Live into the unity God has made

Ephesians 4:1-6

4 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Unity is a big word these days – maybe it has always been a challenge to be unified. Certainly in some of the circles I move it is a central conversation piece, which is what makes the passage we just read so interesting.

In vs. 4-6, Paul makes clear there is unity in the Christian faith – one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father who acts in all the followers of Jesus. So from God’s side there is unity – the Triune God of grace is a unity – and therefore the followers of and the believers in God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are one.

But Paul knows that is not the reality on the ground, he urges his readers – which includes us – to live that unity. We live that unity not by seeking to have everyone believe the same thing – but rather by living lives of humility, gentleness (meekness), bearing with one another in love (vs. 1-3). In other words, we don’t need to create unity – God has does that work – instead we need to live lives that don’t undo the unity that God has brought about. That we are to live lives that declare that unity already exists.

We do that by living gently (since gentleness is the word of the week, I pick up that word from the list) with each other. Believing that God has brought and is bringing the unity we are invited to be people whose lives bear the characteristics of unity – humility, gentleness, patience. These are needed because within the body of the church are people who will try our patience, just as there are people who will need to bear with us in love.  

Our words and actions should be such that they do not undo the unity that God has brought into being, our interpersonal conflicts should not undo the unity God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, have brought into being.

PRAYER:

God of all unity, you have made us one in Jesus Christ. Teach us to not only say those words but also to live them, to not only pay lip-service to those words but to take up the hard work of living into the unity you have brought into being. In Jesus’ name. Amen.