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The sermon, “Walk Worthy: Cultivating Unity in the Body of Christ,” emphasizes the main idea that believers are called to be one body and to maintain the unity of that body. Drawing from Ephesians 4, it urges individuals to “walk worthy of the calling they have received” by embodying humility, gentleness, patience, and love. The text highlights various aspects of unity—such as the unity of the Godhead, unity among believers, and unity in faith, hope, and mission—while also identifying common pitfalls like infighting, burnout, and communication issues that threaten this unity, stressing that intentional effort from every individual is required to overcome these challenges and foster growth.

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YEAR THREE – Part 1 -Walk Worthy

Nate Roten / Year Three Review / July 20, 2025

Main Idea

We are called to be one body and to maintain the unity of that body.

Year Three – doing it differently this year – spitting it up

Passage

Ephesians 4:1–6;11-16

Ephesians 4:1–6 CSB

¹ Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Ephesians 4:11–16 CSB

¹¹ And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. ¹⁵ But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

I – The Unity of AAC

1. During our launch, many embraced the vision of a church that upholds our core values, especially one that relies on biblical authority and practices expositional preaching. You could sense the loving hospitality of the Favored 5 and the families who helped start the church. 

2. In the vision of the building campaign, the overwhelming majority of this church body recognized the need for more space to minister to the next generation and responded with generous giving.

3. In the aftermath of Helene. So many jumped to serve the community. We showed the Ashe community that we aren’t a complacent church; we are a committed church eager to be the hands and feet of Christ. Some took to the backroads, others manned relief aid stations at the church, and some were deployed to homes. Teams dedicated time and resources to rebuild three homes. 

4. In sickness and death. This church is a loving and compassionate community that shines in caring for the hurting and grieving.

5. In other areas of ministry. I have no doubt many have experienced unity in your life groups, Bible studies, areas of ministry service, and discipleship groups.

I am truly encouraged by how loving and united this church has been since the beginning. We’ve faced some tough times, but overall, it has been a true pleasure to see this church grow as it has. I love this church and want to see it continue to grow and thrive. The only way that will happen is if we intentionally, passionately, and lovingly maintain our unity through the bonds of peace.

If you study church planting trends, you’ll probably find that things become harder in years 3 and 4. There are successes to enjoy, issues to avoid, and truths to embrace, which is what today is all about.

II – Pitfalls and Attacks

Not every church is the same or experiences things in the same chronological order, but there is a common theme, and we would do well to familiarize ourselves with a few of them, especially as a small church.

Honeymoon Phase. A church plant is a lot like a marriage. During the honeymoon, everything is exciting and new. Every day is a new adventure, and your heart is bursting with butterflies and romance. It is a lovely time that has its place, but those specific feelings and experiences aren’t meant to last as they are. Eventually, you come home and realize that your spouse doesn’t live life the same way you do. They leave their stuff on the floor. They clutter the desktop with digital files instead of putting them in folders like a normal person. They fold the corners of book pages like a monster. After living with another person for a while, you notice all the little differences that feel like sand in your clothing, rubbing your skin into irritable rashes. The same is true of churches. After a while, we start to see one another’s imperfections and tendencies that differ from ours. If we aren’t careful, we can trend toward nitpicking and make secondary or even tertiary issues seem big, turning mountains out of molehills. Let’s not be a church that allows the next phase of life to pull us into such immaturity. Our love and unity for one another grow and change just like a married couple. 

Burnout. Many people here have served for three years since the beginning. Burnout is a real and overwhelming phenomenon. We shouldn’t be a place where 20% of the people do 80% of the work. We need everyone engaged, using their God-given gifts to build up the body. This benefits each individual’s growth, and it also allows leaders to step back, take a breath, and have a sabbatical so they can return revitalized.

Mission Drift / Loss of Urgency. This occurs when we’ve been around long enough to stray off track. If we don’t stay fully focused on achieving our 4 core goals with our 7 core values, we will eventually drift away from the purposes for which God first established us. After finishing our mini-series on Kingdom Expansion, I want to encourage us to keep our focus on declaring God’s glory and discipling one another, so that our numbers and influence multiply. But this won’t happen if we lose our way. Over time, just being off course a couple of degrees can lead us to a destination hundreds of miles away from our original course. This usually happens when we lose focus and drive. These upcoming weeks are a perfect time to celebrate three years together and look forward to many more. It’s good to reflect on where God has brought us from, how He has strengthened us today, and what’s next. Let’s rejoice in what He has done… then get back to work. If we lose our sense of urgency and drive… if we sit back and relax to enjoy what we have built, thinking that we are now established, we’ll never keep moving forward and growing for God’s glory. Let me encourage you today that we have only just begun. God has so much more in store! Let’s stay motivated and avoid drifting off course by thinking we’ve already arrived.

Infighting and Gossip. We’ve just finished studying the books of James and Galatians. In both books, we saw the church turn on each other. Pride, arrogance, ambition, envy—these things started to destroy their fellowship shortly after it was established. Paul said in Galatians 6 that if we bite and devour one another, you’d better watch out, because once you start that, you’ll completely consume each other. While infighting involves acting in ungodly character openly toward someone, gossip involves acting in ungodly character behind their back, and it will absolutely destroy the unity of a church. This is why a right view of biblical conflict resolution is so important. A bunch of little issues can pile up into one big, smelly problem. If we can remember to embrace the points of unity Paul mentions here, those will be sturdy guardrails that keep us from falling into dangerous ruts.

Communication Issues. This is one of the main causes of marital problems, and I would say it’s the same for the church body. We all communicate differently, and it can be easy to talk past each other instead of with each other. It can also be easy to fail to communicate altogether: from peer to peer, from leadership to the congregation, and from the congregation to leadership. I don’t know that this is avoidable, but if we focus on the points of unity we’ll discuss today, we can work through the problems and learn from our mistakes.

All of these things can easily sneak in and steal peace and unity, so we need to be alert to avoid them at all costs.

III – Walk worthy

Walk worthy of the calling you have received. What calling? The calling of adoption, holiness, and blamelessness as a result of our relationship with Jesus. (see vv. 1:4-5). Here, every believer is called to be part of God’s New Covenant family and to act as true sons and daughters. Early in the letter, our calling is explained. Now, in chapter 4, we are called to walk in it in a way that is worthy of the family name, and at the center of that call… the main connection that links everything else is unity.

1. Unity of the God-head. “[There is] one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” The unity we hold on earth begins with the unity that has existed from eternity past in the triune God-head. It begins with Him and is sustained in Him as we keep our focus on Him. God had perfect love within Himself. He wasn’t lacking objects of affection that compelled Him to create humans. A perfect love and unity already existed between Father, Son, and Spirit. We exist purely as products of His vast love and grace. He did so because He wanted to… not from any lack.

2. Unity in the Godhead. “There is one body and one Spirit…” If we have all received the same Lord and Savior—the Son—then we all share one Father, and the same Spirit dwells in each of us. Every believer has their own individual unity in Christ that calls them into the love and unity of the Father, Son, and Spirit. This is a powerful truth. The perfect Godhead invites sinful, broken people into His perfect fellowship. He didn’t have to—He didn’t need to—but each of us can stand here justified and sanctified today because His great love drew us in despite our fallenness and sin, no matter what kind of sin it was. He brought our mess in so He could make us clean. That’s what we, as the church, get to imitate—recognizing that everyone needs Christ, so we show the love of Christ by being willing to invite in the mess of others so we can be Christ to them.

3. Unity of believers as one body. “… let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.” Since every individual is united to the Godhead through Christ, it also means that we are connected together as His body. We are all growing in the same way, in the same likeness, in the same love, and strengthening one another. Paul likens this to how the human body is formed, fitted, and knitted together. Think about how the body is built. By design and through natural growth, all parts develop at the same level of maturity. One leg doesn’t grow and take more nourishment to make an arm wither and become weak. No, all parts are strengthened with growing tendons, ligaments, and muscles. We are one body with one head. It’s impossible for a finger to mature so much that it naturally separates from the hand as it grows. The fingers make up the hand, which forms the arm, then the upper body, and finally the lower body. Because we have one head, we are all called to grow together in the likeness of our head—not just in a few ways, but in every way. We all come from different backgrounds, theological views, denominations, cultures, and circumstances, which can lead to some disagreements and differences. But, over time, we should find our rhythm and mature beyond petty disputes as we all become more like our Savior by putting aside the deeds of the flesh and producing the fruit of the Spirit.

4. Unity in attitude. “…walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” Walking in our calling as believers means embodying specific qualities and attitudes. Humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. If this is our divine calling, then we must stay alert and prepared for the enemy’s attacks, which often try to promote the opposite attitudes. The sinful counterparts are pride and arrogance, harshness and aggression, impatience and restlessness. I believe God makes this very clear to us as a signpost for living a holy life. During times of conflict and confrontation, this sign should flash in our minds, guiding us to behave in humility, gentleness, and patience—ways of bearing with one another in love, not division, which leads to the pitfalls mentioned earlier.

5. Unity in faith. “…until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son…” We hold to a single, unified faith in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah, our Lord and Savior. We do not unify based on secular cultural norms, programs, causes, or individual voices. Instead, we unify in our faith in Christ, which deepens as we grow in our knowledge of Him. This is a call to immerse ourselves in scripture, prayer, and discipleship. If any church wants to keep growing, we must prevent the grass from growing too tall, as it can hinder our walk and block our view. 

6. Unity in posture. “…growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.” Unity is part of the believer’s posture that develops from the knowledge of Christ and is rooted in our measured growth. Think of this as a door frame that parents use as a growth chart for their kids. A few times a year, they stand against the frame, and their height is marked and celebrated. Over time, you can see their growth and how far they have come. As we grow in knowledge, we should also grow in maturity, which increases our stature. Each year, each conflict, each interaction with another helps us grow taller toward the top of the frame, and all of us are growing toward the same mark.

7. Unity in hope. “just as you were called to one hope at your calling…” We are called to be united in one hope. By definition, hope is confidence in obtaining something we do not yet have. When the Bible mentions hope, it usually refers to the hope of the resurrection and the complete restoration of our fallen nature. In this life, we are united in our outlook as we grow toward the top of the growth chart, but none of us reach the top in this life. However, we all share the same hope that we are fully secure in our relationship with God (that Jesus would lose none of those the Father has given Him), and that one day, we will be made complete and whole, free from sin and division. We will spend eternity in perfect peace and unity together in Christ.

8. Unity in mission. “… making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” “promot[ing] the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.” If our church body is not healthy, we will not be able to grow. We must be devoted to growing together proportionately, and in the same direction with the right attitudes and posture. Love must be the lifeblood that runs through us, and our mission in terms of unity is investing in one another with such a commitment that there is no question that each individual part is working properly.

If we embrace these aspects of unity within the body of Christ, we will be mature and prepared to carry out the Great Commission into year four and beyond. 

🔥 Application Point:

1. Identify the change and be a part of the solution.

As we continue to grow, we will fluctuate in our successes and setbacks in these areas. Just because we are highly successful in one of these points doesn’t mean we won’t backslide in the future. These are all aspects of unity we must tend to like plants in a garden. 

Walking worthy means growing in all of these aspects individually and corporately. > We are all maintenance gardeners in this local church body who are given the command to act.➤ Challenge: When you notice a challenge or area where we fall short of these unifying principles, what are you doing to be part of the solution? Be encouraged that you are equipped and called to do so.

FAQs

What is the central idea behind “Walk Worthy: Cultivating Unity in the Body of Christ”?

The core message is that believers are called to be a single body and to actively maintain the unity of that body. This unity is not merely a suggestion but a divine calling, rooted in the very nature of God and essential for the church’s growth and mission.

How does the passage from Ephesians 4 provide a framework for understanding unity?

Ephesians 4:1-6 and 11-16 serve as the foundational text, urging believers to “walk worthy of the calling” with humility, gentleness, patience, and love, making every effort to maintain the “unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” It emphasizes the singular nature of God (one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father) as the basis for earthly unity. The passage also highlights the various spiritual gifts given “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,” ultimately leading to “unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son,” and growth into Christ’s fullness.

What are some examples of unity experienced by AAC since its inception?

AAC has demonstrated unity in several ways: embracing a vision of biblical authority and expositional preaching during launch, showing generous giving for the building campaign to minister to the next generation, actively serving the community in the aftermath of “Helene” (through relief aid, backroad cleanups, and home rebuilding), providing loving and compassionate care in times of sickness and death, and fostering unity within life groups, Bible studies, ministry service, and discipleship groups.

What are the common pitfalls or attacks that threaten church unity, especially in later years?

Several challenges can disrupt church unity. The “honeymoon phase” often gives way to noticing imperfections and nitpicking secondary issues. “Burnout” can occur when a small percentage of people do most of the work, leading to exhaustion. “Mission drift” or “loss of urgency” happens when the church strays from its core goals and values, losing focus on declaring God’s glory and discipling others. “Infighting and gossip,” fueled by pride, arrogance, ambition, and envy, can actively destroy fellowship. Finally, “communication issues” are a significant threat, leading to misunderstandings or a complete lack of necessary communication within the church body.

What does it mean to “walk worthy” of the calling, and how does it relate to unity?

“Walking worthy” means living in a manner consistent with one’s identity as a child of God, adopted into His New Covenant family. This calling is inherently linked to unity. It means embodying specific qualities and attitudes such as humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love. These attitudes serve as “sturdy guardrails” against the “pitfalls” and “attacks” that seek to promote division and pride, thus maintaining the peace and unity of the Spirit.

How is unity rooted in the nature of God Himself?

Unity begins with the “unity of the God-head” – the perfect, eternal love and unity existing between the Father, Son, and Spirit. Because believers are united to this Godhead through Christ and have the same Spirit dwelling within them, they are called into that same divine fellowship. This implies that the unity among believers is not just a human endeavor but an imitation of the perfect unity already present in God.

What are the different “unities” that believers are called to cultivate?

The text outlines several aspects of unity:

1. Unity in the Godhead: Individual believers being united to the Father, Son, and Spirit.
2. Unity of believers as one body: Being connected to one another as Christ’s body, growing together proportionally.
3. Unity in attitude: Walking with humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love.
4. Unity in faith: Holding to a single faith in Jesus Christ, deepening through knowledge of Him.
5. Unity in posture: Growing in maturity towards “Christ’s fullness.”
6. Unity in hope: Sharing a common confidence in the resurrection and complete restoration.
7. Unity in mission: Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit, building each other up in love, and ensuring each part functions properly for the growth of the whole body.

What is the practical application point for maintaining unity in the church?

The practical application is to identify challenges and be part of the solution. Unity is not a static state but an ongoing process, requiring constant “maintenance gardening.” Believers are encouraged to recognize areas where the church falls short of these unifying principles and actively contribute to resolving them, understanding that they are equipped and called to do so. This proactive engagement is crucial for the church to mature and fulfill the Great Commission.