June 14, 2009

Lesson: Ephesians 4.1-16 

Sermon Title: Unity and Uniqueness

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INTRODUCTION

  1. There's a wonderful story about a Chicago bank that once asked for a letter of recommendation for a young Bostonian being considered for employment. (1)

The Boston investment firm couldn't say enough about the young man. His father, they wrote, was a Cabot; his mother was a Lowell. Further back was a happy blend of Saltonstalls, Peabodys and others of Boston's first families. His recommendation was given without hesitation.

Several days later, the Chicago bank sent a note saying the information supplied was altogether inadequate. It read: "We are not interested in using the young man for breeding purposes. Just for work."

    1. Who is he.

    2. He is a unique individual.

    3. We still don't know what he can do.

Secrets (2)

During a recent vacation in Atlantic City, a couple went to see a popular magic show. After one especially amazing feat, a woman from the back of the theater yelled out, "Hey, how'd you do that?"

"I could tell you, madam", the magician answered, "But then I'd have to kill you."

After a short pause, she yelled back, "Ok, then . . . Just tell my husband!"

  1. Well, what we have here is no secret.

    1. We have an invitation to enjoy our personal uniqueness.

    2. We have an invitation to share in the strength of unity.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Unity is not uniformity.

    1. We are not two peas in a pod.

      1. Two peas are not alike.

      2. Neither are 40 peas in a congregation.

      3. Not even identical twins are identically the same.

    2. Some would require uniformity.

      1. They would desire that everyone thinks alike.

      2. They would desire that everyone behaves alike.

      3. They would desire that everyone follows the same rules.

    3. We are unique individuals.

      1. The image is stir-frying

      2. In stir-frying there is a flavoring that takes place so none of the elements remain the same

      3. It is true that none submerges its identity.

    4. We need our own uniqueness.

      1. We need the young and the old.

      2. We need the liberal and the conservative.

      3. We need the Republican and the Democrat.

      4. We need the socially conscious and the activist.

      5. We need racial and economic diversity.

      6. We need both white color and blue color people.

    5. Bishop Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in A Ray of Darkness Has written: (3)

"So with the human word; God does not create human ciphers, a pool of cheap labor to whom jobs can be assigned at will. Each human being called into existence by him exists as a distinct part of a great interlocking web of identities. Each is a unique point in this great net. To be is to be where you are, who you are, and what you are--a person with a certain genetic composition, a certain social status, a certain set of capabilities. From the moment of birth (even from before that) onward you will be at each moment that particular bundle of conditioning and possibilities. And to talk about God as your Creator means to recognize at each moment that it is his desire for you to be, and to be the person you are. It means he is calling you by your name, at each and every moment, wanting you to be you. . . . The Holy Spirit calls us to be more, not less, ourselves--teaching Peter to be more Peter, John to be more John--and leads us to explore our space of freedom."

    1. Just imagine what a church would be like if it were homogenized like milk.

      1. Justin Baker in quoting Dorothy Dalby writes: (4)

The vocation of each human soul is to live out his or her unique image of God, to be Godlike in the way one's own inheritance, history and circumstances make possible. A remarkable contemporary Christian thinker, Dorothy Daldy, has described this in the phrase creative obedience within one's own personal given. This definition happily combines the three factors that contribute to Godlikeness in each and every life: the controlling model of God's own character (obedience); the particular opportunities and limitations of each person's historical situation (the personal given or datum); and the freedom to be Godlike in one's own way and according to one's own endowments (creative). The concept as a whole also reflects an essential aspect of God himself; for even God must be obedient to his own inner nature and can exercise creative freedom only within the terms of cosmic reality as he has determined that. Even God is not free to do just anything.

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  1. Unity is striving with a common vision, for a common purpose, a common goal.

    1. What is the vision?

      1. Paul puts it very plainly.

      2. You will find it in verse 13.

        1. unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

        2. to maturity,

        3. to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

    2. What is the purpose of it all.

      1. Why do we come to church on a Sunday morning?

        1. Why do we sing our songs?

        2. Why do we pray our prayers?

        3. Why do we dialogue with the written word?

    1. The purpose of Christianity is to restore in us the image of God.

      1. This image was lost.

        1. It was not misplaced.

        2. It was thrown away.

      2. Everything that God has given us is for this purpose.

        1. What is it that Paul is saying to us.

          1. 1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

          2. 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

          3. 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

          4. 4There 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.

        2. This is unity.

          1. The oneness of it all.

          2. You may argue with it, but you simply cannot deny it.

          3. It is too ingrained in the life and teachings of Jesus.

      3. It is also revealed that:

        1. 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,

        2. 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

        3. 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

        4. to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

        5. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming.

        6. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working

      4. This is unity.

        1. Each person, each part working together to help create wholeness.

        2. Scott Russell Sanders is a prize-winning essayist and English professor at Indiana University. (5)

In his book, Writing From the Center he tells about a prominent builder in a small Ohio town who was asked to join the volunteer fire department.

He politely declined.

After all, what could he get out of it? His home was brick, wired to code, and fire-resistant.

But one day his house caught fire. The volunteer firemen showed up with the pumper truck.

But before turning on the water, they playfully asked the contractor if he still saw no reason to join.

Without hesitation, he said he would be glad to join right then and there, and the fire was extinguished.

Sanders likes to tell this story because his dad was one of the volunteer firemen that day. He also likes to tell it because of what it says about being a part of a community.

  1. Scott Sanders concludes:

"We should not have to wait until our houses are burning before we see the wisdom of facing our local needs by joining in common work. ... We had better learn how to live well together, or we will live miserably apart."

    1. So we share the vision of unity without uniformity.

  1. The purpose of the vision is so that we may achieve the goal which is reunion with God.

    1. Unity is not only for the unity of believers.

      1. Unity is also for the unity of the believer with Jesus Christ.

      2. He is our source of knowledge and strength.

    2. This lesson is not just for the present.

      1. It is also the way to the future.

      2. There will be no future unless that is unity with God.

    3. There will be a reunion day.

      1. What was lost will be recovered.

      2. What was thrown away will be restored.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. Sir Thomas Beecham was the founder of the London Philharmonic and the Beecham Opera Company. (6)

    1. Beecham once traveled to a certain city to appear as the guest conductor.

      1. During the first rehearsal he quickly noticed that the orchestra was not well trained.

      2. As the rehearsal continued, he became more and more frustrated.

    2. Finally he had to stop the musicians for the third time at the same place in the score.

      1. One of the musicians protested: "Well, just how do you want us to play?"

      2. Sir Thomas looked at him and calmly suggested, "Together."

Enough said: Amen!

1. Anonymous.

2. PreachingNow [preachingnow@preaching.com]

3. Bishop Rowan Williams, A Ray of Darkness (Cambridge: Cowley, 1995), 149, 166.

4. John Austin Baker, The Faith of a Christian (London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1996), 133.

5. Steve Wilson, "Cult of the Individual Weakens Sense of Community," The Arizona Republic, 15 September 1996, A2.

6. Leonard Sweet, Quantum Spirituality (Dayton: Whaleprints), 1991, 155.

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