Concentric Circles of Unity: Ephesians 4:4-6

In South Africa we owned an industrial gunite company and part of our industry was the construction of swimming pools. I learned a lot about foundations and concrete. I learned that the strength in the swimming pool lay in the strength of the concrete shell. The gunite shell had to be at least 28Mpa. The way that it got this way, is that it had to have the right ingredients. The correct ration of course sand, fine sand, pea gravel and cement mixed with just the right amount of water, and applied at the right pressure, around 3 bars, or about 300 psi. Why was this all necessary? Because that shell was going to come under tremendous pressure, and if it did not have the right foundation it would crack.

The Christian life is in many ways like this. The church is in many ways just like this. If the right ingredients are not there, if there is not a solid foundation, when the pressure comes, and it will, the shell will crack. The foundation will crumble.

There are many types of pressure that are applied to our lives these days. There is the pressure simply making it in the world. Keeping our jobs, making our paychecks last until the end of the month. Getting our kids through college. The list goes on.

Then there is spiritual pressure. The temptation that comes every day to simply give up on the faith. The opposition that comes from without, and sometimes the oppression that comes from within.

Another kind of pressure that we must expect to put up with is the inevitable weight of the work that God desires to bring about in this congregation. The work of the ministry can be extremely heavy at times. There is much that we must bear for one another and for those who need our ministry. The foundation has to be strong enough to take whatever God builds upon it.

I believe because of this that in the process of His building this church, there will always be a shaking going on to be sure that everything that is a hindrance will fall away. That only the things of substance will remain. That applies to both the beliefs that we hold to, and the bodies we depend upon. It is in this shaking that the strength or weakness will be revealed.
In the book of Hagai in the Old Testament, the Lord spoke twice to Hagai in a vision. Each time He said that He was going to shake the earth so that everything that must fall will fall. The first time He said this, he promised him that after the shaking the present glory of the temple would be far greater than the former.
The reason God shakes things up is so that they may be pure. So that only the strong remains. So they can stand the weight of His glory.
Church, we say that we long for God's glory to fall. We pray that His glory would come. Yet I believe that if we truly knew the nature of His glory we might run from it rather than welcome it in our present state.
The word glory is in itself an interesting concept. The principal word for glory is the word kabod, from the root meaning heaviness. In one sense it means that God is heavily bestowed with honor. But in another it suggests that the holy, awesome presence of God when He shows up in the midst will be for many of us something too weighty to bear because of our weak foundation.

David spoke of the weightiness of the hand of God upon him in Psalm 32 when he tried to provide his own covering for his sins. There have been many other examples of God's glory showing up where it was too awesome to comprehend. In 1 Kings 8:11 "…the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple." The same in 2 Chron. 5:14. And then in 2 Chron. 7:1-3 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. 2The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. 3When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "He is good; his love endures forever."

We long for God's glory, but how will we respond to it when it comes. Will our foundation stand, or will it fall?
In the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews warns of the shaking that will come. Hebrews 12:25-29 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? [26] At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." [27] The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken--that is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. [28] Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, [29] for our "God is a consuming fire."

The answer to whether we will stand or not depends on the extent to which we are receiving, or walking in the Kingdom of God. Psalm 125:1 A song of ascents. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.
While we are seeking the Kingdom of God, it is possible to not only endure God's glory, but to delight in the essence of it. Psalm 57:5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth.

As we have been walking through Ephesians we have talking about Kingdom principles. Essentials for the foundation of the church. Paul tells us in Ephesians 4, that the things necessary for us to stand our ground under the weight of God's glory are the things in which all believers may find cohesiveness and a sense of unity.
There are seven aspects of this unity, each linked into one, giving strength to each other as they build. In much the same way as single strands are strengthened as they are joined and become one. These are the things that strengthen our foundation.
This is one great confession of truth, yet it is easy to see that there are three distinct spheres. We may call them "Concentric Circles of Unity."

The way Paul lists them here they are from the inside out. From the center of the circle to the outside. For clearer understanding of the principal, we will look at them from the outside in. Starting at vs. 6 and working back to vs. 4

Verse 6 speaks of that first concentric circle of unity.
I. One With the Universe
The realization that there is one God and Father. Here Paul is speaking of the Fatherhood of God in a general sense. This came out of the Hebraic understanding of Jehovah being the one and only God. The belief in monotheism. No matter whether one believes this or not, God is nevertheless the creator and ruler of the universe. He is the Father of all, and before we can come to an understanding of unity, this concept must be grasped. There is no other God that can unify mankind.

This is the outer sphere of the concentric circle of unity. A full understanding of this fact alone ought to make us one with each other in our universe. It ought to remind us that we should be able to get along because we were created in the same image by the same God, who in the general sense is the Father of the universe. The hymn states, "This is our Father's world". When we hear this with the ears of our hearts there is no more room for prejudice and pride. We are all on equal ground. We are on the same side. We are all God's children in the broad sense. But until we come into that intimate relationship with God as Father through Jesus Christ, we never will be able to grasp the reality of it.

This is the circle in which these days it is actually popular to be a part of. You will receive no opposition when you say you believe in God. It is politically correct. You can talk about God all you want in the work place, and have no trouble. The world does not have a problem with accepting the fact that there is one Father God, or perhaps it is Mother God? But the acceptance of this does not bring the unity that Paul is trying to drive home and which Christ prayed that we might have in John 17. The majority of the world would agree with these ideas, yet there is still hatred, prejudice, racism, sectarianism and the like.

For this reason Paul does not stop here, and nor can we. Simply acknowledging that there is one God and Father of all has failed to bring peace to the world. Paul knew that it would not suffice, so he describes for us another sphere which serves to bring us even closer to that bond of unity. Having made the first observation, and accepted the fact, we may now go on to the next step. Another circle into which we must enter in order for this general idea of God and Father to move on to a personal experience. A choice to become identified with others who choose to follow God in a more personal way.
The first step towards unity is oneness with God. The second sphere in our concentric circle is:
II. One With the Faith
vs. 5 "…one Lord, one faith, one baptism"
These are the physical "confessions" of our belief in the monotheistic God. There is more to Christian unity than simply believing that there is only one supreme being. Most religions and cults in the world would agree with that statement. That does not make them one with the body of Christ. That takes another step. It takes the physical confession that not only is there one God, but the way we come to know that one God and be relationally connected to His family is to make a public confession that we believe in Him. This is a vitally important step in the journey towards the unity of the body of Christ, yet it is still not quite it.

There are many who would confess that Jesus is Lord, and yet still be at odds with others who may believe the same. There are many racist groups that have based there entire philosophy of segregation on a concept of Lordship. For over 40 years the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa proclaimed that Christ was Lord, and prescribed to the faith, and baptized, yet they never allowed a black person who believed exactly the same as they did to even enter their fellowship. And, mind you, the Baptists were not a whole lot better. They spoke against the segregation law, but for 40 years did nothing to change it. This is as far as the second circle will take one. It will allow for the confession of His Lordship. It will allow for the prescribing to the faith(this is the faith of which Paul was speaking. Not saving faith, but a system of doctrine held to by the church. Sometimes identified by the expression, "We are a people of like faith"). It will allow for a public identification with others in this faith through baptism, but it will not bring the unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17.

I remember as a young man of 16 that I qualified in all three of the characteristics of this sphere. I was a part of the "faith". A member of the Germiston Baptist Church. Baptized by immersion. When a visiting missionary by the name of Al Garren asked me one day if I was saved, if I believed that Jesus was Lord, I did not hesitate to say "yes". Yet my life was an embarrassment to the cause of Christ. There were many things that I would have done in the "Lord's" name, but I believe that if He had taken me home at that time He would have said, "depart from me, I know you not." It was only many years later that I came to know what Paul was talking about in the final sphere of unity.

These may be the things that draw us closer to that circle of unity. In fact they are necessary qualifications for unity. Obviously we must agree that there is one Lord. We must agree that I order to united we must agree that that there is one confession of our faith through baptism. And then, to walk in unity would require some agreement as to the fundamentals of faith. Yet again this is only a part of it. An important part, no doubt, but only a part nevertheless. There have been countless religions throughout the ages who believed all of this, yet still cut off the heads of dissenters because they did not believe exactly alike.

No, there is more to this idea of unity than these peripheral spheres.
The final sphere that draws us into complete oneness with the Father is the most significant of the three.
It is possible to know God and acknowledge Him as the Father of the universe, yet be at odds with each other. It is possible to identify with the faith, and be baptized into the local body of believers, yet still be divided racially, culturally and spiritually. But there is one aspect of our faith. One ingredient, or set of ingredients that ensures absolute cohesiveness. Oneness with God, oneness with the faith, and finally and most significantly:
III. One with the Body.
Vs. 4. There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope.
Notice the apostle does not say one organization. A body is an organization, this is true, but it is much more than an organization. The essence of a body is that it consists of thousands of cells with one mutually shared life. Each one connected to the head who is Christ. We have already seen earlier in this letter that this body consists of those who are washed clean of there sins through the blood of Christ, regenerated by the Word and the Spirit and made members of Christ. The old Negro spiritual misses the point. The body is more than the toe bone connected to the ankle bone, connected to the knee bone, connected to the thigh bone.
The body is a vital organism made up of molecules, cells and fibers all vitally dependant upon each other.

This body goes by no other name than the body of Christ. Paul did not say there was one organization, or one denomination. There is one body, and all who come to Christ in the way prescribed by Him are a part of that body.

When he speaks of one Spirit, he is establishing the cement that bonds all of the other ingredients of this foundation. This is what makes the difference between being one with the universe, one in the faith and being one with the body. Simply acknowledging God does not make us one with His church. Simply making a confession of solidarity with other believers does not make us one with His church.

We can call God Father, but it is His Spirit that makes us one with His family. It is not merely our confession. I can go around all day long claiming to be the son of the King of England, but the only thing that will make it so is if the King would adopt me into his household. This is what God does for us through His Spirit. Galatians 4:6 Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." Notice the difference? "Daddy". The term of endearment that can only be uttered from the heart through the power of the Spirit. This is what makes us "one body". This is what enables, no, compels me to be at one with all of my brothers and sisters. No matter the diversity of color, culture and creed, I can look into the face of my red, yellow, black or white Christian brother and sister and say. "God is my Father, so you must be my brother." We may not have anything else in common. Different church, different color, different language, but one God and Father, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, sealed together in that common bond of His body through the inner working of His Spirit.

Isn't it amazing that the one and only unifying factor in the world today is the least spoken about subject in most of our churches. It is also the most dividing subject in churches today. Why is this so? Let me tell you what I believe. The devil, our enemy knows that the Holy Spirit is the most powerful unifying force in the church today. The only thing that he can do about that is get a hold of shallow, lip service professors of the faith, and use them to depreciate the reality of the power and priority of the Holy Spirit for unity in our times. Church, we must remember what transpired at Pentecost in Acts 2. The coming of the Holy Spirit reversed the division that came about at the constructing of the tower of Babel in the Old Testament. Pentecost was the key to the unity of the early church. We need a Pentecost in our churches in these days of strife and division. For our foundation to stand under the weight of the work God has for us, we must have His Spirit.

This is the fact upon which we place our hope. The hope that is a certainty for all of us that it is worth the struggle. It is worth pursuing this unity with all of our being. The hope is steadfast and sure that there will come a day when the record will be set straight. There will be no under dog. The level ground first laid at Calvary will one day be established throughout all the earth, and what a glorious day that will be. Revival may come before then. I pray it does. I pray that there will once more be an outpouring of God's Spirit such as there was at Pentecost and at subsequent revivals throughout our history. But that is not where our hope lies. Our hope lies in the fact that whatever happens, our foundation is sure. On Christ the solid rock we stand. All other ground is sinking sand.