Reading Ephesians with John Stott: 11 Weeks for Individuals or Groups

178 Pages·2017·3.235 MB·English

by  John R.W. Stott

Reading the BiBle with John Stott
R E A D I N G
E P H E S I A N S
with
JOHN STOTT
11 WEEKS FOR INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS
JOHN STOTT
with ANDREW T. LE PEAU
InterVarsity Press
P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426
ivpress.com
[email protected]
©2017 John Stott’s Literary Executors
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission
from InterVarsity Press.
This volume is abridged and edited from The Message of Ephesians ©1979 by John R. W. Stott, by
permission of Inter-Varsity Press, England. Some of the discussion questions are from Ephesians:
Building a Community in Christ ©1998 by John R. W. Stott with Phyllis J. Le Peau.
InterVarsity Press ® is the book-publishing division of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA® , a
movement of students and faculty active on campus at hundreds of universities, colleges, and
schools of nursing in the United States of America, and a member movement of the International
Fellowship of Evangelical Students. For information about local and regional activities, visit
intervarsity.org.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New
® ® ™
International Version , NIV . Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by
permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and
“New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark
™
Office by Biblica, Inc.
Cover design: Cindy Kiple
Interior design: Beth McGill
Images: © Mark Bauer / Trevillion Images
ISBN 978-0-8308-9241-9 (digital)
ISBN 978-0-8308-3195-1 (print)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Stott, John R. W., author.
Title: Reading Ephesians with John Stott : 11 weeks for individuals or groups
/ John Stott, with Andrew T. Le Peau.
Description: Downers Grove : InterVarsity Press, 2017. | Series: Reading the
Bible with John Stott (RBJS)
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016290 (print) | LCCN 2017013140 (ebook) | ISBN
9780830892419 (eBook) | ISBN 9780830831951 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Ephesians—Textbooks.
Classification: LCC BS2695.55 (print) | LCC BS2695.55 .S76 2017 (ebook) | DDC
227/.50071—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016290
Contents
How to Read the Bible with John Stott 7
Introduction 11
1 Ephesians 1:1-14: A Life of Spiritual Blessing 15
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2 Ephesians 1:15-23: A Life of Prayer 28
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3 Ephesians 2:1-10: A Life of Resurrection 41
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4 Ephesians 2:11-22: A New Humanity 55
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
5 Ephesians 3:1-21: A New Ministry 69
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6 Ephesians 4:1-16: Unity 84
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7 Ephesians 4:17–5:4: Purity 100
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
8 Ephesians 5:5-21: Righteousness 114
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
9 Ephesians 5:21-33: Love 127
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
10 Ephesians 6:1-9: Respect 141
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
11 Ephesians 6:10-24: Power 155
Discussion Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Guidelines for Leaders 169
Also Available 175
Praise for Reading Ephesians with John Stott 176
About the Author 177
More Titles from InterVarsity Press 178
How to Read the Bible
with John Stott
During John Stott’s life (1921–2011), he was one of the world’s
master Bible teachers Christians on every continent heard and
read John Stott’s exposition of Scripture, which was at once in-
structive and inspiring With over eight million copies of his more
than fifty books sold in dozens of languages, it is not surprising
that Time magazine recognized him in 2005 as one of the “100
Most Influential People in the World” and Christianity Today
called him “evangelicalism’s premier teacher and preacher ” At the
core of his ministry was the Bible and his beloved Bible Speaks
Today series, which he originated as New Testament series editor
He himself contributed several volumes to the series, which have
now been edited for this Reading the Bible with John Stott series
The purpose of this series is to offer excerpts of Stott’s The
Message of Ephesians in brief readings, suitable for daily use
Though Stott was himself an able scholar, this series avoids tech-
nicalities and scholarly debates, with each reading emphasizing
the substance, significance and application of the text
8 Reading Ephesians with John Stott
Following each set of six readings is found a discussion guide
This can be used by individuals to help them dig more deeply
into the text It can also be used by study groups meeting regu-
larly Individuals in the groups can go through the readings be-
tween group meetings and then use the discussion guide to help
the group understand and apply the Scripture passage Discus-
sions are designed to last between forty-five and sixty minutes
Guidelines for leaders at the end of this volume offer many
helpful suggestions for having a successful meeting
If you are a group member, you can help everyone present in
the following ways:
1 Read and pray through the readings before you meet
2 Be willing to participate in the discussion The leader won’t
be lecturing Instead all will be asked to discuss what they
have learned
3 Stick to the topic being discussed The focus is the par-
ticular passage of Scripture Only rarely should you refer to
other portions of the Bible or outside sources This will
allow everyone to participate on equal footing
4 Listen attentively to what others have to say Be careful not
to talk too much but encourage a balanced discussion among
all participants You may be surprised by what you can learn
from others Generally, questions do not have one right
answer but are intended to encourage various dimensions of
the text
5 Expect God to teach you through the passage and through
what others have to say
How to Read the Bible with John Stott 9
6 Use the following guidelines and read them at the start of
the first session
• We will make the group a safe place by keeping confi-
dential what is said in the group about personal matters
• We will provide time for each person to talk who
wants to
• We will listen attentively to each other
• We will talk about ourselves and our own situations,
avoiding conversation about others
• We will be cautious about giving advice to one another
John Stott had an immense impact on the church in the last
half of the twentieth century With these volumes readers today
can continue to benefit from the riches of the Bible that Stott
opened to millions