The Unity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace, pt 1
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Introduction
Introduction
In the hymn, Onward Christian Soldiers, there is the line: “…we are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and doctrine, one in charity....”
Is it the case that is true? Or is it more the case as we read in something that has been going around the internet for years along these lines
I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. I immediately ran over and said "Stop! Don't do it!"
"Why shouldn't I?" he said.
I said, "Well, there's so much to live for!"
"Like what?"
"Well ... are you religious or atheist?"
"Religious."
"Me too! Are you Christian or Jewish?"
"Christian."
"Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?"
"Protestant."
"Me too! Are you Anglican or Baptist?"
"Baptist."
"Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?"
"Baptist Church of God."
"Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God, or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God."
"Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915?"
"Reformed Baptist Church of God, reformation of 1915!"
To which I said, "Die, heretic scum!" and pushed him off.
That can be pretty depressing!
But what we will see today in our passage we’ve just heard is that there is
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Now, in the lead-up to these verses Paul has instructed us
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The Apostle Paul writing by the Holy Spirit that we are to be eager, that we are to rush to the maintenance of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This unity we have in Christ as His people, His Church, is already something that has been brought about, already something that has been declared and worked by our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, as He tells us earlier in Ephesians. He has joined Jew and Gentile together.
In this new reality that Paul has been declaring in Ephesians is something that has been brought about by the blood of Jesus being shed for us on the Cross and in the declaration of our justification in God raising Jesus from the dead, this salvation brought brought to us by his Holy Spirit drawing us, and indeed, a great multitude a people to himself from every nation and tribe and tongue and people.
As a result of this saving work accomplished by God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the name of the Lord is to be proclaimed in every land, by every tongue to the glory of God forever and ever.
By this glorious working of God, the reality is that there is this unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace in the Church, the redeemed people of God. We are called upon, exhorted to maintain this, to advance this, to keep this, and we are to do this. And why is it that this is to take place?
Well, Paul is telling us now in verses 4 through 6 is that the work of God the Father and Son and Holy Spirit is what has brought this about, and we are to work to maintain this because of that work of the Trinity.
Today we’re going to look at the first part of verse 4, "There is one body and one Spirit...."
4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—
There is one body of Christ
There is one Spirit
Implications of these truths
First,
There is one body of Christ
There is one body of Christ
He says there is one body and we see that this is the body of Christ. All Christians, all believers are in Christ. He is the head of the body, the church, As Ephesians 1:22 tells us:
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
In this next verse in Ephesians 1 tells us that the church is his body,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
the fullness of him who fills all in all, and it was important for the Ephesians to see there are not churches such as a Jewish church and a Gentile church, there is one church, one people of God, that unity that God has affected and brought together, one body in Christ.
There is perfect unity in the Church
There is perfect unity in the Church
There is this perfect unity here: one body, and one spirit.
It is difficult to understand that there is perfect unity in the Church. Why so many denominations? Why do things seem so fractured?
In theology, we like to speak of the Church in terms of the
the universal church
the visible church
The universal church
The universal church
The universal church consists of everyone through time and in all places who are elected and redeemed in Christ, and in whom Christ dwells. But only God sees and knows all who are His. That number is invisible to our eyes so it is referred to as the invisible church.
The visible church
The visible church
The visible church, which was at first mostly seen in the covenant line from Adam down to the Jews in the Old Testament and is now since Christ, made-up of all, Jew and Gentile, who profess the name of Jesus as Lord and their children. We see this manifested in the various groups and denominations and congregations.
It is to this universal, visible church that Christ has given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God for the gathering and perfecting of the saints in this life, until He comes again. He makes these means of carrying out His plans and purposes in the Church to be effective by the working of His Spirit, just as He promised:
20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And we know from Scripture there are those who profess to be Christians in the visible church and yet aren’t born-again by the Spirit of God. They profess salvation but don’t possess it.
So we see throughout time and in different places the faithful, those truly redeemed in Christ, this universal church, existing more or less visible, as those churches and individuals in it more or less hold true to the Gospel and worship God in Spirit and Truth according to His Word.
We also see that some churches have so degenerated to no longer be true churches. But we can also rest assured that God will preserve those who are His and that there shall always be a church on earth to worship God according to His will.
We must live our lives in the context of the visible church
We must live our lives in the context of the visible church
The reality is this: we are called to live in in our our profession of our faith in Christ in the context of the visible church. We don’t live in an abstract world.
None of the commands of God are to be lived out in an abstract way. We are called to love this brother and serve that sister. We are exhorted in Hebrews 10 to gather with God’s people for worship, to encourage one another as members of body of Christ, engaging one another in our particular congregations.
If you profess Jesus as Lord, you have an obligation from God to publicly identify with and formally unite with the visible expression of the Church as it meets locally. There is no concept of an unaffiliated Christian in the Bible or just having a membership in the “invisible church.”
There is only one Church
There is only one Church
This is driven home further when Paul says "one," There is one body.
There is one and only one. One and only one body. One and only one Spirit, and so forth. Not one among many, not one that is in a range of choices, there is one unique work of God. We don't have a God who has to make a replacement. We don't have a God who has to function according to a Plan B. We have a God who has no substitutes, no work-arounds. There's one and only one body. We can't put forward an alternative to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no salvation ordinarily outside of the Church. Why? Because it is through the church that God has declared that his Gospel is to be preached. It is through the church that God is manifesting this marvelous work of salvation and holding out before us the means of grace of the word as it is read and preached, of prayer and of observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper.
There is no other institution, no other organisation, through which God works in this way. It isn’t through the family, it isn’t through the State. There is no work-around that we may legitimately use.
Understand that we aren’t saying that we at Grace are the only true Church. We are saying that we are part of that only true Church — all throughout this world who strive to hold to the teaching of the gospel, who teach it and embrace it, who hold to the ordinances of Scripture and administer them faithfully, and where public worship is performed—there you will find Christ’s church.
It is in and through and by the means of this body, His Church. God has said it and done it, that's how it is.
There is one Spirit
There is one Spirit
He says there is one Spirit, one and only one Spirit. It refers here to God the Holy Spirit. He's not talking about some kind of spirit, little s, of camaraderie and so forth that we have. No, he's speaking of God the Holy Spirit and since there's only one God the Holy Spirit, he is that one who indwells the body of Christ.
He is that one in whom we were all baptized into one body, Jew or Greek, slave or free, and we are all made to drink of one Spirit as 1 Corinthians 12:13
13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
This shows us that
This unity is the sole work of God the Holy Spirit
This unity is the sole work of God the Holy Spirit
There is one Spirit who links us to Christ, who dwells within us and who joins us together as a body. It is in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that the unity of the body of Christ is guaranteed. There is not a Spirit for Jews, nor a Spirit just for Gentiles. It is one and the same God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who is at work in us. Especially as we see that all that Christ has accomplished for us on the cross is brought home to us, applied to us, by the Holy Spirit, who has worked to bring us together as God’s people, and who indwells and enables us as God’s people to serve Christ.
Implications
Implications
We Must Beware of Acting Contrary to God’s Purposes
We Must Beware of Acting Contrary to God’s Purposes
It teaches us that because this unity is brought about by God the Holy Spirit, any sin against the true unity of the church is also a sin against the Spirit of God who indwells the church as well. Anything that works contrary to humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, in our lives together in the Church is a sin against God the Holy Spirit and our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our sins which work against the unity of the Spirit seek to undo what he has worked to join together.
We are in one body, joined by God the Holy Spirit. The demands that are placed upon us here that we love our brothers and sisters in Christ and live at peace with them is a weighty thing and yet if we are to act contrary to this, if we are to neglect this, this is as it were, to declare war on God and those who are his.
This also has much to do with the prevailing attitude of what I’ll call Me-ism in the church.
Me-ism in the Church
Me-ism in the Church
Let me give you three examples of Me-ism in the church:
Church as a drive-thru
Church as a drive-thru
This person pulls up to the church as if he’s at the drive through at Maccas. He’s spiritually hungry. He orders exactly what he wants; it better be right, speedy, and satisfying. He comes to church demanding that it has every good and service he might want. He only goes when it’s convenient. And if the order’s ever wrong, he speeds away, bad-mouthing it to anyone who will listen.
(Can you believe that parking lot was full? I was only five minutes late! Can you believe they didn’t make me a deacon? I am so godly! I just want a wilderness adventure ministry funded by the church, full of my potential BFFs, is that too much to ask?)
This person hops angrily and merrily between different churches to satisfy his hunger for community, worship, preaching, or a special ministry that has to conform to his desires and whims. Committed to none, satisfied by none, he demands, consumes, and complains his way through town, more resembling a Viking raider than someone looking for a home. This is upfront consumerist Me-ism, and it’s probably the most common.
Church as a rubbish collector
Church as a rubbish collector
Rubbish collection is a funny thing. You put it at the curb on a certain day of the week, the people come; the rubbish is collected and compacted into the truck, and then they speed away, with only the grunts of engine to signify their departure. We don’t expect them nor indeed, invite them into our lives to have a cuppa and a sit-down chat. Just take the rubbish, please.
Sometimes church is treated like a rubbish collector. When a person has junk piling up in her life, it starts to smell, and others notice. So she drags her spiritual, emotional, and relational rubbish to the curb. She expects the church to pick it up and make it all go away.
In some ways, church is the place to bring her junk. But if church members get too close, she’s calling the cops. If they try the front door, she’s gripping the cricket bat. She just wants the inconvenience, the smell, or embarrassing parts of her life swept away, no questions asked. A variant of this is the person who wants the church to “fix” their lives — fix their spouse, fix their kids, etc. Don’t touch me, the problem is over there.
Church as the tax man
Church as the tax man
This person is a member of the church. He tithes his money and time. He nods at sermons, and he’s proud to follow his church on Facebook. He even attends special events sometimes.
But it’s superficial. His heart is far from loving the church; instead he treats it like the ATO. He pays what’s required, nothing more. He’s even looking for ways to shave off even more than he has to pay. Instead of being filled with radical love for God, living in gratitude for God’s grace and mercy and living sacrificially for those around him, to this person, the church is a legal transaction. This scenario is formed by guilt (he must do these things). It is perpetuated by shame (he must not be exposed as a sinner). And underneath the surface, he hates God and His church (he’s a good person and he doesn’t need either of them).
As Christians, we have a hard time loving the church because deep down, we have no idea what it really is. That is what Paul is trying to address here in Ephesians 4.
In our sinful natures, our orientation is that everything is to be centered upon us. We want everything to revolve around us. That's part of our sinful human nature. We want everything to relate to us and, therefore, we tend to think of the church as it relates to us. We weigh it, we evaluate what others do to us and how they serve us. We tend to think of it in a me-istic fashion: our needs, our wants, our desires, our likes, our dislikes, our preferences, our schedules.
We tend to evaluate it all according to that standard of Me but in reality Paul is saying, "It is the polar opposite."
Our thumbs have meaning only in relation to the rest of our body. So it is in the Church. It is the unity of the Spirit, not the unity of me that accomplishes this. And what a tragic thing it is when, "I am of Paul. I am of Apollos. I am of Cephas. I am of Christ," Paul encountering that with the Corinthian church and yet that's how we tend to roll, isn't it? That's how we tend to operate in things. We must see ourselves as we relate to Christ, to his body, not as it relates to us and so, therefore, this is an antidote to me-ism in the church.
A call to pray for unity
A call to pray for unity
The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the good news of the salvation He has accomplished brings people together. What’s more, it brings sinful people with various backgrounds (geographic, ethnic, economic, etc.) together. Christ takes selfish people and causes them to love one another. However, we know from reading the New Testament and from experience that selfishness constantly attempts to overthrow unity. How do we combat this? We are told to preserve unity (Eph. 4:2) by walking in a manner that is worthy of the gospel. This is a humble, gentle, enduring, and loving walk. It tends toward preserving unity rather than fracturing it. As long as selfishness exists, we must find ourselves praying for unity.
Will you commit to praying for this in yourselves? Will you commit to praying for this for our congregation?
As we grow together as a congregation in Christ, may He work this in us for His glory, honour, and praise.
Prayer:
Father, You are one God in three persons. There is such a loving, happy unity in the Trinity. Make this church—make me—to feel and to know this happiness. Cause us to be united in and through the You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so that we might be united together, as a church, in love. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.