Preserving Unity
(Ephesians 4:1-6)
For the Church to walk worthy of her calling means that she must live everyday in this world according to her nature as the body of Christ. It also means Church unity in wisdom and praise to God in order to accomplish the work of the kingdom. Humility, forgiveness, and patience are necessary if sinners are to live and work together in peace. Unity, however, is not based upon our slight virtues. God Himself has established the unity which the Church is called to preserve and enjoy.
God Created Unity -- We Reflect His Love and Compassion
In Ephesians 4:1-6 the Apostle Paul urges the Ephesians to "keep the unity of the Spirit." It is a unity based on Whose we are and who we are in Christ. It is unity expressed in the actual work of the kingdom, ethical unity based upon obedience to God's commandments and mutual forgiveness is what the church needs first of all.
Paul makes it clear in Ephesians that unity has already been established by the grace of God. It is an essential part of the good news of the Gospel. God has created the Church as a single body, unified in Christ by the Holy Spirit. All Christians have the same calling and the same hope. We share the same faith, meaning, we share the same objective revelation of the truth.
We have all been baptized by the Holy Spirit of God into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13) and we have a covenant relationship in Christ. Jesus is our sovereign Lord over us all. He leads us and works in our hearts to accomplish His will and purpose.
Unity is a glorious fact. The New Creation in Christ is harmonious because Father, Son, and Spirit rule, indwell, lead, and save the Church. When we confess and rejoice in the work of God, we will see greatunity in the life of the Chustian.
Christian Practices and Lived Virtues Preserve Unity
As the church of Jesus, we need to practice the Christian virtues of humility, gentleness, patience and love. The word for humility here is literally "to think lowly of oneself." He points to the true humility of Christ, who, because He considered us as more important than Himself, divested Himself of the glory that was rightfully His and came into this world in human form to save us by His death on the cross (Phil. 2:1-11). Walking in humility means remembering the mind of Christ and seeking to treat other Christians as He treated us. It is the basis of mutual respect.
Jesus humility led to His exaltation and so does ours: "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you" (Jam. 4:10). "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time" (1 Pet. 5:6). Humility is Christ-like.
For us to be gentle means to be meek. Again, Jesus is the example: "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Mat. 11:29-30). James tells us that wisdom is gentle (Jam. 3:13).
The word translated "patience" is literally "long wrath" meaning "to be slow to become angry." Again, Christian virtue is ethical conformity to God for when He announced His covenant name to Moses, He describes Himself as "longsuffering" (Ex. 34:6, 7). The Psalmist too praises God for His patience: "The LORD [is] merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy" (Ps 103:8).
Patience means that we "forbear one another in love." On more than one occasion Jesus rebuked His disciples with the words "how long must I bear with you." He puts up with us, with our faults, our folly and our faithlessness, because He loves us. So we too are to endure one another in love. It sounds odd. We think that if we love someone it is pure pleasure to be with them. But with sinners in this world it can never be so.
Paul does not demand that as Christians we be infatuated with one another. Rather, he demands that we have enough love to endure one another for the sake of Christ. What this means in terms of everyday life is mutual forgiveness: "bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you" (Col. 3:13). Once again, this means imitating God Himself.
A Gift of Grace from a Loving God
To preserve the unity that God has created and given to us as a gift of grace in Christ, Christians must be diligent. It requires vigilance to guard what God has given, not to mention to cultivation and growth. We live in a world of sin and we are called to ethical warfare. Every aspect of our lives is part of the battle for the kingdom of God; preserving the unity of the church is one of our most important fights.
The unity of Christian people is to reflect the unity of the Godhead. But Christian unity is not metaphysical in the same way that the unity of the Persons of the Trinity is, though there is a metaphysical side to it in so far as we are all indwelt by the same Spirit of God. Ethics here is primary.
The unity of the Trinity includes the personal harmony of love and righteousness, as well as unity of purpose and work. It is this aspect of the unity of the Godhead that the Church is called to reproduce. We are striving for Godlikeness because we love Him.
God Himself needs to be the center of our vision, the standard of our ethics, the motive and the goal of all our work. The unity and diversity of God's people is to reflect the perfect harmony of love and diversity of working in Persons of the Trinity. The Church united in Christ thus reveals the glory of God.
Submitted by a Friend
Submitted by a Friend
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