The past two Sundays, our pastors have been down in Mexico with a mission team from our church, so they asked me to preach. It was a great blessing encouraging our church body with the message from Ephesians 4:1-16 that God calls us to walk with each other in loving unity and to build up His church by embracing our God-designed diversity.
From Eph. 4:1-6, the main point was: God calls us to walk with each other in loving unity based on the unity of God and His design for the church.
- Our calling to loving unity. (1-3)
- Our basis for loving unity. (4-6)
- Unity in the church. (One body, one calling, one hope, one faith, one baptism)
- Unity in the Trinity. (One Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.)
I also dipped briefly into Jesus’ prayer in John 17:11, 20-23 to draw out the theme of unity that He emphasizes:
The Pattern – Trinity exemplifies unity.
The Plea – Christians are to be one as Trinity is one.
The Purpose – The goal of this unity Jesus prays for? Jesus prays for unity so that world will experience God’s love through Christ.
I also emphasized (both weeks) the essential balance of striving for unity with holding to truth – the core, biblical teachings that our faith is grounded upon.
Here is the message, which went a bit longer than intended, but we had a lot of fun learning from God’s Word:
From Eph. 4:7-16, the main point was: Let us build up the body of Christ by embracing our God-designed diversity.
As the united body of Christ, let us:
- Build up the church toward maturity (Eph. 4:7-16).
- Embrace our God-designed diversity (1 Cor. 12).
Here is that message:
I hope these messages encourage your heart with the importance of unity and diversity harmonizing together to produce a God-honoring symphony that draws others to know and love our glorious God.