Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
What a powerful word that Paul has written to the church in Ephesus. I'm so excited that we get to break it down together. This verse is powerful because it specifically serves as a turning point for the entire book of Ephesians. If you are reading Ephesians chapter 1 through 3, they focus solely on what God has previously done. Once you get to chapter 4, it begins with the word "therefore."
What it's doing is letting us know that this is how we are to respond in light of everything God has already done in the previous chapters that he wrote about. Now we get to dig in, and he's starting with unity. How important and how powerful is that?
Keep the Unity
One of the things that stands out to me is that in verse 3 he says, "Keep the unity." That word changes the entire assignment.
The Greek word that he uses here when he says "keep" means to guard or to preserve something that already exists. That's both a relief and a challenge because we don't have to create unity. The Spirit already did that. His challenge to us is to keep the unity.
One Body, One Spirit
Then we get into verse 4 where he reminds us, "There is one body, one spirit."
Now you may or may not realize this, but that was a very bold claim. Some would even consider it controversial in that time, because just two chapters previous, he was teaching them about the context and the history between the Jews and the Gentiles. There was a lot of bad blood there. There was a lot of, I'm set. This is the way it is. We don't agree with each other. We cannot be one.
Jesus Changes Everything
Then Jesus comes and changes everything. The Spirit unites us and makes us one. This Scripture is reminding us to accept that challenge. We must keep that unity because we are one—one body, one spirit. Just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
Love Your Neighbor Without Earthly Standards
This is a reminder to us. God is telling us to love our neighbor, but that means really looking at the people around us and not defining them by earthly standards. It doesn't matter if we look different, think different, act different. None of that matters because God united us all and He made us one.
His heart is for us to be one. We're one body serving one mission that He left us with. That's to go into all the world teaching people and making more disciples, sharing the goodness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that all of our lives can be better.
Same Mission, Same Hope
We're all on that same mission and assignment together. I love how it says we've all been called to one glorious hope. That means that we're all walking towards the same purpose.
Whenever we hear noise and we get distracted, this is a reminder from Paul to stay focused. I know things were one way—the history and all of those things—but we're not focused on that. We're focused on this future and this hope that God has given us, this assignment that God has given us to love each other, to build real community, to serve alongside one another, to break bread together, to uplift and edify one another, to worship together, to serve together, to give together.
Continuation of Jesus's Hands and Feet
We get to be a continuation of the hands and feet of Jesus. There's no greater gift. The most beautiful thing is we get to do it together.
I can be serving the same mission to this one glorious hope no matter where I am on planet Earth. Guess what? You can be doing the same thing from where you sit right now, today. That makes us family. That makes us teammates because we are one body, one spirit, unified by Jesus Christ and His love and God's love for us.
Keep the Unity
Take that challenge. Keep that unity. You don't need to create it. Keep it. It's already given to you. When you keep it, remember that hope. Serve that hope, which is our assignment to go and be a gift to others, because He was a gift to us first.
