back to indexEphesians Bible Study Lesson 12
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Good evening everybody. Let's begin this Bible study with a word of prayer. Would 00:00:10.920 |
you please join me in prayer? Our God, we want to give you thanks for your 00:00:17.020 |
precious Word. And God, we know that Lord, when we think about even Apostle Paul, he 00:00:24.960 |
was praying for the congregation to be strengthened, to have inner strength from faith. And Father 00:00:32.880 |
God, we do require that strength as we look into all the instructions and the commands 00:00:38.200 |
that you have for us. For us, Father God, to follow, to obey, and to abide by all the 00:00:44.880 |
things that you command us and to give us, Father, requires supernatural strength. And 00:00:51.800 |
so we pray, Lord, that as you exhort us, as you give to us your Word and instruction, 00:00:58.560 |
would we, Father God, continue to find our footing and our strength from you. We thank 00:01:03.400 |
you, Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray. Amen. Okay. Well, we are in a transition section 00:01:12.280 |
in our study of the book of Ephesians, as chapters 1 through 3 were clearly just, you 00:01:18.480 |
know, brilliant, or I guess you can say, really majestic, like, doctrine for us to learn about 00:01:24.240 |
the grace of God and what the Lord has been doing. I typically like to summarize chapters 00:01:29.720 |
1 through 3 like this, "It's God who elects, it's God who saves, and it's God who builds." 00:01:36.640 |
Right? It was--so much of it was just thinking about the ramifications that it has on us, 00:01:43.240 |
how God has been enacting His mystery, His plan, His administration of our salvation 00:01:49.280 |
and redemption over time. And so, what an incredible thing that is for us. And then 00:01:54.240 |
now we're transitioning into, "And therefore, we need to walk." So let's read our section 00:02:00.060 |
of the passage together. And the Scripture says this, "Therefore, I, the prisoner of 00:02:07.720 |
the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have 00:02:12.240 |
been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience showing tolerance for one another 00:02:18.720 |
in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There 00:02:24.280 |
is one body and one Spirit, just as also you are called in one hope of your calling, one 00:02:30.480 |
Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through 00:02:35.800 |
all and in all." And we're going to stop there. I know in the previous lesson I had wrote 00:02:40.700 |
up till verse 7, but I think after studying it more closely, it's good for us to pause 00:02:46.000 |
here. Jumping right into the study, in the very first section or the first verse, we 00:02:53.160 |
have Apostle Paul giving us this application of command, "Therefore, you need to walk." 00:02:59.920 |
He says, "I actually implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the call." Let's break 00:03:04.600 |
that down. I gave you a brief just looking at it in section by section. Now if we were 00:03:09.560 |
doing a really kind of, I guess you could say, detailed attention study to this, we 00:03:14.680 |
could literally break up each one and study it. What we're going to do is more so just 00:03:19.280 |
overview it, right? Now, because we've been doing the study and last time I did essentially 00:03:26.160 |
kind of like a review, I'm not going to review chapters 1-3, but here when he says, "Therefore, 00:03:32.880 |
I the prisoner of the Lord," he has in mind all that's being built up in terms of God's 00:03:38.480 |
plan. I made much of it the last study that Apostle Paul has in his mind the glory of 00:03:45.760 |
God as it pertains to his masterful plan for his church, right? And when you think about 00:03:51.800 |
all that, yes, it's inclusive then of Jews and Gentiles coming together. It's inclusive 00:03:57.640 |
of our individual salvation, but also it's inclusive of our corporate, what that means 00:04:03.400 |
at the ramification for the church at large. I believe he has all that in mind, but the 00:04:07.880 |
important thing is he implores a walk that is worthy of all that. So here, just taking 00:04:15.760 |
a look at that first section, he says, "I implore you." Okay, the term really just means 00:04:21.680 |
to urge, but in other portions of Scripture it's translated, "I exhort you," right? "I 00:04:28.080 |
challenge or strengthen." Now, to add the oomph, so to speak, to add the emphasis to 00:04:34.320 |
that, Apostle Paul begins with essentially his authority, but in a unique way where he 00:04:38.880 |
says, "I, the prisoner of the Lord." And when he does that, you kind of wonder, like, in 00:04:44.720 |
certain moments when somebody gives a strong exhortation or commands you to do something, 00:04:50.080 |
sometimes we could have a reaction where we kind of wonder, like, "Do you know who you're 00:04:55.080 |
talking to?" Or more so maybe, "Do you even understand the struggle of trying to do something?" 00:04:59.400 |
Right? And essentially, Apostle Paul literally and spiritually says, "I am the prisoner of 00:05:03.880 |
the Lord," which shows both his experience in doing the very thing that he's commanding, 00:05:11.000 |
but also in many ways the authority of which he's commanding with, right? And we also take 00:05:16.080 |
a moment to think about this. I have this little sentence here, it says, "As good children, 00:05:21.840 |
we should listen well to both doctrine and instruction." And the reason why I wrote that 00:05:25.760 |
is because whenever we move into a section that's highly applicational, and there's lots 00:05:30.720 |
of commands that are going to come one by one, we take a moment to kind of reflect, 00:05:36.120 |
like, "Are we ready for this?" Right? If we're not ready, then we're gonna just do exactly 00:05:40.560 |
what I just described. Like, "What? Where is this coming from? Do you even know how hard 00:05:44.680 |
it is? Do you know how much I've already tried? Are you not appreciating how much blood and 00:05:49.480 |
sweat I've already put into walking like a Christian?" Right? Like, if we're not ready 00:05:53.600 |
for the instruction, that's how we're going to feel. But if we are ready for it because 00:05:58.560 |
we've been paying attention, we've been listening, then we're going to be all the more receptive. 00:06:04.240 |
What's unfortunate is in our modern church history, in recent times, when there was the 00:06:09.320 |
hyper grace, kind of like, "You don't preach imperatives, you just really have to keep 00:06:14.520 |
preaching the gospel, and the imperatives will eventually come, you don't even need 00:06:18.120 |
to mention it almost." But that doesn't show this receptiveness. Like, you really understood, 00:06:23.720 |
and therefore you're ready for the application, right? But that's what I'm going to challenge 00:06:28.160 |
us to do. In some circles, it wasn't even kosher to give an urge, right? To give an 00:06:35.720 |
exhortation. But for us, we actually should be receptive of it because we've been listening. 00:06:42.200 |
And so what I'm saying is, in maturity, we should have been listening well to chapters 00:06:45.640 |
1 through 3, and what we should be doing is saying yes to both. Yes to the doctrine, yes 00:06:51.880 |
to the instruction, and although some of us, maybe we love the doctrinal, right? We love 00:06:56.120 |
the doctrinal, we love talking theology, but when it comes to application, it's kind of 00:06:59.760 |
like, "You're not willing to go more forward." This should be a challenge to you. Both are 00:07:05.280 |
required of us. On the flip side, there have been times when people love the practical. 00:07:11.440 |
They love action. They want to produce something. They want to be a part of a movement, so to 00:07:15.680 |
speak. But when it comes to doctrine, and why, and the theology behind it, it feels 00:07:20.360 |
so dry. But as for us, again, it's absolutely important for us to know. A huge part of God's 00:07:28.720 |
Word to us is we're supposed to remember, we're supposed to understand, and we're supposed 00:07:32.880 |
to know Him. And we have to think accurately and intimately about God. But also then, we 00:07:39.160 |
have to apply, and so again, this is just a quick early exhortation that there's a requirement 00:07:44.920 |
for us to have a balance of both. That when we're doing our Bible study, I hope we're 00:07:50.280 |
not looking at the scripture as kind of like, "And how does that matter?" But also, we shouldn't 00:07:54.600 |
be looking at it as like, "That's nice, and I'm just simply admiring." Now, next portion 00:08:00.040 |
of it, the passage talks about this important concept, a broad concept, that our walk should 00:08:07.200 |
be in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Now, truthfully, 00:08:12.800 |
when I think about this term, "manner worthy," instinctually, I know, I think I know and 00:08:17.720 |
I understand. But then, when you take a moment to pause, honestly, something doesn't sound 00:08:22.600 |
right. It feels weird, right, to say, "Walk in a manner worthy of this calling," because 00:08:26.640 |
truthfully, how can we? And what's more, worthy? Like, in what way are we worthy of anything? 00:08:34.440 |
You know, what way are we worthy of God, or His call, or the path that He has set for 00:08:39.280 |
us, right? And what's more, if you think about the English definition of the term "worthy," 00:08:44.600 |
I looked it up, and it says, "Having qualities and abilities that merit recognition." Okay, 00:08:49.720 |
so the times that the idea of worth is being used, essentially, you're worth your position, 00:08:56.280 |
or you have the merit to hold your position. Or we even have idioms that say, like, "A 00:09:00.680 |
man is worthy of his wage." Essentially, his work is deserving of that kind of pay. 00:09:07.880 |
Now, when you think about the way that he's using this, obviously, he's not using it in 00:09:13.880 |
a means of, like, "By your work, you're going to merit some kind of pay." What he's talking 00:09:19.840 |
about, actually, is reverse. What he's saying is, you have this call. You essentially believe 00:09:27.160 |
in God's plan and mystery. And you must therefore live worthy of it, meaning, the more biblical 00:09:33.400 |
idea is, worthy is the Greek term axios. And that means worthy, or suitably, or properly. 00:09:42.000 |
There is a one-to-one match. As a matter of fact, that term then was used, yes, as a scale. 00:09:48.760 |
Essentially, you should be thinking about something in balance. Something essentially 00:09:53.520 |
is consistent. And that's the intuitive terms, intuitive understanding that we get, and that's 00:09:58.520 |
pretty much the way Scripture uses it through various different contexts. There are so many 00:10:03.640 |
times in the Bible, and I have those cross-references for you there that you can look up in your 00:10:07.600 |
own time, where the challenge is, you know what's been done for you. You know who he 00:10:12.840 |
is. You know who you are. You know what he's doing with you. Therefore, be consistent. 00:10:20.120 |
Therefore be. You need to actually practice what you believe. The consistency for us, 00:10:25.800 |
from going from God's command, our belief, our faith, is called into action. Right? And 00:10:35.200 |
so then, when we think about this, there is a huge challenge. For a lot of us, it does 00:10:41.720 |
have to go into this pattern where we first have to know why. We first have to have the 00:10:46.080 |
motivation, and we first have to have the foundation. However, if we do not move from 00:10:52.600 |
there to then walking in a manner that's consistent, then our lives become sarcastic. It becomes 00:11:00.160 |
hypothetical. Right? It becomes like, if somebody says like, "Oh my goodness, it's so scary 00:11:10.200 |
being out there." And then you say, "It's pretty scary." And then you end up going out 00:11:15.400 |
there, what ends up happening is your words become pretty sarcastic. Like it could be 00:11:20.040 |
taken that way. And the reason why I use that example is because we believe that we should 00:11:24.020 |
be fearing God. And if our words are simply, "I do fear God. He's pretty scary." And then 00:11:30.840 |
yet you do every single thing that communicates that you're not afraid of Him, your words 00:11:35.560 |
almost become sarcastic to God. Right? And so whenever we think of our action and our 00:11:42.000 |
words in relation to the Lord, we really have to be careful. Our yes is yes, our no is no, 00:11:49.000 |
and all those consistencies matter. Why? Because it really reveals what we believe about the 00:11:53.920 |
Lord. Okay. So in summary of that first point, it's our life as being fitting, is being consistent 00:12:02.720 |
to the righteousness, truth, and love that we have received, the gospel we have received. 00:12:07.240 |
Okay. Moving to the second point. Apostle Paul, in his challenge now, and saying, "I 00:12:15.280 |
essentially implore you to walk in a manner worthy of a calling," he says that it should 00:12:24.760 |
be done with certain character trait and manner. Okay. So he says, "With all humility and gentleness, 00:12:31.200 |
with patience, showing tolerance for one another, and love, being diligent to preserve the unity 00:12:36.820 |
of the spirit and the bond of peace." Okay. Now, again, we could just pause here and do 00:12:44.340 |
a full one hour study of just these two verses, verse two and three. But what we're going 00:12:49.960 |
to just do is walk through these character traits and the manners. And the way I like 00:12:54.080 |
to do this is because in verse one, Apostle Paul said, "I want you to walk in a manner 00:12:59.240 |
that's worthy." Let's take a moment to think about these character traits, the humility, 00:13:04.960 |
the gentleness, and so forth, in a kind of evaluative way where we ask the question, 00:13:11.320 |
"Is this pattern worthy of the gospel? Is it worthy of what we believe?" What I mean 00:13:16.360 |
by this is, let's take a list of all these things, all humility, gentleness, and patience, 00:13:22.260 |
and ask the question, "Is it consistent to what we believe in Christ and the things that 00:13:26.520 |
we've been taught in chapters one through three?" Let's first think about humility. 00:13:31.160 |
Okay. Humility. Now, when we think about humility, a lot of times it's just to think like you're 00:13:38.660 |
not -- a lot of times people describe humility in a negative term, meaning you're not bombastic, 00:13:45.360 |
you know, you're not all like pomp, and you're not all about bragging, okay? Something like 00:13:49.360 |
that. Or you're not all about thinking that you're the best, right? And essentially, yeah, 00:13:55.080 |
humility is to think properly. That comparison to you and God, you're tiny. God is massively, 00:14:02.640 |
infinitely huge, and you're just a finite being, right? You're tiny. That, in a sense, 00:14:07.520 |
is humility. But when we think about the opposite side, again, in contrast, we realize that 00:14:13.140 |
living in pride is absolutely unworthy of God. What do I mean? Okay. If I believe, according 00:14:21.840 |
to the book of Ephesians, that I was dead, completely dead in my transgressions, and 00:14:28.200 |
what's more, I was super far from God. I wasn't even close. I wasn't even as close as the 00:14:33.200 |
people of the Hebrews, right? And yet, and yet I currently now think I deserve a lot 00:14:40.960 |
more. And yet I think, like, where are my rights? It's inconsistent. To know that I'm 00:14:48.420 |
in transgression, like the rest, like everybody else, to know that I was in such -- to say 00:14:53.120 |
that I'm in transgression is I was out of line, and I was wrong, but my normal way of 00:14:57.800 |
speech is, "You're wrong, you're wrong, and you're wrong." Right? "You're unfair, you're 00:15:01.360 |
not righteous, everybody else is to blame but me." That kind of self-preservation is 00:15:08.040 |
absolutely unworthy of God. It's unworthy because that kind of self-preservation continues 00:15:13.580 |
to preserve the flesh, and it does not preserve Christ. It does not preserve the truth that 00:15:18.520 |
we've been told, and that now we believe in. That kind of pride, again, is unworthy. What's 00:15:23.840 |
more, that's a self-preserving pride, okay? Self-preserving pride. What's more, if I believe, 00:15:31.480 |
according to Ephesians 2, that I have been saved apart from my works, it is by the grace 00:15:37.040 |
of God, and it's not my deeds, it's not because of the things I have done, and yet, and yet, 00:15:44.400 |
my ambition is, "Look at what I've done!" Right? "Look at my success!" And yet, my regular 00:15:50.860 |
pattern of speech is, "Compared to you, I've done so much more!" Right? Completely inconsistent. 00:15:56.120 |
It's unworthy of the kind of gospel we have received. Why? Because that kind of self-exalting 00:16:03.600 |
pride promotes our vanity rather than Christ. Let me repeat that. Anytime we're sitting 00:16:09.760 |
there proud, proud that we're not like those lowly ones, or in comparison that we're somehow 00:16:16.160 |
better, and we believe we're better, or more significant, it completely exalts our vanity, 00:16:22.960 |
and it does not exalt Christ. It's unworthy of Christ. And so, ultimately, pride and all 00:16:29.920 |
its selfishness, self-preserving, self-promotion, all of that, it's unworthy of the reality 00:16:35.680 |
we believe. And so, the definition of humility actually is an accurate view of God and His 00:16:41.560 |
reality. In humility, you're always vulnerable to truth. When reality and truth hits you, 00:16:49.680 |
your humility allows you to receive it and believe it. It's consistent with it. The grand 00:16:54.520 |
worldview of God shows us who we are. And so, a passage I want to highlight to you is 00:17:01.240 |
Philippians. Philippians 2. Remember that in Philippians 2, 3, Scripture tells us that 00:17:05.400 |
without empty conceit, but rather with humility of mind, we are to regard others more important 00:17:11.540 |
than yourself. Okay? And again, a valid question to you then, I just tried to give some ways 00:17:18.240 |
and patterns of speech. I just tried to give some ways and patterns that we think. Are 00:17:23.760 |
your thoughts and is your speech consistent with what we profess to believe, even in chapters 00:17:29.000 |
1 through 2 of Ephesians? Okay? 1 through 3 of Ephesians. What's more, he says, "with 00:17:34.760 |
all gentleness." Okay, so all humility and gentleness, he says. Now, it's really closely 00:17:39.160 |
tied with humility. Gentleness, the most common Greek word for that is "proutess." And it's 00:17:47.840 |
most commonly translated as gentleness. It's also translated sometimes as meekness or humility. 00:17:54.760 |
So there seems to be some kind of overlap there. Now, when we think about this though, 00:17:59.720 |
when we think about the term gentleness, it is used in not just simply, "Oh, I'm humble." 00:18:05.820 |
But in a way where you're not reactive. Where essentially in your quick temper, your reactions 00:18:11.160 |
are overly harsh. Okay? So in that way, are you gentle? I want to ask a question. Are 00:18:16.800 |
you approachable? Now, when in terms of what we believe, we believe that God has been gentle 00:18:24.480 |
with us. In the sense that, all we've learned about in Ephesians chapter 1 through 3, is 00:18:30.480 |
that God has kind intention, lavishing intentions to save, to cause us to be blameless and holy. 00:18:39.880 |
Okay? He has a very purposeful and intentional dealing with us. I mean, if you look at the 00:18:47.160 |
scope of what Apostle Paul said in the salvation plan of God, can we sit there and be like, 00:18:52.240 |
"Oh my gosh, so harsh." Right? He overreacted. Like, is that what we're going to be able 00:18:57.240 |
to say and judge God? No. The complete opposite. What's more, we read of Christ. I have this 00:19:02.680 |
picture of a lion and a lamb. Because Christ is described this way when Christ said to 00:19:07.680 |
us, or the disciples, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give 00:19:12.920 |
you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle," which is the same 00:19:19.200 |
word here, "and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." Wow. I think about 00:19:27.220 |
that and I think about the character of Christ. We are saying that I have seen the kindness 00:19:35.080 |
of God. I have seen God's intentional purpose. I have seen the work of God. Like that's what 00:19:41.880 |
Apostle Paul is highlighting. I've seen the intentional work of God. Right? But, for us 00:19:49.680 |
then to have this kind of eruptive attitude where we respond to stuff where we can, you 00:19:57.160 |
know, again, the inconsistency for us to say, "My Savior has been gentle with me. I know 00:20:03.000 |
that I was a child of wrath. I know that I was supposed to be." God could have, and then 00:20:08.680 |
another way to put it is God should have punished me. Then and there. I believe that. And I 00:20:16.160 |
believe rather than doing that, God has been so kind and gentle. But what in the world 00:20:21.680 |
is wrong with you? It's so inconsistent if we work like that. And so I want to give just 00:20:28.520 |
a quick encouragement. Kind of an encouragement that I recall back when I was in seminary. 00:20:33.280 |
One of my professors, Dr. John Street, would always say, and this he would always say to 00:20:38.440 |
the men, the husbands. And he said, "Husbands, Scripture actually calls us to live in an 00:20:44.080 |
understanding way." Right? And I think all of that contributes to this idea of gentleness. 00:20:49.280 |
And he would always say, "They are like fine china, beautiful silverware that you're supposed 00:20:54.080 |
to hold. Not so loosely and weakly that you drop it, but not so harshly that you break 00:21:00.960 |
it with your own hands." And then he would rebuke and say, "Some of you guys, rather 00:21:04.880 |
than treating your wives like fine china and beautiful silverware, you treat them like 00:21:09.080 |
tupperware." Right? The idea is, do you have that kind of control? Do you have that kind 00:21:14.280 |
of intentionality? And I think that's important for us. The reason why I picked this picture 00:21:18.320 |
of the lion and the lamb is because Christ has that unique element where one person might 00:21:25.280 |
think you're supposed to be this like doormat where you're always taking the backseat and 00:21:30.560 |
yielding. But the concept actually is not like that at all. The concept more so, in 00:21:36.920 |
one of the kind of word studies of the New Testament defined it like this. It says that 00:21:43.280 |
you are able to maintain a posture. So the idea is you're in control, you're able to 00:21:47.920 |
maintain a posture before God and before circumstances where you can submit to whatever the Lord 00:21:53.820 |
gives you. Okay? That's kind of an extensive definition. But what I'm trying to describe 00:22:00.520 |
is it's not the wrong idea of somebody who's just super weak. It is definitely not the 00:22:06.360 |
idea of some that we're supposed to avoid is the idea of somebody who is overly harsh. 00:22:11.520 |
But I kind of think about a surgeon, right? If you're super harsh, then essentially you're 00:22:17.160 |
going to cut too much. If you're super weak and you're not skilled in your surgery, you're 00:22:23.040 |
just going to cut often. You're going to have to repeat the process. Question to you, are 00:22:27.520 |
you gentle? When you're not overly harsh and cutting way too deep and too much, but at 00:22:33.000 |
the same time you're intentional and you're able to actually help. Right? Okay. Moving 00:22:38.760 |
to the next thing, patience and tolerance and love. I put those things together because 00:22:44.640 |
after the study of the terms, they're really similar. Patience comes from the term macro 00:22:49.840 |
through mia. Okay. And taking literally, it means long suffering. Tolerance, it comes 00:22:55.760 |
from the term anexo my, which means enduring, okay. Enduring difficulty. And so essentially 00:23:03.320 |
the idea has this mentality where it's like, you're supposed to be able to absorb the wrong 00:23:10.280 |
done to you. And actually within both first Timothy and Titus, when it describes descriptions 00:23:16.680 |
of leaders, it says, are you able to endure when wronged? Right. And I think that's something 00:23:23.980 |
really interesting because Proverbs chapter 10 verse 12 describes an individual who is 00:23:28.240 |
wise, who is able to have a heart that covers up all transgressions. Okay. If you're an 00:23:35.400 |
individual where you are so bothered by the offense, and again, confession, right? When 00:23:42.760 |
certain offenses just really, really boil within you and you can't overcome it. And 00:23:47.480 |
sometimes those offenses aren't even sins. It's just like annoyances. You just, people 00:23:52.080 |
get on your nerve and tolerating and bearing with them. ESV translates this passage, the 00:23:58.800 |
idea of bearing, sorry, tolerance, it translates bearing with somebody, right? Some of us aren't 00:24:04.360 |
even able to do that. And some of us are more inclined like, well, you know what, if you're 00:24:08.640 |
going to offend me or you're going to attack me, the best defense is offense. And then 00:24:12.600 |
so you go and you turn that around as an opportunity to hurt the other individual, right? But scripture 00:24:19.040 |
is actually challenging us, no. Remember we were talking about consistency. The consistency 00:24:26.400 |
of what we say we're believing, right? I mean, we are talking about how in Ephesians chapter 00:24:33.040 |
three, that Christ took away with the enmity. There was hostility. We were hostile against 00:24:41.000 |
God. Well, we didn't want his kind of authority and rule in our lives. And what's more, his 00:24:46.720 |
law then, because of our hostility, because of our transgression, is hostile against us. 00:24:52.200 |
And there was this huge divide. Christ absorbed all that. And for us to be like, uh-uh, I 00:25:00.080 |
will not stand for disrespect, right? And some of us are really sensitive. If something, 00:25:05.080 |
a word they say remotely sounds like you're patronizing me, like you're diminishing my 00:25:10.640 |
importance or you're not even thinking of me, we're like, uh-uh, I'm standing for this, 00:25:16.440 |
right? The scripture actually calls us to a higher ethic, okay? Yes, is it true that 00:25:23.800 |
let's say for parenting, you have to teach your children to abide by authority? Yes. 00:25:29.000 |
Should you be allowing people to walk all over you? No. But there is an intentionality. 00:25:35.360 |
There is a gentleness that's built up in all this, accumulating to love. That your love 00:25:42.920 |
is able to actually cover a multitude of sins, right? And what's more, we are the ones who 00:25:50.440 |
are saying we believe that God has long suffered with us, with mankind for generations. For 00:25:56.760 |
us personally, I mean, we can sit and talk about disappointing, you know, God disappointing 00:26:02.520 |
us because life is hard or we have some troubles and we've hit some really rough times. We 00:26:08.040 |
have to flip that around sometimes and ask how many times have we disappointed God? And 00:26:12.880 |
why does God have to long suffer with us? Why does He even have to bear? Why does He 00:26:19.520 |
even have to wait? Why does God of the universe have to even wait for mankind to do anything? 00:26:27.080 |
He doesn't. Absolutely not. And we've been learning in this past chapters 1 through 3, 00:26:32.920 |
the amazing grace of God, right? To even involve us, to even desire for us to respond to His 00:26:42.000 |
love. It's been crazy, right? And so, if ever we have this temptation in our hearts 00:26:48.280 |
to say, "Well you know what? You're frustrating. Say what you need to say. How come you're 00:26:52.440 |
not saying this? And communicating with you is tough and blah blah blah blah blah." Right? 00:26:58.040 |
That's inconsistent. What I mean is, sometimes we're tempted to essentially write off people 00:27:03.760 |
and say, "Forget you then." Right? And at that moment, we are inconsistent with what 00:27:08.160 |
we're saying we believe. So, every single one of us, I'm sure, we want to grow in patience 00:27:14.960 |
and long-suffering. And these attitudes, these are the attitudes that are going to build 00:27:20.480 |
the unity that God desires. Verse 3 says this, okay? The third point is you need character 00:27:27.480 |
to build unity. And verse 3 says this, "Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit 00:27:34.640 |
in the bond of peace." Okay? Now, real quickly here. The reason why I separated being diligent 00:27:43.300 |
from the others is because the others described these character traits, right? That are like 00:27:49.880 |
humility and patience and things that we're all growing in. But being diligent is a participle. 00:27:55.680 |
Right? What I mean by participle is the whole idea of like the running, walking, right? 00:28:02.320 |
Basically, it's an ongoing action. And so, just as a quick definition and also an encouragement, 00:28:13.080 |
being diligent means that you're showing your eagerness. You're showing your effort. You're 00:28:17.800 |
showing your earnestness. Right? And so, let's say hypothetically we have this conversation 00:28:23.120 |
and we were telling this young man who is just like grew up staying at home and just 00:28:28.280 |
feels more comfortable being left alone. And basically, you know, you encourage the guy 00:28:32.400 |
and you say, "Hey man, let's really fellowship and get together and try to connect." And 00:28:36.800 |
he's like, "Oh man, I mean I've tried before and it's just not working." You know? Like 00:28:42.000 |
you try and people don't reciprocate. Okay? What I'm gonna do is get all nerdy and be 00:28:47.000 |
like, "But remember it was a present participle." Present meaning now. You tried, but are you 00:28:53.000 |
trying? Okay? What's more, it's a participle in the sense that it doesn't give you a parameter 00:28:59.560 |
that the whole idea is you're being humble, patient, all that kind of stuff. All of that 00:29:04.200 |
showing your earnestness to produce unity of the spirit or to preserve it. Right? So, 00:29:09.640 |
the idea is I would ask then, "Hey, it's a good thing for you to just acknowledge, well, 00:29:14.840 |
I should be trying and then to take go above that. What steps are you showing to show your 00:29:19.880 |
effort and earnestness in preserving this? Why? Because this unity is worthy of being 00:29:27.240 |
preserved. What do I mean? In the next point, in thinking about to preserve the unity in 00:29:33.680 |
the bond of peace, I want to highlight something for you. Christ, God, the spirit, the triune 00:29:42.760 |
Lord has designed and wanted this unity. And Christ specifically prayed for it and then 00:29:50.040 |
it was accomplished and therefore it is worthy of our efforts to preserve it. What do I mean? 00:29:56.680 |
John chapter 17 in Christ's high priestly prayer, he says, "I am no longer in the world 00:30:02.120 |
and yet they themselves are in the world and I come to you." He is praying to God Father. 00:30:06.920 |
"Holy Father, keep them in your name and the name which you have given me that they 00:30:11.080 |
may be one even as we are." Christ uses the unity that he has with his Father and 00:30:19.200 |
prays. This is one of the purposes of which we are doing this, is that we may be one. 00:30:25.760 |
Verse 22, "The glory which you have given me I have given to them that they may be one 00:30:30.560 |
just as we are one. I in them, you in me, that they may be perfected in unity so that 00:30:35.400 |
the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you have loved me." This is 00:30:42.200 |
a passage I've referenced a couple times actually in our study through Ephesians, I think twice. 00:30:47.440 |
Because it's so significant that the unity that Christ again wanted, prayed for, then 00:30:54.040 |
accomplished highlights and presents God's grace and love. Because remember in Ephesians 00:31:00.960 |
chapter 1-3 we learned that this is a grand purpose of God, to exalt himself, to show 00:31:07.320 |
us his glory of how extensive his love is. And what's more, God commands us in Philippians 00:31:14.160 |
chapter 2 verses 1-5, connecting our doctrines and our application. Therefore, if there is 00:31:19.960 |
any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship 00:31:25.160 |
of the Spirit, if any affection, compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same 00:31:30.800 |
mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing 00:31:36.500 |
from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more 00:31:41.400 |
important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also 00:31:46.280 |
for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. 00:31:54.240 |
So as we take a look at that, what a challenge to us. That the unity that God desires within 00:32:00.320 |
the church, God desires us to do by what Christ has already prayed for and established. God 00:32:07.820 |
has given us the bond of peace is what I'm saying. And so, if sometimes you presume that 00:32:14.780 |
certain characters and personalities in the church just don't mix. Perhaps sometimes you 00:32:20.320 |
presume that there just aren't enough commonalities for us to get together and really hang out. 00:32:26.160 |
Perhaps you presume that your Myers-Briggs letters, INTJ or whatever it may be, just 00:32:31.840 |
does not match yours. Let me tell you, the basis for our peace, the basis for our unity, 00:32:38.680 |
the basis for our fellowship was never some letters. It wasn't some treaties or it wasn't 00:32:45.280 |
some contract you and I signed. It's the bond of peace that Christ has made. And if it so 00:32:51.320 |
happens that we happen to be of similar age and if it so happens that we happen to have 00:32:55.600 |
similar interests, nice! But it's just nice. We have something so much greater. And if 00:33:04.520 |
ever you've clashed with somebody in the church and you've written them off and you said, 00:33:08.800 |
"You know what? It's better that we're just far apart." Can I remind you, that's not something 00:33:15.180 |
for you to determine. Right? If you are participating within this body and let's say you had this 00:33:24.280 |
experience where you clashed with somebody and you decide, "You know what? Let's just 00:33:29.280 |
stay far away." Or, "That's just never going to work." I know that sometimes that's a temptation 00:33:36.800 |
to think that because even in the realm of marriages, that may happen. Two people who 00:33:41.240 |
love each other made a covenant pact together may one day almost feel like, "Oh my goodness! 00:33:47.120 |
You and I are like, you know, oil and water we just don't mix." But that's not something 00:33:53.320 |
a conclusion you're allowed to make within this household. Why? Because you're not the 00:33:57.920 |
father. God has said, "I have built this church and I'm making it my dwelling place." It is 00:34:03.520 |
a spiritual family of God. And He has given us a bond of peace that supersedes whatever 00:34:10.640 |
experiences, personal clashes that we have. The differences that we have, yes, they may 00:34:16.400 |
be difficult. The differences that we have, yes, may be really evident. But just remember 00:34:22.520 |
the context of this application in what God has already taught us in chapters 1-3. And 00:34:27.760 |
therefore that context we have to highlight now. Apostle Paul reminds us of the context 00:34:32.780 |
by giving us a boom, boom, boom, boom, boom list of how much we have because that's how 00:34:37.840 |
he started it. You're so blessed. Blessed be God who has blessed you with everything. 00:34:45.200 |
He's blessed you with everything. And so he says, "There is one body, one spirit, just 00:34:51.040 |
as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 00:34:56.080 |
one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all." Okay, as you 00:35:01.160 |
look at this list I highlighted for you the term "one" because he repeats it seven times. 00:35:07.160 |
Which is the number of typically perfection. I don't want to make too much of it, but man, 00:35:11.880 |
what an emphatic little section here. This is the ground upon which we walk, as he's 00:35:18.040 |
commanding us to walk, and the ground upon which we build the unity or preserve the unity 00:35:23.040 |
that God has given us. The theme is oneness. MacArthur, John MacArthur comments on this 00:35:28.440 |
and says this, "This passage shows us that the foundation of our practical unity and 00:35:34.740 |
how we are to apply this is our spiritual oneness. Every application, every practical 00:35:39.960 |
unity that people long for, that people believe is powerful for us, comes out of the inner 00:35:45.120 |
oneness of God." Okay, and the way I like to put it is when you look at this passage, 00:35:50.240 |
I ask, "Is there a theme going on here?" There kind of is. And the theme essentially 00:35:54.800 |
is you have all that you need for unity to be truly one. Why? Because you are in all 00:36:02.400 |
of God. Or another way to put it is you have all of God. You have what God has given us 00:36:08.840 |
through his triune self. Christ prayed for that. He's there. The triune God is there. 00:36:16.960 |
There is one body and one spirit. There's one Lord, Jesus Christ, and one God, Father 00:36:22.360 |
of all. Right? And essentially that's what he's saying at the very end of it. Who is 00:36:27.440 |
overall, the Father of all, who is overall through all and in all. And therefore then, 00:36:33.800 |
as we have this theme, I want to kind of wrap things up by thinking about how does this 00:36:41.840 |
build for us that foundation we're supposed to walk on to walking unity and oneness of 00:36:47.420 |
spirit together as a church. Because that's so important, right? Well, another passage 00:36:53.640 |
that summarizes this concept is 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 13 and 20. It says, "For 00:37:02.880 |
by one spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves 00:37:08.280 |
or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. There are many members, but one 00:37:15.000 |
body." Okay? So I want you to notice something there. He says, "Whether you're Jews or 00:37:22.040 |
Greeks, slaves or free." Okay? Other parts of Scripture it says, "There's no male or 00:37:26.960 |
female here." Right? There's no, you know, Jew or Greek. There's no slave or free. I 00:37:33.160 |
mean think about the social categories. If there ever were dividing social categories, 00:37:39.800 |
those things would really separate people, right? I mean you have people who are like 00:37:43.040 |
masters and lords and then people who are property. You have people on incredibly opposite 00:37:48.720 |
sides of the spectrum on the social status. What they're even capable of, the circles 00:37:52.920 |
that they're supposed to run around in and what they're even capable of doing. Some of 00:37:57.520 |
these individuals, remember, between Jews and Greeks in the sanctuary, there was an 00:38:02.920 |
inner court and an outer court. Women and the Gentiles weren't even allowed in this 00:38:07.640 |
in this center part, right? So I want you to think about that. Now, I want you to think 00:38:13.440 |
about cultural things that bring us together and then I want you to think this, okay? When 00:38:20.400 |
the Scriptures talks about the spirit that we have one spirit, think about this that 00:38:24.680 |
we have through the spirit a new birth. We have been called by God to be a new man. Through 00:38:31.360 |
the spirit we are born again, which means we are then, we have the same origin. We are 00:38:37.360 |
then by origin united. What's more, Scripture talks about that we are this body. There's 00:38:43.360 |
just one body. This is our identity. Why? Because we are the body of Christ and he has 00:38:49.320 |
descriptions that then we organically coming together, we all play a part and there's a 00:38:54.640 |
purposeful architectural and intentional orchestrating this thing together by God. And so therein 00:39:01.440 |
lies our identity. We have the same hope, which is essentially our purpose. Our purpose 00:39:07.040 |
is the glory of God. Right now we exalt the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ 00:39:12.200 |
in his gospel in the future glory by seeing Christ exalted in him coming for us. Right? 00:39:18.600 |
What's more, sorry I keep pressing next but it's all right there. Okay, what's more? We 00:39:23.360 |
have the same Lord. We are by governance united. Think about this, people they feel the sense 00:39:30.360 |
of I mean go to a soccer game where it's not just like the galaxy and the this and that 00:39:36.120 |
team the sparks or whatever but it you know if you ever go to a soccer game where it's 00:39:41.000 |
national, national games right? We have let's say Chile and people are just singing like 00:39:46.880 |
ole ole ole ole right? Chile. And then you have you know the kind of like solidarity 00:39:53.360 |
in that. But think about this, I mean we have one king. That means we are we're a part of 00:39:59.280 |
the same kingdom. We're governed by the same majestic, gracious, righteous God who's powerful. 00:40:08.120 |
That's amazing. What's more, we're united by belief. We have this one faith. We believe 00:40:13.280 |
in the same truth and that truth has opened our eyes and all of that leads to the same 00:40:19.280 |
experience. We have been baptized into one baptism. The greatest story, the greatest 00:40:24.200 |
drama we've all experienced. There's going to be then a mutual kind of, man remember 00:40:30.520 |
when we were before and right? We're running around so lost in the dark. We have the same 00:40:37.440 |
story. I mean think about how much we have in common. And what then happens is when we 00:40:44.440 |
recognize that we have all this gracious you know elements that we have been afforded by 00:40:50.080 |
God held in common by the church. The church should have a multifaceted unity, a culture 00:40:57.840 |
of unity in Christ. The reason why I say culture is because culture it's typically built up 00:41:03.120 |
of your practice, your belief, your customs, your posture, like all that kind of stuff. 00:41:07.800 |
Your mutual understanding, all that kind of stuff built to a culture. And I pray and hope 00:41:13.760 |
that our culture is built on that common spiritual ground. Please do not come in here and request 00:41:20.880 |
that our culture be built on anything else. Whether it be sports, whether it be our ethnicity. 00:41:28.480 |
Don't ask for that. Why? Because if it's not unity in Christ we're going to have the wrong 00:41:33.440 |
culture. If it's not the character and righteousness of Christ we're not going to have the bond 00:41:37.840 |
of peace and therefore it's not going to be the right culture. The community aspect of 00:41:44.240 |
this. It has to be built here. And the question I have for you is looking at this list, why 00:41:52.200 |
do we sometimes talk and act like we don't have much in common? Right? It's like sometimes 00:41:59.000 |
we walk into a scenario or rumors like, "I feel so out of place." Why? Why do you walk 00:42:07.440 |
into a church group at our own building and feel so out of place? And we know why. I mean 00:42:15.240 |
I know I'm asking almost like an annoyed way. I do this sometimes, right? Because you're 00:42:21.800 |
afraid on a superficial humanistic what you see with your eye level you're not the same 00:42:26.840 |
as everybody else. But this is where we too have to continue to practice our faith. We 00:42:33.640 |
shouldn't walk into a room, let's say there's somebody across the room who's 65 years old 00:42:38.040 |
who have children my age. I shouldn't sit there and think like, "Well what am I supposed 00:42:42.800 |
to talk about?" We have the same origin, identity, purpose, governance, belief, experience, and 00:42:47.840 |
culture. We've got stuff to talk about. We have an opportunity for fellowship. You know 00:42:56.200 |
I watched this interesting interview and disclaimer it's a little political here. A news reporter 00:43:01.200 |
who's clearly conservative was asking a young black Muslim girl who is demanding repayment 00:43:08.160 |
for slavery from the government and also establishment of safe zone cities. If you guys don't know 00:43:14.160 |
what all that is you guys could probably look it up. Safe zone cities, safe spaces, and 00:43:18.760 |
repayment for slavery that happened a while ago. And the reporter asked, "Don't you think 00:43:25.440 |
you're going a little overboard? You are asking for stuff which within your mind and your 00:43:30.720 |
perspective makes sense but none of this applies to every American citizen. You can't apply 00:43:36.260 |
this to every American citizen." And the reporter asked, "You're a citizen like everybody else." 00:43:42.560 |
And the girl responded, "Look I'm first a black female Muslim American but in that order." 00:43:49.600 |
And the reporter said, "Oh I see but we have a problem." Now the reason why I point this 00:43:57.520 |
out is because you and I exercise a priority in our identity in our mind. We have a worldview 00:44:05.360 |
by which certain things take precedence. We have a worldview where certain things matter. 00:44:10.640 |
We don't sometimes intentionally put it there but that's how we've operated. And for a young 00:44:15.440 |
girl she has certain identity portions that are completely first tier priority for her 00:44:21.400 |
and therefore when asked the question, "What about your general citizenship?" She says, 00:44:25.560 |
"That's last on the podium for us." We have to think about this and say, "You, whether 00:44:35.960 |
it's culturally, identity, all that stuff. You are first of Christ. You have one God 00:44:44.200 |
and Father and everything else you just happen to be. Your first and foremost priority identity 00:44:51.760 |
is of Christ and everything is a far far second." And so Apostle Paul is pointing to this. If 00:45:00.680 |
you understood chapters 1 through 3, we have incredible foundation for unity. We have everything 00:45:09.360 |
as we abide in Christ to belong to the family of God as God is building up that household. 00:45:16.600 |
To keep the unity of faith is a worthy cause and that is the proper worldview. You know 00:45:22.440 |
I was so challenged that a lot of commentators mentioned, "Think about every treaty that 00:45:27.400 |
has been made in history between nations and countries. How many of those percentage wise 00:45:32.240 |
do you think have been kept where neither parties you know made any kind of infractions 00:45:37.380 |
and transgress the stipulations of those treaties?" Very few. No treaty, no mutually beneficial 00:45:45.000 |
agreement or contract is going to do and provide for us the kind of powerful unity and oneness 00:45:52.600 |
that we know is so precious, is so pleasing to God and also beneficial for us. It's sweet 00:45:59.960 |
for us. It's lovely. It's amazing. Nothing on earth is going to produce that. Only the 00:46:09.040 |
power of Christ. Only the power of the Spirit. And so with that I want to conclude by saying 00:46:14.600 |
man Pastor Peter's sermon this past Sunday when he was talking about Christ as the light 00:46:20.840 |
and essentially is the way. He's lighting the direction and the way for us. We are all 00:46:27.800 |
on the exact same path so actually beyond even this passage we could talk about so much 00:46:33.300 |
more. Let's make sure that we're focused on the right kind, the right source, and the 00:46:38.480 |
right result of the unity that God has for us because ultimately all of that is going 00:46:44.480 |
to be pleasing to him. Let's take a moment to pray. Heavenly Father we thank you so much 00:46:51.520 |
for your grace. God, we're to think that our Savior is praying for us and that long ago 00:47:00.920 |
before we even existed of course he knew. And God his kind intention has been then meticulously 00:47:08.760 |
over such a long time. We can't even trace it ourselves because our minds are so limited. 00:47:15.320 |
All that Lord God we just thank you and we're amazed. But now Lord we're challenged to go 00:47:22.480 |
beyond our comfort zones. For those of us Father God I just feel sometimes weak to go 00:47:28.640 |
out and take initiative and all that stuff. We recognize that's not done because it just 00:47:34.320 |
happens to be to be good. But Lord it's done because it's glorious to you. Because you're 00:47:39.880 |
pleased by it. Because Father God you're honored when in your name and on the foundation of 00:47:45.440 |
Christ we're able to love like Christ. For all of that God we thank you. We thank you