Ephesians 4:4-6
Church Defined - One Focus
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4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Eph 4:4–6.
Sermon Summary: Ephesians 4:4-6 – Seven Grounds for Church Unity
Introduction
Ephesians 4:4-6 emphasizes unity in the church, highlighting seven foundational aspects that bind believers together.
Importance of ensuring the church's efforts are aligned with God's purpose, not just busy with activity.
Seven Grounds for Unity
One Body
The church is one body in Christ, as described in Ephesians 1:22-23 and Romans 12:3-5.
Believers are individual members contributing to the unity and function of the whole body.
One Spirit
The Holy Spirit indwells all believers, creating unity among them.
Ephesians 1:13, 2:18, 2:22, 3:16; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 12:13 all emphasize the role of the Holy Spirit in believers' lives.
One Hope
Believers share the same hope in Christ, focusing on the promise of eternal life and the resurrection.
This hope unites the church, directing efforts and aspirations towards God.
One Lord
Jesus Christ is the one Lord of the church, sovereign over all believers.
The church acknowledges Jesus as Lord, who shepherds and cares for His people, ensuring their unity.
One Faith
The church holds to one faith, centered on Jesus Christ as the way, truth, and life.
This faith is rooted in the Scriptures, guiding believers in their understanding of God and His will.
One Baptism
Baptism signifies believers' incorporation into the body of Christ.
It represents unity in faith and the shared identity in Christ, not divided by human distinctions.
One God and Father
God the Father is over all, through all, and in all, providing the ultimate foundation for the church's unity.
Focusing on God aligns the church's purpose and direction.
Practical Application
Examine personal and communal focus: Are efforts aligned with God's purpose?
Cultivate unity by emphasizing these seven foundational truths.
Address and overcome divisions, focusing on the shared faith and indwelling Spirit.
Closing Prayer
Seek God's help in maintaining and deepening unity within the church.
Pray for a collective focus on God's glory and purpose.
Bible Study: Ephesians 4:4-6
Theme: Unity in the Church
Scriptural Focus: Ephesians 4:4-6
Objectives:
Understand the seven foundational elements of church unity.
Explore related scriptural references and historical context.
Discuss practical applications in personal and communal church life.
1. One Body
Scripture: Ephesians 1:22-23; Romans 12:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:12.
Discussion: How does the concept of being one body influence our relationships and responsibilities within the church?
Application: Identify ways to foster a sense of belonging and cooperation in your local congregation.
2. One Spirit
Scripture: Ephesians 1:13, 2:18, 2:22, 3:16; 1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Discussion: What role does the Holy Spirit play in maintaining unity among believers?
Application: Reflect on how the Holy Spirit has guided and unified your church.
3. One Hope
Scripture: Ephesians 1:18; Colossians 1:5.
Discussion: What is the hope that Paul refers to, and how does it shape our lives and the church's mission?
Application: Encourage one another to stay focused on the hope of the gospel.
4. One Lord
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4; John 17:11; Philippians 2:9-11.
Discussion: How does acknowledging Jesus as Lord impact our worship and service?
Application: Submit personal and church decisions to the lordship of Christ.
5. One Faith
Scripture: John 14:6; Jude 1:3.
Discussion: What are the core elements of the one faith that unites us?
Application: Reinforce sound doctrine and mutual encouragement in faith.
6. One Baptism
Scripture: Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 12:13.
Discussion: What significance does baptism hold in symbolizing our unity?
Application: Celebrate and uphold the meaning of baptism within the church community.
7. One God and Father
Scripture: Malachi 2:10; 1 Corinthians 8:6.
Discussion: How does understanding God as Father shape our identity and unity?
Application: Focus on God's fatherhood to foster a family-like atmosphere in the church.
Westminster Standards References
Westminster Confession of Faith: Chapter 25 - "Of the Church."
Westminster Larger Catechism: Q. 64 - "What is the invisible church?"
Westminster Shorter Catechism: Q. 1 - "What is the chief end of man?"
Reflection and Prayer
Reflect on personal and church unity.
Pray for deeper fellowship and alignment with God's purposes.
By understanding and applying these truths, believers can cultivate a unified and vibrant church community, glorifying God in all aspects.
Weekday Devotionals
Monday: One Body in Christ
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:4a
"There is one body..."
In Ephesians 4:4, the Apostle Paul begins by emphasizing that believers in Christ form one body. This metaphor of the church as a single body highlights the profound unity that exists among Christians. Despite our differences in gifts, personalities, and backgrounds, we are all part of the body of Christ. This unity is not merely a theological concept but a lived reality that should shape our relationships and interactions within the church.
As we reflect on being one body, consider the harmony and interdependence that characterize a healthy body. Each part has a unique function, yet all work together for the well-being of the whole. Likewise, in the church, every member is essential, and our diversity should contribute to our collective strength and unity.
Prayer Prompt:
Heavenly Father, help me to see my fellow believers as integral parts of the same body. Teach me to appreciate their unique contributions and to work harmoniously with them for the advancement of Your kingdom. May our unity be a testimony to the world of Your love and grace. Amen.
Tuesday: One Spirit
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:4b
"...and one Spirit..."
Paul continues by affirming that there is one Spirit who indwells all believers. The Holy Spirit is the source of our unity, empowering and guiding us in our walk with Christ. This shared indwelling of the Spirit unites us in purpose and mission, even as we face different circumstances and challenges in our individual lives.
Reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. He comforts, convicts, and counsels us, fostering a deep sense of unity and belonging within the church. By living in the Spirit, we can overcome our differences and work together in love and harmony.
Prayer Prompt:
Gracious God, thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit who dwells within us. Fill me afresh with Your Spirit today, that I may walk in unity with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Help us to listen to Your guidance and to live in a way that brings glory to Your name. Amen.
Wednesday: One Hope of Our Calling
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:4c
"...just as you were called in one hope of your calling..."
Paul reminds us that we share a common hope—the hope of our calling in Christ. This hope is not wishful thinking but a confident expectation rooted in the promises of God. Our hope is the assurance of eternal life and the fulfillment of God's plan for His people.
Consider how this shared hope shapes our perspective and actions. It encourages us to persevere through trials, to live righteously, and to support one another. This hope binds us together, reminding us that we are all journeying towards the same glorious future.
Prayer Prompt:
Lord Jesus, thank You for the hope You have given us through Your life, death, and resurrection. Help me to hold firmly to this hope and to encourage others in their faith. May our shared hope in You strengthen our unity and inspire us to live faithfully as Your people. Amen.
Thursday: One Lord
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:5a
"One Lord..."
The declaration of "one Lord" underscores the centrality of Jesus Christ in our faith. He is our sovereign King, our Redeemer, and our Master. Acknowledging Jesus as Lord means submitting to His authority and following His teachings.
Reflect on what it means to have Jesus as your Lord. It involves trusting Him completely, obeying His commands, and seeking to glorify Him in all aspects of your life. As a church, our unity is anchored in our common allegiance to Christ, who binds us together in His love.
Prayer Prompt:
Lord Jesus, You are my Lord and King. I surrender my life to Your will and seek to follow You faithfully. Help me to honor You in my thoughts, words, and actions. Unite us as a church under Your lordship, that we may serve You with one heart and purpose. Amen.
Friday: One Faith
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:5b
"...one faith..."
Finally, Paul speaks of "one faith," the common belief that unites all Christians. This faith is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news of His death and resurrection for our salvation. It is through this faith that we are saved and brought into a relationship with God.
Consider the essential doctrines of our faith that bind us together: the deity of Christ, His atoning sacrifice, His resurrection, and His promise of eternal life. These truths are the foundation of our unity, calling us to stand firm and proclaim the gospel with boldness.
Prayer Prompt:
Almighty God, thank You for the faith that saves us and unites us as Your children. Strengthen my faith and help me to live in a way that reflects Your truth. Enable us as a church to remain steadfast in our commitment to the gospel, and to support one another in our journey of faith. Amen.
Transcript
Welcome to God’s Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.Sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life.
Ephesians Chapter 4: A Deeper Look
Let's go ahead and turn over in our Bibles now to the book of Ephesians. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. Ephesians, and we're just walking through the text here. We have gotten to Ephesians chapter 4, and last week, we looked at verses 1 through 6 on church unity. And the plan is, normally, to just cruise along through. Our destination is the end of the book of Ephesians and we have been taking section by section by section and we've been walking through the book of Ephesians together.
Slowing Down in Ephesians
But have you ever been on a trip before and when you're on the trip you realize, “I want to slow down a little bit and I want to stay the night here instead.” Or, “I want to go see this sight and spend some more time.” Well, that's what we're going to do here in the second half of Ephesians. Instead of cruising through on cruise control, we’re going to slow it down a little bit, and we're going to park here for a while, and just enjoy what God teaches us, specifically about the church.
Focusing on Ephesians 4:4-6
And so this morning we're going to be looking again at verses 4 through 6 of the book of Ephesians, the chapter 4, verses 4 through 6. Hear now God's Word,
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever.
Are We Hitting the Right Mark?
Well, I was reading about a contractor a little while ago. And as this contractor was remembering his past, he remembered that he never did roofing jobs himself. He would always subcontract that out. And one day, as the contractor was at home and his subcontractor was there, all of a sudden, his phone rang. And he dropped his phone, got in his car, turned on the ignition, and sped down the road and got to a house. And when he got to that house, the roofing shingles were there, the roof was half torn off, and someone was irate. They had actually called the cops because even though the shingles were there, even though the workers were there, even though the roof was half torn off, they were doing it at the wrong house. They had torn off the wrong person's roof!
And often, the church can fall into that trap. We can be doing lots of good work, we can be doing lots of good things, but what we find out is that we're working on the wrong roof. We're doing good things, we're expending a lot of money and energy, but we have to ask ourselves: Are we hitting the right mark? Are we going to the right place? Are our eyes set where they should be? Are we working on the right house?
Seven Grounds for Church Unity
And so, we need to make sure that we are working at 1111111 Church Street and not somewhere else. Because here, last week, we talked, at the very end of the message, about the seven grounds for church unity. And I'm going to propose to you, as we look at what the church is, as we define the church, it needs to start with these seven ones. That as we focus on the one thing or the one person, we’ll be led to the right address and doing the right work. And so, we need to spend some time this morning looking at Ephesians chapter four verses four through six. I'm going to read the text again for us today. So, Ephesians chapter four verses four through six,
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”
One Body in Christ
So, there are these seven ones. And we're going to start off with what is the one body? The first thing we need to realize is these are all truth statements. They're just fired off like a gatling gun, seven times in a row, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, seven times, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, stated as facts. And the first one is we are one body. And we learned in Ephesians chapter one verses 22 and 23, that that body is Jesus Christ and that we are, as Christians, the body of Jesus Christ.
We need to deal with the awkward reality of what's going on right now. We're not together. It's the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, is the one day of the week that the whole church, you are the church, the whole church gathers together to visibly show that oneness of the body. We are one body, one with another.
Oneness in the Bible
And this is not just an idea found in the book of Ephesians. I'm going to encourage you, if you have your Bible or if it's off to the side, go ahead and pull it out, because we're going to be walking through the Bible a little bit together today. The first place I want to go to show you this oneness is in the book of Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 tells us that, verse 3,
“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt with each one a measure of faith. For just as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then differing gifts according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them;”
See, we are one body, one body, many members, many parts, but one body in Christ.
And it's not just here in the book of Romans. In the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 12, Paul says it again, that we are one body. First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 12. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, First Corinthians, chapter 12, God says the same thing again. First Corinthians 12:12,
“For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
We are one body together.
The Body of Christ
Now, we're going to deal with the many parts and the different gifts next week. Next week we're going to deal with how we have diversity within this unity, but the reality that Paul is stating right here in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4, is that we are one body. Now, that might not seem like a big deal to you, but that's a huge defining point for you as you come into the church. Right? As you come into the assembly of God, this is not your church, this is not my church. We can't do whatever we want, because it's not our body. It's whose body? Christ's body. All believers are in Christ. And we are one body working together. We should be working together in harmony, not in animosity.
Unity and Harmony
See, imagine if you had two feet. That's not hard for you to imagine, but you have two feet. And your right foot is faster than your left foot. How easy is it for the right foot to get annoyed or upset with the left foot? I mean, think about being that right foot, “Man, I just do all the work here. He's just a crooked foot I just drag him along all day long. He barely does anything. All the weight is on me, and I'm working as hard as I can and this guy, every time he's just slacking behind.” But imagine if you were that left foot. “Every time my master puts a weight on me, every time the church puts a weight on me, I bear that weight as much as I can and it hurts. And I try my hardest.” See, we're all one body. We love each other in Christian love. Remember what verse 3 said, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 3,
“Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Christ is building up a healthy body. And we are one with each other.
Functioning in the Body of Christ
So how are you? How are you functioning in the body of Christ? Are you the mouth? Are you the hands? Maybe you're the calluses on the hands. Are you the internal organs? Are you the lungs? Are you a vein? Are you one of those who has the flow of the Spirit moving through and that you are regularly praying for God's people? What member of the body are you? Maybe, for some of you, you think, “I don't know what I am, maybe I'm the appendix?” You're intricate, you're needed, you're part of the body of Christ. We each need one another for we are one body together in Christ.
One in Spirit
But the second one that we find here is that we need to focus on, that we need to look at is we need to see that we are one in Spirit. We are one in Spirit, verse four,
“There is one body and one Spirit.”
Now when it says Spirit here, God is not telling us that we are one in feeling. God is not saying that we are one in agreement with each other all the time. Oh, if you have been in the church for longer than a week or two, you know that not everybody has the same opinion all the time. No, that's not what this is saying. But we have one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. And Ephesians has told us a whole lot about the Holy Spirit. Remember what God said in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13, I'm just going to rattle these off real quick, Ephesians 1:13 God taught us about this one Holy Spirit that
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”
Each one of you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Likewise, in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 18, God says it again.
“For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”
How do you get to go into the throne room of God? How do you get to pray? What is the means by which you are elevated into the throne room of God and able to make your prayers and petitions and thanksgivings known? Because you have the same one Spirit. The Spirit that is living in you is also living in the person sitting next to you. And as we realize, as we look around the church and we see people, we see the church as indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we realize that we each have this same one Spirit. And that's not all Ephesians has told us. Ephesians 2:22 told us,
“In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
You’re a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. And indeed, in chapter 3 verse 16 God tells us,
“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with the might through His Spirit in the inner man.”
Through His Spirit, this one Spirit, we all share the same one Spirit. As we focus upon that One we're moving towards the right address of who the church is supposed to be.
Again, it's not just in the book of Ephesians that Paul teaches us about this one Spirit, but indeed in First Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16, he tells us,
“Do you not know that you are a temple of the Holy Spirit?”
“Therefore, glorify God with your body.” Each of us are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and that produces Godly living in our lives. And in Romans chapter 8 verses 9 and through 11, he likewise tells us that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And First Corinthians 6:19, again, he tells us that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. And just in case you need more, again, in First Corinthians chapter 12 verse 13, we have all been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Every single Christian has been indwelt, is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
Eroding Judgmentalism in the Church
Do you see how this should erode judgmentalism in the church? If we're focusing on my preference, if I'm looking at what I want, if it's, “this is my ministry, that person is in my way, that person is a little weak Christian. I'm not even sure they really pray that much. I'm not really sure that they read their Bible that much. It seems like when they read their Bible, they stutter.” No. Hold on. That same Holy Spirit is alive and living in them as well as in you. And our job, as we'll see in the rest of Ephesians chapter 4, is to build each other up. And that bond of this one Spirit being in all of us is what joins us together in that unity, working towards the same goal at the right place. The church is about the place where the Holy Spirit meets with us. For where two or three are gathered together in Jesus's name, there He is with us. His Holy Spirit is with us because we all have that same one Spirit.
One Hope of Our Calling
But there's more than just that. The rest of chapter 4 verse 4 also tells you, what? That we all have the same calling. The hope of the calling. Ephesians chapter 4 verse 4, again,
“just as you were called in one hope of your calling.”
Of your calling. Now, the Bible is written in a different language. The New Testament was written in what's called Koine Greek. And in Koine Greek, like in almost all other languages, except for English, it has a second person plural. English, we have to like combine two words. In the South they say y'all. When I was in Pittsburgh, you know Pittsburghese people that say yinz guys. Right? And so what this is talking about here is if we read it in southern dialect it would say, “Just as y'all were called in one hope of y'all's calling.”
Paul is talking to the whole church. They have the same one hope. Their eyes are all lifted up to Christ. Every single one of them together has the same hope. That hope which is laid up in heaven. Christian, can you close your eyes and look with that hope? That thing, that tangibleness that which the promise of heaven, of eternal bliss with God, is in your hands. That you are God's people. That He cares for you and loves you. Do we have that same one hope? Are your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of your faith? We all have that same hope. The church is built around that same hope. The church is not built around, “Oh, this ministry is doing good and doing this good outreach.” No, that ministry is there to bring people's eyes to the hope of Jesus Christ. “Oh, well this ministry, I really like these things.” No, no, no, Christian, our eyes have to be fixed on the hope of Jesus Christ. We are going to be putting the roof on the wrong house if we are not looking at that same one hope. We look at that one hope, that one hope we have in Christ as the object of our hope. Our hope is not our comfort. The Christian hope is not in our finances. The Christian hope is not in our IRA. The Christian hope is not in some president. The Christian hope is not in some congressman. The Christian hope is not in how well I'm able to do my work. No, the Christian hope is in Jesus Christ risen from the dead. He is our one hope. So we have that one hope and oh, God lets us taste that hope now. Charles Hodge in his comments on this, says that tasting of the Holy Spirit is like a drop of water to a thirsty traveler. That it doesn't quench us, but it makes us long, it makes us want the full stream of water. Oh, when we fix our eyes on that one Spirit, and we fix our eyes upon that one hope, we want that hope more and more and more, as a refreshing water to our souls, where Jesus says, “Come and drink.” Are you going to that one hope or have we lost sight of Christ?
One Lord
The fourth one thing that we need to focus on is Jesus Christ Himself. Not just the hope of the resurrection, not just the hope of the promises, but the one Lord Himself. Look with me at verse 5, Ephesians chapter 4 verse 5,
“one Lord,”
That capital “LORD” Lord, one Yahweh in the flesh. How do we know that this is speaking of Jesus as Lord? Because in verse 6, it's going to talk about God the Father. There's a reason why we've been reading Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4,
“Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.”
Jesus is our one Lord. Jesus is the one who owns us and is sovereign over us. See, Jesus is our one Lord because He's bought you at a price. Jesus Christ paid for your redemption with His very own blood. He owns you. Not as a cruel slave master, but as a loving Savior. Jesus Christ as our Lord, as our owner, is also our sovereign, or our master. The one who owns the thing is able to do with it as He pleases. And Jesus is the Lord of His church. We have one Lord in the church. If you watch many Facebook memes, her name is not the proverbial Karen. It's not your lordship, I don't care if you are the pastor of the church, if you call yourself a bishop of the church, if you call yourself an ancestor of the church, no, no, no. Hold on. We got one Lord, one King, one head of the church, and He sits upon the right hand of God the Father with a crown of thorns and glory upon His head. He has earned His sovereignty over the church. He is our ruler. He is our master. He is the one who dictates commands to the church, what it is about and what we are to do. We have one Lord and He's not a cruel Lord. Your Lord, Jesus Christ, came to serve. Jesus is one with many under authority under Him and yet what does He do? He cares about those whom He is in authority over. He is even willing to lay down His life for them. He shepherds His sheep. He brings them beside the still waters. He brings them to green pastures. He makes them flourish with fruitfulness. He will never leave them nor forsake them. He will never let someone take His people out of His hand because He is their Lord. He is their master.
Jesus Prays for Our Unity
And did you know that Jesus prays for our unity with Him and with each other? When Jesus was going towards that cross, when Jesus was looking towards the torture of crucifixion, John, His apostle, records for us His prayer in John chapter 17. In John chapter 17, Jesus has you in mind. Think about that. Your Lord was thinking about His disciples and His people as He was praying to His Father,
“Father, let them be one as You and I are one.”
Let's go ahead and turn there. John chapter 17, again, I'd encourage you, if you have your Bible, open up your Bible, meet me there, whether it's in your app or whether it's in a physical Bible. John chapter 17. I just want you to see Jesus’s love for His people and His concern for unity. John chapter 17 verse 11,
“Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are one.”
Jesus’s prayer for His church, for His bride, for His flock, for His body, for His people is that we would be one. We have one Lord.
One Faith
Fifthly, we have one faith. We have one faith. Look with me at Ephesians chapter four verse five,
“One Lord, one faith.”
One faith. Jesus says that,
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.”
We have one faith. Jesus Christ is our one Lord. We have one redemption. We have one sacrifice. We have one hope. It is only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It is Jesus Christ our righteousness. It is Jesus Christ our atonement. It is Jesus Christ who has redeemed us. It is God who has called us. It is as Charles Hodge, again, helpfully says,
“This one faith is that we each receive the Scriptures of the very Word of God and we not just receive them, we believe them and we are subjected to their teachings, because they teach us the way of life. They teach us about our God.”
That unity of faith, that one faith we have is that we recognize and worship Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. And we trust in His blood for redemption and His spirit for sanctification. Are you part of that one faith?
Beyond Denominations
Now, let me encourage you. This is not about one church in particular, nor about one denomination only. There are covenants, or Reformed Presbyterians, of long ago, who have told me about a story they used to laugh about and they used to tell each other. And that was when they would get up into heaven that they would stand there in heaven, and they would be there and they would be worshiping and one of them would ask, “What is that wall?” And the angels would look at each other and say, “We can't tell them.” Because on the other side of the wall were a whole bunch of other Christians, who were not Reformed Presbyterians. Right? It is not one denomination, indeed, the Reformed Presbyterian testimony even says that denominations are results of sin, because in the church we should have unity. We should be working towards that unity. I'm going to encourage you, Christian, do not just be stuck into thinking that your way is the only way. We should be wrestling with each other on the details of the faith. But when we agree on the primaries of the faith, on those things I had mentioned before, we should be shoulder to shoulder with each other. We should recognize our unity with one another. Do we love one another because we have that one faith? Are we working together towards the same house, or are you over here working on your little shack, all the while the rest of the church, invisible, broad church, is building truly the kingdom of God? Let me ask you: Are you laboring in the right faith? We have this one faith. This is something inward.
The Danger of Idolatry
We need to be careful here. Because there are those who profess things with their mouths, but their hearts disbelieve. I'm going to encourage you today. I'm not encouraging you to fall into the depths of introspection, where you lose sight of Jesus Christ. But what I am asking you is, is Jesus Christ your only hope? Or are you holding on to other things? Oh, I would encourage you, I would exhort you, I would command you, today, to let go of your idols, to put to death those things in your heart. If anything else is holding your allegiance back from this one hope, one Savior, one Lord, one faith, you're working on the wrong house.
One Baptism
But it's not just this one faith. This one faith is seen and realized in the context of the body of Christ. And that's our one baptism. Again, Ephesians 4:5 tells us,
“one Lord, one faith, one baptism.”
I was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Devin, who is right here, was baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. The children in the church were baptized with that same baptism. You were baptized with that same baptism. We were all baptized in that same Holy Spirit. It should be that baptism is that sign and feel that we are ingrafted into that family of faith. We have a one baptism. Not somebody being baptized into Paul, not somebody being baptized into Apollos, not somebody being baptized into Luther, not someone being baptized into Calvin, not someone being baptized into Wesley, not somebody being baptized into John Piper or Francis Chan, or take any other teacher, no, we are baptized into the name, singular, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. We are His disciples. We follow after Him. We are brought into His family. It is His promises that we adhere to and hope in. It is His family we are members of, His covenant community that we are brought into. We have one baptism.
One God
So we have one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and we have one God who is in all and above all and through all and in y'all. In you all. It is God the Father who we must focus on. Do you see, church, do you see ecclesia, do you see saints, do you see family of God, do you see Temple of God, that we are one when we focus our eyes on Him? Not on us. Not on our preferences. Not in our desires, but on Him. When we want to taste and see that the Lord is good, we are moving towards the right direction. When we are desiring God and His glory, we are working on the right house. When we are looking to God's Word so we can know more about God, we are working on the right house. When the preaching and the teaching comes from God's Word to build people up, that they might more fully enjoy and glorify God, we are working on the right house. The question is, where is our aim? Where is our focus? It’s at 1111111 Church Street. We are looking at the one God and Father of us all. And He's in you all. And He is sovereign over all. And He is through all. This is our God. This is our aim. This is our focus. This is our one narrowing in on focusing on not this way, but upwards. Not my preferences, but His glory. Not what I want to be heard so I can fix the problems in my life, but what God has said, because it brings Him glory. We focus our eyes upward.
Growing Together in Unity
And as we focus our eyes upward, we are brought closer to one another. This is how we grow. This is what the church is defined by. Are we defined by factions and divisions? Are we defined by preferences? Are we defined by hatred? No. No, but we zealously guard. We earnestly cling on to the unity of the Spirit which is by the bond of peace. And it's accomplished by us focusing on that One who is our God and Father. So, brothers and sisters, Christians, saints, building blocks of the living Temple, Church, you are God's church. And as we are built upon that chief cornerstone, that foundation, Jesus Christ, we will find more and more unity.
And as we get into next week, we're going to look at the different gifts. And as we move past there, we're going to look at different offices that God gives the church. But even as God gives us these things and has made us special to work in His body in a specific way, we must never lose focus of the One who we love.
Closing Prayer
Let's pray,
“Father we thank you so much for Your Word. We thank you, Father, for showing us our union with Jesus Christ. We thank you for making us one. Lord, we pray that we indeed would not just be one because Your Scripture says so, but that You indeed by Your Holy Spirit would bless us, that we would see more and more unity, deeper and deeper fellowship, that we would be one as You and Your Son are one. Father, only you could do this. Lord, You know Satan doesn't want it to happen. You know our sinful natures fight against it, our individualism will get in the way. Lord, please overrule it. Do a marvelous work in Your people. In Jesus’s name amen!
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon RP Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website: Sharonrpc.org. We’d love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa 52640. May God richly bless you this week.