Ephesians 4: 4 – 6
“For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all,
who is over all, in all, and living through all.”
Once again, Paul tells us the doctrine of why we should be a united, peaceful church. He realizes that we humans need to be reminded again and again of the basics of our faith. If we don’t know the basics, we’ll get things wrong. Just think about when you were in school, and how important it was to know the math basics to solve problems. So what are the basics Paul is reminding us about?
The church is “one body”. Think of your own body. There are parts that you think work well; parts you wish you could replace because they are not so good. Some parts seem more important that others, because you could function without them – for example: fingers, part of an arm or leg, etc.. Yet you really need every part to function more easily andwell. Your church is “one body”. It’s meant to function well and it needs all its parts. It needs the musical folks, the custodial people, the greeters, the Sunday School workers, the nursery workers, the gardeners and grass cutters, the tech desk people, the ushers, the people who count the money – we could go on and on. Some people seem to have more important jobs; others more minor duties. But we couldn’t really function well without them all. That “oneness” counts as we try to reach our community with God’s wonderful message.
There is “one Spirit”. The Holy Spirit lives in each one of us, and it’s the same Holy Spirit. He teaches us and guides us, and if we’re listening to him, we’ll focus on what’s important at our church instead of where we differ.
There is “one Lord”, the person of Jesus Christ. He is one of the Trinity. Colossians 1: 15 – 20 tells us who he is:
There is “one faith, one baptism”. There is one Bible that we base our faith on. In the New Testament, baptism is described for us in Matthew 28: 19 – 20 as Jesus tells his disciples to baptize believers. It is also described in Romans 6: 4 – 11 as an event that describes our death to sin and our way of life without God to our new life and freedom in Christ.
And there is “one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all.” Psalm 147 is a great description of God. Take the time to read it and revel in his power and care for us. Verse 5 is an example of the amazing description of God: “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; his understanding is infinite.”
When each one of us believes those statements, we become “one” – a unified church. We will be unified in what we believe and what we need to do. Each one of us will have our unique part. It’s not a place to just come once in a while, or just run out the door at the end of the service. You have a life that is called to serve.
“Lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. … You have been called to one glorious hope for the future.” (v. 1 and 4)
Our song for today is I Believe by Phil Wickham.