Level Up - Wk. 2

Bible Study of Ephesians 2:

Icebreaker: Since this is the first week of a new season, start with introductions! A fun question to ask might be, “what’s your favorite pastime?”

READ Eph. 2:1-3

1- Did you know that this is how the Bible describes your life before Jesus? How does this change the way you view yourself?

2- How does this change the way you view your friends/family/co-workers who are not followers of Jesus? 

READ Eph. 2:4-10

3- Knowing your condition before Christ described in v. 1-3, what’s your reaction to what God has done on your behalf? Which part of verses 4-9 means the most to you? Why?

4- Verse 10 says that God has created and prepared us for certain things. What purposes do you think God has created you for? 

God prepared the good works for you to do before they ever happened. When we take a step of obedience to do what God calls us to, we are guaranteed success. Not that the outcome will be successful as we define success, but the outcome is exactly what God had planned. 

5- What encouragement does it give you to know that God guarantees us success in the works He calls us to? How can this help you move forward in your faith? 

READ Eph. 2:11-16

6- What sticks out to you most in these verses? Why?

Put yourself in the shoes of a Nazi in 1935. You think you are the superior race. Everyone else in your community is inferior to you. That’s a modern way to describe the relationship between Jews and Gentiles. They were vastly different and each thought they were better than the other. So as Paul is talking to Christians who come from Gentile and Jewish backgrounds, you can imagine the hostility still lingering from their former lives. 

Leader Note: What follows are difficult questions that can spark difficult conversations. They are conversations that are in view in this text, so they must be addressed no matter how counter-cultural our answers may be. For guidance or advice, reach out to one of the REVO Staff Members. If you as a leader think that your group is not ready for this type of conversation, we defer to your judgement. 

7- Jesus as the peacemaker between hostile people groups is in view here. How should this realization from Scripture inform our modern understanding of racial issues? 

8- Ultimately, Jesus’ goal was a spiritual reconciliation between humanity and God, which will in turn reconcile people groups on Earth (v.15-16). So with this end goal in mind, what are some practical steps Christians can take to pursue racial reconciliation?

• Leader Note: The focus here should be on spiritual reconciliation with God before racial reconciliation on earth. We cannot expect non-Christians to treat each other the way in which Jesus instructs. Once someone has expressed Jesus as Savior and King over their life, then we can confront sin in their life and expect reconciliation. 

Another helpful text in this conversation might be Galatians 3:26-29, in which similar ideas from Eph. 2 are expressed. Namely that spiritual reconciliation with God is primary and racial reconciliation on earth is a result.