Walking Worthily & Speaking Truth
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Intro
Dream
Recap of Eph 1-3
God’s Ultimate Purpose
To sum up all things in Christ, and how we fit in that picture
Therefore
Walk worthily [topic sentence for rest of letter]
Walking Worthily (Eph 4:1-6)
Walking Worthily (Eph 4:1-6)
We used to WALK in the way of this world (Eph 2)
Then there are good works prepared by God for us to WALK in
Now it’s our turn…
Ephesians all about growing up into maturity… individually and corporately
Roughly speaking, Eph 1-3 is God’s part
Eph 4-6 is our part
Two words: Worthily & Calling
Worthily = equal weight. I.e. Our walk == weight of calling
What is “the calling to which you were called”
Calling = “Invitation to an experience of special privilege and responsibility”
Includes:
Every spiritual blessing [Eph 1:3]
To have Jesus’ resurrection power operating in us [Eph 1:19-20]
To be seated in the heavenlies with Jesus, above every other power [Eph 2:6]
To be joined into the covenant people of God [Eph 2:19]
To be a living, holy temple [2:21-22]
To be the vehicle through which God’s wisdom is made known [Eph 3:10]
Summed up as “to be like Jesus”
Note on that last one – that God’s wisdom is revealed in the Church
Tie-in to camp & last week – God’s ultimate plan – power and presence & access to the tree of life
Satan’s big mistake (Colossians – if they had known, they would not have crucified Jesus) Killing Jesus à Jesus everywhere in us!
You, the church are Satan’s worst nightmare – God’s plan, the church, the body of Jesus, the temple of Holy spirit, the carriers of God’s presence and Kingdom expanding through the earth.
God’s Gifts That Enable us to Walk Worthily (Eph 4:7-13)
God’s Gifts That Enable us to Walk Worthily (Eph 4:7-13)
Paul describes what it looks like to walk worthily, to walk according to our calling:
Complete humility
Gentleness
Patience (wide souls)
Putting up with one another in love
Making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace
This is because our calling is not just individual, but corporate. When the church looks like this, we are fulfilling our calling and revealing the mystery of God to the principalities and powers.
One of the things broken in the fall was relationship
God is not just restoring individuals, but he is restoring right community
Qualities listed are pretty hard to do… impossible perhaps?
We’ve already seen that Eph is about the power of God – we’re not meant to do this in our own strength
V 7 – But to each of us grace was given in keeping with the measure of Christ’s gift
Psalm 68
Warrior-King ascending the mountain in victory
Reminiscent of Colossians – He leads us in triumphal procession
Paul misquotes:
In Ps 68, God gets the gifts
In Eph, God gives the gifts
A model for us: get to give so it propogates
Example – it’s like when we first arrived at Marion Vineyard and T&M, and MJ&A came alongside us and ministered to us, then encouraged us to minister with them, then we get to minister to others, then the others get to minister and so on.
Do you see how that goes? How long do we do that?
Until we all attain to maturity – until the Church grows up. It only grows up when everyone is doing their part. We like to elevate the “offices” but Ephesians says that they are gifts are for the equipping of the saints to do the work of ministry. Everyone gets to play.
Receiving God’s Gifts (Eph 4:14-16)
Receiving God’s Gifts (Eph 4:14-16)
How do we do that? How do we receive God’s gifts and grow up?
We “Truth” and “Love”
V 15
Note: “speaking” not in the Gk. “Truthing in love”
Truthing:
Includes speaking
Proclaiming, declaring, believing the things that God says are true
Outward looking (“in love”) (agape)
Things like making sure that each of us knows:
Every spiritual blessing [Eph 1:3]
To have Jesus’ resurrection power operating in us [Eph 1:19-20]
To be seated in the heavenlies with Jesus, above every other power [Eph 2:6]
To be joined into the covenant people of God [Eph 2:19]
To be a living, holy temple [2:21-22]
To be the vehicle through which God’s wisdom is made known [Eph 3:10]
Connection with 1 Cor 12-14 – Pursue spiritual gifts and especially that you may prophesy, in the context of love
Growing up only happens in community – we need to each do our part and speak the truth in love to each other
What truth do you know? Who else needs to know it?
Example – Jamie Wells to me: I see teaching in you. I am built up and equipped, and get to play my part so that more people are built up and equipped.
Conclusion
Trucks vision