Soldiers and Ambassadors
Notes
Transcript
Call to Worship
Call to Worship
1 Chronicles 29:10b-11 “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”
Prayer
Prayer
Adoration: Yours is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty—all things are yours!
Confession: …but we have acted as though we belong to ourselves; and we have failed to put on your armor… to gird on truth against Satan’s lies, to walk in your righteousness, to stand in the gospel of peace… failed to fight faithfully/bring you glory
Thanksgiving: Your gospel of peace assures us of forgiveness through the blood of your Son, reconciles us to you, causes us to stand again + empowers…
Supplication: Help us to take up your armor… wisdom, endurance, holiness for deacons + deaconesses; Cross Creek (growth in holiness, evangelism; congregational meeting 4/30—peace, unity, encouragement); Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici => protection + justice; church in India: boldness + protection from RSS Hindu nationalists.
Benediction//Family Matters: Hatfields in prayer,
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Sermon
Sermon
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.
practice: this is the word of the lord, etc.
Read: Ephesians 6:16-20
Intro
Intro
How are we supposed to face spiritual hostility?
And how are we supposed to pursue our mission in a hostile culture?
mission—taking the gospel to the nations—this glorious gospel as we’ve seen it in Ephesians…
Hostile world not new… but still hard!
How do believers react? How might we be tempted to react?
Commanded to stand our ground against demonic temptations—give in, or flounder in the fight.
In our mission: shut up—don’t speak the gospel “Oh I don’t try to convert people… I just live my life for the Lord”.... OR Soften gospel/shape it to culture—minimize truths about God’s sovereign authority, sin, hell… “God has a wonderful plan for your life—Just follow him” or “The Lord wants to help you become your authentic self”
OR fight fire w/ fire—insult for insult, etc. + if you do speak the gospel, it’s w/o love OR technically, you believe in and sometimes share gospel, but emotionally you’re much more invested in something else
OR, in fight against sin => learn to accommodate certain sins, which eviscerates of spiritual power… either to live righteously or to share the gospel
What are we supposed to do?
Soldiers
Soldiers
Last week, we got the first part of our answer: you need the strength of God’s might—God’s own armor—to take hold of truth in the face of temptation; to imitate Christ’s righteousness so as to give the devil no opportunity, when you fall, to rise again in the shoes of the gospel of peace: by God’s gracious forgiveness, to stand again against the powers of darkness, etc.
So, you’re a soldier of the Kingdom …last Sunday Paul gave you armor, but you’re missing two key things…
Sword of the Spirit
We’re supposed to take (vs. 17) “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,”
Why “Sword of the Spirit”? Why not “Sword of the Word”?
Something we’ve seen in SS class! Pattern in Scripture: Spirit works in us/through us primarily through the Word!
Another way of saying the same thing: by the Spirit, God is present with us through his Word… so if we pick up the Word and humbly sit under its truths, we (1) experience the real presence of God, and (2) wield the very power of God—be strong in the Lord (vs. 10)!
Should tell you something about the Word—it is not dead letters, dry facts. It is living truth, the voice of God himself:
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
The Lord brought the universe into existence by his command
He snaps great cedars like toothpicks with his voice
He speaks through his Word/Bible => brings life out of spiritual death + strength in weakness
Kids: Kung Fu Panda—every time Poe sees a ‘legendary weapon’—like Blade’s ‘black steel’ sword or like the dragon scroll, he gets super excited and wants to try it out… Bible is a sword infinitely more powerful than those things—when the Spirit of God helps you understand the Bible, the Bible becomes the infinite power of God—the sword that makes the wounded whole!
It’s defensive here! + You need it badly
How do you wield it?
Like Jesus: In the power of the Spirit, tempted to worship Satan as an easy way out of suffering, he responded w/ Deut. 6:13 “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.”
A false promise of relief and joy from the pleasures of the world: No! Psalm 97:11 “Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.”
A temptation toward despair at the sight of your own sin/unworthiness… Romans 8 32-36 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?”
Even if not a specific passage, a truth you know can be found there somewhere, and you take your stand + grip that truth with white knuckles, and say, NO! I belong to Christ! I will live for him, and he will hold me fast!
Now, some of you have already been thinking about another Spiritual Warfare passage in Paul’s letters…
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
I was prepared to mention this passage briefly as an example of spiritual warfare on offense… better just read it in context…
At first glance, seems like, ‘here Paul is using the Sword of the Spirit—Scripture—in attack mode’
Not actually about spiritual offensive outside the walls of the church
Context: false teaching + unrepentant sin w/in congregation => (learned from eph 6) spiritual warfare is a team fight => this is about the ability of the team to stand against the satanic onslaught of lies and temptations toward sin
We will see a turn outward, toward how we reach the nations… but not quite yet…
***First remaining equipment we needed to see was the Sword of the Spirit—the word of God***
Prayer in the Spirit
Why “in the Spirit”?
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Every true believer has received the Spirit of Adoption, who makes it possible + gives us power to cry out to God as our Father
Just as the Spirit empowers us to receive God’s Word as God speaking to us, so the Spirit empowers us to return words to God—to pray…
But… implication… possible to pray not in the Spirit? …to that extent, not true Christian prayer. Maybe:
prayer w/o gospel => prayer founded on grace in Christ
repetition/transactionalism
pretense or pride, etc.
We are to pray on the basis of God’s own gracious love in hearing us, because by measureless grace he has rescued us from darkness and made us his children… I think that = praying in the Spirit, whether you are consciously thinking about the Spirit or not…
Asking for what?
=> focus in verse 18 hasn’t changed: we’re still thinking about our mission to stand firm in the strength of God’s might/our need for his strength
=> concern is still standing together—local Ephesian congregation like a military unit/all believers everywhere as fellow soldiers—(prayer for all the saints, end of verse 18)
=> In ch. 1, Paul prayed that the Ephesians church might know:
and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
=> In ch. 3, Paul prayed for them:
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
=> So: the prayer is that we would be strong for the fight by having our vision fixed on the love of Christ, and that the Spirit would do this among us by illuminating God’s word for us
And we’re supposed to be alert—could say, ‘watchful’ in this—how are we doing as a congregation? What kind of prayer do we need?
Comfort = but that is found most centrally in comprehending the love + victory of Christ....
Joy = but that is found most centrally in all that God is for us in Christ, with his forgiving, redeeming love
Strength = but that is found in fixing our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith
And this kind of prayer is to be at all times, with all perseverance, with all prayer and supplication => meaning, it is to be constant + significant
Do you want to know how to pray for our congregation? Might consider setting aside some time each week… etc., etc., etc., => do you want the priorities of your prayer shaped by God’s word? Turn to Eph. ch. 1, 3, etc.
***So that is the second missing piece for you as a soldier. Stand firm, and fight using the Spirit-empowered Word + prayer!***
OK, but how about sharing the gospel? How about advancing God’s Kingdom by reaching the lost? Again, we’ve been learning about defensive spiritual warfare up to this point… but can’t we go on the offensive w/ sword + prayer?
What does the Kingdom of God look like on the offensive?
The Kingdom on Offense
The Kingdom on Offense
In one sense, soldiers, but in another, ambassadors of the kingdom…
and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Is everyone an ambassador?
Paul is specifically describing himself here—so does it apply to us too?
In 2 Cor, talking about everyone who has been reconciled to God through Christ, he says God has given all of us ‘the ministry of reconciliation’—then describes it like this:
Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
We ARE all ambassadors
=> “but I’m not as gifted at sharing the gospel as so-and-so”
=> some truth there… complex, variety of contributions, etc.
=> but still all are ambassadors = all come to the world with a message to speak from the coming king!
So, Paul’s chosen metaphor for spreading the kingdom—at least in this letter—is not warfare, but ambassadorship
Very significant, b/c he was just using the warfare metaphor… why did he switch?
B/c our posture toward the world is not to trade hostility for hostility, but in the face of hostility, to preach a message of reconciliation to God through Christ
Our message is this—
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
explain…
But… as we are ambassadors of this message of peace… we are ambassadors in chains?
=> speaking boldly in response to physical chains = same pattern as ‘we do not wrestle w/ flesh and blood’ = my kingdom is not of this world/put away your sword, Peter!
=> kingdom response to persecution/injustice is to speak the gospel of reconciliation looking for conversion (does include confronting sin… )
=> possible point: how does kingdom spread? through more just laws? No: only through true conversion!
our Christ-copying (and Paul copying) identity = suffering servants of the gospel//royal ambassadors of a future foreign power
Our mission
We must speak!
Paul says (vs. 20) about gospel, that he wanted to ‘declare it boldly, as he ought to speak’ => ‘as I must’ or ‘as it is necessary’
Not an option for believers to be silent about the gospel, or even to file down the sharp edges to make palatable/comfortable to spiritually dead hearts… rather, boldly!
So, we need boldness
Shari Rahn: Look, this is Paul asking for boldness… !
Same pattern in Acts:
ch. 4: after threats, prayer meeting: “Give us boldness to speak the gospel!” => Spirit shakes place, gives boldness
Boldness to preach the gospel continues to come up… ch. 9, 14, 19
At the end: Paul is in Rome, last verse says:
proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
Tells us => this is a boldness that comes from God//none of have this kind of boldness innately//every ambassador of Christ is in need of it!
=> so add this to your prayers for the congregation: opportunity, words, boldness
Conclusion
Conclusion
How are we supposed to face spiritual hostility? And how are we supposed to pursue our mission to preach the gospel to a hostile culture?
Through Spirit-empowered Word + Prayer
That just as the Spirit empowers Word + Prayer for us to stand as soldiers, so he would also empower the Word of the cross by our prayers, that we would speak boldly, and that the ears of the lost would be opened to hear, and would be reconciled to God!