EPHESIANS 4 V 1-16

 

The significance of this passage, is that it is not preached as much as it should. It is however, the listed Epistle for the coming Sunday services.

There is too readiness to teach falsehoods, by saying many religions lead to eternal life; nor can we say there is more than one God. No other religion can save.

Paul is writing to the Church in Ephesus, on a subject that is uppermost in his life.

He had been made an Apostle by Jesus, a title he honored, for the purpose of taking the gospel to the Gentiles, and whilst he was doing this, he still felt deeply to his own people the Jews. He dealt with the situation by bringing the Gentiles and Jews into a united Church, based on a unity of the truths of the gospel.

N v1 he writes that he had been imprisoned just for the sake of preaching for the Lord. His words had power, for he saw a unified Church as essential. Christians had to live lives of holiness and unity.

In v2, he mentions that there had to be humility, a word considered distasteful in that pagan world. The life of the Church was one in which there was gentleness. Patience, peace, and love, in every Christian life.

In v3 peace is to bring reconciliation and love. Which create a bond and unites believers in Christ.

V4 refers to one Spirit. A human body has a spirit that makes all parts work together, and he Church is enlivened by the Holy Spirit, which enlivens Christians to eternal life. One hope means Christians do not have separate hopes, but are called together to eternal life and enjoy forever God in resurrection glory.

verse 5, one faith is the doctrinal truths which Christians confess are.. The Son of God is the Lord Jesus Christ,  other faiths deny God had a son, but not only is Jesus the Son of God, sinners can only be saved through Christ, who is the only way to God. People can only be saved from hell by the person and work of Christ. If Christ is rejected, there is no other way of salvation.

The Bible states one God, one Lord Jesus Christ,  one gospel, one means of escaping hell. The Bible also states, you shall not follow any claim, there are no other gods. To state otherwise will anger God, and come under His wrath. The doctrine of one Lord, one faith and one Spirit, one God, constitute a Trinitarian formula.

There is only one baptism. Christians have not all agreed about the mode of baptizing, but the term one baptism refers to the agreed belief of the baptisms of believers. This takes place when a sinner repents, makes a confession of faith publicly, and receives the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Verse 6 uses the term over- all and in all, telling God is omnipotent. Thus the Christian Church is one body wherever its separate congregations may be found throughout the world.

I was once in a group of Christians in Mombasa Kenya, which is the doorway to many other countries of Africa. The city has a harbor, and as liners arrived from America and Europe, we would meet missionaries prior to them journeying away, and we could share faith and experiences with them, only because we were in the same heavenly family. No other  group or organization can compare with this.

verses 7/10, Paul describes the gifts from the ascended Christ .

In v7 There is mentioned grace. There are no levels of grace, but refers to an Office in the Church requires a calling, and serving in a responsible manner with personal respect.

In v8. The one who ascends is the triumphant Lord in His resurrection to be the head of the Church, and the gifts were given by Jesus which were obtained when He triumphed over captives.

V9 the lower regions are the earth. In the incarnation Christ descended from the highest heavens to lowest of regions, where He was buried, but rose again to defeat death, and 40 days later was seated in the highest heaven at the right side of the Father.

V10 Christ is the supreme head of the Church who fills all things with His glory, power and the sovereign prerogative to dispense gifts to His people.

In verse 11/13 there is a picture of the organization and administration of the early Church, and there is a list of Office bearers.  There were three kinds; the ones where authority spread across the whole Church by the Apostles; another kind, the evangelists, were confined to one place, but were enabled to go wherever the Spirit moved them. There were prophets, who foretold the will of God, who wanted to give a message from the Holy Spirit. This caused them to go from Church to other Churches, proclaiming the Word of God, but before long they had vanished. As time passed, the local Church grew to have its own Minister. Local Ministers became the accepted practice.

V 14 we see immaturity in the truths of Chistian doctrine, makes the Church like gullible children tossed helplessly by the waves and wind of cunning deceitful false teaching.

V15. The truth must not be used to bludgeon people into acceptance and obedience, but must always be presented kindly. The truth leads people to maturity which is defined here as growing up to Christ, who as head leads, directs, and guides the body.

V16. Paul continues the body metaphor to describe the Church’s maturity. Every believer is viewed as a unit to play a crucial part in the growth, but there is no growth Paul states without love, and every act of love in the name of Christ is valued and remembered by him as each part is working properly

                                           ***********

In consideration of this message, we need to consider how close the Church comes to following to accepting the teaching. We find it soon departs from it.

There is the constant departure from the teaching of the Bible, which is becoming a common practice.

When someone is entering a fellowship or society, they are committing themselves to abide by the way of that gathering and the aims, Credit or discredit is the consequence of how they act. Paul sets down the kind of life that he expects from Church members.

The passage that you have just read, or heard, clearly reveals the view of Paul and we can imagine the horror he would suffer if he had to pass judgement on the Church in some Western countries.

A Church which is not built on a sure foundation, and/or is not governed according to the Word of God, the supreme authority of the Church, will be divided. There should be in every member’s mind, lay and ordained, especially by clergy in positions of leadership, a clear allegiance to Scripture.  Every effort has to be made to avoid division; all parts acting as one. This means no changing of biblical doctrine.

If drastic action is not taken soon, the Church in England will fall apart as Minsters will face two parts of their Church arguing against each other, causing the Minister  to upset those he has opposed. This is deeply frustrating, as a division has been caused when the bishops acted directly and unequivocally against the Bible, for no good purpose, but merely to appease society.  People and clergy are leaving the Church as a result. Paul states this is acting like gullible children.

Baptism is the gateway to the Church. In the early Church it was adult baptism after repentance and public confession of faith.  In time, the Church allowed children of practicing Christian parents to be baptized, but as in all cases when people deviate from a situation, it has become extended to all children irrespective of age, and with non-believing parents, who make vows and give promises which all now they have no intention of keeping.

In every Church there are people who need to be curtailed. Paul speaks of trickery by people, and uses a word meaning manipulates.  There are those who by clever arguments lure people away from true faith.  It is one of the characteristics of the age that people talk about religion more than perhaps before the present day and who are against God and the Church.  they interpret the Bible with fancy terms to justify immoral social behavior.

The only thing which can keep the individual Christian solid in the faith is a faithful exposition of the Word of God leading to a close relationship with Jesus

The only way a person can gain salvation, is through Jesus who is the only way to God.

The Bible, as we have seen, has a factual history, and so contains the truth of the mind of  the one God, and records the death of Jesus on the Cross to enable us to be forgiven and made righteous; only Christianity offers forgiveness for sin.

There cannot be justification for multi-faith worship, for other faiths do not recognize the divinity of Jesus, and specify that they believe God had no son. Churches have been sharing services with Muslim believers, and we must respect their right to worship as they believe, and in some respect they have a strict moral code, which is superior to other faiths. Islamic clergy have criticized the saying of Muslim prayers in Christian Churches, and it is wrong for clergy trying to make some form of attention. It is unwelcome for both Churches to join in worship as we worship through Christ, and Islam has every right to pursue its own way.  

We see in these verses, how the Church is deviating from the true gospel. There is one baptism, but the Church allows a second baptism when a person transitions from one sex and claims to be a new person when there is the same body.

 

This is the message of the Letter. There is one God-the Father; one Lord-Jesus Christ-; one body-the Church; one true faith-Christianity; one Savior-Jesus  Christ; one gospel-the Bible; one Spirit-the Holy Spirit; one baptism, one hope-of eternal life.

 

May God bless His Word to our hearts. May His Holy Name be glorified