 In Ephesians chapter 4, we come to a text in verses 1 to 3. And the focus of this sermon is from doctrine to duty, from doctrine to duty. There's an outline in your bulletin to be able to help you follow along. The persecuted church is not the only church that was persecuted. This church here, in Ephesus, was also a persecuted church. The church that received the letter of Ephesians was another one of the persecuted churches. And the apostle Paul was not just concerned about persecution from outside. He was also concerned about strife and trouble from inside. Not only from the troubles without, but also the sin within. And as the apostle Paul begins to write this letter to the church in Ephesus, when it becomes time to give exhortations, when it gives time to give exhortations, his first exhortation is to the importance of unity in the church. So when I was a pastor here, during church membership interviews, one of the things I always tried to cover was the importance of endeavoring, striving to work to the point of sweat for the unity in the church. So now I come back and visit and what did the pastors ask me to talk about? But the same thing. The pastors asked me to talk about the same thing, the importance of church unity. Because Satan can work many ways. Satan can work on the outside and make in working governments and make it officially a crime to be a Christian like in many churches and many of the people that we prayed for in the service. But he can also work inside the church and work to cause division or pride, arrogance in our own hearts. And so the apostle Paul calls us to focus on this area now. Focus on unity in the church. And so we see here the fruits and attitudes. This morning, we'll cover verses, God willing, we'll look at Ephesians 4 verses 1 to 3 to cover some of the attitudes and fruits that produce unity. Tonight, in the evening service, we'll look at verses 4 to 6 of the same chapter and we'll look at the foundation of unity, doctrine. Both of these are key for unity. Both of these are key for unity. The attitudes that are in accordance with the Gospel that we have in verses 1 to 3, attitudes and actions. And the doctrines are key for unity that we have in verses 4 to 6. We both, in order to produce a unity that God would want in the local church. In the outline, you'll see that we have various points that go in accordance with the verses that we have. Verse 1, we have, live in light of your salvation. Live in light of your salvation. This is the introduction, the broad brush, the broad description of our text. And then we have particulars. Verses 2 and 3, we have humility, gentleness, patience, love, striving to maintain the unity. Particulars that come out of this foundation of living in light of your salvation. So let's take a few minutes now and remember the book of Ephesians and remember the context in order to apply verses 1 to 3 and understand verses 1 to 3. So when we look in Ephesians, open your Bibles now to look and we're going to breeze over Ephesians 1, 2 and 3. For many of you, you know Ephesians well. Some of you don't know that as well as others. So let's just remember some of the highlights here of this book because if we don't understand chapters 1, 2 and 3, you can't really understand the verses about unity that we have this morning. So let's take a few minutes and remember that. If I'm going to tell you a story of the 1700s and the colonial times with people with wigs and people with weird pipes and weird dresses, it's good to have the setting. It's good to have the setting and to explain a few things before I get into the particulars. And it's the same here. We're going back in time to a letter that was received by a persecuted church in Ephesus and in ancient time. And so we remember here when we look over the Bible, we remember what the apostle Paul spoke about. We remember he served in this church for some time, up to three years, serving in this church, laboring in this church. And now he's writing this letter that's going to be received by another local church and he is going to write about the glory of Jesus Christ. The glory of Jesus Christ manifested in a particular way in the calling of his church as his church is in union with Christ and he's going to talk about particular blessings. He wants to talk and write about particular blessings and in chapter one he writes about blessings of election, blessings of the Father, blessings from the Son, blessings from the Spirit, blessings that we have in Christ and only in Christ. And he talks about grace upon grace upon grace. Grace that we have to be chosen before the foundation of the world. Grace to be redeemed. We're not slaves to sin anymore. But in Christ, the Christian has freedom from slavery to sin, to obey him and deliver him. We have an inheritance. We have the Spirit who is the guarantee of our inheritance. The first fruits, by the Spirit's work in us, we have a taste of something future to come. Blessings, blessings, blessings of grace. All these things are God-centered. Things that God did that we didn't do. And then we see in verses 15 to 23, we remember this hope and inheritance and the great power that he manifested in the salvation. Not only in this humility in the work on the cross, but also in his exaltation. And we remember that we receive blessings because of his great power sitting at the right hand of the Father. And then we look at chapter 2, and you all looked at chapter 2 in the past, not that long ago, thinking about how we were dead in sins. We had the inability and the corruption, the complete corruption. We were in a state unable to save ourselves, unable to see that we needed to be saved. Completely dead. Not partially dead. Not a little dead, but completely dead. But God, in verse 4, but God, what a great contrast. God made us alive. God made us alive completely by grace. He gave us a gift of faith, not of works, and this, what it produces, is good works. But note how the apostle Paul doesn't explain the good works. He says we were made for good works. So then in chapter 2, verses 11 to 18, he now speaks about, verses 11 to 18 are the middle child, the forgotten part of Ephesians. Lots of people remember verses 1 to 10 and total depravity, regeneration, being born again by grace you're saved from the faith, but many people forget 11 to 18. We love this middle child, this forgotten part of Ephesians that teaches us about reconciliation. What were we? We were also at war with God. Not just a problem inside. We had, in ourselves, we had a greater problem. We had a problem of war with God outside of ourselves. A problem with Him as our enemy. And Him, by His work on the cross, He reconciled us together. He not only reconciled us with God by accomplishing a work outside of us by the work on the cross, but He also reconciled us together. And so that we are reconciled, every tribe, tongue, and nation, and we have a unity and a peace that God accomplished outside of ourselves by, once again, union with Jesus Christ. Union with Jesus Christ is a theme throughout Ephesians. And so we remember that the Apostle Paul explains that the church is not just like the temple, not just a shadow of the things of the Old Testament, but what we have here in Christ's church is better. It's better. Better than the sacrificial system. Better than being a citizen of Israel. Better than being a Jew by birth. Now we are Jews in heart. Every one of us who is in Christ, in union with Christ, and we're better than the temple. You could build a temple over there in Israel, in Jerusalem, but we have the reality here. We have the reality here. We are not just like a temple. We are the temple. And so we see here that the temple was just a shadow. And the church is the reality that we have the Holy Spirit in dwelling in us. And we see that we are for that, exist for that purpose in the end of 222, in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The presence of God is in us. And the Apostle Paul speaks of what a blessing it is in chapter three to be in the ministry, to be able to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. And then in verses 14 to 21, which Jerome read, he exalts in the exaltation. He has great joy and expresses that joy in a prayer of praise describing what God has done in making us in union with Christ, describing the glory of Christ manifested as he saves the church and then gives him praise. At the end of chapter three, now to him who's able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. Not only the power to save us, but the power to persevere us in the faith. To him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever, amen. Just to read it, just to hear it by the ear is to be brought to the heavenlies, right? Do you feel like you're hearing the Apostle Paul pray? Or you're with him as he's seeing a vision of heaven or something like that? And you say yes, yes, and you're brought to see the peace of the glory of God. And then he brings us down to earth again. He brings us down to earth again. Martin Lloyd-Jones talked about the difficulty of going from 321 to 411, that some like to stay at the doctrine. And they like to think about the beauty and the order and the glory of thinking about God and his work and what he has done. And it's hard to come down, as it were in Martin Lloyd-Jones of the transfiguration. And then it's hard for the disciples to see the transfiguration and then come down to the nitty and gritty of going to work tomorrow. Others, when they come to verse one, they say yes, something simple. I understand this. Tell me something practical. Tell me something that I can apply and do. And what we want to see here is there's a need for both. There's a need for 321. There is an absolute need for chapters one to three and there's an absolute need for verse one and all of the rest of chapters four, five and six of Ephesians, the practical application of the Word of God. And so we're at a crossroads here. We're at a great change in Ephesians and we need to take a moment and stand and look back at where we were and look forward to the next valley. Because in order to understand and apply it rightly, we must appreciate, must value, must apply both. Some of us are prone to be attracted to application or to doctrine more than one or the other. Many of us, most of us, are attracted to one a little more than the other. Perhaps because one is easier for us. Perhaps it's easier for us not to work hard to understand systems of doctrine. And it's easier for us to understand. Or perhaps for some of us, it's enjoyable thinking about the complexities and the beauty of doctrine. And in reality, we have to humble ourselves to apply it, things in our lives. The truth is, both of us probably struggle with one or the other at different times. If we have to admit, probably we're guilty of both. We're guilty of both at various times. Maybe in family or maybe at church or maybe at work or maybe we struggle with a different one. But in reality, if we're meant the truth, we can struggle with both at different times. So the apostle Paul says to be a Christian is to have both. To be a Christian is you need to understand both because if you don't struggle and work to understand the doctrine, you just want to get something practical, you will be prideful. You will rely on yourself. You will understand that God has given you the will to do. And that is all from his grace. If you don't understand the doctrine of his grace, the complexity, and you won't work it hard to understand it. You will be arrogant, you won't be able to persevere. You won't have the hope of the doctrine. If you just wanted the doctrine, then you know that you are a offense to Christ. That's not what he wants. He wants you, what hypocrisy it is, to understand the beauty and the complexity and the glory of Christ and then not be changed by it. True Christianity, true Christianity is based on the reality, the reality of what Christ has done. Doctrine, the reality that exists that works itself out in a changed life. The reality of that doctrine is manifested by Christ actually changing real people in real time. Doctrine to duty. Indicative to imperative. Creed to conduct. Exposition to exhortation. This is Ephesians 4-1. Let's drop into verse 1. Let's drop into verse 1 and let's take a look at the foundation. Let's take a look at the broad brush, the broad description of the broad introduction to the second half of Ephesians that describes the application. We read verse 1. Live in light of your salvation, the title. Live in light of your salvation. Paul says, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. We can see the broad description here, right? Verse 1. Live in light of your salvation. Live in light of your salvation. We will take it word by word. First we see I. I therefore. The therefore is what is connecting what I described with the doctrine to duty, the exhortation, indicative to imperative, the creed, the conduct, or the doctrine to duty. The therefore is what we described in the introduction. The I, we remember that Paul was a member of the persecuted church. I, the prisoner of the Lord. Paul wants to add some gravitas or some heavy impact to his words. And imagine Dr. Carl was praying for the persecuted church. Now imagine we have a visitor from a persecuted church come up and preach. Imagine a missionary from a persecuted church or Pakistan. And he says, and he describes how the pastor was killed and how the deacon had to become the pastor and describes a real story of, imagine the weight it would give to what he's saying. Well, that's what the apostle Paul is doing here. He's writing the letter and he says, I, the prisoner of the Lord. He can, as he moves to write and he freezes the elbow to write the letter or as he moves to dictate the letter, either way it was, to someone who's writing for him, it's as if he can remember the chain that connects him to the Roman soldier as he's in house arrest in Rome. And he hears the chain as he says and as he thinks and writes, I, therefore, prisoner of the Lord, he wants them to hear the chain in order to get the seriousness about what he's about to write. To say, listen up, listen up. I'm Paul, write it, and I'm not a prisoner of Caesar. I got Caesar's chain on me. I'm not a prisoner of Rome. What does he say? The prisoner of the Lord. He said, I'm Jesus's prisoner. There's a great beauty to him being a Calvinist. He's saying, it's not an accident I'm here. It's not an accident that I'm here suffering in this way. And so you can see almost he smiles as he tells or he writes this part of the letter. That I'm a prisoner of the Lord. I'm not a prisoner of Rome nor any other of Satan or any other thing before us. I'm a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as if he smiles to the guard, too, to communicate the rule in reign of Jesus Christ. Doctrine isn't just something he likes to think about. It's a reality. The reality that God in Christ exists and the universe exists for him. We're concerned about self. We're writing about, sniffling about all his troubles. And all the woe is me. All the troubles that come to me. No, he's not talking about his, the horribleness of his circumstances. But now he's adding this to say, look at how I'm a prisoner of the Lord so that you listen to what I'm about to tell you. He's as a fatherly figure. He's saying, I'm just reminding you so you understand how important what I'm about to tell you. Because I'm about to tell you to do something that's very important. Okay, so we see, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you, beseech you. So he's using an emotional word here. He's exhorting, encouraging. He wants to win them over. And then he says, he's saying y'all in good Georgia, Georgia talk. He's a good Southerner. He's saying to y'all, y'all. And I mentioned that because maybe in your English Bible you can't see the y'all. But in the original it is that the you is a y'all saying to all the church, I'm begging you, I'm urging you. I'm pleading with you about something like a fatherly figure, like a grandfatherly figure saying, now listen to me, my son, listen to me. I don't bear these chains for nothing. So he says, what is he going to say? He says, I beseech you, I'm begging you, I'm begging you, listen to this. Walk worthy of the calling with which you are called. With such a few manner of words he gives such a broad introduction. All of the rest of Ephesians can be put under this banner, under this description. I want you to live this way. I want you to live in a particular way. And he's using walk to describe the Christian life. I want you to live in a way in a particular way. In a way that remembers the grace of God that you've been given. Remembering something of the gospel. Remembering that God saved you. Remembering that God gave you a new heart. Remembering you were an enemy and you were reconciled. Remember what God has done. Remember what God has done. And now I want you to live a certain way. Live in a way that goes with that. That goes with that. When you see walk worthy, imagine if you were to, you were to, you know one of the people who holds a sign on the side of the street, come up to a light, pull off of I-4, pull up the light and somebody says they hold up a sign to you. Imagine you give somebody like that. You say, okay, I'm going to give you a job in corporate America. Here's a job. And I'm going to give you some responsibility. It's not too complex for you. Remember the responsibility is, but this is an opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity to go from zero to hero. Just like that. Okay? And free. It's gratis. It's not for nothing. Nothing. For nothing. Okay? So how should they come to work the next day? Late. Not dressed up. With a bad attitude. Wear the donuts. Wear the perks. Do I get health benefits? Complaining. Ah, the traffic was so bad. Coming in. That's not walking worthy, right? That's not the attitude that should go with the blessing they've been given. It's just an illustration, right? Just an illustration to help you think about walk worthy. What does that mean? What does that mean for you now? You went from zero to hero. If you're a Christian. If you're in Christ. Your zero wasn't the negative. It wasn't just a zero. And your hero is in infinity because you are in union with Christ. So how should your life now be? Walking worthy. What does Christ deserve now? What attitude should you have? And so he gives this broad description. And so he says walk worthy of the calling. And the calling is another term. Use generally here to speak of salvation. Speaking of the effectual call. The work that God does alone in salvation. In the general call, as the gospel goes out, the Holy Spirit works in the effectual call. In the midst of that general call, he's the one who works by the Spirit to cause some deaf ears to hear and some blind eyes to see. Some stony hearts to be taken out and hearts of flesh to be put in. He does this miracle in the midst of the general call as the gospel call goes out. He does it irrevocably and in a holy way in a way that brings hope. And then he says walk worthy of the calling with which we're called to cause them to remember. To cause them to remember. So now here's the general. Live in light of your salvation. Live in light of your salvation in a way that's worthy. Now the specific. So if we think about the foundation, now we go into the specifics of the building. Particular rooms, design, windows, decorations, the details of life. Another illustration, we could think of it like a tree. Think of it like a tree and you've got a great big tree. It's got a big trunk on it. It's got big branches, very tall. Let's imagine it's like 100 years old. Super old. Super big. And what does it have that you don't see? Yeah, big root system. If it's a big tree and it's real old, you know he's got a big root system to hold it. So the way that the apostle Paul is talking here is to say the calling which you were called is like the root system. It's impossible to have the fruits, to have the big branches, to have these things that you see. It's impossible to have them to have what you don't see. What you don't see is the work of grace, the salvation that God has done. But you can see the effects of it. Like when Jesus talked with Nicodemus about what it means to be born again. You know the work of the spirit while you see the effects of it, like the wind. And so here, walking worthy of the calling which you were called, now the apostle Paul is going to, in verses two and three, is going to explain branches. He's going to say, look at this big branch. Humility, lowliness. Look at this big branch, gentleness. This other one, long suffering, bearing with one another in love. Big branches that all produce a fruit. Unity. Unity. They produce a fruit. What's the point of today? And this sermon, we're looking at doctrine to duty, how to have church unity. Doctrine to duty, how to have church unity. So we want that fruit. We want that fruit. And the apostle Paul is saying, understand, the fruit doesn't just pop out. Understand the fruit. You got to understand how the root system, the trunk, the big branches are all producing the fruit. Okay? So let's look at the other parts of the tree here. Let's look at the other parts of the tree that we have. The apostle Paul gets into the details. In verse two. If you're following along in the outline, we're moving from verse one to verse two with humility or lowliness, with all lowliness, as it says in the New King James version. Verse two says, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing within one another in love. We remember what we read in some of the calls to worship, like when Jerome was calling us to worship, remembering the gospel, remembering how Christ humbled himself and now how he's in the exalted state as Lord of all. And we remember that what was connected with that is a call to humility. If the savior of the world, if the king of the universe, displays that unity beyond our understanding, beyond our imagination, what the little thing is for us to have humility, to have humility. Let's consider the opposite. What's the opposite? Pride. Stuart Scott says, pride is a way of thinking about yourself. What is pride? Stuart Scott says, it's a way of thinking about yourself where you're the master and others are here to serve you. There's a self-exaltation. A desire to control things for your good. You ever walk in a room and think about yourself? You think about work and you think about yourself? Think about school tomorrow? You think about yourself? And how can I orchestrate everything to work out well for me? That's pride. That's the sin of Satan. That is completely in contradiction to what Christ has done. Remember the illustration about the homeless person who gets the job? It's coming to work complaining. It's coming to work thinking about yourself. So what's humility? Stuart Scott once again. The mentality of Christ is the way Christ thought as a mind of a servant. Didn't Jesus say, and I said many times to you when I was here, even said a man did not come to serve but not come to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many. It's the mentality of Christ, Stuart Scott says, a focus on God and others. Looking to exalt Christ. It's walking in the room and thinking about Christ and the desire to glorify and please God in all things for all the things he's given. Don't we remember that humility is one of the primary fruits of conversion? Perhaps one of the first fruits blessed are the poor in spirit. The ones who are poor in spirit will see the kingdom of God. What does it mean to be poor in spirit? They say I have great riches spiritually. They say I have a few riches spiritually. They say I have one percent of riches spiritually. Thank you Christ for the other 99 percent. Thank you for saving me and I'll add my other percent. No. Spiritual bankruptcy. Spiritual bankruptcy that produces mourning over sin. So this humility is one of the first marks of conversion. How do you recognize the work of God? How do you recognize what cannot be seen by the work of the spirit? How do you know if someone is born again? Well, one of the first things is they have a humility. I remember having a conversation with a brother that a family member that the Lord converted and in Guatemala and I remember them calling me up and I thought oh no this is going to be a bad conversation. They're probably going to call me up and want to complain about something. They want to talk to me privately without anybody else there. And then I remember them talking to me and expecting to have another tough conversation another family conversation where they were going to explain something bad or some other problem and all they wanted to do all the person did was talk about confessor sin. And I came back to Ashley I came to Lee and Gavin I remember thinking maybe that so-and-so got converted because all they expressed was the first time I ever talked with them and the first time and all they expressed was a humility and so what is walking worthy of the grace you've been given? This poor in spirit lowliness. You think of others as better than yourself. You think of others better than yourself. Test yourself. Do you have many conflicts in your relationships? Do you have many conflicts? Are you known as someone who has a history of conflicts in this church or in your job or at home? Then you're prideful. Test yourself whether you're a child an adult or someone who's more advanced in years. Look at the history of your relationships. Work, home, children, wife, parents, evangelism. Jesus had many conflicts but a prideful person is marked by sinful conflicts where they've not spoken with gentleness not with pet patients, not head love and that they have been the cause of many conflicts in part. Pride causes conflicts. Okay so when we think about our tree we've got a tree right? The calling is the roots. What's the trunk? The trunk of the tree is the humility. All of these other parts gentleness, long suffering, bearing with love and to have the good fruit the fruit we want to get to of unity, from doctrine to duty how to have church unity well how do we get there? We look at all of these other branches come out of the trunk the humility produces effects in your mouth the humility produces effects with your hands with your life the humility produces a change in your attitude and your desire what you're working towards some of these branches now the apostle Paul describes some key branches big branches, this is a big tree right? Okay look at this big branch this is as big as Pastor Marcos you know, it's skinny but still big still big gentleness gentleness is one of those branches we move here from humility to gentleness gentleness here is not being impressed overly impressed with your self importance it's a fruit of the spirit didn't Jesus say blessed are the meek? this is the same word meek is not weak right? but rather it's the ability to suffer and do the right thing it's actually a strength there's a strength to receive an insult and respond back with a kind word there's a strength to that that Christ head and that Christians should have how do you know if you're prideful or humble listen to your words listen to some of your words that come out of your mouth the tone are you quick with your words to impose your opinion on others do you insult others and then call it a joke and tell them I was just kidding do you say the truth unnecessarily in a hard way or at a bad time you don't have the patient you don't have the humility to wait or the humility to learn how to say it in a way that would be helpful and they would receive it so if you're quick to insist on your own rights are you ready to say the truth but humble enough to say it when and how God wants that's gentleness that's gentleness so we move in a little faster pace now we're moving one branch gentleness now we move to another patience or long suffering patience or long suffering it says in verse 2 it says with long suffering with long suffering this is a state of being calm or without complaint and being able to suffer under a weight or under when something makes you angry when something bothers you or someone we might better say will you be patient what's the opposite not being willing to wait now I said now vengeance I'll make them pay they will pay for being what they've done to me this includes suffering or enduring for the sake of another big branch big branch what's it connected to a trunk where that humility come from the root system the grace of God in salvation if this reality that I'm in union with Christ if I went from zero to hero if I went from enemy to reconcile if I went from dead to alive if I've been resurrected then shouldn't I be humble shouldn't I control my mouth shouldn't I be patient be willing to suffer and now another big branch in verse 2 bearing with one another in love bearing with one another in love here this is kind of the same term that in Galatians 6 verses 1 to 2 where the apostle Paul describes about how we need to work bear with one another help someone who's continuing to go back to sin help them and encourage them it's kind of like someone with a broken leg and you put their arm around your shoulders and you don't think what am I doing here I got my own burden I got my own responsibilities and this person should have learned to walk by now it is their fault that they are in this condition because of their sin they should be no better by now why am I having to help them now and my own responsibilities are left behind and to complain and think like this is not what Christ has called us to is not walking worthy of our calling instead we are to bear with one another in love what's the opposite of bearing with one another in love saying no more I'm not going to endure no more for me I've had enough no more forgiving no more patience no more bearing, no more working notice another aspect though about this trunk this trunk is a little different you know how trees can grow are they tricky or different or out of shape with the others there's something different about this one you need to take some initiative you can't just sit back bearing with one another in love means you're not okay if you just say if you're not serious about resolving conflict if you're not taking the initiative doesn't the apostle Paul say love is patient love is kind in 1 Corinthians 13 what is the kindness but taking that initiative okay so we're called to have church unity what do we need we need to understand this tree to understand this tree we need to understand how we need one key branch is you need to get up get out of bed get out of the house get up and act and work communicate sit down and talk with someone face to face and have a conversation that you don't want to have it would be so much easier just to sweep it under the rug so much easier just to pretend like everything will be fine if I do nothing that's not love you need to take the action you need to take the action unity if you're going to have unity with your brother unity and reconciliation with your brother is the appropriate fruit of being reconciled to Christ it is walking worthy you can't listen to your feelings you can't just sit back you have to fight your sinful feelings you have to remember the grace that God has given not only to give you life but to give you the grace to persevere you must ask God to give you the grace to pray for this person that you don't want to pray for or you only want to think bad of you have to fight your own sinful feelings and trust Christ ok we've spoken about the root the trunk the branches humility, gentleness, patience love now we get to the fruit why do you have a lime tree, why do you have a mango tree why do you have an orange tree why do you have a fruit tree well let's get some fruit let's get some fruit Jerome knows about vegetables and fruit, you've been to his house some of the fruits and vegetables he's grown why do we have that let's get some fruit here it is to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace we've arrived at verse 3 here's a strong word endeavoring endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace this endeavoring is maintaining something keeping something there's an intense effort here taking pains is what endeavoring means eager to do something motivated to do something working to the point of sweat to do this what is it keeping the unity keeping the unity notice how it says keeping something not creating something isn't that great because we're keeping what the spirit has given the spirit when he saves he gives us a unity the unity amongst Christians there's something God has given by his grace now we have the responsibility to maintain it remember our illustration of the guy who gets the job you've been given it by grace now you need to work you have the responsibility to work in it or if you've been given like washing something yourself a car, a house cleaning a house there needs to be a maintaining of something that God has given here what God is calling you to do what's the opposite of verse 3 what's the opposite think with me now doing nothing doing nothing not just causing fights that's like an extreme opposite not just not just being prideful and causing fights you know what disobedience the opposite is doing nothing and thinking you're good I don't cause any fights yeah but you don't communicate and you don't reach out and you don't pursue your brother and you're not there to be with your brother you're not loving you're not sacrificing you're not willing to sacrifice there's an endeavoring means you gotta work endeavoring means you gotta take it up and take the initiative and you remember that it's all by the grace of God by the spirit unity by the spirit and in the bond of peace hear the apostle Paul remembering his chains once again thinking all we're not chained to a Roman guard we're not chained I'm not a prisoner of I'm gladly chained to this work I'm gladly in bonds to this work I'm gladly chained together with you brother by the spirit and these attitudes and actions that he is calling us to what a beautiful tree this is our tree as we come to a close what have we seen here today a call from doctrine to duty how to have church unity a call from doctrine to duty we've seen living in light of your salvation we've seen what the call of our responsibility to have a humility that is in accordance with the salvation we've been given to have a gentleness a patience a love a striving so now let's move from the exposition to an application to applications what about you what are you going to do what are you going to do are you here to watch a show or are you here to commune with the living God are you here to mouth some words to have friends or are you here are you here because your parents tell you you've got to be here or are you here to hear from God and to commune with him what does he want from you if you're a pastor or a child deacon this is a regular member what does he want from you what if you're unconverted here today what does he want from you if you're unconverted you're a Christian what he wants from you is to be reconciled to you to see the history of all the conflicts in your life why have you been unable to live without anger in your heart in a series of conflicts with your brother your sister your parents your co-worker or maybe even somebody in this church why is it that your life is a trail of broken relationships or do you have to walk into a family gathering and things be awkward why is it if your life is marked of this conflict it's a sign of pride it's a sign of not having a humility of conversion so what do you do do you try harder do you say ah I'm going to be a better person or do you say I don't have the ability I'm dead in my sins do you admit the seriousness that's what Christ is calling you to do that's what your responsibility is now today is to cry out to God and to say I am dead I am dead and I don't have the ability to do what you want me to do God save me give me that heart give me that heart I have no fruit on my tree be willing to test yourself and ask yourself examine yourself if you're a Christian here think about different areas in your life home cornerstone other believers I'm focusing on the applications now with other relationships with other Christians other Christians in your home other Christians at church other Christians perhaps at work or other churches I'm focusing on this application because the context is on church unity the context is Paul to the church particularly calling them the first application if you understand the gospel here's the first way to apply it in the local church in the nitty gritty sweaty stinky local church why do I use nitty gritty sweaty stinky because it's hard to persevere in the local church in fact let's say impossible impossible to persevere in the local church apart from the grace of God apart from the grace of God so how is that grace manifested right now in you humbling yourself to think about these different areas because you probably are more guilty in one of these areas than others have the humility to go home and ask your wife or ask your husband which of these in verse 3 do I need to grow in humility lowliness gentleness long suffering bearing with one another love endeavoring to keep the unity maybe you'll hear something that is not exactly what you want to hear or maybe you'll hear a surprise will you have the humility to go and ask someone who knows you well will you have the humility to consider your work these different spheres ask your small group leader as a pastor as a pastor you can ask another pastor or as a missionary you can ask another pastor have the humility to think about these areas so what have we seen today what have we seen today many practical things many things we've looked today and heard from the apostle Paul from a prison cell and what is on his heart what does he want to communicate to this persecuted church he doesn't speak about the persecution outside he begins by talking about the trouble inside the importance of unity so when we move from doctrine to duty how to have church unity and we think about how Christ wants us to live in light of our salvation he wants us to live this way he wants us to live with humility, loneliness gentleness, wrong suffering bearing with another love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and we need to apply it now we need to apply it in our homes we need to apply it in our church we need to apply it with Christians who are outside whether at work or in other churches let's pray Lord God in heaven we pray to you now we lift up this text to you and we say we expose our hearts to you we don't cross our arms in front of you we want to humble ourselves and and say pierce us pierce us in the area we want to examine our hearts before you and we want to give our lives to you and say please help us to change in the ways that you would want please help us to change in the ways that you would want to grow and to hear your call here to walk worthy the calling help us to do our part in your church unity help us to communicate in those conversations that are difficult help us to communicate with gentleness help us to take the initiative to communicate help us to love when we don't have the love help us to Lord by your grace we once again we cry out to you we didn't have the strength to save ourselves and we don't have the strength to continue in this walk and so we pray to you help us by your grace Lord Jesus thank you for this day and thank you for this day to worship you you're so good Christ to give us this call to give us these words to give us this application thank you for your work amen