BaptistWay: The church fulfilling its calling

• The BaptistWay lesson for Oct. 5 focuses on Ephesians 4:1-16.

In the first three chapters, the Apostle Paul shared with the Ephesians the theological truths of Christ’s grace. He explained how they had been accepted as fellow heirs, members and partakers of Christ’s promises (3:6). Paul now becomes pragmatic, offering practical direction for their character as the body of Christ. He seems to anticipate a “so what do we do now?” question and answer it before it’s even asked. Paul pleads with believers to exhibit several virtues toward others—virtues that represent a clarion call to be the church, not just do church stuff.  

The virtues of grace

Be humble: In stark contrast with Roman first-century culture—and 21st-century postmodernism—Paul endorses humility as a chief strength, not a sign of weakness or culpability. Humility’s antithesis—pride—places confidence or trust in the wrong places. Pride leads us to believe something our ego says is true but may, in fact, be false. Pride blinds us, yet convinces us we can see clearly. And pride starts young.

Just this week, I commented to our 3-year-old how God had helped him be strong and courageous about trying something new. His response? “God didn’t help me; I did it all by myself.” (Ummm, no.) Humility, on the other hand, recognizes all we have comes as a gift of God’s grace, not because we earned it, demanded it or took it by force. Humility reminds us of our beginning lowly state and sustains an attitude of servanthood as commanded by Jesus (John 13:12-17).

Be gentle: Gentleness, Paul indicates, marks believers as different than the culture in which they live. Used throughout the Pauline epistles, it’s not weakness, but instead almost all usages indicate the character of strength restrained or controlled (Galatians 5:23, 6:1; Colossians 3:12; 2 Timothy 2:25; Titus 3:2). Most importantly, it’s an echo referring to Christ’s own character in Matthew 11:29: “I am gentle and humble in heart.” Bodies of believers who demonstrate gentleness to one another and the lost, demonstrate Christ to people accustomed to being handled roughly and run over rough-shod by the surrounding culture. 

Be patient: Literally, “be long tempered.” Since Christ has been so patient with us, we’re to reflect the same leniency with others. We are challenged to love them more than we love ourselves and wait for their maturation, as well as our own. There is no “out” given for behavior we find abhorrent or inexcusable. Instead, consistently, we’re called to love them and patiently wait on them as a marker of the character of Christ within us. This virtue is an absolute must for vibrant and unified life in a community of faith.  

Bearing with one another in love: At first glance, this may appear to be a synonym for the previous virtue. This term, however, is actually an amplification of it. From time to time believers will need to abstain from enforcing their rights or privileges for the sake of others. They may need to refrain from something in order to keep community (1 Corinthians 8; 9; 10:23-24; Romans 14; Philippians 2:3-8). This forbearance can’t be forced begrudgingly, rather it is offered with grace-filled tolerance. It even may be described as a loving embrace of forgiveness before an offense is committed (Col. 3:13). It means completely loving the offender and fully accepting them despite their offense. 

Be united: The absence of the first four graces will endanger the last one. Unity is hard to accomplish without them. The unity of the church is the Spirit’s business—that’s why we need his fruit produced in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). With that in mind, there’s no price too high for unity not to remain a top priority. The force of the participle used suggests this is to be a key factor for the church. Paul seems to declare: “Don’t let any hurdle prevent you from insuring and preserving the church’s unity.”  

What if unity was the difference between life and death? 

In 1913, Vilhjalmur Stefansson led an expedition to explore the Arctic Circle. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton led an expedition to cross Antarctica. Both explorers found their ships trapped in solid ice with crews fighting for survival. That, however, is as far as their similarities go.

Before leaving, Stefansson said, “Even the lives of the (crew) are secondary to the accomplishment of the work!” While it might seem unity was present in their purpose, when difficulties arose, Stefansson’s crew devolved into a motley band of cut-throat individualists, because virtues like humility and gentleness were absent. Most of the crew members died, and some historians suspect Stefansson abandoned his team.      

However, in the south, after his ship Endurance sank, Shackleton said, “The task was now to secure the safety of the party.” All of them survived. The value and dignity of the team’s members mattered most. Unity was a greater prize than the accomplishment of their stated goal. It made the difference.  

For the church, unity can be the difference between an eternity in hell or in heaven for those outside our fellowship. Jesus said they’d know we are his disciples by our love (John 13:35); he felt strongly enough about our unity to pray specifically for it in his high priestly prayer (John 17:20-23).

The function of grace

Paul emphasizes our unity, founded on the Spirit of God, binds us together in peace because of the uniqueness of Christ’s lordship, the singularity of the body and baptism, and our shared estate as children of the same God (4:4-5).  

This same Spirit gifts believers for the work of ministry (1 Corinthians 12:4-7). Paul clarifies leaders are not to do the work of ministry alone, but rather “to equip his people for works of service” (4:12), strengthening the church and discipling the body at-large toward Christian maturity. Paul’s desire is for believers to know what we believe, why we believe it and how to act decidedly upon those beliefs. As the Spirit works in individual believers to accomplish this kind of growth, we’ll recognize lies and heresy; we’ll identify dishonesty and deceit (4:14). Truth will bind us together (4:15), and we’ll be a functional body growing and serving together in a loving and grace-filled environment of unity (4:16).

So is your church unified? Which of the virtues do you see strongly practiced by your church? Which need improvement? It’s been said a team is only as strong as its weakest link. Are you the link that’s lacking? Do you demonstrate humility, gentleness and patience? Do you bear with others in love, forgiving and laying down your rights? Is Christ’s lordship enough to connect you with your fellow believers or is his atoning work insufficient to draw you to them? How’s your service attitude? Do you submit to those God has granted with authority in the church? Are you teachable? Are you growing more secure in your faith?

My friend Robin once told me she’d become spiritually “obese.” She was at a place in life where she was learning a lot, taking in biblical truths, absorbing God’s word at an incredible rate, but she wasn’t using any of it. She wasn’t getting any exercise, because she wasn’t doing her part to support the work of the church. What about you? Is it time to do something with your faith and beliefs? As the body serves together, it develops unbreakable bonds of unity.