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(2:9-11) We know we're supposed to humble ourselves like Jesus did. But how can we know whether or not God will exalt us? Why do we get impatient with this? What does our impatience sometimes lead to? We know as a matter of certainty that we will be exalted because Jesus promised it and He is truth so we can trust His word implicitly. His apostles also confirm this in Scripture. This too is entirely trustworth because it is the Word of God and, therefore, inerrant. I do not think that we should become impatient because the humility that Jesus requires us to display opens us up to a whole new world of love, service, relationshipa and experience. We should not be impatient with our growth in Christ. Paul tells us to persevere {2 Corinthians 4:16-18; Galatians 9:10] But impatience which is a manifestation of anger is the starting point of sin. Humility requires patience: it is part of the discipline.

(2:7-8) Was Jesus really a human being or only pretending to be one? What do these verses teach? What difference does it really make whether or not Jesus was human? Jesus was certainly fully human and was not just pretending to be human. In taking human form He shares our humanity. He was tempted. He suffered. He experienced acute pain. By being fully man He can be a much more powerful example to follow. His humanity is, therefore, very important to us. Also He can fully understand our predicament and help us address it because He has experienced it also.

(2:6) In your own words, what does it mean that Christ didn't cling to his equality with God? How specifically does this passage teach that Jesus is divine? Jesus did not "cling on to His equality with God" because He did His Father's bidding. He was obedient to His Father. He was humbled by His incarnation. He became a sacrifice and suffered terribly by following not His will but that of His Father. The passage states clearly that Jesus is "in very nature God". He was equal to God, being God, but He did not place that equality above service. Having the nature of God as stated in the passage, it is a clear confirmation of His divinity.

(2:1-4). To achieve unity in your congregation, why is humility necessary? Can you give an example of how lack of humility caused a division in your church? What are you doing to bring unity in your church? We are all called to serve. It is one of the princople purposes for our being put on earth: to serve God by serving others as Jesus did. Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life) puts it very well. This is how he says real servants act. They: - are available to serve; - pay attention to needs; - do the best with what they have; - do every task with equal dedication; - are faithful to their ministry; and - maintain a low profile. We should think like a servant who: -thinks more about others than themselves; - think like stewards, not owners; - think about their work, not what others are doing; - base their identity in Christ; and - think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. Service is one of the spiritual disciplines in which we must engage if we are to become more like Jesus. We do it not out of duty but out of love and gratitude. One of the greatest enemies of unity in my church, and I am sure others, is dissension. Paul counts this as a very serious sin. It stems first from a lack of humility and true service and the best way to remove the divisions caused by pride, contempt and condescension is to work hard with the interests of others in mind. This diffuses dissension and works to develop unity.

What does Ephesians 3:12 teach us about the manner of approaching God? What happens if we try to pray without these qualities? This verse tells us that we have access to God. The forgiveness of our sins makes that possible. When we approach God and pray to Him we can be bold, that is fearless and without doubts. We can be confident and put our trust completely in Him. If we do not have this confidence it says much about our faith. If we pray with an attitude of doubt and uncertainty, how can we expect that prayer to be effective? Paul teaches us how to pray so that our prayers are effective and he gives us the basis why that is.

(Ephesians 3:7-9) Why is Paul so careful to be humble about his call and apostleship? How can his example help us remain as humble servants? Paul was humbled by the commission he was given for several reasons. He knew it was a vital commission: the spread of Christianity to the Gentiles was dependent on it. He was humbled because of his zealous persecution of Christians before his conversion. He was also humble so that he did not get in the way or obstruct his message of salvation. The Gospel was not about him, it is about coming to a life in Christ. Nothing should deflect from the message. Particularly as we witness we can adopt a superior, even sanctimonious, attitude. It is something that unbelievers hate about religious people and rightly so. To be an effective servant of Jesus we should curb any tendancy to pride, aggression or self-satisfaction. Faith is God-given. Our salvation is through God's boundless grace. We are thankful, not proud. We are to be loving. Humility allows us to take willingly second place to those around us. We are in our words and in our actions a much more effective witness as a result.

(Ephesians 3:6) Just what is the "mystery" that Paul is talking about? Why was it important to the Gentile Christians in Paul's day? The mystery is that Gentile Christians will be treated exactly the same as God's chosen people: the Jews. Gentiles are co-heirs, members of one body and sharers together. This was important in Paul's day because Jews looked down on Gentiles and were inclined to treat them as second class citizens. Although the nucleus of the early churches were often Jewish, increasingly Gentiles were being drawn to it.

(Ephesians 3:2-5) Why is God's revelation to "his holy apostles and prophets" our authority for faith and practice? What is the danger of minimizing or straying from that revelation? What is the danger of superceding that revelation? What is the danger of denying that God reveals himself to us and to his church today? God's revelation is recorded in the Scriptures. It is His Word conveyed by His Spirit to "his holy apostles and prophets". God's Word is our sole authority on matters of belief and behaviour. It is the basis of our faith. A sure sign of real conversion is a love of Jesus and a love of the Bible: the love of triuth and grace. It follows that God's Word must be followed strictly as to deviate from it is to risk introducing error into one's belief and to misrepresent the truth. The Holy Spirit gives to some the gift of prophesy so God still reveals Himself through prophesy to His church today. To deny this would be to deny the truth of God's Word [1 Corinthians 12].However, any such revelation must accord with Scripture. This has always applied. Jesus' treaching was grounded in the Bible. It is His foundation [Matthew 5:18]. This is how he resisted the devil's temptations [Matthew 4]. This obvious applied in Paul's day also. Indeed, the Bereans were praised above the Thessalonians precisely because they tested Paul's teaching against Scripture which, as we should today, they read daily.

(Ephesians 2:22) What is the significance that your congregation was made to be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"? What hinders that from being fully experienced? What can you do to help that become more fully experienced and appreciated? Being a Christian requires collective worship and a church which acts together as a congregation in its community. For God's Word to abound in the community, the church must be an envigorating energetic organisation. Lack of enthusiasm, failure to use of God-given talents and the gifts of the Holy Spirit and petty dissensions hinder the church from being fully the expression of God's dwellingplace. It will be experienced if everyone gave their energy, efforts and gifts towarsd it, putting pride and pettiness aside and, instead, really actively loved their neighbours and members of their congregation. The enemy is half-heartedness which saps our enjoyment and undermines our efforts. The greater our effort, purpose and enthusiasm, the more the power of God will work in our congregation. In short put self aside and really start to use the gifts God gave me for the community in which I live: not a token effort...the full nine yards!

(Ephesians 2:17) What does it mean to have "access to the Father"? In what way does the Holy Spirit facilitate this access? In what way does Jesus enable this access? The right of access to the Father maens that we can address Him directly; we have that privilege. We have this relationship through the mediation of Jesus, through the working of His Spirit. Without His death on the cross this access was not possible. Sin would have made this impossible. Further this access is available to all who believe whether Jew or Gentile. Further, we cannot come to God unless the Holy Spirit works within us to enable us to do so. Our redemption comes from the action of the Holy Spirit.

(Ephesians 2:14-15) In what sense did Jesus as Messiah "fulfill" the Mosaic Law? What is the significance of that for Jewish people? For us Gentiles? Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial component of Mosaic Law when He died on the cross because He was the perfect and complete atoning sacrifice which permits us to approach God in a condition of having our sins already paid for. The sacrifice of animals was, therefore, redundant. It was for this reason that on Jesus' death the viel of the temple was ripped apart. The kingship of Jesus also means that Mosaic civil law is obsolete. For the Jew the fulfilment of the law means that Christianity is now God's plan to save the world and to bring it to Him. It is always expected that the Jews will be part of this. The Jewish religion and its beliefs, apart from its God given moral law, has been superceded. The Jews are no longer exclusively God's chosen people but whether Gentile or Jew all Christians are equally God's children. For us Gentiles, it means that it is only through Jesus and His atoning sacrifice that we can come to God. As Gentiles we are not excluded. It also means there are parts of the Bible which are not specifically addressed to us.

(Ephesians 2:11-12) Why does being out of touch with what it means to be "lost" impede our willingness to witness? In your own words, what is the spiritual condition of a friend or co-worker who doesn't know Christ? I think that those who have converted from a background which was not Christian have a much clearer idea of what it is like to be without God and without hope. Life has no enduring purpose. You are captive to sin and the world, the inevitable consequence of which is death. It is an arid and pointless place to be when you truly reflect on it. Worse than pointless, it is a place of great danger. If we truly loved our unbelieving friends, family and neighbours we would make a much greater effort to open their hearts to the Gospel of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit. We would also pray for them more earnestly and more often. A friend who does not believe has no spiritual life at all. He or she does not understand it and is incredulous about it. Actually they are hostile about it and about Christianity generally. That is why Jesus observed if you are not for me, you are against me. There is a huge propaganda effort to place Christians in an unfavourable light, to make them look narrow-minded, old-fashioned and foolish (or gullible). Unbelievers hearts are closed, for the time being, to the Good News and the liberation it brings.

What exactly is faith? Can we take credit for having it? Can we be condemned for lacking it? Define "faith" in terms a 10-year-old could understand. Faith is a trust in God and His Word. It is a trust which places Him at the centre of everything. Faith is the trust that God and His Word are truth: absolute truth. No, we cannot take credit for faith because it is God's Holy Spirit which opens our hearts to Him and, as a result, we put our sole trust in Him. Without the Holy Spirit we would not come to God or have faith. However, having had our hearts opened to it, we have to accept the invitation "Come to me". Faith can be deepened. This requires spiritual disciplines on our part but it will not happen without the Holy Spirit working within us. As Willard puts it, it is discipline together with dependence: dependence on the Holy Spirit. For the ten year old I would say that we have faith in a person who we know will not let us down, who loves us unconditionally and always looks after our best interests. Such a person will always be there for us. We can always trust and confide in them. This is like the relationship between a parent and a child at its best. Faith in God is the same trust except that we can trust Him absolutely as we know His love is absolute towards us, He will never let us down and He always works in our interests.

According to Ephesians 2:10, what were we created to do? Why? (Matthew 5:16) What is the difference between these works and the works Paul discredits in verse 9? We were created by God to do "good works" and we are given spiritual gifts and natural talents to do such good works. We do this in praise of God and for His glory. By this we show His light in the world. By following the teachings of Jesus we also hope to encourage others to open their hearts so the Holy Spirit can enter and be the agent that transforms them into the likeness of Jesus. The works we do are a manifestation of being in Christ. They are an expression of our faith and our discipleship. We do not simply listen to, or read, the Word, but we do what it says. [James 1:22] Our works have nothing to do with our salvation. This is entirely the result of God's grace, which is undeserved; our sinfulness is far too great for that. No works from us can gain salvation and the redemption: only the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross can do that.

"Saved" has become Christian jargon. How can you "translate" this word into modern speech so people can understand what it really means and why they need it? The word resued implies an imminent danger. There would be no need for a resue unless a life threatening event could take place or is taking place. The word gives both the sense of the urgency of the act and the consequences, often fatal, always detrimental, which would have occurred in its absence.