This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, A Unified Church.
The Apostle Paul says we are to be “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Is that not a beautiful concept? This is the desire of God for His Church.
We do not produce this perfect unity; it is called the unity of the Spirit. But we are to preserve it.
There are seven basic truths found in Ephesians 4 that hold up the Church. Do not let anybody tell you that doctrine does not matter. If our churches cease to hold these great truths, they will lose their unity.
By unity, we do not mean unison. We can sing in harmony without singing in unison.
This also does not mean uniformity. We do not have to be congregations of clones. Even union and unity are not necessarily the same.
Unity is doctrinal, and it is spiritual.
“There is one body…” (Ephesians 4:4a)
That one body is the Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Christ’s body is bigger than your home church. Anyone who has been twice-born is part of the mystical body of our Savior Jesus Christ.
There is a local expression of that body. Every twice-born person ought to be a member of a local New Testament congregation—a Bible-believing, Bible-teaching church.
“There is one body and one Spirit…” (Ephesians 4:4a)
Paul is talking about the Holy Spirit. How can the Church be so big and yet have a spirit of unity? Because the Holy Spirit that is in me, is in you. God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are children of God, and that we belong to one another. When we are disobedient to the Holy Spirit’s leading, we sow disunity.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling…” (Ephesians 4:4)
That one hope is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. (See Titus 2:13.)
You do not have to know the meaning of every detail of eschatology to be expecting the Lord Jesus to come again. “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord…” (Ephesians 4:4-5a)
We confess one Lord, Jesus Christ.
Did you know that people in the Early Church did not call Him “Jesus” nearly so much as they called Him “the Lord Jesus”?
Jesus did not come to take sides. He came to take over. That is what we want: for the one Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of the LORD’s host, to be Head of this Church.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith…” (Ephesians 4:4-5a)
Not a faith; one faith. Paul is talking about the unified body of truth that we call the Bible.
This is God’s revealed Word, and we are to “contend earnestly” for it. (See Jude 3:3.) Christians, get a bulldog grip on the Bible and never let go. We do not need a new and modern gospel for a new and modern age. If it is new, it is not true.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism…” (Ephesians 4:4-5)
When people give their hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ, they are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the mystical body of Christ. The Church is a body, with Christ as the head. We are the members.
“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6).
We worship one God. His name is Yahweh, Jehovah, and you do not know Him apart from Jesus Christ. (See John 14:6.)
Look at the first word of Ephesians 4:7—“But…” Paul is changing direction. He has been talking about our sameness, doctrinally; then:
But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
God gave other Christians spiritual gifts He did not give to you. So not only do we have our unity; we have our diversity.
This is not talking about diversity in doctrine. (See Romans 16:17.) No, there is not room for every kind of belief.
But there is room for people who have different gifts.
God gave you a gift to equip you to serve Him. A spiritual gift is not for your ecstasy. It is not for your enjoyment but for your employment. It is not a toy; it is a tool. And you do have a spiritual gift.
Why do we have this unity and this diversity? What is the goal?
…Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…
The word “perfect” means “mature.” Little children squabble and fuss; mature adults learn how to get along with one another.
We are to be mature in stature: “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13b).
Do you want to know whether you are spiritually growing up or not? Do not measure yourself by some other member of your church. Are you becoming more like Jesus Christ?
…That we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting…
Get your feet on the rock.
Paul told the Ephesian church, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:29).
False cults do not produce converts of their own nearly so much as they try to siphon off Christians who do not understand the Bible. Because those Christians are not rooted and grounded in the faith, they are drawn away into these false things.
…But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ…
We are to speak the truth—never stutter, never stammer, never apologize. Speak the truth, but in love. Truth without love is brutality. Love without truth is hypocrisy.
…Grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—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.
The Greek word for “joint” is harmos. That is the word from which we get our word “harmony.” Paul is saying that the body of Christ is to be flexible and work together—to be coordinated.
Our love of God must translate to our love for one another. And God’s people said, “Amen.”
Ephesians 4:3-7,13-16; Titus 2:13; Revelation 22:20; Jude 3:3; John 14:6; Romans 16:17; Acts 20:29
Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
