Four. Ephesians, chapter number four. Ephesians, chapter number four. When you get there, stand with me if you would. We’re going to continue our series through the book of Ephesians. We are in part number four now. We’ve gone through the first three chapters, breaking down the theme of this book, and that is understanding the will of God. And so here we are going to see as we progress through here, we have broken down in the first three chapters the immutable plan of God and so dealt with the plan that God has for our lives. And now tonight we are going to cover our second main point, which is the indivisible purpose of God. And so for every plan that God has for your life, there is a purpose that he will send into your life. Send trials, send heartaches, send different things in your life. A purpose that he will work to fulfill the plan that he has for you. And again, the purpose would be the reason why he has this plan, why he has this will for your life. And so we don’t need to get lost in, in seeking the plan of God so much that we forget there’s a purpose, there’s a reason, there’s something that God wants us to learn through the midst of it all. And again, as we follow through understanding the will of God, don’t get so focused on the end product that we miss everything in the middle, that we miss all the stuff that we need to learn to get to the final piece of the puzzle, the final product there. But Ephesians chapter four, here we’re going to break this down. We’ve got four aspects that we’re going to look at tonight in the indivisible purpose of God and understanding the purpose that God has for us. And he lays it out in verse number one. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you. Notice here that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. The vocation would be the job, the responsibility you have been given here. Paul’s prayer to them and the reason that he was doing the things that he was doing. He was begging them. That’s what the word beseech means, that they would walk with worthy of the will of God for their lives and they would understand the reason and the purpose behind what God has for them. Let’s go ahead and pray. Father, we love you. We thank you for the truths of the word of God. Lord, help us, guide us, help us to be able to see the truths that you’d have for us and the full purpose that will Direct the theme of this message tonight. We’ll praise you, we’ll thank you. Teach us your word. We ask these things. In your name we pray. Amen. You can go ahead and be seated again. Verse one. He says, we beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called with all lowliness and meekness, long suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There’s four aspects here in dealing with the individual purpose of God. And every one of these deals with one common theme, with one common word. And that is the word unity. The purpose of the plan of God for your life, the purpose of the will of God for your life is for you to dwell in unity with other believers in the church that God has put you in, for you to dwell in unity as a couple, as a marriage, as a home, for you to dwell in unity, fulfilling the will of God for your lives. And so here we’re going to see this four aspects of unity that we’re going to get to here. And first I want you to notice in verses one to three we’re going to see the attitudes of unity. The attitudes of unity. And by the way, just a side note, sidebar right here, the one thing that destroys unity in a church is attitudes, alright? So we’re going to deal with the attitudes of unity and how we ought to have the right kind of attitude. But understand this, one of the deal breakers in the area of unity and one of the hindrances to unity in a church is somebody gets a bad attitude, somebody gets irritated or somebody gets upset by something and it destroys the attitude which destroys the unity, which destroys the fellowship in the church house of God. And so here Paul was beseeching them to walk worthy of what God had called them to do. And he says here in verse two, with the lowliness, meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. And so that’s not with a proud spirit, but with a humble mind. That’s the lowliness, not with the arrogant attitude of look at me and look at what I can do, but rather how can I be a blessing to those around me? How can I serve those that God has put me in the ministry with? How can I be a blessing to other people? And by the way, that’s what’s going to build unity. That’s what builds fellowship in God’s house. We dealt with fellowship this morning in the adult Sunday school, teen Sunday school class. And one of the attributes of A healthy church is. A healthy church is one that fellowships together and a healthy church can fellowship because a healthy church is in unity, one with another. And so here we see this endeavoring, verse three to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I heard a preacher once say, brother Thoreau, that one of the pastors main jobs is putting out fires all over the church to try to keep unity in the house of God. There’s so much truth to that. There’s so many things. Little spot fires, little things, little embers that flame up and little issues that can arise. And sometimes we spend so much of our time putting all those little things up. But why do we take care of all the little details so they don’t become big issues and big problems. You take care of the little things when they’re little. That way they don’t grow up to become this major issue in the church house to cause this major divide, this major problem. But here we see the attitudes of unity. I want you to notice in the attitude of unity, our attitude toward unity ought to be methodical. It ought to be methodical. Now here, verse one, he says, I, therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Here Paul says, I am a prisoner of the Lord. Here Paul was again in one of his bonds. He was here bound by the things that he was doing. But notice he didn’t say I’m a prisoner of man, I’m a prisoner of the Lord, meaning that I am bound to tell you the things that God has given to me. I am bound to give to you the truths that I’ve been given. I’m a prisoner of the Lord. He says, I want you to walk worthy. That is a burden that I carry, that you would walk worthy. And by the way, as a man of God, we want everybody to walk worthy of the vocation where God has called us. But it is our responsibility as Sunday school teachers, as preachers, as men of God, as pastors, as evangelists, as teachers, whatever the case may be. It’s our responsibility to teach God’s people how to walk worthy. And we’re responsible for that. So we’ve got to study the word of God and we’ve got to seek the face of God. And we’ve got to be able to go to God and beg God for the truths so that we can be able to give them to God’s people and here to walk worthy of what God’s called us. So here the attitude of Unity is an attitude that is methodical. It’s well thought out. It’s something that’s planned, it’s something that’s prepared for. Listen, unity doesn’t just happen. It’s something that’s prepared. It’s something that’s worked at. It’s something that’s strived for. It’s something that is constantly, constantly at labor after in the Christian life here. So we see the attitude of unity as one that is methodical. In verse number two, we also see the attitude of unity is one that is horizontal. Notice he says, with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. Here this is horizontal. Here we are to have lowliness of mind, lowliness of heart. We’re to have a humble attitude. Here we’re to have meekness. Meekness is not weakness. Meekness is strength under control. Meekness is knowing what your strength is, but holding back and not exerting all the force in your life to get your way, but rather it’s having meekness. The word of God tells us that Moses was the meekest man that ever walked on earth. Moses was a great leader that led two to three million Jews through the wilderness. And some theologians say it was even more than that. Ok, but he led many of God’s people through the wilderness and to Canaan land. He dealt with all the different issues, he grinded through all the different problems, he went through all the different aspects. And he was constantly going back and forth between God and between the people. He was standing between God and the people, giving them God’s word as God gave it to him. But he was a very meek man, meaning he had his strength under control. Now. Were there times where he made mistakes? Yeah, he smoked the rock a second time when he was supposed to speak to it. There were times where, yes, he made mistakes. Yes, there were times where he said the wrong things. But the Word of God still says that he was the meekest man on earth. And we understand that he was a man who lived his life under the control of the Spirit of God. Now listen, we’ve got to learn how to allow the Spirit of God to control us. And we also got to learn how to control. Miss Heather had mentioned it in her testimony. We’ve got to learn how to control, how to harness those fears, those anxieties, those different things that are in our lives. We’ve got to learn how to control that because we’re responsible for these things in our lives. It says, with long suffering, forbearing one another in Love longsuffering is a cousin to patience. You see, patience and longsuffering go hand in hand. Patience how we handle problems. But long suffering is how we handle people. And so in the Christian life, and we dealt with this when we went through the book of second Timothy, in the Christian life, we’ve got to be long suffering with those that are around us. Understand that somebody took the time to invest in you, and we ought to take the time as well to invest in others that are around us to understand that we are trying to make a difference not just in our generation, not just in the next generation, but in the next generation. Paul told Timothy, the things which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. So here, those five generations that’s mentioned in that verse, somebody had taught Paul and then Paul had the truth, and then Paul gave it to Timothy. Timothy was to give it to faithful men. The faithful men were to go to the next generation and teach others also. So listen, we’re not invested in this in a short term mentality. When we’re doing the work of God, we have a long term mentality. And we are looking years down the road to prepare not just this generation, not just the next generation, but the next next generation for the glory of God and for the cause of Christ. We understand that this doesn’t just stop here with us. It must continue on with the next generations understanding what God has left us here to do. So here our attitude of unity is one that’s methodical, but it’s one that’s horizontal. It’s directed to those that are around us, but also it’s one that is vertical. Look at verse three. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. Notice your Bible. The word Spirit is capitalized. There’s a capital S that is the Spirit of God. So we’re endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit of God in the church house. Which means that we’re not just thinking along a methodical plan. We’re not just thinking along a horizontal plane, but rather we are also thinking along a vertical plane. We are thinking from heaven downward. We’ve got to have unity. And by the way, we’ll be in unity with God’s people if we’re in unity with God. I’ve used the illustration time and again on how two people can come together when they’re far apart. They both got to work like a pyramid. They’ve both got to work at getting closer to God. And as they get closer to God. Once they reach the top, they’ll be close together. Why? All because they made God the central theme of their life. And we’ve got to make sure that we do that. This is, again, we’re working at a disadvantage here in this world. We’ve got a flesh that we’re battling with. We’ve got the devil who doesn’t fight fairly at all. And we understand that. And so we hear we’ve got to have the right kind of unity. It’s methodical, it’s horizontal, it’s vertical. But also in verse three, it’s practical. He says, endeavoring. You understand the word endeavoring means it’s something that you’re working at, it’s something that you work at. Unity is not easy to keep peace, is not easy to keep in a home. Brother Roberto, you’re outnumbered in your house. Amen. Family of five, you got four girls. At any one given time, any one of them could be on a tantrum, right? I’m not calling him out. It’s just a reality. I heard a preacher once say it was actually Brother Dean Miller’s son, Dean Miller junior He made a statement some time ago. I was at a youth conference with, and he was a special speaker, you may have been. May have been up in Louisville. And he had made a statement about in his home. It was him and his wife and then they had two daughters. He said there were times where he came home from the office and he could tell that his daughters and his wife were fighting with him. And you know how when you walk into a room, the air is a little bit different and you can tell there’s been something that’s going on. He said he walked into his house on a couple of different occasions and he had his suitcase right there or his briefcase, and he went to go place it out. He said, honey, I’m home. And he didn’t hear anything. He said, hmm, something’s going on here. I’m going back to the office. He takes his briefcase and turn back around and leave. He said, there’s too much estrogen in there. I’m not messing with any of that today. I’m going back to the office. I’m going to spend time with God. There’s something need to be worked through in the house. Amen. Oh, praise the Lord here. The attitude of unity is methodical. It’s horizontal, it’s vertical, but it’s also practical. There must be a long suffering that we have. There must be a lifting up of one another. The Bible says Forbearing one another in love, we ought to be lifting up one another in our prayers. There ought to be a loving of one another, but there also ought to be a laboring for one another. That’s the work that’s involved, the endeavoring. If we’re going to keep unity, it’s going to take work on everybody’s part to have unity in the house of God. It’s not one person that brings unity, but it takes everybody to work together as a linchpin to keep unity combined here in the house of God. And so here we see the attitude of unity. Secondly, I want you to notice in verses four through six, we see the absolutes unity. Notice. Here in your Bible, as you study out the word of God, there is a truth. And doctor Dean Miller had taught it on a couple of different occasions when he had been here in the past. We have him coming again in September. And he had taught some of the ideas and thought processes of numerology, which would be the study of numbers in the Bible. Excuse me. And as you go through your Bible, you will find that one is the number of unity, one is the number of unity. And here in verses four, five and six, you’re going to see several aspects of things that are mentioned. There’s only one of notice, verse number four. There is one body. That’s talking about the church, that’s talking about those that are born again children of God. There is one body, and then it says, and one Spirit, again, capital S. There is one Holy Spirit, one Holy Spirit. There’s not two things that give themselves to the Holy Spirit. There’s one Holy Spirit that God has given us. It says, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling, there’s one hope that we have as a child of God. You know what that hope is? That’s the hope that Jesus Christ is going to keep every promise that he’s made and he’s going to return and take us back to glory one day. And we look forward to that blessed hope that we’re told about in the book of Titus. And we know that he’s coming back. And here, this is the hope that we have of the calling that God has given us. Then notice verse five. It says, one Lord. You understand? We have one Lord tonight, and his name is Jesus Christ. One Lord. We have one Savior, but there’s not many saviors. There’s not many lords. There’s not many ways to get to heaven. There’s one way to get to heaven, that’s through Jesus Christ. We See, one faith in verse number five as well. We have one faith. The Bible says, for by grace are ye saved through faith. And that not of yourselves is the gift of God, not of works less than any man should. Above. The Bible tells in the book of Romans that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. See, the faith that we have, it all comes from one place. That comes from our heavenly Father. It comes from God. We don’t have our own faith. We grow, yes, from faith to faith. But that faith rests in one Savior. That’s Jesus Christ. Then notice there’s one baptism at the end of verse number five. There’s one baptism. And the Bible tells us that John the Baptist, in the Book of John, he says, I indeed baptize with water, but one will come that will baptize you with fire. And he’s talking about the Holy Ghost. There’s one Holy Spirit baptism that happens in your life. There’s not a plurality of Holy Spirit baptisms. There’s not a second work of grace. There is not a coming down where the Spirit of God rests upon you and you begin to speak in all these other different tongues. That’s a false ideology. That was something that was given in the New Testament for a time, for a period of time, there were partial gifts that were given to the church. And that was the gift of tongues, the gift of interpretation of tongues, the gift of miracles, and the gift of healing. Those four gifts are partial gifts. All the other gifts that are given in the Bible were permanent gifts. These partial gifts were given for a time until that which was perfect is come. Then the Bible says, that which is in part shall be done away. What is perfect? This is the Word of God, the perfect law of liberty. The Bible says in the Book of James. And so once we got the Word of God again, the apostles did not have a full copy and complete set of the Word of God. So God allowed them to have these partial gifts to authenticate the message that they had from God. But now we have a written word of God, and God has done away with those partial gifts. And we don’t have those gifts today. We have permanent gifts that have been given. We’ll talk about some of those in a minute. But here we have one baptism. We don’t have a second work of grace. We don’t have a plurality of baptisms. There’s one baptism of the Holy Ghost. And here we see in verse six, there’s one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all. And in you all the Hindus believe there are over six thousand Gods. Our Bible says there’s one. There’s one. And his name is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. He is one God. It is called the Trinity. And we understand that one God and Father of all, who’s above all and through all. And notice he says in you all, if you’re a born again child of God, because you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and his finished work, God has given you the Holy Spirit to live inside of you. And so God is in us all. And we understand that. So here we see the attitude of unity. Here we see the absolutes of unity. Then verses seven through twelve, I want you to notice the agents of unity. Notice the agents of unity. It says, but unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Here we see according to verse number seven, these agents of unity. There’s three agents that you’ll notice. First one is the grace of God that determines the gifts that we are given. The grace of God that determines the gifts that we are given. Here the Bible says in verse seven, but to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. You understand that God has given you some gifts, but he may have given somebody else other gifts. And there are different gifts that are mentioned in the Bible. We are not going to take all the time to go through it. But in first Corinthians, chapter twelve, thirteen and fourteen, you will see different gifts, spiritual gifts that are given in Romans chapter number twelve. Write these passages down, look them up later in Romans chapter number twelve. There are different gifts that are given in the Bible. And we are going to see some gifts later on in this chapter as well. But we see different gifts and several of the gifts that are given. There’s a gift of preaching the word of God or prophesying the truth. There’s a gift of teaching the word of God. There’s a gift of administration, which is a gift of leadership that God gives. There’s a gift of a shepherd’s heart or a pastor’s heart, a pastoring spirit that God gives to people. There’s a gift of grace. There’s a gift of mercy. There’s a gift of giving. You ever notice how some people are more willing to give than other people are willing to give because they’ve got a gift of giving? You’ve heard the old adage, they’ll give the shirt off their back to you. Why? Because that’s a gift that God has enabled them with. That’s a gift that God has blessed them with. Then you have the gift. Several other gifts we’re not going to again, take the time to get through all of them, but you can go back and study that out in First Corinthians, chapter twelve, thirteen and fourteen, in Romans, chapter twelve, here also in Ephesians, chapter four as well. But the grace of God determines the gifts that God gives us in our lives. I learned a long time ago as a teenage boy when I first got saved. I had different men of God that taught me and trained me and took me under their wing. And they began to tell me that they saw certain things in my life that I didn’t see, things that I didn’t understand, but they saw the potential of different gifts. Why? Because they were seasoned veterans in the faith, seasoned in the ministry, and they knew certain things. They can spot certain gifts that people had. There’s a gift that’s referenced in the Bible in the Book of Romans, chapter twelve. It’s the gift of discerning spirits, the gift of discernment and being able to discern the spirit that somebody has and whether or not they’ve come into the church with the right kind of spirit. You ever notice how when somebody walks in, you have a heaviness that comes over your spirit because their spirit doesn’t bear witness with your spirit and your alarms are sounding off inside your body. Now listen. We need to be able to listen to the alarms that are sounding off because sometimes that’s the Holy Spirit of God warning us. The Bible says a prudent man foresees the evil and hideth himself. But the simple pass on and are punished. And as a prudent person, as a prudent child of God, as a wise child of God, we need to take heed to the gifts that God has given us and be able to understand the truths that God’s trying to work in our lives. So here we see the grace of God that determines our gifts. But verses eight to ten, let’s notice wherefore he saith, when he ascendeth up on high, he led captivity, captive, and gave gifts unto men. These are the spiritual gifts. When Jesus Christ went down during his resurrection, during the time he was dead and buried for three days, he went down. He led captivity, captive, straight to heaven. And when he resurrected, he gave the church gifts. And again, that was through the baptism of the Holy Ghost in Acts, chapter two. And we understand that verse nine. And now that he ascended, what is it? But that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. By the way, we understand that hell is in the lower parts of the earth because the Bible says that’s where he descended and led captivity captive. That means he went down to where they were at in Abraham’s bosom and led those that were saved in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament they were saved the same way that we’re saved in the New Testament. They look forward to the cross of Christ. We look backwards toward the cross of Christ. So we all say the same way, by the grace of God. But those that were in the Old Testament, they had to go to a holding place which is called Abraham’s bosom in Luke chapter number sixteen. And because they could not enter into heaven until Jesus Christ’s blood was shed for them. And so Jesus Christ led captivity captive and took them to heaven. And then hell hath enlarged itself. And hell filled the void from the great gulf that was fixed. And we understand that according to the word of God. And he ascended up into high. The Bible says in verse ten, he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens. Why? That he might fill all things. And so Jesus Christ didn’t go down there and stay down there. He led captivity captives straight up to heaven, straight to glory. And he gave his blood there on the altar, there in heaven. And so we understand the grace of God determines the gifts that we are given in verse seven. But in verses eight, nine and ten, the glory of God delivers the gift gifts. How is the glory of God seen? It seen through Jesus Christ. How do we get the gifts? Listen, every one of us have gifts that God has given us from birth. But those gifts are not unlocked until you get saved as a born again child of God. Those gifts are not grown, they’re not manifested, they’re not made. The word manifest means to be made known. They’re not made known until the Holy Spirit of God comes and dwells inside you as a believer. And he has the key to unlock those gifts spiritually for your life. And then you begin to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And then you begin to be able to exercise gifts that you never knew that God had in store for you in your life. Listen, there are those that have great leadership abilities and capabilities in the world today. But if God were to ever save them, God could use them in a plurality of ways, in a leadership aspect in different areas of the ministry. Yes, they can exercise certain gifts physically that they’ve been given. But there are spiritual gifts that are given only to those who are believers. And we understand everybody has the spiritual gifts. They are simply unlocked when we are given the Holy Spirit of God. That’s the glory of God that delivers the gifts to us. And then we see verses eleven and twelve. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. These we see, the agents of unity are the grace that God uses to determine the gift, the glory of God that delivers the gifts. And now we see in these two verses the guides of God that help to develop the gifts. God puts different guides in our lives. You ladies heard about it during the ladies meeting, Pioneers, trailblazers, different people in your life. God puts there as a guide. Why? To develop, to mold, to shape the gifts that God has given you in your life, to develop those things. Because sometimes they see things in you that you haven’t quite seen yet. Sometimes they can see areas in your life that they know God is doing this. Sometimes you want to look at them and say, how did you even know that? Many times the response is, because I’ve been where you’re at. I’ve sat where you sat. I’ve gone through those things, and I understand. I see what God is working in your life right now. I remember when I told my youth director, Brother Joe Tarr, after I was in Bible college, I went to him. He was probably the second or third guy that I had told that God had called me to preach. And he said, it’s about time. Been waiting for that. He said, it’s been a long time. You’ve been running from it, haven’t you? I said, yes, sir, I have. Well, what was he saying? He’s saying, I saw this a long time ago. God’s been developing it. But you can’t push somebody into the will of God. You’ve got to allow God to work. And so sometimes, people, God puts guides in our lives to develop these gifts. These guides are seen in two different areas. We see the description of leadership in verse eleven. He gave some apostles. And we know that the apostleship is passed on. It’s no longer around today. And some prophets, and we know there are those that are not able to prophesy. There is no open vision that is given to man today. But there are three aspects here in the church that we see. And some evangelists, those are those that go out and preach the word of God. And some pastors, those are pastors. And elect people that are set up over the church. And teachers. Those are those that are teaching in the church house of God, Sunday school teachers and different ministers of the word of God. And we understand that these are the description of leadership that we have in the church today. And then verse twelve tells us the duty of the leadership. What am I supposed to do as a leader? What am I supposed to do for God’s people? How are we to develop these leaders and these gifts that God has given? How are we to do that? Notice the development process. The duty here of the leaders threefold in verse twelve. My duty. You that are Sunday school teachers, your duty. Vote to throw, as an evangelist, his duty, our duties and as God’s workers are these three things for the perfecting of the saints. That’s to mature God’s people for the work of the ministry. That’s to do the work that God has called us to do. Understand, it’s not just a pastor’s job to go soul winning. It’s everybody’s job as a child of God to go soul winner. But it’s us as leaders in the church to set the standard and set the bar for the work of the ministry. And then thirdly, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Again, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit. How do you do that? You edify the body of Christ. You encourage one another in the Lord. You build up one another. Listen, you don’t spend your life and you don’t spend your time cutting people down in the ministry. You spend your time building them up, constructing them, guiding them in the way of God. There’s far too many people that are cutting everybody down because they want to be lifted up in pride and arrogance. Our responsibility is to edify the believers. Our responsibility is to encourage others and to be able to see that hope and that light shine in their lives for them. To be able to catch hold, to apprehend that for which God has apprehended them. Catch hold of the reason God caught hold of them. That’s our duty as leaders. And then we see, we’ve covered the attitudes of unity, the absolutes of unity, the agents of unity. Lastly, verses thirteen to sixteen, we see the accomplishments of unity. When there is. Listen here. When there is a church that is in unity in the will of God, the accomplishments are insurmountable. They are innumerable of what God can do. The limitations of a church that has unity, literally none. Have you ever thought about that if a church could just get in unity. Brother Nick, the Church. In the book of Acts, they got in unity. And what happened in Acts, chapter seventeen? The Bible says they turned the world upside down. Why? Because they were in unity about the cause that God had given them. They were in unity about the commission that God had left them. We preached about that this morning. They were in unity. Why? Because they realized it wasn’t about them. It was about the God they served. It was about the God they served. And if we could be a church that is in unity about the things of God, the opportunities that God has for our church are absolutely endless. Absolutely endless. But there’s four things that are listed. So let me give them to you here in verses thirteen to sixteen. Four things that are the accomplishments of unity. Notice verse thirteen. Till we all come. Notice. In the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Notice. Here we see. First, the accomplishments of unity are the growing of mature servants. Mature servants. This is an accomplishment of unity. When a church is in unity and a church is doing what God has left them here to do, and when the pastor and the teachers, the evangelist, when the workers of God are trying to perfect, the saints trying to work the ministry, trying to edify the body of Christ, this is what happens. You develop mature servants for the cause of Christ. You develop people who are mature in their walk with God. They are mature in their faith. They are mature in their trusting they have for the God they serve. Notice. They are not trusting in the man they are following. Paul did say, follow me as I follow Christ. They are not trusting in the man that they are following. They are trusting in the God of the man that they are following. Are you listening? And we’ve got to trust in the God that we serve. Trust in the God that we serve. Till we all come in the unity of faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. You see, the more you learn about your Savior, the more mature you’ll be spiritually. The Christian life is built on you growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter tells us that we’re going to get to that later this year when we go through one and two Peter. But here we’re to grow. And as our knowledge of Jesus Christ grows, the Bible says, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of God, perfect doesn’t mean sinless. It means complete in your faith. Mature. Or as some people say, mature. Mature. A mature servant of God. I don’t Know where these things come from? A mature servant of God, then. Verse number fourteen. Notice that we henceforth be no more children. Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Not only a church that’s in unity, not only will it develop mature servants, but also it will develop mature stability. It will develop mature stability. Notice what he says. That we henceforth be no more children. Remember, as we went through first John, we dealt with three different types of people in the church. The children, the young men, and the fathers. The children are guided by the lust of the flesh. And the young men are guided by the lust of the eyes. And the fathers are guided by the pride of life. The mature ones are guided by their pride. But the little ones, they’re guided by the lust of the flesh. The things that I want. I want this. I want this. I want. You ever notice, Brother Nick, how a kid will go from team to team to team? Whatever team is popular that year, that’s their favorite team. Whatever team won the championship, that’s their favorite team. Why? Because they lack maturity. They’re just doing what everybody else is doing. That’s immaturity. They’re tossed about. Well, you know what? We can look at that at a spiritual level as well. There are those who hop from church to church to church. They don’t have any foundation for what they believe. And they go from place to place to place. They’re tossed about with every wind of doctrine. They have absolutely no stability. Why? Because they’re childish and immature. Are you listening? I’m not trying to be mean to anybody, but this is a fact from the Word of God. He says that we henceforth, from now on, be no more children. Over in First Corinthians, chapter thirteen, Paul told the church at Corinth. He said, when I was a child, I thought as a child. I spake as a child. I understood as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. There comes a time in our Christian life where we’ve got to grow up and we’ve got to put away the childish things. We got to put away the childish attitude. We got to put away the childish bickering and the childish differences. And we’ve got to endeavor and strive for unity in the house of God. And we’ve got to be mature in our walk with God. Develop some mature servants. Develop some mature stability. We’ve got to get rooted and grounded in the word of God and quit tossing back and forth between the doctrines. And we need to study the word of God and listen. Listen. My youth director taught me this a long time ago. He said, if you’re not strong enough to trust in the doctrine yourself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have. Listen, they weren’t the one that I was living my life or I was living my life for God. We live for the audience of one. But when I didn’t have the faith to trust in the doctrine myself, then trust in the one that you’re following. As they follow God and trust the knowledge that they have, and as you follow their faith, then God will reveal that to you in time. That is so true. I’ve seen it happen time and again in my life where I follow different men and I follow the faith that they have.
Scripture Reference
Ephesians 4:1-16
Introduction
Title: “Understanding the Will of God – Part 4” — Dr. Terry LeQuieu. This sermon continues an expositional journey through Ephesians. The focus of this message is the indivisible purpose of God revealed in Ephesians 4: unity. The sermon explains that God’s immutable plan (chapters 1–3) now brings us to the purpose: God intends that believers live together in unity so His plan for them may be accomplished. The pastor draws attention to four broad aspects of unity: Attitudes, Absolutes, Agents, and Accomplishments. Each is rooted in Scripture and aims to show both the doctrinal truths and practical duties necessary for a healthy local church and a maturing Christian life.
Quote from Preacher
We are in part number four now. We’ve gone through the first three chapters, breaking down the theme of this book, and that is understanding the will of God.
Outline
- Attitudes of Unity
- Methodical Mindset
Unity does not happen by accident. Paul “beseecheth” the church to walk worthy (Ephesians 4:1). A worthy walk is planned, taught, and pursued intentionally. Leaders are responsible to teach God’s people how to walk worthy of their calling — through sound doctrine, example, and prayerful labor.
- Horizontal Heart
Love expressed toward one another: lowliness, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing in love (Ephesians 4:2). These attitudes describe how believers relate to those around them. Meekness is strength under control; longsuffering is patient endurance with people, not merely with circumstances. Practical care and humble service build fellowship.
- Vertical Focus
Unity is aligned under the Spirit of God — “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). True unity is rooted in being united to God. When individuals seek God first, vertical alignment draws believers toward one another.
- Practical Effort
“Endeavoring” shows unity requires work. It means striving, conflict resolution while things are small, prayer for one another, and mutual labor to maintain peace. Unity is not passive; it is practical and requires consistent effort from every member.
- Methodical Mindset
- Absolutes of Unity
- There Is One Body
Ephesians 4:4–6 lists the foundational, non-negotiable realities: one body (the church), one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. These are the doctrinal anchors of unity; they guard the church from doctrinal drift.
- One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
These truths exclude religious pluralism. Salvation is by grace through faith in one Lord, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer once; the believer’s faith rests on God’s single revealed truth. Guard the exclusivity of the Gospel without compromise.
- There Is One Body
- Agents of Unity
- Grace Determines the Gifts
Ephesians 4:7 teaches that grace is distributed “according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Every believer receives enabling grace and spiritual gifts. Recognize both variety and equality — different gifts, same gracious source.
- Glory Delivers the Gifts
Verses 8–10 show Christ’s victory and ascension, which resulted in gifts being given to the church. The historical and redemptive work of Christ is the means by which the body receives its spiritual provision.
- Guides Develop the Gifts
Verses 11–12 list gifted leaders — apostles (foundation in Scripture), prophets (in the apostolic era), evangelists, pastors, and teachers — placed to perfect the saints, to equip them for the work of ministry, and to edify the body. Leadership’s duty is threefold: perfecting (maturing), equipping (sending), and edifying (building up).
- Grace Determines the Gifts
- Accomplishments of Unity
- Maturing Servants
Verse 13: Unity matures believers “unto a perfect man” — not sinless perfection, but spiritual maturity in Christ-likeness. Growth in knowledge of the Son produces maturity and useful servants.
- Stable Believers
Verse 14: Unity protects against being “tossed to and fro” by false doctrine. Stability comes from rootedness in truth, not from emotional trends or theological fashions. Mature churches resist cunning craftiness and stay faithful to Scripture.
- Mature Speech
Verse 15: Speaking “the truth in love” is a hallmark of maturity. Sound doctrine must be delivered lovingly; correction without love wounds, love without truth deceives. Mature speech builds up – faithful wounds of friends, not flattering lies.
- Cooperative Service
Verse 16: The body is “fitly joined together” so every part supplies what is needed and the whole increases. God’s effectual working in each believer produces corporate growth. Every member matters; Christ is the Head who directs placement and purpose.
- Maturing Servants
Summary
Dr. LeQuieu’s exposition of Ephesians 4 teaches that the indivisible purpose of God is corporate unity. The apostle Paul both commands and appeals: walk worthy of your calling by developing methodical, humble, patient, and practical attitudes toward one another. Unity is anchored in the absolute truths of one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. God’s grace and glory distribute gifts; God’s appointed leaders develop and equip believers. When a local church lives in biblical unity, the results are clear — mature servants, stable doctrine, gracious speech, and effective cooperative service under Christ the Head. The end result: the church grows and edifies itself in love (Ephesians 4:1–16).
Quote to Ponder
There’s four aspects here in dealing with the individual purpose of God. And every one of these deals with one common theme, with one common word. And that is the word unity.
Application for the Week
Practical steps you can take this week to live out Ephesians 4 and promote unity in your church and home:
- Evaluate Your Attitude
Take 10–15 minutes each morning this week in prayer and ask God to search your heart (Psalm 139:23–24). Ask specifically whether pride, impatience, or anger hinder your relationships. Confess and repent.
- Pray for Unity
Commit to pray daily for church unity and for specific individuals with whom you have difficulty (Ephesians 4:3). Use names — pray for pastors, teachers, coworkers, and families.
- Practice Longsuffering
When you are tempted to correct or condemn, pause and ask: Is this a problem of behavior or attitude? Choose to forbear and to speak truth in love (Ephesians 4:2, 15). Let patience mark your responses.
- Use Your Gift
Identify one way you can serve this week — teach a class, help a family, invite someone to church, or serve in a ministry. If you’re unsure of your gift, ask a mature Christian to help you (Ephesians 4:7, 11–12).
- Resolve Small Conflicts Quickly
Don’t let “embers” become “fires.” If a small disagreement arises, address it quickly, humbly, and privately. Keep unity as a higher priority than being right (Matthew 18:15; Ephesians 4:3).
- Grow in the Word
Schedule two short reading times this week in Ephesians 4 and Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. Write one practical truth you learn and apply it. Spiritual growth fosters unity and stability (2 Peter 3:18; Ephesians 4:13–14).
- Encourage One Person
Send a note, text, or speak a word of encouragement to someone who serves in the church. Edification is contagious; your encouragement builds unity (Ephesians 4:29; 1 Thessalonians 5:11).
These steps are small, practical, and biblical. If every member of a church did these faithfully, the bond of peace and unity described in Ephesians 4 would begin to reshape hearts and ministries. Pray that God would help our church be known for unity that honors Christ.
Preacher: Dr. Terry LeQuieu — Sermon: Understanding the Will of God – Part 4 (Ephesians 4)
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