Below is an outline of my home church teaching from 23 June
Background in Ephesians so far
Our meaning and purpose derive from our standing before God, which is guaranteed when we enter a relationship with God. Terms like adoption describe our relationship - God has adopted us into His family, and we are citizens in His kingdom. Nothing can take that away from us, and to prove it, He has sent His Spirit as a permanent deposit. This aspect - being indwelled by the Holy Spirit - has far-reaching implications for followers of Christ.
4:1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. 3. Always keep yourselves united in the Holy Spirit, and bind yourselves together with peace.
4. We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. 5. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6. and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all.
the call
Live a life worthy of your calling- be humble
- humility is the anti-pride
- pride is known as the father of all sin - it is placing self at the center of one’s life. Read an excerpt on pride from C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.
- in many ways, we are rulers over our own kingdom, which is the sphere over which our will can be enacted (Dallas Willard has some excellent writings on this idea)
- be gentle
- be patient with each other
- remain united
- we are not called to become united, but rather to remain so. As we saw in 2:11ff and above, in 4:4-6, He has already performed the supernatural work of uniting us.
- the degree to which we are able to implement the above character qualities determines our ability to succeed at unity
- back in chapter 3, we see why the unity of the followers of Christ matters. It’s not an arbitrary suggestion, but Paul says that God is pointing to our unity as evidence of His goodness and wisdom
tools for responding to the call
our position
- God raised us with Christ
- not because of anything we’ve done, but rather due to God’s special favor
our identity
- who we are in Christ
- without our rebirth, it’s not possible for God to work in our heart
- we are God’s masterpiece
- we are members of God’s family, adopted
- we are citizens
- we are a dwelling where God lives
- God has already made us One
our minds
- to know, understand, regularly reflect on truth:
- how wide, long, high, and deep is the love of God
- that His love will never be taken from us
- that we have continuous access to God&’s presence
our indwelling
- the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in our heart
- one implication of this is that it’s a guarantee of our future - there are no ‘take-backs’
- another implication is that He empowers us to do that for which we are called — being “sensitive to and cooperative with” (Hybels)
misc notes
why does Paul make repeated reference to his captivity?
- maybe because it shows how invested he is in his calling
- it’s a metaphor??
3:10 - heavenly rulers will see God’s wisdom through the unity of the church
Comments 1
I really appreciated your teaching on pride, and this is my favorite part of the excerpt on pride from Mere Christianity.
“The point is, He (God) wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life.”
I have experienced this recently - that it’s a relief to submit yourself to God in humility, agree with Him about your sin, and to do this in relationships with other people.
Good stuff, baby!
Mrs. Wolfie
Posted 29 Jun 2005 at 1:21 am ¶