[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Today, we pick back up in our study of Ephesians. We've already gone through chapters 1 through 3. We took 9 different sessions, 9 different episodes to cover that, and now we arrive at chapter 4, and we are kind of branching more into the life application, to Christian living as we arrive at chapters 4 through 6. Interestingly, though, there will be some doctrine-type discussion still yet, even at the beginning of Ephesians chapter 4. We're not completely done with that, and I'm sure it'll seep its way into things as we go along, but we are definitely more moving towards the Christian living side of things.

       Let's go ahead and get into Ephesians chapter 4. I will read verse 1 and part of verse 2 to get us started: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience” (ESV).

       So the first thing that sticks out to us is Paul mentions again, and this is the second time I believe in the epistle to the Ephesians, that he's a prisoner. Now, he says, a prisoner for the Lord. Now, he said that back at the beginning of Ephesians chapter 3. He said, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles” (ESV). He reemphasizes it again, which really is good because he's trying to show them the tremendous price that he's personally paying for the sake of the gospel, really for the demonstration of his faithfulness to God's particular call on his life of being the missionary to the Gentiles, to bring Gentiles into a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And the mere fact that Paul brings this up shows that he's got credence to what he's saying, right? What he's saying is not just to make himself look good or to build a reputation as some type of famous preacher or anything like that. What he's saying, he's living out, and he's living it out to the core. He's living it out in some painful and suffering ways. This imprisonment that Paul is talking about, this would be Paul's first imprisonment.

       Now, that's talked about in about the last third of the book of Acts. So Acts 21 to 28, those chapters cover that. Chapter 28, the tale end there, the book of Acts, ends when Paul is still in prison. Obviously, when Luke finished the book, Paul was still in that first imprisonment. And then, it's believed. I mean, we don't know the details, the nooks and crannies for sure, but Paul gets out of prison. And then he, some think, goes on a fourth missionary journey, which included places like Greece, I think Asia Minor, I want to say. And then some think he made it all the way to Spain. And then some even very few think he made it to Britain, to current-day United Kingdom. Now, probably not. The evidence on that would be little to non-existent, I think, on that one. But that is out there. But it's interesting. I mean, Paul continued to share the gospel, even after being imprisoned and going through the whole shipwreck thing that's talked about there in Acts and all that, back and forth with the legal officials and all that stuff, did not deter him from God's call on his life. Eventually , Paul was rearrested and imprisoned the second time. But in that imprisonment, he was not treated nearly as well as he was in the first imprisonment. He talks about the second imprisonment in 2 Timothy. When he's writing to Timothy there at the end, things aren't going well for him. But that was kind of an aside there.

       Paul is urging the Ephesian church to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which they are called. What that tells us, the way that's worded right off the bat, we can note that if you have to walk in a manner worthy, that means it's something that's not automatic. Remember, Paul will say elsewhere to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. We remember that. And that's the thing, is that there's free will involved . Even after we are saved, we still have free will. And we still have the choice to utilize that free will and growth toward becoming a better person and growth to developing our character as people. We can call that becoming more like Christ. Or, as Paul's going to say in the beginning of the next chapter, “be imitators of God.” However we want to package it, however we want to phrase it, that's what we need to be doing. That means also that it's possible that we will not do that, right? It's not a guarantee, guys. It's not a guarantee that we will do that. That is something we have to put effort towards, put time towards.

       And why wouldn't we want to do that, right? Because it only benefits us if we have better relationships with ourselves and with others around us. And of course, that equates to better relationships with God as well. If all of that is working in a better way, then our lives are. It's just the way it works. And it's not that we want to have some kind of intermixing of worldly values with true truth values. Because that's what we're really getting into. That's what the Bible is to us. We think that the Bible contains the best way to live, right? Why would we not seek that? Anyway, Paul brings up three things that are a tripod to the success of the church. Remember, and I've brought this up multiple times, but I'll bring it up again, we're looking at things—the context—is a collective context. Paul has the idea that he's thinking of the church collectively. It's less individualistic, though we can't apply it individualistically, but it's more collective.

       This idea of humility and gentleness and patience, those are the three things Paul brings up. So “humility.” We can look at a good cross-reference verse for that one found at the end. Well, not the end, but close to the end of Romans. Romans chapter 12 and verse 16. If we look there, Paul's talking about relationships, really with both believers and non-believers. But verse 16, he says, “Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight” (ESV). And that's the thing. Within the group, the body of believers, there's not really supposed to be cliques per se. We're not really supposed to. It's not that the leaders are supposed to be hanging out. And few and far between do they associate with everyone else. I mean, it's sad, but you can go in some Evangelical churches, big ones, and you'll see that the pastors and elders might click together. And they may not associate with the regular members of the body as much as they probably should. It might be a church where a lot of them have high-paying jobs, even high-paying positions within the church, and there's that wall of separation. Well, that's not right. That's not what Paul is telling us. We're supposed to have that humility within the body. And if we know the Bible pretty well, we're not to, not want to associate with people within the body that perhaps don't know nearly as much about the Bible. We want to try to tear down those walls, those dividing walls of hostility, to take a phrase Paul used elsewhere in our study and apply it to this. We want to tear down those walls of separation. And so within the body there's also a spirit of gentleness that we're supposed to have; we're supposed to treat each other kindly and not harshly.

       I've personally witnessed what I would say leaders treat people not so gently where they've been kind of harsh, especially when it comes to the Bible, to Bible knowledge, where if you don't know as much as they think you should know, or you don't know, just something that would be more common that a lot of people do know, but you don't know it. They can get kind of harsh. That's not the way we're supposed to be. We’re supposed to treat each other as kindly as we possibly can. That doesn't mean we just look the other way when there's a big sin going on. That doesn't mean we don't confront issues that arise as pertains to, like, big sins, stuff like that. I mean, we still want there to be holiness and all of that, but we have to be careful how we approach those situations. We don't want to come out harsh and judgmental and even legalistic or whatever. We want to be as kind as we possibly can.

       And that leads to patience, right? Again, as all of us within a particular church are not going to have the same level of growth yet. Some of us have been Christians a long time. We're pretty far down the path. Some people have just come into the faith. Some people are somewhere in between that. And we have to be patient with people and not expect too much of them too quickly. We have to be wise and reasonable. Remember, Paul will say, let your reasonableness be made known to all. And he'll say, when it's talking about big sins, to warn that person once. I think he said that if you recall some division or something. And then you proceed with a more definitive judgment. But there needs to be patience. It's not just high expectations and a low threshold of kindness. That’s not what we want to be doing.

       Let's go ahead and finish up verse 2. He says, “bearing with one another in love.” Let's cross-reference a verse. Let's go to 1 Peter 4 and verse 8, because I think this verse works well. Peter says, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins” (ESV). You can see there that this bearing of one another is present. It's mentioned because why? We're all going to sin, right? We're all going to screw up. We're all going to make mistakes, hopefully on a smaller level. Hopefully, we're not making, doing the big sins. But the point is because none of us can be perfect. No matter how hard we try, we have to bear with one another. We can't have our bar so high that we're so strict and judgmental that nobody can meet our qualifications to treat others kindly. If we think everyone else is just so bad that we can't deal with anybody, then that's a problem. We have to have grace, as God has a tremendous amount of grace towards each of us. There are probably things in our lives that we even do that we don't realize are sinning yet, or could be done better yet.

       That's just something to definitely be aware of, that we got to have that grace. And that grace, when we give that grace, and are not judgmental and harsh, that demonstrates love. It just goes back to the second greatest commandment that Jesus talked about: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Well, in the most basic sense, what does that mean? We can sit down for a second and say, “Well, gee, how would I want to be treated if I was acting like that?” Well , then take your answer there and apply it to the given situation. Treat others how you would want to be treated. If you didn't realize something was wrong, and now you're saying, maybe it is wrong, you would want to be treated with some grace. Well, then treat the person that you're dealing with with grace. It's just, it's simple, really, when you get right down to it. But we make things complicated. But this bearing of one another and love, a big area that I see it not practiced as much as I would like it to be practiced, is in doctrinal matters. I see where people, especially usually in leadership roles or even people that have studied the Bible for a long time, if somebody else has a different doctrinal position on a certain thing, there's not as much tolerance for a diversity of doctrine as I think there should be.

       People have different perspectives on end times theology, right? Some people think that there's a rapture. Some people don't believe in the Rapture. Actually, a lot of people don't believe in the Rapture. Probably more Christians on the face of this earth do not believe in a Rapture. They don't think it's going to happen. So it's a little humbling there, but it is what it is. Some people don't believe in the inherent sin-nature. They think that Christians are born neutral or born with a corrupted nature. We've talked about this already in the Ephesians study . That would be another one. What’s another one? Well, there are different theories on atonement. There's Penal Substitutionary Atonement, which is far and wide what most of the Evangelicals believe. But then there's the Christus Victor view of atonement. There are other views of atonement. Some people take a blend of those views. A little bit of this, that, and the other and create sort of their own atonement theory. The Anabaptists kind of do that.

       We can't take just these hard lines where we're not tolerating other people's perspectives. So I think that the bearing with one another in love includes things like those things, those doctrinal issues. And I would challenge that any church leaders listening to this, to seriously consider what I'm saying, to not be so firm. Even if you think you're right, even if you've studied it through and through, you really got to take a step back and allow for a little bit of grace. There's been leaders throughout history who thought they were right on certain matters doctrinally and then later changed and sometimes changed again. So just keep that in mind.

       Let's go to verse 3 : “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace” (ESV).

       That just again basically encapsulates everything I just said because when we are not high-horsed on our great Bible knowledge, when we are more tolerant of those who are not as grown up in Christ, either due to recent conversion or just because they, for whatever reason, haven't matured as much, when we're more tolerant toward others, that love promotes the strengthening of the bond of peace within the body of believers. That tolerance of other doctrinal positions allows for unity of the spirit. That maintains it. If we're drawing lines in the sand each and every way, that's going to cause division.

       Now let's go to verse 4. Paul continues, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call” (ESV).

       Paul starts listing the Trinity in backwards order. So in verse 4, he brings up the Holy Spirit. In verse 5, he will bring up the Lord Jesus Christ. And in verse 6, he will bring up God the Father. And that again, just as Paul did in Ephesians chapter 1, and where there he did list them in order, this is important because this actually is out there on the internet. People actually do believe this and this is nothing new. This has been around for centuries, but there are those who deny the Holy Spirit. They think that the Holy Spirit is not part of the Godhead. There are also people who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is somehow lesser than God the Father. Not just the Mormons believe that. There are other people that want to classify themselves as regular Christians that think that. We would say, no, that's not good, and we would not want to tolerate positions like those two positions. Anyway, it's an encouragement to us in Ephesians 4 again that Paul, the Bible, clearly shows us that God is a triune God. One God and three distinct Persons. That's tucked in. So it's good to see. These doctrines that people, the Christians established, early on, these weren't just made up mystical fantasy, sounded good things. They're actually legit, true things that are baked into the text.

       We can point out that Paul says “one body.” And I think as evangelicals, we're pretty good on that one. We understand that there is a universal church and around the world, I think where the problem comes is who we classify and that universal church. I would say that anyone that agrees with the fundamentals of the faith, like the triune God, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried and rose again, those kind of things, Nicene Creed type of things, that those people are true Christians. So who does that include? Well, outside of the evangelicals, that would include Roman Catholics, that would include the Eastern Orthodox, that would include Anabaptists. There are other groups outside the evangelicals of which there are believers in. Not all evangelicals are truly born again, just as not all people in those other groups I just mentioned are born again. So that's the one body there. And he says, and one spirit . That's kind of interesting that he put it that way. That could be getting into some pre-Gnostic belief that was out there. We all are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, but it's not a bunch of different Holy Spirits. There’s one spirit and there's not many gods we don't all have our own version of the triune god anything bizarre like that so one holy spirit that guides and leads us all. He leads the church.

       He says, “just as you were called in one hope that belongs to your call.” So what is Paul getting at in Ephesians 4? Well, it might be that inheritance that we're going to gain possession of, right? And we talked about that quite a bit. That includes, we can name three things that come into mind. Obviously, with that inheritance is one-on-one fellowship with God. We will be in his presence right next to him. So that's an incredible, awesome thing. And that we have the fact that when we get to heaven, we'll be with fellow believers. Many of whom we knew on the earth, and then many of whom are from different time periods. And then thirdly, we will have our inheritance and that we will have possessions, material possessions. Jesus talked about in my Father's house are many rooms. Remember that in John chapter 14. We each will have a residence in heaven with material possessions, for our faithfulness to what we were called to down on the earth.

       Now, we're not all ten-talent people to bring up that parable of Jesus. Some of us are ten, five, two, and probably many in between. We all have different calls, different capabilities, different directions from God. And I think personally that it's our faithfulness to Him in that that will beget us our rewards. Like I said on another occasion, if a ten-talent person is really faithful and a two-talent person is really faithful, those people might end up getting a similar inheritance just due to their level of faithfulness and what they were assigned. So that is something to think about. It's not that, well, if I'm a two-talent person, shoot, I'm not going to get that much because God hasn't asked much from me. It's probably not that. So that doesn't mean we should sit back and relax if we don't think we're that capable. We should desire to please God, to want to become better, to grow, like I've been talking about.

       Anyway, let's go to verse 5 now. Paul continues, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.”

       He mentions three things. So “one Lord.” That's obviously the Lord Jesus Christ. If we came into the faith and we were part of another religion, we don't take that prior religion and try to live that out in conjunction with our Christianity. It’s just the Lord Jesus Christ and what he has laid out for us. There's one faith, and that is the New Testament. That is the Bible, what Paul is laying out for the Ephesian believers and the greater knowledge that we are aware of in the 21st century through our study of all the books of the New Testament. All 27 books right before our eyes. And then one baptism. Now this part is a little interesting because we're not for sure about which baptism Paul is talking about because really there are two, right? There's the spiritual baptism that occurs that Paul talked about in Romans chapter 6 and also in Colossians. I want to say Colossians chapter 2.

       We were united with Christ in his death, and then we are united with him in his resurrection. That's how we can walk in newness of life, as Paul talked about there in Romans chapter 6. It could be that baptism that Paul is referring to, or it could be actual water baptism, which Paul talked about with the Corinthian church. Remember when he was saying he was going at it with them about, some were saying that they're followers of Apollos and different people or whatever. I follow Paul. Remember that? I think that's in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. So that is where Paul talks about that and then so it could be that either one of those he's talking about but regardless there's only one form of water baptism right there's not everybody is baptized in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit You're not baptized into the name of Paul. You're not baptized into the name of your preacher, whoever that is. Different stuff like that . So it's nice because it's simple, right? It's not complicated.

       And then verse 6, which will be our final verse for today. Paul says, “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (ESV).

       We can note four different things as we break down this verse. And the first thing we'll talk about is one God and Father of all. Paul actually talked about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 8, so verses 4 through part of 7. When he's talking about eating food offered to idols, this is what Paul says: “Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence”.” So an idol is obviously a god or spirit being of another religion outside of Christianity. Paul continues, “and that “there is no God but one”." Verse 5, “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth”—he’s talking about from the worldly perspective—“—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we exist.” And then verse 7, “However, not all possess this knowledge” (ESV). And he continues, but we'll stop there.

       But the point is that there's only one God in reality, in our understanding of existence, ? We could say in the universe. And, obviously the earth, outside the earth, anywhere you go in the universe, but even really outside the universe, if we want to try to say that, there's only one God, and that would be God the Father, the Jewish God, the Christian God. That's the only real God that there is. And that God has ownership rights of the whole entirety of creation, of the whole realm of existence of awareness, we would say. So of conscious awareness from all beings, that God is the only God that exists in reality. And for any philosophers out there or people deep into spiritual things, that might come as a little startling, but that is what the Bible teaches. That's the reality of the situation.

       So the other three things Paul says, the first one, “who is over all.” So this God is over all. He's the highest being there is in existence, and technically everything belongs to him. He has technical ownership rights of it. He created it. And this obviously presupposes, as Paul talked about there in 1 Corinthians 8, that God created everything. There is no Big Bang. There is no Evolution either as far as the creation of beings. All of that is not the case. God is the one who created the universe, everything. Our souls, reality, awareness, knowledge, it all stems from God.

       And then Paul says “and through all.” Let's cross-reference Isaiah chapter 46 of the Old Testament, and we will bring up verses 9 and 10. Isaiah 46. This is God talking. Let's go back to verse 9—just a little bit of verse 9 there: “I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” So again, God is able to pre-plan things, as Paul said in the beginning of Ephesians, predestined things and to carry those things out later. He has that power. It's truly incredible. And no God besides him is able to do that. And that is one way in which God is through all, because that flows through every being that exists.

       What God plans and carries out, no one is exempt from that in that. I'm not saying that all have to believe in him or that he predetermines who believes in him, but everyone is subject in the most basic sense to what God plans. So, it's not that you can say, “Well, I don't believe in the Jewish God. I don't believe in Jesus Christ. What the Jewish God does doesn't apply.” I mean, well, he's the only God there is. What he's carrying now is going to happen whether somebody believes in it or not. I think that's what I'm trying to say. So, like, the end of the world, the battle of Armageddon, just to take one thing, that applies to everybody. That's through everybody, whether they want it to be through them or not. So , everything God carries out to accomplish, everything he works to accomplish, that nobody's exempt from being part of that, either directly or indirectly. It's the world as it is. There are not multiple worlds, multiple gods, multiple levels of awareness, multiple existence, multiple religions, we could even say that are true. That’s not how it works.

       So finally, Paul says God is in all. He says, “who is over all and through all and in all.” Well, what does that mean? Well, that's talking about the image of God, and that we know very well from Genesis. That was talked about in Genesis 1:26. I'll go ahead and bring it up. So 1:26 and 27: “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”” (ESV). And then jumping down to verse 27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (ESV). So when he brings up the word are there, O-U-R, “our image,” he's probably referring to Jesus, God the Son, whom John tells us was part of the creation process, and then the Holy Spirit, of course, who was already mentioned in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 2. That would be who he's talking about “in our image.”

       That means that we are created with God-like characteristics, and that we love, we have feelings, emotions, we are relational beings, so on and so forth. Those things that are good, that are like God. We have a sense of morality—all that. So God is in all in that sense. Now, it doesn't mean everybody's born again automatically. It doesn't mean everybody's indwelled by the Holy Spirit. That stuff happens when we believe. And when we believe, we become born again, so we're saved from that internal sin-nature that we carry with us. So we have the ability at that point to overcome sin. We’re permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit so God is always with us. It’s incredible stuff and the beautiful thing is in talking about God being in all is anybody out there can truly have God in them where they know they are born again, where God's Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we belong to God, that we're His children. That can happen for anybody out there today.

       And anyone who's willing to believe in Jesus Christ, the work He accomplished by dying on the cross for your sins, and that He died and was buried. He rose from the dead , so He came back to life. God raised Him from the dead. He really is alive right now in heaven. Anyone who's willing to believe that can have total forgiveness of their sins and power over the spiritual forces of darkness, over the sin that resides in him . And that's available to anybody today out there that doesn't know God, but wants to know this guy. Perhaps this is the first time you've heard a lot of this stuff. Well, you have that opportunity today. Anyone can approach God in prayer and ask Him for that relationship, believing in what Jesus has accomplished and gained today. It's an incredible thing.

- Daniel Litton