Will you please turn to the letter to the Ephesians? Ephesians 4.
We will read from Ephesians 4:1-12.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called,
with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
But unto each one of us was the grace given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Wherefore He saith, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?
He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
And He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body of Christ.
May we look to the Lord in prayer.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that it is Thy pure grace that gathers us together in Thy presence this morning.
Our heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee for the finished work of Christ, which opens such a new and living way for us, that we may enter into Thy very presence to behold the glory of the Lord with unveiled face.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee for what Thou hast accomplished and done for us. We are in the good of all that Thou hast done, and for this we are grateful.
As we humble ourselves before Thee this morning, we pray that Thou wilt breathe upon Thy Word and make it living and operative in our lives, that these may not be just words, but that they may be light and spirit to us.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
The subject that we have before us for these mornings is Christian unity.
Our Lord Jesus, on the night of His betrayal, poured forth His heart to His Father. He prayed on behalf not only of those disciples who were with Him that evening, but of all those who would believe in Him through their word. That is to say, He prayed for all those who are His.
The one burden that was upon His heart during that time was that they all might be one, as He and the Father are one.
Sometimes we call John 17 the high-priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus. We know that today our Lord Jesus is our great High Priest. He sits at the right hand of His Father, making intercession for us, and He is able to save us to the uttermost.
What is the burden of our great High Priest in heaven today? What is it that He intercedes for us? What is it that He wants to save us to the uttermost?
I believe His burden has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His burden for His people today in heaven is just the same as His burden for His people during that last night before His crucifixion.
His burden is that we may all be one, as He and the Father are one. His prayer is still going on in heaven. Our Lord Jesus is still praying for us, even today, and He will be praying until that day when this shall be an eternal reality: that we may be one, as He and the Father are one.
This oneness is an inward reality. This oneness is based upon mutual indwelling. As He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, so we are in Him and He is in us. It is on this that our oneness—our unity—is possible.
This morning, we would like to continue with this matter of keeping the unity of the Spirit.
We know that the will of God is that we may be one. We know that the heart’s desire of our Lord Jesus for us is also that we may be one. Because of this, the unity of the body of Christ has become our calling.
Our calling is none other than the will of God. Our calling is none other than the heart’s desire of our Lord Jesus. If God wills it, if Christ desires it, then we are called to it.
We are called to be the body of Christ. This is our calling. We are called together to be that body. The will of God is a corporate thing. The desire of our Lord Jesus is a corporate body. He wants a body—one body, not many bodies. One body. This has become our calling.
If we read Ephesians 1 through 3, we find that this is revealed to us very clearly: we are called to be the body of Christ.
Paul prays for the Ephesian believers in Ephesians 1. He says that God will give the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, the eyes of their hearts being enlightened, so that they may know what is the hope of His calling.
Then, in Ephesians 1:22-23, God has put all things under the feet of Christ and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
In Ephesians 2:15, we are told that He abolished in His flesh the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that He might create in Himself of the two one new man, making peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body unto God through the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
Again, in Ephesians 2:19, we find:
So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
And in Ephesians 2:22:
In whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
Then, in Ephesians 3:10, we find that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here you find what the will of God is, what the desire of the Lord is, and what the calling of His people is. We are called to be one body. We are called to be one man—one new man. We are called to be one family, one household of God. We are called to be one habitation, a holy temple of God. This is what we are called into.
A calling is a vocation. This is our vocation. Our vocation is to be one body.
This is our mission. Our mission is to be one body. This is our destiny. Our destiny is to be one body.
Dear brothers and sisters, I do hope that the Spirit of God will impress upon our hearts that the unity of the body is our calling. Because it is our calling, we have to be fully involved in it. We cannot be careless about it.
We must look to the Lord that we may fulfil our calling, that our calling may really be a vocation to us, and that it may be a testimony to the world.
As we look at the history of the church, the early history of the church is recorded in the book of Acts.
If you read the book of Acts, you will find how, on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down upon the one hundred and twenty who had gathered together for ten days, giving themselves with one accord to continued prayer.
In one Spirit, on that day, they were baptized into one body. They were no longer one hundred and twenty members of a congregation, but became one hundred and twenty members of one body. A wonderful thing happened on the day of Pentecost.
Not only were there one hundred and twenty, but immediately you find that three thousand were added to that body. All those who were in the body, as we find in Acts 2, continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in prayer, and in the breaking of bread.
One thing you will notice with the early church is how they were one. All that believed were together, and their togetherness was not just a physical closeness. They had all things common.
They were so together. They were so one. They were members of one body, so they had everything in common. My hand has everything in common with the rest of my body. My foot has everything in common with the rest of my body. The reason why they had everything in common is because they were one body.
And day by day, continuing stedfastly with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread at home, they did take their food with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.
Again, you find in Acts 4, verse 32:
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and soul: and not one of them said that aught of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
That included not only the one hundred and twenty in the beginning. It included the three thousand on the day of Pentecost. It included those who were added to the church daily. It included those who were added until the number came to five thousand.
All of them were of one heart and one soul. Not one said that anything which he possessed was his own. They were all delivered from self-possessiveness.
You know, the spirit of self-possessiveness is tremendous in our natural life. But they were all delivered from the spirit of self-possessiveness. All things were common to them.
With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. The resurrection of the Lord was not only what was preached; the resurrection of the Lord was what was visible.
Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, brought the prices of the things that were sold, laid them at the apostles’ feet, and distribution was made unto each according as any had need.
The one thing that impressed the world during those early days was this: “Look how these people love one another.” They were one. The unity of the believers was the testimony of that time.
Professor F. F. Bruce, when he wrote the history of the early church, concluded with this comment. I will quote him:
The churches in the first century A.D. were closely linked together in Christian fellowship, but they were not united in any federal organization. There was no idea that the church of one city was subordinated to the church of any other city. The relationship between the churches was primarily one of fellowship and charity. The churches, united by this kind of bond, came in the second century to be denoted comprehensively as the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church is not the Roman Catholic system. The Catholic Church means the universal church. The universal church at that time was represented by the local churches in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, in Antioch, in Asia, in Europe, and in Rome.
When you come to the beginning of the second century, you find that all the churches of God were joined together in one—not by any federal organization, but by the bond of fellowship and love. That is the church.
But unfortunately, gradually, sects, parties, divisions, schools of opinion, and heresies began to come into the church of God. God’s people began to be divided into opinions, separated into groups and parties.
But in the hearts of God’s people, everyone knew they should not be divided. There was a deep consciousness in all believers. They knew that they were meant to be one. They were called to be one body. If they were divided, something was not right. Everybody knew about it.
Yet there were divisions. There were parties. There were schisms, rents, and rifts among God’s people.
So some people tried to unite the church. Not only was there this consciousness that we must be one, but there were also ambitions. Therefore, some people tried to unite the church.
When you come to the sixth century, you find that the Roman Catholic system was finalized. On the one hand, it tried to unite all God’s people into one. But it was a union not by the Spirit; it was a union through power politics.
Even though the Roman Catholic system was able to bring many churches and many groups under its system, we know that at the same time there were the Greek Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church. So God’s people were still divided.
With all these outward efforts of joining them together, God’s people were not one. This continued until the sixteenth century.
Now, thank God, in the sixteenth century, God raised up the Reformers.
During the Reformation, we find that justification by faith was preached. During those Dark Ages, people who were called Christians did not know that they could be justified by faith.
The common notion was that they had to accumulate merit—justification by works. If you accumulated enough merit, then you might be able to go to heaven. But except for a few saints who accumulated more than enough merit and went directly to heaven after they died, all the rest had to go to purgatory.
Because these saints had more merit than they needed to go to heaven, it was taught that if you prayed to them, they would share their merits with you. You could receive indulgences and get out of purgatory more quickly.
So you find that all these abuses and superstitions came into the church. It was really dark.
But thank God, God reacted against that situation. God raised up Martin Luther, John Calvin, Zwingli, and others. Justification by faith was proclaimed, and many came to a real knowledge of salvation.
Not only was there the teaching of justification by faith, but there was also the open Bible. During that time, the Bible was chained.
The printing press had not been invented before that time, so the Bible had to be copied. It was very expensive, and very few people had a Bible. Even where there was a Bible, it was usually chained in the monasteries, and even monks did not read these books.
But during the Reformation, thank God, in His providence the printing press was invented. The Bible was printed in the languages of the people, and an open Bible became available to God’s people. It was a great movement from heaven.
But unfortunately, during that time, even though the great doctrine of justification by faith was recovered and an open Bible was in the hands of many people, the oneness of the body of Christ was not emphasized. The unity of the believers was not being stressed.
Because of that, you find that out of the Reformation came all these state churches and national churches. On the one hand, God’s people still had a feeling that we must be one and should not be divided.
When they came out of the Catholic system, an international system, or out of the Orthodox Church, another international system, you find that the Protestants were organized into state and national churches.
The idea was still there: we should not be divided; we should be one. But how? A state church, a national church, was limited to a state or a nation. In the state church or national church, anyone who was naturally born into that country belonged spontaneously to the church.
The membership was the nationals. Even that was not God’s desire.
Out of these national churches and state churches, you find there were dissenters and separatists. In church history, you find all kinds of groups and denominations beginning to appear.
Usually they were centred upon a certain doctrine, a certain way of organization, or the following of certain people or certain leaders. You find denomination after denomination being produced.
There was unity within the denomination, but there were divisions between the denominations.
When it came to the twentieth century, especially during the last twenty or thirty years, we thank God that the Spirit of God has been moving among God’s people.
Why? Because the time is close.
Among God’s people during the last decades, there has been an increasing desire, an increasing longing, an increasing sense: How could we be divided? Why are we divided?
In the hearts of God’s people, there is a growing desire that we should come together. But how? How are we going to be one?
Let me read to you something written by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones:
There is no question receiving so much attention at the present time, in all branches and divisions of the Christian church, as the question of church unity. There are many divergent views with regard to this.
The Roman Catholic solution of the problem, of necessity and in spite of what appears to be greater friendliness at the present time, is simply absorption into her institution and organization. The church is always the same from her standpoint, and on the basis of her definition it must be. Therefore, it is quite logical that her notion of unity should be that all other sections of the church should return to her, who is the one and only true church of Christ.
The so-called Orthodox churches, Greek and Russian, hold the same view. But there are other views, some of which contrast sharply with it in their looseness. They maintain that what is desired is a visible unity and a coming together of all who call themselves Christians in any sense whatsoever.
Unity means that all sections of the Christian church, anybody claiming the name of Christian, should meet together, have fellowship together, walk together, and present a common front to the enemies of Christianity.
One other view must be especially mentioned at this point, and it seems to be becoming fairly popular in evangelical circles. This regards unity mostly in terms of coming together to form a kind of forum where various views of the Christian faith may be discussed and people may present their different insights, hoping that as a result they may eventually arrive at some common agreement.
This is what people are doing today: the ecumenical movement, trying to join all who are called Christians together.
The Roman Catholic Church tries to call those who differ with it to come back to its fold because, it says, there is only one church, and that is the Roman Catholic Church; and there is no salvation outside of the church. Absorption.
Then, among the Protestants, something is going on through committees, through congresses, by negotiation and compromise, trying to find a common ground so that they can put up a common front before the world.
But, dear brothers and sisters, this is not Christian unity.
Christian unity is something deeper than that. Christian unity is a spiritual oneness. It is something done by the Holy Spirit. It is not something created by man. It is not something man can make. It is the operation of the Spirit of God.
Therefore, we come to Ephesians 4.
Now, if you turn to Ephesians 4, the key word here is the word therefore in verse 1:
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called.
Whenever we find the word therefore, we know that it continues what has preceded it. In other words, Ephesians 4 follows what has been described and shown to us in Ephesians 1 through 3.
In the first three chapters of the letter to the Ephesians, we are shown what our calling is. We are called to be the body of Christ.
Having been called to be the one body of Christ, therefore, let us walk worthily of the calling wherewith we have been called.
You know, the word worthy in the original has this meaning: equal weight, or balance.
Now you have the teaching, the doctrine, the calling. Balance it with your walk, with your conduct, with your conversation, that you may have equal weight. It may not be just a teaching.
Dear brothers and sisters, during the last thirty years there has been much teaching on the body of Christ. The exhortation of the Holy Spirit is: balance it with behaviour, with conduct, with deeds. Walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye have been called.
This word worthy also has the meaning of becoming, of fitting in with something else.
Now, you are called to be the body of Christ. Do not be in conflict with it. Do not clash with it. Just try to fit in with it—to become what you are.
We are exhorted to become what we are. We are exhorted to balance our teaching with our practice. We are exhorted to walk worthily of our calling.
This unity is not something that we can create. This unity is not something that man can make.
This unity is something that God has given. It is something that Christ has accomplished. It is something that the Holy Spirit has brought into operation.
When we come to the unity of believers, we find that it is lifted to the exalted level of the divine Trinity.
Here you find in Ephesians 4:3:
Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This unity is called the unity of the Spirit. Why? Because it is the Spirit of God who brings to us that unity. Thank God, He has already brought it in. So the Scripture says, “Keep diligently the unity of the Spirit.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we are not to create the unity of the Spirit. Nobody can. The unity of the Spirit is already given. It is given to all who are the Lord’s. The Holy Spirit has already done the work. All we need to do is keep it, and diligently keep it.
Brothers and sisters, you do not keep what you do not have. You keep it because you have it.
You do not keep diligently if what you have is of little worth. But if what you have is of such tremendous value, then you have to watch it and guard it very diligently.
If I have a few pennies in my pocket and I am walking on the street, I will not put my hand in my pocket because of the pickpocket. If he takes it, let him have it.
But suppose I have a million dollars in my pocket. When I am walking on the street, you know how careful I will be.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you know what God has given to you? Do you know how much it cost the Lord Jesus to make it possible for you? Do you know what the Holy Spirit has done in your life?
He has done a great thing. He has given you a unity—a unity with your brothers and sisters, a unity with all those who are the Lord’s.
There is a unity, not only a union with God and with Christ the Head, but a unity and union with all those who are the Lord’s.
From the first century up to the twentieth century, from the first one who belonged to the Lord until now, you have it, I have it, and every one of you who believes in the Lord Jesus has it.
Do not say, “How can I ascend to heaven to get it? How can I descend to hell to bring it up?” It is already yours. You have it.
Because it is so precious, dear brothers and sisters, the Scripture says, “Keep it, and diligently keep it.” Why? Because even if it is yours, if you do not keep it, you may lose it.
Even if it is yours, if you do not diligently keep it, the enemy will snatch it away from you. If you look back into church history, or even into your own history, you will find how the enemy is trying every way to snatch this away from you.
If he can remove you from the ground of the unity of the Spirit, he succeeds in dividing God’s people.
By the grace of God, this is something that every one of us must diligently keep: the unity of the Spirit.
What is the unity of the Spirit? It is described in Ephesians 4:4-6:
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as also ye were called in one hope of your calling;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
One body.
In Ephesians 3, we are told that we are called into one body. Whenever you think of the body, you think of the Head. Why? Because the body comes from the Head. Without a head, there can be no body.
Christ is the Head. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, and ye are complete in Him.
Think of the Head. Think of Christ. Oh, the fullness of the Godhead! Who can fathom the fullness of God? How rich is God? How full is God? How glorious is God? How full of love, righteousness, holiness, and light!
Nobody can measure the fullness of the Godhead. Yet the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, and ye are complete in Him.
Hold fast the Head, and then the body will be joined together.
Dear brothers and sisters, we must see Him. It is only as we focus upon Him, the Head, that the body is joined in one.
What is the body? The body is to contain all the riches of the Head, and the body is to express what the Head is. That is what the body is.
Dear brothers and sisters, we are called to be that body. We are called to be the corporate expression of Christ. We ought to express His glory. He is to express Himself through us.
One body, because there is only one Head.
All who are born from above have gone into that body. We may not live in the body, but we are in the body. Because we are in the body, therefore we must live in the body.
It is not by trying to get into the body through living. It is to live out from the body. We are all members one of another in the body. Therefore, live accordingly. One body.
One Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 12:13, it says:
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came. Brothers and sisters, when we read Acts, our attention is usually focused upon the sight and the sound.
There was the sound as of the rushing of a mighty wind coming from above. There were tongues like fire resting upon the heads of the one hundred and twenty.
When we read it, we usually pay attention to the sight and the sound. Yes, that was spectacular. That was wonderful. Those were indications. But, brothers and sisters, that was secondary.
What is Pentecost? What did the Holy Spirit do on the day of Pentecost?
In one Spirit, they were baptized into one body. Now, that is Pentecost.
By one Spirit, these people who were individuals were baptized into one body, the body of Christ. Now, that is the miracle of Pentecost.
But that was only half of it. The other half happened in Caesarea, in the house of Cornelius, when Peter was preaching.
You know, Peter was probably a long-winded preacher. When he was just warming up, the Holy Spirit came down and fell upon those people.
In one Spirit, they were baptized into one body—whether Jews or Gentiles.
On the day of Pentecost, the Jews were baptized by one Spirit into that body of Christ. In the house of Cornelius, the Gentiles were baptized by the same Spirit into the same body.
Therefore, in that body, there are neither Jews nor Gentiles. It is Christ, all and in all.
Dear brothers and sisters, do you not know that on the day when you believed in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit not only begot you, but He also, through the baptism with the Holy Spirit, baptized you into that same body?
You were baptized into the same body into which the people on the day of Pentecost were baptized, and into which the people in the house of Cornelius were baptized.
Not only that, but we were all made to drink of the same Spirit.
To be baptized is something outward, external. But to drink is something within.
The Holy Spirit, from the day that you are saved, is your drink. He is to be your very life, your very sustenance. You cannot live without Him. He is your drink, and you drink of Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, is it not true that we have the same Spirit? We were baptized in the same Spirit into that same body, and we have the same Spirit who dwells in us. We are one.
And one hope of our calling. What is our calling? Our calling is to be the body of Christ.
What is the hope of our calling? Hope is something you look forward to. What is it that the body is looking forward to?
The body is looking forward to that day when the body is fully grown and mature. Then the Head will come back as the Bridegroom to claim the body as His bride. That is the hope of our calling.
Brothers and sisters, we have a blessed hope.
Our blessed hope is not merely to walk on golden streets. Our blessed hope is that when the Lord comes back, we shall be fully prepared, matured, and grown up, so that we can be His bride, joined with Him eternally in that union.
That is our blessed hope. That is your hope. That is my hope. That is our hope. We have the same hope—one hope of our calling.
You find that these first three “ones” are all related to the third Person of the Trinity. It is by the Holy Spirit that we were baptized into one body, made to drink of one Spirit, and given the hope of our calling.
Why? Because it is the Holy Spirit who is working in and among us to transform us and conform us to Christ together, that we may become a mature body, the bride of Christ. That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
Then you find the fourth “one”: one Lord.
In 1 Corinthians 8:5-6, we read:
For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth; as there are gods many, and lords many;
yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through Him.
Even though there are many gods and many lords in the world, with us there is only one God, who is Father of us all, of whom are all things, and we unto Him. We have only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through Him.
Dear brothers and sisters, we who have believed in the Lord Jesus have not only a Redeemer who redeems us, but we have one Lord. He is our Lord, our Master.
We belong to Him. We owe everything to Him. He has bought us with His own blood.
No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. By the Spirit of God, willingly and gladly, we confess Him as Lord. That is something we share together.
God has anointed Jesus as Christ and Lord. By the Spirit, we call Him Lord.
One day every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord, and every knee shall bow to Him. But even before that day comes, by the Spirit we have already confessed Him as Lord.
All who believe in the Lord Jesus confess Him as Lord. But may that confession be true. May we not just say, “Lord, Lord,” and do our own things.
One faith.
The one faith here refers to the fundamental faith in the Person and work of Christ Jesus. In other words, the one faith here is different from the faith mentioned later in Ephesians 4:13.
The one faith here refers to that basic faith without which no one can be saved. It is justifying faith.
We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. It is the faith that Peter confessed when the Lord Jesus said, “Whom say ye that I am?” Peter said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the one faith. Unless by revelation from above you believe and confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed of God, the Messiah, the Saviour, the One who was sent to do the work, you cannot be saved.
You believe in His cross, His shed blood, and His finished work. You believe, as to His Person, that He is the Son of the living God.
Brothers and sisters, that is justifying faith. It is one faith, and it is something we all have. The Holy Spirit has given that faith to all of us. We share it together.
One baptism.
It does not refer to the modes and manners of baptism. It refers to the meaning of baptism.
If you read Romans 6, you will find in Romans 6:3:
Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
What is the meaning of baptism? Baptism is not just a formality. Baptism is not a ritual or a ceremony. Baptism has a spiritual meaning and a spiritual significance.
Baptism means that we were baptized into Christ. As the children of Israel were baptized unto Moses, so we were baptized by water into Christ.
We were baptized into His death. We were baptized into His burial. We were baptized into His resurrection.
In Galatians, we are told that all who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. We are clothed with Christ now.
Therefore, in Him there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, neither male nor female, but Christ is all and in all.
Brothers and sisters, one baptism. We were all baptized into Christ. We belong to Him. We are clothed with Christ.
It is no longer I; it is Christ who lives in me. One baptism.
These three “ones”—one Lord, one faith, and one baptism—are all related to the second Person of the Godhead. The second Person of the Godhead is the Lord whom we confess, the One in whom we believe, and the One into whom we were baptized.
Lastly, verse 6:
One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all.
Everything must go back to the very source, and the very source is God the Father, the first Person of the Godhead.
He is not only our God, our Maker. He is God to all the beings upon this earth, whether they recognize it or not. He is God over all creation. He is God over all things in heaven, on earth, and underneath the earth.
He is the Maker, the Creator, the Possessor, and the Owner of all things. But He is not only our God; He is our Father—God our Father.
Oh, brothers and sisters, just think: you have God as your Father. What does that mean?
He is over all. He is transcendent. He is through all—immanent, penetrating, pervading. He is in us all, indwelling.
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus has God as his Father and has the right to become a child of God and to cry, “Abba, Father.”
Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus not only worships God as the One who is transcendent, but also as the One who is immanent, even the One who dwells within.
Everyone who believes in the Lord has that.
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have given us this unity. Our unity is in God. Our unity is in the Son. Our unity is in the Spirit.
Keep diligently the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
Let us pray.
Our heavenly Father, oftentimes we do not know what Thou hast given to us, how much Christ has done for us, and what it is that the Holy Spirit is working in us.
Our Father, we do pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see what Thou hast already done, what Thou hast already given, and what Thou hast already put in us—even the unity of the Spirit.
Our Father, do not allow us to neglect it. Help us to keep it diligently.
Do not allow us to strive with one another, but help us to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.