UNIT #6 THE EPHESIAN CHURCH UNIT DESCRIPTION Paul, the author of the book of Ephesians, wrote this letter while he was in prison in Rome. The great theme of this book is God's eternal purpose to establish and complete His body, the church of Christ. "J.A. Robinson captured Paul's mood when he explained that his mind was now free for one supreme exposition, noncontroversial, positive, fundamental of the great doctrine of his life--that doctrine into which he had been advancing year by year under the discipline of his unique circumstances--the doctrine of the unity of mankind in Christ and the purpose of God for the world through the Church". Yet Paul s objective was not purely inspirational. He sought to relate his vision to the practical demands of Christian living in a hostile society." 1 The life of the believer is lived out on earth as a response to all that God has done for us and offers to us through the cross. "...the practical daily life of the believer continues to work out the purposes of God...The unity of the church under the headship of Christ foreshadows the uniting of 'all things in heaven and on earth' under Christ (1:10). The new life of purity and mutual deference stands in contrast to the old way of life without Christ (4:17-6:9)." 2 God s grace reconciled individuals to Himself and to each other. "Christ brought Jews and Gentiles together by 'breaking down the wall of hatred' that separated them (2:14) and he united them all as part of that holy temple where God's Spirit lives (2:22)...There is only one Lord, one Spirit of God, and one God, who is the Father of all people (4:4,5). This means that Christians must let the Spirit keep their hearts united, so they can live at peace with each other (4:3). The idea of all Christians being one with Christ is so central to this letter that it occurs twenty times. There is one faith and one baptism by which believers become one body." 3 Paul concludes his letter with the admonition to "put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" (6:11). "What Paul writes here concerning Christian warfare is the external counterpart of his emphasis on the inward growth and edification of the church (4:12-16). The body of Christ must be united and built up so as to be ready for the inevitable encounter with evil. Each believer needs to be prepared for the fight." 4 1 The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Ephesians, Zondervan Reference Software. 2 NIV Study Bible, The Zondervan Corporation, 1985, p. 1790. 3 The King and the Beast, Thomas Nelson Publisher, 1991, p. 496. 4 The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Frank E. Gaebelein, The Zondervan Corporation, 1978, Vol. 11, p. 85. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 6#1 Page 1
GOD S RICHES AT CHRIST S EXPENSE UNIT 6#1 THE EPHESIAN CHURCH K/1 ST GRADE CONCEPT God's unfathomable grace reconciles individuals to Himself. GOAL Christian students will learn how God s grace continues to apply to their lives. Non-Christian students will learn that grace is an undeserved gift. PASSAGE: Ephesians 2:1-9 Key verse: "... by grace you have been saved, through faith it is the gift of God so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8, 9 (NIV) PLANNING AHEAD Lesson Supplies Introduction: WHAT S THE COST?! sign (shared by grades for skit) Spread of the Early Church laminated map Lesson: Letters: G, R, A, C, E each one on a sheet of cardstock Learning Activity #1: Pass the Good News... paper, 1/child Half sheet with the key verse, 1/child Paper clips, 2/child Craft Supplies Activity Station: It s a Big Big World Atlas GRACE printed sheet, 1/child Construction paper confetti Glue Sticks Scissors Crayons Markers Teachers please note: For clarity, the shaded areas in the Planning Ahead section indicate supplies that are in and should be returned to your classroom SHARED SUPPLY bag. Items followed by an asterisk* are to be supplied by the teaching team. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 6#1 Page 2
BACKGROUND INFORMATION / TEACHER HELPS "The Gospel of the grace of God awakens an intense longing in human souls and an equally intense resentment, because the revelation which it brings is not palatable. There is a certain pride in man that will give and give, but to come and accept is another thing. I will give my life to martyrdom, I will give myself in consecration, I will do anything, but do not humiliate me to the level of the most hell-deserving sinner and tell me that all I have to do is to accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. "We have to realize that we cannot earn or win anything from God; we must either receive it as a gift or do without it. The greatest blessing spiritually is the knowledge that we are destitute; until we get there Our Lord is powerless. He can do nothing for us if we think we are sufficient of ourselves, we have to enter into His Kingdom through the door of destitution. As long as we are rich, possessed of anything in the way of pride or independence, God cannot do anything for us. It is only when we get hungry spiritually that we receive the Holy Spirit." 5 "Most Christians make the mistake of trying to walk in order to be able to sit, but that is a reversal of the true order. Our natural reason says, If we do not walk, how can we ever reach the goal? What can we attain without effort? How can we ever get anywhere if we do not move? But Christianity is a queer business! If at the outset we try to do anything, we get nothing; if we seek to attain something, we miss everything. For Christianity begins not with a big DO, but with a big DONE. Thus Ephesians opens with the statement that God has 'blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ' (1:3) and we are invited at the very outset to sit down and enjoy what God has done for us; not to set out to try and attain it for ourselves. "Walking implies effort, whereas God says that we are saved, not by works, but 'by grace through faith' (2:8). We constantly speak of being 'saved through faith,' but what do we mean by it? We mean this, that we are saved by reposing in the Lord Jesus. We did nothing whatever to save ourselves; we simply laid upon him the burden of our sin-sick souls. We began our Christian life by depending not upon our own doing but upon what he has done. Until a man does this he is no Christian; for to say: 'I can do nothing to save myself; but by his grace God has done everything for me in Christ,' is to take the first step in the life of faith. The Christian life from start to finish is based upon this principle of utter dependence upon the Lord Jesus. There is no limit to the grace God is willing to bestow upon us. He will give us everything, but we can receive none of it except as we rest in him. 'Sitting' is an attitude of rest. Something has been finished, work stops, and we sit. It is paradoxical, but true, that we only advance in the Christian life as we learn first of all to sit down. "What does it really mean to sit down? When we walk or stand we bear on our legs all the weight of our own body, but when we sit down our entire weight rests upon the chair or couch on which we sit. We grow weary when we walk or stand, but we feel rested when we have sat down for awhile. In walking or standing we expend a great deal of energy, but when we are seated we relax at once, because the strain no longer falls upon our muscles and nerves but upon something outside of ourselves. So also in the spiritual realm, to sit down is simply to rest our whole weight our load, ourselves, our future, everything upon the Lord. We let him bear the responsibility and cease to carry it ourselves. " Christianity indeed means that God has done everything in Christ, and that we simply step by faith into the enjoyment of that fact. Our key word here is not of course, in its context, a command to 'sit down' but to see ourselves as 'seated' in Christ. Paul prays that the eyes of our heart be enlightened (1:18) to understand all that is contained for us in this double fact, that God has first by mighty power 'made him to sit,' and then by grace 'made us to sit with him.' And the first lesson we must learn is this, that the work is not initially ours at all, but his. It is not that we work for God, but that he works for us. God gives us our position of rest. He brings his Son's finished work and presents it to us, and then he says to us. 'Please sit'. His 5 Chambers, Oswald, "The Bounty of the Destitute, November 28 th," My Utmost for His Highest, 1963, Oswald Chambers Publications Association, Ltd. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 6#1 Page 3
offer to us cannot, I think, be better expressed than in the words of the invitation to the great banquet: 'Come; for all things are now ready' (Luke 14:17). "From this point onwards Christian experience proceeds as it began, not on the basis of our own work but always on that of the finished work of Another. "How can I receive the power of the Spirit for service? "What, then, is God's basis for the outpouring of the Spirit? It is the exaltation of the Lord Jesus (Acts 2:33). Because Jesus died on the Cross my sins are forgiven; because he is exalted to the throne I am endued with power from on high. The one gift is no more dependent than the other upon what I am or what I do. I did not merit forgiveness, and neither do I merit the gift of the Spirit. I receive everything not by walking but by sitting down, not by doing but by resting in the Lord. Hence, just as there is no need to wait for the initial experience of salvation, so there is no need to wait for the Spirit's outpouring. Let me assure you that you need not plead with God for this gift, nor agonize, nor hold 'tarrying meetings.' It is yours not because of your doing but because of the exaltation of Christ, 'in whom, having believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise'." 6 Grace is a challenging concept to understand. The fact that all of our sins (past, present and future) are forgiven through Christ's death on the cross is an exciting and awesome truth. God's gift of grace costs us nothing, but cost Jesus His life. Salvation is the first aspect of grace, but we dare not stop here in our understanding. This wonderful gift is always available to Christians (see Gal. 2:20). Because we continue to sin, we must appropriate grace daily. Christ has done it all and we have only to go to the throne of grace to receive mercy in our time of need (see Heb. 4:16). As we appropriate this truth in our own lives we are better able to extend grace to our team and the children in our classrooms. As a result, the children will have a tangible expression of God's grace (see 1 Cor. 15:10). Additional reading: 2 Timothy 2:1, 2 Corinthians 12:9, Hebrews 4:16, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5, 2 Peter 3:18. 6 Nee, Watchman, Sit, Walk, Stand,, Angus I. Kinnear, 1977 by Tyndale House, pp. 14-19. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 6#1 Page 4
LESSON PLAN SET UP/ INCORPORATION 15-20 MIN INSTRUCTION/ INTRODUCTION TRANSITION 2 MIN LESSON LG GROUP Activity Stations: Craft GRACE Mosaic Instructions: Give each child a printed GRACE sheet. Using glue sticks, cover the large GRACE letters with glue. Sprinkle confetti on the GRACE letters and press to make the confetti stick. Color the other letters with markers or crayons. Research: Goal: To familiarize with and develop interest in reference materials and maps. Instructions: Find Ephesus on the map. Compare that map to the map in it's a Big Big World Atlas. Show where Ephesus would be today and where it is in relation to Ohio. Missions Prayer Instructions: Talk about and pray for Oasis Giving campaign and adopted missionary child. Drama What s the Cost?! skit performed by the Drama Team. Today we are going to learn about the book of Ephesians in the Bible. This book is actually a letter that Paul wrote to the church in the city of Ephesus. Some of you found Ephesus on the map when you first came in to class. Ephesus is here. (Point to the laminated map.) Paul wrote this letter to tell the Christians in Ephesus how much God loved them and how to live the Christian life. Let's watch a skit about a gift. Let's go back to our classrooms to learn more about this amazing gift. Your friends and family give you gifts because they love you. Who would like to tell us about your favorite gift? Do you know that God loves you even more than your friends and family? He wants to give you a very special gift. In the skit the contestants tried to guess the cost of things. Who remembers how much it costs us to go to heaven? (Cost is nothing to us; it is a gift from God.) Who paid the cost so we can go to heaven? (Jesus did.) What was the cost to Jesus? It cost Jesus everything His life. God sent Jesus to earth to die for our sins. Jesus was willing to pay the price for us because He loves us. Grace Acronym I have 5 letters here that will help us remember the gift God wants to give us. I need 5 volunteers to hold these letters as I talk about them. Instructions: Choose 5 children. Give each child one letter [G], [R], [A], [C], [E] to hold up in front of the class. As you explain each letter, have the child with the corresponding letter step forward. G stands for "God s; God made us and always loves us. R stands for "riches;" God is the richest one in the whole world, but not rich like we think of rich. He doesn't have 10 TVs with video games attached to each or 10 million dollars bulging out of His pockets. Even though He owns the whole world, His riches are much greater and more valuable than TVs and money. TVs and money only last for this life, but God's riches will last forever. His love, His forgiveness and a home with Him in heaven are just some of the riches He wants to give us. A stands for "at." C stands for "Christ s; Christ is Jesus Christ, God's Son. E stands for "expense." Expense means cost. Remember the cost to go to heaven is nothing for us but cost Jesus everything His life. Jesus' expense/cost was that He died on the cross. That was a HUGE price for Him to pay for OUR sins. Let's repeat what each of these stands for, God's Riches At Christ's Expense. Say these with XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 6#1 Page 5
me. (Tap head of each child with corresponding letter as you say, "God's Riches At Christ's Expense.") Repeat. Does anyone know what word these 5 letters spell? (They spell grace.) Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. Thank you, helpers, you can give me your letters and sit down. Our key verse for today is about grace. It is found in the book of Ephesians and it says, "... by grace you have been saved, through faith it is the gift of God so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). This says that if you ask Jesus to forgive you, you are saved from separation from God. You become His child and you will go to heaven to live with Jesus forever after you die. God's grace is a gift that we can never earn; it can only be given by Him. Isn't that an incredible gift for God to offer us? It's better than any Christmas or birthday gift. Let's say the key verse again. "... by grace you have been saved, through faith it is the gift of God so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). TRANSITION 2 MIN LEARNING ACTIVITY #1 LG GROUP Pass Good the News TRANSITION 2 MIN LEARNING ACTIVITY #2 SM GROUPS Since God loves all of us, does that mean everyone is going to heaven? (No.) Some people think they can get to heaven by being good. They don't think they need God's gift of grace. But God says that no one is good enough get to heaven on his or her own. He tells us in the Bible that everyone needs His gift of grace. If we tell Him we want Jesus to forgive us, God promises that we will be His child and spend forever with Him in heaven after we die. Let's repeat our key verse, "... by grace you have been saved, through faith it is the gift of God so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). After we become Christians we still sin and make bad choices. When we do, we can accept God's grace. Let's play a game. Pass the Good News Instructions: Divide the children into two teams. Give each child one Pass the Good News... piece of paper and 2 paper clips. Have them roll their paper into an 11 cylinder with a 1 overlap so Pass the Good News shows along the outside of the cylinder. Fasten the ends with the paper clips. Tell the teams to hold their paper cylinders end to end to create a long pipe. Wad two pieces of paper with the key verse into balls small enough to fit through the cylinders. At the signal, a teacher will drop the paper balls into the ends of the first two cylinders. Pass the ball from cylinder to cylinder to the end of the line. If the ball drops on the floor, the last person must pick it up and try again. When the ball gets to the last person s cylinder, that player will open the paper and ask a teacher to read it. They can take their cylinders and key verses home with them. Let s get into small groups. We just played a fun game passing the good news of God s grace. Who can tell me what G-R-A-C-E spells? Can you remember what each letter stands for? What does that mean? Let's repeat our key verse, "... by grace you have been saved, through faith it is the gift of God so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). What does it mean? What do we have to do to earn God's love? (Nothing! We can NEVER be good enough to earn God's love) How do we become God s child? (Accept the gift of grace He offers.) After we become His child we will still sin and He keeps loving us. Let's pray now and ask God to help us to remember His grace. If you have never asked God for His gift of grace for your sins, you can do that as we pray. Those of us who have asked God for His grace can thank God that He has forgiven us and will always love us and that He will help us to make the choices that He would want us to make. XENOS CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, 1-800-698-7884, www.xenos.org K/1 st Unit 6#1 Page 6