Page 17 - Florida Sentinel 12-29-17

One Calling, One Hope, One Church
that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Paul acknowledges that apos- tleship, prophecy, evangelism, and even pastoring and teach- ing the flock of God are all God’s gifts, which He gives to whomever He chooses. These gifts are not to cause division, but rather to equip or train be- lievers.
The church is the body of Christ. We are all called and en- couraged to occupy our proper place and exercise the gifts
uniquely given to us by God. The body is “fitly joined to- gether,” which implies again that nothing is out of joint. The gifts assure completeness (v. 16). The goal for the body—the saints—is that we mature into the knowledge of the Son of God.
The challenge, of course, is functioning as a unified body when people are so different. Believers will not be confused and deceived by the “sleight of men” and “cunning craftiness”
(v. 16). The diverse gifts were given to guarantee that the church matures and grows in love, just like a healthy body.
While the task of unity has not become any easier over time, the need for it is as urgent now as when Christ first called His be- lievers to be one, just as He and the Father are one (John 17:21).
Each one of us has been given unique gifts by God. It is important to support, respect, and value one another.
The lesson continues with Paul. Paul begins with the en- couragement of unity in diver- sity. The imagery of the “body of Christ” is powerful because it calls all believers to rise above their individual circumstances and backgrounds to focus on Christ.
We know Paul was a well-ed- ucated Roman citizen, and his birth name was Saul. He was a Pharisee who persecuted Chris- tians. On such a mission on the road to Damascus, he had a re- markable encounter with Jesus. Shortly after, he learned of his call from God to take His “name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15). As an apostle, Paul’s life exemplified one of great sacri- fice and persecution. He wrote about his experiences in hopes of drawing people to Christ and to strengthen and mature be- lievers.
The church of Ephesus was first started by Paul. He visited the city at the end of his second missionary journey (Acts 18:18–21).
On his third missionary jour- ney, so many people turned from worshiping the Greek god- dess Artemis that a riot was started by the silversmiths who created her idols. Paul wrote an epistle to the church, now known as the book of Ephesians.
Paul writes to the Ephesians while under house arrest. His testimony about Christ had taken him all the way to Rome, where he waited to go on trial before Caesar. During this time, he sent a letter to the Ephesians explaining great mysteries of the faith and specifically the mys- tery of the church.
1. One Calling (Ephesians 4:1–3)
2. One Hope (vv. 4–10) 3. One Church (vv. 11–16)
One Calling Ephesians 4:1 Therefore I, a
prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.
2 Always be humble and gen- tle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.
God has chose us to be Christ’s representatives on earth. Paul challenges us to live the life worth of the name Christian, meaning Christ one. People are watching your life. Can they see Christ in you?
3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
Unity of one of the Holy Spirit’s important roles. He leads, but we have to be willing to follow. We do that by focusing on God, not ourselves.
One Hope
4 For there is one body and
one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.
5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and liv- ing through all.
7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ.
All believers in Christ belong to one body. Each believer has God-given abilities that can strengthen the whole body. Your special abilities may seem small or large, but it is yours to use in God’s service.
Hope expresses expectation. It is not a conditional state- ment, which allows room for chance or human failure to fac- tor in; instead, it is an assur- ance as we focus our attention on things to come. All believers have this hope— Jesus is coming again! We will be united eter- nally with Christ, so let’s be in unity now. The resurrection hope is for all believers no mat- ter their ethnic background or social class.
When Paul speaks about “one body and one Spirit,” he refers to the body of Christ, into which all believers are united by the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus’ own promise (Acts 1:8).
8 That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of cap- tives and gave gifts to his peo- ple.”
9 Notice that it says “he as- cended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world.
10 And the same one who de- scended is the one who as- cended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.
One Church
11 Now these are the gifts
Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evan- gelists, and the pastors and teachers.
12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.
13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so
United In The Spirit Ephesians 4:1-16
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