One God...

Will Clark

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Ephesians 4:6 “6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Someone asked me what tonight’s topic was about. They probably thought I would give them some long explanation with all kinds of sub points and such.

My response was one word: God. Tonight’s topic is about God.

And you say, well don’t we talk about God every time we do this thing called Bible study? Well yes we do, but here Paul makes it clear that one of the main aspects of the unity of Christian believers is this fact that we serve and worship ONE GOD.

The world isn’t at a loss for opinions about God. Someone says to you in the parking lot of Walmart - “did you see that sunset yesterday? God sure can paint!” “yes, I did see that sunset and yes it was beautiful. By the way, you said that God painted that - can I ask you how you know about the God that painted that sunset?”

What kinds of answers are you going to get when you probe a little into their knowledge of God?

You get all kinds of stuff.

You get answers like:

I believe in a higher power

I believe that we can take bits and pieces from any religion we want and that we all go to heaven

I believe that God exists, but I believe that God can be different for all of us

I believe that God exists because there is love in the world

I believe in God because my cat tells me so

Now, those are real answers that you get if you ask someone on the street.

Back to our verse for tonight. Ephesians 4:6 “6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Now, if you aren’t careful you could take a verse like this and totally misapply it. This is why our interpretation of the Bible, our “hermenutics” (not “therapeutics” as spell check suggested.)

How we think about God is vitally important.

Towns & Tozer Quotes

Now - again this is vital because if we go wrong with our doctrine of God - then we go wrong in all kinds of other places. We “drift” theologically as Tozer puts it.

What does God have to do with unity among believers?

In first century Ephesus, they had a big problem with this. They had all kinds of gods that you could worship or pray to based on whatever your need was. And the most focal god was the greek goddess Artemis (known to the Romans as Diana) who was the goddess of nature, animals and fertility.

And we see this in Acts 19:23-41

Acts 19:23–41 ESV

23 About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” 28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel. 30 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31 And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41 And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

What were they using the name of Artemis for here? To make a profit! But they also worshipped her in her “magnificence”.

Why does that matter to us? Surely we are well past the worship of a goddess that can help us with nature and with fertility. We don’t pray to a goddess when we go hunting or when we are trying to conceive and having trouble right?

Well - we may not see it quite like that, but we are guilty of that today. Idolatry is still in the forefront of many of the hearts of us in Western civilization.

Our society has become increasingly secularized. There are so many ways that our society worships idols of our own making!

I don’t have to remind you of the history in the Bible of people rebelling and setting up their own gods. What did the Israelites convince Aaron to do when they became impatient with Moses on the mountain? Build a golden calf!