Paul tells us in this passage that, as the church, we are to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  The church is a supernatural fellowship in the Spirit!  We are a group of people who have a mystical union with Christ and with each other!  We are not a business or a club; we are unlike any other human organization!  We have an organic, spiritual, living union with Jesus and with each other.  We do not merely identify with Christ, we actually are joined to him and to each other! We are connected to each other in the Spirit. We can’t see it but it’s real and we do sense it. 

Paul says we are to maintain, or guard our oneness in the Spirit. NASB says we are to “preserve” the unity of the Spirit. We are to do this with great passion!  Paul urges us to be eager or zealous to protect this unity!  The NIV says, “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit”.  This unity in the Spirit is so precious it demands our constant vigilance and diligence!  

I’ve been together with other believers many times when we are all in one accord, with one mind, one heart, and one soul. And the unity of the Spirit is powerfully felt and experienced together.  And everyone in the room knows the Spirit of the Lord is there. Once you have tasted the sweetness of this unity you want it more and more.  Once you’ve experienced unity in the Spirit, you see how deadly division is. 

We keep the unity of the Spirit, “In the bond of peace”. The unity of the Spirit is kept by being at peace with one another.   Peace keeps a marriage together.  It keeps a church together.  It keeps us from fragmenting into factions.

Why would we need to work so eagerly on this? First: because we have an enemy who wants to take it from us. Satan hates peace in a church!  Second: because there is something within us that wants to magnify our differences and forget the priority of unity.  Third: because division seriously damages the church!  What do we have without unity in the Spirit!  Who wants to come to anything when there is underlying tension, friction!  How can we worship and sing together?  Who believes our message if we’re fighting with each other?  

But, more than that, unity IS the will of God!  The purpose of God before the world began is that we would be ONE in Jesus.  Fighting with each other is fighting against God and what pleases him! Proverbs 6:16-19 says “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: and one of those seven things is one who sows discord among brothers! 

It is our unity with each other, that glorifies God.  Romans 15:5-7 says,  “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring glory to God.”  

This is a prayer that God would give us such harmony with each other that it is like we are praising God with ONE voice, as ONE person.  We are exhorted to accept each other, SO THAT we can live in this ONENESS, IN ORDER TO BRING GLORY TO GOD.  We glorify God in unity WITH other believers!  

Paul’s point is that, in a profound way, all true believers ARE one.  We share in one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one hope, one Father.  We are to keep this oneness.

Of course we are all different in many ways. But our differences are not as great as our oneness!  Our differences do NOT keep us from being ONE!  It is wrong to emphasize how different we are from others in the church family in a way that makes us withdraw from others.  It is dangerous to focus on how unique my circumstances are, on how nobody really understands me, or how my problems are bigger or my past is different so I can’t really be close to those people. It hinders our unity to think I can only be close to people like me, with my life experiences.

Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”  In Christ, differences in race, upbringing, personality and status in this world do not become obstacles to unity. We can fellowship young and old, men and women.  Even our past sins do not separate us, no matter what they were. We were all washed, justified sanctified and now we share in the Spirit.   

*One of Satan’s biggest lies to Christians is “I don’t fit in here because these people are so different from me.  Someone said, “Even if you were student body president and get invited to more parties than (a movie star), you can feel like you sometimes don’t fit in, that you’re different from those other people.”  Satan tells everybody that! Do you have the Spirit of God living in you.  Do these other people have the same Holy Spirit?  Then you do belong! 

Jesus prayed for his disciples to get along with other disciples.  He knew it was vital for the survival of his church and for the effectiveness of it’s mission and message. 

He prayed, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.  John 17:20-23 ESV  Whenever you are tempted to pull back from other believers or close our heart to another believer, read this prayer!

*In most every NT letter to the churches there is an appeal for unity.  In  Philippians 4:2 Paul urged two women in the church “to live in harmony in the Lord”.  NASB

1 Peter 3:8 “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”  Philippians 2:2 “Make my joy complete, by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Oneness in the Spirit is so important to God that drastic action is sometimes required to protect it!  Romans 16:17 I urge you, “watch out for those who cause divisions”. Titus 3:10 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him.”  Unity and peace in the church is serious business!

Paul begins his appeal for unity, by urging us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling.  We are God’s holy people.  We are his sons and daughters, chosen and beloved.  He lavishes us with grace and forgiveness of sins and seals us with the Holy Spirit. We are destined for glory and happiness. Paul says, now go live in a manner consistent with what God has given you. 

The first way we are to walk in a manner worthy of our calling is to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.   

*This was written to a church, to God’s people at Ephesus. 

He is talking about unity with ACTUAL PEOPLE in an ACTUAL church.   

We love the concept of unity with people out there somewhere!  But we are to eagerly pursue that with real people right here in our church!  CS Lewis said “Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive”.  Well, everyone says unity is a lovely idea until they realize there is real people involved.  Peanuts cartoon that said, I love mankind, it’s people I can’t stand!

When we talk about unity, some people immediately leap to unity among denominations, or with the universal church.  And that’s a wonderful thing! But we have to keep it HERE, among real people, in a real place.

*This unity is produced by the Holy Spirit! To be a Christian is to have the Holy Spirit living inside you...And we want that for everyone here.  

Romans 8:9-11 “You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ…. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.  

We are made alive by the inrush of the Holy Spirit into our hearts.  Then we share in this communion of the Spirit with others who have the Spirit. We are connected to each other by this deep and wonderful spiritual bond!  Acts 4:32 “Those who believed were of one heart and soul.”  ESV

This oneness in the Spirit is not just a figure of speech. You sense it in your heart when you are living in it.  We can feel it in the room when we are all in one accord. Just before the Holy Spirit was poured out, all the apostles, and all the women and Mary the mother of Jesus an all his brothers were in the upper room, and they were in “one accord” -they were in unity of mind and heart, devoting themselves to prayer”.   How did they know they were in one accord?  They felt it.  The sensed it.  It was a reality in the room. 

An old song says, 

There's a sweet sweet spirit in this place
And I know that it's the spirit of the Lord
There are sweet expressions on each face
And I know that it's the presence of the Lord
Sweet, Holy Spirit
Sweet heavenly dove
Stay right here with us
Filling us with your love

That song was inspired from a prayer meeting when the Spirit of the Lord was so evidently in the room. 

I don’t think it is coincidence that the Holy Spirit fell upon the church when they were all together in one accord! Dr Martin Lloyd Jones said “I would define revival as a repetition in some measure, of what happened on the Day of Pentecost.  It is a pouring out of the Spirit of God upon a number of people at the same time..in one church, or one neighborhood, or sometimes a whole country.”  And that won’t happen without people being in one accord!  All that we want God to do among us will only happen when we are living together in the unity of the Spirit.

Paul tells us how we keep unity: 

*With all humility, or complete humility. It takes a lot of humility to keep unity at a level it should be.  Paul said, “With humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests but also for the interests of others.”  Humility is the opposite of being self assertive, pushy, or demanding.

*Gentleness.  Some people pride themselves on being curt or blunt, and often excuse it by saying “I’m just being honest”. Proverbs 12:18 “There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” If you need to bring up an issue with someone you do it with gentleness”.  Sometimes we bring up issues that need to be talked through but we forget to do it in a spirit of gentleness.

*Patience.  We are to endure other peoples faults without complaining. It literally means to suffer long with people.  Some dear Christian people are just harder for us to be around, but we are to...

*Bear with one another in love.  Love bears all things.  We bear with others faults for the sake of unity in the Spirit.  Colossians 3:13 says “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a complaint against anyone.”

Then Paul tells us WHY we must be zealous to keep the unity of the Spirit: Because... 

There is one body: We are all in the body of Christ.  Christ is not divided and we should not be divided. 1 Corinthians 1:13

There is one Spirit: We all have the same Holy Spirit.  1 Corinthians 12:13 “We were all given one Spirit to drink.” We may have vastly different gifts and personalities, and be from very different backgrounds. But we have the same Spirit!

There is one hope: We all have the same hope. We are all looking forward to Christ coming!  We are all looking forward to being glorified! We are all looking forward to one future together in the New Heavens and the New Earth. 

One Lord: We all say, Jesus is Lord. We have one Lord who loved us and gave himself for us!

One faith: There is one faith that unites us to Jesus.  We were NOT saved by works but by faith in Christ Jesus.

One baptism:  Jesus said “Make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit”. We share in that.   

*One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. We have the same Father..  He is sovereign over us and working through all of us and he lives in all of us. The same God who cares for me, cares for you. The same God who is in me is in you, if you know Christ.  

*So let us be eager, or zealous to keep this oneness.  Let’s commit ourselves to come together, to be devoted to one another in love, to guard the unity of the Spirit in this church!  When people come here, may they say, “These people are devoted to one another, in love and in unity!!”  The elders are praying for every person and every family to develop a conviction to be committed to other believers in a church family, eagerly working to protect this precious gift of unity in the Spirit, living in humility and gentleness and patience, bearing with one another in love.

Let’s stand.  Let’s make this confession together. “We are eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!”