From our text we learn that a united church
will be a productive church.
The unity we are commanded to maintain will
lead to equipping, building, and maturing of the saints for the work of
ministry, working properly, making the church grow and built up in love (4:1-16).
As we survey the history of the church, we
recognize that church unity has always been a challenge. Paul warned the elders of the Ephesian church
in Acts 20:29,30 that fierce wolves would come in among them, speaking
twisted things. Satan, the sworn enemy of the church is behind all this, causing
division, and therefore we must fight Him in the full armour of God and with
the only offensive weapon in our armoury - the Word of God (Eph. 6:10-18 cf. Lk. 4:1-13).
Ephesians 1-3 contain the doctrinal foundations of the letter to the Ephesians.
In Ephesians 1 we are taught how we become Christians.
In Ephesians 2&3 we learn that Christians are saved to belong to the church. The NT church consists of both, Jew and Gentile, and they are molded into one people. The church is built upon one foundation of which Jesus is the cornerstone - one Lord, who the Head of the church, which is His body (2:20).
The unity of the church is undergirded by the unity of the Trinity –
the three are one!
Ephesians 4-6 follow by way of by practical application. In
Chapters 1-3 God says, “I have made you a Christian”, and in Chapters 4-6 he says, “Live like a Christian!”
We learn much from Paul’s way of thinking and writing. He always lays down doctrinal foundations before he proceeds with practical application. We cannot be practical unless we know how to be practical. The Bible helps us to be practical. The Bible is to the church what the skeleton is to the human body.
Doctrine is fundamental. All of life illustrates this. You cannot be
a doctor/nurse, a mechanic, a teacher etc. without the relevant doctrine or
training which underlies each discipline. Pastors cannot be truly helpful in
their preaching and counseling and pastoring without a solid knowledge of
Scripture. Likewise, being an effective Christian requires a practical
understanding of the Word of God, as it reforms and transforms our mind,
leading to fruitful living. Biblical
doctrine does not divide; it unites.
Here we find four important foundations for unity which lead to productive Christianity:
- The Grace of Unity (4:1-3)
- The Ground of Unity (4:4-6)
- The Gifts for Unity (4:7 -11)
- The Goal of Unity (4:12-16)
1. THE GRACE OF UNITY (4:1-3)
Here we learn that unity is both, a gift (a grace) from God and a duty (a grace) to be maintained.
Ø It is a gift from God. We do not create unity. By the grace of God our unity has been provided through the shed blood of Christ (2:13). It is the unity of the Spirit (4:3). This is a genitive of source or origin—the unity produced or given by the Holy Spirit. It is not something manufactured by human organizational effort.
Ø It is a duty to be upheld: “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called “(4:1). From this follows the call “to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace “(4:3). How do we do that? 4:2 provides the answer: “..with all humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love”. These are some of the fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22,23.
This is the productive soil in which unity can flourish.
“There is one body and one Spirit -just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
The key word, “one” (implying unity), is used 7
times in 4:4-6.
Church unity is GROUNDED in the work of the Tri-unity [the Holy Spirit (4:4); the Lord Jesus (4:5) and God our Father (4:6)]. The
Trinity is foundational to the church’s existence and spiritual health. The true church proceeds from God. No true church exists apart from the Trinity.
Ø One body: The purpose of the saving work of Christ is to bring people together - assimilated as one body -the church! The great picture given in Ephesians 2 is that God has assimilated for Himself one people (Jews and Gentiles) from among all nations! He unites! Satan by contrast, persecutes, scatters and divides. Our old nature tends towards divisiveness. We have a duty to learn and to practice unity. We learn to put off the old self and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God (see 4:22-24).
Ø One hope (that belongs to your call): The Church shares one hope: gaining heaven. In Ephesians 1:13-14 we learn that that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of this great promise. A believer who has their focus on this ultimate goal is a promising candidate to be a peacemaker and not a troublemaker; a ‘unifier‘ and not a ‘divider’.
Ø One Faith: There is one settled body of truth given by Christ to His church. This is the ‘faith’ once entrusted/delivered to the saints’ (Jude 3). We make it our aim to be of the same mind, the same faith. That produces unity.
Ø One Baptism: The ‘church’ is those who have been “baptized in the Spirit“ (by the Holy Spirit who causes us to be ‘born again’ Jn. 3). From there follows the practice of believer’s baptism - an outward testimony and a symbol of that which has taken place in us spiritually. Only true believers can be united in the church.
Ø Grace filled believers (4:7a): “But grace (Gr. charis) was given to each of us …”. Incidentally, that ‘grace’ which is given to us at conversion is the grace which we must give to each other in the body of Christ. It comes in the form of spiritual gifts.
Ø Believers are gifted in differing degrees (4:7b) “according to the measure of Christ’s gift”[1]. This indicates that Christ gives each believer measured (Gk. ‘metron’) grace. This is often not understood. All Christian people receive gifts, but all do not receive the same gifts, and neither do all receive them with the same intensity (see also Rom 12:3-6). Our different giftedness is due to an enablement by Christ. Our Head knows what is good and what is needed to maintain unity in each body of believers.
Ø Christ is the Giver of the gifts (4:8-10). This is substantiated by an interesting quotation from Ps 68:18. The Psalm is a call to God to come to the rescue of His people. David remembers how God went before His people after the Exodus (v.7) so that the earth quaked (v.8) and kings were scattered (vv. 11-14). Then the king who wanted Mt Zion as his residence (v.16), came from Sinai to his chosen holy place (His sanctuary) (v.17). As he ascended towards Mt Zion as the conquering King, he led captives and the spoils of war in his entourage. Along the way he generously distributed the gifts (the spoils of war) to the residents of Jerusalem. Paul here applies this picture to Christ. Christ had descended to this sinful earth to die for our sins. He rose from the grave, triumphing over the power of death, delivering His people, under Satan’s dominion, from spiritual exile. Christ by His death plunders Satan’s kingdom, robbing him of many of his “sin slaves “, redeeming them to be His own people. As He ascends to His glorious throne - the spiritual Mt. Zion, with all His captives for His kingdom, he shares the spoils of that battle won against Satan, by dispensing these former ‘sin slaves’, as His gifts to this world. These gifts from God come to us in the form of people, whom the heavenly King uses to bless His church - apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor- teachers. Pentecost was the primary event when these gifts were given, when the ascended Jesus descended through His Spirit and gave such people to the church in the world.
Ø Christ has given us foundational gifts to build up the church (4:11-12) This list represents the leading ministries (graces) for the church (the body): apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. I cannot say much about this now. However, since there is much controversy about apostles and prophets in our own day, we must briefly clarify this. In Eph. 2:19,20 the offices of apostles and prophets are regarded as ‘foundational’ in the church. Foundations do not need to be built continually. We do not need new or more apostles and prophets any more than we need a new Lord Jesus. Their ministries continue as we read and learn from their writings.
“…to
equip the saints for the work for ministry, for building to build them up…”.
All these foundational ministries are very important to the church’s existence and unity, since through these ministries, God’s people are prepared and perfected and equipped.
The word for “preparing /perfecting/
equipping“[2] means ‘fixing something that's broken’
(e.g. torn nets in Matt. 4:21). It
can also mean ‘to supply something that is lacking’ (as in 1 Thess. 3:10, "We desire to supply, or equip, what is lacking in your
faith").
The work of these foundational ministries is
to repair what is broken and to supply what is lacking in and among the members
of the church in every generation.
The members of the church are in the final
analysis called "for the work of
ministry". The fixing and
supplying what is lacking is meant to make the saints into servants, and in
this way the ministering saints contribute to the wholeness of the entire body.
This is unity for productivity. God wants His church to be a unified, healthy body so that His Name can be made known in all the earth.
The more the church understands that she is rooted in the work of the Holy Trinity (the supreme manifestation of Unity) and the more the church works to understand and apply sound doctrine, enabled by foundational gifts, and the more unity she shows among her members, the more effective she will be in her work on earth as she fights this spiritual war, taking captives from Satan for Christ’s glory.
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