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GOD’S UNIVERSITY!

Someone has quipped, “If you want things to stay the same, something is going to have to change.” Whether this was Mark Twain, Yogi Berra, Groucho Marx, H. L. Mencken, or some other clever curmudgeon I don’t know. I do know that most of us don’t like change. We find something we really like on life’s menu, we enjoy it, we savor it, and we look forward to having it the next time we order up some experience. But, you guessed it, the manager, someone behind the scenes, changes the menu. I hate it when that happens!

Well, for the Ephesian believers things have changed. Their friend, and the only pastor they had ever known, was in prison. He was the most recent victim of the ancient hostility between Jews and Gentiles. Furthermore, one of their own, Trophimus, was the hinge upon which the door slammed in Paul’s face. So on top of everything else, they probably felt somewhat responsible for this latest turn of events. After all, if Paul had not been conducting an instructive tour to one of their own, if he had not been associating with uncircumcised Gentiles in the middle of Jerusalem, he wouldn’t have been beaten and thrown in jail.

What do we do when change hits us like a ton of bricks? What do we do when life’s menu unexpectedly drops one of our favorite dishes and replaces it with something that doesn’t even sound appetizing? What do we do when life doesn’t stay just the way we want it? What do we do when life turns ugly?

It is this question that Paul answers as he shifts from the doctrinal portion of Ephesians to the practical portion. This book, this letter, is salted with theology from the first verse to the last but the first three chapters focus on what perspective God’s children should have and the second half focuses on what ought to be our practice. In vv. 1 - 16 of the fourth chapter of Ephesians we read:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: "When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men." 9 (What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ
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14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Yes, Paul was in prison. But he never saw himself as a prisoner of Rome. Instead he saw himself as a prisoner of Christ and a prisoner for Christ. He was bound to Christ personally by chains of love, fashioned by God himself, and remained in his custody solely for the sake of the gospel. Whether Paul was under house arrest or was moving from house to house really doesn’t appear to make much difference to Paul. In any and every circumstance his charge to take the gospel to the Gentiles remained one of the constants in his life.

So indirectly, Paul’s first exhortation is for you and I to remember that we belong to God. We are his; he chose us in eternity past, he predestined us to be adopted into His family, he redeemed us by the shed blood of Christ Jesus, he has forgiven our sins and has removed them from us as far as the east is from the west, he has made us alive with Christ when we were dead in our transgressions, he has given us peace, not only with God, but with each other, he has strengthened us, and he has seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms. In short, he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and blessed us in more ways than we can count - regardless of what the song says.

We belong to the Lord and we ought to act like we belong to him. Indeed, that is Paul’s second exhortation. He exhorts us to live a life worthy of our calling as children of God. What is interesting to note is that in the original language, both here and elsewhere in Scripture, the word is the adverb “worthily.” So while “worthy” is not an adjective that accurately describes us, we are exhorted to live in a worthy manner.

Paul fleshes this adverb out for us not only in this chapter but in chapters five and six. Here, in chapter 4, his emphasis is on unity (vv. 2 - 6) and diversity (vv. 7 - 13) with the underlying result given to us in vv. 14 - 16. So what in involved in living a life worthy of our calling? In part, this means that in the midst of our diversity we are to exhibit unity.
It is worth noting at this juncture that on every American coin are the words E Pluribus Unum – meaning, out of many one. We see the same idea in our word university which means to find unity in the midst of diversity. I assume the former refers to the political and social realm while the latter refers to more of a scholarly, or philosophical, hunt for unity in the midst of all the diversity within our world.

Closer to home we see this idea of “unity in the midst of diversity” at weddings for it is a common custom for the couple to light a unity candle. Two other candles, smaller ones, stand on either side of this unity candle. These candles are normally lit by the couple’s parents. These smaller candles symbolize the two separate, and very different, families. Then at the end of the service the happy couple take the two smaller candles and use them to light the unity candle. The two smaller candles are then extinguished while the unity candle burns brightly symbolizing the oneness in marriage.
So what we have at most weddings is what can only be called “instant unity.” In a legal sense that’s true, but in every other sense, as you can readily imagine, real unity requires far more than the lighting of a candle. It calls for all the personal skills a person can muster and then some.

In particular, Paul tells us in this passage that the unity we already have in Christ is maintained by being completely humble. That is, it is maintained by having a right view of ourselves and of God. In part, I think this means that we are teachable. It means that we are open to the possibility of being wrong about something. It means that we are not overbearing. It means exhibiting respect toward others. That is, it means we don’t treat others as if they were dirt for, in fact, before God they are of great worth. But, most of all it means it means trusting God to work within others, to work out the old nature and work in His own nature.
To maintain unity we must be gentle. This is the old fashion word - meekness. It is strength under control. It is the gentleness of the strong. It means not exerting our personal rights. It means not shadow boxing. It means not being legalistic. It means being generous when it comes to crediting motives to the actions of others. It means having a gentle touch with others. It means serving those under your charge. The antithesis in Scripture would be Rehoboam for when he inherited the throne from his father, Solomon, he increased the burdens upon those under his charge.

To maintain unity we must be patient with one another. The old King James word long-suffering, though somewhat misleading, does a nice job of putting an emphasis on endurance. For, in fact, patience is endurance in all situations. It is holding back in reacting against people. The prime example in the Old Testament would be David as he patiently waited for God to give him the kingdom. In waiting he refused to take matters into his own hands. Instead, he allowed God to deal with Saul in his own way and in his own time.

I see a lot of humor in weddings for in just about every ceremony the one conducting the wedding will go through I Corinthians 13. You know, the passage that says love is patient, love is kind, etc. Well the moment reference is made to Corinthians the one conducting the ceremony is essentially saying, “Now lets looks at how you ought to behave when you realize you don’t even like each other!”

It always strikes me as if the one conducting the wedding is trying to put a damper on the festive occasion. I think it would make more sense to communicate this message by referring to this chapter in Ephesians. Or maybe, it would have the same effect - which is none for the couple isn’t listening anyway.

To maintain unity we must also bear with one another. In short, this means we need to put up with one another. While patience has to do with those who immediately aggravate us, this has more to do with those who have all those little quirks that eventually drive us crazy. But these quirks that everybody else seem to have drive us crazy because we let them drive us crazy instead of lovingly expressing appreciation for the diversity within creation.

For example, have you ever noticed how Linda . . .
Well, we don’t need to go into her idiosyncrasies right now we have enough of our own. Besides, even if we didn’t have our own idiosyncrasies, don’t you think we have enough trouble on our plate without loading more on it.
This unity, which we are challenged, exhorted, to maintain is a product of seven factors. It exist and it binds everything together into a whole not because of some unidentifiable force that holds us together as one but because there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
Nor is it to be confused with uniformity. It is, as vv. 7 - 13, make abundantly clear, unity in the midst of diversity. The Church, the universal church, is actually God’s University. It is where we grow in our understanding of God, it is where we grow in our understanding of wholeness, it is where we grow in our understanding that unity, harmony, is a result of God working in us. It is not a product of our will, it is a bi-product of the simple fact that there is unity and harmony within the Trinity.

But, and this is what is incredible, God works within us through us. That is, he disperses his gifts among us as directed by the Spirit of God. Then as we use those gifts, as we exercise our gifts within the body of Christ, as well as within the world, we are built up in the faith. We mature to the point that we are no longer tossed about by the craftiness of Satan and his minions.
In the meantime, despite changes in our lives, we’re to worship God by maintaining the unity we have in Him and we are to passionately exercise the gifts that he has bestowed upon us.

After all, we cannot change our hearts, but we can change our minds as we exercise our giftedness within the body. Then as we change our minds, God will change our hearts.

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