Living Our Identity in Christ: Understanding Ephesians 6 and Maintaining Spiritual Armour

4 1 3 5 6 2 week 7 Ephesians H HOME OME Q QUESTIONS UESTIONS Our Identity in Christ Living Our Identity sit FOR FOR W WEEK EEK 7 7 walk STAND Defending Our Identity 1. Read Ephesians 6:10. Describe in your own words and from the context of what you ve learned in this study what, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, would look like. WALKINGIN OUR IDENTITYIN CHRIST PRACTICAL RELATIONAL LIVINGIN NEWNESSAND ONENESS LIVINGA LIFEOF SUBMISSION [EPH 5:21-6:9] KINGDOM ADVANCERS: Kingdom Advancers: 2. What is an easy way to say, the battle is not against flesh and blood? (6:12) Up until this point, we ve been dealing with the new life we have in Christ as individuals and the necessity of oneness for us as the body of Christ. Today it is time to apply these truths to everyday living. Newness and Oneness are God s themes for marriage, family and work relationships. When you go out to expand God s kingdom, go out with healthy relationships. God s kingdom, go out with healthy relationships. Up until this point we ve been dealing with the new life we have in Christ as individuals and the necessity of oneness for us as the body of Christ. Today it is time to apply these truths to everyday living. Newness and Oneness are God s themes for marriage, family and work and relationships. When you go out to expand 3. What are some ways you have encountered the powers of this dark world, or spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms? 4. Read through the armor in 6:14-17. Is there a piece of armor that you can relate to more than the others? Why? Submission (Greek: appoint under) is part of the New Life in Christ. Submission flows out of God s heart and models God s intention for relationships. Already, Paul tells us we are to seek God s will in other s lives [5:17], we are to be filled by the Spirit [5:18], we need to treat each other with hearts of worship [5:19], we are to exude thankfulness [5:20], and then, we are to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ [5:21]. The phrase out of reverence for Christ turns our attention to our Savior who models for us submission. In Christ s submission to the Father s Will, He made himself nothing taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross. [Philippians 2:2-3] Our call is to literally align ourselves below others, to perceive ourselves as lesser for the benefit of the other. 5. What might it mean to pray in the spirit? Is this different than just praying out loud? And how do we pray on all occasions? Is this even possible? Paul s challenge for this submission now unfolds in various familial and societal roles where we are called to submit to one another. 8.

A LIFEIN CHRISTISALIFEOFSUBMISSION. BYNATUREWEWANTTOPROMOTEOURSELVES, BUT THE HOLY SPIRITENABLESUSTOSUBMITOURSELVES. JESUSTOLD HISDISCIPLESTHAT THE GREATESTAMONGYOUSHOULDBELIKETHEYOUNGESTANDTHEONEWHORULESLIKETHEONE WHOSERVES [LUKE 22:24-27] JESUSALSOWASHED HISDISCIPLE SFEETTEACHINGTHEM THATTHEGREATESTISTHEPERSONWHOUSES HISAUTHORITYTOBUILDUPPEOPLEANDNOT, LIKETHE PHARISEES, BUILDUPHISOWNAUTHORITYANDMAKEHIMSELFIMPORTANT. [JOHN 13:6FF] Break Away Group Interaction WEARETOESTEEMOTHERS MOREIMPORTANTTHANOURSELVES. [PHIL 2:1-4; ROM 12:10] WIVESSUBMITYOURSELVES [5:22-24, 33] - Read John 17:1-5. Make a list of the way that Jesus models honoring your father. Christ is LORD [5:22] When the Christian wife submits (Greek: appoint under) to the LORD Jesus Christ, she will have no difficulty submitting to her husband. This does not mean that she becomes her husband s slave for the husband is to be submissive as well. Headship is a reality of God s created order: Adam was given responsibility to keep God s command in the Garden [Gen 2:16-17], Adam exercised authority over the animals by naming them [Gen 2:19], God placed the fault of sin on Adam as he was the one who bore the responsibility of God s command [Gen 2:16-17]. Within the context of submission, Paul reasserts that the husband is the head of the wife (with whom he is one flesh) [5:23] as Christ is the head of the church, his body. The husband as head is to lead the marriage on a God- glorifying path. A wife must respect her husband and hold him accountable to be the head that the LORD empowers him to be [5:33]. HUSBANDSLOVEYOURWIVES [5:25-33] just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her How did Christ express His love for the church? He died for the church He gave His life so that we may have life. Husbands must love sacrificially. This is how Christ loved the church. A husband must love Christ more than himself and more than his wife and in this way; lay down his own life so that his wife may spiritually thrive. Husbands who have laid down their lives can love with the power of the Holy Spirit. [5:26-27] to make her holy or sanctify her. Cleansing her .through the word. as a husband submits to the Lordship of Christ, he engages with Christ in His Word. The husband shares this growth in his marriage. present her holy and blameless. the best compliment for any husband is, your wife is radiant! This means that the husband is laying down his life so that his wife is growing and thriving in her relationship with Jesus without the husband in the way. 2. - Discuss some situations in which it has been or would be difficult to honor your parents . What does honor your parents mean in a difficult situation? - Read Ephesians 6:5. What would it mean to have a relationship with your employer that is characterized by fear and respect and with sincerity of heart ? 7.

SUBMISSIONISNECESSARYINTHEWORKPLACE [6:5-8] Husbands who have laid down their lives can have a satisfying, healthy, invigorating marriage. [5:28-31] SLAVERYWASPARTOFSOCIETY. PAULWASN TOVERTHROWINGSOCIETYBUT TRAINING KINGDOM ADVANCERSTOWORKFROMWITHIN. HISTEACHING HERECANBEAPPLIEDNOTTOSLAVESANDMASTERSBUTTOEMPLOYEES. - - - One Flesh love his wife as his own body feeds and cares for his own body No longer two but one SLAVESOR SERVANTSMUSTBEOBEDIENT Because they are really serving Christ. [6:5] Their true Master was up in heaven and the work given is to give glory to Him. The need for obedience is also because doing a good job is the will of God. Obedience also is rewarded by the LORD[6:8]. The reward doesn t have to come from men. Men can t bless us the way the LORD does. - we are members of His body both husbands and wives are equal in membership of Christ s body Christ loves both the same. Both are equal before God. Christ feeds and cares for the marriage with His Spirit and His Word. - Break Away Group Interaction MASTERSOR SERVANTSWHOLEADMUSTBEOBEDIENT He must seek their welfare treat your slaves in the same way He must not threaten them Do not threaten them He must be submitted to the LORD since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven. He must not play favorites and there is no favoritism with Him. - Give some practical ideas on what Paul might have meant in Eph 5:21 when he says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. - Paul uses the verb respect with regard to wives and love with regard to husbands. Harley writes in the book His Needs, Her Needs that these two words express the needs of both husbands and wives. For example, a husband has a need to be respected and a wife has a need to be loved. Discuss this. - Is it true that a marriage that doesn t have Christ as its foundation is a marriage that is in danger of not lasting a lifetime? Discuss this question in light of Eph 5:21- 33. 6. 3.

PARENTSARETOSUBMITTOTHE LORDINRAISINGTHEIRCHILDREN [6:4] A father must not provoke them - When a baby was born into a Roman family, the baby was brought before the father. If he picked it up, it meant the father was accepting the child into the home. If the father did not pick up the child, the baby was rejected and therefore sold, given away, or even killed by exposure. - To not provoke, a father must be: wise, loving, consistent, patient, direct, bold, fearless, warm. All this is impossible except through submission. A father must nurture them - The training and instruction of the LORD is a balanced parenting. It hits the intellectual, physical, emotional, and social needs of the child. - The home is where the child grows in the LORD according to Scripture. School and church are helpful, but the home is the place. A father must discipline them - The word training carries with it the idea of learning through discipline. - Discipline is a basic principle of life and an evidence of love [Heb 12:6]. The LORD disciplines those He loves. A non disciplined child doesn t know he is loved. - Discipline must be done in love not in anger. - If we are not disciplined, we can t discipline others. Flying off the handle isn t healthy discipline . - Discipline must be fair and consistent. A father must encourage them - This is the meaning of the word instruction. - It means to actively engage with the child s life so that in moments of learning, the parent encourages the child through it. - In submission it means letting the child know that it is because of God s wonderful hand in their lives that they are so wonderful. SUBMISSIONISNECESSARYINTHEFAMILY [6:1-4] CHILDRENARETOOBEYTHEIRPARENTS In the LORD [6:1] Furthering 5:21 and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. The call is to obey to listen under As children submit to Jesus, He will give them the wisdom and strength to obey the LORD s word to them through their parents. Obedience is God s way - God has set up nature in such a way that children obey their parents. - Disobedience is breaking away from God s created order. Obedience is Commanded [6:2] - This is the fifth commandment [Ex 20:12] applied to the New Testament believer - This command isn t meant for bondage because in Christ we are set free from both the curse and the bondage of the Law. - The righteousness of the Law is still a revelation of the holiness of God and the Holy Spirit empowers to live in that holiness in our daily lives. - honor means to show our parents respect and love to care for them and to seek to bring honor to them by the way we live Obedience brings blessing [6:2-3] - The promise: so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. - To live long is to live in harmony seeing God s heritage lived out from parents to children. - - 4. 5.