A Study of Ephesians

The Relationship of God and His Saints

Many folks who read this lesson from the blog or email will miss a great deal of context simply because time does not allow me to fill in a lot of the material I will be discussing during our class. If you have questions please let me know I will be glad to answer you via email. Jesse

Ephesians 4:1-6

Lesson #7

Goal of the Lesson:

• To show how to utilize every spiritual blessing given to us in Christ

• To show that using these gifts of blessing provides unity in Christ

• To show that apart from the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit, unity and blessing does not work. We need to live in Christ

   

This Lesson will help us:

• To trust Christ as LORD to live in the spiritual blessings in ways that promote unity with other believers

• To realize that God through Christ has given us life in Him, but also with this life He has given us blessings of all that we need to live in a practical way within the body of Christ – church.

In the first three chapters we were taught by the Word of God about Life in Christ. One: we are in the family of God and since we are we have been given all of the spiritual attributes of living as a child of God.

Ephesians 1:3 God has given us every spiritual need to live in Christ.

Ephesians 2:4-6 God has placed or seated us in heaven with Christ.

Ephesians 2:22 God has made one nation of saints, the Jew and the Gentile to be His holy temple. Each saved individual is responsible to live by the control of the Holy Spirit in these heavenly blessings given to us by God. This is the biblical definition of living in Christ. Also see 1 Peter 2:4-5

Ephesians 3:16-19 God desires that we should allow Jesus Christ to be at home in our heart. This results in our responding to the matters and circumstances around us in love (agape) for those around us.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Nothing is impossible with God. He has entrusted us with everything spiritual blessing. It is His will that we utilize what He has given us and He has enabled us through the Holy Spirit to live – IN CHRIST! God does not keep a record of our works that are done in the flesh. He keeps a record of our life in Christ as that life plays out in the Church of Christ.

Ephesians 4:1 The apostle clearly reveals his concern that people will have trouble understanding how to walk in the worthiness of our new life in Christ. The word beseech in the NKJV can and is translated in other versions as exhort or encourage. Maybe your translation says something different but the word means to plead or even beg. This then goes beyond the normal command from God to live holy. Not that the command fails, but that if we are to be a blessing because we have been blessed, then our inner man needs to be motivated to calling of God's high calling in Christ.

This is sort of like being a poor beggar who lives in the town dump. The clothing they wear is full of holes, very dirty and smells of the rotting death found in most dumps. The person is unpleasant to be around. When Christ saves, He also changes us. He gives us new clothing, He cleans up the dirt, He makes us a sweet smelling person with the heavenly spiritual blessings, Ephesians 5:1-2 and 2 Corinthians 2:14. When we step out of our new character in Christ, we return to the clothing of our old character, we are like the beggar again, only worse because now we have transgressed the perfect law of liberty of being in Christ and our condition is confusing to those around us. Colossians 1:27-28

To the saints in Christ who are in the Spirit we are smelling like one who has not showered but is covered with the fragrance of the Spirit but not the indwelling Spirit. To the unbelieving person we are some sort of hypocrite who smells confusing, like a mixture of life and death.

Romans 12:1-2 So again we are exhorted by the apostle to live out the changes that have taken place in our soul and present to the church of Christ that we are living in the power of God by the Holy Spirit. This is our expected response to life in Christ in the church. We are not any longer to conform to the conditions of this world, but now too allow God to transform us through the Spirit and the heavenly blessings found in Christ.

Ephesians 4:1-3 Here is where Satan, unbelievers and those out of the Spirit will attack the Spirit filled saint. These will look for a chink in your Spiritual armor, we will cover the armor in Ephesians 6 in detail later. God's will is for you and me to live in unity. Just as God lives in the unity of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. This bond is: faith in Christ and peace with God. The three in one God lives in this unity and He expects His saints to do the same. Philippians 2:3-4 and Ephesians 2:10

Ephesians 4:4-6 The body of Christ, the church is controlled by the (one Spirit)Spirit of God, we must understand this. The baptism we demonstrate to the world is not the physical baptism that is seen by those we have invited to our confession of faith, the one that the world and the church around us see is the one found in Roman 6:3-7.

We have (one hope) in that we are one in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Our body is dead to sin, but it is alive in Christ, if indeed the Spirit lives in you. Romans 8:9-11

We have (One LORD) All believing Jews and Gentiles of all nations have the same LORD. His name is Jesus Christ and we all know and understand this through the Word of God being preached to us.

We all share the (one Faith) the faith of Christ which is not our own: Ephesians 2:8 and Galatians 2:16 and Galatians 2:20.

This (one Baptism) refers to the Spiritual baptism of fire, Romans 6:3-4 and Matthew 3:11.

So all saints have this One God who is the Father of us all – Romans 8:12-17