`What is Christian Worship?’ Series: What happens at the end of a service of worship?

Ephesians 1 verses 1 – 14

Icebreaker

When we leave a worship gathering or church service how do you usually feel?

What sort of things that take place in or around the service determine how we feel afterwards?

• What inspires us?

• What might discourage us?

• What makes us feel no different to when we arrived?

Looking at worship services that have inspired us, how has a service of worship inspired us to do things differently or implement changes in our lives?

Read Ephesians 1 vs 1-14

This letter was written by Paul when he was in prison or house arrest in Rome for preaching the gospel. He was therefore unable to visit the churches that he had previously ministered to on his missionary journeys. The letter is likely to have been intended not just for the church in Ephesus, but also it was written with the intention that it would be read in other churches as it travelled around as a circular letter. There are no specific references to situations in Ephesus.

The main themes in this passage can be described by three headings and all three are what we should recognise as our take-away learning or benefits from a service of worship: Unity, truth and purpose.

Truth

Q1. How many times is Jesus referred to in this passage, either by name or using a personal pronoun which refers to Jesus? What does this indicate about his centrality to our faith? Is our understanding of Jesus increased after a service of worship?

Q2. What has Jesus done for us according to Paul in this passage?

Q3. How is our relationship with Jesus and the Father explained in this passage? (verse 4) what does this mean for us?

Q4. How have we got to become adopted as God’s children? (See verses 5, 6, 9 and 11)

Q5. Paul mentions all three members of the trinity in this passage. What’s the role of each member of the Trinity as described in this passage?

Q6. How does Paul respond to this knowledge and truth about God and our salvation?

Unity

Q7. From verses 1 – 12 Paul refers to those Christians he is writing to by the pronoun “we”, then in verse 13 he refers to them as “you”. Why do you think he does this?

Q8. In verse 10 Christ is referred to as the head who brings all earthy and heavenly things together. When does he suggest this will happen? Can we expect unity like this now in our church?

Q9. Does worshipping together result in us feeling closer to our brothers and sisters in Christ? If so does this indicate that it is an important part of our worship and what things in our service enable us to feel more unified, for example does sharing communion together increase our unity?

Purpose

Q10. Is having a purpose important to you? What phrase is to be found three times in this passage (verses 6, 12 and 14)? What does this phrase mean?

Q11. Our purpose as God’s community on earth is to live for his praise and glory. This was referred in the Old Testament about the people of Israel for example Isaiah 43 verse 21. Jeremiah 13 verse 11. How can we do this today?

Q12. Do we feel a renewed sense of purpose after a service of worship and how can we embed this into our daily lives after the service?

A quote from John Stott

“To live to the praise of his glory and grace is both to worship him ourselves by our words and deeds as the gracious God he is, and to cause others to see and to praise him too.”

Leader’s Notes

Q1. Please don’t get too hung up on counting the number of times Jesus is mentioned although I think it could be about 15 times. The point is that Paul is clearly excited about Jesus in this passage and considers Jesus as central to everything.

Q2. Things that Jesus has done for us mentioned here include: blessed us (vs 3), Chosen us (vs 4), Loved us (vs 4), redemption (vs 7), forgiveness of sins (vs 7)…. And more.

Q3. The relationship is expressed here in terms of family relationships in that we are also adopted sons of the father along with Jesus who is the son of the Father. At this time adoption was an important legal status and meant having the same inheritance and privileges as a son. This means that we are equal to Jesus in God’s family which is an amazing privilege! Being God’s sons or daughters can be considered both an immense privilege, but also carries an element of responsibility. You may want to explore both these concepts in your group.

Q4. The words used here include chosen, freely given, made known, predestined. All of these are clear in reflecting that our adoption as sons is through nothing we have done as individuals, is entirely due to God’s actions or in other words through his grace.

Q5. The Father is the one who chose us and adopted us as his sons. Jesus Christ is the one who brings us together and has blessed us, forgiven us and redeemed us through his blood. The Holy Spirit is mentioned here as the seal or deposit guaranteeing our future inheritance.

Q6. Paul responds in praise. His doctrine leads to doxology ie. Praise and worship. Is this how we respond to teaching about doctrine or do we tend to be complacent about these truths, taking them for granted and not pausing to take it all in and appreciate what amazing things God has done for us.

Q7. Paul is likely to be referring to the gentiles or possibly those in the church who felt they were not the same as him, because he talks about the “you” in terms of inclusion in the body of Christ.

Q10. The phrase is “to the praise of his glory or his glorious grace” this implies that God himself wants us to be his people who reflect his glory and grace.

Q11. This will hopefully lead to a discussion about how we can glorify God through all aspects of our lives including doing our job to the best of our ability as well as treating others as Jesus would want us to treat them. This way of life is in sharp contrast to what our society want us to do which is to achieve what others regard as success in terms of finances, achievements that could be academic or social, and comfort for ourselves and our families.

Prayer

Pray for our worship services and for those who lead them that they might help us to discover truth about Jesus, unify us and send us out with a purpose.