 It's been a great blessing to be with you and to open the Word of God With you to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with you once again it is a blessing to be here at home away from home and I'm thankful for all of your encouragement and All your words and prayers for us. Let's go ahead and focus in on Ephesians chapter 4 We want to remember what we went over this morning We want to remember what we went over this morning and the fact that we looked at the Doctrine to do duty this turning point in the book of Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 1 Where we come to remember the salvation and then we begin to look at what Christ wants in our lives What fruit he wants? We remember again that though the theme of union with Christ and The importance of that in the book of Ephesians We remember that the book of Ephesians is teaching about the glory of Jesus Christ being manifested in the salvation of his church and Each and every aspect of the salvation that we look at is by means of union with Christ union with Christ This spiritual work that by grace We are given by the work of Christ We are included. We are elected. We're chosen before the foundation of the world because we're chosen in Christ We are given new life in Christ No longer dead in our sins because of Christ. We are given reconciliation. We're not enemies with him anymore in the gospel But we're given reconciliation fellowship with him because of Christ And so each and every aspect each and every blessing that we look at in the book of Ephesians We remember it's because we've been United with Christ by grace by grace by grace and So this grace that God has given to two wicked vile sinners like us teaches us and Instructs us and gives us the great not only the it gives us the will and the grace to do What he would want? What he would want? Remembering that gospel grace is key if we're to apply any of the aspects of discipleship or about sanctification Changing the way we speak About anger bitterness Corrupt words that come out of our mouths Loving one another living pure sexually in this it in sexual areas Walking with wisdom in respect to how we use a time being filled with the spirit submitting a wife submitting to their husbands Husbands loving their wives children obeying parents living in a spiritual war Remember that all of these aspects all of these things the responsibilities that we have To live out the Christian life are all made possible because of the grace that God has given and so we also looked at the purpose behind What God giving this instruction whenever we would read a text we especially when we get at Practical commands we want to consider who gave them. Why did he give them and So in this text when we see God giving instruction about unity we want to consider what is God trying to accomplish here How is Christ being glorified through this? Why did he give these in these instructions? And we looked at me remind we're reminded of this morning how God has given these things So that it manifests his glory in the way that we obey him and live in a way that is different in the world We live in a way that is different in the world in this church You are to manifest the gospel in a way that's different in the world by the unity we have with one another by the Resolving of conflicts that we have with one another by the humility that we have in order to resolve those conflicts By speaking to one another in a different way in a gentle way By bearing with one another Trying to help them others to persevere in the faith and working to the point of Sweat for to keep the unity endeavoring to keep the unity So remembering all those things remember that Satan wants the opposite Satan wants to destroy churches by creating this unity by creating this unity And so the this is the instructions we've been given here by our Savior and he wants to be his son to be glorified By us living out this responsibility Okay, let's begin to work in through verses four to six we'll continue in chapter Ephesians chapter four verses four to six and We see The repetition of one We have one body one spirit One hope one Lord one faith one baptism one God Seven ones Seven ones. There's our outline Seven ones. We have the foundation of unity There's a reality that we have in common. There's a reality that we have in common that's thicker than blood and It's these truths of the gospel is that we worship a triune God and we we have the same salvation We have these things in common and these things in common With all true Christians throughout the world make us closer than blood closer than family These realities change us these realities are what we are to remember and are essential in Order to have unity so we begin With the various ones. Let's begin in chapter four in chapter four It says there is one body and one spirit just as you were called in one Hope of your calling the repetition of one is purposeful, right? It sounds good to your ear as you read it, but it reminds us of the unity It wouldn't be unified if it was it is like two two two and we list about a whole bunch of twos that we could find in the Bible So Paul lists out a whole bunch of ones to say there's only one and so we come together at that point In other words if I say let's meet at the Statue of Liberty. There's only one So we're gonna be unified it's gonna bring us together if we say we're gonna meet at that location There's a point of illustration. So the point is that Paul is saying look at we have one in common One body. There's not two bodies There's not two peoples of God. There's not two spirits one spirit. There's not two hopes there's one hope here and so this repetition of the word one is to Remind us of remember these this truth This truth is the foundation of this reality is what is our foundation in order to have unity So he begins with one body one body Ferguson Sinclair Ferguson notes about this how Paul is the only one who likes to set use this term one body or the body of Christ And he uses it in various places Romans 12 first Corinthians 12 Colossians 3 here in Ephesians. He repeats it the one body and What Ferguson speculates is perhaps in Saul in Paul's conversion when He was on the road to Damascus and Christ knocks him off his horse and says to him Saul Saul. Why are you persecuting me? Remember that he was on the road to persecute the church and Here is where Jesus says you're persecuting me Jesus is the head and the church is his body And so the way that again reminding us back to Pastor Dale's favorite doctor at the Union of Christ that because of our union with Christ a spiritual union in salvation That Christ refers to his church as his body And so perhaps he's right when he says When Christ says Saul Saul, why are you persecuting me? Referring to Christ referring to his own body as the church and that one body we remember one body Because we're reconciled We're reconciled like we read in chapter 2 verse 16 Where it says in that he might reconcile both to God in one body in one body through the cross therefore putting to death the enmity and So this applies to the local and universal church One body one body in nation different nations and one body in different nations represented in this room One body and different from believers in different countries One body in believers throughout church history and so we can say Martin Luther is my brother Charles Spurgeon is my brother Athanasius is my brother Taking throughout different people throughout different people in church history through different different times different places in the world That we've never seen or we've never known But we recognize we have these things in common with them and these things are thicker than blood We move to the next one One spirit one spirit chapter 4 verse 4. There's one body and one spirit When your translation has a capital S That's a good thing Communicating this is referring to the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit. It's not simply the same attitude we have We have the same object of worship in the Holy Spirit The same one who has given us new life the same one who continue to works in us Convicting us the same one who has sealed us who is the guarantee his work in us is the guarantee of the future Redemption that is to come We have in chapter Ephesians says in chapter 2 verse 18 access to the father through the spirit You would expect it to say through the son But here saying in in 218 through the spirit He works in us in salvation Adopting us and giving us the same desire that we would cry out Abba father That's a work of the spirit. We have that same fruit of the spirit in our lives and Where they in chapter 2 verse 22 says we're the dwelling place of God by the spirit The same spirit the same spirit and we're strengthened in chapter 3 verse 16 says we're strengthened in the inner man by the spirit so if you just take the book of Ephesians and we just look at how the Paul speaks about the spirit in the book of Ephesians these things as Christians. These are the things we share and These things the things that we share make it so that we we must be united We must resolve our conflicts. We must endeavor. We must live out these responsibilities We share the same regeneration the same sanctification the same work of faith the same fruit of the spirit the same spirit and Then in chapter 4 we switched to another one We spoke of one's body one spirit and now he says just as you were called in one hope of your calling So Paul is looking forward now to something. We have the same thing that we look forward to We have the same confident expectation We hope because we have the same election the same justification in the past And we have the same work of the spirit in the present in our lives We now have looked forward to the hope of the future of What God will do we share what God has done in the past we share what God is doing in the present And we share what God is going to do in the future in his return in our glorification this hope of your calling and So Colossians 1 15 says we have the same hope in heaven Entitus 1 2 says we have the same hope of eternal life We remember that formerly we had no hope we shared that too We shared that too when we share our testimonies we can ship in our Experiences of being saved We recognize that same fact We may have been from different places. We may have been had different culture We may have eaten different food, but one thing is that we share We had no hope and now we have hope and That reality that reality keeps us fixed that reality keeps us fixed If you think about another analogy like a lighthouse how late houses, how do they work? How do they give a warning? Because they don't move They don't move. They're a fixed reality your thing ships move ships move and Waves move when moves weather moves lighthouses. They don't move Praise God. They don't move. So that because they don't move because they're a Because of that fact they you can use them as a point of safety It's the same thing with these things these things don't change one body one spirit one hope of your calling and We don't change with these ones praise God that there is only one Body one spirit and one hope of your calling that reality fix us and teaches us we need to be unified Because what does change is our sinful hearts what does change is our desire to be unified What does change and fluctuates is the our relationships with one another and So that reality needs to motivate us and you need to remember I have the same Spirit I have the same hope I have the same body. I have the same thing that is most important What's most important It can be easy for us to fix our eyes on things that are differences that are not most important But we need this reminder and so we switch to first five Verse five we read another one. We've covered one body one spirit one hope now one Lord one Lord We know this refers to Jesus Jesus Because verse four is clearly clearly referring to the spirit verse six one God and father of all It's clearly referring to the father So we're left as one Lord referring to Jesus Christ and this is the common New Testament way to refer to Jesus Christ We have the same authority we have the same king we have the same love from him We have the same care from him the same protection We submit to the same Lord. We have the same trust in him. We want to obey him We share this common love for him and common worship of him And that's why you're here tonight, so you will worship him and This would go against the common idea of the and if people living in Ephesus of the common day Where Artemis or Deanna would be we would be Lord in a very prideful considered a prideful point of Ephesus their worship of Artemis or Deanna and So when we think of this term Lord It communicates How he is God and it communicates how he's king We remember that the Hebrew word Yahweh is translated in the Septuagint is translated as curious or Lord And so we we remember that in this term of Lord it communicates much to us It communicates that he's our king It communicates. He's our God. It communicates how we His work also as our our authority and How he reigns as the king This is what we share So what do we share one in verse 4 one body we share the one spirit we share one hope We share one Lord in verse 5 and we share one faith. We share one faith Here this is the content of the Christian faith the same realities We could say we share the same Bible that communicates the same truths the same that describes the same savior from Genesis to Revelation We share the same content of the faith We share this same baptism in first five In verse 5 it describes we also have one baptism one baptism we remember that in the New Testament When Paul speaks of baptism water baptism We're it also communicates a reality of being of spirit baptism of spirit baptism And we read 1st Corinthians 12 verses 12 to 14. Let's read verse Corinthians 12 Versus 12 to 14 where Paul connects these two ideas 1st Corinthians 12 verses 12 to 14 says for as the body is one and has many members But all the members of that one body being many are one body. So also is Christ So speaking of a unity and diversity unity and diversity one and yet diverse The body in verse 13 he says for by one spirit. We were all baptized into one body Whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free We've all been made to drink of one into one spirit for in the fact the body is one not one member, but many So by the spirit were immersed into the one body spirit baptism spirit baptism This is a work that happens at conversion not a post conversion experience another Common fact another common thing that Christians share in That we share in one baptism that symbolize is a greater reality our union with Christ and salvation and our union with Christ in the body So what are the what are our ones? What of our ones? What are the lighthouse that fixes us and gives us reality or a reality that we Motivates us in order to work for unity in order to do the heart thing You look across and you think of that person at church that is difficult to get along with and You think we share the same Body same spirit same Lord same faith same baptism Same hope and last of all verse 6 one God and father of all who is above all and through all in in you all Here we have the description of God the father It's beautiful to see the Trinitarian nature of Ephesians 4 verses 4 to 6 where we know the spirit and The Jesus in verse 5 and in verse 6 the father God the father Only one God one God Manifest in three persons those of you who teach the catechism to your children the children are tired So I want to ask them the question, but how many gods are there? And Manifested in how many persons and if you change the question in the order of the question Did the children turn into heretics if they're not used to the particular order? I can see some parents nodding. Yes Sometimes you try and trick your children right and fix switch the order in order to see if they understand What they're what they're saying as we go through the catechism with them. So only one God only one God in here That's how the verse 6 begins only one God and Father of all but we observe the three persons of the Trinity and the small verses and and father of all and So describing That where we observe the Trinity the doctor of the Trinity here We remember here in particular aspects of the father that are brought out He says father of all This applying this to the church applying this in the context of those who are receiving this letter father of all true Christians We share the same father That that's why it's good to say brother Sister in the church We share the same father of all and it says who is above all This is describing his authority over us and now it says and through all God the father is operating through Christians in order to glorify the son in this world So here this through all is describing The how God is glorifying Jesus Christ by changing you by changing you another motive in order to work for unity Sometimes when you know people longer Sometimes it's harder to get along with them Maybe they were easier to get along with the first year you knew them or the first two years you knew them But as they get to know them longer Perhaps with some they can grade on you more or cause chafe on you more That it's all the more important for you to remember these ones these ones That we share in one body one spirit one Lord one faith one baptism one God who and one father who is working in us through us in order to So communicate to the world What the work of reconciliation looks like how can we say That we love God if we don't Love how can we say that we love God who we don't see if we don't love our brother who we do see and so We remember the last part of this description He's above all He's through all verse 6 and he's in you all in you all We remember back in chapter 2 verse 22. We read that this morning That we exist as a church in whom in verse 2 chapter 2 chapter 2 verse 22 in whom you also Were being built together for a dwelling place of God in the spirit that we are the true temple We are the dwelling place of the living God And so this reality these realities are the truths that are to motivate us encourage us help us in Order to be unified because being unified is hard work It's hard work in order to be a peacemaker. It's hard work in order to help people be reconciled so what we've seen today in Both sermons the sermon from this morning the sermon this evening is that these things are essential for us to be unified? We cannot be unified without these realities without these ones There is just Being nice It's just being nice You know what happens when nice when lost people try and be nice. They're not really nice. It's called hypocrisy You smile to the face and you know they think another thing and they talk another thing behind your back And you've been in those circumstances where you know somebody just gives you a plastic smile And you think I just want to get out of this scenario I don't want to hang out with this person anymore because it's all fake It's all fake That's not what the church is The church is not just us being nice to one another These things are the realities these doctrinal truths are the realities that that bind us together that bind us together and So because we we share in these things we must we must walk worthy of our calling We must persevere in this hard work and these realities encourage us in God's purposes That he plans for us to be unified He plans for us to be unified Let's go to Psalm 133, Psalm 133 is a classic text on the unity of the body of Christ You'll remember it as soon as we begin to read it Psalm 133 Says behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity It is like the precious oil upon the head running down on the beard the beard of Aaron running down on the Edge of his garments. It is like the dew of hermon Descending upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing life forever more It's a very simple song Right, it begins with one with three easy points one Verse one you see how good and pleasant unity is in two We have the illustration of the oil running down the beard of Aaron and in verse three we have the illustration of the water of the dew of hermon descending upon the mountains of Zion in Verse one we see when it says how good and how pleasant is unity There is an experiential Pleasant and there is a moral beauty and goodness to unity When we're unified together as a body we can say That was a good experience and we can say how pleasant and good Morally pleasant morally good it is to be unified and we will look at the illustration the two illustrations here and sometimes they can be Hard to understand as an American Maybe we would read run oil running down the beard and think well I think we'll take a shower or something you you would it would get oily all over you But we remember that this is a symbol here For the priesthood in the symbol of the spirit the Holy Spirit with the priest and So it was a blessing that normally included fragrant aspects or fragrant spices to it So maybe in our context you could think of a nice perfume or a nice cologne But in the significance is greater It communicates the Holy Spirit with you in the ministry So what is unity unity is like the blessing of having the Holy Spirit with you? Unity is the Manifestation of his the spirits work amongst us and he doesn't work that way in all He doesn't work that way in your lost family. He doesn't work that way at your job He doesn't work that way and other religious groups Only in the true church of God And we see the third in verse 3 is like the dew of Herman the sending upon the mountains of Zion For there the Lord commanded the blessing life forever more and so we remember The one the blessing coming from one mountain to another The water coming from one mountain to another Communicating the blessing of God That true unity is given by God Remember how we talked about this morning how it's from the spirit. We don't create it, but we're called to preserve it So let's begin to close here now with the exposition of these verses and begin to consider again some more applications Some more applications What does this mean for you? What does this mean for you? You need to pray for unity in Psalm 122 we're called to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and If you consider how that it to be applied to us today That's not just praying for Israel and Palestine that's praying for the work in the people of God It's praying for the work of the people of God and for the peace in the What applies now in the church in the church? So we need to pray for unity we need to pray for unity and Remember that we are members of the same body and we you and love one another We need to serve You know how you be unified with people? Go and serve with them It's an amazing thing, right? When you stop sitting there complaining and you get up and you do something with someone how God unites your heart together with them I didn't just make that up look at Ephesians 4 verses 7 to 16 what it's talking about spiritual gifts serving one another It goes on explaining how we're to be disciples making disciples It's not a coincidence that churches who are disciples who make disciples Naturally have a unity about them and so go and serve To turn you must be discerning We've went through a bunch of doctrinal categories here today if you don't truly understand How they'd be able to discern some in someone if they have the spirit if they have the true faith Communicated in doctrine if they had though they have the same Lord and submit to the same Lord If you don't get if you're not able to discern these categories, then you won't be able to discern who do you have unity with So you must apply discernment if you're to apply verses 4 to 6 You must communicate biblically communicate biblically You must forgive You must forgive Lastly you must leave churches in a unified way You must leave churches in a unified way. I'll read you some advice from a pastor that read in a blog Cripplegate Pastors don't normally talk about how to leave churches may make them a little bit nervous of Giving people excuses about why to leave I'm going to give you counsel on how to leave a church Which is the strange thing for a pastor Here's some wisdom on how to leave a church Ensure that your reasons for leaving are biblical. So how would you do that? you consider The importance of the doctrine that you're leaving over The importance of the doctrine you're leaving or if you're leaving for doctrine at all and not something worse Are you leaving for something this that's? Doctrine have you worked to the point of sweat for unity if you've not worked to the point of sweat for unity and you You don't have a clear understanding of the doctrinal difference Then you should not leave So ensure that the reasons you're leaving for are biblical have you considered those categories Next get advice from your own church leaders first before making your decision. You don't go to them and say I made this decision here It is You can't fire fire me. I quit. I think that's how it works so consider Even if you don't agree with your spiritual leaders and even if you're leaving because of them Show them that the respect To listen to them Next be sure you're leaving in a good in a good standing Biblically speaking Matthew 18 verses 15 to 20 Make sure you're leaving in good standing Biblically speaking Next how to leave a church how to leave a church in order to leave in a unified way if it comes to that Do what you can to find and equip a church member to replace you in the way you're serving Don't just leave and hand them the the bag Or leave the bag at the door Consider how to serve the people that you've been serving here by finding someone to replace you Ask your church leaders to can what's the next step? What to consider for the next local church before leaving first Peter 5 verses 1 to 5 Consider leaving with a transfer letter from your elders Roman 16 verses 1 to 2 and at the end of Ephesians Ephesians 6 21 to 22 and lastly express gratitude to those who have poured over you those who have spent time with you Leaving your church is not the easy thing to do, but how do when it comes to that? How do you leave in a biblical way? Communicate work at it get advice Ask people for be humble and listen even if you're leaving in disagreement Listen show express gratitude Consider leaving with a commendation if you leave this way then you can relieve with commendation I've been around a block enough to know that I can't just preach to you and assume that next year everybody's gonna be here I would like it if that were to be so But I want to give you these things So that you it's part of what it means to be unified in the body of Christ that sometimes Sadly in this time Paul and Barnabas is split So if you're truly a Christian leave like a Barnabas and don't leave like a Demis That's my counsel to you and that's a good application from this text. Okay? so We looked at today Some good applications some good Reminders about how to keep church unity our responsibility Let's remember the grace of God that he's given us and let's Let the gospel motivate us to do this hard work This hard work like I said in the in when I we were praying it's a lot easier to pray about it or preach about it Then it is to do it So let's pray for the grace of God again to do it Dear Lord, we want to confess that we're a prideful people. We are a People of forgetful people we forget these realities that you've how you've united us together with one spirit One body one Lord One father one hope one baptism one faith Too often we we forget about these most important realities Please help us to see the moral and experiential value of unity We want you to be glorified it Jesus and we know that when we're not unified then Then that is This honoring to you this aren't to you We pray Lord that you would work in Our lives and even the lives of people who that we're not in unity with now So that we would be able to be unified. Please help us to do all that is possible for us to do and To trust the rest in your hands We pray for your grace to be able to do that and we thank you for this day to worship you amen