Ephesians: May 7, 2020 Class 4 Chapter 4:1-16

Theme:  Living as a Christian

4:1-16  Building the Body of Christ

            Paul is now moving from his own life example to how the people in the congregation want to live their lives as Christian.  In this section he moves from the church as a group to the individual worshiper and back again.       

              

4:1-3  Here Paul lists some of the characteristics that a person should strive for who lives in Christ.  

Characteristic	What it looks likes
Humility	Opposite of egotistical; Smile – look at people; Give credit to others; Give credit to God and Christ.
Gentleness	Kind, Understanding, Friendly, Good Listener, Helpful
Patience	Have persistence and endurance; Willing to wait and see; Not live in the drama
Bearing with one another in love	Listen to and try to understand someone Show support even if you can’t help
Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace	All of the above Take on the Goal to Live in Christ

4:4-6  This part is emphasizing the unity of everyone under God and the unity of God.  We need to remember that God as a singularity was accepted by the Jews, but God was not a singularity with the gentiles; they worshiped many gods, major, minor, and demi-gods.  On the other hand, introducing Christ to the Jews might have been difficult because it was adding another aspect to God.  God was now a trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit was actually a part of Jewish worship, but adding the Son might have been difficult to comprehend.  

Q: What are some way that we can we explain the Trinity to people?

Father: All powerful; Compassion; All knowing and understanding; Creation Force; Divine Parent (Both male and female/beyond male and female)

Son: God’s Son;  Incarnation as human Jesus ; Show us that God understands us because He lived as human – This is our Blessed Assurance.

Holy Spirit: Prompting from God;  God’s whisper or God’s breeze that gives you direction when you need it.  Our personal guide from God.

4:7  This is emphasizing the individual in Christ and introducing the idea that everyone has gifts and graces.

4:8  “Captivity” is a difficult concept for us to wrap our minds around.  The 21^st century is much more individualistic and self-owned than in the 1^st century.  Many people were slaves or indentured servants, so you couldn’t get away from your employer if you wanted to; you just had to accept the fact that you were going to work for them until they died or you paid off your debt.  But just like today there were good owners and bad owners.  The idea of being captive in Christ is that you were willing to accept Christ as your Lord and in turn all good things would flow from him.  

Q:  What words for captivity/captive can we use today that express this idea, but are perhaps a bit more acceptable? 

            Follower; Disciple; Volunteer; Employer/Employee (God is my boss)

4:9 -10:  The idea of Christ ascending and descending gives Christ dominion over every place.  Even in Hell (Sheol – the deepest pit) Christ has dominion.

Q:  What are some of the deepest pits that we can fall into?       

            Depression; Addiction; Abuse – both physical and mental; Life-Threatening Illness; Poverty; Loneliness; Broken Relationships; 

How do we know that Christ is with us when we are there?

            Feeing of peace within; Help from someone; Continual connection with people.

4:11  List of individual gifts & the work of ministry, bringing us into maturity

  

Indivi- dual Gifts	Actions  1st Century & Today	Examples: People
Apostles	These are the people who lived w/ Jesus & were trained by him.	Ministers and Lay people who have gone through special spiritual training.
Prophets	Tell the future and warn about what is going to happen if things don’t change	People today: Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi
Evangel- ists	Preachers who inspire us to be spiritual	Any preacher that gives you inspiration Billy Graham Obama (Doesn’t have to be a minister)
Pastors	People who minister to others and make sure people are cared for	Mother Teresa Social Workers Anyone who cares for others
Teachers	Teaching spiritual discipline	Ministers and Special Spiritual Counselors or Trainers.

4: 14 – 15   Children here are contrasted with adults continuing the theme of maturity.  Children are influenced by people whereas adults have learned better.

                         

Child Attitudes & Beliefs	Adult Attitudes and Beliefs
I don’t have to do what I’m told	Knows that structure, rules, and boundaries are important and helpful
Live ONLY in the moment; can’t see the results of actions	Understand the concept of how the past, present and future relate to each other
Child perceives themselves as the center of the universe	Understands the connectivity and interdependence of relationships
Children’s beliefs are influenced by the moment.	Reasoning and beliefs are informed by comparative experience and past decisions of success or failure.

4:16  The body joined together has to function together in coordination.  In the first century it was believed that the body was made of Four Humors: Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile, and Black Bile.  If one of these humors was weak then it created disease.  

            Paul is expressing the idea that the body & spirit must be in balance.  The way to do this is to continue to in Christ and “to speak truth in love,” then we are able to mature into adulthood in spirituality .