Lessons from Ephesians No.2 Unity and Diversity

As a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, when he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men. What does he ascended mean? Except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions.

He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the full measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.

Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbour, for we are all members of one body.

In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. I'd be glad if you'd have your Bibles open at Ephesians in chapter 4. We've been, shall I explain, for friends who are not regularly with us here at the tab, we've been looking through this passage of Scripture for some weeks, and we've been concentrating, as I mentioned earlier, on the doctrine of the Trinity, which comes out in some of these verses, as you'll discover in a moment or so. And this morning I want to speak to you about a subject I've entitled Unity in Diversity, and you will discover the reason for that title in the sixth and seventh verses.

One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all, but to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. And if I were to put a subtitle to what I want to share, it would simply be this, a look at congregational life, a look at congregational life. One German philosopher suggested that the human race is really like a band of porcupines on a cold day with sub-zero temperature.

They endeavor to huddle together to keep warm, but as they do they have the discomfort of jabbing one another. And so they go back again and they repeat the painful attempt at trying to get warmth by relating one to the other. David Watson, the dear brother to whom reference was made, who's been called to be with the Lord in the hours of last evening, said this in a most significant book that he wrote, many churches know little of the depth of Christian fellowship which the New Testament presents as norm.

Some congregations consist largely of isolated and independent individuals who may select a small circle of like-minded friends with whom they share, if at all. Listen to that again. Some congregations consist largely of isolated and independent individuals who may select a small circle of like-minded friends with whom they share, if at all.

It's the problem of the porcupine. Coming together, relating, finding that it hurts and therefore you spring aside again and you just become a sort of onlooker, a pew warmer. Thank God that you come along and that you taste the word that is proclaimed and that does you good, but it stops just there.

There's a sort of spiritual affiliation with the pulpit, but there's very little empathy at a social level, at the level of a brother, at the level of a sister. Now why am I saying this? Because I think it's embedded in what the Apostle Paul is trying to share with the Ephesians, if you'll hear me out in this fourth chapter. Incredibly, we discovered him in the opening verses reminding the Ephesians that he's still a prisoner, a prisoner for the Lord.

He's been praying for these Ephesians and what a prayer he offered. We studied it last year. And right at the forefront of his mind as he's still reflecting about these dear Christians of Ephesus is a desire which he expresses in terms of an urge, verse one.

And the urge is simply this, that they might get on with one another. Paraphrasing the verses here and towards the end of this chapter, that they may have a mutual accord, that they may love one another, count with one another and have such a delightful affinity that there's nothing on earth to be compared with the relationship that exists between Christian brothers and sisters in Ephesus. Now this is something that's very, very deeply rooted in the heart of Paul.

Some think of Paul as a doer theologian. He was nothing of the sort. He was a theologian, but he wasn't doer.

And what he was very concerned about was that the effects of the gospel of committing your life to Jesus Christ was worked out in terms of human relationships. And so in a staggering fashion he gives to us a grand illustration as to how we ought to live our lives and relate one to another. And in what can only be called a gigantic theological leap, in the fourth verse he brings into play, and in the fifth verse and in the sixth verse, the whole concept of the triune God.

One God, the Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and God the Father. And when he describes these three persons of the Trinity, he uses the same qualifying word, one, and shows to us their unity. Unity in essence and unity in purpose.

That's how the Godhead exists, says the Apostle Paul. And we've examined his language in some degree, and I've spent two Sundays just preaching on the doctrine of the Trinity, and I ought to have spent at least a half a dozen more, for there's so much to be said. But I did not want you to lose the reason why Paul starts to teach on the Trinity from the fourth verse right through to the sixth verse.

And the answer as to why is simply this, to give an illustration as to how you and I ought to live. You are to be imitators of the Godhead. You say, that's a very, very bold statement.

Yes indeed, but it's not mine, it's Paul's. He beat me to it, and I'd have never worked it out myself, I'm not cute enough. Look at the 24th verse of this chapter.

Put on the new self, created to be like God. That's how Christians are to be, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. And if you want it really tied up in a parcel that's easy for all to unwrap and understand, take the first verse of the fifth chapter.

Be imitators of God therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us. The problem with the porcupine is that he, as an animal, he or she, does not easily get on with his friend. And yet the glorious thing about the Trinity, says the Apostle Paul, is that each member is of the same essence and relates to one another in a fellowship that is never broken, it's absolutely unique, it's really wonderful, and Christian people are to reproduce that amongst themselves.

What the Trinity illustrates, the congregation demonstrates. And if we're an assembly of porcupines, the notion creates humour in my mind as I project it at the moment and look at you. With great respect, you have the singularly unpleasant thing of looking at me.

If we're if we're a congregation of porcupines, then we cannot, can we, in any sense of the word, reflect, demonstrate what the Trinity illustrates. Well what particularly is it that we've discovered about the Trinity that is so wonderful? Let me show you one thing. There is in the Trinity an essential unity.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Trinity is one. It's something that we can't mathematically work out, we accept it by faith.

There is a cohesion, there is an accord. That's why the Apostle uses those describing that descriptive word, one, when he refers to the Trinity and the functions of the various members of the Trinity. So there is an essential unity.

And it's not just a nominal unity. When the Lord Jesus is on earth, he very often makes reference to the Father. He says, my Father and I, we're one.

That doesn't embarrass Jesus, but logically that seems a little absurd. And in the early morning, and at the cool of the day, in the evening, what do you discover the Lord Jesus doing? Well, he's engaging in prayer with his Father. He enjoys his Father's company.

And when the Lord Jesus prepares the disciples for taking leave of this world, he says the Holy Spirit will come. And when the Spirit of God comes, he'll glorify me. He'll lead you to me.

You see the point? The Spirit, the Son, and the Father, they all exist in a remarkable relationship of unity. It's not nominal. It's genuine.

And when the Apostle Paul makes reference to the Church of Jesus Christ, in these verses, he does so in a way that preserves our individuality, and yet also indicates our solidarity, that we are differing, and yet we have a grand common denominator. Look at that seventh verse. To each one of us, he's now referring to the Church in Ephesus, grace has been given.

Oh, there is this unity in the Trinity, and yet the Trinity are three. There are three persons. You people in Ephesus, generally speaking, you could be described as the Church of Jesus Christ, but you're all individuals, and to each one of you has been given grace, has been given particular functions, that you can use in the advance of the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you drop down to the 12th verse, again he describes the Church, because this passage is full of a congregational background. He speaks about God's people, doesn't he, in verse 12. And then if you move up the page, if you're following the NIV, and go on to the next page, you discover in the 16th verse, the Church is referred to as a body, the whole body.

And then down into the 24th verse, that the Church, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, is also, verse 25, a body of which we are all members. Now there are other illustrations I could give you, but you can read through the chapter at your own leisure. The point is this, that we all are joined together with that one common denominator, that we love the Lord Jesus, we recognize the sovereign authority of God, and we're indwelt by the Spirit.

But my dear friend, it doesn't stop there. That could be just academic, it could be nominal. Do we count with one another at a relationship level? Are we essential to each other? One of the great problems in Christian churches, and this is what breeds the porcupine mentality, is that sometimes we don't really count with one another.

We come to church and we're more like billiard balls on a table, and we sort of click as we're singing hymns, and as we listen to an address, and then we go our different ways. The billiard balls are never joined together in a match, it would ruin the match. Therefore the illustration is not terribly good, but at least it hammers one point, that it's possible just to come to church and click and go away.

No essential unity at all. And what does that cause? A deep sense of loneliness for many a person, a feeling of not being wanted. There is sometimes, alas, in our churches, a lack of confidence in one another, and yet there's a great confidence in the Godhead.

I am afraid to tell you who I am, because if I tell you who I am, you may not like who I am, and that's all that I have, and so I'm afraid to be truly honest with you. Christian love, says David Watson, must enable us all to form strong brother-sister relationships with the wider family of God. If we fail here, we've nothing to offer the lonely, single, divorced, and the widowed members of the church, with solo parents and numerous other groups who need help.

It is a problem, you know. If in a church community such as this, and I'm not suggesting it is the case here, not entirely, at any rate, if we don't have an essential unity, a need one for the other, because you're my brother, you're my sister, and I must share myself with you, and you with me, and then across the age spectrum, across the sex divide, sharing with each other, because we're part of the body of Christ. That's one of the reasons why if you check the history of revival, you will discover something that some of you now are going to find hard to swallow.

Whenever there has been a great revival movement, the large numbers of people who have been involved in Christianity have always been broken down into small units. The reason for that being, you can relate together in a small unit, but in a group of four, five hundred, one thousand, two thousand, as the case might be, you can't. You can come and worship the living God, you can listen to an address as it's directed at you, but there's more to being a Christian than just listening to addresses and coming to church.

And so, you get a name coming into your mind, at least comes into my mind, by the name of John Wesley. Now, what is Wesley famous for? Well, he was used by God in the great revival in the 17th century in our country, along with George Whitefield. Remarkable man was Wesley, equally remarkable was Whitefield.

And yet in one sense, John Wesley and Brother Charles Wesley had a greater understanding, if I might be so bold as to criticize Whitefield, a greater understanding of what it meant to be a Christian than even Whitefield did. Why do I say this? Well, Whitefield, Wesley, they came together and the people who were converted as a result of their ministry, they were formed together into little groups. They called them the classes.

The very denomination that Wesley gave birth to is called the Methodists. Why? Methodists. There was a method of coming together which was vital for the continuation of the blessings of the revival.

And there in Bristol, where Wesley and his brother had been preaching, the Colliers had come to a knowledge of Jesus as Lord. And they were brought together in little groups, in little cells, and they related one with another. It was most important.

If you go back to the time of the Moravians, which is before the ministry of John and Charles Wesley, you discover a man by the name of Count Zinzendorf, and he is doing exactly the same on the continent, bringing together little groups of Christians so that they can relate one with the other, and love one another, and then come together in larger units, sometimes for Bible teaching and worship and what have you. There is a tremendous value in having a small group of people to whom you can belong, to whom you can relate. And very often those who don't like the idea of coming together in a small group are the ones who are lonely, and the ones who for some reason or other never find it possible to share their heart with somebody else.

They're in that small little enclave of friends that they've known for years, but they've never shot right across the church, never shot across the age barrier, and there is a tendency just to become a little bit exclusive, and not to enjoy the benefits of Christian fellowship and friendship. And I say that the very doctrine of the Trinity militates against that attitude. Jesus preaches to thousands, but he has a community that is close-knit one to another, and to himself called the disciples, and there are only twelve, because that's about the maximum number you can ever relate to at a deep level all on one occasion.

And so I put out to you that here Paul is preaching in terms of a congregational background, and he wants these people to know one another, to love one another, and he gives the illustration of the Trinity. And the Trinity, the Godhead, has this remarkable characteristic, one of essential unity. But then there's something else about the Godhead that is most interesting, and we've worked this out in our previous studies, and that is its equal diversity.

What do I mean by this? Well, the Spirit remains the Spirit. There are certain operations which seem to be his, though there's an overlap with the Son and with God the Heavenly Father. But nonetheless, there is that which differentiates the Spirit from the Son.

There is that which differentiates the Son from the Father, and so forth. Now that's the same within the Christian community. My dear brothers and sisters, I hardly need to tell you this, we are not all the same, and we don't all have the same gifts.

We don't have the same type of power that develops gifts flowing through our spiritual lives. There are a variety of gifts. There is a grand recognition of our individuality as members of the congregation.

That's what the Apostle says in the seventh verse. To each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. And therefore, the question that needs to be put and answered is, how are you functioning within the body of Christ? To what degree are you relating to and helping each other, and helping the Gospel along? We're not absorbed into the body of Christ as one great big mass.

We're individuals. We all have a part to play in sharing, one with the other, the things that God has entrusted to us. Now again, you find this so remarkably worked out in the Trinity.

When the Lord Jesus Christ comes on earth, what happens? Well, he submits himself, does he not? I brought this out before you quite clearly, I trust, last week. He submits himself to the needs of people like ourselves. As a result, he was made a little lower than the angels.

A holy submission. It marked the ministry of our Lord Jesus, and he gives the disciples a visual aid lesson as to how they are to learn from him. When he takes an apron and puts it around his waist, and can you believe it, the Lord of Glory, the one who brings the world into creation, he washes the feet of his disciples.

He submits to their needs. And one of the great problems in the Christian church is that people find it so hard to submit. The Trinity was interdependent, not independent.

An independent person just does his own thing, without any relationship at all to the common good. The Trinity did not behave like that. Our Lord Jesus submits to the will of the Father, and throughout the whole of his incarnation, his time on this earth, he is showing that loving submission to the Father.

And ultimately, the Spirit will submit to the Lord Jesus. As the Lord Jesus returns to heaven, the Holy Spirit comes on earth. And what does the Spirit do? Glorify himself? No, he glorifies the Lord Jesus, who in turn has been glorifying the Father.

Now, these things are not purely theological concepts. They are that, but they're more than that. Here is the most glorious lesson as to how you and I are to live our lives and be in relationship one to another.

We submit. As Christians, if we feel that God has called us to a particular church, we submit to the structure of that church, and to the leadership of the elder, or whatever terms may be given to those who have authority. As spiritual men, working out on their knees before God, what is the best for our church? This is the principle of submission, you see.

We're not a collection of independence. We're a collection of people who are members, one of another. Part of the body, as the Apostle makes it clear in verse 16, from him, the Lord Jesus, the whole body, you and me, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Loving submission. And then there was something else that's obvious in the Trinity, and that is an equal distribution of duties. There was that which attended the ministry of the Spirit.

That's why the Apostle refers to the Spirit first when he brings into play the illustration of the Trinity. Why? Well, you see, it's the Spirit who first seeks us out. It's the wooings of the Spirit that draws us to the Savior.

It's the Savior who dies. It's the Savior who presents us to the Father. There are equal responsibilities within the ministries of the Trinity to bring about the final goal of glorifying God and redemption of believing mankind.

Now, that's the same in the Church. There are graces given to you and to me. What does that mean? There are an empowerment that we receive to work for the advance of the Church and for the benefits of one another.

So the Apostle says to each one of us, grace has been given us. Christ apportioned it. And he knows a lot about grace, does Paul.

He says in another passage of Scripture, the grace that God given me, that God gave me, it wasn't given in vain. Vain inasmuch as grace can be wasted. Clogging up the system, not taking your particular responsibility seriously, allowing others to minister where you should be ministering.

And as a result, there's an unequal distribution of work within the body of Christ. I was watching a TV program last week, just for a few moments. I think it was on the newest channel.

And it just had to do with the great lorries that are coming across from the continent to our British roads. And the problems that they're causing. Because sometimes the roads are not, were not geared to take that type of tonnage.

And sometimes the weight is distributed unequally. It's all on the back axle. Sometimes the problem is not in the road, the problem is in the distribution of the load.

And if it only had been more carefully put on the lorry, there would have been no difficulty at all. And often within a congregation, one of the problems is an unequal distribution of the load. I let somebody else do that work.

Oh yes, I got a home. And there are people who live across the road from me who I don't really know, though I've seen them in church. But let somebody else show them fellowship.

That's what I mean by an unequal distribution of the load. We should all in some part be vitally involved in the advance of the gospel, in the building up of people in the most holy faith. That is our privilege.

And one of the things you discover from the Trinity is that each member of the Trinity looked after his own specific function and did so in an admirable way. But the great problem within the Christian church is an unequal distribution of the load. And one of the things that concerns me, I speak humbly and lovingly at the tab, is that in some measure, we are guilty of that.

Now some folks have to make immediate exceptions for themselves. Elderly people, those whose health is not all it should be, they must deafen their ears to what I'm saying at the moment. But that only applies to about one-fifth of our membership of 500 people.

Within the ranks of the other 400, graces are distributed. There are things that we can all attend to. If everyone attended to a spiritual function in the way that you do, would the Tabernacle, or any other local church for that matter, be up for sale within a matter of few weeks? Because there is no efficiency, there is no willingness to voluntarily take upon yourself those things that you could quite easily do in terms of the advance of the Gospel.

You see how practical the Apostle Paul is when he's referring to the needs of the Christian community here. It comes out time and time again, they are to minister to one another. He tells them in the 30th verse, don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, and anger, brawling, and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate one to another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God therefore, as dearly loved children, and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us, and gave Himself up for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

You don't live a life of love simply by singing when I survey the wondrous cross. I would go so far as to say that you could insult the spiritual genius who wrote that hymn. If in Monday through to Saturday there is no other vital contribution that you're trying to make towards your brothers and sisters who are part of the church community, or in endeavoring to reach others who are unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, live a life of love.

This diversity of gifts that are to be taken and used in the name of God, that's the challenge of this passage. It comes through time and time again if you read those verses. But then there's, I'm nearly out of time this morning, let's take the third aspect of what I want to share with you.

There was in the Trinity not only an essential unity, an equal diversity, but what I have clinched in terms of homiletics by saying an effectual policy, an effectual policy. Why did the church work, why did the Trinity work together on earth? Well the Apostle makes it very clear in the opening verses of this epistle. The Trinity works together to bring about the redemption of believing mankind.

In the 10th verse you read that one day He will bring together all things in heaven and on earth under one head, even Christ. There's a common objective you see behind the ministries of the Trinity on this earth. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

One thing towards which they are moving. Now that should be the case for you and for me as members of the church of Jesus Christ. What is our function? Well it is to build up the body of Christ.

Look at the 12th verse of the fourth chapter. God has given various ministries, some special, some general, and the ultimate reason for giving these grace functions is to prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God. I wonder if that really is your objective.

That's the reason why you're a member of this fellowship or any other fellowship. To work alongside your brothers and sisters. To see the purposes of God released in the area where you happen to be living.

Now for that to come about you've got to be involved. You've got to be involved with one another. You've got to recognize your need for one another.

An ability to share unless you're in the categories to which I referred earlier in terms of seniority or ill health. There is no reason for you just being in our church on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening if there's no relationships that are being built up by you towards your brothers and your sisters. If you're not using your home, if you have a home, you're not using your time for all of us have got time in the interests of others, then the very doctrine of the Trinity is and the illustration that it brings indicates the deficiency with which you're continuing your Christian discipleship.

The apostle has an urge for these Christians here at Ephesus. It's an urge that they'll get on with one another. That they'll relate to one another.

And despite the problems, despite sometimes the jar, the jarring and the jabbing, they'll work at it so that there is such a unity amongst the church in Ephesus that it is a reproduction of the unity that exists amongst the Godhead. That's the challenge and that's what Paul has to say as you work your way through this chapter and we'll be coming back to that in the weeks that are to come. Amen.

Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. Be imitators of God therefore and live a life of love. Father, the demands are high but the illustration is wonderful.

Help us to demonstrate what your Word illustrates so graphically in our Christian fellowship here at the tab for the Savior's sake. Amen.