Ephesians 4:1-16 – Good Works God Prepared – How To Be United
A life worthy of your calling…
– Paul finally gets unto the ‘practical stuff’.
– Connecting the two halves of Ephesians… the letter helps us understand why Christians do what we do.
– Not ‘first God forgave, and now we work’, but ‘God gave us a new identity… so let’s live in it’
– Chapters 4-6 describe the life of faith that is the outworking of the content of our faith.
– The Christian life is about real unity, not politeness
God gives gifts for his church
– First he gives “apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers“ (verse 11)
– To equip the people (verse 12)
– So that the ‘church’ may be built up to maturity (verse 12-16)
– Note that the church here is the ‘universal’ church, which is expressed in the ‘local’ church
What this means for us
– What’s the point of our faith?
– What’s the point of the local church?
– How am I serving to build the church?