Bible Study 6 August 2024

Ephesians 4: 17-24

17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

20That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Introduction

One of the gifts we receive from the Spirit is the gift of discernment. The ability to know whether our actions and decisions are orientated towards the Lord and His kingdom or whether they are orientated

towards our own needs and desires. Even though it may seem that this is an easy endeavor in reality we often find ourselves at a cross-roads as to what the right decision is.

Questions:

1.      What is Paul saying and affirming in verse 17? Say it in your own words.

2.      Can you see that different parts of society are to different degrees depraved?

Is all the world, even your moral friends who don’t know the Lord, included in it?

3.      What step or area of Christian growth have you most struggled with?

Conclusion

The act of discarding the old self for the new, of being saved and sanctified every day, in other words the constant process of growing and maturing in our faith is a challenging one. We fall and stand back up, we make mistakes and repent, we once again go back to old habits, people and places just to again realize why we decided to rather follow Christ than following our own hearts. By His Grace and His grace alone we are able to do this and if we have to give a short answer as to how we are able to discern what to do and say as followers of Jesus it can only be the following, ‘Trust Him!’.