Good Morning!

Only one week left in our Fall Bible study: Ephesians: The Church Rooted in Love, Walking in Power by Precept Ministries. If you are interested in this study from the beginning, all of the lesson recaps can be found under the Bible Studies Archive Tab. Lesson 9 dealt with the importance God places on relationships. Our focal scripture verses were Ephesians 5:15-6:9.

“Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God even the Father; and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.” Ephesians 5:15-21

In the verses preceding this passage, Paul was exhorting the church to be imitators of God, to walk in love, to bear the fruit of the Light since they are children of the Light. He also instructed them not to be partakers with those who were disobedient to God, to not be deceived by empty words, or to participate in unfruitful deeds of darkness. Therefore, as Paul continues in Ephesians 5:15-21, the church is to wisely walk, making choices that make the most of their time, and they are to be continuously filled with the Spirit. Paul encourages them to speak to one another with joy-filled hearts in ways that are psalm worthy to the Lord and always in all things to give God thanks and praise. He concludes by instructing the believers to be in submission to one another in reverence to Christ. In essence, Paul is stating that they (and we) need to make the most of our lives. Each moment is precious and should not be wasted. As Christians, we should spend our energies and moments in ways that please and serve God.

Paul continues, in the following verses, by highlighting other relationships that are important to God. First, he addresses husbands and wives. We were instructed in our lesson to fill out a chart concerning these verses pertaining to wives, husbands, and Christ in an effort to better understand this portion of scripture. This relationship is to be a reflection of how Christ loves the church.

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27

We also considered the relationships of children to parents, fathers to their children, as well as, slaves and masters found in Ephesians 6:1-9. Viewing these verses from a historical context, Paul was exhorting these Christians to live lives that were not common. Their culture placed no value on marriage. Divorce and all forms of sexual immorality were excessively common. Women and children were treated with little respect or value while slaves had even less. Paul was calling them to a higher standard of living. As children of God and members of the body of Christ, they were to model and imitate that ideal in the relationships that God had given them. They were to show the love of God in all aspects of their lives in order to draw others to Him by how they lived.

When we live wisely, walking as children of God, and filled with the Holy Spirit, our relationships will be lived rightly because they will be reflecting the primary relationship we have with God as His child and as a member of the body of Christ.

The Lesson 9 video features Kay Arthur teaching on the importance of building up the body of Christ. She stresses the need for each of us to grow up in faith and to live out the life of Christ in our churches and in our relationships in order that the body of Christ will be healthy and reflective of Him. She exhorts the listener to remember that we no longer belong to ourselves but have been bought with Christ’s sacrificial price. We can’t live our lives randomly because how we live affects the whole body. We must live and walk in the Spirit. Our relationship to God governs our relationships with others.

Only one week remaining! Finish well! You can do it! Begin the Week 10 Lesson.

Blessings,

Mimi