Unity, 19 July 2026
26 07 26 Filed in: Sermons | Ephesians: Our True Identity
Unity
Ephesians: Finding Our True Identity
Kirk Schneemann
College First Church of God
July 19, 2026
Ephesians 4:1-16
Series Big Idea: For followers of Jesus, we find our true identity in Christ.
Big Idea: Jesus prayed that we would be one…body…united for his glory…and every part matters.
Do you enjoy doing puzzles? During the COVID lockdown, the one pastime I enjoyed was completing two different 1000-piece puzzles, both baseball-related as I love baseball. Both took weeks for me to finish, but eventually saw the photo on the box enlarged in front of me.
Imagine I had 990 pieces in place and counted nine left. How awful would it be to have 99.9% of the puzzle completed with one missing piece?!
Jesus prayed that we would be one…body…united for his glory…and every part matters.
My favorite prayer in the Bible is in John 17 where Jesus says,
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21)
I believe this is the only prayer in the Bible Jesus prays for us—those who will believe. His prayer is unity. He prays that we would be one. We are not all the same, but together we form one body, one congregation. We are like pieces of a puzzle, and every one of you matters.
Today we continue reading Paul’s letter from a Roman prisoner to Christians in the first century. Notice the use of the word “one.”
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1)
What is their calling? What is our calling? It’s ultimately to follow Jesus. Often when we think of calling, we think of a mission or vision for an individual, but here it’s corporate. You might say, in fact, the calling is to be the Church, the body of Christ, those who re-present Jesus to the world. This is a high calling. It’s an important calling. It’s at the heart of our mission to love, equip, and send. Paul describes this calling.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
(Ephesians 4:2)
He doesn’t say be a little humble, but completely humble…and gentle. These words seem to have gone out of style in favor of narcissism, pride, power, conquest, control, and—dare I say it—machismo. These are not part of the fruit of the Spirit!
What Paul is describing here is the way of Jesus, the narrow way, the righteous way. It also paints a picture for what we are to be to one another…humble, gentle, patient, loving. This is our calling.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3)
Unity. This is the theme of our text today. Think one puzzle…all the pieces! The purpose of a puzzle isn’t to collect all of the pieces in a pile…or to scatter them across the table. The goal is for you to end with one picture composed of a variety of parts.
Now notice the use of the word “one” in the next three verses.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
One. LORD, make us one! We’ve witnessed churches splitting, denominations splitting, entire branches of Christianity splitting! Since Paul wrote this, the global Church which brought together Jews and Gentiles split into Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic in 1054 before the Protestant Reformation broke away from the Catholics in the 16th century. Then, Protestants split into Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed which led to groups like the Brethren, Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists,…and let’s not forget the Churches of God, General Conference which started 201 years ago by John Winebrenner! Today, there are more than 40,000 Christian denominations worldwide…and both Jesus and Paul prayed we would be…one!
Paul continues,
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.” (Ephesians 4:7-8)
What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (Ephesians 4:9-10)
Jesus is the head of the Church. We are his body. He died for us, gave us a mission—a Great Commission—to go and make disciples of every nation. He has given us gifts and resources to accomplish the task.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
What’s the goal? Unity. Knowledge. Maturity. Christ-likeness.
It would be tempting to move on, but I want to highlight one thing…a comma!
First, Jesus gave five gifts to the Church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. APEST.
Apostle in this case is not a capital-A person who witnessed the resurrection, but instead a small-a person who is a spiritual entrepreneur. They love to start ministries and plant churches and challenge the status quo to avoid death and decay.
Prophets are not future-tellers, but forth-tellers, offering challenges and sometimes warnings to others.
Evangelists proclaim good news, leading people to Jesus. We sometimes call them missionaries.
Pastors or shepherds care for the flock—the people—while teachers…teach!
They are all different, yet all important. Today, we might call them church leaders. Seminaries typically focus on training pastors and teachers, though all five are vital to the flourishing of the Church on earth.
What do they all do? That depends upon a comma!
In the original 1611 version of the King James Bible, the text reads,
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11-13, KJV)
In 1982, the New King James Version was released with a few revisions. It reads,
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; (Ephesians 4:11-13, NKJV)
Did you notice the difference? The original King James Version said God gave APEST leaders for the perfecting of the saints, (COMMA) for the work of the ministry…
Every modern translation I have seen—including the New King James Version—removes the comma.
God gave APEST leaders for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry…
I believe that comma has created a Christian culture where the leaders do the ministry instead of equipping the saints to do the work of ministry. This is why I love our mission of love, equip, and send. Our staff is not hired to DO the ministry, but to equip YOU to love, serve, evangelize, care, encourage, prophesy, plant churches, and make disciples. If our staff does its job equipping you…
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:14-16)
This is Paul’s vision for the church, and it’s my vision, too. I want to see College First be a mature, discerning family of men, women, and children on God’s mission, speaking the truth in love, one body joined to Jesus our head, each part—each piece—working together for God’s glory.
So What?
Imagine a team where the players sat in the stands…while the coach played against the other team! That’s a picture of many churches today, Christians watching the professionals do the ministry instead of the professionals equipping the Christians to do the ministry.
Jesus prayed that we would be one…body…united for his glory…and every part matters. You matter. What piece of the puzzle are you? Are you lost or connected to the others? Are you trying to stand out and make a name for yourself, or focused on making Jesus famous? Are you connected to Jesus or doing your own thing? Are you a spectator watching others or are you on the field playing the game?
College First, we need all of you equipped and sent—across the street or around the world—proclaiming in word and deed the good news that Jesus is LORD, they are loved, and together we are one in Christ.
AMEN!
Ephesians: Finding Our True Identity
Kirk Schneemann
College First Church of God
July 19, 2026
Ephesians 4:1-16
Series Big Idea: For followers of Jesus, we find our true identity in Christ.
Big Idea: Jesus prayed that we would be one…body…united for his glory…and every part matters.
Do you enjoy doing puzzles? During the COVID lockdown, the one pastime I enjoyed was completing two different 1000-piece puzzles, both baseball-related as I love baseball. Both took weeks for me to finish, but eventually saw the photo on the box enlarged in front of me.
Imagine I had 990 pieces in place and counted nine left. How awful would it be to have 99.9% of the puzzle completed with one missing piece?!
Jesus prayed that we would be one…body…united for his glory…and every part matters.
My favorite prayer in the Bible is in John 17 where Jesus says,
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (John 17:20-21)
I believe this is the only prayer in the Bible Jesus prays for us—those who will believe. His prayer is unity. He prays that we would be one. We are not all the same, but together we form one body, one congregation. We are like pieces of a puzzle, and every one of you matters.
Today we continue reading Paul’s letter from a Roman prisoner to Christians in the first century. Notice the use of the word “one.”
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. (Ephesians 4:1)
What is their calling? What is our calling? It’s ultimately to follow Jesus. Often when we think of calling, we think of a mission or vision for an individual, but here it’s corporate. You might say, in fact, the calling is to be the Church, the body of Christ, those who re-present Jesus to the world. This is a high calling. It’s an important calling. It’s at the heart of our mission to love, equip, and send. Paul describes this calling.
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
(Ephesians 4:2)
He doesn’t say be a little humble, but completely humble…and gentle. These words seem to have gone out of style in favor of narcissism, pride, power, conquest, control, and—dare I say it—machismo. These are not part of the fruit of the Spirit!
What Paul is describing here is the way of Jesus, the narrow way, the righteous way. It also paints a picture for what we are to be to one another…humble, gentle, patient, loving. This is our calling.
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3)
Unity. This is the theme of our text today. Think one puzzle…all the pieces! The purpose of a puzzle isn’t to collect all of the pieces in a pile…or to scatter them across the table. The goal is for you to end with one picture composed of a variety of parts.
Now notice the use of the word “one” in the next three verses.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
One. LORD, make us one! We’ve witnessed churches splitting, denominations splitting, entire branches of Christianity splitting! Since Paul wrote this, the global Church which brought together Jews and Gentiles split into Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic in 1054 before the Protestant Reformation broke away from the Catholics in the 16th century. Then, Protestants split into Lutheran, Anglican, and Reformed which led to groups like the Brethren, Quakers, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists,…and let’s not forget the Churches of God, General Conference which started 201 years ago by John Winebrenner! Today, there are more than 40,000 Christian denominations worldwide…and both Jesus and Paul prayed we would be…one!
Paul continues,
But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.” (Ephesians 4:7-8)
What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (Ephesians 4:9-10)
Jesus is the head of the Church. We are his body. He died for us, gave us a mission—a Great Commission—to go and make disciples of every nation. He has given us gifts and resources to accomplish the task.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13)
What’s the goal? Unity. Knowledge. Maturity. Christ-likeness.
It would be tempting to move on, but I want to highlight one thing…a comma!
First, Jesus gave five gifts to the Church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. APEST.
Apostle in this case is not a capital-A person who witnessed the resurrection, but instead a small-a person who is a spiritual entrepreneur. They love to start ministries and plant churches and challenge the status quo to avoid death and decay.
Prophets are not future-tellers, but forth-tellers, offering challenges and sometimes warnings to others.
Evangelists proclaim good news, leading people to Jesus. We sometimes call them missionaries.
Pastors or shepherds care for the flock—the people—while teachers…teach!
They are all different, yet all important. Today, we might call them church leaders. Seminaries typically focus on training pastors and teachers, though all five are vital to the flourishing of the Church on earth.
What do they all do? That depends upon a comma!
In the original 1611 version of the King James Bible, the text reads,
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11-13, KJV)
In 1982, the New King James Version was released with a few revisions. It reads,
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; (Ephesians 4:11-13, NKJV)
Did you notice the difference? The original King James Version said God gave APEST leaders for the perfecting of the saints, (COMMA) for the work of the ministry…
Every modern translation I have seen—including the New King James Version—removes the comma.
God gave APEST leaders for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry…
I believe that comma has created a Christian culture where the leaders do the ministry instead of equipping the saints to do the work of ministry. This is why I love our mission of love, equip, and send. Our staff is not hired to DO the ministry, but to equip YOU to love, serve, evangelize, care, encourage, prophesy, plant churches, and make disciples. If our staff does its job equipping you…
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:14-16)
This is Paul’s vision for the church, and it’s my vision, too. I want to see College First be a mature, discerning family of men, women, and children on God’s mission, speaking the truth in love, one body joined to Jesus our head, each part—each piece—working together for God’s glory.
So What?
Imagine a team where the players sat in the stands…while the coach played against the other team! That’s a picture of many churches today, Christians watching the professionals do the ministry instead of the professionals equipping the Christians to do the ministry.
Jesus prayed that we would be one…body…united for his glory…and every part matters. You matter. What piece of the puzzle are you? Are you lost or connected to the others? Are you trying to stand out and make a name for yourself, or focused on making Jesus famous? Are you connected to Jesus or doing your own thing? Are you a spectator watching others or are you on the field playing the game?
College First, we need all of you equipped and sent—across the street or around the world—proclaiming in word and deed the good news that Jesus is LORD, they are loved, and together we are one in Christ.
AMEN!