Ephesians 6

Ephesians 6:1-4

1. As to One’ s Home (5:22-6:4) V.1-3 e) Well-being obedience - 2.Tim.3:2 I. Like the marriage is a type of Christ’ s relationship with the Church so is every family named after God the Father. 3:15

II. God gave man the opportunity to understand His parental heart by having their own family.

III. To obey and respect parents is obedience to God.

IV. God blesses obedience to parents with a long life on earth, even as He blesses His believing obedient children with eternal life.

V.4 f) Wrong provocation -

I. God the Father does not provoke His children to wrath, even so should man not provoke their children.

II. Provoke: (Gr. parorgizete) means to exasperate (to cause wrath or irritation).

III. Training refers to directing or correcting the child. Heb.12:8; 2.Tim.3:16 IV. Admonishing refers to advising and encouraging the child.

Ephesians 6:5-9

2. As to One’ s Profession (6:5-9) It has been estimated that about one-third of the population of the Roman Empire were slaves, about 60 million individuals and many of these people were Christians.

Most ancient Greeks and Romans regarded slaves as living tools.

A slave was nothing better, and had no more rights, than a tool in ancient time. Aristotle said: A slave is a living tool, just as a tool is an inanimate slave. V.5 a) Sincere obedience -

Servant’ s should obey their earthly masters as though they obeyed their heavenly Master, that would mean in fear, trembling and sincerity of the heart.

V.6 b) Servants of Christ -

Not serving their earthly masters for approval but their heavenly Master as His servants, seeking to do His will from the heart.

V.7 c) Service from a good will -

Not serving with complaining but with a good will as though they served the Lord.

V.8 d) Similar reward -

God rewards both in this life and after.

V.9 e) Supreme Master of masters -

1. Without passivity “ do the same to them”

2. Without pressure “ forbearing threatening”

3. Without pride “ you have a Master in heaven”

4. Without partiality James 2:1-9; 1 Pet. 1:17

Ephesians 6:10-12

6:10-12 THE The Believer’ s Walk in Warfare (6:10-12) The Exhortation to Arms (6:10-12)

Welcome to the Powerhouse explore it and let the Spirit of the house enlighten you. The Powerhouse is a place where the power of God is, this power gives the heat and electricity of the house and all of His household can come in here to be energized and empowered to the work and task before them, for the Owner of the house does not only give work to perform, He also gives the empowerment to do it.

The Exhortation to Arms (6:10-12) V.10 a) Warrant -

I. Because of the battle we stand in and the supernatural creatures we fight against, nothing but the strength, power and might of God Himself will do.

II. The positional blessing of power and might 1:19 is here manifested through our battle with evil spirits.

V.11 b) Weaponry -

I. These strength, power and might is an armoury and any time we can put it on by faith in Christ.

II. Its God’ s own armoury that we can put on. Is.11:5; 59:17; 2.Cor.6:7; 10:4; 1.Thes.5:8; Heb.4:12; Ex.12:11-12; Phil.4:7-9 III. “ May be able to stand” present tense. v.11 “ May be able to withstand in the evil day” future tense. v.13 “ Having done all to stand” past tense. v.13

IV. These wiles are the devils schemes and methods. John 10:10; 2.Cor.2:11; 11:3-4; 2.Thes.2:9-10; 1.Pet.5:8; Luke 22:31 V.12 c) Warfare -

There are at least 3 ways of warring:

1. Prayer.

It’ s not our battle against fallen angels but our prayers to God realises the warring angels of God.

2. Mind.

The battle of our minds, this takes place within our minds. Sow a thought reap an action, sow an action reap a habit, sow a habit reap a lifestyle. All sinful action begins in our minds. 2.Cor.4:3-4; 10:4-5 3. Spiritual.

I. The warfare of our spirit is a one to one wrestling with demonic spirits, it’ s a real battling of the spirit and it can take place in the body or out of the body.

II. As we cast out demons we are also in one to one combat with them. Mark 1:23-26; Acts 16:16-18 Them that understand and lives in 6:12 cannot live in 4:31

The Christian life is not a playground but a battleground. We are soldiers in a battle. 2.Tim.2:3-4 The workings of evil spirits 2:2

1. Principalities - They are perhaps different levels of evil spirits who has rank of authority, but they are in submission to the rulers.

2. Powers - They are perhaps evil spirits that enforces and empowers the plan of Satan on earth.

3. Rulers - They are the generals and world rulers of Satan’ s world system.

4. Spiritual wickedness - They are perhaps the evil spirits that tempt and causes rebellion

Jesus overcame these principalities, powers, rulers and wickedness. Luke 11:18-22; Col.2:10, 15 Therefore they are not able to separate us from God. Rom.8:38-39

Ephesians 6:13-17

6:13-24 THE ARMOURY The Believer’ s Walk in Warfare (6:13-24)

1. The Explanation of Our Armour (6:13-17)
2. The Employment of Our Armour (6:18-24)

Welcome to the Armoury explore it and let the Spirit of the house enlighten you. The Armoury Room is a place where the own armoury of God hangs, for not only is the Owner of this castle a King and Lord, but He is also a General and He gives His household generously His own armoury, He knows that only that will could stand against the forces of darkness that faces His household out in the field.

1. The Explanation of Our Armour (6:13-17) V.13 a) Plight - Hardship:

I. Because we are in spiritual warfare its not going to be easy but a hard battle, the creatures we fight against has many advantages:

1. They are stronger than humans.

2. They can see us and we cannot se them.

3. They are awake 24 hours a day and are not working, we only have 8-10 hours full concentration because of sleep and work.

4. They can plan against us without our knowledge, we cannot plan against them without they knowing it.

II. Therefore we need God’ s own armour to resist and fight against evil spirits, only His armour can overcome them.

III. We need not only one piece of the armour but the whole armour to stand ground.

IV. If we take on this whole armour and believe in the resource of God then the victory is ours. 1.John 2:13-14; 4:4 Because God is able 3:20 we are able in Him

V. Notice there is no armour to protect our back, lets not run but face our battles with boldness and strength. Joshua 1:9 V.14 b) Proven - Truth:

I. We sit in Christ, we walk in holiness but we also need to stand against the devil, for Truth and in truth.

II. Truth: We need to be true and transparent 1.Tim.2:22 To have a good conscience is essential to run the race set before us, just as a belt causes us to be fit and ready. 1.Tim.1:19 III. The Word of God that is Truth causes us to know and live in truth, it sharpens our understanding. 1.Pet.1:13; Heb.5:14 The Word will expose everything that is loose and a hindrance. Heb.4:12 IV. As on every soldier the belt also carries the sword in its right place, if the belt is loose then the sword (Word of God) will become an obstacle for him. If we do not walk in truth then the Word will confront our sins.

c) Purity - Righteousness:

I. The breastplate caused a soldier to stand upright in battle not fearing a strike on his chest, he didn’ t crumble nor bend as a wounded man to protect himself.

II. Righteousness is to stand upright. The standard and measure of righteousness is God’ s own righteousness, everyone who doesn’ t measure up to the righteousness of God is unrighteous.

III. Christians can stand upright in righteousness because of the obtained righteousness in Christ. Rom.4:5-8 IV. As we are being condemned by devils we can stand not guilty before God because of His imputed righteousness in us. Righteousness is a judicial verdict from God declaring us righteous even without works in Christ.

V.15 d) Preparation - Gospel of peace: Is.52:7 I. The word is a lamp to our feet. Psalms 119:105 II. It’ s the Word of God that prepares us to live and walk in peace. Eph.2:11-18 III. It’ s the Word of God that trains and equips us to be effective witness of the Gospel.

IV. As the Word of Truth ties as a belt to the pants, so does the Gospel of peace ties our shoes and protects us from stumbling.

V.16 e) Protection - Faith

I. All the darts of the devil can be stopped by believing (the shield) in God’ s protection, promises and provision. 1.John 5:4-5 II. The darts are shot with fire and if we stay filled and soaked with the Spirit and the Word of God it will easily quench the fire.

V.17 f) Preservation - Salvation

I. The helmet is a piece that protects the head from injury, it’ s the salvation of God that protects us from loosing hope.

II. Whatever attack against our hope in Christ can be overcome by His salvation. 1.Thes.5:8; Rev.12:9 III. Whatever situation we are in if we call on the name of the Lord we will experience salvation. Acts 2:32 g) Pursue - Word

I. The Word of God is like a sword. Rev.19:15 II. Jesus also used the Word of God to quench the devil’ s darts. Matt.4:1-11 III. The Word here is not the Logos (written word) but the Rhema (spoken word). The Word will first become a sword when we speak it. Is.49:2

Ephesians 6:18-24

2. The Employment of Our Armour (6:18-24) V.18 a) Prayer -

I. Prayer causes us to keep the armour on, it gives us focus and oversight if it is done in the Spirit.

II. Why shall we pray always?

A. Because the devil can come any time, especially when we are not praying.

B. Because others (even all saints) need our assistance in prayer.

III. Prayer causes us to be watchful - as soon as prayer reduces so will our alertness - when our alertness reduces then the taking on the armour reduces

• as soon our taking on the armour reduces we will fall. Matt.26:40-41 b) Perseverance - With this process in mind we then know why we have to persevere.

V.19 c) Precession -

I. Prayer causes God to release the right words (utterance) at the right time. Jam.1:5-6 II. Prayer causes God to release boldness, that is - remove the fear of man and stir up trust to God. Acts 4:29-31 III. The mystery of the Gospel is the plan of God concerning the Church. 2:11-3:11

V.20 d) Preaching -

All preachers are ambassadors, they represent another King and kingdom. All ambassadors are hired to speak boldly and strongly for their countries even so are all Christians. V.21-22 e) Purpose -

Tychicus may have carried this letter to the Ephesians to encourage and comfort them, he also informed them about Paul.

V.23-24 f) Proclamation -

Paul declares 4 important virtues that this letter ought to bring forth:

I. Peace - The work of God through Christ establish peace.

II. Love - The work of God through Christ reveals His love.

III. Faith - The work of God through Christ stirs our faith.

IV. Grace -

1. The work of God through Christ enables us to receive His grace.

2. Paul began with grace 1:1 and ends with grace, all things that comes from God is by grace, no believer deserves anything from God and God owes no believer anything yet He gives him everything. 1.Cor.3:21-23

“ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” Eph.1:3 “ The entrance of Your Words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” Psalms 119:130

Reference material used in making the Bibleschool manual:

Bible Commentaries: Thomas L. Constable’ s - Notes on Ephesians. Chuck Missler’ s - Written and audio commentary on the epistle of Ephesians. Jon Courson’ s - Thru-the-Bible audio commentary on the epistle of Ephesians. Chuck Smith’ s - Audio commentary on the epistle of Ephesians. Edward Hindson/Michael Woodrow’ s - King Jame’s Bible Commentary on the epistle of Ephesians. Zondervan’ s Niv’ s - Expositor’s Bible Commentary of the epistle of Ephesians. J. Vernon McGee’ s - Commentary on the epistle of Ephesians. David Hocking’ s - Commentary on the epistle of Ephesians. H. L. Willmington’ s - Guide to the Bible. Old commentaries were used as well with minor help.

Bible Surveys and outlines: Valleys Bible Church’ s - Bible survey on the epistle of Ephesians. J. Hampton Keathley’ s - Survey on the epistle of Ephesians. Nelson’ s - Complete book of Bible maps and charts. H. L. Willmington’ s - The Outline Bible. Harvestime International Institute’ s - Basic Bible survey. Bob Bolender’ s - Survey on the epistle of Ephesians. Gerald Duckett - Bible’ s survey on the epistle of Ephesians. Mark A. Copeland’ s - Executable Outlines. Ray C Stedman’ s - Panorama of the Scriptures.

Old Testament types and figures: Kevin T. Connor’ s - The feasts of Israel. Kevin T. Connor’ s - The tabernacle of Moses. Kevin T. Connor’ s - The temple of Solomon.

Encyclopaedia/ Dictionaries: International standard Bible Encyclopaedia. Nelson’ s - Illustrated Bible dictionary. Dictionary of Biblical imagery.

Greek reference material: Strong’ s - Exhaustive concordance. Thayer’ s - The new Thayer’ s Greek-English lexicon. Englishman’ s - The Englishman’ s Greek concordance and lexicon. Vine’ s - Complete expository dictionary.

Bible versions: King James Version 1984 - Is the Bible translation used in this manual. Hendrickson’ s - The interlinear Bible.