Ephesians WEEK 4
Monday
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Ephesians 4:1
Ephesians is a letter, written to an audience. This week’s sermon highlighted the group focus and group force of the message: “all of the ‘yous’ are plural.” The calling in verse 1 is a corporate calling; it is meant for us, together.
Today, think through what “calling” has meant to you in the past. Take a few moments and make a list. My example might include “tell other people about Jesus,” “avoid sinning too much,” and “vote the right way.” Write a few examples for yourself.
There’s nothing wrong with a singular sense of calling, but it is not what Paul is talking about in Ephesians. God’s BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to remake the world and “unite all things in Christ.” New People, New Humanity, New World. God’s plan for how to get there is us, together. This is our calling. And we’ve already begun.
Tuesday
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” Ephesians 4:4-8
This passage is one of the central “unity and diversity” passages of the New Testament. The first emphasis is the unity side. Seven “ones” are listed: Body, Spirit, Hope, Lord, Faith, Baptism, God. We are connected.
It is impossible to live into a corporate calling unless we first see ourselves as an “Us.” That is the point here: “We are an Us.” This is why we can “bear with one another in love,” “speak truth in love,” and “put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and malice.”
For each of us, I am sure, there are other people and other factions in the Christian community that we do not want to be an Us with. I can think of 3 right now (for me). Pick 3 for you.
Pray this prayer for each: “Dear Lord, Father of Mercies, I give you _____________ (the Not-Us person or group). No matter how we disagree, we are one on Christ. Help me, Lord, by your immeasurable power to put away my bitterness (anger, wrath, etc.). Amen.”
Wednesday
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11-13
We’ve got it all wrong if we think that only pastors, teachers, etc., do the work of ministry. According to Ephesians, the job of a pastor, et al., is to “equip the saints” for the work. As surprising as it seems at times, we together are the saints. We, all, are gifted. We, all, are called. Paul provides an endpoint where this work is heading: unity, knowledge, and maturity, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Today in prayer and reflection, ask the Lord where and how each of us is being invited to possibly new arenas of engagement in the coming year. Here’s a hint, perhaps – engagement often happens best in a direction we already care deeply about. Where will you invest yourself in our shared calling, next year?
Thursday
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Ephesians 4:15-16
Here’s another odd thing in Greek. The word for “head” is kephalē. In verse 15, Paul says we are to “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.” Today, in the 21st century, when we hear the word “head” used a metaphor, we usually think it means “the boss of something.” So, here, Jesus is the boss and we ought to live up to whatever the boss says.
However, in the 1st century, in Greek, the primary meaning of kephalē was not “boss” but rather “source.” There is still an echo of this in English, when we say the word “headwater,” meaning the source of a river.
How does it clarify the meaning of today’s reading if we substitute “source” for “head”?
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the Source, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped … makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The many exhortations within Ephesians 4-6 can feel daunting, if not overwhelming. It is a comfort to know we are not left to our own devices, to our own limited resources. Rather, the source by which we, together, live into our calling is none other than Jesus himself.
Throughout the day, let us repeat to ourselves this simple phrase: “Jesus, you are my source.”
Friday
Read verses Ephesians 3:25-31.
First, note the one “because” or “for” in this entire passage. It is at the end of verse 25: “for we are members of one another.” This one phrase is not an exhortation like all the others; it is a statement of fact.
Now, re-read the passage slowly. Note each exhortation (I think I count 20). Say a prayer after each one, e.g., “Lord, Father of Mercies, help me this day to put away falsehood and speak truth, for we are members of one another.”
I think it is going to be a good day.
Saturday
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2
In the sermon last week I (Ron) told the story how on every date with my Stefani, before we left her parents’ home, her father would remind her, “Remember whose you are.”
We are God’s beloved children. We are on a journey of growing up, together, into Christ, to the fullness of his measure. It is not too much to say that we, together, are to “become Jesus” for our day. We, together, are the living embodiment in our time and culture of God’s plan and purpose for all of creation.
Let us end the week in praise to God for his immeasurable love and the wild extravagance of his grace. Here is a favorite old hymn. “And Can It Be That I Should Gain,” penned by Charles Wesley in 1738. May God bless us as we continue to read Ephesians together.