Faithful Steward Ministries and FSM Women's Outreach

CONTEXT

The Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1–16)

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called—one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he led captives in his train and gave gifts to men.” (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. To be called by God out of the world and into the body of Christ is the highest vocation possible. The Greek word for church, ecclesia, is made up of a prefix and a root. The prefix is ek—out of. The root is the verb coleo, to call. The church in the New Testament is made up of those who are called out from the world, from darkness, from damnation, from paganism, to become members of the body of Christ.

Paul is not saying that they were called out of the world because they were worthy. He has already stressed the point that the calling by which we are made the children of God is utterly gracious. But after God calls us to be his children, and in response to that unspeakable gift, we should endeavour to do everything in our power to live lives that are worthy of our calling. What motivates and stimulates our behaviour in attempting to live worthy lives is the grace by which we have been saved.

R. C. Sproul, The Purpose of God: Ephesians (Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 1994), 93–95.

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effectual calling. God’s particular, inward call to the elect, in contrast to God’s *universal calling to all humanity, which can be rejected. Effectual calling is commonly considered the second event in the *ordo salutis, in which God the Father summons his people into union with Christ for their salvation as enabled by the Holy Spirit. Thus God both invites and effectually enables the elect to respond in repentance and faith since otherwise they would be unable to draw near to God, being dead in *sin.

Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt, Pocket Dictionary of the Reformed Tradition, The IVP Pocket Reference Series (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2013), 46.

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DEVOTIONAL

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