PCPC Women's Ministries

• Ephesians 4

Description

Taught by Kari Stainback

Notes

Tonight we are going to look at Ephesians 4.  So much in it! 

Two things this chapter talks to us about:

1. God’s Pattern for the Church – How He wants us to function together
2. God’s Principles for Living in Grace – How we live out what we say we believe.

Why is that important?  Because a lost and dying (literally going to Hell) world will look at us and think, “they are different, what is…they say they believe in Christ and follow Him..it seems real.  I’ve never seen people love for each other so much.  I want that too”. 

Large Group Discussion:
Paul refers to the church as the “body of Christ”.  Why do you think that’s a good metaphor?
In what ways does PCPC serve and work together as one body?  How do you see us struggle with unity? 

The Context

Chapter 1 – Learned that this is our truest identity,  God chose us, predestined us, through His sovereignty and  love to be his adopted sons and daughters.  We are literally “in Christ”…phrase used over and over again…we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places….

Chapter 2 – This theme is con’t in what Mary taught that we are “Sitting” in Christ…and how does this happen?  GRACE  (Eph 2:8 &9) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Christ is our foundation…our peace, and because we are “in Christ” God the Father sees us as Saints…so we can go to the Lord with anything ..

Chapter 3 – Paul continues to explain the mystery of Grace and he get so personally overwhelmed, so thrilled with explaining God’s eternal purposes that he literally drops to his knees in prayer…my favorite prayer in all the Bible…Eph 3:14-21….

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen.” 
      (vv. 20-21)

LOVE IT!

Chapter 4….Lets read vv. 1-16

I. God's Pattern for the Church (Eph 4:1-16)

Remember the three words Mary taught us last week that tell us what Ephesians is about.  SIT, WALK, STAND  

SIT (Chapter 1-3)….Walk (begins here chapter 4)

“Therefore”….always ask “what is it THERE for?

Paul is moving from look…this is who you are in Christ, this is what it means to be saved by Grace…NOW…he gets practical!  Moving from your position (seated in Christ ) to your practical living this grace out (Walking)

What does he say?  Walk in a manner worthy of this new family you are a part of. 

Family Identity Story:
I grew up in Greenville, TX…Family of 6 ….I can remember being downtown or somewhere and someone would say, “I know you are a Stainback, I just don’t know which one”…Even this summer I walked into a fishing/tackle and bait shop that my dad used to frequent and the woman behind the counter said, “I know that smile, you have to be Raiford Stainback’s daughter (9 years since my father when to heaven). 

In Christ…you are in a family that has infinitely more significance and power and eternal purposes than even the best of earthly families. 

Our lives…they way we live 24/7 is to reflect our Heavenly father and His family name

Sinclair Ferguson said it this way:

“Our lives are to give practical expression and visible illustration in the power and reality of God’s grace in us“

Words used here: 
Humility
Gentleness
Patience
Showing tolerance – means forbearing (I’m going to think not critically, considerately …thinking, not just once, but over and over again… how would I want to be treated….
In love…working to preserve this unity of the Spirit – that is the family of God’s ONENESS…

VV.  4-6 – ONENESS of the Family of God (Mary mentioned this last week) look at all these uses of the word, “one”…all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned:

One Body (Church)
One Spirit (Holy Spirit)
One Hope (our callings)
One Lord, one faith, one baptism (Lord Jesus)
One God and Father (Father) 

7 Perfect Pillars  or legs of a stool on which we base our unity as a family…we are ONE as a Family of God…it’s a gift of Grace!

Marriage story:   A Friend married 10 years  - wanted as her gift for them to go to a Christian counselor for a bit of a “tune up”….” We want to learn to be One’.  Surprised, when the counselor stated, “you can’t work on becoming One in marriage.  That’s a gift you receive from God when you enter into the covenant of Marriage and you spend the rest of your lives learning to live as a married couple in that Oneness”.

See marriage is God’s design and when entered into with two people who are Christians, growing followers of Christ, they illustrate this oneness we have through Christ. 

In fact, becoming One as a family of God is what Jesus prayed for us in John 17…the last prayer of Jesus the week before He was crucified:

20"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

If this was the last prayer Jesus prayed….IMPORTANT…why “that the world may know”….how you live is important …Paul goes on to explain this unity in vv. 7-16 . …moving from US as a family of God to what that looks like for us individually.  Look there with me:

Talks about each of us being given a gift from God, a Spiritual Gift, …in this section, so interesting, Paul quotes from Psalm 68:18…

Don’t turn there…but in this Psalm the Lord is described as a warrior coming back from a significant battle where he has been victorious.  In the ancient world, a victorious warrior would parade through a city followed by his soldiers, chariots, horses, prisoners of war and the “booty” they collected from the enemy.  After all of the celebration these gifts, the “booty” would be distributed.

In this Ps. God in the person if Christ is the Mighty Warrior who has conquered all his enemies and leading his captives behind him.  The victory of his death and resurrection has brought lots and lots of booty, gifts ….but now, instead of quoting the Ps. Exactly, instead of ‘receiving gifts among men”…Paul words it  here that Christ gave gifts to men (4:8)

One of the greatest proofs that Christ’s death and resurrection is true and real is that we see the gifts God distributes to His followers…spiritual gifts that serve to grow and mature us. 

VV. 9 & 10 refer to Christ’s humiliation as He became a man, a servant and then a sin-bearer on the Cross for us but then was exalted to be the Lord over everything.

Then Paul lists the authoritative gifts of leadership to the church
Apostles – their role was to provide authentic and authoritative witness to Christ
Prophets – worked alongside the Apostles to reveal God’s Word, will and purpose
Evangelists – sort of the “deputies” of the Apostles and the Prophets, not the same as “Billy Graham” we think of today. 

These three ministry positions wouldn’t reappear in the church today.

Do have today Pastors and Teachers …who serve to help us grow into the unity of our faith through the faithful teaching of these men helps us grow into spiritually mature men and women. 

If you don’t grow….your vulnerable..tossed around like a little boat being blown all over the place.

BONHOEFFER BOOK – Life Together story  When Hitler came on the scene in Germany he first made his convincing appeal to the German church, both protestant and Catholic.  Germany had lost its position as a world power and was in an economic down turn.  It was looking to the government for answers.  And the churches pews were filled with people who were Biblically illiterate….they fell hard for Hitler’s partial uses of scripture mixed in with his subtle lies and schemes for power.  ….WE MUST KNOW THE TRUTHS OF SCRIPTURE!

vv.  15…”Speaking the truth in love”….”truthing in love”…. It’s literal meaning.

Truth and love, TOGETHER, express the balance of the mature Christian and lead to growth as a fellowship of Believers.

BONHOEFFER BOOK – also said that one of the safeguards of the Church, is that we confess our sins one to another…Holding one another accountable (Leslie Merrick)….when we fall, you have not only God but someone with Christ’s clothes on, displaying His character to run to, to pray for you and to encourage you to get back up and go on….IN CHRIST!  (truth AND love)

II. God’s Principles for Living in Grace (4:17-32)

Large Group Discussion:
When we become a Christian, the Bible says we have a new mind, a new will, a new heart.  What does it mean to be a “new creation” in Christ?
If we are new creations, why do we still struggle with sin and hypocrisy?

Christ’s Clothing – VV. 17-24

Again you see the use of the word “walk”…twice…

See the phrase “as the Gentiles”..that refers to any non-Believers in Christ. 
This section can be stated as “putting off  or taking off the old clothes (which means our character)…the way we behaved before we knew Christ…and putting on the new clothes, Christ’s character….ways we live as our new self, new life in Christ. 

Old Clothes – 4 things…build on one another

Hardness – inability and unwillingness to respond to God’s truth
Darkness – The more unbelievers suppress the truth, the less capable they are of discerning spiritual reality.
Deadness - …this truly means…you are as v. 18 says, “separated from the life of God….you really are not just sick DEAD in your sins.
Reckless – at this stage, you’ve given yourself over to your senses and indulge in every kind of impurity…and they still aren’t satisfied…it’s an appetite that can never be satisfied.

Our hearts are never at rest, never satisfied, until they find their rest in Jesus.  It’s GRACE…His grace is always sufficient, more than enough for all we need or desire.

New Clothes –

Our minds deceive us…thoughts is where we always first get deceived by sin and this is where the spirit begins to change us …our Minds. 

What Not to Wear – Illustration…Stacy and Clinton go through their closets…trashing what they are wearing….new wardrobe for $5000 often just hate it! 

Way you renew your mind – Study and learn God’s Word…

Clothes are used here…as a picture of our behaviors….always live though, behave out of what your mind and heart are telling you is true.  Paul’s message:

Remember you were created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (v. 24)…

We can’t WEAVE these clothes, these godly behaviors, they come from the fact we have received God’s grace, we are SITTING in him and by that power at work within us, we can WEAR these clothes….its GRACE~ 

This is a daily and continual putting off and putting on…renewing our minds…we must wear, put on who we are….why?  To be real pictures of God’s grace to a lost a dying world. 

Behaving as a Believer (last section) vv. 25-32

Not to lie….More than just lying…anything that is false or leads others to believe something not true…we are to set aside
Angry, but don’t sin; don’t let the sun go down on your anger….righteous anger is rare!  You can be angry at injustices and sin in the world, but even righteous anger must be let go of and let God have or it could turn into bitterness…at the end of each day, whatever it is, let go of anger, roll it over on God who is the only one who can make things right.
Don’t steal--  work, don’t try to get something for nothing, so you can give to others
Watch our speech…don’t let any unwholesome word…means, “rotten, spoiled fruit or meat”.  Any sort of foul language is out of character for a person who is following Christ…even in jest.  Words are powerful!  WE can give grace …

Favorite Proverbs…25:11 “Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances.” 

vv. 30…Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…have you ever thought of that, when we sin, we make the Holy Spirit sad…note he is person!  This word literally means, “to cause pain”.  Not mad, but he is sad…
The Holy Spirit has sealed us….He keeps in us in Christ, he leads us to all truth, he reveals our sin to us, he speaks to us through God’s Word,  and Romans 8, He’s praying for you and me right now, interceding for us before God the Father…

How can you make the Holy Spirit Smile? 

V. 32….Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. 

Sit…..who you are in Christ, a Sinner saved by Grace
Walk – live out what you know to be true…

God’s Pattern for Growing the Church and His Principles of Living in Grace