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EPHESIANS CHAPTER 6
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Eph 6,1-9
· (87k) Thy kingdom come Ø
Obedience Ø Obey authorities
· (95j) Thy kingdom come Ø
Attitude Ø Obedient attitude Ø
Positive attitude about authority
Eph 6,1-4
· (3l) Parenting (Key
verse)
· (73i) Authority Ø
Respect authority in the family Ø Respect your
mother and Father – The phrase “in the Lord” mean a lot. Paul
is not commanding children to obey their parents intrinsically, but as they
strive to guide their children in the ways of the Lord. Conversely, in the
ways their parents do not guide them appropriately, their children are not
required to obey them, though they are still required to respect their
parents. What if someone’s parents use their children to rob stores, should
their children obey them? No, of course not, though one of the commandments
say to honor their father and mother, which carries a promise, that life may
go well for them and that they may live long on the earth. However, that
phrase still applies, “Honor your father and mother [in the Lord].” If
children’s parents are wicked, they should respect their role as parents,
but to honor them only to the degree that they advocate the biblical
principles of Scripture, for the Bible assumes that parents want what is best
for their children, which is true in most cases, but not in all. To honor that
which is good is obviously the way things will go well with us and how we will
live a long life, but if we honor that which is evil, things will not go well
with us and is the recipe for dying young. So, in the process of honoring that
which is good, we should also honor our parents, who are assumed to be good
people and want the best for us.
Eph 6,1-3
· (3o) Responsibility Ø
Children are accountable to their parents
· (206d) Salvation Ø
God makes promises on His terms Ø Conditions to
promises Ø Conditions to receiving in the
natural Ø Conditions to participating in the
natural realm
Eph 6-1
· (89a) Thy kingdom come Ø
Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom Ø Being
sensible is always appropriate
Eph 6-2,3
· (90h) Thy kingdom come Ø
Keeping the law Ø Righteousness of the law Ø
We must keep the law because it is righteous
· (151f) Witness Ø
Validity of the Father Ø New Testament bears
witness of the Old Ø The law
Eph 6-4
· (3n) Being Responsible as a parent for
disciplining your children – Teenagers especially have a rebellious side.
To provoke them to rebellion is not a good parenting strategy, but that
doesn’t mean you can’t discipline them or instruct them in the ways of the
Lord. Discipline children without provoking them to anger by starting from the
very beginning of their lives, showing that everything you tell them has a
good reason and is always meant for their benefit. Your consistency in this
will never give them reason to doubt your motives and good judgment. Never
discipline your child or instruct them for selfish purposes or to make your
life easier, but always to make their lives better.
· (4m) Responsible to advocate God’s cause Ø
Disciples are chastened by the Lord
· (24l) Sin Ø
Poverty (Forms of fear) Ø Unrighteous anger
· (80j) Thy kingdom come Ø
Know the word to minister to people Ø To edify
one another
· (176j) Works of the devil Ø
The religion of witchcraft Ø False doctrine Ø
Extremes Ø Truth is never found in your conduct
on either extreme of any circumstance
· (239g) Kingdom of God Ø
Pursuing the kingdom Ø Pursuing the knowledge
of the kingdom Ø Teachers are construction workers Ø God raises
up teachers to raise up the body
Eph 6,5-8
· (13i) Servant Ø
Support the body Ø Servant in the work force
– We are to work at our jobs for our employers as though we were working
for Christ Himself, as though He were our boss, because indirectly He is. It
says that whatever good thing we do at work, we will receive our reward from
the Lord. And if we have a benevolent employer, maybe we will receive
something back from him too. So the Christian workforce has the potential
for receiving two rewards for one good deed—what a deal! However, don’t
depend on your boss to be as generous and kind as your heavenly employer.
· (73g) Authority Ø
Respect Positions Of Authority Ø Respect your
boss at work – Serve your boss as though you were working
for Christ. Don’t just nod at him and say you will do what he asks and then
don’t do it. If your boss asks you to do something that is not unreasonable,
you should try to please him to the best of your ability. Do everything in
your power to make his business succeed, giving him the best of yourself. This
also guarantees your paycheck.
· (78d) Thy kingdom come Ø
Sincerity Ø Taking God to heart Ø
Having a genuine heart
· (100d) Thy kingdom come Ø
Diligence Ø Diligence in your service to
others
· (227a) Kingdom of God Ø
Illustrating the kingdom Ø Rewards of heaven Ø
God rewards us for obeying Him Ø God rewards
what we do for Him in secret
Eph 6,5-7
· (233i) Kingdom of God Ø
Pursuing the kingdom Ø Seeking the glory of God
Ø Seek His glory without wavering Ø
Seek His glory through obedience
Eph 6-5,6
· (74a) Thy kingdom come Ø
The heart Ø God wants you to bless your brother
from the heart
· (169i) Works of the devil Ø
Manifestations of the devil Ø Seeking the glory
of man Ø Loving the approval of men rather than
the approval of God Ø Coveting the favor of men
· (247k) Priorities Ø
God’s priorities Ø The will of God Ø
We play our part in the will of God Ø Doing the
will of God
Eph 6,7-9
· (131g) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Unity Ø
Interdependence Ø Serving one another
Eph 6-7,8
· (127e) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Goodness Ø
Rewards for doing good Ø Sow the seeds of
goodness Ø goodness yields a harvest of
righteousness -- These verses go with verse 14
· (218d) Sovereignty Ø
God overrides the will of man Ø God’s will
over man Ø Reaping the harvest Ø
We choose our actions, not their consequences Ø
God controls the consequences of our actions
· (235i) Kingdom of God Ø
Pursuing the kingdom Ø Invest in the kingdom Ø
Giving (your inner self) Ø Give for goodness
sake
Eph 6-7
· (75c) Thy kingdom come Ø
Motives of the heart Ø Being motivated to do
the will of God
Eph 6-9
· (51h) Judging the Church with the world Ø
No partiality among us with God
· (75j) Thy kingdom come Ø
Motives Ø Being manipulative Ø
Controlling people by abusing authority
· (88g) Thy kingdom come Ø
Fear the judgment of God is the beginning of wisdom Ø
Fear the consequences of your disobedience – Bosses, supervisors and foremen, owners of
businesses, give up threatening. If you are a Christian owner of a business
and you have people working under you, praise them for their excellent service
and reward them for being good employees. Paul by the word of the Lord
commands you to treat your help utmost respect instead of breathing threats of
consequences. Model your use of authority after Christ, who saw it as an
opportunity to bless those in his care.
· (135n) Temple Ø
Your spirit is the temple of God Ø The body of
Christ Ø Similarity in the body Ø
The things we have in common Ø Common Lord
Eph 6,10-20
· (8m) Responsible to defend God’s cause Ø
Laying the foundation of freedom – God speaks to His people one person at a
time, and each thing He says is the truth. God’s will is that each person
hears a similar message from God in his spirit, so that when we come together
and share our ideas, we discover everyone thinking along the same lines. This
builds confidence in each person’s ability to hear what the Spirit is saying
so we don’t feel alone in what we believe. It also builds confidence in the
direction of our lives being on track with God’s plan. This is how God leads
His people, and it is how God discloses His truth, which is different from the
ways of Satan, yet similar. To follow a conglomeration of ideas is a sign we are
following the wrong spirit.
· (28j) Gift of God Ø
God is our advocate Ø God protects us from the
devil
· (45j) Spiritual Warfare
(Key verse)
· (45k) Judgment Ø
Spiritual warfare Ø Subjecting your flesh Ø
Satan VS the saints – The battleground of the mind is where this
spiritual war takes place. This is why God commands us to renew our minds in the
word of God and prayer, according to Romans 12. Without renewing our minds we
will eventually regress to a secular worldview, though we may still believe the
Scriptures, but because we are not renewing our minds in the word of God the
things we perceive in our flesh will take precedence over our unattended belief
system.
· (46g) Judgment Ø
Spiritual warfare Ø Fall of Satan Ø
Removing Satan’s obstructions – In so becoming strong in the Lord by faith in
his grace we are to put on the full armor of God, that we might stand firm
against the wiles of the devil. We are in a spiritual battle.
· (68c) Authority Ø Jesus Delegates
Authority To Execute Judgment Ø Against Satan
Eph 6,10-17
· (7g) Responsibility Ø
Protecting the gospel Ø Defending your
territory – See Lk 21-36 for commentary.
· (113f) Thy kingdom come Ø
The anointing Ø Heaven’s clothes Ø
Garments of warfare
Eph 6,10-13
· (194f) Die to self (Process of substitution) Ø
Turn from sin to God Ø Hate evil Ø
Condemning sin Ø Judging evil
Eph 6,10-12
· (184b) Works of the devil Ø
The origin of lawlessness Ø Darkness Ø
Hiding behind your own imagination Ø Hiding
behind a false authority – What we perceive in our flesh is a lie, but
what we see with the eyes of our spirit is the truth. Man’s world is
arbitrary; it is a concoction of ideas that change like the seasons. The world
may be a certain way now, but in a couple years it will be different. It is
not developing or maturing – it is churning like cement in a mixer. Is it
real now, or was it real then, or is it becoming real in the future? It is
real at every point, but there is no truth in it, hence the difference between
truth and reality. This ever shifting reality is man’s truth, but God’s
truth never changes and those who believe in Jesus have adopted His reality in
place of the world and all its deceptions of the flesh. The less truth changes
the more real it is, and for this reason God’s truth is more true than
anything man will ever believe in himself, because God never changes. Our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the world forces of this
darkness.
Eph 6-10
· (9i) Responsibility to strengthen one another Ø
Be strong
· (102a) Thy kingdom come Ø
Ambitious to fulfill God’s calling Ø To see
God’s will in your life
· (116d) Thy kingdom come Ø
Working the grace of God Ø Through worship Ø
Through His authority -- This verse goes with verses 13-20. If God gives us His strength, then why does Paul
tell us we still need to be strong? If God strengthens us, shouldn’t we be
automatically strong? No, everything God gives us is potential, and we are
supposed to take His potential and manifest it in the natural realm; otherwise
His grace is of no effect. We have a will to do, and if we choose not to walk
in His grace, He will not make us do it, and the only way to test our
willingness is to provide an opportunity to opt out of walking in His grace.
Our will is critical to God; He values it more than we do. It creates a point
of failure, but it is a point of failure that God is willing to risk, because
it is also a point of faith. God expects us to walk in faith in order to
implement the grace that He gives us, because we are His children. That
employs our will, and employing our will is an act of faith, which pleases
God. This is how we behave like God, because God consists of faith. By
operating in the realm of faith we prove our willingness to serve Him. God
gives us His grace for the purpose of walking in it, hence working the grace
of God. If we were to become strong just because God strengthened us, there
would be no occasion for faith, and that simply is not how God operates. That
is, we are supposed to take the potential to be strong that He gives us and
become strong in it, like a fledgling bird that knows it is supposed to fly
but hasn’t yet learned how.
Eph 6-11,12
· (158a) Works of the devil Ø
Excerpts of the greatest verses of this chapter
· (164f)
Works of the devil Ø Manifestations of the devil Ø
The world system Ø Satan’s system of authority Ø
He is the prince of the power of the air – Our struggle against Satan and his minions is
in high places. These high places refer to governmental authorities, but that is
not the most accurate depiction of our enemy. Metaphorically, Satan and the
demons inhabit the first heaven, which surrounds the earth, our atmosphere. (The
second heaven is the physical universe and the third heaven is God’s holy
habitation that exists outside the physical universe.) Paul calls him the prince
of the power of the air (Eph 2-2). The earth’s atmosphere works well as a
metaphor for Satan’s realm especially in these last days with the radio and
television blaring at us with a constant barrage of messages passing
through the atmosphere. Satan is ultimately at the helm of these messages.
Although mankind claims to be in control, Jesus said that Satan is the ruler of
this world. He is the one with the ultimate say-so about world-truth, which
itself is an oxymoron. The world doesn’t believe in any one message, but in
the conglomeration of all messages that all converge to ultimately take one form
as a single perspective of its reality. Seizing on the summation of what it says
is the basic gist of how the world changes from day to day, never corresponding
with God’s truth, because the devil and his world are opposite of God and His
truth. World-truth is elusive like the wind that blows; you can hear the sound
of it Jesus said, but you do not know where it is coming from or where it is
going. Jesus spoke this about the Holy Spirit, indicating that Satan’s
deceptions and God’s truth have one thing in common – they are both
spiritual, hence they both use the atmosphere surrounding the earth as a
metaphor to describe their truth.
Eph 6-11
· (44f) Judgment Ø
Satan destroyed Ø Transformed Ø
Completing the will of God
· (183g) Works of the devil Ø
The origin of lawlessness Ø Spirit of error Ø
Spirit of the broad road Ø Spirit of the world
Eph 6-12
· (19a) Sin Ø
Twisted thinking Ø Evil is good Ø
Loving darkness
Eph 6,13-20
· (5b) Responsible to advocate God’s cause Ø
Disciples are soldiers in God’s army
· (116d) Thy kingdom come Ø
Working the grace of God Ø Through worship Ø
Through His authority -- These verses go with verse 10
Eph 6-13,14
· (139k) Temple Ø
Temple made without hands Ø Hiding place Ø
Abiding in Jesus
Eph 6,14-17
· (80c) Thy kingdom come Ø
Know the word in spiritual warfare Ø To fight
in the Spirit
Eph 6-14,15
· (93c) Thy kingdom come Ø
The narrow way Ø You will find your ministry
along the narrow way
Eph 6-14
· (74c) Thy kingdom come Ø
The heart Ø God wants you to protect your heart
– If God has given us the grace to stand firm,
then why does Paul still need to tell us to stand firm? Ultimately, we must
implement God’s grace for it to be complete. So, the first thing we need to
complete the grace of God in our lives by girding our loins with truth, that
is, renew our minds in the word of God. Although we renew our minds, we must
apply the truth first and foremost to our loins, our pelvic area, our
reproductive organs. Why our reproductive organs? Because they lie to us the
most, telling us we should have sex with whomever is available. This is the
experience with men; women may be different, but the result is the same. We
put the breastplate of righteousness over our hearts. We must train our hearts
to love righteousness; otherwise we won’t do it.
· (86g) Thy kingdom come Ø
Obedience Ø Be doers of the word Ø
Clothe yourself with the word of God Ø Practice
the truth
· (127e) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Goodness Ø
Rewards for doing good Ø Sow the seeds of
goodness Ø goodness yields a harvest of
righteousness -- This verse goes with verses 7&8
Eph 6-15
· (126h) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Peace Ø
Anointing of peace – We put peace on our feet and tell them to
shuffle us to the next person who is open to the gospel.
Eph 6-16,17
· (114g) Thy kingdom come Ø
Working the grace of God Ø Obeying the Holy
Spirit Ø Implementing the revelation of the
Holy Spirit
Eph 6-17
· (40i) Judgment of Christ Ø
God’s word executes judgment by the Spirit
· (78m) Thy kingdom come Ø
Renewing your mind Ø God renews your mind by
His Spirit
· (109g) Spirit And The Word (Two edged
sword) (Key verse)
· (111k)
Thy kingdom come Ø Spirit and the word Ø
Living and active word of God – “…And the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God,” is the primary verse in the Bible that speaks of the
Spirit and the word together in single verse and context. It comes in the form
of a sword, which is an offensive weapon! This concept of the Holy Spirit and
the word of God mentioned together is repeated dozens of times throughout the
New Testament, because they belong together. The Spirit and the word
complement each other in that Jesus called Him the Spirit of truth. The word
of God obviously is the written account of God’s truth that never changes
over the eons. That’s why God can have His people write a book about Him and
it still be relevant 2000 years later. Whenever we place together the Spirit
and the word, we create a weapon similar to a sword that has the power to
destroy the forces of wickedness in our lives. The way we combine these two
elements, the Spirit and the word, is through prayer. It is the most spiritual
thing we can do, so prayer unites the word of God with the Holy Spirit. The
things that God reveals to us as we pray, builds upon our knowledge of the
truth as we grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. The things we learn in
this fashion become revelation knowledge, which is life-changing. This
revelation knowledge takes the form of a sword that slashes through the evil
of this present darkness, and opens the way for us to walk in the will of God.
· (119b) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Freedom Ø
Law of the spirit Ø Law of the Spirit of truth
· (122e)
Thy kingdom come Ø Manifestations of faith Ø
Confidence in yourself as you die to sin Ø
Confident in your salvation – “In addition to all…” faith, the most
important thing to God, which Paul depicts as a defensive weapon in the form
of a shield, our faith protects us from the devil’s flaming darts of
unbelief, lies and deception. “The helmet of salvation,” renewing our
minds, puts confidence in our salvation that we belong to God.
· (255b) Trinity Ø
Holy Spirit’s relationship between Father and Son Ø
God’s word is Spirit Ø Spirit of the word Ø
Words of His Spirit are truth
Eph 6,18-20
· (7c) Responsibility Ø
Defend the gospel by protecting the men who carry it
Eph 6-18,19
· (81m) Thy kingdom come Ø
Pray without ceasing Ø For the church Ø
Life of prayer – Paul commands us to pray in the spirit.
That is a term that Pentecostals and Charismatics regularly use. They are not
misunderstanding anything here. To pray in the Spirit is to use our prayer
language that God has given us. Paul is talking about doing this alone, not in
the congregation, not even with one other person. This is our personal,
private prayer language with God. Rom 8-26,27 says we do this when we don’t
know how to pray. When we feel God tugging on us but don’t know what He’s
trying to tell us, we pray in the Spirit. Praying in the Spirit is what some
people call gibberish, but to us they are a sequence of phonemes (word-sounds)
that God leads us to say one at a time, just as we walk one step at a time
along the narrow way. We often don’t know which way we should go, and this
is why we pray in the Spirit for God’s direction.
· (83k) Thy kingdom come Ø
We have the ministry of intercession Ø Church
intercedes for each other
· (84b) Thy kingdom come Ø
Be on the alert Ø Remain on duty Ø
Keep watch
· (99l) Thy kingdom come Ø
Perseverance (Working to keep in motion) Ø
Persevere in prayer
· (130g) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Unity Ø
Committed to caring for the needs of the body Ø
Caring for spiritual needs
Eph 6-18
· (7k) Responsible to use time wisely Ø
Get ready Ø Make time to pray
· (13j) Servant Ø
Support the body Ø Bear one another’s burdens
Eph 6-19,20
· (85e) Thy kingdom come Ø
Words that are spoken in faith Ø Powerful when
spoken by the Spirit Ø by the anointing
· (123a) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Boldness to speak the
word by the Spirit
· (148i) Witness Ø
Validity of Jesus Christ Ø Works of the church
bear witness to Jesus Ø Evangelism Ø
Obligation to preach the gospel Ø Ambassador in
chains – Pray for the proclamation of the gospel, that
it may penetrate the darkness of this world. Paul says that he is an
ambassador in chains, but even if he isn’t in prison, he is a bondservant of
Christ. He is in chains to the Lord; he is God’s slave. It is as though he
were a robot doing only the master’s will. Whatever buttons God pushes on
Paul is what the robot does, but does God make robots of people? Paul is still
using his will to be a robot, so the answer is no. If He were to override our
will, then we would be robots, but God has no interest in that. When you think
about the devil, how he enslaves people in their own fleshly impulses, whether
it be through sex, drugs and rock and roll, or something else, we are really
no longer in control, but become addicted to our fleshly desires, which
borders on robotic behavior, yet people complain that God makes robots of His
people, and that simply isn’t true. He would never ask us to do something
apart from our will. He always calls us to incorporate faith into everything
we do, which by nature requires our will.
· (152j) Witness Ø
Validity of the Father Ø Witnesses of the
father Ø Prophets Ø
The church holds the position of a prophet Ø
Receiving a prophetic word from God
Eph 6-19
· (231a) Kingdom of God Ø
God’s kingdom is a living organism Ø Mystery
of godliness Ø Solving the mystery of godliness
Ø The church discloses the mystery of Christ
Eph 6-20
· (61a) Paradox Ø
Two implied meanings Ø Prisoner—In jail /
Of God’s will
Eph 6-21,22
· (228c) Kingdom of God Ø
God’s kingdom is a living organism Ø God
working in you Ø Comforted Ø
We are comforted in the presence of God Ø Holy
Spirit is our comforter
· (247e) Priorities Ø
God’s priorities Ø God’s interests Ø
Concern Ø Concerned about your well being
Eph 6-21
· (102c) Thy kingdom come Ø
Faithfulness (Loyalty) Ø Faithfulness is
dependable Ø God’s servants are dependable
Eph 6-23,24
· (125b) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Love Ø
Faith and love
· (138h) Temple Ø
Building the temple (with hands) Ø Exhortation Ø
Exhorting the people to glorify God
Eph 6-23
· (126a) Thy kingdom come Ø
Manifestations of faith Ø Peace Ø
God is at peace Ø The peace from God
Eph 6-24
· (116i) Thy kingdom come Ø
Working the grace of God Ø Working God’s
kindness
· (208f) Salvation Ø
The salvation of God Ø Personal relationship Ø
Being the friend of God Ø Relationship with God
through obedience
· (243g) Kingdom of God Ø
The eternal kingdom Ø The indestructible
kingdom Ø The body of Christ is indestructible Ø
The indestructible kingdom within us – There are plenty of people who are corrupt,
who call themselves Christians, but none of them have ever corrupted the love
of God. We love the Lord Jesus Christ with His own love, and we love one
another with the love of God. In this way we become incorruptible, and one day
we will inherit a body that is incorruptible. God is asking us to remain
homogenous in our hearts and in our bodies, that all things may point in the
same direction toward the will of God that we may exhibit His character
through the fruits of the Spirit, and lead an incorruptible life that others
may be saved and that God may be glorified.
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