One

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6

Title: One

Structure:

Introduction
Calling
Oneness
Worth
Conclusion

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians by focusing on chapter 4 verses 1-6

If we think of Ephesians as a door, then chapter 4 is like the hinge, where Paul connects what God has done with what we must do
Or if we think of Ephesians as a book, then today’s passage is the spine, holding together theology (what we think and say about God) with praxis (how we are to live our lives)
In Ephesians 4 Paul opens the door from heart to hands
He turns the page from praise to practice. From verse 1 we read…

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Be completely humble and meek; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make 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 when you were called;one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

On the wall here we have three letters: W C O

What word can you make with those three letters [Wait]
That’s right; COW
A cow is a wonderful creature; it has the ability to turn grass into milk
So many great tasting things come from cows, like hamburgers, ice-cream and thick-shakes. Cows are a source nourishment
This morning’s reading from Ephesians is like a cow in the sense that it is rich in nourishment too; it contains so many tasty words

But, to give some structure to the message, I want to focus your attention on three words: Calling, Oneness and Worth. First let’s consider our calling

Calling:

In verse 1, Paul writes: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

- And in verse 4 …just as you were called to one hope when you were called;

Calling features quite strongly in these verses, so what is our calling?

Very simply, our calling is to be the people of God

Imagine you are at work. You might be sitting at your desk clearing emails, or rewiring a house, or dressing someone’s wound in hospital, or standing in front of a class of kids, or whatever it is you do for a job – and as you are working your cell phone rings

You take a quick look at your phone and see that it’s an unknown number so you ignore it, because it’s not a very convenient time
Later, during your lunch break, you’re sitting there with a coffee and you notice there’s a voice mail on your phone
Curiosity gets the better of you so you dial 083210 and listen to the message
A voice you recognise from TV addresses you by name and says,
“Look, I’m ringing to say we’ve had our eye on you for a while now and we see real potential in you. We would like to give you a place on the team for the world cup. Give me a call back when you get a minute.”
You sit there stunned for a few moments while your coffee starts to go cold. You can’t believe what you’ve just heard – you’ve received the call.
You’ve been offered a place in the team. You’re going to the world cup

From a western perspective we tend to think of calling in individual terms

We might think, my calling is to be a teacher or a doctor or a minister or a missionary or a mother or some other personal vocation that is all encompassing and more than a 9 to 5 job
And while that is a legitimate way to think of our calling, it’s not exactly what Paul means in Ephesians 4
The sense of calling in this context is more along the lines of becoming part of a group
It’s like the call to join the team that is going to the world cup
In the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul talked about being in Christ
Our call is to become part of Christ’s team; his body the church
Our calling is to be the people of God – to represent God like the Silver Ferns or the Black Caps or the All Blacks represent New Zealand

When our kids were younger and we were away on holiday we had this tradition that whenever we saw an assembly point sign, like this, we would go and stand up straight at attention beside it

Sometimes your body can go on holiday but your mind is still at work.
Looking out for assembly point signs to stand by was a fun way of calling our minds away from work so we could relax and enjoy our time together

The Greek verb for call shares the same root as the Greek word for church

When we hear the word ‘church’ we tend to think of an institution or a building. For us, the term ‘church’ has 2000 years of history attached to it
But for people in the first century, ekklesia (the Greek word for church) was not a religious word. It simply meant ‘assembly point’, a gathering of people who have been called together in a particular place. [1]

The calling we have received from God is not just an individual thing; it is also a collective or team thing

Our calling is to gather together around Christ, who is our assembly point
Sometimes our body can come to church on a Sunday but our mind is elsewhere, thinking about school or work or some other worry
The ritual of gathering together, in the name of Jesus each Sunday for a worship service, actually helps our mind to take a break from the burdens we carry and enjoy God

So much is lost in translation. Returning to verse 1 of Ephesians 4, Paul says, … I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

The Greek word for ‘call’ is kaleo

And the Greek word for ‘I urge you’ is parakaleo [2]
Para means ‘alongside’ and so parakaleo literally means ‘to call from alongside’
Parakaleo can also be translated as ‘I encourage you’, or ‘I beg you’, or ‘I exhort you’
Paul isn’t calling the Ephesian believers from on high – he’s not wagging his finger at them or exerting his authority over them
Rather he is coming alongside them to urge and encourage

Okay returning to our C.O.W.

Our calling is to assemble, to come together as the people of God, to stand alongside each other, with Christ at the centre as our assembly point
Or said another way, our calling is to practice oneness

Oneness:

In verses 4-6 we come across 7 ones: One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all

These 7 ones are not separate or independent of each other – they are all inter-related. The 7 ones are one.
Paul is reminding us here of the things that all believers share in common
And we need to be reminded because they are things we don’t necessarily see

The one body is the church invisible – all Christians everywhere throughout history

The church may seem fragmented and divided from our perspective, with all its different denominations and flavours, but from God’s perspective the church is one (like a tapestry with many different coloured threads)

The one Spirit is the Holy Spirit who gives life and breath to the body

The Spirit animates the body. Without the Spirit the body is dead

The one hope refers to the end of history when Christ returns in glory to bring heaven to earth and resurrection to the dead

The one Lord is Jesus Christ who has authority over all things

Although Christian believers might hold slightly different beliefs on the finer details of doctrine we still share one faith – we all believe in Jesus

We could think of the one Christian faith as a wheel
Although there are many spokes of belief, apparently branching off in different directions, Jesus is the hub at the centre of the wheel, holding all the spokes together, while the holy Scriptures are the rim of the wheel providing an anchor point for the spokes of belief
The wheel as a whole, with Jesus at the centre, is the one faith we share
And this faith is not static; it’s dynamic, it takes us on a journey

Likewise, although different Christian denominations may practice baptism in different ways, it is the one baptism we share, for we are all baptised by the same Spirit into the same person (into Jesus Christ)

If we think of the church invisible (the body of Christ) as a massive stadium, then baptism is like a door through which we enter the stadium
Most stadiums have a number of doors of entry all around the sides
Some people might enter through the Catholic door and others through the Anglican door and others through the Baptist door and so on
All the doors of baptism are one in the sense they serve the same purpose; they let people into Christ
If baptism is like a door into Christ, then the Holy Spirit is like the usher who leads us through the door
We need the Holy Spirit at work in our heart to germinate faith and right living

The seventh ‘one’, in Paul’s list, is the one God and Father of all

God is our creator; we are made in His image and those who believe in Christ are part of God’s family

Worth:

We are called to oneness and that oneness is not something we create by our own efforts or by some clever organisational structure

Our oneness is created by God; Father, Son & Holy Spirit
Responding to God’s call, walking in the oneness he has created, requires us to live a life worthy of that call

It’s 6:30pm on the 17^th March, 1919. The Great War ended over four months ago and finally you are on your way home, aboard the RMS Remuera

You signed up more than 4 years ago, although it seems a lot longer
You served in Egypt to start with and then at Gallipoli before being sent to the Western Front

It’s a long voyage home from Plymouth in England to Auckland NZ

Staring out over an endless ocean you struggle to forget the heat and the flies and the stench in the Dardanelles
Or the mud and the groans and the cold of Passchendaele
You saw good mates die and you were powerless to do anything
You’re 26 and you’re old before your time
You aren’t sure what it was all for – both sides prayed to the same God
And as for ‘king and country’, you don’t believe in that anymore

Somehow though you survived while thousands around you died

‘Why is that? Why did I make it and they didn’t?’ you ask yourself
‘It’s not like I was a better soldier or even a better person.’
‘We were all scared. All weak. All morally flawed.’
You soon realise that asking ‘why’ is like staring into an abyss – there’s no bottom to it

At that moment you feel a calling. Not an audible voice; more like a tugging on your heart

So you step away from the edge and you think about the future
You tell yourself, ‘There is nothing I can do about the past. I can’t control other people but I can try to control myself’
Deep down you know that for all that death and suffering and sacrifice to mean something you have to live a life worthy of surviving it.
You have been given a gift. You have to make the most of every day
You have to enjoy it because your mates can’t
You have to find the strength to resist violence, to be gentle and seek peace, because you know now that war is not the answer
You have to turn away from intolerance and find the love to be patient with your neighbour
You are counting the miles back to New Zealand where you will live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

In verse 1 of Ephesians 4, Paul urges his readers to live a life worthy of their calling, then he describes what a worthy lifestyle of looks like…

Be completely humble and meek; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul gives us five qualities of a life worthy of our calling to be God’s people

Five attitudes which are essential to keeping the unity of the Spirit
This is how Christians are to treat each other; with humility, meekness, patience, forbearance and love

Humility in this context means ‘lowliness of mind’, not being proud or haughty[3]

Being humble is about having an accurate awareness of yourself in relation to others – not thinking too much of yourself or too little
Humility keeps our ego in check – it prevents us from worshipping ourselves. Humility also makes meekness possible

Meekness is strength with gentleness

Or said another way, meekness is strength under control
A soothing medicine is meek in that it is both powerful to overcome the illness and (in the right dose) also gentle on the body
A horse which has been broken in and trained is meek; the horse is stronger than the rider but that strength is under control
A gentle breeze is meek
A skilled surgeon is meek. The surgeon, with scalpel in hand, holds the power of life and death over their patient but uses that power carefully and gently to restore life
We see Jesus’ meekness when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane saying, ‘Not my will Father, but your will be done.’
Jesus had great power to save himself but controlled his power, in obedience to God the Father, so that we might be saved

Meekness is not popular these days. Violence, brute force, power – these are the things which are glorified in this world

Meekness is often misunderstood as weakness when the truth is: meekness requires greater strength than brute force or violence
Meekness requires self-control and skill

If violence is the hammer, then meekness is the screw driver

If force is the butcher’s cleaver, then meekness is the surgeon’s scalpel
If power is a drone strike, then meekness is the wise word of diplomacy

Patient endurance is another attribute we need to be worthy of our calling and to live in peace with others

An ancient Christian preacher by the name of John Chrysostom said,
To have patience is to have “…a wide soul” [4]
Having ‘a wide soul’ means being spacious and tolerant of difference, able to make room for other people in our lives

Take a moment now to look up and around you. What do you notice?

The ceiling is high; this auditorium is roomy, it’s spacious
I quite like that about this place. The architecture speaks of the spaciousness of God and the wideness of His mercy
The Lord is patient and slow to anger – he makes room for us

We can make room for each other in a whole variety of ways

By allowing ourselves to be interrupted for what is important
By singing each other’s songs and preferring each other’s needs,
By listening to a different point of view from our own without compromising our values and beliefs
By showing understanding when someone makes a mistake and not getting angry with them
Or simply by waiting for others and not hurrying them

Bearing with one another goes hand in hand with patient endurance – it means putting up with people

The reality is that other people can be annoying sometimes – they can get on your wick (often it’s the little things)
It’s not that they mean to aggravate you – they are just being themselves and it gets under your skin
Maybe they don’t put their dishes away in the dishwasher
Or they don’t replace the toilet roll on the holder when it runs out
Or they leave their toenail clippings on the floor
Or they leave an empty bottle of milk in the fridge
Or park their car across two car parks so you can’t fit in
Or perhaps they don’t use enough deodorant
Or hog the remote and keep changing the channel every 2 minutes
Or they don’t reply to your emails in a timely way
Or they use up all the hot water in the shower
Or they don’t follow the give way rules on the roundabout…
And so the list of little stones in our shoe goes on
Now, to avoid misunderstanding and to keep the bond of peace, I just need to say that I’m not trying to get at anyone in saying these things
To be clear my family do not leave toe nail clippings on the floor or hog the remote or anything like that (although I sometimes might)

The point is, don’t sweat the small stuff

Don’t walk away from the church over some trifle
Put up with the little things for the sake of love – that is for the well-being of the whole community

I remember the pastor who married us said, “Don’t worry about a bit of muck in the stable – muck is a sign of life” (except the word he used wasn’t ‘muck’)

Yea – people will annoy you sometimes but don’t lose sight of the fact they also have qualities which are good and which the rest of the church needs

- Besides, we all have things about us which annoy others
- You might think you are being very gracious in putting up with someone
- But they probably think they are being gracious in putting up with you
- What we realise as we get older is that we are all difficult in our own way

So we all need to show each other patience and forbearance

And we need to be able to laugh at ourselves as well

To humility, meekness, patience and forbearance Paul adds love

- Love is a commitment to other people’s well-being

Love holds us together, it is the soil in which our relationships find stability and grow

Love gives humility, meekness, patience and forbearance their meaning, it makes our lives worthy of God’s calling and clears the path for peace

In verse 3 of Ephesians 4 Paul says we are to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

This tells us that we don’t create unity, the Holy Spirit does

However, we are responsible for maintaining the unity
And we maintain unity through the bond of peace
Peace (in the Bible) isn’t just the absence of conflict
It is shalom, it is abundant life, joy and right relationship in community with others
The bond of peace is not a bond which stops us from doing things
It’s not like hand cuffs or shackles or a leash
The bond of peace is more like a garden hose, gently watering our relationships
Sometimes, like a hose, the bond of peace gets a kink in it
Sometimes our relationships get a bit twisted
People misunderstand each other or have expectations which are disappointed, then one thing leads to another and before you know it they’re not talking – the gentle flow of water stops altogether
When our relationships get a kink in them we don’t throw the relationship out – we straighten the hose
We find a suitable time when we are calm and unhurried to talk it through and make peace. Is there anyone you need to make peace with?

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard that our calling is to be the people of God together, centred around Christ

We are to reflect and maintain the oneness God has created

In a few moments we will share communion together

Communion is a time when we remember our calling and express our oneness in Christ

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

Why do you think this stood out to you?

2. What does Paul mean by our ‘calling’ in Ephesians 4?

To what extent are you aware of God’s call on your life?
How do you understand this call?

3. Discuss / reflect on the 7 ones in verses 4-6 of Ephesians 4

What do you observe about these 7 ones?
How do they interact with each other?

4. What difference does it make knowing that God creates oneness (unity)?

5. Discuss / reflect on the five qualities or attributes in verse 2 of Ephesians 4. (I.e. humility, meekness, patience, forbearance and love)

What do each of these words mean?
How might we put these things into practice? (Think of specific examples that could apply in your own life.)

6. What is the bond of peace?

How might we maintain the bond of peace?
Is there anyone you need to make peace with?

[1] Eugene Peterson, ‘Practice Resurrection’, page 170.

[2] Eugene Peterson, ‘Practice Resurrection’, page 171.

[3] Klyne Snodgrass, The NIVAC on Ephesians, page 196.

[4] From Chrysostom’s homily on 1 Corinthians 13:4 – referenced in Klyne Snodgrass, The NIVAC on Ephesians, page 197.

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Published by Tawa Baptist