WEBVTT 00:00:03.805 --> 00:00:14.570 Okay, so we're doing, we're having this series this summer about how the gospel changes the way we do life together, and so we're going to talk about that some more this morning. 00:00:14.570 --> 00:00:18.289 We're going to talk about how faith and love work together. 00:00:18.289 --> 00:00:21.182 Okay, and love is. 00:00:21.182 --> 00:00:26.914 Love is this word that is like so nebulous sometimes. 00:00:26.914 --> 00:00:41.165 Right, and we all know we're supposed to love, right, and we all got this little sneaking suspicion that love is kind of an answer probably to most of our problems, right, but I have a question. 00:00:41.165 --> 00:00:45.323 As I've been reading the scripture this week and preparing for this, I had a question as I've been reading the scripture this week and preparing for this. 00:00:45.323 --> 00:00:45.683 I had a personal question. 00:00:45.683 --> 00:00:48.908 It's my question that I've been asking the Lord. 00:00:48.908 --> 00:00:52.439 That really, I think, makes everything really practical. 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:58.112 And the question is how can I love you like I'm supposed to love you? 00:00:58.112 --> 00:01:02.289 How can I love you like I'm supposed to? 00:01:02.289 --> 00:01:04.162 How can I love you like I'm supposed to? 00:01:04.162 --> 00:01:11.674 So I was thinking about it that love is just a predominant message in literature, in movies and in songs too. 00:01:11.674 --> 00:01:23.456 I saw this survey, which was done from top 40 songs from 1960 to 2010,. 00:01:23.456 --> 00:01:24.319 Right, so, 50 years of top 40 songs. 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:29.703 Right, years of top 40 songs. 00:01:29.703 --> 00:01:34.876 Right, and what do you think the number one theme in top 40 songs in over 50 years was? 00:01:34.876 --> 00:01:35.257 You got any idea? 00:01:35.257 --> 00:01:35.939 You guys are so sharp. 00:01:35.939 --> 00:01:37.983 I mean it's like you're tracking. 00:01:37.983 --> 00:01:39.646 This is great. 00:01:40.307 --> 00:01:46.034 Nearly 70% of the songs had lyrics about relationships or love. 00:01:46.034 --> 00:01:47.129 Of course they did. 00:01:47.129 --> 00:01:50.245 Of course they did Because we were made to love. 00:01:50.245 --> 00:01:56.605 We were made in the image of a God who loves and we were made to love. 00:01:56.605 --> 00:02:02.332 And Jesus said that when we love God and love people, we are covering every base. 00:02:02.332 --> 00:02:04.887 We are actually fulfilling everything. 00:02:04.887 --> 00:02:06.240 The law says everything. 00:02:06.240 --> 00:02:08.429 The prophets said, if we can do those things. 00:02:08.429 --> 00:02:11.150 But love in a fallen world is complicated. 00:02:11.150 --> 00:02:14.807 Can I get a witness this morning? 00:02:14.807 --> 00:02:16.485 It's not easy. 00:02:16.485 --> 00:02:28.182 Love in the abstract is beautiful and it seems easy, but love in reality, loving real people in real situations, is real hard. 00:02:28.182 --> 00:02:32.889 Part of those songs, two of those songs that were written over that period of time, were written by the Beatles. 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:37.435 One was All you Need Is Love and the other one was we Can Work it Out. 00:02:37.435 --> 00:02:40.043 And then they broke up. 00:02:40.043 --> 00:02:44.020 Love is complicated, it's hard. 00:02:44.020 --> 00:02:47.050 So how can I love you like I'm supposed to? 00:02:47.050 --> 00:02:50.507 That's the question, and there's an answer. 00:02:50.507 --> 00:02:52.372 There's an answer. 00:02:53.254 --> 00:02:58.004 So so far in the series we've talked about the fact that God himself is a God of community. 00:02:58.004 --> 00:03:04.582 He is a God within his very nature. 00:03:04.582 --> 00:03:08.830 There's father, son and Spirit, and he created us as communal beings. 00:03:08.830 --> 00:03:10.105 He created us in his image. 00:03:10.105 --> 00:03:29.201 So this is part of who we are is beings who are supposed to be connected to other beings, right, but the fall turned us in on ourselves and it made relationships go bad, and so we start shying away from the very things that we need to be healthy people. 00:03:29.201 --> 00:03:36.217 But in Christ, because of what Jesus has done, he has redeemed us. 00:03:36.217 --> 00:03:47.902 He's redeemed these relationships and he restores our ability to live together in healthy community, and it's in those very relationships that we have that we actually are transformed into His image. 00:03:47.902 --> 00:04:03.706 So today we're going to learn that the gospel itself is what empowers us to obey God's call to live as we ought to live, live together with one another, live valuing one another and love one another. 00:04:04.930 --> 00:04:09.343 So what does biblical community look like, or how should we interact with each other? 00:04:09.343 --> 00:04:13.461 That's the question, right, and the Bible is not vague on this topic. 00:04:13.461 --> 00:04:15.871 The Bible is very specific on this topic. 00:04:15.871 --> 00:04:22.670 You probably have heard a lot of the one another scriptures where it talks about how we're supposed to actually live together. 00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:25.346 And I was looking at these one another scriptures. 00:04:25.346 --> 00:04:31.690 Of course, the biggest one is love one another right, that's in there at least 16 times in the New Testament at least. 00:04:31.690 --> 00:04:33.605 So that's a big one. 00:04:33.605 --> 00:04:38.172 But I wanted to talk about these one another scriptures. 00:04:38.172 --> 00:04:41.769 But I wanted to turn it around and make it really personal for me. 00:04:41.769 --> 00:04:42.490 I want to talk. 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:51.841 I'm going to read through these and just say this is how I'm supposed to love you. 00:04:51.841 --> 00:04:52.461 Okay, I'm supposed to love you. 00:04:52.461 --> 00:04:53.303 I'm supposed to be devoted to you. 00:04:53.303 --> 00:05:02.242 I'm supposed to honor you above myself, to live in harmony with you and to build you up and to accept you. 00:05:02.242 --> 00:05:05.088 I'm supposed to warn you. 00:05:05.088 --> 00:05:07.451 I'm supposed to serve you. 00:05:07.451 --> 00:05:11.423 I'm supposed to bear your burdens. 00:05:11.423 --> 00:05:17.454 I'm supposed to forgive you and be patient with you, be kind and compassionate to you. 00:05:17.454 --> 00:05:27.875 I'm supposed to submit to you and look to your interests and to bear with you and to teach you and to comfort you. 00:05:27.875 --> 00:05:33.372 I'm supposed to encourage you and stir you up to love and good works. 00:05:33.372 --> 00:05:36.028 I'm supposed to show hospitality to you. 00:05:36.028 --> 00:05:41.250 I'm supposed to employ the gifts that God gave to me to benefit you. 00:05:41.250 --> 00:05:44.288 I'm supposed to confess my faults to you. 00:05:44.288 --> 00:05:47.968 I'm supposed to pray for you that you might be healed. 00:05:47.968 --> 00:05:53.504 So how can I love you like I'm supposed to? 00:05:53.504 --> 00:05:56.692 That's tough. 00:05:58.100 --> 00:06:08.213 Well, this book that we've been going through Gospel Center Community talks about two ways you think about this, and one way is resolution and one way is resignation. 00:06:08.213 --> 00:06:10.507 Resolution is I'm going to try harder. 00:06:10.507 --> 00:06:12.824 I resolve to love you. 00:06:12.824 --> 00:06:14.329 I'm going to do it. 00:06:14.329 --> 00:06:16.987 You grit your teeth and you do it. 00:06:16.987 --> 00:06:22.502 I'm going to do it, and I think I can and I think I can, and I think I can and I think I can, but I find that I can't. 00:06:22.502 --> 00:06:25.908 I actually find that I fall short of it. 00:06:25.908 --> 00:06:27.411 Right, that's resolution. 00:06:27.411 --> 00:06:28.173 I'm going to undo it. 00:06:28.173 --> 00:06:34.680 And then the other one is resignation, which is nobody can do it. 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:35.901 So I'm not even going to try. 00:06:37.163 --> 00:06:42.011 But what kind of world would it be if we didn't even try, if nobody even tried? 00:06:42.011 --> 00:06:43.814 That would be a tough world, right. 00:06:43.814 --> 00:06:50.043 But there is an answer and we're going to look to the Bible this morning and find the answer, and I'm going to tell you the answer we're going to find up front. 00:06:50.043 --> 00:06:52.206 Okay, this is like cherry picking this morning. 00:06:52.206 --> 00:06:53.706 This is a very easy sermon for you. 00:06:53.706 --> 00:06:58.345 I'm going to tell you the answer we're going to find right now and then we're going to find the answer. 00:06:58.345 --> 00:06:59.730 Okay, is that right? 00:06:59.730 --> 00:07:01.000 Here it is. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.773 It is my faith in the work of Jesus that makes me able to love you. 00:07:05.773 --> 00:07:15.846 It is my faith in the love of Jesus and the work of Jesus and the gospel of Jesus that works in me, that makes me able to love you. 00:07:15.846 --> 00:07:23.189 So my text today is one verse in Galatians and the entire book of Ephesians. 00:07:23.189 --> 00:07:35.459 Okay, so we're going to read Galatians first, galatians 5, 6. 00:07:35.660 --> 00:07:43.949 And it says this For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. 00:07:43.949 --> 00:07:46.528 And the key phrase there is faith working through love. 00:07:46.528 --> 00:07:48.947 Faith and love go together here. 00:07:48.947 --> 00:07:55.173 Okay, so Paul is talking about this thought that outward actions do not change the heart. 00:07:55.173 --> 00:08:09.327 Circumcision was a sign of the old covenant, but merely being circumcised doesn't make you right with God, any more than merely coming to church or being nice to people makes you right with God. 00:08:09.327 --> 00:08:22.288 Outward things don't change the heart, and I can try to keep the law of God and I can try to keep the law of man, and I can try to keep the traditions of my culture, and I can still be as mean as a snake to you. 00:08:22.288 --> 00:08:25.081 Why is that? 00:08:25.081 --> 00:08:32.846 And sometimes, the more legalistic, maybe all the time, the more legalistic I get, the meaner I get. 00:08:32.846 --> 00:08:34.912 Why is that? 00:08:34.912 --> 00:08:38.980 How can I love you like I'm supposed to? 00:08:38.980 --> 00:08:42.388 But here Paul is saying that faith and love work together. 00:08:42.388 --> 00:08:45.374 Okay, faith works through love. 00:08:45.374 --> 00:08:46.765 That's what we're going to talk about today. 00:08:46.765 --> 00:08:50.630 It's my faith in the work of Jesus that makes me able to love you. 00:08:51.541 --> 00:08:55.552 So we're going to explore that one verse by looking at the entire book of Ephesians. 00:08:55.552 --> 00:08:59.671 We're not going to read the entire book of Ephesians, but I do have a challenge for you. 00:08:59.671 --> 00:09:08.668 We're going to talk about three kind of positions or elements on the journey, our journey with God in the book of Ephesians. 00:09:08.668 --> 00:09:09.885 But I do have a challenge for you. 00:09:09.885 --> 00:09:28.495 If you choose to accept it, okay, I dare you, those of you who need a dare, I dare you, I dare you, I dare you to read Ephesians 1 all the way through Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 9, and ask two questions. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:33.089 Okay, read that passage and ask these two questions. 00:09:33.089 --> 00:09:35.660 Number one what has God done for us in Christ? 00:09:35.660 --> 00:09:40.270 And number two what does God ask us to do? 00:09:40.270 --> 00:09:41.573 What does God require me to do? 00:09:41.573 --> 00:09:44.010 What has God done already and what does he require me to do? 00:09:44.010 --> 00:09:45.220 What has God done already and what does he require me to do? 00:09:45.220 --> 00:10:05.110 And I just tell you, if you do that, if you read that and you think it through and you allow that to get into your heart, this is like repositioning your entire life around the truth of the gospel so that out of that you begin to live the way you're supposed to live. 00:10:05.110 --> 00:10:07.965 This is really profound. 00:10:08.426 --> 00:10:10.912 Paul starts the letter to the Ephesians in chapter 1. 00:10:10.912 --> 00:10:13.022 It's very profound. 00:10:13.022 --> 00:10:32.712 Chapter 1 and chapter 2 are the beginning, but what's in there at the beginning is at the beginning for a reason because this is the foundation of everything that's going to follow, and so what he talks about is everything that we have, we've been given by the work of Jesus. 00:10:32.712 --> 00:10:40.643 And I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you what you'll find, but I'd love for you to read it this week too and do the homework. 00:10:40.643 --> 00:10:41.565 It'll help you. 00:10:42.285 --> 00:10:46.461 Okay, if you read chapter one through chapter two, verse nine, here's what you find. 00:10:46.461 --> 00:10:51.676 God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ. 00:10:51.676 --> 00:11:25.510 He chose us, he predestined us in love, he adopted us, he accepted us, he redeemed us, he forgave us, he lavished his grace on us, he gave us wisdom and understanding, he made us know the mystery of his will, he gave us an inheritance, he included us in the beloved son, he sealed us by his spirit and he made us his own possession. 00:11:25.510 --> 00:11:28.562 That's part of it. 00:11:28.562 --> 00:11:31.447 All of this is yours in Jesus. 00:11:31.447 --> 00:11:33.591 And Paul stops right there. 00:11:33.952 --> 00:11:39.211 There's this great prayer there at the end of chapter one that maybe you've heard a lot, maybe you've prayed it. 00:11:39.211 --> 00:11:41.746 But he stops there and he prays God, would you open their eyes? 00:11:41.746 --> 00:11:42.067 He just stops. 00:11:42.067 --> 00:11:43.793 He says he stops there and he prays God, would you open their eyes, would you? 00:11:43.793 --> 00:11:44.234 He just stops. 00:11:44.234 --> 00:11:46.279 He says all this is yours in Jesus' weight. 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:55.004 Stop, god, open their eyes, let their eyes be enlightened to see this. 00:11:55.284 --> 00:11:57.508 And the word he uses there is apocalypse. 00:11:57.508 --> 00:12:05.115 Okay, the word for open eyes, because apocalypse means an unveiling, like something is revealed, like the book of Revelation. 00:12:05.115 --> 00:12:12.010 In other translations, like in other nations, other countries languages, the book of Revelation is called the apocalypse. 00:12:12.010 --> 00:12:17.071 Right, apocalypse means you see something you didn't see before. 00:12:17.071 --> 00:12:22.611 And Paul is saying open their eyes to see something they haven't seen before. 00:12:22.611 --> 00:12:30.070 But it's not an end times thing, it's something that's happened for all time. 00:12:30.070 --> 00:12:39.248 It's not what's going to happen, it's what has already happened, what is already there, something that lasts forever, right? 00:12:39.248 --> 00:12:44.447 So it's not focusing on end times, but all time Not will happen, but what has happened? 00:12:44.447 --> 00:12:46.885 God helped them to see what's already happened. 00:12:47.106 --> 00:12:47.971 And then he continues. 00:12:47.971 --> 00:12:48.936 He keeps it going. 00:12:48.936 --> 00:12:56.802 He says he's called us to hope, he's given us an inheritance, he's given us great power, he's given us a head of the church, which is Jesus. 00:12:56.802 --> 00:13:10.515 And when we were dead in our sins, god raised us back to life, because by grace you've been saved through faith, and it's not of yourself, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. 00:13:10.515 --> 00:13:19.333 And he says in there that God has raised Jesus up and seated him in the heavenlies and given him authority over all power. 00:13:19.333 --> 00:13:27.033 And then he says that he has raised us up and seated us together with him in the heavens. 00:13:29.880 --> 00:13:32.129 This is where we start the book of Ephesians. 00:13:32.129 --> 00:13:42.144 Okay, we start with a position, and our position, the first position in your walk with God, is resting. 00:13:42.144 --> 00:14:08.918 I'm not working, I'm resting All the things that he's done for me in Jesus, not that I tried and tried and worked and earned, and maybe I can keep it, I don't know. 00:14:08.918 --> 00:14:16.236 It's what's been given to us already in Jesus, and it's actually looking back. 00:14:16.236 --> 00:14:17.059 If you think of it. 00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:22.716 This beginning of Ephesians is looking back to the beginning of creation, where God created man. 00:14:22.716 --> 00:14:23.578 And he created man. 00:14:23.578 --> 00:14:24.974 You know what day he created man on. 00:14:24.974 --> 00:14:28.936 You remember Sixth day, the evening of the sixth day. 00:14:28.936 --> 00:14:31.557 At the end of the sixth day he created man. 00:14:31.557 --> 00:14:36.139 So the first full day of man on earth was what day? 00:14:36.139 --> 00:14:38.610 It was the Sabbath day. 00:14:38.610 --> 00:14:39.513 It was the seventh day. 00:14:39.513 --> 00:14:41.576 It was rest. 00:14:41.576 --> 00:14:49.798 The first thing man did, by God's order of design and creation, was to have a day of rest. 00:14:52.143 --> 00:14:57.270 And Paul opens this letter up and he's getting ready to talk about what we do and how we live our life. 00:14:57.270 --> 00:15:07.163 But this is how you start you start sitting, you start resting and in that creation, by the way, it says, the evening and the morning were the first day. 00:15:07.163 --> 00:15:09.150 The evening and the morning were the second day. 00:15:09.150 --> 00:15:10.432 It's interesting, isn't it? 00:15:10.432 --> 00:15:19.895 Because to God in creation, scripturally, we can say that the day starts in the evening, it doesn't start in the morning. 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:22.124 Now, I wasn't raised that way. 00:15:22.124 --> 00:15:24.211 I was raised that my day starts when I wake up. 00:15:24.211 --> 00:15:33.797 I wake up, I'm kind of groggy, I pull myself together and I work myself all day long, until I fall in bed at night. 00:15:33.797 --> 00:15:39.879 That's not the way it is, though, and even to this day, this is the way the Jews celebrate the day. 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:41.373 When do they start the Sabbath? 00:15:41.373 --> 00:15:50.840 Neil Sundown, sundown, when they started at the end of the day. 00:15:51.611 --> 00:16:02.097 No, that is the beginning of the day, because they began with rest, and so I began to change things in my own mind, and I actually started praying this prayer as I go to sleep. 00:16:02.097 --> 00:16:04.878 Lord, I thank you that I start my day right now. 00:16:04.878 --> 00:16:21.596 It's 10 o'clock at night, but I'm starting it right now, and I thank you that I can rest in this good bed you gave me, and I thank you that I can rest in this good bed you gave me, and I thank you that I can rest in this great grace that you gave me in Jesus, and I rest, and tomorrow I will wake up from my rest and I will walk. 00:16:21.596 --> 00:16:25.094 I'll work, but we start right here. 00:16:25.094 --> 00:16:26.239 This is where we start. 00:16:26.239 --> 00:16:32.259 We are grounded in Jesus, we are adopted, we're chosen, we're included, we're sealed. 00:16:32.259 --> 00:16:36.807 We're chosen, we're included, we're sealed, we're resting. 00:16:36.807 --> 00:16:43.280 That's it we rest, okay, so first step in your walk with God is resting. 00:16:44.730 --> 00:16:49.950 And then I asked this question, this second question, that's what God has done for us in Christ. 00:16:49.950 --> 00:16:52.519 But the second question is what does God require me to do? 00:16:52.519 --> 00:17:02.150 And I looked, and I looked through that whole scripture and I only found two things. 00:17:02.150 --> 00:17:03.374 God requires two things from me. 00:17:03.374 --> 00:17:12.875 Number one is to believe what he's done and number two is to praise him for it, to the praise of his glorious grace. 00:17:12.875 --> 00:17:26.200 Paul says a couple of times in there to the praise of his glorious grace, this grace which he poured on us, he lavished on us, he dumped this grace all over us, and now we praise him for it. 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:32.800 This is what we're required to do Believe in the work he's done already and thank him for it. 00:17:32.800 --> 00:17:34.275 That's where we start. 00:17:34.335 --> 00:17:37.617 Okay, that's the first position in your Christian life. 00:17:37.617 --> 00:17:40.117 But then Paul keeps going. 00:17:40.117 --> 00:17:46.178 In the next verse, chapter 2, verse 10, he says this for we are his workmanship. 00:17:46.178 --> 00:17:50.240 He just got finished saying it's by grace you're saved, through faith. 00:17:50.240 --> 00:18:18.182 It's not of your works, lest any man should boast, but now we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, walk in them, and then, if you keep going and you go to chapter 4, verse 1 says this I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called. 00:18:18.182 --> 00:18:19.865 Walk. 00:18:19.865 --> 00:18:24.442 So the first position in your journey with Jesus is sitting. 00:18:24.442 --> 00:18:27.318 The second, it's resting in him. 00:18:27.318 --> 00:18:28.836 The second is walking. 00:18:28.836 --> 00:18:33.433 Okay, therefore, walk, and out of this place of rest. 00:18:33.433 --> 00:18:38.102 God has already done in Jesus for us. 00:18:38.102 --> 00:18:41.653 We're enabled to live the right way. 00:18:41.653 --> 00:18:47.443 Okay, and he begins to talk about what it means to live correctly. 00:18:47.443 --> 00:18:51.156 But we need to understand this place of resting in the gospel. 00:18:51.156 --> 00:18:53.101 From that place, I'm changed. 00:18:53.821 --> 00:18:59.157 This is what Paul is referring to when he says we were dead in our sins and were raised back to life. 00:18:59.157 --> 00:19:00.541 God made us alive. 00:19:00.541 --> 00:19:06.681 It's that Old Testament prophecy, speaking about the new covenant which was to come. 00:19:06.681 --> 00:19:11.275 I will take away your heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit inside of you. 00:19:11.275 --> 00:19:16.406 And I will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit inside of you and I will cause you to follow after me. 00:19:16.406 --> 00:19:19.959 So, chapters 1 and 2, that's what that is. 00:19:19.959 --> 00:19:25.778 And now he puts his spirit inside of us and he causes us to follow. 00:19:25.778 --> 00:19:33.824 So what God has done for us in the gospel enables us to walk. 00:19:33.824 --> 00:19:35.813 That's the important part. 00:19:35.813 --> 00:19:42.680 I do the works from a heart that's been changed and that's overwhelmed with thanksgiving and for the kindness of God. 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:44.971 So he says walk worthy. 00:19:44.971 --> 00:19:46.415 Interesting Therefore. 00:19:46.415 --> 00:19:53.076 He said, therefore, referring back to chapter one and two, because of what God has done, therefore, walk worthy. 00:19:53.076 --> 00:19:59.334 And he begins to say what this new heart looks like when you live out of a new heart and you're walking. 00:19:59.875 --> 00:20:04.784 It is what it's don't lie anymore, speak the truth. 00:20:04.784 --> 00:20:09.833 It's don't steal, rather work with your hands. 00:20:09.833 --> 00:20:15.137 It's don't be controlled by substances, be controlled by the Spirit. 00:20:15.137 --> 00:20:22.404 He says be patient and gentle and humble and unified and honest. 00:20:22.404 --> 00:20:24.527 Don't be controlled by anger. 00:20:24.527 --> 00:20:28.053 Watch your mouth. 00:20:28.053 --> 00:20:28.994 He says that more than once. 00:20:28.994 --> 00:20:30.278 In fact. 00:20:30.278 --> 00:20:32.583 He says watch your mouth, don't grieve the Holy Spirit. 00:20:32.583 --> 00:20:33.650 Watch your mouth. 00:20:33.650 --> 00:20:35.530 Okay, your mouth is. 00:20:35.530 --> 00:20:39.993 Don't grieve the Holy Spirit, watch your mouth, okay, your mouth is important to not grieving the Holy Spirit. 00:20:39.993 --> 00:20:46.979 Be sexually pure, be a good, wise, spirit-led spouse and parent and child. 00:20:46.979 --> 00:20:50.421 And then he literally says be an imitator of God. 00:20:50.421 --> 00:20:55.403 Imitate God, I mean live like Jesus, be like Jesus. 00:20:55.403 --> 00:21:10.332 And he says walk worthy, walk in the light, walk in love, walk with wisdom. 00:21:10.332 --> 00:21:11.295 It's a walk, and a walk is just steps right. 00:21:11.295 --> 00:21:11.635 A walk is taking. 00:21:11.635 --> 00:21:18.535 It's taking steps one at a time, and it's making decisions every day that are consistent to my commitment to Jesus. 00:21:18.535 --> 00:21:21.060 That's what a walk is. 00:21:21.762 --> 00:21:25.593 Now, yesterday, some of us went out of town to a wedding. 00:21:25.593 --> 00:21:26.958 Some of us were in the wedding. 00:21:26.958 --> 00:21:33.939 Yesterday we saw Nate and Abby Jones get married and it was beautiful, it was great, it was terrific. 00:21:33.939 --> 00:21:35.482 But I thought about that. 00:21:35.482 --> 00:21:40.416 Okay, we had the ceremony and Tyler did a great service. 00:21:40.416 --> 00:21:40.897 It was great. 00:21:40.897 --> 00:21:45.012 So the ceremony man and wife sign the paper. 00:21:45.012 --> 00:21:46.439 It's done right. 00:21:47.529 --> 00:21:48.977 Legally they are married. 00:21:48.977 --> 00:21:52.558 They can file the taxes jointly. 00:21:52.558 --> 00:21:53.039 I don't know. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:53.983 They can do whatever. 00:21:53.983 --> 00:21:54.957 Legally, they can do everything. 00:21:54.957 --> 00:21:55.486 Okay, it's, they can do whatever. 00:21:55.486 --> 00:21:55.961 Legally, they can do Everything. 00:21:55.961 --> 00:21:56.297 That's they. 00:21:56.297 --> 00:21:57.638 Okay, it's legal. 00:21:57.638 --> 00:22:01.204 But I want to ask you this so they were married at that moment. 00:22:01.204 --> 00:22:08.414 They were married right, but do they really know the fullness of what oneness is at that moment? 00:22:08.414 --> 00:22:12.998 No way, no way. 00:22:12.998 --> 00:22:32.742 It takes years of walking together and beauty and struggle and conflict and decisions that are consistent with their vows, but they're married Right now, today, they're married, but they're learning. 00:22:32.742 --> 00:22:35.671 They're learning to grow into what they already are. 00:22:35.671 --> 00:22:36.291 That's it. 00:22:36.752 --> 00:22:45.775 Same thing you can think about if a couple adopted a child right and as soon as the papers are signed, the child is theirs. 00:22:45.775 --> 00:22:46.817 It's done. 00:22:46.817 --> 00:22:51.171 The child is a legal heir to all of the fortune. 00:22:51.171 --> 00:22:53.376 The child is a legal member of this family. 00:22:53.376 --> 00:22:56.231 They can count that child off on the taxes too. 00:22:56.231 --> 00:22:59.781 I don't know why I'm on taxes today, but it's in my brain. 00:23:01.890 --> 00:23:11.576 Adoption happens in a moment in time when the paper is signed right, and that child is under the care of the parents and that child has a family. 00:23:11.576 --> 00:23:13.859 That child is a legal heir, right. 00:23:13.859 --> 00:23:22.961 But at that moment of signing the child doesn't know what it truly means to have a father, to have a family, to have a safe place. 00:23:22.961 --> 00:23:24.923 It takes years. 00:23:24.923 --> 00:23:26.773 You got to walk through that right. 00:23:27.175 --> 00:23:28.923 Sonship happens over a period of time. 00:23:28.923 --> 00:23:31.751 They grow into what they already are. 00:23:31.751 --> 00:23:33.556 This is what we're talking about. 00:23:33.556 --> 00:23:37.522 We already are, we are. 00:23:37.522 --> 00:23:42.729 We're resting here, but we're growing into it by the power of the work of Jesus inside of us. 00:23:42.729 --> 00:23:48.765 We're walking in love and light and in circumspectly or wisdom right. 00:23:48.765 --> 00:23:53.035 Looking around Circumspectly means to look in all directions. 00:23:53.035 --> 00:23:56.823 Wise, thinking things through wisely. 00:23:56.823 --> 00:24:00.940 Okay, so the new heart comes from faith in Christ. 00:24:00.940 --> 00:24:03.415 We're born again in a moment of time. 00:24:03.415 --> 00:24:08.279 But then we walk, we learn to become what we already are. 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:12.320 The ability to walk comes from a new heart and the indwelling spirit. 00:24:12.320 --> 00:24:19.518 So how can I love you like I ought to love you, because I have a heart that's been changed. 00:24:19.518 --> 00:24:22.797 And then I begin to walk it out. 00:24:23.990 --> 00:24:26.519 And then Paul moves on to another phase of spiritual growth. 00:24:26.519 --> 00:24:35.461 So in chapter 6, he says this chapter 6, verse 10, finally, finally, at the end of it all, finally, the end of the letter. 00:24:35.461 --> 00:24:38.940 Okay, finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. 00:24:38.940 --> 00:24:57.923 Put on the whole armor that you may be able to withstand against the schemes of the devil, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 00:24:57.923 --> 00:25:06.638 Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. 00:25:06.638 --> 00:25:13.303 So the third position we rest, we walk and then we wrestle. 00:25:13.303 --> 00:25:17.160 We wrestle, but we wrestle out of a place of rest. 00:25:17.569 --> 00:25:19.136 He didn't start in chapter 6, did he? 00:25:19.136 --> 00:25:21.477 He started in chapter 1. 00:25:21.477 --> 00:25:36.173 What God has already done in Jesus Christ empowers me to wrestle, to pray, to fight, to stand, to armor up, put on your armor. 00:25:36.173 --> 00:25:40.563 And even this armor that he gives is gospel-based. 00:25:40.563 --> 00:25:42.413 It's rooted in a finished work. 00:25:42.413 --> 00:25:44.759 Right, we have a belt of truth. 00:25:44.759 --> 00:25:46.082 Truth is a person. 00:25:46.082 --> 00:25:50.977 It's Jesus we have, and it's in his finished work too. 00:25:50.977 --> 00:25:58.038 We have a breastplate of righteousness, not our own righteousness, but the righteousness that's been given to us. 00:25:58.038 --> 00:26:01.731 Imputed is Jesus's righteousness that's been given to us. 00:26:01.731 --> 00:26:10.193 We have shoes of the readiness, of the gospel, all the things that Paul has been talking about in chapter one and two. 00:26:10.193 --> 00:26:12.538 We have a shield of faith. 00:26:12.538 --> 00:26:13.642 That's not our own faith. 00:26:13.642 --> 00:26:15.633 Even we have a shield of faith. 00:26:15.633 --> 00:26:16.474 That's not our own faith. 00:26:16.474 --> 00:26:18.198 Even that faith is a gift from God. 00:26:18.198 --> 00:26:20.942 Even we have a helmet of salvation, which is a gift from God. 00:26:20.942 --> 00:26:22.025 Again, you know it's finished. 00:26:22.025 --> 00:26:23.510 It's a finished work. 00:26:23.530 --> 00:26:29.423 Okay, all this is what we fight with, but it's not of our own doing. 00:26:29.423 --> 00:26:31.596 We don't fight in our own strength. 00:26:31.596 --> 00:26:35.721 So our walk with Christ flows in this progression. 00:26:35.721 --> 00:26:41.563 First we rest in the finished work of Jesus. 00:26:41.563 --> 00:26:47.494 We rest, and then we walk. 00:26:47.494 --> 00:27:00.376 Out of that rest, we're enabled to walk, and we walk uprightly, and we walk as we should walk, with each other, and we stand, we wrestle, rest, walk. 00:27:00.376 --> 00:27:02.941 Wrestle In that order, please. 00:27:02.941 --> 00:27:05.144 That's the order. 00:27:05.144 --> 00:27:08.713 It's very important. 00:27:08.713 --> 00:27:09.856 It's very important because of this. 00:27:10.959 --> 00:27:13.243 Many people are exhausted. 00:27:13.243 --> 00:27:35.730 Many people are exhausted or hurt or disappointed or even deconstructing their faith because they haven't started right here in the rest, maybe they came into this Christian thing through the door of chapter 6, right, and they've been fighting. 00:27:35.730 --> 00:27:55.500 They're focused on the battle, they're focused on the enemy, they're focused on their own zeal to be able to fight my faith, to fight my prayer, my armor, my effort to tear down strongholds pressing in, sometimes striving in this battle. 00:27:55.500 --> 00:28:03.594 Right, I'm so zoned in on the spirit world that my spiritual life is defined by my zeal. 00:28:03.594 --> 00:28:07.710 My spiritual walk is defined by my zeal. 00:28:07.710 --> 00:28:09.625 And Paul understood this. 00:28:09.625 --> 00:28:12.189 You remember he called himself a very zealous person. 00:28:12.189 --> 00:28:14.769 He said I was zealous, even above all my peers. 00:28:14.769 --> 00:28:23.181 He knew what it meant to be zealous for something, but that zeal that he had actually caused him to fight against what God was doing. 00:28:23.181 --> 00:28:27.828 He was zealous in the law and fighting God. 00:28:29.531 --> 00:28:59.082 So zeal by itself is not a good thing, not necessarily a good thing If I'm ungrounded in grace and I focus on the spirit world in grace and I focus on the spirit world, I become flighty, unstable and just weird, squirrely, just weird. 00:28:59.082 --> 00:29:00.670 You know, you've seen some weirdness, maybe we've all had weirdness like that. 00:29:00.670 --> 00:29:06.170 Right In my own zeal, I focus on the enemy and I end up living under this weight that I wasn't meant to carry. 00:29:06.170 --> 00:29:13.451 It's my job to fight this battle and I set this frantic pace and I'm not even aware of this place of rest. 00:29:13.451 --> 00:29:16.648 I came in through the door of chapter 6, and I didn't even. 00:29:16.648 --> 00:29:27.931 Maybe I understand the gospel, maybe, like I understand, it's through Jesus I'm saved, but I don't understand the fullness of what he's done and I'm not living in that place of rest. 00:29:28.952 --> 00:29:44.387 Or maybe you came through the door of chapter four, but not the real chapter four, kind of a twisted chapter four, because chapter four is just the outworking of a heart that's been made new. 00:29:44.387 --> 00:29:45.368 It's a natural thing. 00:29:45.368 --> 00:29:59.861 But if you twist it and it becomes a list of do's and don'ts, then it's moral imperatives, it's legalistic, performance-based approach to God. 00:29:59.861 --> 00:30:00.541 It's you better do this. 00:30:00.541 --> 00:30:01.242 You better not lie. 00:30:01.242 --> 00:30:02.624 You better not steal. 00:30:02.624 --> 00:30:04.045 You better not drink. 00:30:04.045 --> 00:30:04.726 You better not lie. 00:30:04.726 --> 00:30:05.425 You better not steal. 00:30:05.425 --> 00:30:05.866 You better not drink. 00:30:05.866 --> 00:30:07.468 You better watch out, don't lose your ticket. 00:30:07.468 --> 00:30:10.891 Watch out, it's all on you. 00:30:11.510 --> 00:30:20.442 It's a list of do's and don'ts and, in my own strength, I try not to lie, not to steal, not to grieve the Spirit, not to speak badly about you. 00:30:20.442 --> 00:30:21.044 I'm focused on what not to do. 00:30:21.044 --> 00:30:22.528 I'm focused on what not to grieve the Spirit, not to speak badly about you. 00:30:22.528 --> 00:30:23.932 I'm focused on what not to do. 00:30:23.932 --> 00:30:30.424 I'm focused on what not to do, like a good Pharisee, and Paul understood it. 00:30:30.424 --> 00:30:41.402 Because, well, paul was a Pharisee of Pharisees, according to the law, blameless, he said In his own understanding of it. 00:30:41.402 --> 00:30:44.590 He said I was blameless according to the law, and yet he was breathing out threatenings and murders. 00:30:44.590 --> 00:30:48.150 He had hate so deep in his heart. 00:30:50.941 --> 00:30:58.705 Man, have you noticed that when the more a person focuses on the law, the more mean they get? 00:30:58.705 --> 00:31:02.267 It's not because the law is bad. 00:31:02.267 --> 00:31:06.726 The law is good, but sin of pride is bad and it goes bad on you. 00:31:06.726 --> 00:31:15.016 So some people never get to rested and seated because they never knew this rest was even available. 00:31:15.016 --> 00:31:21.853 They came through the door of chapter six, or they've been led by leaders who lead churches through chapter 6. 00:31:21.853 --> 00:31:24.488 Or they lead churches in chapter 4. 00:31:24.488 --> 00:31:26.626 And they never have been over here. 00:31:26.626 --> 00:31:31.611 Now we're supposed to walk and we're supposed to wrestle. 00:31:31.611 --> 00:31:33.526 That's part of Christian life. 00:31:33.526 --> 00:31:35.803 Okay, you don't leave that be. 00:31:35.803 --> 00:31:37.488 This is part of it. 00:31:37.488 --> 00:31:38.431 We're supposed to do it. 00:31:38.431 --> 00:31:40.452 Living right and fighting is part of it, but you have to do it. 00:31:40.452 --> 00:31:43.647 Living right and fighting is part of it, but you have to do it out of a place of rest. 00:31:45.682 --> 00:31:59.811 It's really important when you forget the beauty of the gospel, then your wonder is gone and you become a bitter rule keeper or a zealous witch hunter. 00:31:59.811 --> 00:32:05.948 And how many wants that in your life? 00:32:05.948 --> 00:32:08.925 Ain't nobody got time for that. 00:32:08.925 --> 00:32:12.023 It's really important. 00:32:12.023 --> 00:32:25.405 It's really important and I think all of us in some way probably have a story, a testimony, of being more in chapter four and more in chapter six and less in chapters one and two. 00:32:25.405 --> 00:32:26.288 Probably. 00:32:26.288 --> 00:32:37.463 That's true, right, and I personally, I've learned that I had to just deconstruct my home faith, but not away from Jesus, but into real Christianity. 00:32:38.184 --> 00:32:44.950 And I learned that deconstructing is not very, it's not really a bad thing if what you constructed in the first place wasn't scriptural. 00:32:44.950 --> 00:32:53.074 Deconstruct it into grace, into the basis of Christianity. 00:32:53.074 --> 00:32:54.506 Flip the script right. 00:32:54.506 --> 00:32:57.950 My faith is not on my ability to have faith. 00:32:57.950 --> 00:33:02.932 My faith is not in my ability to fight against the powers. 00:33:02.932 --> 00:33:07.490 My faith is not in my ability to do what I know is right. 00:33:07.490 --> 00:33:23.971 My faith is in someone and in the faithful nature of that person and in the finished work of that person, and out of that work I'm enabled to walk and I'm empowered to fight. 00:33:24.380 --> 00:33:26.808 Now, okay, that was Ephesians in 20 minutes. 00:33:26.808 --> 00:33:34.469 Now we're back to community, okay, so let's finish it up talking about community, and I have a confession to make to you all. 00:33:34.469 --> 00:33:37.759 The Scripture says to confess your sins to one another. 00:33:37.759 --> 00:33:41.749 Right, I have a fault to confess to you, right, paul? 00:33:41.749 --> 00:33:42.872