"Be Filled with the Spirit" -- Ephesians 5:15-21

The Twelfth in a Series of Sermons on Ephesians

When Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:18 to be “filled with the Spirit,” many people get a bit nervous.  The reason we get nervous is because we’ve all seen what goes on in the revivalist’s tent or on TBN.  Sadly, being “filled with the Spirit,” is easily equated with the shoddy theology and gimmickry of modern Pentecostalism, and so of course we get nervous if we think that Paul is commanding us to do what they do.  When Paul tells us to be filled with the Spirit, he is setting forth a sharp contrast between pagan self-indulgence and Christian submission to the will of God.  My prayer is that we would hear Paul’s words afresh and that we would be truly filled with the Holy Spirit in the way intended by the Apostle Paul, and that as a result, our hearts would be filled with thanksgiving and that Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs would roll off our tongues in submission to, and in adoration of our Savior Jesus Christ.

As we continue our series on Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians we are working our way through chapter 5 and considering Paul’s discussion of the Christian life.  Since sound doctrine is the foundation of Paul’s teaching regarding the Christian life, it is important we keep that doctrine in mind whenever we discuss how our faith in Christ is to be worked out in daily life.  We cannot live as God would have us to live without understanding the gospel which creates faith and which has already raised us from death to life.
 
Recall that in the opening chapter of Ephesians, Paul sets forth the big picture of our redemption.  Redemption has been decreed by God, our redemption was accomplished by Jesus Christ, and it is applied to us by the Holy Spirit.  In Ephesians 2, Paul taught us that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, while in chapter three, Paul tells us that the mystery which had been hidden in the Old Testament (the gospel), is revealed in the New.  The gospel declares to us that through his death upon the cross, Jesus Christ forms believing Jews and Gentiles into one new people–the church, which is the body of Christ.  While the cross shows us the love of God, the death and resurrection of Jesus is the proof that God is able to do for us far more than we ask or think.   

While discussing the Christian life in chapters 4-6, Paul uses a number of simple yet powerful metaphors and illustrations.  Through the use of these metaphors Paul is able to instruct us that the Christian life (and our sanctification) amounts to a complete break with non-Christian ways of thinking and doing.  This break occurred when God made us alive with Christ.  Just we as died to sin and rose to newness of life in our baptism (the sign and seal of what God has done for us through the death and resurrection of Jesus), Christians are to leave behind non-Christian ways of thinking and doing, while at the same time striving for unity within the body of Christ.  We are also to strive to grow in spiritual maturity in which all members of the body build each other up in love.  When the body functions as it should, Christians grow to maturity.  The paradox is that it is our striving for maturity which in turn builds up Christ’s body.

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Academy Audio Posted

Here's the audio from Friday's Academy lecture by Ken Samples entitled, "The Cosmos Had a Beginning: The Creation Ex Nihilo."

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"There Is One God" -- 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon--the fourteenth in a series on 1 Corinthians.

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Contending for the Faith, Part 1

How did the apostles contend for the faith throughout the book of Acts? Did they appeal to the practical benefits of living life Jesus' way? Did they share their testimonies or inner experiences? Did they encourage blind faith? On this special live edition of the White Horse Inn, the hosts walk through the apologetic sermons in the book of Acts in order to discover how to "contend for the faith once delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/



Who Said That?

"America is under a biblical curse that can be reversed.  Jerusalem is the final compromise.  If America divides Jerusalem, there will be no forgiveness.  America will tragically end up on the ash heap of history."

Please leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow next week.

Update on Saturday, May 1, 2010 at 11:03AM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is from Mike Evan's 2004 book, The American Prophecies, 27.

Tonight's Academy Lecture -- "Christianity's Dangerous Ideas," Part Three

When:  Join us tonight at 7:30 p.m. when Professor Kenneth Samples  continues his Academy series entitled "Historic Christianity’s Seven Dangerous Ideas”.  The lecture for this evening will be The Cosmos Had a Beginning: The Creation Ex Nihilo.

What:  “Dangerous Ideas” in such disciplines as philosophy and science are ideas that challenge the standard paradigm (accepted model) of the day. These ideas go against what most people naturally think to be true and real. Such revolutionary ideas tend to threaten accepted beliefs and often contain explosive world-and-life view implications for all humanity. Historic Christianity contains numerous beliefs that are theologically and philosophically volatile in the best sense of the term. The Christian faith contains powerful truth-claims that have succeeded in transforming the church and turning the world upside down. This series of lectures will explore seven such provocative beliefs proclaimed by historic Christianity.

Textbook: This is the topic and content of a new book that Kenneth Samples is presently working on to be published by Baker Books (2012).

General Info:  The Academy meets at Christ Reformed Church in Anaheim.  The lectures begin at 7:30 p.m., are free of charge, and are followed by a time for questions and answers, as well as a time for fellowship and refreshments.

Who:  Kenneth Samples is a senior research scholar at Reasons To Believe (RTB) and teaches at the Academy and Adult bible study classes at Christ Reformed Church.  Kenneth encourages believers to develop a logically defensible faith and challenges skeptics to engage Christianity at a philosophical level. He is the author of Without a Doubt and A World of Difference.  He has also written articles for Christianity Today and The Christian Research Journal.



"Let There Be Thanksgiving" -- Ephesians 5:1-14

The Eleventh in a Series of Sermons on Ephesians

If we were to ask Paul what the Christian life should look like, I am convinced that the Apostle would direct us to the life of Jesus.  I say this because Paul does this very thing in 1 Corinthians 11:1, when he tells the Corinthians to be imitators of Christ.  But Paul also does this in Ephesians 5.  Now, in saying that Paul would point us to the life of Jesus as an example for Christians to follow, I don’t mean that Paul expects us to cast out demons, walk on water, or heal the sick with but a single command.  But from what Paul does say about Jesus–who is the very embodiment of the holiness and righteousness of God–it is clear that Jesus’ life is the model for us in terms of love, humility and forgiveness.  In the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul tells us that the Christian life is much more than merely “doing what Jesus did.”  “Doing what Jesus did” only makes sense after we believe those things Jesus and the apostles taught us about the depths of our sin and the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  Once we understand that we were chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world, and once we understand that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, only then can we understand how the life of Jesus can serve as an example to us which we are to imitate.  What does the Christian life look like?  It should look a great deal like that life which Jesus lived.

We are in the midst of a series on Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  We now make our way into Ephesians 5.  While I divided chapter 4 into three sections (so that we could spend sufficient time on Paul’s discussion of the Christian life), it immediately becomes clear in chapter five that Paul is continuing to flesh out a number of the points made in chapter four.  It is important to recall that Ephesians was a circular letter which Paul intended to be read aloud in its entirety in the churches.  So there is a sense in which we do this letter a great injustice when we preach through it such short snippets (as we have been doing).  The alternative would be an eight hour sermon–something which neither you nor I would be able to endure.  So please keep in mind that as we go through this series that all of the points Paul is making are very closely interconnected, which is why I ask that you read through the entire book several times during this series, so that we don’t lose sight of the forest for the trees.

As we saw last time, Paul uses the metaphor of a change in clothing to make his point that a fundamental change in our thinking and doing occurs when we come to faith in Christ.  When God makes us alive with Christ, the old self is made new.  Because the old self is now the new self, the Christian is to make a concerted effort to “take off the old self” with its sinful desires (indwelling sin), and “put on the new self” which is created in the image of Christ.  While in one sense our sanctification is already complete (Christ’s perfect righteousness is imputed to us through faith, so that God already regards us as “holy”), in another sense our sanctification is a life-long process.  This life-long process of sanctification (which results from our justification) is what Paul is discussing in this section of Ephesians.  

Paul has told us that the old self is characterized by falsehood, anger, theft, laziness and corrupting speech.  The new self is characterized by truth-telling, a desire to resolve conflict and live in peace, hard work, and will speak words of grace and blessing.  Jesus’ death and resurrection is the pattern for this.  Just as Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead (that event into which we are baptized) so too, we are to die to sin and be raised to newness of life.  Just as we strip off our dirty clothing, take a shower and put on clean clothes, so too, the Christian life is one of continuously striping off the old self and putting on the new–a theme which Paul continues to unpack in Ephesians 5.

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"Do Not Becomes Slaves of Men" -- 1 Corinthians 7:17-40

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon, the thirteenth in a series of sermons on 1 Corinthians.

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Academy Audio Posted

Here's the latest audio from Ken Samples' Academy series Christianity's Seven Dangerous Ideas (04/23/2010), "God Walked the Earth: The Incarnation of Jesus."

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This Week's White Horse Inn

Inspiration & Inerrancy

Some who believe that the Bible is an inspired book go on to reject the idea that it is inerrant. But what does it mean to believe in the inerrancy of Scripture? How can sinful men produce a holy text without errors? What are we to do with some of the alleged contradictions in Scripture? Joining the panel for this discussion is Dr. R.C. Sproul, one of the founding leaders of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy. The White Horse Inn: know what you believe and why you believe it.

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/