We Must Be…

United to God’s People through Christ (vv.11-12)

There was a saying in New Testament times that came from the Greeks, “that there were two types of people, Greeks and Barbarians.” That statement clarifies disunity. Disunity in the Ephesian church was mainly between Jewish and Gentile believers. Disunity in the American church is often between the haves and the have not’s. Jesus’s prayer in John 17 is that all believers be unified!

John 17:11, 21, 22

11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

21 that they may all be one, just 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 have sent me.

22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,

There is no room for disunity among God’s people, especially when the gospel message is so urgent. We must work together for His glory! There was a problem in the early church, because Paul mentioned it a few times!

Romans 10:12 “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.”

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Colossians 3:9-11 “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.”

United to God’s Presence through Christ (vv.13-19)

We are no longer an enemy of God, but belong in His care! We can boldly approach His throne of glory crying out, “Daddy”!

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.”

Ephesians 4:1-6 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner 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 eager 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 that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

According to verse 14 and 17 unity brings peace. The cross is an example of peace. The horizontal beam can represent our peace with others as a result of Jesus’s sacrifice. The vertical beam can represent our peace with God as a result of Jesus’s sacrifice.

United to God’s Purpose through Christ (vv.20-22)

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

One of the quickest wildfires to harm and even hinder the people of God for the purpose of God, is gossip. Gossip tears apart unity and it is from Satan! James 3:6 “And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.”

1 Peter 3:10 “For “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;”

There have been studies that indicate how holding a grudge can produce more stress than necessary, thus causing many health problems.

People’s feelings get hurt when they identify more with who they are or who they think they are more than who they are in Christ! When your identity is found in Christ, perceptions and the things of this world cannot move you! You’re anchored on the rock of Jesus! Like what’s stated in Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe.

How can unity be restored, if it’s broken? By forgiveness!

Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

When we are unified, we work well together! We are called in our specific individual gifting to come together for the purpose of glorying God!