1. What if instead of the many there was only the one?

 
1. You walk into Sentry foods or Pick and Save and you are overwhelmed by the items which are stocked on the shelves.

 
1. There is not only a wide variety of categories.

 
2. There is also a wide variety of items within the catagories.

 
1. Observe the section of pasta sauces.

 
2. There are so many different selections.

 
2. But what if there was only one selection in each category.

 
1. One kind of lettuce

 
2. One kind of apples

 
3. One kind of potatoes

 
4. One kind of meat

 
5. One kind of ice-cream

 
6. One kind of cereal
3. You would probably be disappointed.

 
4. It would not take long before an entrepreneur would produce or manufacture alternatives.

 
2. The abundance with which we live creates an obvious difficulty for us.

 
1. What do we face when we become Christians and seek to create a relationship with God.

 
2. This is the question that Paul is addressing in this section of Ephesians 4.

1. Paul is addressing an extremely serious situation confronting the Christians in Ephesus.

 
1. In his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 3) he clearly demonstrates the divisions and the resulting confusion which is occurring.

 
1. He could not, he says, speak to them as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh.

 
2. There was jealousy and quarling among them.

 
1. Denominational factions had developed.

 
1. One says, "I belong to Paul."

 
2. Another says, "I belong to Apollos."

 
3. There were those in addition who claimed to belong to Cephes, (Peter).

 
2. He concludes, "So let no one boast about human leaders."

 
1. "Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all belong to you, and

 
2. you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God."

 
3. This same situation has developed in Ephesus.

 
2. How he addresses this situation is important to our own understanding of our personal and united relationship to God.

 
3. He declares in chapter 4 and verses 4 to 6 that there is only one.

 
1. There is one body

 
1. Romans 12:4-5, NRSV

 
2. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

 
2. one Spirit

 
1. (Romans 8:14 NRSV) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

 
2. (John 14:17 NRSV) This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

 
3. (John 14:26 NRSV) But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

 
3. one hope of your calling,

 
1. (1 Corinthians 15:19 NRSV) If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 
2. We hope in the resurrection and the world to come.

 
3. (Romans 5:5 NRSV) and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

 
4. one Lord,

 
1. M. Scott peck in, "The People of the Lie," writes that everyone is religious, everyone has a God.

 
2. Some of the god's of the people are dangerous and destructive.

 
3. Not so with Christ.

 
4. There is no other.

 
5. one faith,

 
1. This was easier to accept in Paul's day.

 
2. He was contending with the religion of the empire and the religion of the Jews.

 
3. It is much more difficult today.

 
6. one baptism,

 
1. Baptism for the remission of sins.

 
2. Baptism for admission into the body.

 
3. Baptism as a means of covenant reconciliation.

 
7. one God and Father of all,

 
1. who is above all and

 
2. through all and

 
3. in all.

1. We are being encouraged to recognize the connections that exist between God and ourselves and one another.

 
1. Everything is connected to everything else, as Christopher N. Palmer, executive producer of Audubon Television, reports in his preface to Audubon Perspective.⁽¹⁾

 
1. He tells the story of the Diak people of Borneo, suffering from a severe malaria epidemic.

 
2. The World Health Organization came to the "rescue," and sprayed DDT to kill the mosquitoes.

 
3. It worked, for a time. But then the roofs of the Diaks' houses started collapsing, and rats overran the villages.

 
4. It turns out that the DDT had wiped out parasitic wasps that ate thatch-eating caterpillars. With no wasps around, the caterpillars proliferated and ate into the roofs.

 
5. In the meantime, bugs poisoned by DDT were eaten by lizards, which, in turn, were eaten by village cats.

 
6. The cats died, the rats flourished, and deadly plague began to spread to the Diaks.

 
7. The WHO was forced to parachute live cats into decatted Borneo."

 
2. We are an integrated population with one another and with nature.

 
2. We can be delighted that Christ and God are one.

 
1. There is one body

 
2. one Spirit

 
3. one hope of your calling,

 
4. one Lord,

 
5. one faith,

 
6. one baptism,

 
7. one God and Father of all,

 
1. who is above all and

 
2. through all and

 
3. in all

 
3. We can be delighted that there is only one

 
1. We can take comfort in the unity.

 
2. It helps us to see and know the truth.

 
3. It creates a unity within and without.

 
4. Our task is align ourselves with the one.

 
1. This requires of us a significant amount of knowledge.

 
1. Knowledge which we acquire from Jesus.

 
2. Knowledge which we begin with the help of the Holy Spirit to apply and work out.

 
5. In this there is an abundant life and great joy.

1. as found in Christopher N. Palmer's preface to Robert L. DiSilvestro's Audubon Perspective: Fight for Survival (New York: Wiley, 1990), xiii.