Are you living according to your calling in Christ? This message offers practical ways to live in love and unity, plus 5 things people should see in you as a believer.

Paul's message to Ephesian believers was about embracing unity and love, regardless of their backgrounds or past prejudices. They, and we, should live according to our calling in Christ, displaying humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity. This message encourages you to grow spiritually, forgive one another, and live in harmony, reflecting the character of Christ. It’s important to set aside differences and work together as one body of believers to fulfill God's purposes.

This series asks and answers life questions such as: Who am I? How do I get past my past and embrace my future? How can I have peace? Learn how to live in Christ every day and in the hope you have in Christ, both now in the present and in the future. As a believer, God is with you, and your past is forgiven. God chose to love you and extend his grace to you in Christ. It is my hope that you are spiritually encouraged. No matter what you are facing, living in Christ, you can face anything, even death. God has a plan for your life. He loves you and you can trust him.

Live Together in Love and Unity in Christ

Jews and Samaritans did not see eye to eye and the Samaritan was looked down upon by the Jew. The Jew would avoid speaking to the Samaritans. They avoided traveling through Samaria when they could. The Jew also looked down on everyone who was not a Jew. The Jew believed they were special and above everyone else. This harsh treatment of others had deep roots, most likely on both sides of the isle.

So, when non-Jews, a Samaritan, along with Jews became believers and placed their faith in Christ the three might have issues with each other. They each might bring some old baggage, old hurts, old thinking with them into this new relationship. Old habits, old hurts, old memories, old ways of thinking, old sinful ways may not go away immediately and will need to be confronted and addressed. Paul knew for the believers to work together as one in love and unity he would have to confront it head-on with a practical application.

We are continuing to look at the epistle Paul wrote to the Ephesians. Paul wanted the Gentile believers in Ephesus to realize who they were in Christ. He also wanted Samaritan believers to feel loved and realize that Jew, Gentile, and Samaritan are now one in the Lord. Paul wanted the believers to know that their past sins did not need to define who they were once they placed their faith in Christ.

Paul wanted the believer to know in their heart:

• God is with you, and you are never alone.

• Your past is forgiven.

• You are freely loved by God, chosen, and predestined in Christ even before the creation of the world.

• The depths of Christ’s love and for them and to be filled with the fullness of God.

Paul emphasized that God chose to love Jew, Gentile, and Samaritan alike and that God extended his grace to each of them and to everyone. Without exception.

All that Paul wrote to the Ephesians is for us today.

In Christ there are no second-class believers. No Jew or Gentile. Instead, we are all one in Christ. Every believer is a son or daughter of God.

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29, NIV).

Paul is beginning to address a subject that he felt needed to be addressed. The subject of living a life worthy of ones calling in love and unity with other believers. In chapter 4 Paul is touching on practical living. Living in unity within the church and unity with all believers.

Every believer is called to walk worthy of their calling.

“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” (Ephesians 4:1-7).

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his 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 fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Paul is addressing every believer. He is calling on the church in Ephesus to live up to the calling they had received. To not live as the world lives. To not live as they once thought or believed. Instead, to live a life worthy of the calling they received. Paul is not speaking about a call that they will receive some time in the future, but the call that had already received:

• The call to love God and one another.

• A calling to live in peace and in unity with others in Christ.

• A calling to grow in the knowledge of Christ and in the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

• A calling to live according to the grace God had apportioned to each of them in and through Christ.

• A calling to walk by Faith and in unity with one another.

• A calling to extend grace to others as God extended grace to each of them.

As we noted in earlier studies, grace is undeserved and is where God extends his unmerited favor to an undeserving person. Not one person deserved the grace of God. That means each one of us also. By the grace of God, salvation is extended to everyone as they place their faith in Jesus.

In the first few verses of chapter 4 we find five characteristics or traits of a person living a life worthy of God's calling in their life: humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity.

1. Humility is seen as putting others first and not insisting on one’s own rights.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

2. Gentleness is being kind and mild mannered. It is not a sign of weakness, rather, it is a strong self-confident person who controls themselves and acts in love, humility and patience when confronted in different circumstances. They act with meekness in treating others.

3. Patience is waiting on God. It’s not acting or rushing to think wrongly regarding someone or something. It is being patient in times of suffering.

It is displaying patience toward others just as the Lord has patience with us each and every day.

“What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— 24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:22-24).

It is with great patience that God extended his grace and love towards the sinners, however, one day his grace, mercy and patience will give way for God to display his wrath and display his righteous justice towards those who refuse to believe in Christ.

4. The next trait is love. Bear one another in Love. The believer is to love the Lord, but we are also to show the love of God to others. Even when we are wronged, we are to love one another.

“We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (1 John 4:19-21).

5. Unity: The last trait or characteristic of a believer is unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

I found myself picturing what Paul is dealing with here as a two-way relationship. The relationship of two types of believers. The Jewish believer and a Gentile believer. A Jewish believer and a Samaritan believer. A relationship of two different people and from different backgrounds needing to grow spiritually together in Christ and worship together, work together. Each one having become a new creation, a new person in Christ.

It’s almost like becoming a blended family. I found myself living in a blended family when I was eight years old. My mom married my stepfather. Here a man and a woman, both having children, get married. Two separate families joining—uniting—together as one new family. The two families uniting with the common interest of being a family. Each family member will need to adjust some. Each person will need to learn what it means to be part of a new family.

Paul realized that believers were coming together as one church but each with different backgrounds. Different experiences, different beliefs, different ideas and yet they have a common experience. Each person viewing the situation from their own personal perspective can cause pain and division at times.

As kids we each saw what we thought was favoritism for the other kid at times. The same might have been true in the church both then and, at times, even now.

In the church at Ephesus, the Jewish believers may have thought that God had shown special favoritism towards the Jewish believers, however not really. Both were sinners. Both needed a Savior. Both had placed their faith in Christ. Both experienced the grace of God. Both have experienced the love, grace, peace, mercy, and forgiveness of God. Each was chosen, predestined to be holy and blameless in his sight and in love. All believers are adopted into sonship through Jesus Christ, and each becomes a child of God through faith in Christ.

Each believer will need to learn what it means to be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Each will need to focus on living in Christ. Each will need to grasp the length, width, and depths of God love. They will all need to learn what it means to live a life worthy of their calling. Living worthy of their calling is exactly how the believer is to live and love within the family of God.

Paul addressed how a believer is to live their life as worthy of their calling when he wrote a letter to the Galatians regarding the fruit of the Spirit:

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (Galatians 5:22-26).

Living a life worthy of their calling is living as one in Christ. It is allowing the fruit of the spirit to be evident in their life and live dead to sin and dead to worldly passions and desires.

The fruit of the Spirit is what people should witness in a believer’s life.

Being conformed into the image of Christ happens over time and the fruit of the Spirit will bud, develop, and mature as the person yields to the Spirit of God and grow spiritually in the knowledge and fullness of God.

We learned earlier that the Spirit of God is in the believer and as we grow in the Lord the fruit of the Spirit will be displayed and become more and more evident for the world to see as we live worthy of the calling of God each day.

These traits or characteristics that Paul told the Ephesians, he also told the Colossian believers.

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14).

Remember, there are believers with diverse backgrounds in the church of Ephesus. They were all to grow in the Lord and grow in unity together becoming one body of believers. Paul told the believers to make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.

I’m not sure unity was easy in the beginning. It most likely took time and patience. Each believer will need to set aside their past and look to the future in Christ. It will take looking and thinking about things differently. It will take forgiving the one who offended them. It would mean forgiving the believer who once treated and spoke down to them as being no better than a dog. It takes laying one’s differences down and choosing to live in peace. No more is it my way or your way.

Paul could not make it any clearer when he spoke of one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism one God and father.

This new faith and life in Christ called for the believer to learn and grow together in the knowledge of God. That is why in scripture we read that God called apostles, prophets evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip the believers for the works of service.

God raised up leaders in the church to teach and challenge the believer to live their life worthy of their calling. Every person has a calling in their life. Some of you were teachers, some businessmen and women. Each of you has or had a vocation and a place that God called you to, so that you would be an example of Christ to those around you. As a parent you are to be an example of Christ to your children, your spouse, family, neighbor, coworkers, and others you brush shoulders with every day. As believers in Christ, you are to be a witness for Christ and a living example of God’s love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness to those around you. Both in the church and the world.

In the Old Testament the Jew was to be an example to the world regarding how to live as a person of God.

God demonstrated his love for the Jew and blessed them when they were faithful, but when the Jew turned their backs on God, God allowed them to go into bondage, and yet when the Jew cried out to God, he delivered them out of bondage.

The promises of God have been fulfilled throughout scripture and his promise in John 3:16 is still being fulfilled each day.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:16-18).

The Jew, Gentile, and Samaritan had spiritual baggage they needed to deal with, and they each needed to learn to love and forgive one another. They all needed to learn to place their faith in Jesus. The believers each had different backgrounds and beliefs and they needed to learn to lay those things aside as a new person in Christ.

Different denominations, different churches, different believers need to learn to live in love and unity as one in Christ for all the world to see.

When churches and believers act in ways that are un–Christ like the world views the church as being full of hypocrites.

Paul knew if the church was to fulfill the great commission and effectively proclaim the gospel message, believers will need to live in loving unity and in peace with one another. Any differences needed to be laid aside, and each person needed to grow strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Prejudices needed to be dropped and no longer harbored against one another.

Paul knew that spiritual division or any division between believers would destroy the church. Division comes from a lack of spiritual understanding of the heart of God. The believers needed to grow together spiritually and mature in the Lord.

The church in Ephesus needed to pull together as one to accomplish all that God wanted to accomplish in Ephesus and around the world and that would not happen without a firm spiritual foundation and Christ as head of the church

“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 people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of 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” (Ephesians 4:14-16).

The Ephesus church needed to display the love and unity of God both in and outside the walls where the believers met. They needed to love one another and be careful how they lived. They needed to learn to submit to one another.

“Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:1-2).

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:15-21).

So, how do we put what Paul is telling the Ephesians into practical terms?

• We should not think too highly of ourselves. You see, except for the grace of God, the person you might look down upon would be you.

• Allow the characteristics and traits of humility, gentleness, patience, love, and unity to be evident in your life. Love the sinner but hate the sin.

• Spiritual pride has no place in the church or in a believer’s life.

• Strive to grow in the Lord and in the fullness of Christ.

• Lift one another up in the Lord. Love as Christ loved. Serve one another as Christ served.

• Live a life worthy of your calling for all to see, for the glory of God.

Ask the Lord to highlight for you any area in your heart that he is not Lord. Allow the Holy Spirit to point out areas in your life that might offend another or cause them to sin and let the love of God flow out of you.

May the fruit of the Spirit flourish and be seen in you as you bear one another up in love and unity for all the world to see.

Suggested Praise and Worship

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