Ephesians Chapter 4 - Part 1
These are notes from our study on Ephesians. Most of the information comes from the Holman Commentary and the Disciples Study Bible.
Our Call to Unity and Holiness - Part 1
“Christians are people who are drawn together because they owe a common debt to the goodness and grace of God” William Barclay
In a Nutshell
Paul encourages the Ephesian Christians to live the way God’s people should live. Two particularly important things should characterize your lives: live in unity since you are spiritually united in Christ with all other Christians, and live holy lives.
Acting Like Who We Are
Identity and actions inseparably go together. From the earliest days of our childhood, our actions are linked to our identity:
• While there has been a concerted effort to blur the lines, boys grow up enjoying certain types of toys and games and girls grow up enjoying certain different types of toys and games. This becomes even more apparent as they leave the toddler years and enter grade school. We often hear parents tell their children, “You are a big boy/girl; you need to act like one.”
• In the movie Princess Diaries, a young girl discovers that her father was a prince. As much as she fights the expectations of how a princess should act, walk and talk, she eventually adapts to her new identity and becomes a princess while maintaining her unique and somewhat clumsy personality. She is reminded often that she is now a princess and must act like one.
• An 18 year old has just endured the most difficult 12 weeks of his life in Marine boot camp. During his last week he is forced to crawl in the mud under barbed wire while live ammunition is fired just inches above his head. He suddenly freezes and panics. Another Marine comes up beside him and says, “Get ahold of yourself. You’re a Marine. Act like one.”
Throughout our life, from beginning to end, our identity is linked to our actions. Who we are affects how we should act. This is the basic principle of life to which Paul appeals in our opening sentence of Chapter 4. In the first three chapters of Ephesians he said, “You are a child of God.” Now in the fourth he is saying, “Act like one.” Throughout the rest of his letter he spells out for us the specific details of how we are to act.
Describe your identity and how that affects how you act.
The Call to Unity (vv. 1-6)
Verse 1 – The word “then” refers back to the entire first three chapters. Paul is telling us to think of all the things God has done for us and the great calling that He has given to us. Paul says, “then” or “therefore” live a life worthy of that calling. Paul’s reminding us that he was a prisoner for the Lord is an encouragement for us that we should also be willing to become prisoners for the Lord. We need to give up our freedom to follow Christ.
Verse 2 – The character qualities of a person who lives as a prisoner for Christ are:
• Humility – to see yourself as God sees you: with infinite and inherent value, but with no more value than anyone else. Accepting God as the authority over your life. Many Christians believe one extreme or another: either they see themselves as worthless sinners who are unworthy or God’s service, or they see themselves as the answer to everyone’s prayers. As Christians, we must move beyond our guilt for our past sins. When you ask Christ to forgive you of your sins, they are forgiven and forgotten, so when Satan tries to remind you or your past…remind him of his future. However, we also must remember that God does not need us to help Him in His plan. It is an honor for us to be involved in the ministries of God. Whenever we begin to think that a specific ministry could not exist without us, or that God must be fortunate to have our help, we become useless in the service of God. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord. Can you think of some humble characters from the Bible?
• Gentleness or meekness – literally means “power under control.” Being meek for a week will make you realize that it takes strength to be meek. War horses in the ancient world were described as meek: they were under complete control of their rider so they could protect him during battle. Their strength was under total control. Can you think of some meek characters from the Bible?
• Patience – believing that God’s timetable is good, no matter what it is. The lack of patience in spiritual matters means that we think we know better than God how and when something should happen. Can you think of some patient characters from the Bible?
Verse 3 – these characteristics yield unity. Unity exists in Christ. Unity is maintained by the Spirit. Unity is preserved as believers make peace with one another through acting selfless rather than selfish.
I shared in my blog recently that we seem to have reached a point in time where many Christians want to enjoy the things of their youth rather than see the youth of today have what they themselves had. I was speaking mainly about musical styles of worship, but that same selfish attitude is seen in many areas among the older generation: this is MY pew, this is MY church, sing MY hymns, you bought this with MY tithe, this is MY classroom, people should dress the way I think they should, kids should act as I did when I was a kid, etc. Senior adults should be old enough to know better, yet, sadly, many of our senior adults are still infants spiritually. They demand their way in the church because of their age and tenure at the church. And we need to lovingly bring them into unity with us through the power of the Spirit of God.
Verse 4 – There is one body. We may meet in different places, speak different languages, have different
customs and cultures, but none of this separates us. The church obeys one Spirit. When teachers or preachers bring messages that they claim are from God, yet their message divides people into different camps, then their message is not from God. Our church has two completely different styles of worship and I have heard teachers and leaders within our church complain about what happens in the other worship services. This is not godly behavior and they need to be compelled to return to their place as a prisoner for the Lord. They need to give up their selfish behaviors and focus on what God wants for His church…which is unity.
What are some loving ways to help people grow out of selfishness?
Verse 5 – One Lord was an important point in Paul’s time. Lord was a word for a ruler, a master, someone who had authority over you. Paul is telling us that the church only has one leader and that person is Jesus Christ. If the church follows Jesus, it will never be divided. One faith indicates that we are to all believe the same thing: the message of Christ crucified, resurrected, and reigning as our Lord. One baptism shows that we are to be unified in membership through as they confess the “one faith” in their “one Lord.”
We have hundreds of different denominations with differing beliefs about the scriptures. How do you think this fits into God’s plan for the church as described by Paul? Do different interpretations of the scripture keep the body of Christ from being unified?
Verse 6 – One God was shared separate from the one Lord so as to tie the church together with its Jewish heritage. The worship of one and only one God united the church. Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians can be united through Christ because they believed in and worshipped the same God.
The Cultivation of Unity (vv. 7-16)
God has spiritually gifted each of us, so we should minister to others and let the minister to us. Then we will all grow to spiritual maturity.
Verse 7 – Each Christian has been given spiritual gifts. These are not proportioned equally, but rather Christ has chosen how to divide grace to each member. Each is distinct and different.
Do unequal gifts create disunity among Christians? If yes, how can we prevent this?
Verses 8-10 – Paul digresses to give scriptural proof for his statement in verse 7. Paul is giving a summary of Psalm 68.
“Psalm 68 is a victory hymn composed by David to celebrate the conquest of a Jebusite city. It describes a victory parade up Mount Zion, going beyond the literal, historical victory parade to attribute the victory to God. Thus is talks about a figurative victory parade with God ascending, not up to Mount Zion, but up to heaven.” Holman Commentary
Historically it was accurate in portraying how a king would bring back the spoils of his victory and display them to his people. The king would bring back any of his people who had been prisoners and parade them before the crowd as well as parade enemy prisoners that they captured. The released captives were referred to as recaptured captives—prisoners who had been taken prisoner again by their own king and then given freedom. It was a great honor for the king to release these captives.
Figuratively David pictures God ascending to heaven after having been victorious against His earthly enemies and leading captives in his train so that he can free those who had been captive to the forces of evil.
NOTE: the phrase “the lower parts of the earth” do not necessarily indicate the physical place of “Hell” as the same Hebrew phrase has been used in other scripture to mean the womb, the grave, and the belly of a great fish. Basically it is a contrast between the highest heavens and some other place.
Verse 11 – this verse ties directly back to the last words of verse 7. Most evangelical theologians believe that two of these gifts mentioned are no longer given to people based on Ephesians 2:20 which tells us that the church was laid on the foundation of the ministry of the apostles and prophets. Now that the foundation has been laid, the evangelists and pastors-teachers are being used to build the superstructure. But we also must take into account what we mean by prophets.
In the strictest sense a prophet means what? (Someone who shares a message from God about a future event) But what is the general meaning of a prophet? (Someone who delivers a message from God to His people).
Old Testament prophets came from the tribe of Levi and included those who proclaimed a future event as well as those who taught God’s Word. Many of the musicians that King David hired through the Temple, went throughout Israel teaching people the Word of God through song and were called prophets, even though they did not proclaim future events. Also, scripture tells us that our sons and daughters will prophesy in the end times. Some theologians believe this means that the Spirit will once again give the gift of prophecy to believers, while others believe that this is speaking about the pastors who will be proclaiming God’s Word in the end times.
Verse 12 – those God gifts are not expected to do all of the ministry themselves, but to prepare and equip (train) other Christians for service so that more people will come to know about Christ and so that the body of Christ will be strengthened through their ministry and service.
Most Christians (about 80% who attend regularly and probably 95% of those who call themselves Christians) believe that they have hired people to do the service and that they are there only to attend worship and Bible study. What can we do to help them understand their true purpose?
There is a popular television show called American Idol where judges and then the audience get to vote for the people they think are doing the best job. The rest are in effect voted off of the show. What do you think would happen if we started voting off the people who were not really trying?
Verse 13 – earlier I asked if you thought unequal gifts would create disunity. In this verse we learn that diverse gifts are meant to create and build up one body in unity. Christ does not try to build up superstars (or American Idols) in His kingdom with superior faith or superior knowledge. This unity is because of our faith and knowledge in Christ. When we become unified, we grow spiritually and through our maturity we show the world all the attributes and qualities of Christ.
Verses 14-16 – The result of spiritually gifted people’s equipping the saints is that believers are not to be like children, easily persuaded and confused, jumping from one opinion or belief to the next, like waves on the seas being driven by gusting winds of false teaching. Rather the believers are to speak to one another the truth in love. Immature people either speak the truth without love or they love without speaking the truth.
EXAMPLE: A mother who constantly allows her children to eat whatever they want regardless of what it will do to their health. She loves them, but she is unwilling to tell them what is good and bad because it is just too much work or she wants them to think she is a cool mom. She is speaking in love, but not truth. Or a father who constantly yells at his kids telling them to grow up and quit acting like little kids. He may be speaking the truth, because they do need to mature, but he is not doing so with love.
Can you give a religious example?
We must recognize that we belong to each other and that we need each other. We must speak the truth in love so that we each will grow in maturity.
This is part four in a series on Ephesians. Please read the other parts of this series:
1. Ephesians Chapter 1 - Our Spiritual Blessings in Christ
2. Ephesians Chapter 2 - Our Spiritual Union with God
3. Ephesians Chapter 3 - Paul's Prayer for Power
5. Ephesians Chapter 4, part 2 - Our Call to Unity and Holiness
6. Ephesians Chapter 5 - Our Life of Love
7. Ephesians Chapter 6 - Our Obedience Leads to Victory
Comments