(God’s Magnificent Work Through Christ)
Ephesians 4:5-13
Five practical ways about how TO
WALK given by Paul (vs. 2-3)
Walk: “humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit
in the bond of peace.”
Five important words:
1- Humility.
The Greek society did not consider humility a virtue. It was more appropriate for slavery. However, in Christianity
and Judaism is a virtue. Even Christ himself was the example of humility. He
was and is our example. The best about
Christ’s humility is written in Philippians 2:5-8, when Christ emptied himself,
humbled himself, taking the nature of a servant. God
starts shaping our character, starting from our EGO. “Attention goes first to the ego and then to loving
relations.” (NIV Com. P 195)
2- Gentleness (meekness). The Greek word: praotes, noun- praus, adj
Jesus used the same word in his Sermon on the Mount:
Blessed
are the meek, for they will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5)
Praus was used for animal training, to domesticate and animal
until it becomes under control.
Aristotle
defines this word as the man who is angry at the right time and never angry at the
wrong time (Barclay Eph p. 137). It means that the person is in control of his
feelings.
3- Patience,
the Greek word makrothymia means long suffering.
It describes the spirit that
never gives in, the spirit that endures
to the end. Christian patience is the spirit which never admits defeat.
Chrysostom defined
it as the spirit which has power to take revenge but never does so; refuses to
retaliate. The spirit that bears insult and injury without
bitterness.
(Very tough
virtue for all of us.)
4-Bearing with one another in Love.
Love , agape is
essential. Please go back to last sermon about the depth of love.
But I would like to talk
about “bearing one another.”
Let me quote from NIV
“The focus on “one another” is significant. This word occurs forty times in Paul’s letters. Christians are part of each
other and are to receive one another, think about one another, serve
one another, love one another, build up one another, bear
each other’s burdens, submit to each other, and encourage each
other. Christianity is a God-directed,
Christ-defined, other-oriented religion. Only with such direction away from
self do we find ourselves.” (NIV ibid)
5-Peace
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through
the bond of peace.” (vs
3)
Paul knew that this does not
come automatically. On one hand, we have the Greeks and Gentiles with their cultural
differences. Then we have the Jews who became Christians, and brought along their
background. So the early church was similar to many churches today. Therefore
Paul says, “Make
every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit.” It needs our deliberate effort to have the Spirit of the
Lord which will bring peace in our relationships.
-Let me give you an illustration:
Imagine you are invited to have lunch with the President of the
What an honor it is, that the president is personally inviting you
to have lunch.
You start preparing for that day. Then the next day you hear that
he invited to the same lunch your favorite friends. You are excited that you
are not alone; many of you are going there.
Then you find out that he invited also people you don’t like. Ha ha, here starts the problem.
You see God is
our president. He invited everyone
to His Kingdom, you like it or not. Each has a role and gift. “One for All, All for One.”
Paul is challenging the church and saying “Bear each other, learn
to work together, learn to love one another, learn humility, learn self control,
learn to close your mouth where you should close your mouth; learn to open your
mouth where you should open your mouth WITH LOVE and gentleness.”
Now Paul gives the theological reasons for
this unity: (vs. 4-6)
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one
hope when you were called— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all
and in all.” (vs. 4-6)
Seven times Paul
uses the word ONE. Christ cannot be
divided. God cannot be divided. The Holy Spirit is one. Our hope, our faith, our baptism all are
centered in Christ and cannot be divided. Our unity, our oneness, is through
being united in Christ.
Christianity is not a “solo” faith. Yes, we do take personal commitment to
follow Jesus, but our faith reflects in our relationships with each other. Therefore
Paul says:
“God
and father ALL, who is over ALL and through ALL and in ALL.” I
do not see “me”; I do see “ALL.” “One for All, All for One.”
In chapter 2 Paul
spoke about the walls that divide us. Again we see here Paul is emphasizing how
important is the unity of the body of Christ. I feel so bad that during history
and even today churches divide, and divide, and divide for personal reasons,
and in the “name of Jesus.” (what Jesus?)
The One Body has Different Gifts (vs 7-13)
After stressing
the importance of unity and oneness, Paul goes further reminding us that the
body has various gifts.
The Spirit of God
gives its gifts to all the members. We read in John 3:34
“…for God gives the Spirit without limit.”
“But to each one of us grace has been given
as Christ apportioned it.” (7)
No one can say, ‘I
do not have any gift.’ The Spirit of the Lord gives without limit. The important
part is to put our gifts in practice.
In this passage, Paul
quotes a verse from Psalm 68. He reminds his audience that Christ is the
Messiah, who came and restored the world. He ascended high and freed the
captives.
I would like to end
this section by focusing on the gifts of the members of the body. Paul mentions
some gifts here while others are mentioned in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.
In all the churches
that I have served, I have faced the same problem. A minority of members are involved in serving. More spectators than performers.
I wonder if the
following are some of the reasons people do not serve:
-Fear: Fear of failure. Fear that people will not like the
service I do. Fear of rejection. Fear that they will not accept my ideas.
-Pride: “I know what is wrong in this church. The need me, I don’t
need them.”
“I cannot work with
these people.”
-Over-analysis: There are people who overanalyze
everything and end up doing nothing. They will do something if they know every
single detail.
-Criticism: There are those who are too busy
criticizing.
-Not enough Time: We are busy. Rush. No time.
-Disagreement between the old and the new generations
There could be
other reasons. I hope you can overcome your reasons and you can find that this
church is asking you to come and put your “gift” in action.
I am going to
list of areas I see we need people to serve:
1.
Choir
members, worship band players, make power
point songs
2.
Helpers
for the ushers.
3.
Someone
to sharpen the pencils in the pews and see if everything is in order
4.
Summer
VBS teachers, food providers
5.
Sunday
school teachers for next year
6.
A youth
leader for next year (urgent need)
7.
People
who assist Badveli lead the Sunday worship services
8.
Hosts
of Coffee Hour
9.
Someone
who is available after church to find newcomers and make them feel welcomed
10.
People to inform Badveli about needs he should
know
11.
Members and leaders of Bible study group
12.
People who will find needs in the community
and see how the church can reach out to our community
13.
A treasurer (urgent need)
14.
Many volunteers for the Food Festival
15.
A chair for
16.
A website designer
to help update our website
17.
Gardenning.
The list can go on and on but I like to end the sermon by asking each of
you to take a step towards becoming more active in the body of the Church.
Let me end with Paul:
“…to prepare
God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
That’s why it is
urgent that each of us get involved in the body.
Amen.