Sermon25-29 Eph4 Guide

Eph 4:1-16 Theme verse Eph 4:15

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this twenty fourth Sunday of 2025, on Pentecost Sunday, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last weeks, we looked at the Holy Spirit sent in Pentecost opened new era when we work with the power of the Holy Spirit, yet this week, we would like to look at how the Holy Spirit who came as the Sanctifier equips us together.

1)    To summarize Today’s text, Ephesians chapter, Paul, first, said in chapters 1 through 3 that God chose us and made us His children, to restore or unify the creation order in Christ which was destroyed by human rebellion, in His love, according to the good pleasure of his will, that we should be holy and blameless before Him, and in Christ, we were redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, and made us know the mystery of His will through the wisdom and understanding which He has given us, and then He has sealed us with the Holy Spirit. In this grace, when we were dead in trespasses and sins, God has made us alive with Christ, and has raised us up with him, and has made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. This grace of salvation through faith is a gift of God, so that He made us walk in the good works and please God and also in that humanity which Christ created in the cross, we may live in peace with God and also other people, and spread this mystery of God’s plan to all the world, both in heaven and on earth. As such, after laying the theological foundation, Paul continue to explain in chapter 4 to 6, how we who have received such grace should live in our daily lives. So in chapter 4 of today’s text, Paul says that we who have received this calling from God should clothe with humility, gentleness, and patience, and accept one another in love, while make best effort to keep the unity of the Spirit. Yet, in order for us to grow and make us live as Christians in this way, God gave us another grace in Christ. That is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit as the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers, so that the saints may be equipped and serve one another and proclaim the gospel, to build up the body of Christ, that is, the church.

2)    Then, to look at some points in more details together, first, in today’s text, sanctification defined as the perfection process of the saint to become more and more like Christ, to be conformed with His character and His life. Regarding be conformed with His character, it says we learn His humility, gentleness, and patience. Here for the humility and gentleness, as Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,” humility refers to confess our inability and then to relying totally on God, while meekness refers to obey completely to God’s words. And then, patience as the first character of love, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:4 that “Love is patient,” and also says in Heb 12:1-2 that “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God,” he says that we have to endure suffering to put on His glory finally. And then secondly, in verse 2, Paul says that we have to live the life of love as Christ did and the life of love is to accept one another. Here, the Greek word ἀνέχομαι (anechomai), which is translated as “to accept” or “to bear” means not only that the superior endures and puts up with the inferior, but also that they are content. I mean, it means not only to endure the other person’s character as it is, but also to accept them as they are.

3)    Secondly, in today’s text, it is said that to become like Christ is to be united with others too, and then Paul exhorts to maintain eagerly the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, to be one in one hope and to attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. Here, the unity by the Holy Spirit refers to that after becoming one body in one faith, in one baptism in the Holy Spirit they are united with one another. And the bond of peace means that since the Greek word εἰρήνη (eirēnē) which can come from the Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם (šā·lôm) means the peace in which each person lives according to their God-given gifts and talent according to their own purpose of existence, it refers to the status all human beings exist as they were created. As such, we have to live striving to keep what is already united by the Holy Spirit, because it can easily be broken if we do not live by the Holy Spirit, putting on humility, meekness, and patience. And then, here one hope means the ultimate cosmic reunification of all things in Christ (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9-10), and finally this oneness has founded and results from the faith and the knowledge of the Son, in other words, the experience of fellowship with Christ.

4)    And then Paul likens the church which is connected and united in Christ through the Holy Spirit, to a body, saying, the church, the new people of God, is one body with Christ as the head and each person as a body, and from Christ, the whole body is connected and united together through each joint, receiving help from Christ, and each part works according to the measure of grace it has received, so that the body grows and is built up in love.

5)    And then, for this purpose to mature the churcch, Paul says that the Holy Spirit gave five important gifts of Christ, that is, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, and teachers. Here, the apostle refers to the office that establishes and keep true doctrines and moral guidance according to the gospel and has authority as a key leader of the church. Traditionally, it was used to refer to the key leaders of the early church, such as twelve Apostles, including those who were called after His ascension, for example, Paul (Acts 9:1-6; 14:4, 14), James the Lord's brother (1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19), and Barnabas (Acts 14:4, 14; 1 Corinthians 9:5-7). And also some refer to those sent by the church for a specific mission (2 Corinthians 8:23; Philemon 2:25). And the prophet refers to those who proclaim God's will, encourage, comfort, establish, and strengthen the church, such as Anna (Luke 2:36), as in the Old Testament, prophet refer to those who, as God's spokesmen, saw visions, presented signs, and warned the people, such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20-21) and Huldah (2 Kings 22:8-20; 2 Chronicles 34:14-28). And then the evangelist, which appears three times in the New Testament (Acts 21:8; Ephesians 4:11; 2 Timothy 4:5) refers to those who proclaim the message of the gospel. And the pastor, sometimes translated as 'shepherds’, refers to those who played the role of finding lost sheep and caring for sheep. While the teacher refers to those who preach the message of the gospel and teach its contents and meaning. Therefore, these five gifts help the church grow through the word of truth and build it up in love.

6)    And then, in order to grow in Christ likeness, it is said that we have to speak in truth, in other words, to walk in the truth in love, since the truth sets us free from sin, as John 8:32 says, and God’s word which is the truth sanctifies us, as John 17:17 says, and also this truth comes from Christ who is the truth as the Lord said in John 14:6, that "I am the way and the truth and the life so no one comes to the Father except through me,” and is delivered to each part of the body, not only through the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of truth, but also through the five gifts of the church, to make them be united and grow together and do good works, That’s why John also testified in John 1:1 that God the Word who was in the beginning is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

7)    As such, that’s why David Powlison defined sanctification in his book, “How Does Sanctification Work?” as “to become a person whose confidence rests outside yourself rather in God, a person whose life purpose is Christ’s purpose of redeeming love.” In other words, becoming like Christ is living like Christ, as becoming a small Jesus is sanctification, which is becoming a person of love as Jesus’ life tells us. That is why even James Wilhoite also said in his book, “Spiritual Formation as if the Church Matters,” that “Many of the spiritualities that we encounter in everyday life base their appeal on personal confidence and power. Yet in contrast, Christian spiritual formation ultimately is about enabling people to love others more and to help create a just and well-ordered community. (p.148)”

8)    As such the Holy Spirit who descended on Pentecost not only empowers each of us to fulfill our mission, but also unites us and equips each of us as a person of love who also walks in the truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the teaching of the five gifts of the church. That’s why Paul said in verse 18 of chapter 5 after today’s text, to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I pray that we all may grow in love and truth after being filled with the Holy Spirit this year, to build up the body of Christ and fulfill the gospel ministry.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that in new ere which was inaugurated by the coming the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit who dwells in us not only makes us take the mission by giving the power, but also makes us become the person of love as our sanctification. So, reviewing our life whether this kind of the ministries of the Holy Spirit occurs in us, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 Yet, in this process of sanctification, it is said that we have to walk in truth and love, while being equipped through the gifts of the church. So after reviewing our life what kind of gifts I received and how I serve His body with that gift, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.