One in Mission, One in Call Ephesians 4:1-16. 07/14/24.

One in Mission, One in Call

Ephesians 4:1-16

Rev. Rhonda Blevins

July 14, 2024

I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg 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, making every effort 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 of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it is said, “When he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive;
he gave gifts to his people.” (When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

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Famous preacher Fred Craddock tells a story about the first church where he served as pastor. The church was a small, rural congregation close to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. While Craddock was the pastor there, the community surrounding Oak Ridge exploded with workers to staff the newly created nuclear plants. Pastor Craddock started noticing RVs, trucks, and tents here and there around the landscape. With Craddock’s church nearby, he logically began discerning a plan to reach out to the laborers who had moved to town. Naturally, Pastor Craddock hoped to reach these new people in the community for the church. There was, however, a big problem:

The congregation did not want them. Not one little bit.

After church one Sunday morning, Craddock convened the church leaders and presented his thoughts. “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t think they’d fit in here,” said one church member. “They’re just here temporarily, just construction people. They’ll be leaving pretty soon.” Craddock pushed back with another plea to the leadership, but he could not convince the leaders of their spiritual obligation. The leaders decided to hold a vote the following week.

At the beginning of the church meeting the next Sunday, a church member blurted, “I move that in order to be a member of this church, you must own property in the county.” The motion was abruptly seconded and passed. End of conversation.

Fast forward many years. Craddock—now a famous preacher — was in the East Tennessee area for a speaking event, and he and his wife decided to take a drive by the very first church where he had pastored. The area had changed over time, as well as the roads, but Craddock was able to find the little white building. He pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car.

To his great surprise, the parking lot was full; cars, pickup trucks, and motorcycles sitting around the old church building, now sporting a marquis: “BBQ: All You Can Eat.” Curiosity aflame, Craddock and his wife walked inside the old church building. The familiar pews lined the wall. The old organ was stuck in the corner. Tables of all different sizes held all manner of people feeding themselves on barbeque chicken and pork.

Craddock whispered to his wife, “It’s a good thing this isn’t still a church . . . otherwise, these people couldn’t be in here.”

As we’ve been studying the book of Ephesians together, Paul (traditionally believed to be the author) used the first three (of what we now call) chapters to set the stage for what he’ll deliver in the remainder of the letter. In the first three chapters, Paul describes all God has done in the universe, for the church, as well as for himself.

A shift happens at the beginning of Chapter 4, our reading for today—Paul begs his friends in Ephesus to consider what a fitting response might be in light of all that God has done, namely, God’s outlandish grace. Let’s listen in to how Paul summarizes what a fitting response should be:

I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a

manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

A fitting response to all God has done, is that we might walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. In other words, Paul is now going to tell us—given God’s manifold grace—how we should LIVE. Last week we talked about how part of faith is being, part of faith is knowing, and part of faith is doing—hearts, heads, and hands. Paul is now shifting focus to the doing part of faith. He’s answering the question: “How now shall we live?”

Paul names this “the calling to which you have been called.” This is Christian vocation. Not the job we do to earn a living necessarily—we have many different jobs and careers represented among us here today. We share, however, a common Christian vocation—a common calling, which Paul calls “the work of ministry.”

Have you ever been to a church in which, on their bulletin they list the staff members like we do, and it reads something like this: “Pastor: Reverend So-And-So. Ministers: The People of the Church”? It’s there like that every Sunday to remind the congregation that they are the ministers, and that the job of the ordained clergy is to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” My job, as your pastor, isn’t to minister to you. My job is to equip you that you might live fully into your Christian vocation as a minister of the gospel.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

In our reading today, the focus shifts to walking in a manner worthy of that high calling. Paul begs of us to consider the doing aspect of our faith, or how we L-I-V-E. He invites his readers to consider:

How do we walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called?

Paul then offers four steps we should take as we seek to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, four ways we are to L-I-V-E (I’ve created an acrostic to help us remember!)

LOVE THROUGH KINDNESS 1-2

L is for “Love through kindness.” It’s no surprise that love is the first thing Paul mentions in his four-step plan for living in a way worthy of our calling.

Paul’s language here is strong: “I . . . beg you.” It kind of makes one wonder what was going on in the church at Ephesus for Paul to use such strong language. Reading between the lines, it seems that perhaps there was a lack of humility, a lack of gentleness, a lack of patience, a lack of bearing with one another in love. Therefore, Paul begs them to love one another through kindness in the shape of humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love.

Remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about the factions in the church at Ephesus between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. Paul is now telling them how they should L-I-V-E given the tension in the community—attributes they must not only value but display:

· Humility: Recognizing and accepting one’s own limitations and valuing others.

· Gentleness: Acting with kindness and consideration towards others.

· Patience: Tolerating delays or difficulties without getting angry or upset.

· Bearing with one another in love: Enduring and supporting each other with compassion and understanding.

What if people lived these values in every marriage? I doubt there would be divorce!

What if people lived these values in every church? I doubt there would be church splits!

What if people lived these values in every nation? I doubt there would be war!

INSPIRE UNITY AND PEACE

Let’s continue building our acrostic with the letter “I” for “Inspire unity and peace.”

If, by some miracle, Paul can encourage the folks in Ephesus to love through kindness, the by-product will be unity and peace in the church. If they (and we!) can learn to live these simple values—humility, gentleness, patience, and love—unity and peace will surely follow.

Making every effort 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 of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

—Ephesians 4:3-6

Notice the repetitive use of the word, “one.” Seven times. Whenever you encounter the number seven in scripture, remember that seven represents completion. Paul uses the number “one” seven times: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Do you think Paul was trying to drive home a point?

The church at Ephesus was divided into factions—two factions to be precise. Two factions weren’t working in Ephesus, dissimilar to how wonderfully a two-party system works in the U.S. (kidding!).

Just for fun, did you know our Founding Fathers were opposed to political parties? George Washington, in his Farewell Address, basically warned us that political factions could take turns dominating each other, which he thought could lead to what he called “a frightful despotism.” He worried that parties would spark unnecessary conflicts and distract the government from its main job: serving the people. John Adams had similar concerns, saying that parties would become “the greatest political evil” under the Constitution. Both men feared that political parties—and the inevitable division that they foment—would tear at the fabric of our new nation, leading to corruption and a loss of our democratic values. Both Washington and Adams stressed how important it was for us to stay united as a nation. They warned that political parties could jeopardize our country's long-term health and the democratic ideals they worked so hard to establish. But we couldn’t help ourselves as a young nation. We formed a two-party system before the ink was dry on the Constitution.

Now, some 235 years later, I wonder if we should have heeded the warnings from George Washington and John Adams. Division is no fun in a nation. Division is no fun in a family. Division is no fun in a church.

Into that, we hear the voice of the Apostle Paul:

Maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

VALUE DIVERSITY

Continuing to build our acrostic— “V” is for “Value diversity.”

Paul has already explored this theme of diversity in his letter, but he returns to it so that his friends in Ephesus can’t miss it.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift . . . He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

—Ephesians 4:7, 11-13

If Paul was subtle before, telling his friends that they are “built together” into the Holy Temple of God (Ephesians 2:22), there is no subtlety now. He’s calling out particular roles and offices in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Here at the Chapel, we might add choristers, liturgists, ushers, servers of “thine holy orange juice.” Like here at Chapel, the church in all times and places is comprised of people with many different gifts and talents, but we are one in mission and one in call—the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ.

Oneness does not diminish each individual’s uniqueness but recognizes there’s a greater whole. How ridiculous it would be for a wave in the Gulf of Mexico to think of itself as separate from all the other waves in the Gulf and every other ocean.

In the faith, we are all connected—we are one. Many gifts, one Spirit. Thanks be to God!

EMBODY CHRIST

Let’s finish our L-I-F-E acrostic, shall we? “E” is for “Embody Christ.” Paul, quite literally, tells his friends in Ephesus to “Grow up”:

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

—Ephesians 4:14-16

Now Paul throws another metaphor at us . . . that of a body. Christ is the head of the body; we are the parts of the body held together by ligaments. In another letter to his friends in Corinth, Paul talks about unity and oneness, and he plays with this “body” metaphor even more:

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would 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. And if the ear would 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. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members yet one body. 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.” —1 Corinthians 12:14-21

I love the silliness Paul uses to drive home his point: we are all part of one body! How ridiculous it is of us to imagine ourselves better or worse than any other member of Christ’s body?

So back to the original question

How do we walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called?

Love through kindness.

Inspire unity and peace.

Value diversity.

Embody Christ.

And that, my friends, is how we can L-I-V-E a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called.

Thinking back to the Fred Craddock story I shared at the beginning: do you think the folks in that little church near Oak Ridge, Tennessee practiced these four steps to “walk in a manner worthy” of the call? Quick to exclude the newcomers to town, did they:

Love through kindness?

Inspire unity and peace?

Value diversity?

Embody Christ?

But more importantly . . . do we?

Ashley TanzJuly 15, 2024