Day One:
Gifts
After your prayer, what is your summary of
Ephesians 4:7-16?
The gifts
given to each individual in the body <contrasts with> we are all together
one
There are different words used for gifts in Ephesians 7-8.
When were gifts given to men?
4:8- when He
ascended on high
What did you learn about the giving of
gifts from these cross-references?
John
7:37-39
The Holy
Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified
I
Corinthians 12:4-11
There are
varieties of gifts, service and activities: but the same God who empowers them
all
The
manifestation of the Spirit (wisdom, knowledge, faith, etc.) is given to each
for the good of the Body
I also
looked at Romans 12:6
Gifts that
differ according to the grace given to us
Day Two:
Ephesians 4:9-10
What did you learn about Jesus from these
verses?
Ø
He ascended
Ø
He descended into the lower parts of the earth
Ø
He ascended far about all the heavens
Ø
He ascended, so that He might fill all things
Scripture helps interpret Scripture. Let’s
look at some other passages to see if they help us better understand these two
verses…
Psalm
68:1-18
Who? The Lord &
Host of captives
What?
Ascended on high & received gifts
among men
Why? That the Lord God may dwell there
Acts 2:22-36
God raised
Jesus Christ up from death
I Peter
3:18-22
Put to death
in the flesh/ alive in the spirit
He went and
proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey
[rebellious?]
Now in
Heaven at the right hand of God
What does the Bible teach about Hades?
Matthew
16:18
The gates of
Hell shall not win against the church!
Luke
16:23
In torment
Can see
Abraham’s bosom at a distance
Revelation 1:18
Christ has
the keys of Death and Hades, because He died and is alive forevermore
Revelation
20:13-14
Those who
are dead and in Hades will be judged individually, according to what they have
done. After judgment, death and Hades will be thrown into the lake of fire, the
second death.
What is your explanation of Ephesians
4:9-10?
We admitted in class that this is a very difficult passage to dissect. If you read the King James Version, it says that "He led captivity captive". Several ladies thought this referred to the idea that Christ has captured and conquered death and sin. Death no longer has power over us, because Christ has conquered death. It is easy to picture a post-war parade in this verse, with Christ leading those He has captured through the streets, proclaiming His victory over them.
Day Three:
Ephesians 4:11-13
We will be looking at spiritual gifts a little more closely, as we veer from our Precept study to learn from Network. (Check your email for next week's homework!)
Meanwhile, here is a list of various spiritual gifts mentioned throughout Scripture (see board on left):
If pastors
and teachers refer to one gift, what does this tell you about the
responsibility of this person?
They are to
guide, teach, tend and heal. This is a huge and heavy responsibility!
A
shepherd in the Near East was responsible for watching out for enemies trying
to attack the sheep, defending the sheep from attackers, healing the wounded and
sick sheep, finding and saving lost or trapped sheep and sharing their lives
and earning their trust.
Day Four:
Word Study Day
What purpose do these gifted men serve in
the body of Christ? How does the proper exercise of the gifts mentioned in
Ephesians 4:11 affect the body of Christ?
The gifts
are for:
1.
the equipping of the saints for the work of
service
2.
building up the body of Christ
a.
attain unity of the faith
b.
knowledge of the Son of God
c.
maturity
d.
the measure of the stature which belongs to the
fullness of Christ
As a
result:
1.
we are no longer to be children (4:14)
a.
tossed here and there by
the waves
b.
carried about by ever
wind of doctrine
c.
carried about by the
trickery of men
d.
carried about by
craftiness in deceitful scheming
2.
we ARE to be speaking the truth in love
3.
we ARE to grow up in ALL aspects into Christ (4:15)
4. we have unity of the faith (4:13)
5. we have proper working of the body (4:16)
6. we have the growth of the body (4:16)
7. the body is building itself in love (4:16)
When looking at the photo of the board above, the words in red (in the middle) are also the litmus test of whether the gift being practiced is truly of God or of self. That's something to think about!
Day Five
What were the main points of Ephesians
4:7-16?
Ø Building up of the body of Christ
Ø unity
Ø maturity
Ø sanctification
From the context, what does “speaking the
truth in love” mean?
We should be
speaking proper doctrine – lovingly – to one another: not spouting the doctrine
of the month.
From Ephesians 4:7-16 and Colossians 2:19,
what causes growth of the body?
4:15 Hold fast to the Head- Christ
Growth is
caused by:
1.
gifts that equip
2.
service that builds
3.
unity of the faith
4.
knowledge of the Son of God
5.
true doctrine
6.
each individual working together for the body
*Note: It is GOD who does all of the above- not us!
Notice the progression from
small -> large in Eph 4:11-13 and Jesus’ Commission to the
disciples in Acts 1:7-8. Interesting parallel.
Can you think of other things that parallel this in scripture? What implications does this have for our
lives?
Eph Acts
Individual gifts (me) Jerusalem small
| Judea |
|
Samaria |
Corporate benefit(us) Ends of the earth large
Homework:
o Do the Spiritual Gifts Assessment starting on p. 53.
o Do the Reference Assessment starting on p. 72.
o Next week we will be focusing on our unique spiritual
gifts and how they work with the passions God gives us and with our
personalities to see how we can be used to build up the church, His body. Please bring your results with you!
o We will discuss Lesson 8 in two weeks. Please don’t leave it till the second week as
we planned extra time to do Lesson 8 as it has some longer days.
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