Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

Paul now points to the purpose for our action and attitude:

• Accord

Why do we need to walk in action and attitudes, what is Gods goal? Unity, Christ centered community, a willingness to live in continued communion with our Christian brothers and sisters. Unity does not imply uniformity; it’s not simply the idea of agreeing. Unity does not mean that all Christians will be passionate about the same things or perform identical ministries. It does imply a common purpose and interdependence within the body of Christ. The first thing we need to note here is that Christians don’t create unity, we are to “Make every effort to keep” it already exists and must be diligently preserved. As believers we are all saved, sealed and indwelt by the same Spirit. We look forward to the same hope and the same home in heaven. We live for One Lord, our Savior and supreme commander, we have One common faith of fundamental truth and believe in One baptism. Unity is living out in our Oneness in the Lord, sharing our life as we serve in one body. While we cannot create it, we can preserve it. We are called to passionately pursue unity by having active attitudes of humility. Pride makes us phony where humility keeps us honest. It was Saint Augustine who said: “Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.” Humility is seeing self through God’s eyes of eternity and living in the grace of His gift instead of the guilt of our failure, or the pride of our performance. Humility frees us from the prison of performance and perfectionism that drive us to grabbing and guilt giving, providing a pathway to grace giving. Are you living in guilt or grace? Humility heals the hurt and hurried heart that has been powered by pride. This heart of humility should generate a gentleness and graciousness in our dealings with others. While our gentleness should be willing to patiently enduring prolonged irritation and our love should long to live in forgiveness and fellowship. Our love should prompt us and provide the platform for us to put up with the faults of our fellow brothers and sisters. It is here that we discover the hard work involved in maintaining unity. Paul literally says, work hard, strive and sweat as you apply yourself to maintaining a harmony in the spirit of peace. Are you passionately pursuing peace or just being passive?  One of the realities of being human is that harmony doesn’t maintain itself; it doesn’t automatically or accidentally just happen. It requires looking outside of self and seeing something much bigger than me, His master plan. Sometimes we need to be big enough to bite our tongue, or be tender when we would rather tell others off. It means that we don’t default to demanding our own way but willingly and joyfully serve others and not self. It means not just avoiding but axing gossip, cutting out critical remarks and slaying the sarcasm. We must refuse to rummage around in the rumors and instead run to truth. Division and disunity are the most detrimental vices a church can experience. In Mark 3:25 Jesus said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand!” Are you sowing the seeds of discord and dissention or planting peace? Proverbs 6:19 tells us that one of the seven things that God hates is “a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community” We need to stop sowing the sour seeds of discord and guard every thought, control every word, and discipline every action. There are those who seem to thrive on controversy, living in perpetual crisis. Gossip becomes their go to and despite their claim to not like how they live they seem to crave and create chaos. Today many are ruining relationships by ramming them against the rocks of being right, and running them aground by demand our way instead of His Will. We are scuttling the ship of service, sinking the Saviors Will in our effort to serve self. In desire to be right we revert to ramrodding our relationships with two year old temper tantrums tactics. Or we passively aggressively push others around with our silly silent treatment or baby like behavior of banging around in an effort to get others to respond the way we want. Are you trying to convince and convict others with the cold shoulder of childishness? The result is that we are living with the wreck of sunken relationships. Today our marriages are a mess; a divided marriage is a dying one. Harmony in the home is hard, it takes work and a willingness to trade my wants for His will. We need to see unity is practical terms of achieving kingdom purposes. How do you work and play with others? Do you help or hinder? God cares about our relationships with each other, He cares about the application of the oneness He has given us. Sometimes, admittedly, we want it our way, caring more about self than service. We live in a culture that elevates the importance of the individual. Where my rights are right and no one should run over my rights, however I reserve the right to ruin those who violate my rights and get in my way. While we live in a world that wants to emphasize the importance of the individual but God gives clear instruction on unity and how we are to behave in community. God not only cares about how we conduct ourselves individually, He is concerned about our caring in the context of community. We are called to walk and work together, because the Christian life is more than just believing, it’s about belonging. Do you realize that unity has already been given? We just need to live it out, the hardest work has already been accomplished on the cross. We have a responsibility to live out oneness and put away any attitude that causes disunity recognizing it as rebellion. Pride promotes disunity, when we demand our way over others we tear at and trash unity, hurting the heart of community. The opposite of gentleness is harshness which injures unity through being critical, rude, and aggressively asserting our right. The opposite of patience is hurriedness which encourages not only disorganization but disunity. Do you have a heart of hurry? This is when we find ourselves fuming with family because something is taking longer than we think it should. Many of us have become caught up in the raging current of our consumer culture which wants to carry us along at break neck speeds. We are being swept away by a society that has lost the ability to stop and soak in the scenery. We see the pause button as a problem, as an interruption, we want to just play the song so we can sing and dance. We move to the music, we riding the rhythm but whose song are we singing the Saviors or self? Our fast passed society has poisoned patience to the point where we see it as a hindrance to progress and the curse instead of the cure. So we push people to our persuasion instead of practicing patience and walking the path together. When we hurry the heart we often dismiss people in the pursuit of our own plans and hurt the heart of community. We need to focus on the truth that unity is sacred not superficial. Unity is not only God’s plan it’s His priority. This is not to say that we can’t disagree, disagreements are a part of a free and healthy family, but how we disagree is very important. We are to disagree without being disagreeable, when we voice our disagreements with anger, we are wrong. When we are controlled by a critical spirit and voice our disagreements by talking about people, instead of with them, then we are wrong. When we value others and voice our disagreements with a spirit of love, grace and compassion, it can lead to a healthy discourse as we work to discern the Spirit’s leading. Are you going to walk, work and play well with others? Are you being humble or hard to get along with, gentle or harsh, patient or hurried, helping or hindering?  What part of peace do you need to pursue?

Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

In the first three chapters Paul taught the essential truths of wealth, we’re blessed, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven and filled with the Holy Spirit. Now as we come to chapter four we have to ask whether our behavior match our beliefs? Does our walk match our words? As Paul uses the word walk he paints a picture for us of both progress and purpose. Our relationship with Jesus involves going somewhere, taking the next step with the Savior. Before Jesus Ephesians 2:2 reminds us that “You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil.” Our purpose was pagan, there was no real progress, we simply drifted from darkness to darkness. Wherever the winds of this world and wickedness blew we wandered. But now through Jesus we are called to pursue a path of purity. So let me ask you, where are you going and how are you living? Does your life reflect His righteousness? It’s not what we look like but how we live that matters. It’s not a matter of presentation but of perspective. It’s not an issue of appearances but of attitudes. Paul had a right perspective, he lived with passionate purpose, selling out his life for the Savior and preaching to us from prison. After calling us to a life of action Paul now focuses our action on our:

• Attitude

To walk worthy of the name of Christ is not only a matter of action but also of attitude. Paul says that our attitude in life must: “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” The first attitude Paul addresses is humility, having an appropriate opinion of ourselves. This means looking at our lives through God’s grace, choosing not to see ourselves as anything less or anything more. When it comes to attitude we need to be alert and pay attention lest we fall into pride. Pride wants to puff up, to give us an inflated sense of status, so that we see ourselves as superior to others. And because pride is preoccupied with self and its own strength it causes us to settle into a smug self-reliance that ruins our relationships. It encourages our ego leading to an attitude of arrogance. We need to starve out self by creating a hunger for humility. Are you being wary and watchful against the predator of pride? Someone once said that “Humility is that grace that, when you know you have it, you have lost it.” There is a story about a young seminary student in Scotland. He was highly gifted and a leading student in the school. Because of his reputation and excellent grades, a local church invited him to teach one Sunday morning. Since he was a rising star in that denomination he entered the pulpit with great pride and expectations. When he stood before the congregation to preach, he was overtaken with fear and stage fright, unable to say a word. He began to cry and weep and ran out of the church humiliated. A sweet saint followed him out and caught up to him. She shared these insightful words with him, “Young man, if you had only walked into the pulpit as you came down, you would have walked down as you went up.” Next we are called to walk in gentleness, which is the same word that is often translated as meekness. Meekness is power under control for the benefit of others. Greek uses of the word give great insight into its meaning, it was used to describe a soothing medicine, a colt had had been broken, or a soft wind. Each of these situations describe power and strength under control. Jesus modeled meekness for us, calling us to learn from His leading in Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” We are called to have our emotions under control, this doesn’t mean we don’t have feelings it means we don’t follow our feelings, we follow the Father. Paul now points us to patience, which means to persevere through tough situations and times. It is literally the idea of being long-tempered, bearing injuries patiently without lashing out or seeking revenge. It is the principle of handling adversity without overreacting and maintaining a level head. Paul is not talking here about being patient with circumstances, this is people patience, and when we exercise people patience we practice the art of relationship. Being honest and admitting first that we are imperfect people helps us to see the need for people patience. Patience provides a way for us to both process our weaknesses as well as the space we need to see each other’s strengths. In 2 Corinthians 6:6 Paul says that we “approve ourselves as ministers of God… by patience” Learning to patiently bear the insults and injustices which threaten to hurt us is an immense challenge. Especially when we consider our current culture that teaches and trains us to look out for and after self. We tend to focus on our rights over relationship, we respond more based out of fear than freedom, because we want to make sure that no one takes advantage of us. Yet Jesus taught us in Luke 6:29 that we need to be long-suffering and patiently bear injustices without seeking revenge in anger: “If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also.” We all have faults and failings and if we don’t learn to patiently forbear with patience we will constantly be at each other’s throats. How much more peaceful would our lives be if we would learn to stop being short and getting under each other’s skin and simply serve each other with patience. How much more of a happy home would you have if you were a little more long-suffering? Last but not least we are called to an attitude of love. Love is the key to being long-suffering, I Corinthian 13:4 says “Love suffers long and is kind.” Love protects us from being legalistic and looking at the letter instead of the spirit. It frees us to stop focusing on the failures and flaws of others and just love. So often our ability to love is limited because we divide and thus diminish our energy between trying to love and…. . Without love we quickly dismiss the real needs of others and jump to justify our judging mentality. By making allowances for faults we let people be human, which not only brings hope to the heart of our relationships, but also lets us handle the heart hurts with healing. Are you loving lavishly or are you leaning on legalism? Loving lavishly doesn’t mean that we don’t speak the truth; it means that we don’t throw the truth. Truth is the vessel but love is the channel that carries it. So often we try to launch truth into people’s lives when there is no love to bear and bring it. We launch truth into a dry dock and wonder why it’s a disaster. When it doesn’t float we falsely surmise that it sank because the sinner we sent it to scuttled it. Yet the reason for our truth tragedy is that we failed to launch it in love. Truth is weighty, it can displace the darkness but it needs love to support and sustain it. It needs the currents of love to carry it carefully lest it hurt the heart instead of heal. Don’t let truth run aground around you, launch it in love and let its currents carry it home to healing. Is there any area that your attitude needs attention in? Do you have a problem with pride that needs the healing that only humility can bring? Are you being gentle and patiently loving or repeatedly running over people in your hurry to live your life?