Fellowshipmtz

Understanding the Lord’s Will - Ephesians 5:17

Ephesians 5:17 (along with 5:10)

I think it is significant that people usually talk about discovering the Lord's will, or finding the Lord's will; whereas Paul says that we should understand the will of the Lord.  I am increasingly convinced the difference is real.

Ephesians 5:15-16 - Walking Wisely (& Redeeming Time)

Ephesians 5:15-16

Walking as wise requires an accurate view of "the time" in which we live and an awareness that every detail of our lives needs to submit to the Lordship of Christ.  Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910) rightly comments: "We shall never walk as the children of light, unless we have the habit of referring everything -- trifles and great things -- to His arbitrament, and seeking in them all to do what is pleasing in His sight.  The smallest deed may be brought under the operation of the largest principles.  Gravitational pull influences the grain of sand as well as the planets and sun."

Ephesians 5:8-14 - Exposing Works of Darkness

Ephesians 5:8-14

Pastor Cliff is back this week and draws attention to two additional elements from the selected text:
(1)  How are Christians to understand "the fruit of light" ?
(2)  How are Christians to "expose" [reprove] the "unfruitful works of darkness" ?

Note: During our own church building's renovation we started gathering at Faith Baptist of South Shores (Decatur), so we are working out the technicalities of the audio recording.

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!