Walking Through Ephesians
“Walking Through Ephesians - Day 8”
Categories: Walking Through EphesiansEphesians 4:1-16
It’s time to get your steps in! When we stroll into the second half of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he is done giving us motivation and is ready for us to lace up our shoes. The first three chapters of Ephesians are supposed to affect our lives in a big way, not just our minds. Paul doesn’t want us to only think about how we should walk, he wants us to hit the road!
Paul begins describing our walk by introducing an idea that will run through the rest of the letter. The idea is unity. Paul wants us to live in harmony in all aspects of our lives. He will talk about various relationships, but the first one he focuses on is the relationship of God’s church.
Paul begins chapter three by encouraging us to be eager for maintaining unity. He gives us some good reasons why we should have unity. Seven good reasons to be exact. We have one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. That’s a pretty good starting place for unity!
He goes on to acknowledge that within our unity exists different gifts and roles given to us by God. Different roles include prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. He also states that though these are different roles, they have one unified purpose: building up the body of Christ. Why does the church need to be built up in a unified way? To attain unity of faith and knowledge of Christ. The church should be unified in their effort to build unity.
Great things happen when a church is unified. Paul tells us the unified church is:
Knowledgeable
The unified church knows truth. A unified church that is unified in error isn’t the unified church Paul writes about. The roles Paul lists for equipping the church all are meant to bring the church towards truth. Truth matters in the church. The unified church is knowledgeable.
Established
The unified church doesn’t just know truth but stands for it. Unity means a church is strong in its convictions. Paul doesn’t say the church should flex and recalibrate with the times. A church shouldn’t be embarrassed about taking a stand and staying there. A unified church isn’t fazed by the latest religious fad or cultural shift. The unified church is established.
Loving
The unified church is built with love. The fact that we are working towards unity tells us it doesn’t just come naturally. A unified church must have people that love each other. When it does it allows the church to speak the truth in love. A church that doesn’t love each other isn’t the church Paul writes about. The unified church is a loving church.
Paul describes this work of creating unity as a process of maturing and growth. He also gives us the aspiring goal of our unity: growing into Christ. That’s going to take some serious work. Strap on your shoes, let’s get walking, together.
