Walk Worthy!
EPHESIANS 4: 1 - 16
Review:
Chapter 1: The mystery of Christ = God predestined
salvation for all who would accept Jesus as their Savior.
Salvation’s plan is not only for the Jewish people
Chapter 2: Because salvation is for all who would obey
Jesus, He is creating One Body –destroying all racial,
philosophical, etc. things that separate us from the Father
and separate us from each other. He is uniting His creation
Chapter 3: His desire is for those who believe and obey Him
are stewards of this message. We are rooted and
established in Him and can boldly enter His presence
Chapter 4 The Challenge
v1 “Live a life worth of the calling you received…”
*Called out of sin
*Called into a relationship with God
*Called to share (steward) this call/relationship
How?!?
V2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient –putting
up with each other in love
v3 Make every effort to keep unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace
Practice:
Ephesians 4: 15, “Speaking the truth in love, you will grow to
become in every respect the mature body of Christ…”
Matthew 18: 15 –17, “If your brother or sister sins, go and
point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they
listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not
listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter
may be established by the testimony of two or three
witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and
if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you
would a pagan…”
Why bother? Their problem…
Because:
v4, There is One Body, One faith, and One Spirit! We are
called to this One Hope…
v5, Again, One Lord, One faith, One baptism (in the name of
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit –Matt 28)
v6, One God, and One Father of all –He is overall, through all
and in all (Eternal, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent)
V7 It is Jesus Who has given each of GRACE
Paul uses Psalms 68 to give example of Jesus conquering the enemy
of our soul:
v8 – 10, “When He ascended on high, he took many captives and
gave gifts to his people. What does ‘he ascends mean except…he
also descended to the… earthly regions? He (Jesus) Who
descended is the One Who ascended … to fill the whole universe.”
Psalms 68 tells the story of the Ark of the Covenant being returned to
Mt. Zion in 2 Samuel 6 –in the celebration of victory over the enemy
gifts were given to the citizens at the parade
V11, Jesus (the Conqueror) gave gifts to His citizens –you
who are His followers! These gifts are (not only these –more in
Romans 12):
A/apostles: Missionaries, those who are sent to bring the
gospel to other countries, ethnic, or language groups (not
your native people)
P/prophets: Those whom God uses to speak to people and
who speaks to God representing the people
E/evangelists: Those who have a natural ability to win souls
Gifts continued
P/pastors: Those who disciple/feed His sheep. From the word
“pasture”- the ground where sheep eat
T/teachers: Those who are skilled with explaining stuff for others
to understand and learn
Misunderstandings:
*5 or 4 fold (part) gifts? - depend on how you define the role of
a pastor or teacher… Pastor-teacher or Pastor and Teacher?
*Ever church must have all 5 positions or not healthy church –
WRONG teaching!
What is the purpose of these gifts?
V12, “to equip His people for the works of service” –remember
“the stewardship of this salvation” so the Body of Christ may
be built up
v13, “until we all reach the unity in the faith and knowledge of
the Son of God…
And become mature in the whole fullness of Christ…”
v14, No longer infants; tossed back and forth by waves of false
teaching by cunning crafty deceitful scheming people…
V15, …“Speaking the truth in love in all things, we will grow-
up into (become more like) Him –Who is the Head –Christ
v16, Because of Jesus –the Whole Body is joined and held
together by every supporting ligament, the Body grows and
builds itself up in love –AS EACH PART DOES ITS PART/WORK
Bringing us back to verse 1, “walk worthy”!
Apply me? How?
1) Do I understand I am
called?
2) Do I understand I am
responsible to steward His
salvation?
3) Do I speak the truth in love?
4) Do I understand He gave
me a gift to use here at BDA
and more?
5) Do I know what my service
gift is?
