Chapter 4 is something of a turning point in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
As in his other letters, the opening chapters tend to be more theological in nature, the concluding chapters being more practical
So here in Ch. 4 v1 Paul says:
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
In other words, in the light of all the blessings I’ve been talking about, live appropriately
Cf. Rom 12:1-2 I urge you therefore…because of God’s mercies…
What blessings?In Ch. 1 he tells us that in Christ:
We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing We are chosen and adopted to be God’s children We have been redeemed by his blood and our sins have been forgiven We have the promise of the Holy Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance We have the assurance that Jesus is already seated at God’s right hand far above all...In Ch.2 Paul reminds us:
Of our lost condition before we became Christians Of the change that Jesus has made in our lives because of God’s love and grace That we are seated with him in the heavenly realms And that he has a wonderful plan for our lives These blessings are not just for those with a Jewish background but are for Gentiles too In fact, when Jesus died the barrier between Jew and Gentile was broken down And God is creating one new humanity out of the two by forming his church which is the new temple in which God lives by his Spirit.In chapter 3
he continues the theme that the Gentiles are now fellow-heirs with the Jews
Because he has a special responsibility for Gentile believers he prays that we may grasp the greatness of God’s love for us and that we might be filled with all the fulness of God!
And if this seems an unrealistic aspiration, he reminds us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine!
Now in Ch 4 in the light of all these amazing blessings, he encourages us to:
live a life worthy of the calling we have received.
How can we be sure we are doing this? 4 ways: By recognising the Lordship of Christ By working relationally By growing up individually By fulfilling our responsibilities in building up the body of Christ (the church)
Let’s read the passage together.
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
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 to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
8 This is why it says: ‘When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.’
9 (What does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions?
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.)
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
So how can we be sure we’re living lives worthy of our calling? By recognising the Lordship of Christ
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it
10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service…
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
By working relationally(There were probably tensions between Jewish and Gentile believers)
To work relationally we must have a loving respect for all other believers2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
The qualities in v.2 are especially relevant to our relationship with other people
The fact that he encourages them to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit suggests that maintaining unity in the local church is something that needs to be worked at. It doesn’t come automatically!
One reason for this is that people are so different
Despite our differences, however, there is much that unites us
The Ephesian church was a mixture of people some of whom were Jewish and others Gentile by background, but who were all now one in Christ (Eph. 2:11-22, esp. v.15)
Paul stresses this unity in vv.4-6, which leads us to our next point:
To work relationally we must recognise the things we all have in common3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Note:
7 references to one 4 references to all the reference to the Trinity To work relationally we must recognise and respect our differencesThe differences between us are God-given
Each member of the body has a unique contribution to make
7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The theme of unity and diversity is a common theme in Paul’s writings
For example, compare 1 Corinthians 12
In both passages Paul teaches that:
the church is the body of Christ its members are very different from one another but must seek to be united by showing their love for each other by building one another up with the gifts God has given themThere is also a reference to the Trinity in both passages which may well reflect the idea that just as there is diversity and yet unity within the Godhead so too there is to be diversity and yet unity within the body of Christ
By growing up individuallyThe main emphasis in verses 11-16 is growth of the body (v12)
But the body cannot grow unless its members grow individually
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants…
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
By fulfilling our responsibilities in building up the body of Christ (the church)
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
From this passage we learn four main things: The church is the body of Christ, who is its head God’s purpose is for his church to grow God has equipped his church to enable this to happen For this to happen we must work in unity The church is the body of Christ, who is its head15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
God’s purpose is for his church to grow12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
God has equipped his church to enable this to happen11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
For the church to grow we must work in unity2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
So, the body must grow, and it must grow strong
It must reach maturity
This involves:
Unity in doctrinal understanding (v.14) Unity in working relationship (v.16).United heads and united hearts leading to united effort.
Unity in doctrinal understanding
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed to and fro by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Unity in working relationship
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Love is the key to unity (vv 2-3, 15-16)
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
The emphasis on work in these verses
Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are not there to do all the work
They are God’s gifts to his church to prepare God’s people for works of service (v.12).
The importance of every part of the body
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
The church will only be what God wants it to be as the individual members find their place in the body of Christ and lovingly help and support each other. When they do, the body will make increase of itself (KJV).
Back to the beginning
We started with a challenge:
To live a life worthy of the calling you have received
From what we have seen, this in intimately connected with our relationship to and function within the local church.
