Last week we dealt with the "vain walk," or as Paul put it, "the you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk." (You can look at last week's outline to see what that was.) I continued with more on this subject beginning with verse 25. The point was that they were "new people" and should not go go back to old ways, which he deals with in the ensuing verses.
I. Verses 25-26 - Put away lying and excessive anger. A. Verse 25- Put away lying. Christians owe it to each other to be be truthful with each other. We should be mindful always that "we are members of each other." B. Verse 26 - Deal with anger like Christians. 1. "Be angry and sin not..." Anger itself is not a sin, but it can become sin. 2. "Let not the sun go down on your wrath." (Get over it.) 3. "Neither give place to the devil." Don't let the devil have the victory. C. It is important that we remember this. (I went lightly over verses 28-30. You might want to develop those as well. I went to verse 31.) II. Verses 31-32 - The importance of getting over anger. A. Verse 31 - Anger can become all of these and lead to defeat in Christian living. 1. "Bitterness" is anger held in and nurtured. Hebrews tells us to not get "a root of bitterness." 2. "Wrath" Anger becomes rage and becomes destructive. 3. "Anger and clamour" mean that anger leads to brawling. 4. "Evil speaking" is angrily "bad mouthing" people. 5. "Put away....malice." This is anger held in until it means harm either vocal or physical. B. Verse 32 - What we should do rather hold anger in 1. "Be kind to one another..." Opposite of malice. 2. "Tenderhearted..." Compassionate as Christ was. 3. "Forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." a. Forgiving is the fulfillment of overcoming anger. b. If God has forgiven our sins, He expects us to be forgiving as well. C. It is important for us to deal with anger like Christians. These are things that we need in churches today, both for the sake of fellowship and for the sake of our witness to the world. Let us heed it.
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Verses 1-2 tell about forgiveness that David received from God. What had he done to have to be forgiven? He committed adultery with Bathsheba, had her husband, Uriah, killed in battle, lied about it, and tried to hide it. But in the end David was forgiven and was still called "a man after God's own heart..."
I. Vss. 3-4 - What happened when David tried to hide, ignore, or deny his guilt? A. Vs. 3 - Looks like depression and wallowing in his own misery. B. Vs. 4a - Felt God-forsaken. We can't hide, deny or ignore our sin and be close to God.!!!! C. Vs. 4b - His strenght was sapped - soul weariness..... II. Vs. 5 - What he did to come out of it, and is our counsel about forgiveness. A. Vs.5a - He acknowledged his sin - first step..."Fess up" B. Vs. 5b He shared the depth of his sin. 1. "Sin" means "missing the mark." 2. "Iniquity" means "twisted." 3. "Transgression" means "out of bounds." 4. All of these describe David's sin...... C. Vs.5c - He was forgiven. Go back to vss. 1-2 and see the joy of forgiveness. III. Vss. 6-8 - What the result was for David's life. A. Vs. 6 - The importance of going to God. B. Vs. 7 - What David found in going to God. 1. a hiding place 2. preserved from trouble 3. delivered (song of deliverance - put a song in his heart) C. Vs. 8 - He found God's guidance. This is wise counsel for us as we seek wholeness and The third sermon on "The Christian Walk" is called the worthess, or vain, walk. Verse 17 says not to walk as "the gentiles walk." As it is used here it means not to walk as heathens walk. Don't live like people who live only for the world and belong to Satan's world system. "In the vanity of their mind" refers to an empty way of living that leads to an empty life.
I. Verse 18 - "Having the understanding darkned" A. They walk in the dark as opposed to walking in the light of Christ. B. They are "alienated from the life of God." Sadly, the Lord has nothing to do with their lives, which is the kind of society we are living in. C. They are ignorant of the true way of life. They are walking blindly through life. II. Verse 19 - "Who being past feeling..." A. They are living "lascivious" lives. Which means that they live only for the world and have bought into Satan's lie. Paul gives a description of this way of living in Romans 1:24-27, which is the direction of the world. B. They "work all uncleanness." C. And they work "with greediness." III. Verses 20-24 - "But ye have not so learned Christ." A. Christ hasn't taught us to live for the world - the world system. B. We should have put off the "old man" which lived "according deceitful lust." C. According to verses 23-24 we should live with renewed minds since we are new people living in "righteousness and true holiness." In Christ we do not live in a dark world, ignorant of God's way and will. Christ has taught us better than to live for the world and to join them in their waywardness. (This is the second sermon on the Christian walk in Ephesians)
Last week we looked at "the walk of the past" in Ephesians 2:2, and "the working walk" in ephesians 2:8-10. Tonight we turn to Ephesians 4:1-3 where we find "the worthy walk." I. Verse 1 - We are encouraged to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." A. "Vocation" means that we have all been called to work, or works, for the Lord. B. There are things that we are supposed to be doing in the church and in the community. II. Verse 2 - We are told how we are to take this worthy walk. A. "With all lowliness." As in all things we are serve humbly before God and people. B. "(with all) meekness. Meekness is not weakness. It is controlled strength, like a broken horse, for example. C. "with longsuffering" This literally means to suffer long, to serve in spite of what we have to overcome. D. "forbearing one another in love." In love we overlook the personallity differences, etc. and get along for the sake of Christ and of the work that He has called us to do together. III. Verse 3 - Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. A. "Endeavering" means to work at it. B. "to keep the unity of the Spirit." This means that if we stick with verses 1 and 2, we will keep unity in spite of differences, and will disagree like Christians not heathens. C. "in the bond of peace" This speaks for itself. There will be peace if we work together humbly in a spirit of peace. Is your walk with Jesus a "worthy walk"? It is important for it to be. A "certain" lawyer came to Jesus and asked Him about how he could have eternal life. Jesus asked him what the law said and he answered correctly in verse 27. The lawyer then wanted to know who his neighbor was. Jesus gave him the "Parable of the Good Samaritan"in verses 30-37. He revealed how different people look at life in their relaltions with people. (Bottom line: Our neighbor can be anyone.)
I. Verse 30 - There are people who not only do not care, they mean harm. These theives were selfish, cruel, unfeeling and had no heart for other people. II. Verses 31-32 - People who are casually indifferent. A. If we aren't careful we will be llike this. (We might pass people by that God intends for us to help.) B. These men represent religious practice without heart. 1. Priests and Levites served in the temple at Jerusalem. They had religious duties to perform, and had probably done that before this encounter. 2. Their religion didn't help them to help the helpless man. Keep in mind: Religion is something we do. Faith is something God does in us. Religion is something we practice. Faith in Jesus is what we are and how we act. C. This is the sin of omission. III. Verses 31-35 - Someone who cares and acts on it. A. The Samaritan became involved in this helpless man's life. Who does the Lord want you to become involved with? B. The text will show us what it took for the Samaritan to care. 1. Courage - He didn't know where the thieves were. 2. Time 3. Money C. In verese 35 the Samaritan continued to care. Where do you come down. Remember, the key word here is compassion. Do you have compassion for people? (This is the first sermon in a series on "The Christian Walk" in Ephesians.)
"Walk" in the bible refers to living the Christian life. I think it stems from the fact that in order to live the Christian life, we have to walk with Jesus, or as it is sometimes referred to as "walking in the footsteps of Jesus." Our two messages for this sermon are from Ephesians 2:2 and 2:8-10 I. 2:2 - The walk of the past A. Notice: "In time past..." Before we were saved this is how we "walked." B. We walked "according to the course of the world." 1. This is the world system, apart from God. 2. This system is under the control of "the prince of the power of the air" - in other words, under the power of the devil. 3. These are what we call "lost" people. They might be good people in many ways, even good neighbors and dependable people, but apart from Jesus they are lost and living "according to the course of the world." Satan has convinced them that they are good enough without Jesus. C. They are "children of disobedience." II. 2:8-10 The working walk. A. Verse 8 - We are saved by grace through faith - plus nothing. B. Verse 9 - It is not of works. Jesus finished the work of salvation on the cross. We cannot work to be saved. But works are involved, not in our salvation but in our Christian walk. C. Verse 10 - We are saved, not by good works, but unto good works. 1. "We are His (God's) workmanship..." He does not start on the outside and work in, but begins on the inside and works out. 2. We are "created in Christ Jesus unto good works..." 3. Which God "hath before ordained." Before we were even born, God ordained works for us to do. In the past, we walked with the world, then we were saved and began to walk in Jesus and do the works that He wants us to do. Not saved by works but saved to work. (More next week) In verses 1-2, Paul called Timothy to commitment. Then he used three examples of effective Christian service that I have called portraits. Here is what it looks like:
I. Verses 3-4 - Soldiers A. Endurance is a quality of a good soldier. ("hardness") B. Obedience is necessity of a good soldier. 1. In my experience in the service, I learned that you did what they told you to do. No "ifs ands and buts." 2. We need to heed the Lord as much...... C. Courage is a quality of a good soldier. He or she has to be willing to put it all on the line. II. Verse 5 - Athletes A. "Strive for masterites" means they stay in shape. (No fat foot racers.....) B. Play by the rules. Lanes on a track are not for decoration. Have to stay in lane or be disqualified. Same with staying in bounds in football...... C. Play to win. There is no point in playing to lose. The reason they keep score is so somebody can win. It is important that we "win" in our service for the Lord. III. Verse 6 - Farmers A. The has to have faith because he puts it all in the ground and has to trust God for crop to grow. B. It takes patience to be a farmer for the crop does not come up overnight. It takes paltience to be a Christian servant. C. The farmer is "the first partaker of the fruit..." He has to grow it or we do not get it. These are good examples for us if we want to be effectiv |
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