Sermons

We may not see the battle, but the spiritual fight is real. Ephesians 6 warns us of a fierce battle against unseen forces—angels and demons—and the good news is that, through Christ, we already know who wins. This afternoon, we’ll explore how to stand firm, know our enemy, and rely on God’s strength to fight the battle we’re in.

Theme: Salvation is entirely God’s Gracious Gift Points: 1. Grace Saves 2. Grace excludes Works 3. Grace leads to Works

The Devil has many devious and clever schemes. The book of Ephesians teaches us to sit, walk, then stand. In this sermon Steve shows us that we are part of a war against spiritual forces and what it means to stand in the power of God.

During the worst of the COVID crisis this year (2020), in Australia you saw people stay at home, isolate as best as they could, kept their movements minimal, wore masks, washed their hands, kept a distance from other people. They knew that they were at war and they needed to take precautions. It was a kind of minimize the risk kind of warfare. I suppose that when a vaccine is freely available, we can actually take the war to the virus. That would be more of an offensive kind of warfare. When it comes to COVID some people don’t believe the virus exists and others believe that it is not deadly. I am not willing to argue that with you tonight except to say that it would be a big mistake for you to think that we are not at war spiritually speaking and that our enemy is not a deadly one.

The thing is that the city of Ephesus was known for its goddess Artemis, the goddess with multiple breasts. Ritual sexual behaviour and prostitution was part of their worship and the language and jokes in the city of Ephesus were often overtly sexual and crude. In that sense, the language and humour of Ephesus are not that far removed from our own country or cities or workplaces here in Australia or many other places in the world. Often the humour, we see expressed on television is immoral and crude and we live in that kind of environment. In fact, we are bombarded or submerged by that kind of attitude. Sexual sin simply diminishes our witness because it always destroys our credibility with others. Not only does it diminish others but it shows us to lack fidelity and truth ourselves. Any kind of coarse jesting or joking simply destroys our credibility, as Christians, because it reduces those around us to how they look rather than their character and gifts.

What Paul is doing here is urging the Ephesians to continue on in their education about Christ. It is always so easy to go backwards instead of forwards. The problem that Paul is dealing with here is that for the Christian the old garments of ignorance and death are very comfortable. People go to a wedding, get old dressed up and then when they get back home they kick off the shoes and dress down to something comfortable. For us, what often seems comfortable is living the old life, rather than living the new life. Sometimes we are so comfortable in them that we don’t even know that we have put them back on. The sad truth is that our sins will have to be put off daily as long as we live. This is something that a Christian is called to do.

Paul discloses the mystery of God’s plan for His Salvation. We recognise that we were dead in our trespasses and sins but now have been made alive in Christ. The mystery is that we have been included into the body of Christ. Yet, in understanding the mystery, do we recognise the need for ministry? Paul was a highly motivated individual who would eventually die in his desire to proclaim the gospel. As we look around us today, we see people increasingly alienated from God. As we look around us we see people in a hopeless situation and it is in understanding God’s plan that we find strength and encouragement to reach out to others.

One of the things problems that we have as human beings is that we are always forgetting things. When it comes to living the Christian life, I often compare myself to a leaky bucket. You would have heard me say that before. A leaky bucket is always losing water and in my Christian life, I seem always to be forgetting important things from God. The forgetting often has to do with God’s love. Something happens in the family, some new stress in life and I forget about God’s provision and care. So often God has come to the rescue in the past and then the new situation arrives, and I fail to remember God’s past deeds and get worried and lose my joy. Paul, in the letter to the Ephesians has been reminding them of their stature in Christ. He is reminding them of their privilege. Not so that they would boast but that they would have hope for the future, as they remember the past. That their behaviour and attitudes would be shaped by the grace that they had received. Paul here, is simply reminding the Gentile part of the Ephesian Church that they had to remember what they received, their privilege in Christ. They were urged to remember the past so that they would exhibit grace in the future.

I like how John Stott puts this. He writes that we see these three successive historical events in the saving career of Jesus, which are normally called his resurrection from the dead, his ascension into heaven and his rule which is sitting at the right hand of God. The amazing thing is not simply that God raised Jesus to life, but he raises us to life also.

So, what helps us not to be intimidated by the trappings of power? What helps us to be able to live courageously in this world? I think it is when we have seen Christ as our glorious ruler and king. I think it is as we see Christ overshadowing all human power and making a mockery of them, that we see every person in the right way! This picture of Christ as ruler is something that Paul is attempting to convey to us in this passage.

In this sermon we look at two “grace” gifts that God has provided us with in Christ. The first is the redemption through his blood and the second is the “Knowledge” and insight that we receive because we belong to Christ. We know what the problem of man is. We know how we have been saved. We know the future when Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead. We know how we ought to live. These things were wonderful for the Ephesian Christians to know, especially as they were a small minority in a largely pagan city.

Paul in verse 4 is speaking to parents! His first word to parents it not to exasperate their children. We understand the words to mean “Do not irritate your children, do not provoke your children to be resentful or angry.” I think, parents as a whole find this very difficult to do! How does one go about disciplining children without them becoming angry or resentful?