Questions for Reflection and Discussion
Read Ephesians 4:1-16 (ESV):
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
- In verses 1-5, Paul calls us to live in genuine Christian community. What does Paul say is the basis for the unity that he describes here?
- How does the Holy Spirit impact our oneness as Christians?
- How does our Lord Jesus Christ contribute to our oneness?
- How is God the Father part of our oneness as believers?
- The African idea of ubuntu is: “A person is a person through other persons.”
– How have you experienced this in your own life?
– Bobby said that part of Jesus’s mission was to help people live this out. Explain what Bobby meant by this.
- The way Aspen trees share a root system is a metaphor for how the local church is intended to work. How do you see this at NSCBC? How could we live into this even more?
- In verses 7-12 Paul quotes from Psalm 68 as he describes how Jesus descended.
– In what ways did Jesus descend?
– What were some results of Jesus’s descending?
– What do the spiritual gifts that Jesus gives believers have to do with this idea of descending?
- What is Christian maturity? What does it look like?
- Talk about the maturing process described here. How do we grow, according to this passage (see vs. 13-16)?
- Though the goal is to grow up into Christ, we don’t simply become clones of one another. How does maturity in Christ bring out the beauty of our various personalities rather than wiping them out?
- How are you personally using the gifts God gave you to contribute to the Christian community? If you’re not currently using them, how could you begin to do that?
- How has your relationship with Jesus helped you see the world around you and your own role in it with a different perspective?
- What did you sense God saying to you through this passage and this message?
