Ephesians 4:3-6; One Lord, part 2.

Class Outline:

EPH 4:4-6

There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.

 

Jesus Christ is the center of all things. He is Savior and Lord. We are to believe in Him for salvation and then serve Him as Lord.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ’s present authority is over the church and the universe.

 

That authority obviously isn’t carried out by force. The unbeliever is free to reject Him and the believer is free to reject His complete authority over them. Yet, rejection by the world and the church does not change His position at the right hand of God.

 

Those who recognize Him as the one Lord obey and follow Him and Him alone, swearing loyalty to Him, and considering Him faithful to entrust their souls to.

 

We do His will by His might and truth. We must follow Him as Lord and we must remember that we are not obeying in our own power or in any way “on our own.”

 

We must see Him for who He is and be reminded of His position and ours every day. And, let us not waste time, distracted by various impulses, for much time must be spent to discover all of these truth and have them impact us the way they will, and every day we have less time to do it.

 

Opportunity:

 

ROM 7:11

for sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.

 

EPH 4:27

do not give the devil an opportunity

 

COL 4:1

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity.

 

Titles for the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The Last Adam and the new creation.

 

The new humanity, no longer in Adam (sin and death), has a Head, a Lord in Jesus Christ.

 

The church is to cleave to Christ as a wife cleaves to her husband. Eph 5 states that the wife is to be in subjection to the husband, and so the church is to be in subjection to Christ. By right of who He is and who believers are in relation to Him, we have to obey Him.

 

One might object that many believers don’t subject themselves to Him, but that doesn’t change the relationship, nor its reality. It is like the unity of the body. If there is one body, one Spirit, one hope of calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Father of all, then we are surely unified, but the visible church doesn’t live that reality. In the same way, if a family consists of a husband and wife who constantly fight, or ignore each other, and their three children hate each other and they grow to separate from their siblings and their parents, they are still a family, but they have missed the purpose of family as God has given it to mankind. All anyone would desire for that family is for them to reconcile and live in love and peace. So it is in our relation to our Lord and Head. He is Lord and He has made us His slaves and His bride. For a believer to reject His authority is to be a foolish and bad wife, ignorant of life and the purpose of God’s gifts.

 

The direction of the body by Christ is, therefore, not an arbitrary and unreasonable lordship over the church, but rather a loving direction to its members for whom He died.

 

So then, the analogy of the human body is a perfect one. Just as the human body is utterly dependent upon the human mind to direct it into coherent action, not only to attain any desirable end but also to minister to itself, as well as to restrict itself, so Christ directs His body, and the members in turn are completely dependent upon Him to do anything good; intelligently good. An effective member of the body of Christ must submit himself to the direction of Christ, the omniscient Head, or else he will become a useless member, paralyzed, if you will.

 

The love of Christ for His church is that of a Husband for His wife.

 

EPH 5:22-30

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; 26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body.

 

Nourishes - ektrepho = to nurture, to rear (as children)

Cherishes - thalpo = to keep warm (as birds covering their young with their wings)