Ephesians 4:1-10
Notes
Transcript
Background of Paul
Background of Paul
Paul and Barnabas are really inventing the term missionary. Before them, it was not a common practice to travel and “convert” people to a belief or religion.
So Paul and Barnabas are doing this.
What is driving them? What is their Why?
Acts 26 Paul shares his story of how God changed his life and in this sharing we start to understand Paul’s why.
16 But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and of what I will reveal to you.
17 I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles. I now send you to them
18 to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified.’
I send you to them to open their eyes
so
they may turn from darkness to light
and
from the power of Satan to God
that
by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified.
Paul believed that on the Cross JESUS HAD WON THE VICTORY over the dark powers of this world.
so
During this time individuals are giving their “beings” over to the pagan gods. These little g gods are not gods. Or they are giving themselves over to the dark forces of this world.
Paul believes that through the Gospel they can leave their prison behind and be set free!
This continues to be true today and I share the story often that for Amy and I we were called to Rockaway because we heard stories of young girls who were being overtaken by the dark forces of this world. Through the cross we believe that those in prison can be set free!
Set the scene a little…
So the Gospel is moving and people are being set free from Pagan worship and the dark forces of this world.
To the Greeks, the gods controlled the weather, the crops, the livestock, the rain, thunder and lightning. So you could upset the gods. So during this time Jews are exempt from worshipping the pagan gods.
They were not required to participate in pagan practices because of their beliefs. So when the Jews would not participate then the Greeks believed that because they were not worshipping their gods then their gods were upset because the Jews would not partake in these pagan rituals.
Paul is sharing the good news of the cross that Jesus came to the pagans and the Jews to set them free. So when the Gentiles would trust that Jesus is the Messiah and he is the One true God
then
These now Gentile believers would begin to follow the practices of the Jews when it comes to worshipping the pagan gods. The Gentiles as well as Jews would not partake in the pagan practices. Not only would the Gentile believers not practice pagan practices but they also were not following all the Jewish practices either.
Can you imagine all the controversies? Can you imagine what Paul is dealing with as he writes these letters from Prison?
The letter turns here in chapter 4 from Doctrine/what we believe to now some practical applications of how to live out what you believe.
It might be easy to read this section as rules that we need to follow as Christians for rules sake. It is more than that.
Example of rules for rules sake:
Some of you here this morning will remember Bridge of Faith pulled a group together to play softball in Forsyth league.
I remember one night I got to the park and I think Kyle came up to me and said hey there is a new rule tonight that you need to be aware of.
He went on to say that
(Batters box pic)
you have the batters box and if you don’t drop your bat in the box you are out.
I said what?
They said if you don’t drop your bat in the batters box you are out.
I said what?
They said I am serious they will call you out if your bat does not land in the batters box.
I am sure they had a reason for this rule. I think I might have asked them for this reason and they said something about tripping on bats.
This was an example of a rule for rules sake. It’s a rule and we don’t understand it but we will follow it.
Today’s passage is not rules for rules sake. It is not something that we say as Christ followers we will be gentle, patient and humble because that is what we were told to do.
The second half of this letter is a vision of who God is and who God’s people are
It’s not just rules for rules sake instead this letter reveals what it means to be “renewed as human beings/image bearers of God”
So as we keep working through the letter I want you to remember this and watch for this in the letter. It’s not just rules but it is the character of God himself that we are called to live in and to be fully whole human beings thriving as God desires.
Word of caution
This will challenge us to change. This is not the normal way to live life. It is the way to live as we were designed to be. Culture does not teach this so.
Growth Mindset
I want to change, I want to grow and I can improve
Repeat that with me
I want to change, I want to grow and I can improve
1 Therefore I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,
Two things in these latter chapters you will see. Is the
Unity of the Church
Holiness of the Church
These two things go hand in hand. Paul is teaching people how to think Christianly. This is different than the pagans and different than the Jews. They are to think Christianly or Christ as the Messiah. To think Christianly helps to achieve unity of the church and Holiness of the church.
New Testament Scholar points out that
Unity is comparatively easy as long as you don’t think about Holiness
We can all get along because you think what you want to think and I will think what I want to think and we don’t really need to be concerned what God thinks
Holiness is comparatively easy as long as you don’t think about Unity
I don’t really care what you think because I am focused on Holiness and because I am focused on Holiness then I don’t care about you because I will do what God wants me to do and not worry about you.
If you disagree with me then you can split off and do your own thing.
It is challenging to think of Unity and Holiness together.
In order to meet this challenge, we must think Christianly and allow Christ and His Word to guide our thoughts and ways of life.
Verse 1
He says I, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk worthy
Walk: to think Christianly, to live whole as God has called us to live.
Worthy: “equal weight” one’s calling and conduct should be in balance.
Calling or Holiness along with Unity in the body of Christ.
You have received
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love,
Humility: Lowliness
Humility means putting Christ first, others second, and self last.
had the sense of slavish, mean, ignoble.
Opposite of this is pride. Pride promotes disunity; humility promotes unity
To the Greeks Humility was not a virtue. To them, as indeed most non-Christian people in any generation, the concept of ‘the fulness of life… left no room for humility’ (Robinson).
Phones don’t help promote humility
Christ was humble
He would perform miracles and tell them not to tell others
He washes the disciples feet
He humbles himself and dies on the cross
Gentleness: Meekness
The adjective (praos), especially, found an important use in describing an animal completely disciplined and controlled. Meekness in the New Testament is used of a person’s attitude to the word of God (Jas 1:21), but more often of one’s attitude to other people (1 Cor. 4:21; 2 Tim. 2:25; Titus 3:2).
Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 116.
Meekness is power under control.
For, as Mitton (NCB) puts it, meekness ‘is the spirit of one who is so absorbed in seeking some worthy goal for the common good that he refuses to be deflected from it by slights, injuries or insults directed at himself personally, or indeed by personal considerations of any kind’.
Francis Foulkes, Ephesians: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 10, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1989), 116.
Patience: Steadfast endurance
Slowness in avenging wrong or retaliating when hurt by another
Long-tempered. The ability to endure discomfort without fighting back.
God is patient with humanity and you see this over an over in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Also throughout scripture you see this as an attitude from one Christian toward another.
3 diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.
Diligently: being eager to maintain, or guard, the unity of the Spirit.
Constantly striving to keep the unity of the Spirit. Striving to keep unity at home, in your marriage, as parents, as members of community, as members of the church.
Taking personal responsibility to see that you do things on your end to keep unity. The job of keeping unity never ends.
4 There is one body and one Spirit —just as you were called to one hope at your calling—
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
This is what unifies us together.
One Body:
This is, of course, the body of Christ in which each believer is a member, placed there at conversion by the Spirit of God
Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1996), 36.
One Spirit
One Hope
One Lord
One Faith
One Baptism
One God and Father
My prayer lately and what I have been asking people to join me in praying for is for the students who were the 11 and 12 year olds when we started here who are now adults in the age ranges from 22-30 that they would come back and be the adults of Bridge of Faith.
I have had to amazing opportunity to sit with a few of them. A common thread lately for them is that they are processing the trauma that they grew up in. It is bringing out some very raw emotions as they process. They say you don’t know how bad it was growing up.
I think in my head I truly don’t but based on your actions as a student I can only imagine what it was like.
Jesus came to rescue them from the dark forces of evil and set them free.
It will take us the church living in unity and holiness walking as fully human beings in humility, gentleness and endurance.
