Ephesians 3.14 - 21Good Questions Have Groups Talkingwww.joshhunt.com
Creative Element
Email your group and invite them to read this booklet, available free online: http://www.sjpres.org/images/10000/7000/273ST/user/My_Heart_Christs_Home.pdf
Ask the group to come prepared to share their reaction to this. Great read. This lesson depends heavily on your group having read this great booklet. I really think it will impact their lives.
Ephesians 3.14 - 21
ACCOUNTABILITY
What three fellowships do we have scheduled for the next three months? Who will invite every member? Who will help invite every prospect? Who will help plan the party?
OPEN
Let’s each share your name and what room in your house is your favorite.
DIG
- Verses 14. What difference does posture make in prayer?
The usual and the proper posture of prayer is to kneel. Comp. 2 Chronicles 6:13, Daniel 6:10, Luke 22:41, Acts 7:60, 9:40; Acts 20:36, 21:5. It is a posture which indicates reverence, and should, therefore, be assumed when we come before God. It has been an unhappy thing that the custom of kneeling in public worship has ever been departed from in the Christian churches. — Notes on the New Testament Explanatory and Practical.
- Can you think of other postures used in prayer in the Bible?
The first thing that strikes us is Paul’s posture: “I bow my knees.” (This must have been quite an experience for the Roman soldier chained to Paul!) The Bible nowhere commands any special posture for prayer. Abraham stood before the Lord when he prayed for Sodom (Gen. 18:22), and Solomon stood when he prayed to dedicate the temple (1 Kings 8:22). David “sat before the Lord” (1 Chron. 17:16) when he prayed about the future of his kingdom. And Jesus “fell on His face” when He prayed in Gethsemane (Matt. 26:39). — The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 2.
- We have grown very comfortable to referring to God as Father. How would this have sounded back in the day to refer to God as Father?
It may well be that to the ancient world this was the most staggering thing Jesus ever said. To the Greeks God was characteristically The Invisible, the Jews would count it as an article of faith that no man had seen God at any time. To people who thought like that Jesus said: “If you had known me, you would have known my Father too.” Then Philip asked what he must have believed to be the impossible. Maybe he was thinking back to that tremendous day when God revealed his glory to Moses (Exo 33:12-32). But even in that great day. God had said to Moses: “You shall see my back: but my face shall not be seen.” In the time of Jesus men were oppressed and fascinated by what is called the transcendence of God and by thought of the difference and the distance between God and man. They would never have dared to think that they could see God. Then Jesus says with utter simplicity: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” — Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT).
- How does the Old Testament view of God differ from that of the new?
The essence of the Old Testament is that God was the person to whom access was forbidden. When Manoah, who was to be the father of Samson, realized who his visitor had been, he said: “We shall surely die, for we have seen God” (Judg 13:22). In the Jewish worship of the Temple the Holy of Holies was held to be the dwelling-place of God and into it only the High Priest might enter, and that only on one day of the year. the Day of Atonement.
The centre of Christian belief is the approachability of God. H. L. Gee tells a story. There was a little boy whose father was promoted to the exalted rank of brigadier. When the little lad heard the news, he was silent for a moment, and then said, “Do you think he will mind if I still call him daddy?” The essence of the Christian faith is unrestricted access to the presence of God. — Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT).
- Who is the family in verse 15?
Every family in heaven and on earth refers to the saints of every age—those now in heaven and those still remaining on earth. They are the only ones who legitimately derive their names from God the Father. Christians are no more or less the children of God than were believing Israelites, as well as believing Gentiles, before the coming of Christ. Every family of believers is a part of the one spiritual family of God, in which there are many members but only one Father and one brotherhood. — MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Ephesians.
- What kind of strength is referred to in verse 16?
The presence of the Holy Spirit in the life is evidence of salvation (Rom. 8:9); but the power of the Spirit is enablement for Christian living, and it is this power that Paul desires for his readers. “Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8, literal translation). Jesus performed His ministry on earth in the power of the Spirit (Luke 4:1, 14; Acts 10:38), and this is the only resource we have for Christian living today. As you read the Book of Acts, you see the importance of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church, for there are some fifty-nine references to the Spirit in the book, or one fourth of the total references found in the New Testament. Someone has said, “If God took the Holy Spirit out of this world, most of what we Christians are doing would go right on—and nobody would know the difference!” Sad, but true.
The power of the Spirit is given to us “according to the riches of His glory” (Eph. 3:16). Christ returned to glory and sent the Spirit from heaven to indwell and empower His people. It is not necessary for us to “work something up.” The power has to be sent down. How marvelous that God does not give the Spirit’s power to us “out of His riches” but “according to”—which is a far greater thing. If I am a billionaire and I give you ten dollars, I have given you out of my riches; but if I give you a million dollars, I have given to you according to my riches. The first is a portion; the second is a proportion.
This power is available for “the inner man.” This means the spiritual part of man where God dwells and works. The inner man of the lost sinner is dead (Eph. 2:1), but it becomes alive when Christ is invited in. The inner man can see (Ps. 119:18), hear (Matt. 13:9), taste (Ps. 34:8), and feel (Acts 17:27); and he must be “exercised” (1 Tim. 4:7-8). He also must be cleansed (Ps. 51:7) and fed (Matt. 4:4). The outer man is perishing, but the inner man can be renewed spiritually in spite of outward physical decay (2 Cor. 4:16-18). It is this inner power that makes him succeed.
What does it mean to have the Holy Spirit empower the inner man? It means that our spiritual faculties are controlled by God, and we are exercising them and growing in the Word (Heb. 5:12-14). It is only when we yield to the Spirit and let Him control the inner man that we succeed in living to the glory of God. This means feeding the inner man the Word of God, praying and worshiping, keeping clean, and exercising the senses by loving obedience. — The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 2.
- The classic Christian booklet, My Heart Christ’s Home was based on this passage. Has anyone read this? What are the different rooms in the house and what does each one represent?
One evening that I shall never forget, I invited him into my heart. What an entrance he made! It was not a spectacular emotional thing, but very real. It was at the very center of my life. He came into the darkness of my heart and turned on the light. He built a fire in the cold hearth and banished the chill. He started music where there had been stillness and he filled the emptiness with his own wonderful loving fellowship. I have never regretted opening the door to Christ and I never will-- not into eternity!
This, of course, is the first step in making the heart Christ’s home. He has said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). If you are interested in making your life an abode of the living God, let me encourage you to invite Christ into your heart and he will surely come.
After Christ entered my heart and in the joy of that new-found relationship, I said to him, “Lord, I want this heart of mine to be yours. I want to have you settle down here and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs to you. Let me show you around and introduce you to the various features of the home that you may be more comfortable and that we may have fuller fellowship together.” He was very glad to come, of course, and happier still to be given a place in the heart. http://robbiegrier.com/My_Heart__Christ_s_Home.html
- In Munger’s booklet, the library represents the mind. Paul said we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. How are we transformed by our the renewing of our mind?
Lots of exposure to the Word and to teaching on the Word. Good news is, it is easier than it has ever been before, with Podcasts and all. We signed up for Direct TV recently I noticed that RC Sproul, Andy Stanley and a whole lot of other guys are available. Don’t like to read? Get the Bible in audio format. It is easier than it has ever been to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
- Other than coming to church on Sunday, how are you exposed the Word and Christian teaching?
RECENTLY, I decided to do something I never do. I took out my car manual and read it. I’m a real simple guy. I get in a car, get behind the wheel, turn it on, and roll. That’s it. But one day I was just fooling around, opened my glove compartment, and there was my car manual. Now this manual has been in this car for three years. As far as I’m concerned, this is unnecessary reading. I see a steering wheel, I see brakes, I see an accelerator, a radio, heat, and air-conditioning. Good to go.
But on this particular day, I decided to flip through my manual. I was shocked at some of the stuff I read in there. There is so much stuff in this car that has never been used! I realized that I’d been doing things manually that the car was set up to do automatically. I realized that I’d not been taking advantage of all that the manufacturer had provided.
On one particularly rainy day, I was trying to look out of my rear window and couldn’t see anything. After three years of having this car, I had no idea there was a windshield wiper back there. It wasn’t that it was not provided, it’s that I was ignorant of the provision. I didn’t know what was provided and I certainly didn’t know how to take advantage of it.
What the Bible, the grace manual, is designed to do is show you all the provisions that God has provided for every believer. The problem is I not only need to know that the manual is there, but I also need to know what it tells me I can do and how things work. — Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking.
- The dining room represents desires. How do our desires change as we grow in Christ?
This may come as a surprise to you: Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person. It is not a program for getting us in line or for reforming society. It has a powerful effect upon our lives, but when transformation comes, it is always the aftereffect of something else, something at the level of our hearts. At its core, Christianity begins with an invitation to desire. Look again at the way Jesus relates to people. As he did with the fellow at the Sheep Gate, he is continually taking them into their hearts, to their deepest desires.
The story of the two blind men on the road to Jericho repeats the theme. Jesus is passing by the spot where these two men have sat looking for a handout for who knows how long. They learn that Jesus is going by, and they cry out for him. Though the crowd tries to shut them up, they succeed in shouting over the ruckus and capturing the Master’s attention. The parade stops. Jesus steps to the side of the road, and standing there before him are two men, nothing clearer than the fact that they are blind. “What do you want me to do for you?” Again the question. Again the obvious that must not be so obvious after all. — Desire: The Journey We Must Take to Find the Life God Offers (John Eldredge)
- Munger’s next room is the drawing room. It is such a brilliant insight, I would like to quote it in its entirety. How do you react to this?
We walked next into the drawing room. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a bookcase, sofa and a quiet atmosphere.
He also seemed pleased with it. He said, “This is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together.”
Well, naturally, as a young Christian I was thrilled. I could not think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes apart with Christ in intimate comradeship.
He promised, “I will be here every morning early. Meet with me here and we will start the day together.” So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and he would take a book of the Bible from the bookcase. He would open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truth. He would make my heart warm as he revealed his love and grace towards me. They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the dining room the “withdrawing room.” It was a period when we had our quiet time together.
But little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened. Why, I don’t know, but I thought I was just too busy to spend time with Christ. This was not intentional, you understand; it just happened that way. Finally, not only was the time shortened, but I began to miss a day now and then. It was examination time at the university. Then it was some other urgent emergency. I would miss it two days in a row and often more.