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Q4. (1:13-14) These verses contain two analogies: (1) seal and (2) downpayment, with the balance to be paid in a lump sum at the end of the term. When does the "end of the term" occur? How do these analogies help explain how the Holy Spirit functions in our lives? The end of term comes when Jesus returns and we are gathered up in rapture to Him. The Holy Spirit guides and teaches us so that our relationship with God deepens as our faith matures. The gift of the Holy Spirit was Jesus' promise to us. Its working in us is proof that the promise has and will be fulfilled. Through the intervention of the Holy Spirit our hearts were opened to accept the Good News. That is the seal; we were marked as being Christ's. From our rebirth the Holy Spirit dwells and works within us.

Q3. (Ephesians 1:11-12) According to verses 11 and 12, what is God's purpose for our lives? What do we need to do to fulfill this purpose? How does this purpose relate to Matthew 5:13-16? God's purpose for our lives is "for the praise of His glory". I see this praise being our worship of God which we should manifest in everything we do: in our relationships, our work, our prayer and study, and as a member of Christ's church. We praise for God when we do what He commanded, not out of duty but in response to His grace. It is a loving response. By the disciplines we follow, we work to radiate His Son in what we do. We are an agent or a conduit for His love. What Jesus gives us, we impart to others, to the very least of them. We try to reflect Him and become like Him. Our reflection of God, of His Son, the Holy Spirit working in us, should be our mot prominent characteristic. That is the light which should shine forth: the lamp that lights everything around it. This light comes not from us but from God to bring people to God.

Q2. (Ephesians 1:9-10) What is the significance that all things will be brought under one head -- Christ himself? How does this relate to the Creator? What does it say about unity? Extra Credit: How does this verse relate to 1 Corinthians 15:24-28? I have been taught that this is the ultimate purpose of Christ's ministry. It will be achieved by His Second Coming, the day of rapture that we all hope will come soon. To prepare for this the Gospel should be made available to everyone, everywhere in the world so that everyone can have the opportunity to hear the Word of God and be saved. God is patient in this but our efforts can bring it on. That is the purpose of the Great Commission: the Gospel must be preached everywhere. Ephesians 1:9-1 is in summary God's plan for mankind and all creation. It was there from the beginning, before creation. It brings everything under Jesus. There is one plan for all things; it unites everything. Since ultimately it is God's plan and everything is under God, it cannot diminish Him and His part in His divine plan. Jesus too is subject to Him as God is "all in all" and everything is under Him.

Q1. (Ephesians 1:7) In what sense have you been "redeemed" from slavery? What do you think your life up to now would have been like if you hadn't been redeemed? What would your future be like without redemption, do you think? Before being born again in Jesus and having been redeemed by Him, I was deeply in a state of sin. I was a slave to the world and had turned my back on God. I was consumed by materialism. I was arrogant; everything centred around me. I was held captive in every sense by the devil. I was definitely his. I know from my life before my redemption that my life would have been essentially purposelessss, directionless and ultimately fruitless without the intervention of the Holy Spirit. Somehow I sensed this even if vaguely: a nagging doubt right in the background. I had no sense of the real danger that I was in and that I was at the edge of the abyss. My future without redemption would have been very bleak indeed. I was heading towards death in sin and a permanent estrangement from God in hell. Without redemption I was damned for all time: a terrifying prospect that the world had cleverly kept away from me. Also I deserved fully to be damned. Justice would have demanded it. That is clear to me now.

Q4. (Ephesians 1:5-6) Why is adoption a particularly apt illustration of God's relationship to us? Why is the concept of adoption encouraging to us? Adoption gives us exactly the same status and rights as a natural child. There are no distinctions. As an adopted child, I am a full member of God's family. It is absolutely thrilling that I can be granted this privelege and it is a testament to God's love that this is possible through the death and resurrection of His Son. Having received this grace, it gives me enormous comfort and encouragement to walk with God through my life. It is a great assurance: I am family. That cannot be taken away.

To be holy is to he "consecrated to God, separated to Him as His possession". That is to be of His kingdom exclusively. following His Word in everything, and separate from the world. We can come into His holy presence only because we are sinless as a result of the atoning sacrifice of His Son. We are "without blemish" because our sins were paid for in full on the cross. They no longer count against us; we are fully justified towards God. Through Jesus we can come to God as we were created to do. In fact this is the only way to come to God.

What is scary about predestination (to the extent that I understand it correctly) is the fact that God's plan for His church and for us as members of it were set out before the creation. It is an underlying reason for the creation. God's purpose has been there all along. It is quite daunting to think that I am part of this collosal enterprise. And yet it means that I count for something. I have a purpose that I was designed to fulfill. I am not an accident in a randomly directed world. God cares and God loves and God has a plan for each of us within the church under the headship of His Son. Paul raises the matter of predestination because it shows the strength of the foundation and purpose of the church. It was always meant to happen. God planned it to happen when it happened. It was an essential part of the ministry of Jesus. By his praise Paul emphasises the importance of the foundation of the church. The only correct decisin a person can make is to become a dedicated member of it.

I have always taken the words "to be in Christ", Paul uses them very often, to be that Jesus indwells within me. To an extent I have become His instrument; He works through me. He is the vine, the source and the nourishment, I am the vine, dependent on Him. I was born again in Him to serve Him as His disciple. There is a closeness and an immediacy in this relationship. He is my sustenance. He is my purpose. He surrounds me and works through me. The implication is that my life is His, in obedience to Him. He is the object of it.

I believe the elements that Paul lists are common to all Christians, including baptism. However it is performed and what ever it is taken to mean, we are all baptised Christians, accepting Jesus as our Lord. This should be a strong linkage between Christians of different persuasions. We should stress what we share in common and not on the differences. The essentials are the same. That said, Jesus is the truth and we should search out and follow the truth. Our faith is not a buffet where we can chose the bits we like. That truth is contained in God's Word and only in His Word. While I am not a theologian, I take that to mean that baptism should only be administered to a person who can understand what it means. Baptism should be performed as it was at the time of the apostles, immediately after accepting Jesus and repenting, by total immersion in water. Baptism completes the process of rebirth. It starts our new life in Jesus.

The seven elements mentioned by Paul are: one body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of all. If I had to single out only two of the elements, I would single out faith and hope. Why? I come to Christianity through faith having had my heart opened to it by the Spirit. The faith that I am a creation of God and that He loves me. In fact He loves me so much that, although I am entirely undeserving of it, He sent His Son to be a perfect atoning sacrifice for my sins, so that I could come to God. Hope because I look forward to an eternity with God. These two elements bring the other elements in. By having faith and accepting Jesus as Lord, we have the Spirit of God within us; we are born again in Him. We belong to His body the Church. We are baptised so we become one of His. We accept and worship one God who is our father and we are His children.

The unity is a product of the Holy Spirit. It is through the Spirit that we turned to Jesus: God called us. We are Christian because we have God's Spirit within us. We are marked by it. That Spirit draws us together ino one church. It is the Holy Spirit which creates the bond of peace between fellow believers. It is the work of man which tries to undo it by argument, dissension and falsehoods. It is clear that Jesus wanted one church, because it is His body and He is at the head of it. It is so easy to find differences and to be righteous and argumentative; to sow discord between Christians. We have been amazingly productive in creating divisions. However, we are not called to do this but as a primary goal to seek unity and to encourage unity and fellowship amongst Christians.

The characteristics necessary to maintain unity with other Christians are humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and love: all Chrsitlike qualities. I would say that the most important is love, because it embraces the other qualities because each requires you to take into account someone else's feelings and wishes in prority to your own. This is the most difficult thing. We are so impatient and so sure that we are right. We do not listen and we do not defer to others as we should. We are told to act so that unity is achieved and we sow dissension.

"Living a life worthy of your calling" means living a life as a true disciple of Jesus. He called us and we have committed to follow Him. Jesus said to His disciples, "Love one another. As I have loved you. you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." As disciples and members of His body, His church, we should be as one and we must live and behave in a manner towards fellow Christians that encourages unity. We should not be separated from other Christians. We must work to find common ground (which is much greater than we first imagine) because Jesus wanted there to be one church. In our efforts to follow our Lord, with His Spirit within us, we must project values and behave to encourage copoperation and unity. While we must be alive to the dangers of false teaching and adhere rigidly to the truth as we see it through God's Word, we should have sufficient forbearance and humility to accept other Christians as brothers and not potential enemies. Jesus is the judge of our faith. He will determine who He welcomes to heaven to be with Him always. Without needing to compromise what we hold as essential, we should work towards a church that can embrace all true Christians. Jesus clearly wanted one church and one band of disciples, following one teaching.

The promise that is most meaningful is that God will restore and strengthen me after a period of suffering. In trying to improve how I live and eliminate impurity from my life, there are times when I am tempted, even if I take steps to avoid rather than resist temptation. In these periods it gives me encouragement that I can overcome these temptations because they will not last and that He will give me the power to overcome. It is the encouragement I need.

Peter's instructions in summary are as follows: be self-controlled, be alert. resist, keep faith and be prepared to suffer. In Ephesians the instructions are similar but with a slhtly different emphasis. Paul says "be strong in the Lord" and "stand firm", which is the same as Peter's injunction to resist. Self-control and alertness find their equivalents in the breastplate of righteousness and having feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel. Keeping the faith is described as having the shield of faith but is amplified by the factors that help us keep it: the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Paul's exhortion is a call to arms. Implicit in that call is the preparedness to suffer for our faith. We are at war and wars have casualties. The Christian soldier knows that he must suffer to prevail in this constant battle with the devil and his demons.

Each believer has Jesus dwelling within them. We are no longer ours but his. A congregation is a community and by coming together the indwelling Jesus within each of us becaomes the cement that links us to a true thriving church. He is in us and we are in Him. Together we become His body. Members of the congregation bring this about by growing your own spiritual life and relationship with Jesus. As each individual's faith deepens this on a collective basis strengthens and gives life and strength to a congregation: it infects others; it motivates; it energises. It starts with a personal committment to study, pray and obey His teaching. An effective congregation is one when personnal commitments are joined and work in unison.

To a large degree it is through the apostles and prophets that God's Word has been revealed to us. The Scriptures are the sole basis of my belief and behaviour, so the contribution of the apostles and prophets remains a vital part of every day of my life. Since my congregation is also strongly Biblically based, the importance of the Scriptures is paramount in how it behaves and worships. We are Christians because of our belief that Jesus is Lord and that He is the only mediator between us and God. When we became Christians, we became members of His body and He dwells within us. He is the cornerstone of the church, of which our congregation forms part, because we are all obedient to Him, under Him, held together by Him through His teaching and His love for us. He gives our congregation life and purpose. Without Him the edifice would be pointless and would fall apart. A congregation rises up into a holy temple in the Lord when it is united together in worship, in prayer and in study. When the Spirit within us unites and we work and worship together. We become much more than the sum of the parts. Unity brings with it enthusiasm; the wish to mature and become overcomers. The congregation grows when the spiritual growth of individuals is harmonised with other members of the congregation. It creates a collective dynamism.

The church is a family, each member of the church is a member of God's family and God is the Father of each member of the church. His love is the love of a father towards His child. This should bind us together. Unlike our friends, we do not chose our family. But Jesus requires us to love every member of God's family without exception. This love must transcend social class and circumstances. It means we should really engage with our local congregation - not as some kind of social club - but because we are all vital members of the church and we must be a vital part of God's presence on earth. If we are standoffish and avoid our local congregation we are not real members of Christ's body, His church, and we are defying what we are told to do. Our engagement is not to be a voluntary matter; nor is it to be grudgingly given. If it is, it will diminish the effectiveness of the church.

As fellow-citizens we become part of God's holy people. part of God's promise to mankind united under Jesus. We are holy in that we are all united in Jesus' church with those who have dedicated their lives to him. We are all part of His body.

Before we became Christians were were estranged from God. The purpose of our conversion and jutification was to come to God to serve Him and love Him. The access to God came about through the mediation of Jesus. The similarity with diplomacy is that the relationship came about through mediation. This access gives us the possibility of becoming a child of God and to become closer to God. Only by centring our devotion and worship on God can we fulfil the commandment to love God with all our heart and with all our soul. By coming to God we also become a member of Christ's church and become obedient to Him. As disciples we must love one another. As Christians we must also love our neighbours as ourselves.

It is absolutely essential to be aware of the devil's existence. That is why we are constantly engaged in spiritual warfare; that is why we always wear the Armour of God. It may sound old fashioned but Jesus and the Apostles make it absolutely clear that the devil and his demons exist. Modernists might want to down play this as they do with various aspects of Christian morality, and the fact of judgement and hell but that does not stop the existence of the devil and the dangers he presents. This verse teaches that the devil is powerful, dangerous, a skilled hunter, deadly and ever alert. He is on the look out for any sign of weakness and for any opportunity. We must never lower our guard because that is when he will strike. Any strike could be the end of us. He could drag us back to the state of sin and certain death. He wants to win as many souls from Jesus as he can and he is pretty good at it. So we must be resolute in our faith at all times.

According to the verse, we should cast our anxieties on Him because He cares. We should do this through prayer so that He will lift the burden of our anxieties off us, rather than bottling our fears up inside us. It is a matter of true trust in the Lord. He is our rock, our protector, the wing under which we shelter. He is also all powerful: the Lord of Hosts. He does not mean us to fend for ourselves. We are His children. He loves us. He wants to lift the burdens of our lives off our shoulders. This verse tells us to but all our trust in the Lord in this way our fears and anxieties will be taken by Him from us, if we ask this. We must never doubt the power and protection that we are given by His grace.

A leader in the church should be a servant and put his congregation first. He should be humble, caring, prepared to listen and deferential, particularly to those who are disadvantaged. We can examine his record in previous positions and ask those who have been previously ministered by him or who have had authority over him. This should give us a better idea of how a person is to behave but it is impossible to know for certain. A pastor who is proud or overbearing places great strain on the unity of a church. That is why the selection process and our prayers for guidance are so important. Failure extracts a heavy price for Christ's church.

This is a very difficult question. In chosing your elders or your pastor, you are chosing someone in a leadership position; this always has the potential for abuse. Obviously the interview and reference process must be as thorough as possible so that as that as far as possible a candidate can be selected, who will serve the congregation with love a humility as did Jesus. We must be sure that any appointment is of someone whose beliefs and teaching are based entirely on the Word of God so that the community will be guided in truth as our Lord insists. But, as Pastor Ralph observes, power has a tendancy to corrupt. People change when they are put into positions of authority in a manner that no interviewing process can anticipate. The selection must be handled as diligently and as impartially as possible but, above all, we must ask for God's help in our judgement and I am sure He will give it. Together we must pray earnestly for guidance in our choice and pray that our choice extends Christ's church in our community and beyond. Once a selection s been made, we must be as supportive of the new appointment as we can and pray together. A united, cooperative Christian community is less likely to fall into the sin of dissention which so often accompanies, or precedes, those in authority throwing their weight around.

God's power works through each and every one of the members of the church. This power is without limit. We do not sense that power very often because we have to little faith to develop and extend it but it is there to draw on if we truly believe and truly follow Jesus as a disciple. By drawing on God's power we extend His plan for earth. We bring closer the day of rapture when we will be raised up with Jesus. Instead of standing back; we should go forward!