4:1-3
Paul identified himself as a prisoner of the Lord. He was also a prisoner of Rome, but Paul did not consider himself a prisoner of Rome. He considered himself a prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ. This showed Paul had a firm grasp on God's will. He knew behind every circumstance in life that God was in control. The Lord directed his steps every day. He was therefore a prisoner of the Lord.
He besought the Ephesians. This was different from commanding people. I've served in ministry where men thought they should command and threaten people. How different was the attitude Paul showed here. He appealed to the Ephesians to do the right thing. He did not command them, even though he obviously had authority from the Lord to command people. He did not lord himself over people unlike almost every ministry leader I've encountered. Instead, he humbled himself and appealed to people.
He asked them to walk worthy of the vocation they were called. A vocation, in this context, was more than just a person's job or career. The vocation the Lord called us to is primarily to be a Christian. This means we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We do not relate to the world anymore on the same terms of the world. Instead, we relate to the world on the Lord's terms. The Lord is our provider. A job does not provide for us. The world system does not give us bread. No, our bread comes from God. We live according to every word of God. We don't think like the world does. We do not exalt our name in the hope of gaining power over others. We do not seek to dominate and control other people. Instead, we simply let our light shine for Jesus.
He outlined how we should walk worthy of our vocation. We do this with all lowliness and meekness and with long suffering. We are forbearing of one another. This means an attitude of absolute humility and we consider others better than ourselves. How do we apply this? Do not exalt yourself over people. Look for ways to serve people and to help others. Make it your goal to edify, exhort, and comfort others.
The goal is to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This unity is not the kind of unity which apostate religious systems try to establish. They want us to all agree to whatever is the lowest religious denominator. They want us to agree that everyone has a valid "truth" and to respect the "truth" of others. This is not the unity which the Bible is talking about. Unity in the Bible is based on the truth of the Bible. Our unity must be found in a combination of truth and love for others. We cannot compromise truth and we must love one another. How that works out is accomplished by people living humble and meek lives and being patient with one another.
4:4-6
These verses point us to the narrow path and the straight gate. We enter through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one body. This body is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is one Spirit. There is only one Holy Spirit. There is only one hope in our calling and that hope is the Lord Jesus. We have one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all.
What was Paul saying? One point I get from this is how absolute truth is. Men always want to question God. They always want to have doubts and unbelief about the absolute truth of God. They want to divide into camps and have different ideas about who the Lord is, or about what faith is, or about what baptism is. Each one of these points Paul listed have been causes for church splits and for separate denominations of churches.
No matter what men have done there is still only one body, one Spirit, one hope of our calling. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God. There is only one Father of all, who is above all, through all, in all.
I am reminded that God hates those who cause strife and division. Read Proverbs 6:16,19.
How do we sow discord? We do this when we think too highly of ourselves. We do this when we think we are better than others. We do this when we exalt ourselves over others. We do this when we won't associate with someone because we think we are better than them. This attitude of pride causes discord and division more than anything. I believe this is the basis of all discord and division in the church.
4:7-13
The Lord gave gifts to the church. These gifts are people who serve in the church with specific spiritual ability. Paul listed these gifts to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
Some teach we no longer have apostles or prophets but I cannot go along with that. If we have pastors, teachers, and evangelists then we also have apostles and prophets.
I think it is a mistake for men to give themselves titles like "Prophet Smith" or "Apostle Jackson". We are asking for trouble when we put titles into our name. This attracts spirits of pride and exalting of self over others.
However, there are people who have these gifts in the church. People with the true gift of being a prophet or apostle will probably never be known by many. They are unassuming people. They go about serving as the Lord called them. The further you go down this list the more you hear people putting the title in their name. "Pastor" and "Evangelist" are pretty common titles people claim for themselves.
The work of these men is to edify the body of Christ. They are called to help build, encourage, and comfort God's people. This is done in many ways and mostly not from behind a pulpit. There is a lot of work to be done with individuals one at a time. In my opinion those who stand behind a pulpit have little influence. The ones who truly have influence are those who serve others one by one in the body of Jesus Christ. They are usually anonymous servants who go around ministering to the needs of other people.
God has called us to serve one another in love and to use our spiritual gifts for the building of the church.
The goal is that we may all grow into a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.