In Christ – Ephesians

Read Ephesians 5-6. As you read, note what this text tells you about the nature of God. What does it tell you of the character of God? How do you see God as love in this text? 

Read and reflect on a portion of the preface to The Screwtape Letters and then answer the questions that follow: 

“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”

Where do you find yourself on this continuum? What passage of Scripture or personal experience has had the greatest impact on your belief? How do you perceive the spiritual universe intersecting with material world? 

Read Ephesians 6.10-17 and answer the following two questions: At first glance, what does the passage reveal about the nature of spiritual conflict?

What does the passage reveal about divine provision for believers to overcome in the midst of spiritual conflict?

Why is verse 10 considered the most important verse of this section of text? 

Paul knows that Ephesus has been a place of demonic activity. Read Acts 19.13-20 and answer the questions below. 

What does this passage say about demonic activity? What can we learn from the example of the Seven sons of Sceva? 

Describe the primary difference of the knowledge of Jesus vs. the knowing of Jesus as displayed in this text. 

How is your knowing of Jesus displayed in your everyday life? 

Paul ties the need for spiritual armor to qualities related to the development of character—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, the shield of faith—why so? 

Note the call to stand in verses 11-14. How do you see the text in terms of resistance vs. attack? How does this differ from some contemporary approaches to spiritual warfare? 

Read the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. When you pray this prayer, what or who are you asking your Father to deliver you from? Be specific. 

Read John 10.7-10. What is the primary purpose of the “thief”? How have you seen the thief, “steal and kill and destroy?” 

Read some of Paul’s ongoing battle in Romans 7.21-23 and the answer the questions below: 

What is the inner conflict?

What is truly at war? 

How do you resonate with this struggle today? 

Read and reflect on M. Scott Peck’s comments of evil. “Evil is the refusal to tolerate one’s sense of sinfulness. The central defect of evil is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it.”

Read all of Ephesians 5-6. What does this text tell you about God? What do you notice about the character of God? How does this text reveal the love of God? 

Read and meditate on Ephesians 5.21. “Submit to one another out of reverence of Christ.” 

Read and reflect on the following definition of submission: “Submission is laying down a person’s will, desires, rights, and entitlements to the will of another for the other person’s sake.”

In your own words, define submission. Using Scripture, give some examples of Biblical submission. In what ways do you see Jesus exhibit submission? What’s the purpose of God’s call for His people to submit to Him, and to one another? Describe a time when someone submitted to you.

Reread the following verses from Ephesians 5 & 6 and answer the questions that follow. Ephesians 5.22-24; 6.1-4, 5-9. What does it look like for a husband to submit to his wife, and the wife to her husband? What does it mean for a father not to “exasperate” his child? What is the role of a submission from a master to a servant? Where do you sense a desire to grow in submission? 

Read Philippians 2.5-8. Note how Jesus submitted. 

What’s the ultimate purpose of our submission? To whom are we ultimately submitting? 
Scripture says, “For this reason” a man leaves his father and mother. What is “this reason?” 

What is God’s intent of marriage? Be specific. 

Read Revelation 2.1-7 and answer the following questions. What is the church at Ephesus commended for? Where have they fallen short? What is the “first love” noted in the text? 

Compare and contrast Revelation 2.1-7 with 1 Corinthians 13. 

How is it possible to “lose your first love?” How would one go back and embrace “first love”? 

What’s the most important truth you’ve gleaned in the verses you’ve read in this study? How might a friend join you in fully living out that one truth? 

How is God inviting you to receive His truth today? Receive. 

Read all of Ephesians 5. While our focus for this study will be the first half of the chapter, it’s best to have the full context of the chapter in mind. As you read the chapter, what do you learn about God’s character? What does it tell you about the nature of God? Where do you see the love of God being revealed? 

Spend a few moments meditating on Ephesians 5.1-2 and then answer the following questions. 

• What is “God’s example?” 
• Is it possible to follow God’s example? In what ways do you already follow in His example? In what ways do you sense God might be calling you to follow? 
• In your own words, define a “dearly loved child.” What hesitation, if any, do you have in seeing yourself as God’s dearly loved child?
• Who is someone you know that “walks in the way of love?” What exactly is it about their beliefs or behavior that give them the ability to walk in this way? 
• What is the element of submission and surrender in these two verses? Is it possible to “follow God’s example” without surrender and submission? What kind of surrender and submission is required of you? Be specific in your response. 

“God creates and He redeems.” Where in Scripture do you see these two characteristics of God most clearly, most personally expressed?

How do you engage God as Healer? How have you experienced His healing hands? Are there places and spaces in your world where you long for God to come as Healer? 

How are you learning to walk in the salvific healing God has already given you? Where do you struggle to live into your healing as His beloved child? 

Consider vs. 3-7. What do these characteristics tell us about living in the new life Jesus came to bring? How do you ensure these characteristics don’t become a checklist or a measuring stick of your spirituality? 

Tim Keller notes our evil desire is, “an over, inordinate, or excessive desire for something that is good.” Where and when have you had an excessive desire for something good? How did you resist that temptation, or how did that temptation overtake you? What was the outcome? 

In your own words, define “a hint of sexual immorality.” How do you ensure you hold fast to holiness in regard to your sexuality? Where and when are you most tempted? 

What role has pornography had in your life, or in the life of your family? Is it possible to be free of the grip of pornography or other sexual sin? What might freedom feel like, sound like, love like?

How does God meet us in the midst of our sexual sin? How might our “why’s” and “wounds” give indicators of places that need healing? 

Read, reflect and respond to the words of Tim Keller, “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

What speaks to you most personally in verses 8-13. How have you seen these truths lived out in your life? 

What or who is a “wounded healer?”  How might God use your wounds as a holy salve on the wounds of others? How have you possibly believed your wounds disqualified you from partnering with God in the healing of others? How is God inviting you to partner with Him today? 

Read 1 Peter 1.3-4. Peter says “We have everything we need for a godly life.” How inclusive is this truth? How might you begin to live more deeply into this truth today? Who might join you in living this truth out in your family, and in our Faith Family? 

Read Ephesians 4:1-16.  What is God saying to you through these passages?  Or how did God stir in you through the teaching of this passage on Sunday?

How or where do you feel like your freedom in Christ is most threatened?

Paul identifies himself in verse 1 as a “prisoner for the Lord”, focusing on his identity rather than his circumstance.  How would you best identify yourself right now?  Why?

Paul makes the assumption in verse 1 that all in the church are called.  Do you know your calling?  Do you know where the Lord has invited you to join him within the body of Christ? 

Read vs. 2-3 – Where have you experienced this within the church?  Where has this been challenged in you, or not lived out by another towards you within the church?

Read Galatians 5:13-15 – How does this verse speak to you or challenge you?
Where might God be reminding you to love first? Where/who in the church might He be reminding you to love first?

Who in the body of Christ helps to re-center you to oneness and unity with others in Christ?  Are there those who distract you from that?

Jesus calls and gives gifts to the church leaders to “equip the saints for the works of service” (vs. 12). The saints are called to “works of service.” In the Greek, (Diakonia) means to minister, serve, and proclaim to build up the body.  The result of a body being built up together is:

• The body is being built up (vs. 12) 
• Unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God (vs. 13)
• Spiritual maturity (vs. 14)
• Attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (vs. 14)
• Aware of the attacks of the enemy, and the deceit of men (vs. 15)
• Truth spoken in love (vs. 15)
• A mature body, with Christ as the head (vs. 15)
• Every part of the body working together to grow and build one another up in love (vs.16)

Where do you find yourself in these verses? How might God be inviting you to join Him in building this kind of church?