Ephesians 5 starts with an exhortation to be imitators of God, which we do by ‘living a life of love’. Very practically, there are aspects of behaviour which are no longer acceptable for God’s people, but more than this, our whole lives need to be surrendered to God. We need to find out what pleases God (vs 10) and should live carefully and wisely, making the most of every opportunity, being filled with the Spirit and speaking with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Instead of foolishness and drunkenness, we honour others before ourselves and learn submission to each other along with thankfulness.

Ephesians 5:20 goes even further than 1 Thessalonians 5:18 in telling us to give thanks for everything. Dave asked us if this verse is too much of a challenge and if it is possible to do this. Although difficult to do, God’s grace and strength are sufficient for every situation we may face. Through tears and anguish, we choose to give thanks to God because He is sovereign and is bringing good out of every situation (Romans 8:28); we give thanks in obedience and in faith: “I can’t live by what I feel, but by the truth Your word reveals” (Casting Crowns, ‘East to West’)

The second half of the chapter looks at the often contentious issue of submission. The whole emphasis is on submitting to one another just as we submit to Christ, doing nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but considering others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3)

In our relationships with each other, we should aim to be like Christ who loves His church so much that He gave His life for her. We are called to love one another in obedience to Christ’s commands and as a witness to the world.

Remembrance is a huge topic for Christians. Mark took us through Luke 24 last night to look at this topic, asking us if we remember all that God has said to us.

In this chapter, we read how the disciples failed to comprehend all that Jesus had taught them prior to his death about the resurrection. It was only when confronted with no body and an angel that the women remembered Jesus’s words. It was only when Jesus expounded the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that they understood what they had actually just witnessed. Their lives were turned around as a result.

Life, for us, is very much like that long walk to Emmaus. The things of life can get us down and distract us from what God has said to us so that we actually fail to see that Jesus is with us every step of the way. The enemy of our souls has come to steal, to kill and to destroy (John 10:10), but Jesus has come to give us abundant life. We need to be careful to meditate on all that Jesus has said to us and to remember His words, so that we can fulfil His purposes and become all that He wants us to be.

Wes King sings about the day he met the Lord in the song called ‘Remember’:
“Remember
Oh, I never will forget
My Ebeneezer
Is the day You paid my debt”

We need to be careful to remember all that God has done and said. As we focus on His words and deeds, faith is rekindled and we receive the vision and grace to carry on. However impossible it may seem, God is faithful who promised. Keep on remembering and believing!

The word hupomone occurs about 30 times in the New Testament, but is translated into English by a variety of different words, such as endurance, perseverance, steadfastness and patience. Peter tells us to ‘make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.’ (2 Pet 1: 5-7)

Perseverance and endurance are not particularly glamorous qualities, but are needed if we are to mature in Christ. One reason we shy away from them is that we tend to be able to learn them only through adversity: “Suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and character produces hope.” (Romans 5:3-4) James tells us “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) Most of us shy away from suffering and try to avoid trials of any kind, but it’s only through the hard times that we learn to endure.

Nonetheless, endurance is not some Stoic attitude of grim resignation. Chrysostom, an early Church Father, says of hupomone that it is “the root of all goods, the mother of piety, the fruit that never withers, a fortress that is never taken, a harbour that knows no storms” and “the queen of virtues, the foundation of right actions, peace in war, calm in tempest, security in plots.” It is the courageous and triumphant ability to pass the breaking-point and not to break and always to greet the unseen with a cheer. It is the alchemy which transmutes tribulation into strength and glory.

If we feel God is asking too much of us in developing this quality in our lives, we need to remember that all good gifts actually come from God in the first place. We need to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12) All Scripture is given to teach us so that “through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) As we meditate on Jesus and on the heroes of the faith who learned perseverance, we can receive from God the strength and grace we need to persevere. Moreover, our God is one whose love endures for ever (a verse repeated 26 times in Psalm 136!), so He is able to carry us even through the trials and difficulties which are ‘light and momentary’ troubles in the light of the glory that He has in store for us (see 2 Cor 4.)

The Bible study looked at Ephesians 4 this week: as Stephen summarised it, ‘how to exercise so we walk the walk and live the life’.

Some of the thoughts from this study:
verse 1 “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”
The word translated ‘live’ in the NIV is ‘peripateo’ in the Greek (from which the English word ‘peripatetic’ is derived), and means to walk at large, to tread around, figuratively, to live, deport oneself or to follow. The word ‘worthy’ is ‘axios’ which carries the idea of equal weight or balance. Thus, our conduct and calling should be in balance.

verse 2
Believers’ attitudes are important. In this verse, we are exhorted to be humble, gentle and patient. Humility is the opposite of pride; gentleness is the opposite of self-assertion and patience means an ability to endure to the end.

verses 3-6
The unity of the Spirit is characterised in these verses by seven different things:
1) one body
2) one Spirit
3) one hope
4) one Lord
5) one faith
6) one baptism
7) one God and Father of all

verses 7-16
The unity in the body of Christ is seen through a diversity of spiritual gifts, released to us through Jesus who left glory to walk on earth and has since ascended to glory. The gifts of apostles and prophets lay the foundation of the body; evangelists help with the building of the body and pastors and teachers continue the work of shepherding. These ministries prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

verses 17-32
Here, we look at two sides of the same coin, namely human nature without Christ and what our nature in Christ should look like. The list of how we used to act, and can still act if we allow our old natures to triumph, is long and depressing. If we allow God to work in us, however, we can have a ‘new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness’, a nature that shows kindness, compassion, forgiveness and truth to all people. In this way, we have a new ‘attitude makeover’… one that will last a lifetime!

J. D. Walt, a theologian at Asbury Seminary in America, has written a blog post about ‘eyes to see and ears to hear’. I was particularly struck by his closing comments,

‘By learning to “hear” Scripture in a way that kindles sight, we will learn to “read” Scripture in a way that fosters hearing. In this way we may break free from our “I think, therefore I am” Cartesian worldview and into the “I behold, therefore I become” view of God, the world and worship.’

There is a proverb ‘You are what you eat’. It’s certainly important to think about what we look at… what we listen to… what we allow our minds and thoughts to dwell on.

Colossians 3 tells us: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

The consequences if we don’t are dangerous:

“Be careful, little eyes, what you see
It’s the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful, little feet, where you go
For it’s the little feet behind you that are sure to follow.

Be careful, little ears, what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful, little lips, what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray”

(Casting Crowns, ‘Slow Fade’)

Ralph preached on ‘The Courage of Faith’ last night, looking at the story of Gideon from Judges 6 and 7. I have to say that Gideon is one of the unlikely heroes of the Bible with whom I readily identify. He’s insecure, full of doubt and finds it hard to accept God’s assessment of him, all qualities I readily identify with!

When the angel of the Lord first appears to Gideon, he is threshing wheat in a winepress to stop the Midianites from getting it. His response to being called a ‘mighty warrior’ with whom the Lord is present is:

“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.” (Judges 6:3)

‘If, why, where, but?’ – these were the questions Gideon had and so often are the questions we have. We feel that God can’t be with us because of the things that are happening in our lives. We feel that we can’t see God working in our lives. We feel abandoned at times, as though we are left to struggle on on our own. It’s a lonely place to be.

But in God’s graciousness, three things happened to Gideon as a result of this encounter with God:
1) he became converted (he heard the call of God and responded to it; he built an altar of worship and sacrifice and drank from the well of salvation)

2) he became consecrated (he yielded his own will to the will of God, obeying God’s command to wreck Baal’s altar and rebuild an altar to God, acts of faith which clearly had repercussions for other people)

3) he became controlled by God (and as a result was able to become a leader and deliverer, drawing 32,000 men to follow him initially – though God reduced this number to 300 to prove that the victory belonged to Him and not to Gideon’s strategies or strengths)

God is working behind the scenes all the time (he was able to instil fear into the Midianites and bring about victory through the most unlikely of weapons, as Judges 7 clearly demonstrates.) Gideon started from a place of doubt, but ended in the place of victory through faith. We can be encouraged by God’s faithfulness (1 Thess 5:24) and by the fact that He is the Saviour of the world (John 4:42, Luke 2:11) Even more amazing is the fact that He can by MY Saviour (Luke 1:47)