100 million Bibles printed in China | Christian News on Christian Today

100 million Bibles printed in China | Christian News on Christian Today

Discipleship According to the Letter to the Ephesians

Chapter 2 continued…

                Though we are studying from the book of Ephesians, discipleship is the main lesson.  Before we move on to chapter 3, being led by the Spirit, the writer would like to take a short detour.   Look if you will at the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, keeping in mind the former discussions from the first two chapters of Ephesians.  Let us begin to understand just what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, to be a part of the temple made without hands (Eph. 2:20-22).

                “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.”

                We are God’s dwelling place.  God had given dominion of this world to Adam who gave it in turn to satan through original sin.  Through the reconciliation made possible by Jesus, through this sacrifice of our own will, we allow God’s will to reign, as it is written, on earth as it is in heaven. Upon this understanding please turn to the book of Hebrews chapter twelve.

                “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (V.1-2)

                 Jesus is the alpha and omega, the beginning and end.  He is everything, our last and only hope.  Consider the verses of Ephesians studied earlier (1: 22-23).  All things have been placed under His feet, which is where we place our troubles as saints of God.  We should let nothing overwhelm us in this life, for the sake of those who would believe, through our testimony and example.  All things are under his feet, how often we let things distract us from this truth through either pride or shame.  Verse one says we are to lay aside every weight, not only the ones we don’t think we can handle.  Paul reminds us all of the sin which so easily besets us.  We have to let God have everything.  It is His glory and it is his victory fulfilled in our lives.  Our only real duty as disciples is to show gratitude and praise as we obediently follow the lead of the Spirit.

                What do we do when we get caught up in ourselves and our circumstances? 

Remember Jesus who lived a sinless life in order that he might die for the sake of sinners.  In all of our striving against our own sin we have not yet resisted unto blood.  Get back in the race.  There is no reason for us to be proud, as we have done nothing to deserve our salvation.  Therefore we also have no need for overwhelming shame, as God loved us before we ever knew Him.  Give it all to Jesus.  Be glad to be chastised as it is evidence of our salvation.  Let God bring the lessons to fruition in our spirit.  This is what we must do to receive the kingdom of God; we must walk according to the spirit and not the flesh.

                What do we do? 

Look at verse twelve and thirteen (Heb. 12).

               “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” 

             As we read further in the chapter we should see the importance of this lesson.  The root of things will determine what will grow.  Roots of peace and holiness will lead us to glory, while roots of bitterness will lead to destruction.  It’s not an individual thing: what one does directly affects another.   So often our actions cannot be repaired, this is the weight of the world and we weren’t meant to carry it.  The Israelites proved the point, so long ago, we cannot carry it.  Still, through the redemption set forth by Jesus Christ we have come to Mount Sion and have access to the city of God in the company of all the angels.  We who endure have access to all the saints before us, ‘the spirits of just men made perfect’.  We have access to Jesus, the mediator of this new covenant and most of all his precious blood by which we have been redeemed.  If you understand this you should shout.  It should be easy to be grateful, it should come natural to praise.  Discipleship is keeping the miracle of Jesus as the center of our focus, in constant remembrance, while walking toward those in lack.  Hallelujah!

             “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire (v.28-29).”

             Amen

Discipleship According to the Letter to the Ephesians

Chapter 2

“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.  But God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ( by grace ye are saved;)” – Ephesians 2:1-5

This chapter calls us to look at our situation.  Let us look at our place today, if we be saved, especially at times past when we were not.  God is rich in mercy, to have blotted out our transgressions, no?  If we have this assurance, we should rejoice, as we realize that in ourselves we could not.  In the beginning, as was Adam, we were in bondage to satan and sin.  Consider the words of our Lord Jesus, who said, “it is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profits nothing: the words I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life (John 6:63).”    The word ‘quicken’ means to be made alive in a spiritual sense, to open your awareness to the realm of the spirit.  If not for that awakening we would stay in bondage.  Life, with all of its choices and variables, really boils down to two things; obedience or disobedience.  If you’re not serving God you are serving the devil.

This train of thought should lead us to the importance of staying in God’s will.  This is what was spoken of briefly in the first chapter, now Paul is expounding on the theme.  Ponder this; before our eyes were opened we stumbled around in the dark.  We followed that what we thought was right and were too often wrong.  Solomon wrote that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is destruction.  Consider the dark times of Israel, the era of Judges and Samuel.  The last verse of the book of Judges says, “In those days they had no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in in his own eyes.” These were rough, desperate times full of trouble, if we are honest we should be able to relate.  We should rejoice as we have the King of Kings living inside each and every one of us, to rule us and to lead us.  What glory Jesus has bestowed upon us, to light the way for us, the way unto life through the Holy Spirit.

As we read further in this chapter, Paul goes on to build us up as works of Jesus.  He speaks of the free gift of salvation.  He says that no man can claim to have earned it.  This is not to say that we won’t do anything because of our salvation, it simply means there is nothing we can do towards our own salvation.  People often use this as an excuse to procrastinate, saying they can’t work for salvation so they aren’t obligated to do anything.  On the contrary, the works are a sign that our salvation is real.  It is the evidence of the transformation of our mind and soul, which takes place when the Spirit enters in and takes charge.  Parallel this thought with John 14:12, ‘He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also’.  Read carefully verse ten of the text, here in Ephesians.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

Once we’ve been saved we will walk accordingly.  This is very important, if we don’t see these signs in our life, we need to make sure of our salvation.  The Bible says we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.  If you don’t see the evidence, don’t be vain.  Paul says that salvation is a gift from God, not from the vain imaginations or traditions of men.  As the chapter goes on there is more evidence of this contemplation.  We who have once been so far from God, we who have been reconciled, are we not compelled to praise?  Lifting his name on high, for all to see, are we not then placed directly unto the work of Jesus?  This is the work of God to praise him in the midst of all things.  In good times and in bad we should praise.  For by his work at the cross of Cavalry we have been brought into fellowship with all believers.  As we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit we become, as the New Testament was hidden in the old, as Jesus was told of by the prophets before Him, we become the living temple built without hands.  Our life should fall in line accordingly, just as Jesus sought the will of the Father in his time here on earth, so we should seek his will now.  Heavenly Father, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen

Discipleship According to the Letter to the Ephesians cont’d

“According as He hath chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.  In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace: wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.” -Ephesians 1:4-8

                Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord, a lofty idea, at first glance it seems impossible.  Yet, have not men throughout the ages exhibited this in their lives?  Amidst our carnal flaws, have not certain men throughout time proven what it means to walk according to the Holy Spirit and not according to the flesh.  This is the destiny we will discuss; leaving aside doctrinal divisions of predestination vs. free will, but speaking, for the sake of this study, solely of the destiny of Jesus. 

God knew from the beginning of time, mankind would need a savior.   He gave circumcision to Abraham knowing it would never in itself perform the task of separating the Israelite from the stranger.  He gave the law to Moses knowing no man would keep it.  He did these things knowing all along it was going to take the life of Christ to be fulfilled.  These are things that Moses brought forth in a mystery. Moses told the people to circumcise their heart; to love the lord your God with all thy heart, to love thy neighbor as thyself.  He brought forth the Ten Commandments.  Only to break the tablets at the shock of how quickly his flock, in his absence, had turned from God.  It took Jesus to live a sinless life to be the final sacrificial lamb.  It took Jesus to die, so that the Holy Spirit, the comforter could be loosed upon this world. So that men could experience freedom from sin through the indwelling of the Spirit.  This was the plan from the beginning.  Upon understanding this great mystery are we not left in awe at the power of God?

This awe should compel us to believe certain things about our Creator.  First, He is truly all-knowing.  What can we know, next to Him?  In the words of King David, what shall we render?  What shall we give?  Does not the answer come back to where we started?

 Holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.  Is not any less only standing in the way of God?  Have we not proven that He knows all things, why would we fight against Him? 

That said, being honest, we know we have done just that.  This brings us to the second thing we believe of our Creator.  He loves us and shows us unbelievable mercy.   He has grace upon us, so much that it was the good pleasure of His will to suffer the death of the cross that we may be saved.  What an awesome God!

This is the change spoken of in the previous page.  Upon this understanding, are we not compelled to put certain things out of our lives? As the Holy Spirit convicts us should we not walk away from sin?  Jesus paid the penalty for it. There is no reason to hide from it.  Furthermore, there is no way to hide from it.  Look briefly at the gospel of John (1:12) ‘as many as received Him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God.’  This is that power revealed through the writing of Paul; being redeemed by Jesus, our sins are no longer to be a stumbling block in our path.  So long as we have a repentant spirit with godly sorrow, unashamed to confess our sins, forgiveness is an everlasting present.  This should bring about great joy and peace.  This is the entrance into the body of Christ. 

This first chapter of Ephesians is dealing with this first revelation of the gospel.  The inward man is being strengthened by faith.  Our eyes are being opened to the kingdom of heaven as was mentioned earlier.  We can begin to see the tapestry of different people and places in Christ.  Verse 10 speaks of the dispensation of the fullness of times.  This means arrangement or administration by God, this speaks of the day when Jesus will take the wheat from the tares or divide the sheep from the goats.  Those that have passed away and those still among the living will stand together as one in Christ Jesus.  This is a reminder that it will be Christ who decides who is saved, and not our vain imaginations. This is a call to holiness and obedience to God's perfect will.   Jesus said (John 5:30), “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge:  and my judgment is just: because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.” As disciples, should we not be as our Lord was before us?

Verse 13 says that we should be the praise of God’s glory.  As He trusted Jesus, we trust in Jesus which allows us to believe and live sealed in the promise of salvation.  This is the fountain of the Holy Spirit by which all the works of the kingdom are performed.  This is where the anointing springs from.   We must stand on this pledge of redemption until the day He comes to carry us home. 

We, as saints, should learn to be grateful for one another.  Follow the Apostle Paul’s lead by making mention of one another in prayer.  We should pray for wisdom, revelation and understanding one to another.  We should hope to see His mighty power exemplified that we may gain blessed assurance that we are His.  The inheritance of the saints may be the fruits of the Spirit shining in our life: joy, peace, love, longsuffering, gentleness, kindness, meekness, faith, temperance (Gal. 5:22).  For Jesus is above everything in this world and the next and is able to reveal Himself.  Furthermore, it is His good pleasure to do just that. If our eye be single then the whole body be full of light (Mat. 6:22).  This is the body of the resurrected Christ living here on earth through the faithful, through us His disciples.

Discipleship According to the Letter to the Ephesians

This is being written with the intention to study discipleship, through the letter to the Ephesians. One must first begin by asking, what is a disciple? What is the need for discipleship? Are we as Christians called to be disciples?

Let’s start with the dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language defines a disciple as:

Disciple-

1. a. One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.

b.An active adherent, as of a movement or philosophy.

2.oftenDisciple One of the original followers of Jesus.

AlsoDisciple comes from the Latin word discipulus meaning "learner".

If you look in the history of the Bible, prophets from Elijah to John the Baptist had their own disciples. In the four gospels, the Pharisees were also reported to have disciples. The disciples helped spread the message. They would write or do whatever tasks were necessary to free up the hands of their teacher. So are we to be disciples? Matthew 28: 18-20 makes it very clear, the great commission is for every believer and each gospel account has verses to support this. For simplicity sake, look at verse 20 which states, “teaching them (us)to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded...” Mark writes we are”to preach the gospel to every creature”(16:15).  That said let us look to the letter to the Ephesians, written by Paul. Let us learn how to become disciples.

Chapter 1

“Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This opening statement gives a few thoughts to start with. Paul was not a disciple of Jesus but was probably discipled under a Pharisee. The twelve disciples who became apostles were with Jesus through His ministry. All the apostles were anointed by Jesus and started out disciples, according to the will of God. This, the will of God, is what we should be searching in all things. We should learn not only who Jesus is, but who we arein Him. The next thing to point out is this; Paul didn’t address the church at Ephesus generally, but wrote specifically to the saints, the faithful. This implies something that is still true today, everyone in a church is neither saved nor faithful. The word saint (hagios) means one redeemed, blameless, or sacred.  While the word faithful (pistos, derived from pisteuo) means believer, but more closely translated, one who trusts and commits. This says a lot toward our goal of discipleship. As a natural man we cannot keep the law and therefore we could never, within ourselves, attain sainthood. However, through trusting in the redemptive power of Jesus and committing to His way, we press toward the mark as Paul writes in another letter and through His righteousness, we are given the title of saint.  Jesus said strive to enter the strait gate.

               
Read, if you will, verses three and four. One of the foundations of discipleship that one sees is praise.  Praise God in all things, he knew from the beginning what would need to be done. This is something our finite mind cannot comprehend, which brings us back to trust.  Still, God in His glory has opened the eyes of the believer to see the spiritual blessings and even the kingdom of God. He proves to us that he has chosen us. This does not mean he’s rejected others.  Therefore, this does not allow us to look down on others, but it should compel us to live clean lives.  The word Holy means we belong to God.  No man can feel God’s presence and not be changed. Even when that change causes suffering it comes back to praise.  All the original disciples suffered various things throughout their life. Peter said it best, when Jesus asked if they would leave too as others left, he answered, “Lord to where shall we go? Thou hast eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God.” (John 6:68-69)  
Discipleship begins with faith that God is able to open our eyes to His perfect will; which produces both praise and the ability for longsuffering.