Worthy Walk Of The Church — A Call To Unity

This morning we’ll resume our studies from the book of Ephesians. We’ll turn our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 and we will read Ephesians chapter 4 verses 1-6. Let’s read it together. “In one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you, God, for the grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you Lord for making us part of your family and the church and we pray God that we all would know how we ought to conduct Lord ourselves Lord in the church and while we are here on this earth. God we pray that your Holy Spirit it would work in our lives and create convictions in our hearts based upon your word and give us grace that we may submit to the teaching of your word, Lord. In Jesus Christ name we pray, amen. The title of the sermon is Worthy Walk of

the Church — A Call to Unity. In the first three chapters we have seen that Paul expounded on the fundamental aspects of Christian doctrine and also reported his prayers based on his teachings. And in chapters 4 to 6 we see that Paul focused heavily on the practical aspects to challenge readers to live Christian life in God’s way. In the first three chapters, Paul used only one imperative or one commandment in chapter 2 verse 11 where he says, where he calls people to remember.

That's it. And in the next three chapters, that is 4 till chapter 6, you see, we will observe that Paul uses almost 39 imperatives. So this is more practical. This is how we need to live in the light of the teachings in 1, 2 and 3. The basic structure of this passage from chapter 4 verses 1 to 6 is the first part is a call to unity and the qualities of that unity in verses 1, 2 and 3. And the second part from verses 4 to 6, it talks about the basis and the goal of unity. The first aspect, the call to unity and the qualities of unity.

We have now understood what it is to be part of a church. And we are not lone rangers. We cannot practice our Christian faith being alone, right? And we, as soon as we believe in the gospel, you know, Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 that we are baptized into the church. You know, that is the universal church, but, you know, but we are, we all should be part of a local church. And there are no lone ranger Christians. We are not called to be alone in a cell, but to enter into the church of Christ. This section begins with this word, therefore.

And whenever you see therefore, we must understand wherefore. He is inferring his argument from the previous section. He is inferring something from the previous section. And especially from chapter 2. In chapter 2, Paul mentions that the church, which comprises of both Jews and Gentiles, are united into one body. There is now one people, and that one people is now being built into one holy temple of God, the dwelling place of God, where God dwells. In chapter 3, Paul bows his knees before the Father for the church.

for them so that believers may live in a manner worthy of the Christian calling. And he prays that according to God’s glorious riches we may be strengthened by the power of the Spirit in the inner man so that Christ dwells, no, indwells the church and each believer, that he has his way in the life of the church and believers. So instead of fights, quarrels, and instead of selfish agendas, there will be unity. And he says in verse 17, he says that we are in chapter 3 verse 17, he says that we are now being grounded and rooted in love, we are rooted and grounded in love.

And as a church people would comprehend with all the saints the breadth, depth, length, height of the love of Christ so that the result is that we may be filled up with the fullness of God. And because of these reasons, Paul from a prison, he implores, he urges the church to walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

The word here is a term, the word used here for implore or urge is a term of a superior addressing inferiors. This is also used in the royal exhortations where the king implores his people to live in a certain way, right? This word has such a kind of a sense or power, right? And it is a strong exhortation to action. So what is the calling to which we have been called? What is the calling to which we have been called? If you look at verse 1, we see there, we have been called.

and we have to go back to chapter 2, right? We have been called from being dead in our trespasses. We are made alive in Christ Jesus that we should be holy and blameless before him in love. That goes back to chapter 1. And we are also adopted as sons to the praise of his glory. And there is a awaiting for us a heavenly inheritance, right? That is our calling. And we are called redeemed people of God. We are, we are, we need to live in the light of our redemption with the hope of eternity. That is our calling. There is a way that a believer orders is

her life on this earth we cannot live however we like we cannot love whatever we want like no there is a way that we have to live and that is the calling and it requires us to live worthily in this light. And what does it mean to walk worthy? What does it mean to walk worthy? We are now, you know, according to chapter 2 verse 19, we are now part of God’s family, we are God’s household, no? The, how, we are the — we are the family of God. And as members of God’s family, as members of God’s household, we bear the name of God.

We bear the name of that family, right? And we should always keep in mind as we relate with other members of God’s family. We should always keep that bear on our mind as we live in this society, as we interact with unbelievers, right? We have a calling. We bear a name. We bear the name of God, right? We are the children of God. That is a new identity. We are a new creation in Christ Jesus, right? It is not about ourself anymore. It is not about me. It is not about my likes and my dislikes. It is not about anything to do with us. It is about Christ. We have a new identity. We are no longer, no, Paul says it’s no longer I, but, no, Christ lives in me, right? That is our new identity. And we should be, no, certain that

we bear those qualities and we reflect the character of the Lord in and in all our dealings. And what does it mean to walk in a manner worthy of a calling? Look at verse 1 and verse 2, right? What are those qualities?

It means, verse 2, it means for both Jews and Gentiles, who Paul is primarily addressing here, and it also at large applies to all believers, us, it means for all believers who come from different backgrounds, right? We all come from different backgrounds. We all have, you know, maybe come from different cultures and different educational backgrounds, different castes or different religions, whatever. So now, we who are called from different backgrounds, it means that we have to bear up with one another.

All are not like you. They are not like us. People are with different temperaments. And when we get to know people, we may like them or not like them because of their temperaments. Right? Or because of anything. But the call is that we are to bear up with all people. people. We are called to bear up with one another. But how? How is that possible? Paul calls us not to live with certain qualities. And these are non-negotiable qualities which every Christian should bear. And without these qualities, it's impossible for us to bear up with one another. It's impossible to live united.

It’s impossible to maintain unity. You know, if you see any church divided, if you see any church that there are fights, even if you see there are cold wars within our church, we haven’t come to a point where we fight and openly disagree violently. We haven’t come to that point. But we have that potential to come to that point. Because we all have the same nature. And if you have ever seen or witnessed any church, any Christian group behave in that manner, it’s because, primarily because, we haven’t, they haven’t heeded this warning or this call. They were not clothed with these qualities. And unless we are clothed with these qualities, it’s impossible for us to put up with

people. And he says in verse 2, how do we need to bear up with one another? With our own, it says that “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.” And it also means in verse 3, “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

You know, our life should be worthy of a calling. And we should conform to God’s established norms of behavior and conduct. And we cannot behave however we like with our fellow brothers and sisters. We cannot talk to them however we like. We should be diligent, strive earnestly for unity. And we should be clothed with these qualities, with humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerance and love. And this is the fruit of the Spirit. This is the fruit of the outworking of the Spirit in us. And unless we come and yield ourselves to the control of the Holy Spirit, we would not bear these qualities.

And humility as a virtue is a New Testament invention. Because when Paul was writing this in the Greek or Roman world, this was not a positive attitude. Right? It was a character flaw. To call oneself humble is, you know, it was treated as weakness. It was a character flaw for the Greeks and the Romans. It was considered as a weakness. But in the Bible we see that the Bible elevates this virtue. The biblical, in the biblical world, this is a, this is a virtue that is not a weakness.

And this was exemplified by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. And this should be embraced by every believer. Humility was the attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you remember what he said in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 29. He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and humble in heart,” gentle and humble in heart, “and you will find rest for your souls.”

This was the attitude of Paul in Acts 20, verse 19, “serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials which came upon me through the plots of the Jews.” All Christians should be clothed with humility. Colossians chapter 3, verse 12, Paul says there, “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” See, the Bible elevates this quality of humility. This quality should be desired by every earnest believer.

And observe here, Paul said, Paul used all before humility. All humility. For us to live as Christians, it takes total humility. Not little humility, the total humility. We are not clothed. If you are not clothed with humility, it is easy for us to be what? It is easy for us to be offended. Right? Were you any time offended?

You know, sometimes it’s easy for us to get offended. It doesn’t take too many words for us to get offended. Right? And it is without humility, unless we are clothed with humility, it is easy for us to be offended by what others say or do or know. And we can easily feel resentful. And we can also easily offend others.

Others' feelings will not be important to us. Are you easily offended? It shows that we value ourselves more. Humility is essential for unity. Pride lurks behind all discord. If there is discord, there is pride. That is selfish ambition. There is no place for pride in Christian life.

There is no place for elevation of self in Christian life. There is only denial of self. That is the call, right? And some of the marks of pride are, no, you are this, like, you yourself is, you yourself will become very important to you. Think only about you, your comfort, your ease. Cannot take correction from others. That is a sign that there is, there is still, no, the pride is controlling your life. If there is an unwillingness to take, uh, correction from others, and as soon as someone tries to correct, you will begin to justify yourself, right? And you will fear to

be accountable to someone. That is pride. You will serve for name, fame or public honor. So, humility is a quality of not being overly impressed by a sense of one’s self-importance. Your self will not be important anymore. God, His purposes are important. Right? The clearest expression of humility is seen, or we can read, is in Philippians chapter 2, verse 3. Philippians chapter 2, verse 3. It says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” That is humility. What do we do when we are clothed with humility?

We will not do anything from selfishness. We will not be self-centered. There won’t be any empty conceit. There won’t be pride. But with humility of mind we will regard another person as more important than ourselves. Humility demands a life directed toward others rather than towards self-importance. Christ exemplified such humility, a model of servant leadership, and He made it an imperative for His followers. If anyone wants to follow Him, what they must do? Huh? What did he say? Mark chapter 9, verse 35. He says that, “if anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Have you considered this?

Have you considered this before you determine for yourself to be the follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are servant of all? You know, many times I think we should go back to the Gospels, the four Gospels, and the call for being a Christian is so radical, right? And we should be often reminded of those important things which our Lord reminds, calls out to people, no? We are the servant of all. And Mark chapter 10, verses 42 to 45, calling his disciples to himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of Gentiles lord it over them,” right?

“And their great men exercise authority over them. 43 But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you, you shall be slave of all.” Verse 45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” This is a new way of leading. This is a new way of leadership. This is a new way of life. It’s no longer about you. Because you will find your satisfaction you possess not in the things that you do but in the person of Christ himself. So that we will no longer, no, try to find our satisfaction in the things that we do. We will find a satisfaction in the person of Christ himself. And therefore, because we have now found

a satisfaction in that person of Christ, from that vantage point we become the servants of all without expecting anything in return from people. We give, we serve. This is a new attitude. Have you considered these things before you have assumed your Christian call?

Pride in any form is unacceptable. It destroys the church. If you love yourself more than the commandments of the Lord, if you are unwilling to deny yourself and submit to the teaching of God's word, sooner or later you are a threat to the life of the church. Sooner or later you are a threat to the life of the church or the health of the church, because you will, yourself will demand respect, yourself will demand identity, opposition, fame, and you will fight for it. You will fight for it. You want to have your way, right? Sooner or later you will be a threat to the purpose of God himself. The

Bible says that God gives grace to the humble. He gives grace to the humble in First Peter chapter 5. And on the contrary, he opposes the proud. That means he is setting himself as an enemy against the proud people, against the self-centered people.

When we are clothed with humility, it will naturally lead to gentleness. The next attribute that Paul speaks here, these first two attributes, humility and gentleness, are closely related because Paul does not use a preposition “with” there. Right? For the other qualities he uses “with.”

And for example, you see there for patience, “with patience.” So he separates these things with a preposition. And what is gentleness? How do we define gentleness? It is a mildness in nature. It is being mild in our dealings with each other. This is not a weakness, but it is a strength under control.

It is treating others with respect, kindness and concern. Gentleness should not be mistaken with soft voice. I know people who have soft voice but they have venom inside them. Venom. They have soft voice. Don't mistake gentleness with soft voice. People with gentle voices need not be gentle people.

Gentleness is the opposite of being rough, rough, harsh, domineering, opinionated, judgmental. It is not natural to us. The gentle people give the benefit of doubt. The Spirit of God brings forth the fruit of gentleness in us. Paul says in Galatians 6 verse 1 that gentleness is required to restore someone who has sinned. Right? Sometimes when someone sins against us, we want to vent our anger against them. We think that it is that way. It is that way to deal with offenses. First we need to vent out.

We need to bring them on their knees. Right? And they should plead with us. No, that's not the way. We should deal with all our anger in the presence of the Lord. And we should be clothed with gentleness before we even confront a brother or a sister.

In gentleness we need to restore someone. And according to 2 Timothy 2 verse 25, it is also needed when correcting someone who is in error. You will see an error. No, we should not go with prejudice or pride or arrogance. We should go with gentleness.

The walk characterized by all humility and gentleness is easy to project in vacuum or when surrounded by admirers or friends. But now Paul gives shape to what genuine humility and gentleness looks like when they enter the life of the church. All will not admire you. All will not appreciate you.

Right? They will see your flaws. They will speak up. You will see someone else's flaws. We need to speak up. But how? How do we do that? We do it with humility and gentleness. How do you behave when people do not admire you or appreciate you?

How do you behave when they malign you? They smile in front of you, but behind you they unleash poison. How do you behave in the face of provocation? To still be motivated to love, we need humility. No? Humility shows that, tells us that we are not important.

It's okay if people malign. I deserve worst. Humility tells I'm not important. Let people speak whatever they want. But if you want to deal with that, you need that humility and gentleness. deal with that because you are also seeking the welfare of your fellow brother and sister so you have to deal with that but how with humility and gentleness right that's the reason we need to be patient the next quality verse two with all humility and gentleness with patience in the original language patience means long heat which means it takes you a long time to heat up it takes a long time very long time to get mad right and it is the opposite of irritability and having a short temper it is patiently enduring the evil it is being humble and showing preference towards others even

in the face of provocation. When we think of patience, we must always think of God in his relationship with his people. God, if you read from the book of Genesis till Revelation, and even in this revelation to Moses, Moses, you see there in Exodus chapter 3, God repeatedly, you know, God, God revealed himself to be compassionate, right, and patient, long-suffering, right. And God repeatedly exercised patience with his people. The kind of patience is only generated in us by the Holy Spirit. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, if you read Galatians chapter 5. And how can, how can it be, how can, how can I be patient? Because God has been so long suffering towards me. Think of every time you sin against

God, every moment that, every time we sin against God, right, God did not destroy me. God did not punish me. What is that? He is patient with us. He is exercising long suffering. And how many times do we sin against God? In our thoughts?

In our feelings? In our actions? In our words? Count in a day. We sin against God, and how many times do we repeatedly do the same thing against God? How many times have we gone to his throne and asked, “Lord, I’ve sinned, I’ve done the same sin again, please forgive me. I repeated the same thing. Oh, last time when I prayed I said that I will not do this again anymore, but I’ve done this, that, the same thing again.” How many times we repeatedly sin against God.

And the reason that God did not punish us or destroy us because of our sin, because he is exercising long suffering. Even though in his eyes my sins must stand out far more clearly than do my brother's sins in my eyes, I must be patient with my brother and sister.

And patience doesn’t mean that we don’t deal with the other people’s sin. You know, you see here, patience is followed by tolerance. Verse 2, “with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love.” It means we don’t quit, we don’t walk away when things aren’t right between one another in the church or any relationship, like even marriage. We don’t quit. To tolerate, we need these qualities. We need gentleness, we need humility, and we need patience. And when there are relationships, may I remind you, hurts are bound to happen. A relationship-based church, you know, any church should be a relation-based church, and a relationship-based church is much harder to be involved with than a program-oriented church that is more formal and more impersonal.

God intended a church to be relational. God intended that we love one another, we forgive one another, we fellowship with one another, you will be hurt and that is a realistic expectation. This word tolerance in the original language is often used in the context of enduring suffering. The New Testament scholar Stephen Boas says, it means here “to patiently tolerate someone who is difficult or foolish.”

It is to bear up with someone who is difficult or foolish. And he continues to say, “one can easily tolerate a mildly irritating personality, but patience is especially needed for the foolish or difficult brother or sister in Christ.” We need to be patient.

And how can this be possible? Shouldn’t I retaliate when I’m offended? Shouldn’t I live in self-pity? No. This is how we are called to live. Nevertheless, this doesn’t exclude us from giving a rebuke or warning. You read 2 Timothy 4, verse 2, writing to Timothy says, “Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction.”

“Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience.” Brothers and sisters, there is a way to rebuke, there is a way to reprove with great patience. That is possible. That’s what Bible says. Whenever we think of rebuke, we think that our voices should be harsh.

And we should be very stern. Others should be intimidated. No. No, there is a way to rebuke and to warn with patience, with gentleness, with meekness. We don’t leave humility, meekness and gentleness when we have to rebuke. We don’t put them in a cupboard and come out and rebuke, wear something else and rebuke. No, we have to do this with gentleness and patience.

We need to learn these things. We need to be tutored. And this is the fruit of the Spirit in us. Something implicit in tolerating others here, when you say bear up with others, tolerate others, something that is implicit here is forgiveness. When you are bearing it with someone, when you are tolerating the offenses of someone, it means also forgiving the other person. Colossians 3:13 says, “Bear with one another and forgiving each other.”

It says, “Bearing with one another, forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.” So something that is implicit in tolerating is forgiving. Without forgiving others, we cannot tolerate, or we cannot bear up. All these characteristics should be rooted in one fundamental quality. What is it? Showing tolerance for one another in love. In love. No, without love, it is impossible to live in peace. Remember, God loved us while we were still sinners, and we should also love even sinning against us. Love makes a world of difference in our attitude and approach.

We can bear with someone grudgingly. We can bear with someone grudgingly. We can say, he is my cross to bear. She is my cross to bear. A husband might be thinking, my wife is my cross. A wife might be thinking, my husband is my cross. I need to bear up with him or her all my life. And some parents think my children are my cross. No, that is not the attitude a Christian must have.

We lovingly bear, not grudgingly bear. We forgive them and bear. Right? We have hearts filled with compassion when we bear. We tolerate with love and compassion and with expectation of change. We expect, we expect from the Lord to do something in their lives. We warn, we rebuke with that expectation, with that love and concern. We love them not because we are uncomfortable. So we rebuke them not because we are uncomfortable. We rebuke them because we seek their welfare.

And the welfare is that they are the followers of Christ and they ought to behave like Christ. They need to grow in Christ-likeness. 1 Peter 4, verse 8, Peter says, “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”

If you love the other person, you will be humble, you will be gentle, you will be patient, you will be tolerant of others, you will desire good for them. You might feel sorry for him, but your love will overcome your disgust for that person.

Look at what Paul says, “Love is patient. It does not take account of any wrong received. Love bears all things. Love endures all things.” Without love, without these fundamental qualities, there will only be superficial relationships. You may just simply smile at a brother and a sister, but deep inside there are hurts, unforgiven hurts.

You haven’t dealt with those things. Without love we will give up on people and not be concerned of others’ sanctification. And that is a selfish life. When God placed us in a church, we must contribute to the health of the church. Our experience of God’s love provides the basis and model, and the result is a love for one another. So these qualities are essential.

Humility, gentleness, patience, tolerance are the five foundational stones for the church unity. If you want the church to be united, these qualities are non-negotiable. This is Christ-likeness. We grow into the likeness, not in an isolation. We grow into the likeness of Christ Jesus, not in isolation, but in a community.

We fail, we get up, we hurt, we seek forgiveness, we forgive, that’s how we grow. The Spirit of God brings such qualities in us when we depend on Him. And this life is humanly impossible. With God, all things are possible. He will do in us through His Spirit. And that is the reason we should pray for these things.

That is the reason Paul consistently, earnestly prayed for the church and we must pray also. Look at verse 3 and Paul says, “being diligent to preserve the unity of the church in the bond of peace.” How do we preserve unity? He says, by being diligent.

In what? In what are we diligent? By walking worthy of a calling with the qualities which Paul mentioned here in the first two verses. We are diligent in these qualities. By all means we need to maintain unity. And Paul says to be diligent, make every effort and strive earnestly to maintain unity. All this means it takes work, effort. Unity will not come easily. We need to work hard and when there are difficulties, we need to put up with each other.

The phrase of the Spirit here, unity of the Spirit, means that he is the source of the unity. He brought diverse people together. He produced this unity. In the context, unity between Jews and Gentiles, people from diverse backgrounds and cultures. You may be a North Indian, you may be a South Indian, right? You may be a black Indian. You may be a white Indian. Whatever. You may be educated, non-educated. You may be rich, poor. We all are brought into one family, right? It is the work of the Spirit of God. And such unity brings all kinds of people together is humanly impossible.

No human agency was ever able to accomplish that. There is unity based on caste, religion, right? Such unity is, you know, what Bible speaks is impossible. The Spirit of God brought forth such unity because of Christ’s work on the cross. So as the recipients of God’s grace, we are indebted to God to maintain unity by all means.

The unity is established in or by the bond of peace that which keeps all brethren together is peace. Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 2 verses 13 and 14. 14 But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall. Christ is our peace. Firstly, he brought us who are far off near to him into the covenant family by destroying all hostility. It would be unnatural for God's people to live without peace.

There should be no place for any hatred, jealousy, strife, slander, gossip or any kind of misbehavior in the life of the church. Things are present then we are not walking in the control of the Spirit of God. Because all these love, gentleness, patience, humility and peace are the fruit of the Spirit of God.

We bear them because of the working of the Holy Spirit and that shows we need to live consistently under the control of the Spirit of God. The moment you come out of His control, we will act according to the flesh. The moment you realize that you’re acting according to your flesh, if you realize there’s something wrong in the way I speak, there’s something wrong in the way you’re behaving, pause.

Get into the closet. Deal with your heart. Right? It’s important that we are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Quickly, number two. Why should we be united? Why is all this important? Paul gives few reasons here. Number two, the basis and the goal of the unity. Verse 4, 5 and 6. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, one and Father, of all who is over all and through all and in all.” We now come to the heart of the matter.

The text provides the basis and the goal of unity. Firstly, he says there is one body and one Spirit. We share the same identity. Verse 4. Verses 4 to 6 are like a creed. Maybe this is one of the earliest creeds and written by the apostle himself. The apostle here reminds the people that the church despite its many members is one body indwelt by one Spirit. One body is the church, it is a universal church. Of course there is a local expression of that universal church, of that one church such as the church at Ephesians, such as our church, we are a local expression of that universal church.

But we must remember that there is only one church in the grand scheme of things. And this church is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This church is created by the Holy Spirit. This church is formed because of the Holy Spirit. And the Ephesian church is one local body, an expression of that universal church. And this is Paul’s primary concern.

1 Corinthians 12, verse 13, Paul says, “For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, we are all made to drink of one Spirit.” All believers, by the Spirit of God, we are baptized or made part of one church. The Holy Spirit mysteriously binds us together into one body. Church should be characterized by oneness.

And he goes on to say, “just as also you were called into one hope of your calling.” Number one, we see that we are one body and it’s created by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And here we see that you were called in one hope of your calling. We all have one hope is not subjective, right? Hope is the byproduct of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The hope to which Paul refers is not subjective feeling of a confident expectation but it’s a content. That, what’s the content? All believers are effectively called unto Christ, and all Christians

have the same hope. It is not different for each other, different for each ethnic group. It is not different for the Jews, it’s not different for the Gentiles. Now it is only, we all have one hope. And the one Holy Spirit who indwells all his people gives rise to the same hope. We all will be with the Lord and will be conformed into his likeness. That is a, that is a hope that we live with, right? And that is a confident expectation, because that’s a hope given to us by God. This is not a wishful thinking. I will, it’s not like we wish

that we will be like the Lord and we will be with the Lord. That’s a confident expectation that every believer should have. And the next thing that we see here is that one Lord, one faith, one baptism, we share the same testimony, right? First thing we say, we share the same identity. Secondly, we share the same testimony. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. These terms characterize the testimony of all who belong to Christ. Our unity is based on these confessions, right? Our unity is confessional, right? That’s the reason we try to read different confessions. Our unity is confessions. That’s the reason we have a statement of faith.

Our unity is in those confessions. Here, the Lord refers to our Lord Jesus Christ. The Greek word kyrios was used for the covenant name of God in the Greek that is Septuagint and is used for Jesus. It was used for Jesus in the New Testament.

And this shows the exalted divine nature of our Lord Jesus. And we testify that Jesus is the Lord, is the Lord of the universe. This one Lord is the same Lord for the Presbyterians. Is this one Lord is the same Lord for the Methodists, for the Baptists. This same Lord is the same Lord for the Brethren, but not for the Oneness Pentecostals or the Unitarians, they have a different Lord. But we need to distinguish here. One faith, again he talks about one faith, refers to the faith in its concrete form as a deposit.

It’s not subjective belief. It is talking about something concrete, a kind of a deposit, something that is handed down by the apostles to the church once for all. It is in things that we believe. It’s something revelation. We do not believe in every wind of doctrine. Even the early church was infested with false teachers. Please safeguard the Church from error. The object of our faith is the Lord and we testify that faith in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf is only means of salvation. And there is only one way of salvation. There are not many ways of salvation.

By grace through faith we are saved unto good works. Our faith is not subjective, it is objective. New Testament scholar Grant Osborne says, “the early church was united by its common core of doctrines” — please pay attention here — “the early church was united by its common core of doctrines, and still today, though there are many different denominations and groups often separated by differing theology, differing theologies, those with the core of cardinal doctrines like the Trinity, the deity of Christ, substitutionary atonement, others find a higher degree of unity of Christ. They can differ on the secondary issues, for example, charismatic gifts, the rapture, the mode of baptism, and remain one on the central tenets of the faith.”

We testify in one baptism. Now this could refer to the baptism of the Spirit, the spiritual baptism into the church or that each believer experiences the moment of salvation as mentioned in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13 or this can also refer to the water baptism. By baptism we testify that we are cleansed of sin and united to him by his grace alone, or both. You know, these both are united in essence. Water baptism expresses our union with Christ by the Spirit who regenerates us. Right? It could mean both. So we believe in one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Right? And the next we see here that one Father, one Father. That means we share the same family, same identity, same testimony. We have the same Father. We are the same family. “One God and Father of all,” verse 6, “is over all and through all in all.”

Now we believe in one God who is triune. But here we see that Paul applies the Lord to Jesus. In a Trinitarian doctrine, you see that all the three persons of the Lord, Father is the Lord, Son is the Lord, Holy Spirit is the Lord, there are not three Lords but one Lord. You remember the creed. There are no three gods but one God. Father is God, Son is God, Holy Spirit is God. There are not three gods but one God. They are united in essence. But here we see that Paul applies the Lord to Jesus, who is divine. And here in verse 6 he is referring to the

Father as God. And when Paul says that there is one God and Father of all, he reminds us that despite our differences, even those as great as the ethnic and social differences that separated those in the church at Ephesus, like Jews and Gentiles, we are all same family because we share the same Father. We are all same family because we share the same Father. He is over all. He is the Father of all creation.

He is the Lord of all universe. And in this particular context he is the father of the Jewish believers and also the Gentile believers. Right? He is father of all. So that means that all believers who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ now belong to the same family. There is no distinction. There is no Kamma Christian, there is no Kapu Christian, there is no Brahmin Christian, Madiga Christian. No, there are no Muslim Christians, there are no Hindu Christians, whatever.

No such distinctions at all. We are all one family. And these things are played out, especially in marriages. You want to marry from the similar background. No, God even destroyed those divisions. We are all one family. We need to hold that strongly. We need to hold that strongly. He is over all.

We observe here that all the persons, all the three persons of the Trinity are involved here. The Divine Trinity is central to the unity. Ephesians 2:18, “but through him we both have our access to one Spirit to the Father, in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God’s household.” Knowing that we are of one eternal family should reduce all earthly hatred. When I look at a brother or sister whom I believe is wrong in his or her perspective or has wronged me, I must look beyond his or her offenses against me.

This is a person for whom Christ died and in whom the Son of God lives. My brother in Christ is infinitely valuable to God, and therefore I must honor him or her and regard him or her from my heart, and I should respect them with the words of my mouth and with the words of my hands.

And each of us for whom Christ died is called to love beyond differences of race, class, perspective or personality. I am called to say to all those in Christ Jesus, you are my brother, you are my sister, we have the same Father. Come, let us love one another beyond our differences, for we have the same identity and destiny.

All these essentials, brothers and sisters, they unite us and we must maintain unity in not just with these theological truths. These theological truths are important, but we need to maintain unity with right theology, with humility, gentleness, patience and love. Our unity in these things is in these things.

And we believe in one God, the three persons, the three persons of the Trinity are the but share one nature, thus one God. They are co-equal and co-eternal. We believe in one gospel which unites us. There are not many gospels. Salvation by faith in the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ alone justifies us and makes us right with the Father. Nothing else. There is one gospel. There is no gospel plus something else which will save us like the Roman Catholics. We are not one with the Roman Catholics.

We do not believe in the same gospel. They believe in the gospel plus something else. We cannot associate with them and form an ecumenical group. No. No. And there are efforts from Christians who try to make these ecumenical groups. That cannot be done.

We are not permitted to unite ourselves with those who have abandoned these truths which are affirmed in the scriptures. We cannot unite with Mormons. They are not Christians. They are not Christians. They do not believe in the God of the Bible. The Mormons are polytheists. They hold that God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three separate distinct gods.

We do not agree also with the Unitarians or the Oneness Pentecostals that believe in different gods, that believe in different Jesus. There are many heretic groups like that we cannot have fellowship with them. These theological truths are essential for our unity. And Paul appeals for unity based on these theological truths. We are one family, therefore we must maintain unity because we are one family in Christ Jesus. Remember, in the broader context of the Ephesians, such unity of the church displays God’s glory and wisdom to the principalities, rulers and authorities. Remember, we are called to love all brothers and sisters, irrespective of caste, color, education and etc.

We ought to love and be patient, gentle and humble with even those who offend us. Shouldn't we correct those who offend us? Yes, but with meekness and gentleness, not in rage or self-interest. Our correction should be redemptive, not destroy others with our words and behavior.

And remember what John said in 1 John 4, verse 20 to 21. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God without love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. brother?

Are you loving your brother and sister? Are you caring enough to confront your brother with love, gentleness, meekness and patience? Unity is not an option for believers. We can appear to be united, but we can be divided in spirit. Unity is the very heart of a Christian in faith. We compromise on our message when we do not display peace with one another. Remember what Lord Jesus Christ said in John 17, verse 22, “The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they be one just as we are one.”

Let this be the foundation of our unity. Paul says we need to make every effort to maintain in the unity of the spirit with a bond of peace, and we need to put every effort to deny ourselves. The root of all problems, all our problems and all the problems in the churches, is because of the self. We must put every effort to walk in the control of the spirit, and we must be careful enough that we are clothed with humility, gentleness, patience and tolerance. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. Father, we are easily prone to be selfish. We are easily prone to hate our brothers and sisters. Father, Lord,

we need these reminders. We ask you, Lord, that you would create this unity in us through your Spirit. You would build us, all of us, bring us under the control of your Spirit so that we may bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. That these qualities would become ours, so that we may live with these qualities, O God.

Please strengthen us through your Holy Spirit and destroy, O God, all the works of the flesh in us. Oh God, we plead with you that we all mature into Christ’s likeness and we may exhibit, Lord, these qualities to one another. And Lord, we may live as people who honour you. We may walk worthily of our calling. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.