We Are The Church: A Study in Ephesians
“New Life in Christ”
Ephesians 4:17-32 (CSB)
- Key Truth: The local church is not a destination but a base of operation.
Main Question: What does it look like to grow up in Christ and how is that lived out every day as the church?
1. Unlearning to Walk (vs.17-19)
Six ways of Gentile thinking and conduct:
a. “The futility of their thoughts…” (vs. 17c)
b. “They are darkened in their understanding…” (vs. 18a)
c. “Excluded from the life of God…” (vs. 18b)
d. “Because of the ignorance that is in them…” (vs. 18c)
e. “Because of the hardness of their hearts…” (vs. 18d)
f. “They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity...”
(vs. 19)
2. Relearning to Walk (vs. 20-24)
Three distinct ways Christ-followers should live:
a. “To take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires…” (vs. 22)
b. “To be renewed in the spirit of your minds…” (vs. 23)
c. “To put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and purity of the truth…” (vs. 24)
3. Living in the New Walk (vs. 25-32)
After the Message:
Read Ephesians 4:17-32 and Galatians 2:20. What areas of your “old self” are still hanging around? What do you need to “put on” so that you might live in the fullness of the “new self” you have been given in Christ?
