Ephesians 4 - Walking Worthy of the Calling

So far in Ephesians, we have covered all that God has given us in Christ. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, we have been chosen in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blame before Him In love, predestined, adopted, and accepted in the beloved. We have been redeemed, given an inheritance, and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. We have been made alive again in Christ, raised up, and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We have been saved by grace through faith, and not of our own works. We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. We have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ, and been made into a new man. We are at peace with God, and are no longer under the sentence of the Law. We are now part of the nation of Israel and part of the family of God. We are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets as living stones into the temple of the Lord, Jesus Christ being our chief cornerstone. We have boldness and access to God with confidence, and we are being rooted and grounded in love. We ended with God being able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Three chapters telling us what God has done for us, and it’s important to know these first before we respond.

Picking up in chapter 4, Paul says, “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord,” and whenever we see the word “therefore,” we need to ask, what’s it there for? He’s getting ready to instruct us on how we are to act, and it’s in light of how he finished up the last chapter. Since there’s such a clean transition from chapter 3 to chapter 4, it would seem as though Paul is getting ready to tell us something that is based on everything he has told us so far in Ephesians, and that’s a lot. For those of us who are rule followers, we may tend to like the second half of the book more. Just tell me what I can and cannot do, and I will do my best to put it into practice. However, if we forget the why, we will be like the Ephesians who left their first love. When we leave our first love, we burn out, and can eventually crash and burn in our walks with the Lord. We need to know all that we have in Christ, for it is our motivation for the do’s and do not’s.

Paul beseeches (exhorts or encourages) them to walk worthy of the calling with which they were called. Because of everything God has given us in Christ, we should walk a certain way. We should walk with all lowliness (humbleness of mind) and gentleness (meekness). We are to be humble both in our thoughts and opinions of ourselves, as well as in our outward actions. I have heard it said that meekness does not mean weakness, but great strength under great control. We are to be long suffering (patient) with others. If we recall from 1 Corinthians 13, part of the definition of love is being patient with others. Being patient with others doesn’t mean we are alright with their sinful choices, but remembers that we are all in this walk together as sinners who have been saved by grace. We are to bear with one another in love (love bears all things). Sometimes, people are hard to love; sometimes, we’re hard to love. However, this is what we are called to. Jesus told His disciples, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” As believers, we should be able to work through our differences and short-comings because we love one another, and those from the outside should be able to look in and see this. We’re a family, and family doesn’t give up on each other when times are tough.

We are to endeavor (labor) to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Because of our sinful tendencies, keeping unity takes some work at times. It’s so easy to demand our way or insist we are right when we may not be. This unity is the unity of the Holy Spirit, and as we discussed last week, the Spirit and the word go together. Jesus told His disciples, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” (Jn 16:7-15) So, as we can see, the Spirit’s job for believers is to glorify Jesus and to teach them the word of God. If we want true unity, it must be based on these things, glorifying Jesus and teaching the Word. This unity is to be kept in the bond of peace. In other words, our desire to be at peace with one another is the reason we strive for this unity. Paul wrote to the Romans, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” (Rom 12:18)

There is one body: there are all different denominations with different flavors and backgrounds, but if they are true believers, they are part of the body of Christ. If we recall from chapter 2, we are all saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. As long as we have that in common, we have something to work with. There is one Spirit by whom we were baptized into the body of Christ, and by whom we are sealed unto the day of redemption. There is only one calling: the Spirit draws us to Jesus Christ. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, through all, and in us all. Although different denominations can provide different flavors and experiences for believers, the early Church was just the Church. If we kept these principles in mind that Paul is talking about, it would go a long way in cutting down on the denominational divides.

Next, Paul transitions from unity into spiritual gifts, and no doubt, spiritual gifts can be a major cause of divide in the Church, especially if we error in somehow thinking we did something to deserve them. However, Paul states that grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. So, the spiritual gifts are an act of God’s grace in our lives; we did nothing to deserve them. Paul quotes from Psalm 68 when he states, “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men.” Now if you read Psalm 68, it reads slightly different than this, but the old King James actually matches the Septuagint (Thou hast received gifts for men). Usually when we see the New Testament writers quote the Old Testament, they are quoting the Septuagint. So, whether you say He gave gifts to men or received gifts for men, it’s essentially stating the same thing. Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and explained that Sheol or Hades was divided into two compartments, Hell and Abraham’s bosom. Hell was the place of torment, and Abraham’s bosom was a place of comfort or rest for the saints before Jesus had paid for their sins. After His death on the cross, Jesus went and loosed those that were in Abraham’s Bosom, and led them to Heaven, and then poured out gifts on the Church. The fact that He ascended means that He first descended into the lower parts of the earth (Hades). Isaiah writes of Him, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” (Isa 61:1) He ascended far above all the heavens that He might fill (to the brim) or to supply liberally all things. In context of spiritual gifts, He gives them liberally.

And He Himself (Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. These are gifts that are really offices in the Church. We cannot pick and choose which ones we like and which ones we don’t like unless there is solid biblical evidence to support that. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate any of the gifts or offices are extinct, so we can accept that all of them are valid today. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul states a similar thing, “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” Here, Paul is listing them in order of priority as it relates to their ability to edify the Church.

The word apostle means a delegate, messenger, or one sent forth with orders. In chapter 2 we learned how the original apostles and prophets played a foundational role in the beginning of the Church, and were responsible for writing the Scriptures. Interestingly enough, the Scriptures do indicate a special distinction and calling to the original twelve apostles. The criteria are they were eye-witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection, and they were specially commissioned by Jesus Himself (Acts 1:1, 4:33, and 10:40-42). This would have been the original 11 plus Matthias. Paul also met these criteria: he saw the risen Lord, and was commissioned by Him. James, the Lord’s brother, also saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. There is no biblical evidence he was specially commissioned by the Lord, but he held the same role as the other apostles in the early Church and authored a New Testament book. There were others called apostles that did not meet these criteria, so it appears the word was used in a general sense as well. Some of these were Barnabas, Silas, Andronicus and Junias, Epaphroditus, and Apollos. Probably the closest thing to an apostle we see today are missionaries or pastors who are involved in preaching the Gospel, planting churches, and overseeing their growth and discipleship. Now if someone goes around referring to themselves as “apostle” so and so, we probably should distance ourselves from that.

A prophet by definition is a foreteller or an inspired speaker. Paul told the Corinthians, “But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.” So, it can be foretelling the future or forthtelling the mind and heart of God in the present. As we discussed in a previous study, there is no new spiritual revelation; we’ve been given all we need to know through the written Word. Where a futuristic component can come in is predicting something that is not a new spiritual revelation like the prophets in Acts who predicted a famine (Acts 11:28). My wife and I read a book called “Out of the Far Corners,” and it was about a group of believers fleeing Communist Russia into China during the 1920’s. Occasionally, the Lord would give them a word of prophecy, either  as a warning or of their deliverance, and it was accurate. Trials and persecution have a way of weeding out the goofy stuff that we see more of today. Accurately teaching the Scriptures at the Holy Spirit’s lead would also fall into this category. IF it is not teaching the Scriptures directly, it must be in line with them.

In the Church setting, Paul instructed the Corinthians to let two or three prophets speak, and the others are to judge. They are to speak in turn while the others listen. The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. No one person has a monopoly on prophecy, nor are they above being questioned.

Next on the list in Ephesians is the evangelist. An evangelist means a bearer of good tidings, and is derived from a root word meaning good news or gospel. An evangelist is someone who has been specifically gifted to preach the Gospel. You can often tell when someone has this gift, because it happens frequently and comes very naturally to them. While certainly not all respond to their proclamations, many do. In the book of Acts, Phillip, one of the first deacons, was an evangelist who the Holy Spirit told to go witness to the Ethiopian eunuch. As we can see, the Holy Spirit was very much involved in orchestrating the conversation between Phillip and the eunuch, and this is common when the Lord is using someone in that gift.

Now, not all are called to be evangelists, but we are all to do the work of an evangelist, meaning we should all be sharing the Gospel with those we are around on a day-to-day basis. Paul wrote to Timothy, “But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Tim 4:5) Jesus told His disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Part of that natural outflow of what God has done for us is that we want to tell others about Jesus, and this is the model we see in Scripture as well.

The next offices are that of the pastor and teacher. Many think this is a combined gifting, and there does seem to be biblical evidence for this. The structure of the Greek seems to indicate they go together. The word for pastor means a herdsman or shepherd. The job of the shepherd is to feed the sheep, watch and defend them from attackers, to heal the wounded and sick, and to find the ones that are lost. So, a true pastor loves and cares for his flock. Paul also uses the word elder and overseer to describe this position. The elder speaks more to their life experience, while the word overseer speaks to their duties in that position. The three terms are used interchangeably in the NT, with each providing a different emphasis of the person’s contribution to the body of Christ. In 1 Peter, he actually exhorts them to function in all three. He writes, “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.: (1 Pe 5:1-3) Paul told Timothy that if a man desires to be an overseer, he desires a good work, but in Ephesians 4, the pastor is gifted by Jesus to function in this role. So, it would seem that if a person desires this position, they should begin working on meeting the qualifications, but ultimately it is up to the Lord to give/appoint the person to a particular office. If someone is truly gifted in this area, the Lord will often allow others around this individual to see it as well.

You cannot adequately take care of the flock of God without teaching them the Word. After His resurrection, Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep. We start out with the pure milk of the Word (1 Pe 2:2), and then move onto the solid food (Heb 5:12-14). David, the Shepherd of Israel said, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.” (Psa 23:1-3) Paul told the Ephesian elders, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:27-28) It’s the pastor’s job to teach his flock the whole counsel of God’s word so that they will be spiritually healthy and mature. The gift of teaching is listed separately in both Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, so, although it appears you can have the gift of teaching apart from the gift of pastor, you cannot have the gift of pastor without the gift of teaching.

Jesus has given these offices to the Church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and for the edifying of the body of Christ. This is until 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. Paul wrote a similar thing to the Corinthians, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” (1 Co 13:9-12) This perfect man will be when we reach Heaven. We will know ourselves as God knows us, and the spiritual gifts will no longer be needed. Even though we won’t reach the perfect man this side of eternity, the process still begins now. The Lord doesn’t want us to be as children who believe anything that comes our way. There is no shortage of false teachers out there who have their own agenda, and they are seeking to lead others astray. Almost all the New Testament books warn us against false teaching, so these four/five offices are part of God’s means of protecting us from deception.

We are to speak the truth in love, and this is how the body matures spiritually. Speaking the truth in love is a reoccurring theme throughout the Bible. In Proverbs it states, “In mercy and truth atonement is provided for iniquity; and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil.” (Pro 16:6) John said that the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Love without truth makes everybody feel good, but there’s no light to keep us from stumbling over what’s on the path. Truth without love lights the way, but it’s cold and stern. We need to speak the truth, but we need to speak it with love so others will want to listen to us. Again, truth and love are how we grow up in Jesus who is the head of the Church. Since we are part of His body, we receive our nourishment from Him, and we each do our part to edify each other in love.

Well, this was quite a chunk to chew on, so we’ll pick up in the latter half of the chapter next week.

Ephesians 3 - The Revelation of the Mystery

Last time in Ephesians, we saw how the Gentiles were aliens (foreigners) from the nation of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, hopeless, and without God. However, they have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Jesus is our peace: He has broken down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, and has made a new man out of the two. He has abolished the sentence of the Law over us by His work on the cross. We all have access to God by one Spirit, the Holy Spirit. Gentiles are now part of the nation of Israel and part of the family of God. Jesus is our cornerstone, and we as living stones, are being fitted together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Picking up in chapter 3, Paul states that it was for this reason that he, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles. Remember, Paul was in prison at this point for sharing the Gospel, in particular sharing it with the Gentiles. When he was in the temple at Jerusalem, the Jews from Asia saw him, and cried out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” Paul hadn’t taken a Gentile into the temple, but they presumed he did. He went through a series of trials in which he appealed to Caesar, and, at the time of writing this letter, was on house arrest in Rome. However, Paul viewed himself as being a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I think this is interesting, for Paul was recognizing he was in this place due to the sovereignty of God. He was in prison, but he did it as unto Jesus Christ.

He refers to the dispensation of the grace of God that was given to him for the Ephesian Gentiles. The word dispensation refers to an administration or stewardship. In other words, Paul was being entrusted with not only sharing the Gospel with them, but seeing that they were adequately discipled. This word is also used in referring to specific times in history in which God dealt with people in a certain way. In chapter 1, Paul stated that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, God gathered together in one all things in Christ. In the OT, God dealt primarily with the Jewish people through the Law, but in the Church age, it is both Jew and Gentile by grace through faith.

Paul states that he received a revelation of the mystery: When we think of a mystery today, we think of something that is difficult to figure out or solve, but here it means something that was hidden and now been revealed by God. This idea that God would bring Jew and Gentile together into one new man and give the Gentiles the same promises of eternal life and spiritual blessings had been hidden, but now was being declared through Paul and even Peter. Paul didn’t make this up, for he was paying a high price for what he was preaching. He was writing to them so that they would understand this mystery that had been revealed by the Spirit to the holy apostles and prophets. Gentiles are now fellow-heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the Gospel.

Paul had become a minister according to the gift of the grace of God by the effective working of His power. The gifts and callings of God are an act of His grace, and they are given by the Spirit. It is to be done in humility: the word for minister is a title of service, and he goes on to state that he is less than the least of all saints. Paul never forgot what the Lord had saved him from, and in fact, he seemed to have a deeper understanding of this as time went on. This grace was given to Paul, the once persecutor of the Church, so that he could preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. The riches of God cannot be comprehended.

It was also given to him that all would see the dispensation of the mystery which was hid in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. The mystery has been declared, and it is to all who will receive it. It was hidden in God meaning that God kept it under wraps until just the right time. Paul affirms here, as do the other New Testament writers, that Jesus created all things. The effect of all seeing the mystery of the Gospel revealed is that the vastness of God’s wisdom would be made known by the Church to the angelic beings. Peter tells us that when it comes to matters of the Church and the Gospel, the angels desire to look into these things. Apparently, God hasn’t revealed all these things even to the angels, but He has demonstrated His wisdom through the Church to them. This was according to God’s eternal purpose in Christ Jesus; He had it planned this way all along.

We have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. Boldness is freedom in speaking without fear and with a cheerful courage. The Jews didn’t have access to God, but through the high priest once a year who would enter into the holy of holies to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil to the Holy of Holies was ripped in two, top to bottom, meaning the access to God is open to everyone through Christ. This access, again, is with confidence (trust), we can enter His presence with a total absence of fear because of Jesus’ work on the cross. The author of Hebrews writes, “for we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb 4:15-16)

Paul asked them to not lose heart over his tribulations for them (his imprisonment for preaching the Gospel), for it was their glory. Remember, when Paul was speaking to the Jews about his own testimony, when he told them the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, they couldn’t stand it any longer, and started a riot, calling for his death. Paul figured his imprisonment was worth it if the Gentiles were able to hear the Gospel. Our sufferings for doing what is right is to God’s glory, and is often times to others’ glory as well.

We see another example of Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians. He bowed his knees to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a model we see in the Scriptures: we pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. The whole family in Heaven and on Earth bears His name. If we stop and think about this, that’s quite remarkable yet sobering. He has placed His name on us because of His love for us, and that we are His adopted children by faith. The question is, do we act like we have taken Jesus’ name? The third Commandment states, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” (Exo 20:7) This is more than using God’s name as a curse word or to show disgust. It’s taking the name of Jesus, but not acting like it. I’m a Christian, but we act like the world. That’s taking God’s name in vain.

Paul prayed three things: that the Father would grant them, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. We can be strong outwardly, but weak inwardly (in our spirit). Peter was thought to be a big burly guy physically, but when confronted by the servant girl when Jesus was on trial, he denied he knew Him. How do we become strong spiritually? Well, the first thing we see here is through prayer. Paul was praying for the Ephesian believers, and Jesus told Peter in the garden, “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mar 14:37-38) Peter didn’t set out to deny Jesus, but he caved under the pressure. Battling through prayer is a key ingredient to becoming stronger spiritually, especially when it comes to saying no to temptation. As we spend time in prayer, the Holy Spirit strengthens us with His might in our inner man. It’s not that prayer is some magic formula to make all our troubles disappear, but the times in my life when I spent a significant time in prayer and fasting, I saw my faith in the Lord and in His word grow dramatically. And that’s the other main ingredient for being spiritually strong is regularly studying the Word, hiding it in our hearts, and doing what it says. The Holy Spirit and the Word work in tandem, you cannot have one without the other. So often we see groups of believers gravitate to one or the other; however, to truly have the Spirit is to have the Word, and to truly understand the Word we must have the Spirit. So, the Holy Spirit uses prayer and the Word to strengthen us with might in our inner man.

The second thing Paul prayed for was that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith. Jesus told His disciples, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” (Jn 14:16-17) And in V 23, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” So, as we can see, both the Father and the Son dwell in us through the person of the Holy Spirit. We have the triune God of the universe living inside of us, and when we lose sight of this, we become weak and fearful. However, the Scriptures say “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”

Third, Paul prayed that they would be rooted and grounded in love. John wrote in his first epistle, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 Jn 4:17-19) This rooting and grounding is in God’s love for us. We love Him because He loved us first. We are secure in Christ’s love, and have no need to fear His judgment. Instead, we can be bold or confident on that day because our sins have been washed away.

This love appears to have four dimensions, breadth, length, depth and height. This love is so great that it passes knowledge. Mathew Henry stated the following: “Some describe the particulars thus: By the breadth of it we may understand the extent of it to all ages, nations, and ranks of men; by the length of it, its continuance from everlasting to everlasting; by the depth of it, its stooping to the lowest condition, with a design to relieve and save those who have sunk into the depths of sin and misery; by its height, its entitling and raising us up to the heavenly happiness and glory. We should desire to comprehend this love: it is the character of all the saints that they do so; for they all have a complacency and a confidence in the love of Christ: And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.” The word “to know” is to know by experience. Paul was praying that they would experience God’s love even though it surpasses knowledge.

The word love is thrown around quite loosely today, so it’s important to remember how the Bible defines love. We looked at Divine love in chapter 1, and here I would like to take a look at 1 Corinthians 13 to better give us some examples of what it looks like. It states:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” This is the type of love the Lord loves us with, and this is what He empowers us to love others with.

Lastly, Paul ends with a praise: “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” God can do the unfathomable, things that can just blow our socks off. This is according to the power that works in us (the Holy Spirit), so the context here is what the Lord does through us as the Church (to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations). This is a fitting ending to the first half of the book of Ephesians. Again, we have been learning about all we have in Christ Jesus, and in the remainder of the book Paul will transition into how we should act as believers in light of all God has done for us in Christ.