Walking in Unity
Text: Ephesians 4:1-3.
“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you
to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness
and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
The Lord Jesus prayed that we might be one: “That
they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that
they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” John 17:21.
The Spirit of God has baptized us into one
body. “For by one Spirit are we all
baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or
free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit” 1 Corinthians 12:13.
We cannot make that unity, we cannot force
a kind of unity. Only the Holy Spirit makes the unity, but we are to maintain
it. All true believers in Christ Jesus belong to one body, and we should
realize that we are one in Christ.
Now Paul goes on to list seven of those
unities:
“There is one body, and one
Spirit, even as ye 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” Ephesians
4:4-6.
1. “One Body” refers to the number of believers from Pentecost to the Rapture. This
one Body is what Jesus called into being, when He said I will build “My
Church,” with Christ being the Head of His Church.
2. “One
Spirit” refers to the Holy Spirit who baptizes each
believer into the Body of Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is to unify
believers in Christ. This is the unity that the believer is instructed to
keep.
3. “One Hope
of your calling” refers to the goal set
before all believers. They will be taken out of this world into the presence of
Christ. This is the blessed hope (see Titus
2:13).
4. “One
Lord” refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. His Lordship over believers brings
into existence the unity of the church.
5. “One Faith” refers to the body of truth called the apostles’ doctrine (see Acts 2:42). When this is denied, there
are divisions. Only believing in the one Lord Jesus Christ can we have unity of
faith?
6. “One Baptism” has reference to the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is real baptism.
Water baptism is a symbol of united with Christ in His death and resurrection.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit brings us into God’s blessing of fruitfulness.
7. “One
God and Father of all” refers to God’s Fatherhood
of believers. Since there is only one Father, He is not the Father of
unbelievers. Sonship can come only through Christ. The unity of believers
produces a sharp distinction between believers and unbelievers. He is
Father of all who are His by regeneration, “born again.”
This chapter reminds me of time I heard a
great symphony orchestra:
“If you arrive early at a concert hall, you will be noticed that at
first all the instruments are “tuned” by the players, but there would be no
melody in it, it would be a terrible noise! They quit after a few moments, when
they are in tune. Then the spotlight goes to the side of the stage and the
conductor walks on stage. He then picks up a little stick, when he lifted that
baton, now beautiful music comes out of that great orchestra!”
When Christ and His Church is found in unity,
great power comes forth, like what we read in Acts 2:1-4:
“When the Day of Pentecost had
fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly
there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the
whole house where they were sitting.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” Acts 2:1-4.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” Acts 2:1-4.
Unity in the Body of Christ comes when all limbs (example: arms
and legs) can work together, we do not have to look like each other. Today many
do not like the shape of their nose, but it still does the job God created it
for, just as we need to get on with each and love each other,
Brick layers, carpenters, plumbers, plasters, electricians, painters,
etc. all come together to build the same house/church building.
CONCLUSION:
If we want God’s blessing in our lives, we need to work towards
unity in Christ Jesus.
