Opening Illustration: A Sermon of Affirmation. As a pastor, there are some sermons that I know are going to be difficult to preach. Other times, there are some sermons that I can’t wait to preach because it’s an affirmation of what is already happening in our church family. Some of you are trying to decide if you made the right decision to come to church this morning…Well, I’m excited to preach this sermon because – you may not realize this – because you all have been preaching this sermon by your lives. It started about two weeks ago at student camp. I was hanging out with some of the guys from our student ministry. And they asked, “Pastor Jess, will something from this week at student camp make it into your sermon?” I think what was on the forefront of their minds was an awesome story about the blob or the water slides or amount of ice cream consumed. But I grabbed my Bible to see what the passage was and I read this verse out loud: ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 

Here is what was so remarkable about what God was doing: Just a day or two before, at the first day of camp, we asked the students what they were expectant about for the week. In other words, how did they expect the Holy Spirit move in their lives? One word jumped to the top of the list: Unity. Let me read verse 3 again in case you missed it: ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. So students, you just didn’t “make it into my sermon.” Students, you have been preaching this sermon with your lives. As I’ve watched our church family in action this past month and here’s what I’ve been reminded about that I want to remind you about: There’s no family like the family of God.  Let’s open up our Bibles to the book of Ephesians. We’ll be in chapter 4. This book will be towards the end of the Bible – about halfway through the New Testament. We are going through this book in a Sermon Series:  Ephesians: Masterpiece in Progress. We’ve already learned that we are God’s masterpiece. Yet, God isn’t done with us yet. Read Ephesians 4:1-16. Pray. 

David Brimmage, one of pastor/elders, preached last week and he mentioned something key to know about the book of Ephesians. There are six chapters in the book with a clear shift right in the middle of the book. The first three chapters focus on God’s purpose for humanity. God has created a way for everyone to be in His family. Starting in chapter 4, God, speaking through Paul, begins to describe what the standards and norms are for this new family, this new society. Chapter 3 ends a theological and doctrinal understanding and chapter 4 begins with the daily implications of that understanding. Over the coming weeks, we will understand what God’s plan means for our relationships, our marriages, our parenting, and spiritual warfare. Paul begins the second half of Ephesians with unity. And that’s where we begin as well: You are to do whatever it takes to stay united as a church family. 

1) You are to do whatever it takes to stay united as a church family. (vs. 1-6) Let’s pick up with verse 1: ¹ Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. It would be easy to glance over this verse because of what we see in the following verses, but don’t miss how Paul starts off the second half of the book of Ephesians. Paul is going back to the beginning of his letter where we already saw that God has chosen us, called us, and given us spiritual blessings through Jesus Christ. Because of all that God has done for us, our response is to lead a life worth of that calling. We are to live our lives in a manner worthy of the good news – the gospel – of Jesus. Now, let me state the obvious here. A church family is messy and it will never be perfect. Every family has that one family member that makes family reunions interesting. As the old saying goes, “If you don’t know who that person is, it’s probably you…”If you have been to church before for any length of time, you’ll experience the messiness. If that’s been your experience, thank you for getting back into a church family. At the very least, thank you for being here today. Satan wants to keep you away from a community of believers because he knows you are way more vulnerable – don’t let him. We won’t be a perfect church at TCSH, but our goal is to be a healthy church and a united church.

How are we united? Paul gives us two ways. The first is in our conduct. Look at verses 2 and 3: ² Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. Did you notice what verse 3 says about our unity? It says “…to keep yourselves united…” Here’s what is so cool: when we begin a relationship with Jesus Christ, we are united with Christ. At the same time, we are united with each other through Christ. As a church family, we are given the gift of unity. It’s not something we have to create. It already exists between us in the Holy Spirit. Emphasis: A church family doesn’t create unity, a church family cultivates unity. That’s our job! If you go back to the Greek word for “keep,” it’s an emphatic word. It’s a word full of urgency – it’s a call to action. We are to maintain, keep unity at all costs. We are to do whatever it takes to stay united in what God is doing. When it comes to your church family, every part of you should be fighting for unity. Satan will do whatever it takes to get us stuck in the mud. Illustration: Bubba and Forrest sit back-to-back. The more individualism we seek within the church, the most likely we find ourselves with our heads stuck in the mud. What does that look like? Gossip? Squash it. Trying to gain power over others? Don’t do it. Harboring resentment? Go work it out with that person. Looking for drama? Stop looking.

Why is unity in a church family so important? It’s the second part of unity that Paul mentions: Our beliefs. Look at verses 4 through 6: ⁴ 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. It’s who we are. It’s what we believe. It’s where we are heading. Who we are as a church family now is glimpse of who we will be. When Jesus comes back and brings the new heaven and new earth, you aren’t going to have a 15-acre plot of land that you hang out on all by yourself. We are going to worshiping, working, laughing, learning – all together. What we do now is in preparation of what’s to come. That’s why we need to whatever it takes to stay united. There’s an important transition that Paul makes starting in verse 7. He moves from this picture of “one body” to the individual. Here’s what we see next: Individual gifts are used for the collective good. 

2) Individual gifts are used for the collective good. (vs. 7-12) Let me make sure something is clear before we go further: Paul is stressing unity, not uniformity. Our unity does not come by the way of diminishing diversity, but rather, our unity comes from embracing God-given diversity. We aren’t supposed to become a bunch of clones. Quote: Although there is only one body, one faith and one family, this unity is not to be misunderstood as a lifeless or colorless uniformity. You're not to imagine that every Christian is an exact replica of each other, as if we all have been mass-produced in some celestial factory. On the contrary, the unity of the church, far from being boringly monotonous, is exciting in its diversity. This is not just because of our different cultures, temperance and personalities, but because of the different gifts which Christ distributes for the enrichment of our common life.” – John Stott. And that’s what Paul says in verse 7: ⁷ However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. While there is one body – the Church – there is diversity in the body. Each one of us has been given a special gift. 

It seems like Paul goes off a rabbit trail starting in verse 8: ⁸ That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” ⁹ Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. ¹⁰ And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. ¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. What are these verses all about? Part of Jesus’ salvific work – part of what Jesus did when He came to save us from all the wrong things we have done – was to spiritually fill us with Himself. Jesus didn’t just come down and start passing out tickets to heaven. He came down to change us from the inside out. Jesus spiritually changes us – and when He does -- we receive the Holy Spirit. Those who have Jesus will see that He is not just working for you and in you, but also through you. Jesus works for you, in you, and through you. It’s that “through you” part that Paul is emphasizing here. Each one of us receive a spiritual gift when you have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This is one of coolest things about Christianity! Think about this: you receive a unique spiritual gift from Jesus! God has a specific purpose for your unique gift in this moment in time. Illustration: Human DNA. The combination of your gifting, passions, talents, personality, and perspective in this moment in time is unlikely any other! “Well, Jess, how do I know what my gift or gifts are?”  That is such an important question to ask. I know some of you will say, “I took a test!” Over the years, I’ve reached a point where those spiritual gift tests are nothing more than a starting point. Those tests will often reveal passions and talents, but not spiritual gifts. Passions are what you enjoy. Talents are abilities you possess at birth. Spiritual gifts are given when you are born-again. Spiritual gifts can be tied to your talents, but sometimes they are completely separate. There isn’t a formula to know your spiritual giftings, but I think there a four things you can do to help figure it out:

1. Read your Bible
   • This is one of several passages that talk about giftings
2. Talk with God about it
3. Ask other godly men and women what they see in you
4. Does it accomplish Ephesians 4:12?
   • ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 

Notice what is said at the end of verse 12: “build up the church, the body of Christ.” Your spiritual gift points others to Jesus. Your spiritual gift helps others grow in their relationship with Jesus.

That’s why it’s paramount you understand what your part of the body of Christ is. This church, this local body of believers, need you using your gifts because it builds us up. Jesus is filled you with Himself so He can work through you. If you are spiritually bored it’s because that power isn’t flowing! It breaks my heart to think of the thousands of churches that are full of spiritually bored people. Illustration: It’s summertime, so do you know the phrase I hear from kids more than any other time? “Dad, I’m bored.” And as soon as one kid starts, it’s contagious. “Yeah Dad, I’m bored too.” My response: “You have about 100 birthday and Christmas gifts, go play with those.” Their response: (some kind of incoherent grunt). What happens next? They turn into these zombies. They just lay on the couch, lamenting life. The longer they lay on the couch, what happens? They take their boredom and start picking at each other. Before I know it, I have now I fighting zombies roaming around my living room. Their decision not to use all their gifts laying around the house caused the unity in our house to break apart. It’s the same in the church!

Spiritual monotony creates spiritual uniformity. And that’s the opposite of what we are called to do. Spiritual vibrancy that is demonstrated in our spiritual diversity is what creates our spiritual unity. If you want unity in the church, use your gift! Start serving! Get involved! Get off the spiritual couch! Turn your spiritual boredom into spiritual vibrancy. When our spiritual vibrancy gets turned up, it does something pretty cool for us as a church. Here’s what we see last: Our unity requires maturity. 

3) Our unity requires maturity. (vs. 13-16) When we maintain the unity we’ve been given – when we turn up the spiritual vibrancy by using our spiritual gifts – it leads to spiritual maturity. Take a look at verses 13 through 15: ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. Do you want a church like that? Mature, strong, being able to identify false teaching, speaking truth in love, spiritually strong, spiritual unified, everyone growing more like Jesus. Do you want a church like that? I do! Do you know how to get a church like that? What does verse 16 say? ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. A healthy church comes from spiritual ownership. Do you know how I know we are getting healthier and more unified as a church? During the first years of this church, I would hear the phrase “your church”. People would talk to me as if The Church at Spring Hill belonged to me. Do you know what I’m hearing more and more now? “Our church family”. We’re not a perfect people. I’m not a perfect pastor (thank you for not saying men…) But in all of our quirks and idiosyncrasies, we’re family. This is our church family. And we have to help each other become more mature – more like Jesus.

Satan knows if he can keep you weak and complacent, our unity it threatened. But if you get serious about growing in Christ, you become strong and unified in a way that Satan hates. This past week, we had around 40 volunteers helping with VBS. While I loved seeing the impact made on these kids, I loved seeing the unity built in our church family. I heard many times throughout the week, “It was so good to serve with you. It was so good to get to know you.” And anytime the last night of VBS ends with an impromptu Taco Bell run with about 30 people, you know we are unified – because I promise it’s not the Taco Bell that’s bringing us together! Church Family, get growing together and keep growing in Christ. We need each other.

I’ll close with this…There’s no family like the family of God. If you have been searching for purpose, belonging, and community – you will only find it in the family of God. It won’t be perfect, but it will be good.

GOSPEL PRESENTATION

I want to end with this final challenge.

• And this final challenge is to our middle and high school students.
  • Don’t stop what God has started.
  • Lead our church in unity.
    • Be our example.
    • You’ve already started it, don’t stop.
• Lead your generation in unity.
  • You have a church family that will support you every step of the way.
  • Adults, our students – the next generation for Christ – needs our unity.
  • Let’s be the conduit for the hope of Jesus to flow out from this place.

Let’s pray.

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