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Ephesians Bible Study Lesson 25


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00:00:00.000 | Hello everyone, welcome to our final session in the study of the book of Ephesians.
00:00:10.320 | Today we're going to be concluding with a review, a final exhortation from this book.
00:00:17.560 | Let's go before the Lord in prayer as we jump into the study.
00:00:22.000 | Lord we want to thank you for your grace.
00:00:24.440 | God we are so grateful that in many ways Lord you have sent your truth, you have sent your
00:00:34.080 | grace, your servant in so many different ways.
00:00:39.040 | You have reached out to us so to speak and we're so grateful for that.
00:00:44.120 | I pray Lord that the truth that you have for us, that these things we would take to heart
00:00:50.240 | and God that we would learn.
00:00:52.240 | And Lord what's more by understanding and Father God by believing that we would truly
00:00:58.600 | be strong in faith.
00:01:00.720 | What's more Father God we would be strong in every way.
00:01:03.480 | Lord we just want to thank you again for the study and pray that you would help us to be
00:01:08.400 | engaged in both mind and spirit.
00:01:10.360 | We thank you it's in Christ name we pray, Amen.
00:01:14.320 | Okay what I'd like to do is take a moment to read for us the final concluding section.
00:01:22.480 | Now although we could take time to dissect and analyze each section, what I would like
00:01:30.240 | to do is just review this and then also review the whole book.
00:01:35.080 | So there are going to be certain elements about this section of the scripture that I
00:01:38.400 | won't cover today but I'll leave that to you for your own independent study.
00:01:43.280 | We have it in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 21.
00:01:45.480 | Okay so take a moment to turn there.
00:01:48.640 | Ephesians chapter 6 verse 21 it says, "But that you also may know about my circumstances
00:01:54.680 | how I am doing.
00:01:55.680 | Such a case the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord will make known everything
00:02:00.760 | sorry will make everything known to you.
00:02:03.840 | I have sent him to you for this very purpose so that you may know about us and that he
00:02:09.520 | may comfort your hearts.
00:02:11.600 | Peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:02:17.200 | Grace be with you with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible
00:02:22.480 | love."
00:02:23.480 | Okay as we take a look at that passage there is something that I like to highlight here
00:02:32.920 | that in terms of the picture of the book you can typically summarize a book by the emphasis
00:02:43.160 | or the exhortation given at the end.
00:02:46.120 | Now what's interesting is as you look at this last portion of the passage there isn't necessarily
00:02:51.160 | a command.
00:02:52.160 | There isn't necessarily a specific exhortation of thou must do this.
00:02:57.680 | But nevertheless there is a desire of the author Apostle Paul that he wants to be in
00:03:03.920 | reality for the recipients.
00:03:06.880 | And likewise anytime we write people letters and things like that what we're doing is more
00:03:12.200 | so expressing what we want for them in life.
00:03:15.400 | And what he describes is that he wants them to be in the know.
00:03:22.520 | He wants them to be informed.
00:03:24.840 | He wants them to be comforted.
00:03:26.240 | But more than anything he says peace be to the brethren and love with faith from God
00:03:31.960 | the Father the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:03:33.920 | Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an incorruptible love.
00:03:39.240 | So if you summarize and think about what Apostle Paul wants for them he wants there to be peace,
00:03:45.480 | love, faith and grace and this love that is also coming from them.
00:03:51.080 | So as we think about that we actually realize that has been Apostle Paul's tone and is I
00:03:58.680 | guess the content the whole time through the letter.
00:04:02.760 | And the way that I'm going to review is going chapter by chapter.
00:04:06.120 | And what I'll try to do is emphasize for you what I would like to boil down this review
00:04:12.640 | as to one theme that I see.
00:04:15.020 | So what is the theme?
00:04:17.320 | What is the running ongoing content that has been the pattern of Apostle Paul's prayers,
00:04:23.480 | the content of his teaching, but also even in this last concluding address.
00:04:30.200 | And the theme is strength.
00:04:33.600 | Strength that's real and true.
00:04:36.240 | Strength that comes from faith.
00:04:38.440 | And I'll show it to you.
00:04:39.440 | Starting from chapter one.
00:04:40.440 | Sorry that's not working right now.
00:04:47.440 | There we are.
00:04:48.440 | Starting from chapter one.
00:04:49.440 | He says, recall that in chapter one a significant key verse in chapter one that you should kind
00:04:57.360 | of have in your memory bank says chapter one is mostly about this which is, "Blessed be
00:05:04.600 | the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing
00:05:10.120 | in the heavenly places."
00:05:13.200 | The idea here then in chapter one is that there has been what I like to call a bucket
00:05:18.400 | of blessing.
00:05:20.640 | Apostle Paul wants to bless God and have every single one of us bless God because we have
00:05:25.440 | received, another way to say it, is a truckload of blessing.
00:05:30.720 | He describes that we have in Christ every spiritual blessing.
00:05:34.840 | And that's why actually when I started the study a long time ago, already a while ago,
00:05:40.840 | I started by saying that this book is all about every blessing in Jesus Christ.
00:05:45.960 | Every blessing that we're seeking, every blessing we could potentially even want, it comes in
00:05:51.080 | the person of Christ.
00:05:53.680 | Now as a challenge and as an exhortation for us thinking about this, can you fill this
00:06:02.280 | bucket?
00:06:04.040 | Can you describe what is contained in this truckload?
00:06:08.400 | Can you go from the broad categorical summary that you've been really, really blessed, can
00:06:17.200 | you go from there to describe the specific ways that you've been blessed?
00:06:22.960 | Another way to put this is sometimes I have seen within scripture a pattern where it gives
00:06:28.720 | you this lofty summary conclusion.
00:06:33.240 | You've been lavished.
00:06:35.120 | That's a conclusion.
00:06:37.000 | You have been freely given.
00:06:40.680 | Those are summary conclusions.
00:06:43.040 | And what's more our scripture uses the word richly.
00:06:46.000 | You've been richly graced.
00:06:47.800 | You've been richly loved.
00:06:49.400 | You've been richly cared for.
00:06:51.760 | So those are all actually summary conclusions and my challenge and question to you is can
00:06:56.480 | you give an example?
00:06:58.760 | Because sometimes we may say large categorical summaries but if we do not have the specific
00:07:06.160 | details then all of a sudden people will call your bluff.
00:07:09.760 | If you say you are a massive, massive fan of a specific team, let's say the LA Dodgers
00:07:16.080 | and someone asks you, "Really?
00:07:18.600 | When did you start?"
00:07:19.600 | "Well, you know, always."
00:07:20.600 | "Oh yeah?
00:07:21.600 | Who do you like?"
00:07:22.600 | "Oh, don't ask me questions because I don't really know who's on the team."
00:07:27.240 | It's kind of like the specifics matter because it goes from specifics to the conclusion otherwise
00:07:31.840 | we do it backwards.
00:07:32.840 | But I just want you to recall with me because this is such a significant point and there
00:07:37.720 | was so much contained in the book, in the chapter one just alone, we have thoughts of
00:07:43.960 | that God has chosen us from before the foundation of the earth, that God has chosen us to be
00:07:49.920 | holy, a purposeful intent in his heart.
00:07:53.680 | God has adopted us, God has given us redemption, he's given us forgiveness in the name of Christ
00:08:00.760 | and that forgiveness is in accordance with the riches of his grace.
00:08:04.600 | He's given us the knowledge and the mystery of the gospel.
00:08:07.920 | He's given us also a seal, okay?
00:08:10.600 | A seal, ignore that what's on the screen there, a seal of promise is what it's supposed to
00:08:17.280 | say.
00:08:18.280 | Yeah, what's more we have the pledge of the Holy Spirit for our inheritance and most of
00:08:22.640 | all that first chapter was actually talking a lot about the fact that if you have Christ
00:08:27.880 | then you have a glorious, holy, loving, all-sufficient head.
00:08:33.720 | Jesus Christ is the head of the church.
00:08:36.400 | We know that we need leaders.
00:08:39.360 | We know that we need provision.
00:08:41.600 | We know that we need good models and examples.
00:08:45.400 | The amazing thing is we have a perfect one.
00:08:48.720 | For the church we have a perfect example.
00:08:51.200 | For the church we have a perfect resource.
00:08:53.920 | That is Christ himself and that to us is to us our great, great blessing.
00:08:59.800 | So I want to take a moment to say chapter one it began with such, I guess you can just
00:09:06.000 | say again a truckload of gold.
00:09:07.560 | Okay, so if you pick up the picture here those are gold bars.
00:09:12.360 | You have gold bars of the Christian faith.
00:09:17.040 | To say that you have someone who loves you so much that he desires you to be a part of
00:09:22.560 | his home, to adopt you, to redeem you and again there's so much to say about all those
00:09:28.800 | things.
00:09:30.160 | But the truth of those things are to us gold meaning they're riches and if you don't understand
00:09:38.280 | this then that means you're going to live a life constantly thinking you're poor, constantly
00:09:44.520 | living in scarcity, feeling like you have to fight for scraps and if you've ever met
00:09:49.840 | somebody who is constantly competitive, always designed to compare, you've met somebody so
00:09:55.720 | insecure about their own well-being and therefore feeling the need to make sure that they're
00:10:01.280 | not taken advantage of.
00:10:02.840 | It's a difficult time.
00:10:05.160 | It's a difficult place.
00:10:06.160 | It's a difficult way to live.
00:10:08.320 | There is no peace.
00:10:10.920 | And so you have to remember and know this.
00:10:13.920 | Apostle Paul's great prayer and Apostle Paul's exhortation is to remember this and to know
00:10:19.320 | what glorious riches we have.
00:10:21.440 | If we do not, we live life acting like we're beggars.
00:10:25.960 | We live life weak.
00:10:27.920 | Weak to temptation.
00:10:29.360 | Weak to allurements.
00:10:31.080 | Weak to people offering anything.
00:10:33.480 | Why?
00:10:34.480 | Because we feel like we don't have it.
00:10:36.800 | So this is an incredible starting point that we study in the book of Ephesians.
00:10:41.600 | Now moving to chapter 2.
00:10:43.960 | In chapter 2 it says, verse 4 and 5, "But God being rich in mercy, because of his great
00:10:50.560 | love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgression, made us alive
00:10:55.760 | together with Christ.
00:10:57.800 | By grace you have been saved."
00:11:01.400 | Chapter 2, if chapter 1 was a bucket of blessing, or you can say every blessing in Christ, right?
00:11:08.040 | So just think of chapter 1, blessing, blessing, blessing.
00:11:11.440 | God be blessed for blessing us.
00:11:13.920 | That's chapter 1.
00:11:15.400 | Chapter 2 was the before and after.
00:11:20.040 | Chapter 2 was a before and after description of you as an individual.
00:11:24.000 | You were dead in your transgressions and sins.
00:11:28.720 | But God being rich in mercy made us alive together with Christ and raised us and seated
00:11:33.840 | us with him.
00:11:36.000 | That's you as an individual receiving the great transformation, the great change, the
00:11:43.600 | radical difference going from dead to alive.
00:11:47.520 | But likewise, the Apostle Paul describes the community.
00:11:50.800 | That as a community he says, you Gentile people, you are separate and excluded.
00:11:55.240 | You are a stranger, you are without hope, without God, and you are far off.
00:12:00.200 | Yes, individually applied, that's also true.
00:12:02.880 | But he was emphasizing the community aspect of it.
00:12:06.240 | We are all, all are Gentiles, okay?
00:12:09.320 | But we were made to be one holy household, a temple, the dwelling of God.
00:12:15.320 | That's chapter 2.
00:12:16.320 | Chapter 2 is showing us the depth of the difference, the comparison of where you were before.
00:12:23.600 | The depth from which God has pulled you.
00:12:26.640 | And we have to understand this because if we do not, then not only are we weak, we're
00:12:32.560 | so shallow and superficial.
00:12:34.760 | There's no depth to our understanding.
00:12:37.000 | There's no depth to our gratitude.
00:12:39.400 | And therefore if we don't have a depth of understanding, then that means every activity
00:12:43.400 | we engage in becomes shallow.
00:12:46.200 | And Apostle Paul recognizes this to be a foundational truth that every single person in any community
00:12:52.520 | needs.
00:12:53.520 | If your understanding of your faith and the appreciation you have for the gospel is shallow,
00:12:59.800 | you will have shallow unity.
00:13:02.080 | You will have shallow participation.
00:13:04.320 | You will have shallow engagement.
00:13:06.240 | You will have shallow fellowship.
00:13:07.240 | I mean, think about it.
00:13:08.240 | There is no unity if you're not sharing any joys.
00:13:12.880 | There is no shared unity if you're not sharing the kind of, wow, gratitudes, the adorations,
00:13:19.480 | the same kind of experience.
00:13:20.480 | You think about individuals who have incredible camaraderie because they've survived something
00:13:26.040 | tragic together.
00:13:27.040 | Whether it be some kind of disaster, they survived a natural disaster or an act of terrorism
00:13:34.160 | and they came out of that realizing we could have been dead.
00:13:38.000 | But look at us, we're alive now.
00:13:41.360 | Well if you don't have that kind of depth of experience, you're not going to have any
00:13:45.440 | kind of depth of commonality.
00:13:47.960 | And so for the sake of the unity of the church, for the sake of peace, it has to be an understanding
00:13:54.040 | of chapter 2.
00:13:55.040 | Now in chapter 3, Apostle Paul says this, and this is a lengthy portion of the text
00:14:02.000 | and so I'd like to read it here.
00:14:04.960 | Apostle Paul in chapter 3 is talking about the amazing love and grace of God.
00:14:09.160 | And he says, "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family
00:14:15.000 | in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches
00:14:20.760 | of his glory, to be strengthened with power through his Spirit and in the man, so that
00:14:27.520 | Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in
00:14:33.600 | love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breath and the lame and
00:14:39.600 | the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge,
00:14:44.360 | that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God, that in him who is able to do far
00:14:50.360 | more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within
00:14:55.120 | us, to him be the glory of the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever
00:15:00.640 | and ever.
00:15:01.640 | Amen."
00:15:02.640 | Considering the work of God, the mystery that was hidden, but now has been made known, the
00:15:09.400 | administration of his grace, of how he's giving it out.
00:15:13.720 | He says, "I want you to understand all this, because I want Christ to fill you completely.
00:15:21.920 | This is going to cause you to be able to stand.
00:15:24.560 | This is to you true strength."
00:15:27.320 | I asked this question as a Bible study question, "What is the prayer of the book of Ephesians?"
00:15:32.520 | This is the prayer.
00:15:35.600 | God wants you to have true power, real strength, real empowerment and change.
00:15:45.360 | And that's not going to come because there were some platitudes given to you.
00:15:49.760 | That's not come because there were some small encouragements given to you.
00:15:53.400 | That wasn't going to come because there was some kind of pat on the back.
00:15:56.600 | That wasn't going to come because, "Oh, those bad guys out there, take some of them out
00:16:00.280 | of your life for you."
00:16:01.640 | The change of your circumstances, the mitigations of your pains, everything else, parallel in
00:16:08.840 | comparison to having Christ reside right here fully.
00:16:14.880 | Apostle Paul says, "By faith, I want you to have it."
00:16:18.760 | The one true source of true power in our lives.
00:16:22.680 | Indwelling in you, empowering you.
00:16:25.600 | And so, from there, he is able to give the application, the exhortation.
00:16:31.160 | So he moved to chapter 4.
00:16:35.240 | Recall that in chapter 4, he begins the whole section of application starting from chapter
00:16:41.160 | 4 all the way through chapter 6.
00:16:43.440 | "As therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of
00:16:49.040 | the calling with which you have been called."
00:16:52.840 | So I remind you, you see now, the theme, yes, is blessings and grace, the gospel.
00:17:00.920 | But also the theme is true strength.
00:17:04.360 | Because what Apostle Paul is saying is through the indwelling of the Spirit, through the
00:17:10.040 | faith that you have, this powerful faith that God gives to you, you're going to be able
00:17:15.960 | to walk.
00:17:16.960 | Walk according to all of that.
00:17:21.280 | To the way that he has called you.
00:17:25.120 | And so, one of the passages that you recall is within the first section of chapter 4,
00:17:31.840 | he calls us to walk united as one.
00:17:36.280 | And you think about it, the challenge for us to walk in a manner where we are exercising,
00:17:42.120 | he says putting every effort.
00:17:44.280 | It's going to require strength, it's going to require effort, it's going to require long
00:17:49.600 | suffering.
00:17:50.600 | And I believe for a lot of people sometimes think that if I have an objective then I have
00:17:55.080 | a power just to accomplish it.
00:17:56.960 | Yes.
00:17:57.960 | But there's another kind of strength where scripture talks about long forbearance, long
00:18:03.320 | suffering, love that is patient, kind, intent on the well-being and the good of the person
00:18:11.400 | that you love.
00:18:12.400 | There is a kind of extended strength of perseverance that is embedded as a requirement or I guess
00:18:19.320 | a need and a platform by which we build the unity that we long for in the church.
00:18:25.040 | So what am I saying?
00:18:27.480 | Clearly Apostle Paul is challenging us to walk in a certain fashion.
00:18:31.240 | And what I'm saying is you see this theme that only when you understand the riches that
00:18:36.440 | you have, only when you understand the comparison between before and after and the incredible
00:18:41.960 | love of Christ dwelling in us, can you have the power even to walk like this.
00:18:48.800 | There are some people who think they're strong or they're just like, you know, they're rocks.
00:18:55.000 | Being a rock just means you're thick, right?
00:18:58.720 | There's a kind of strength that comes with vulnerability.
00:19:02.200 | There's a kind of strength that comes with sacrifice.
00:19:05.320 | There's a kind of strength that comes with all that is involved with building unity.
00:19:11.240 | And so in the next half of chapter four, Christ talks about, Apostle Paul talks about how
00:19:16.720 | all walk needs to be mature in Christ.
00:19:20.120 | For example, this one I'm just going to read to you.
00:19:22.200 | So please listen.
00:19:24.240 | Remember that it says, "As a result, you are no longer," so this is verse 14, sorry, verse
00:19:29.400 | 14.
00:19:30.400 | He says that, "We are no longer to be children tossed here or there by waves and carried about
00:19:36.400 | by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness and deceitful scheming.
00:19:43.000 | But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the
00:19:47.480 | head, even Christ.
00:19:48.480 | From whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies,
00:19:53.560 | according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the
00:19:58.960 | building up of itself in love."
00:20:00.760 | Right?
00:20:01.760 | So this I say, "And affirm together with the Lord that you no longer walk as a dental walk
00:20:06.600 | in the futility of your mouth."
00:20:08.160 | So if you take a look there, the challenge again is a walk that is, yes, strong, but
00:20:14.880 | another way to put it is mature, steady, not being all wishy-washy and being moved by every
00:20:21.720 | wind of doctrine, being moved by their own lust and preferences.
00:20:25.480 | And this is so important.
00:20:27.000 | Think about strength.
00:20:28.000 | Think about the strength you need.
00:20:30.320 | You know, sometimes I stray on one side or the other when it comes to strength.
00:20:33.760 | There are moments when I'm angry about something and I'm just going to bite my tongue and not
00:20:38.720 | say anything.
00:20:39.720 | So I think I'm strong.
00:20:40.720 | So I'm like, "Ahh!"
00:20:41.720 | Right?
00:20:42.720 | Yes, that is better than blowing up in anger, but that is not necessarily the height of
00:20:47.360 | being strong.
00:20:48.360 | Why?
00:20:49.360 | Because all I've done is clammed up my anger.
00:20:50.800 | Scripture actually says, "Speak truth."
00:20:53.440 | Do you realize how much fear, how much of our own selfishness and pride you have to overcome
00:20:59.640 | to speak truth?
00:21:00.640 | And then there are these people who are like, "Yeah, I'll speak truth.
00:21:04.000 | I'll tell it like it is.
00:21:05.000 | I'll tell you what's up."
00:21:06.000 | And then you realize, "Well, that's not strong either because that truth is without love."
00:21:12.920 | God wants truth to be spoken in love and that takes maturity.
00:21:17.240 | Combating your own pride, selfishness, checking your own preferences, checking the limitations
00:21:22.600 | of your own scope, exercising humility.
00:21:25.200 | There's a kind of maturity to that.
00:21:28.360 | And that's all strength in my eyes.
00:21:31.280 | Next chapter five.
00:21:33.440 | Chapter five, the application of knowing chapter one, all your blessings, chapter two, the
00:21:38.760 | great depth of the comparison between before and after, chapter three, the indwelling of
00:21:43.480 | the love of God in you.
00:21:46.200 | He says, "Then imitate God."
00:21:49.520 | As an application, imitate God.
00:21:52.960 | Recall that this exhortation, emphatic exhortation, told us, "Therefore, be imitators of God as
00:22:00.640 | beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up
00:22:06.920 | for us, but offering in a sacrifice to God as a flagrant," sorry, not flagrant, fragrant.
00:22:15.920 | Not a flagrant vow, but more of a fragrant aroma that's pleasing to God.
00:22:22.000 | We talked about that.
00:22:24.280 | God's desire for us is to be like him.
00:22:31.280 | God's desire for us is to want us to reflect.
00:22:37.400 | And I want you to understand that because God to us is one of the great, great acts
00:22:41.960 | of love given to us that we can just meditate and soak in for the rest of our lives.
00:22:48.720 | What does God want for you?
00:22:51.720 | God wants for you what's absolutely best.
00:22:55.080 | But what's best?
00:22:57.720 | What's best is to have the character of God.
00:23:01.640 | So chapter five, there's a lot in there, but chapter five talks about being God-like
00:23:07.600 | in holiness.
00:23:08.840 | So scripture says in verse eight, "Walk in light, not in the darkness."
00:23:13.520 | What's more, scripture challenges us to discern what is pleasing to God so that we would be
00:23:18.240 | like God in his delights.
00:23:20.320 | And you realize that your depravity has much to do with what is pleasing to you.
00:23:27.600 | Is wickedness pleasing to you?
00:23:29.360 | Is selfish pleasure pleasing to you?
00:23:31.360 | Is what makes you happy all the vices of the world?
00:23:34.560 | Is what's cool in your eyes the things that are detestable?
00:23:38.280 | That speaks to your character.
00:23:40.360 | It is to our benefit, it is to our sanctification, holiness, and transformation to delight in
00:23:46.840 | the things God delights in.
00:23:48.640 | Scripture also talks about having the mind of God, verse 15.
00:23:52.600 | Verse 17 talks about discerning God's will.
00:23:55.480 | Think about this, most of us, we lack of willpower.
00:24:00.480 | I wish I had more willpower.
00:24:02.480 | Honestly, like, I'm just confessing to you, there are days you just tell and you're like,
00:24:07.640 | "Dragging your knuckles, I don't want to do it."
00:24:10.840 | There are things you know you ought to say and do, just don't want to do it.
00:24:15.760 | I mean, diets, exercise, work ethic, things you should say and do for your family.
00:24:23.640 | Everything I know up here is good and Godly and profitable.
00:24:28.640 | Just lack willpower.
00:24:31.040 | Scripture says He wants us to be like God in His intent and will.
00:24:34.920 | But what's more, you recall all the relationships of husband and wife, parent and child, and
00:24:40.040 | you recognize God wants us to be like Him, relationally.
00:24:45.880 | You know what's super lovely?
00:24:48.320 | God as Father.
00:24:50.400 | You know what's super glorious?
00:24:52.840 | God as Love.
00:24:55.560 | The One who has pure intent in His heart.
00:24:59.720 | Sincerity, consistency, unchanging, unwavering, kindness, compassion.
00:25:06.280 | That's beautiful.
00:25:08.320 | And He wants that in you and me.
00:25:12.560 | And that to us is amazing love upon amazing love.
00:25:16.560 | And so, really we want to take this kind of mentality upon us.
00:25:23.840 | Sure, in the moments when we're not sober, we're like, "I just don't want to do this
00:25:27.640 | stuff," or, "It's too hard."
00:25:31.680 | But actually we can perceive of it as God's love to us.
00:25:36.160 | And He wants us to be like Him in all motive, in all work ethic, in all of that He is doing
00:25:41.080 | to seek to be like God.
00:25:43.200 | Because truly, there's nothing greater than to be like our Heavenly Father.
00:25:47.960 | And so, we come to chapter 6.
00:25:50.320 | In chapter 6, Apostle Paul challenged us and said, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and
00:25:56.080 | the strength of His might.
00:25:57.080 | Put on the full armor of God so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes
00:26:02.200 | of the devil."
00:26:03.200 | One of the small group guys in my group just kind of keenly noticed, initially, there seems
00:26:08.720 | to be a disconnect.
00:26:09.720 | You go from, "Hey slaves, make sure that you are also exhibiting godliness, even if you
00:26:15.560 | are a slave."
00:26:16.560 | And, "Hey masters, make sure you're exhibiting godliness, even if you're a master.
00:26:20.160 | You think you're a peer, you know you have a master in heaven."
00:26:24.360 | And so, he says, those relational interactions, "You have to be godly.
00:26:30.800 | You have to be godly."
00:26:31.800 | And then there's this big jump, and it says, "Finally, brethren, be strong."
00:26:37.040 | And so, my case in that exhortation to you was, although it may seem like there was a
00:26:43.120 | quick transition to go from those relationships to an exhortation to be strong, what you realize
00:26:50.720 | is that that was the theme of the book so far.
00:26:54.520 | Not just the only theme, but significantly.
00:26:58.000 | That the Christian message to us is Christ in us.
00:27:02.760 | And therefore, we have the enablement and the power of Christ.
00:27:07.440 | We have victory.
00:27:11.000 | So why and how is a slave, a slave, able to be godly in the circumstance of his oppression
00:27:19.120 | under human law?
00:27:22.560 | What does the scripture say?
00:27:24.480 | Because you're a free man in Christ.
00:27:26.880 | You've got everything in Christ.
00:27:29.040 | You have your liberty, your victory, your voice, everything in Christ.
00:27:34.960 | And that to him is power.
00:27:37.520 | Power that the owner cannot take away, no slave master can take away, no government
00:27:43.200 | can take away.
00:27:44.200 | And so, he says, "Don't think like them.
00:27:47.200 | Don't succumb to the kind of oppressions that the world tries to put upon you.
00:27:52.880 | Look at you, man, you're just a slave.
00:27:55.560 | In our faith we know Christ in me is true liberty.
00:27:59.720 | If he set me free, I'm free."
00:28:03.040 | And so that is power to us, it's strength.
00:28:05.920 | And so if Apostle Paul is challenging us, you need to be strong in every way.
00:28:10.480 | You need to be strong and put on the full armor of God.
00:28:13.600 | And you guys recall that the full armor of God included so many pieces that I'm not going
00:28:18.720 | to review today because we did two weeks of it last time.
00:28:21.800 | But you recall, those were first objective truths.
00:28:28.040 | Gird your loins with the truth.
00:28:30.040 | There's righteousness.
00:28:31.040 | But what's more, there's the subjective experience.
00:28:34.520 | There's the helmet of salvation.
00:28:37.520 | There's your faith, the shield of faith.
00:28:40.440 | All those things point to what we have in Christ and the blessings that we have in Christ.
00:28:44.360 | And I made the argument to you that if you do not have those things in clarity, in regularity,
00:28:52.160 | then you are weak.
00:28:53.720 | You're susceptible.
00:28:54.720 | You're susceptible to all the attacks of the devil.
00:28:58.120 | Now, I do want to talk about this, which is, even in the putting on of the armor, I recognize
00:29:05.560 | we should pause a moment to think about God and his love for us.
00:29:09.440 | What am I talking about?
00:29:11.160 | I am talking about this, you think about who wants you to put on your helmet.
00:29:19.360 | And of course, it's typically our loving parents.
00:29:23.160 | It's dad, it's mom, about to go out for a bike ride.
00:29:25.920 | It's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, gotta put on that helmet."
00:29:30.880 | Clearly, God as our Heavenly Father wants us to walk like him, imitate him, as children.
00:29:39.680 | But he also wants us to put on the armor because he is our Heavenly Father who loves us.
00:29:44.960 | He protects us.
00:29:46.680 | He's given to us all the essential pieces so that we will be strong in Christ.
00:29:53.840 | Do not fall to be strong outside of Christ.
00:29:58.720 | Be strong in what God has provided.
00:30:01.640 | This is just a picture of a good father putting on a helmet for his young daughter.
00:30:05.280 | But God, remember I showed you this picture, God's putting on this incredible armor that
00:30:10.280 | covers us from head to toe.
00:30:12.640 | But what's more, he has entrusted to us a powerful weapon in the word of God, the scriptures.
00:30:21.160 | And therefore, we must take full responsibility.
00:30:24.360 | And he also said, not only are we to put on the armor, but we're supposed to be praying
00:30:28.520 | in every way at all times, in all types of prayer and petitions, praying, praying, praying,
00:30:35.240 | in dependency on God.
00:30:37.240 | Why?
00:30:38.240 | Because that's when you're strong.
00:30:41.880 | Because that's when you're clear.
00:30:44.320 | That's when you're solid.
00:30:46.000 | That's when you have your footing.
00:30:47.840 | That's when you can fight.
00:30:49.520 | And so I think about the book of Ephesians and clearly, Apostle Paul is in the circumstance.
00:30:57.000 | I asked this question, where is he now?
00:30:58.720 | Just recall, and you guys all know this now because we've talked about it multiple times,
00:31:02.720 | he's in jail.
00:31:03.720 | He's suffering.
00:31:04.720 | And the people are thinking, oh no, what do we do now?
00:31:09.640 | What's going to happen?
00:31:11.520 | And there was this confidence in Apostle Paul that the word of God is going to proceed in
00:31:16.840 | heaven.
00:31:17.840 | And what's more, that even if he's not there, clearly, he's not going to be able to be present
00:31:23.160 | with that.
00:31:24.160 | He has confidence.
00:31:26.520 | These people are going to find strength in God.
00:31:29.080 | In the Son of God, Jesus Christ our Savior.
00:31:32.720 | And what's more, he challenges us to then respond.
00:31:36.480 | And I want us to meditate and think about this, okay?
00:31:39.480 | I thought from a perspective of somebody who is just a downer.
00:31:44.960 | A constant skeptic.
00:31:47.120 | Perhaps somebody who is always playing the devil's advocate.
00:31:51.880 | And he says, what?
00:31:54.240 | If God still wants us to be strong, and he's putting on armor, and he's putting a sword
00:31:59.840 | in our hand, and we're like children, why doesn't he just go ahead and eradicate the
00:32:05.480 | enemies?
00:32:06.480 | Why not just get rid of the hospitals and oof?
00:32:11.440 | And there's so many times people in the midst of growing, in the growth process, they're
00:32:16.640 | like complaining and whining.
00:32:18.760 | Why can't we be this alternate universe where we do the major thing, we stick the USB into
00:32:23.880 | our head, we get the maturity, we get the wisdom, we get the discipline.
00:32:28.760 | Why can't we just be mature without all this suffering?
00:32:32.640 | Now sometimes I too say that because of my own stupidity I learned the hard way.
00:32:39.480 | And I think those kind of why, why, why, complaining and whining sometimes actually needs to be
00:32:46.600 | answered and then put away.
00:32:48.160 | It needs to be done.
00:32:49.840 | It can't keep coming up again.
00:32:52.760 | And what I recognize, number one, is number one, you are the hostile.
00:32:57.920 | Apostle Paul is teaching you, you are hostile and mild.
00:33:02.720 | You are in transgression, running with the rest of them, you are sons of disobedience.
00:33:07.040 | God has no obligation to you.
00:33:10.520 | Only by which of his own volition and his own promise.
00:33:14.240 | But not because of you.
00:33:15.680 | He does not owe you a thing.
00:33:19.120 | So if you imagine an alternate universe, yeah, you could get rid of the hostiles, right?
00:33:25.120 | But the other part of it is I keep thinking, wow, what love of the Father.
00:33:31.720 | God is not just simply making things be without consideration of the growth of his children.
00:33:40.760 | That we would be able to learn how to love like he does.
00:33:45.760 | He wants us to love with faith and then he wants us to have an incorruptible love in
00:33:52.360 | all hearts.
00:33:53.360 | Think about that.
00:33:54.360 | I got high expectations for children.
00:33:59.240 | I think about that, I'm like, my love is fickle.
00:34:04.480 | My love has moods.
00:34:06.960 | My love has seasons.
00:34:08.120 | My love has limitations.
00:34:09.320 | My love is just sometimes weak thoughts.
00:34:13.120 | It's sometimes naive, has no energy or like, you know, awareness.
00:34:18.640 | My love is just flawed in so many ways.
00:34:21.440 | But what God is building into us through his Son and his Spirit and his Word is his kind
00:34:29.680 | of love.
00:34:30.680 | And that to me is the amazing love of the Father.
00:34:35.800 | To tell his children, I want you to learn like I love.
00:34:42.840 | And so be it that we're left in this world to love the brethren.
00:34:46.320 | Yes, Lord, I want to learn.
00:34:49.520 | Teach me to love like you do.
00:34:52.640 | What a good exhortation for us as we end this book.
00:34:56.160 | Let's take a moment to pray.
00:35:01.080 | Lord, we thank you so much for your grace.
00:35:04.760 | And as we take a step back to look at what you've done.
00:35:09.760 | Lord, we're amazed at Apostle Paul.
00:35:14.480 | This is, this is the incredible treasure of treasures that you have been working for generations
00:35:22.680 | upon generations to call people to yourself who were wretched.
00:35:30.760 | So sinful.
00:35:31.760 | And to take them, to wash them, to purify them, to cleanse us.
00:35:40.680 | We thank you so much.
00:35:41.680 | This to us, Lord, is the bedrock upon which we stand.
00:35:47.400 | Is your love for us.
00:35:49.400 | And so I pray God that every single one of us, if we're lacking strength or lacking motivation
00:35:56.680 | or lacking willpower, help us to come back to this.
00:36:01.520 | Through Christ Jesus, our Lord, we have you as our heavenly father.
00:36:05.480 | Good, perfect, holy.
00:36:07.680 | But we have the parental love.
00:36:09.920 | Teaching us, guiding us, and leading us to your likeness.
00:36:15.280 | And for that we thank you.
00:36:16.680 | And we commit ourselves to you, to follow you in every way.
00:36:20.320 | We thank you, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray.
00:36:22.120 | Amen.
00:36:22.560 | (tranquil music)