Ephesians: Ephesians 4

Let's read through a different version of Chapter 4 before digging into its details!

Paul has spent the first three chapters on doctrine, but DOCTRINE IS WORTHLESS UNLESS IT'S PUT INTO PRACTICE IN OUR LIVES, which is where Paul is going now. If you're a different person now that before you came to know Christ as your savior, there's something wrong in your relationship with Him - you need to examine yourself to see if you're really in Christ. If you are a Christian, but not growing, you need to examine what in your life is impeding your growth!

(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.

*THEREFORE: The Bible was written to be obeyed,
and not simply studied, and this is why the words “therefore”,
“however” and "instead" are repeated so often
in the second half of Ephesians. Paul was saying, “Here is what
Christ has done for you. Now, in the light of this, here is what we
ought to do for Christ.” We are to be doers of the Word, and not
hearers only. (James1:22).
**Lead a life - Literally, walk. We are to walk in worthiness -
Ephesians 4:1, in holiness - Ephesians 4:17; in love - Ephesians 5:2; in light - Ephesians 5:8; in wisdom - Ephesians 5:15. The Greek word translated "walk" in Ephesians 4:1 means "daily conduct." The Christian walk speaks of our lifestyle.
***worthy:
- Philippians 1:27: Above all, you must live
  as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy
  of the Good News about Christ...
- 1 Thessalonians 2:12: We pleaded with you,
  encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God
  would consider worthy. For he called you to share
  in his Kingdom and glory.
- worthy here is the Greek word axios, which refers to
  a pair of scales in which, when the weights on each side are equal,
  they bring or draw down (axiousi) the beam to a level position.
  - Parkhurst. A Christian's lifestyle ought to be equalized with his identity. There ought to be a perfect harmony between who you are and how you live. And your circumstances shouldn't affect that, no matter how bad they might be. The worthy walk may lead to prison and death, as it did for Paul, but it should never change our commitment to walk worthy of our Lord.
****calling: The Christian’s calling is the highest
calling of all, and so sets the highest standards - above the standards
of teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, etc. To what have we been called?
We are called to be members of His body, to be part of the heavenly
temple (Ephesians 2:19-22), to be called to be ‘holy
and blameless’, to live to his praise and glory.

(2) Always be *humble and **gentle.
Be ***patient wit each other, making allowance for each
other’s faults because of your love.

Humility and gentleness are considered weakness by
the world, but Jesus showed it to be real strength that even defeated
Rome. The ancient world (as well as today's world) looked on humility as a thing to be despised equated to weakness.
*humble: Acts 20:19: I have done the Lord’s work
humbly and with many tears. I have endured the trials
that came to me from the plots of the Jews.
**gentle: Greek - Praus:
- Galatians 5:23: gentleness,
  and self-control. There is no law against these things!
- Praus is the Greek for an animal which has been trained
  and domesticated until it is completely under control. A praus man then is a God-controlled man.
***patient: Christian patience is the spirit which
never admits defeat, which will not be broken by any misfortune or suffering,
by any disappointment or discouragement, but which persists to the end.
It is the spirit which can suffer unpleasant people with graciousness
and fools without irritation.

(3) *Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.

*Make every effort: Greek - spoudazo - to be diligent. This is the same word as "study" in the KJV or "work hard" in the NLT in 2 Timothy 2:15 and "let us labor" or "let us do our best" in Hebrews 4:11.

(4) For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious *hope for the future.

*hope:
- Ephesians 1:18: I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.
- Colossians 1:5: which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.
- Titus 2:13: while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.
- Hebrews 11:1: Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.

(5) There is one Lord, one faith, one *baptism,

one *baptism:
- Mark 10:38: But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I am about to drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism of suffering I must be baptized with?”
- Luke 3:15-16: Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon, and they were eager to know whether John might be the Messiah. John answered their questions by saying, “I baptize you with water; but someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to be his slave and untie the straps of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
- 1 Corinthians 10:2: In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.

(6) and *one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all.

*one God and Father: 1 Corinthians 8:5-6: There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. But we know that there is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we live for him. And there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom God made everything and through whom we have been given life.
Note the introversion in verses 4-6 and notice that Lord is at the center of the seven-fold unity of the Spirit which we are urged to keep:

one body
- one Spirit
  - one hope
    - one Lord
  - one faith
- one baptism
one God and Father

(7) HOWEVER, he has given each one of us a special
*gift through the generosity of Christ.

*gift: Here, Paul says we have each been
given individually a special gift. In verse 11, he relates what gifts
Christ has given to the entire church, His body.

Our job is to discover and exercise that gift. Jesus Christ has given a specific gift to you, just as the man in the parable gave the talents to each of his servants, entrusting them with his property until his return. And when he comes back, his judgment will be based on what you did with the gift he gave to you.

(8) That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.”

Psalm 68:18: When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you. Now the Lord God will live among us there.
Colossians 2:15: In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

(9) Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world.

Or to the lowest parts of the earth.

(10) And the same one who descended is the one who ascended *higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.

*higher - Greek - huperano, from which we get our word "hyper", literally means "over-above". These are the "super heavens" or "super heavenlies" or "super heavenly places" which are above ALL heavens.
- Deuteronomy 10:14: “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God.
- 1 Kings 8:27: “But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!
- 2 Corinthians 12:2: I (Greek - I know a man in Christ who) was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know—only God knows.
- Ephesians 1:21: Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come.

(11) Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.

(12) Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

(13) This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

Our goal should be to reach maturity as a Christian - and what is Christian maturity? The next verses answer that question.

(14) Then we will no longer be immature like *children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

*children: Greek - brephos = an embryo or new-born baby.

(15) INSTEAD, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

(16) He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

If we aren't doing our own special work, exercising our special gift, we aren't just hurting ourselves, we're hurting others, especially those around us and most especially those we love or should love!

(17) With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused.

Paul is urging the new Christians at Ephesus and to leave their old way of life of idolatry and sin and to turn to the new way of life in Christ. Many of the new members in this new church had verbally accepted Christ as Savior but had not made the changes in their way of life that testifies to the new change. Our lives should be distinctly different from the unsaved around us - if not, there's something seriously wrong with us! Examine yourself to see if you are indeed in the faith.
- Corinthians 13:5: Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is in you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.

(18) Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.

(19) They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

(20) BUT that isn’t what you *learned about Christ.

*learned: Greek - manthano = to learn by experience, to learn as a disciple.

(21) Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him,

(22) throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.

A true Christian will feel sorrow and guilt when he commits a sin. But, if he continues to sin without feeling guilty, he is approaching a time when he will sin without feeling anything at all.
If you're a relatively new Christian, your life will be different from what it was before receiving Christ. If have been a Christian a long time and are not living a more Christ-like life than you did a few years ago, you are stagnant in your relationship with Christ.

(23) INSTEAD, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Christian people should be and act differently than others.

(24) Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Colossians 3:9-10: Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.

(25) So stop telling *lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.

*lies: Who told the first lie and when and where? Who is the "father of lies"?

John 8:44: For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

(26) And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”
Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry,

Psalm 4:4: Don’t sin by letting anger control
you. Think about it overnight and remain silent.
A Christian can not live peaceably and in truth if he is unable to
control his temper. There will always be anger in life, at some time.
Even Christ demonstrated the rightful use of anger…but anger must
be controlled. We are told that we must not let the sun set before our
expressed anger has been placed under spiritual control.

(27) for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

Unrighteous anger gives Satan an opening - opens a wedge!

(28) If you are a thief, quit *stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need.

*stealing is the lie in practice.

(29) Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.

(30) And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, *guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.

*guaranteeing: Or has put his seal on you.

(31) Get rid of all *bitterness, **rage, ***anger, ****harsh
words, and ****slander, as well as all types
of evil behavior.

*Bitterness is that form of anger that stays inside,
in the heart. Bitterness often blinds us to our bitterness and makes us, and everyone around us, miserable. Bitterness,
of course, takes a while to develop. People are not usually bitter overnight.
The solution is Jesus Christ. Did He have the life He deserved on earth?
No, He most certainly did not. He had a life full of suffering. But
He was not bitter. He came because we deserve much worse in life than
what we are getting. He came so that we could have the forgiveness of
sins. He can forgive your bitterness against
God. Let go of your bitterness, and embrace the joy of new
life in Christ.
**Rage usually refers to an outburst and to do something in wrath. So, it is more intense than
bitterness, but of much shorter duration. Usually, this happens when
we feel that we have been wronged in a specific instance.
***Anger: The third word Paul uses here is a word
that describes a boiling pot of anger. It is a fairly steady, longer-lasting
hot kind of anger. We might use the phrase “our blood is boiling.”
****Harsh words: The fourth word that Paul uses here
is a word that describes someone shouting out loudly in anger. It is
that torrent of words that come pouring out of an angry heart. They
are usually loud. What does shouting accomplish, exactly? Well, it usually
makes you feel powerful, although the truth of the matter is that the
person who can control and master their anger is a lot more powerful
than the one who simply gives in to it. Such shouting also makes people
afraid of you, particularly those people who are under you in authority.
It never convinces anyone else of your point of view.
****Slander: The last word is the worst word of all.
Literally, it is blasphemy. Now, as this word is used in the New Testament,
it can refer either to slander against someone else, or it can refer
to blasphemy against God Himself. The last result of rage is that we
attack that person with our words, and sometimes with our actions. All
of anger (and we are talking about unrighteous anger here) is opposed
to forgiveness. You simply cannot forgive someone if you are angry with
that person, and stay angry with that person. However, speaking against
someone what is false, or speaking against God something that is blasphemous
is the worst sin that is in the category of anger.
Romans 13:13: Because we belong to the day, we
must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate
in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or in sexual promiscuity
and immoral living, or in quarreling and jealousy.
Colossians 3:8-14: But now is
the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander,
and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you
have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put
on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your
Creator and become like him. In this new life, it doesn’t
matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised,
barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters,
and he lives in all of us. Since God chose you to be the holy
people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted
mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance
for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember,
the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Above all, clothe
yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect
harmony.
1 Peter 2:1: So get rid of all evil behavior.
Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy,
jealousy, and all unkind speech.

(32) INSTEAD, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

Christians should be known by their works—not saved by works,
but known by their works.
If you knew that Christ would return tomorrow at ten AM, where would
you be tomorrow at ten AM? What would you want Him to find you doing - or not doing?
When people look at your life do they see one of meekness or gentleness?
Or do they see a person with extreme anger and instability and weakness. Anger is an absolute necessity
of a strong parent or leader. God expects us to believe in ourselves
and to be willing to respond to undeserved treatment. But uncontrolled
anger is a potential time bomb. So, when we think of a meek or gentleman,
I think it should be very complementary. Here is a man that is always
angry at the right time but able to control himself—and never
angry at the wrong time.

Paul is trying to get us to be constructive, not destructive. Here's a poem that Oscar Koeppel, a trainer of custodians I once knew, always said when he opened his presentation:

I saw them tearing a building down,

A gang of men in a dusty town.

With ‘yo heave ho’ and a lusty yell,

They swung a beam and the side wall fell.

I asked the foreman if these men were skilled

As the men he’d hire, if he were to build.

He laughed and said, ‘Oh, no indeed.

Common labour is all I need.’

For those men can wreck in a day or two,

What builders had taken years to do.

I asked myself as I went my way,

Which kind of role am I to play?

Am I the builder who builds with care,

Measuring life by the rule and square?

Or am I the wrecker who walks the town,

Content with the role of tearing down?

NOTE: Sources and References are on line at: http://ephesians-blog.blogspot.com/2010/07/ephesians-study-references.html

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Ephesians 4