Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, grant us an attitude like Yours. Amen.
Text: Ephesians 4:1-6
I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Devotion
All believers are united with the Lord Jesus and joined together by His love. They all walk the same narrow path to the same glorious goal. Strangers on earth, they hurry toward heaven. One hope comforts and strengthens them all: that they shall live in one and the same Father’s house in the life to come. They all serve the one Lord, to whom all their hearts belong. They all have the same faith which is created by the Spirit, and which relies on the only true God, in that they rely on the Word of forgiveness and salvation only for Jesus’ sake. They are all baptized with one Baptism: in the name of the Triune God. He is the God of their heart; and so they all are children of the heavenly Father and they all call on Him as Father. His almighty power and grace protect them all as one; the Son’s life of love pervades them all, as the brain controls the whole body down to the smallest part; and the sanctifying Spirit, sevenfold and yet one, lives in them all. They are all fed by the same spiritual food: the Gospel and the Body and Blood of the glorified Savior. They all stand before the same throne of grace and they all fight the same battle under the same banner: the cross of Christ. Neither time nor space separates them. We who are still alive sit at the festive banquet with the Apostles in Jerusalem the night Jesus was betrayed. And Paul belongs to us as much as to the congregation in Ephesus.
What encouragement there is in this! Never violate this holy, precious unity, but endeavor to keep it in the bond of peace. There is nothing Jesus Himself longs for as much as for His disciples to live together in love. How He prayed that all who would believe in Him by the Apostles’ words might be one just as the Father is in Him and He in them, so that the world might know God’s love (Joh 17), and not simply that they might be one in spirit, but also outwardly, that there be one fellowship before the eyes of all. How He exhorts them to show the world that they are His disciples, – and what an example of humility and meekness He gave them by washing their feet, even the feet of Judas, though He knew what he would do! In the same way all the Apostles exhort the believers to walk worthy of the calling with which they are called, with all humility and gentleness and longsuffering, so that they bear with one another in love.
So do not divide yourselves, but stay together, bear with one another, flee sin, and purge out the old leaven; but do not depart from one another, do not divide the Body of Christ: Listen also to the ancient fathers, who wept and prayed that the brethren might remain faithful in love. In our days such exhortation is so needed! Humility is gone, and there are more and more sects! Dear brothers and sisters, endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace! For Jesus’ sake endeavor to do this! What is the world to think about you, if you who used to live as brothers each go your own way? How do you honor the Lord’s name then? Or how will you in that way stand against the hosts of darkness who are wise enough to stay together in the war against the Lord’s Church? Don’t go and divide yourselves; but when the time comes that someone rejects you, then come together, and the Lord shall lead His people.
Closing Prayer
Lord Jesus, unite Your believers; hinder the devil who wants to divide us. Help us to be obedient to You and to walk in Your humility and love. Let none of us grieve Your Holy Spirit by dividing Your Body, but give us grace to stay together and to wash one another’s feet with the spirit of humility and meekness. Amen.
Hymn
And we who bear Christ’s holy name
One body with our Lord become,
We all by God’s good Spirit true
The bond of peace ought to pursue;
We all hope for eternal life,
One Lord, one Baptism, and one Faith.
One God our heav’nly Father is
Who mighty over all things is,
And by His Son redeemed us all,
Shows love by His good Spirit’s call,
Who lives in us abundantly
And grants us heav’n eternally.
Love therefore ought in us to reign
And in our hearts ever remain,
For we are siblings in the Lord.
To us true unity afford,
That we the crown of life receive
And in the judgment still may live.
Kingo: Den Naade, Gud os haver ted L 535:8-10 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: Melita (ELH 418); alternate hymn: The Church’s one foundation ELH 486:1-2