| Teacher: Rusty Kennedy Series: Ephesians |
Rusty's Notes | |
- Paul has been explaining what walking by the Spirit looks like by the view of the world.
- There is a significant difference between the way the redeemed and the unredeemed act.
EPHESIANS 5:6-21
6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things.
- "Empty" = foolish or futile
- What is Paul referring to here? You have to look at the end result and use your filter of 66 books.
- "disobedient" - Those who could care less about God and want nothing to do with Him.
- God's wrath is coming... it's going to happen!
- The Spirit of Truth allows the believer to steer clear of such emptiness as long as he remains alert.
- There is no reason under any circumstance for a believer to participate in the activities of those who disregard truth and wallow in worldly stuff.
- "But..." No buts about it.
- "You were once darkness" –
- Ephesians 2:1-3 - And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.[1]
- We were born with an Adamic nature that controlled our person and behavior.
- "Now you are light in the Lord" - 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come![2]
- Walk as children of light - Know who you are.
- Habitually... not an on-again, off-again manner but continuing to yield to the life of Jesus in us.
- This is not only from sin but from religion (rules and regulations).
- In reference to those who are in the light
- If you choose to walk by the Spirit then a certain fruit will naturally be produced...
- “It is good to smell ya…” your aroma.
- Fruit being goodness, righteousness and truth.
- "Goodness" - profitable, generous, beneficial, upright or virtuous.
- You profit and benefit others. You are generous to others
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 - See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.[3]
- "Righteousness" - The believer's right standing with God as well as your desire to walk in Spirit.
- "Truth" - Only believers are capable of walking in Truth (God's Truth).
- You forfeit much in life by not knowing and pursuing the Truth in God's Word.
- Tozer - "Many church groups have perished from too much organization, even as others from too little. Wise church leaders will watch out for both extremes. A man may die as a result of having extremely low blood pressure as certainly as from having too high, and it matters little which takes him off. He is equally dead either way.
It is painful to see a happy group of Christians, born in simplicity and held together by the bonds of heavenly love, slowly lose their simple character, begin to try to regulate every sweet impulse of the Spirit and slowly die from within.
Yet that is the direction almost all Christian denominations have taken throughout history, and in spite of the warnings set out by the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures of truth it is the direction almost all church groups are taking today.
Churches and societies founded by saintly men with courage, faith and sanctified imagination appear unable to propagate themselves on the same spiritual level beyond one or two generations. In all our fallen life, there is a strong gravitational pull toward complexity and away from things simple and real. There seems to be a kind of sad inevitability back of our morbid urge toward spiritual suicide!"
- The Gospel was made simple and meant to stay simple.
- There is a balance of knowing what you have and intellectualizing what you have.
- "discerning" - trying to learn or even proving.
- As believers, we figure this thing out and prove it to others as a way of life rather than as a duty or obligation.
- I personally believe it is more general than specific.
- It is not about the specific behavioral things we do... but it is simply walking by the Spirit that pleases the Lord.
- "participate" - fellowship or partake with others
- "expose" - means to reprove. This could be an open rebuke.
- But, also choosing not to participate leads to conviction.
- Sometimes, the best exposure is by love actions rather than love words.
- Talking about nonbeliever's behavior can even be harmful to the believer.
- Weirsbe - "The motto today seems to be, “Tell it like it is!” And yet that can be a dangerous policy when it comes to exposing the filthy things of darkness, lest we unconsciously advertise and promote sin."
- Truth for the believer not only allows them to detect error but to also know the motive behind the error.
- Symptoms vs root cause.
Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
- "Sleeper" - unredeemed man
- Christ becomes the light in you.
15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise--
- Walk carelessly or carefully
- Wisdom - the ability to view life from God's perspective.
- Proverbs 3:13-15 - Happy is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding,
- for she is more profitable than silver,
- She is more precious than jewels;
- Why would we want to go back to living like fools? This is what it looked like:
- Titus 3:3 - For we too were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved by various passions and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, detesting one another. [5]
- "making the most" - make valuable, something treasured and remembered... memorable experiences.
- Pick a year... What do you consciously remember from that year?
- Doug & Spencer Shrieve – Slides
- Mike Zastrow - Slides
- "Time" - season or opportunity... being proper stewards.
- Wisdom allows its possessors to go to the root of the problem rather than waste precious time on surface issues.
- Choosing the excellent over the good... is difficult... but wise.
- "the days are evil" For Paul, this meant that Roman persecution was on the way.
- For the Church at Ephesus - Rev 2:4 tells us that they lost their first love.
- History tells us that they ceased to exist sometime during the 2nd century.
- One of the greatest assets of being wise is to understand the "will of God".
- As you grow in wisdom... so grows your understanding of God's will. It becomes more general than specific.
- Know God (study the Word) - know His will.
- - He reveals His plan through His Word (Col. 1:9–10), His Spirit in our hearts (Col. 3:15), and the working of circumstances (Rom. 8:28).
- If you seek wisdom from wise counsel... there is only one way to evaluate that truth... It filters through all 66 books.
- It is valuable to know the Word.
- God's will is that we walk in the Spirit... being sanctified and holy.
- "reckless actions" - dissipation, debauchery, ruin your life, cheapens life, wastefulness. You are wasting your time.
- Wine in Paul's day was used to stimulate worship.
- Neither the "drunk" or the "Spirit-filled" is ashamed to express himself.
- Paul contrasts drunkenness with being filled with the Spirit.
- "be filled" - to influence fully, to possess fully
- This is the same list of things he wrote to the church at Colossae (Col 3:16-22) but he begins with "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you."
- You were made holy... but you choose to walk in holiness. Holy means “to be separated”. You can't experience what you have if you don't separate yourself from the world in your behavior.
- Tozer - "Christian leaders can help to bring about revival by refusing to pander to the carnal tastes of the religious public and going on a holy crusade for a purified church. If leaders have the courage to follow Christ all the way, they can be a powerful instrument of the Holy Ghost to bring about real revival.…
19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord,
- Paul stated that there are three evidences of the fullness of the Spirit in the life of the believer: he is joyful (Eph. 5:19), thankful (Eph. 5:20), and submissive (Eph. 5:21–33).
- It is impossible to possess the fruit of the Spirit and refrain from singing... at least inwardly.
- Being filled with the Spirit is the only way we are able to "always" give thanks regardless of the circumstance.
- Why give thanks to Lord Jesus Christ?
- Because it was through Him that we have every spiritual blessing. We are a part of His family.
- The Spirit only fills those who desire to understand, walk in, and apply the principle of submission.
- God ordained submission for the protection of the church, family and society in general.
- Submission has nothing to do with the order of authority, but rather governs the operation of authority, how it is given and how it is received.
- Jesus submitted to the cross. Did He lose His authority in doing so? Absolutely not!
- A husband can submit to his wife without losing His authority.
- Understanding "submission" still allows you to view each believer as equal.
- Galatians 3:28 - There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.[7]
[1] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 2:1–3). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Christian Standard Bible (2 Co 5:17). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[3] Christian Standard Bible (1 Th 5:15). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[4] Christian Standard Bible (Pr 3:13–15). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[5] Christian Standard Bible (Tt 3:3). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[6] Christian Standard Bible (Eph 5:6–21). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
[7] Christian Standard Bible (Ga 3:28). (2020). Holman Bible Publishers.
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