(Earlier this year I was invited to present a workshop at the Pine Valley Men’s Conference. The title of the conference was Faith Under Fire. My original study was in Ephesians Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Due to time constraints I limited the workshop to Chapter 6 only. Following is Part One of my complete study.)
When I think of the theme of this Men’s Conference, “Faith Under Fire”, it presents to me an image of warfare. I picture a battle between men of faith and the prince of darkness, Satan. The plan for my workshop is to present a means of response to faith under fire. Using the Book of Ephesians as our guide, I plan to present a battle plan that we might use to launch our counter attack, and a plan to fortify our faith to withstand attacks of sin in our lives.
How many of you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center?
As the news reports developed and we learned it was being revealed as a terrorist attack, what were you thinking? Were you considering the threat of further attacks closer to home?
San Diego is a major military port. We are a prime target for attack. What if San Diego did get attacked? What would be your response? What actions would you take?
Has sin ever threatened your family? Has sin ever invaded your home? Of course it has. Sin attacks all of us every day. We are born sinners and we live in a world of sinners. It's a part of our daily lives.
Sin enters our home in a variety of ways. We find sin on TV. We find it at the movies. The public school system teaches tolerance of sin to our children. You can't even go to a grocery store without sin displayed on the front pages of virtually every magazine at the register.
The purpose of this workshop is to call attention to the fact that we are at war right now. We have been at war from the day we were born, and the war isn’t going to stop until Christ calls us home. The war we wage every single day of our lives is a war against sin.
Where does sin live? Where does sin plant it's seeds of destruction? Sin lives in our hearts. In Genesis 6:5 we read "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."
Sin is like an evil, wicked virus that infects our hearts. It's a hereditary birth defect that we all are born with. If we allow sin to grow, it spreads until it takes control of our bodies and spews out through our words and our actions. When we sin, we are at war with God. We break God's commandments. We invite His wrath.
Who is our greatest enemy in the war against sin?
Satan is the father of sin, and we direct our attack towards him. But, our greatest enemy isn't Satan. It's us. Satan can't enter our hearts unless we invite him in. Remember that as believers, Christ's death on the cross released us from the bondage of sin. We have the ability to choose not to sin. When we do sin, it isn't because we have no choice. We chose to sin. We lack self control. We lack discernment. We lack discipline.
We are our own worst enemy in the war against sin. Satan may lead the charge, but he uses fallen man as his soldiers.
Sin isn't what we do, it's who we are. If we commit murder, what are we called? A murderer. If we commit adultery, we become what? An adulterer. Sin goes beyond the actual act of sinning. It changes our hearts. It changes our character. It changes how we are seen by others. It defines us.
Then why is it that most of us are so cavalier towards sin?
Why do we kid ourselves that a little bit here and there is OK? Galatians 5:9 says “A little leaven leavens the whole lump”, or as my wife puts it more colorfully, “If there was a little bit of poop in the batter, would you eat the cake?”
And yet we consume sin daily in our lives like a big slice of birthday cake without giving it a second thought. Even worse, we serve a big slice of poop cake to our family as well.
Gentlemen, this is a life or death situation we have here. Romans 8:13 spells it out for us very simply. "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live."
We are drowning in sin. We must take the fight against sin in our lives more seriously. We need to consider sin as the evil and destructive entity that it truly is, and we need to take action.
We cannot be complacent with sin. Adam was complacent against sin and look where that got us. We must take action now. We must choose wisely. Amen?
As I was preparing for this study, the first verse that came to mind was one of my life verses, Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
So I opened up my Bible, and decided that I wanted to read all of Ephesians chapter 6 to get a good feel of the verse in it’s context. Then I decided to read Chapter 5 to get a running start at Chapter 6. Before long I was reading and studying all six chapters of Ephesians. That’s when the Lord showed me that Ephesians presents a perfect foundation for this workshop.
If there were a Basic Combat Training program for spiritual warfare, Ephesians would be the handbook.
Basic Combat Training for the U.S. Army is where individuals learn about the fundamentals of being a soldier, from combat techniques to the proper way to address a superior. BCT is also where individuals undergo rigorous training to prepare their bodies and their minds for the eventual physical and mental strain of combat.
One of the most difficult and essential lessons learned in BCT is self-discipline or self control. BCT introduces prospective soldiers to a strict daily schedule that entails many duties and high expectations for which most civilians are not immediately ready.
In our time together I hope to share with you how the Book of Ephesians provides this same training for Men of Faith as we prepare ourselves for our battle against sin.
The Book of Ephesians teaches us fundamentals of being a Christian soldier. We learn combat techniques to fight sin in our lives. It provides rigorous training to prepare our bodies and minds for the physical and mental strain of life in a world filled with sin.
Ephesians teaches us self-discipline and self control. Thru the Book of Ephesians, we are introduced to a strict daily schedule that entails many duties and high expectations for which non-believers are not immediately ready.
Specifically we’ll be focusing on chapters 4, 5 and 6 in Ephesians. We’ll look at how Scripture in these verses can prepare us as leaders to stand united as brothers in Christ. To be imitators of God, fully equipped to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Although we are not spending time in chapters 1 through 3, by no means am I suggesting they are of no value to our discussion.
In chapter 1 we are reminded of the spiritual blessings our Father has given us. We learn that as believers we were predestined to receive His salvation before time began.
Chapter 2 teaches us that we were saved by faith alone in Jesus Christ.
In Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul presents the Gospel message to the Gentiles in Ephesus.
I am taking the liberty of assuming that we are all born again Christians, saved by faith alone in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. If any of you are not saved and wish to learn more about the gift of salvation, please contact me and I’ll be happy to share with you how Christ has changed my life and how he can change yours too.
Gentlemen, the first thing we should do when we enter into battle is to arm ourselves. Today we’re arming ourselves with our Sword of Truth. If you have a Bible with you, please turn to the Book of Ephesians.
I would like to begin our study by praying through Chapter 3, verses 14 through 21. Let’s pray:
We bow our knees before you Father, from you whom every family in heaven and earth are named, that according to the riches of your glory that you grant us we might be strengthened with power through your Spirit in our inner being, so that you may dwell in our hearts through faith in your son Jesus. We pray that being rooted and grounded in love, we 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 all knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of your love and grace. Now to You who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to You be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
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