Ephesians 4
Biblical Church
Growth
0 MIN READ
Psalm 147:1- 20 Praising the Creator Who Communicates
It is Good to Sing Praises to Our God
1 Praise the LORD!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting. 2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds. 4 He determines the number of the stars;
he gives to all of them their names. 5 Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
his understanding is beyond measure. 6 The LORD lifts up the humble;
he casts the wicked to the ground.
7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
make melody to our God on the lyre! 8 He covers the heavens with clouds;
he prepares rain for the earth;
he makes grass grow on the hills. 9 He gives to the beasts their food,
and to the young ravens that cry. 10 His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his pleasure in the legs of a man, 11 but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion! 13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your children within you. 14 He makes peace in your borders;
he fills you with the finest of the wheat. 15 He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly. 16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost like ashes. 17 He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs;
who can stand before his cold? 18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind blow and the waters flow. 19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and rules to Israel. 20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know his rules.
Praise the LORD!
Application
Do you please God? Could you be more pleasing in His sight? Start by listening to what He said He likes, then do it.
Prayer
Everlasting Father, I praise You for revealing Yourself in Your work of creation and Your care of me; thanks for being concerned about my needs and desires, and for communicating what I can do to please You. May I be pleasing in Your sight every day. Amen.
TMS Romans 5:8 Sinner to Saint
Observations
God loves the unlovely, which is good news, because at times we can be downright ugly. Sin isn't attractive. God knows that. He knew how independent and rebellious we were, and would be when He sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus died for all the sins we committed before we believed and were born again, and all the ones we would commit after we believed. So, despite Satan's lies, we can always count on God's love, and experience it when we repent (change our mind). But note the change of identity in the last half of the verse. “While we were still sinners” implies that the situation has changed. Indeed the context of 5:1 says we're justified and have peace with God, as do verses 9-10. Our identity should no longer be that of sinners (folks who miss the mark), but of those those who have a relationship with God. Ephesians 4:20-24 below gives some help in living the new way. If you want to understand how Paul uses this verse in context (and what it means to be saved by His life) see the comments on Romans 5 in the Blog.
Application
Sinner is what you were, saint is what you are. Live like it.
Prayer
Ephesians 4 Biblical Church Growth
This is the paramount passage on Body life and Biblical church growth. Paul now expands upon the first request of his prayer in 1:18 “hope of calling” (having already addressed power and inheritance). The corporate calling is to the co-inheritance with all the saints in the Messiah's kingdom (chapters 2-3) and now Paul begs believers to walk/live in a manner worthy of that calling by living in Holy Spirit empowered unity with each other. Failure to do so prevents God's glory from being displayed. Most believers and churches subsist in perpetual infancy and never grow to being able to reproduce, and thus fail to fully glorify God. If you are the exception, praise God!, and share what you do with others. The section reaches its climax in 5:21 “submitting to one another in the fear of God,” but we'll save the final chapters for tomorrow to focus on the dynamics that make unity, maturity, and reproduction possible.
Ephesians 4 Self-Edifying Body
Unity in the Body
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, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 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 grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
New Life in Christ
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. 26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.Application
Believers who want to glorify God need to learn the truth, live the truth, and then love others with the truth as part of a unified Body of believers. That's God's plan.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thanks that in Your wisdom You have provided the means for individuals to be blessed and glorified, as they seek to obey and glorify You. Thanks that You mend and use former sinners to love and mend others. Amen.
Digging Deeper
In post-apostolic times, a case can be made for folks functioning as the original gifted men until a Body of believers can grow, self-edify and reproduce to the glory of God. In cases where churches have existed for decades, one has to wonder why they aren't self-edifying.
God in a nutshell: God has established the unity of the Body of believers, and uses the diversity of individual believers to maintain and further it. God gives gifted men to equip believers so they can build up the body in love.
Build-a-Jesus: Jesus is the head of the Body to which all the individual parts must be connected to function properly and fruitfully.
Us in a nutshell: We need to live in such a way that we are worthy of the glory God has planned for us. That involves being transformed from self-centered sinners to other-centered lovers, focused on building others to the glory of God.
Where to go for more
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