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Ephesians 5:1-21 Ways to Show Our New Thinking

July 24, 2018 by Dan Sullivan

Sermon on Ephesians 5:1-21 from Westminster Church in Evansville, Indiana. Here are the notes I used.

https://biblescribbler.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ephesians-5_1-21-2.mp3

Ephesians 5:1–21

[1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

This is a response to the last verse of chapter 4: Ephesians 4:32

[32] Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (ESV)

Again, just like last week, this stuff isn’t a law, but a response to what God has already done. This list is here because we do better when we have a guide instead of just trying to figure stuff out.

It’s like bending your elbows when you give someone CPR. You might know you are supposed to give chest compressions, but in the training they tell you not to bend your elbows. You need that weight and those shoulder/back muscles to do it because your little arms will wear out too fast. I don’t want you to figure that out for yourself!  That’s why this stuff is in here. We can gain wisdom from it and grow in the Lord from these insights. This is our head-start on living a life that is pleasing to God.

[3] But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. [4] Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

Again, this isn’t a law saying that we should talk about it. We should be so blameless in this that nobody can talk about us doing it! We all have to be examples of this because we are all affecting the world’s perception of Christ.

  • Filthiness – ranges according to the culture, and we need to be sensitive to that.
  • Crude jokes
  • Covetousness – “greedy desire to have more”
  • Impurity – Out of control living, reckless, amoral, wasteful

Amish people have a reputation in the world.

Galatians 6:7–8

[7] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. [8] For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (ESV)

Then back to Ephesians

[5] For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. [6] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Note the difference here between people that own this sin as a lifestyle and people that stumble into sin and fall.

[7] Therefore do not become partners with them; [8] for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9] (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10] and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.

We have to be completely deliberate with these things. Holiness will not be executed on accident or by passively doing whatever.

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist. – CS Lewis

Ephesians 5:11-14

[11] Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12] For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. [13] But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, [14] for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,

and arise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

Darkness is not exposed by our elaborate and excellent definition of darkness. Darkness is exposed by light!

[15] Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

[17] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

[18] And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21] submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (ESV)

 

Filed Under: podcast, Sermons Tagged With: church, discipleship, Ephesians, freedom, grace, holiness, Jesus, works

God is Able to Carry You Sermon – 2 Thessalonians

January 14, 2016 by Dan Sullivan

http://biblescribbler.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2Thes-2-sermon-on-end-of-the-world-2.mp3

Download: 2 Thes 3 God is able to carry you until the end 2015-07-12

I don’t have any notes that I can find on this. That just means I saved the somewhere crazy, not that I spoke with no notes!

Here is the gist of this sermon on 2 Thessalonians 3:

  • God will sustain you through the end
  • Guy burned at the stake that raised his hands up (maybe Thomas Hawkes http://www.the-highway.com/Hawkes.html)
  • God will uphold you and sustain you through every awful thing
  • God’s goal isn’t to get the work done, but to work in us. He’s already prepared the work for us to do. I could do it Himself, but He wants to work in you as you do it.

Filed Under: Bible Study, podcast, Sermons Tagged With: 2 Thessalonians, Ephesians, martyrs, works

King David on letting God be God

September 26, 2015 by Dan Sullivan

2 Samuel 15:24-26

And Abiathar came up, and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. 25 Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. 26 But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”

I love it how David totally surrenders to God and allows God to be God in this conflict. He doesn’t take a side, assume anything, and say something like “God wants me to blah blah blah”

He says “This may be how God changes the kingdom, so I’ll submit to him.”

The fact is, we DON’T know what God’s will is most of the time, but we are making decisions based on what we feel urged to do. There is nothing wrong with that at all. I think sometimes we justify ourselves by claiming God’s will, but the truth is that we are guessing and trusting the Lord. I think we bring a lot more glory to God by letting Him have His will and we admit that we are trying to follow it.

Filed Under: Bible Study Tagged With: david, discipleship, faith, God's Will, OT, Samuel, works

Galatians 3 and 4 in Fifteen minutes

January 13, 2015 by Dan Sullivan

I was able to preach this past weekend at a UCC church. I talked about the freedom of the Gospel, which is also free!

http://biblescribbler.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/01-stmatthewsGalatians2.mp3

Filed Under: Bible Study, podcast, Sermons Tagged With: Galatians, grace, Jesus, judgment, mercy, sin, works

Saul the Sorcerer

August 25, 2014 by Dan Sullivan

1 Samuel 15:18-21

18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’
19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

Saul has a horrible case of “Hear-what-I-want-itis” when he talks to Samuel here.

What Samuel Says What Saul Says
Kill everything We killed only the diseased and worthless
Leave nothing alive We brought the best animals back alive
God doesn't need your sacrifices Won't God love these sacrifices?

And of course God doesn’t like it at all when people do their own thing and say that is what “God” wanted them to do.

22 And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”

Do you see what he said there? Rebellion, in this case religiousness is like being a witch or a sorcerer. How is that? Well, the main problem with sorcery is that the wizard is putting himself in a position to control supernatural powers. When a person does a religious act to force God’s hand, that’s just like trying to be a wizard.

Saul is trying to make God like him, or to earn something from God. What God wants is to be who He is, ruler of the galaxy. He doesn’t need the religious activities nor is He swayed by them.

v. 24-25
Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.”

Oh man! Do you see what he did there?! I’m sorry for being overly religious, now forgive me so I can keep being religious! Look at how pious I am as I seek forgiveness for my piety!

This whole idea of doing what we want to do and saying that it’s what God wants us to do is really striking to me. I wonder if we have become so trained to do our own thing, to follow our own will, that we don’t even know what it feels like to be led by God. I’ve experienced several things this summer where somebody was making a horrible decision, but they said that God was leading them to make it.

I think I would have believed it if they hadn’t hidden those decisions behind so much piety!

May we be thankful for the works that Jesus’ death freed us from, and may we take hold of the simple, submissive life He has given us! No magicians here, just servants!

Filed Under: Bible Study Tagged With: 1 Samuel, magic, obedience, religion, Saul, works

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