Unity

Pentecost 10B, 8/2/15
Ephesians 4:1-16

God our provider, like the crowds that followed Jesus, we do not always hear your word or know how to receive your blessings. Help us today to hear the message you have for us, and give us grace to respond. Amen.

OK, folks, time to grab a pencil.

I’m going to do something today that I hardly ever do, so you’d better write this down.

I’m going to preach on a reading from one of Paul’s letters.

For those of you who don’t know, the apostle Paul was the person to credit – or to blame – for the spread of early Christianity throughout the Roman Empire.

Paul wrote about half of the books in the New Testament, depending on how reliable you think some of the claims of authorship might be.

That is to say, it’s entirely possible that the apostle Paul didn’t actually write some of the books that are attributed to him, since the style is way different from his other writings. But, in the absence of an alternate author, for the sake of today’s message, we’re going to call the author of all of those books “Paul.”

Everything in the New Testament from Romans through Philemon was supposedly written by Paul.

Now, Paul wrote some truly wonderful things, like the words that we say as we celebrate Communion every week, and the passage from Romans about nothing being able to separate us from the love of God, and today’s reading from Ephesians.

But Paul also wrote some things that I really don’t like, such as that passage about women being subject to their husbands, and the one about slaves being content with their place, and women being silent in churches.

In my opinion, Paul was both the best and worst thing to happen to Christianity.

Without Paul, the momentum of the followers of Jesus probably would have fizzled and died. At best, they would have remained as a tiny sect in Israel that everyone else would have seen as quirky but harmless.

Because of Paul, the message of Jesus spread throughout the Roman empire, and eventually became the religion of the Roman empire, and then spread to every region of the world.

But also because of Paul, women have been treated as less than equal – that wasn’t a message that Jesus preached, that only comes from Paul.

Hierarchies and systems of power have been justified by Paul’s writings, including the institution of slavery in various forms over the centuries.

         Because of Paul, some terrible things have been done in the name of Jesus.

But here we are.

Today we have a reading the letter to the church in Ephesus, written by the apostle Paul or by someone writing in his name.

This reading has a lot of good things in it.

So even though Paul makes me queasy sometimes, I’m going to preach today on the reading from his letter.

We heard from the letter to the Ephesians, “lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” (Eph 4:1)

As followers of Jesus, we have been called by God, just like the disciples were. The disciples did some great work with Jesus, and Christians have been doing important things ever since then.

So what is the calling to which we have been called?

Paul goes on to describe how we are supposed to act – which in essence describes our calling.

Live 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. (Eph 4:2-3)

Your pride, your ego, your schedule, your goals are not the most important things in life. What matters most is to love other people and do everything in your power to live in unity with them.

Humility, gentleness, and patience are more important than pride, arrogance, and anxiety.

This seems like common sense, right? We know that humility is better than pride, and patience is better than anxiety.

But you don’t have to look very far to find people in the world arguing about whose ideas or products or political ideals are the best.

That’s not the calling we have as Christians. Our calling is to live in unity with other people, not in contention with them.

There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. (Eph 4:4-6)

         The word one shows up seven times in this sentence.

         I think Paul is trying to send the church a message.

In spite of everything that makes us different from each other – our age, race, sex, finances, interests, hobbies, family situation – even though we could come up with countless ways to differentiate ourselves from other people, there is only one defining feature that matters to our lives of faith.

There is one God.

One faith.

One baptism.

One body of Christ, and each one of us is a part of that body.

We have more to draw us together than to separate us.

We need to live in harmony with others, in fact, because all of us are members of the body of Christ, and Christ’s body cannot be divided.

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. (Eph 4:7)

We may be united as the one body of Christ, but that doesn’t mean we are identical to one another. God gives us each abilities to do different things.

The gifts God gave were that some people would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. (Eph 4:11-12)

No matter what our particular gifts or talents are, the purpose of those gifts is the same. We are given special talents and abilities so that we can serve the broader community. Everything that we have, and everything that we do, is for the sake of the one body of Christ.

If you were here last week, you got a preview of this theme.

In the story of the feeding of the 5000, we learned that God can do amazing things with whatever we bring to the table – but God expects us to bring everything we have to the table.

The boy in that story offered up his whole lunch for the crowd to share, and Jesus multiplied the loaves and fish into a hugely abundant amount of food, with 12 baskets of leftovers!

         But the point is that the boy gave it all.

He gave everything he had for the common good, trusting that Jesus would know best what to do with it.

Today’s message is similar, but it’s a little more personal.

God doesn’t just want your lunch.

God wants your whole life.

Everything that you have, and everything that you are, everything that is important to you – give all your time, talents, possessions and abilities over to God.

That is the calling to which we have been called.

Paul’s message is a call to utter selflessness, for the sake of the common good.

Live according to your calling, Paul tells us, the calling of living in unity with all of God’s people, which is to say, with all people.

         Build up other people. Honor and respect their gifts.

Be humble about your own.

Unity is more important than divisions

The unity of Christians reflects the unity of God.

Which means that I should probably stop complaining about some of the things that Paul wrote in those other letters, the things that I disagree with.

I have a responsibility to work to be united with Paul, even when I disagree with his theology. Our shared faith binds us together more strongly than anything else can pull us apart.

Even though Paul makes me queasy sometimes, I need to recognize his gifts and the way that he tried his very best to live out the calling to which God had called him.

Paul had a lot of good things to say to the early church.

Paul even has a few good things to say to us today.

Live out your life knowing that God has called you to do specific work in this world, and has given you unique gifts with which to carry out that work.

Remember that all people were created in the image of God, and together we make up the body of Christ. Even though none of us is identical, we are all united by virtue of being children of God.

Don’t let petty divisions separate you from other Christians.

And ultimately, all divisions between Christians are petty.

Unity in Christ is more important than our own egos or agendas or denominational identities.

That’s basically what Paul is saying in his letter to the Ephesians.

That’s the take-away message today.

Love one another, serve one another, be united with each other… and rejoice, because God has chosen us to be the hands and feet of Christ in this world.

Thanks be to God. Amen.