Ephesians 4:1-16
Chapter four begins the main part of Paul’s letter. He starts off with a “therefore” – or a because of all of this… The first sentence is telling. I urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received. We have been called by God to do His good work. But it isn’t only that. Paul also calls us to oneness and to work in the context of a body of believers. Not out on our own as a lone ranger, but as one body working together. I believe this is a message today’s church needs more than ever.
Vs 1-6 Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that bind us. There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to one hope at your calling one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Paul begins this section by calling us to oneness. We are to accept one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with peace that binds us. The word for diligent here is spoudazontes, which means to be eager or zealous. So we should eagerly and zealously keep the unity of the Spirit. God’s desire is that we should be as One. In Psalm 133, David puts it this way; “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard onto his robes. Today we don’t really appreciate the significance of this illustration. The thought of oil running down our face or beard seems kind of messy. Besides, what does this picture have to do with unity? This is where a little Leviticus can be helpful. You know, that under read book of the Old Testament? But if you were to read through you would discover what the priest was wearing at the time of anointing. Yes, his clothes are VERY important. But first let’s look at the oil. This isn’t your everyday olive oil you buy from Costco. It was particular oil made up of several oils like cinnamon, myrrh, sweet calamus, cassia and olive. It would have been very fragrant, a sweet aroma going to heaven. Now to what the priest was wearing. At the time of anointing, he would have had a breastplate on with the 12 tribes of Israel depicted on it. So here is the picture. This amazingly fragrant oil would have flowed down from his head, down his beard and onto this breastplate where the oil would have then flowed onto all the tribes of Israel. The picture David is painting for us is one of unity of all the tribes of Israel. He says, “Hineh ma tov” – How good and pleasant it is. This is God’s desire for us. He wants us to be in unity. Paul drives this point home by saying – there is One body, One Spirit, One hope, One Lord, One faith, One baptism, One God and Father of all. He is above all, through all and in all. In case there was a doubt – unity is where we must begin. In this fractured world we live in, it seems unity is out of our reach. We can’t agree on anything anymore. Yet we are called to come together in love as one body of believers. Not only that – we are told to diligently strive for this. How? By coming together in prayer. When we pray with one another, the Spirit of God can create in us clean hearts and renewed minds.
Vs 7-10 Now grace was given to each on of us according to the measure of the Messiah’s gift. For it says: When He ascended on high, He took prisoners into captivity; He gave gifts to people. But what does “He ascended” mean except that He descended to the lower parts of the earth? The One who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
To me this is amazing. Grace is not measured by my standard, or by how good or bad I am. It is measured by the Messiah. He ascended on high and He now sits at the right hand of the Father. The scripture quoted here is Psalm 68, which is a Psalm about God’s majestic power. It opens with this: God arises. His enemies scatter. He is a mighty God and when He arises, we all fall down before Him. The fact that he would descend is amazing. Just think about it – the Almighty God of heaven descended to earth to walk among us, and die on a cross for our sins. It defies all human logic. But then, even more amazing, He ascends far above all heavens where he makes intercession for us and He gives us gifts.
Vs 11-13 And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
The gifts listed here are just some of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We can find another list in I Corinthians 12:4-11. “Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different ministries, but the same Lord. And there are different activities, but the same God activates each gift in each person. A demonstration of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial: to one is given a message of wisdom through the Spirit, to another, a message of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another, the performing of miracles, to another, prophecy, to another, distinguishing between spirits, to another, different kinds of languages, to another, interpretation of languages. But one and the same Spirit is active in all these, distributing to each person as He wills.” By no means are these an exhaustive list of the gifts the Holy Spirit. The Spirit gives the gifts we need as a body of believers so we can best glorify God through the building up of the body of Christ. There are many gifts, but One Spirit. There are many parts of the body but One Lord. There are many believers but One God. Throughout the chapter there is a call for unity of the body. The gifts are not so we can boast of our achievements. They are given to do the work of the Father. I love what it says in 1 Corinthians. God activates each gift in each person. These gifts are not only given to us by God, but He activates them. God empowers us to do His work.
Vs 14-16 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. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head – Christ. From Him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part.
As we grow to maturity and allow God to work in our lives, we will find it easier to distinguish between the right teaching and a false teaching. I have seen so many believers follow every new thing that come down. They are truly like waves being blown around by the wind. I have also seen several little things wiggle their way into our churches to become “sacred traditions”. They lack in biblical foundation yet remain the hardest things to let go of. Sometimes, these traditions have even divided churches. This is why Paul has written to us about unity. He says we must speak the truth in love and grow in every way into Christ. Through Him we are knit together. When we follow God, the body will grow and discern what is right and wrong and be able to weed out the false traditions. When all the parts of the body are working together, moving in the same direction, then that’s when the kingdom of God will come to earth as it is in heaven.
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