Review and Respond (Ephesians 4-6)

Illustrate: Maddy learning to walk again…we are learning to walk again as well. and we stumble…but we get up. they had to go in and cut some nerves in order for her body to learn to walk again.

It is aided by walkers, casts and people that will just walk by her and hold her hand.

Some of you need to have a heart surgery. you can’t walk in a new way…you…you need a new heart. and that is available…and once you get that heart surgery you will be shown a path to walk on but it will be really really hard to do so and you will need the assistance of the gathered body of Christ. the Daily means of grace of bible study and prayer and weekly accountability in small groups settings and monthly communion and weekly submission to the preached word of God and the fellowship of the saints. You will need someone to just give you a hug sometimes.

This epistle is about God and his grace and what happens to people on whom that grace is lavished. This epistle is about Him and what He has done to span the chasm that our rebellion made between we the creatures and He the Creator. Everything about your life will be addressed in this book. This is a book about learning to walk again. This is a story of moving from being bound and broken to invincible.

4:1- Walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Who me? Ya You!

MAIN IMPERATIVE of the entire book. What that means is there is no option really not to obey…we must obey what we are commanded here.

Let’s get right down to business here…look at the text.

Ephesians 4:1 ESV

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Paul is going to make a massive appeal to put into practice or put in to operation all the wonderful things he has just spent time writing about. And the rest of this book is going to be a practical out working of this appeal.

This is the MAIN IMPERATIVE/COMMAND of this book. This is the loudest thing you will hear in this whole series. This is climatic...

4:1-6 - The unity that has been attained by God for His people, needs to be maintained by His people.

God brings us into a family to shape and mold us into HIs image. We bear a responsibility to treat each other as family, because we are. We have been brought into close proximity to each other so that we might scrape up against one another and smooth each other out. We let the productive sparks fly as we put on humility, gentleness, patience and endure difficulty together. God uses the Body of Christ to shape and mold us individually and corporately into His image.

4:4-6 - We have been equipped to maintain the unity because of what we have all experienced.

We have all experienced the same thing even if we are very very different and that one thing unifies us completely even if it doesn’t uniform us. (we can be varied…for instance - worship style, programs, vaccines, masks, etc)

Paul uses the word “one” seven times in one sentence. He is going to say to us that gather here at FCC that we are part of one Body, indwelt by one Spirit, called with one hope, one faith, one Lord, one baptism, and one God and Father of all. We have been equipped to maintain the unity in our church because we have all experienced the same glorious reality of the Gospel call.

4:7-10 - We have been equipped to maintain the unity with the gifts we have been given.

Don’t be an unused gift card.

Because we have all experienced the call of the Gospel we have been invited to a “Praise Yahweh Party.” At this party there are party favors that are given out to everyone in attendance. And these Party Favors aren’t little trinkets that will be thrown away after a day or two because they prove to be worthless or cheap…these gifts will prove to be invaluable commodities for the wellbeing of the assembled captives. These gifts will collectively help us become more like the One who has delivered us from our former captures. We must utilized each and every gift that we have all been individually given in the Body of Christ for our collective good.

Ephesians 4:12-16 - We have been thoroughly equipped to grow into an accurate expression of our Savior.

We just want a physical Jesus.

We just want a localized, physical Jesus that can counsel us, or console us. To admonish us, or to hug us. To weep with us or to side with us. To pick us up when we are down or just to get down on the ground with us in our moments of despair.

We want a tactile, tangible expression of Jesus. Haven’t you wanted that? I am not alone right? If you have wanted that at any time of your life…I want you to realize that what you are describing is the local church.

The local church, the assembled called out ones in a specific location, where two or three are gathered, is where Jesus is in a tactile, tangible way.

Think about how much of a beautiful provision from God…the local church is. You can come to this gathering and have the arms of Jesus embrace you. You can have the hands of Jesus extend to you a welcome. You can have the eyes of Jesus set upon your fragile demeanor and know how to extend care to you. You can come hear the words of Jesus…coming out of His ordained mouthpiece as words of encouragement or warning come to you from the pulpit to administer care for your soul and give light to your path.

The local church is the physical, tangible expression of Jesus that we are all longing for…and all of what we are doing here when we assemble is just a foreshadowing of what is to come…when His Kingdom comes in its fullness and we feast around the table.

What a beautiful provision from God. The local church.

RESPOND IN MUSICAL WORSHIP:

Worthy of My Praise

Ephesians 4:17-24 – Renew your mind until you grow past those things you’re formerly known as.

Paul took time to identify how bad the unregenerate person is. It is shocking and offense. We live in a cancel culture. The world will definitely want to cancel Paul’s message when he described the unregenerate person. And we that sit here in the walls of this church because that was us except God was pleased to reveal His grace to us in the Gospel. We used to be like all the other children of wrath…but we learned something about Jesus Christ and it has changed everything about us. What we have learned about Jesus is so life shattering that the only way to describe what has happened to us is to liken it to a “new birth!”

Ephesians 4:25-29 – The righteousness you have been given must be turned into a functional righteousness.

This new birth launches us into a whole new way of life. I referred to it as a functional righteousness. Because we have learned something glorious about Jesus, it demands that our lives become functionally different. This passage insisted that we: tell the truth and control our anger. We are to stop stealing and to make honest livings so that we might share the wealth that God has given us with others. Our functional righteousness changes us speech patterns because we have been changed at the heart level. It makes us people who are kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving to one another and it helps us demonstrate self-control over our sex drives. Practical stuff right?

We should look different in all these areas of life. This is a lace up your work boots righteousness. This is very down to earth stuff. We said that:

Those formerly known as liars, should now be truth tellers. (v 25)

Those formerly known to fly off the handle, must now manage their anger properly. (v 26-27)

Those formerly known for taking what was not rightfully theirs, must now work and give away what they have earned. (v. 28)

Those formerly known to use their mouths for evil, must now use it for good. (v. 29)

Ephesians 4:30-5:2 - Be imitators of God.

This is a passage that literally has the highest of all callings found within it.

Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

WOW! Are you serious? Yup…I’m serious.

Ephesians 5:3-5 – Those formerly known for their sexual impurity, must now be sexually pure.

There should be no trace of any sexual immorality, impurity or covetousness among us. Sexual sin is in a class of its own. Sexual sin involves our bodies in the most intimate of ways. It’s no wonder why any type of sexual sin leaves such a trail of destruction in its path. Paul says, in 1 Cor. 6:19 – FLEE…(Run for your life…) – but so many among us dabble in sexual sin instead of fleeing…we actually seek after it and leave ourselves buried under a mountain of guilt and hurt, remorse and revulsion and shame.

But there was hope given that week, because any weakness in any area of your life, because of the Gospel, is an opportunity for you to worship the one who can actually empower you to overcome any temptation that is common to man.

Many of us need help…and thankfully help is here. We all need help. Yes, we all do. So, let’s run to Him together.

We then preached two messages on the same passage but we preached it in two different ways. (Topical and Expositional)

Ephesians 5:6-17 – We must progressively walk out of the darkness and into the light.

The whole second half of Ephesians 4-6, can be summed up with the words, “Christian living” or an even better term would be “progressive sanctification.” This is a fancy way of saying once you become a follower Christ your life should begin and continue to drastically change over time.

The Christian life is suicidal. We present our bodies as a sacrifice of worship in view of His mercy. There is no fast pass here. You can’t pay more to skip the line. Progressive sanctification is the daily grind of leaving the City of Destruction and making our way to the Celestial City where we will see and be satisfied by the King of Glory. We walk out of the darkness and into the light.

The next week we said that just because we Christians doesn’t mean that we have been transformed into the image of Christ yet. That is the goal of our Christianity. We are to be conformed into His image and God will continue to perfect us until the day of Christ Jesus but until then...

We must recognize that we are still susceptible to deception. (v. 6)

We must also come to grips with the reality that sometimes the old way of life is still appealing to us. (v. 7)

We must walk in a way that is in step with our new reality. (v. 8-10)

As children of light, we expose those areas of our lives that remain in the darkness. (v. 11-14)

Each step in our walk must be calculated. (v. 15-17)

Ephesians 5:18-20 – We must pour out that which has been poured into us.

We must be filled with the Spirit. We need to Holy Spirit to be our primary influence. And the primary application of this section of Ephesians is that we pour our words and melodies and thanksgivings to one another and with one another. We pour our words of instruction and encouragement to one another. We sing truth filled songs together that will anchor us to rock solid truth despite our circumstances. And we pour out our thanksgivings as Paul says, “Always and for everything.”

If you think singing is hard…good luck with this one. Giving thanks…always and for everything?!? Are you serious? This verse looks really cool on a plague in the Christian bookstore, but do you know how insane this is?

The key to obeying this command is to EMBRACE the God glorifying end of your trials and suffering.

We can give thanks always, and for everything, because we are being sustained by the presence of the one who was made perfect through that which He suffered. No matter what you are going through, you aren’t going through it alone. He holds your hand through it all. And for that we can be thankful.

RESPOND IN MUSIC: (BIG PRAISE)

Ephesians 5:21 – 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Discover the blessed joy of mutual submission. We must submit to one another. In all of our varied relationships.

The only way that you can do this command is if Jesus is indeed at the dead center of your universe. There is so much at stake with us obey this command. It puts us in a vulnerable position as we consider other interests more important than our own.It leaves us exposed. It can make us feel like sitting ducks and unprotected. But there is actually no better way to represent God than to give yourself away for the benefit of others. That is what Jesus did, that is what we are called to.

Ephesians 5:21-33 – The Mystery and Meaning of Marriage

Our human marriages exist to reflect and rehearse the truths about the ultimate realities that the Gospel has secured for those who are Beloved of God.

Our marriages reflect the Gospel past and our marriages rehearse the Gospel future.

Paul is going to give a lot of practical details in this section about the specific roles and specific purposes for each spouse…but all of that teaching in Paul’s mind is just a reenactment of a greater reality. Paul flat out tells the Ephesians...

32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Paul wants us to think rightly about marriage so that we can do rightly in our marriages.

God was the One who invented marriage.

Our marriages reflect the Gospel past.

Our marriages are to be a picture of God’s committed love to us. Your marriage isn’t about you…it is about what you marriage is pointing back to…the Good News of a Groom like Messiah who sought us out and bought us by HIs blood and secured our redemption.

Our marriages rehearse the Gospel future.

Our human marriages are awesome…but they can also become idols. We need to ask the Lord to remove our sordid fascination with the shadow as we anticipate the reality that our shadow is cast by. There is a marriage supper of the Lamb that the Bride of Christ has been invited too.

Ephesians 5:21-33 – Husbands are to love their wives and give themselves up for them.

We started talking about marriage roles and we started with the men. We are NOT SAYING that one role is superior and the other is inferior. We are not saying that one role is better than the other.

Roles in marriage are in no way demeaning. Roles are an acceptable and necessary reality in nearly every facet of life. Objectives are accomplished when in collaboration team members all play their respected parts. We get it…a good team is one comprised of uniquely gifted individuals with different skill sets. Somehow this is “out of bounds” according to our culture as it applies to the marriage relationship. I know that talking this way makes me sound archaic in our culture, but this is His truth and it will endure throughout all generations even after the cultural grass withers, and the socially acceptable flowers fade. The Word of God remains forever.

Our love must be redemptive.

Our love must bring nourishment.

Our love must take care of business.

The role that has been given to wives is God given and God designed as the wife is to respond to the initiating love of her husband. The role given to wives isn’t man made or man manipulated it is mandated by God.

Ephesians 5:21-33 – Women be the “corresponding, custom fit” help mate your husband needs.

Now of course our culture will reject this call and twist it to say that it is demeaning and that it hinders the progress of women. Submission is seen as inferior or degrading so the logic goes, but that is just not the case. Scripture is clear on both the value and equality of both men and women. We talked about the word that is found in Genesis 2:24 that is used to describe the role given to the first woman a few weeks back. The Hebrew word is eh·zer which means “corresponding, custom fit helper.” We said when a Hebrew ear would hear this word images of Yahweh Himself would begin to form in their minds. (Psalm 121). Your husband absolutely needs you…so help him.

Ephesians 6:1-4 - The Parent / Child relationship

Ephesians 6:1 ESV

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Obey your parents. It’s right!

“Obedience is obeying the first time, every time; without delay and without complaint.”

Honor your father and your mother that it may go well with you.

Parents, raise your children right. (4)

Ephesians 6:4 ESV

4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Don’t provoke your children with your hypocrisy or your anger.

But bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:5-9 - The Employee and Employer relationship

Do the will of God at your workplace.

When you do the tasks that are clearly laid out in your job description by your employer and you do them, Paul says you are simultaneously doing the “will of God.” The line that we have drawn between that which is sacred and that which we have determined to be secular has been blurred.

I stepped away and just tried, ever so delicately to identify with some of you who have found yourselves between a rock and a hard place. I did that because God loves you and I want to be like Him, so that was my feeble attempt to love you with the love of Christ that was compelling me.

Ephesians 6:10-12 - We must ready ourselves for a rumble.

And now begins about 5 weeks when I referenced a whole bunch of sports analogies. We said we need to: Get right, Get Ready and Get to Rumblin’.

Get right in the sense that you need to realize that you aren’t capable to do this battle on your own. We are to be strong “in the Lord.” Your chance of survival is hopeless if you don’t know the King of kings and Lord of lords. You aren’t strong enough to withstand this attack, but He was and is and is willing to share His ability with you. He crushed the serpents head and then shares that power with you. Get right.

Get ready…meaning…there is something we must do as well. We are told to put on the “whole armor of God.” Meaning…suit up. All of it. It isn’t ala carte. It is not picking and choosing. It is all or nothing. All or vulnerably.

Belt of Truth - We move out of your relaxed passive state and into an aggressive active state. You are in a wrestling match. The truth girded around our waists will keep everything in its proper place. There is absolute truth that exists in the world even though the thinking of modern man says the contrary.

Breastplate of Righteousness - There is no coasting as you follow Jesus. This is an active pursuit AND it is a pursuit that has and enemy that is trying attack they very causal core of our beings…our hearts. So we need to put on something that can protect our most priceless spiritual blood pumping organ. We need something to cover us from mortal wounds. We must protect our hearts because as Solomon says, they are the wellspring of life. We have been objectively been given the righteousness of Christ and as we follow Him day by day we accumulate for ourselves a subjective righteousness. We have learned right from wrong and have found out what pleases the Lord and we do those things while saying a firm, “no” to the things that don’t please him.

Shoes for your Feet - we have been made ready by the Gospel of Peace. This is a Gospel that we have heard and believed and that has quieted our souls and brought us peace, so we are eager and ready to share it with anyone who may still be troubled at heart and have no means of having any semblance of peace…because they don’t know the Prince of Peace

Shield of Faith - there are flaming arrows shot at you by Satan. It would probably be in your best interest to block them. How? Well block those lies and accusations by holding up a shield constructed out of faith. Faith is not the development of a glass half full instead of a glass half empty mindset. It is not just some spiritual crossing of your fingers hoping that things might break your way. Faith is the confident assurance of things not yet seen. Authentic faith is not based off of opinion. It’s not a mindless thought or conjecture. Faith as presented in the bible is reasoned and deliberate. It is arriving at a drawn conclusion after intentional thought. What should we think about? God and all that He promises.

Helmet of Salvation - Think about your salvation all the time. The world is dead to me and I have been born again from above. This happened to me in the past when Jesus saved me from the penalty of my sin. It is happening in real time as He daily saves me from the power of sin and one glorious day I will be saved from the presence of sin. Think about these wonderful realities all the time. Let it encircle your head like a helmet and see how that affects your progress down the narrow path.

Sword of the Spirit - Deliver a death blow to Satan as you evaluate everything in your life and your thinking against the truths presented in this Word.

Ephesians 6:18-20 - Paul wants us to persevere in prayer, so that we, as God’s purchased people will have power to proclaim the Gospel.

How do you know if you are making any progress in your walk with Christ? Well are you praying at all times and in various ways? Then yes. Are you promoting and proclaiming the wonderful realities of the Gospel so that others may respond to it? Then yes!

Finally we looked at Paul’s personal postscript and final blessing and what we saw is this final text is love oozing out everywhere.

There is a waterfall of blessings in the text and in this letter. God is so good in giving us His truth to us in Ephesians this last year. He is worthy to be praised with our every thought and deed. He should be glorified among us who are gathered here today.

RESPOND IN MUSICAL WORSHIP