Unity in Christ - Deacon John Lotter
Deacon John Lotter presents Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 4 that the church be unified in Christ.
Transcript:
Today's scripture reading is from Colossians chapter 3 verses 12 to 17.
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues, put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body, you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
And all God's people said Amen to that, right?
So now that all the wrapping paper has been torn, and the mysteries of what's under the tree have been solved, will you still think about the things you received last year? Or have they been all pushed aside, in favor of all the new things? So often things distract us and take us away from what is important.
Paul's letter to the Ephesians was written to remind us that some things are constant in life, no matter what is new, or even if we hold on to some of our old things.
In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul writes about all the wonderful things that God has given to us and transitioning to the fourth chapter begins exhorting us in what we should be doing based on all that God has done for us.
So starting in Ephesians chapter 4. Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity in the spirit, in the bond of peace.
Paul addresses the Ephesians as the prisoner of the Lord. He's not necessarily referring to his physical captivity that the Romans have him in. It's that he is captivated by the Lord. So he has given his life to the Lord and belongs to the Lord. That is the captivity that he refers to in that statement that he makes so many times.
A lot of time, which yes, he did do his fair time. The, Romans kept him in prison for a significant amount of time, but the captivity of the Lord, the, that the Lord holds his heart is the more important aspect of that. If you are motivated and committed, then
you should walk worthy as Jesus did in response to the gifts that have been given to you.
So, if you have been captivated and are committed, then you should walk worthy, as Jesus did, in response to the gifts that have been given to you and the debts that have been forgiven by him. In this chapter, Paul is imploring us to use our walk in service to preserve unity of the Spirit in our mutual bond.
In verse 4, 4 through 6, we're told, There is one body, one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. In verses four through six we are given seven things that we, the body of the church, should not only agree on, but should stand firm on in our lives and in our teachings.
So going through that list, one body. The church is the body of Christ to live on this earth until he returns. One spirit, the body has one spirit that is in all of us. One hope of reaching glory in God's eyes. One Lord, Jesus, from verse one, our captivator. One faith, that Jesus is God come to earth and his teachings are from God.
One baptism, rebirth through water in faith. And of course the last one, God and father, the creator of all that is calling us to him.
Are we connected by these truths? Are we making sure that each of us is in agreement on these important points? It doesn't fall solely on the pastor to make sure each of us are educated in these topics. It is up to us to get together and spend time with one another in scripture to know where we stand on these things.
If we are not doing this, then anyone new to our group might get a mixed message and become confused or frustrated with what they are hearing and not continue to study. So these are things that we need to stand firm on that no matter who we talk to within this group of the body here at Rockland, we get that same message.
We have that same understanding of these seven points that these seven points Paul is pointing out as foundational to the unity of this group.
Similarly when a sports team takes the field, they have to have a game plan. Without a plan, the players will not know what the rest of the, how the rest of the team will react to certain situations on the field. With a well laid out plan and plenty of practice, team members can count on one another, being in position to advance their team forward toward a successful play, and then after several iterations of successful plays, it becomes a successful game and a successful team.
So No matter what game you're playing, whether it's football, baseball, anything, you need to know what your teammates are going to be doing while you're focused on the one task that you have. You know, if you're the shortstop and there's a pop fly to the right side of the field infield, you know the second baseman is going to go after that.
And if you're the shortstop, you've got to go cover second base and the third baseman goes over and backs up the second baseman in case he misses the ball and it goes past him. The whole team is moving around, getting ready for whatever might happen. And that's where we need to be in unity working together within this group.
Going to verse seven, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Christ made the sacrifice for our sins, giving us an inheritance that is beyond our comprehension.
We are told it's going to be great, but we don't know exactly how great. So that is what we all work toward and for. Continuing in verse eight. Therefore, it says when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth. He who descended is himself also he who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things. And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of the, for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
So we see here that Christ had to leave heaven to come to earth and be a sacrifice on our behalf. He also experienced a human death before he was risen again. In coming to the earth and being able to teach, he left men with the, with the ability to teach and prepare others to again, teach and prepare others for following generations.
This is our calling. And our unity in the faith should lead us all to work toward leading and teaching all who come to the unity in the body and in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our unity will be evident when our teachings and beliefs are consistent and true to the word of God. Where does your talent and ability lie?
Are you able to stand and speak to a group? Are you able to lead small group readings and studies? Are you able to have one on one studies and mentoring? Be purposeful in making time to do, in making time to apply your talents for the helping of others.
So, again, as, as Christ has gifted us, we should be working and helping one another grow and making sure that we're touching on these seven unities as we speak to one another so that we know exactly where each one of us stands on these things.
Going on to verse 14, As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by the waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together, by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
If we are all working in unison toward the entire body achieving the glory of God, we will not be dissuaded by distractions from external teachings. As we connect in the word of God, our bonds to each other strengthen and pulls us together in becoming the body of Christ. We will no longer be a bunch of elbows and ears, but we'll each become vital parts of a complete body. By elbows and ears, what do we know about elbows and ears? They don't connect. It's impossible. So while everybody needs two elbows and two ears, If we're all elbows and ears, then we're never connecting. We're never getting together. We're never becoming a complete body.
Are we being distracted by the new things that we find under the tree? Are we balancing all that we hear and see against the word of God? We should be able to talk about these things with our brethren and know that they will help us. To know that we are receiving a message correctly, or that what we have heard might be wrong. Either way, we should know that our team will be circling around and getting into the right position to help. So again, continuing in verse 17. So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you will walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walked, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their hearts.
And they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn that, learn Christ in this way.
So I know when I first started studying in earnest, the term Gentiles kind of confused me. I always thought it was a nation, a people. But it's simply a term that refers to people who have not learned about Christ. kind of a contrast to the Jews, where the Jews had learned about God, followed his laws, the Gentiles, on the other hand, had not learned about God, and knew pretty much nothing.
So, when we, when we compare the two, we can, we can think about that as, as people who walk into this building for the first time. They might not know anything. They might know a lot more than we think. Depending on what their background is, they may have some, some false notions about things that studying and learning will improve for them.
But we need to be conversational with them in order to find out where they are and, and what they need to round out their, their learning. Same thing in, in Jesus's time, as he dealt with the Jews, it was hard to overcome what they already knew. And as he was dealing with the Gentiles, they're thinking, what do I need this for?
So two different groups of people that needed the same education, but coming at it from different directions. So, difficult to do. But even Jesus in his abilities and, and, and gifts that he was able to see into people's hearts and know where they were, picking out his apostles, from the people, they were just normal people like the rest of us, that fully put Christ on and, and went with him.
So, you know, here in America, we're, we're, there, there's a lot of Gentiles out there now. We can talk to people that are two to three generations removed from church, where, you know, a hundred years ago, that would have been unheard of. So it is a challenge for us to be able to attract those people to us, but also to keep them captivated, or get them captivated into Christ and remove them from their worldly walk. Verse 21. If indeed you have heard from, heard him and have been taught in him just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
No matter how long you have been a Christian, you can have times when you need to reset yourself back to the basic truths and reassess your life and how you are living. Have any issues crept into your life while you were not paying close enough attention? Have you been able to connect with a brother or sister in Christ to review scriptures and keep yourself a captive of the lord? Be sure you are looking at the scriptures when you are looking at your life and balance what you are doing against what you should be doing. Are you putting yourself in the right position to help the team as well?
Verse 25, Therefore laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity. He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
We haven't done this in a while, so let's take a minute, stand up, and say hi to those around us. Let people know you're here. Stand up. Say hi. Let everybody know that you're here. Alright?
Alright. See how easy that was? That took about the same amount of time it takes to send a text. Right? During the week. Uh oh. John just called us out. Oh. Myself too. I am guilty, guilty, guilty of all the things I'm saying here today. It's, it's convicted me as well. So, you know, these are some of the things that we can think about in bonding ourselves in unity.
A simple text. If you have a little more time, a phone call. But these are things that, that we can do that prevent things like we see in verse 25 and 26, keeps the falsehoods from creeping in, prevents thing, anybody from getting angry. So, you know, those, those are the things that, that we can do.
So, and if, if your neighbor, if you or your neighbor have found sin in your life, cast it away by looking into scripture and realigning the conditions to what is right. It is okay to be angry, but do not dwell on that anger. Resolve things quickly so that the negative thoughts will not stay within you.
As we all know that, when you allow those negative thoughts to stay with you, it gives the devil opportunity. And he will pounce like a lion on it. When you are working with a person who has sin in their lives, don't allow that sin into your life, but rather set your heart toward work that will not only bless you, but others as well.
Produce good fruit.
So, please pray with me as we close out this lesson on Ephesians 4. Lord God, our Father in Heaven, please allow these inspired words from the Apostle Paul to find their ways into our hearts and give us the strength to speak where and when we should for the strengthening and nourishment of the body here at Rockland Community Church. Help us to bond with one another in unity, strong in the beliefs that are the core of the church. Give us the courage to correct when needed along with praise and encouragement for our accomplishments. Help us to reach others and bring light into this world. Amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday. It's our joy to welcome you into our community.
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)