Ephesians 4 Sermon: How to Be Christian

This is my sermon on Ephesians 4. The thing is, this sermon fell in the middle of the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, so you get a little intro about that before I dive into Ephesians 4.

Sermon Outline: Ephesians 3:20–4:10

I. God’s Boundless Power and Glory (Ephesians 3:20-21)

• Recap: Reviewing the context of God uniting Jew and Gentile in one body from Ephesians 2 and 3.
• God is Able: God “is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (3:20).
• Our prayers are often too limited: We tend to give God a step-by-step plan for answering our prayers.
• God’s transformative power: This past week, I was praying for somebody with step-by-step details on what I wanted God to do. Before long, I realized how silly that was and God broke down my prayers to simply praying for them to know Jesus’ love fully. That made a space for me to realize that Jesus loved them. That was a big change in me! Praying for them to realize Jesus’ love made me have to admit that Jesus loved them!
• The Depth of God’s Answers: Answers to “why” questions (e.g., suffering) are not simple; God’s plan is vast, spanning generations and events.
• The Power at Work Within Us: God acts “according to the power at work within us” (3:20). The Holy Spirit is in believers, making them active participants in God’s plan.
• Glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus: Glory belongs to God, and the church shares in it because the church is in Christ, and Christ is in the church (3:21).

II. The Mandate for a Worthy Walk (Ephesians 4:1-3)

• The Command: Paul, writing as “a prisoner for the Lord” (which gives weight to his command), urges believers to “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called” (4:1).
  • This means living out the salvation received; Christians should be known for joy (referencing Nietzsche’s observation).
  • How awesome would it be if Christians, instead of being known for their judgmentalism or bigotry, were known for their joy and grace!?
• Essential Qualities for a Worthy Walk: Paul provides specific examples of how this life should be lived:
  • “with all humility and gentleness, with patience” (4:2).
    • These qualities were counter-cultural in the Greco-Roman world (e.g., humility was often viewed as weakness).
    • They are equally counter-cultural today.
• The Goal: Maintain Unity: These qualities are necessary for “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:3).
  • Peace is Established, not Manufactured: God has already made peace and unity between believers through the Holy Spirit; we are just called to maintain it.
  • Bearing with One Another in Love: This is done through agape love—a selfless, free love that does not demand payment. It is Christ’s love for us that enables us to show it to others.
  • The importance of prioritizing unity over divisive disagreements within the Christian body.

III. The Sevenfold Foundation of Unity (Ephesians 4:4-6)

• The Seven “Ones”: Paul lists seven essential realities of the Christian faith, using the biblical number of perfection and completeness to emphasize their foundational nature:
  1. One Body (one Church, one body of Christ).
  2. One Spirit (all believers have the fullness of the Holy Spirit).
  3. One Hope (focused on the return of Jesus, not on peripheral issues like Sabbath day debates or political disputes).
  4. One Lord (Jesus).
  5. One Faith.
  6. One Baptism.
  7. One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
• Unity Does Not Mean Uniformity: Believers are all different (like the body having many parts, as discussed in 1 Corinthians), but they share this common foundation.
• Flexibility in Approach: The sermon discusses how different mission fields and cultures approach terminology for God (e.g., using different words for God in Muslim or Zoroastrian cultures) while maintaining the central truth of the one God and Father.

I know I’m going to make some people mad, and I’m not a relativist, but what if denominations are just preferences? It seems like a combination of humility, gentleness, and honesty would reveal that.

IV. The Gift of Grace and Christ’s Ascension (Ephesians 4:7-10)

• Grace for Every Believer: “Grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (4:7).
  • This does not mean different believers have different amounts of grace, but that all have been given an abundant measure of grace.
• The Ascension and Gifts: The sermon transitions to Christ’s ascension, quoting the Old Testament: “When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men” (4:8).
  • Christ’s Descent and Ascent: The one who “descended” (leaving his throne to become man) is the same who “also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things” (4:9−10).
  • Christ gathered his people (“host of captives”) and took them to be with him in glory.
  • This point is set up for further discussion in the following week’s sermon.