Life in the Flesh
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Satanic Panic
Satanic Panic
Throughout the 80’s and 90’s there was a movement through church culture and pop culture called the “Satanic Panic”
There was a widespread belief that a secret Satanic network existed in America that was preying on the young people in our country.
Certain police departments had specially assigned detectives specifically working cases thought to be related to Satanic rituals or practice.
Movie, books, and conferences emerged in those years that fueled conspiracy theories about the influence of Satanism on our world.
Many of us grew up hearing the stories about hidden messages in music, how things like Dungeons and Dragons led young people into Satanic worship, or how certain famous people worshipped the devil (Reggie Miller, Ozzy Osbourne, and Judas Priest).
Every bad thing that happened seemed to be blamed on the influence of Satan.
And Satan’s influence is significant and far-reaching, but it is only so because of what we learn about ourselves in the next part of Ephesians 2.
1 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.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast.
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.
You were/are:
You were/are:
1. Consumed by CORRUPTION
1. Consumed by CORRUPTION
The connection between verse 2 and 3 is in the inclusive statement “we too”.
Paul is including us among those who are considered “the disobedient”.
Who is he talking about here?
most simply, those who are surrendered to the world and the ruler of the world, the one he called the “Prince of the Power of the air”.
Paul knows the tendency of those he is writing to, the same tendency we have of not seeing ourselves for who we really are/were outside of Christ.
We are/were the “sons (and daughters) of disobedience”.
But there is another tendency we have, even if we are willing to admit that we are in that group.
It is the tendency to blame our disobedience on something that exists outside of ourselves.
And it would be easy to make that case based on verse 2.
“I only do the things I do because the world is so messed up.”
Or “Satan is the reason I struggle and fall so easily.”
“The problem isn’t me, it is my circumstances, the environment, or a spiritual battle that is overpowering me.”
I don’t want to diminish what Paul is saying in verse 2.
We absolutely do live in a broken and corrupt world that is constantly drawing us away from God and His ways.
And we absolutely are being tempted, enticed, and influenced by the demonic.
Paul even finishes this letter with a powerful description of the spiritual battle we are in; and a prescription of how we are to fight the battle.
But our spiritual deadness has 3 fronts to overcome. And the third isn’t outside of us, but inside us.
Sin is not just around us, in other people, in the world, in our culture, and in the devil.
It is in us, a part of us...our identity even.
And because of this, we are more susceptible to the strategies of the evil one and more drawn to the ways of the world because our hearts are corrupted by the condition of sin.
Paul calls this sinful condition the “flesh” and goes on to describe what this life of flesh looks like.
2. Driven by DESIRE
2. Driven by DESIRE
We think of the word flesh as the meat and bones that make up our physical body, but Paul is talking about something much more far-reaching.
The flesh is the “whole man oriented away from God and toward its own selfish concerns.”
Listen to Paul’s description of the Flesh in Galatians 5:16-21
16 I say, then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar.
This is a graphic way of describing- doing whatever you feel like whenever you feel like doing it.
It is a life driven by desires, both physically and mentally.
It is a life driven by fleshly appetites. - Whatever feels good or satisfies in the moment is what we will do.
It is a life driven by fleshly motives and aspirations- giving ourselves over to hopes and dreams that are rooted in temporary fulfillment and empty promises.
It is a life of fleshly emotions- Paul lists those out in Galatians 5 hatred, strife, jealousy, anger, and envy.
This isn't just a list of bad things we do; it's a description of what controls us.
Our desires became our masters, pushing us to live in a way that was completely contrary to God's good and perfect will.
We naturally just do whatever we feel like, whenever we want to.
That’s a real problem. And it’s not just a problem for others “out there”. Paul’s point is this: “we too” were like this as well.
3. Wrecked by WRATH
3. Wrecked by WRATH
Because we are dead in our trespasses and sin, corrupted by the world, dominated by the devil, and driven by the desires of our flesh, Paul shares the worst part of the bad news.
“we were by nature children under wrath.”
This is a difficult but crucial point.
Because of our sinful nature and our willing slavery to our own desires, we stood in direct opposition to a holy and just God.
God's wrath is not a fleeting emotion or a loss of temper.
Instead, it is His settled, righteous, and holy opposition to sin and evil.
It is an essential part of His perfect character, flowing from His justice and holiness.
Because God is perfectly righteous, He cannot be indifferent to sin.
His wrath is the active outworking of His justice against all that harms His creation and rebels against His loving authority.
And this isn’t something we earned by doing bad things, it is something we were born into.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
God’s wrath is the reality of what happens when a wonderful and holy God confronts human beings who have done wrong and rebelled against him.
And outside of Christ, this is what we face too, now and forever.
And with all this horrible news we might be left with same response as Paul in Romans 7:24
24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?
But don’t miss verse 25
25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Worst New prepares us for the Greatest News
The Worst New prepares us for the Greatest News
By itself, this verse is terrible news, isn’t it?
God’s people, like the rest of humanity, were also enslaved to their own desires, and facing God’s wrath.
That’s why those words, “we were”, “once”, and But God are so important and powerful.
This isn’t the present state of those who are in Christ; it’s their past.
Because of Christ, we have been forgiven, raised to life, and are secure in him. This is what Paul goes on to say in the following verses.
Isaac Newton’s 2nd law of motion says that the amount of force times the mass an object is will determine the acceleration.
It is a simple equation. The smaller the item and the harder the push, the faster it will go.
The goal of Ephesians 2:1-3 is the first part of the Gospel equation that makes up Ephesians 2:1-9.
The more we understand who we were before Jesus intervened in our world, the more we will understand what God has done in Christ to save us.
And the more we are struck by the magnificence of Christ, the more we will be willing to stand against the schemes of the evil one and fight against the desires of our flesh that we still battle with.
And the more compassion and empathy we will have for those who have yet to see their darkness and come to the light of Jesus.
