SATURDAY'S SOUNDNESS...

ONE *GOD*, ONE CHRIST, ONE SPIRIT, ONE BODY: UNITY---

EPHESIANS 4: 1-16...
1+++Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
2+++with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love,
3+++being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4+++There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling;
5+++one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6+++one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
7+++But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8+++Therefore it says,
“WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,
AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”
9+++(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10+++He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)
11+++And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12+++for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13+++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.
14+++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;
15+++but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16+++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.

Nothing is pressed more earnestly in the Scriptures, than to walk as becomes those called to Christ's kingdom and glory. 

By lowliness, understand humility, which is opposed to pride. By meekness, that excellent disposition of soul, which makes men unwilling to provoke, and not easily to be provoked or offended. We find much in ourselves for which we can hardly forgive ourselves; therefore we must not be surprised if we find in others that which we think it hard to forgive. 

There is one Christ in whom all believers hope, and one heaven they are all hoping for; therefore they should be of one heart. They had all one faith, as to its object, Author, nature, and power. They all believed the same as to the great truths of religion; they had all been admitted into the church by one baptism, with water, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, as the sign of regeneration. In all believers God the Father dwells, as in his holy temple, by his Spirit and special grace.

Unto every believer is given some gift of grace, for their mutual help. All is given as seems best to Christ to bestow upon every one. He received for them, that he might give to them, a large measure of gifts and graces; particularly the gift of the Holy Ghost. Not a mere head knowledge, or bare acknowledging Christ to be the Son of God, but such as brings trust and obedience. There is a fullness in Christ, and a measure of that fullness given in the counsel of God to every believer; but we never come to the perfect measure till we come to heaven. 

God's children are growing, as long as they are in this world; and the Christian's growth tends to the glory of Christ. The more a man finds himself drawn out to improve in his station, and according to his measure, all that he has received, to the spiritual good of others, he may the more certainly believe that he has the grace of sincere love and charity rooted in his heart.