Preserving Unity — Ministry Focus for 2025
Ephesians 4:1-3
January 19, 2025
For several years, we have had a theme for the year — a biblical truth that would help orient us and guide us as we serve Christ. Often those themes come from circumstances that we see in the culture (both secular and church) that we want to be purposeful in addressing. So in previous years we have focused on things like “Excel still more” (in love, 2022), “equip the saints” (2023), and “be steadfast” (2024).
Last Sunday, at our State of the Church event, we talked about this year’s theme: “Preserving Unity.” We see nothing in our church body that makes us concerned that we are disunified; actually, we continue to be encouraged as God enfolds more and more people into the church body that our unity is being preserved. We just don’t want to be presumptuous. We want to be purposeful in preserving this good gift. So in sermons and in Sunday School, and in home groups, and in discipleship meetings, and in counseling rooms, our focus this year is going to be on preserving the grace gift of unity that the Lord has given to us.
Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians (4:1-3) will guide us.
In the book of Ephesians, Paul’s first three chapters expound the riches that the believer has in his salvation, and in chapter four, Paul begins applying those truths. How does the believer act in light of the salvation he has received? And the first principle Paul applies is the necessity of unity and community. Because we have been saved with a common faith and into one body, we should live in community and unity with one another.
We might summarize what Paul says this way —
Because God has created a unified church, be faithful to preserve that unity.
In this passage, Paul offers two primary principles (and one set of implications) to maintain unity and community.
Context: The Priority of Unity
- Keep the Unity God Established (v. 3)
- Keep the Unity by Cultivating Unifying Motives (vv. 1-2)
- Keep the Unity in Community Contexts (chs. 4-6)
Download the rest of this sermon on Ephesians 4:1-3.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website by Tuesday.
Words of Grace 