EPHESIANS 4:4

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you also were called in one hope of your calling;”

Do you like one way streets? I don’t particularly care for them. I will never forget when I was in the 8^th grade, I was selected to go to a Beta Club convention in Atlanta, Ga. I don’t remember how many of us went, but I do remember that our chaperone who was a teacher at our school, drove the wrong way down a one way street in downtown Atlanta. We were all screaming. I think our chaperone was screaming too, lol. He was able to turn off quickly to avoid an accident, but the police had already seen him. After our driver explained he was from out of town and got confused, the officer let him go with a warning. I guess he figured these South Georgia hicks were lucky just to make it to Atlanta. There was only one proper way to drive down that street, and we had blown it.

Paul begins a list of seven “ones” in today’s verse. You have to remember who Paul is writing to. He is writing to Gentile believers who have been grafted into the vine of Israel. Some of the Jewish believers were still trying to make a division between them and the Gentile believers. Paul says, “No! We are all one!” So, he says we are one body of Christ. There is one Spirit descended from God and sent to all of us. And there is only one hope of your calling from God, that being Jesus Christ.

APPLICATION

First of all, let me say this. I bet there is nothing in today’s verse that is not already known by you. Of course, you know we are all of one body – the church of Christ. As I drove to church yesterday with Chris, we passed probably a dozen other churches from various denominations. Why? Why can’t we all agree and come together? I can’t believe God is particularly pleased by all this division on Sunday mornings. Paul uses the same language over in 1 Corinthians 12:5. “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.”

Paul goes on to remind us that there is only one Spirit. There is not a separate Holy Spirit for the Baptist and Methodist or Church of Christ. There is one Spirit which we all receive at salvation. Listen to Paul’s words again in 1 Corinthians, this time from 6:19. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” Did you catch that? He is in you. He is in every believer.

When Paul says in today’s verse that there is “one hope of your calling,” he is referring to all of us having that same hope of an eternal life with the Lord in heaven. Jesus said in John 14:2, “‘In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.’” Excuse my grammar, but ain’t that a promise! There is one body. There is one Spirit. There is one hope. Celebrate that today!

O, my Lord, I give You praise for ones.