Maintain the Unity

Text: Ephesians 4:3

Main Point: We must eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit.

The Lord’s Supper is the reminder, celebration, and invitation to unity. In various ways, the Lord’s Supper should remind us that we are Jesus’ people. Oh yeah, we don’t belong to that cause, this party, or that group. We have been bought by the precious blood of Christ and so we gather together to celebrate our shared life in Christ. We are fundamentally a people who have found life in Jesus. We are living life with God because of what Jesus has done and because of what the Spirit is doing. Jesus is our shared and greatest treasure.

But there is a problem. The problem with church is the problem with marriage. We have this image in our minds of unity, love, joy, understanding, encouragement, and cooperation but we end up feeling misunderstood, used, and alone. Like that 88 Toyota Four runner I bought back in the day, the idea was a lot better than the reality. The idea of church is often a lot better than the reality of church.

But why is that? Why are we so often disappointed by others? One answer we need to own is that we are often naïve. Our ideas are often disconnected from reality. We don’t consider that we are all sinners in need of sanctification. In addition, you have to go to work, people get sick, someone has to take out the trash, life is hard, someone has to wash the dishes, and we’re only talking about two people. When we add 100 more sinners into the mix then life gets that much more divided. Don’t be naïve; expect relationships to be hard.

Another reason the idea of church is often better than the reality is we stop looking at Jesus. In our day of division over vaccines, politics, and masks, it is important that we eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace by looking at Jesus. Our unity given to us by Jesus is a rich blessing to be preserved and enjoyed. One of the best parts of your life, not just your week, should be your relationship with the church. So, let’s see how we can get closer to Jesus and enjoy our unity.

Read Ephesians 4:1-6

Ephesians 4:3 talks about the unity of the Spirit,

I. What is the unity of the Spirit?

The unity of the Spirit is the oneness of heart, mind, and purpose that we all share because we belong to Christ. The unity of the Spirit is the oneness of love, truth, and mission that we all share as the church. The unity of the Spirit is our dependence on Jesus, our love for Jesus, and our living for Jesus. Our unity is found in God who is over all and through all and in all. The more Jesus we give to one another, and the more Jesus we celebrate in one another, the more we will enjoy unity with one another. When Jesus is our unity then Jesus is the center of our worship and our work.

Let’s focus on some truths and then we’ll apply those truths to our shared life as the body of Christ.

• Unity of the Spirit is unity caused by the Spirit

Looking at Ephesians 4:3, we need to see that our unity is caused by or originates in the Holy Spirit. This unity of the Spirit is something that we maintain not something that we manufacture. In the true sense of the word, we are conservatives of the unity of Spirit. We want to keep, or conserve, what we have received.

What have we received? We don’t have time to work through all of John 14, 15, and 16. But I do want to bring your attention to John 16:14 where Jesus promises, “[The Spirit of truth] will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”  The Father has given to the Son, the Son has given to the Spirit, and the Spirit declares it to us. Here the Spirit is responsible for making what belongs to the Son known to us. Think of the Spirit as a guide to Christ. The Spirit says, “Come on, I will show you how to enjoy all that Jesus is and does.” 1 Corinthians 1:12 says this about the Spirit, “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.” The Spirit connects us to Christ and teaches us how to live out of the fullness of Christ. Our unity, given to us by the Holy Spirit, is life with God. So,

• Unity of the Spirit is unity caused by a shared experience of having received the Spirit

You cannot maintain the unity of the Spirit until you receive the Holy Spirit. Receiving the Spirit is an act of faith; Jesus gives his Spirit to me. Do you believe this?

When I was in Africa, I was introduced to a common bowl. A meal would be made for 10 people and placed in one bowl. Everyone would sit around the bowl and eat from the bowl with their fingers. Everyone was eating from the same source; no separation, no one going off to their bedroom with a plate of food.

The church, if it is to be full of life and strength, must be made up of people who are all drawing life and strength from the common bowl who is Christ. So, there are two ways a church approaches Jesus. The common bowl way is when we all are clear and intentional about together depending on Jesus to give us the life, joy, and wisdom we need. Another way a church approaches Jesus is the crystal bowl in the china cabinet. Here the church acknowledges that Jesus is valuable, but we never do anything with him. We want Jesus on the shelf but not in the details of our day.

Our unity must be the shared experience of the Holy Spirit bringing Jesus to us so that we see Jesus, worship Jesus, and depend on Jesus. Our prayer on Sunday mornings, and throughout the week, should be, “God, give me the Holy Spirit so I can give and receive more of Christ today.” When we gather together as a church, our shared experience of having received the Holy Spirit is the joy we get from worshipping Jesus together. So, 

• Unity of the Spirit is found in a community focused on Jesus

We are driven by the truth that Jesus is the head of the church (Eph 1:22; Col 1:18). If we substitute anything for Jesus as our source, our authority, and our goal we will be exclusive for all the wrong reasons. If you put your noble cause as THE reason for the church, you will drive your brothers and sisters away. I’m not asking you to back down on the ministry you have been given. What I am asking is, that we all increase our worship of Jesus. Major on Jesus and minor on your ministry.

Let’s take preaching for example, if you didn’t know, preaching is kind of the thing that’s gets me fired up and I believe I can accomplish much good for the kingdom through faithful preaching. Now imagine if I only talked to you about preaching; before long that would be very frustrating for you if your thing is women’s ministry, racial reconciliation, one on one disciple, Christian education, ending abortion, prayer, foreign missions, or care for the poor. If I equate the way I advance the kingdom for what it means to love Jesus, then in pride I will think you don’t love Jesus because you don’t love preaching like I do. When we put it out there in these terms its obviously dumb and selfish, yet we treat one another this way all the time.

The solution? Demand that the church be a community that is radically about Jesus first and then careful to give one another freedom to advance Christ’s kingdom in different ways. So, if I’m about Jesus first and then about preaching I can connect and rejoice with you when you are about Jesus first and then about care for the poor. The common thread in the church must be our shared delight in Jesus.

The Spirit leads us to Jesus and to share in one another’s joy in Jesus. The Spirit leads us to unite around Jesus. Because of the Spirit, Jesus is our unity. Now,

II. Why should we maintain the unity of the Spirit?

We must maintain the unity of the Spirit because

• The church is the display of the glory of God

Let’s make a connection here. Look up at Ephesians 3:20-21, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.”

There is a way of being the church that brings glory to God. There is a way of being the church that displays the greatness of God. The question is how, how does the church display the glory of God?

Jesus prayed, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:22-23).

The unity we share because of Jesus proves that Jesus actually came, and that God loves our neighbors. Our sacrificial and joyful love for one another is an apologetic or defense of Christ’s person and work. Our neighbors are supposed to look at us, our friendship because of Jesus, and have good reason to repent and trust in Jesus. God is glorified when we are united, and our neighbors are drawn to Jesus, because of our love for one another.

So, why should we be patient, kind, generous, forgiving, close, and helpful? We should be united because our friendship glorifies God and draws people to Jesus. But relationships are hard, so keep inviting people over and keep trying to connect. Our unity is a strong witness.

Alright, now let’s get practical

III. How do we maintain the unity of the Spirit?

We maintain the unity of the Spirit when we

• Walk worthy of the calling

Ephesians 4:1, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”

God has called you to himself. By sending his Son and Spirit, God has called you out of sin and selfishness and into holiness and love. So where are you? Are you in prison? Be in prison for the Lord. Do you have a body? Be in the body for the Lord. Do you have a family? Be a part of that family for the Lord. Do you have a job outside of the home? Be outside the home for the Lord. Do you have a job in the home? Be in the home for the Lord. Do all that you do, while you are gaming, for the Lord. When we all live this way (intentionally for the Lord), when we gather together as the church, guess what? We will gather together as the church for the Lord.

Think about how you have talked to people, or did not talk to people this morning. Have your actions this morning, your words to Christ’s body, been a reflection of God’s glory and love? Have you been a church member for the Lord or are you a church member for yourself? Are you a church member for the Lord, or are you a church member for your cause? We maintain the unity of the Spirit when we walk worthy of the calling every where we go.

Out of a desire to be practical and timely, I want to apply the specifics of verse 2 to the issue of wearing masks. Verse 2 commands us to live every day and do every thing with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. So, when it comes to masks,

• Talk to everyone with humility

If we are proud or arrogant, we will be jerks who think we are intelligent and everyone else is a lemming. New Testament scholar Andrew Lincoln says “It should be clear that the virtue of humility is indispensable for Christian community. Humility is based on a realization of one’s own dependence on the grace of God and on the worth of one’s brothers and sisters in [God’s] eyes” (Lincoln, 236).

Thinking about ourselves, what humility says is if I know anything or have anything it is because of God’s grace. Everything I have earned or been given is because of grace.

Thinking about others, what humility must do is elevate the worth of our brothers and sisters with whom we disagree. Members are worth more than masks. Consider, some of our elderly members have been homebound for nearly a year. We need to discuss genuine scientific research, but we also need to consider others more significant than ourselves. When the physically strong will not make concessions for the physically weak, then we are not living with all humility.

This first characteristic of Christian unity deals with how we think about ourselves and others; we must think of ourselves less so we can think of others more. Now, let’s get into how we talk with one another about our disagreements

• Speak the truth in love

Here’s the struggle, we either don’t talk about our disagreements or we get loud about our disagreements. Instead, the Christian community must model gentleness as we talk about our disagreements. It’s the call of Ephesians 4:15 to speak the truth in love. Speaking the truth in love calls for the distinctly Christian virtue of meekness.

John MacArthur defines meekness as power under control. “Biblical meekness, or gentleness, is power under the control of God” (Ephesians, 125). So, meekness has nothing to do with weakness, timidity, indifference, or cowardice. [The word] was used of wild animals that were tamed, especially of horses that were broken and trained. Such an animal still has his strength and spirit, but its will is under the control of its master. The tamed lion is still powerful, but his power is under the control of his trainer. The horse can run just as fast, but he runs only when and where his master tells him to run (MacArthur, Ephesians, 124). And this hits hard, “A meek person is normally quiet, soothing, and mild mannered, and he is never avenging, self-assertive, vindictive, or self-defensive” (Mac, 125). Meekness is strength under control for the good of others.

It is the meek who speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15). So, we need to learn to talk about masks with gentleness. Speak the truth and defend the truth with gentleness and patience. So, according to Ephesians 4:3, we need to

• Be patient when people don’t listen

One Greek dictionary defines patience as “a state of emotional calm in the face of provocation or misfortune and without complaint or irritation” (Louw-Nida). A helpful translation of patience is longsuffering. What it means to be a church member is to suffer a long time with these people with Jesus.

When it comes to the issue of masks, what we must be is long suffering with one another in our disagreements. Make Jesus the priority; the Jesus in that person is more important than the mask on that person. So, when a fellow member wears a mask, or doesn’t wear a mask, you don’t need to ask why. You know why. People don’t wear masks because they don’t think they are helpful. People wear masks because they do think masks are helpful. What we must do is walk worthy of the calling, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.

A disagreement does not end a Christian relationship, a disagreement calls for patience. So,

• Bear with people knowing people are bearing with you

What this means is we understand that every person in this room is annoying. I mean, everybody but me and you. No, every single one of us is annoying, welcome to church! Andrew Lincoln helps us again, “Bearing with others means fully accepting [other Christians] in their uniqueness, including their weaknesses and faults, and allowing them worth and space” (Lincoln, 236). When it comes to some matter of disagreement we need to ask if it is sin. And if it is sin, we need to ask if the other person knows it and if the member is being helped to deal with it (Gal 6:1). If its not sin, we need to say to ourselves “bless that annoying brother, he’s as annoying as me, God help me to bear with him in love. God help me love him and the Jesus in him more than I stumble over our differences.” Then give the brother space to be work out his salvation. Credit him with the value of being made in the image of God and being remade in the likeness of Christ. We must choose to play the long game with one another and we must choose to speak the truth in love. Finally

• We maintain our spiritual unity because we are intentional

Ephesians 4:3 commands us to eagerly maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. To keep it simple here, this is a call to actively decide that you will assume the best about the words and deeds of others. Read 1 Corinthians 13 and consider how we are to love one another in the church.

Here’s a confession, I am irritable with my friends and family because I assume the worst of them. I assume Angela didn’t have dinner ready because she hates me. You may assume a person wears a mask because he is a communist. Or you may assume a person doesn’t wear a mask because he hates old people. All of these assumptions are wrong because they assume the worst and they are wrong because they are unloving. Let us be eager, diligent, and quick to maintain the unity we share around Jesus because of the Spirit.

Listen, there will be trouble and turmoil and difficulty in the church until we are all made new. Until that day, let us walk worthy of the calling, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love. Our unity, around Jesus and in spite of our differences, is a bond of peace. Our unity is a signal of our being a safe people where life and healing can be found in Jesus. We will disagree, let’s learn to disagree as Christians with gentleness, love, and patience. May we care more about one another than we care about our selves. God help us.