GLBC Core Values: Kingdom Learning

Ephesians 4:17–24 ESV

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Core Values: Kingdom Learning

Christ has purchased and renovated this “home” of ours as individuals.

The Christian life is like a home.

As we saw last week, the foundation of that home is the beliefs.

When many Christians get together they need to pursue building the house for which Christ purchased.

Beliefs & convictions as the foundation.

The nature of convictions is that they bleed over into all that we do.

“Orthodoxy drives orthopraxy”

“Theology drives practice.”

What we believe about God drives what we do as a church.

Our Church is Primarily a Gospel Loving People.

We are a gospel loving people that value gospel centrality, clarity, and fluency in the rhythms of corporate, family, and personal worship.

Our convictions overflow into everything we do.

Our convictions are the center of our church body.

Our Church is Committed to Kingdom Learning.

Why kingdom learning?

Jesus came speaking of the kingdom.

He was ushering in the kingdom.

Matthew 4:17 (ESV)

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

He was bringing the kingdom and yet it’s not fully here.

The kingdom is in one sense already here.

And at the exact same time we long for the kingdom to come fully.

We have not arrived fully into the kingdom.

Kingdom learning mean it is something UNNATURAL to us.

Kingdom learning that requires us to continue to grow in kingdom life.

Kingdom learning means that we don’t “arrive” in the Christian life.

Ephesians 4:17 (ESV)

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

The ESV covers up the word linkage here but there is a “therefore” here linking it to what came before.

Anytime there is a THEREFORE…

We need to understand what it is there FOR.

Ephesians 3:6 (ESV)

6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Ephesians 3:8–10 (ESV)

8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Paul just expressed that there is a unity that Gentiles NOW share in the gospel (Ephesians 4:1-7).

But that unity expresses itself in various gifting throughout the gathered church body (Ephesians 4:8-10).

The unity and diversity of the CHURCH, Christ’s body is for the purpose of building her up until she reaches maturity.

Until Christ’s body becomes like her head, we labor on with one another.

We are being transformed into the image of our Head.

It’s for this purpose that Paul gives these commands.

Ephesians 4:17 (ESV)

17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

Paul refers to the “Gentiles” here as those who are still unbelievers.

Those who have not been changed in their nature.

They still continue in their sin and unbelief.

Characterized as “futility of their minds”

Or an “aimlessness that leads to no end.”

Unbelievers are those characterized by futility of mind.

Romans 1:21 (ESV)

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

“Futility in their thinking” is a life hungering after every form of idolatry.

A life in the kingdom of God is not characterized like our former lives.

“In relation to the kingdom of God and the spiritual life, the light of human reason is no better than darkness.”

Human reason alone is not enough to be a Christian.

Human intellect and understanding are not enough to live in God’s kingdom.

The light of “human reason” is actually like “darkness” when it comes to the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 4:18 (ESV)

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

To be “darkened in understanding” means that a person cannot perceive the things of God.

They cannot accept the things of God.

This is the mind of the unregenerate.

What kind of life are people alienated from?

He cannot mean the life that everyone shares…

He cannot mean the “image of God” life that we share with Adam.

I think the kind of life Paul means here…

Is the supernatural life that only believers can share.

Only believers by virtue of the God’s act of regeneration do believers share in the life of God.

Anybody who is not a new creation in Christ lacks this life.

We can look only any manner of outward behaviors.

But if a person does not have this inner life born of the Spirit, they are dead in their sins (Ephesians 2:1-3).

Notice the reason Paul gives…

Ephesians 4:18 (ESV)

18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.

The darkness of an unbelievers heart is not a victim darkness.

Nobody is merely a victim of a cosmic crime.

Ignorance here is not a neutral ignorance.

It comes from the hardness of their hearts.

Rather the darkness exists because of their “ignorance that is in them.”

Ephesians 4:19 ESV

19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.

The unbeliever is one who “has become callous” to their sin.

They have lost all feeling of shame associated with sin.

Thus they give themselves over to all manners of unrighteous practices.

Contrary to that…

Ephesians 4:20 (ESV)

20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!

Our Church is Committed to Kingdom Learning.

This is the only instance in any documents from antiquity that a PERSON is described as being learned.

But here unlike all other places, Paul says that we learn a person!

Colossians 1:13–14 (ESV)

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,

14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Ephesians had been transferred.

They were once under the domain of Satan.

But now they have been transferred to the dominion of Christ.

And Paul describes this as LEARNING a PERSON.

How do you learn a person?

We don’t have anything to compare this to because it is so unique.

Learning Christ then must imply welcoming Him as a LIVING person.

Being shaped by HIM and His teaching.

Learning Christ must mean to respond to the summons of Our Living and Resurrected Lord from His throne.

Revelation 1:17–18 (ESV)

“Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

The One who rules on His throne in heaven right now.

The One who holds the keys to Death and Hades.

The One who reigns forevermore from His Father’s throne.

The One who reigns forevermore from David’s throne.

Values as the building blocks to our foundation.

What do we value in this kingdom we’re learning?

We value the Kingdom-family that Christ has purchased.

You can see how the Kingdom learning moves outward to valuing Kingdom-family.

We believe that we’re called to learn how to live within that kingdom.

And this compels us to love what God loves.

Ephesians 4:21 (ESV)

21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

The learning of Christ that Paul has in mind has two directions…

The first direction is with the initial hearing about Him.

It is the initial hearing of the gospel that a person has come to a saving knowledge of Christ.

The initial hearing that compels the heart to repent and believe upon Christ.

Ephesians 4:21 (ESV)

21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

The second direction also includes being taught in Him.

This was an ongoing and continuous teaching.

Similar to Jesus’ command to baptize and teach, the teaching part is just as important.

Matthew 28:19–20 (ESV)

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

The teaching is just as important as the baptizing.

It’s not enough to baptize a bunch of people and leave spiritual infants out in the cold to struggle along on their own.

It’s not enough to invite people into the kingdom and not help them to learn what it means to live in His kingdom.

Ephesians 4:21 (ESV)

21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,

When you’ve heard the Word preached faithfully…

You’ve heard the Word of our faithful husband.

Jesus doesn’t leave His bride without His instruction.

He faithfully leads her through His Word even today.

Paul concludes by giving some radical implications for the believers in Ephesians 4:24-32…

Rhythms of grace in our discipleship.

Everyone of the implications has something to do with another person.

We focus on “one-anothering” as a rhythm of grace.

Christian Application

The kingdom of God is not something that comes natural to us.

It is actually radically foreign to us in our flesh.

This is why Paul can say that they have “learned Christ!”

It was a past learning with a present and ongoing learning.

“‘to be taught in Christ is to be taught in the context of the Christian fellowship’” —F.F. Bruce (Cited in O’Brien)

It’s amazing to consider the radical linkage here for Paul.

Everyone of the commands in Ephesians 4:25-32 requires community.

Everyone of the commands requires “one another.”

We use the language around here of “one-anothering.”

We do this because the Bible demands we have one another.

Ephesians 4:25 (ESV)

25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

“Christian community is not an ideal we have to realize, but rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.” —Life Together, p. 30

Christian community is not something we create.

It’s something we participate in.

We participate in our communion with Christ and thus have communion with one another.

Our communion with each other is a by-product of our communion with Christ.

We need one another to reveal the gifts of the Holy Spirit within the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:26–27 ESV

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil.

Jesus says that He must go away from them in order to send “the Helper” or Advocate.

John 16:7 (ESV)

“it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.”

The Holy Spirit inside you is better than Jesus beside you.

The permanent presence of the Lord resides in all believers.

He resides inside the Christian by the powerful indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us.

You have learned not just a big body of teaching.

You have learned Christ!

You’ve learned a person!

We value Kingdom Ambassadors that appeal to outsiders.

Ambassadors are those who appeal on behalf of a nation in an embassy.

Example: The United States of America has an embassy in every nation except for 6 nations.

In every embassy, those who represent the embassy represent the interests of Americans in that nation.

The embassy also enacts what the United States demands of them on foreign soil.

Our churches are like embassy’s in a foreign land.

Each member then are like ambassadors that go out and…

2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV

20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Then Paul turns to what this learning of Christ looks like.

There are three fundamental realities to learning Christ.

Ephesians 4:22 (NET 2nd ed.)

22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man…

Learning to Put off the “Old Man”

He does so by using clothing imagery,

“To put off”, is the same language like removing an old jacket.

Taking off your former manner of life.

The person you were formerly identified with is dead.

Colossians 3:2–3 ESV

2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The old man that represents your old identity.

The old man is what you were once known as.

Taking off the old, dungy, and gross jacket that is stained with sin.

So tainted is this “jacket” of old man that Paul can say…

Ephesians 4:22 (NET 2nd ed.)

22 You were taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside the old man who is being corrupted in accordance with deceitful desires,

“Corrupt” here is more than just a little bit corrupt.

It is corrupt continually.

It is presently and continuously corrupt.

“Every trait of the old man’s behavior is putrid, crumbling, or inflated like rotting waste or cadavers (dead bodies), stinking, ripe for being disposed of and forgotten.” —Karl Barth

The “old man” is being corrupted in according to deceitful desires.

Contrary to that, the believer has something they must pursue.

Ephesians 4:23 ESV

23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,

Learning to be Renewed in Our Minds by the Word

The word for “to be renewed” implies the ongoing, and progressive change within our minds.

God is the One renewing the mind of the believer through the Word.

Romans 12:2 (ESV)

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Through the Word of God and by the Power of the Holy Spirit within us, we are being “renewed.”

The renewal that God brings is to the “mind” or the place where our thinking, believing, and reasoning happens.

Christian

Apart from the Holy Spirit dwelling in you, you cannot do anything.

I don’t mean that in some trite fashion to merely be acknowledged.

I genuinely mean that apart from the Holy Spirit empowering you in the renewal of your mind.

You would make zero progress in the Christian life.

John 15:5 (ESV)

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Apart from the Holy Spirit within you to empower you in the renewal project that God has undertaken, you can do nothing.

Nothing.

Take heart, Christian.

In the process of conforming you to the image of Christ is not primarily your undertaking.

It is God’s work within you for His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12–13 (ESV)

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Rhythms of grace in our discipleship.

We focus on relational discipleship as a rhythm of grace.

It grieves me when I hear people say,

“I’ve been in church my whole life and I’ve never been discipled.”

Or worse yet…

“I’ve been in church my whole life and nobody has ever worked with me one-on-one in discipleship.”

Ephesians 4:29 ESV

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Part of learning to walk by the Spirit is walking close with other believers.

Learning to speak the truths of the gospel into each others lives.

As well as having others speak into our lives.

We focus on relational discipleship because it is Jesus’ model for discipleship.

We focus on relational discipleship because it’s how the church thrives.

Picture an evangelist going out and winning 1,000 people to Christ every day for a whole year.

We would all be blown away, wouldn’t we.

But then compare that to a person who faithfully evangelized and discipled 2 people in a year.

Huge difference…

Now assume this happens for years…

The evangelist continues to win people for Christ.

Whereas the disciple-maker focuses on slow growth.

He focuses on steady, consistent, multiplication and teaching the disciples to do the same.

D-Groups move you from sitting back to walking with others.

D-Groups move you from sitting on the sidelines to engaging with others.

1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV

1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Relational discipleship takes time.

It’s messy.

But it’s worth it.

More than anything, it’s what we’re called to.

It’s NOT optional.

We value Kingdom-family that Christ has purchased as Kingdom Ambassadors that appeal to outsiders.

Kingdom-family and Kingdom Ambassadors!

Ephesians 4:24 (ESV)

24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Learning to Put on the New Man

The language here like before is that of clothing.

“Put on” here is “clothe yourself with.”

Like we put on a jacket

He commands the believers to put on the new man made in the likeness of God.

Ephesians 4:15–16 ESV

15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

That’s “speaking the truth” to each other.

This is something we do together.

Rhythms of grace in our discipleship.

We focus on “deaconing” the body of Christ as a rhythm of grace.

The word for “deacon” in the NT means to “serve”

Mark 10:45 ESV

45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus has given His Life for Me.

This forms within the hearts of all believers, “My life for yours”

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Grieving the Holy Spirit is not whatever you want it to be.

Grieving the Holy Spirit is actually very clearly defined in the Bible.

Ephesians 4:31 ESV

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Impulsive reactions of the flesh are sinful.

Bitterness: A state of resentment, harboring simmering anger toward another.

Wrath: Intense anger resulting in passionate outbursts.

Anger: Settled indignation or hostility that frequently seeks revenge.

Clamor: Loud screaming and shouting normally associated with quarrels and brawls.

Slander: Profane or abusive speech.

Malice: Wickedness in the sense of a desire to harm the other person.

We must acknowledge our tendencies, and not excuse them.

These tendencies are all things we find within our own souls.

And to allow them to continue in the life of the Christian is to grieve the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 4:32 ESV

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Christians are called to "deacon" or “serve” the body of Christ in all things.

We are committed to kingdom learning by valuing our Kingdom-family as Kingdom ambassadors in the rhythms of “one-anothering”, relational discipleship, and “deaconing” Christ’s body.