"Jesus Changes Our Calling (Ephesians 4:1-10)", Will DuVal | 10/13/24
Ephesians 4:1-10 | 10/13/24 | Will DuVal
What does it mean to be “CALLED”? I imagine this language of “calling” brings different examples to mind for each of us.
Some of us think of those classic opening scenes in every great epic story, where the protagonist receives his or her commission:
Galdalf’s invitation to Bilbo: “I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging…”
Or Morpheus’s invitation to Neo: “Take the red pill, and I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes…”
In the Church, we often use this language of “calling” in reference to vocational ministry: “When did you discern God’s CALL to the pastorate? Or to the mission field?” But we really shouldn’t LIMIT it to the ministry; we might rightly ask ANY Christian: “How did God call YOU to… teaching secondary ed? To nursing? To engineering? To homeschooling?
We have ALL been called in different ways, to different call-INGS - some of us to MARRIAGE, others to singleness; some of us to parenting, others to devoting that extra time toward spiritually parenting, discipling others.
But according to the book of Ephesians, we ALL share in common the most important calling on our lives - at least, those of us here who are in CHRIST. Remember: the apostle Paul is writing this letter to the church - to the SAINTS, the BELIEVERS - who are in Ephesus, and this morning in chapter 4, he’s going to remind them - and remind US as well - of our shared calling: namely, that IN Christ, God our heavenly has called us to HIMSELF! He’s called us into RELATIONSHIP with Him. Paul told us back in ch2: “you were SEPARATED from Christ and therefore WITHOUT GOD in the world… but now IN Christ, you who once were far off [estranged from God] have been brought near by the blood of Christ… [Jesus] RECONCILED us to God”. And if we back up to ch1, we’re reminded that God’s SAVING us was all according to his PLAN, his CHOOSING, his CALLING: “[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself [in other words, God CALLED us TO himself] as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (1:4-5).
And NOW, in chapter FOUR, Paul is going to specifically invoke this language of “calling” 4 times here in vv1-10, to begin to unpack for us what it MEANS to be called by God, into relationship with Him. It’s gonna mean LOTS of things, as we’ll see in the weeks to come - chapters 1-3 detailed the GOSPEL for us, what God has done for US, in his Son JESUS; chapters 4-6 are now gonna outline how we are called to RESPOND to the gospel. And Paul BEGINS his answer this morning in vv1-10 by focusing on FOUR distinct callings that God has placed on the life of every believer.
-
And I need to warn you before we even begin: we’re only gonna cover the first TWO of those callings, and the first SIX verses of the chapter today. I started writing and the Spirit started moving, and I got carried away - and I’m not even gonna APOLOGIZE for it this time - we got some GOLD to get to this morning! But I think it’s for the best - vv7-10 can really fit well with EITHER the 6 verses BEFORE it OR with the 6 verses that FOLLOW. The commentaries are divided. So we’ll save it for next week.
But here’s what we WILL do: we will go ahead and READ all of vv1-10 now, and I promise to at least give you a PREVIEW, at the very END, of where we’re headed NEXT week. Just a little TEASER (“NEXT week, in Ephesians 4…”), something to come BACK for. 🙂 ALSO, so those of you who suffer from OCD don’t have to lose sleep all week over those two empty blanks in your bulletin. You can at least fill ‘em in.
Would you STAND… Ephesians 4:1-10. Hear the word…
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
[This is the word of the Lord… Seated…]
Now, before we even get to the “WHAT” of these four CALLINGS, Paul’s opening phrase here - “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord” - tells us 2 very important things about the WEIGHT and the WHY of our calling.
First, the WEIGHT: Why does Paul remind us AGAIN that he is “a prisoner for the Lord”. He’s already MENTIONED it back in ch3: “I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus…”. Is Paul just throwing a PITY party?
No, Paul wants us to understand the WEIGHT, the GRAVITY, the SERIOUSNESS of being called by God. If the President of the United States called you - phone rings, you look down, and the caller I.D. says, “White House” - of course these days you’d probably just figure it’s SPAM, or election fundraising, but imagine you somehow KNEW the President was on the other line, that’s an important call that deserves to be answered. Now imagine you pick up and the President says, “Hi ____, I’m calling because I’ve got a very important MISSION for you; your country NEEDS you…” - that’s a WEIGHTY calling, isn’t it?
Paul says: how much MORE so when the mission, the calling, comes from the almighty God of the UNIVERSE! That’s a calling worth suffering imprisonment for, even DYING for.
Secondly, Paul implies the “WHY” of our calling here in v1 as well, with the word “THEREFORE”. What’s the “therefore” THERE for? Well, it indicates that EVERYTHING Paul is about to call us to now, in chs4-6, is conditioned upon, and a response TO, what GOD has done for US, in chs1-3: the gospel. Kent Hughes puts it this way (Ephesians, 119): “The opening sentence of ch4… marks the turning point in the book of Ephesians. The message [now] moves from… doctrine to duty; from creed to conduct; from the Christian’s wealth to his walk; from exposition to exhortation; from the indicative to the imperative.”
And indeed, we’re gonna FIND 41 imperative verbs now in chs4-6; 41x where Paul says, “Do THIS; behave in THIS way…” compared to just ONE imperative in all of chs1-3; remember what it was?
I just TOLD you: “REMEMBER”; that was the ONLY command we were given, in ch2, v12: “REMEMBER that you were once separated from Christ, without God, HOPELESS,” before Jesus came and rescued you. It was all about HIS work. But NOW we’re ready to consider how he calls US to respond.
And the FIRST charge we’re given is to pursue HOLINESS; #1- We have been called to HOLINESS. (vv1-3)
Paul writes: “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called”. 3 words I wanna key in on there: “walk”, “worthy”, and “calling”.
First: WALK. Walk is one of Paul’s favorite verbs. He’s already used it TWICE in this book, back in ch2, to contrast the “trespasses and sins” in which we FORMERLY “walked” (v2), as rebel sinners, with the “good works that God has prepared” for us to “WALK” in (v10) now as rescued SAINTS. Paul will employ this verb another FIVE times later in Ephesians, and 33x total, in all of his letters. And as much as ANYTHING, what this verb “walk” CONVEYS to us is ACTION. Holiness is something we actively PURSUE.
Are we, as Christians, HOLY? Well, the Bible’s answer is twofold: “Yes” and “HOPEFULLY”.
There is ONE sense, the most important, objective sense, in which the answer is unequivocally YES! Christ’s righteousness has now been imputed to us, by grace through faith, such that God no longer sees us as the stained sinners we once were, but rather as the sanctified saints he has (re)MADE us to be.
Hebrews 10:10 “we have been sanctified (i.e., “made HOLY”) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
1 Corinthians 6:11 “you were washed, you were sanctified [“made Holy”, in the PAST tense!]... in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”.
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[b] The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Cor 5:17).
So in THAT sense, YES, we Christians have been MADE holy, by Christ’s sacrificial death and imputed righteousness.
But there’s ANOTHER sense, that is frankly emphasized even MORE throughout the NT, in which we are still CALLED to PURSUE holiness. To LIVE OUT what we already ARE, to WALK out our new identity in Christ, AS his purified people.
Hebrews 12:14 exhorts us to “STRIVE for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
1 Peter ch2 declares: “you ARE a holy nation”, but in ch1, Peter exhorts us to “BE holy in all your conduct”. So BE who you ARE. How does THAT make sense?
Well, Paul’s gonna give us a hint NEXT week when he essentially calls us to GROW UP! He says God wants to “build up the body of Christ… to MATURE manhood… so that we may no longer be CHILDREN.”
Is a child a HUMAN? Sure. So is an unborn baby, by the way (go vote against Amendment 3!). So in ONE sense, my 23-month old, Bo, will never be more HUMAN than he is right now. But there’s ANOTHER sense in which - when I turned around at Eckert’s Farm yesterday to find Bo reaching under the fence at the petting zoo and picking up those little green pellets and uncooked CORN kernels out of the DIRT, NOT to feed them to the goats but to EAT them HIMSELF - it makes SENSE for me to correct him, to “CALL” him back to HUMANNESS: “Bo, BE A HUMAN”! You ARE a human; now ACT like one!”
THAT’s what Paul’s doing here: “Christian: you ARE a holy child of God; now ACT like it!” WALK in holiness.
Walk, SECOND note still on v1, “in a manner WORTHY of the call”. And all I wanna point out here about this second word - “worthy” - is that our WALK doesn’t QUALIFY us for the calling; rather, our calling MOTIVATES us for the WALK.
When Jesus called the 12 disciples, he didn’t put them through a rigorous assessment, to find the top 12 most qualified candidates for the job. Rather, he called a bunch of uneducated fishermen, an immoral tax collector, a murderous zealot… and he said, “Follow me, and I will MAKE you fishers of men.” The calling CAUSES their contributions; NOT the other way around.
God doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called. And by the way, the only way we can even ANSWER God’s call to holiness, and live INTO our new identity in Christ, is through the empowering of the Holy SPIRIT; that’s why Paul prays in 2 Thessalonians 1:11 “[may] God make you worthy of his calling and may [HE] fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power” - HE calls us to holiness, and he ANSWERS that call by empowering us to actually live holy lives.
Similarly, here in Ephesians 4, Paul says: “You’ve ALREADY been called - you don’t have to walk in a way that EARNS the calling; not to EARN but to EXHIBIT your calling.” In a manner WORTHY.
Remember: the calling is ADOPTION, into God’s family; that’s the third and FINAL note on v1: what IS “the calling to which we’ve been called”? It is our ADOPTION, as God’s children.
When Polly and I adopted Elijah, we didn’t match him up against all the other babies to try and decide which was most WORTHY of joining our family (“Well, this one’s CUTEST, but THIS one seems to CRY the least…”). No! We CALLED him into our family by no merit of his own. But now that he’s BEEN adopted, we call him to “walk in a manner WORTHY” of the name DUVAL, which he’s been given.
How much MORE so, ought those of us who are now GOD’S children, who are called by HIS name - you know “Christian” literally meant “little Christ”, back in the day. Think about that the next time you claim the label “Christian” for yourself: “I’m a mini-Jesus.” Remember “Mini-Me” from Austin Powers; we’re called to be “mini-CHRISTS”.
Now, what does it MEAN to “walk worthily”. Paul gives us FIVE TRAITS here, in vv2 & 3. And this is by no means an EXHAUSTIVE list, but it is a really GOOD START; if you embody and exude these five traits, you are DEFINITELY “walking” on the right path, the “narrow way that leads to LIFE” (Mt 7:14).
Let’s DEFINE each, biblically, and then I want to give you a PICTURE of what each of these holy traits can look like, lived out, right here in our OWN body. Because they say you IMITATE what you CELEBRATE. And I’m really good at CASTIGATING from the pulpit - “quit being so PROUD, HARSH, IMpatient…” - but I don’t CELEBRATE often enough. And we’re blessed to have some folks worth IMITATING here at West Hills.
So the first “worthy” trait Paul lists in v2 is “HUMILITY”. Here’s how Paul defines it for us in Philippians 2; humility is: “count[ing] others more significant than yourself… look[ing] not only to [your] own interests, but also to the interests of others” (vv3-4).
Last Wednesday I went to pick Bo up from the toddler room, and Mark told me: “I think he’s in the BATHROOM with JESS, getting a new DIAPER; he had a big POOP.” And I thought about that: here’s a young lady - Jess, are you here? I’m gonna embarrass you…- in her mid-20s, the prime of her LIFE; she’s not tied DOWN; she could be doing ANYTHING she WANTS on a Wednesday night; perhaps she WANTS to be tied down, to find herself a man; I don’t know - but she COULD use Wednesday nights to scroll her “Christian Mingle” feed. But of ALL the places she could be, and all the things she could be doing - all the MEN she could be hanging out with - she leaves the comfort of her couch every Wednesday, to come hang out with MY little man, and wipe his stinky BUTT. Which I can PERSONALLY attest is VERY humbling. Personally, I STRUGGLE with humility. But as soon as I catch myself thinking, “Man, I’m pretty important. I’ve got 5 or 600 people here who look up to me, as their pastor…”; but then I drive HOME. And at home, BO’s looking up at me while I’m wiping him, and trying not to GAG. And he’s just LOUNGING there, LAUGHING about it - he’s taken to crossing his hands behind his HEAD while you change him, like he’s the KING of the changing table. Cuz he IS. He’s YELLING at me while I’m wiping: “MILKY! Where’s my MILK? You KNOW I like to enjoy a bottle, while you’re ABASING yourself…”
THAT’s what Jess willingly volunteers for, every Wednesday. Do you have any IDEA how much you would’ve had to PAY me… when I was in MY mid-20s… and she does it for FREE!
Why? Because Jess counts my son “more SIGNIFICANT than herself”. She’s “looking not ONLY to her OWN interest” - how SHE’D most like to spend Wednesday night; I bet it’s not cleaning up poop! - but rather “to the interest of OTHERS” - me & Polly… Zac & Morgan… Sam & Jill, Jesse & Ali… so that WE can be a part of a life group, and get a break from parenting those 2 hours each week.
Friends: THAT is humility. And by the way, if she’d have known that I was planning to say something, I’m sure she would have tried to convince me NOT to - “It’s really not a big deal; I’m happy to serve; no need to make a SHOW out of it.” Cuz THAT’s humility too.
Church: Be like Jess.
SECOND trait of holiness here in v2: “GENTLENESS”, or MEEKNESS. And we need look no further than Christ HIMSELF for its definition; this is the ONLY trait that Jesus ever named, explicitly, of himself - Jesus of course embodied ALL of these: “humility, patience, love” - but he specifically said in Matthew 11:29 “I am gentle and lowly in heart”.
Being GENTLE, then, means we view and treat others like JESUS did. With COMPASSION. Tenderness. MERCY. It means being “SLOW to anger”, but quick to HELP.
I think I’ve shared this story before, but a few years back, in 2021, we were in the last stages of trying to wrangle everyone back to church post-Covid, but we still had a few stragglers, one or two of whom really surprised me and frankly, disappointed me, because of how HIGH an importance they had always seemed to place on the church PRE-Covid. So at our quarterly all-church meeting that June, in a moment of frustration, I made a remark about the stragglers that was pretty UN-kind, and I said it in a way that was pretty un-GENTLE; I was HARSH.
But that next week, Sharon Johnson texted me and said, “Hey, can we talk?” So I called her and she said, “I was kind of upset about what you said at the meeting. I understand your frustration - I miss my friends too - but I think we need to give SOME of them the benefit of the doubt, give them some GRACE, and assume the BEST about their motives, in continuing to be CAUTIOUS; I think they’ve EARNED that from us.”
And in the absolute GENTLEST way possible, Sharon absolutely set me STRAIGHT. She exemplified gentleness not ONLY in her care and respect for those brothers and sisters I had disparaged, but even in the way she confronted ME about it! In gentleness!
Church: Be like Sharon.
The THIRD trait Paul lists here is “PATIENCE”, or literally, the Greek word is “LONG-SUFFERING”. And that pretty much defines what patience IS, doesn’t it; to be patient is to be willing to suffer, and specifically, to suffer a SINNER their SIN, for a LONG time. I am pretty IM-patient, SHORT-suffering. I’m coaching Elijah’s pre-K soccer team. First game: it became PAINFULLY clear (speaking of SUFFERING) that they did not understand the concept of DEFENSE - of staying between the BALL and the GOAL - so the next week, we spent the ENTIRE practice on it - drills, games, “HERE’s the ball… THERE’s the goal… move your body in BETWEEN the two”. Second game, they were just as bad. And I was ready to RESIGN. “Clearly I’m not getting THROUGH to them; someone ELSE can try!” Cuz I am SHORT-suffering.
Now contrast that with a couple like Bryan & Sallie Arvison. I found out from them last week that another couple here at the church - well, KIND of here; this couple STILL hasn’t come back since Covid, but I’m pretty sure it’s because they’re convinced that those of us who got the vaccine now bear the mark of the BEAST - Anyway, last week the husband had like a 7-hour surgery, and Bryan drove him to the hospital, waited the whole time, and then drove him back home. Sallie stayed home with the wife the entire time. It’s all I can manage to call a couple times a year to check in with them. But the Arvisons have refused to give up on this couple for over 30 years now, as they’ve drifted farther and farther off the range, into Crazytown.
Friends, that is LONG-suffering-ness. PATIENCE.
Church: be like Bryan and Sallie.
FOURTH trait evidenced by those committed to their calling to HOLINESS: they “bear with one another in love”.
And once again, the definition is sort of EMBEDDED there in the description; elsewhere Paul says, “Love BEARS all things… ENDURES all things” (1 Cor 13:7); Jesus defined love this way: “GREATER love has NO ONE than this: that you lay down your LIFE for your friends” (Jn 15:13). Maybe LITERALLY, like Jesus, or perhaps just metaphorically, by “bearing with” a brother or sister.
Eric Maupin had to BEAR WITH me this week. We’re trying to get this PARKING LOT expanded, but because it’ll drop us below Town & Country’s 60% green space requirement, we have to request a special VARIANCE on the city ordinance. And our surveying consultant advised that we get all our Town & Country residents to write letters of support, saying how great the CHURCH is for the community, and then file our petition with the planning & zoning committee. But we have to file at least 20 days before their next monthly MEETING, because… you know… government; it takes them 20 days to read an email. “So”, Eric said, “I don’t think there’s any way we can get on their docket for October.”
I said, “Can’t we just file the request, then send the support letters separately as they come in?”
He said, “I think they’d prefer us to have all our ducks in a row.”
I said, “Yeah, BUT…” and I literally went back and forth, arguing with him like 3 or 4 times over the course of 48 hours, frustrated, REFUSING to accept that we’re not breaking ground til SPRING at the VERY earliest, because I am IMPATIENT. And ERIC had every RIGHT to say, “WILL: STOP! It’s NOT gonna happen! You need to DEAL with it!” But he just kept calmly “BEARING with me in LOVE.”
Church: be like ERIC.
Be like ALL of you, who still came back this Sunday after I confessed LAST Sunday just how LITTLE I enjoy “bearing with YOU in love”, when you need pastoral counsel. I said, “I’m tired of writing sermons on Saturday nights because I spend Monday thru Friday pastoring.” And what someone probably SHOULD have pulled me aside and said was: “Uhhh, that’s the JOB, Pastor. Remember? That’s what you signed UP for. What you get PAID for. Don’t make us feel guilty, make us think twice before sending that email to request a meeting with you.”
I confess: I don’t “bear with you in love” well. Yet you’re still HERE, because you bear with ME in love. And I thank God for you.
Fifth and final mark of holiness Paul gives us here: God calls us to be “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Notice, first, that we don’t CREATE unity and peace in the church; we just MAINTAIN it. GOD must establish it; it is the unity “of the SPIRIT”.
But since we’re gonna talk all ABOUT unity in point #2, let me just offer you one last example to imitate, when it comes to UNITY: our senior saints. I remember last year when we were walking through the denomination change, a pastor friend asked me, “Are you worried about some of the OLD timers getting UPSET and leaving?” And I LAUGHED! I said, “They’re the LAST ones I worry about! Not because they don’t CARE; I know some of them are far more tied to our Baptist roots than I am. But just think about what they’ve been through ALREADY! June & Sandi… Jan & Louise…
They were here when the FIRST pastor died, the SECOND pastor tried to SPLIT the church, the THIRD pastor changed the NAME of the church and REMOVED “Baptist” from it, and then trashed the choir robes and hymnals, ripped the organ and pews out… and they’re STILL HERE!” I said. “I don’t think I could run our senior saints off if I TRIED!” They’re just too EAGER to maintain the UNITY of this CHURCH, in the bond of PEACE.
Church: be like June & Sandi… Jan & Louise.
We are called to HOLINESS. Through humility, gentleness, patience, love, and peaceful unity.
And speaking of which, Paul now takes vv4-6 to EXPOUND on that last point and detail our calling to UNITY.
Having made the case for HOLINESS in vv1-3 by highlighting 5 key MARKS of it that believers ought to exemplify, Paul now advocates for UNITY by pointing out the 7 TYPES of unity that believers ought to enjoy.
And this time, I thought I’d try clarifying each by reminding you what the Church is NOT. Because if you didn’t KNOW any better, and you just looked at the Church HERE, in 21st c. America, and tried to extrapolate from that a SUMMARY statement of what the Church is SUPPOSED to be… like if ALIENS landed on earth and they’d never read the Bible but they were curious what CHURCH was all about, so they decided to survey the AMERICAN Church for CLUES, I’m gonna argue they could probably get just about as close to a good understanding of SOCCER by watching my pre-K boys team play.
So the FIRST unity Paul reminds us of is the one BODY to which we all belong. There is only ONE CHURCH. I already misspoke, when I referenced the “American Church”... the “21st c. American Church” - because there’s no such THING, biblically speaking.
There’s not an “AMERICAN Church” and a “UGANDAN Church”, a KOREAN Church and an IRANIAN Church.
There’s not a 21st c. Church that WE belong to and a 1st c. Church that PAUL belonged to - there’s just ONE Church, that ALL believers for all of TIME belong to!
Now, a quick word of clarification: Paul is NOT talking about the LOCAL church here. There are times the Bible mentions “the church” in reference to the LOCAL church, like when Jesus says, “if your brother sins against you, and won’t repent, go and tell it to THE CHURCH”; he doesn’t mean go take out an ad in the Christian POST, or Christianity Today, to spread the word worldwide. No, he means we need to belong to a local church where we can share in fellowship and accountability, discipline when necessary, with other believers we can grow to know and love and trust. Sometimes we refer to that - the local church, West Hills - as the “lower case “c” church”, and the global, universal church as the “UPPER case “C” Church”. Paul has the BIG “C” Church in mind here in Ephesians 4: one body.
But if I may just quickly add: it’s so SAD to me just how BAD most of us are at appreciating BOTH - the big “C” AND the little “c” church. In my experience, you’re lucky to get one or the other. Sadly, so MANY Christians today don’t seem to value the church in ANY form. But if they DO, it’s one or the other. They either prioritize their LOCAL church SO much, it ends up being to the exclusion of every OTHER church out there. Jerret and Megan - our missionaries to Japan who were with us last Wednesday night - they were LAUGHING thinking about a Japanese believer trying to wrap their mind around the fact that we meet LITERALLY across the STREET (highway) from another evangelical church; I could hit West County Assembly of God with a GOLF ball. Because in JAPAN, people take the train for half an HOUR just to get to the nearest church to them. But if I proposed, “Hey, we’re gonna hold a joint worship service with them across the street next Sunday - one body…”, do you have any idea how many EMAILS I’d get? Cuz we’re TRIBAL.
OR… we prioritize the UNIVERSAL church to the exclusion of the LOCAL. I just had THAT conversation recently with a sister who was a member here, but stopped coming, kept dodging my calls and texts. FINALLY I got her on the phone, and she told me she had decided what’s important is that she’s a member of the capital “C” Church, and she doesn’t really NEED to belong anywhere on Sundays to do that. So I reminded her of all the NT commandments she was breaking, DISOBEYING:
“Do not neglect to MEET TOGETHER”; that’s a COMMAND, in Hebrews 10:25: to gather regularly with the church.
“Obey your (church) leaders and submit to them”, Hebrews 13:17; she can’t do THAT anymore.
On and on. All the stuff we walk through in our membership class. All the reasons it’s important to belong - to BE a member - of a local body. WITHOUT losing sight of the ONE body to which we ALL belong, as believers.
Next, Paul reminds us that the REASON there’s only one body - one CHURCH - is because there’s only one Holy SPIRIT. “Be eager to maintain the unity of the SPIRIT.”
Now, you’re gonna notice in a minute just how TRINITARIAN Paul’s call to unity is here: we share one SPIRIT (v4), one LORD (Jesus, v5), and one GOD and FATHER (in v6). And Paul INVOKES the Trinity here, the 3-in-1 Godhead, not ONLY to remind us of the MEANS of our unity - ours is a unity OF one Spirit, IN one Lord and Savior, BY one God and Father - but Paul’s also giving us a picture of the power and permanence of our unity. Here’s how the great John Stott put it (God’s New Society, p151): “Our unity is eternal and unbreakable. The unity of the church is as indestructible as the unity of God HIMSELF. It is no more possible to split the church than it is possible to split the Godhead.”
Now I realize that must sound RADICAL to some of you, who have ENDURED so-called “church splits” in the past; Stott’s saying, and I think the apostle PAUL here, writing under the inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT, so God HIMSELF is agreeing, that “There’s no such THING as a church split!” You can’t DO it! The church doesn’t “split”; it MULTIPLIES. It’s like a starfish; cut it in half and you just end up with TWO starfish. God, in his POWER and PROVIDENCE, uses even church splits - one “little c” church becoming TWO - to expand his “BIG C” Church! Like when Paul had the fight with Barnabas in Acts 15, and they decided to part ways; did that SLOW the spread of the church? No! DOUBLE the mission teams, DOUBLE the church growth!
Cuz you can’t split the Church; we are one BODY, unified by one SPIRIT.
And we all look forward to one HOPE. Paul picks the “calling” language back up again now in v4: “you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call”. What is the HOPE of our CALLING?
Paul told us back in ch1, when he first celebrated God’s CALLING - he “chose us”; he “predestined us for adoption to himself” - Paul said, “so that we who… hoped in Christ might be to the praise of his glory… In him we have obtained an inheritance”. SALVATION. ETERNAL life, WITH God, in HEAVEN. THAT is our one great, shared HOPE as believers.
And there’s not a PROTESTANT heaven and a CATHOLIC heaven. There’s not a BAPTIST heaven (we were ONCE destined for, until last March) and an E-FREE heaven (we NOW await). Just ONE heaven, one HOPE, one INHERITANCE.
Isn’t that WONDERFUL!? Your friends, who you invited to come check out West Hills, but who ultimately landed at that OTHER church in town (because they have bad taste in churches; but GREAT taste in friends, though!) - but isn’t it awesome to know that as much as you would love to worship with them here on Sundays, one day you’re gonna get to worship with them all day EVERY day for the rest of ETERNITY because of our one HOPE and HOME in Heaven.
And the REASON we share that one hope is because we have been SAVED by one LORD: Jesus CHRIST. “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven… by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
“the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him,” by FAITH. (Rom 10:12).
And that’s the FIFTH unity Paul lists: the one FAITH. The faith “that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3)
“That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day” (1 Cor 15:3-4).
And it is “by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH” (Eph 2:8).
Paul says, “if even an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to [this] one… let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:8)
“There is one Gospel on which we stand
For all eternity
It is my story, my Father’s plan
The Son has rescued me” (CityAlight)
And we celebrate and commemorate our one shared faith in one BAPTISM. 1 Corinthians 12:13 - “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”.
Galatians 3:27 “as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free [there is neither “black church” nor “white church”, neither “Reformed” church nor “Arminian” church, neither “Baptist” church nor “Presbyterian” church…] for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” I may have paraphrased Paul a bit there, but very much in keeping with the SPIRIT of the text. ONE body, one faith, one BAPTISM.
And lastly - we could spend a whole SERMON on any ONE of these sub-points (I expect lots of “After the Sermon” questions for the podcast this week!) - but in closing, don’t miss, most important of ALL: there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
“from whom are all things and for whom we exist” (1 Cor 8:6).
He is Alpha and Omega, Creator and Sustainer; He is ALL IN ALL.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To God be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Rom 11:36)
Now, before we’re done, I promised you the 60-second trailer, teaser. Next week, Paul’s gonna list THREE additional callings God has placed on our lives as believers:
1) God calls us to SERVICE. “grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift”; Jesus gives spiritual gifts to us - each ONE of us! - for the purpose of edifying and unifying the Church.
2) God calls us to FAITH: To believe and TRUST in the one “who DESCENDED to earth [to rescue and REDEEM us] and then ASCENDED back into heaven that he might FILL ALL THINGS” and fill US with new, eternal resurrection life and power.
3) And then MOST of next Sunday we’ll spend on God’s calling to MATURITY, spiritual maturity; He calls us to “GROW UP… to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”.
Get excited. Let’s pray…