To conclude Ephesians, Paul stresses the superiority of Christ, unity of the church, and what it means to be “in Christ” moving forward in our walks of faith.

The purpose of these final words of Paul is a series of “battle orders” calling the Christians to remember we live in a new kingdom, the Kingdom of God, and that evil still exists but that it has been defeated by Jesus Christ and it no longer has power to discourage us.

1-Instructions for armor- Why? Struggle

2-Instructions for armor-What it is

3-Instructions for armor-How we get it

 

1-“Put on” in vs. 11-In Ephesians, Paul had prayed the Christians would know God’s power, now he is praying that we would take that power and use it.

Not just once, but continuously. We must come to God daily for empowering. That is what it means to be “in Christ”. It means that when we put on the armor, we are putting on Christ Himself and walking so close to Him that we can draw what we need from Him who gives generously.

This power is to be used for one purpose: to stand with God against evil, for Christianity is an active faith.

Here is something that must be clarified first. God is all-powerful, the devil is not. Although Paul sees the world in terms of 2 different kingdoms (God and evil) these kingdoms are not equal in power.

God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is the only real legitimate Lord and Master of all. The evil and demonic are just weak usurpers trying to gain power but they never will.

Jesus Christ defeated evil on the cross and through His resurrection, transformed death so that even death does not have the final word.

Evil is real and sin is real, but they don’t get the last word. The New Testament shows us that while there is still evil in the world, it has been defeated by King Jesus and as such evil doesn’t rule over us.

We can have hope in Christ! When you look at the world around you and see the brokenness, pray and turn to Jesus and focus on Him! Read the Gospels and you will see that we may struggle against evil, but we are standing on a defeated enemy!

2-What armor do we put on? God’s armor, His armor is Jesus Christ for He gave us these by giving us Himself and we have a responsibility and a duty to put them on daily.

2.1) Belt-Truth-this means both believing the gospel and resolving to live it out!

2.2) Breastplate-this is God’s righteousness and we are to reflect that righteous character and also to do righteousness (“Do what you see God doing”)

2.3) Feet fitted with readiness that comes from Gospel of Peace-this means that no matter what situation, we must be ready to apply the gospel, even the recent horrors that have hit our nation. We must always ask, “what does the gospel say to this situation?”

2.4) Shield of faith-By faith, this does not mean our power to believe (because we all have “weak faith” at times) instead, what protects us is our relationship with God and HIs faithfulness.

2.5) Helmet of salvation-When we receive salvation, we are assured of God’s protection. Even though we still have pain and go through rough times, we are always in His hands. Even if we die, we are still His people.

2.6) Sword-The Spirit-empowered message of the Gospel.

Remember, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers and ideas. Even then, if we do not use our armor wisely and as a people of peace, then we may hurt those we try to help.

3-Instructions for the armor-How do we get it? PRAY

Seek God’s presence in your everyday life, for He is never that far from you. Submit to Him daily and let your whole life by a prayer.

Christianity is not just about getting into heaven. It IS about living with Christ and for Him. Life in Christ involves every part of us, from our work, family, all of it.

The challenge to live faithfully in an evil world is high, but so is the help God offers to us for free!

God does not fear evil, and if He has given us Himself, why do we need to fear it either? In Christ, we have nothing to fear, for what can hurt me if I am in Him?

Our identity is shaped by the parts of the armor, by His truth, His righteousness, His readiness, His faith, His salvation, and His gospel.

Evil has been defeated at the cross. The resurrection is proof that good wins in the end and that we are on God’s side! Summary of Ephesians: God has provided all we need in Christ, therefore let us live lives worthy of that gift!

In this passage, Paul is showing us what it means to “apply the Gospel” to two of our closest spheres of influence, family and work.

For Paul, faith is not meant to be private, but very public and lived out, to let his (and our) light shine before people.

If there is one takeaway from this text it is this: Be Jesus to people.  

First, Paul addresses relations between children and parents, and like husbands and wives from last week, the practice in Paul’s day was that the parents (specifically the dad) had all the power over children.

Paul says: In Christ, children are full participants in the Kingdom of God. In Christ, we who are adults now must act like little children to enter that same kingdom! We must be full of trust, joy, simplicity or else we will not understand God.

Paul says to children, “obey your parents” but adds a new motivation “as part of your relationship to God”. Even though none of our parents are perfect, they are still a gift from God, and they made us into who we are today.

If you are a child, treat your parents as a gift, respect them, and be Jesus to them. If you are a parent, treat your children as a gift, respect them, and be Jesus to them.

Parents, remember you too are children, children of God, and so the responsibility os to treat your children like your Heavenly Father treats you: with undeserved goodness and boundless mercy, speaking the truth in love.

If both children and parents submit to one another and put others’ needs ahead, it is heavenly.

Well, that is the ideal, but what I have a disrespectful child, a manipulative parent, a cruel or bitter mom or dad? The command remains: Be Jesus to them. Love them, tell them the truth, always be loyal to God and trust Him with them.

Ask Him to show you want to do, even if it means walking away so God can deal with them directly and so you won’t get hurt.

Churches also have a hand to play in the raising of children, for if stewardship is the proper management of assets then

Christian stewardship means placing emphasis on the most valuable asset it has: children.

From the family, Paul moves to the second most common place we spend our time: work.

He uses terms that may seem strange to us: Masters and slaves. When we hear “slave” we may think that Paul seems to be promoting the idea! This is not true at all and in fact, quite the opposite.

Again, Paul is bringing the Gospel to bear on the institutions of his day, including slavery, and he is setting the stage for its eventual and total destruction.

Gal. 3:28; 1 Cor. 7:21-23, and especially the New Testament book of Philemon lays out a case that simply said: Slavery was against God’s design for mankind, and in Christ’s church slave and master are now equals, so if the church is to reach the world, it must show that slavery is to become abolished.

Verse 9 says it all: God does not play favorites. It doesn’t matter your skin color, or age, or gender, or money level. What matters is boiled down to one question: Will you say yes to Jesus?

Paul is saying here that similar to parents and children, masters and slaves are to be Jesus to each other.

The reason is because everything, even our jobs, are redeemed by Christ and now hold new purpose for us. We do it all as if we were doing it for Jesus Himself!

That means whether you are a “master” or “servant”, a worker or a boss, we are all on equal ground, for all of us were slaves to sin and have now been freed by Christ, so that now we are slaves to Him in order that we may free others.

If you are a worker, serve your boss as if you were serving Jesus, even if your boss doesn’t deserve it, for you now only have one true Boss (Jesus). If you are a boss, serve those under you and use your power for their benefit.

Treat all as you would treat Christ Himself for all of life is lived in the Lord, to the Lord, and for the Lord.

All are equal in God’s eyes so be Jesus to one another, for that is what God’s vision is for a church: BE JESUS TO ALL PEOPLE EVERYWHERE!

We have often heard this text used when we talk about marriage relationships, but unless we read the verses that come before it, we will miss what the main point here is.

The main point: Lovingly submit to the Holy Spirit so that He can transform us to lovingly submit to one another and this impacts all relationships include marriage.

-1) What does it mean to be “filled with the Spirit” (v. 15-18)

-2) What does being filled with the Spirit look like (v. 19-21)

-3) An example from marriage (v. 22-33)

 

When Paul talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit, we must ask what he is talking about in that phrase, yet it is simple: The Holy Spirit is God and He is the presence of Christ in us.

Remember last week: The Holy Spirit is a person. He is not a force or set of rules but a person, and he must be a person because only a person can change us from the inside.

If you have submitted to Christ, you have the Holy Spirit in you. Every believer has Him, for He is the only reason we are here. He converted us.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit drew us to Himself.

So, how are we filled? The question is not how much of the Holy Spirit we have, but how much of us He has.

Does God have control over your life? Do we surrender all to Him? To be filled with the Spirit is to submit to God daily, to be constantly turning our lives over to Him.

How can we do this? Ask. The Holy Spirit conveys the presence of Jesus. Faith gives us access to Him.

We have access to God, and we are in Him because He is in us. We are all on a journey, and we must walk and live so that we will fulfill our purpose: so that Jesus will become more evident in our lives, touching every area with His light of life.

In Him doing so, we don’t lose our personalities, instead we are transformed into who God meant for us to be: Just like His Son.

If we fail to understand what it means to submit to God, the rest of this text won’t make any sense to us.

What does being filled with the Holy Spirit look like? Speaking in tongues? Powerful preaching? Not quite what you might think.

Filled with the Spirit means to submit to God by worship, and to submit to others by serving and loving them.

Often we ask what worship style we should have in our church. Traditional? Contemporary? The question we need to be asking instead is: “What is my heart attitude right now?” “Am I coming to worship the Lord with my heart open and ready to experience the living Jesus, powerful and real?”

When we come to God, being honest about our hurts and troubles, yet always remembering His love for us, the hymns and songs we sing will take on a whole new personal meaning for us.

When we submit to God by worship (daily, not just in church), it gives us the foundation for submitting to one another.

To be filled with the Spirit is to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, and every Spirit-filled Christian is a humble and submissive one because Jesus’ standard of greatness was “if you wish to be the greatest you must be willing to become the least and if you wish to be a master you must be willing to be a servant”

We submit to others and to God because He first submitted to us. In Jesus Christ, God submitted to humanity in order to show us His love and draw us to Him.

This also impacts our home life: In the Gospel, we have a freedom no other source can give and nothing can take it away. We are free from sin, free from worry about opinions, etc.

We are free to serve others unconditionally and not because we have to, but because we genuinely love them. We read about wives submitting to their husbands, but Paul does not let husbands have dictatorial rule, instead he says, “husbands since you have more power, you have more responsibility to use that power for your wife’s betterment”.

In today’s world we hear many talk about “rights” and “equality”, yet I guarantee that if husbands and wives would submit and lovingly sacrifice for each other, divorces in this country would plummet. After all, it is hard to divorce someone who puts you first!

What we often do not see here is that the primary focus is not husbands wives, but Christ and the church. When Paul cites Gen. 2:24, it is meaning that we in the church are one with Christ and one in Christ!

This is the basis for everything we do as believers, for our morals, behavior, everything. The point of Ephesians: We are part of Christ and part of each other. To be effective witnesses we need to tell others the need to be united with Jesus and the possibility of being united, for only that living, dynamic relationship is what changes lives.

Although Ephesians was originally written centuries ago, it is so relevant as though it were penned in today’s world as it addresses many issues the church still faces today.

Last week we looked at what it means to be “in Christ” and how our behavior ought to reflect that. This week, Paul still addresses behavior, but it is more of a warning to us.

The three sections for today’s message are

-1) Specifics of what those in Christ are to avoid (v. 3-4)

-2) Why we are to avoid these (v. 5-7)

-3) Benefits and Responsibility as a Follower of Jesus (v. 8-14)

 

-1) Specifics of what those in Christ are to avoid–

1.1) Paul opens this section up by talking about sexual immorality. Why is this so dangerous?

→ Because it is where pride, power, and pleasure come together and destroy something that was mean to be a beautiful gift from God between a husband and a wife.

Our culture today has stripped sex of its holiness and beauty and reduced it down to physical action based only on consent. As disciples of Jesus in the church, our responsibility is to show the world that this wonderful act is a gift given by God to be used according to His standards because it binds two people together and together they reflect God’s image.

1.2) Greed-the desire to have more at any cost. More accurately, it is when desire takes God’s place and defines our life.

→ Sin-seeking to get more out of life that God put into it.

Although we commonly associate greed with money, it can be the overwhelming desire to have anything at any cost. Again, today’s culture does not really help in this regard because it encourages “champagne wishes and caviar dreams”

Yet, greed is so dangerous because it is an addiction, and like an addiction, with it we are never satisfied, but always left wanting more to fill that void.

The reason greed does not fit in with the lifestyle of the Christian is because it displays a lack of trust in God. He has promised us that He would take care of us so we need not destroy ourselves with the constant pursuit of what will never satisfy.

1.3) Obscene talk and coarse joking-Now Paul is not saying we aren’t allowed to have a sense of humor! It is not the laughter or the talking itself that is bad. It is how we use it.

Do we build others up or tear them down? Do we encourage or discourage? If we praise God yet tear down others who are made in His image, how can we say we love God? For that is the equivalent of flattering the Artist yet being scornful to the art!

So what is the solution to all three of these? Paul lays it out with one word: THANKSGIVING.

When we acknowledge God, then give thanks for His love and grace and how He has show this in Jesus Christ in our everyday lives, our hearts will be stirred and compelled to say “yes”, responsibility will be built, and life is ordered away from sin and to God and others.

Sin comes from ingratitude and thanksgiving is the antidote.

-2) Why we are to avoid these? (v. 5-7)-Paul gets straight to the point. God is a judge who executes justice.

If the idea of God’s judgment leaves a bad taste in your mouth, let me present this: If there was no judgment, God wouldn’t be worthy of worship because it would mean He doesn’t care about us or what we do. If He doesn’t care, then what we do doesn’t matter and we have no salvation or hope.

Without judgment, no mercy is needed. Yet none of us want a world with no justice. We want justice, but God has to do it by His standard, and by His standard we are all guilty. YET on the cross, justice and love met. On the cross, God took His own judgment & gave us love and mercy.

So who gets judged? Those who look at the work of Jesus on the cross and reject it.

What do we do? Live your life is such a way that makes you “in the world” but not “of the world”. Be wise, and seek to influence others instead of them influencing you.

-3) Benefits and Responsibility as a Follower of Jesus (v. 8-14)-The reason Paul writes this is because it doesn’t line up with our new identity in Christ.

Remember, Paul splits the world into 2 kingdoms: Light and Darkness. However, these two kingdoms are not equal in power because King Jesus is strongest of all.

The point Paul is making is that if you live in darkness and sin, you take on its lifestyle, but if you live in light, in Jesus Christ, then you take on his lifestyle.

This is why Christ came. He became what we are so that we could become what He is. If we live in His light of truth, goodness, and holiness, then we will be transformed into what He is. We will begin to take on His nature.

If we say we are saved and joined to Christ, we cannot share in the old, dark ways of sin and greed. That would be like saying “I love my spouse” while thinking I can freely violate the marriage covenant, for the two ideas are mutually contradictory.

Well, what is the bottom line? Do we separate from everyone who isn’t Christian? No. So do we live as if our lives do not matter? No.

What do we do? Think about light. Light shines in darkness and transforms darkness. We must live in the world but not of the world. Live in society, but don’t sacrifice your soul for what society worships.

We need an example, and so our Father in heaven has given us one: Jesus. He walked the balance perfectly between being in the world but not of it.

He did not go hide in a bunker, but instead went out to a broken and hurting world. He never acted like the sinners, but He did eat with them. Jesus the Source of truth never compromised on truth and often He did confront sin, but He always loved sinners with such a level of compassion that they realized the truth was for their good. We are children of light, so reflect God’s light in darkness for that light you shine will then transform that darkness.