Ephesians 4:1-6

The answers to some questions in life should just be self-evident. You know, like, “Who’s buried in Grant’s tomb?” “Who fought in the war between the north and south?” I was walking to a lunch location with a couple of guys recently and one was telling us of the good results that are happening in the campus evangelism and discipleship efforts of a group know as the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship. And the other guy asked, “Where do they meet?” Well, um, at Princeton!” How should a Christian live his or her life day by day? This should be just at sort of question, shouldn’t it? This is the sort of question where the answer should be self-evident. But just in case it isn’t—just in case? Let’s say, since it often isn’t, Paul went to great lengths to answer it for us in his letter to the Ephesians. Having presented the glories of salvation in the first half of his letter, Paul turned his attention toward practical application in the second half; he began in 4:1-6 by answering three pertinent questions that may have filled the minds of the Ephesians—What, How, and Why?

What Should We Do Now? – 1 

Paul wrote, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” Walk in a manner worthy. One commentator observed, “Behaviour is thus seen in Ephesians as both response to what God has done in Christ, and as the proper accompaniment to the praise of God, the two themes present in chaps. 1-3” (O’Brien, 272). Our lives should demonstrate what we believe. We should live up to what we know—to what God’s word has said is true of us. 

Now if you think about it, Eph.4:1 has to be among the most humorous verses in the entire Bible. The essence of good humor is incongruity—connecting incongruous notions is what makes us laugh. Let me give you an example. I was walking down the hallway here at church a couple of weeks ago and heard Pastor Ray whooping and hollering up in his office, so I went up the stairs to see what was going on. “What’s up?” I asked him. And he said, “I just finished this jigsaw puzzle in record time!” So I asked him, “How long did it take you?” And he said, “Well, the box says 3-5 Years, but I got it done in a month!” Knowing Pastor Ray’s sense of humor gives us the freedom to laugh, but it’s the incongruity between his keen mind and taking a month to do a children’s puzzle that actually makes us laugh. Thus, if incongruity is the essence of humor, Eph.4:1 is funny. Paul has raised our awareness of our blessings in Christ to such a level by the end of ch.3 that we have to believe God is capable of doing more within us than we can even imagine just in order to believe he’s telling us the truth, then with the very next stroke of his pen he tells us to live up to it! Now, that is incongruity! How is it even possible? Well, we’ll get to that question in a couple of minutes, but first let’s look a bit further into what we’re actually supposed to do.

First, note that Paul begins here, similar to ch.3, by pointing out that he is a prisoner for the Lord. Now, he had just told them not to be discouraged by his sufferings on their behalf (3:13), so he’s definitely not trying to make them feel badly about his state. But he is pointing out the fact that it may cost them something in order for them to walk in a manner worthy of their calling in Christ. It cost him his freedom. It left scars on his back (Gal.6:17). They must understand that they may well endure some trials also. And they must walk in a manner worthy of their calling in Christ even if they do. Bruce wrote (333), “In calling himself ‘the prisoner in the Lord,’ (Paul) associates himself with them in a rather different way from that implied in Eph. 3:1, where he is Christ’s prisoner for their sake. He addresses them as one who belongs to the same fellowship as they: being ‘in the Lord’ currently involves his being a prisoner; what should being ‘in the Lord’ involve for them?” 

Good question. The Greek verb translated urge means to call along side. And worthy means suitably—one commentator introduces the picture of bringing up the other side of the scales, an image of equivalence. Thus, the picture is that what is received should match, or be drawn into equivalence with, what is given. We should live fully in light of what we know, completely consistently with the grace we have been given—those immeasurable (2:7), unsearchable (3:8) riches of Christ. That’s what we should do now. So how are we supposed to do it?

How Should We Do It? – 2-3

Fortunately, we’re told several times in the first three chapters, most recently in 3:20, that it happens through God’s power that is at work within us. But we still need to give ourselves to a pursuit of that which he has identified as primary. And as this passage gets rolling, Paul identified four qualities lie at the heart of a worthy life: humility, gentleness, patience and forbearance. We looked through these qualities in preparation for our communion service back in March, but I believe there are one or two of you who weren’t present that evening, so I’d like to move through them again here. 

Humility is lowliness of mind or, as Strong put it, “a deep sense of one’s (moral) littleness.” It is not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. It is honoring one another by deferring to one another (Rom.12:3,10). Paul told the Romans in that same ch.12 that we should “think of (ourselves) with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith God has assigned” (Rom.12:3), meaning essentially that we ought to evaluate ourselves according to God’s standard rather than comparing ourselves with one another. We should work hard to think of ourselves the way God thinks of us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph.2:10) Peter wrote (5:6), “Humble yourselves…under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” It is the humble whom he honors. There is nothing we have that we did not receive from Him; “And if (we) did receive it, why (would we) boast as though (we) did not?” (1Co.4:7) Humility was not a prized virtue in the first century Greek world. They didn’t value lowliness of mind; in fact, nowhere outside of Scripture was it used in a positive sense. But it was a primary characteristic of Jesus Christ. Paul called us through his letter to the Philippians (2:5) to have the same mindset as Jesus, who, in humility, left heaven to hang on the cross for our sin. Augustine wrote with great insight: “God has humbled himself, and still man is proud.”

Gentleness goes hand in hand with humility; as humility masters the mind, gentleness masters the heart and tongue. Because the older word for gentleness was meekness, it has often been mistaken for weakness; but in reality it is not weak at all; it is great strength under complete control. Jesus described himself as gentle, but he wasn’t weak. Gentleness refuses to seek revenge or to retaliate. It does not demand its own rights, nor does it become vindictive or bitter if it loses out. It is sweetness of disposition. It has been described as the bull’s eye in the target of Christlikeness. Living a life worthy of our calling begins with humility and gentleness. 

Patience comes next. True patience must be built on the foundation of humility and gentleness. It describes a person who has a long fuse; hmm…. Like humility, patience was not a virtue among first century Greeks. And I’m afraid 2000 years haven’t changed things much. Patience today is often mistaken for lack of motivation, lack of hunger for the prize. But that’s the world. Surprisingly, though, patience is often unappreciated in the church as well. It can be mistaken for an excusing of sin in believers, or a lack of passion for the souls of unbelievers, when in reality it is simply suffering long and enduring with people. Listen to this: one commentator suggested patience is “a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation!” God himself is patient with his people, why can’t we be patient with each other?!

Forbearance is similar in meaning to patience, but it does have a slightly nuanced flavor. It bears with, or makes allowances for, the faults or weaknesses, failings, idiosyncrasies of others. It is tolerance of others faults or uniquenesses. Now that’s a needed quality in the church, isn’t it?! Have you ever experienced conflict or struggle with some person at church?—not here, you understand, certainly not in this place, but in some other church you’ve attended?! Have you ever run into a Christian who looks at life just a bit differently than you do?—someone whose had to experience the grace of God in different ways that you have? That is, first, the beauty of the body of Christ. But it is also a manifestation of the glory of the gospel. It does not simply reconcile us to God, but also to one another. We’ve been redeemed and reconciled to God by an equal opportunity savior, and God has drawn all of us different people together into one body as a demonstration of his wisdom, power, and love. Love: the very soil in which this virtue of forbearance is supposed to be rooted (3). Does it grow out of: mere toleration? … peaceful co-existence? … even warm graciousness? No, it is beyond all these. It is genuine love for God and for one another that ought to fuel our forbearance! Forbearance is Christians falling in line with the social and human relational implications of the mystery—being lovingly and lastingly united with people who are very different from ourselves, but we are all under the headship of Christ in one family.

This charge toward unity, then, in vs.3, is virtually a summary statement of that which is accomplished when Christians pursue the qualities mentioned in vs.2, which, in turn, embody the charge of vs.1, which in turn is rooted in teaching of chs.1-3. Being eager (3, esv) or diligent (nasv), making every effort (niv) insinuates a challenge which requires resolute determination to answer. The word maintain is the word preserve or keep; it is just what was happening to Paul—he was being kept by a Roman guard. It means to attend carefully, to take care of, to guard. The unity of the Spirit is that which we’ve rehearsed over and over again ever since we started this study in Ephesians. It is the one body, the one new man, the dividing wall of separation between people being broken down through the cross of Christ so that all now have access to one and the same God through one and the same Savior by one and the same Spirit. That oneness is just where Paul goes in the next few verses, but before we go there we need to ask some questions regarding this eagerness with which we are to maintain the unity of the Spirit. So, what is it that threatens unity? Conflict. What creates conflict? Valuing our ideas more highly than our relationships. Now, some conflict is unavoidable, and would even be endorsed in Scripture—conflict with those who deny the truths of the gospel, for instance; no way to avoid all conflict there. Sometimes others won’t let go of the conflict they have with us, but there, as Paul wrote to the Romans (12:18), “So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” But that leads us to ask ourselves some questions about whether we are eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And the bond of peace, by the way, is a bond that strengthens rather than hampers. Unlike restraints, it is more like athletic tape that binds up and strengthens a weak joint.

So, is there any area in which you are inclined to value your own ideas ahead of your relationships with other believers in church? Have you ever been inclined to advance your own personal agenda, personal priorities, ahead of the common goals of the gospel? Are you susceptible to pursuing your agenda ahead of God’s agenda in the church? Or worse, are you inclined to try and pass off your own agenda as God’s agenda—to insist that you know best how this corner of the kingdom should run, even if it regularly places you in conflict with other believers. Have you allowed frustrations to linger or nursed offenses or harbored grudges against brothers or sisters in Christ that humility or gentleness or patience or forbearance could have resolved? I’ll tell you what: we’ll get back to these issues in a few minutes. But first, let’s answer question #3.

Why Should We Do It? (walk worthy, maintain unity) – 4-6

Vs.4 – There is one body now that the dividing wall of separation has been broken down. There is only one Spirit which indwells believers. This is the basis for the four qualities we just looked at and it is the Spirit who “brings unity and cohesion to the body by his indwelling and animating activity (v. 3)” (O’Brien, 281). When they were called from their former life, death in transgressions and sins, they were called into one hope: sharing Christ’s glory at the end of the age—Christ in you, the hope of glory (Col.1:27), the summation of all things in Christ.

Vs.5 – Jesus Christ is the one and only Lord; He is the source of salvation for all, just as Luke recorded the word’s of Peter in Act.4:12: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” 

One faith may be subjective, meaning that there is one way by which we receive the one Lord—we receive him by faith alone. As Bruce wrote (336), “The ‘one faith’ is not their common body of belief; it is their common belief in Christ.” However, others (like MacArthur) disagree, favoring objective faith as the reference—the body of our beliefs, the truth of the content of the gospel for which we must contend according to Jud.3. O’Brien wrote (283), “This appears to be the meaning of ‘faith’ later in the chapter (v. 13).” But he went on to state, “Either way, it is true that Christians have one faith. In the context of Ephesians, there is not one faith for Jews and another for Gentiles (as Rom. 3:20 makes clear). There can be only one faith since there is only one Lord” (O’Brien, 283-4).

One baptism refers to the seal or sign of our relationship with the one Lord through one faith. The fact that the baptism is linked more closely with the Lord here and not with the Spirit in the previous verse could insinuate that it is referring to water baptism and not Spirit baptism, making this second triad a conveyance of one idea: There is “one Lord in whom we all believe and in whose name we are baptized.” MacArthur supports this interpretation. However, Bruce demurs the distinction (336-7): “As for the one baptism, it is beside the point to ask whether it is baptism in water or the baptism of the Spirit; it is Christian baptism—baptism ‘into the name of the Lord Jesus’ (Acts 8:16; 19:5; cf. 1 Cor. 1:13-15)—which indeed involved the application of water, as John’s baptism had done, but (as its inauguration on the day of Pentecost indicates) was closely associated with the gift of the Spirit.” O’Brien agrees (284), “The apostle is not making distinctions as to whether it is water baptism or baptism in the Spirit that is in view. The one without the other was an anomaly. However, much of Paul’s teaching on baptism elsewhere in his epistles does not make sense unless the notion of spiritual union with Christ, at least, is in view.” The answer, then, is either, or better, both. And how ironic it is that this becomes a point of division for many in the church.

Vs.6 – The third member of the Trinity is mentioned, and another triad of qualities listed inhere in his nature. One God and Father of all insinuates creation. Everything has God as its Father, but particularly in view are Jew and Gentile in the church. This last triad illumines the threefold relation that the Father of all has to all. He is over all, conveying transcendence and sovereignty. He is through all referring to his pervading, animating, controlling presence. He works through all his creation the way he worked through, for instance, Pharaoh or Elijah or Nebuchadnezzar or Paul, or you or me. It is God who works through us to accomplish his purpose. And he is in all. This describes his indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit—his dwelling in the living entity of the church (2:22). Together with through all it emphasizes God’s nearness in complement to his transcendence and sovereignty that was in view when he was said to be over all. And it is the final statement of the incredible unity we share. O’Brien (285-6) offered a powerful summary of what this means to us: “God’s universal sovereignty and presence are set forth as the climactic ground for the unity of the Spirit that believers are to maintain. His universal rule is being exercised to fulfil [sic] his ultimate purpose of unifying all things in Christ. The unity of the church is the means by which the manifold wisdom of God is being displayed to the universe. The church is the eschatological outpost, the pilot project of God’s purposes, and his people are the expression of this unity that displays to the universe his final goal.” Jesus said to his disciples, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Joh.13:35). Later he prayed for those who would believe in him based on their message (Joh.17:21,23), “that they may all be one” just as he and the Father are one—“that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that” the Father sent the Son and that he has loved them just as he loved the Son.” No wonder we should be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!

Conclusion

The point of all this is that every aspect of our salvation is currently unified and will only increase in unity as God’s ultimate plan to unite all things in Christ is realized. Therefore we need to be unified—which happens through being completely humble, gentle, patient, and lovingly forbearing as we seek, by the power of God working within us, to live in a manner worthy of our calling. And this results in our being eager, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Being eager to maintain such unity means that you love unity more than you love your own preferences, your own perspective, you own plans. Being eager to maintain such unity means that when you hear a charge to pursue it you think more about what you should do that about what someone else should do.

So, how did you fare on those questions we considered a few moments ago? Is there any area in which you are inclined to value your own ideas ahead of your relationships with other believers in church? Have you ever been inclined to advance your own personal agenda, personal priorities, ahead of the common goals of the gospel? Are you susceptible to pursuing your agenda ahead of God’s agenda in the church? Or do you try to pass off your own agenda as God’s agenda even if it regularly places you in conflict with other believers? Have you allowed frustrations to linger or nursed offenses or harbored grudges against brothers or sisters in Christ that humility or gentleness or patience or forbearance could have resolved? If any people come to mind as I ask these questions—fellow Christians with whom you are out of sorts on any level—then you must ask yourself if you truly are eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit for which Christ died; whether, as the niv puts it, you are making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. And if not, what else could be more important this morning than removing any obstacle that hinders the unity of this body in the bond of peace? 

Our concluding challenge, then, is to address just that situation. There is a reason we used this passage in preparation for communion. As Paul addressed this ordinance of the church in 1Co.11 he urged believers not to eat and drink in an unworthy manner. Because some had done so in Corinth many were weak and sick and some others had died. God can’t honor one who comes to a remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ on the for his sins while holding on to areas of known sin all the while. That is sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. So, how do we live in a worthy manner? That us just what Paul is telling us hear. 

Thus, allow me to ask our questions again, and let’s now consider them personally in silent prayer before God. Is there any area in which you are inclined to value your own ideas ahead of your relationships with other believers in church? Are you inclined to advance your own personal agenda, personal priorities, ahead of the common goals of the gospel? Are you susceptible to pursuing your agenda ahead of God’s agenda in the church? Or you inclined to pass off your agenda as God’s agenda even if it regularly places you in conflict with other believers? Have you allowed frustrations to linger or nursed offenses or harbored grudges against brothers or sisters in Christ that humility or gentleness or patience or forbearance could have resolved?