Sunday, July 19, 2015 pm
STUDIES IN EPHESIANS (19)
THE BASIS OF OUR UNITY (1)
Ephesians 4:4-6
Tonight we continue our study of the book of Ephesians.
We have noted Paul’s emphasis in this book is unity within the
body of Christ. He described
the body of Christ as His church (Eph. 1:22-23).
In chapters 2 & 3 we have seen how Christ died to reconcile all
(both Jew and Gentile) in Him and how Paul was given the “grace” to make
this message known. In our
last lesson (4:1-3) Paul began making application toward unity.
We addressed some attitudes that are crucial to unity – a worthy
walk, lowliness and gentleness, longsuffering, bearing with one another
in love and endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace.
Following this Paul describes the basis of our unity.
He outlines 7 qualities upon which we are united.
In our religiously divided world, we find there is relative unity
on some of the things while in others we are far apart.
The next 2-3 lessons we want to address in some details these 7
qualities which form the basis for our unity.
a.
The word is used 7 times
in these 3 verses. It is the
Greek word, εἷς (heis), a word that means one and only one (not two or
more). It is an absolute number and it applies to all 7 qualities we are
going to be discussing.
b.
God demands unity –1
Corinthians 1:10, Phil. 2:1-2, Eph. 4:1-4, etc.
John 17:20-21, helps us understand the degree to which we are to
be united – the same manner in which God and Jesus were united – in
purpose and work. We need to
always keep this in mind as we consider the Lord’s church.
c.
In our text, there are 7
ones. There are some of
these qualities that we comprehend the idea of “one” – one Father, one
Lord, one Spirit. Yet with
the other qualities, many seem to think that we can just agree to
disagree – many churches, many different faiths, and different baptisms.
We ought to learn from the unity of the qualities that we do understand
that equal unity needs to be achieved with the others.
d.
In the coming lessons we
are going to establish the “oneness” of each of these qualities.
Today we begin with the body!
a.
Just as there is only
ONE Lord (Jesus) and ONE God (the Father) and ONE Spirit (Holy Spirit),
so there is only ONE body.
b.
That body is the church
of Christ
Eph. 1:22-23 – tells us
Christ is head over all to the church, “which is His body.”
(Col. 1:18)
Jesus in Matt.16:18 told
Peter and the others, “on this rock I will build My church, and the
gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The word church is a
singular noun indicating that Jesus intended to only build ONE church!
Eph. 5:23 – He is the head of the church and Savior of the body.
NOTE: If the church is His body and He is going to save that
church (only), we had better seek to be part of that body!
Acts 20:28 tells us that Jesus purchased it with His own blood
Notice how in EACH of these passages, there is reference to only ONE
church that Jesus built.
c.
One body, many members – with the body, Paul emphasizes the need for brethren to be
working together.
Rom. 12:4-5, “For 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.”
Eph. 4:16, “from whom
the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies,
according to the effective working by which every part does its share,
causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”
(Ephesians 4:16, NKJV)
1 Cor. 12:12, 27, Paul
is addressing personality division within the church at Corinth.
He reminds these brethren that we need to be working together and
not pulling each other apart in different directions.
He uses the analogy of a body and notes that EVERY part is
important and is still a part of the whole body (in this case a
congregation). When there is
disunity the body will be malfunctioning.
Paul begins by emphasizing, “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. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one
body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been
made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:12–13).
He concludes this discussion by saying, “Now you are the body
of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Corinthians 12:27)
There MUST be unity within a congregation!
AND there must be unity in Christ.
NOTE: In every passage
where members are referenced in relation to the body, it is always
individual within a congregation.
d.
What is wrong with
denominationalism?
i.
The plea of many in the
denominational world is, “Join the church of your choice”.
It is sometimes argued that the various denominations (or
congregations) are the various parts or the body of Christ (they use 1
Cor. 12:12-27) or branches (they use John 15:1-8) of the vine that is
Jesus. Is there anything wrong
with that?
ii.
We have already seen that such is a misuse of 1 Cor. 12:12-27, as such is
clearly a reference to individual members.
Question, do you “baptize” a congregation or denomination?
Even in John 15 we find Jesus is speaking to His apostles (or disciples)
– vs. 5. Vs. 6 says,
“if anyone does not abide in Me…”
iii.
In denominationalism, the different parts are pulled in different
directions and conflict with one another. That is
NOT the picture of the body in that text!
Clearly Paul said in 1 Cor.
12:24-25, “… But God composed the body, having given greater
honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in
the body, but that the members should have the same care for one
another.” The word
schism means division or
factions. As Paul began this
letter, having called for unity, he said, “For it has been declared
to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that
there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says,
“I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of
Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you
baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:11–13)
Consider John 15:1-8
where Jesus said He is the vine and we are the branches.
In a vine, all the branches produce the SAME fruit!
Denominationalism would be a vine producing all sorts of
different fruits.
Thought: If the different branches are denominations, what was the
church BEFORE they came along – just a vine with NO branches!
Similarly, if different body parts are different denominations,
what was the body before the denominations came along.
We can show that the various denominations have their origins more than
1500 years later than the establishment of the church.
Most are the product of efforts to reform the corruption of
Catholicism, (as opposed to an attempt to RESTORE the pattern of the New
Testament church) but with differing philosophies, they went in
different directions. This
is NOT the church we read about in the Bible!
iv.
This unity-in-diversity (agreeing to disagree, as long as we agree on
certain key elements – BTW, who gets to decide what these key elements
are?) is NOT the unity taught in the Bible as we have already seen.
Paul did not speak contradictory messages to different congregations.
1 Corinthians 4:17, “For this
reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in
the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach
everywhere in every church.”
Revelation was initially written to “the seven churches of Asia” (Rev.
1:4). There is a
personalized messages to each of these congregations in chapters 2 & 3.
In each message, the writer concludes with, “He who has an
ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation
2:7, etc.) NOTE that while each
congregation had its own set of issues to deal with, the message applied
to EVERY congregation.
v.
Denominationalism minimizes the importance of Biblical teaching
– if we don’t agree on something, rather than discussing it until we
come to agreement, let’s just ignore it and move on.
Furthermore, why study at all?
Denominationalism makes doctrinal accuracy unimportant!
vi.
Denominationalism appeals to man’s desires.
In essence you can pick and choose HOW you want to worship and
serve God. You can come to
God on YOUR terms. If you
don’t like what one church is teaching, go find another one that will
accept you “as you are”.
In the Bible, we must appeal to God’s desires – Galatians 1:6-9, Matt.
15:8-9
vii.
Jesus said in Matthew
15:13 that every plant not planted by the Father would be uprooted.
Psalm 127:1, unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who
built it. Let us respect His
house and follow it.
e.
What about “churches”?
i.
There are times when the
term “church” is used in a plural sense.
Galatians 1:2, Romans 16:16, Rev. 1:4, 2 Cor. 11:8, 28, etc.
The term “churches” (plural) is found 36 times in the New
Testament.
ii.
In every context,
without exception, it is a reference to congregations.
The difference between congregations and denominations is that
the same message (unity) is found among congregations (cf. 1 Cor. 4:17,
Rev. 2:7, etc.). Among
denominations there is doctrinal disagreement; sometimes totally
contradictory (is God one person or three?
Is baptism immersion or sprinkling? Do we assemble on Saturday or
Sunday? How is one saved?
How does God work in us today? Etc.).
Truly, there is only one body – one church.
Our goal is to study the Bible and to be a part of that one
church. What about you?
Are you part of the body of Christ? (Gal. 3:27, Rom. 6:3-4).
If not, why not become a part of His body today?