Sermon Tone Analysis

The first three chapters of this letter were mainly prayer and now he moves onto practical living until the end of the letter.

Today’s passage is split into two parts: verses 1-6 is about unity in the body of Christ and verses 7-16 are about unity through giftedness.

The rest of the book is then based upon this unity in the body.

We are to guard ourselves against disunity.

But this unity can only be found in Christ.

Paul is using his experience of prison to call others to a more sanctified living.

He says, “look, none of you are here with me in this hell-hole having to deal with physical constraints, health problems and, overall, the whole injustice of being here in the first place.

After all, all I was only trying to do good and lead people to Christ”.

“Take my example”, he says, “and be humble, be gentle, be patient, cope with each other and live in peace.”

We are to walk worthy of the Gospel, to walk in the light and then unbelievers might see; don’t just talk but do.

This, of course, is the picture of a perfect church.

I have not yet seen one that puts all this into practice so that means that we are all responsible to do our part.

This is at the hard rock face.

People are difficult.

Yes, even Christians!

Sometimes I want to say that some unbelievers are easier to get on with.

This is not how it should be.

It is not a mistake of Paul to exhort Christians to get on with Christians.

Sometimes it is about the way we put ourselves about.

Sometimes we are proud, not necessarily we think we are the bees knees, but somehow we are superior to others whether by intellect or by moral conduct.

We think we are better than others.

Of course, these things could be true.

Maybe you or I am.

Even so, there is no room for pride for whatever intellect we have, whatever good we have has not been of our own doing.

Sometimes we can be proud about being given the grace that we have!

We forget just how humble and gentle and patient and bearing Jesus and the Father and the Spirit were and are with us.

We forget we have had to be forgiven and are forgiven.

We forget we have had mercy shown to us and is still being shown to us.

Calvin comments on how easily our temperament is such to get angry and bitter for daily we can easily offend each other.

There remains then a need to be careful with what we say and do but also noting it is impossible not to offend people especially those who are more sensitive but it is also upon them, as well as us, to forgive for love covers a multitude of sins.

Keeping peace is important not only for ourselves but also for the Gospel.

Notice the word ‘keep’ the unity.

The unity is already present but it can also be lost at a local level but is also easily restored if we can but love one another.

We are bound to each other just as Paul, in prison, was bound to the jailer.

What follows here is like an early credal statement: Seven times Paul uses the word ‘One’.

emphasising unity.

We are the ONE body of Christ from its founding until the day the Lord comes back for us.

The Church is through whom the ONE Spirit works and moves.

We have the sure and certain ONE hope of salvation - the day when we will be taken out of this world looking forward to the Day of His appearing.

There is only ONE Lord who is the Lord Jesus.

ONE faith or belief, that is in Jesus, and is based upon the Apostle’s doctrine.

ONE baptism in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

ONE God and Father permeates every part of this universe and lives in every believer.

He is our Father.

He is not yet the Father of unbelievers.

And He is both near and far, near to be familiar and far because He is not like us.

This unity that is required of us is reminiscent of the Trinity who being three persons is One God with no division or disunity between them.

For these Ephesian believers were living in a time of many gods, not unlike today, the emphasis was upon God who is One and does not include others who make claims to be gods.

It is possible that this creed, which is a short statement of beliefs, with the 7 ‘ones’ was used at water baptism and used in a way like this:

One Body, one Spirit, one Hope

One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism

One God, over all, through all, in all.

This is not the creed of the world - the creed of the world declares that Jesus is not the only way as was said in court in March by the Prosecutor against two believers who had preached on the streets and how they upset people by declaring that Jesus was the only way because, the Prosecutor said, it cannot be true - so, these two believers were found guilty at Bristol Crown Court.

Who is this prosecutor?

Is he a theologian?

They have effectively outlawed the preaching of Scripture on the streets saying that it was OK back in the 1st or 16th century but not today.

The prosecutor does not know history - the Gospel and the cross have always been offensive!

Please pray for these two.

They were both fined £2016.

[http://www.christianconcern.com/our-concerns/freedom-of-speech/street-preachers-who-quoted-bible-convicted-in-modern-day-heresy-tria

Accessed: 4/3/17]

Jesus did not just die and resurrect but He also ascended to the Father giving His gifts to us along the way.

The first gift is grace.

Not only mercy was shown us but grace also was given to us.

Instead of wrath we have been glorified.

This truly is amazing.

For this to happen the cross had to happen.

Jesus was brutally taken from the earth and went down to the depths of the earth.

There is some confusion here about what the lower parts of the earth are.

The verse is not translated easily but is more likely to be the lower region, the earth.

Earth is lower than heaven.

Therefore what this means is that Jesus when He came to earth descended from Heaven before He ascended back to Heaven.

In the defeat of the spiritual powers at the cross they no longer have the power to keep anyone from Heaven.

Captivity was captured.

Now it is upon us to declare the Good News of the salvation Jesus brings and all the good gifts as a result; every spiritual blessing we have in Christ.

On top of these individual gifts of grace given to individuals and gifts of the Spirit found in Corinthians, He also has given gifts in the form of individuals to the Church: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

Apostles are those who are sent.

They are ambassadors.

They are messengers who have been sent by Jesus to speak and act with authority.

Whilst this is a distinct group of people in the Bible, that is, the disciples, Matthias and Paul some, today, could be thought of as apostles but not in the special sense found in the New Testament.

Prophets are those who speak on God’s behalf.

They have a special ability to receive and deliver direct revelation of God’s will, what is called ‘special revelation’.

This also is normally restricted to the New Testament but, with caution, there are some who can hear God in particular situations but never contrary to Scripture.

Evangelists are those who proclaim the truth of the Gospel and call people to live by Jesus’ standards.

Pastors, which is literally the word ‘shepherd’ are those who have oversight and care and is protector of the Church.

And teachers are those who faithfully pass on the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, explaining and applying Scripture.

Pastors are also often teachers though not always.

Despite the fact that we are one in Christ we have all been given differing abilities and gifts and roles to play.

The work of these ministers are to prepare the rest of the Church to minister and to build them up and to get them on the same page so that they can know Christ and become like Him.

Of course, I say ‘they’ when I mean ‘we’.

This knowing of Christ is not just head knowledge but experimental - we know Jesus through experience.

The Church should be clear about Christian doctrines to know those who are false teachers and are able themselves to teach rightly with love so that the next generation will also grow up into Christ, the Head of the Church.

This will only happen, though, if everyone gets onboard, realises their part to play, then the Church will not be child-like and babyish but mature, growing and loving.

Let us not forget, though, that love is not the standard, truth is; Love based upon truth.

There can be no unity whilst heresy is in the midst.

And we are all called to works of ministry.

There is no one-man band in the Church:

Have you heard about the “one-note musician”?

She inspected her violin, took her seat in the orchestra, arranged her music, and tuned her instrument.

As the concert began, the conductor skillfully cued one group of musicians, then another, until finally the crucial moment arrived.