We're going to do some group work in the scriptures this morning. Please divide into groups of no more than four and move your chairs so that you can hear and see each other. If the people near you are new to you, introduce yourselves and pick out a spokesperson–draw straws if you have to.

Pray

Now open your Bibles to Ephesians 4:1-3

1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,

3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also 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 over all and through all and in all.

We'll be focusing in on verse 3 this morning, so I'm going to ask you a few simple questions just to make sure we're hearing the words of this verse.

NAU (NRS)

3 being diligent (making every effort) to preserve (maintain) the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Facts:

1.	How much effort does Paul want his readers to put out?

a.	'Every' or much effort.

2.	To do what?

a.	Maintain the unity of the spirit

b.	What is the verb? Maintain–not create, nor demolish

3.	Not just to maintain it, but to maintain it how or where–depending on your translation.

a.	In/through the bond of peace.

Excellent, you're hearing Paul this morning.

Interp:

1.	In Gps. Why is maintaining unity so important to Paul? Help us hear Paul's sentence–starting in v.1. (Take two minutes and consult together first, then appoint a speaker to respond for your group–we will only call on one or two groups, but be ready–make sure you're giving us Paul and not just your own thoughts)–stand and speak–many of you are preachers, evangelize us.

a.	They need to maintain unity of the spirit in order to live a life worthy of their calling.–did you hear that!! That's good news!

2.	Who heard the good news there? Who's seeing the grace of God?

a.	Which comes first the worthy walk or the call?

b.	Have you heard the One who says, "behold I stand at the door and knock?" calling you. Have you responded to his gentle request to come into your life? None of us were worthy when He called. Our part is not to become worthy so He can call us, but to walk worthy since He has called us.

c.	I like to picture it like this. You've been adopted by a king and at his death you've just inherited a huge fortune, including property, investments, relationships, calling, position–you're now a King and you've got people to take care of, relationships to maintain, and possessions to look after. Even though the inheritance is a gift, you've got to maintain it or it will go to pieces. If you fail people will say that you did not live a life worthy of the great gift that was given you. In the same way we are all adopted children of the king. All of us have been given every spiritual blessing in Christ already, now the only question is, will we live in a manner worthy of the gift? We could not earn the gift, but we are responsible for not letting it go to waste.

3.	So summarizing now, how does Paul indicate we can 'live in a manner worthy of the calling we've received'?

a.	Maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace

4.	One more thing we need to understand–what is the bond of peace?

a.	Hint:–look at chapter 2.

5.	So when Paul says maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, what is He saying?

a.	Let Jesus Christ the crucified One be what you have in common and you will maintain the unity of the spirit.

b.	Example: When Coreena and I are both admitting our need and claiming God's gift, we can't stay at odds.

c.	Example: Often we make feeble efforts to maintain unity–story?

Application:

1.	What would it look like for us to be making every effort to maintain unity of spirit? What qualities would we exhibit–from the passage?

2.	What are some things people sometimes substitute for making diligent effort to preserve unity in their efforts to live a worthy life?

3.	What are some of the things you will be tempted to put forth diligent effort on while you're here at the seminary which may not be 'maintaining the unity of the spirit'?

Application:

4.	To combat those, I'm going to invite you to do something special this morning. What makes for unity is people who share a common peace because of the cross of Jesus Christ so I'd like you to share together 1 way that Jesus death has given you peace–praise Him and lift Him up in your circles now.

5.	And it's every effort to do what?

a.	Maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

6.	Notice it's not effort to create unity of the spirit, he isn't dealing w/ how they got unity of the spirit here, but effort to maintain it.

7.

8.

1.

9.	How many of you have noticed that unity needs maintenance?

a.	At least everyone who is married should be raising their hands–as well as most of you who are not.

10.	What does it mean to 'maintain the unity of the spirit in/through the bond of peace?

a.	Without being dogmatic it could mean that the unity he's talking about only exists in the bond of peace (place) or can/should only be maintained through the bond of peace. Would you be comfortable interpreting this to mean, then that if you're maintaining unity of spirit on some other basis than the bond of peace, then, you've missed the boat?

?How important does this seem to be to Paul? Why is it so important to Paul? Let Paul speak now, from the context–let us here Paul's words–see vv. 1-4.

b.	Very important–it's necessary for them to preserve unity in order to walk in a manner worthy of their calling.

c.	Did you hear that? What is necessary to be walking in a manner worthy of your calling? Putting forth diligent effort to maintain unity of the spirit.

What is the unity of the spirit?

What is the bond of peace?

How is the bond of peace related to unity of the spirit?

Why is it significant that Paul says to 'make every effort' to keep that unity? What does that imply about the unity of the spirit?

What does Paul say it would look like for them to be 'making every effort' to keep the unity of the spirit?

What would that look like here?

I'll work with these (or similar) questions and we'll take some notes and call for a commitment to putting into practice some of the ideas that come through.

Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this kind of ministry.

Bruce