Sermon Tone Analysis

Passages to ponder series

A review, a summary before a presentation this morning.

Kingdom Beatitude (Mt5:3-12)

Supreme blessedness and the character of those who would be kingdom dwellers

Don’t have a defiled heart (Mk7:21-23)

The source of evil is from within, it is from withing that defiles a man.

Possessing the qualities of love (1Cor13:1-13)

The kind of love that is available to those who are kingdom dwellers, especially when deploying the spiritual gifts.

Look out!

For works of the flesh (Gal5:19-21)

The works of the flesh can prevent you from entering the kingdom of heaven.

So look out for them and throw them off, allowing the Holy Spirit to do the work.

Fruit of the Spirit (Gal5:22-23)

The fruit that is born of the Spirit is evidenced in the kingdom dweller, it is evidenced proof.

(Insert Unity Picture Here)

This morning in our passages to ponder I invite you, encourage you to open your bibles to Eph4:4-6 will be our passage to ponder.

Unity (Oxford dictionary) - the state of being united or joined as a whole.

Strongs: henotes: oneness, unity

Original Word: ἑνότης, ητος, ἡ

Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine

Transliteration: henotes

Phonetic Spelling: (hen-ot-ace')

Definition: to adjure

Usage: oneness, unity, unanimity.

(Transition) So, like the other passages to ponder we have done we will look at the context, the meaning and the application.

The Context

Context matters and we need to look at the passage in its context to get understanding, so may we look together?

Walk worthy of your calling (Eph4:1; 2The2:13-14; 1The2:12)

Look in your bible, your bible app

Paul urges the church to walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling.

Eph4:1 “1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,”

By the gospel of Christ in which we were called for the glory of Christ

So, walk, conduct ourselves accordingly

1The2:12 “12 so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.”

(Transition) - we have been called by God through the gospel message, the good news about Jesus Christ, and called to worship and walk in a manner worthy of that calling, so may our walk present our unity.

So, how do we do that?

Glad you asked

Walk with Christ like qualities (Eph4:2)

Walk with lowliness (humility) and gentleness

Walk with longsuffering (patience) and bearing (having tolerance) with one another in love.

Walk with diligence to keep the unity (Eph4:3; Jn17:20-23; Eph2:13-18)

Part of Jesus prayer for the apostles was for unity

(Summarize below, don’t read it all)

Jn17:20-23 “20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

Jesus died to make peace and and make us one, in Him as noted in Eph2:13-18.

Made one through the blood (v.13)

By taking down, breaking down the barrier between Jews and Greeks (v.14-16)

By preaching peace to all, those far off (Gentiles) and those near (Jews)

Finally

(Transition) we have been called to be one, to be in unity in and through Christ.

We need to be diligent in preserving the unity, the unity of the faith.

It is the unity of the faith that makes us one body.

(Insert One body picture here)

For there is one body (Eph4:4, Eph1:22-23; Mt16:18; Eph5:23)

That one body is the church

Eph1:22-23 “22 And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Paul is speaking of the church universally as Jesus did (note down Mt16:18) His church, singular, One church

Church which Jesus is the head, the Savior of the body (ref: Eph5:23)

(Transition) One is added to the body by obeying the gospel message

Act2:38-41 “38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

39 “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.

and the results

act2:47 “47 praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

(Transition) for there is only One Spirit, so let’s press on about the One Spirit now.

Keep unity by the One Spirit (Eph4:4, 1:13-14, 2:18, 21-22, 3:5, 16; Rom8:12-13)

Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise

eph1:13-14 “13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

It is through this Holy Spirit of promise, of proof of our inheritance that makes all, Jews and Gentiles alike have access to the Father (consider Eph2:18)

It is through the Holy Spirit of promise that God dwells in those who are being built, transformed into God’s holy temple, listen to this

Eph2:21-22 “21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

It is by the Holy Spirit of promise that the mystery of Christ and the church have been revealed to the apostles and the prophets (ref: Eph3:5)

It is by the Holy Spirit that we are strengthened (ref: Eph3:16) now consider

Rom8:12-13 “12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Power of the Spirit that works to put to death the deeds of the flesh.

The Spirit does for us what we cannot do for ourselves!

(Transition) - one receives the Spirit when they obey the gospel by faith (expand)

Then that leads to our next “One”

There is one hope (Eph4:4; Act23:6, 24:15; Rom8:23-24; 1Cor15:19-23; Php3:10-11)

Paul uses the hope found in the resurrection of Jesus in his defense speeches

Act23:6 “6 But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!””

You can look up Act24:15 too on your own.

Paul used this hope in the epistles in several place

rOm8:23-24 “23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”

You could flip over toe 1COr15, to what is commonly known as the “resurrection chapter” and focus on (vv.19-23) but yet I won’t go there now, but will with part of Paul’s prayer in:

Php3:10-11 “10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

In order that, is in hope that!

php3:20-21 “20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; 21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

This is the hope of salvation, the hope of eternal life.

1the5:8 “8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”

TIt1:2 “2 in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago,”

TIt3:7 “7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

(Transition) The one who has this hope has that hope of their own resurrection, final resurrection as noted in (1The4:13-18) too long of a passage for us to look at now. - - - now all of this is made possible because of the next one.

There is one Lord (Eph4:5; 1Cor8:5-6; Act2:36; Lk6:46)

I have been trying to trim down on the number of slides and even the number of scriptures used, well, I try, it’s a work in progress for the one Lord mentioned in (Eph4:5) is

And for there to be one in unity, there has to be one in Christ, one Lord whom God has made both Lord and Christ (ref: Act2:36)

(Transition) to the one who has Jesus as Lord and Christ in their life will do what He says (consider Lk6:46) and to have Jesus as their Lord has to have the next one.

There is one faith (Eph4:5; Jude3; 2Tim1:13; Act2:42)

One faith handed down