0:00 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We have been considering Paul's letter to the Ephesians. We looked at chapters 1 to 3. And we have seen how God has done something for us in Christ. 0:28 We saw that that is the foundation for our Christian life, on which we are to build the Christian life. And that is the superstructure. Now, just like a building has got a foundation and superstructure, so it is the superstructure that people 0:49 see. But the whole strength of that superstructure depends on the foundation. The things written in chapter in chapter 4, 5, and 6 is what people see in your life. But that is dependent on whether you 1:09 have understood what is in chapters 1, 2, and 3. So, if you haven't understood that, then you cannot experience 4, 5, and 6. This is the mistake that so many 1:26 Christians make. Because as I said earlier, man is a religious creature who always wants to do something for God. It's part of our pride. We can't accept that God will do something for us. And if we do want God to do something 1:47 for us, it's usually some stupid thing like give us a bigger car or a bigger house. That is how foolish man is. That is how That's how foolish a lot of today's preachers are who are telling people that that's what God will give you. 2:06 That's not found anywhere Ephesians 1 2 and 3 doesn't tell us a one word about material things. Those things will all be taken care of if we get our spiritual matters right. And when Paul prayed for the Ephesians 2:29 in chapter 1 and chapter 3, he doesn't pray for a single material thing. He knows that if the spiritual is taken care of, the material automatically fall into place. Because God is a good God. So, in chapter 4 verse 1 it says, 2:49 "Therefore, in view of all that I have said in first three chapters, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of this calling with which you have been called. If you got such a calling, you must live worthy of it. What is the first thing 3:17 And then gentleness. It's very interesting that Jesus said, "Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart." And that's the first thing that we need to learn from Jesus. Not how to preach or how to pray or any other thing. 3:38 But humility and gentleness. And when we have humility and gentleness It's very easy to be patient with people. That's the next thing. That's the next thing. some of the most important characteristics and virtues a Christian 3:55 must have. What is that? Humility. Gentleness. Patience. And love. Those are the four things mentioned here. Humility. Gentleness. Patience. And love. So, if you understood 4:15 the first three chapters, here's what you should do. Don't run out and evangelize the world first. A lot of people say that's what you got to do first. Do it. Do it every day. But, this is fundamental. 4:34 With humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Pursue that. Walk worthy of that. God works in cooperation with man. He won't make us like that if we don't want to be like that. If you cooperate with him, he'll make 4:55 you like that. And he says another thing. Do your best to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Later on, he speaks about growing up into the 5:13 fullness of Christ. In verse 13, until one day we reach the unity of the faith. So, unity of the faith is a long way off. We don't agree with each other on 5:32 everything. You will never come to a place where everybody agrees together on everything, even in one church. Even husband and wife may not agree on everything. But, they can still preserve the unity 5:50 of the spirit between them. So, until we come to the unity of the faith, let's preserve the unity of the spirit. and peace. Because there's one body. 6:09 Christ doesn't have two bodies. So, that person who may not be in your denomination, if he is in Christ's body, he's part of you. You may not be working together with him. 6:29 Value him. See, your hand doesn't work with my kidneys. They both value each other. So, we are one body. There's only one Holy Spirit. And there's only one hope we have that Christ will come again, we'll be like 6:48 him. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One Father. But to each of us is given a different measure of Christ's gift. Now, when he comes to gifts, he first 7:07 speaks about character and and fruit of the spirit in verse two. And then he speaks about gift. Which is more important? Fruit or gift? Which did Jesus have? He had both. So, we don't need to find out which is 7:25 more important. We must have both. We need to to have the fruit of the spirit, we need to have the gifts of the spirit. Now, here he's not talking about the gifts that God has given individuals. That is in 1 Corinthians 12. 7:46 But here he is speaking about the gifts he's given to the church. What are those? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These are five gifts. 8:06 And God has given these gifts to the church so that the church can be built up. Apostles are those who plant churches and who are elders to the elders of those churches. They appoint elders. 8:23 They solve the problems in churches. Then there are prophets. Prophets are ones who speak God's word faithfully exposing sin. And who speak with authority. Exposing sin and showing what the 8:42 solution to that is. The evangelists are those who go out and bring others to Christ. Shepherds or pastors are those who look after the sheep and take care of them in the local church. And teachers are those who teach God's 9:03 word. So, there are very few people with these gifts. Maybe two, three percent of believers will have the one of these gifts. But the main gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 many more people will 9:21 have. But we don't need thousands of apostles in a small place. So, God has given us few people the gift of apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher. If you don't have that gift, does not 9:41 mean you are useless. And all of them can be like one of them. Gift Some people have a prominent These are prominent gifts mentioned here. Now, just like in the body, there are certain prominent members. tongue 10:02 ear eyes These are prominent members. But there are other members inside the body which are very important. the stomach Nobody sees it. Isn't it important? You can be a member like that. 10:19 Not visible on the outside. a hidden member of the body of Christ Christ in the center of the body of Christ of the way home You have a very important function. And further meaning my partner on to say the purpose of these gifts 10:38 is to build up the body of Christ. Until we all become like Jesus. So these people are not supposed to have independent ministries. The whole purpose is to build up the church. 10:57 Not to make money or build their own kingdom. We're not to be tossed here and there. No, we are to grow up, it says, unto the head, even Christ. There's a lot of deception in the world today. 11:16 So many winds of doctrine He says, in the midst of that, don't allow these doctrines to toss you about. Concentrate on those doctrines, verse 15, which will help you to grow up into Christ. Because it is from this head that the 11:38 whole body joins where grows up. And in the body there are certain parts called joints in verse 16. Like the elbow is a joint. Or the wrist is another joint. And in the knees is another joint. 12:02 So, all these joints are flexible. It's because there's an elbow that the lower arm and upper arm can work together. Because there's a joint at this wrist, that's why this arm can work with the 12:22 hand. So, joints are very important. You know, some people have stiff joints. Arthritis. Or rheumatism. It's very difficult for them to bend 12:44 their joints. So, joints are very important in the body of Christ. You have two strong brothers, but if they can't fellowship with each other great tragedy today. 13:03 If you can't work together with somebody in another group, that's okay. Just love him. But in your own church, if you can't work together with people who are working together with you, something is wrong in the joint. 13:25 And the joint supplies something which makes the church to grow. In your own local church, seek to make sure that joints between you and other brothers are good good condition. And he goes on to say, 13:47 He says, you don't walk like you did in the past. Cuz those heathen people, their mind is darkened. Verse 18. They don't know anything about God. You got to lay that all aside now. Verse 14:06 22. And you must allow the Holy Spirit to renew your mind. Verse 23. It means your mind must think like God thinks now. The Holy Spirit comes to do that. 14:28 And put on the new man. Which is created in righteousness and holiness. This is the super structure. Based on all that God has done for us in chapters 1 to 3. How should we live? 14:50 We must seek for the power of the Holy Spirit to live this life. Lay aside all telling lies. Verse 25. Speak the truth each one of you with your neighbor. And if you get angry, make sure, verse 26, that it is not 15:09 sinful anger. If you do sin, before the sun sets, that means before you go to bed, settle the matter. Otherwise, you will give the devil an opportunity in your life. If you let 15:31 the you go to bed at night with anger in your heart, the devil's got a chance. You know, dentists say before you go to bed you should brush your teeth. Because there are food particles here and there in your mouth. And if it if you lie like that with 8 15:54 hours at bed, those particles germ bacteria gets in and they can destroy your teeth. You must clean out all the food particles. Much more important 16:14 is to go to bed with no anger in your heart. Otherwise, overnight that anger can destroy you. And what about people who had bad habits in the past? Is it enough to just get rid of those bad habits? 16:34 No. You got to do something positive. For example, maybe in your past life you stole, verse 28. Stop stealing. Start working hard. And now, give your money to somebody who has 16:54 need, verse 28. Imagine a man who is stealing is now started helping others. That is Christianity. Not just that he stopped stealing, but he's gone beyond that and started helping others. And that happens, you really know 17:14 salvation has come. And the other area that this Bible speaks a lot about is our speech. He says, "Be careful with the type of words that come out of your mouth." Be careful. Don't just speak everything 17:34 that comes into your mind. Whatever is good for edification according to the need of the moment. So, at each particular time he said, "Now, what will be a useful thing to talk about now or say now?" That it may give grace to those who hear 17:59 it. So, that's the purpose. That when we speak, people must get grace through our speech. You know, in Colossians it's it's used like this. Similar words. 18:19 It says in Colossians 4, "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned as it were with salt." It's like food is tasteless if it doesn't have any salt in it. So, in the same way, if your speech doesn't have grace in it, 18:38 it's a tasteless speech. So, here it speaks about working towards a place where our speech has got grace in it. I don't think many Christians are working towards this. Think if you work and work and work and 18:59 work to the place where you you have grace. And don't grieve the Holy Spirit. So, in the context it means that we way we talk. This is a very, very important area. 19:25 We can grieve the Holy Spirit. Not make him angry. But make him sad. You know, David prayed in Psalm 139. The last verse he prayed in the last verse. In the Living Bible, it says, "Lord, show me anything in my life that's 19:43 making you sad." So, that's what it's saying here. Don't make the Holy Spirit sad. And then he says, "There are certain things that must be put away from your life completely." "All bitterness, 20:04 all wrath, all anger, all clamor, all slander, must be put away from you." Now, I don't know how many Christians have taken that word seriously. But there must not be an atom of bitterness in your heart against anybody today. 20:25 Maybe there are evil people concerning whom you must be careful. Don't have any bitterness against them. I mean, you have to meet them with love. You have to meet them with love. Don't have any anger towards a single human 20:37 being. Whatever they may have done to you, forgive them. Release them. And it says, "Even pray for those who persecute you." So, all anger must be put away. 20:56 Now, if all anger is put away from your life, how much anger is left? Nothing. Why is there so much anger left in you then? Because you haven't taken this word seriously. Along with all malice, put it all away. 21:18 If Christians were just to take this one verse seriously. Can you imagine all the difference it's going to make in the world? These are serious things. You know, when you read a word like the 28, put away all stealing. You believe you should stop stealing 21:40 completely. Supposing you are you were a pickpocket in your unconverted days. You used to pick at least 10 pockets a day. Now you're converted. What advice do you give him? Please reduce it to five pickpockets a 21:59 day. And now after about a month you can reduce it to three pickpockets a day. No. In lay. You tell him, "Stop completely today." Now the same thing with anger and 22:17 bitterness. Do I have to just reduce it or get rid of it completely? Unedifying words. We must aim for zero defect. I was in some factories where they make 22:38 cars where they have a board saying, "Let's have zero defect in our cars." So imagine if we have tried to have zero defect in our life. No anger. 22:57 No bitterness. Edifying words. No evil speaking of others. How happy your life will be. How much you can make up your life a blessing to other people. And he goes on to say in verse 32, 23:14 be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving, as God in Christ forgave you. Forgiveness is a very important part of the Christian life. And the example is how God forgave you, forgive others. God doesn't hold anything against you 23:36 when he forgives you. He says, "I will not even remember what you did." And here it says, as just as God forgave you, you forgive the others. That means when I forgive somebody, 23:56 I say, "Okay, brother, I'm not going to remember what you did." And that forgiveness is in my mind. I don't want to keep it in my mind anymore. Just as God forgave me, I want to forgive you. So, it's a wonderful thing when we try 24:14 to build the superstructure. And like I said, you can't build it if you don't have this original foundation. You won't be able to forgive others unless you realize how much God has forgiven you. How precious you are to God. 24:37 How God values you tremendously. It's the understanding of this that makes us so large-hearted to forgive other people. There's one thing that the devil's trying to hide from God's people. An awareness of how they are to God. 25:01 I hope you understood something of that. God bless you. Welcome once again to Words of Life. We've been studying through the word of God and we reached Ephesians chapter 5 25:19 now. I mentioned at the beginning of the study that the phrase in Christ is something that comes right through Ephesians. God has placed us in Christ. 25:40 Therefore, everything that is Christ can be ours if we have faith. If we draw in faith from his resources, we can be overcomers in all situations. And the word spiritual comes very often. 26:03 We are blessed with spiritual blessings, it says in Ephesians 1:3. unmerited blessings Children of Israel were blessed with earthly blessings. We are blessed with heavenly blessings. That's the main difference between the 26:25 old covenant and the new covenant. It doesn't mean that God doesn't provide our earthly needs. But the spiritual is primary. Now here it says we considered in 26:44 Ephesians 4:32 that we must forgive others as God has forgiven us in Christ. The main we find expression in Christ. God has placed us in Christ. 27:02 Let's forgive one another. And then it says, "Therefore, since God has forgiven you, be imitators of God." That means treat others the way God has treated you. God has been good to you. 27:21 Be good to others. Has God overlooked your past failures? Overlook the past failures of others. Has God hidden your past failures? Hide the failures of others. Don't expose it to anybody. 27:41 So, there's a wonderful thing, this expression, "Be imitators of God." Basically, means treat others the way God has treated you. And again, the example of Christ. Just as Christ gave himself up for us an 28:00 offering and sacrifice to God, you also walk in love in the same way. You know that in the New Testament, we have an example. In the Old Covenant, there are no 28:18 example. Nobody said, "Follow me." This is what God's word says, "Do it." But Jesus didn't say that. He said, "Follow me." I I mean, it's like jumping into the river and say, "Follow me. I'll teach you how to swim." Not explaining swimming on a blackboard. 28:45 We have an example. Christ. He gave himself for us. Let's do the same to others. Then he speaks about all the impurity and immorality there is in the world. And not only you should have no part in 29:05 it, you shouldn't even talk about it. And notice, immorality and impurity are joined up with greed. In the world, people may think 29:24 immorality and impurity are bad. But nobody thinks of putting greed in the same category as that. No. But greed is just as bad. That means wanting more and more and 29:42 more beyond what your needs are. No, God has given you enough. Be satisfied. And don't let greed even be named among you. There must be no filthiness, no silly 30:02 talk. No coarse jesting. Humor and jokes are good among Christians. Cuz humor is a gift of God to relieve 30:19 the tension in an atmosphere. Coarse joking. Is making fun of others. Hurting others. Dirty jokes. That should not be there at all. 30:38 But clean jokes. Yourself if you like. Don't make another person small. Or a humorous situation that doesn't relate to anybody in particular. Get rid of 30:58 dirty jokes and jokes that hurt others. And joke already went on for a second time. In verse five. Immorality, impurity, and covetousness are put together again. In the world, nobody puts covetousness 31:19 in the same category as immorality. A man who commits adultery can be arrested. You can't arrest a man who is covetous. This is not stealing. It's just stealing. It's just desiring what 31:38 somebody else has. And he says a covetous man is actually an idolater. Worshipping some material thing. And look what it says in verse five. You can be 31:56 absolutely certain of one thing. An immoral man has no inheritance in the kingdom of God. You agree there? Sure. An impure person has no inheritance in God's kingdom. You agree there? 32:18 Um. Now, here's the third one. A covetous man has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ. You agree there? This is where a lot of Christians say, "You mean a covetous man is also not going to inherit God's kingdom?" Believe what God's word says. 32:40 If you believe God, all that God has done for us in chapters 1 to 3, this is how we should live. It says godliness with contentment is great gain. Covetousness is the opposite of contentment. It means I'm always unhappy with what I 33:02 have. I want more and more and more and more. And I'm dreaming about it at night and can't sleep when I don't get it. Here is where God is trying to speak to us. 33:20 Let no one deceive you with empty words. Let no one tell you, "Oh, you have accepted Christ, so even if you're like this, it's okay." There's a lot of deception going on in the world today. My dear friend, live in the fear of God. 33:38 There are a lot of false prophets preaching in the world today. There are a lot of false prophets preaching in the world today. There are a lot of false prophets preaching in the world today. They are leading a lot of people into 33:43 sin. No immoral or impure person will ever get into God's kingdom. No covetous man will get into God's kingdom. And so he says, "The wrath of God comes 34:00 upon such people." Don't be part of their evil deeds. with them. Again, the word formerly. Formerly you were darkness. But now you're light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light. 34:19 Goodness, righteousness, and truth come forth from your life. Always try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. In verse 11, but in the last one, you must have nothing to unfruitful deeds of darkness. But expose them. 34:39 Expose them doesn't mean go around preaching that so-and-so is committing this sin so-and-so is committing that sin. No, that's not our calling. Expose means be such a light that people will see their own sin. It's not exposing somebody's sin to 35:03 another person. I mean if you're a good doctor what is use telling this person's disease to this person? Expose it to him. My dear friend this is your sickness. We don't say it like that. 35:22 But our life must be such a light that that person sees his sin. verse Wherever we go we went with a bright light in our hand. Wherever we go we expose all the dirty 35:40 things and the snakes and scorpions and all that. We expose them. So in the same way our life must be such a light. You don't say anything. 35:57 The light will expose it. So example, if you behave in a very kind way always all the unkind people will see their unkindness immediately. It'll be exposed. Think if you're a great man of God and 36:17 you always behave very humbly. Other proud people will get exposed. So that's the meaning of exposed. And he says, "Be careful how you live in 36:33 these days." Verse 15. Time is short. Make the most of your 24 hours. Verse 16. Don't waste your time. Make the most of your time. 36:51 Don't be foolish. Verse 17. Understand what the will of the Lord is. Understand what God's will is. That we live It's possible to know God's will. And then it says, "Wonderful verse. Don't get drunk with wine, but be filled 37:08 with the Holy Spirit." If somebody gets drunk with wine, we'll say he's disobeying God's word. Say, "Which verse?" Ephesians 5:18. If someone is not filled with the Spirit, 37:26 you tell him he's disobeying God's word. Which verse? Ephesians 5:18. We don't see it like that. We think the first part is a commandment, "Don't get drunk with wine." And the second part is a a suggestion, 37:43 if you feel like it. It's not like that. It's a command. with the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. That means I must be continuously full of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit must give me self-control, love, joy, peace, 38:03 everything. God will do it for you if you keep your conscience clear. God will do it for you. He will do it for you. And when you're filled with the Spirit, your your mouth will be full of thanksgiving and praise. And then And then on to speak about 38:24 family relationships. Actually beginning in Ephesians 5:21. All the way up to Ephesians 6:9. The first word here is in the family 38:43 be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Does everyone have to be subject to each other? See many people quote Ephesians 5:22. It's a favorite verse for many husbands. They show it to their wives. 39:05 See what it says. Wives be subject to your own husbands. If a wife knows the scripture and the wife knows the word of God then they will say She will say, "Dear husband, please read the previous verse." Where it says, "Be subject to one 39:21 another." So it is after saying that that it says wives must be subject to their Should the husband be subject to the wife? Sure. What I What do I mean by that? 39:40 It doesn't mean she has to obey her. He is the head of the wife verse 23. You know God has drawn a circle around the wife. The wife has drawn a circle around the husband. The husband has drawn a circle around the wife. You should not go into your 39:58 wife's circle. That means the husband must give the wife a certain amount of freedom. Not be like a dictator that she has no freedom. You know even your children have got a certain a a around them. How can I as a father be subject to my 40:20 children? I'm Ephesians 5:21. I'll give you an example. Supposing my children misbehave when some guests are in the house. I should not punish them in the presence 40:39 of the guests. Because that's a double punishment. First the punishment and second the humiliation before others. So why should I care about that? Because there's a circle around your child. 40:58 A circle of his own dignity. He's a human being. He has to be punished, that's correct because he did something wrong. But don't rob him of his dignity. After the guests have gone, take him to a room alone, 41:17 punish him there. But there you have respected his dignity. To him according to verse 21. If you and your wife are considering something and she doesn't feel free to do it, give her freedom. Don't force her to do 41:40 it. That is being subject to her. So, this is a very important thing in human in family relationships. You must begin with Ephesians 5:21. 41:58 Before you go to all the other verses. Even in a church, I must be subject to the younger brother. He says, "All of you be subject humble yourself before each other in 1 Peter 5. I don't want I can't insult that 42:18 brother. Because he's got a circle of dignity around him. I can't speak rudely to him. Because he's a child of God. He's the apple of God's eye. I have to respect that. A lot of Christian leaders, they don't 42:37 do that. They speak rudely to younger people. Whenever I hear that, whenever I hear that, I get angry. I don't feel sorry for that young brother who's getting a shouting. I feel sorry for this leader who doesn't 42:56 know God. A lot of Christian leaders don't know God. A lot of Christian leaders don't know God. That's why they don't respect other believers. We must respect people in other denominations who feel they should serve God that way. 43:16 If you don't agree with them, don't work with them. Don't go around naming them and speaking evil of them. That's what the devil does. He accuses of the brethren. But in husband-wife relationship, love is the great thing. 43:36 What should a wife do? Be subject to his wife to her husband as the church is to Christ. And what should the husband do? Love his wife as Christ loved the church. What does head mean? Head is not only 43:53 giving orders to the parts of the body. The head is very sensitive if some part of the body is getting hurt. If a mosquito sits on my hand, then head immediately feels it. Tells the other hand to knock off that 44:13 mosquito. So, to be the head of the wife means you're sensitive to your wife getting hurt somewhere. Some people think only of how they are 44:30 to rule over there. Husband and wife are to be partners. Then he speaks about children and parents. Children must be taught to honor their parents. Fathers 44:49 must not irritate their children. It's the responsibility of the father to bring up that child in the instruction and discipline of the Lord. Teach them God's word and discipline him also. And then the last relationship in the 45:09 home is masters and servants. In those days, slaves. But many of us also have servants in our homes. They come for a short while to work. Says in verse nine, don't threaten them. 45:32 You know you're the master, but remember you got a master in heaven, too. You want him to be good to you, you be good to your servant. If you are a servant, meaning you're working in a school working in a school 45:50 or hospital or government office or anything, obey your masters. All of you who are working in jobs, you are servants. And you must obey your bosses. As if you are obeying Christ, verse 46:11 five. You men just like you want your wives to be subject to you as the husband as unto Christ. In the same way you must 46:31 be obey your bosses as unto Christ. What a word. And he says, "Whatever we do, do it as unto the Lord, doing the will of God from the heart." only when they are looking at you. 46:53 he says, "Put on the armor of God and fight against the devil." The devil is being defeated on the cross. Stand on that victory. And you can overcome everything and finally stand. It says, "Stand", verse 11. 47:15 And having overcome everything, verse 13, you'll be able to stand finally. Again, verse 14, "Stand firmly." The emphasis here is, don't collapse. Stand up to the devil. 47:34 You were defeated on the cross. I bind your activities in Jesus' name. I do it right now. You were defeated on the cross. Take your hands off that person whom you are troubling. Pray for others like that. 47:52 We can resist him ourselves. But we must have truth in our life, verse 14. And we must have God's word in our hand, verse 17. We must have faith, verse 16. 48:10 With which we knock off all the attacks of Satan. Faith that you will defeat Satan. Flings a missile at you, your shield of faith overcomes it. Finally, prayer. 48:31 Verse 18. Praying, depending on God all the time. And he says, "Pray for me." Because Paul was so dependent on people praying for him. And we may think, "Well, Paul is a great 48:51 apostle. Nobody needs to pray for him." But, he says this. Pray for me. That when I open my mouth, I can preach with boldness, verse 19. Now, we would think if there's anybody in the world who doesn't need me to pray for boldness, it's Paul. He's a bold 49:11 man. But, Paul doesn't think so. And Paul would have it no other way. He says, "I can be bold if you pray for me." You know, I've seen this many times when I preach. There is a when people pray 49:29 for you. It makes a difference in your ability and your boldness. And your freedom. Right now, in this ministry, I believe there are people praying for me. That's why I can minister. It's a great power. It is a very great 49:49 power. Finally, grace Grace be with all Grace be with all love our Lord Jesus with an incorruptible love, verse 24. So, let's have that incorruptible love for the Lord. And His grace will be upon us. 50:12 God bless you.
