Today’s passage: Ephesians 6:1-4

Helpful thoughts:

• Obedience is an action.  Honoring is an attitude.
  • The time of obedience comes to an end (e.g. Ephesians 5:31), but honoring lasts a lifetime (Matthew 15:1-6).
• The promised blessing that “It may go well with you and that you may live long in the land” was originally given to the Israelites (Exodus 20:12).
• The Greek word for “Fathers” in verse 4 could refer to both parents collectively.  Fathers and mothers can apply this verse.
  • Both discipline and instruction are to be used for correction for the growth of the child.
  • Selfishly motivated discipline and instruction provokes.

Questions to consider:

1. How does obedience “in the Lord” and the discipline and instruction “of the Lord” keep everyone in the family focused on the right goal?  For whom should a child obey and honor?  For whom should a parent discipline and instruct?
2. What are some selfishly motivated reasons for parents to discipline and instruct their children?  What is it that parents would want so much they are willing to provoke in order to get it?
3. Since children in the U.S.A. are most likely not going to grow up and inherit land in Israel, how could we best understand the promise that is given to those who obey and honor their father and mother?  How might things go well with them?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 5:25-33

Helpful thoughts:

• Jesus didn’t love the Church because she was beautiful.  The Church is beautiful because Jesus loved her.
• The submissive role of the wife in a marriage does not result in the husband taking on the role of a taskmaster.  Quite the opposite is true.  Husbands are specifically called to take on the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:5-8.
• Ephesians 5:21 called for mutual submission in the church.  Both the husband and the wife sacrifice themselves for each other in different ways. Ephesians 5:33 calls these ways “love” and “respect”.

Questions to consider:

1. What was the condition of my heart when God showed me His love? (Romans 5:8)  How should that impact a husband’s decision to love his wife proactively?  Should a husband wait for his wife to act a certain way before he chooses to show her love?
2. How does the love of Christ help us define love correctly?  Is it a feeling?  Is it only ever to be initiated by affection?  What is the goal of loving?  What should result from the love of a husband for his wife?
3. Who deserves the credit for the perfection that the church will possess when she is forever united with Christ?  Who died for her, redeemed her, washed her, etc.?  How does this truth elicit praise, thanksgiving, and respectful submission to God?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 5:22-24

Helpful thoughts:

• Husbands, don’t forget to keep reading… Verse 25 (Tomorrow) is coming.  Husbands, love your wives by becoming more and more like Jesus.  These verses do not condone chauvinism, and the next passage will command ultimate chivalry.
• The curse (Genesis 3:16) and sin make this command very hard to accept.  Obeying this command (As well as all other commands) is an act of faith.  No husband on the face of the earth is as good of a man as Jesus.  But, hard is not bad and it simply cannot excuse disobedience.
  • When any leadership is attempting to coerce sin against God, we obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29).  It is not wrong to get help in any abusive situation!  Preventing an abusive husband from sinning again is also loving toward him.
• This command is not culturally universal (All men and all women).  It’s relational (Husband and wife).
  • Wives, you are commanded to follow your own husband.  Not anyone else’s.
  • Husbands, this means you are to lovingly lead your own wife. Not every other woman.

Questions to consider:

1. What are some of the hardest words in these verses?  (e.g. What does it mean for wives to submit to their husbands in “everything”?)
2. How would honest and humble reflection help husbands to dwell with their wives in an understanding way (1 Peter 3:7)?  How does the idea of progressive sanctification help temper your expectations?
3. If you are single and desire to be married one day, how should these truths and commands from Scripture guide your desire for a potential spouse?  What qualities should you be looking for?  What qualities should you be growing in for their future benefit?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 5:15-21

Helpful thoughts:

• We ALL must pursue wisdom and understanding from the Word of God so that we can be growing in wise discernment.
  • The opposite of “Look carefully” would be to live haphazardly or to “go with the flow”.
• Drunkenness takes away your inhibition to sin.  Being filled with the Spirit sharpens your resolve for righteousness.
  • Being filled with the Spirit is not holy drunkenness.
  • Spirit-filled Christians are not “loopy” for Jesus.  They are under control, being guided by Scriptural truth.
• Singing is given in Scripture as a way for the church to teach one another!
• A united church will be mutually submissive, everyone working to serve everyone, motivated by our worship of Jesus.

Questions to consider:

1. Are you living with purpose or does there seem to be a pattern in your life of continually falling prey to the latest “crisis”?  Are there “life lessons” that you are living by that aren’t from God’s Word?  Are you being “tossed to and fro” by the waves and currents of life and bad teaching?  How could you know?  Where would you get the answers?
2. Why do you think “spiritual experiences” like tongues, visions, voices, etc. seem to be held in higher regard than righteous living?  Which one is easier to “experience”?  Which one is actually a ministry of the Holy Spirit?
3. If singing songs during our worship is also a teaching ministry of the church, what should be true of every song we sing?  Why is it so important that we sing songs that are biblically and doctrinally sound?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 5:11-14

Helpful thoughts:

• It’s harder to take part in unfruitful sin when you are busy being fruitful.
• The method of confronting sin is found in Matthew 18:15-20.
  • The purpose is to win your brother, not to shame him.
  • Other people are only added to the conversation when necessary and in order to win them.
• It is not necessary to be explicit in content when exposing sin.  Wisdom and discretion are loving toward the sinner and toward any others who might have to hear about the sin.

Questions to consider:

1. How can our aversion to hurting people’s feelings prevent us from lovingly fighting sin?  How devastating is sin?  How important is it to work together toward victory in repentance?
2. How does holding up all actions against the light of the Word of God prevent us from being judgmental or “Holier than thou”?  How do you know you’re not just being personally offended before you rebuke someone (Meaning, they broke one of your laws…not God’s)?
3. Why is Matthew 7:1-5 so important in this area of obedience in the Christian life?  How do you do when others have confronted you about your sin? How can you be thankful for the love others have shown you in shedding light on your sin?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 5:3-10

Helpful thoughts:

• In comparison with the context of Ephesians 4:17, since Christians are changed and changing, it wouldn’t make sense for a person who is living like an unbeliever to be accepted as a member of the church.
  • A sinful lifestyle should not be characteristic of the members of the church.
  • A person who has no inheritance in the kingdom of God should not be falsely recognized as a child of God in the church.  That kind of acceptance would require “empty words”.
  • That kind of acceptance would result in automatic disunity.
    • The believers in the church would be seeking what is pleasing to the Lord.
    • The unbelievers who are accepted in the “roles” would be seeking what is pleasing to themselves (Verse 19, “Greedy”).

Questions to consider:

1. Why is thanksgiving mentioned as the opposite of all sin listed in this passage?  What are we to be thankful for?  Who are we to thank?  How does thanksgiving help us in our fight for purity and righteousness?
2. How do we learn what is pleasing to the Lord?  Where has He shared His values and will with us?  Why do we want to please Him?
3. How does this passage reaffirm the need for church membership and the blessing of accountability?  Why is it MORE loving to tell someone they are not in the church when/if they are unrepentant and rejecting the lordship of Jesus Christ?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 5:1-2

Helpful thoughts:

• The Father loves His children.  Christ loved us.  We are to love one another.
• Christ’s love for us is depicted by His crucifixion.
• Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. (Romans 5:8)

Questions to consider:

1. Why is it so important to remember that love is not an emotion or feeling?
2. How would you explain the idea of “walking” in love?  What would the difference be between walking in love and an act of love?
3. How is our love pleasing to God?  What made Christ’s sacrifice a “fragrant offering”?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 4:25-32

Helpful thoughts:

• This paragraph consists of the results of the renewed mind in verse 23.  These are examples of what gets “Put off” and then what gets “Put on”:
  • Lying -> Honesty
  • Growing bitter -> Resolving conflict
  • Stealing -> Giving from the fruits of honest work
  • Cutting words -> Building words
  • Etc.
• Our model for forgiveness is the forgiveness God has granted us.

Questions to consider:

1. What do I have to believe in order to feel justified or exonerated for lying, bitterness, stealing, using cutting words, etc.?  What kinds of things do I have to be thinking in order to excuse my sin?
2. If there is a sin struggle going on in your heart even now, how does your thinking about the situation compare with what God’s Word says?  How will your faith in His Word have to overrule how you might think or feel about it?
3. How would thinking about God’s forgiveness of my sin help me to be ready to forgive others?

Today’s passage: Ephesians 4:17-24

Helpful thoughts:

• Christians’ lives will progressively look different than the lives of those who do not follow Christ.
• Putting off the “old man”and putting on the “new man” results from changing our thinking (From “darkened understanding” and “ignorance” to being “taught” and “learning”).
  • We do what we do because we want what we want.
  • We want what we want because we think how we think.

Questions to consider:

1. What humble conclusion must I come to about myself before I can start learning and growing?
2. What humble conclusion must I come to about the Bible before I can start learning and growing?
3. What is the bottom-line obstacle for the unbeliever in gaining understanding?  (Verse 18)  How should this change the way we would try to “convince” someone to become a Christian?