Ephesians 4:17 – 5:2
What is it about fires that we are drawn to them? From the fire of God by night that reflected the presence of the Lord in the OT, Elijah's sacrifice to the refining fire of the Judgment seat of Christ in the NT...We have heard on TV ‘fire is your life’… we have seen the ’the Olympic flame' and then there is my son Jordan who from his earliest age could not be kept away from the campfire!
Refining expresses the melting, testing and purifying of metals such as gold and silver. God is our Master-refiner and through His servant Paul teaches us the imperative process that we must continually expose ourselves to. It is only as we have a ‘cut throat’ mentality to our former life that we have any chance in becoming everything that He has created us to be! The mindset and the heartbeat is ruthless, resolute and righteous. “The dove will not settle on corrupted flesh” is a statement that I have not forgotten about the Holy Spirit. There is a purity that we must discover and many people ‘burn too much smoke’ in this process than the ‘incense’ we have been called to burn! Strike the match and turn up the heat, it is going to get warm at Southside!
Increase the heat of heightened sensitivity v17-19
We have the power of reason, the power of judgment and the power of imagination. We have power to invent, plan, execute, build, destroy, dominate and to serve. We need to realize that our mind is a target for the enemy.
The thinking of our world apart from the insight of God is:
Futile
Darkened
Ignorant
Indulgent
2 Corinthians 4:4 The God of this age has blinded their minds.
It is this callousness that has overtaken us.
Satan seeks to destroy our minds through mass media. It is easier to let others to do our thinking for us and we delegate this work to mass media. If you want to know how we should think or feel about what is happening take a poll. Have you ever sat down to watch television and soberly thought about how much of the programming is designed to change the way you think and live?
The writers for TV shows and screenwriters for movies seek to make us laugh at things that are morally unacceptable to God. Humour is an excellent way of initially tearing down barriers to things that we reject. It is another subtle way that the enemy uses to just wear us down and desensitize us to what is pure, holy and acceptable to God.
You can’t help but read v19 and know that Paul is speaking to allowing impure images be projected and burned on the inner screen of our lives.
Pornography is another way that Satan seeks to corrupt our minds and bankrupt our heart. Vulgar, obscene images will destroy the mind. It was Lenin who said, "Destroy the morals of the youth of one generation and the next generation can be conquered without lifting a weapon."
Pornography like the abuse of alcohol, food, a fantasy life, affairs are all drugs of choice and ways of escape that the enemy presents as a short cut, a way to indulge, to numb the pain and ease the pressure in one’s life.
At the very root of the self destructive sin is the lie that I don’t believe I can trust God to love me completely with His unfailing love or the lie that He will not meet all my needs for encouragement, strength and support.
When we do this we tell God He can’t meet our needs and our selfish desires and drives become our idol because it controls us.
In the Freedom Session that we have been attending with the Gravels as part of a pilot project for the last eight weeks, we are learning how to control the mind and bring light to understanding especially in this whole area.
This course seeks to identify the root issue, the triggering event that often can happen well in advance, as much as 24 hrs, the automatic response, the payoff consideration.
We are learning the truth about halts
Hungry – eating healthy, the problem isn’t eating, it is what we eat, dealing with emotional cravings...
Angry- identifying and facing the issue underneath it all
Lonely-the importance of close friends
Tired- the need for exercise
Stressed-
Satan will seek to destroy the stewardship of your mind is with laziness and idleness especially as it pertains to the thoughts that we allow ourselves to entertain.
Let ungodliness just burn up in flames and feel the heat as it purifies you v20-29
One of Sharon’s favourite shows when we had TLC was ‘What Not To Wear’. The funny thing is that today of all days she sends me back upstairs three times to change what I was wearing...God has a sense of humour when He wants me to get the point across
Anyways, on this show Clinton and Stacey take a woman whose clothes do nothing for it and basically then have to convince her after her friends send in the unflattering tapes of her wardrobe.They get her to radically reevaluate her wardrobe and basically in order to go on a shopping spree in NYC, she has to give them full access to her current clothes and just about everything gets trashed. They desperately try to hold on to a few pieces, but just about all of it has to go.
So after a painful shopping spree at first, they are finally hear things like, “Oh, that’s really you! That new outfit looks so nice on you! It brings out your inner beauty.” That A frame skirt completely suits you and so on. And they’re right. The transformation often is very impressive.
Paul speaks in the same way regarding the way that we carry ourselves as believers. He’s saying, you know what, there is a more suitable look for you. These words ‘put off’ and ‘put on’ are the same words that referring to taking off and putting on clothing in the Greek.
The way you are dressing yourself as a follower of Jesus is unflattering and is working against you in your desire to follow Christ. Go out and get a new wardrobe!
We wake up in the morning and we get to choose what we are going to wear in the spiritual realm as well. It is a decision that we make daily to die to selfishness and all of its ugliness and clothe oneself in the new attitude of our mind, created in true righteousness and holiness. Do you accept it and believe it?
For us today, the idea of living like this after we have created new in righteousness would be like taking a shower and then going to the hamper, grabbing your dirty clothes that have been rotting in B.O. and all that ‘skankiness’ and putting them on…You just don’t do that!
Burn incense instead of smoke! V30- 5:2
First – there is passive anger. passive anger is just that, it is quiet, subtle, subdued and it goes underground and usually eats away at us on the inside. We don’t let anyone know how angry we really are– sometimes in ways that are hurtful and at times that have nothing to do with the situation that originally made us angry.
The second type is aggressive anger — the one we are probably most familiar with. It is an explosive anger that is seen in outbursts and usually follows a time when we have been facing the heat whether that is at work, at home and it spills out and taints us and everywhere in the room that we spread our venom. It can be physical– and makes others fearful as well.
The third type is passive – aggressive anger –It is when we are angry and everyone else has to figure out why and draw it out of us. It is manipulative and controls the feelings and thoughts of others.
The final type of anger is indirect anger, which occurs when express anger at someone – but it is really someone else who has made us angry. The person we are expressing anger towards becomes the scapegoat. Often it is hurting the one that we love the most because they are in the closest range to us.
NO matter how we express anger... passively, aggressively, passive aggressively, or indirectly — anger touches all of our lives
The Holy Spirit is certainly grieved even more when we make a mockery of His love by living outside the context of His revealed will. Hebrews 6:4 and 10:29 deal with the reality of the pain that God feels when we dismiss the love He desires to give us. The love that He gives is so great that He chose to give His Son as the means by which He could forgive us and reconcile Himself to us.
Here's how to build instead of destroying with your words --from Rick Warren
1. Stop excusing. Stop saying, "I didn't really mean to say that." Realize that what you say impacts everyone around you.
2. Talk less. If it's a power tool, you don't have to use it as much. One of the reasons we get in trouble is we just talk too much sometimes. We need to talk less and then ...
3. Listen more. If I listen more, I can understand people's needs.
4. Start building. Think first of all, "What do they need?" How can I use a word of encouragement to build them up? How can I use a word of challenge to make a difference in someone's life? How can I use my words to build up the people I love the most
The Takeaway
Do The Great Exchange – exchanged life!
It is a complete reorientation…all these changes that are to take place happen from the inside out. We are clothed with an inside out righteousness. Not pretending; not hypocritical; no fake, Sunday only face. And certainly not because by acting a certain way we think we will get on God’s good side. The fact is that we are all on God’s good side thanks to Jesus.
These new attitudes, emotions and practices become our default; our new set of clothes. What you see on Sunday is who I am on Monday
“London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling.
The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the
doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash around the interior.
As he showed a prospective buyer the property, Clegg took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out
Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are
as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God’s, the
For Discussion and Small Groups
Read Ephesians 4:25-5:1 and Colossians 3:8-9.What do these old clothes that we have been wearing look like?
What do the new clothes look like? (Eph 4:25-5:1and Col 3:12)
What is the real problem in my life, my “self” or my bad habits? (Col 3:8-9)
Why doesn’t the apostle Paul just come out and challenge us to get rid of our bad habits in this passage?
Why are we so quick to change our habits (the exterior) over our self (the interior) when it comes to our spiritual walk with Jesus?
Read Romans 6:6. What do we learn about our old way of life now that we are followers of Jesus?
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