As your group time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion.

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1 THE GOD I WISH YOU KNEW A GOD WHO TRANSFORMS EPHESIANS 4:17-31 NOVEMBER 22/23, 2014 MAIN POINT In Ephesians 4:17-31, Paul describes a new birth, a new nature, a new start for followers of Jesus. Change is possible, but we have to remember that real change is internal before it s external. INTRODUCTION As your group time begins, use this section to introduce the topic of discussion. What are some of your favorite things to buy new or to replace? New clothes? New shoes? New electronics? New home appliances? What s the first thing you do with something new that you purchase? What makes us enjoy newness so much? A remodeled kitchen. A freshly painted bedroom. A refurbished piece of furniture. These are examples of things that, in a way, have been made new. The end result of these refinishing projects brings great joy and sense of satisfaction. Similarly, we who have faith in Christ have been made new. We are a new creation. And in light of our salvation, we are called to live in a new way that lines up with our new identity in Christ. UNDERSTANDING Unpack the biblical text to discover what the Scripture says or means about a particular topic. > HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ EPHESIANS 4: In Ephesians 4:1-16, Paul challenged the Ephesian believers to live worthy of their calling as disciples of Christ. Because of God s purpose that we grow to full Christian maturity (4:13-15), he called on them to change their manner of living. Paul appealed to them in the Lord not to live as the Gentiles around them lived (as they lived before their conversion). Here the word Gentiles essentially means non-christians. How would you compare moral standards of today with the moral standards of Paul s day? What was the purpose of the Gentiles lives? What did they live for? How should Christians be different from the people described in these verses? How does Paul s description of Gentile behavior in the first century help us understand how to live today? 1 EPHESIANS SHERWOOD PARK ALLIANCE CHURCH

2 The Gentiles (the first-century term for non-christians) lived lives characterized by darkness. Their minds were closed and their hearts hardened to the things of God. The minds of the people were on themselves and what could serve them best, not God. How a person thinks affects his or her choices and behaviors. The lives of the Gentiles in the first century are not too different from the world today, where so many people are focused on lusts and impurity, worshiping them as idols. In what ways have you seen people s hearts hardened or people darkened in their understanding? Does anyone have a personal example of how your life was like this before coming to know Jesus? Paul described Gentiles as darkened in their understanding. Their worship of idols showed that. Because they failed to worship God as He is, they were separated from the life of God. This separation from God, resulting in a totally wrong understanding of spiritual and moral reality, was caused by two factors. The first was ignorance. They had no accurate knowledge of God because they rejected God s revelation of Himself in nature, history, Scripture, and finally in Christ. The second factor that separated unbelievers from God was the hardening of their hearts. The word for hardening originally meant being petrified and was later used by physicians to describe numbness, a loss of sensitivity. Those who reject God s truth take a path that leads farther from Him and that compounds their ignorance and hardening. > HAVE ANOTHER VOLUNTEER READ EPHESIANS 4: Why do you think Paul was so direct in these verses? Where does transformation start for a believer? Paul s instructions for believers was blunt and to the point. He wanted the Ephesians to know that the lives of the nonbelievers were not acceptable for someone who trusted in the Lord. Transformation begins with Jesus and the truth that comes from Him. This truth pushes believers to take off the old sinful nature, and put on the new nature. Both cannot be worn at the same time, one must take off the old to put on the new. What does it mean to put off your old self? To put on your new self? What does that tell you about the old nature and new nature? What are the things in the world that are the hardest to take off? How do those things hurt transformation? Part of their early teaching was about putting off their futile manner of life as though they were taking off an old, worn out garment. Put off your old self is literally put off the old man. Each believer was to put off the old ways of thinking and acting as one takes off an old garment. That old lost humanity was constantly being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Those sensual and materialistic desires had deceived their unbelieving minds. They had thought they were pursuing happiness when actually they were working toward their own destruction and condemning themselves to the wrath of God. Merely to stop practicing a former way of life is not enough. Life in Christ is about new life, God s quality of life. The object of being in Christ is continually to be made new in the attitude of your mind. The verb tense indicates an ongoing action. It is opposite being corrupted and moves in the direction of holiness. 2 EPHESIANS SHERWOOD PARK ALLIANCE CHURCH

3 > HAVE A VOLUNTEER READ EPHESIANS 4: In verses 25-32, Paul gave several commands regarding our external actions and internal attitudes that reflect back to his charge in Ephesians 4:1 to live a life worthy of our calling as Christians. Once we enter into a relationship with Jesus at salvation, we are called to live like Him, and our lives are committed to growing in faith and becoming holy, like Christ and set apart from the world. Take each principle in verses one at a time (or choose a few to focus on) and discuss: (1) What we are to put off; (2) what we are to put on; (3) the reason we are to put on that quality. When might we be tempted to exhibit one of these negative qualities? How can we demonstrate the positive instead? As believers who are walking in a manner different from that of the world, our lives give evidence that God s grace has succeeded in our own lives and that we are actively extending grace to others. How do our relationships with others reflect a different way of life from the rest of the world? Give specific examples of actions in those relationships that grieve and please God. In verse 30, Paul challenged his readers to understand that God s Spirit grieves when we express hostility to others, in attitude, speech, or actions. According to Ephesians 4:31, what are the wicked ways that grieve Him? What are believers to do with those sinful attitudes and actions? Discuss what Paul might mean by the terms kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving in verse 32. How are each of these terms a reflection of God s love for us? Kind means caring or showing love practically. Compassionate refers to being moved on one s insides in response to a need and then acting. Forgiving is literally acting with grace, and forgiving one another is certainly one of the best ways to extend undeserved favor. Paul pointed out specifically that this is a God-like quality. Because He forgave in Christ, we are to extend forgiveness to others. What are the positive and/or negative motivations that prompt us to walk or live a Christian life? According to verse 32, what should be the primary motivation? APPLICATION Help your group identify how the truths from the Scripture passage apply directly to their lives. 3 EPHESIANS SHERWOOD PARK ALLIANCE CHURCH

4 What does the world around us say about the way that we should live? In what ways could your life or your family s lives better contrast those practices? How have your attitudes, actions, and thoughts changed since turning your life over to God? Is there anything you are particularly struggling to put off from your former way of life? How can our group encourage you in that effort? Of all the broad commands we studied today for Christian living, which seems to be the major command God is challenging you with in your life? How can you act on His challenge? PRAY Finish your time in prayer, praying that God would be constantly transforming you and your group. Pray that He would reveal places in your lives to put off the old self and on the new self. Pray that God would help each of you to continually experience transformation on a daily basis. Pray that the members of our church would live in a way that reflects our new identity. FOLLOW UP Midway through this week, send a follow-up to your group with some or all of the following: Questions to consider as they continue to reflect on what they learned this week: How does today s text affect the way you view yourself and your relationship with others? In light of that different view and God s calling, where would you like to focus on change? A note of encouragement, following up on any specific prayer requests mentioned during your group gathering. The challenge to memorize Ephesians 4: EPHESIANS SHERWOOD PARK ALLIANCE CHURCH

5 COMMENTARY EPHESIANS 4: :17. Paul s word therefore could be paraphrased: in light of your calling as a Christian. He typically used the verb testify to introduce a solemn pronouncement (see Acts 20:26; Gal. 5:3). Because the apostle lived in the Lord, he could urge others to live this way as well. The letter was written mainly to those who by background were Gentiles; but by grace they had become different. They used to walk according to this worldly age (2:2); now they were to walk worthy (4:1). Their former identity was to be put aside now that they were in Christ. 4:18. The terms understanding and ignorance also highlight the intellectual issues involved with living contrary to God s standards. When people s minds have become darkened, they will deliberately reject the light of God s truth. Yet this mental darkness is preceded by a willful rejection of what people know as morally right. Unbelievers hardness of heart (rejection of what their conscience tells them is moral) causes them to become increasingly blind to spiritual things. 4:19. The sad outcome of hardened spiritual blindness is often moral recklessness. To be callous is to be unfeeling, insensitive to right and wrong. Such people may lose self-control and give in to extreme forms of sexual immorality (promiscuity). They may give themselves over to every kind of impurity (such as violence). And when persons are occupied with sinful behaviors, they may end up with a desire for more and more sin. 4: If part of the problem nonbelievers have is intellectual, then part of the solution is for their minds to be enlightened with truth. Christian discipleship includes replacing bad information with the biblical teachings that you learned... heard... and were taught. The truth that the Ephesians had embraced was not abstract; it was personal. It focused on the Messiah. 4:22. Paul was describing changes that God brought about at the time of a believer s conversion (you took off your former way of life... you are being renewed... you put on the new man ). The old man refers to the sinful self that we were before we were saved. This is the behavior described in 2:1-3 and 4:17-19, summarized by the phrase corrupted by deceitful desires. 4:23. Saved persons have intentionally laid aside their old self and put on the new self. As a result their minds are being renewed. This process is something God Himself accomplishes, for the renewal is done to us. Once we embrace that the truth is in Jesus (4:21), then we are in a position for the Spirit to give us an attitude (spirit) in our minds that will result in a lifestyle different than we had before. 4:24. If at conversion we deliberately took off our old way of living, then when we believed we also put on the new man. Paul was referring to the new creation that we became at conversion (2 Cor. 5:17). The only other place Paul used the exact phrase translated new man is Ephesians 2:15, a reference to the entire church as the new man that God has created from two formerly alienated groups Jews and Gentiles. If it took a miracle for God to create the new man, the church, it also took a miracle for Him to take the old corrupted selves we used to be and make us brand new. The nature of the new man is according to God s likeness. Mankind in the beginning was created in God s image, which sin marred. Now in salvation, with new life created by God, we can grow in becoming like Him morally. Paul specified this by naming two such qualities: righteousness (acting right toward our fellow humans) and purity (holiness, acting right toward God). 4:25. Therefore indicates Paul was about to draw conclusions from what he had said. Each of you includes every believer; none are excepted. We believers are to put off falsehood as a filthy garment and replace it with truthful speech. After all, we are all members of one body, literally, we are members of one another. The fabric of unity within the body of Christ is woven with mutual love, trust, and respect. Lies destroy trust and respect and erode love. Believers should be forthright and honest in what they say at home, at church, at work, and at play. Remember, Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). 5 EPHESIANS SHERWOOD PARK ALLIANCE CHURCH

6 4: The behavior of believers clearly should differentiate them from unbelievers. Although anger is not in itself wrong, how we respond to anger can be. Anger may lead us to positive, constructive actions. For example, anger can lead us to work toward honest reconciliation or to correct an injustice. Anger also may lead us to take negative, destructive actions, that is, to sin, such as striking back in vengeance. When we nurse anger into a seething bitterness, we give the devil a foothold to invade and corrupt our lives. For our own good, we are to resolve anger quickly (before the end of the day). 4:28. Anyone who formerly had been a thief should replace that lifestyle with one of honest useful labor. Here Paul raised manual labor above merely honorable work to the level of righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:24). Paul did not challenge believers to work hard for the purpose of becoming wealthy and enjoying a life of luxury but for the purpose of earning enough to share with people in need. The Christian life is focused on relationships and helping others, not on material gain and all that is associated with affluence. 4:29. Paul gave concrete examples of how Christ followers live out this worthy walk, beginning in verse 25. In each case, a prohibition is balanced with a command. Here, it is not corrupting talk but wholesome speech. By corrupting talk Paul meant what is vulgar, crude, or abusive. This is a characteristic of the non- Christian lifestyle that believers have renounced. What is to replace it? Speech that is intentionally good for the building up of others (Prov. 15:23). 4:30. Parents grieve when their children squabble. How much more must the Spirit lament when believers squabble with one another? After all, He is Holy, and He intends for us to become more and more holy. This is why He sealed us when we were converted. From the beginning of our Christian life when we were sealed until the end when we are fully redeemed, we are to grow in being like Christ. 4:31. In verses Paul had used the notion of taking off (the old man) and putting on (the new man) in reference to the decisive change that happened at conversion. Here he used similar language to speak of six sinful attitudes and actions. Believers constantly seek to keep these removed from their lives. They are all poisonous to personal relationships. Bitterness can be translated sourness, referring to a cynical or resentful outlook. Anger refers to an outburst of rage or a flash of irritation. Wrath (negatively) means a sullen, settled angry attitude (but see 5:6 for God s wrath). Clamor refers to loud voices raised in a quarrel or in a brawl. Slander means speaking evil of others, wishing to hurt their reputation. Malice summarizes all of the preceding and can also be translated evil or wickedness. 4:32. In contrast to the six vices are three virtues by which believers are to relate to one another. These are God-like qualities He has extended to us. Kind means caring or showing love practically (see 2:7 for God s kindness). Compassionate (tenderhearted) refers to being moved on one s insides in response to a need and then acting. Forgiving is literally acting with grace, and forgiving the offenses of others is certainly one of the best ways to extend undeserved favor. Paul pointed out specifically that this is a God-like quality. Because He forgave in Christ, we are to extend forgiveness to others. 6 EPHESIANS SHERWOOD PARK ALLIANCE CHURCH