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The Unity of the Spirit: The Third Unity (Ephesians 1–6)

Spoiler alert: this sermon will demonstrate why it is so vital for Christians to be in church. It is going to tell you that that is exactly where God wants you to be. And it is going to encourage you to be involved with all your heart. It is going to assure you that your contribution is important and that you are empowered by God to serve.

SERMON MANUSCRIPT

There is a book in the Bible whose main theme is unity in the church. Can you guess it? Some have looked at the notes and seen the answer. It is the book of Ephesians. In this relatively short book of 6 chapters the idea of unity, whether the actual word, or synonyms like together or fellows or one (as in oneness), the concept of unity appears no less than 27 times. It is the key idea. So let’s look at our text verse right in the middle of this book, the 4^th chapter, verse 3

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We are going to discuss this unity of the Spirit and how God wants us to make every effort to keep it in a minute, but first I want to explore two questions. Why does God want unity at all. and then, “If the unity of the Spirit is the third unity, what are the first two unities?

Why does God want us to have unity?

You might be tempted to answer that it’s for our benefit because when we are unified there is more cooperation and peace among us. And that is true. But how does Jesus answer this question?

In his prayer in John 17 Jesus says this,

My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, (and by the way, that glory is the glory of the indwelling Spirit) that they may be one as we are one; I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Verse 20-23

The loving unity is a testimony for those who are yet to believe, that they see this unity and trace it back to a God who himself is unified in love, and want that love for themselves. You see unity is one of the characteristics of the triune God. Loving unity existed in the godhead before time began.

Unity is not a characteristic of God if he is solitary. For instance, if a golfer wins a tournament, they might say she had great putting, but they will not be commenting on how unified she was. But if a basketball team wins, they may very well praise them for their unity, for how well they played together. But God is a Trinity, a loving fellowship, a perfect unity working together in perfect harmony. And that is what the church should be also.

So, what are the three unities?

Getting back to Ephesians, it should not surprise you then that another key emphasis besides unity in the church is the trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are being presented as working together in the great plan of our salvation. This is not the case in other books. For contrast, in a sister letter, the letter to the Colossians, there is little mention of the trinity. Here is a question for those in my Sunday School class to answer, “Class, what is the theme of Colossians? Let’s hear it!”

Christ! The emphasis is all on Christ. But here in Ephesians, it is the trinity. There is unity in heaven in the godhead and they desire unity on earth in the church. What is more, each member of the Trinity has his own particular job to do in the plan of redemption and together they get the job done. Look at Eph. 3:6 for example.

This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

In this one verse the work of the trinity is presented. The Father’s work is first. Because I am in the family of God by faith in Christ, I am an heir of God the Father. This is the first unity. We are all heirs, all brothers and sisters in a position to inherit all the blessings of God. This unity of position is the theme of Ephesians 1.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ—-. Eph.1:3-5

God makes us sons in his family and he gives us all an inheritance commensurate with that position.

This, then is the first unity. It is the unity of the Father. It is a unity of position, we are all in the family, all heirs, all equally love and blessed by our Heavenly Father.

The Son’s work is second. It says, ‘members together of one body’. This is the theme of Ephesians chapter 2.

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. Eph.2:14-16

Through this work of Christ, we are all members of his body on earth, which is the church, and he is our exalted head in heaven. The unity here is a unity of purpose. Now we in the church all know what we are here for, not to serve ourselves, but Christ and along with fellow members of the body, to advance his kingdom on earth. Just like the parts of the body, we all have different parts to play in this work as God directs us. Working together, our job is to serve the Lord and to honour him. The unity of the Son is the second unity, a shared purpose.

Finally, we come to the third unity, the unity of the Spirit, for it says we are sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

What is this promise? It is the gift of the Spirit. Paul speaks of it in Ephesians 1:13 when he says,

Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.

This promise is what Jesus made in Acts 1:8 when he assured the disciples that that they would shortly receive the baptism of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

But you will receive power when the Holy spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And as Jesus promised, the day came and they experienced a most unique and remarkable event. In says in Acts 2: 1-4,

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

These tongues were known languages because the crowd from many different places heard the disciples in their own language. The wind and the tongues of fire were tangible symbols of the Spirit’s presence and power. Each received a blessing as the fire ended up on each one. But these tongues of fire did another thing. They connected the whole gathering of 120 into one giant power grid, like an electrical grid. This created a unity, a unity of empowerment. Jesus said, “You will receive power”, and that is what they got, power to represent Christ on earth in bearing witness to the gospel. When you got saved, you probably didn’t hear the wind or experience the tongues of fire, but you got the promise just the same, the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Going back to Ephesians 3 and verse 20 this is what it says,

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus.

Paul is talking here about the third unity that energizes the first two unities.

So this is the third unity, the unity of the Spirit and it brings power to our unity.

Three unities: The unity of the Father which is unity of position as family, the unity of the Son which is a unity of purpose to live for the Lord and unity of the Spirit which is a unity of power to accomplish that purpose.

Now we get back to our text in Eph.4:3 which says,

Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

How do we keep this unity? The answer to this question occupies all the rest of the book. So here is the interpretation of this verse:

If you are a child in the family, then get to work in building the family business and become active in the body of Christ which is the bond of peace. But, be sure you do it by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There is another verse which sets the theme for the rest of the book. 5:18

Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit

It is not enough for me to have the Spirit, I must have Him filling my heart to overflowing. Then I have an abundance of spiritual power. How is that accomplished? By being cleansed of sin and self on a regular basis and by spending time with my Lord. There is much more to say on this topic but, never fear, Josiah will come next week and give us teaching on this vital topic.

Paul now gives us five areas where we need to have this empowerment by the Spirit for the sake of maintaining unity.

For ease of memory, they all start with the letter G.

First, in chapter 4: 4-15 the G stands for gifts of grace

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. These gifts turn out to be gifted people, people with spiritual abilities who can help others grow in their faith. The wonder is this: we all have a gift to use for building the church.

Steve Hawkings is going to speak on this very topic in a few weeks, so I will try not to step on his toes or steal his thunder except to say this. We need the empowerment, the filling of the Spirit to use that gift effectively.

As you know, for some years Kathy and I worked as medical missionaries at Chitokoloki mission Hospital in Zambia. One day a gift was sent to us, a beautiful ultrasound machine, a very wonderful non-invasive tool for diagnosing illness. One big problem, none of us had the skill to use it. So, it ended up being used as a door stop in our medical storage room. Such a waste! It reminds me of Christians who, though gifted, do not seek to use their gifts for the Lord and do not seek the Spirit’s enabling. The result: waste

The next G is godliness, godly behaviour, which is discussed in 4:17- 5:18

Look at verse 4:24 which says,

Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness.

That means godliness. That new self includes speaking the truth, forgiving one another, loving one another, forsaking evil and living holy lives.

This could be discussed at great length, but I will leave that to Nate Vellekoop who is going to talk to us about the sanctifying work of the Spirit. But I can’t resist saying this one thing. If you are going to be godly, it will not be by self effort, but by reliance on the Holy Spirit’s power. Look at 4:30

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption.

This may mean that the Spirit is sad because we sin. But I think it also includes sadness over our not using his great resources of power in all our behaviours. He sees me stumble and fall because of self reliance and he throws up his arms, as it were, and says, “Come on, Jim, I’m here to help you. Trust me.”

The result of true godliness is that we serve one another I love and that promotes unity.

The third G is Glorifying God, which is worship. It comes right after our 5:18 verse, verses 19 and 20.

Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice the emphasis on one another. This is communal worship. It is one of the great times of unity in the life of the church. In the Psalms it says that God inhabits the praises of his people. Together this morning we have been praising God. It is a prelude to the day coming when all the church gathered in glory will be singing hymns of praise and worship to the Lord. But you see its connection with verse 18. This could mean that a consequence of being filled with the Spirit is spontaneous worship, and that is true. But it could be interpreted this way. In order to properly worship we need the empowerment of the Spirit. We ought always to ask God to empower us to glorify God with our words and songs. Then our praise and worship will be Spirit filled and Spirit led. A word to some of us who do not sing out. Get into the chorus. Join with your brothers and sisters in making music to the Lord. We need you to complete the unity.

By now some of you are thinking, “Is he really going to do the whole book?” and the answer is Yes. But we are almost there, so don’t dismay.

Let’s go on to our 4^th G which is Governmental obedience.

Verse 21 says , submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

What does the word submit mean? Literally, it means ‘put yourself under’. It implies a governmental structure and the need to be observant of it. This is the only time in the scriptures where he says submitting to one another so we have to get the meaning from this immediate context. Does it mean that we take turns being in charge and obeying one another? The context gives us the answer. It points out three areas where submission is called for. Wives to husbands, children to parents and slaves to masters. He could have included submission to secular government and submission to eldership in the church, principles taught elsewhere in Scripture, but he camps on these three areas here.

First in verse 22, wives submit to your husbands Why? Because God has made the husband the head just as Christ is the head of the church. So, this command does not come from tradition, it comes from God himself. It is a part of the divine order, a picture of Christ and his church.

So, my question to the wives present here is this? Is this hard to do? Yes, it is hard because men are often fallible and weak and often not as spiritually in tune as their wives.

This may seem unfair for the women but wait, what does God call a man to do in the marriage?

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her— 5:25

What does this mean? It means Christ gave everything up including going to the cross for us and that is what call calls a husband to do. For there to be a strong marriage, a man has to lay down all his selfishness and pride, and humbly pour himself out for his wife in servant leadership, just as Christ did for his church.

Men, is this hard? Yes, no room for selfish any more. We are called to serve and to lead.

Hard for men, hard for women in the government of marriage. So, what do we need to make it happen? Power. The power of the Spirit. Vs. 18 says filled with the Spirit. Verse 20 submitting to one another. They are connected in the same sentence in the Greek.

Why marital unity? Because it spills out into every aspect of church life. Husbands and wives living in spiritual harmony are essential to the greater unity of the church, because every marriage is a microcosm of the church like the cells in our body. Conversely, trouble in our marriages spells great trouble for the church. You see how much we need the Spirit for this. May the Spirit fill each one of us to do our part. Spirit-filled relationships maintain unity.

Let’s move on to the fifth G.

The fifth G is guarding

The end of the book from 6:10-20 has that great description of the armour of God that a Christian must wear if he or she is to be victorious over the devil. Much of the armour is protective, like the shield and the breastplate and the helmet, but then he gets to the last two items which are the powerful weapons of our warfare and both have to do with the Spirit. First is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God( verse 17) and second, is praying in the Spirit(verse 18).

Just a thought on what they mean. Word of God is not the usual Greek word logos but rather, the less used word, rhema. The Bible is the logos, the revealed word. The devil does not fear the bible itself. In fact, he quotes it when it is to his advantage. So what does rhema mean? It means the spoken word. It is the speaking of the bible truth out of my mouth with authority in the name of Jesus that causes the devil to tremble. When the devil is in your face, do what Jesus did, speak to him the word of God and tell him to be gone in Jesus’ name. What does praying in the Spirit mean? Some say this is praying in tongues, but there is no evidence for that. It means what is called in James the prayer of faith. It means praying with total confidence that God is able to do all things. He is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to the power that is at work within us. We must believe that. Is He able to abolish cancer from a person’s body? Yes Is he able to stop evil men in their tracks? Yes. Is he able to save even the worst of sinners? Yes. Is he able to guard our fellowship from the devil? Yes. Brothers and sisters, pray believing. This is how we employ the Spirit for guarding ourselves and the church. This is how we maintain our unity.