SHOW NOTES
Ephesians Study, pt4
Leadership in Context with Keith Tucci
Episode 189
Ephesians is not addressing problems as much as it is painting a picture of what the Church should look like. One of the humanistic problems we are dealing with today is that we are trying to make God into our image rather than submitting to the image that God made us. I think the Church does that too.
God has an image for His Church. Part of that is to bear His image. We have to be careful not to become retail-oriented and demand that the Church should be what we want it to be.
Ephesians 4:3
Being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
This is the mandate, and then Paul starts to give us ways to do that.
Ephesians 4:11-12
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.
The five-fold gifts are resurrection gifts. These are what Jesus gave to the Church. He was dividing His ministry and multiplying it among the believers.
Everyone will be built up, and everyone will do the work of the ministry. The Church is not a spectator sport. We are not an audience but an active participant in what God is doing.
Ephesians 4:15
But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ
What is the Truth? It is not how I feel, but God’s revelation about Who He is and, in this context, who He says the Church is.
Paul is reminding us who the head of the Church is. The head is Christ. The purpose of the Church is to please God and for believers to take their directions from the head of the Church.
Ephesians 4:30
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
When you were born again, you were sealed–like when a king seals a document with his stamp. God stamped you saying, “You belong to Me, and what I put in you was My doing.”
Ephesians 4:31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
If you took all those things out of the Church, it would be near perfect. What Paul is saying is that even though you are sealed with the Holy Spirit, those things are going to try to penetrate that seal. If you’re holding fast to the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace, you are not going to tolerate bitterness, wrath (getting even), anger (selfishness), clamor (making noise and being a distraction), slander (false accusations and gossip), and malice (an attitude that you want someone to hurt because they hurt you).
Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
The antidote to bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice is kindness, being tender-hearted, and forgiveness.
“Just as” means to the same degree. To the same degree you have been forgiven, you forgive. You can always tell when someone doesn’t have a sense of forgiveness in their life. When you are walking in the revelation every day that you are so much better than you deserve and have been forgiven of much, that flows out of you. Yet this is a major struggle, as people forget what they were saved from and the great forgiveness that was poured out of them. When we understand this, I think it is impossible to treat people badly.
Ephesians 4 is a beautiful picture of what the Church looks like.
Join us next week as Keith Tucci continues to put leadership truth in the context of the local church. And as always, please like, share, rate/review, and invite others to listen. See you next week!
