Live Worthy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Introduction
Introduction
Toilet museum
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
The Basis of a Worthy Life
The Basis of a Worthy Life
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
We are called to live a life worthy of our calling
Introduction to the rest of the book
The next 3 chapters describe different ways of worthy life – church, home, work, etc.
Objection: We cannot be worthy
Our worthy life is a response in the present to a calling we have received in the past
We are declared worthy in Christ through justification, but we walk in increasing worthiness through sanctification
What does the worthy life look like?
The Manner of a Worthy Life (in church)
The Manner of a Worthy Life (in church)
The worthy life requires godly character
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love
Humble
Gentle
Patient
Bearing with one another in love
The worthy life requires effort at unity
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Effort
Unity
Christian unity is at the center of the worthy life. Paul goes on to build out the idea of unity in the church
The Reason for Our Unity – Shared faith
The Reason for Our Unity – Shared faith
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
The worthy life grows out of the hope to which we are called
The worthy life grows out of the hope to which we are called
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
The hope to which we are called is shorthand for the gospel message – defined here with our 7-fold unity
One body
One spirit
One hope
One Lord
One faith
One baptism
One God and Father
Unity requires something unifying
We must know what we believe
Unity is not sameness
Excursus: Organizational Diversity
Excursus: Organizational Diversity
The organic unity of the church exists even when organizational unity does not
Limits on unity
Separation demanded
7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. 11 Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!
Distinction allowed
Appropriate distinctions
Language
Secondary issues
Geography
Preferences
The mechanism of distinction
Organizational distinction with cooperation
The unity of our calling demands the unity of the called
The Means of our Unity – Christ’s Gracious Gifts
The Means of our Unity – Christ’s Gracious Gifts
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
The Work of Christ
The Work of Christ
Given to each – no one left out
The church is only truly healthy when all are ministering
Given by Christ
Apportioned by him
By his wisdom
For his purpose
Secured by his ascension
A king distributing the spoils of war
Trained by the officers
Two types of gift
Each
Special equipping offices (teaching focused)
Foundational – apostles and prophets
Authoritative proclaimers
Ephesians 2:20 “20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”
Ephesians 3:5 “5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.”
Initiating – evangelists
Developing – pastor/teacher
Spiritual gifts
No exhaustive/exclusive list
Distinct from but complementary to personality
The distinction lies in the spiritual effect of the gift’s exercise
Determined in the context of body life
Better than a test
Be wary giving the authority of Scripture to conclusions that Scripture itself leaves unstated.
The Work of the Saints
The Work of the Saints
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
The Leaders
The Leaders
The different offices work together to equip the people for ministry
Equip his people
Equip through instruction
The People
The People
For works of service
The people are the ones who actually do the work of building up the body of Christ
So that the body may be built up
Resulting in the maturing of the saints
How sad when jealousy and pride in using gifts disrupts the unity of the church
The Outcome of Our Unity – Maturity
The Outcome of Our Unity – Maturity
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The ultimate result of Christ’s gifts working together is: (v. 13)
1. Unity in the faith
Objective sense – the thing believed
2. Knowledge of the Son of God
The one faith is built on knowledge – healthy Christianity has meat
3. Maturity, attaining the measure of the fullness of Christ
Maturity – the normal process of growth into what you should be
Firm faith (v. 14)
Not infants
Not blown here and there
Not easy to deceive
Loving speech
The body becomes a mature earthly representative of Christ
Conclusion
Conclusion
Peter Pan and Toys R Us - kids growing up
We should want to grow up
The worthy Christian is one who grows up in loving unity of the faith until they look like Christ.
