Ephesians Part 9

In Ephesians 4:17-32 Paul expounds upon the idea that those chosen before the foundation of the world, redeemed through the blood of Messiah, raised from death to life, reconciled into one new humanity, and built together as God's holy Temple must now walk in a manner worthy of that calling. What does it look like to practically live this life of faith? Give a listen. 

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Welcome to the Messiah in Life podcast, hosted by Bishop Justin D. Elwell of Restoration Fellowship International and Messiah Congregation, recorded at our congregational home in Washington Mills, New York. In this study through Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we invite you to rediscover the beauty of God's covenant purposes revealed in Messiah Jesus. Together, we will explore the theological and covenantal foundations of Paul's letter, its call to unity, holiness, redemption, and covenant identity for both Jew and Gentile in Messiah. This is more than a theological study. It is an invitation to see the story of Scripture as one unified testimony of the Lord's faithfulness, from Israel to the nations, all brought together in Messiah. Thank you for joining us as we seek to live Messiah in everyday life. And now to Bishop Justin.

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Okay, Ephesians chapter 4, beginning in verse 17. The Apostle Paul writes this Now this I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of your of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. It's an interesting phrase, in them. That's kind of an important development, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, Yeshua, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore put away falsehood. Let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 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. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. This is God's word. When we take an immediate impression of this, as we see in verse 18, they're darkened, so their minds are darkened, alienated, they are distant. As in chapter two, Paul says, You have been brought near by faith. The hardness of their heart, of course, that takes us to the imagery that Paul uses regarding Pharaoh and Romans. They have become callous, they become hardened, and have given themselves up to sensuality, greed, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. So there is certainly some parallels here that Paul would make elsewhere in his writings regarding the condition of those who have not yet come to faith in Messiah. But first we see that in verse 17, now. Remember, when we talked about this last week in the first part of the chapter, verses 1 up to verse 16, he said that we are to walk worthy, to walk worthy, uh in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called, he said, in all humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. And these, of course, are characteristics of Messiah, of how we bear witness to him as we demonstrate his character, as his character works out from us. And so again, chapter four is kind of a transitional chapter from the doctrine that is given to us in chapters one through three. And now we begin to see the apostle calling us to walking in a manner that demonstrates this. This is kind of, you know, as some people say, where the rubber meets the road, the reality of walking in faith. What does that look like to those who are born again, or for those who are born again? What does it look like for those who are in covenant community? And immediately we see that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do. Now, in Ephesians 2 and 11, what did he say? Um, therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision. So it would be tempting to say that Paul is um being, we might say, uh condemning the Gentile, uh, the Gentiles who were listening, and that's not the case. What he is doing is he is demonstrating how far they have come. He is helping them to see how far they have come. Now, obviously, they still within live within the cultural context, the national context um in which they were called. So there's still a strong um association with that. But what is different is their manner of walking, their manner of living, how they are interacting with each other, what does that look like? That they are no longer walking as their neighbors who are unregenerate would walk, but rather they are walking in a manner, again, worthy of the calling they have in Messiah. So it's not to um condemn the ethnicities that have come to faith, rather that it is to point out and give assurance to, hey, look, this is how you once were, you were in this place, but now um understand uh more clearly how you are, who you are, and how far you have come. So he is speaking rather uh regarding the the pagan manner of life, the common manner of life that is most widely accepted, most widely practiced among the people groups that he is writing to, and the characteristics that would be evidenced in the the broader society, the broader context where they are. So this is speaking to who they were. Okay, so they they did at one time walk in the futility of their minds. Their minds were at one time darkened, they were alienated from God, they had a hardness of heart, but that's changed. So here is the progression: it's futile thinking, uh, darkened understanding, alienation from God's life, um, hardness of heart, and moral insensitivity. Now, this this language really isn't any different from the prophetic language that we find the prophets using regarding the nations, uh, the prophetic critiques, we might say, of the nations, of their manner of living, of their way of life. And Paul reminds this uh his his audience that this is not how you learned Messiah. So he goes through this list speaking of the manner in which they are living, uh greedy to practice every kind of impurity, but this is not the way you learned Messiah, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. So there is a distinction that is made. There is a radical change in the person when they come to faith in Christ. And we notice the wording. He doesn't just say that you learned about the doctrines of Messiah. Now, obviously that is important, but he he said you learned Messiah himself. Discipleship, I think we quite often um only look at, we might say, as learning, uh as learning in the academic sense or learning in the programmatic sense. But it's it's much more than that. Before it's informational, it's relational. So before the information is is relayed, before the information is given, uh, we relate first to the person and messiah. So discipleship fundamentally is then relational, because discipleship is to live with each other, is to walk with each other, is to love each other, is to correct each other. Um and then there's a change that takes place. And he speaks of this in a radical a rather radical way. In verse 22, put off your old self. Now let me read this uh through verse 24 so we get the full uh flavor of what he's saying. Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Now, what did he uh say earlier about the mind? The mind of the Gentiles it was futility, but now in Messiah it is the minds are renewed. Renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. So righteousness speaks to our position before the Lord, that in Messiah we are his righteousness or made um made to, or or I should say, we stand in his righteousness. Holiness then is also a manner of uh being set apart and our action and how our action sets apart, sets us apart, how our lifestyle witnesses the way we have been set apart. So verse 22, put off, and verse 24, put on. Obviously, this is the um language of garment and putting on and off a garment because it's something everyone can relate to, putting on clothes, taking off clothes, and so on. This is the change that takes place. So he's likening the transition from the old man to the new man is changing garments, and so we put off the old humanity, the old nature, the old uh mind, the old spirit. Be renewed in the spirits of your mind and put on the new humanity. Now it's absolutely true. I we I kind of teach um sanctification in uh uh as a three well as a triad. So you are progressively sanctified, you are positionally sanctified, and and you will eventually be, we all eventually be eternally sanctified. So progressive sanctification is that daily walk with the Lord where we are being renewed, we are being corrected, we are learning, we are growing, we're making mistakes, we're repenting, and so on. So it's a progression of how we are sanctified positionally. As soon as we are born again, we are positionally sanctified, set before the Lord. We don't have to kind of work to achieve that, as some people might think. Rather, in faith, we are in Messiah, and so we are eternally we are there positionally before the Father, and that's how we approach the throne of grace. So put off and put on. Now, I I mention this because both put off and put on are in the aorist tense in the Greek. So what we're seeing here is this is an action that has been previous done, previously done. It's a simple action that has been previously done. So to put off obviously is to take off the old nature, and then we do that through the regeneration of faith, um symbol uh symbolatic through um baptism. And we put on the new and we recognize that as coming up out of the baptismal waters, being regenerated. So that's an action that has been done. So Paul is pointing out again how far they have come. You have come this far, you were this, but now you are this. And because now we are renewed in Messiah, we will again show forth his character, his nature, his persona of who he is, as he as Paul talks about in four in verse two. So the language recalls both creation and covenant renewal. Okay, so the new humanity is the same one new man. So putting on this new this new self, this new humanity, this being created after the image of God and true righteousness and holiness in verse 24, is of course, it's introduced in chapter two. It's that same renewal. We receive we experience that renewal corporately as the one new body, uh the one new man in Christ, but we also um experience it personally. And now that is uh evidenced in our daily life and our living as we go on through verse 25. Paul now illustrates that the new life, what the new life looks like in practice. Therefore, having put away falsehood, so we put off the old man, we put on the new man, and we put away falsehood. Let each one of you speak the truth. Now remember, we've been sanctified in truth. Um, we have been set apart in truth because Messiah is truth, and each one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. So that is evidence of our care for each other, our concern for each other, that we would not allow falsehood to have a place in our fellowship. So each exhortation that Paul um gives to us in these verses follows a consistent pattern. Again, remove the old behavior, the old nature, and replace it with covenant faithfulness. So it's being faithful. Remember, we're not we're not um endeavoring to be perfect. Perfection belongs solely to the Lord. We are being perfected in him, and ultimately that we'll see its full expression in glory. But we are pursuing to be faithful, we're pursuing faithfulness to be as faithful as we can. Let our yes be yes, let our no be no. So this reflects the wisdom uh that we find in scripture, of course, where righteousness is demonstrated as concrete uh uh through a concrete pattern of living. How are we walking? How are we living? What are we doing? And all of that taken together uh is evidence of covenant faithfulness, of living faithfully unto the Lord. Again, not perfectly, but faithfully. So he's moving us away from this uh in verse 17, the futility of their minds, and having gone over that ground, he is now going to refine, refine the believer. As he says, uh as we look at verse 25, therefore, again, having put away falsehood, put away, put it away, don't engage in it, don't entertain it, um, don't allow it to have place. Why? Because of what we read in the following verses. So truthfulness is essential because again, we are members of the same body, we're members of each other. So one of the ways we understand falsehood or what falsehood does within a community is it destroys covenant community because it disrupts the covenant that is between us and Messiah. But truth preserves covenant, truth preserves the covenant relationship. So when we read on verse 26, be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger. Verse 27, and give no opportunity to the devil. Okay, so we have to unpack this a little bit. Paul is quoting uh Psalm 4 4 Um, be angry, but do not sin. Anger is not, you know, uh condemned in Scripture. It's not um uh exclusively condemned or universally condemned in Scripture, because Scripture does speak of righteous indignation, righteous anger. There is an anger that is righteous, and actually uh when we love someone or we love people, we love our neighbor as ourself, in order to defend them, we have to have a righteous anger that rises up in us in order to generate the response that protects the poor, the weak, the stranger, the widow, the orphan, uh, those who are beside us. But we don't let that anger um settle into us. We don't allow that anger to have a placehold um that brings forth sin. So the danger is allowing anger to become bitterness, resentment, and to bring forth an opportunity for the adversary to move in. We don't want a bitter root of judgment to enter into our heart, to stay there and to influence us and really poison us, causing us to walk in unforgiveness, causing us to um view the world around us in a very kind of pessimistic way. Um Paul is is telling us, see, be angry, but do not sin. So there will be things that we are rightly angry over, the condition of the world around us. But that anger should not lead us to sin, it should lead us to godly action. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, don't go to bed angry, it doesn't help. Trust me, I've tried. And give no opportunity to the devil. The devil will take the opportunity of the anger that is of the anger that is in you, he'll take opportunity of the bitterness that is in you, and he'll stir that up. He'll stir that up with the people around you, he'll stir that up with the situations, the circumstances around you in order to cause you to stumble. So we have to be mindful of that. So Paul's reflecting obviously, um, this instruction that he's given us reflects upon the Jewish emphasis of reconciliation or the biblical um emphasis on reconciliation before conflict hardens into division. So he's calling us to covenant community, he's calling us to recognize covenant community. And you know, what again, what how does that affect the dynamic of us living together, interacting with each other? What does that look like before the Lord? And if we allow conflict to harden, anger to harden, it causes the division. Nobody likes to deal with reconciliation, nobody likes to have the hard conversation, that's understandable. But we're also called to, what does he say? Maintain, as he um in verse four, uh uh chapter four and verse three, that we are eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. So we are to come and make peace. You know, as as Isaiah says, Come let us reason together, and for that purpose we are coming together in order to not allow hardness to settle in, cause division, and disrupt the peace. That not that we've made, we didn't make this peace, the Messiah has made this peace. Verse 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. Former patterns of of theft need to be replaced with labor, with working, with getting um, with gainful employment, we would say. So this isn't just about economic uh conditions or economic responsibility. That's you know, Paul is not pointing us in that direction in the specific verse. What he is reminding or what he is saying is that that they may have those who once were that were thieves, now by working with their hands, they have something to share with those who are in need. Now they're extending their some themselves in a way that was contrary to how they used to walk, how they used to behave, how they used to interact with people. Now imagine if imagine if you had, if this individual that is now in your in your uh community, in your assembly is worshiping the same Lord, they had stolen from you at some point. But now they come and give to you when you're in need. That glorifies the Lord. That is a demonstration of the transformation that has happened through faith in Christ. So work becomes an expression of generosity and charitableness. In covenant faith. Let's read verse 29. Let no corrupt 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. Words, of course, language has either creative or destructive power. Proverbs talks about that, James talks about that, where life and death is in the power of the tongue. But Paul calls us to speech that builds up, that edifies. So just as we looked at the ministry of the gifts, uh the gift ministry, also called the fivefold gift ministry, and verse 11, he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds or pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. So here we see not only that the gift ministers are to build up the body of Messiah by their speech, also the body. We, each individual member, is to build up others as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Reminders of grace, reminders of how the Lord is working, what the Lord is doing, what the Lord will do, what he has promised he will do, what he has said in his word, and so on. That is all grace that is being extended to us. So speech becomes an instrument of grace. Speech can be recognized as a means by which we share the grace of God. And not only our action, because he's described actions of grace, and he will describe more actions of grace, but also here he is describing language as a vehicle or an instrument of grace itself. And that's that's in our broader culture, we seldom think about the power of speech, especially in this social media culture where people can say anything to anyone they want, anywhere in the world, any time of day or night. And you have very little restriction on that regarding um you know comments that are made and so on. Is the comment that is being made meant to um cut someone, to murder someone? Are we trying to murder them with our tongue? Are we trying to erase them from the public sector? Or are we being an encourager? Are we being a corrector? How is it being used? What is it being used for? And we have to meditate and pray about that. You know, it's very seldom that I perfer that I personally will comment on anyone's post. Very, very rarely, maybe once or twice a year, whether I agree or disagree, if it's a you know, it might be a congratulatory comment, but very rarely do I comment on people's post. Um and I, you know, that's just a way of uh myself guarding my heart, guarding my speech, my conduct, um, my public witness, and so on. You know, if someone is, let's say, shredded within the um the meat grinder that is social media commentary, and then they see the person who shredded them walk into an assembly and praising the Lord, I think there might be a little bit of uh uh a disconnect. There might be some um static that comes in that place from that experience. So again, we have to be careful, and especially as believers, because we are we are professing faith in Christ, we are professing that we have been changed or that we are not the same. And there are certainly ways that we can very intelligently articulate uh a disagreement uh and graciously and charitably do so. And I think we have to be mindful of charitable action. But don't grieve the Holy Spirit, as he says in verse 30, do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed. Now he's reminding them of the relationship who has brought us all together. We were born again by the grace of God through Messiah, and now the Holy Spirit not only enters into us, giving us new life, as Paul talks about in Romans 7, Romans 8, but he is also walking alongside of us. And there is also something of our heart that is a seal, that is a pledge of the future redemption, of the future um harvest that all the all those who are in Christ will be part of. Sealed for the day of redemption. So we don't want to grieve the Spirit of God who is in us, the Spirit of God who is walking with us, the Spirit of God who is discipling us. Now, that's you know, it's not exclusive, um exclusively only the Holy Spirit that is discipling us. It is the Holy Spirit who's in the midst of the brethren who is discipling all of us. So sometimes the Holy Spirit, whether you know it or recognize it, will speak to you of something of learning, of edif edification, of upbuilding, as Paul has been saying. He will speak through you. And or the person who is listening will be tuned into maybe they're having, they're having, uh, they're praying about a certain issue, or they've been studying a certain issue, and now by the the grace of the Holy Spirit, he uses you to disciple them in that area, really, you know, without you even maybe knowing about it. And so it's not an isolation. We're not called to go and live in a cave and just sit and meditate on the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit of God works in our midst. He works not only with us individually, but also corporately, and that's part of that confirmation process that we go through as we're being conformed to the image of Messiah. So Paul in verse 30 is warning against um well the the warning I would say really conveys a covenant uh warning, it's a covenantal overtone of warning. It's you know very much in the um prophetic uh I would say construction where don't grieve the Holy Spirit. Well, what happened when the children of Israel grieved the Spirit of God um before the first exile? Well, it became the first exile. So we see all of the corrective means by which the Lord attempts to reach out and um bring repent repentance and correction to his people. So we don't want to enter into a spirit of rebellion, and I think that would come by what he has uh obviously warned us of previously, that we would have a callous heart, um uh a desire to do every type of practice, every type of impurity, that there would be um hardness in our heart that would cause us to go into rebellion. And so that would grieve the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is with us and in us and beside us. He's our paraclete who has come alongside of us. So believers must be on guard against attitudes that disrupt the unity um that is being created by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us together, and the Holy Spirit is the one who is um, let's say, curating the unity and the bond of peace that we have in Messiah. He is bringing us together, he is Lord in our the Lord God in our midst, and he is helping to bring us together. He's helping us to grow with each other, get to know each other, and to recognize who we are. So that the Holy Spirit isn't like the force from you know space movies. Um not sure of the copyright if I mention it, but it's not like you know, use the force, Luke. Um, it's not a divine force somewhere out there, you know, that we we have to go and capture it or something. The Holy Spirit is the personal presence of God, the fullness of personal presence of God as the third person of the triune Godhead, we say. The Holy Spirit is, of course, we know from the apostles, is also Lord. So he's here with us, not only um just in me right here, but even in this fellowship between us in the podcast or the the um live stream that's going out. So the personal presence dwelling among the covenant people of God. So to grieve the spirit is to wound the fellowship he has created, not only between you and the Lord, but also between us as brethren. That grieves the spirit of God because we're walking contrary, we're not walking in a manner worthy of our calling, as he started the chapter. Now we are grieving because we are walking contrary to God. As the Lord says in the Torah, if you walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. And certainly that would be something that grieves the Spirit of God. Let's read verse 33 through 32. Uh and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Now, what's the fun in that? I mean, he's taken all the fun things away. Right? Think about this. When we were walking in the futility of our minds, whether we're Jew or Gentile, we were walking in bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander and malice. You know, vengeance is mine, says the Justin, right? I think all of us can put our names in that. And then in 32 he says, Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. All right, let's unpack this a little bit. Um the new character that comes forth by faith in Messiah. Um it's a remarkable contrast when you consider all that he has already unpacked for us. But the old humanity, as he says, is characterized, is characterized by bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, malice. But the new humanity, which is a witness of the Lord's character, God's character, it's kindness, compassion, forgiveness. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted. So be compassionate, be empathetic, and forgive, be forgiving. Forgiveness, of course, is one of those exercises in faith that is quite often most troubling. It's the most one of the most difficult things for us to do is to forgive in order to be set free, to forgive in order that someone else is not living rent-free in our mind. When we walk in unforgiveness, someone who probably is not considering us at all or thinking about us at all is taking up a lot of bandwidth in our mind, distracting us from the work that we've been called to do, the work that we should be doing. So be kind, be charitable, tenderhearted. Listen, really listen to where someone is, don't just assume and forgiving each other. So the basis of forgiveness um is not a human virtue. You know, the virtues of God that work through us and in us is as we see kindness, compassion, um, faith, hope, and love as he as he articulates outs uh in Corinthians um 13. These virtues that work through us are not only not only for our own good, for the peace of of the Lord that is being established in each and one of us, but also within our covenant community, within the broader community as well. Um, and how others experience Christ through us and in us, how they witness the presence of God around us. All of that is is vital for us to take hold of and to walk in. Again, walking worthy of the calling, then the manner worthy of the calling by which we've been called. So it's the Lord's forgiveness toward us in Messiah. That's the basis of forgiveness. It's not my good virtue, it's not my my self-righteousness. That's not the basis of forgiveness. Basis of the basis of forgiveness is the Lord's forgiveness towards us in Messiah. So each and every one of us, every everyone that is faithful, um extends the grace that we have first received. Unless we've been forgiven, it is very difficult to forgive. So when we think about forgiveness, when we have professed faith in Christ and we've received the Holy Spirit, we've been born again, baptized, and so on, all that goes into that. Now, I'm not saying that uh that um anything apart from salvation by grace through faith is part of the paradigm, but I'm simply pointing to those most recognizable things that we uh that we exercise in order to demonstrate the inward grace that is working in us. We've first received the forgiveness of God, again by grace through Messiah. And that's what we begin to extend. We extend the grace that we've received, and I think the major grace that we've received is forgiveness. And when we look at the dynamic of any community, whether it's a church community or a family, um, forgiveness is a major component of that um dynamic. And we extend it because we first received it. It's not something that is self-generated, it's not something that we, it's not an intellectual idea that we've ascended to that from this lofty position we will now give to others because we are so enlightened. I don't think that forgiveness will stick, as we might say. So a few pastoral reflections regarding chapter four. Um first it demonstrates that unity is not sustained by theology alone. We see a lot of communities that are doctrinally or theologically driven that also have divisions. Now, if the doctrine and the theology is perfect, why what is the division over? So Ephesians 4 shows us that we must walk it out. We were talking about this in the men's um men's group or men's study this morning, where theology and doctrine is lived out. And that is, as we would say, through forgiveness, through grace, mercy, love, actions, charitable actions, loving our neighbor as ourself, and so on, all of those um uh situational responses that we have, that's doctrine and action. What does the Bible say about forgiveness? What does the Bible say about charity? What does the Bible say about caregiving? Um and then we apply that. So it doesn't just remain some type of uh theoretical abstraction, it becomes a concrete practice that defines who we are. But it requires that the character is transformed. Again, it's the putting off of the old and putting on of the new. But that was not something that you or I had to do. That's something the Lord did. Again, in the Aristense, it's something that was done previously. It's done. It's an action that is done, done previously. But he's illustrating for it, us for us, so we understand that it's like the taking off an old old garment and putting on a new garment. Um, if we think of a wedding, quite often, I'll use masculine imagery here. Hopefully the groom does not show up in his favorite, you know, chicken wing eating shirt. I I had a friend growing up who had a shirt that he only wore when he ate chicken wings, so he could wipe his hands anyway. Um hopefully he doesn't show up in that in his favorite pair of shorts and flip-flops. And, you know, with a five o'clock shadow. Hopefully he shows up um in a manner, you know, in a in a dressed in the manner that is dignifying and recognizes the dignity of the event, not necessarily a tux, but you know, some type of um more formal uh attire. Uh people aren't generally used to seeing me in uh what would be most readily identified as clerical attire or clergy attire, but I do wear that if I'm doing a funeral, if I'm doing a wedding, if I'm doing a hospital visitation. It's not our general tradition or practice for me to wear that around the community or the congregational building. But quite often, especially if I'm going to a VA, you'll see me walk in in a clerical collar. Um because it's a recognizable what I'm doing there. The guards are much more pleasant. And quite often I'm able to talk my way in and out as far as people who need prayer in the hallways. Um sometimes I've even had um a nurse ask me to do a visitation of someone that was just um that I didn't know that just you know requested a clergy visit. Um, but that's you and that recognizes it's it's not a recognition in either the instance of the bride or or excuse me, the groom or the minister. It's not um people often associate you know that type of thing with pride or ego. No, it it recognizes that there's something important, there's something solemn that is happening here, and that, you know, in the case of uh of clergy, that you're coming in the dignity uh of the Lord that is due within that that uh situation that you find yourself in. But again, you put something off in order to put something on. And I think you know, those illustrations help us to recognize that we're not doing something that is common anymore. No matter our calling in Christ, we're not living a common life. We're living a life that is that far exceeds anything that we could have orchestrated on our own. So that's it, so that through that we should be showing a transformed character. So from you know, from a pastoral perspective, Paul, as I'm looking at this, is reminding us that community, the call to community, reflects the holiness of the living God who dwells in us, and we are to show that to each other. So there's several truths as we look at this section of scripture, several truths that come forward. Doctrine must produce discipleship. We believe Christ died for us, saved us, resurrected, ascended in the glory. Again, discipleship begins with um relationship, but the the learning comes from that relationship. The the first relational aspect of our new relationship to Christ leads us to um growth in both our understanding of doctrine as given in scripture, but also our proper understanding of what discipleship is as well. So unity must be preserved through humility, the unity that we have, sharing in the bond of peace or preserving the bond of peace, rather than demanded through power. Uh there was a time when clergy and elders and you know all of the hierarchical structures demanded um obedience through the power that they wielded and so on. That doesn't exist today, by and large. In some communities, obviously it does. But I don't see virtue in that. I don't see it as being uh the manner in which Messiah um discipled and led his community. I don't see it as a practice of the Apostle Paul or the Apostle Peter or John or James. How do we, you know, rather than demanding or exercising some type of power, relationship is the most important aspect of leadership. You lead those you know, you lead and help them to grow and mature and to um to walk in in a manner that is worthy of their calling, but also to advance in their calling. So I think that can be it can be uh very Very it can be taken advantage of for sure when people uh presume a type of power and authority over people's lives that scripture does not grant or give. Um, the language of respect that Peter uses um, that you respect those who are serving uh as shepherds over you. Um, again, that's not by demand. The honor comes because the person who's serving is there, is involved. You have a relationship with them, and so on. So, spiritual gifts, as we, you know, the gifts that the Lord gives to the body, uh, verse 11, are sent to equip the body, not to elevate individuals. You know, we have a tendency to when we look at the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, to see that as an elevated position. It's not an elevated position. It's meant to be a service position, it's a servanthood position, it's a servant to the servants of God, so that the servants of God uh faithfully know how to faithfully serve the living God in the ministries that the Lord has called them to, and whatever the community uh dynamic, whether it's out in the world through the workplace, through retired life, through teaching, through whatever it might be, but it does not exalt these and you know, these gifts, the gift ministries. Paul was writing from a prison cell. That doesn't sound rather exalted to me. Um, you know, Peter continually messed up. That doesn't sound particularly exalting to me. What we see is real people who are who've been saved by grace, who have been transformed by the presence of the living God in their life, and they're now serving. So for some, they're sent with that apostolic doctrine. We're built upon the um the doctrine of the apostles and prophets, and we have some that are shepherding teachers or teaching shepherds, um, however we want to phrase that, that are there, that are close, that are teaching the word of God with clarity, that are caring to, caring for, intending to the lives of the saints. These aren't exalted offices, these are positions of servanthood. And then we, of course, we have uh the episcopus and the dioconus, and uh both of which, even you know, the bishop position as an overseer isn't there to lord it over, but rather to serve by a particular um gifting that tends to the needs. You're overseeing in order to see the needs and to see the areas that are in need of clarification or correction. And a deacon is someone who is, if you put it in English and as a verb, they're deaconing, and it kind of makes people cringe a little bit, but they're serving. They're serving in order that the the body of Christ would uh have proper function. So all of that tied together is not high, exalted, lifted up, so special. It is serving the servants of God for the purpose of the ministry that they have been called to. So the human new humanity in Messiah is demonstrated through everyday faithfulness. I think I meant to say this last week, but when we were talking about Christian ethics, I meant to say Jewish ethics as well. I think people overcomplicate ethics because it's ethical. It sounds complicated, but it's really very simple. Biblical ethics is very simple and in a manner of speaking. So we talked about Christian ethics being the word of God applied to a situation by a person. That's a Vantilian uh construction. Jewish Jewish ethics is even more simple than that. It Jewish Jewish ethics can be summed up in if someone's thirsty, give them water. Very, very concrete, very real, very uh you know, immediately relatable. So holiness is not withdrawal from the world, but faithfulness and faithful witness within it. So the church becomes this living testimony, the body of Christ becomes a living testimony of the Lord's reconciling work that believers will speak truth, uh, engage in forgiveness, as we said earlier, exercise their gifts with humility, not with pride or arrogance, and walk together in love. So when we're walking together in love, it means we've laid aside, as he let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander be put away from you along with all malice. We can't walk together, arm in arm, hand in hand if those things are between us. So that's why Paul says, put it away. Put it away from you. Let it be distant from you. Just as you put off that old man, put off that old man, put off all of this nonsense, because you will not experience who this person is renewed in Messiah, unless you put off these things. And so we need to be hyper-vigilant in that to b otherwise we will have a bitter root that is taking uh is is taking root in us. I bet I tried to avoid saying that again, but it didn't come out that way. So just to conclude for uh chapter four, and I'll see if there's any questions or anything, um, Ephesians four begins Paul's practical exhortation. What does doctrine applied to life look like? What does the Bible apply to life look like? That's what Paul is giving us here. Again, he starts in chapter four with how we are walking in a manner worthy of our calling, in humility, gentleness, patience, bearing one another with one another, eager to maintain the unity and the spirit of the bond of peace. And that we would, again, in verse 31, let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander be put away from us, uh, from you, along with all malice, but walking, walking, be kind to one each one and one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. That's one that should be underlined, highlighted, uh bracketed in any way you can, as God in Christ forgave you. I I I think about uh this, I'm trying to remember who said it, so I'm stumbling a little bit. It's you know, forgiving when we forgive, yes, there are times we forgive the unforgivable. We forgive the unforgivable because God in Christ has forgiven the unforgivable in us. So again, we are sharing that grace that we've received. So there is this, you know, as we look through the flow of the book of Ephesians, there's uh inseparable. Uh the instructions that Paul gives us are inseparable from the theological foundation as we continue on from the beginning chapters. So it all works together. So the body is called to live according to what the Lord has already accomplished in Messiah. That is something that we need to meditate on. We are living the reality of what Messiah has already accomplished. It's a now but not yet. And we are living in a now but not yet. So it's not an excuse. We don't say, well, we're not there yet, so we're not going to practice this. No, it's we are we have received in part, and we're living as the Lord has uh permitted us to do. So those who are chosen from the foundation of the world, redeemed through the blood of Messiah, raised from death to life, reconciled into one new humanity, built together as the Lord's holy temple, must now walk in a manner worthy of that calling. I keep going back to that. Chosen, redeemed, raised, reconciled, and built as we are walking worthy of the calling. So Paul's vision is nothing less than a community that reflects the character of the Father by the Son through the Holy Spirit, reunited in one spirit, shaped by one Lord, confessing one faith, and bearing witness to the reconciling power of the gospel. Paul touches on all of this in this chapter. It's there is so much practical theology here. Living in a practical manner this uh faith that is so glorious and so beautiful. So the chapter prepares us for Paul's uh continued exhortation in five and six, uh, where we think about what does what does the life of the new humanity, the one new man, look like? When we think of worship, vocation, spiritual warfare, family, what does it look like? Are we living in the restoration? Well, not in full, but in certainly in part. Does that mean we lay aside the the things that are challenging to us? No, not at all. It means we continue to pursue them. We're walking in the realities of of what the Lord has given to us through Scripture. So throughout each of these relationships, the same principle remains, whether it's worship, family, vocation, or spiritual warfare, the grace that has reconciled us to the Lord God must also transform the way we live with one another. And that's why Paul is unpacking this chapter in the way that he does, because he's giving us the practical keys to living this life of faith. Yes, there are certainly things that are challenging, there are things that take more um determination, let's say, on our part. Now, again, we don't have to determine to it, we don't have to achieve to it. We have to determine to walk in what Messiah has already done. I think that makes it a little bit more approachable if we stop thinking that the peace that's there, we have to, we have to somehow construct, we have to somehow achieve. No, it's already what Messiah has done, and now we are walking in it, or we are to walk in it. And so Paul will pick up this theme and he will what does he say? Let's let's look ahead to next week. Therefore, okay, let me actually read verse 32 be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God and Christ has forgiven you. So, how can you be kind to one another as God and Christ has forgiven you? How can you be tenderhearted to one another as God and Christ has forgiven you? Forgiving one another as God and Christ has forgiven you. Therefore, now remember that chat that number five isn't in the original. That's not inspired. It's convenient, but it's not inspired. Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children. Now remember that imitator, not originator. We're to imitate him, not originate. We're not called to be originators in faith, we're called to be imitators and walk in love as Christ loved us. You see the theme? As God has loved you, forgiven you in Christ, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. That's the key. And Paul is bringing this all together. So we don't have to figure it out as in terms of reinventing the wheel. We simply have to look at scripture, unpack it, talk about it, live it, not just have it be something up here, a theoretical abstraction. I've got a lot of okay, most of these books I haven't read yet. Uh this is all new library material. Some have. I've got these at home. Oh, you can't see what's over here, but I've got a lot of what's on this wall at home. I'm seeing one book that I want to borrow at some point. And a lot of, you know, I have a lot of individual volumes here. Um I have a lot of books at home. A lot of really challenging books at home. Um you'll see a lot of them are underlined, highlighted page, dog eared and everything. The how do I remember, and this this is just how my brain works, how do I remember what's in these books? I live it. I try to live it to the best of my ability. How do I remember what's in the Word of God? I try to live it to the best of my ability. I try to be faithful in that. So again, it's not just the accumulation of knowledge, it is the development, the purposeful, intentional development of a relationship between the brethren in Christ and with Him, Father, Son, and Spirit. That's how we see lives change. You don't, your life does not change because you know me. Your life changes because you know him. Our lives change together because we know each other. And he is working in our midst. All right, let me just see if there's any questions. Um, and we'll end here for the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Amen. Thank you for studying with us, and until our next episode, may the Lord bless and keep you all in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.