“The Spirit, The Word, the Love” (Ephesians 4:1-16)

Why Unity?
Natural Church Development (NCD) is a way of measuring the health or quality of a church. By using a carefully prepared questionnaire with 30 members of a church, the survey will determine the health of our church in eight critical areas.[1] Some interesting found facts are that no quality characteristic can be missing. Imagine a barrel with eight staves, each representing the Eight Quality Characteristics. The staves in the barrel represent the score of the Eight Quality Characteristics. With this analogy, you can only fill the barrel to the level of the lowest stave. So to increase the capacity of the barrel, we must increase the height of the lowest stave. We must focus on the minimum factor.

In his letter to Ephesians Paul pays so much attention to a single top priority: unity in the church. Minimum factors can change always, but Paul was keenly aware that unity can so easily and often become the minimum factor that hinders spiritual growth of the church. If we follow Paul’s logic in today’s passage, we reach this conclusion: “No unity, no maturity,” and “No maturity, no fruit.” Unity in the body of Christ is an essential prerequisite for spiritual growth and fruitfulness. That is why the unity of the church is so important. In today’s text Paul tells us about how we may maintain unity in the church.

The Spirit
First, the Holy Spirit unites the church. It’s important to remember that unity is something given by the Spirit, not something we create. In verse 3 Paul says, “Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” The unity of the church is already a spiritual reality. God has reconciled Jews and Gentiles, men and women, masters and slaves to Himself in Christ. God has created one new humanity, one new society, one people, one body. And God gave us a new heart, put a new spirit, one Spirit in us as promised (Ezk 36:26). Our responsibility is to guard, protect, and preserve that unity created by the Spirit.

The secret of growing churches does not consist in pushing or pulling the church in our human strength and efforts. But instead, the secret is in releasing the potential the Holy Spirit himself uses to build his church. Then growth naturally follows. In Mark 4:26-29 Jesus says,

“This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts, and grows; though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, and then full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come” (NIV).

Paul says, “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (1 Cor 3:7, NRSV). It is God who started the church. It is God who unifies the church. Our part is to welcome, honor, trust and obey his Holy Spirit. Then growth happens all by itself. Unity starts out of a trusting heart, not out of toil.

The Word
The second unifier of the church is the Word. The Word unifies the church. In verse 11 Paul says, “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.” This list of the gifts is not exhaustive. But these five were crucial to the establishment of the first generation of the church. These five are all ministries of the Word. These five are all truth agents. The church is unified, strengthened, and built up when we speak biblical truth about God and about Christ and about the gospel.

There is a story about one church in England. The slogan of this church on the front door was always "We Preach Christ Crucified" based on 1 Corinthians 1:23. But many years later the church decided to remove the last word “crucified” because it would offend some people. So now their new motto became "We Preach Christ." They still preached Christ, but not necessarily his suffering, his death, his atonement. Instead, they started focusing more on Jesus' moral life, noble character, and his moral teaching. Then, many people left the church. Several years later the church changed its sign once again. It became "We Preach." From that time on the church started preaching any topics from politics, philosophy, ethics to all kind of social issues. Then more people left the church. And eventually, the church had to close down. The Good News is not simply that we are okay. The Good News is not simply that God is love. The Good News is not simply that Jesus wants to be our friend. In Ephesians 2 Paul proclaims the Word, the Truth, the Good News in a nutshell, saying, “You were dead in your sins. You were not okay. But in his great mercy God rescued you by sending Christ to die for you while you were still sinners. By grace you have been saved through faith.” At the very center of the gospel is Christ’s atonement, Christ’s substitutionary, in-our-place death on the cross. “God made Jesus who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2Co 5:21, NIV). When we humbly believe this biblical truth and proclaim it boldly, God creates, unifies, strengthens his church.

The Love
Thirdly, Christ’s love unifies the church. Paul exhorts us to live out our calling (unifying the church) by bearing with one another in love (v. 2), speaking the truth in love (v. 15), building the body up in love (v. 16). God’s love is agape love. And another word for agape love is incarnational love. God took on human flesh. The Creator and Sustainer of the universe limited himself to the confines of human history and a human body. God took on skin and flesh for us. Why? Love is the answer. Grace is often afraid of darkness. One night after the storytime she didn’t want me to leave her room. I said to her, “You needn’t be afraid, you are not alone here. God is in the room with you.” But she replied, “I know that God is here. But I can’t see him. I need someone in this room who has some skin!” That’s why God took on skin and flesh for us.

Jesus entered our world. The Gospels, especially the Gospel of John, are filled with stories of how Jesus interacts with individuals — Andrew and Simon, Philip and Nathaniel, Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman, a man born blind, Mary and Lazarus, and many others. He always listened. He was always present, never in a rush or distracted. He always walked at three miles per hour. Jesus’ ministry was the ministry of presence, the ministry of love. Henri Nouwen rightly said,

To care means first of all to be present to each other. From experience you know that those who care for you become present to you. When they listen, they listen to you. When they speak, they speak to you. Their presence is a healing presence because they accept you on your terms, and they encourage you to take your own life seriously.[2]

Jesus is our model. As we are fully present and listen in love, speak the truth in love, the whole body will be united and growing and full of love.

The Church, Foretaste of Heaven
Let me illustrate from the 1995 movie based on true story Dead Man Walking. Sister Helen Prejean received an invitation to be a pen pal with someone on death row. It was Matthew Poncelet who raped and killed a teenage couple. Sister Helen enters his world and finds it is not a pretty one. Matthew is not a lovable character. He is arrogant, rude, sexist, and racist, uses the “n-word,” and does not even pretend to feel remorse. Nonetheless, Sister Helen visits him many times and invites him repeatedly to make himself right with God by confessing his sin. At the same time, she gets to know Matthew’s mother, Lucille, and the families of the two victims. The families do not understand Sister Helen's efforts to help Matthew. They accuse her of taking his side. Sister Helen’s colleagues at work also complain she is neglecting her work. But sister Helen does not give up. Over time Matthew begins to let down his defenses. Finally at 11:38 p.m., only minutes before his execution at midnight, she asks him, “Do you take responsibility for both of their deaths?” Crying, he admits his guilt for the first time. A few minutes later, he says, “Thank you for loving me. I never had anybody really love me before.”

C. S. Lewis described hell in The Great Divorce as a place where each person lives in isolation, millions of miles apart from one another, because they can’t get along.[3] On the contrary, as Jonathan Edwards said, heaven is a world of love, for God is the fountain of love. The church is designed by God to foretaste heaven. Christ gave birth to his church for us through his suffering, death and resurrection. We have received this great gift – the church. May we make every effort to maintain the unity of the church and build the body up with love and truth by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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[1] Empowering Leadership, Gift-based Ministry, Passionate Spirituality, Effective Structures, Inspiring Worship Services, Holistic Small Groups, Need-oriented Evangelism, and Loving Relationships
[2] Peter Scazzero & Warren Bird, The Emotionally Healthy Church, Updated and Expanded Edition (p. 190). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
[3] Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (p. 174). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

“More of Christ” (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Prayer for Spiritual Strength and Growth
The church is facing challenges within and without. A new survey reports more than a quarter of white evangelical Christians (27%) believe a QAnon conspiracy theory. Close to the two-thirds of white evangelicals (62%) believe there was widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. About half of while evangelicals (49%) believe that Antifa is responsible for Capitol violence.[1] The churches are divided by politics. The churches are divided over racial justice.

The challenges the church of Ephesus was facing in Paul’s time were not much different. Externally, the church was subject to the Roman empire-wide persecution consistently and systematically. Also, as a minority, Ephesian Christians became a target of bullying and ostracism by the majority practicing pagan religions and cultures. Paul himself faced great oppositions and riot situations, led by a pagan silversmith Demetrius, and had to move to the next cities (Acts 19). Internally, just like other churches at that time, the Ephesian church was facing racial tensions between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. To make things worse, false teachers came in among them, twisting words and distorting the truth to poison the minds of the flock. So Paul, in today’s passage, prays for the church of Ephesus. He prays that they may become stronger, healthier, more mature, more Christ-centered, more Christ-saturated Christians. I believe that’s the prayer we desperately need today: spiritual strength and spiritual growth.

Rooted in Christ’s Love
For this reason Paul prays. He prays that we may abide in Christ, so we will become stronger and more mature in every way. First of all, Paul prays that we may abide in Christ personally, know Christ and his love personally. He prays that “you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love” (vv. 16-17). Once one of my mentors, who now passed away, said something like this: “As I grow older, I find being a Christian means becoming a more passive being in a good way.” That reminds us of Jesus’ saying to Peter in John 21, “When you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go” (v. 18). When we are a young and immature Christian, we are like chaff – a free spirit. We are an active being. We do whatever we want, we go wherever we like. But as we get mature spiritually, we first listen and follow the lead. We become a passive being. We become like a tree, deeply planted and rooted in Christ, the fountain of living water.

Every Christian is indwelt by Christ, but that doesn’t mean that every Christian is filled, directed, empowered by Christ. Charles Hodge rightly says, “The indwelling of Christ is a thing of degrees.” How, then, can we be filled with Christ? The answer is “through faith” (v. 17). This past week on one particular morning I felt groggy and powerless. When I woke up, I didn’t want to start the day. I didn’t even want to get out of bed. There was something heavily weighing on my mind. I reluctantly went to my room and opened my Bible. As I was meditating on Psalm 34, all of sudden one particular phrase stood out, “Look to him, and be radiant” (v. 5). So by faith I looked up. I did look to Jesus until all darkness in my heart was driven out. I felt the light, the joy, the goodness of God just flooded afresh into my heart. I was revived, renewed, strengthened. And I did rise and sing praises to his holy name. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5, NRSV) Abiding in Christ, rooted and grounded in his love, is the first key to overcoming all the challenges.

With All the Saints
Paul also prays that we may abide in Christ as a church as well as personally. He prays that “you may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (v. 18 NIV). It is possible to know Jesus and his love apart from other Christians. But our grasp of it is bound to be limited by our limited experience. It takes all the saints to understand the full dimensions of Christ’s love – Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old, black and white, with all their varied backgrounds and experiences. We are strengthened, grow, taste and see Christ’s love as we love and serve other Christians, especially those who are different from us. It takes all the saints to know Christ’s love.

Henry Nouwen, a well-known spiritual director and Catholic priest, had taught at some of America’s premier universities. But despite his academic success, he left those institutions and became a priest in residence for mentally and physically handicapped people at Daybreak community. In particular, Nouwen became a close friend of Adam, who was profoundly retarded and unable to speak, walk, or dress himself. Each day Nouwen took almost two hours to finish this task – bathing, shaving, brushing his teeth, combing his hair, helping him eat breakfast, and so on. Nouwen said it had been difficult for him to live with Adam at first. But he had learned to love Adam, truly to love him. In the process he had learned what it must be like for God to love us—spiritually uncoordinated, retarded, able to respond with what must seem to God like inarticulate grunts and groans.[2] In this process Nouwen began to grasp the fuller dimensions of Christ’s love for us. He said, “We, like him (Adam), are also precious, graced, and beloved children of God, whether we see ourselves as rich or poor, intelligent or disabled, good-looking or unattractive.”[3] Who is your Adam? Who is our Adam? As we learn to love our Adam, we will be able to comprehend how wide, long, high and deep is Christ’s love for us.

More than We Can Imagine
People say that we are living in unprecedented times. But then and now, the church of Ephesus and the church of today, somehow we Christians always live in challenging times. But for Christians, challenges are opportunities to grow. Our part is to faithfully abide in Christ personally and as a church. Our God is able. He is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine (v. 20).

A new survey reports that in 11 of 14 countries surveyed the share who say their religious faith has strengthened is higher than the share who say it has weakened. Surprisingly, leading the pack in strengthened faith is the United States.[4] God is up to something among us. For Christians, challenges are opportunities to grow. According to Open Doors World Watch List, this year North Korea once again tops persecution list for 19th consecutive year as the most dangerous country for Christians. But we hear the news that the underground church in North Korea continues to grow spiritually and in numbers. Once Eric Foley, director of Voice of the Martyrs Korea, met some of the Christian defectors from North Korea. And he asked, “How may we pray for you?” One of them answered, “You pray for us? We pray for you!" That's the problem with you American Christians and South Korean Christians! You have so much, you put your faith in your money and in your freedom. In North Korea we have neither money nor freedom, but we have Christ and we've found He's sufficient.” After the meeting, Foley said, “They don't pray for a regime change. They don't pray for freedom and money. They pray for more of Christ and to mirror more of Christ in their life.”[5] Not for freedom, but for more of Christ.

More love to thee, O Christ. More love to thee.

Hear thou the prayer I make, on bended knee.

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest.

Now Thee alone I seek. Give what is best:

More love to thee, O Christ. More love to thee.

This is our earnest plea: more of Christ, more love to Christ. May we be filled with Christ, so that we will be strengthened and well-grounded, not be swayed by every wind of false teaching. May we be saturated with Christ, so that we will grow and grow, and become fully mature like Christ. Amen.

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[1] “QAnon Conspriacies Sway Faith Groups, Including 1 in 4 White Evangelicals,” https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/february/white-evangelicals-qanon-election-conspiracy-trump-aei.html
[2] Philip Yancey, “Yancey: The Holy Inefficiency of Henri Nouwen,”
[3] Henri Nouwen, Adam: God’s Beloved (New York: Orbis Book, 1997), 31.
[4] “Pew: How COVID-19 Changed Faith in 14 Countries,” https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/january/covid-19-religion-survey-pew-pandemic-strengthened-faith.html
[5] “The Surprising Prayers of North Korea’s Christians,”
http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/cwn/2016/october/the-surprising-prayers-of-north-koreas-christians

“I Am a Church Member” (Eph 3:1-13)

Christ and the Church
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.” These famous words are attributed to Mahatma Gandhi. He saw very little of Christ in the lives of Christians. As Gandhi observed Christians in Europe, he saw racism and self-righteousness instead of love. Once he was asked to leave a church service because he was not white, and he was routinely denied rooms and tables at Christian-owned hotels and restaurants because he was a Hindu.[1] Gandhi saw very little of Christ in the lives of Christians. Unfortunately, Gandhi was not alone in his negative experience with Christians and the church.

Today’s passage is about Christ and the Church. It tells us about what the church is supposed to be, and what the church can be. Perhaps Paul would not explicitly intend, but through his words and his life he shows us a shining example of what it means to be a church member. We meet the people saying, “I love Jesus, but not the church.” But it’s like saying, “I love your head, but the body,” because the church is the body of Christ. Being a Christian and being a church member are inseparable. They are one and always together, like hand in glove. So what does it mean to be a church member? Today’s scripture may not give the complete picture, but it does give us a sufficient enough picture to live out our faith as a member of the body of Christ.

Prisoner for Christ
First of all, a church member is the one who pledges the highest allegiance to Christ. In today’s scripture Paul describes himself in this way: “I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles” (v. 1). Humanly speaking, he was not Christ’s prisoner but Nero’s. When Paul wrote this letter to Ephesian Christians, he was in prison. At that time he had appealed to the Emperor, and so to the Emperor he had been committed for trial. But Paul never let his circumstances define him and his identity. He always let Christ define him. He was so convinced that the whole of his life, including his suffering, his persecution, his imprisonment, was under the lordship of Jesus. Paul firmly believed if he was a prisoner, he was Christ’s prisoner. By this, he expressed his greatest allegiance to Christ. Paul was a true Christian, a true church member.

Once Rick Warren interviewed Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. Warren asked, “Your life and ministry have been so blessed and fruitful in many ways. What is the secret?” Then, Bright told his story. He was living without God and without hope in his early 20’s. But through his pastor, he received Christ. And he just fell in love with Jesus. One Sunday morning, led by the Holy Spirit, he and his wife literally wrote out a contract of total surrender of their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they signed the contract to become Christ’s slave. During the interview, Bright said, “My wife and I have been slaves now for 50 some years, and I must tell you it's the most liberating thing that's ever happened to me… My life's message is be a slave of Jesus. And all that involves. Love your master, trust your master and obey your master. Obviously, I'm a son of God, heir of God, joint-heir with Christ, and if He was described as a slave… this to me is the highest privilege anyone could know. I evaluate everything I do in light of what He wants me to do. I try to relate every move, every day, in light of how I can help fulfill His Great Commission and fulfill His commandments.”[2] Church members are those who always live under the lordship of Jesus Christ and let Christ define them.

Unifier for Christ
Secondly, a church member is a unifier. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul stresses the unity of the church over and over again. Unity is the theme that dominates particularly chapters 2–5. In today’s scripture Paul uses the word “mystery” at least four times. This mystery was hidden for ages, but now it has been revealed, that is, “the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (v. 6). So God’s mystery and eternal purpose is to unify all people, both Jews and Gentiles, and to make them fellow heirs together, fellow members together, fellow partakers together through Jesus Christ.

I think Martin Luther King Jr. and Billy Graham showed us a great example through their friendship of what it means to be a unifying member. They both came from very different backgrounds in terms of their theology, their culture, their experience. However, they saw amazingly positive things to each other’s ministry and expressed their appreciation to each other. This is back in the 50’s and 60’s when racial tensions ran high. Once Graham said to Martin Luther King, “I will stay in the stadium and make them integrated. And you go ahead on the street and do your thing.” Graham was well known for integrating his ministry and insisting on integrated crowds at many of his rallies – including demanding integrated seating at a 1953 crusade; integrating his own ministry staff in 1957, etc. In his later years, but still Graham lamented, wishing he’d done more for the cause of racial equality. And he publicly repented and asked for forgiveness, even though he had done so much. While Graham and MLK were in Latin America together for mission, Dr. King said, “Had it not been for the ministry of my good friend Dr. Billy Graham, my work in the civil rights movement would not have been as successful as it has been.” True church members never put down another member, another human being. They always unify, always strengthen, always build up the body of Christ.

Sufferer for Christ
Thirdly, a church member is the one who sacrifices himself or herself for the greater good or to help others. As Paul closes today’s passage, he prays this way: “I pray therefore that you may not lose heart over my sufferings for you; they are your glory” (v. 13). Suffering is a mystery. Though we may not fully grasp the mystery of suffering, what we know is, Christ lived among us as the Suffering Servant (cf. Isa 53), and there is still the kind of suffering the church, Christ’s body, has to take on today. If I don’t take my share in the church’s part of that suffering, another church member has to take mine in addition to his or her share. In Colossians 1:24 Paul welcomes the chance to take his share and is willing to take more for the church, saying, “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.” (Col 1:24, NRSV; also, cf. MSG). As we so freely give up our interests and preferences, as we so willingly give ourselves in the work of Christ’s church by our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness, God’s name will be honored, God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done.

In June of 2002 a group of nine coal miners made national headlines during a 77-hour ordeal to rescue them from a flooded underground mine in western Pennsylvania. The story about how they could possibly survive for those long hours is inspiring. When they recognized that the path was closed and the water was rising, they were willing to give themselves to save the lives of the others and share everything they had. A sandwich and a soda they shared. They huddled together to share body heat. They even took turns sharing the little piece of dry space above the water. They tied themselves together to keep anyone from floating off in unconsciousness. They bound themselves one to the other with the commitment that they would live or die as a group.[3] I think this story gives us a vivid image of what it means to be the church and a member of it. True church members are not self-seeking or self-serving, but rather self-giving and self-sacrificing.

I Am a Church Member
So what defines you? And how do you describe yourself? Let Christ define your identity, not circumstances. Paul describes himself as a prisoner for Christ, unifier for Christ, and sufferer for Christ. And he did it not as a lone ranger, but as a church member. Paul was keenly aware that at the center of God’s eternal purpose is the church. He knew that God would accomplish his purpose through the church (v. 10). To God, the church is central to human history, central to the gospel, central to Christian living. So Paul always made every effort to build up the church, the body of Christ, as a church member.

Are you a Christian? Then, you are also a church member. If you are the member, you are then invited to live as a prisoner, unifier, and sufferer for Christ. John Wesley always encouraged his people to live out their faith by doing good to the household of faith and to all people, saying, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” As we put this into practice as a church member, people will see it and say, “I like your Christ, and I like your Church.” And God will get the glory. Amen.

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[1] Scott Sauls, Jesus Outside the Lines, (p. 117). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
[2] “Rick Warren Interviews Bill Bright,” http://www.nppn.org/InnerViews/Innerview011.htm
[3] Bryan Chapell, Ephesians (p. 148). P&R Publishing. Kindle Edition.