4 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” – Ephesians 4:1-6 (NKJV)
In Ephesians 4, Paul starts by instructing followers of Jesus to walk worthy of the calling which we were called. In Matthew 7, Jesus tells us that you can identify a tree by its fruit and so you can identify His disciples by their actions. Matthew 7:18-20 (NLT): “18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” We should be representing Jesus in everything we do. Francis Chan said this in his book “Multiply”:
Love should characterize the way we interact with one another – both how we love God and how we love others. This is how the world will recognize us according to John 13:34-35: “34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
Our actions prove that we are the followers of Jesus and represent Jesus to the whole world.
Paul continues in Ephesians 4 and tells us how we should walk worthy: With humility, with gentleness, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep unity and peace through the Holy Spirit. This is how we show love for another by doing these things. We need to focus on the command of Jesus to love one another just as He loved us. Having genuine compassion and love for one another helps produce unity and peace. The Book of Acts has a phrase that’s seen repeatedly with the early church: With one accord. Is your church like that today? Do you act with one accord in the Holy Spirit and sensitive to the Lord’s direction? Many churches don’t. We lose sight of our source.
Paul closes out in Ephesians 4 and says, “There’s one body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father.” As Christians, we may have different interpretations of Scripture, we may disagree on minor aspects of theology, but we all belong to the same body that’s unified through the blood of Jesus Christ. We should strive to keep that unity not only in our churches, but also neighboring chuches to impact the world for Jesus Christ.