Unity in the Spirit

Here’s a short devotional I recently prepared.  I hope you are encouraged.  Blame me for any errors, give praise to God for any encouragement.

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I want to encourage you tonight regarding how we can preserve the unity of the Spirit. 

“Therefore, I Paul the prisoner of the Lord implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called, having humility, gentleness, patience, and tolerating one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Eph 4:1-3

Every time we encounter the word ‘therefore’ in Scripture we must immediately find out what its there for.  In verse 1, therefore signifies a break from the Paul’s previous three chapters which was spent primarily listing the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ. 

• Eph 1:4 – concerning our election
• Eph 1:5 – concerning our predestination
• Eph 1:7 – concerning our redemption in Christ
• Eph 2:1-4 – concerning our regeneration or new life in Christ
• Eph 3:6 – concerning our partaking in the promises of Christ

Notice the first point after this wonderful list of glorious blessings is that we walk in such a way to preserve unity.  Please note that Paul puts a very high premium on this command since so much effort was spent on articulating these Spiritual blessings we have in Christ.

What is this unity?
Before we go further we should ask ourselves what is this unity that Paul speaks of?  Looking at the verse, “being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” we can determine at least two things.  

First this unity is not man-made.  The origin of this unity is “of the Spirit.”  It is something that was made possible by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  We get a preview of this unity by hearing Christ’s words in John 17:20-23 where our Lord says:

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

Jesus prayed for this very unity that he would achieve for us on the cross.  Therefore this unity is not something we need to create, coerce, or produce.  We are not responsible to create it but simply to preserve it.

The second deduction is that this unity exists only in believers.  As Christ prayed to His Father for this unity for all that would be His it is clear that this unity exists only for true believers.  As Paul is speaking to the believers at Ephesus he is telling them to preserve what they already have because of what Christ has done for them.  He is in effect saying, “Jesus prayed for this unity and purchased this unity that you now possess.  Now preserve it.”

How do we preserve this unity?
Paul gives us four ways to preserve the unity of the Spirit. 

Walk with Humility
First he says to walk with humility (vs 1).  Humility is the opposite of pride.  Notice the following inverse statements. 

It has been said that the essence of every sin is pride while the essence of every virtue is humility.  That is to say, no good thing can be done apart from humility while no bad thing can be done apart from pride.  Spiritually speaking pride is that which contends with God while humility is that which submits to God.

Consider the words of Isaiah:

Thus says the LORD, ‘Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me?  And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD.  But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.’ (Isaiah 66:1-2)

All that is on the earth is God’s.  All that is in the world came into being by Him.  Now from all that is in the world there is one thing that will capture His attention – a humble person.  It would be fair to say that nothing escapes the notice of God, but the one thing that captures His gaze is humility.  If you desire to have the gaze of God walk humbly!

Walk with Gentleness
The second way to preserve unity is to walk in gentleness.  Gentleness is often seen as a weakness.  However in the first century the Greek word for gentleness was used to describe power in control.  It was commonly used to describe wild animals that have become tamed or broken.  John MacArthur sums it up well saying, “Such an animal still has his strength and spirit, but its will is under the control of its master.  The tamed lion is still powerful but his power is under the control of his trainer.  The horse can run just as fast, but he runs only when and where his master tells him to run.” (Eph commentary pg, 124-125).

Walk with Patience
The third way to preserve unity is to walk with patience.  Patience seems to be one of those virtues that become more difficult as you are involved with more people.  How much patience do you really need when you’re by yourself!  Personally, I see my impatience rising up not when I’m around a dozen people but simply when I spend time with my most precious friend, my wife.  One example would be in our first year of marriage and the only vehicle we had was my ’91 Nissan pickup which happened to have manual transmission.  She wanted to drive the car but had no idea how to drive cars apart from automatics.  I remember going out after hours to empty parking lots and trying to teach her how to control the clutch while giving a little gas only to find her frustrated due to my high expectation rooted in my lack of patience.  I expected too much in too little time.  Imagine our Lord’s perspective of us.  He is so patient with us as His children caring for our needs by giving us daily grace to sustain us and protect us from the damage we would otherwise inflict on others and ourselves.

Walk by bearing with one another
Lastly, we can preserve the unity by bearing with one another.  The burden to bear is not bearing one another’s virtues but bearing one another’s vices.  If you notice this is the most challenging of the four Paul listed.  You can be humble, gentle, and patient when people around you are in harmony with you.  However this fouth command requires that you are surrounded by people who are in opposition to you.  That is to say, this fourth command cannot be done unless you are around hostility. 

So given this near-impossible task of bearing with one another, how does one do it?  Paul says two words: in love.  One could surely attempt to bear another’s faults over time but at some point the load-limit of that burden will be reached if there is no love.  Peter said that love is that which covers a multitude of sins (1Peter 4:8).  In order to completely grasp the words in love we need to step back once again and look at the spiritual blessings Paul listed in chapters 1-3.  What should the believer see when he hears of  God’s election, predestination, redemption, or regeneration?  Should he see what wonderful theology?  Should he see what glorious Calvinism?  Should he see what an elaborate system of soteriology?  No.  The believer should see love.  The very love of God is expressed in all of theology.  It is fitting that Paul ends the fourth way of how we can preserve the unity when things seem impossible by saying, “preserve the unity by bearing one another’s faults in love as God has loved you.”

To make the point if you want to disrupt the unity of the Spirit walk this Christian life in pride.  Be a proud man and you will disrupt the unity.  Be a harsh and out of control man and you will damage this unity.  Be a impatient man and you will deprive this unity.  Be a intolerant of people’s shortcomings and faults and you will destroy this unity.