Ephesians 4 1 6 1 Therefore I the

Ephesians 4: 1 -6 1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also 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 over all and through all and in all.

John 17: 20 -23 20 I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Church Unity – Two Essentials 1. We must learn to practice love for one another even as the Lord has commanded us (Matthew 22: 39; John 13: 35). 2. We must learn to yield our hearts, our heads, and our hands to the control of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5: 18; Galatians 5: 22 -23).

The Making of a Church – The Presumption II. The presumption (4: 3) …being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. What is implied in our text is that it takes work; much labor; maximum effort to keep, guard and maintain a fervent love for one another as well as encouraging one another to walk by the Spirit of God so as to constantly manifest the fruit of the Spirit. The thing we must all presume is true as God builds His church is that we, if left to ourselves, are the most dangerous thing to unity in the church.

What makes us a danger to unity? § We are all sinners who possess a fallen nature – having a natural bent toward disunity. § We can be selfish, self-absorbed and want our own way. § We tend to be jealous when we see others succeed, get blessed or be promoted. § We get easily angered when we think we have been wronged. § We can be easily vindictive, hoping to hurt those we think have hurt us.

What makes us a danger to unity? § We often fail to forgive the wrongs done to us by others. § We regularly fail to love the Lord as we should, and this renders us unable to love others as we should. § We exercise little or no self-control over our sinful natures, allowing them to be manifested in all our human interactions.

What makes us a danger to unity? § We are brought together from different backgrounds, with different views about right and wrong, and with different opinions about how things ought to be done. But we often see differing opinions as competing agendas that must be ridiculed and reduced to rubble.

The Making of a Church – The Pursuit III. The pursuit in making a church (4: 2) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, A. “With All Humility…” 1. What is humility? § “lowliness of mind. ” § Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.

Philippians 2: 5 -8 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

The Making of a Church – The Pursuit III. The pursuit in making a church (4: 2) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, A. “With All Humility…” 2. What is humility is not § The opposite of humility is pride § Human pride can be defined as, “an excessive or unreasonable opinion of one's own dignity, or importance, or worth, or superiority. ”

a. The Problem of Pride § Pride was the impetus of the very first sin of the universe (Isaiah 14: 12 -13) § Pride was at the impetus of humanity’s destructive sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3: 6 -7) § Pride is repeatedly condemned in the Word of God (Proverbs 11: 2; 16: 18; 21: 4)

b. The Nature of Pride 1) Pride is hard to identify in one’s own life (Psalm 139: 23 -24) 2) Pride is unthankful (Romans 1: 21) 3) Pride is demonstrates itself negatively (Galatians 5: 19 -21) 4) Pride seeks independence from all authority (Psalm 2: 3 -4)

The Making of a Church – The Pursuit III. The pursuit in making a church (4: 2) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, A. “With All Humility…” B. The Believer and Humility - “lowliness of mind” or literally, “the sense of one’s own littleness. ” In contrast to PRIDE, which means “an excessive or unreasonable opinion of one's own dignity, or importance, or worth, or superiority; ” HUMILITY speaks of “a right and reasonable opinion of one’s own importance or rank. ”

The Believer and Humility 1. 2. Humility is elusive Humility has two necessary elements: a) Having a right view of one’s self § The humble person knows himself to be a sinner and regularly confesses his sin to God (1 John 1: 8 -9). § The humble does not compare himself to any other but to Christ (2 Corinthians 10: 12; Philippians 3: 8 -9). § The humble person recognizes his inability to anything of lasting value in himself, to do anything by himself that pleases the Lord, but rather he sees that all he is and all he has is given to him by the Lord (John 15: 5, 2 Corinthians 3: 5).

The Believer and Humility 1. 2. Humility is elusive Humility has two necessary elements: b) Having a right view of God § The humble person understands that God is the only source of salvation (Jonah 2: 9) § The humble person understands that God is source of all that is good and right (Revelation 15: 3) § The humble person understands that God is the source of all blessings; every success, every talent, every good thing (Ephesians 1: 3; James 1: 17).

The Believer and Humility 1. 2. Humility is elusive Humility has two necessary elements: b) Having a right view of God § The humble person understands that God is; that God is holy; that to be in God’s presence is an awesome and terrifying thing. § The humble person knows that the Lord receives us in spite of our sins and failures; that He loves him even while he is a sinner. Such is a most humble truth.

Andrew Murray “Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord, where I can go in and shut the door, and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at peace as in a deep sea of calmness, when all around above is trouble. The humble person is not one who thinks meanly of himself, he simply does not think of himself at all. ”

Ephesians 4: 3 …being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.