Sermon Tone Analysis
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No Longer Walk As the Rest of the Gentiles Walk
Paul is giving instruction here to the Ephesian Christians, and to us
He begins again with another “Therefore”
Connecting this with what he has been saying
Since we can see this wonderful mystery of God revealed to us
That we are chosen in Him before the foundation of the World
Partakers of His divine nature
Since we are admonished to “walk Worthy of Our Calling”
Since we are called to ministry and given grace to accomplish
to grow to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ
For the unity of the church, edifying itself in love
Then we need to Walk a new Path, in purity, holiness, sanctified, and worthy
This I say and testify in the Lord - Insist by the authority of the Lord -
That we live our lives in this holiness, this worthy of our calling life in the unity of the Spirit, In Christ
He tells us how not to do this:
Not walking like the rest of the gentiles
These Ephesian Christians were not Jews.
In saying they should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles, he implies two thingsL
That they used to live that way
That the errors he is about o describe, are in fact the way these Christians (and most of us) used to live
Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners
Consider some of the people that Jesus has saved - from the thief on the cross to Paul, to people like John Newton, and Chuck Colson to you and I
Such were some of you… but you are washed.
And, that they could do so again.
Even thought hey were Christians, it was possible for them to fall back into this way of thinking and being
If it we not possible, he would have no need to admonish them
In fact we are told repeatedly in the new Testament that we must “Hold fast” to our profession, to be steadfast, to endure until the end
The Christian walk is compared to a race, and we area told to “run in such a way that we may obtain”
Peter says we must be sober, be vigilant
You must be intentional about you salvation and sanctification
reminds us that the same word was preached to them that were saved as to those who perished
In The Futility of Their Minds
Futility, or vanity of their minds
This is a summary statement of the description that follows.
The vanity of their minds has led to this sinful lifestyle he describes
Thinking, Being, Doing
Solomon used this Word 36 time in Ecclesiastes
All is vanity - futility - (that is all that can be done apart from eternity, from Christ)
He does not say that their minds were empty, on the contrary, they were very full
People like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in their culture
Rather, he says that all if the things filling their minds is futile, leads nowhere -
Speaking of Futility, consider our culture today
How much people waste their time, thoughts and resources on useless and empty things
The entertainment industry shapes most of the thinking of our young people
Religion, morals and even virtue seem to be censured from our education and society
So that people shape their thinking and values based on fictional media made for entertainment (and often depraved)
Video games and computer games
Fortnite, currently the most popular video game
over 250 million players, 5 million concurrent
millions of dollars spent on skins and such
Futility
So much of even the things we consider meaningful is also vanity when viewed in the eternal frame
As Jesus said, what good is the whole world if you lose your own soul?
Having their understanding darkened:
devoting our minds to amusement and carnal lusts, causes our understanding to be darkened
like when you dim the lights in a room
things that were clearly seen become less noticeable, then invisible
So it is when we crowd out the quiet meditation on God’s Word with the daily cares of this present time
Being Alienated From The Life of God
It’s not just that these gentiles were not as enlightened as their Christian counterparts
Not just that they were wasting valuable and productive time and energy on futile and worthless things
Not just that they were ignorant of the most profound and wonderful things on the universe, and a glorious hope
But they were in fact, in this darkened state, alienated from the very life of God
They were living apart from the one thing that mattered, and from the only thing that could save them for eternity
They were not only ignorant of God, they were enemies of God.
Because of the ignorance that is in them - (ignorance is not stupidity)
Because of the blindness of their heart (Spirit)
It is for this reason that Jesus Christ came into the world ()
Aliens: outsiders,
Think about this for a moment
we were all aliens once
citizens of our own country, but not citizens of the kingdom of God
I recall first walking into a church were people were genuinely worshipping God
as virtuous as I thought they were, I knew I didn’t belong
I had nothing against them, I just wasn’t one of them.
And I knew it.
Pul is clear about this state of the unbeliever: Alienated from the Life of God
Jesus said that they servant does not abide in the house forever, but the son abides forever
He wants to adopt us as sons
This is not at all unlike the culture today, even here in this country
So many people, even those who know about Jesus, are living lives just like these gentiles
living in the futility of their minds - filled with worthless things
having their understanding darkened, and now separate from God
Being Past Feeling
No, after thinking and being, they begin doing
They do not “feel” the conviction of the holy spirit as they begin to sink into these lives of debauchery
We think that the sexual promiscuity of today’s culture is something new.
In fact, it is not.
The people here in Ephesus were well acquainted with immorality
the place of Artemis’ temple - goddess of fertility
worship acts included all kinds of immorality
an area around the temple was protected - so that no criminals could be arrested there
These had become so normal no one even “felt” shock or guilt
Also, as we discussed in another message, they were past feeling, as dead to feeling, the things of the spirit
So much of our culture today has become “past feeling”
Just think about how much different the entertainment industry is
Things that used to shock us at a rated R movie are now on television
and no one “feels” anything
As a result they gave themselves over to lewdness (lasciviousness )
When the spirit within us no longer restrains us, we can regress to almost anything
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