I spoke with Lance Heller last
Monday and he was very encouraged. Several things that, that Claire
is able to do and has improved overall, uh, in a great way over
the last week, he said, or over the last two weeks, he could
see such a, such an improvement. If you will, let us open our
Bibles tonight to Ephesians chapter four. As we sang those two hymns just
now, Stepping in the Light and The Church's One Foundation,
I could not help but think how appropriate those hymns are for
the message this evening, how they go along with this passage
of scripture. In Ephesians chapter four, verses
one through six, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering for bearing
one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit,
even as you are called in one hope of your calling, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all who is above
all and through all and in you all. The subject of this passage
that we're looking at tonight is unity. The unity that must
exist, should exist among all believers, but especially the
unity that should exist in every local church. First thing I want
us to notice is these four things in verse one. These four things
in verse one. First of all, the writer. I, the prisoner of the Lord. This is the second time in this
letter that the Apostle Paul has referred to himself as the
prisoner. If you look back to chapter three
in verse one, he said, for this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Two times in just a few verses
he mentions that he was a prisoner. He had no cause. The Apostle
Paul had no cause to be ashamed of the fact that he was a prisoner.
If a man is in prison, if a man is a prisoner for wrongdoing,
then he should be ashamed. But the Apostle Paul had no cause
to be ashamed The Apostle Peter in his first letter, he mentions
this, he said, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him
not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on his behalf. Paul was a prisoner and he suffered
as a Christian. And we saw last time it was for
this cause, that is for preaching the gospel. especially preaching
the gospel to the Gentiles, that he was a prisoner of Rome. He always refers to himself,
of course, as a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you
to keep your places here, but look in 2 Timothy with me just
a moment. 2 Timothy chapter two. Beginning in verse 7, he said,
Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding
in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of
the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel, wherein I suffer trouble. In other words, he is telling
Timothy the trouble that he was suffering was because of the
gospel, because of preaching the gospel, believing the gospel
first of all, and separating, being separated from Judaism,
from Phariseeism, from false religion, and brought to a saving
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then preaching this gospel.
Therein, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer. A prison, prisoners,
that's for people who do evil, right? People who break the law. Paul said, I'm suffering as an
evildoer, but he had no reason to be ashamed of his being a
prisoner because it wasn't because of evildoing. It was because
of preaching the gospel. I suffer trouble as an evildoer,
even under bonds, chains. We know that It was customary
many times for a prisoner of Rome to be chained to his guard. And some people believe that
the Apostle Paul in the prison in Rome experienced that. Later
on here in Ephesians chapter six when he describes the Christian
armor Many people believe that he was just watching and looking
at the Roman soldier, at his helmet and his sandals and his
breastplate and all of that. And he uses all of that to show
the Christian armor, that which we are to put on. He was in close
proximity, if not chained, to a prisoner. Remember John Bunyan
and Bill told me this, he visited the place where John Bunyan spent,
I believe, 12 years in prison. And he could look out his window
and see the places that are described in his Pilgrim's Progress, for
the most part, and spiritualize those things. 12 years in prison
for preaching the gospel. And how many times have we heard
the fact, this is true, He had a daughter who was blind, and
she came to the prison on more than one occasion and begged
her father to come home, and he could come home. He could
be set free, but he had to agree that he would not preach. He
would not preach the gospel. And he continued while he was
there in prison to maintain, if they turn me loose before
the sun goes down tonight, I will be preaching the gospel. Paul,
a prisoner of Jesus Christ, he's not ashamed, had no reason to
be ashamed of being a prisoner. Remember, Peter and John counted
it all joy, or they rejoiced, rather, that they were counted
worthy to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Look in Philippians
with me just a moment, Philippians chapter two. I'm sorry, Philippians chapter
1. He wrote this letter from prison,
as well as Ephesians. Philippians chapter 1, look in
verse 12. But I would you should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the futherance of the gospel. I wish every one
of us could get a hold of this truth. Whatever God's providence
orders for our life, whatever it is, don't have to be a preacher, is for the furtherance of the
gospel. That that's the purpose of this
world continuing as it does today. God has a people that he has
chosen, that he has redeemed, and that he is calling out. And
all of these things that are happening in the world at all
times, in all places, they all some way contribute to the saving
of his people, to the calling out of his people. Paul said,
I would, you should understand brethren, that the things which
happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the fathers of
the gospel. Yes, I'm a prisoner. Yes, I'm
in a prison in Rome, but these things didn't happen by chance.
This is part of God's sovereign purpose and will for my life. And that's true of every one
of us. If we are God's children tonight, whatever we experience,
whatever God has ordained for us as we go through this world,
somehow it's for his glory and for the good of his church, for
your good as part of his church. so that my bonds in Christ, my
chains in Christ are manifest in all the palace. If he had
not been taken a prisoner and carried to Rome, then many in
the palace there of Nero, if he was the emperor at this time,
would not have been exposed to the gospel like they were by
Paul being taken there. And notice this, and many of
the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much
more bold to speak the word without fear. And Paul, he recognized
some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also
of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, to my
chains, but the other, of love, knowing that I am set for the
defense of the gospel. What then, notwithstanding every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and
I therein rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. Christ is preached,
amen. So that's the first thing I would
point out to us in this text tonight. The writer, I the prisoner
of the Lord. Second, those to whom it is addressed. The called, the called. I therefore the prisoner of the
Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called. He's writing from prison as the
Lord's prisoner to those who were called. Now the word translated
vocation. We usually think of that as a
person's way of making a living, I think, his vocation. But this
word, the Greek word is only used 11 times in the New Testament,
and every place except here, it is translated calling, calling. In fact, if you look in verse
4, it's the same word. There's one body and one spirit,
even as you are called. vocation, calling. And this is,
of course, speaking of what we call God's effectual call. Many are called, but few are
chosen. Many are called as the gospel
is preached. The sower went forth to sow and
he broadcast the seed here, there, and everywhere. The gospel goes
out and many are called A general call, but some accompanied with
the word is the power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit so that God
has prepared that good ground, that heart, that new heart, that
good ground that receives a seed and brings forth fruit unto the
glory of God. This is the same word as we see
in 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 26. For you see your calling,
your vocation. You see your vocation, your calling,
brethren, now that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble after the flesh are called. This is God's effectual calling. The calling is the work of God
the Holy Spirit upon the heart. of God's elect. In Psalm 110,
the scripture says, thy people, God's people, the Lord's people,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. No one is ever saved against
his will. All men by nature, we all come
into this world with a fallen will. which is obstinately set
against coming to Christ, believing in Christ. We will not have this
man to reign over us. But in the day of his power,
God's people are made willing, and we willingly Look to the
Lord Jesus, bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, willingly. In fact, that
is our will, to know Christ and Him crucified. That becomes all
important, to know Him. That's a work of God's grace,
isn't it? That's a work of effectual grace,
fetching grace. Here's the third thing. The object
desired here in this verse. First we see the writer, those
to whom he writes, the called, and now the object desired, a
worthy walk. We sang that hymn just a few
minutes ago, trying to walk in the steps of the Savior, stepping
in the light, a worthy walk. By walk, of course, it's meant
our life, our lifestyle. And sometimes, you know, in one
place, at least in the King James Translation, it's called our
conversation. Our conversation. That word,
that English word is completely used now just to speak of our
words, talking with one another. But when the Bible was translated,
this King James Translation was made our conversation. We would
say our lifestyle. Our lifestyle. walk worthy, walk
worthy of this gospel. And the motive, here's the fourth
thing, the motive to do this, that word therefore, therefore. The motive to do this, it's all
found in that word therefore. All that the apostle had written
to this point, to this place, all the great and glorious truths
that the Apostle Paul had spoken of in chapters one, chapters
two, and chapter three. That's the motive. Not to obtain
a crown, not to work for and merit heaven, but because you've
been given life. because of God's great mercy
and grace and the blood of Jesus Christ. Now walk worthy, therefore
walk worthy. That's a motive for the believer.
You know, sometimes people act like the motive to try to get
believers to serve the Lord is a reward in heaven. Christ is
our reward. That's what God told Abraham.
I am thy reward. If God is my reward and He is
the reward of every child of God, what more could you want?
What more could there be? No, that's not the motive. And
the law, keeping people under the law and using the law like
a whip, you know, to try to make people do what's right, that's
not the way either. It's the love of Christ that
constrains God's people. There's a motive. Therefore,
walk worthy. Now, there are three things in
these verses I want us to see quickly. First of all, We should
take our rightful place, verse 2, with all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. We should
all take our rightful place. You say, well, what is our rightful
place? Look back to chapter 3. Look
at the place that Paul took, verse 8. I'm to me who am less
than the least of all saints. Now that should be our rightful
place. Let's take our rightful place.
Let's recognize who we are, who we are. I am less than the least
of all saints is this grace given. And Paul, notice he begins with
all lowliness, humility. John Calvin, I read just today,
he said, the principles of the religion of Christ are these
three. Number one, humility. Number
two, humility. Number three, humility. What's the opposite of humility? It's pride, isn't it? This is
a place we're encouraged to walk worthy of this calling And he
begins with all lowliness, with humility. One of the Proverbs
says, only by pride cometh contention. When there's contention in a
local church, when the unity is disrupted, you may always
trace it to pride. Someone's seeking preeminence. Someone not taking our rightful
place, and that is less than the least of all saints. You
know the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter chapter 5, he said, humble yourselves. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God. That's what he tells us to do. Am I a child of God? Then Peter
exhorts me, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, David, humble yourself. And the same is true of each
and every one of us here tonight, right? Humble yourself under
the mighty hand of God. Well, how do we humble ourselves? Well, I think, first of all,
Meditation has to come in. I believe the best way that any
of us, if we're halfway successful at humbling ourselves, it will
come by meditation, by thinking upon God and what He has done
for us, what He has done for me. Considering those three questions
that Paul Asked those believers in the church at Corinth. Remember,
they were divided. Some said, I like Paul, I like
Apollos, I like Peter. The unity wasn't there. And Paul
asked them, or told them, these three things, three questions. Who makes you to differ from
another? Just stop and think about it.
Meditate on it. You see a brother or sister and
they're doing something that maybe they shouldn't be doing.
Who makes you to differ? Who makes you to differ? You
have any cause for pride because maybe you are in that area doing
what you should do and they're not? Who makes you to differ? What hast thou that thou hast
not received? Whatever grace it is, you didn't
bring it with you. You came into this world naked
like everyone else. And any grace that you have is
grace that's been given. When I say you, I'm talking about
myself too, remember that. I'm not just saying you, you,
you. I'm saying us, right? Us, us. And that third question, why
dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? If everything
that you have in the service of the Lord is by grace, you've
received it, then why do you glory as if you had made yourself
somehow to differ? We should take our rightful place,
number one. humble, low, lowliness. Number two, meekness. He continues
with meekness. And we know that this is the
fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians 5, this is one of
the fruit of the Spirit. And in this particular place,
this deals with the manner in which we deal with injuries that
others do to us. When we are injured in some way
by one of our brothers or sisters, how do we deal with that? Do
we fly off the handle and get mad and lash out? We are to bear the injuries and
not to retaliate and seek revenge. You know, David, in one of the
Psalms, he said, let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness. and let him reprove me, it shall
be an excellent oil. Oh, that's some spirit, isn't
it? Can you say that? Can I say that?
Let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness. When I'm wrong and someone corrects
me, it's a kindness. You know, one of the Beatitudes
is, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Now, this doesn't mean that a child of God in this world has no rights. You know, and I say that because
when the authorities put Paul and Silas into prison, they were
Roman soldiers, and you could not beat a Roman soldier without
a trial. And they mistreated Paul. He
was a Roman, you could not beat a Roman citizen, I should say.
He was a Roman citizen. And they put him in the prison. You know the story there, Acts
chapter 16, him and Silas. Well, the next day, when the
authorities of that city found out, at least that one man, he's
a Roman citizen. But you've done, you're in trouble
here, buddy. Well, they sent word down to
the prison. They said, well, tell them they
can go. Remember what Paul said? He said, they've put us in here.
The least they can do is come down here and release us. I mean, he recognized we have
rights. A believer is not to let people
just walk all over them. But this passage of scripture
is speaking of the unity of a church and a local church. And when
there are disagreements or something that would disrupt this unity,
we are to be meek about it. We're not to retaliate and seek
revenge. A third thing he said, long suffering
and forbearance. This especially speaks to when
we're provoked, that we meet with some from brethren who just
provoke you. No virtue is more needful than
this one as to a local church interacting with others. There's
so many natural differences. All of us here tonight, We all
come from different backgrounds. We were all raised in different
homes and families, and there's so many things that could cause
division. But that's what Paul is telling
us we should not have. And with humility and with meekness
and with long-suffering and loneliness. Listen to this, and I quote.
One of the writers said this, a husband and wife, a husband
and wife, such as the imperfection of human nature can find enough
in each other to embitter life if they choose to magnify imperfections
and to become irritated at trifles. You know, one of the truths in
1 Corinthians 13 about love is it bears long, it suffers long,
and it's kind. And those of us here tonight
who are married, we recognize this truth. There's enough imperfections
in all of us. If you magnify and major on the
imperfection and overlook the good qualities, You're not going
to have a good outcome, not going to have a happy home, happy marriage. So first of all, we should take
our rightful place. Second, notice in verse three,
we should endeavor to keep the unity of the spirit. And I call
our attention to that word keep. This is a union of spirits. It is true because all of God's
children, we've all been baptized into one body. First Corinthians
12 and verse 13. It's a unity of the spirit brings
much glory to God in the church in Ephesus. This church to whom
this letter was written at first, there were Jews and there were
Gentiles, and probably the Jews, they never had a good word before
to say about a Gentile, and the Gentiles had never had a good
word to say about the Jews, and now here they are in the same
church. Endeavor, endeavor, do your best
to keep the unity of the Spirit. This unity brings much comfort
to God's people. And this unity, I'll say this
also, it's much opposed by Satan. And we should endeavor as much
as possible to maintain this unity. There's so many little
things, differences, that if we allow could mar this unity. John Gill said, though it is
difficult and may sometimes seem impossible, yet it becomes the
saints to be diligent in the use of means to keep it up and
continue it. And they may be said to endeavor
after when they abide with one another and do not forsake each
other over every occasion. Some people, they act like they're
going to find a perfect church. And like someone else has said
before, if you ever find one, don't join it because it won't
be perfect anymore when you become a part of it. There is no perfect
church in this world because we have imperfect people, members
of this church. I remember, I've got over the
years, I've had a lot of experiences or many experiences along this
line, but I remember one time there was a difference, but,
or I felt there was a difference between myself and one of the
members of our congregation. We were working on a project
and I, I felt like it needed to come to an end and I thought
this person wanted to continue. And so I remember. telling him
something like this, I just don't want this to cause a problem
between you and me. And you know, before I almost
put a period on that, he responded back like this, Pastor, that
is not going to happen. That's the spirit I'm talking
about. That is not going to happen. In other words, I'm not going
to let There's not going to be any difference between you and
me. Not on this matter. And here's the third thing. We
should recognize that all of God's children are in union in
these ways. There's only one body, the mystical
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we are God's children,
we are members of that body. There's only one spirit, God
the Holy Spirit, by whom we have been quickened and made alive.
There's only one hope to which we have been begotten, that is
eternal life in heaven. There's only one Lord. Peter's
words, God hath made that same Jesus whom you have crucified,
both Lord and Christ. And there's only one Lord to
whom we all must submit. There's only one faith that we
profess, Jesus Christ is the Son of God. There's one God,
one baptism rather. There's one baptism that pictures
the gospel. And notice that baptism is done
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. There's
union there. That's the greatest union that
we know anything about. the union and the Godhead. But this union between us and
Christ and therefore each other must be maintained. There's only
one baptism. And number seven, there is one
God who is the father of all true believers. If you are a
child of God and I am a child of God, we both have the same
father. We both are members of the same
family. And notice this, God is above
all. That simply means he takes care
of all. He takes care of all. All of
God's creation. There's a verse in the psalm
that reminds us that God opens his hand and feeds, provides,
takes care of all of his creation. And that's certainly true of
his family. God is above all, and through
all, and in you all. May the Lord bless us this passage. I love this passage of scripture,
don't you? You know, we love all the Word
of God, but this is just to me just a special special passage
of Scripture that speaks to us of the unity that we have one
with another, the love that's shed abroad in our hearts by
God the Holy Spirit. Let us sing a verse or two of
a hymn.