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(2:9-11) We know we're supposed to humble ourselves like Jesus did. But how can we know whether or not God will exalt us? Why do we get impatient with this? What does our impatience sometimes lead to? We know as a matter of certainty that we will be exalted because Jesus promised it and He is truth so we can trust His word implicitly. His apostles also confirm this in Scripture. This too is entirely trustworth because it is the Word of God and, therefore, inerrant. I do not think that we should become impatient because the humility that Jesus requires us to display opens us up to a whole new world of love, service, relationshipa and experience. We should not be impatient with our growth in Christ. Paul tells us to persevere {2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Galatians 9:10] But impatience which is a manifestation of anger is the starting point of sin. Humility requires patience: it is part of the discipline.

(2:7-8) Was Jesus really a human being or only pretending to be one? What do these verses teach? What difference does it really make whether or not Jesus was human? Jesus was certainly fully human and was not just pretending to be human. In taking human form He shares our humanity. He was tempted. He suffered. He experienced acute pain. By being fully man He can be a much more powerful example to follow. His humanity is, therefore, very important to us. Also He can fully understand our predicament and help us address it because He has experienced it also.

(2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God? How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine? Jesus did not "cling on to His equality with God" because He did His Father's bidding. He was obedient to His Father. He was humbled by His incarnation. He became a sacrifice and suffered terribly by following not His will but that of His Father. The passage states clearly that Jesus is "in very nature God". He was equal to God, being God, but He did not place that equality above service. Having the nature of God as stated in the passage, it is a clear confirmation of His divinity.

(2:1-4). To achieve unity in your congregation, why is humility necessary? Can you give an example of how lack of humility caused a division in your church? What are you doing to bring unity in your church? We are all called to serve. It is one of the princople purposes for our being put on earth: to serve God by serving others as Jesus did. Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life) puts it very well. This is how he says real servants act. They: - are available to serve; - pay attention to needs; - do the best with what they have; - do every task with equal dedication; - are faithful to their ministry; and - maintain a low profile. We should think like a servant who: -thinks more about others than themselves; - think like stewards, not owners; - think about their work, not what others are doing; - base their identity in Christ; and - think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. Service is one of the spiritual disciplines in which we must engage if we are to become more like Jesus. We do it not out of duty but out of love and gratitude. One of the greatest enemies of unity in my church, and I am sure others, is dissension. Paul counts this as a very serious sin. It stems first from a lack of humility and true service and the best way to remove the divisions caused by pride, contempt and condescension is to work hard with the interests of others in mind. This diffuses dissension and works to develop unity.

What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities? This verse tells us that we have access to God. The forgiveness of our sins makes that possible. When we approach God and pray to Him we can be bold, that is fearless and without doubts. We can be confident and put our trust completely in Him. If we do not have this confidence it says much about our faith. If we pray with an attitude of doubt and uncertainty, how can we expect that prayer to be effective? Paul teaches us how to pray so that our prayers are effective and he gives us the basis why that is.

(Ephesians 3:7-9) Why is Paul so careful to be humble about his call and apostleship? How can his example help us remain as humble servants? Paul was humbled by the commission he was given for several reasons. He knew it was a vital commission: the spread of Christianity to the Gentiles was dependent on it. He was humbled because of his zealous persecution of Christians before his conversion. He was also humble so that he did not get in the way or obstruct his message of salvation. The Gospel was not about him, it is about coming to a life in Christ. Nothing should deflect from the message. Particularly as we witness we can adopt a superior, even sanctimonious, attitude. It is something that unbelievers hate about religious people and rightly so. To be an effective servant of Jesus we should curb any tendancy to pride, aggression or self-satisfaction. Faith is God-given. Our salvation is through God's boundless grace. We are thankful, not proud. We are to be loving. Humility allows us to take willingly second place to those around us. We are in our words and in our actions a much more effective witness as a result.

(Ephesians 3:6) Just what is the "mystery" that Paul is talking about? Why was it important to the Gentile Christians in Paul's day? The mystery is that Gentile Christians will be treated exactly the same as God's chosen people: the Jews. Gentiles are co-heirs, members of one body and sharers together. This was important in Paul's day because Jews looked down on Gentiles and were inclined to treat them as second class citizens. Although the nucleus of the early churches were often Jewish, increasingly Gentiles were being drawn to it.

(Ephesians 3:2-5) Why is God's revelation to "his holy apostles and prophets" our authority for faith and practice? What is the danger of minimizing or straying from that revelation? What is the danger of superceding that revelation? What is the danger of denying that God reveals himself to us and to his church today? God's revelation is recorded in the Scriptures. It is His Word conveyed by His Spirit to "his holy apostles and prophets". God's Word is our sole authority on matters of belief and behaviour. It is the basis of our faith. A sure sign of real conversion is a love of Jesus and a love of the Bible: the love of triuth and grace. It follows that God's Word must be followed strictly as to deviate from it is to risk introducing error into one's belief and to misrepresent the truth. The Holy Spirit gives to some the gift of prophesy so God still reveals Himself through prophesy to His church today. To deny this would be to deny the truth of God's Word [1 Corinthians 12].However, any such revelation must accord with Scripture. This has always applied. Jesus' treaching was grounded in the Bible. It is His foundation [Matthew 5:18]. This is how he resisted the devil's temptations [Matthew 4]. This obvious applied in Paul's day also. Indeed, the Bereans were praised above the Thessalonians precisely because they tested Paul's teaching against Scripture which, as we should today, they read daily.

(Ephesians 2:22) What is the significance that your congregation was made to be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"? What hinders that from being fully experienced? What can you do to help that become more fully experienced and appreciated? Being a Christian requires collective worship and a church which acts together as a congregation in its community. For God's Word to abound in the community, the church must be an envigorating energetic organisation. Lack of enthusiasm, failure to use of God-given talents and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and petty dissensions hinder the church from being fully the expression of God's dwellingplace. It will be experienced if everyone gave their energy, efforts and gifts towarsd it, putting pride and pettiness aside and, instead, really actively loved their neighbours and members of their congregation. The enemy is half-heartedness which saps our enjoyment and undermines our efforts. The greater our effort, purpose and enthusiasm, the more the power of God will work in our congregation. In short put self aside and really start to use the gifts God gave me for the community in which I live: not a token effort...the full nine yards!

(Ephesians 2:17) What does it mean to have "access to the Father"? In what way does the Holy Spirit facilitate this access? In what way does Jesus enable this access? The right of access to the Father maens that we can address Him directly; we have that privilege. We have this relationship through the mediation of Jesus, through the working of His Spirit. Without His death on the cross this access was not possible. Sin would have made this impossible. Further this access is available to all who believe whether Jew or Gentile. Further, we cannot come to God unless the Holy Spirit works within us to enable us to do so. Our redemption comes from the action of the Holy Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:14-15) In what sense did Jesus as Messiah "fulfill" the Mosaic Law? What is the significance of that for Jewish people? For us Gentiles? Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial component of Mosaic Law when He died on the cross because He was the perfect and complete atoning sacrifice which permits us to approach God in a condition of having our sins already paid for. The sacrifice of animals was, therefore, redundant. It was for this reason that on Jesus' death the viel of the temple was ripped apart. The kingship of Jesus also means that Mosaic civil law is obsolete. For the Jew the fulfilment of the law means that Christianity is now God's plan to save the world and to bring it to Him. It is always expected that the Jews will be part of this. The Jewish religion and its beliefs, apart from its God given moral law, has been superceded. The Jews are no longer exclusively God's chosen people but whether Gentile or Jew all Christians are equally God's children. For us Gentiles, it means that it is only through Jesus and His atoning sacrifice that we can come to God. As Gentiles we are not excluded. It also means there are parts of the Bible which are not specifically addressed to us.

(Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ? I think that those who have converted from a background which was not Christian have a much clearer idea of what it is like to be without God and without hope. Life has no enduring purpose. You are captive to sin and the world, the inevitable consequence of which is death. It is an arid and pointless place to be when you truly reflect on it. Worse than pointless, it is a place of great danger. If we truly loved our unbelieving friends, family and neighbours we would make a much greater effort to open their hearts to the Gospel of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. We would also pray for them more earnestly and more often. A friend who does not believe has no spiritual life at all. He or she does not understand it and is incredulous about it. Actually they are hostile about it and about Christianity generally. That is why Jesus observed if you are not for me, you are against me. There is a huge propaganda effort to place Christians in an unfavourable light, to make them look narrow-minded, old-fashioned and foolish (or gullible). Unbelievers hearts are closed, for the time being, to the Good News and the liberation it brings.

What exactly is faith? Can we take credit for having it? Can we be condemned for lacking it? Define "faith" in terms a 10-year-old could understand. Faith is a trust in God and His Word. It is a trust which places Him at the centre of everything. Faith is the trust that God and His Word are truth: absolute truth. No, we cannot take credit for faith because it is God's Holy Spirit which opens our hearts to Him and, as a result, we put our sole trust in Him. Without the Holy Spirit we would not come to God or have faith. However, having had our hearts opened to it, we have to accept the invitation "Come to me". Faith can be deepened. This requires spiritual disciplines on our part but it will not happen without the Holy Spirit working within us. As Willard puts it, it is discipline together with dependence: dependence on the Holy Spirit. For the ten year old I would say that we have faith in a person who we know will not let us down, who loves us unconditionally and always looks after our best interests. Such a person will always be there for us. We can always trust and confide in them. This is like the relationship between a parent and a child at its best. Faith in God is the same trust except that we can trust Him absolutely as we know His love is absolute towards us, He will never let us down and He always works in our interests.

According to Ephesians 2:10, what were we created to do? Why? (Matthew 5:16) What is the difference between these works and the works Paul discredits in verse 9? We were created by God to do "good works" and we are given spiritual gifts and natural talents to do such good works. We do this in praise of God and for His glory. By this we show His light in the world. By following the teachings of Jesus we also hope to encourage others to open their hearts so the Holy Spirit can enter and be the agent that transforms them into the likeness of Jesus. The works we do are a manifestation of being in Christ. They are an expression of our faith and our discipleship. We do not simply listen to, or read, the Word, but we do what it says. [James 1:22] Our works have nothing to do with our salvation. This is entirely the result of God's grace, which is undeserved; our sinfulness is far too great for that. No works from us can gain salvation and the redemption: only the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross can do that.

"Saved" has become Christian jargon. How can you "translate" this word into modern speech so people can understand what it really means and why they need it? The word resued implies an imminent danger. There would be no need for a resue unless a life threatening event could take place or is taking place. The word gives both the sense of the urgency of the act and the consequences, often fatal, always detrimental, which would have occurred in its absence.

Why is it so hard for us to understand grace? What commonly held life principle does it demolish? Translate the word "grace" into language a 10-year-old child would understand. We are accustomed to receiving one thing in return for something else. Even gift giving is usually reciprocal. Often the value of our gift is determined by an assessment of what the value of what we will receive in return. In many matters of life there is a sense of a bargain. If you do not workat something, you will not succeed: no pain, no gain. Grace is a gift which is not deserved and often cannot be reciprocated. It is given because the giver wants to give it. The gift is given because the giver loves the person to whom he is giving the gift; not that the person has done anything to deserve the gift or is in a position to reciprocate.

Q4. (Ephesians 2:6) What does it mean that we are seated with Christ in "the heavenly realms"? What does this say about God's grace? What does this say about our spiritual authority? How should this knowledge affect our prayers and our boldness? It means that our justification does not only result in our sins being forgiven but that we become truly children of God, seated with His Son. We are above the devil and his demons and above everything else in creation. For God to place us in this position, given our sinfulness before we were born again, is a remarkable gift of amazing generousity. The power and authority of our position should embolden us in our spiritual warfare and in our witness. It should also give us confidence that our prayers will be answered. Why would He place us in this elevated position unless He wished us to use it for the benefit of His kingdom? Why would He be deaf to our prayers?

Q3. (Ephesians 1:4-5) In verses 4 and 5, which words describe God's motivation and character? Which verbs describe what has happened to us in Christ? The words that describe God's motivation and character are "loving""merciful" and "full of grace". We "come alive" when we are in Christ.

Q2. (Ephesians 2:1-3) Few people would knowingly follow Satan. How can people unwittingly follow Satan? In what sense are we responsible for unwitting rebellion against God? How can God, in all fairness, blame us? It is very easy. Simply live by the rules of the world and with the delusion that one is basically a good person. From a Christian perspective it is amazing how effectively the devil has ensnared people and they are completely unaware of it. Lookat the sort of ideas they espouse: pro-choice, complete separation of church and state, no fault divorce, the consumer culture, rampant materialism, gay rights, relativism, immoral entertainment, erotic and pornographic images everywhere, foul language, over-indulgence...I could go on and on. Look what they have made out of the birth of Jesus. While I think it is easy to be the unwitting agent of the devil, I do not think that it is reasonable to be ignorant of God. It may be common and it may be understandable. I was there once. I think everyone makes a conscious decision to accept or reject the existence of God. Ignorance, indifference or the denial of God is a very serious matter, given the awesome nature of God and His creation. We should look at it from God's perspective. It is clearly deeply sinful and we must in all fairness expect God's wrath and vengance if we deny, ignor or diminish His position. It would be unreasonable not to.

Q1. (Ephesians 2:1-3) In what sense are our non-believing friends, neighbors, and relatives "dead"? What's the difference between us and them? If we really believed that they were "dead" and subject to God's "wrath," what would we do? Unbelievers have no concept of a spiritual life so thay are "dead" to it. Also without a spiritual life, which is Christ in us, they have no future to which to look forward. Their central focus is man not God. By being justified we have been able to come into God's presence. Through our justification we have a purpose and a future which awaits us. I do believe that unbelieving neighbours and colleagues are both spiritually dead and are subject to God's wrath. They will be judged. Jesus assured us of that. Many unbelievers have hardened their hearts against Christians and Christian morality; some are openly hostile to Christianity. Just listen or watch how the mainstream media deals with Christian matters. In practice I am quite diffident in my witnessing. People know I am Christian and I will witness willingly when the topic is raised or a suitable opening occurs. I also pray that those unbelievers around me will open their hearts to the Gospel and be saved. However, given the promise and reality of hell, we should in fact be more persistent in our witness and in our prayers. If someone was about to fall off a cliff to a certain death, we would not wait for a suitable moment to warn that person. We would not place all our trust that we could convince them by example. We would wave and shout at them to get their attention and to warn them of the danger in which they stand. Surely we are compelled to do the same when people living near us or working with us are facing certain death and damnation?

Q5. (Ephesians 1:22-23) When we neglect to be an active part of a local congregation, what particular blessings do we miss out on according to Paul in this verse? How do we, by our absence, withhold this blessing from others? The particular blessings we miss when we are not active members of a a congregation are the experience of the fullness of Jesus when it is expressed through His body, through each of its members working together in unison, love and joy. This is on a community basis how we are "in Jesus". As members of His body we are very directly Jesus' representatives and agents here. If we fail to become actively involved we also withhold our contribution and gifts from everyone else so that not only are we poorer but so are they.

Q4. (Ephesians 1:20-22) Why do we so often take a "pass" when it comes to spiritual warfare? Why is Christ's exaltation, demonstration of complete victory, and superior rank over all spiritual powers important enough for Paul to mention it to his readers? Why do we tend to feel powerless in the face of spiritual enemies? What was Paul assuring the Ephesians of? What does this encourage us to do? Spiritual warfare is a central purpose and activity in our lives, both on a personal and community level. The devil is real and he is powerful. He has infected many aspects of modern life which are not only unbiblical but often actively hostile towards Christians and their adherence to the Word of God. In fact the devil has been on the up and up in modern times judging by the erosion of moral values all around us and the advance of secular materialism. It is easy for the Christian to feel overwhelmed by evil and on the defensive. It is important in these circumstances to be reminded forcibly that we are on the winning side as a matter of certainty. The outcome of the war was determined by Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection on the third day. Jesus is the victor and His status over everything is assured. Knowing that we are on the winning side should encourage us to engage more effectively in spiritual warfare and to confront vigorously the devil and his demons as they attempt to prosecute their rear-guard action in the world. We must take as much ground away from them as we can. Paul encourages us by telling us what power we have on our side and that victory has already been achieved.

Q3. (Ephesians 1:18d) Why are we powerless sometimes? Is it an inadequacy with the source or with our faith? Why do some congregations and movements produce disciples with miracle-believing faith and others produce disciples with wimpy faith? How can this be changed? It must stem from an inadequacy in our faith because their is no inadequacy possible in God or his potency. The same must also apply to the Holy Spirit. It is a lack of conviction; a lack of trust. The Holy Spirit will empower, if the believer will only open his or her heart to it and believe completely in it. The faith can move mountains. What is true of the individual is also true of believers acting collectively in a congregation. Collectively the depth of its faith will determine its effectiveness, its power. An ineffective congregation should look at its faith. It should, as Paul writes, open its heart to it. How best is that done? I think it is how we study, mediate upon and put into practice God's Word in every aspect of our lives, including as an active member of a congregation. Its His Word that inspires and guides. The Gospel is the power of God. It does not allow for half-hearted actions and responses.

Q2. (Ephesians 1:18c) If you knew that in a few years you would inherit $10 million, would it affect your life now? How should our expectation of an inheritance in God's presence temper our present-day concerns? Since this inheritance will be shared with "the saints" -- our Christian family -- how should that affect our fellowship with them? If I were to be receive a large inheritance in a few years, I would start to put into action my plans for that inheritance in advance of receiving it, provided the inheritance were certain. Our inheritance in heaven which is both abundant and certain is to be shared by all the saints. In the circumstances it follows that we should start to share our lives and our gifts more freely with the saints around us now because we can. That is we should be active in the work of our church and members of our church should be a central part of our lives as we give of ourselves to them. We must open our hearts to our brothers and sisters and share the fruits of the Holy Spirit with them. After all this is a foretaste of what is to come.

Q1. (Ephesians 1:18b) What do we Christians have to look forward to? How should this hope be a major motivation in our present-day lives? How should this hope affect our decisions and our lifestyle? How does our great hope differ from the hope of the average non-believer? We look forward to the Second Coming and to rapture. We also look forward to knowing Jesus better, growing in faith and gaining greater wisdom through the working of the Holy Spirit. We look forward to salvation present; that is being transformed more closely into the likeness of Jesus and to the future when we will be with Him always and will receive our reward in heaven. For the Christian what is important is what is lasting: treasure in heaven. Our objectives and our view point must be eternity and eternal reward. This must alter our behaviour and our priorities which follow the dictates of the kingdom of heaven and not of the world. Non-belivers cannot have a perspective which is beyond the confines of the world and the span of their lives and that of their immediate families. Their perspective must be more immediate and bore materialistic; it cannot be otherwise.