Ephesians 4- Andy's thoughts

How Should We Then Live?
The typical pattern of Paul’s letters is to spend the first half of the letter describing God and laying out a clear theological description of the work of Christ. The second half of the letter then goes on to exhort Christians to live out their theology by doing good and loving others. The common transition for these parts is identified with the word “therefore.”

Paul begins this chapter with one such “therefore.” He reminds us that his obedience has led him to be an actual prisoner for the Lord. I think this gives the impression that whatever it is that we are afraid to give up in order to be good disciples will not be as much as Paul himself has given up. He gave up his freedom in order to preach the gospel. What has God called us to give up in this chapter?

We are commanded to be humble, gentle, and patient. We are called to bear with one another in love. We are to make every effort to remain united in peace. While these may sound somewhat innocuous at first, I realize that even these commands bring with them a cost.

To be humble will cost us our pride- our right to assert our ego and importance in any given situation. To be gentle will cost us the time it takes to be careful and diligent. To be patient will cost us our ability to dwell on petty things that drive us toward intense anger. Why should we do this? Because Jesus did. And he had every right to be proud, and to demand our time instead of giving us his own. Therefore, we ought to do the same for others.

Spiritual Gifts
There are several sections of the Bible that enumerate lists of specific gifts- 1 Peter 4, Ephesians 4, Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. None of the lists are by themselves exhaustive and other parts of the Bible mention several other gifts as well.

These gifts of the Holy Spirit are sometimes described as unique abilities and other times as people acting out roles in the church. It seems that in each of these lists, the purpose of the gifts is to build up other believers. There is always a context of a gift being given to individuals who make up a community.

When people use their gifts well, then other believers are able to grow more in Christ and Christ brings his body- the Church- into a united whole body. When evangelists do their job, people become Christians. When teachers do their job, Christians grow in their understanding of God. When pastors do their job, Christians are guided in their life in the community. When prophets do their job, people are able to have a renewed vision of where they are now and where they ought to be.*

I believe that God the Holy Spirit has given every single believer at least one and sometimes several gifts. As disciples, it is then imperative for us to identify and use that gift to build up the church so that she may serve the world. I don’t believe that these gifts were meant solely for our own benefit, though they should definitely bring us a sense of satisfaction when we use them well. These are gifts given to individuals for the Church.

I believe that part of the responsibility of church leaders is to help believers identify their gifts. You may be asking, “How can I identify my gift?” I think that best way is to do a bunch of stuff with a church under the supervision of wise leaders. The hallmark of a true gift of the Spirit (as opposed to a natural talent) is the effect it has on others. A gift of the Spirit should lead people to see Jesus better and compel them to follow him more. A person who has a talent but not a gift is often appreciated for his or her performance. In short a talent points people to the performer while a gift points people beyond the performer and to Christ.

New People Live New Lives
The rest of the chapter outlines the contrast that should be evident in how we live now as disciples versus how we formerly lived as non-disciples. We are exhorted to let the Spirit of Christ renew our thoughts and attitudes. We are to put on our new nature.

I really like that it says, “be angry but do not sin.” The Greek reads something like- y’all should be indignant but y’all should not sin. Sometimes we are tempted to think all anger is wrong. Yet there are times when Jesus got very indignant. It was most often directed at the existing religious establishment that claimed to know God and yet was keeping people at arm’s length from the community of God. He also got indignant at those who used God as a means of exploiting those who didn’t yet know God.

It is okay to be indignant at that which grieves the heart of God. We are simply cautioned to not sin as we are indignant. I like that phrase “holy discontent” that I heard from Bill Hybles of Willow Creek Church. He said that we ought to stoke the flames of our holy discontent and allow ourselves to feel anger toward injustice. All too often we are taught to mollify our anger by numbing ourselves with distractions and lesser pursuits.

How to Forgive
In all of these exhortations, the one that he reminds us of last is to forgive one another just as God through Christ forgave us. What does that mean? I think it means that there is a distinctly Christ-like way to bring reconciliation. When there is a problem between two people, whom do we expect to seek reconciliation? Usually, we expect it to be the person who is more in the wrong. Yet that is not what Jesus did. He was never in the wrong.

The person who should initiate reconciliation is not the person who is more wrong but instead it is the person who is more able. And often times seeking that type of reconciliation will cost the one who initiates it. But that is exactly how God reconciled us to himself. He did not wait for us to come around to set things right. He sought us and it cost him dearly. In that same manner we too ought to seek out reconciliation with others.

Application:
Is there someone that we need to reconcile with? Let us be the initiators of reconciliation by calling them today.


(Side note)
*There has been some discussion about whether or not the office of apostle is still active today. So here is a side note about that discussion. The role of the apostle is perhaps a little different and perhaps not. Traditionally, an apostle is identified as one who has seen the resurrected Christ in the flesh. That person then proclaims the witness that he or she has seen the risen Jesus and is a unique messenger of the resurrection. In addition to the twelve disciples (with Matthias replacing Judas) and Paul (who saw Jesus on the road to Damascus years after the resurrection) there were about 500 others (according to 1 Corinthians 15:6) who saw the resurrected Jesus.

These apostles were very essential in establishing the historical validity of the actual miraculous physical resurrection of Jesus. It seems like that office of apostle would have ended when those 513 people died. There are some people today who like to use the term apostle to describe themselves. These people are using the term in a more metaphorical sense. I would agree that all believers have experienced the risen Christ present in our lives and hearts and I think that most of the so-called current apostles are using the term in that way.

Personally, I am not overly concerned about the term, but it is an interesting point of discussion that comes up with people who talk about “the five-fold ministry.” That phrase is referring to these 5 offices and is an assertion that we should embrace the term apostle still today.