| Introduction Have you ever noticed how relational the writings of the apostle Paul are? In most of his epistles, he follows a pattern setting down who God is and what he has done for his people in through Jesus Christ in the first part. This sort of teaching is often called the indicatives of Christianity. Indicatives are statements, and in this context, statements about what God has done for us. He, then, applies these statements about who God is and what he has done for his people in Jesus Christ to everyday life. It is in the second part of his writings that we find most of the instructions on how to live in light of what Christ has done for us. These are the imperatives of the gospel. Genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ always translates itself in a pattern of living. And this pattern of living is relational. The gospel is always lived out in community. We see that clearly here in Ephesians where Paul starts the second half of the book telling us how to live. I. Life Can Be Lived in the Light of the Gospel under Any Circumstance, 1. A. "Therefore" – "Because of all the truths I have told you up to this point." 1. Go back later today and look at what Paul taught the Ephesians concerning God, Christ, and themselves so far. 2. It could be all boiled down to a dying statement of John Newton – "I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior." 3. The fact that God chose us to be saved in Jesus Christ when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, and that solely by his grace his brought us from death to life must have a life-wide impact. B. Notice how Paul once brings up the fact that he is prison. 1. He is not trying to make the Ephesians feel bad and thus manipulate them into doing what he is telling them to do. 2. Literally, he is saying that he is a prisoner, not ofthe Lord, but inthe Lord. a. The way that he was supposed to live his calling at that moment was as a prisoner. b. So, he is living his life at that moment as a prisoner as one who is in the Lord. 1) The work of God through Christ in his life dominates the way that he is a prisoner. 2) Paul's faith in Christ has a real and pervasive impact on how he carries himself as a prisoner. C. By referring to himself as a prisoner in the Lord, Paul is demonstrating that living in the light of the gospel is something that the Christian do under any circumstance. D.We do not have to wait for a particular set of circumstances in order to live out who we are in Jesus Christ. 1. We don't have to wait for our spouse to change. 2. We don't have to wait for our children to grow. 3. We don't have to wait till we make more money. "… God who has awakened us to a new life also gives us the power to live that life." James Boice II. The Holy Spirit Tells God's People How They Should Live (Behave). A. As a reaction to real or perceived legalism, to oppressive leadership, and to hitting people upside the head with the Bible, a lot of Bible-believing folk have developed a dislike to the idea that they should be told what to do in sermons. B. The problem is that the Bible is full of imperatives (commands and instructions on how to live). 1. None of them was design to cause God to love us. 2. All of them were intended to be obey as God transforms us from citizens of the kingdom of darkness into citizens of the kingdom of his beloved Son. C. So, we have to be careful that under the umbrella of zeal for the grace of God, we end up becoming Christians who only have half of the Bible. 1. We need the whole thing. 2. And large parts of it tell us how to live. 3. We receive those parts as good gifts from the hand of our gracious God. D.Telling us what to do is exactly what Paul is telling us here. 1. To walk in a certain way is to live in a certain way. 2. And Paul is not making a suggestion – he is beseeching, exhorting, imploring, begging that the Ephesians (and us) would live in a way that demonstrates your faith in Christ. III. The Holy Spirit Wants You to Live Your Life according to Whom You Have Been Declared to Be Because of Jesus Christ. A. If you have been born again and have place your faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul, you have been declared to be a child of God. B. Your calling in life is to be sons and daughters of God, sisters and brothers of Jesus Christ. 1. Your calling is clearly described in 2:1-10, especially 2:4, 10. 2. God has made us alive together with Christ and re-created us in order for us to do the good works (live life) that he has set out for us to do. C. Therefore, we are to live our lives in a way that is consistent with having been brought to life by the love of God for us in Christ Jesus. 1. The word translated worthymeans equivalent. 2. Paul is not telling us to live a life that makes us worthy of what God has done for us. 3. He is telling us that our lives must be equivalent (have the same value) of our identity in Christ. 4. In essence, Paul is saying, "Be on earth what you have been declared to be in heaven." 5. F.F. Bruce titles this whole section of 4:1-6:20 "The New Humanity in Earthly Life." IV. The Holy Spirit Wants to Live out the Truth of Whom You Are in Jesus Christ in Relationships, 2-3. A. What Paul says here controls all that follows, all the way to the end of the book. 1. In essence, the rest of the book describes how you and I do this walk. 2. Lowliness (humility), gentleness, patience, love, and peace will mark all the relationships that are described in the rest of the book. 3. So, Paul is saying that the fruit of the Spirit is to pervade and mark the way we live. B. Our life lived in relationships (in community), a life that is equivalent to our status as children of God is marked by unity, 3. 1. Why unity? Because of our love for one another. 2. The bond of unity in the church is not sameness but love. a. It is unity in diversity. b. There is a great diversity of gifts in the church, all of them needed for the unity of the body. C. The unity is Spirit born. 1. An evidence of the work of the Spirit in the life of a church is unity among the brethren. Rom 8:6– For to be carnally minded isdeath, but to be spiritually minded islife and peace. 2. Disunity is not the work of the Holy Spirit, but the work of the prince of this world. a. So, when we sow disunity (discord) through gossip, slander, pride, self-centeredness, laziness, arrogance, we are instruments of Satan in his attempt to destroy the church. b. That is why Paul is so hard on the contentious person. Titus 3:10-11– Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. D.Unity in our relationships demonstrates the oneness of our God and of our faith, 4-6. 1. The one God, one Spirit, one Lord has called us into one body. a. Our common belief in Jesus Christ has brought us together. b. Not absolute agreement in all theological issues. 3. We all were baptized into the name of Jesus Christ and are thus united to one another through our union with Christ. 4. All these things are encouragements to living out our faith in Christ in unity with the brethren. V. Humility, Gentleness, and Patience the Spirit-Filled Life of Relationships, 2. "To be raised from the depths of degradation and misery and made the sons of God, and thus exalted to an inconceivable elevation and dignity, does and must produce humility and meekness. Where these effects are not found, we may conclude the exaltation has not taken place." Charles Hodge A. Humility (lowliness in NKJV) is the first necessity for a life in community that is marked by unity – the NIV translates as "Be completely humble." B. The grace of God in Jesus Christ in your life drives you away from pride/self-centeredness and toward humility in serving others. Phil. 2:3-4– Letnothing be donethrough selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 1. What not to do – pride, 3a, 4a. 1) Selfish ambition = general selfishness. 2) Conceit = being full of yourself. b. Pride will inevitably lead to conflict and disunity. "Persons who seek to advance themselves usually enjoy glorying in their success, but all such glory is 'vain conceit' …." Homer Kent "Whence come rudeness, pride, and disdainful language towards the brethren? Whence come quarrels, insults, and reproaches? Come they not from this, that every one carries his love of himself, and his regard to his own interest, to excess?" John Calvin c. Pride will not promote the mind of Christ in us. d. Listen to what the Bible says concerning pride. 1) Pride is product/fruit of the flesh, Jam. 4:6. 2) Pride keeps you from listening to God's Word and destroys relationships, 1 Tim. 6:3-5, Pro. 13:10. 3) Pride comes from an evil heart, Mk. 7:22. 4) Pride is Satan's chief sin, 1 Tim. 3:6. 5) Pride is the result of exchanging the truth of God for a lie, Rom. 1:30. 6) God resists (is hostile) toward the proud, 1 Pt. 5:5. 7) Pride results in shame, Pro. 11:2 8) Pride is a characteristic of the fool Pro. 14:3a– In the mouth of a fool isa rod of pride…. 9) Pride brings destruction, Pro. 16:18. 10) God hates pride and he will destroy the house of the proud, Pro 6:16-17, 15:25. 11) Stay away from the proud. Pro. 16:19– Better to beof a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. 12) Pride is sin, Pro. 21:4. 13) The proud does not trust in the Lord – this is the ultimate act of pride: unbelief. Pro. 28:25– He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. 2. As children of God, we understand that there is no reason for us to be proud, so pride dies and is replaced with humility, 3b, 4b. a. Humility is not characteristic of the world, but it is essential for spiritual life in community. 1) Seen as bad thing – word originally meant mean-spirited (used 6x in NT). 2) Goes against human nature, yet our Savior himself is our example of humility as he became a man and humble himself. Phil. 2:5, 8– Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. b. Definition of humility. 1) Humility is not saying that you are worse than everybody else – self-deprecation is not the same as humility. 2) If you are good at something, denying it doesn't make you humble 3) Humility includes acknowledging the gifts God has given you and using them in his service by serving others. 4) Humility is really not thinking about yourself. Pro. 27:2– Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips. c. Listen to what the Bible says concerning humility. 1) Humility is a characteristic of heavenly living, Col. 3:12. 2) Every Christian is called to humility, Titus 3:2. Titus 3:1-2– Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. 3) Faith and humility go hand in hand. Mt. 18:4– Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 4) Christians are to be draw to humility, Rom. 12:16 (not usually the role models that are out there). 1 Pt. 5:5-6– Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to yourelders. Yes, all of yoube submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time…. 6) At the end of the day humility is total and ultimate dependence on another, namely, on God through Jesus Christ – it is all of grace! 1 Pt. 5:5-7– Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to yourelders. Yes, all of yoube submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 3. Lord willing, we will return to humility next week. C. Closely related to humility is gentleness (meekness in NKJV) "Meekness is that unresisting, uncomplaining disposition of mind, which enables us to bear without irritation or resentment the faults and injuries of others." Charles Hodge Related to bearing with one another– "To bear with another… is to put with his faults and idiosyncrasies, knowing that we have our own." Wood 1. Gentleness is the opposite of arrogance and is another characteristic of our Savior Mt. 11:29– Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 2. Gentleness works hard at not hurting the people around us who we are supposed to love and serve. "We do not walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called if we be not faithful friends to all Christians, and sworn enemies to all sin." Matthew Henry D. The last element we are going to consider this morning of the Spirit-filled life lived in community is longsuffering = patience (self-restraint that enables one to bear injury and insult without resorting to hasty retaliation – EBC). 1. Elements of longsuffering a. Bearing with one another – not being easily offended. b. Forgiving one another – being ready to forgive each other and not being bitter. 2. Illustration of longsuffering - Hosea Hos. 3:1-3– Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans." So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver, and one and one-half homers of barley. And I said to her, "You shall stay with me many days; you shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man -- so, too, will I be toward you."
You and I have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to live our lives as sons and daughters of God in our relationships. Unity, humility, gentleness, and longsuffering will be evident in our lives because we have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and are being conformed to his image.
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