Study Notes and Questions for August 10, 2008

Study Notes and Questions for August 10, 2008

Hello everyone! I trust the week is showing you more about what God is doing in your life and you are in awe of His mercy and grace. I saw a bumper sticker today that said: “Kansan by birth, Jayhawk by the grace of God”. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone knew that we are both because of the grace of God? Our fears and concerns each day will be different when we know He is with us.

What a great testimony of God’s work from David Swisher and his Romania trip last Sunday. Thank you so much David for your preparation and testimony! It was very uplifting and challenging around having God set the plan and go to where He is working.

We finished Ephesians 5 through verse 14 on Sunday. Note verse 14 to begin this week. Are you sleeping? Have you risen from the death of sin into the life with Christ? Once you process that begin in verse 15.

Read Ephesians 5:15- 20

What are the key messages you heard in these verses?



Who is Paul talking to? (hint – read Eph 1:2)


Read Ephesians 5:15 to your spouse – ask them what would be something that would be different in you if you were careful to live wise rather than unwise? Write the answers below:



Because of the illumination in verse 14, the believer will pay the most scrupulous attention to his personal behavior. Here the expression for “see to it” (Bleptete) is combined with “accurately” or “carefully” (akribos) to underline the need for the utmost concentration on leading an irreproachable life. The verb translated “to live” (peripateo) has been used four times in Ephesians 4 and 5. The metaphorical contrast between light and darkness is now replaced by that between wisdom and folly. Christians must no longer act like simpletons, since God’s own wisdom is always available to them.

What excuses to you see people using for not living as God would want them to?

Read Ephesians 5:16

What does this verse mean?


Where did you see a time TODAY that you could have made more out of an opportunity with your kids, your spouse, your neighbor, your coworker, your boss, etc? Think on a specific example…



Do you ‘waste’ time each day? If so, on what?


Believers are to make “the most of every opportunity” (exagorazomenoi ton kairon). The verb “to buy back” or “to take off the market” is used in Galatians 3:13 and 4:5 in connection with redemption fro the law. Here and in Colossians 4:5 it is of less certain interpretation. It has nothing to do with gaining time, as in Danial 2:8. It is not to be treated allegorically, as if time were being snatched from the devil or from evil men. What is meant simply to make the best possible use of all circumstances like prudent merchants. “Opportunity” (kairos) is the right moment, which Paul urges us to grasp lest it be wasted. The days are evil (ponerai, “wicked”) in a moral sense, not necessarily by reason of hardship and distress, though this may be an accompaniment.

Are you a “merchant of time”? Do you see every bit of time and every situation as an opportunity to act as Christ in speech and action? Give a simple example of this with your children or spouse…


Why don’t we live this way all the time? Why is everything else a waste?


Read Ephesians 5:17

What does it mean not to be foolish? What have you done this week that was foolish in the eyes of God?


What does it mean to understand God’s will? Take your time here… Go through 1) Where do you find and know God’s will; 2) What do you do once you understand it is His will? Is there anything you should/could do?



“Therefore” (dia touto) resumes the thought in verse 15 with its exhortation to be wise. “Foolish” (aphron) is a stronger word than asophoi in v 15, alluding to stupid imprudence or senseless folly in action. To “understand” (syniemi) is to give the mind to something so as to get ahold of it. It implies that an effort has to be made: so it has the sense of “try to grasp.” The object of this determined attempt at apprehension is the Lord’s will (v 10). Paul recognizes the divine will as the regulative principle of the Christian life (Eph 1:1, 5, 9). Here he refers to the will of the Lord because Christ left us an example.

Read Ephesians 5:18

What does this verse mean?


Why is there energy and tension about this verse in society today?


Did God create us the way we should be? Do we need to alter ourselves to be who God wants us to be?

Do YOU need wine or similar to be somebody else or relax? Why?


Do YOU believe that God has given you what you need through the Holy Spirit so that you don’t have to alter yourself to be who he wants you to be?


What does it mean to be filled with the Holy Spirit?


Does this imply at certain times or all the time? If you are filled with the Holy Spirit at all times what decisions will you make about other things getting in the way of His decisions and help?


What would be different if you didn’t drink wine or similar? Write down specifics:

I would have more of God’s money for: __________________
I would_____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________


Read Proverbs 23:30. Paul warns us against the follow of overindulgence in strong drink. Drunkeness was all too common in the pagan world and cautions in the NT show that it presented a serious temptation for Christians. The danger of drunkenness (Gal 5:21) lies not only in itself but in what it may induce. Debauchery (asotia) in the NT means dissoluteness or dissipation. It is the “wild living” of the prodigal son (Luke 15:13, adverb). In classical Greek it signified extravagant squandering both of money and of the physical appetites. If they are wise (remember our previous verses), Christians will avoid all such excess.

How much is excess for YOU? When do you change who you ARE and become something else? When do you focus your money, time, and mind all to be filled by Him?


Instead of continuing in drunkenness, they are to go on being filled with the Spirit. That is a surprising alternative. We might have expected the apostle to plead for abstinence as over against intemperance. But he takes a more startling and positive line. He urges his readers to draw on the reinvigorating resources of the Holy Spirit. One the day of Pentecost the effect of such an experience was mistaken for drunkenness. The Sprit does produce a genuine exhilaration (and rest) other vainly seek from alcohol.

“With the Spirit” is actually “in Spirit” (en pneumati). The theologigal implications of “be filled” (plerousthe) are crucial for a biblical doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The imperative makes it clear that this is a command for all Christians. The present tense rules out any once-for-all reception of the Spirit but points to a continuous replenishment (literally, “go on being filled”). Nor does it appear that Paul is urging us to enter into a new experience. Rather, he is inviting us to gon on as we began (if we have, in fact, turned over Lordship to Christ).

Read Ephesians 5:19

How are we to speak to one another?



What is to be in our hearts?



Give an example of speaking this way…



The outcome of being filled with the Spirit in described in verses 19 and 20 in a series of 4 participles that virtually amount to imperatives. It is noticeable that each of these expressions of the Spirit’s fullness has to do with praise. The verb “to speak” (laleo) is not confined to normal conversation but covers utterance of any kind and so is perfectly applicable to the medium of psalms, hymns, and songs. Such communication is with one another (heautois) not “to yourselves”. “Psalms” seems to refer to the OT Psalter, which was integrated with Christian worship from the first. “Hymns” in the pagan circules were sung to eulogize some god or cultic hero. Christian hymns exalted the name of Christ (v19) or God (v20). Such canticles appear in the NT itself. “Spiritual songs” (odai pneumatikai) may be so designated either to differentiate them from secular compositions or because they represent spontaneous singing in the Spirit.

The verb “to make music” (psallo) from which “psalm” is derived can mean playing a stringed instrument (literally, “to pluck”) or singing praise to the accompaniment of a harp. Here it describes the heart’s inner melody that keeps in tune with audible praise or may be independent of any outward expression. If it is offered “to the Lord,” it does not need to be heard by men.

Read Ephesians 5:20


What are we to do with ALL OF OUR TIME?


Who are we to give Thanks to?


What are we to give Thanks for?


What specifically do you give Thanks to God for this week? Name 10 things:

____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
____________________________
_____________________________
______________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
_____________________________
______________________________

The perpetual accompaniment of all these outlets of the Spirit in the Christian life is thanksgiving. The context is not restricted to that of the church’s liturgy as indicated by “always” (pantote). Such gratitude to God is to cover every circumstance even if disease or poverty (sorry Joel Olstein) and is to be addressed to God the Father – The Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3, 1:17), who is also”our God and Father (Gal 1:4) – in the name of the Son as the one who fully reveals Him.

Have a great week!

Andy