Welcome to the third part of our series, "The Way."

This series is a time to think deeply about what it means to follow Jesus.

At RLC, we rally around these points as values for how we live our lives in fellowship together.

(Ephesians 4:1-13,16) Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future... However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. That is why the Scriptures say, “When he ascended to the heights, he led a crowd of captives and gave gifts to his people.” Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ... He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

The way of a disciple of Christ is someone who lives as ALL of Christ for ALL OF LIFE.

Overall Commentary: 🌎

Many times, we have wondered what happened after the book of Acts. When we left Paul, he was under house arrest. However, that is not the end of the story. He continued "coaching" the new churches until His death. (He was martyred by beheading around 65AD by Emperor Nero.) The book of Ephesians is one of the letters he sent out as he encouraged the church to grow as a spiritual community. After reminding them of the theological basis for their existence as Christians and as a spiritual community, Paul gets practical in chapter 4.

Commentary.

Verse 1. Living Up to Something.

"Therefore..."- Paul is transitioning from the theological part of his letter to the practical part of his letter. He has spent the last three chapters talking about the beauty of salvation and the joy of being God's masterpiece to the world. Now, he shifts into talking about what that looks like practically.

"as a prison for serving the Lord..."- It is good to remember that Paul is in prison for what he is teaching them to do. This is like saying, "This is what put me in jail. Not everyone is going to agree... do it anyway."

"lead a life worthy of your calling..."- He is encouraging them to live a life of honor because of all that the Lord has done for them.

Verse 2-6. We fight for unity.

Paul speaks about the different ways we strive to hope for the best, take the high road, and work hard to fight for unity, not with each other. Someone once said, "If you look around and see unity, realize that someone is fighting hard behind the scenes to keep it that way."

Verse 7-13. We Grow and Serve Together.

Paul begins to describe the way the church grows together. God gives the church leaders, and their job is to equip and train the people of God for the work of God.

This does not mean that leaders are the only ones with spiritual gifts. It also does not mean that they are in charge of giving out spiritual gifts. This simply means there are no spiritual islands. If you want to experience the empowerment of God's gifts, it happens in the context and under the guidance of trusted leaders.

Have you ever considered that there is likely no reason why God would use you in a spiritual gift apart from being a committed member of a spiritual community? The gifts the Spirit of God empowers us with are for serving one another. How can we serve one another if we are never committed to one another and guided by a spiritual leader?