Ephesians 4 : 1 - 13

It’s All About the Balance.

When you spend time in Paul’s letters you will note that they always start with an outpouring of love, gratitude, worship and praise to God. After this doxology Paul then goes onto instruction and gives directions for Christian living, he tells those that have been called to follow Jesus how to live their life in a way that it worthy of the calling that they have received. In one short sentence here Paul gives us 5 very specific characteristics of how to live the life worthy of the calling.

1. Humility. Everyone knows that Christians should be humble. Humility is the opposite of pride or self-assertion. If we are saved “by grace, through faith, not by works, so that no-one can boast” (Eph. 2:8), it is clear and common sense that a Christian should never boast that they are saved. It is by grace alone that we are saved, therefore how can we boast in our own actions?

2. Gentleness. If you look in a thesaurus at the word gentleness, the words you are presented with are kindness, tenderness, humane, merciful. It is important to note here that to be gentle does not mean to be weak.

3. Patience. This is a different characteristic because it takes time to learn patience, and there is really only one way to learn to be patient, and that is to be in situations that require patience. Unfortunately the situations that require patience are not normally good ones.

4. Bearing With One Another. Now whilst this is similar to patience, there is a difference as this relates to how we interact with other Christians. There are two things worth noting here. Firstly, Paul doesn’t say that Christians will never disagree, quite the contrary, he is saying WHEN we disagree we need to bear with one another “in love” - and this is the second thing to note. When you are in love you endure the wrong and suffer the slight. By doing that as Christians, we demonstrate a way of life to others. We show society this supernatural connection that we have with each other. The special unity which is ours from the Holy Spirit.

5. Unity. The first four, you may have noticed, are all connected and all lead to the greater concern of unity. It is almost too obvious to say that Christians should live in unity with one another. It's the unity of the spirit which we are asked to “keep”, to keep the unity of the spirit means that we already have the unity that comes with the spirit as we are called.

When you become a Christian you receive the Holy Spirit into your heart, it’s is the same Holy Spirit that enters the heart of every Christian that has ever and will ever live, so Paul urges us to keep the unity that is given to us when we give our lives to Christ.

Unity, Unity, Unity, Unity, Unity, Unity, Unity.

In three verses (4-6) Paul uses the word “one” seven times, it probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise when we consider that the number “one” in the Bible is suggested to represent the primary symbol of unity. This alongside the thought that the number seven is thought to represent spiritual unity or perfection, drives home the point that Paul is making.

He starts this great “one-ness” with “there is one body”. He is of course referring to the one body of Christ, being a metaphor for the Church. There are many good metaphors for the church in scripture, even just within this letter. It is compared to a kingdom, a family and a temple in chapter 2. In chapter 5 it is compared to a bride. Comparing the Church to a body is particularly appropriate in this passage. Consider a human body, there are many parts to the body and they must all work together if the body is to perform as it should.

If we continue this thought, that a body is a metaphor for the Church, then we can think back to the very early church. To begin with it was very small, it consisted of just Adam and Eve, but the church grew as others were added. There was Abel and Seth, Enoch, Methuselah and Noah. Abraham was added, and as his his spiritual family increased there were people, like Isaac, Joseph, David, the prophets and all those who believed in God throughout those early ages. These early Christians were all part of the Church, all part of the body, as were the saints of the middle ages and the heroes and martyrs of the reformation. Those who believe today are all part of the body. Every single one of these people, we all share in the unity of the one Holy Spirit.

Our Lord Jesus Christ.

The first three “ones” that Paul tells us about in verse 4 go together. They are focusing on the Holy Spirit. It is the work of the one Spirit to graft us into the one body and give us the one hope. Then in verse 5 another set of three “one Lord, one faith, one baptism” are clustered around the one Lord Jesus Christ.

Sometimes the way we may hear Christians talk, you would expect there to be many Lords... One person may say “The Lord I follow calls me to do this...” or “I don’t follow that Lord, that’s not the Jesus that I know and love” or “The Jesus I know doesn’t expect me to talk to others about my faith, thats someone else’s job” and so on. This is what Paul is picking up on here, that there is only one Lord.

John T. MacNeil, a Scottish preacher and evangelist in the 1920’s took this idea further and gave a brilliant example of what happens when we lose track of the one Lord Jesus. MacNeil imagined a conversation that might have taken place between the man who was born blind who was healed by Jesus in John 9, and the other man who was blind that Jesus healed in Mark 8.

In John 9, Jesus heals a man of blindness by spitting on the ground and making clay, which he then uses to heal the mans sight. This did not happen in the case of the man whose story is told in Mark.

MacNeil imagined these two men getting together to discuss how Jesus healed them. The two men would tell their story, one with the spittle and the other without. One would say to the other “You missed out the part where Jesus spits in the dirt, made clay and placed it in your eyes”

“I don’t know anything about that,” the other would reply.
The man from John 9 would then say “It has to be that way, because that’s the way Jesus gives people their site. You must have forgotten, let me tell you, Jesus spits on the ground, he makes clay, he puts it in your eyes, he then sends you to wash in the pool of Silam.”

“Oh, no,” the man from Mark would say “he didn’t do that with me, he just spoke and I received my sight”

The first man digs his heals in. “That isn’t right, Jesus heals with clay! If you haven’t had that exact experience, I am beginning to doubt whether you can really see at all!” Thus originated in the early church the denominations of the “Mudites’ and the “Anti-Mudites”.

This is what happens when we allow our eyes to focus on the modes of Gods working rather than upon the Lord who works. Something as simple as this example could cause such division within the Church - the one body, or one Church that Paul reminds us of.There is one Lord, and he works in all of us in different ways through the one Spirit.

In the same way, Paul says one Baptism. This has certainly divided churches. Do you sprinkle? Do you pour? Do you immerse? What about Children - do you baptise them? Paul is not concerned here with the mode of baptism, rather with what baptism signifies, that the person being baptised is receiving a sign of regeneration or new birth. As it says in Article 27 of the 39 articles “those who receive baptism in the right manner are grafted into the church, the promises of the forgiveness of sin and of our adoption as children of God by the Holy Spirt”

Verse 6 then contains the 7th “one”. The first three were centred on the Holy Spirt, the second three centred on the Lord Jesus Christ. The final one, concerns God the Father
- the first person in the Godhead. The verse talks of “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”. There is a good point of thought that comes from this “one” passage as a whole. If it is grouped around the trinity - which it clearly is - why does Paul mention the trinity in the order he does? Holy Spirit first, Then Lord Jesus and finally God the Father? When we talk of the trinity it is usually the other way around. We say Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here, Paul writes, Holy Spirit, Son and then Father. Why?

Paul is putting his argument forward from the effect back to the cause. The unity of the Holy Spirit working in the church, the church that was formed by Jesus Christ to worship the God who is above all and through all and in all. Whatever else we may say

about the church, the church is Gods church. It is composed of Gods people, it is the result of Gods work and it exists for Gods glory.

Christ’s Gifts to His Church.

How often do we hear a preacher give a sermon, or a singer sing a song or a musician play an instrument and they say one another after the service something like “insert name here” is really gifted isn’t he?” Or “insert name here” sang so beautifully today, hasn’t she got a gift!”. These gifts are all God given and used to praise his glory. It’s easy to think that only the people who stand up at the front of Church, or who are most seen within the Church are the ones with the gifts. Yes without a doubt they are gifted, but Paul talks of gifts in vs 7 - 8 being given to each and every one of his people.

There are two things worth noting about Christ’s dispensing of these gifts. Firstly, as they are given by Jesus, they are to be used for the purposes for which he gave them, namely the service of the Church. They are not to be used for personal or selfish gains, and certainly not for for drawing attention to the one using them. Secondly, the gifts are given to every Christian, that is that everyone has at least one gift - and for that reason the Church is only fully healthy when all are using their gifts they have been given. The gifts that we are all given are for the use of serving others in one way or another. The laity (church congregation) serve the Church and the world, the clergy serve the laity particularly in helping them to realise, develop and use their gifts.

There are many gifts that we receive as Christians, Paul mentions a few, however there are many more, there are actually five “lists of gifts” have a look in 1 Cor.12:8-10, 28-30; Rom. 12:6-8; Eph. 4:11 and 1 Peter 4:11. Most of the gifts mentioned are almost a “header” or “title” with many levels. For example, someone may be blessed with the gift of confidence in talking with strangers, whilst this is not mentioned directly, we need to ask ourselves how can that gift be used to glorify God and serve the church? It doesn’t take much to see that perhaps this person may be able to use their gift for evangelism, or welcoming people into the church, or table a leading in Alpha... the list goes on.

You may well ask now, “How can I discover what my gifts are?” But before we look at that question, many of us will feel uncomfortable talking about our own gifts. Yes, we do need to be careful not to boast or brag, but we should also recognise that the gifts we have are God given and should be used. Once we have recognised our gifts, we should be confident in using them, God gave you these gifts to use and we can only fully use them when we know what they are. So how do we work out what are gifts are?

Firstly, we can begin by studying what the Bible has to say about spiritual gifts. The Bible is Gods primary provision for spiritual growth, and there is no better way of searching for what God has to say on a subject, than getting into the Bible. Secondly, we must pray about our gifts. The only way we’ll work this out is to lay it all out to the Lord in serious, soul searching and totally honest prayer, and ask that he speaks to us through his Word to show us the gift he has given us. Thirdly, make an assessment of our gifts and how they can be used to serve the Lord. The fourth and final thing you can do is to seek the wisdom of other Christians, and what better place to do that than with Christians who know you well, that you may meet with every week... a group of people that you meet (or used to) in someones home, as a group maybe. You don’t need to be a prophet to see where this is going...

Questions.

There are no set questions this week.

Spend time as a home group talk gin through each others spiritual gifts. Share with each other what you are good at, give thanks to the Lord for those bits, and pray together on how to best use them.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen”