August 27, 2023
“Why Does He Call Us to Be Together?”
Ephesians 4:1-16
Reverend Yongchoel Woo
Last week while visiting one of our church members, I learned that I can buy a bag of Werther’s Original
Chewy Caramels for $1, (slide 1) which is normally sold for almost $4. I was curious and asked her what
the secret was, and she said that if I go to a dollar store, I can get such a good deal. Yes, it is true that we
feel satisfied when we buy something that is worth more than the price we pay for it, which explains
why so many one-dollar shops have opened around the area in recent years.
Currently, gas prices are approaching $4. As a result, as I look at the speed of cars driving on US 131 or
M-72, I think people are driving within the speed limit to reduce their gas costs. It may be true for you.
When you are going to meet someone or go to a meeting or event, you may think twice whether your
trip is worth the cost of the expensive gas.(slide 2) It seems to be that we always need to justify that
what we are going to do is worth our time, energy, efforts, or money.
In today’s scripture, Paul describes what a Christian’s life should be like regarding the faith community,
in order that it should be worthy of the Lord’s calling. Examining it together, I would like us to look at
how we are living as a part of our faith community and share what we need to consider and then act out
in order to make a difference in our faith journey.
First, we need to look at what Paul means when he says, (slide 3) “I urge you to live a life worthy of the
calling you have received.” (v.1) In Ephesians 3:6 we can guess what this calling is. “This mystery is that
through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and
sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”
Paul says that it is a mystery that is hard to understand that God has called together in Christ, Jews and
Gentiles, alike. Although they came to know God’s forgiveness, love, and salvation in the gospel of Jesus
and gathered as a church, as time passed, they had to overcome very serious barriers among them.
Without striving to find a fundamental answer to why God brought them together as the church, they
just gave up trying to tolerate and accept others’ differences and treat one another with kindness and
humbleness.
Hearing about what was going on with the Ephesian Christians, Paul wanted to show them that, in the
gospel, God had called all of them to be the church for a special purpose, encouraging them to live
Christian lives that were worthy of the Lord’s calling.
While preparing this sermon, (slide 4) I researched the original meaning of the word, ‘worthy’. The
Greek word for worthy is axios, which means to weigh in and to balance.
Let’s consider for a moment how people used scales in ancient times.(slide 5) On two plates hung at the
ends of a rod, on one side were placed the objects to be measured, and on the other, various weights to
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show how much the objects weighed. When the objects and the weights were balanced, the scale
showed the weight of the objects.
With this understanding of a scale, let’s try to understand what Paul meant by the Christian life worthy
of His calling. Let’s get more specific. Now, you are holding a bar scale. At one end hangs a plate
containing His calling , which Paul explains consists of two parts.
(slide 6)The first part is a call to unity. God has called all people to be in unity with one hope to live a
new life as new beings with one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God; (v.4), and to share each
other’s gifts in order that they can serve one another and become one in the faith and knowledge of the
Lord. (v.12, 13)
(slide 7) The other part is His call to maturity in their faith. Paul says that the Lord calls His people to be
the parts of His Body, who grow and mature together while playing their own roles in building up the
church, which is the body of Christ.(v.13) Paul adds that only when they went beyond their infant faith
and matured in their faith, they could overcome the waves and winds that will make them be ‘tossed
back and forth and blown here and there.’ (v.14)
In summary, Paul teaches the Ephesian Christians that the Lord called them to be unified as those who
have been transformed into new beings in the Lord, and to grow into the whole body of the Lord,
connected to one another as the parts of His body.
Paul’s encouraging teaching of how Christians could live up to His calling applies to us as well. The Lord
has called us to our church so that we can be united in the Lord, grow and mature in our faith, and in
doing so, work as the whole body of Christ for the world.
Now, let’s ask ourselves this question.(slide 8) Are we living a life worthy of His calling? To answer that
question, we too need to weigh ourselves. A bar scale is held in our hand. On the measuring dish at one
end of the stick are the weights of unity and maturity that the Lord wants us to achieve. Now, let’s place
how we are living out our faith on the weighing plate at the other end of the scale.
(slide 9) To determine the depth of our unity in our faith community, how are we making or managing
our relationships with people in church? Do we need to listen to what Paul suggests for the Ephesian
Christians, shown in v. 2 and 3.(slide 10) “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with
one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.“ In
order for us to become one with each other, we need to put these precious values of humbleness,
gentleness, patience, love, and peace into practice as we relate to others within the church. Surely, we
have tried to make these things happen to our lives and relationships with others. However, there are
times when we may feel tired and discouraged and even choose to give up trying to live our lives by
these demanding values.
Paul encouraged the Ephesian Christians to work hard and do their best to make unity happen among
them. And it is what we need to do. No matter what obstacles we encounter in achieving unity among
us, we are called to continue striving to do our parts to build unity among us.
This coming week, let’s try to find out what small things we can do to foster unity in our relationships
with people in church.
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Let’s read v. 11-13 together. (slide 11) “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists,
the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built
up 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.” Paul mentions the gifts of leadership given to
the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers so God could use them to equip us
to serve one another and build up the church, the body of Christ.
God has clearly given each of us various gifts to serve, in unity, each other and the church, the body of
the Lord. Therefore, (slide 12) each of us must discover what gifts the Lord has given us to serve one
another and the church. Thus, it is very important to look for the gifts each of us has. We should pay
attention to how to use our gifts of time, talents, passion, love, service, and money to serve others and
unify our community of faith. This coming week, let’s pray that we can use our gifts to bring us together
as His body, share our gifts to serve one another, and, in doing so, experience the difference that will
make in our relationships.
On the weighing plate of the scale, (slide 13) is another weight: His calling us to maturity in the body of
Christ. The reason why He calls us to be together as the church is to make us grow and mature in
building up His body. We are all parts of His body, joined and held together by every supporting
ligament, who should work together to become the mature body of Christ.
(slide 14) What can we do to make one another grow and mature in every respect and work as His
unified body for the world? This coming week, I would like all of us to think about the possible answers
to this question. We may need to check out whether we are indifferent to one another and if so, what
makes that happen among us. We may need to pay more attention to get to know one another and try
to come close to one another, sharing our prayers, joys, concerns, and our very lives. We need to
cooperate to figure out what ministries and missions we are called to do. Let’s remember again that we
are called to grow and mature together as His body, the church, to serve in the world. This coming
week, let’s spend more time in finding out what we can do to grow and mature together.
We must continually examine whether each of us is living a life worthy of His calling for us to be united
and grow in Christ. When we find ourselves not living our lives worthy of His calling, let’s not feel
disappointed with our faith journey. Instead, let’s start with the little things we can do to promote unity
and maturity in our faith in Christ and continue doing that until we can live our lives worthy of His
calling.