Walking Lowly as One Worthy | Sermon 01/02/2022

Apologia Utah

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So, we finished up our five solas series, and as I told you last week, we are going to be doing a study expository, expositionally through the book of James.

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And that is not quite yet, that is coming possibly the 23rd or the 30th of the month.

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And I'm excited to hear Brother Andrew is going to get the opportunity to take the pulpit next week and bring us a message as we arrive back from Arizona.

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So, I'll be praying for him. But today, kind of like what

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I said as I started my announcements, I wanted to preach something that would describe the leadership's hope and vision for 2022, some things that we could rally around every year as a church body and grow towards.

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So, we are going to be in Ephesians chapter 4, if you would turn there with me and your

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Bibles if you'd like. Ephesians chapter 4, verses 1 through 6.

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Saints, this is the word of the living God. Therefore I, the prisoner of the

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Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the

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Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, just as also you are called in one hope of your calling, one

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Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

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These are the words of the Lord, my friends. Let's pray quickly. Father, please speak through me today.

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Lord, please teach your people. God, help us to be a church that is unified under the one

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Spirit, Lord, to be growing together and to seeing your kingdom established here, especially in Utah.

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Lord, please help me to teach your people today in such a way that is helpful and let it be clear,

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Lord, and let it always be true. Pray this all in Christ's name. Amen. So there is something inherent in humans that makes an individual want to be a part of something with a greater purpose, something that has more meaning than their normal everyday life.

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Even the word individual means separate. It has within it the

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Latin word for divided, individual. That makes sense as even in the creation of the earth, when

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God made man, he decided it was not good for man to be alone, and so God created woman, and thus marriage was instituted there in the garden.

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It's not just about being with other people. Studies show people have less stress and less depression when they are part of a group that rallies around a greater purpose.

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So it's not just about being with other people. They want a purpose in being together, what this study has found.

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Essentially, if one does not make the community of God their purpose and identity, they will look for it in something else.

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We will look for it in something else. Now, before I was called to full -time pastoral ministry,

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I was employed at a multi -billion dollar corporation. We would have these all -hands meetings or smaller departmental meetings, and there was always a type of gospel they were selling us.

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I'm not saying it's bad for companies to try and motivate their people to greatness or higher productivity.

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That's not bad at all. But some companies can be antagonistic to the

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Christian faith, and they are typically trying to supplant the role of God's church community in your life.

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They don't want you to be a part of a church. They want, this is your group. This is your work group. My bosses would say stuff like, don't you want to be a part of something bigger than yourselves?

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Don't you want to be a part of something bigger than yourselves? They have all these buzzwords and language like that.

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Again, not all of it's bad. I felt sometimes like I was the only one who took the red pill in the group.

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Like I was awake, and I knew what was going on. Work was a means to care for my family, and as a

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Christian, I'd strive to produce for my employer the best job done. I think that's a righteous thing that we ought to do.

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I think that should be the aim of all Christians. But it wasn't my identity. They wanted it to be my identity and where I derive myself worth, and I saw co -workers of all ages live in a way that made their career their salvation.

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Again, I want to make it clear that I'm not saying you can't work at your vocation with passion and with a great work ethic.

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Absolutely, be a team player. I really want to emphasize that. Just remember who you belong to and where you are in real community, meaning you belong to God and in fellowship with the covenant community of Christians.

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And in that community is where we ought to strive the most, work diligently the most by the power of the

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Spirit. I remember all through elementary school, I'd see various meetings being held of the

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Boy Scouts. I'd see other little boys and the activities that they did.

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I wanted to be a part of that. But more than that, I really just wanted the cool uniform. And you always knew the kid who took their

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Boy Scouts duty super seriously because they'd wear their uniform to school, you know. So, but, you know,

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I thought it was cool. That's a neat uniform. My parents finally let me join Bear Scouts as a 10 -year -old.

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They forked over the money for the uniform. I was a, you know, I was a pretty active kid. I did

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BMX. I would jump off, you know, little jumps and skateboarding, building tree houses and forts, you name it.

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But our Bear Scout group, I felt like all the meetings we were going over the mantras and the rules and sometimes we would make cardboard swords and stuff like that.

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I just, as a young man, I was waiting for them to get to the cool stuff, you know what I mean? And so I didn't rejoin after that.

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But my brother and I played also City League basketball. This is going to make sense soon.

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But we played basketball all the way from a young age to 13 years old for the city. And I just, we loved it.

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But again, every year I'd have to re -accept the mantras, the rules, the stipulations of my new coach of the league, make practices on time, do the drills, work hard, play the game by the playbook, and honor my coaches.

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I didn't like all the mantras and rules with the Boy Scouts, but basketball I could deal with because I really liked it.

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And you see, the thing is, everything we join or commit to has their own set of rules or code of conduct.

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Even as a United States citizen, we are to adhere to the laws of the land or be forced to under the threat of imprisonment, honestly.

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When you go to work on Monday, you have agreed with your employer at the time of your employment that you will adhere to their standards, that you will abide by their employee handbook and bylaws.

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Your children, if they go to public school, are to follow the rules at their school lest they be expelled from the school.

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If you're part of some local club, you will be required to function as they outline it.

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That is the expectation. As Christians, as those who identify with Christ, we are to live our lives in such a way that not only reflects him, but also obeys his commands.

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The Lord himself has mantras, rules, and statutes that transcend anything that a man can tell us, any organization can tell us.

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And we are called to abide by those, never to earn our keep as Christians, but because we are free to do them, because with a new heart we should want to do them, and also we are commanded to do them.

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If you follow Christ, you will look like a Christian. If you follow

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Christ, you will look like a Christian. You know, his name is in the word, you follow him.

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So my desire in this sermon is to, of course, exegete and explain the text, but also to gain some points of application for us.

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And I will demonstrate these three main objectives for us as a local church for 2022, and exhort us to observe them towards the end of the message.

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I think doing it that way will be more meaningful for us. So let's begin in verse 1.

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Therefore, I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

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He says, therefore, this is a transition for Paul. We are to do something now because he has made a point.

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Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of Ephesians discuss some high points of theology.

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These are theological indicatives. Okay, indicatives are statements of fact.

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And now we have chapters 4, 5, and 6, and these will have what are called imperatives drawn from the theological indicatives.

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Imperatives are commands. So again, chapters 1, 2, and 3, theology.

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Chapters 4, 5, and 6, how to live out that theology. That is the format of Ephesians.

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To give you an example, too, on indicatives and imperatives, the statement, Jesus Christ is

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Lord, is an indicative. It's a statement of fact. Okay, Jesus Christ is

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Lord. That's just a fact. It's an indicative. But if I were to say, believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, that's an imperative. I'm commanding something of you.

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And that's what's taking place between chapters 1, 2, and 3, and 4, 5, and 6.

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In chapter 1, statements are made like he predestined us to adoptions as sons through Jesus Christ.

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Or statements like we were sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit of promise. Chapter 2 has remarks like we were dead in our trespasses and sins and he made us alive.

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Or for by grace, you've been saved through faith. These are theological statements.

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They're indicatives. Chapter 3 ends with a beautiful benediction statement to end his train of thought before he transitions to their

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Christian conduct. Chapter 3, verse 14 through 21 reads this.

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For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

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That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his spirit in the inner man.

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So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge.

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That you may be filled up to all the fullness of God and he says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us to him be the glory in the church and Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

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Amen. That's in chapter 3. Some of you are like, wait, the benediction?

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Are we supposed to leave now? No, you're not supposed to leave yet and Paul's saying don't leave yet. There's more to the letter.

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He makes this transition, this benediction type of transition and goes on to chapter 4.

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The letter doesn't end there. He says therefore because of all that I just said in chapters 1, 2, and 3 because all of that I a prisoner of the

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Lord. Paul identifies himself as a prisoner of the Lord and not just simply a prisoner.

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Okay, that's key. I don't think he is necessarily indicating to past imprisonments or his current imprisonment when he says that.

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The root word in the Greek means to be tied to or bound to something.

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Paul is saying when he calls himself the prisoner of the Lord, he says I am bound to the

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Lord. I am tied to Christ forever. His prison sentence then is freedom and liberty.

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In other epistles, he says he is a doulos, a slave of Christ.

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He calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ. Sin is no longer his master.

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Christ is his master now. Whether you're a prisoner or a slave of Christ, you get all the gracious gifts, inheritance and riches lavished on you that Paul talked about in chapter 1.

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He's demonstrating where his allegiance and obedience lies. There is a king now, a most benevolent and merciful king.

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To serve him and in his kingdom is to enjoy all the benefits that he showers upon us.

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That is being a prisoner of the Lord. He says, I, a prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

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Does it sound like he's making a suggestion? I don't think so. He speaks emphatically,

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I implore you. I implore you, or I urge you, or I beg you.

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There is urgency there because of what all God has done through Christ for you.

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I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of that truth, worthy of that calling.

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The apostle often urges and begs in his letters. He urged the

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Roman church to present their bodies as holy and acceptable sacrifices to God.

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He begged them to turn away those who cause dissensions and promote contrary teachings in the church.

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He urged the church at Corinth not to receive the grace of God in vain or to discredit the ministry.

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He also, Paul, begged Euodia and Sunteke to live in harmony and reconcile together.

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He urged Timothy to instruct and correct certain men who taught strange doctrines. This is important, he's saying.

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This is crucial. I urge you, I implore you. Do this, walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

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And he's not talking about a normal walk. He's not talking about the way you strut, the way you stride, the way you walk.

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This is about their Christian life, their conduct or behavior.

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And this harkens back to chapter 2, verse 10 in Ephesians where he says, to walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand.

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Walk in them. To walk right shows up seven times in this epistle.

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Walk worthy of the calling. What is the calling? It is the salvific call.

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Walk in a way that shows evidence of the effectual call of salvation mentioned in the golden chain of redemption.

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That's what it is. They have been predestined, called, justified, and glorified.

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So walk in a way that demonstrates the truth and reality of that.

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Showcase your way of life by what God has done in your life.

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Let it manifest in the inner man and then to the outer deeds. Do you have feet that are swift to shed blood or beautiful feet that carries good news?

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Do you walk in haste to sin or pick up your cross, deny yourself, take the death march, and follow after Christ?

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Do you walk near the prostitute's house like the Proverbs say? Or do you flee sexual immorality?

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Do you run away from lusts? Do you walk in the counsel of the wicked or walk in his law so that you may not stumble?

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So you could do a simple concordance search on the word walk.

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There are literally, it's everywhere. There's just hundreds and hundreds of these verses throughout the

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Psalms, throughout the Proverbs, throughout the New Testament, Old Testament. It's all there to walk in the right way, to walk uprightly, to walk in truth.

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The calling of our Lord Jesus Christ upon our lives is that we all have to keep looking back at that.

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We look back at what Christ has done. We're constantly looking back. You say,

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I go to a church that always talks about the gospel. I go to a church that always talks about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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Well, good. That's what we need. We need to constantly be looking back at what Jesus Christ did so that we can keep moving forward and walking rightly.

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It is the reason why we walk in a worthy way. It's because of Christ, because of what he's done.

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The truth is, if we're going to sit with Christ in the heavenlies, then we need to walk worthy of our calling now.

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Stand firm for Christ now. Verse two, how are they, how are we to walk?

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It says, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another, in love.

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Paul is further elaborating on walking worthy. He lays out what it is to look like to be a

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Christian. The first is humility, or some translations say lowliness.

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To most Gentiles back in that day, humility wasn't a virtue. That's even for a lot of people today.

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They don't think humility is a virtue. It's something to be discarded.

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It's not something to harness in you, that it's a weakness of some sort. Lowliness is being concerned,

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I'm sorry, is not being concerned with one's own self -importance.

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You're not always concerned about yourself. When you follow Christ, you may get a poor reputation among family and friends.

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There were so many rumors floating around about Jesus during his earthly ministry, but he kept his eyes towards the vindication that he would get one day.

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In Christ, humility then becomes a virtue. In Christ, humility becomes a virtue.

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We are to emulate Christ in this way. He did not, like I said in my prayer, regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking on the form of a bondservant, the likeness of men, and he died on that cross.

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That is pure humility, brothers and sisters. He died on that cross.

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When he went in to bring the little girl from death back to life, it says they all laughed at him.

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They're literally mourning for the death of this little girl, and when he says he's going to bring her back to life, they all laugh at him.

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And what does he do? He raises this little girl from the dead, and does he come out and say, look what

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I've done? You were wrong. Jesus doesn't do that. Although he was reviled, he did not revile and return, the scriptures say.

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He just raised her back to life. Our pride gets in the way all the time.

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Why do we have to have the final word? Why do we have to win the argument every time?

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Why can't we let trivial wrongs against us just go? Just let them go.

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Because you've forgotten how to walk. I've forgotten how to walk. We must remember the calling of Jesus Christ and walk rightly.

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The next one is gentleness. Again, Jesus sets the tone there as well. He says he is gentle and lowly in heart.

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With him, you will find rest for your soul. Are you so gentle and hospitable that people around you feel at rest?

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Do you know anyone like that? Have you ever been around someone where they have such a gentle spirit that when you're around them and they're just a godly person, you just feel a sense of peace or rest?

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Are you like that? Does that come off of you? Or do you invoke anxiety in people?

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Do you invoke chaos or craziness to everyone else? Paul says in the church to deal gently with those who are misguided and ignorant.

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Not everyone is at the same level or understanding as you or myself.

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I have to confess, sometimes I've act shocked at people close to me and with their misunderstanding of something in the

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Bible. I go, what, you didn't know? I can't believe you didn't know that. You know, I've done that myself and I've corrected harshly.

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They are not misguided. They just haven't learned something yet or understood it yet.

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Maybe that's maybe more of a reflection on my poor friendship or poor discipleship or relational abilities.

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Husbands, we do that a lot to our wives and children. At work, we'll be so gentle with a guy we're training, this hard guy.

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He's like, so what do I do? And we tell the guy what to do. And we're very gentle and all, this is how you do it.

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And we're telling them how to do this procedure or we're training someone. And then our wives or our children will be like, dad, so what does that mean again in the

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Bible? And we'll be like, oh, are you kidding me? You don't get that yet? You know, we do that to our wives and children, but we're nicer on the guy in the training session.

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If anything, we ought to be gentler with our own family. Christ explained the parables to the apostles and he didn't withhold a gentle explanation.

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The next one is patience. To be forbearing, to be long -suffering. And this isn't the kind of patience that you would think endures suffering or hardship.

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That is no doubt very important. This patience is directed from one person to another.

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It has to do with relationships, relationships. This patience doesn't retaliate when wronged.

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This type of patience seeks to reconcile and not avenge. This kind of patience is often silent when provoked.

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I remember one time I saw a brother at church who was injured.

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He was injured and he was hoping for prayer from anyone in the church.

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He had hurt himself and he was in a lot of pain and he just wanted prayer from someone.

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And there was another brother there at the church who was going to seminary, a young seminarian, and he came and told the injured brother, hey,

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I'm convicted to pray for you. I'd love to pray for you. I'd love to pray for your relief, for your comfort, for healing.

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Well, a third brother who had been at that church a lot longer was standing nearby and he said, hey man,

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I've got it. I've got it taken care of. You think just because you go to seminary, you think you can pray over people?

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No doubt, that's what he said to him. The young man eager to assist, he walked away discouraged.

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Paul said, don't let anyone despise you for your youth, truly. This young man, he let the offense go and he entrusted himself to the

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Lord. And sure enough, not long after that, the Holy Spirit convicted that third man who mocked the young seminarian.

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And he felt truly awful for that scornful remark. So the young man's patience, I'm trying to show you, won out.

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The young man's patience won out. He wouldn't let that interaction be a cause of division and the

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Lord did the work. We have to entrust ourselves to the Lord. Sometimes there's not much we can do but pray for those people, right?

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Love. Love is the last one the apostle Paul mentions here. And I think it's safe to say, love is the motivator behind the first three.

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But he says, showing tolerance for one another in love. And showing tolerance can mean to endure with, to bear with each other, put up with each other, but in a loving way.

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For the sake of love, for the sake of the love of Christ and love for Christian brother or sister, can you just sometimes put up with each other?

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That's kind of what he's saying. Honestly, the local church and the people in it are going to be, listen to this, the church and the people in it are going to be one of the biggest driving forces of your sanctification in your life as a

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Christian. The people in this room, if you become a member here, if you just keep coming and you walk long enough with each other, the people in this room and me, we're all together going to be probably one of God's biggest force, driving forces of sanctification in each other's life.

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Through conflict, through bearing each other's burdens, through praying for each other, for providing for each other, iron sharpening iron, men getting into arguments about theology, all these things.

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That's why being part of the visible church in a local body is so important.

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That's something that you would not receive at home with my Bible and Jesus. This is what

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God has called you to, to be in fellowship with the saints. Every letter that Paul wrote was written to a church, besides Timothy and Titus, right?

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And a few others. So again, this very thing that we're in right now, this church, these people, this is going to be a huge driving force for your sanctification.

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I've heard Christians say things like, well, I just have to love them. I don't have to like them.

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I just have to love them. What does that even mean? I just have to love them.

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I don't have to like them. What does that mean? I think that's a heart not full of humility.

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Not one quick to give preference to another. Quick to gentleness and correction or patience.

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I mean, we better like each other. We're going to be with each other for all eternity. Well, that guy says, well, there won't be sin there anymore.

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Well, yeah, fortunate for us, you won't be sinning there anymore, buddy. So you know what

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I mean, right? So we ought to love and like each other.

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No doubt, no doubt. I'm so glad that the love part is not removed from the tolerating and putting up.

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Look at that. Showing tolerance for one another in love. It doesn't just say showing tolerance.

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It says with love. It's not just showing tolerance. It's not just trying to put up with each other.

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He is saying you don't really tolerate each other if it's not a tolerance of love. You don't really tolerate each other if it's not a tolerance of love.

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The Greek form of love here is agape. Agape love is the selfless, sacrificial, and deep love that Christ displayed on the cross.

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Agape love isn't something we could have practiced rightly before being saved.

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Romans 5, 5 says this type of love, this agape love was poured into us by the

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Holy Spirit when we were saved. We love with the same love that God poured into us.

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Verse 3, verse 3. Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

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So verse 2 really showed us the fruit of the Spirit that Paul highlights in Galatians 5.

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You might be familiarized with Galatians 5.

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It has the fruit of the Spirit passage in there. So now he's telling us those fruits will preserve the unity that we have in the

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Holy Spirit. If you practice those things in verse 2, you will maintain unity. We have to work hard to maintain it.

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He says be diligent. Being diligent is intensely dedicating yourself to fulfill an obligation.

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The Christian life isn't a passive thing. The Christian life is go therefore, or I implore you to walk this way, or fight the good fight, or run the race so as to win.

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All these actions, all these activities, that's the Christian life. We are a people with intent behind everything we do.

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There's purpose behind everything we do as Christians. And in our diligence, what are we to do?

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It says preserve the unity. Make every effort to preserve the unity.

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The BDAG lexicon says to hold on to something so as to not give it up or lose it.

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And now I'm not a big, for those of you who know me well, I'm not a big sports guy. I played sports back in the day, but I actually,

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I might lose some of you right now with this statement, but I actually don't watch a whole lot of sports anymore. I like to go to hockey games or basketball games.

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And see people play. But I don't watch them at home or anything like that. So you'll have to forgive me.

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I'll confess that tonight. But though, I thought of what's the best way to illustrate holding on to something.

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It's like the wild pass from the quarterback to the wide receiver, a high lob almost floating in midair and defensive backs are all around him.

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It's hard to tell if the receiver even caught the ball. And a mountain of guys pile up on this receiver, some hoping to knock the ball out of his hands in the process to recover a fumble.

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One by one, after the whistle is blown, players are peeled off of this guy, right?

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And we all look and we go, did he hold the ball? Does he still have the ball?

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That's kind of what happens, right? And so despite all that occurred and all those tackles, the receiver stands up and he holds the ball up and everyone cheers, right?

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That's what we've seen in football. And we are to, in the same way, we are to grab unity and never let it go.

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That's what the image is there with preserve the unity. Grab it, hold on to it, hold it up, show everyone that you still have it.

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Think about it. If what unites us is the spirit of God, look,

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I'm not making a judgment here, but it makes you wonder when churches divide, and I mean, they divide in the, sometimes in terrible ways.

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When they divide, it makes you wonder if some of them don't have the spirit, if they can't keep the unity, because the spirit is what unites us, it's saying in this way.

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The spirit is the bond of peace. This is a command to keep unity together and look, not at the cost of truth, not at the cost of truth, not unity with false brethren.

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No, that's not what we're saying, but unity within true brethren, that's what we are to keep.

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Christ prays to the Father concerning the disciples and by extension, the whole church.

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And he says, let them be one, Lord, as we are one. Let them be one as we are one.

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We are drawn together by the spirit as he indwells each believer. We are the new temple and are bonded together in Christ.

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The root word in the Greek for unity is actually one, it's one. The word one, similarly to how

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Christ used one in that prayer, we must have a type of oneness together.

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And it is in the spirit, the spirit whom sealed us to God as a pledge of our inheritance, according to chapter one, verse 13, 14.

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I don't know if you knew this, but the letter to the Ephesians is a sister letter to Colossians.

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Ephesians was written possibly right after as Paul continues on the same vein and the same themes of the letter to the

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Colossians. Honestly, if you were to read Ephesians and read Colossians, some of the verses are almost identical, but regarding this,

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Colossians 3, 13 through 14 says, Bearing with one another, forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the

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Lord forgave you, so also should you, beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

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There it is again, bonds, unity. In the bond of peace, the

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Greek points to fetters or ties or shackles, something that brings multiple things together, ties them together.

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In fact, the same, the root word for bonds is the same root word for prisoner.

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When Paul called himself prisoner, it's the same root word there for bonds, for bond of peace.

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Tied together in harmony, that's what it's saying. Not just in general, but specifically between each other as the people of God.

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We are bound together, bonded together. Not an artificial peace in the air, but a peace between each man, woman and child, a connection binding us together in harmony.

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And we must work to maintain that. Correct it immediately when it falters, fix it when a connection on one side is broken for a brief time.

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We are to constantly be working towards and for unity. And so this isn't the handcuffs on the two clashing characters in a movie where, you know, the two dopey guys are handcuffed together.

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And then after going through some struggles, they finally work it out and they become good friends and they work together with this handcuff on us.

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That's not the image for us. We have something stronger. We have the spirit -wrought bonds of peace.

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We are tied together in an eternal and spiritual way. Verses four through six.

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There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling, one

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Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

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Excuse me. This is a creedal summary. It very well could have been an ancient hymn or creed in the early church.

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Verses four through six. It serves to support the urgent message

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Paul is giving to the Ephesians. Verse three emphasized, like I said, the oneness.

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Unity has the root word one. These verses further reinforce his point of oneness.

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There are only one of these things. There are no others. Christianity is rightly exclusive of all other ways, but inclusive of all types of sinners, right?

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There is only one way. Jesus is the only way. Despite all the various churches throughout the

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Mediterranean at that time, Paul demonstrates there is one body, one universal church.

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Actually, the word Catholic means whole or universal.

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Not to be confused, of course, with the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, the

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Apostles' Creed, which has been recited by many sound churches for centuries, says the line,

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I believe in the Holy Catholic Church. That line is partly devised from this verse, that there is one body.

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So it wouldn't be wrong to call the invisible church God's elect the church

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Catholic, okay? It kind of freaks us out a little bit. As Protestants, I get it, but that is the proper language and, of course, language of the

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Reformers too. We are the church Catholic, the universal church, the invisible church. Again, not the

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Roman Catholic Church. Most of Paul's epistles are dealing with a particular crisis or a sin issue within the local church.

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He doesn't do that in this letter. Especially in the first few chapters, the letter emphasizes our union with Christ.

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It is in Christ that the Father has blessed us, that He chose us in Him, that in Him, we have redemption and forgiveness of sins and obtain an inheritance.

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As well as sealed together with the Holy Spirit in Him, in Christ, the whole church is being built up together, okay?

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He indicates that one of the mysteries, in fact, in Ephesians, it mentions the word mystery often.

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He says one of the mysteries of God in the gospel is the breaking down of the barrier of hostility between Jews and Gentiles.

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You see, in the temple in Jerusalem, there was a section for the

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Gentiles. They were not allowed to go into the inner parts of the temple. They were not even allowed to cross the threshold.

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There was a barrier between any sort of God -fearer or converted Gentile. They were unclean.

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They couldn't come into the main courts in the temple. And so Paul says that that barrier, that dividing wall, has been broken down.

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Jews and Gentiles, all one body, all one church. And here's the thing.

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It's not many different churches anymore. One day, God will gather

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His elect, His true believers of the invisible church, and there will be, guess what?

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No more denominations one day. There will be no more denominations one day. We will be one body, brothers and sisters.

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And I think that that is a good thing to long for. I think that is a great thing to long for.

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In many ways, and this is a side discussion, I think denominations are a grace from God due to our fallibility.

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So I think they're actually good to have. But the greater thing is to long for that unity across denominations.

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And again, I don't think that'll be had until the consummation of all things, and that will be a glorious, glorious day.

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Preserve the oneness together as you are one body under one spirit. So he says one body, one spirit.

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There may be many spirits with a lowercase s, but there is only one holy spirit of the

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Holy Trinity. The one given to us after Christ's ascension to lead us in all truth, to comfort us, convict us of sin, and guide us.

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He is the personal, he is personal, I'm sorry. And it says that he is the pledge, the deposit of what

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God promises to give us in full later at the end of all things.

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Says there's one hope, and that is the hope we have. One hope, it's one hope because outside of Christ, there is none.

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Outside of Christ, there is none. He brings us back to the calling. One hope of our calling, the hope you have should not be a hope inside of yourself.

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That's not where we look to for our hope. The hope you have of eternal life is not an assurance in your best

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Christian behavior. You are not to look at how well you perform as the assurance.

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We look to the finished work of Christ as our assurance.

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Now, I'm not trying to disregard what Paul says when he says to examine yourself, to see that you're in the faith.

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You know, of course, that's a righteous thing to do. But when we look for our assurance, that one day we will stand before God and be declared righteous, by his work is solely in that promise in what

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Jesus did. It's in the promise that when Christ says it is finished, that it was truly done.

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Verse five says, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. When he says there is one

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Lord, he is referring to the undeniable truth that there is only one

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Lord Jesus Christ to whom our hope and calling is derived. Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven, many on the day of judgment will say to him,

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Lord, Lord, and you know the rest, but they'll call him Lord. Here's the thing, though, recognizing his

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Lordship is not the same as abiding by it. First Corinthians 12, three says, therefore,

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I make known to you that no one speaking by the spirit of God says Jesus is accursed and no one can say

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Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. Did you know many supposed

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Christians believe it is not necessary or right to recognize Jesus Christ as Lord?

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I'm not, I'm not kidding. There is a whole group of people who say it is wrong for Christians to believe that Jesus Christ is

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Lord. That sounds unreal to you, right? That sounds unbelievable. They say, they say that they don't have to view

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Christ as Lord in obedience. That all they should care about is

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Jesus as Savior, not as Lord. How can we deny his authority, though, for a believer?

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They call this Lordship salvation, they call it a heresy. That is scary because what they are simply doing is calling the

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Scripture false. That is a dangerous place to be. Jesus is

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Lord, my friends. Jesus is Lord. And that carries weight with it. That carries something with it.

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He is Savior and Lord. Says one faith, one faith.

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We preserve the unity, the oneness because there is one faith. It cannot be divided.

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Some theologians are puzzled if this means there is kind of one kind of faith that justifies the ungodly.

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A faith given by God that believes solely on the work and promise of God in Christ. So in other words, they're kind of like, is this pointing to saving faith?

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Or is it that there may be one faith in that there is one set of essential truths to Christianity?

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There is one faith. In fact, there's a couple verses down from this that kind of shows us it means similarly to that.

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That it's not talking about necessarily saving faith or faith given to us by God.

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It is the faith, you know? You know, when someone says he's a man of faith, the faith or something like that.

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Paul tells Titus to hold fast to the faithful word, which is in accordance with what?

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The teaching. He doesn't say a teaching. He doesn't say hold fast to something similar.

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He says, hold fast and teach in accordance with the teaching.

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In second John, the apostle whom the Lord loves says, anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have

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God. There is clearly an apostolic teaching handed down by Christ.

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OK, there are not many teachings. There is the teaching. The word shows here.

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Christ preserved this teaching through the apostles, through the preservation in the New Testament books.

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And it's understood by the plain reading of the text and expounded upon through the practice of normal hermeneutics.

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There is one faith and one understanding of it. There is one faith and one understanding of it.

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My friends. Under that faith, there is one baptism. First Corinthians 1213 says for by one spirit, we are all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free.

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We are all made to drink of one spirit. Paul really likes this one language.

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Baptism, therefore, in this way. In this, at least in this context, it shows us that baptism is an ordinance of unity.

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Baptism brings us together. Baptism is a bond between us just as we are united in the taking of communion.

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Finally, verse six. One God and father who is over all and through all and in all.

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Again, what unites us, brethren? All these things unite us.

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They make us one. Because there is one God and father who is sovereignly over all this plan of redemption.

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We live in a world that God created. He sustains, he controls, and he occupies.

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Isaiah 44, six says, Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel, his Redeemer, the

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Lord of hosts. I am the first and I am the last. And there is no God besides me.

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There is one God and father. And yet if you look back through verses four through six, there are four ones.

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OK, look through that. Look at all the ways it says one. There's one body and then one hope, one calling and one faith.

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There's four ones that have to do with the aspects of salvation. But then if you also look, you'll see three other ones where it says one spirit, one

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Lord Jesus and one God and father. Do you see that there?

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Paul gives us even the Trinity. He gives us the Trinity. Their father, son and spirit had a role.

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They all played a part in the deliverance of God's people. Right there, four ones that have to do with the salvific acts, three ones that show the

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Trinity, one spirit, one Lord and one God and father. So I'm wrapping up here,

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OK? Let's summarize some points that we saw in the text here in Ephesians four.

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We are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called. In the world, we are told to walk in a way to bulldoze over people in our relationships and behavior.

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Walk with a dominance over everyone else because it's all about self -importance, self -exaltation and self -idolatry.

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It is not to be this way in the Christian life, brothers and sisters. To walk worthy, we are to walk lowly, he says.

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When a baby is learning to walk, we have to hold their hands. We have to guide them.

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And when a baby falls, we pick that baby back up. And that's the same way Christians are to help one another to walk as well.

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We are to disciple each other from the point of baby steps all the way to all out sprints in the

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Lord God Almighty. From beginning to end, we disciple and serve each other in our walks.

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When one learns to walk sufficiently on their own and they are mature,

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OK, OK, you've walked with the Lord for a while. There's stability, there's consistency, there's maturity in the

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Lord. OK, you can walk. You are no longer in the baby steps or the toddler phase.

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It's time for you to teach others how to walk. That's that's what we see. I want us to concentrate on our walks this year, brothers and sisters.

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Let's heed the imploring cries of God's word and seek to grow into the image and likeness of our

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Lord. Doing so will result in the fruits of the spirit within us, humility, gentleness, patience and showing tolerance for one another in love.

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I think one way to do that is to read the word, right? Husbands, teach and lead your your wife and your children in the word of God.

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If you've never been a praying person, this is it. This is your year to become a praying person.

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Start right away. Even if you don't feel anything or anything spiritual, it's time for you to be a praying person.

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Next, let's resolve to make every effort to preserve and protect the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.

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This year, there will be things that try to attack our church from the outside. In fact, there already have.

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I've learned that there were those who were going to come here on our open house night and block the doors and try to pass out literature against our church on the open house night, but it never happened.

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God thwarted their plans. Then there was another church here that did a long video on Apology of Utah, not

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Apology in Arizona, on our church and myself. And that video is online for the world to see now about our church and something that they said we've done.

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These attacks are going to happen, guys. They're going to happen. They're going to happen from the outside. And I don't think they do anything to us.

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I don't know about you, but that sort of thing doesn't shake me. They can do all they want. But we are founded on the solid rock of Jesus Christ.

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He will shatter the enemy's attacks to pieces. But with that said, with that said, it is important for us to be aware of the possibility of attack from within, from within.

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We must grow so close together that gossips, strifes, jealousies, envies, and quarrels will never breed here.

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And if they pop up, we must be diligent to snuff them out. We need to maintain community together.

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We need to share meals together, brothers and sisters. We need to pray together. We need to help each other.

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We need to be in communication together and fellowship together. Send a brother or sister here an encouraging note.

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You ever done that before? Years ago, my wife got a note from another woman in the church and it meant everything to her.

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Take that idea, run with it, send each other notes, invite one another over for dinner, build an affection for each other in the body.

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And finally, let's see growth in our community of the one body under the one hope, under the one faith, under the one baptism, by the one spirit, through the one

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Lord, all ordained by the one God and Father. Time is short and the days are evil.

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We must work while it is still day for night is coming. Says the

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Lord. This year we must increase our evangelism efforts. We must get the saving gospel of Christ out into this valley.

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There are captives needing to be released and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church and his gospel.

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Victory is guaranteed. Victory is sure. All we have to do is be obedient. Let's do it this year.

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So from this glorious passage, we get our application turned to vision. To reiterate, number one, let's grow in our walks in Christ.

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Number two, let's grow together as a church in unity. And number three, let's see

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God grow his one body, the church, through the proclamation of the gospel. I implore you in the same way, brothers and sisters, let's commit to these things and see what the matchless

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King Jesus will do as he spreads his rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

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Let's pray. Father in heaven, we bless your name, please. Bless the message that went out.

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Lord, God, let this not simply be a burden in my heart,

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God, but let it be a burden in the hearts of your people here today. God, let this not just be a passing sermon that is easily forgotten, but let this be something that is on our hearts and our minds.

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Something that is the very, the very desire and vision of Apologia Church in Utah.

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And Lord, we do it all not for our own sakes, but for your glory. And that you would expand your kingdom,

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Lord, on this earth. Father, please be with the saints. Continue to work in us,

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Lord. Bring us to completion in Christ Jesus. We thank you for the message in Jesus name, amen.