NOTES: Dancing with Porcupines, Part 2

Dancing with Porcupines Week 2: Calm the Quills

Date: Sunday April 23, 2023

Text: Eph. 4:1-16

Text: Ephesians 4:1–16 

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 

9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Let’s Connect:

ILL: Quills of the Porcupine (self-preservation):

Text Explained: 

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

What is our calling? 

What does this look like? 

2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Two ways of being:

Way of Pride: 

Way of Christ: 

Humility is a way of seeing: 

- a response to the ways and words of God and a matter of our focus
I Peter 5:5-7, "5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

2 Corinthians 4:7, “ 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

Proverbs 3:7-8, “ 7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.”

Teresa of Avila: “Humility is the balm for our wounds” 

Gentleness—a way of giving in

Patience: a way of giving up 

• the right to revenge

• Forgiveness

• to surrender the right to hurt others in response to the way they’ve hurt us.

Ephesians 4:31–32 (ESV)

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Let’s Relate: 

Healthy relationships begin where self ends— The way of the cross

Challenge: 

Calm the Quills (yourself and others):