We walk through the book of Ephesians and watch the Armour of God come alive.
for those who wanted Kay’s notes, here you go (eek!) & good luck deciphering :)
Ephesians 5:21 – 6:9
Candy openly, honestly and wisely walks us through this often challenging chapter on submission.
Ephesians 4:16-5:2
What a powerful week from Ephesians 4! We covered ALOT – diving back into our identity defined by God and so beautifully explained by Paul in chapters 1-3 and moving forward into how that plays out in our daily lives. Living out Truth – we need each other to help us hang onto and claim right thinking about who we are in Christ. It was a lively conversation which could have continued for another hour. But rather than go into it all, here’s the link:
Here’s the link:
Ephesians 4:1-16
Praying that the Lord will continue to teach us more and more about His Truth and mystery as it relates to surrendered obedience – by Him, Him and in Him.
Thanks for sharing your Tuesday mornings with us! We’re so grateful for our time together.
Ephesians 3:14-21
Oh my goodness – sorry about the mis-step on sending Ephesians 3 link. It is worth the listen as it so beautifully concludes Paul’s words on grace, relationship, worth & and God’s love:
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Here’s the link:
Ephesians 3:1-11
Moving into Chapter three, Paul shares more about his ministry to the Gentiles while pointing to God’s power, provision and precision as it relates to fulfillment of His plan for us to be able to come to him with confidence and freedom. Here’s the link to our chat:
Ephesians 2:11-22
Such a terrific discussion this week about what we were without Christ (vv 11-12), what God has done through Christ (vv 13-18) and what God is doing in us through Christ (vv 19-22) all anchored in God’s mercy manifested in the grace and peace provided through Christ’s sacrifice so that we may live – free and abundantly. Here’s the link:
Ephesians 2:1-10
This week we continued our look into Paul’s beautiful letter to the church in Ephesus – the amazing truth found in vv 4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…” What role do faith and trust and mercy and works play? Here’s our chat:
Ephesians 1:15-23
We try to record the lessons each week, but in order to record, you have to hit the Record button on the phone. Your teacher neglected to do that last week so you are getting some notes from the lesson. Thank you to each of you for the great contribution, discussion and encouragement! It was great.
Francois DuToit said: “God found us in Christ before He lost us in Adam” as he emphasizes the importance of making note of all that is true of us because we are “in Christ.”
In Ephesians 1:10 Paul teaches us that in the economy of the fullness of time, everything culminates in Jesus Christ–all that is on earth is to be reconciled in Him. We looked at this week’s passage in the context of Ch. 1 in its entirety. Read vss. 3-14 to get the complete context for vss. 15-23. In verses 3-14, Paul is blessing God the Father for His incomprehensible, lavish grace to us in Christ.
He then moves from this 1 long, run-on sentence in Greek, to intercession for the church at Ephesus.We were asked to identify the cause for his thanks for this church (and the others this letter would eventually be read to) and we said it was their faith & love. The object of their faith is Jesus Christ, and true faith always ushers forth in love for the saints. Gal. 5:6 says “nothing else matters except faith working through love.”
Paul uses the phrase glorious in v. 17. In the Greek the word for glory is dosa and it conveys the weight of something or Someone and the honor, renown, splendor of that person. In the same verse we find Paul praying for this body of believers that they might be given the “Spirit of wisdom & revelation in the knowledge of him”. Paul is asking God to impart to the believers revelation knowledge of the Father through the Spirit’s impartation. He moves in vs. 18 to ask that “the eyes of our hearts be enlightened that we might know the hope to which we’ve been called, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.”
We talked about our need for second & third touches of Jesus so that we might see Him more clearly, much as the blind man in Mark 8:22-26.
We discussed the import of understanding Biblical hope. It is not wishful thinking as we may mean when we say “I hope …. such & such” Hope in the NT always means a confident expectation of a promise realized. God makes good on His word. Sinclair Ferguson says it is the “assurance of a reality not yet experienced.” In these verses Paul wants us to appreciate that we inherit all the wealth of God Himself. He is the treasure hidden in the field, the pearl of great price. When conversing with anyone it is good to remember to seek to see the treasure that is in them. As image bearers of God we each one have treasure within– sometimes hidden. Be careful to seek that treasure.
And Paul wants them & us to recognize the enormous power of God that is ours in the Holy Spirit resident within the heart of every true believer. He uses three Greek words to convey this power. He says it is “incomprehensibly great” as he speaks of the unimaginable potency directed to all who believe. (Eph. 3:20-21 as well)
The three synonyms he uses for power are: (vs. 19) three different Greek words with different applications. Dynamos (dynamis) where we derive our word dynamite. It speaks of power toward us, potential or capability. Kratos is the Greek for strength as power exercised in resistance & control. Ichys speaks of bodily strength, muscular force: inherent vital power. These words will all reappear in Ch. 6 as Paul speaks of spiritual warfare and the power of the believer to do battle in the heavenly realms with spiritual forces of evil. He points to the resurrection, ascension, and exaltation of Christ in His victory over death and Satan as the greatest demonstration of power ever.
Verses 21-22 echo Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:18-19. Jesus declares that all authority in heaven and on earth is given to Him……therefore, He commands us to “Go” & “make disciples… with the promise and provision that “Lo, I am with you always!” Jesus pledges his guiding and guarding presence.
Abraham Kuyper said: “There is not one square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!'” Tim Keller reflecting on Kuyper’s quote said; “Much more important than Kuyper’s choice of words, however, is the biblical truth towards which his inaugural address is pointing: You ave never seen anything in your life that God did not create (Rev. 4:11), and Christ is intimately involved in upholding in existence the very things that are in your field of vision at the moment (Heb. 1:3). These same things, along with you who are looking at them, were made by and through Christ, and were made for one supreme reason: to belong to or to ‘be unto’ Christ. (Col1:16). We were made by Jesus for Jesus!
In closing, I asked that we all practice 3 “R’s”: Rest, Relate, & Respond:
1) We were made to rest in another’s care amidst a growing sense of danger. You & I were made to sleep in a boat in the midst of a life-threatening storm. Has anyone in here experienced a life-threatening storm? Circumstances that seem sure to shipwreck your life? We’ve been made to rest in the One Who is over all & Who Himself was asleep in the boat in a fierce storm.
2) We are made to relate intimately amidst a growing sense of separateness, of abandonment or estrangement. All that seems to want to divide & separate calls us to draw near to Jesus, to relate to Him & to the others in our lives the same way He relates to us.
3) We’ve been made to respond with an urgent message–made to respond to the gospel and carry this urgent message of hope amidst a growing sens of futility, of hopelessness. You & I have been made to have this message of hope (gospel) in us & to give it to others.
We are made to rest Jesus’ care amidst all that threatens.
We’re made to relate intimately to Him & to others in the midst of a world that fractures.
We’re made to respond to Jesus’ gospel message, empowered by Him in the Person of the Holy Spirit to take or carry this message of hope into an increasingly hostile, hopeless world. Respond to God’s gospel and give it away!!
Blessings, sisters!
Candy
Ephesians 1:1-14
What a pleasure getting to contemplate the book of Ephesians together! We could have (and almost did!) spent the entire morning on Paul’s greeting: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Grace – (the cornerstone of Christ’s ministry, mediation, gift, redemption, love and so much more) coupled with resulting Peace (Shalom – which we know after studying God’s names this summer – means wholeness and completeness) speak volumes into our day Today and every day.
As is often the case around here, we didn’t make it through all the questions. But we certainly enjoyed a lively and encouraging conversation that kept taking us back to the God, his provision, his leading, his redemption, his power – even to help us believe – and more. But rather than cover it all now, here’s a link to our chat:
