Come Follow Me LDS- Ephesians Part 2

'Lowliness, Imitators & Armor'
- We are to go below all as did the Savior
- One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
- Here, 'Followers' means 'Imitators'
- 'Servant' as a title for Christ, Kings & Us
- Roles of men and women in the ancient church
- The Armor of God

 

 

Come Follow Me New Testament Ephesians Bible

LDS Mormon

 

in this episode we're going to talk

about lowliness imitators and armor here

we go so in this episode we're gonna

talk about Ephesians four five and six

and here in chapter 4 Paul opens up

talking about being low as he's often

talked about kind of like being weak and

what he's doing is he's emulating the

Savior and here's what I mean by that

this is what he says here starting off

in verse 1 I therefore the prisoner of

the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy

of the vocation wherewith ye are called

so he's a prisoner of the Lord and to

with all lowliness and meekness with

long-suffering forbearing one with

another in love so again when we go back

to the first shall be last and the last

shall be first it's this relationship

that we're talking about between for

example the Gentiles and the Jews but

also between the Savior and ourselves

remember he is the first and the last he

is the Alpha and Omega and he was lower

than all of us in other words he went

lower than all of us

submitting himself to the Father and

taking on all horrible things all bad

dark negative things adversarial things

in order to lift us up and so that's

kind of what he's talking about here is

making sure that you have the attributes

of the Savior which would be lowliness

being able to drop down below everybody

else by bearing their burdens and

meekness and remember I've brought this

up before meekness very likely means

covenant-keeping so we talked about

being meek his

kind of might think of it as even being

docile but really it's more likely what

it means is to be a covenant keeper it's

someone who is submitting to a promise

would be what someone who is meek yes

that's how I see it

long-suffering forbearing one another in

love so these are attributes of the

Savior not someone who is passive and

low and depressed in a sense but someone

who takes on these noble attributes of

being able to go down below everybody

else and in a sense lift everybody up

burying their burdens and then again in

his message to try and keep everybody

unified and together again you've got

the Gentiles

you've got the Jews you've got all these

backgrounds you've got he's speaking

actually - he had a number of servants

or slaves that converted to the church

as well and so he's talking to them also

here in this letter and so there are a

lot of people with a lot of different

backgrounds very culturally different

backgrounds and he wants them to be

unified together and so he says there is

one body and one spirit remember he's

talking about the body of Christ and how

all of us are a part of that body one

body in one spirit even as you're called

in one hope of your calling one Lord one

faith one baptism so whether you're a

Jew or you are a Gentile or you are a

master or a servant it is all the same

you worship the same God you do that in

the same way you get baptized in the

same way and your faith is all in the

same thing the same sacrifice in the

same being Jesus Christ and of course I

think he also is saying there are no

other gods before God before the Lord

and so there's one God a lot of you are

used to having pay a pagan ism and a lot

of different gods to worship for

different things

a lot of idols polytheism is very very

common in these places but for everybody

here in the church everyone should come

together and worship one God in the same

way and then starting in verse eight he

talks about this how the Lord ascended

and descended right he was above

everyone and he was below everyone and

he says here wherefore he saith when he

ascended up on high he led captivity

captive and gave gifts unto men so he

got rid of captivity he freed the slaves

he freed the servants which would be all

of us freed from justice and free from

the burdens of our sins if we choose it

he also went to the underworld so to

speak as they would say or the spirit

world where he taught everyone there and

freed them gave them the path forward to

be baptized through proxy through

baptisms for the dead and the teaching

of the gospel in verse nine now that he

ascended what is it but that he also

descended first into the lower parts of

the earth so he ascended but before he

ascended up to the Father he did descend

down to the underworld so to speak to

the spirit world so again it's got

Paul's talking about this being above

everybody and then being below everyone

taking on these attributes and in verse

10 he describes this he says he that

descended is the same also that ascended

up far above all heavens that he might

fill all things so there's the concept

right the Savior descended below all

things first and because he descended

below all things first he was able to

ascend up to the Father and so we are

charged with doing the same thing right

it's not something that is just to help

us and free us but it's an example and a

process and a principle that we are also

supposed to follow where we descend

below everyone around us to be able to

lift them up

by burying their burdens and showing

charity to them and Joseph Smith adds in

here in verse 10 that when he ascends he

sent ascends to glorify the father so

even though he has descended below all

of us and gone down metaphorically

speaking into the spirit world and then

ascended above everything because of

that he still is submitting to the

Father and glorifying the father that's

that fluid hierarchy and I think that's

an important point that Joseph Smith

inserts here that never goes away it's

never all about him even for us it is

but for Christ it's not all about him

right it's about glorifying his father

that is an absolute necessary principle

for righteousness and he's the most

righteous of us all and then he talks

about giving us teachers and leaders

spiritual leaders apostles and prophets

and teachers and evangelists etc and how

they are there to help perfect us and so

that's what the church is that's what

the priesthood is it's an

organization to help us follow the

commandments and to become more like the

Savior and as president Nelson has very

much emphasized it's not the other way

around it's not us that is responsible

for perfecting the church right that's

not the purpose the purpose is a family

centered plan where the church its

responsibility is to support the

individual and the family to help

perfect us and in verse 14 he brings up

something that's almost like a prophecy

of what's going to happen here with the

church he says that we henceforth be no

more children tossed to and fro and

carried about with every wind of

doctrine that is so easy to have happen

today with the internet and all of that

information that we are bumble

parted with constantly there are so

different so many different angles to

look at things and so many flattery

words and narratives that are put in

place and Paul is comparing that if we

are being dust in the wind basically to

doctrine to being little children and

that what we need to do is mature

spiritually solidify our testimonies

feel the spirit and mature

intellectually and spiritually to where

we can recognize this as he puts it by

the sleight of men and cunning

craftiness whereby they lie in wait to

deceive in other words that's their

purpose and so then he says in 15 but

speaking the truth in love may grow up

into him in all things which is the head

even Christ so as we are all part of the

body of Christ and there's different

callings in the church and we are

members of this body as members of the

church ultimately we want to grow up to

the head of that body which is Christ

and not be deceived by the doctrines of

men that are thrown at us consistently

especially in these times and of course

that's exactly what's going to happen

here with the church is they're going to

start splitting apart into these

different sects and how does that happen

because people come along and they offer

a different version of things they have

a different view of what truth is or

they purposely deceive or their own

agenda and the church starts to follow

these new leaders as the Apostles are

killed off and the priesthood starts to

fall away and the truths of the temple

after the temple is destroyed here not

many years after Paul vanish and it

takes a couple hundred a few hundred

years before all of these different

sects are mostly brought together

through these councils that they hold

and finally they end up with what they

call a universal Church

now some of those sects are not included

in that but a large portion of them are

in this Universal Church and that's what

Catholic means right the Catholic means

the universe means universal universal

why because it was broken apart in so

many places and this is trying to say

hey we're bringing this all back

together again based on these counsels

that we've had and then in verse 18 he

says something that really goes against

what a lot of intellectuals would say

and what a lot of fundamentalists would

say he says having the understanding

darkened being alienated from the life

of God through the ignorance that is in

them because of the blindness of their

heart so because they do not have a

softened heart an open heart that is

going to accept the spirit in that blind

heart or hardened heart causes ignorance

so we can get dogmatic in an ideological

position and harden our hearts against

the spirit and become more fundamental

in really what would be the lower law of

checklists and Commandments and to dues

and judgment without the grace and mercy

of the Savior or we can go the other way

and say that none of those things that

are required for becoming who were

supposed to become such as Commandments

and order and judgment to some degree

choosing or becoming wise comes through

judgment but loosening all of that up

then does the exact same thing and it

hardens our hearts to the spirit as well

and then down in verse 32 a very

important lesson that sometimes is

difficult to carry out even inside of

the church and that is and be kind one

to another we're pretty good at that

tender-hearted forgiving one another

even as God for Christ's sake hath

forgiven you so again that forgiveness

that we all want it's crucial that we're

able to turn to those around us and

offer that same forgiveness and the Lord

tells us whatever forgiveness you give

to those around you is the forgiveness

that you're going to receive from the

Savior so it's a pretty important issue

even from a selfish standpoint and then

in chapter 5 he opens up by saying be

ye therefore followers of God as dear

children so just as a child would be a

follower and needs the guidance of their

parents right then that's how we need to

be we need to rely on God as a parent

and be a follower now follower here the

Greek for follow here is Mehmet I and

that would be the same word that that

produces mine right am I'm that is

mimicking something so this is not like

Luke's come follow me

where the Savior is talking about

talking to the rich man about following

him sell all that you have and come

follow me that's a different word that

actually means to follow him or to

accompany him

Mehmet ah here means to mimic or to

imitate and so there's a direct

commandment here really as part of the

gospel that we understand as latter-day

saints which is that it's not just a

matter of us obeying and following the

example of not even following example

but following the commandments and

accepting Jesus as the Christ but it's a

matter of us imitating him so we want to

be like him that's a very important

doctrine that we have in the church it's

not just about being forgiven it's about

what our potential is and of course that

all is mixed together we can't grow

without repentance we can't grow without

faith

we can't grow without obeying the

commandments we can't become more like

the Savior without those things but that

is the goal is to be more like him to

imitate him so we are thankful to him

for his sacrifice and what it frees us

from and for the love that he gave us

but were also thankful for the example

of him lowering himself below all of us

because that's what we need to do we

need to follow as Paul has been talking

about here his example and lowering

ourselves below those around us so that

we can lift them up where we become as

Christ was referred to by Isaiah the

servant of those around us which is the

same thing that the same title that is

given - I think it's a title that's

given to King Benjamin right what is his

example his example is service as

example is serving those around him he

is playing the part of the servant just

as Isaiah talks about the servant who is

lowered - hello everybody

that's who we're supposed to be and then

he gives us this little tidbit here in

verse 13 starting in 13 about what seems

to be the light of Christ he says here

but all things that are reproved are

made manifest by the light for

whatsoever doth make manifest is light

so reality the truth is given to us

through light well we all have the light

of Christ where we have a basic

understanding of what is right and wrong

so when we think about that light we

might think of intelligence but we also

might think of it as Paul is describing

it here which is that light of Christ is

something that shines on our world so

that we can see things and distinguish

things and judge things so that we can

see the difference between right and

wrong and he says here that as we awake

which we can do continually

that Christ will give us light so the

more aware we become which makes a lot

of sense of our surroundings and of our

world and what our purpose is there's

more light that is shined on the gospel

and there it's truths and the comparison

of that light and the gospel inside of

the world that we live in we can see the

contrast we can see as Lehi talks about

the Opposition in all things and then

Paul comes back here to our wonderful

subject here of men and women and wives

and husbands and again this is something

that is very sensitive to some and is

not liked by many but again my point

here is and I've gone over this before

is I don't think we want to go through

this and try to change what he's saying

so that it sounds nicer I think what we

want to do instead of being Monday

morning historians on this is what we

want to do is we want to look at it for

what it is and that is a different world

that we did not live it do not live in

it is very difficult for us in modern

times to put ourselves in their shoes

and understand the relationship and the

demands and the roles that men and women

had to have not because of an oppressive

patriarchy or because men were bad or

anything like that but because women

were so incredibly vulnerable at the

time I don't want to go a lot into this

because I've already done this a few

episodes back but it was a different

world and that is what Paul is

describing here for the majority of

mankind the history of mankind on earth

men and women had to do everything that

they could just to survive they had to

beat the elements they had to have

massive manual labor for the most part

women were pregnant or had little kids

or both all the time right there's no

birth control and if they aren't focused

the kids then the kids aren't going to

survive we don't see that today right

because of all of the law and order that

we have compared to then the

civilization that we have of course all

of the modern technology that we have

and may be bigger than everything else

is the pill that has changed

civilization immensely so I'm not gonna

focus on trying to make this kind of

nice sounding I think we just need to

look back at it and say hey we don't

understand this as well

this is not you know this is not you

know we can't force a square peg into a

round hole here but here's what it says

first 22 wives submit yourselves unto

your own husband's as unto the Lord for

the husband is the head of the wife he

said this exact thing before even as

Christ is the head of the church and he

is the savior of the body so what he's

doing here is he's talking about the

family as being a body and the couple

the married couple as being a body so

the Lord is the savior of the family the

Lord is the savior of marriage therefore

as the church is subject unto Christ so

let the wives be to their own husband's

in everything so again we see the

example all the time in the Gospels of

Jesus being the bridegroom and the

church being the bride just like with

the ten virgins when they were there and

the bride is coming or the bridegroom is

coming Jesus is coming that's the

relationship it's a covenant

relationship now how does that covenant

relationship work well there is

submission to the Savior and following

him and then there is overwhelming

amount of love from the Savior to the

church to the point that he lowers

himself below everything to raise up the

church and the members of the church

and all mankind and so that's the

relationship that he's looking at here

different than probably

what would be said by President Nelson

today it's a different circumstance

that's all it is

it's a different circumstance but that's

what he's saying here is that women

would submit to the husband in the sense

that they were vulnerable very

vulnerable to everything and so for

physical protection overall and for

sustaining her and the children that's

how that relationship would have to work

and the other half of that here in verse

25 is husbands love your wives even as

Christ also loved the church and gave

himself for it

so the Savior gave everything everything

for the church he's saying that's what

husbands need to do husbands need to

give everything to their wives and

everything to their children and lower

themselves to the depths of hell if

necessary to raise them up that's what

that is saying our biggest issue here I

think is with the word submit and it's

just a different nuance than what we

would think about today then he says

down in 28 so ought men to love their

wives as their own bodies he that loveth

his wife loveth himself so he's gonna go

back to the Garden of Eden in the story

there remember Paul constantly goes back

to Genesis and the story of the creation

and the story of Adam and Eve in the

Garden of Eden for no man ever yet hated

his own flesh but nourisheth and

cherisheth it even as the Lord does the

church for we are members of his body of

his flesh and of his bones so again he's

bringing these two examples together of

the Savior in the church and men and

women husbands and wives for this cause

shall a man leave his father and mother

he's referencing Genesis and shall be

joined unto his wife and they too shall

be one flesh so that's what he's

referring to when he says that Adam to a

man that's his own wife is his own

they are one and that's what they're

there to be at one atonement

just like the Savior atones for us and

we try to atone for him in the sense

that we try to be at one with him by

reaching to him obeying the commandments

etc so a husband and wife should be one

remember in the Garden of Eden story

they are separated to begin with the rib

comes out of Adam and they're separated

and then they are to cleave back

together that's covenant separation then

bringing together and it's the same with

a savior and with a church and then in

chapter 6 he talks about children

obeying their parents and so bringing

that relationship together and he brings

up the commandment in verse 2 here honor

thy father and mother which is the first

commandment with promise and what is the

promise there that your days will be

long it shall live a long time

well how does that happen as I look at

that I think what it means is look if

you will follow them and be smart right

don't jump out in front of a car don't

run across the street when you're not

supposed to just like you've been told

don't play with fire as you follow

through with these things even as an

adult I still do the same thing with my

father I still want to follow his

example I still want to learn from him

he's been through my circumstances and

so I think my days can be lengthened if

I'm trying to follow his example and

pull from his experience and his wisdom

and then we get the famous part of

Ephesians here which starts here in

verse 11 it says put on the whole armor

of God that ye may be able to stand

against the wiles of the devil and I

think it's kind of interesting how he

set this up here but he's been talking

about how look we need to be unified as

a church there's one faith one Lord one

baptism

he's got everybody's attention

individual here and then he goes to the

family and he talks about the

relationship between a husband and a

wife and then he talks about the

children and then he also talks a

servants again there are a lot of

servants a lot of slaves that converted

to Christianity and talks about how they

need to be obedient to their masters

sounds strange to us today and then once

he's done that and he's talked about

these different groups then he talks

about standing now stand and fight and

what are you fighting against you're

going to fight against in verse twelve

principalities against powers against

the rulers of the darkness of this world

against spiritual wickedness in high

places it's probably not a message that

the Roman government wants to hear and

you have to think that Paul has this in

mind it's not just things that would

happen in the future or at another time

like we apply it today but for Paul and

for the church this would definitely be

the Roman Empire that he's talking about

for the most part along with the wiles

of the devil

and here's the armor that he goes over

we've all heard this before stand

therefore having your loins Girt about

with truth and having on the breastplate

of righteousness I think about that

first part there about having truth

that's what he lists first and in order

to get there yes you have to go through

faith to get a greater knowledge but

studying the gospel studying the

Scriptures understanding your

experiences in life and understanding

what your purpose is as you're going

through this mortality and relating that

to the truths of the gospel so that you

have both an intellectual knowledge of

truth and an experiential knowledge of

truth that is the greatest offense that

you can have against false and doctrine

against temptation that's been my

experience is that if doubts start to

creep in the more I have learned and

applied and then had experience with

that truth I think that's why my guess

why Paul is listing truth first he's

obviously thinking about how to write

this and that's the first thing he puts

down you need a knowledge of truth

however you gain that through the Spirit

through study through prayer truth is a

great defense then having the

plate of righteousness well of course

that's what's covering our heart and

kind of determines what our character is

which is built from our behavior our

habits our choices and the way that we

use our agency and is it a hardened

heart or is it an open heart and then in

15 and your feet shod with the

preparation of the gospel of peace I

don't know if this is right and this is

what Paul is thinking here but I think

about prepare either way of the Lord

again if we talk about like I've talked

about the royal procession of Jesus

coming through or the Israelite Kings

coming through first there is a

preparation of that procession a

preparation of the way and that would be

your feet walking through so are we

preparing ourselves by going down the

right path and then above all taking the

shield of faith wherewith he shall be

able to quench all the fiery darts of

the wicked so again we can imagine

having the shield in front of us as the

darts are coming at us the fiery darts

of temptation and that we're able to

absorb them through our faith what does

that mean that's not belief that's not

saying oh we have a stronger belief in

something anybody can have a belief

that's not really the shield faith is

something much much richer some

something much more it is Trust trust in

the atonement trust in our Savior trust

in the gospel principles and trust in

truth that's what the shield is and

that's how we absorb the temptations and

quench those fiery darts that may hit us

even we can talk about the shield but

the fiery darts may hit us and how

do we quench those well it's through our

faith in what the Savior did and Gethsemane

that quenches the darts which may

be on fire but may just be poison darts

that's what I actually imagine them

being their poisonous darts and what

quenches that poison or fire is the

process of repentance based on our faith

in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ

and then finishing off our armor he says

and take the helmet of salvation and the

sword of the Spirit which is the word of

God so you can imagine the sword is

often time you times used as the Word of

God I've talked previously about how to

me anyway it seems that the sword and

the cherubim are judgment standing in

front of the Tree of Life that's what

holds us back from getting to the Tree

of Life well that would be from the law

that would be from the Word of God

that's the law and so judgment goes

right along with the law so therefore

the sword judgment the other thing that

you would hold in your hand that would

be for authority or discipline would be

a rod so we oftentimes think of the rod

in Lehigh's dream which is the Word of

God as being a long rail that we're

hanging on to that we're being guided to

in the to the Tree of Life and that

could be what he saw in fact a lot of

people think that what it could be is a

representation of perhaps a rail that

went up a path going up to the temple up

on the Temple Mount and that that would

have a similar representation of getting

to the Tree of Life but we can also

think of the rod similar to a sword

which would be for judgment which is

from the law because the rod also

represents authority and discipline and

judgment just like the sword does and of

course he doesn't leave out besides the

armor he immediately talks about prayer

and this from a personal experience is

very true I know that when I am praying

regularly that that is a great defense

against temptation and helping me to

strengthen my understanding of Who I am

a time when I can on a daily basis have

introspection and understand my place

where what are my responsibilities to

others how am I doing with that what is

my responsibility to God and so I am in

that fluid hierarchy in a sense

I'm a servant to those around me and I

am a servant to God and I need to

contemplate that how am i doing in those

roles I had somebody very wise tell me

once their prayer is the key to the

success of your life so it helps you

make good decisions if you've made it a

habit that's been my experience and one

last thing that he brings in here that

is also an important point and this is a

process that you see throughout the

scriptures think about Nephi when he

really receives a testimony one of the

first things he does is he goes and he

tells Sam

and when Enos is praying all night and

he is forgiven of his sins and he

strengthens his testimony and through

that process one of the first things he

wants to do and the first things he

thinks about are his brother in the

Lamanites and how he can get them the

gospel and here Paul says after / after

the point of praying he says and for me

that utterance may be given unto me that

I may open my mouth boldly to make known

the mystery of the gospel that is part

of the progress through the four phases

of the priesthood its repentance and

agency and then it's prayer and speech

to those around you so Paul is following

that same model here and that is what

ultimately then if you've got all the

rest of this this armor brought together

and this testimony and prayer then if

you are talking to others about the

gospel and helping them then that may be

the cherry on the top so to speak of

your defense against the wiles of the

devil I'll talk to you next time