Thursday Devo
Scripture Reading:
Ephesians 4
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Commentary from the ESV Study Bible:
4:12 Those church leaders with various gifts (v. 11) are to equip the saints (all Christians) so that they can do the work of ministry. All Christians have spiritual gifts that should be used in ministering to one another (1 Cor. 12:7, 11; 1 Pet. 4:10).
4:13 The diversity of gifts serves to bring about the unity of Christ’s people. Mature manhood extends the body metaphor used earlier for the church and contrasts with “children” in the next verse (see Heb. 5:11–14). Some people think that the learning of doctrine is inherently divisive, but it is people who divide the church, whereas the knowledge of the Son of God (both knowing Christ personally and understanding all that he did and taught) is edifying and brings about “mature manhood” when set forth in love (Phil. 3:10). The work of the gifted ministers (Eph. 4:11) was to proclaim and teach the word centered on Christ rather than on speculative or eccentric teachings of their own (cf. 1 Cor. 2:2). measure. Christ Jesus is the standard of the maturity to which the church must aspire. Christ’s fullness is the full expression of his divine and human perfection (see Eph. 1:23; 3:19; Col. 1:19; 2:9).
4:13 The diversity of gifts serves to bring about the unity of Christ’s people. Mature manhood extends the body metaphor used earlier for the church and contrasts with “children” in the next verse (see Heb. 5:11–14). Some people think that the learning of doctrine is inherently divisive, but it is people who divide the church, whereas the knowledge of the Son of God (both knowing Christ personally and understanding all that he did and taught) is edifying and brings about “mature manhood” when set forth in love (Phil. 3:10). The work of the gifted ministers (Eph. 4:11) was to proclaim and teach the word centered on Christ rather than on speculative or eccentric teachings of their own (cf. 1 Cor. 2:2). measure. Christ Jesus is the standard of the maturity to which the church must aspire. Christ’s fullness is the full expression of his divine and human perfection (see Eph. 1:23; 3:19; Col. 1:19; 2:9).
Study Questions:
- The last challenge from Luke 9, when Jesus fed the 5,000, was to those of us in the position of the little boy... Give him what you've got! We should ALL seek to be like the boy who willingly offered up his lunch to Jesus. It was such a ridiculous, feeble offering, yet he gave it anyway. How many others that were there that day that might have had some food weren't willing to give it? In the New Testament Church, it is the pastor's job to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry. That means God has a ministry for all of us. No matter your occupation, your ministry is to bring Jesus to people in your life and sphere of influence. But many of us see our lives as insignificant or think that God can't use us because of some flaw we have or something in our past. But the fact is, God ONLY uses messed up, broken people to do amazing things for the Kingdom because that's all there is in the world... people that are messed up and broken. What is that one thing for you that God has nudged you towards, but you’ve been slow to answer his call? What has the enemy convinced you that you CAN’T do? Where has fear kept you on the sidelines?
- It is clear from Scripture that a Christian's focus should be on maturing spiritually. Ephesians 4 seems to indicate that we mature as we are obedient to God and begin to use our spiritual gifts to minister to others. This all begins with knowing your spiritual gifts. If you have never discovered yours, take some time today to do a free online spiritual gifts test. Can you truly say you are maturing in your relationship with God? Are you using your gifts to minister to people in your life that need Jesus? Are you serving your local church? How can you take a step forward in this area?
Pray:
- That you would give God what you've got.
- That you would be maturing in your faith by using your gifts.
This Week's City 7:
Try to commit to memory!
3. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Since “all have sinned” and the “wages of sin is death,” Jesus had to die on the cross to pay the fine for my sin so I could be right with God.
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
(Romans 3:23, 5:8, 6:21-23, 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 2:1-6; Colossians 1:13-14, 21-22)
No Comments