Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Ephesians 4:1-6 | Date: November 9, 2025 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Ephesians chapter 4. A reminder for our visitors and those who are new here: we have interrupted our series of regular expositions to address the subject of the ordering of the church. We are in the process of searching to bring on another pastor here at RBC. And in lieu of that, we wanted to review and just highlight the ordering of the church as it’s outlined for us in the New Testament. And we come today to look at the subject of the gospel-shaped church life: Ephesians chapter 4.

I’ll take time to read verses 1 through 16:

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, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we recognize today and we call to mind the great importance to you that the church has. This is not our church; this is your church, purchased by the blood of your Son. It is dear to you, and how we reflect the grace of God given to us in our experience together—living together—is of great importance to you. We pray that you will, by your Spirit, take these words from this passage to make it of great importance to us as well. Help us to see how we can live out the great work that you have done in us and for us through Christ. For the glory of our Savior, in whose name we pray, amen.

The Goal Of The Gifted Church

Well, in this brief series on ordering the church, we began with fundamentals, and that is the role of the apostles in the church. They are the ones who form the foundation of the church in that they give us the foundation, which is Christ, and it is through the apostles that the Lord Jesus imposes his will for the church. And so we are to look to the apostles and what they have written for us to see what our church is to be like, how it is to be shaped, and so on.

And so we looked at the various offices of the church. We looked at elders. We saw deacons. We saw the roles of each. We even mentioned fellow workers, as Paul calls them. And you may recall that a few weeks ago now in this series, we looked at Ephesians chapter 4, and we looked primarily at verses 7 and following, or particularly verses 11 and following. Because this series is topically driven and we’re not working our way through Ephesians, we’re kind of going backwards with that this morning, but I want you to keep in mind what Paul emphasized in verses 7 and following, and that is that Christ has gifted the church in important ways.

In particular, he highlights in verses 11 and following the gift of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, and their role in equipping the saints to the work of the ministry so that the church builds itself up in love. And we see this wonderful picture then of the church mutually encouraging, mutually working with one another to build one another up through the leadership that God has given and that we see in verse 11.

Back in verses 1 and following now, Paul introduces how that is done. What we see in verses 7 and following is the objective—where he’s going with all of that. But in verses 1 and following, we find how we get there in a practical way. So today what we’re looking at is how that ministry is maintained on a congregational level. How is it we experience the gospel and display the gospel in our relationships together so that purpose of verses 11 and following—the church building itself up in love and so on—is maintained and carried out?

One of the more dominant exhortations that recur in the epistles of Paul is an exhortation to unity in the church—a practical, experienced unity in the church. And I’m going to highlight a few of them just so you get a sense of how important this is for the Apostle Paul as he writes, not just in Ephesians, but in all of his letters.

Romans 12: live in harmony with one another. Romans 14: make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Romans 15: may the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1: I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus, that all of you agree with one another, so that there may be no divisions among you, and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 2 Corinthians 13: be of one mind; live in peace. Philippians chapter 1: conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel. Philippians 2: make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit.

And then we could highlight all of the “one another” passages that we find in the New Testament. Let me give you a sampling of them. Mark chapter 9: be at peace with one another. John 13: love one another. Let me give you a handful more: Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Rejoice with one another. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Accept one another (the sense there in Romans 15 is accept one another, warts and all). Instruct one another. Admonish one another. Care for one another. Serve one another. Bear one another’s burdens. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another. Bear with one another. Teach and admonish one another. Encourage one another. Build up one another. Stir up one another to love and good works. Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Show hospitality to one another. Serve one another. And in that passage in 1 Peter 4, it’s serve one another with your gifts that God has given you. To the extent that these responsibilities are carried out diligently in the congregation, the church is just a beautiful thing.

But then, of course, there’s the reality of experience. And we have seen that already in this series in Acts chapter 2. We find the coming of the Spirit as promised. He came in mighty power, sweeping men and women into the kingdom. And then in Acts chapter 2, at the end of the chapter, and in chapters 3, 4, and 5, we see the demonstrated works or effects of that work of the Spirit in the lives of God’s people. He has transformed them in such a way that there’s this marvelous love and concern for one another in that infant church. Those early chapters of the book of Acts show them sharing things in common, a marvelous concern for one another—and then we saw Acts chapter 6.

This new movement, this new Christian movement, was threatened by division within the church. Grecians were complaining against the Hebrews that their widows were not being served, and perhaps they were not. And in fact, that early church in Jerusalem was not the only church that had that kind of a problem. We find it in Corinth. God had blessed the church at Corinth with a number of men who had come to preach the gospel to them: Paul, Peter, Apollos. And then we find people in the church creating factions around each of them. “I’m of Paul.” “I’m of Peter.” And it wasn’t just Corinth either. We find it in Philippians as well. Paul mentions by name two women in the church who are not getting along. And he doesn’t say they’re unbelievers; he calls them fellow workers. Tell them to get along.

One obvious proof that God’s work in us is not yet complete is the terrible reputation that some churches have for infighting and division in the congregation. They can’t get along. Disagreements turn into resentments and anger. It sometimes goes on in prolonged ways, stifling the corporate worship like a cloud hanging over the congregation every time they come together. This is a frequent topic in pastors’ conferences: how to deal with conflict in the church. It’s a topic that’s common in books that have been written. I remember one—oh, this has got to be 30 or 40 years ago now—Christianity Today came out with a book entitled Well-Intentioned Dragons. And you can imagine what it was like: all of these people who are well-intentioned or not, creating chaos and just sucking the oxygen out of the church because of the goings-on in the congregation. Well, it’s a frequent problem in many of the churches, and as I say, it’s one of the proofs that God’s work in us is not yet complete.

Now, for the sake of our visitors in particular, but also for the sake of you regular folks and members who might be curious why I’m addressing this, I want to affirm up front that we thankfully, thankfully, thankfully are not facing division in our church. In the 18 years that I’ve been here, God has been wonderful in preserving peace. We’ve not seen any of that kind of thing that I’ve just described. But on an individual level, that’s always a potential. And that’s why we see Paul addressing that problem so frequently throughout all of his letters. “I don’t like the way you did that,” and so now we’ve got a problem. Or you don’t like the way he did that, and now we’ve got a problem. And those kinds of things are always a potential. And so Paul addresses it frequently.

But I think there is probably no passage in Scripture that addresses that more in terms of forestalling the problem of disunity, in terms of cultivating in the hearts of God’s people those virtues and graces that will promote peace and unity in the church. There’s probably no passage in scripture that addresses it in a more effective and pointed way than this: Ephesians 4, particularly verses one through three. And I think for this series on ordering the church, weeks ago when I planned it out, I thought we just have to look at this passage to see what church life is to be like and how it is to be maintained.

Maintain The Unity Of The Spirit

So verse 1 begins, as you probably are aware, the—oh, the word is the paranetic section, the hortatory section of Paul’s letter. There are often those “therefores” midway or so through Paul’s letters, and it turns the corner from doctrine to exhortation, and that’s what we come to now with chapter 4 and verse 1. He begins that section: “I urge you, therefore, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” And so the command right off the bat, after discussing the doctrine that he has discussed in the first three chapters—the command right off the bat is: live in keeping with the gospel that you profess. And that’s the overall note for chapters 4 through 6 of Ephesians. Live in keeping with the gospel that you profess.

Now verse 3 tells us particularly what he is after in this passage. And that is: “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” That’s what it is, in this application of it—that’s what it is to walk worthy of the gospel. To walk worthy of the great calling that we have in Christ is to maintain the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace. Maintain a peace, a practical experienced peace in the congregation that will preserve the unity of the Spirit. In fact, he says, be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Now, the first thing to notice here in verse 3 is that Paul is not calling us here to create or to manufacture a unity in the church. “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” That is, there is a unity already existing in the church that the Spirit of God has produced. And the exhortation is not to create that unity. That unity has already been created. The exhortation, the command, is to maintain that unity that the Spirit has produced in a practical way by preserving peace in the congregation. That’s the significance here of the word “therefore.” This is the turn in Paul’s letters frequently.

In chapters 1 to 3, one of the primary focuses that he’s given to us is to show what God has done in creating the church. In chapter 1, we see what God has done to save us—the great work of the triune God in bringing us to Christ and to faith in Christ and preserving us. But then in chapters 2 and 3, Paul emphasizes this union that we have with one another, brought together by our union with Christ. All barriers have been broken down. If you’d like to glance back at a few of those verses by way of reminder: chapter 2, verses 14 and following, he tells us he has made both, Jew and Gentile, one. The dividing walls and hostilities have been broken down. All divisions have been overcome in the gospel. Jew, Gentile—fundamental division between them. There was a covenant that the Jewish nation had. All of that’s been overcome. And the division is gone, and they’ve been made one in Christ.

Verse 15: God has created in Christ one new man. Verse 16 of chapter 2: he’s reconciled them together in one body. Chapter 2, verse 19: he’s made them fellow citizens, members of the household of God. Chapter 2, verses 21 and 22: he’s made them a temple together, a dwelling place for God by his spirit. And that’s what Paul points back to again here in chapter 4, in verses 4 and 5. He spells it out in brief: “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.”

We don’t each of us have our own Lord. And we don’t each of us have our own spirit. We don’t each of us have our own hope. We didn’t have our own baptism that signified one thing for one person and another for someone else. We don’t have one justifying faith for one person and another kind of justifying faith for another. And you don’t have your own little God and I have mine. There’s one of each of these: one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. And this is something we all share in common. And this is the fundamental unity that the church is through the Spirit’s work in Christ.

And this is Paul’s whole presupposition here in verses 1 to 3, where he gives us exhortations, particularly in verse 2, where he exhorts us to how to maintain that unity. He’s not calling us here to manufacture some kind of external unity of some kind, much less is he saying simply get along with one another. He’s calling us, as he routinely does throughout his letters, he’s calling us to be what we are. Live out what God has done in you. Live out and experience the unity that God has already established. Give it a practical display among yourselves. Maintain the unity of the Spirit. How? In the bond of peace.

In other words, then, what Paul is telling us here, in so many words, is that a divided church is a walking contradiction. It’s wrong in a very fundamental way. It is a denial, a practical denial of the unity that we profess in Jesus Christ. And so Paul insists: be at peace among yourselves—a practical kind of peace that will serve as a bond that preserves and maintains the unity that the Spirit of God has produced already.

Now, there is, of course, another reality we face, and it’s something that complicates this command considerably. And that is that although we are one in Christ, we are also all diverse in countless kinds of ways. Different ages, different backgrounds, different preferences, different opinions, different judgments on this issue or the other, differing sensitivities on this issue or another.

And of course, when your judgments and your opinions and your preferences and your sensibilities differ from mine, that means you’re wrong. And when my judgments and sensibilities and opinions and preferences differ from yours, then I’m wrong. And add to that the fact of remaining sin in every heart, and our differences on whatever other kinds of levels that exist can very quickly give way to resentments, anger, and so on.

We recognize that we are united in something that is much more basic and much more important than any of that. But peaceful coexistence in that unity, given all of the differences we have on other levels, becomes complicated. Like the old poem says, “To live above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory. To live below with saints we know—now that’s another story.”

And so—and I want to emphasize this—and so it will take work to maintain the unity of the Spirit in a bond of peace. It will take work. And I say that because that’s exactly the word that Paul uses here in verse 3: “Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” That word “eager” doesn’t mean simply to do something in a hasty way. It has the idea of working diligently, intentionally, to get it done.

The NIV—those of you who use the NIV version will see in front of you—”make every effort.” That smooths out the translation, I think, very well. Let me give you a sense of how this word is translated elsewhere in the New Testament. This word here, it’s translated “eager.” In 2 Timothy 4: “Do your best to come to me soon.” “Do your best to come to me before winter.” He has the same in Titus chapter 3: “Do your best to come to me.” Hebrews chapter 4: “strive to enter that rest.” 2 Peter chapter 1 verse 10: “be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election.” 2 Peter 3 verse 14: “be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish.” So it entails some intentional effort and work—eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Now Paul is assuming here that maintaining a practical unity and a bond of peace in the congregation at times may be difficult. And it’s difficult because of all the differences we have on other levels. And Paul recognizes that, and so he commands us: work at it. Don’t take this lightly. Work at it. Determined, intentional effort. This is a necessary thing on our part in order to walk worthy of the calling with which we’ve been called in Christ Jesus.

A Prescription For Peace

All right. So Paul is after this: that we have unity in Christ. It must be maintained by a practical experienced peace in the congregation. So, how do we do this? How do we go about doing it? Work at it? How do you work at it? And the answer in verse 2 is really very simple and it’s really, really difficult. It’s both. It’s simple in that, okay, there’s the prescription. You follow this and you’re going to have peace and unity in the congregation. I don’t think I’ve ever addressed this passage without making mention, at least, that the same principles apply in the Christian home. You follow verse 2, you’ve got peace in the home. It’s going to work. Simple. But man, it’s really, really difficult because of some complicating factors of sin that are involved.

But here we have, in verse 2, a prescription for peace: “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love.” There’s a prescription for peace. So let’s take each of these individually.

Be Humble

Number one, be humble. “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with all humility.” There’s certainly not much more repulsive than someone who walks with a strut, thinks he’s God’s gift to everyone, thinks he’s got it all together—an arrogant kind of pride. But I don’t think that’s the kind of pride Paul is aiming at here specifically. That’s certainly included. But I suspect here that Paul is aiming at a more subtle kind of pride. And it’s a subtle kind of pride that we might characterize as just that which is self-centered. Self-centered. Not looking out for the interests of others. Just myself. That’s what counts. Your opinion is not important; mine is. Your feelings are not important; my feelings are important. Your interests are not important; my interests are important. Your needs, your desires, your preferences—they’re not important; mine are. A self-centeredness, a kind of pride. Your faults and your quirks, they really rub me. But of course, I don’t have any faults, and I don’t have any quirks that rub anyone else. And if I did—just theoretically speaking—if I had any faults and if I had any quirks, they wouldn’t be nearly as bad as yours.

Self-centered. Pride. As always, the model in all of this is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul in Philippians chapter 2 is dealing again with the problem of disunity in the congregation. You remember what he points them to? “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” the one who shared all of heaven’s glory as the eternal Son, humbled himself, became obedient, made himself a man, became obedient all the way to the cross. Let that mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

And notice it says here, not just with humility, but with “all humility.” Again, the New International Version translates this “completely humble.” I think it captures the sense. Altogether humble. Every kind of humility. Humility in every situation applied in every conceivable direction. It’s not a put-on—”Oh, I’m lowly and I’m no good and I don’t have any value”—playing yourself down. It’s not that. It’s simply looking out for the interests of others, a natural self-effacing that shows an interest in the well-being and the interests and the happiness of others and not just yourself.

When you think about it, when you see that in someone, it’s really an attractive thing, isn’t it? Just as there’s nothing so repulsive as someone who’s proud, so there’s just nothing so attractive as someone who’s naturally self-effacing, humble. I remember one time in particular when this struck me. This is back in the 80s when I started seminary in Hatfield at the time. This was the fourth seminary I had attended. I had some experience with seminary professors, and there was one there in particular who many of you may remember. His name was Tom Taylor. He’s gone now. We had him here to preach back at Pastor Boyd’s 40th anniversary. This is, what, 14 years ago, something like that. Wonderful man.

One of his areas of proficiency was Hebrew and Old Testament. I was sitting in an Old Testament class, and back then, at least at the seminary, they’d modeled it after the old Princeton model. And if you come to a Bible class, you leave your English Bible at home, and if you’re taking an Old Testament course, you bring your Hebrew text with you, and you work from that, and that’s standard.

And I remember going to one class in particular I took with him that just struck me. I have never, never met a man so thoroughly acquainted with the text of the Hebrew Bible as he was. The man was massively learned. It was just stunning sometimes to see him work through a text and explain—and I won’t bore you with the details. And yet, at the same time, he was so naturally self-effacing, such a naturally humble man. And I remember sitting there in class one time and saying, “That is just the most beautiful thing.” And it was really a challenge.

Now in this context here, Paul is simply saying: do you think that it would promote peace and preserve unity in the congregation if we all would work at being humble? If we are self-centered, to the degree that we are self-centered, conflict in the congregation is inevitable. And to the degree that we cultivate humility, peace and unity are unavoidable. So, how do we preserve the unity that God has given us here? Number one: be humble.

Be Gentle

Next, Paul says, be gentle. “Walk in a manner worthy of your calling with all humility and gentleness.” The King James Version translates this word “meekness”—with meekness. The idea is that he’s not being a bully, not belligerent, not pushy, screaming to get your way. He’s restrained. A meek person is one who’s restrained, not having to insist on his own rights, not overly self-assertive, not having to have it his own way, and not blasting those who disagree.

A meek person is one who doesn’t always have to have or insist on his own rights. A meek person is one who’s willing to bend. A meek person is one who’s willing to give, to give way for someone else. A meek person is someone who’s approachable, teachable, or as the expression the King James Version would give at times, “easily entreated.” There’s a disagreement, maybe even an offense. Go to him. Talk to him. If you’re the one being talked to, be easily entreated. A meek person. A controlled spirit is the idea here, one that restrains those urges to retaliate. Someone has done something stupid; you don’t have to call him stupid. Something like Jesus, who, when he was reviled, did not revile again. Meek. Power under control. Able to accept and even welcome imperfect people. How to maintain the peace? Be humble. Number two: with meekness.

Be Patient

Number three, again in verse 2: be patient. “Walk in a manner worthy of your calling with all humility and gentleness, with patience.” Now I’ve said that we don’t have a problem with division in our church, and I’m very thankful for that. We have a happy fellowship here. I pray regularly that God will preserve that. But I will tell you that we do have a problem at RBC. It’s one you may or may not have noticed. The problem that we have at RBC is that every last one of us is a sinner.

Now I’m sure you’ve noticed that about some others. I gotta tell you, it’s true of you too. It’s true of every one of us: elders, deacons, Sunday school teachers, music team, anyone else in the congregation. It’s true of every last one of us. Thankfully, God has undertaken a work in us, in each of us, and he’s conforming us to the image of Christ. And one day that’ll be made perfect. This side of the grave, it’s not. On this side of the grave, whatever degree of work God has accomplished in us already and to whatever level we have reached of spiritual attainments, sin remains in the heart. And every last one of us has faults. Not only faults, but as I say, quirks and personality traits that just rub other people the wrong way.

And then you compound with that: we each have sensitivities of various kinds over various issues, differing in certain ways. If we are to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, we must work at being patient with one another. Now, the King James Version translates this word differently. It doesn’t render it “patience”; it renders it “long-suffering.” My grandmother was a diligent student of the word, and I remember her commenting one time that that word “long-suffering” is a great word because it defines itself. Long-suffering. Yeah, that’s patience—suffering with someone a long time and putting up with it. I think she nailed it. To be patient, to be long-suffering, is rather than getting all up in a tizzy if things aren’t exactly the way you want them, or rather than saying, “That’s the last straw,” just settle down and recognize God isn’t finished with him yet. It’ll be all right.

Aren’t you glad that God is more patient with us than we are with others? I got to tell you, that’s the standard exactly: to be as patient with one another as God has been with us. You’d like to glance down to the end of the chapter, Ephesians 4 verse 32: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted…” There, he’s commanding affections. Be tender-hearted. Develop, work at that—at having an affection for others. “…forgiving one another.” How? What’s the standard? “As God in Christ forgave you.” That’s the standard.

Patient, long-suffering. To walk worthy of our high calling in Christ Jesus, we must endure with one another as Christ has with us. We have to be able to say, in view of the fact that God has been so patient with me despite the fact that my sins against him have been so many more in number and so much greater than any of my brother’s offenses against me, I must be patient.

You can see this is the pathway to peace. I don’t know a passage in the Bible that gives us a more pointed, a simpler prescription than this. But there’s one more. I’m still in verse 2: “Walk in a manner that’s worthy of the calling to which you’ve been called with all humility, gentleness, with patience, and then finally, bearing with one another in love.”

Bearing With One Another In Love

Bearing with one another. The idea of that word is enduring. Again, the presumption is it’s going to be difficult at times. People are going to be difficult. It may rub you the wrong way. It presupposes a degree of stress. And really, this is just a synonym of patience. But it stresses the idea of enduring—the long-suffering idea that I just mentioned—being patient in the sense of enduring difficulty, enduring offense, enduring in the sense of restraining yourself. In the face of offense, we might render this “putting up with one another.” In a good sense, putting up with one another even when it’s difficult and when there’s disagreement, not always having to get satisfaction, not always having to settle the matter, not always having to get the last word, not despising, not ridiculing a person—bearing with him, putting up with him, accepting and even embracing one another, warts and all.

And notice here, it doesn’t just say “bear with one another.” It’s “bearing with one another in love.” That’s really the key, isn’t it? If we love, well, then putting up with is easy. Love is the key. We’re commanded to love one another.

Take, for example, a young mother. She has a baby. Mom’s got a lot of work ahead. A lot of work. She has to feed the baby. She has to take care of the consequences of feeding the baby. She has to clothe the baby, bathe the baby. The baby is completely helpless. She does everything for the baby. Can you imagine a mother saying, “Wait a minute, I’ve got rights here,” or, “This baby is really a burden”? But no, she loves that child. It’s a joy to treat him and to help.

When my kids were young, one of the things they really liked for daddy to do was to give them a horsey ride. And I’d get down on my hands and knees in the living room floor, and they’d jump on my back, and I’d walk them around. And then, of course, as daddies do, I’d give them a bucking bronco ride. And I’d rear up and try to throw them off, or I’d buck up from the rear, try to throw them off, and I’d run around. It expends a good deal of energy, let me tell you. And finally, I’d dump them off onto the floor, and every time, almost invariably, they’d get up from the floor laughing: “Do it again!” And so you do it again. And you do it with each of them again. And pretty soon, you’re about shot. And finally, you roll over onto the floor on your back and say, “You guys are killing me!” But never once did I complain and say, “Hey, wait, I got rights here.” Love’s the key. You’re glad to expend that energy. You’re glad to wear yourself out. Love’s the key. Bearing with one another in love, just like the Lord Jesus has done for us.

Well, you can see then how this would sweeten and preserve a church fellowship. Now, none of this comes naturally: humility, meekness, patience, forbearance. None of it comes naturally. As I say, this is really a very simple prescription for peace in your home. This is a simple prescription for peace in the local church. It’s really very simple. It’s just complicated because of the remaining effects of sin in each of us—the offender and the offended.

But it is these virtues here in verse 2—this is the work of God’s Spirit in us. This is what he has come to cultivate in us. This is the fruit of the Spirit that he has come to do. And Paul says, as he does everywhere, that this is a matter of progressive sanctification. This is not just God’s work and we remain passive. Make every effort to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And as we do that, we will live in peace. And to the degree that we fail in verse 2, we will live in conflict.

Well, again, verses 7 and following give us a wonderful picture of the local church. We have men and women of all kinds here, each with varying gifts, ministering to the others in their various ways, and the church building itself up in love—the church doing what it’s called to do, and the church doing it effectively because the people themselves are just being what God has called them to be, and they’re living out the virtues of Jesus in their own life and experience and in their relationships. And the church is displaying in experience the unity that God has already established in the church. A unity that one day will be realized in full. And a unity that outsiders as well as those in the congregation will recognize that this is the work of the gospel in the people of Christ, where the Lord Jesus displays His virtues in the lives and the experience of His people, individually and collectively.

Amen. Let’s pray. Our Father, these passages of Scripture come to us so brimming with needed application to us. Each time we look at it, we, on the one hand, see how far short we fall of reflecting in our own lives the virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive us for that, Lord. On the other hand, we see when we read passages like this, what a beautiful thing the church is. And I thank you for the fellowship that you have created here at RBC. I pray that you will use this passage to make each one of us increasingly diligent to maintain what you have created here. To the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.