The journal. (Caldwell, Ohio) 1934-1961, 1958-05-08
-Serm onette
How To Have Unity In
The Church
EpheSianS 4:1-8

+ | portion of his letter to tn
Ephesians (and to all Christians
which is chiefly doctrinal. Th
, Apostle has revealed to US tn
eternal plan of God the Fathe
IN calling out of the world
from all peoples and nations
Jews and Gentiles-a body o
people for Himself. This body i
to be a holy body, separated anc
consecrated for Gods use anc
glory. The members of this body
are those who have denied sci
and have forsaken all that is sir
| and have openly confessed Jesu:
Christ, the Son of God, to be
their Lord and Saviour.
| In this second half of the
letter, Paul presents the practical
phase of the Christian life. This
begins with chapter four. The
entire chapter deals with unity
| in the church or unity among
Christians. Because there is sc
much in this chapter that is
worthy of consideration, we will
divide it into three parts and
use the first one in this writing
and one each for the next two
weeks.
We will take the first eight
verses for our first division and
use the theme How To Have
Unity In the Church"
Paul begins with an exhorta-
ton: Il therefore beseech you
that ye walk worthy of the voca-
ton wherewith ye are called
|. endeavouring to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond
of peace" Peace and unity of
the Spirit should be character
istic of every true Christian
Church But too often the church
is not at peace because its mem
bers grieve the Holy Spirit and
refuse to let Him lead them.
They will not seek the guidance
of the Holy Spirit in the reading
of Gods Word and will not per-
nit that Word to be applied to
their own lives. Therefore, in
stead of peace, there is dissen-
sion, characterized by Jealousy,
fault-finding, back biting, un-
forgiving spirits, no love for the
things of God, no faith, and a
low moral standard.
We see that this peace and
unity is dependent upon our
walk, our manner of living. We
are to walk worthy of the voca-
ton wherein we are called.
We, as we have accepted
Jesus Christ as our Lord and
Saviour, are chosen to be chill
dren of God; we are called to be
saints. 1t is our privilege and
responsibility to live for the pur-
pose of glorifying the living God.
We have no right to live other
wise. christians ought to ac-
commodate themselves to the
Gospel by which they are called. "
The Christians walk is here
characterized by four words:
lowliness, meekness, longsuffer-
ing, and forbearing one another
in love.
"Lowliness" is an attitude of
the mind which springs from
true estimate Of ourselves-a
deep sense of our own moral
smallness and demerit. 1t is hav-
ING a humble opinion Of ones
self and becoming absolutely
dependent upon God. Meek
ness" is more than modesty or
gentleness inasmuch as it has
regard to our attitude towards
God as well as towards men, and
includes more than outward be-
haviour or natural disposition. 1t
is a grace Of the Spirit, the dis
position of loving submissivenesS
in the first place to God and His
dealings with US, and, as the
consequence of that, of quiet
restraint, mildness and patient
abnegation of self in face of the
provocation of others. It has
been said that "meekness and
lowliness are the two aspects of
the same disposition, the one
toward man, the other toward
God"
"Longsuffering" is patience,
steadfastness, endurance, per-
severance. It is constancy in the
presence of illness and trouble.
1t is patient holding out under
trial. In our text it speaks of the
putting from the mind the
thought or desire for revenue
when we have been wronged by
another. "Forbearing one another
in love" is an explanation and
application of "longsuffering."
The duty of mutual forbearance
is to be practiced in love. 1t IS
! to be loving forbearance. A for
| bearance having its motive, its
inspiration, its life, in love.
In verse seven we read that
unto every one of us Chris
| tians) is given grace according
| to the measure of the gift of
| Christ" Not one Christian is left
unregarded by Him Who is the
| God and Father of all, but each
| was made a partaker of Christ's
| gift of grace, and each, therefore,