Speaker: Ken Kamau- Lead Pastor Ryde Baptist Church

Key Passage: Ephesians 4:1-6

Big Idea: Godly Unity isn’t something we invent. It’s something we protect by walking in step with the Holy Spirit.

I. Introduction

Will start by introducing my family (photo 1)

Ryde Baptist Church (Photo 2)

Transition

Have you ever had a misunderstanding that was almost impressive in how fast it spiralled?

A while back after moving house my son and I decided to fix all the beds. You know those beds that come with instructions with no words—just tiny pictures. A smiling stick figure holding a screw that looks identical to the other eleven screws.

So, we build the beds confidently, my son is a plumber after all, not too far from a carpenter I guess.

We Tighten this. Flip that. feeling like a professional. Then we get to the end, step back to admire it… and it’s wrong. Wrong like: we still have 3 extra pieces of the bed that the smiling stick man doesn’t, the drawers won’t open, and—somehow—three extra screws, which is never comforting.

We I’m standing there saying, “I think we followed the instructions!”

And another member of the household comes to review our work, and gives the look, you know the look that every man’s jedi mid can instantly understand the one that says, “You followed your interpretation of the instructions.” Looking around my fellow culprit has slowly disappeared.

That’s how so many conflicts begin. Not with a desire to destroy. But with that moment of:

“This is what I thought you meant,” and, “That’s not what I meant.”

And suddenly we’re not just disagreeing about screws—we’re questioning motives, intelligence, character… sometimes even each other’s salvation. Misunderstanding can be funny at the beginning. But it doesn’t stay funny.

Misunderstanding becomes suspicion. Suspicion becomes distance. Distance becomes division and division brings disunity.

Transition

The church as beautiful, redeemed, Spirit-filled, is still made of people. It is made up of people with histories, preferences, cultures, views on everything from politics to the views on whether the ice cream machines are McDonald’s will be working in the year 2050, people with wounds, strong opinions and short patience.

And in a time filled with cultural tribalism and divisive rhetoric, unity can start to feel like wishful thinking even inside the church.

But here’s the good news: God has not left unity up to human resolve.

God has given the church the Spirit of unity and He is actively working to overcome our divisions and make us One in Him.

So, the question today isn’t, “Can we all finally become the same?”

The question is: What does it look like to protect the unity God has already given by walking in step with the Spirit?

And this is what I will focus on in today’s sermon (page in the Church Bible) that can help us start to answer this question.

1. We start by understanding how we are called to live (vv. 1–2)

2. What effort that life together requires (v. 3)

3. And what God has already done to make this possible (vv. 4–6)

And the thread holding it all together is this:

Godly Unity isn’t something we invent. It’s something we protect by walking in step with the Holy Spirit.

II. How We Are Called to Live (Ephesians 4:1–2)

Paul begins with an urgent pastoral appeal:

“Therefore, I… beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling…” (v.1)

That word “therefore” matters. Paul has spent three chapters reminding us of what God has done: He has extended grace, we’ve been adopted in to the family, walls of hostility have been torn down, and a new community formed in Christ.

Then he says, because of that—here’s how to live.

NOTE: He even calls himself “a prisoner for serving the Lord.” In other words: unity isn’t a preference. It’s part of the witness of the gospel—and it’s worth suffering for.

Then Paul describes what a “worthy” life looks like:

“Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” (v.2)

That’s not fluffy language, it is the call for a Spirit-formed character, and it’s the soil where unity grows.

Paul isn’t writing this in a vacuum. Ephesus was a crossroads city—a major port, a religious center, and a place where people from all kinds of backgrounds lived side by side.

And the church there reflected that mix: Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, formerly religious and formerly pagan, people shaped by synagogue life and people shaped by the temple culture of Artemis, people with different stories, instincts, and expectations. In other words, if unity was ever going to be tested, it would be tested in a church like Ephesus.

That’s why Paul shows us that unity is protected less by policies and more by a Spirit-shaped posture. When you bring different backgrounds into one family, you don’t just need structures—you need hearts that have been reshaped by Jesus.

So, Paul starts with character: humility, gentleness, patience, and forbearance in love.

• Humility refuses to make my background, my preferences, or my way of doing things the center— “I might not see the whole picture; Jesus is the standard.”

• Gentleness is strength under control—conviction without harshness, truth without a weaponized tone, the kind of firmness that still sounds like Jesus.

• Patience makes room for growth—because people mature at different speeds, and some are unlearning old patterns while others are healing from old wounds; it refuses to demand instant change from others while excusing slowness in ourselves.

• And “making allowance” assumes real community includes friction—words land wrong, cultural habits clash, expectations differ, disappointments happen—but love chooses to stay committed because Christ is still forming His people.

That’s the big idea in action: unity isn’t something we manufacture; it’s something the Holy Spirit births in us as we are renewed and our character takes a Christ like form.

Point 2 — What Effort That Life Together Requires (Ephesians 4:3)

Now we come to the central command:

“Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.” (v.3)

Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say, “Create unity.” He says, keep yourselves united.

That matters—because it means unity is not the church’s achievement; it’s the Spirit’s gift. Unity is something God creates through the gospel, and then He calls His people to guard it with our lives. Or to put it simply:

• The Holy Spirit creates unity.

• The church steward’s unity.

And that word “make every effort” is strong. Paul is not describing a casual preference—he’s describing eager diligence.

This isn’t “try your best when you feel like it.” It’s a watchman’s word. A guarding word. A “this matters so much you don’t drift on it” word.

Why? Because Paul assumes something very realistic about church life:

Unity will come under attack.

There are people who love disunity because it gives them power. They thrive on factions, alliances, and whispers. Disunity creates platforms for ego—“my group, my side, my influence.” And sometimes that spirit creeps into the church dressed up as “discernment,” “concern,” or “just being honest,” when underneath it is the subtle inclination of division.

But Paul also knows something deeper: behind the human dynamics, there is a spiritual enemy.

The devil is not a neutral observer of church life. He is the enemy of God’s people—and disunity is one of his oldest strategies.

Even his name hints at his work. “Devil” (diabolos) carries the idea of slandering, accusing, throwing words to divide. He loves to take a real issue and attach a lie to it. He loves to take a misunderstanding and turn it into a story. He loves to take a hurt and turn it into a hard heart. And if he can’t destroy a church through open persecution, he’ll gladly settle for destroying its witness through internal fracture.

That’s why Paul says, “make every effort.” Because he knows unity doesn’t usually collapse with a single explosion—it usually erodes with a thousand small compromises: unaddressed offense, unchecked assumptions, side conversations, sarcasm, suspicion, cold distance, spiritual pride.

And if you read Ephesians as a whole, you can see how intentional this is.

In Ephesians 2, Paul says Jesus didn’t just save individuals—He created one new community by the cross. Jesus made peace, not as a mood, but as an achievement—He reconciled us to God and to one another. So unity isn’t a social club goal; it’s cross-purchased reality.

Then in Ephesians 4, Paul says: because that unity is real, guard it.

And later in this same chapter, Paul gets very specific about the cracks where the enemy loves to work: careless words, bitterness, unresolved anger, slander, malice. He even says, “Don’t give the devil an opportunity” (4:27). In other words, disunity isn’t just relational failure—it can become spiritual foothold.

So, Paul says unity is “bound together with peace.”

Peace is the bond. The ligament that keeps the body from tearing.

And biblical peace is not the absence of conflict. It’s the presence of reconciliation. It’s not avoiding truth; it’s pursuing relationship in a Christlike way. Peace tells the truth without crushing. Peace confronts without contempt. Peace listens without loading the conversation with verdicts.

So, what does “make every effort” look like in real church life?

It means we don’t treat unity like something automatic. We treat it like something precious—and therefore something protected.

And here’s a crucial nuance: this effort is not “striving in the flesh.”

Paul is not telling you to manufacture spiritual life through human energy. He is calling you to cooperate with what the Spirit of Unity has already created.

Unity is Spirit-born, and protected through Spirit-shaped practices—humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, peace.

So yes—effort is required. But it’s not anxious effort. It’s gospel effort. It’s the effort of people who know what it cost Jesus to make them one.

The world’s unity is often built on sameness: “Be like us, then you belong.”

But Christian unity is built on the cross: “Jesus gave Himself for us—so we love one another.”

So, we make every effort not because unity is fragile like glass, but because unity is valuable like treasure. The enemy would love to steal it, and some people would love to exploit it, but the Spirit has given it—and the church is called to guard it.

Unity isn’t something we invent. It’s something we protect by keeping in step with the Holy Spirit.

Point 3 — What God Has Already Done (Ephesians 4:4–6)

Now Paul grounds the command in theology.

He doesn’t just tell us to work at unity—he tells us why unity is possible.

Verse 4 begins with “For…”—Paul is giving the reason underneath the command.

Then he stacks up seven “ones”—not as a slogan, but as a confession:

“For there is one body and one Spirit… one glorious hope… one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…” (vv.4–6)

Unity isn’t something we negotiate into existence. It’s something God has already created.

The Seven “Ones” (what is already true)

1. One body — We’re not a loose crowd; we are joined together. What affects one affects all. In a body, you don’t amputate what annoys you—you heal what’s wounded, strengthen what’s weak, and restore what’s strained.

2. One Spirit — Our unity is spiritual before it’s organizational. The Spirit doesn’t just influence us; He indwells us. Unity is Spirit-work before it is people-work.

3. One glorious hope for the future — We’re headed to the same home: the renewal of all things under Christ. Hope lowers the temperature and helps us say, “Even if we differ, we’re walking in the same direction.”

4. One Lord — Jesus is Lord. Not my preferences. Not my tribe. Not my agenda. If He is Lord, I cannot treat a brother or sister like an enemy and claim I’m aligned with Him.

5. One faith — Not a vague feeling, but the shared gospel truth: Christ was crucified, he died and is risen from the dead, salvation by grace, new life in Him. Diversity doesn’t destroy us because the center holds.

6. One baptism — The visible sign that we belong to Jesus and to His people. Baptism humbles us: we all come the same way—by grace.

7. One God and Father of all — “who is over all, in all, and living through all.” Our unity doesn’t rest on our competence; it rests on our Father’s faithful hand.

Bottom line: unity is already a gospel reality before it becomes a gospel responsibility.

So we don’t create unity—we live out what God has already made true.

And when a church lives this way—when people in a polarized world stay bound together in peace—it becomes a witness to the city and the world.

It quietly declares there is a King greater than our differences, a Spirit stronger than our divisions, and a Father building a family the world can’t explain.

Conclusion — Protect the Unity the Spirit Has Given

My dear brothers and sisters, in a divided age, unity will feel costly. It will require:

humility when pride feels easier, gentleness when sharp words feel justified, patience when you want to write people off, and peacemaking when avoidance feels safer.

But the call of Ephesians 4 is not: “Be nice.”

It’s: Live out what God has already made true.

Because the Spirit has formed one body. Jesus is one Lord. The Father has made one family.

So the invitation today is simple and practical:

Protect the unity God has already given by walking in step with the Spirit.

How does your Monday Change?

Three questions to consider for this week

1. Where have I built or rebuilt a dividing wall that Jesus died to tear down?

2. Who is one person God is calling me to move toward this week—listening well, owning your part, and making peace?

3. What is one thing I can do this week to strengthen the “bond of peace” at Grace Church—in the way you speak about people, speak to people, and respond to people?

Unity is sustained by a step you take—empowered by the Spirit who lives in you.

Remember: Unity isn’t something we invent. It’s something we protect by keeping in step with the Holy Spirit.