“Unity in the Church”

(Ephesians 4:1-16)

Series: Christ and the Church [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

February 21, 2021

The Passage

Ephesians 4:1-16

1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7 Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 For it says:

When he ascended on high,

he took the captives captive;

he gave gifts to people.

9 But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? 10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things. 11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

Introductory Comments:

One of the greatest challenges in local churches is disunity. The stereotypical squabble in churches is the squabble over the color of the carpet. There can also be disunity over the choices the pastor makes, disunity over the use of funds, disunity over music preferences, disunity over the type of curriculum used, and more. Some of these silly issues have even resulted in church splits. 

Indeed, our own church saw disunity in the not too distant past. We praise God and thank Him for restoring unity in our church. Amen?

In Ephesians, Paul has spent the first three chapters speaking about the incalculable riches of Christ, one of which is the unity brought about by the work of Christ and the power of God’s Holy Spirit. 

Today, Paul makes a shift in his teaching to speak about practical truths for the Church. He gives us instruction and knowledge that will better help us operate as a church in which Jesus Christ is the head. So, we better pay attention. 

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer before we go any further and ask Him to speak to us through His Word. 

(prayer)

Klyne Snodgrass wrote a commentary on the book of Ephesians (I didn’t make up that name by the way). In his commentary, Snodgrass says, “No passage is more descriptive of the church in action than Ephesians 4:1-16.” Well, that’s the passage that we’re studying this morning! So, let’s see what God wants to teach us through the words of the apostle Paul. 

Today, we will be focusing on unity. We’ll discover three arenas in which we should have unity. 

First, we should have . . . 

I. Unity in our walk (vv. 1-6) [on screen]

Paul tells us to walk in a certain manner. When he speaks of walking here, he is speaking of the way that we live our lives. In other words, we should have unity in the way that we live. 

It’s also noteworthy that Paul is coming back to this idea that he is a prisoner of the Lord. He wants to remind them that he is suffering so that they may know the truth of God, experience the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and live as the church God’s called them to be. It’s almost as if