Code of Conduct

THE CHURCH’S CODE OF CONDUCT – Ephesians 4:1-6

At eighteen years old, not too many things make a lasting positive impression.
At least that’s the way I remember it. I was too focused on thinking I was the one that was shaping the world. In fact, it was the other way around. The world was putting its mark on me in a negative way. But one thing that stamped a good impression on me was something I was taught the first few days of basic training in the military. It was a six-point document that we had to memorize and it was called the Code of Conduct. All military personnel had to be exposed to it as an expected standard of behavior. I wondered about the possibility of ever living out these words on a practical level. Through the years I have not retained this information. My brain is not what it used to be. So I had to look the Code up again. When I read it this week, I remember exactly where I was when I first heard it, and where I was three years later when I had to review these statements as I prepared to serve my country on foreign soil in the Republic of South Korea in a combat support function.
The U.S. Military Code of Conduct goes like this:
Article I: I am an American, fighting in the forces which guard my country and our way of life. I am prepared to give my life in their defense.
Article II: I will never surrender of my own free will. If in command, I will never surrender the members of my command while they still have the means to resist.
Article III: If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and to aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.
Article IV: If I become a prisoner of war, I will keep faith with my fellow prisoners. I will give no information or take part in any action which might be harmful to my comrades. If I am senior, I will take command. If not, I will obey the lawful orders of those appointed over me and will back them up in every way.
Article V: When questioned, should I become a prisoner of war, I am required to give name, rank, service number, and date of birth. I will evade answering further questions to the utmost of my ability. I will make no oral or written statements disloyal to my country and its allies or harmful to their cause.
Article VI: I will never forget that I am an American, fighting for freedom, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the principles which made my country free. I will trust in my God and in the United States of America.
When I was eighteen years old I didn’t know much. But because of the Code, I knew how I was expected to conduct myself as a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, no matter where I was or what the circumstances happened to be. Today, as we consider our calling as a church in the calling of a pastor, I wonder if many members of the Church of Jesus Christ have an adequate understanding of how we are to conduct ourselves in the Body of Christ, which is the church and the army of the Living God. Is there anywhere in God’s word where we can learn about a Code of Conduct for Christianity and live out God’s purpose in the church?
Let’s turn in the New Testament to the Book of Ephesians. The Ephesian letter is compared by some to the Old Testament Book of Joshua. Joshua reads like a battlefield account as well as a manual or directive in how to possess the Land of Promise. It had been granted to God’s people under God’s authority. But they still had to fight to possess it and occupy the place that God had provided. Ephesians also directs us to a promised possession and privileged position as the people of God, historically this side of the cross, the greatest battle in time and eternity.
Ephesians is divided into two sections. The first section is doctrinal, teaching us about the nature of God and the believer’s relationship with Him. The second half is practical, informing us as to how these truths are lived out in this place and in this time. We are shown our possession and our position in Christ. Let’s briefly look at a few excerpts of the letter in the first three chapters.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. (1:3-4)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (2:4-10)
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (2:19-22)
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. (3:14-19)

After we are given a sense of the magnitude of God’s mission of redemption, we can learn a little of our identity as God’s people in the Church, pictured as the members of His body. Our purpose and position in Christ reveals to us who we are. The fourth chapter begins to tell us how to conduct ourselves in our behavior. Let’s read our focal passage for today.

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)
The Word of God contains the Church’s Code of Conduct.

Here we can see that…

I. OUR CONDUCT SHOULD COMPLEMENT OUR CALLING.
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,…
Paul wrote this letter to exhort the Church in Ephesus to think about how they conduct themselves in light of how God has conducted Himself. Therefore, he writes, since God has revealed to you your position and your possession, since you are heirs to a kingdom, conduct yourselves as a royal household. Now what would that look like to believer in Ephesus? It would look a lot different than the culture around them. Ephesus was a center of worship. But the worship was idolatrous. The city had a great temple built as a shrine to the goddess, Diana. The ritual of the temple services consisted of sacrifices and of ceremonial prostitution, a practice which was common to many of the religions of the ancient Orient. She lived in Nature; I guess she was the original Mother Nature, it was believed that she was everywhere wherever there was life, the mother of all living things, an ancient age New Age philosophy. Since all offerings of every possible nature were therefore acceptable to her, vast amounts of material wealth poured into that temple. And the wealth of the temple culture drove the economy. Silver statues and shrines were manufactured and sold, with accompanying incantations as to how to benefit from the worship of this goddess Diana. These people were worshipping the god of their understanding, the spirit of the age.
Into this world of sexual immorality, sorcery and magic, and an idolatry-driven economy came the Word of the Living God. In Acts 19, we get a sense of the high drama when Paul met strong spiritual resistance and warfare. God showed Himself to be the one true God as people who were seeking healing and deliverance experienced miraculous deeds of God through Paul. Some were exposed to the handkerchiefs and aprons that the Apostle touched and were set free from their bondage. In that day it was a time of radical and open spiritual warfare. God was making a statement in their culture which could not be ignored.
We live in a culture where the economy is driven by idolatry as well. Sexual immorality seems to be a massive financial industry and many people give their offerings at this altar of worship. Institutions of greed are propped up by people claiming to have the solutions to the problems and we have political leadership that promises change…and no doubt change is coming. When you live in the times we live in our problems as human beings are still the same as in first century Ephesus. Who do you trust with your future? If you are a stranger to God today, your world is going to become stranger and stranger. The question for the non-Christian to settle in their mind is this: Is my god sufficient to save me today? Paul would echo what I am about to say. You can trust the God of the Bible with your life and circumstance. God is able.
The non-Christian world in America today is watching our “walk” more than hearing our words. Our walk is defined in this passage to denote the way we live out our lives in the manner of our conduct or the way we behave. Can someone in the public arena such as our workplaces or schools point to us and say, “This person is different from most. He or she does not participate in playing the lottery, or hangs out at happy hour, or cheat on examinations, income taxes, or their spouse. They don’t play by the rules of the world. They operate by a different code of conduct.” Can people say that about you, Christian disciple?
Our conduct is to be complimentary to our calling. Christ is the caller. Our habitual lives should mesh, or fit in, to what it means to be “in Christ”. Our walk among other humans should be commensurate or “in step” with Christ. If you have ever watched an episode of Gomer Pyle, USMC, you may recall how the show opened up with the recruits marching in formation. Gomer never could quite get in step with the rest. And you could see Sergeant Carter taking immediate and corrective action. Private Pyle was easy to spot because his head was bouncing. It was up when all the rest of the heads were down and down when they were up. This is the phenomenon when a group of people are walking in unity with one another. Every part is moving together. When one is out of step, their head is not in the same place.
We should be easy to spot in our culture. We should be out of step. As we march along with the masses, our head should not be in the same place. Our thinking will guide our conduct. Our thinking should be different. How should the Christian be thinking and acting rightly? The text gives us the code to live by. Walk, or live worthily…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. Here’s how this should apply to us here at Mount Olivet.
Being “in Christ” means being humble and gentle. Many people are coming here during the week to get assistance for help in their life situations. We are at a place in our culture where the promises made by man are fast being exposed as hollow. People need hope and help. We are in a good position in that we don’t possess silver and gold. But what we have we can give to them. We can be humble in our presentation of Christ. We can be gentle with them in the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene. Our calling as Christians mandates humility which is the opposite of pride. Do not look down on the downtrodden as victims of their own bad choices. Look at them as people that Christ has sent. Lost people cannot find their way until they find God’s way.
Conduct that complements our calling is walking with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love. This is the word to the church internally. This is one of the family secrets. Learning to be patient with one another in our disagreements is recognizing our need to deal with one another’s burdens. Tolerance for our brother and sister in love is the way of Christ. This means that we should be patient with one another as we are on this journey. It does not mean that we should be tolerant in ungodly behavior or ignore the destructive effects of sin within the family. We are called to a higher calling. We are called to a worthy calling…to Christ and to community. And a community handles the thing that threatens it. In the Christian community, we are to pursue unity in our unity with God. Love is what keeps us together. Even when we must deal with our sin, we must do this in love. This complements the redemption story. It is in step with restoration. People who love patiently and show tolerance for one another will be thinking rightly about the goal of the church becoming one body in Christ.

II. OUR CALLING IS TO UNITY WITH GOD AND WITH ONE ANOTHER.…

being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
When the Ephesian church assembled, it was a very diverse group. Jews and Gentiles had the potential for great division. Paul met some disciples who were baptized with John’s baptism and did not know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. So Paul took the opportunity to teach things that people had not yet come to know. And one of the things he taught in this letter was the fact that Christ had broken down the wall of division between these people and brought those who were formerly far away from God and His covenants of promise near to God. Chapter 2:14 says For He Himself is our peace…Knowing about the Messiah was not enough but knowing the Messiah was sufficient to bring unity to the church. And it still is. The common ground is that we are all sinners, saved by grace.
Broken families are some of the world’s greatest heartbreaks. The yearning for family belonging is rooted deep within us. I believe we were created with a desire for family unity in our DNA. How else do you explain the community that is often found in the gang culture? They offer a semblance of belonging and protection and encouragement that is lacking. As an example of the effects of the disintegration of leadership in the family, have you ever observed what often happens when an influential family leader dies? He or she may have been the one who encouraged community, or thought family honor meant something, and perhaps was a catalyst in organizing family reunions. One result of the death of the leader is that people stop getting together or even contacting one another because the only reason they were coming together was that this influential person called them to it. The non-Christian has no leader calling them to unity.
In contrast, the Christian community in the church has a Leader who lives forever. When we celebrate communion, we remember Him. We come to the family table. Christ still thinks that Christian unity is something worth preserving. He died to tear down the wall of separation between us and God and the division between one another. And He rose from the dead to put the exclamation point on this point: We are to be diligent to preserve unity. The world is watching to see if we are unified or divided within the church. Why would someone seek shelter in a house divided? It may fall! Let’s be a house of good repute. Let’s work at unity, working on building the Body of Christ which is the house of God. Are you willing to take extreme measures to preserve unity? One diligent step is to stop any gossip that comes your way. You stop it by speaking truth in love to the one who is bringing it to you. Something like this might be appropriate: “I don’t want to hear things that threaten our family unity. Our Father doesn’t want us to be a part in creating or perpetuating problems. He wants us to be engaged in encouraging those who are struggling in our church.” Think in advance as to how you will respond in love to the next time you hear divisive comments among us and about us.
The Lord our God is One God. And His people are to be one people. The world needs to see a unified church in America today. Be diligent in preserving unity. The Holy Spirit unifies. When we work to tear it down, we contend with God. Our standing as the Body of Christ is to be built in our promise that God stands in unity with us and among us. Our hope for the Church in America will not found in political solutions. Our hope is in our calling. We are called to God and to one another. We do well to remember that today.

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

Seven “ones” are found in this passage. God has always been completely one. He is one God in three distinct persons all by Himself. We are called to Him because we are incomplete without him. He could exist without us (and did) but we cannot live without Him. We die without Him. He calls us to Himself; He calls us to unity within our families so that our families are one with Him. He calls us to Himself in the church so that the church will not be a headless body. He calls us to Heaven where there is perfect and complete unity for all eternity. God will rule perfectly forever and there is never any option or need for a better point of view.
The unity of the Spirit is found in the “bond of peace”. In today’s world we have available to us instruments issued by law enforcement in the judicial process called protective orders, or “restraining orders”. These legal instruments are issued so that two people are restrained from contact with one another which has become destructive and dangerous to one or both of the parties. In days gone by, law enforcement officers were called “peace officers” and a judge was called “justice of the peace.” They issued protective orders as well and they used to be called “peace bonds.” The language expressed indicated the purpose. People were ordered to stay apart to preserve peace. But their unity was sacrificed. In this passage the Holy Spirit unifies the church and the call is to “come together” so we may have peace. The peace that God gives to us will come forth as a function of the assembling of the Body together in worship and community. I challenge you to give yourself to the task of keeping the peace within our fellowship and be diligent about it. Our congregation will reap great benefits if we seek God’s peace and pursue it. And when we get it, we must zealously guard it as a treasured gift.
Why does a church call a pastor? Why do we need one? What is his purpose? We have tried to explore God’s word this past month for the answers to these questions. I could have said to the congregation read these scriptures and pray about what God would have you to do. There would have been nothing wrong with this approach. But I was compelled to prepare the congregation to think seriously on this matter. So with my heart before the Lord, as this sermon series ends, I have tried to help us see how God’s word is sufficient to guide us in this process.
A church calls a pastor because they are to receive a gift. A pastor is God’s gift to the church. And the church is God’s gift to the pastor. These are grace gifts that God provides, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Because we have been given Christ, we are given His body as well. The cross, the resurrection, and the ascension prepared God’s people to be the church to be an army awaiting the return of the Lord. We are to be an occupying spiritual force, holding our position, engaging the enemy as we are completely surrounded keeping watch for the arrival of our Supreme Commander. Hear what God’s word says about the purpose of the pastor:

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Our “so what” today is a “so that”.

I. OUR CONDUCT SHOULD COMPLEMENT OUR CALLING.
and…
II. OUR CALLING IS TO UNITY WITH GOD AND WITH ONE ANOTHER.

so that…we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head…

Here’s an excerpt from the book Experiencing God Together: God’s Plan to Touch the World by Henry and Melvin Blackaby. It is good reinforcement to what we have been learning as a church these last few weeks.

"Since Christ is the Head of every church, what place does the pastor have? He is not the Head; that position is already occupied. And Christ is not just a “figurehead.” He is present and active in His body as the people live together and function as a church. He is present and active in His body as He seeks to guide His people to do the Father’s will. Believe it or not, He really does desire to direct and guide them into His ways.
The pastor then, is an undershepherd who obeys Christ as the Shepherd and the Head of His own people. The pastor ensures that every member is not only fully connected to the Head but that each one is growing toward Christlikeness. He will enlist every member to function in the body where the Father has placed them. He will then encourage members to live their lives to their maximum potential in Christ. He will be a spiritual catalyst in the body for Christlikeness. What a joyful assignment the pastor has been given! His role is not to get everyone to follow him; his role is to help the members of the church to follow Christ as their Lord.
…When God adds a particular pastor to a church, does He specifically place him in that body? If we take our answers and guidance from the culture around us, we may see the pastor as a “religious chief executive officer,” leading a religious organization. But a church is not merely a religious organization…It is a living body of Christ – a living organism. God adds a pastor to help His people be all He has purposed for them to be! Knowing the condition of His people, He will add a pastor that is uniquely qualified in his relationship with Christ to take His people from where they are to where God wants them to be.
If God’s people are greatly discouraged and brokenhearted, He may bring a Barnabas to encourage and strengthen them. If they are spiritually sick, He may bring a spiritual physician to bring healing into their midst and to deal with the sin that has caused such trouble. If God’s people are mature and ready to go on mission with Him, He may bring a pastor with a great missionary heart. If a church is greatly broken and divided, He may bring a pastor with a shepherd’s heart – who is patient, kind, long-suffering, gentle, and has a strong gift of reconciliation. If a church has been thoroughly discipled and is growing in Christ, God may bring a pastor with a heart for evangelism to help the people bear witness to the Christ they have come to know. If the church has been immersed in evangelism for many years and has many people hungering to be fed the Word of God and discipled to grow in Christlikeness, He may bring a pastor with a great heart for teaching and discipling.
The pastor must be a servant of God and submissive to the Head. The church is not [the pastor’s] church; it is Christ’s church. God Himself has been shaping the church for His purposes before he got there to be the pastor. The pastor, therefore, must be preeminently a man given to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4). He must take the people to Christ through prayer and the ministry of the Word. God’s people must not only know about Christ; they must be experientially connected to Him. Like a branch and the vine, the people must be attached to Christ. Like the sheep to their shepherd, the people must know and follow their Lord. Like the body to the head, they must function together. This is the great task of the pastor, helping the people walk in a vital union with the Lord." (Experiencing God Together, 119-121)

To close today, If I had my way I’d like to reword Article Six of the Military Code of Conduct:
Article VI: I will never forget that I am a Christian, fighting for unity and not against it in the Church, privileged to freely worship Christ, responsible for my actions, and dedicated to the Biblical principles which make my church free to live out the gospel within my culture. I will trust in my God and partner with Him to build up the Body of Christ, which is the church of the Living God, of which I am greatly blessed to be a part.
God’s plan is that His church will be alright one day. Until that day we have much work to do. It will keep us busy until Christ comes…so let’s be about God’s business…and business is good.

Blessings to you,
Sam