We have said all along that it's generally recognized Ephesians is in two parts. And so today we have crossed over the trip line into the really tough part of the book, which is you got to start acting on these things we've been studying. So this passage today is basically about unity. So by the time we're done, I hope we're all Unitarians. There's a joke about, there's two men are up on a bridge and one's about to jump off and the other's trying to talk him out of it. And so the man says to the jumper, well, wait a minute, are you a Christian or Hindu or Jewish or what? And the jumper says, Christian. And the man says, what's my world? Me too, Protestant, Catholic or Orthodox? And he says, Protestant. And the man replies, well, me too, what denomination? The jumper says, Baptist. And the man says, well, me too, Southern Baptist, independent. And the jumper says, Southern. And the guy says, well, me too, conservative or moderate. And the jumper says, conservative. And the man says, well, me too. London Baptist Confession of 1644 or 1689? And the man says, 1644. And the man says, me too. And he says, first edition or second edition? And the jepper said, first. And with that, the man pushes him off the bridge and says, die, heretic! What we need in the Church is unity, even despite some differences we might have. The unity, I think we all agree, is organic. It's not outward conformity and it's something worked by the Spirit. But having said that, you do have to maintain it. It's almost like somebody gives you a car. That's great. You still have to maintain it. So, the Holy Spirit does work unity in the church, but we're told here to maintain it, and that's what this is all about. So, Paul gives a reason for maintaining unity. So, let's read chapter 4, verses 1 through 6. I want to know the reasons Paul gives for maintaining the unity of the Spirit. 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, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and 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 and through all and in all. Why should we all be Unitarians according to this? The reason he gives is what? Because there's one body, one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. So the implication of monotheism is unity in the church. That's an application of theology. One thing I never liked about systematic theology books is it almost treats the Bible like a corner or a cadaver and they just slice up the pieces and remove stuff and everything. And they slice out all the theology and put together a systematic theology book. In so doing, they strip out the application of it. And in the Bible, you've got theology, but there's always application. And so here, this big application of monotheism is the unity that we're supposed to have as God's people. That's what it comes down to. So, going back to chapter 4, verse 1, one of the first words is, therefore. Here we go again. What's the therefore, therefore? What does it refer back to? He's drawn a conclusion. What's he just said? Al? He's marking the transition from the doctrine of the first three chapters to the practice of the second three chapters. Okay, so yes, this is a conclusion, he's marking a transition from what he said, this doctrine, in the first three chapters. In other words, therefore, all that I have said, the first three chapters, now implies that we are to apply this. Unless I'm mistaken, some of you here have studied the first three chapters. What's it about? A big part of that is this mystery of Jews and Gentiles being one new man in the church. It's not that Jews have acquired Gentiles, it is that there's been a merger, and it's a whole new deal right now. And he talked a lot about the fact that we're transferred the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of life, and he talked about predestination, and he talked about election, and all these wonderful things God has done for us, and what he's called us to, the holiness. In verse 16, in the previous chapter, he says about the, according to the riches of the Lord, they may be strengthened with power through the Spirit in the human being. And then he talks about, in verse 20, he talks about, according to the power I have worked within us, therefore, if you have this power, because of what he's done, do this. Yes, and the last thing he talked about was that prayer. Remember the prayer? And it was a prayer for power, the strengthening of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, do this. So you can do this in the power of the Spirit, but this is a big thing he wants us to do. But just before he gets into it, he talks about himself, being self-centered as he is. And he describes himself as a prisoner of the Lord. Why did he begin by pointing out, once more, that he is a prisoner of the Lord? Yeah, we know, he's sitting in Rome, he's in prison. Why does he remind them of that before he starts this? Adonis? Maybe he'd been bought with a prize and therefore what? Disobedience isn't optional. Disobedience is not an option. Paul paid a pretty heavy price, sorry to Jesus by the way, for this truth of Jew and Gentile being one in the church and being in unity, of getting along with each other. It cost Paul something, it might cost the church something. I think he's also reminding them that he is a willing prisoner. That's well said, thank you. And so he says, as he did before, he didn't say a prisoner of Caesar, he's a prisoner of the Lord because of his obedience to Jesus. And it was the unbelieving Jews who arrested him initially for doing what? They accused him of doing what? Which he didn't do, but the point is they knew he was bringing these Gentiles into, well, we'll say the church. They didn't like Gentiles, of course, that was the whole problem. A bond servant is different than a regular servant. A bond servant is different than a regular servant. And how are they different? Slave. Why? I'm a little cloudy there, but a bond servant had a choice to stay with the master. They did not stay with the master. They pierced their ear with an anvil. It showed that recognition they were submissive back to their master. Good. Voluntarily, yes. And Kurt, was that you were going to say something? I was just going to say, it looks like he realizes he's about to ask, that he's about to encourage him I don't imagine it's easy to be in prison. It's not going to be easy to do what he's about to ask. If you think it's easy, you haven't understood it. Yeah, that he's been writing about. Thank you. So what's the first thing he urges them to do in verse 1? First application is what? Walk worthy. What does it mean to walk in a manner worthy of our calling? Now put it in the context of what he's been talking about for the hard application. You're doing what it takes in obedience to bring about peace and unity. What does it take? This worthy walk toward unity requires you to do what? Lay down your arms. Okay, yes, and he's going to explain that, Al. I think first it requires that you understand your calling. Then try to live up to that calling. Our calling is the call of God. We did not choose him, he chose us. And that's a very high calling. And that requires the average Christian to stretch themselves upward, I guess is the operative word, to the level of that calling. That's correct. You walk in a manner worthy of the calling, and that is an upward calling. And in this case, when we're talking about the unity of the church, every social group has rules. Even gangs have rules. If you don't follow the rules, you get put out. Now he's about to tell you the rules of our unity gang. Here come the rules. This is what you are supposed to do. He paints it for you. Philippians 1.27 says, manner of life, be worthy of the gospel of Christ, standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. So he starts to flesh it out. What's the next thing he says you need to be about? The next item in our list. What is it? Okay. With all humility. And you can't do that unless you grab hold of the power of the Trinity. That's right. Amen. That's right. This is why he started with that prayer before I got into this. Somebody else said something. Was that you, Dalton? It's a brokenness. Humility is a brokenness. Yes. It's interesting to me that basically there is no Greek word for humility. It looks like Paul made a word up. The Greeks saw humility as a flaw. This word that's here appears centuries later by secular writers and it's used derogatorily almost always of Christians. It's the word low and the word thinking jammed together. Low thinking. And the King James rightly says lowliness. That's the idea of it. That's what it means. When you're dealing with other people in the church, you need to think lowly of yourself. Especially when there's disagreement. How's that gonna change your attitude about somebody you disagree with if you automatically assign low thinking to yourself compared to that person? How's that gonna change your approach to the discussion? You won't be dismissive, you'll entertain their thoughts. Right. Trying to win anything. So if you're in an argument with your boss at work, clearly you're lower than he is. That's different. Oh, that's different. Yeah. But how do you act different toward your boss in a disagreement than you would just another coworker? I mean, typically. In the world, how does that play out differently? One thing, you probably listen more carefully. OK. You listen more carefully. I think John said you hear him out, right? He has power over you. Therefore, what do you do different, Rhett? Okay, you don't take offense, or if you do, you don't show it. And John, what'd you say? Okay, you try hard not to give offense, don't you? It's almost like a salesman-customer relationship. The idea of the customer always being right. He's not. But you don't needlessly offend the customer. You bend over backward, you bite your tongue, right? Nathaniel, were you going to say something? You looked like you were ready. You had a prophecy, a revelation. No? I was going to say, it makes you take the position of a servant, not a lord. Yes, you take the position of a servant, not a lord. I know there's that popular series on TV about the rich people in the house around World War I. Who are they? Downton Abbey. But you look at the servants, they're very subservient to the Lord of the matter, Lord Grantham. But they do occasionally disagree with the aristocracy, but the way they do it is always very circumspect and respectful. Now, what does that say about our dealings with each other? It's the way they should be with each other. The same thing. See, now this doesn't mean anything unless there's disagreement, right? Why do you think he put the word all in front of it? All humility. Not just a little bit. I know, you're in this thing. All hearty, y'all in. I learned an interesting thing about humility reading this. Humility is described as, first of all, all sin is described as emanating originally out of the prophet. And all humility is associated with the virtues in life. That's good. The opposite of humility does seem to be pride. Yeah, that's what got the devil in so much trouble. That's how he tempted Adam and Eve. That's good. One of the commentators I read, Hendrickson, he said, there are three essential qualities for unity in the church. How many essential qualities are there? Three. The first, as indicated here, is humility. The second is humility. And the third is humility. And that's the truth. Are you easily offended? You're not humble. When you have lowliness of mind, it means you are not quick to take up an offense. You don't get burned up. You don't as easily feel resentment. James chapter 4 verse 6 says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Why do you suppose God gives grace to the humble? You're gonna need it, because people are gonna walk all over you. Even in the church? Yes, that's right. I read about this missionary here in the States to the Vietnamese refugees back, was it in the 70s or something after Vietnam fell? He gave up life in the corporate world and he gave up a nice house and a nice job he could have had. I mean, his car and stuff. And he went and he served these Vietnamese boat people to evangelize them. And over time, some of them got saved and their lives started changing and they started living a type of life that is productive. And first thing you know, they had good jobs and were making a lot of money. They were living in houses a lot nicer than the missionary had and driving cars a lot nicer than the missionary had. All the things he gave up to witness to them, they now had. Well, you know what he started feeling? Resentment. You need grace when you're humble. You really do. An extra big measure of it. So, expectations are what? You're going to get run over. Because you are. In our church, and in every church, there are always going to be people, and it's not necessarily the same people all the time because we take turns doing that, who are insensitive. A Christian that's insensitive, is there such a thing? Rude. To use the words of one of our neighbors, persnickety. Clueless. Obtuse. Difficult? One theologian described Jonathan Edwards as a difficult husband to his wife. Great theologian, but a difficult person. Uncaring? Overly particular? Fussy? Moody? Self-centered? Now, would you say these people are probably at those points in the flesh more than in the spirit? but yet we all take turns being in the flesh, so that's what I said, it's not necessarily always the same person, sometimes sadly it is, but it's not always, because we all take turns doing that. So what does Paul tell you to do this afternoon when you meet that person after church? What are you supposed to do? Beat them up! Beat them up! You serve them, you maintain the unity of the Spirit, all humility. I told you this was not an easy lesson. This is a terrible lesson. I hate this lesson. There's a Scottish pastor named Thomas Guthrie. He lived from 1803 to 1873 in the days of the big sailing ships, which we've never seen, but it was a big deal back then. You've seen him on the movies. He said, the very safety of eminent gifts and preeminent graces lies in their association with deep humility. and he compares them to ships. He says, look at the mighty ship with her towering masts and carrying a cloud of canvas, how she steadies herself on the waters and walks erect on the rolling waters like a thing of life. Why is she not flung on her beams end, sent down floundering into the deep? Why? Because, unseen beneath the surface, a vast, well-balanced hull gives her balance, and taking hold of the water, keeps her steady under a press of sail and on the bosom of the swelling sea. Even so, to preserve the saint upright, erect and safe from falling, God gives him balance and ballast. bestowing on the man to whom he has given lofty endowments the attendant grace of humility. So that's your balance. What's the next thing he says in this list, this offensive list? Oh, we're supposed to be gentile, gentle with each other. What does it mean to be gentle with each other? What does that look like? Meekness, kind, what did you say, Doug? Mild-spirited. Mild-spirited? And to handle with care. And handle with care. You're gentle. Yeah. Ooh, handle each other with care. Ooh, that's good. The Greek word for gentle was used of wild horses that had been broken and tamed. The idea is strength under control. A wild horse that's broken and tamed can still run really fast, but it's under the control of its master. So if you get angry over a nuisance or inconvenience, you're not gentle. You're not controlling your spirit. Proverbs 16, 32, whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty. And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. What's the next? Impossible requirement that we're given. Ooh. We're to be patient. How would you define patience? Long-suffering. Now, we said humility was low thinking, right? And this word for patience is the Greek word for long and the Greek word for hot. Thermos. We got a word thermos from that. It takes you a long time to get hot. You don't have a quick temper. You don't easily fly off the handle. You suffer with this boor that you're dealing with. He seems like, he is a boor, but you suffer him. You're patient with him. He's a spiritual boor. He's a baby. He's not acting like Jesus would ask him to act. What are you supposed to do? You don't punch him out. Long suffering. King James say that too? Pretty good translation. This word was used of the Roman army. It sometimes lost a battle, but almost never the war, because it was patient and unrelenting in pursuit of the enemy. That's why probably, is it in Daniel, he describes the Roman Empire as this creature with terrible iron teeth that's unstoppable. It's just patient, it just came. You go to the Middle East, when they were besieging Masada, And the Jews were up on this high fortress. I think Herod had built it. Way up on this mountain. How'd he get up there? They built a ramp. A dirt ramp. All the way to the top of that thing. And there was another time they were attacking. It was a sea city. Was it Tyre or Sidon? It was out on an island. They built a dirt road out. They just kept piling dirt in the ocean. Then they built it right out there to that thing and they took them. That's the patience. Just keep on enduring. I think one of the things that That's probably why Peter said be wedded to give defense for everyone who asks you about the hope that's within you. It shows, doesn't it? What's a blind spot when you're driving in your mirror? Isn't that amazing how, y'all ever done that? When we're teaching the kids to drive, you know, we have them sit in the driver's seat, and they're looking in the rearview mirror, and you walk up behind them, and you disappear. They know you're there, but you cannot be seen. So, the problem with this is, if you have a blind spot in your life, you don't realize that you're not doing something here. So, if you are in the back seat, and you can see the car, and the driver can't, what do you say? You tell the driver, don't you? Ed and I were going along one time in Arkansas, and he was driving because I'd been teaching all day, and he about changed lanes into this car. It was in his blind spot. I saw it, so I hollered at him. It wasn't gentle either. I spoke grace according to the need of the moment, brother. If you see that someone in our church is not humble, you're very patient and long-suffering with that person, but At some point, it's incumbent on you to talk to him or her about that, right? Or that someone is consistently not gentle. What should you do? You, in humility, talk to that person about that. Or is impatient, because God uses us in each other's lives to make us Christ-like. I'm seeing these Aztec, or the Incan, I forget. They built these block buildings. They didn't use mortar. These blocks are so tight together in these walls, you can't put a knife in there, a pocket knife in there. And what they did was they rub and rub and rub these rocks, until they fit together perfectly. And so what God does with us is, he uses each other, and we rub and rub and rub on each other, until we do fit together, like in a temple, where these stones fitted together. But we have to rub the rough edges off each other. But if you don't open your mouth and in love speak the truth to this person, you don't really love him. He's not gonna get rubbed into conformity with Christ. All right, so we're all deputized, right? This is character stuff. Okay, what's the next thing we're supposed to do? Ah, bear with one another in love. What does it mean to bear with one another? What's that look like? tolerate. I like that. Be patient. What's somebody else say? A difference of attitude. Okay. So that means you don't quit and walk away. There's a fellow once upon a time It came to our church, and he wouldn't bear with us. Well, we were just starting, and we had our problems. We're trying to find what's edifying in a meeting. The Bible talks about people bringing teachings, and that's good. But we had people who were doing anti-teachings. They would not have studied. They didn't prepare. They just came. And then, if there was a moment of silence, they'd just throw Something out like, well, what do you guys think about infant baptism? He hadn't studied it. He didn't say that to edify the church. It was totally self-centered. See, it's the opposite of a teaching. And so we kept saying, don't do that, don't do that, don't do that. Praying people, don't do that. Well, one Sunday, somebody said, well, y'all tell me, where do babies go when they die? Whatever, I don't know what he said. Something like that. Anyway, this one fellow who didn't love us very much, he didn't bear with us. Now, what was done shouldn't have been done. But he got up. I can't remember exactly what he said. Teeth was there. But the gist of it was, I've had it with you people. Something like that. And he said some disparaging marks. And he went out. We were in this house that had double front doors. And so they rattled. And he went out. Wham! Slammed the door behind him. Well, I sit there. He never came back. Hadn't seen him since. What happened shouldn't have happened with the church. That guy that asked that question wasn't being edifying. But you know what that other guy did? He didn't bear with us in love. You see what I'm saying? So part of it means you don't quit and walk away. Isn't that easy just to leave? It's kind of like the difference. Amen. Or being a grandparent versus a parent. Just give them back. Somebody said, a book I read, a lot of marriages fail because the spouses don't relate to each other as they would their own children. Because, you know, kids do bad and do bad and do bad and you bear with and you bear with and you bear with. A lot of times adults, they just split. And that's the difference, isn't it? Wow, don't get up and walk away. So the question is, anybody home? Hello? Yeah. Do you have ears to hear? That's what he's talking about. Yeah? Which one? To bear? Uh-huh. Oh, holding up. Oh. We have a tendency to look at the faults in a person's life that they just have to go and pay with or struggle with and we sort of want to crucify them because we might be a little more holy or walk a longer life than they were. And we forget that we're to look for the best interest of that person for the cause of Christ. It has nothing to do with us. So, how often are you offended by somebody else? Okay, right. Is it that they are irritating or that you are irritable? It could well be both, but the point is, holding one another up in love assumes the other guy has fallen down on his Christian duties and he's acting like a horse's rear. How do you bear him up? You hold him up. You bear with him. A little later on, he talks about that there is one body. I think part of the key to that is realizing that we are all part of the same body. If I jam my finger or stub my toe or something, I don't start beating on it for hurting. If I did, you know, you may need to do things. You might buddy tape a finger so that there's a couple on there. other fingers there that are, you know, kind of bearing some of the load and keeping it from causing more pain. But it's all these things. It requires extra gentleness. You change the way you go about things in order to avoid putting undue stress there. And then you'll patiently wait for it to heal and get better and over time it will. You know, I was afraid he was going to say every now and then you have to cut the finger off. But no, you tape it to the finger. Actually, in a worst, worst, worst case scenario, sometimes you do cut the finger off. to keep the whole body becoming infected with something bad. But that's a worse case. We're not dealing with that here. It's a question of whether it's injured or whether it's got some sort of a infection that's going to spread. Yes. And kill the whole body. That is an interesting picture, because if you've got gangrene, you would want to cut it off, because it would take down the rest of the body, which is why, similarly to that metaphor that Adam was drawing, you have to put out people with therapeutic symptoms. You've got to take all of them. Right. Because it will end up tainting the body. It's like all humility. Well, he says you do this in love. What does that look like between simply bearing with one another versus bearing with one another in love? What's the difference in how it looks? Wow. Infinite opportunities to be offended and disappointed and yet you'd bear with them in love. Yes, Marcelle? Recognize that that other person is loved by God also and He cares. Give God time to work in their life. I think sometimes I want to see results right away. I want to see somebody change when I've understood something. It took me a while, so I've got to give them time. Yes, amen. I read where somebody said that very thing. I had it written down, I don't know where it is. He said, you're offended by your brother, some offense your brother's committed, but when you consider how great our offense is before God, and what he's forgiven us, and the way he bears with us in love, how much more should we be willing to overlook this thing? Oh yeah, that's it, amen. And Doug, go ahead, son. Well, I was thinking of the word, the unconditional. The Greek word here for love is agape. He could have said phile but didn't. Why do you suppose he might have said agape instead of phile as a type of love? Because agape love is defined as selfless, whereas philia and the other one are defined as eros, defined as you love as long as you get what you want. Because you feel good about it. So in that sense, Doug said there's an unconditionality about God's love toward us and should be ours toward each other. You might not feel like Loving, you might not have warm fuzzies toward this guy who's just stepped on your toes. Agape love is you got this commitment to do it, you're gonna do it. But it also, bearing with another in love, it kind of removes the grudging, grit your teeth aspect of it. It makes it, it's an attitude thing. Because you're concerned for the well-being, as with your children. Bible says, Keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a multitude of what? Sins, that's right. Let me just point out verse 2 was written to the Ephesian church because they needed it. strife and faction existed in the early church. So don't ever over-glamorize the early church or over-spiritualize it. They needed this. Now we do too, but I sort of point that out. Now we get on into verse 3. What does he urge in verse 3? There we go. And you remember Jesus, when he was in the garden in this high priestly prayer, that's what he prayed, is that we would be One, just as He and the Father are one. He prayed that over and over and over in John 17, that we would be one. So I know this is attainable. Jesus prayed for it. I cannot but think the Father answered it. So that's why I said this unity is put in the church by the Holy Spirit. But Paul says here, we've got to maintain it. What does it mean to maintain your car? You change the oil, you change the belt, air in the tires. So even if somebody gives you the car, just like we're given unity, you still got to maintain it. What we're looking at on the board here is how you maintain it, and he tells what attitude you should have in verse 3 as you maintain it. What's your attitude? eager, eager to maintain it. This is something you really go out of your way to do. Don't put it off. Boy, I want to do this. I want to die to myself and all these things. Boy, I'm going to go to church today. I'm going to have a chance to be offended, and I'm not going to be. And to be gentle with this ruffian, to be patient with that jerk, to bear with another. See, if we're all nice to each other, this is not hard. But we're not all nice to each other. Aren't a good number of the letters in the New Testament letters I guess every one of them was. Yeah, so why should we expect something different from us? We're not. Al and I were talking about megachurches earlier. I was at a party yesterday, a neighborhood party, and there was a brother there who was a Christian. And he said for years he preferred to go into large churches so that he could be anonymous. He said he would come in late. sit down in the back and get up a little early and leave. So nobody would talk to me. In that setting, these words mean very little in a mega church. But the smaller the church is, the more, if it's relationship oriented rather than program oriented, we have a lot more chances to practice these things. That's where it becomes reality and it takes on significance. So a lot of people will not go to a small church because they don't want to have to deal with this. That's the very thing we're called to do. Colossians 3.15 says, Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. So we are to be eager to maintain this unity, he says, in the bond of peace. So he calls peace a bond that holds us together, that helps maintain the unity. We're not going to get to it today. But tell me one more time, what his theological reason is for unity? It's John 17. Holy Father, keep them in thy name, the name which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are. That they be one, even as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee. That they also may be in us, and the glory which thou hast given me I have given to them. about a particular subject. Amen. And same type of thing is in verse 5 and 6. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. So next week we'll discuss why we are monotheists and not polytheists. We'll look a little bit at the Trinity. Hope you got a chance to read that email I sent out on the Athanasian Creed. So, I did write it on here, but you know number six, we could have put eager to maintain, what did he say, the unity. You get to practice this all the time. You just gotta escape it. So the first test will be immediately afterwards as we eat together. But imagine in a Jew, Gentile context where the Jews probably ate kosher food still, probably a lot of them still observed the Sabbath. and circumcision. The Gentiles didn't do any of that. You can see that obvious culture clash. So that's what he was dealing with. But we've got different problems in the sense of putting up with each other and our differences. You know, we're just sinful when we interact with each other. It hurts. And you've got to work through that. This message was produced by the New Testament Reformation Fellowship, reforming today's church with New Testament church practice. Permission is hereby granted for you to reproduce this message. To learn more about New Testament church life, you can find us on the web at ntrf.org. God bless you as you seek to follow Him in obedience. May your faith in the Lord Jesus be strengthened and your daily walk with Him deepened. Thank you. Yeah. Oh!