Fellowshipmtz

Ephesians 5:7-14 - Do Not Become Partners With Them!

Ephesians 5:7-14

Building on the foundation laid last week, today we devote most of our time to answering two very important (and inseparable) questions:

1.  WHY should Christians "be imitators of God" ?
2.  WHY should Christians "not become partakers with them" ?  (And who are the "them"?)

NOTE: In Pastor Cliff's absence, the first two weeks of August our church will have special guest speakers.

Ephesians 5:7-14 - Big Picture: Themes & Progression

Ephesians!  It might seem to come at an odd time, but in today's message we step back from our typical slow pace in order to get a "Big Picture" understanding of Paul's letter delivered first to the Ephesians.  We identify the progressions and movements that have come before, leading us to 5:7-14 and the theme, "walk as children of light".

Ephesians 5:5-6 - A Twofold Warning (That Won’t Set Well with Secular Culture or Religion)

Ephesians 5:5-6

Paul gives a sharply worded twofold warning to the church.  The particulars of Paul's warning contradicts what modern American culture and modern American churches want to believe.  Nevertheless, God's Truth stands.  Bonus! A relevant five minute audio excerpt from Dr. James Grier (1932-2013).

Ephesians 5:3-4 - A Biblical Sexual Ethic

Ephesians 5:3-4

The Bible's teaching on sexual morality and ethics is not shrouded in darkness.  It is clear, as is evidenced from Jesus's answer to a question posed by the Pharisees: He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

- English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Matthew 19:4–6.

Ephesians 5:1-2 - Imitating GOD!

Ephesians 5:1-2 starts with, "Therefore..."

Having outlined God’s sovereign grace that dramatically saved these Gentiles (chpts 1-3), Paul goes on to describe how their lives should be dramatically different from what they were previously (chpts 4-6).  Paul's first word of command is that Christians should "imitate God."  What does that mean, and what does it look like?

Forgiveness! (as well as bitterness, anger, malice, and more!) - Ephesians 4:31-32

Ephesians 4:31-32 / Forgiveness

Chapter 4 closes with a group of six sins to be put away, and three virtues to be exhibited.  The "Comments & Questions" portion at the end of the teaching was particularly personal in nature, and so it was edited out of the recording reproduced here.

Ephesians 4:29-30 - Our Words (for better or worse) & Grieving the Holy Spirit

Ephesians 4:29-30

Good Christians can and do disagree over secondary doctrines, practices, applications, (etc.!)  When Christians disagree disagreeably, when they mislabel and misrepresent Christians with whom they disagree, and when they further suggest (or accuse) others of being the equivalent of false teachers (as per Jude 1:4) -- the Holy Spirit is grieved!

Ephesians 4:28 - Stealing, Working, Sharing

Ephesians 4:28

The first 90 seconds (or so) weren't recorded.  The teaching began with three quotes pertaining to the gospel, as follows:

1.  Till men have faith in Christ, their best services are but glorious sins.  - Thomas Brooks (1608-1680), English non-comformist Puritan preacher & author
2.  A man cannot do good before he is made good.   - Martin Luther (1483-1546)
3.  Good deeds are such things that no man is saved [by] them, nor without them.   - Thomas Adams (1583-1652), English clergyman ~ "Shakespeare of the Puritans"

The quotes were taken from: The New Encyclopedia of Christian Quotations (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000), 432.

Ephesians 4:26-27 - ANGER prevention

Ephesians 4:26-27  /  Anger Prevention (Part 3)

The topic of anger in the Bible is not isolated to a remote corner.  It comes up again and again, either by way of an example (good or bad) or in a taught principle.  We leave the topic of anger today after considering what the Bible says about being "slow to anger" and "turning away anger with a soft answer".  The teaching is shorter than usual, because an important Business Meeting followed the main worship gathering.

Ephesians 4:26-27 - ANGER DON’TS

Ephesians 4:26-27

"He that would be angry and sin not must not be angry with anything but sin."
- Thomas Secker (1693-1768), Archbishop of Canterbury