Chapter One
SESSION 1
Who We Are in Christ
Ephesians 1:1-14; 2:1-22
Cold winters with long nights, short days, and plenty of snow are facts of life in Minnesota. They are woven into Minnesotan identity along with traits and values inherited from Scandinavian forebears. Minnesotans value hardiness; they find ways to enjoy winter, such as snowmobiling, skating, or ice fishing; they know how to drive on snow and ice.
Southern Californians know how to drive on eight-lane freeways that branch into other eight-lane freeways. Sunshine, the beach, the desert, ethnic diversity-and earthquakes, drought, wildfires, and flash floods-shape their identity.
Where we live affects who we are in ways we may not even notice. After all, everybody around us is dealing with the same climate, terrain, and local values. Paul''s readers all live in what is now Turkey, but he wants them to think of themselves as residents of an even more important geography: a place he calls "in Christ."
BLESSINGS IN CHRIST
Read Ephesians 1:1-14.
1. Make a list of everything Paul says here that is true of us because we are "in Christ" (or "in him," etc.).
"In Christ" describes the oneness with Christ that determines who we truly are. Whether we live in California, Minnesota, Nigeria, or China, if we''re Christians, then Christ himself is (or should be) the terrain, climate, history, and values that define us. That doesn''t mean we''ll all be the same (Chinese Christians are bound to be different from American Christians), but our deepest identity comes from Christ.
"[Christ] is the ''sphere of influence'' or ''power field'' in which [Christians] live and from which they benefit and are transformed. That is, his Spirit, values, character, history, and purposes shape their lives." Christ is still a person, not a force field, but we need to learn to think of ourselves as living in him.
2. How does a person come to be "in Christ" (1:13)?
3. How is your identity influenced by the physical place where you live, or where you come from? (For example, how are you a Californian, a Southerner, a Chicagoan, an American, a Korean-American?)
GOING DEEPER
The Christian faith is not an attractive set of ideas or a nice avenue to follow. Rather, it is so deep an engagement with Christ, so deep a union with our Lord, that Paul can only describe it as living in Christ. To live in Christ is to be determined by him. He shapes who we are. A person cannot be conscious of being enveloped by Christ and behave in ways totally out of keeping with his character.
We are saved in Christ and our thinking and behavior are transformed in Christ. As Paul says, Christians are becoming "holy and blameless" (1:4).
4. What difference does it make to your life that you live in two locales: a physical place and in Christ?
5. What does it mean "to be holy and blameless in his sight" (1:4)?
IN SIN OR IN CHRIST
Read Ephesians 2:1-10.
6. Before we lived in Christ, we lived somewhere very different. What key elements of that environment influenced our identity then (2:1-3)?
"This world" (2:2) doesn''t mean the natural world of rocks, plants, and animals. God created those, and they are good (Gen. 1:31). "This world" for Paul means the human world system (politics, economics, social customs) that ignores God.
"The ruler of the kingdom of the air" (2:2) is the devil. "The ancient world apparently viewed the air between heaven and earth as the domain of spirits."
The phrase "sinful nature" (2:3) is in the original Greek the word "flesh." Paul doesn''t mean that our physical bodies are bad. Rather, "flesh" for him means "that which is merely human and left to its own devices" without God. God made us with human desires and instinctive drives, but apart from him those desires and drives take over like weeds and become distorted and compulsive "cravings."
7. When we changed realms from being "in sin" to "in Christ," we were included in some important things that had happened to Christ: his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into the heavenly realms (2:4-6). What do you think it means to say that "in Christ" we are seated right now with him in the heavenly realms?
GOING DEEPER
In Paul''s mind, Christ''s death and resurrection are not merely events that produce benefit for believers, they are events in which believers are included.... [P]eople either live in sin and under its influence or in Christ and under his influence. It is a question of serving the tyrant sin or the Lord Christ. Conversion is a transfer from one sphere to the other, a change of lordships, and being raised with Christ is the language Paul uses to describe this transfer from the realm of death to the realm of life.
UNITED WITH GOD''S PEOPLE IN CHRIST
Read Ephesians 2:11-22.
Being in Christ also means being connected to everyone else who is in him. Each of us is like one stone in a holy temple built "in the Lord" (note the repeated words "on," "in," and "by" in 2:20-22).
Today we tend to think of ourselves as individuals making our own free choices and determining our own destiny. But in the ancient East, people thought of themselves as connected, as a part of their families or tribes.
8. How easy is it for you to think of yourself as part of Christ, intimately connected to him and to others who are in him (2:19-22)? What helps or hinders you from thinking of yourself that way?
Because all Christians are in Christ, ethnic barriers like the one between Jews and Gentiles are (or should be) torn down between us. In Christ is "peace" (2:14, 17) between groups who were formerly hostile. In him groups that were "foreigners and strangers" (2:19) become family. Regardless of race, gender, or culture, "[w]e are one with all others in Christ whether we like it or not."
9. How should being in Christ affect the way we relate to believers from different ethnic groups? What about how we relate to believers who make a lot less money than we do?
10. If Paul is right, why do our churches tend to segregate people along ethnic and social lines?
11. What makes you feel that you belong, or don''t belong, in the church?
Paul asks us to remember that we are alive "in Christ." "Remembering requires attention; it does not happen automatically. To apply this text means that time will be given to thinking, reading, discussing, and learning about the change God has brought. Remembering will lead to prayer and an awareness of God''s presence and his involvement in what we do." Because we automatically think of ourselves as individuals, defining our identity in worldly terms, we need to remind ourselves of who we are "in Christ."
12. What aspect of being "in Christ" is most significant for the way you see yourself currently?
RESPONDING TO GOD''S WORD
IN YOUR GROUP:
Ephesians 1:3-14 is in the form of a hymn of praise. Have someone read the following paraphrase aloud, and then let others respond with their own words of praise for what God has done for you in Christ.
How marvelous God is! His Spirit has provided everything needed for life. Every good thing has been made available in Christ. We praise such a God.
Right from the first God has been busy devising a way to draw us home to himself so that we may live with him and for him. Through Jesus Christ he has made us family. As a result we owe God praise for the way he freely gave himself to us in Christ. In Christ''s death God''s abundant care for us is known; God gave himself for us to bring us back and make us his people. What lavish love he has for us! We honor you, God.
In his unfathomable wisdom God has made known his plan and desire to bring all things together in Christ. This includes everything in our world and everything in God''s world. Amazingly God''s plan includes us and gives us a share in what he is doing. For this we owe God praise for the hope that is ours in Christ. When we heard about the truth from God and believed the good news about his plan, God marked us as his own by giving us his Spirit. The Spirit''s dwelling in us is a pledge from God that he will complete his plan and that one day we will truly live with God. For this we owe God praise. Our God, we do worship you.
ON YOUR OWN:
Choose something that is true of you because you are in Christ. (For example, you are one of God''s chosen ones in Christ. Or you are forgiven in Christ. Or you belong as much as any other Chris tian belongs. You are no longer an outsider.) Write this truth at the top of a piece of paper, then write out how you respond to this thought. What do you feel when you think about this part of your identity? Does this truth conflict with something else about how you see yourself? (For instance, maybe you''re used to seeing yourself as a loner or an exile.) If this truth is true, how should it or does it affect your life? What do you want to say to God in response?
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Bringing the Bible to Life: Ephesiansby Klyne Snodgrass Karen Lee-Thorp Karen H. Jobes Copyright © 2008 by Klyne Snodgrass, Karen Lee-Thorp, and Karen H. Jobes. Excerpted by permission.
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