Unity in Christ

We are finishing up our “Grow Up” series as we look at what it looks like to live in a community of believers biblically. I hope this has been an encouraging and challenging series for those of you who are already members of our body, serving as a refresher of what is expected of members of the church here. I hope for anybody who is considering joining us, that you will continue to seek God’s will, we would love to continue to walk along-side you in that process in any way we can!!

A local body of believers functioning as Christ, the head of the church intended, is essential to reach the community around us and beyond. We are a corporate body, made up of individuals, and our prayer is that we as individuals are continuing to be intentional with the “FOUR” people in our recreational circles, work context, family, and neighborhood continuing our “4 the City Emphasis.” (see the big display on the stage)

We are in Ephesians 4 today, we’re going to focus on 11-16, but I want us to read starting in verse 1. So, turn with me there, and let’s jump in! (read scripture)

This is called the UNITY chapter. And the first part reads like a pre-game speech. Any Coach O fans out there? He has a famous catchphrase, One Team (One Heartbeat). Geaux Tigahs.

Like the Tigers or any team, everyone needs to be united for one purpose, even if they are all fulfilling different roles.

A little context here, Paul is writing primarily in v.11-16 to people who are already Christians. People who are already a part of a local body of believers as well. It will be an essential part of Pauls's legacy on the young Christian church to keep them united towards the purpose of bringing glory to God’s kingdom on earth.

So some questions about unity…..
1.) What unifies us? Jesus
2.) What are we united against? The winds and waves of the doctrine that can toss us all around, and the deceitfulness of man
3.) How do we stay unified? Together, with Jesus as the cement or the glue that binds us.

It sounds like I did three points, scripture, and a little anecdote, right? So sermon over? Unfortunately, the sermon isn’t over yet; let's dive a little deeper. Buckle up.

Unity is NOT Uniformity

(v.11-12)

Our first week in this series, we looked at living in community, and all of the different parts that individual Christians play in the body based on the spiritual giftings and parts of the body laid out in 1 Corinthians 12.

This passage begins with the laying out of roles, mostly leadership roles, but also roles different parts of the body have within the church, meaning that different people serve different roles, and come from different starting points, all with the vision of seeing God’s will accomplished through His church.

We tend not to love paradoxes. But God is full of them, except they aren’t paradoxes for him.

Unity in the body is found in the diversity of its parts

We also will see an emphasis later on the spiritual growth of the corporate body, while we also see an
equally important emphasis placed on the spiritual health of the individual believer

Week 2 of this we looked at serving one another, and for many, the drive to serves is almost entirely found in the desire to help those we are serving, and we often walk away feeling like we experienced more change than we affected
On the surface, these things seem like paradoxes to us. It may appear that people in the community, pulling from different points of origin, would be the opposite of efficient when trying to further the cause of Christ when, in reality, oppositional movement can be the best way to move towards the unified purpose. For many of us that is so uncomfortable or counter-intuitive to have so many different parts serving different roles. But in reality, life is FULL of examples of some of the best work being accomplished through specialized roles or movements that move in opposite directions. 

When we look at the human body, the amount of diversity of movements and specialized roles is amazing! Just looking surface level. Look at the efficiency of oppositional movement. Right leg moves, left arm moves, left leg moves, right arm moves. You get marathons, sprinters, hikers…so many other amazing things out of the oppositional movement with arms and legs. Try walking using the same arm/same leg. It looks pretty silly and is VERY inefficient! You don’t get very good marathons with people walking like I just did.

Opening a jar. SO important.

Clapping Hands. Just think about trying to clap if your hands were moving in the same direction.

The roles that people fill in the body, even among the vocational ministers in a local body, may be incredibly varied, even may be seemingly opposed to each other, but when we are unified….diversity is the biggest asset we can have.

Sometimes the diversity and variety that comes with living in a city like New Orleans is an easy pill to swallow, and other times it is the worst tasting medicine ever. Usually, it is individualistic on which one it is. It could be something like in week 6 of this series; Bob mentioned his cookie dough dilemma. Some like the risk of salmonella more than others. We won’t be having a pro, and anti-cookie dough church split any-time soon though most likely. In a room, this size, there is a multitude of debates that could be had at length about life decisions and topics.

• Homeschool vs. Private School vs. Catholic School vs. Public School
• Toilet Paper Up or Down
• Sno-Ball or Sno-Cone
•  Saints or Falcons
• Republican or Democrat
• Traditional vs. Contemporary music
• Parenting Styles
• Keep the A/C chilly or sweat a little when we’re inside
• Pews or Chairs
• Chick Fil A or Popeyes (spicy chicken sandwich)

The bottom line here is. We are a corporate community made up of individuals with different stories, different backgrounds, and yet based on 1 Corinthians 12, and reinforced in Ephesians 4 today, all of the individuals in this local body of believers are NEEDED and VALUABLE. Not from a numerical standpoint. But because of the unique nature of what they bring to the table.

Why is the diversity of people and gifts necessary in the body of Christ? Because the reason gifts are there is to BUILD UP the body. Not to build a building, but to STRENGTHEN the body. There is something that each believer brings to the table that is needed by another member of the body to grow up to look like Christ. We don’t all have to look the same or have the same opinions on carpet color or Netflix shows, but we DO need to be focused on growing towards Christ, instead of getting caught up in what divides us versus where our unity lies.

In Week 6, Bob also talked about choosing to rejoice over and over throughout every day. We can CHOOSE to let our differences divide us, or we can REJOICE in the differences as we are united in Christ, and then differences can be celebrated.

Unity is a sign of MATURITY

(v.12-14)

In week 5 of this series, Taylor looked at Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth; Paul was not pleased with how the church was handling different issues, specifically who was teaching. We see the word infant being used in a negative tone as Paul challenges the spiritual maturity level of some of the adults in the church at Corinth. The enemy to Unity in the body is childish individualism.

I’m sure many of you have noticed that our passage today is the passage on our sermon bumper. The line that stuck out to me the first time I saw it was the clip from verse 14, “that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes…”

Many of us in the room immediately wrote this part of passage off because we are full-grown adults, and so anything referencing “growing up” or “children” applies to younger people, but not me, of course.

Let’s talk about that for a second.

Millennials use a term, and I’m sure many of you who have spent any time around millennials or older Generation Z’s or younger Generation X’s have heard this as well, known as “adulting.” The American Dialect Society named “adulting” “Word of the Year” in 2017. This term was meant to create a medium area between childhood, youth, and young adulthood, and full-fledged adulthood. It is both a verb and a noun, and I’m sure for some of you, it’s used often, and for some of you, it drives you crazy to even hear it.

The concept of “making it” in our society is a moving target for so many people. For some, it is strictly biological; once you are fully physically grown and developed, you’ve “made it.” For others, it’s a combination of biological and economical; once you are financially independent, you’ve “made it.” For many, the target keeps moving and moving. While the target for us subjectively may seem like it keeps moving. Strictly speaking, in our society, you are an “adult” when you are 18; after that, we have created a system where we can progress and regress emotionally depending on what day of the week it is or what mood we are in.

However, when it comes to spiritual matters, we tend to think we’ve “made it” once we become a follower of Jesus. It would even be tempting to read verse 14 in the context of, well, I’m a Christian, that doesn’t apply to me. REMEMBER, Paul is writing TO CHRISTIANS in this passage. ESPECIALLY that one. Those winds and waves of doctrine, those deceitful schemes Paul is warning against? He is warning immature Christians, not non-believers. Non-believers are not spiritual children.

Ephesians 2 says we were DEAD in our sins before Christ. If you are in Christ, you are a spiritual CHILD, then you mature. Don’t make the mistake of running with the imagery of the spiritual body incorrectly. Analogies are great, but be careful, especially when you are talking about God because they eventually fall short if you run with them too long.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because your physical body is mature, that you are spiritually mature by default. Your spiritual body needs intentional, regular, disciplines, spirit-led growth. When verse v. 12 says that the leaders describe were given as gifts for the equipping of the church, the word translated “equip” there is only used in that context here in the New Testament. Everywhere else that word is used, it means to restore, reconcile, furnish, prepare, and even to repair broken bones. All of those words imply fixing something that is broken or providing something that was not previously there.

Spiritual maturity is not an inborn characteristic for us. It doesn’t just happen. It takes intentionality.

The funny thing with spiritual growth is that the end and the means to get there are the same! Your maturity as a Christian can be measured by what we have talked about in the past seven weeks. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you living life abundantly in community?
• Are you exercising your spiritual gifts?
• Are you serving others, believers, and nonbelievers?
• Do you have a desire for the Word?
• Has the Gospel cut you to your core? Are you sharing that with others?
• Is the Gospel enough for you? Have you added other requirements for maintaining salvation without realizing it?
•  Is Jesus your Teacher, or are you holding up the teaching of one human vs. another about that of Jesus?
• Are you trying to be the Holy Spirit in the lives of others, or are you letting the Holy Spirit work through you humbly and obediently?
• Are you rejoicing always, even when it is easier to complain?
• Are you praying and giving your concerns to God, or sitting in doubt and worry?
• Are your thoughts God-led, and are you leading others to the heart and mind of God as well?
• Are you living generously, looking out for the needs of others?

All of these are questions we have been asking ourselves as a church the past seven weeks, and if you heard that long list and became discouraged because you aren’t doing all of them perfectly. CONGRATS!! You are in the right place because you’re not perfect like the rest of us. HOWEVER, we want to be united in striving to look more like Jesus each day, and by striving for those things, we are seeking after the HEART of God.

Hear me say this, whether you were born yesterday spiritually or whether you count your spiritual years in decades….there is no holding area for spiritual infants until their contribution is valuable to the body, and there is no over the hill for those who are very spiritually mature. Your roles and contributions change and evolve, but they NEVER diminish in importance and value.

• New believers: Do you want to keep from being tossed to and fro by the waves? Come alongside the mature believers.
• Mature believers: Do you want to continue to be used by God to transform lives for His purposes and His Glory? Keep coming alongside the body in the role God has called you to fill.

Remember, unity is NOT uniformity...a mature corporate (larger) body of believers is made up of UNITED believers on ALL levels.

Unity is accomplished in the context of LOVE

(v.15-16)

Look again at verses 15-16 with me. Remember again the context Paul is writing. He is writing to BELIEVERS, who are presumably a part of a church body. So, this “truthing in love” he is calling them to is primarily referring to relationships WITHIN the body.

A more literal way to look at the “speak the truth in love” would be to say “truthing in love.” Many times, we take this as a license to say whatever is on our mind and then say, "well, I'm just honest, but I love you." You can see how that would be problematic.

It is essential to establish what TRUTH is. In John 18, Jesus finds himself in an argument with Pontius Pilate. Pilate is asking Jesus if he is a king, and Jesus responds, “For this cause I was born and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate asks the question that SO many throughout history have asked: “What is Truth?” Pilate was mocking Jesus with his question, but he was also talking to the embodiment of the truth that would set us free!

Jesus is our truth and the ultimate model for loving unconditionally, without fear, based on what it would cost. The statement “I love you” on its own does not constitute “loving” someone. We are to LOVE the truth in our love for others, but not at the expense of “TRUTHING” in love. We get that twisted.

You don’t have to LIKE, AGREE WITH, or LOOK LIKE somebody to love them and be unified with them in purpose. But a lack of LOVE to fellow image-bearers of God creates fractures, making unity impossible.

1 Corinthians 13 concludes by saying of the big three “FAITH, HOPE, & LOVE” the greatest of these is love. This is an easy thing to SAY it is an easy thing to REMEMBER, but do you BELIEVE it?

If “loving” someone out of obligation, you may need to check where you are coming from. Obligation is never a long-lasting motivation for ethical behavior; BELIEF in the behavior is. For Christians, this belief is the TRUTH found in belief in JESUS. One scholar says that there are two fundamental reasons we have a hard time facing the truth:
1.) Our Pride: facing the truth is harder than facing the image of ourselves we would like to believe exists
2.) Laziness: facing the truth creates WORK for us, it forces us to make HARD decisions, and we tend to avoid those

The writer of Ephesians closes this section very; clearly, a body that is not building itself up in LOVE is not building itself up to LAST.

Unity costs us something, and yet it is worth it. A united body is a stable body, and a stable body is a mature body ready to follow the leading of Jesus. Spiritual bodies, both individual and corporate, can grow into maturity, but maintenance is not the GOAL, GROWTH (deep growth) is the goal.

As we as a body grow up together, let's dig deep, strive to unify more and more as we lock arms with each other, and see what we can do for God’s kingdom.