Unity & Diversity in the Church
We come today to the core issue of the letter: If we're to fulfil our destiny as a church, if we're to demonstrate the manifold wisdom of God then we must be united in heart and mind.
Here in ch 4, Paul begins to outline how being the new people of God is to be worked out in the down-to-earth, concrete realities of life. As we'll see over the next few weeks, the new society that God has called us into has two major characteristics. First it's one people, composed of both Jew and Gentile, without distinction, and secondly it's a holy people, set apart to belong to God, and showing by its life, a purity and righteousness that suits the people of God.
So today let's think about the unity of the Church. How does that unity arise and how is it to be maintained?
A. It depends on our Christian character.
What do you need for unity in the Church? Paul lists 5 characteristics of the Christian that unity depends on: humility, gentleness, patience, mutual forbearance, and love.
Not surprisingly he begins his list with humility. In fact the word he uses is actually humility of mind. That is, it's an attitude that recognises the worth and value of other people irrespective of what we think of ourselves. He begins his list here because humility is essential to unity. Pride almost always results in discord. Think about it for a moment. The people we tend to like are the people who show us the respect we think we deserve. The ones we don't like are the ones we sense don't like us. But what if we start by giving them our respect? The result will most probably be that they'll respond to us with the same respect they've received.
Gentleness is a tricky word. It's too easily understood as weakness. The word here could be translated meekness. It's the quality of moderation. It was a word that was used of work animals: of oxen or workhorses; even of battle stallions. It had the idea of strength under control. So it's the characteristic of a strong personality who doesn't let their strength control them, nor uses it to control others. Rather it's a strength that's there to serve others. Paul uses the term in his instructions in 2 Tim 2:24, 25 about how pastors are to deal with those who oppose the gospel: “And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to everyone, an apt teacher, patient, 25correcting opponents with gentleness.”
Notice that humility and gentleness form a natural pairing. They're how Jesus described himself: “I am gentle and lowly of heart.” (Matt 11:29). The next two characteristics also form a natural pairing. Patience is a longsuffering attitude towards annoying people: the sort of attitude that God has to us I guess, while mutual forbearance is the sort of mutual tolerance without which no group of human beings could ever live together in peace for any length of time.
The final characteristic in his list is love, which is more of an overarching quality that takes in all the other four. I guess it actually enables them to be expressed. Paul will speak more of that at the end of this chapter when he speaks of personal holiness, but for now it's enough to say that it's the controlling force for everything else we do.
So here are five characteristics which make or break our efforts to live in unity: humility, gentleness, patience, mutual forbearance, and love. Let me ask you, which of those do you lack? Look at them again: humility, gentleness, patience, mutual forbearance, and love. Don't think about anyone else. They'll all lack one or more of those characteristics, I'm sure. Just think about yourself. If you fail to show one or more of those characteristics in your relationships with people then repent of it. Ask God to change you, to make you more like Jesus, so you can do your bit to make the Church more of the new creation that God wants it to be.
In fact ask God to make you more like him because that's where the call for unity comes from.
B. It Arises from the Unity of our God
He says this is the reality into which we've all been brought: “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”
First of all, notice that this long list of ones centres around the 3 persons of the Trinity. For example, there's one body because there is only one Spirit who brings the Church about. There's only one Lord Jesus who is its head. There's one hope, one faith, one baptism, because there's only one Lord Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. Finally, there's only one family of God because there's only one Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
So our unity derives from the fact that the one Father creates the one family, the one Lord Jesus is the focus of the one faith, hope, and baptism, and the one Spirit creates the one body. When you think of it like that you suddenly realise what someone is doing when their actions damage the unity of the church. What they're actually doing is denying the unity of the Godhead. Of course as you look around churches today you realise that we've been very successful at breaking down this unity, haven't we? Well, the unity of the Godhead isn't damaged but its outworking in the church often is. And there goes the church's witness to the world. That's why Paul makes this plea in v3 to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. You'd think the unity of the Spirit would be indestructible, yet we're told to maintain it. Why is that? Because we live in a fallen world where spiritual realities aren't always seen in the visible church. That means we have to work hard if we're to make the unity of the Church a reality. It's a bit like this: Imagine we have an average family, Mr & Mrs Jones and their three children, Robert, Rebecca, and Rohan. Now imagine that like so many average families things aren't going well. In fact they're going very badly. Father and Mother have been at odds for years until they finally separate, then divorce. Robert, Rebecca, and Rohan also argue, first with their parents then with each other, and the family begins to disintegrate. The three children move interstate, Robert to Sydney, Rebecca to Adelaide and Rohan to Perth. In fact they're so at odds that they even change their names so they won't have to have anything to do with the rest of their family. Now suppose we were cousins of this family. How would we react? Would we just shrug our shoulders and say “Oh well, never mind, they're still one family, you know”? In a sense they are, aren't they? The facts of birth and heritage can't be removed. But would we just ignore the situation, deny that this is a tragedy. No, if these were people were close to our hearts we'd do our best to encourage them to be reconciled with each other. We'd urge them to maintain the unity of the family by repenting and re-establishing peace within the family.
Well, that's what Paul is saying here. Do your best to maintain that which is the spiritual reality. If you call yourself by the name of the one God and Father, by the one Son; if you rely for your spiritual life on the one Spirit, then make sure you live in the church that way.
C. It's enriched by the diversity of gifts
Thirdly, our unity is enriched and built up by the diversity of gifts in the Church. If you look at the great diversity of people and gifts and personality types in any given church you might well despair of ever reaching unity. There may be only one Church and one God, one Spirit, one Lord, etc., but the church itself is made up of a whole lot of individuals, every one of us different from all the rest. So how are we to come to unity from that sort of base?
Well, Paul says, it's not actually as bad as it looks. Although we're all individuals, there's a reason for our difference. “Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.” That is, the differences you see are often the result of the different things Christ has for us to do. Someone once likened the Church to a jigsaw puzzle. You know, one of those puzzles where no two pieces are the same. But not only are the pieces different, but they each have sections that stick out or in, that other pieces link into.
Now if you ever want to really annoy someone who loves jigsaws, give them a large jigsaw puzzle with two or three pieces missing. It'll drive them crazy! Well, that's what the church is like. We're like a jigsaw puzzle where every piece has a place, and where if one piece is missing, the picture is incomplete.
The bit about Christ descending and ascending is a picture of the triumphant Christ pouring out his gifts on his people.
Notice though, that the gifts that he mentions are of a particular type. This is a different list to 1 Corinthians 12 for example. So what's the difference? Well, the gifts he lists here, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are all gifts with the same purpose: to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. They're all gifts that in one way or another bring God's word to people, whether it's for the first time as in apostles and prophets, or in the form of the gospel in the case of evangelists, or in a systematic and applied way in the case of pastors and teachers. And why is this important? Look back at 2:20: The Church is built upon this foundation: of God's word left for us by the apostles and prophets. So these gifts are particularly important in the Church for building up the church. That isn't to say that other gifts aren't important, but when it comes to the church achieving the unity that God desires, these gifts are to be prized by the Church.
D. It demands our growth to maturity.
Finally, notice why these gifts are given. They're not just given so we can be built up. We're not being built up for fun. No, the body of Christ is being built up until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. If we're to achieve unity, then this is what we should be striving for: maturity! To be grown up. It's what all children long for isn't it? But in the case of the Church maturity equates to attaining the full measure of the stature of Christ. That is, the same sort of unity that Christ experiences with the Father. What does it mean to reach the measure of the full stature of Christ? It means to be one with each other and with God the Father; to be able to stand against all the winds of misfortune, all the blasts of the evil one. “No longer children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.” he says, “15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” There's a solidity about those we consider mature, isn't there? One sign of immaturity is that you're easily swayed from what's true. But those who are mature aren't like that. Rather they stick with the truth, speaking it in love. And how do you stick with the truth? Well, first you have to know it don't you? That means you have to know your bible. It's not enough to know a few key verses. You need to have read the whole thing, over and over and over, until it finally starts to sink in. You need to study it with other Christians so you get your ideas straight. That's why belonging to a small group is so important. Those who are mature as Christians are generally those who have read and studied God's word for years and years, who are constantly applying it to their lives, as a corrective, as a guide. They're the ones who can speak the truth in love and people will listen, because their study of God's word has led to the sorts of characteristics we started with today: humility, gentleness, patience, mutual forbearance, and love.
And if you want to grow to maturity then make sure you're fully connected to Christ who is our head. Notice what he means by head here: the head is the one “from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love." Again, every part is needed. Every part needs to be working properly for the body to be built up.
So how can a diverse body like the church achieve the sort of unity that God desires? By growing up. By becoming more like Christ as we grow into him.
By speaking the truth in love, and growing into Christ who is our head. So make sure you do your part in bringing the church to maturity, to unity, to the full stature of Christ.