What a glorious challenge! To ‘live a life worthy of the calling you have received’! Paul has laid out a vision of our experience of the love of God we have experienced in Christ. Something, Paul tells us, that has been on God’s heart since before the creation of the world (1:4-10). Paul has taken us across the landscape of the Gospel, helping us to understand God’s vision and purpose for the Church, and then he inspires us to live up to our identity, our destiny, our purpose.

I wonder what images and ideas that conjures up in your mind and imagination? What would be the first thing Paul would expect to see in a life worthy of the calling to be a child of God? Perhaps unexpectedly, Paul seizes on the question of unity as of first and highest priority in this. Someone who understands what it means to be a Christian, will be someone deeply and personally committed to the unity of the Church. Paul gives us the tools to fashion that unity in lived experience in our own congregation (4:2-3); and the spiritual framework that makes that unity so necessary. It remains a gift of grace, bestowed by the risen and ascended Christ (vv.7-11), but that is not an excuse for our passivity in the face of such a high and holy calling. It is worth pondering how we are active in cultivating that unity, and how we protect it when facing the temptation to behave in ways that undermine it.

The building of that unity is profoundly connected in Paul’s thinking to the question of truth and of our shared understanding and experience of Christ. The current Church of England mantra about the wonders of a ‘broad’ Church where people believe contradictory things about Jesus, is a recipe for disaster, and is likely contributing to the implosion of the Anglican Church as we know it in this country. It pulls in exactly the opposite direction to the course charted by the Apostle towards a unity ‘of the Spirit’ that is founded on speaking truth in love.

That’s as true in any individual congregation as it is in a denomination. Paul anticipates a growing stability and agreement to develop as the Scriptures are taught (vv.14-16). That stability and agreement is focussed on Christ, and works itself in to the fellowship of the Church as it shapes us in to those who love Christ and each other in deeply practical ways. Those two are inextricably linked, and it is hard to convey the spiritual dissonance that exists when people say they love God, yet are distant from the Church. We are saved into the people of God. We cannot envisage spiritual life without reference to our relationship with other Christians. We cannot love Christ, and not love those who also love Him.

Questions

Under what circumstances do you think it would be legitimate to leave a Church? How would you advise someone who was thinking of leaving their Church? What sort of reasons to people give for leaving Churches?

Have you ever left a Church? Would you be prepared to share the story? How do you feel about it now?

Do you think MIE should leave the Church of England if Synod and the House of Bishop change the Church’s Law on marriage later this year?

How can we cultivate a deeper sense of fellowship at MIE?

Read Eph.4:1-16

What does complete humility look like? How can we develop this?

How can we be gentle, patient and bear with one another when they behave in ways that frustrate us, hurt us, and provoke us? What does it mean to bear with someone? What if they don’t change? How long should we be prepared to behave this way?

Is Paul saying we can’t confront or challenge someone who is behaving in ways that annoy us? When should we raise this issue with the leadership of the Church?

Paul lists seven things there are ‘one’ of in vv.4-6. How does each of these motivate and inspire us in our efforts to ‘keep the unity of the Spirit’?

Based on what you read in this passage, what role do the Scriptures have in building and sustaining the unity of the Church?

How do those entrusted to preach and teach the Scriptures ‘equip’ you for works of service?

How does false teaching and deceitful teachers damage the unity of the Church?

Would you say that MIE was a Church that was growing and building itself up in love? Is it a Church in which each part does it work? Can you pray for each other in your group as you serve the ministry and mission of the Church?