Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : August 17, 2003
Keep the Unity of the Spirit
Pentecost 10
Recently I was reading about the largest cannon bombardment ever to occur on American soil. It was at the Battle of Gettysburg, which ended up being a turning point in the war. There were many men who fought bravely on both sides. But one incident in particular is remembered the most -- Pickett's Charge. Preceding the charge was the cannonade, which was supposed to weaken and disorient the Union army so the charge would succeed. There was only one problem. After the deafening cannonade ceased, Pickett's men started up the one-mile long slope toward the Union army. As the smoke from the cannons cleared the battlefield, the Confederate soldiers realized that the Union soldiers hadn't been weakened and weren't disoriented at all. What happened? The cannonade -- the greatest cannonade ever to occur on the North American Continent -- missed. The cannonballs sailed right over the heads of the Union soldiers and smashed almost harmlessly in the cornfields behind them. So as the Confederate soldiers came up the hill, the Union soldiers simply mowed them down like grass. Two-thirds of those who made the charge never returned from that hill. The problem was simply this: the Confederate attack lacked unity. If each part did its job, the result would have been much different in that battle. But because they weren't united, because they were alone, they failed.
Does that sound like us? Do we often act like we are all alone, spiritually, in our battles against the devil and the world. God has already won the war against all our enemies when Jesus died on the cross and won our salvation. He assured us of that victory when he rose from the dead. We claim that victory through the faith that the Holy Spirit creates in our hearts. But once that victory is ours, it seems that we let our enemy back into the fight because we're not tapping into our power source -- Jesus -- as well as those he has given us to help through life -- our fellow Christians.
That is what the apostle Paul is encouraging us to eliminate in our spiritual lives this morning as we look at Paul's letter to the Christians at Ephesus. God wants you to Keep the Unity of the Spirit, first of all as we grow in faith, and secondly, as we live our faith.
The first thing Paul tells his fellow Christians in this section is this: "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." In the movie Saving Private Ryan a squad of eight soldiers was formed to find another soldier named James Ryan because his three brothers had been killed in the war. They found him so he could go home to his family, but in the process six of the eight men died. At the end of the movie, a much older James Ryan visited the graves of the men who gave their lives for him. He hoped that his life had made their sacrifice worth it. We have a much higher calling. Jesus laid down his life for us. The Holy Spirit called us by the gospel to be Christians. So we should live as Christians for Jesus, worthy of the calling we have received.
Paul tells us a good place to start in verse 2: "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Is that easy for us to do? Are you always humble? What about the last time your husband or wife wanted to paint the living room? You wanted a shade of tan to give it the homey feel. But your spouse's favorite color is purple with orange polka dots. You thought it was a horrible suggestion. You hate purple with orange polka dots. So how did you deal with the little argument that followed? Did you say, "That's a great suggestion, honey. Let's just talk about that a bit." Or, did you say something like, "Purple with orange polka dots! Are you insane? There is no way I'm putting purple with orange polka dots in my living room!" "Be completely humble and gentle." I'm sure your last argument with your husband or wife wasn't about the color of paint you should use. Whatever that argument was, though, were you completely humble and gentle? God's word tells us to submit to one another out of love for Christ. Do we always treat each other that way, whether our spouse or our fellow Christians? No. When we don't, we aren't living up to our calling as Christians. When we don't, we've just lost another battle.
Paul tells us, "Be patient, bearing with one another in love." It's hard to be patient as a parent, isn't it? Instead of gently explaining why writing on the wall with a permanent black marker is not so good of an idea, or why pulling your sister's hair isn't very nice, it's easier to yell first and be patient later. It's hard being patient as an employee when you know much better how to do things than your boss. It's hard to be patient with a fellow Christian who is entangled in sin. Instead of dealing with them patiently but firmly from God's Word, we might find it easier to say nothing at all. When we act in any of those ways, we aren't living up to our calling as Christians. And we've just lost another battle, haven't we?
Left to ourselves, we wouldn't have stood a chance against all the forces of evil fighting against us -- the devil, the world, our own flesh. But we're not alone. The gospel tells us that. Instead of treating us as our sins deserve because of our failure to be humble and gentle and patient and loving, our God deals with us by becoming the humble Servant who lived for us. He was perfectly gentle. When he had a long, long day of preaching and teaching and healing, he looked on the sinners coming to him and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He was patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. And he always bears with us in love. The greatest act of that love was the greatest act of love the world has ever seen, when God the mighty Maker died for his own creatures' sins, as the hymn puts it. Every one of our sins Jesus took to the cross and nailed to the cross. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, your sins are forgiven. Your faith in Jesus is the calling you have received. You are united to Christ through faith. What he did is credited to you as if you did it.
But Paul doesn't stop there. That's not all there is to the Christian. You aren't just connected to Christ; you're connected to every other Christian as well. That connection overflows into everything you do with your life, into every relationship you have with others. That's why Paul says, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." You keep the unity of the Spirit when your faith is growing and your faith is showing. That unity grows as you learn and study his word and hear again and again the beautiful gospel message. That's how you grow in faith and in your unity to Christ. And when your unity to Christ grows, your unity to fellow Christians will as well. You will help each other, encourage each other. Then not only will we keep the unity of the Spirit as we grow in faith, but we also live our faith.
Ants are amazing creatures. They can carry things many times their own weight. If all the ants of the world could be united and have a purpose guiding them, they could easily take over the world. But ants don't have that kind of ambition. Ants are content to live their lives by gathering food and multiplying and fighting among themselves and with other insects. But just think of what they could do if they all were united. Just think what we could do, if we weren't just thinking about ourselves and what we can do for ourselves, and if we weren't fighting amongst ourselves, and instead were united as we thought about how we could serve God and others. Jesus wouldn't be just an afterthought or someone we pray to only at the dinner table. He would permeate our lives. That would have a profound effect on how we deal with each other as we are united with each other.
While we are united, at the same time we have special and varied gifts and rolls in Christ's church. Paul says, "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." Why? Why did God call me to be your pastor, his undershepherd? God gave me to you with my special training and gifts of being able to teach the word of God to you so that the body of Christ may be built up "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." You have gifts I'll never have like playing music for our worship services, like working with wood or paint to make signs, like...all kinds of things. Don't sit back on your gifts. Then the rest of us won't benefit from them. Let God work through you also as he builds up his church through the Word.
Do you ever think you're not that important in the work of the church or that you can't make a very big contribution to it. You're wrong. It's like a puzzle -- every piece is important. I remember one Christmas vacation when I was growing up when we got a 2,500 piece puzzle. It took us over two weeks to do, but we thought we could finish it by Christmas Eve. Well, it just happened that on Christmas Eve a stray dog came up to our door and gave us the big puppy dog eyes to come in. Being in the Christmas spirit, we let the stray dog into our house. Everything was going just fine, until we neared the end of the puzzle. For some reason we just couldn't find the last three or four pieces. We looked all over the table and under the table. And then we spotted the dog chewing on something under the far side of the table. Sure enough, it was the last pieces of the puzzle. Needless to say, we weren't too happy. Suddenly the Christmas spirit wasn't so happy anymore. The dog was back outside before anyone could say, "Bad dog!" Every piece in that puzzle was important. Without even one or two pieces, the puzzle was incomplete. You are one piece in the puzzle of the church. Be what God wants you to be. Live up to your calling as a Christian.
You're on a battlefield. You are fighting against your sinful flesh and the seductions of this world and the devil's deadly temptations every day. But you are not alone. You are united through faith to your fellow Christians. And all of us are united to Christ Jesus. Live that way. Keep the unity of the Spirit by growing in faith and by living your faith. When we do that, the devil and the world and our sinful flesh, which are already defeated by Jesus on cross, will be defeated every day in our personal battles. They won't stand a chance, as we keep the unity of the Spirit. Amen.
