Graces Needed to Maintain Unity of The Spirit (1)

The point: Give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, recognizing that failure to do so allows remaining sin to fracture unity.

Martin uses the analogy of pounding a pulpit with a framing hammer to illustrate that inanimate objects cannot experience grief, setting up the theological point that the Holy Spirit, being a person, can be grieved.

In a few moments, I were to take from the shelf that's underneath this pulpit, within my sight but not yours, and I were to remove from that shelf a framing hammer, and for you non-carpenters, that's a big'un. That's not the kind of hammer a man uses when he's doing delicate work, putting on trim in the house, but that's the hammer you use when you're doing the rough work of raising up the house. That's not the kind of hammer a man uses when he's doing delicate work, putting on trim in the house, but that's the hammer you use when you're doing delicate work, putting on trim in the house.

1:07 - 2:09 Read in full sermon

The point: Give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, recognizing that failure to do so allows remaining sin to fracture unity.

The analogy of unrefrigerated, unsalted meat multiplying bacteria is used to describe how remaining sin, if not diligently addressed, will multiply and fracture church unity.

Last Lord's Day, I sought briefly to open up that text and to demonstrate that it is the duty of the people of God to give diligence, that is, to engage themselves consciously, deliberately, and constantly in the preservation of the unity of which the Holy Spirit is the author and the primary characteristic of which is peace. We are to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And if we fail to do this, given the reality of remaining sin in the hearts of individuals and the hearts of the people of God, we are to give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the b...

6:08 - 7:30 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin identifies lowliness and meekness as 'Siamese twin graces' explicitly associated with appeals to unity in Ephesians 4, Colossians 3, and Philippians 2, arguing their…

Lowliness and meekness are described as 'Siamese twin graces' to emphasize their inseparable connection and mutual dependence in the context of Christian unity.

This pivotal passage that we considered last Lord's Day morning, the apostle says, I beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you were called, with all lowliness and meekness. And then you have another preposition, with long-suffering. And then you have your two participles, forbearing one another in love, giving one another in love, and giving one another in love, and giving one another in love. He is asking diligence to keep the unity of the spirit. But the structure of the language clearly indicates that Paul is calling them to these graces of lowliness and meekness, viewed as ...

25:23 - 26:43 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is the exact opposite of pride. That swelling with that devilish disposition that would shove God off his throne and share some of his rights or some of his glory.

Martin contrasts the secular world's disdain for lowliness (likened to 'rotten self-esteem') with the biblical understanding, arguing against worldly concepts like 'bolstering self-esteem' and advocating for biblical language of worth as an image-bearer.

This New Testament word was not used as a noble quality or a virtue in the secular world. As I wrestled with a contemporary term that would show how the secular world used this, most of the old writers talk about mean-spirited, but for us that means somebody that's got an ugly attitude, and they didn't mean that. I think what they would say in current parlance is it would speak of someone with a rotten self-esteem. Now I don't like the term self-esteem because I'm too familiar with my Bible, and everything my Bible says about self is not to promote it, but to put it on a cross. To deny it! And...

30:17 - 31:15 Read in full sermon

Driving home: It is the exact opposite of pride. That swelling with that devilish disposition that would shove God off his throne and share some of his rights or some of his glory.

An old writer's quote that lowliness is 'the very casket in which all other graces are found' is used to emphasize its foundational importance for all other virtues.

What's the antithesis of pride? It is the grace of lowliness. And one of the old writers said it is not merely a grace among many graces. But it is the very casket in which all other graces are found.

33:10 - 33:27 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The grace of lowliness is the recognition that I am what I am as a creature of God, utterly dependent upon Him, utterly indebted to Him for all that I am and have.

The character Uriah Heap is used to illustrate what true lowliness is not – a mock humility or inverted pride – clarifying that Christ's lowliness was a glad acceptance of his identity.

I am meek and lowly of heart. The more commonplace compound word is not used there but the root word that captures the essence of it. Our Lord says lowly in heart. Now certainly that can't mean the Uriah Heap mentality.

34:22 - 34:42 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He introduces the second set of graces: forbearing, long-suffering, and forgiving love, likening them to the left and right hands that maintain the circle of unity. He shows their…

The unity of the Spirit is visualized as an unbroken circle of people holding hands, with forbearing/long-suffering love as the left hand and forgiving love as the right hand, illustrating how these graces maintain the bond.

as I have loved you by this shalom and know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another and John's epistles 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, who would dispute that love is there set forth as the queen of all the graces but I don't want to talk about love generically because according to the scriptures according to at least my present light in studying out this subject of the unity of the spirit it is particularly the grace of forbearing long-suffering and forgiving love that contribute to the maintenance of the unity of the spirit in the bond of perfection and the bond of peace if I may liken i...

43:41 - 45:10 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin emphasizes forgiving love, drawing from Ephesians 4:31-32 and 1 Peter 4:8, where love covers a multitude of sins. He highlights Christ's example of constantly bearing with…

Believers are encouraged to have an 'internal blanket factory' to produce 'blankets' to cover the sins of brethren, rather than exposing or parading them, illustrating the function of fervent love.

The many, many, many sins with which we find ourselves encompassed while we are yet in this present life. Fervent love will cause each one of us to have what I called some years ago an internal blanket factory. Where all the time we're turning blankets off the loom of our hearts by the power of the Holy Ghost. Not to embroider.

54:17 - 54:47 Read in full sermon

The point: Find it in your heart to be forbearing, long-suffering, and forgiving to your brethren, reflecting on how the Lord Jesus treats you.

The human immune system's defense against viruses and bacteria is used to illustrate how the graces of lowliness, meekness, and forbearing/forgiving love protect church unity. The breakdown of this system (AIDS) is then analogized to 'spiritual AIDS' in a congregation, where the absence of these graces allows sin to devastate unity.

As I again sought to illustrate it, I couldn't help but think of how the human body operates. God has wonderfully made the human body that when it is healthy, it has a very effective immune system. And when the signal goes that a foreign virus or bacteria has entered that is not in the best interest of the body, it immediately goes to work and calls up the Home Guard, calls up the National Defense.

56:48 - 57:17 Read in full sermon

The point: Recognize that you cannot work up these graces of yourself; you must be united to the Lord Jesus Christ to know them.

The analogy of a branch cut off from the main vine unable to bear fruit is used to illustrate that unbelievers, severed from Christ, cannot cultivate true graces.

He said severed from me. You can do nothing. Any more than a branch cut off from the main vine can bear fruit. There is no living organic union.

60:36 - 60:47 Read in full sermon