ and are being transformed in their life. We do not believe in a static faith. We believe in an active faith. We believe in a faith that transforms us. We believe that the longer that we walk with the Lord Jesus Christ, the things of this world become less and less important. And the only thing that matters is our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our commonality. It isn't just spirit by title. It's the work of the Spirit and the transformation. And if we concentrate on the Lord Jesus Christ, if Christ is proclaimed in the church, if we discuss the things of Christ, we see God move among men and women, in hearts and in minds. Well, one body, one Spirit, And then Paul wrote, just as you were called to one hope at your calling. Now, I'm gonna approach this backwards. We're gonna look at our calling before our hope. Because you have to look at our calling in the context of hope. We have a commonality in hope, a true biblical hope. Our hope isn't worldly. It isn't focused on pleasure or materialism. It's a hope built on Christ. But unfortunately, there are people that misconstrue both their calling and their hope. And this has been going on since the New Testament. And I want to give you an example. Galatians 1 verse 6. This is what Paul wrote at the church. He said, I'm amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. Not that there is another gospel, But there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him. And we have said before, I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse be on him. For am I now trying to persuade people or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. For I want you to know brothers and sisters that the gospel preached to me is not of human origin for I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ. There are people that distort the gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember listening to a sermon that John MacArthur was preaching and he was talking about being at home and being sick. and he wasn't able to preach. And he was watching television preachers and his wife told him, why do you do that? You just get mad. And I can relate to that. Where you turn on Christian broadcasting and you hear something that is just absolutely not true. It's not true. It's not even near the truth. And as we think about Our unity, the unity that we have is in our calling, in our hope. Look at Colossians 3, verse 12. Therefore, as God's chosen one, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, hearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another, just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also are to forgive. Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, and let the peace of Christ to which you were called in one body, Rule your hearts. Think about that verse within our focal passage this morning. Verse 15, and let the peace of Christ to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. We have a common calling. We have a common gospel. You and I have responded not to different gospels. And the problem is, is that when a different gospel is preached, You attract people for the wrong reasons. For example, health and wealth. And I can say that there is a mega church in Houston that I've heard the statistics given that it's one of the largest churches in the United States. And I heard a statistic one day that they turn over 80% of their congregation. Why is that? Because they weren't called with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're there for health or wealth. They're there to have their problem go away. Or they're there for a full bank account. That's not a firm foundation. That is absolutely not a firm foundation. But you and I were called into one body and we were called with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that gospel of Jesus Christ is what gives us hope. What gives us hope. Hohner in his commentary points out that hope in the New Testament and in this particular verse, as also earlier in Ephesians in chapter one, the word hope was defined as an eager expectation of the outworking of God's plan. Let me read that again. Hope is the eager expectation of the outworking of God's plan. That's what sets us apart from the rest of the world, is that we are eagerly expecting God's plan to come to fulfillment. And I don't know about you, but I can see it. As we think about what just happened in Israel over the last year and a half. And as we saw the world amazingly turn anti-Semitic, I never thought I would see that. But if you know your biblical prophecy, you know it has to come to fruition that the world turns against Israel. And the one thing that I thought is, is as we see the world turn against Israel, I thought it may not be at this event. Could be. But we're getting closer. We're getting closer to the fulfillment of our hope. And our hope isn't in riches, our hope isn't in favor, our hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And before we met Christ, our commonality is, is that we were hopeless. Ephesians 2.12 says, at that time, referring to before meeting Christ, at that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel and foreigners to the covenants of promise without hope and without God in the world. Before you and I meet Jesus Christ, we're without hope and we're without God. That's life before we surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ. But now as believers, you and I have hope. Colossians 1 verse 3 says, we always thank God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You've already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel. Let me repeat that. You have already heard about this hope in the word of the truth, the gospel. How does one come to faith? The Bible says through the preaching of his word. Through the preaching of his word, we come to faith. And here it says that we have hope because we heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. In other words, our hope is the eager expectation of the outworking of God's plan. Now, that should put a pep in our step, right? That should make us want to be right in our life spiritually. If my hope is that He's going to return, when you and I celebrated the Lord's table this morning, we celebrated in unity that He will return. And if I believe that He's returning, and if I believe that today I'm a day closer, and tomorrow I'm going to be even more close, and next month and next year I'm going to be closer, I need to get my life right, and you need to get your life right, because we have a hope. that He's coming and we want to be ready. In addition to that hope and knowing that we need to get our life right, you and I know some people who've not experienced the hope that you and I have. And we should have an urgency. We should have an urgency to tell people about the saving power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we have a hope. I'll never forget reading a book by the founder of Service Masters, a Christian businessman. And he had this phrase that stuck with me. And I've used it ever since I read the book. If you're not living it, you don't believe it. If you're not living it, you don't believe it. And I think that's something that we should all ask ourselves. Am I living? according to the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ? Am I living in the expectation that tomorrow I can see him face to face? See, we should have a commonality and hope, but that hope is meaningful. It's just not us saying, oh yes, he's going to return. And we just all make that statement. But nothing happens in our life because of that statement. But that hope should move us to action. We have that hope. And just as we read about the ministry of the Spirit, we believe in action. And we should have a yearning. Romans chapter eight talks about the yearning that we should have and the hope of God. Romans 8, 18, Paul wrote, for I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed in us. For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. For the creation was subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God's children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the first fruits, we also groan within ourselves. Think about that. Think about verse 23 in the context of my life and your life. We ourselves who have the spirit as the first fruits, we also grown within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Now in this hope, we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope because who hopes for what he sees? Now, if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. Let me ask you a question. Are you yearning? Are you yearning for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ? When you think about the gospel, that should be top of mind, that we should be yearning for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. We should be praying for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. That should define our life. Returning should motivate me to live my life and your life according to the truth of Jesus Christ. It should motivate us to tell our friends and family And that should be a commonality. I think somewhere along the way in the last 30 or 50 years, the church has lost some of its zeal. That we're not as mission-minded as we used to be. We don't have an urgency to tell others about the gospel that we used to have. It's not in the original psalm, but when you look in our hymnal on Battle Hymn of the Republic, they inserted a verse that I love. And it says, Lord, give me one more minute, one more day. The writer's conveying one more minute or one more day to share the truth. That should be part of our commonality because we have a common hope that one day, God is going to sit on his throne and rule this world in perfection. And we will behold him face to face for eternity. Join me in prayer, please. Father, we just thank you for this morning, for your truth. I pray, Lord, that we might be bound together in unity, in the unity of Christ. And that unity would cause us to live according to the truth of Jesus Christ. And that unity would cause us to witness, witness to others who have no hope, that we might tell them of a hope that they can't find anywhere else in the world. Lord, I pray that if there's someone listening today or through sermon audio that does not know you, that today they might discover the hope in Jesus Christ. In Jesus name, amen. Thank you for joining us as Pastor Byrd continues this sermon series. If you wish to hear more, you may find him at millcreekchurch.org or go to sermonaudio.com slash millcreekchurch. Prayer requests may also be left at millcreekchurch.org. Our church services are as follows. Sunday morning Bible study is at 9 a.m., followed by our worship service at 10 a.m. We have Wednesday night prayer meeting and Bible study, and they are at 6.30 p.m. For more information and our mission statement, please visit our website millcreekchurch.org.