Ephesians 4

 

February 6, 2021

Title: Ephesians 4 Bible Study

Text: Ephesians 4

Introduction:

1. We are doing a Bible study on the book of Ephesians. Chapters 1-3 describe the believer’s position: who we are in Christ, how much God loves us, and our relationship with Him. Chapters 4-6 is about our behavior and how we can apply the truths learned from chapters 1-3 to our lives.

2. The first chapter is about who God is and all that He has done for us. Chapter 2 focuses on us: who we are as a result of His goodness, mercy, and grace. In chapter 3, God reveals the mystery that Gentiles are now included in the gift of salvation. In chapter 4 shows us how we can apply what we learned from chapters 1-3.  

Proposition: Walk worthy of your calling, growing into maturity in Christ, putting away all sin.

Interrogative Sentence: How can we walk worthy of our calling?

Transitional Sentence: First, we’ll dive into what it means to walk worthy of our calling. We can walk worthy of our calling by putting God first in our life. There are five areas that we will look at.

1. WALK WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING

Reading from the NKJV, Ephesians 4 verses 1-4 says,

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling.”

In this portion of scripture, Paul tells us to walk worthy of your calling: This means you are God’s called, chosen, and adopted child.  He has a great plan for your life that only you can fulfill. We are joint-heirs with Christ, seated at God’s right hand with Him in the heavenly places. Because of Christ and His work on the cross, we have all of His spiritual blessings. When you know who you are in Christ, you can walk worthy of the calling that God has called you.

Paul lists five things that would help us live a life worthy of the life God has called us to. They are lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, love, and unity in the Spirit. These are all attitudes that Jesus had. But to us, these personality traits don’t come naturally to our flesh. We have to work with the Holy Spirit to change us. Every morning I may wake up with the intention to not complain, but as soon as my feet hit the floor and attend to my three unruly dogs, I’ve blown it. If we ask God to mold us into the image of His Son, He will, but it will take time.

a. LOWLINESS

Lowliness means humility. To have humility means having a modest or low estimate of your importance. It says in Proverbs 27:2, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth: A stranger, and not your own lips.” Just because you do something kind for another doesn’t mean you should go and brag about it to others. Let God praise you. He will promote and exalt us. We are to come before God humbly. He is the creator of all things: He is the sustainer of life: He is a restorer. He restored our relationship with Him by sending His Son to die for our sins.  How can we not stand in awe of Him?

b. GENTLENESS

Do you seek the Lord above all else? Are you obedient to God and His word? We will feel more at peace when we are truly walking with the Lord. Mathew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” You don’t need to ask the Lord for everything you think you need in order to be happy for the day. Instead, ask the Lord what it is that you can do for Him. Ask the Lord if there is anything in you that He wants to change. Ask Him to mold you and change you into the image of His Son. Ask Him to reveal His will to you. It takes a mature Christian to ask Him these things. He knows what you need even before you even ask Him, so why not ask what you can do for Him instead?

When I think of a gentle and quiet spirit, I immediately think of the Proverbs 31 woman. I feel like I’m anything but gentle and quiet, perhaps a little more strong-willed and opinionated. Joyce Meyer encouraged me in a sermon when she said that she, too, is strong-willed, opinionated, sassy, and loud. And the Lord is using her in mighty ways.  He can use me too, as long as I listen to His voice and respond with a “yes, Lord, whatever you need.”

We need to be teachable in our Christian walk. We learn by studying the word, the Holy Spirit, through our experiences and other mature believers in Christ. Just because I’m finishing up my master's degree in Theology and Biblical studies at Life Christian University does not mean that I am done with my studies. There is still so much to learn, not only about God’s word but about how to behave properly with my family, friends, other believers, and non. The Spirit has so much more to teach me.

c. LONGSUFFERING

To be long-suffering means your patient. To be genuinely patient means how you act and what you do while you’re waiting. You may have to wait for God for a long time before you get your breakthrough. He is extraordinary patient. Just because you may be ready, this doesn’t mean the other people involved are. Maybe it just isn’t the right timing. God doesn’t withhold anything from those who walk uprightly. He knows what is best for us and will never withhold anything good from us. Wait on Him.

d. LOVE

We are to bear with one another in love. Don’t be harsh or judgmental towards others, but be quick to forgive. Please don’t hold on to bitterness, but let it go. It says in Mark 11:25,

And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.” Again, this scripture says that if you are praying and you have ‘anything against anyone,’ let it go, drop it, and be quick to forgive. Love others in Christ, treat people with respect. Don’t just treat people the way you want to be treated; treat them better than that. Go above and beyond their expectations. Show others the love and light of Christ. You may be the only Jesus some people will ever see in their lifetime, and if it were not for you, they might never come to Christ.

e. UNITY

Ephesians 4:5-7, “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”

All members of the Godhead: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit bring unity to each of us, the body of Christ. Each of us are individuals, but we are united with the Godhead as one. There is just one Lord: Jesus, our Savior. He earned His right to sit at the right hand of God after His death and resurrection from the cross.

There are many different religions, and people can say, “I’m of this faith or that,” but there is only one true saving faith, which comes from believing in Jesus Christ. He came to earth as God incarnate, took on the sins of humanity, suffered a horrific death on the cross, and was resurrected so that we could have right standing with our Father. He didn’t have to, His human nature didn’t want to, but He wanted to do the Father’s will; He wanted to please Him. He did it for us. This is love.

We have our faith because it is a gift from God. We do not deserve it, and there is nothing we can do to earn it. It is a gift. We are saved by our faith in Christ. We grow in our faith by reading God’s word.

Transitional Sentence: We just looked at what it means to walk worthy of our calling. We have been called, chosen, and adopted by God. We are joint-heirs with Christ, seated at God’s right hand. Paul lists five things that would help us live a life worthy of the life God has called us to. They are lowliness, gentleness, longsuffering, love, and unity in the Spirit. Next, we will go over the five ministry gifts that God appointed to the church.

2. FIVE MINISTRY GIFTS

Verse 11, “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors, and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,”

God appointed gifts to the church. They are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. He gave these gifts for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, and edifying of the body of Christ. All of the gifts are equally important, and they all serve a purpose to unite the body of Christ. You can’t have one gift without the other.

We are all called, every one of us, to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth. It is what Jesus asked us to do when He ascended to the Father. Jesus could not be everywhere when He spent His years preaching the gospel, but He has us to complete His works through the workings of His Spirit. We are also called to equip fellow believers for the ministry and to edify one another. 

Ask God if you don’t know what you are called to do. After going to school for many years, going on two ten mission trips, I feel my calling is teaching.

Transitional Sentence: The five ministry gifts to the church are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. They are all equally important and given to the church by God. God wants to mold us into the image of His Son. He wants us to grow into maturity.

3. GROW INTO MATURITY

Verses 13-16, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful potting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-Christ-from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.”

God wants to mold us into the image of His Son: sinless, spotless, and blameless. It is a process known as sanctification. He knows we can never fully get there because of our sin nature, but He has high expectations for us:  expectations expressed with loving conviction. He is entirely for us and wants us to be successful, which is why He sent the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, helper, and guide. We can’t achieve this level of maturity on our own, but through the workings of the Holy Spirit indwelling within us, our faith, and willing heart. We grow when we study the word of God and spend quality time with Him. When we know the word, we are stable, not tossed to and fro as it says in the scripture. When we have our feet firmly planted in the word of God, we will not be at the mercy of our circumstances, but God.

I know people who go from church to church, never really settling in. They often blame the pastor for not getting anything out of the messages, so they leave. Or they are embarrassed after counseling with a member of the church, feeling the person knows too much. Or they become angry after an incident. These are all bad reasons to leave a church. Never leave a church mad. You will bring your anger with you to the next. I have left a church, but after counseling twice with one of the church's pastors, I wanted to leave and spent over six months in prayer about it. I left in right standing with the old church.

Transition Sentence: Molded into the image of God’s Son is a process known as sanctification. It is God’s will for us. He wants us to be stable in our walk with Him so we won’t be tossed to and fro by every doctrine that isn’t His word. He wants us to walk as mature believers in Christ. We can achieve this by faith and working with the Holy Spirit indwelling within us. The final scriptures from Ephesians 4 is all about our behavior towards others and God.

4. SIN DISRUPTS UNITY

The final scriptures in Ephesians 4 gives us specific ways to behave. Verses 25-32,

“Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another. “Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, derhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

This verse contains a lot of information to take in, but know this, how you treat others as a believer in Christ is how you are treating God. We are all one in Christ, and if you mistreat another, you’re mistreating Christ. When you sin against another, you break the bond you have with one another and the Godhead.

• Do not lie to one another. It builds mistrust and resentment. 
• It is not a sin to be angry, but how you act when you’re angry if it is unholy is. Do not sin when you are angry. Work with God, release your anger to God, ask Him to heal you, give Him your anger. For me, anytime I have strife with one of my teenagers before going to bed, I can’t sleep. I end up replaying in my head what was said. I may feel convicted and think of ways the conversation could have gone better, and I’ll take the conversation into the next day when it could have been dealt with that evening. Sometimes it is good to take a break if an argument has gotten heated. That way, both parties can take a break to cool off and spend time in prayer. Then you can come back together more calmly. 
• I’ve heard on many occasions of people trying to steal food because they are hungry. I’m not justifying what they did, stealing, of course, is wrong, but I’ve heard of police officers or store clerks buying these people meals and bags of groceries. Just don’t think because people are stealing, especially food, that they are bad people; they may need our help instead. And the word says to love others. How you treat the poor is how you treat God. Remember that. 
• Watch what you say, not just swear words, but what you are speaking. Are they words of kindness and truth? Are they edifying others and yourself? We are to be kind to one another and to ourselves, lifting each other up, not tearing people down with ridicule. There are too many critics in this world, be an encourager. 
• Do not grieve the Holy Spirit. How do we grieve the Spirit? By sin. Work with the Spirit to change you, to mold you into the image of Christ. He will. It is not going to happen overnight, but it will happen. 
• Finally, put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking from us. These are not from God but from Satan, whose only intention is to steal, kill and destroy. Give the devil no foothold into your life. By His grace, God has forgiven us, and we do not deserve it at all. Be quick to forgive. Drop the bitterness as soon as you feel it. Don’t let it fester. Don’t let bitterness take root deep in your soul. Drop it, and let it go. 

CONCLUSION

We have been given the Holy Spirit as our helper, teacher, advocate, and guide. Through the Spirit’s help, we can walk worthy of our calling; we can grow into a mature believer in Christ; molded into Christ’s image, and we can control the impulses of our flesh. Put God first into your life: actively seek Him for who He is, not what He can do for you. Our walk with Jesus is exciting: a life full of adventure.