Being in Step - Ephesians 4:1-16

Any one that has served in the Infantry has done a lot of walking. Regardless of whether the group marching was a squad or a company of soldiers, it was the rule of the Army that the troupes always be IN STEP. This rule became so impacted in our minds that it was very obvious when one or more of the soldiers was out-of-step. When some of the musicians in a marching band are out-of-step the band loses its power of showmanship. A major part of the Christian message is lost anytime members of the church fail to serve in unity—that is, when they fail to walk-in-step.

The first three verses of this fourth chapter of Ephesians introduces a new and major division of the book to the church at Ephesus. There are six chapters in the Epistle that can be divided into two divisions. We have completed the first division which dealt with the doctrinal message of the church—helping us understand the essential doctrines of our faith that are central and vital to our understanding of the plan of salvation. We move now to the second division of the book which deals with the application of this doctrine as we live it out in our daily lives.

The church has always suffered most because its members fail to walk the walk of the Christian way. Some are more faithful than others. Others differ in what they believe to be the right way. Still others strongly believe that they are right more often in their interpretation of what the bible teaches to be the absolute essentials. I believe that a long life of study and prayer has helped me to be more tolerant of those with whom I sometimes disagree.

Before we go any further in this chapter, let me remind you that the central thought in Paul’s letter to this church was to let them know they were disunited as Jews and Gentiles and Jesus is trying to bring this disunited world into a way of unity. A company of soldiers lived separately in many parts of the country and were disunited. When they arrived at Camp Robinson they moved into the barracks, lived together, and leaned to march to the same drummer. Band members may have not known each other until they started to school and joined the band and now the director has molded them into a unit of performing arts specialists. So it is with Christians, who are in the world but not of the world, but are now a unit of Christ like people through their faith in Him—who believe that it is the task of the Church to proclaim the message of good news to the entire world.

Think about this simple illustration. When you join the army, enroll in band, join the Rotary Club, or become a member of the church you take upon yourself the obligation to live a certain kind of life, act or perform in a certain way of life, and if you fail in your obligation you hinder the aims of your society and bring discredit on its name. In our lesson today, Paul paints the picture of the kind of life that a person must live when they enter the fellowship of the Christian Church. In the first three verses we find five of the basic words of the Christian Faith.

The first of these great words is humility. A knee that will not bend in prayer will never allow the prayer to be heard, much less answered. The OT says we must humble ourselves and pray for our land. Before the teachings of Jesus this word was thought of as qualities like cowering, cringing, servile qualities in a person. Humility comes from self-knowledge. Humility allows us to become conscious of our unworthiness. It allows us to place our life beside the life of Christ and fully understand our worthlessness without Him.

When people look at your life do they see one of meekness or gentleness? Or do they see a person with extreme anger. Anger is an absolute necessity of a strong parent or leader. God expects us to believe in ourselves and to be willing to respond to undeserved treatment. But uncontrolled anger is a potential time bomb. So, when we think of a meek or gentleman, I think it should be very complementary. Here is a man that is always angry at the right time but able to control himself—and never angry at the wrong time. The Greek word for meekness is praus. Prau is the Greek word for an animal that has been trained and domesticated until it is under control. A praus man then is a God-controlled man.

Paul’s third great word is long-suffering; in Greek it is makrothumia and really has a two pronged meaning. A long-suffering man will never give up and will always endure in a manly fashion to the end and reap the reward. On the other hand the same Greek word means “patience with other people;” some of which are hard to live with. The best example we have of the use of the word long-suffering is when it is applied to God and his patience with man kind.

Well here comes the biggie…the most important of all—LOVE. The Greek word for love as used here is agape. It is sometimes translated as charity. In the Greek language there are four different words used for the one English word love. 1] eros refers to the sexual feelings existing in and between a man and woman. 2] philia reflects a strong feeling of care between friends.
3] storge, which is characteristically the word used to describe the affection between family members. And then the biggie 4] agape, which refers to the love of God…Christian love…sometimes translated as charity because it is so strong that it will encourage us to be charitable toward each other.

Agape love is always toward others and not inwardly. It develops our desires for the good of others and is not self sustaining in any way. It is so deep that we must love God for who he is and what he has done for others and not just because we were included in his love.

These four great virtues in the life of a Christian—HUMILITY—GENTLENESS—PATIENCE—AND LOVE are our virtues extended to others to bring back to us our greatest possession—PEACE. Peace of mind and heart is what we get for what we have given. Paul’s urgent request is for us to preserve this sacred oneness that characterizes the true Church of Christ and our Living God. The best definition of the word peace is that it is the right relationship between man and man and man and Almighty God. Pride and selfishness have to go—first; our fellow man and God will come in—and then our personal peace is our reward.

The greatest soldier will fall out of step. A member of the super band will miss-step and detract from a perfect performance. The most sincere member of the Lord’s Church must try hard to always be in-step with God’s will.

Paul tells us that there is one body. Christ is the head and the Church is the body. There is one Spirit and one hope in our calling, one baptism which is a picture of the confession of faith, and finally only one God—the FATHER OF ALL.