LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS
Life Under the Reign of the Messiah
Ephesians 4:1-16
INTRODUCTION
In Ephesians, God has been presenting His agenda for the universe. Because of Satan, the universe is full of conflict, hostility, and disunity. By sending Jesus the Messiah and exalting Him as Lord over all creation, God is restoring unity, order, and peace to that universe. We see this especially in the church which confesses that Jesus is the Messiah. In the church we should see different groups within society living in harmony and peace with each other. How does God create this peace? The Hispanic does not have to become an Anglo; neither does the Afro-American have to become an Hispanic. Instead, God is creating a new race, a new humanity. Paul uses 2 different images to convey this idea. The first is that of the new man; the second is that of the body of Christ. Whenever Paul speaks about this new man or the body of Christ, he is referring to the primary way that God brings peace, order, and unity back to the universe.
INTRODUCTION TO PAUL'S DISCUSSION OF THE NEW MAN (4:1-3)
Paul first entreats or begs the Ephesians to live in a manner worthy of the calling with which they have been called. Notice that he entreats them to live a certain way because of the fact that he has every right to command them to do this. Many times a minister will come into the church and want to change everything and everybody in it immediately. Although the church has called that minister under the Lord's leadership, back in their minds many times is the question, "What gives him the right just to walk in here and do these things?" After a period of time when he has gained the trust of the church, this objection fades away. Then he can get away with murder. Well, Paul earned the right to place these commands upon them. He has literally earned his stripes by the fact that not only did he found the church at Ephesus, not only did he minister there for a considerable number of years, he also was languishing in prison right now because of what he had taught them. If he had stuck with the Jews and had neglected the Gentiles, he wouldn't be in prison right now. Since he has tried to reconcile the Jew and Gentile through the Messiah Jesus, he is now in prison and deserves the right to be listened to.
Although it is true that God has informed the Ephesians and all Christians that they are now part of the body of Christ because of Christ's Spirit living within them, this unity and reconciliation will not just happen. The Ephesians must also take part in creating this unity. How does this happen? Christians will live together in harmony and unity only when they exercise humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and love in the power of the Holy Spirit.
By humility, Paul means putting others before oneself (Phil. 2:3-4). Normally, we think of a humble person as somebody who puts himself down. That's not humility. It's a sick form of pride because the person although putting himself down is nevertheless still focusing on himself, the essence of pride. The humble person puts others first. He doesn't erase his personality or identity; instead, within healthy boundaries he puts other first.
Recently, I experienced this with somebody else. We both had different views concerning a certain issue. I felt that I was right, and the other person felt that he was right. We came to a stand-off. What resulted was very healthy. Neither one caved to the other saying, "I'm wrong: you're right." Instead, we both agreed to disagree. Then we both agreed that one of us would yield to the other with the understanding that if his way didn't work out, then we would try it the other way. That is the essence of the biblical view of humility. Many of the conflicts we experience in our churches would evaporate if someone would just yield—not the other person, but YOU!
The second characteristic which promotes unity is gentleness. Unfortunately, the KJV translates the word as "meekness" which is confused many times for the word "weakness." There is not the slightest hint of weakness in this Greek word (prautes). It has the idea of strength under control. For example, it is used of wild stallions who have been broken and led about with a bit in its mouth. The stallion is still a strong animal; it's just that the strength is not out of control but under control. If Christians are going to exercise unity, they are going to have to exercise some self-control. They are going to have to quit flying off the handle at the drop of a hat and take offense at the slightest hint.
The next 2 traits necessary for unity are patience and perseverance. The word "patience" means to bear under [the load], while the word "perseverance" means the same thing as longsuffering. Sometimes people are irritating to be around. Sometimes people are simply just not like you or me or sometimes they irritate us because they are just like you or me. They haven't done anything immoral or unethical; they've just dome something we don't agree with or act in a way which gets on our nerves. Why then should we exercise patience and perseverance? Because God exercises them in His relationship with us. I'm sure at times I've gotten under God's skin and that He was had to count to ten when I've done something really inane or when I've acted in ways which would irritate any person. Well, if God puts up with us, how much more so should we put up with others?
Once more love is a key ingredient in creating unity. If we're not careful, we'll be doing nothing but putting up with each other, or else we'll be thinking of other people as being nothing more than crosses to bear. We need to remember that these people who are our crosses and who irritate us to no end are the same people Jesus died for on the cross. He has come to live in them to transform them into radically glorious sons and daughters of God. In fact, if they walked in today looking like they will when Christ appears, then we would fall down and worship them. Now if Christ places this much value on them and if He cares this much for them, how much more so should we love and care for them? If we think it is impossible to love some people, then we need to remember that the Spirit lives in us who gives us more than enough strength to love the people God has placed in our lives.
The last trait is a diligence which preserves unity in the bond of peace. Diligence is not a natural trait. Many of us right now are losing our freedoms in the nation because we are asleep at the wheel. Politicians trade away our freedom simply in order to avoid skirmishes and retain good will with the people. How sad. Jefferson is noted as saying that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Benjamin Franklin said, "[We've given you] A Republic, if you can keep it." Only by putting freedom on the front burner in our nation will we be able to keep it.
The same applies to peace and unity in the church. It needs to be put on the front burner. There are some things we never can sacrifice; however, many times what we argue about just simply does not matter. [H.E. Butts, founder of HEB Food Stores, as a new deacon attended his first deacon meeting and left saying, "No more." The reason he quit deacon meetings? During that meeting the deacons did nothing more than discuss the color of the carpet for an hour. The color of the carpet does not matter.] If we put as much energy into preserving unity as we sometimes put into decorating the church and creating certain policies, we would be the most united church in the history of the world. We just need to remember that our disunity simply undermines our message that Jesus is the Messiah, the Lord of the universe. Now that matters.
BASIS OR REASONS FOR OUR UNITY (4:4-6)
Although Paul in chapters 1-3 has expounded in great detail the reason we should be united, in these 3 verses he cites an early Christian creed or hymn which explains the reasons we should be one. We could analyze each part of the creed; however, we would lose the forest for the trees. Two major words jump out at us in these 3 verses: (1) and (2) all. ONE Lord, ONE faith, ONE baptism, ONE God and Father of ALL who is over ALL and through ALL and in ALL. By repeating the words "one" and "all," Paul is emphasizing the unity which should characterize Christians. It's not like some Christians have Jesus as their Messiah, while the rest have a lesser angel as their Messiah. We all share the same Messiah. Since we share a common Lord and exercise the same rites, we should be united. We may disagree on things about the Lord and the rites; however, we all share the same Lord and the same rites. Moreover, God is not simply for the Anglos; He's also for the Hispanics, Afro-Americans, etc. He is for ALL. There are very few excuses for the people of God being disunited.
PROVISION FOR UNITY AND THE BUILDING UP OF THE BODY (4:7-16)
General Introduction to Spirit-given Gifts (4:7)
God never expects us to create unity and build up the body of Christ in our own strength and power. Instead, unity is created only by the working of the Holy Spirit. How does the Spirit build up the body? By giving to each of us a spiritual gift: "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift" (4:7). The word "grace" here refers to the gracious gift of spiritual gifts. (We need to be careful in the way we approach words in the Bible. If we find that a definition for a word applies in one case, we have the tendency to apply that definition to that word every time it appears in the Bible. For example, some have reduced the word "grace" to mean only "God's unmerited favor." While that definition works in some places, it doesn't do justice to other occurrences of this word. For example, here grace refers to spiritual gifts. None of us deserve a spiritual gift; however, God out of His gracious attitude gives these gifts to us.)
Before we look at what Paul says here about these gifts, we need to look at gifts in general. First, the spiritual gift is not a thing. The spiritual gift is actually Christ's Spirit Himself performing a task or function through you and me. Remember that Paul tells us that each Christian has Christ’s Spirit living in him or her (Rom. 8:8-1). Moreover, according to Eph. 4:7 Christ's Spirit performs a spiritual task (gift) through each of us if we let Him. The proper exercise of the Christ-given gifts is the primary way He builds up the church.
Note several things.
The Basis for Christ Giving Us the Gifts (4:8-10)
In agreement with the apostle John (John 7:39), Paul claims that we receive the Spirit and the spiritual gifts because of Christ's exaltation to the right hand of the Father. He compares it to the triumphal procession common in the ancient world and still seen in some measure today in our tickertape parades. Whenever David and the kings of Israel had defeated some enemy on the borders of Israel, the people of Jerusalem would celebrate the victory by putting on a triumphal procession. This procession would march through the streets of Jerusalem, starting at the lower part of the city and working its way up to the top of Mount Moriah. At the front of the procession would be the Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Behind the ark would be soldiers from David’s armies who had participated in the war. Following the soldiers would be David. Behind David would march prisoners of war being led in chains. Now as the procession wound its way through the city, servants or soldiers would take gold and silver coins and throw them out to the crowd lining the streets of the procession. These coins were thrown out only because of the fact David had won a great victory. Their being thrown out was proof David had won the victory.
As great as David's victory was, it pales in comparison to the victory Jesus achieved over Satan on the cross (Col. 2:15). After Jesus' victory, God rewarded Him with a triumphal procession. This procession started with the resurrection on the earth and culminated when God exalted Jesus by seating Him at His right hand in heaven. In this procession angelic forces preceded Christ into heaven; this is the reason you see angels accompanying Jesus at His resurrection and also at His ascension. According to Paul’s quotation of Ps. 68, behind Christ was a host of the demonic forces He had conquered at Calvary without them having to be literally in the processional. As this procession occurred or because of this procession, Christ the conqueror distributed gifts to His people. These gifts were no mere coins made of metal; they are spiritual gifts which do far more good for his people than coins could ever do. The fact that we have spiritual gifts and have the Spirit living in us is demonstrative proof that Jesus is the Messiah and that He has gained a tremendous victory over Satan.
The Spiritual Gifts (4:11-12)
When you compare the list of spiritual gifts here in Eph. 4 with other lists in 1 Cor. 12 and Rom. 12, you will see several differences between the lists. First, 1 Cor. 12 and Rom. 12 list more spiritual gifts than Eph. 4 lists. Second, whereas the other lists present spiritual gifts, Eph. 4 presents persons who exercise specific spiritual gifts, such as apostles, evangelists, prophets, and shepherding teachers. In other words, the gifts are not things—they are precious people! Finally, whereas the other lists present a variety of gifts, the Eph. 4 list presents only the gifts used by the leaders of the church. Does that mean that the leaders are to be the only ones exercising spiritual gifts or that they are to be the only ones doing all the works in the church? Whereas some church members might want this, this is not the purpose of the spiritual gifts. The reason the leaders have been given certain spiritual gifts is that they may train the rest of the church (saints) so that the church members/saints might perform the work of the Lord. For example, whenever the church expects the staff to do all the outreach of the church, it violates the very spirit of the giving of the spiritual gifts and the purpose of ministers being leaders in the church.
Notice as you look at the 4 main gifts in Eph. 4 that all 4 deal primarily with the Word. The teaching and presentation of the Word are the primary functions of the church. Other activities in the church are important; however, they pale in comparison to the primary function of presenting God's Word.
EFFECT OF THE GIFTS (4:13-16)
When the spiritual gifts are exercised properly, they will create a healthy church, a body of believers who function well with each other, and a mature race of people. One image in particular stands out, that of not being tossed about by waves, by the trickery of people. This really applies to us as Southern Baptists. We to a large degree have sacrificed our brains upon the altar of emotions. Unless the sermon or lesson is touchy-feely, then we feel like the minister or teacher has failed. Well, you can have both without sacrificing either one. In fact, when you sacrifice either one, disaster results.
It is ironic but true that lapsed Baptists form a major pool into which cults such as the Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses dip in order to gain proselytes. The reason they are successful when they dip into the pool of Baptists is that we have not indoctrinated our people in the faith. As a result, whenever a member of a cult rings our doorbells, we are prey to their "craftiness and trickery." (Notice that since Paul does not ascribe to them noble motives, we should not either. Whereas some may legitimately be deceived, the truth is that many engaged in these activities are using trickery and craftiness.)
The other day I had a visit from a Jehovah's Witness. I knew that this was going to be a total waste of time, so when I realized who she was, I told her how much I admired her boldness in going door to door, expressed my wish that people in our church would do the same, and then told her to have a good day. That was not enough for her. She kept on pressing. I informed her that I was a minister at First Baptist, but that did not deter her. So I asked her to pray to the Lord after which I would pray to the Lord. In our prayers we were to pray that God give us both wisdom and insight into the truth. When she prayed, I respectfully bowed my head and closed my eyes. The whole time I prayed, though, she fidgeted and rustled her papers. I peeked out of the corner of my eye and saw that she was totally annoyed by my prayer. I hoped that was enough. It wasn't. Finally, she pulled out her Bible to engage me in a discussion on the deity of Jesus, the only thing she wanted to attack. I thought: "Lady, you have just stepped into the snake pit." Anyway, when I told her that the Bible attested to the deity of Jesus, (John 1:1), she turned to the passage to prove me wrong. (She was loaded for bear. I just wasn't going to let her shoot.) Her Bible read: "In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was a god." She gleefully pointed out that the original Hebrew text said that Jesus was "a" god, and not "the" God. The word "a" proved she was right. What I said after that stunned her so badly that she didn't recover. I told her first that the NT was originally written in Greek and not in Hebrew. Second, I told her that there was no such word as "a" (in the sense of a definite article in Greek and not in Hebrew. The verse literally said: "In the beginning . . . . and God was the Word." It’s not saying that Jesus is the Father because He is the Son. It is saying, though, that Jesus is so much God (as much as His Father is God) that in order to emphasize this, John wrote "God was the Word!" She didn't know what to say when I informed her that there was no indefinite article in the Greek language. Yeah, knowing that came only after a time of lengthy study. it takes time and effort not to be tossed and blown away by all the winds which howl around us; however, since our eternal destiny depends upon our relationship with Jesus, it was worth it.