call to worship: ephesians 2

It was a choice of God Himself before there was any creature responsible or dependent. (iii) It is a life characterized by disobedience. He prays accordingly that they might enter into both, realizing the holy peaceful atmosphere of the one, and the glorious expectations that were bound up with the other; for clearly the future is before his mind. And every believer is where his Head is; and if we are members of Christ's body, we are in heaven. (iv) The Gentiles were strangers from the covenants on which the promises were based. It is clearly not a question of righteousness here, or consistency with any known standard of judgment. 2. l Caphtor, fol. One might distrust a mystery, if it centred in the church. In Corinthians we have this, and properly in its place. I would like to just commit to You." Such is the truth, if indeed we have learnt the Christ as God teaches Him. Such is the character of our blessing, and such its seat. The "hope of his calling" is the bright prospect of the saints themselves, as they are in Christ before God. There must always be something about him: "Having abolished in his flesh. But God who is rich in His mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead has made us alive. It is only his love in Christ which has forgiven men who deserved nothing but punishment from him, men who had grieved his love and broken his law. Oh, to live in heaven, to dwell there, to let the heart be caught up from this poor life into the life that is above! In point of fact, He looks for the expression and exercise of it, be assured, from all of us, though no doubt according to our measure. HOMER: Jethro, if you had two big luxurious houses like those ones in the Beverly Hills and I was livin yonder under the bridge without no home, would you give me one of your big luxurious houses? We were once strangers to each other and strangers to God. fol. ", 20, 21 Upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom, You see, it is always that, in him, in Christ: "in whom". to you who were far off and to you who were near. Date Service Readings Ephesians 3:1-12 Matthew 2:1-12 Read all. Are we in life where we ought to be? And God was almost a boogieman to us. But in Ephesians the aim is of a much more absolute and direct character. In Christ we are blessed, in Christ we are chosen. Heres a contemporary call to worship inspired by Ephesians 2: 19-22. the One who names each of us as a beloved child. No, it does not; it begins to crawl; it does not walk at first. Come, let me just press this matter home. The have but anticipated the statement of the fourth and fifth verses: "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ.". 8For it is by grace(P) you have been saved,(Q) through faith(R)and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 9not by works,(S) so that no one can boast. Call to Worship (Ephesians 1) Hope in Christ! The re:Worship survey on pandemic worship practices has been completed. You know what that means? He is the ultimate blessedness with which we are filled, the One in whom we most confide, being the Son, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 69. It is sensitive about sin; detects and detests it thoroughly. The instructor is dead, and you are dead. When two parties are at variance, the surest way to bring them together is through someone whom they both love. Both the xenos ( G3581) and the paroikos ( G3941) were always on the fringe. Even though trained by godly parents, though well instructed in the gospel scheme, though saturated with the piety that surrounded us, we were dead, as dead as the harlot of the street, as dead as the thief in the jail. 10. It is the mystery of Christ emphatically; and the part about Christ is the higher of the two. God does for sinners what they cannot do themselves. (119) He does not mean simply that they were in danger of death; but he declares that it was a real and present death under which they labored. Then, without delay, the next verses introduce a general view of the glorious topic that occupied him. To the father, the sinful "son" was dead in sin and lost. Again, I have in my presence young men who have grown to riper years than that fair damsel who died in her childhood. Some kind of life, I acknowledge, does remain in us, while we are still at a distance from Christ; for unbelief does not altogether destroy the outward senses, or the will, or the other faculties of the soul. But, during that week, I had made a great many experiments, and tumbled down a great many times, and the preacher took for his text, "O wretched man that I am! God has called you to be His child. Before Christ the barriers were up; after Christ the barriers were down. Timeweb - , , . He will make it good. It is neither "faith" nor "the faith." Can I belong just for who I am? Here the prayer is not, as in the first chapter, that they might know the power that had wrought toward them; it is now that their hearts might be in the secret of His grace according to the power that works in them. The believer's life is the life of Christ in the believer. "My soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me.". You had nothing to do with this. That is what Christ does for a man. I am inclined to think that the difference lay in the difference of their wealth. Their governor was God. What does that mean) The name for the people of Israel was ho hagios laos ( G2992) , the holy people. The, good for an Israelite, for a Gentile, for a man, is wholly different from the good for a Christian, because their relationships are not the same as his. That man who came down but was found alone to the end of His earthly course would now be alone no more; He would have a new and suited body, believing Jews and Gentiles fellow-heirs and of the same body. There is no beauty there; we dare not look upon it. I. I shall begin by noticing, then, first of all, THE CONDITION OF MEN BY NATURE. what Paul does in this passage is to paint a vivid contrast between what man is by nature and what he can become by grace." Might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. "Rabbi," she said, "bring me near." It is an adjective meaning the anointed one. The evil spirit has been driven out, and he no more works in us. In Sophocles we find some of the loveliest and the saddest lines in all history. It is not so in the word of God. On the other hand, for the Gentile history was going nowhere. He then expounded the means whereby we appreciate our calling (i.e., knowledge given by the Holy Spirit through Gods revelation, Ephesians 1:15-23). They would put a hoop on a pole, and each man would take his quiver of arrows and shoot his arrows through the hoop one at a time. But what has this to do with the kingdom of God? Here are some indexes that might be helpful. So this Greek word meander is the word that Paul uses here. There is not even the gloss of life left. "Deep in the human heart, crushed by the tempter, Feelings lie buried that grace can restore.". And he never recovered the full use of that most precious faculty, the boon of youth and happy childhood, and which he had once possessed, without knowing it, in such singular and exceptional completeness. When the Rabbis spoke about accepting a convert into Judaism, they said that he had been brought near. WebThe Art of Following - Matthew 4:12-23. That is not the result of killing the seven-headed dragon and grabbing the three golden apples. The re:Worship survey on pandemic worship practices has been completed. The apostle has turned over a new leaf in the book of our history: "but now." But in that which comes before us in our epistle, it is not a question even of the highest creature on earth one that was called to have dominion on earth, and be the image and glory of God here below. Psalm 65: Hes got the whole world in his hands! young man, thou hast not yet gone so far as the open profligate and desperately profane, take heed, thou art dead! You are looking : call to worship ephesians 2. Now, dear friends, if we have received spiritual life, you see what a range of being we have, how we can rise up to the seventh heaven or sink down into the abyss. "The exceeding riches of his grace" are infinity itself; but they all come to us "through Christ Jesus." It is a time of asking, a time of enquiring. It simply affirms a fact - that in relation to real spiritual life they were, in consequence of sin, like a dead man in regard to the objects which are around him. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves ( Ephesians 2:8 ): What not of yourselves? The other word Paul uses, translated trespasses is paraptoma ( G3900) . Please note: If you use material from this blog, please be careful to credit the original author and source. Now, some may have come closer than others.If we decided to go sailing out here in the channel and maybe sail to Catalina, but half way across the channel we sprang a leak in the boat and it starts to go down, and some of you who can't swim go down with the boat. InEphesians 1:1-23; Ephesians 1:1-23 he began with the Jews, and then showed the Gentiles brought in; but now he begins with the outer circle where the Gentiles were. We desire to see his kingdom come as he does, and we pray for his will to be done on earth, even as it is in heaven. He takes His place there, of course always the Son; but, wonderful to say, humanity makes an integral and everlasting part, so to speak, of that divine person, the Son of God. Sinners cannot save themselves. Thou hast the dew of thy youth, O child of God; and thou shalt have yet more of it, and be like thy Lord, when he shall take thee away from every trace of death, and the corrupt atmosphere of this poor world, and thou shalt dwell with the living God in the land of the living, for ever and for ever! Israel's was at best a mere creature relationship, though, no doubt, having a special place in creation. Josephus, in his description of the Temple, says: "When you went through these first cloisters unto the second court of the Temple, there was a partition made of stone all round, whose height was three cubits. It is a priceless boon to have the right to go to some lovely and wise and saintly person at any time; to have the right to break in upon him, to take our troubles, our problems, our loneliness, our sorrow to him. This, then, was what was needed for the principalities and powers, and this is what they behold in the church of God. If we go on with our services in regular routine, a large number of our friends find it difficult to keep awake. So the flow of the world, you just flowed with it. I told you just now that the life which the Holy Spirit gives us when we are born again, is the life of God. [Note: Stott, p. Reader 1 But now in Christ you who once were far away. This was the first of the great divisions. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. the One whose love is the bedrock of our lives. No God? Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. There was in fact at the Persian royal court an official called the prosagogeus whose function was to introduce people who desired an audience with the king. He dwelleth, perhaps, in some back slum of a dirty lane; he knoweth not where to go. Man." All men, being naturally children of disobedience, are also by nature children of wrath: God is angry with the wicked every day. It is not God's laws against which we have sinned; it is against his heart. In fact, I ripped one off and brought it home. I didn't think anybody would miss the one. I was no longer the captain of my soul, and did not know it. Looking for something? That is, we were living by the lower nature, the animal nature, living after the lust of our flesh, and the lust of our minds. Could the apostle say that to you, and to me? They want to be saved by their own morality, and all sorts of things that they put instead of salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. There we were, tripping right along with the crowd, as they were trying to satisfy the lust of their flesh, and the lust of their mind. Whether it be so or not with every person restored from drowning, I do not know; but I think that it is so with every person restored from drowning in the river of sin. Isaiah had heard God say: "Peace, peace to the far, and to the near" ( Isaiah 57:19). The carnal mind makes a man a perfect slave to his vicious appetite.--The fulfilling of the wills of the flesh, so the words may be rendered, denoting the efficacy of these lusts, and what power they have over those who yield themselves up unto them. Impossible that the new nature could countenance sin; the very essence of it is rejection and exposure of what is contrary to God. Christ is Victor; his rule has begun. The course and tenour of their lives are according to his suggestions, and in compliance with his temptations; they are subject to him, and are led captive by him at his will, whereupon he is called the god of this world, and the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. This text brings us Easter tidings; it sings of resurrection; it sounds in our ear the trumpet of a new life, and introduces us into a world of joy and gladness. Any dead fish can float down the stream, it takes a live fish to swim against the current." It is a revelation of God that comes in at the time when the Jews have, at least temporarily, lost their place altogether. We would readily agree that the robber, murderer, the razor-slasher, the drunkard, the gangster are sinners, but, since most of us are respectable citizens, in our heart of hearts we think that sin has not very much to do with us. II. Yes, life is a strange thing; and if you have the life of God in your soul, you will undergo many changes, and not always be what you want to be. Do you remember when the new life came into you? I trust you will understand what I wish to convey that the death is the same in all cases; but the manifestations of it is different; and that the life must come from God, and from God alone. Alas! 8. And note, too, that this young man, though carried out to his grave, was not like the maiden; she was in the garments of life, but he was wrapped in the cerements of death . The general doctrine of this morning is, that every man that is born into the world is dead spiritually, and that spiritual life must be given by the Holy Spirit, and can be obtained from no other source. I am certain that no ungodly man has any conception of the joy which often fills the believer's spirit. Amen. Now the glorious future that awaits us, as Paul prayed in chapter 1, and we studied last week. If so, I daresay that we remember something of it. Merciful God, we celebrate the way that you chose to bring unity and peace to peoplethrough the gift of your Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. By grace are you saved.Now, not only has He made me alive. But there was no real purpose to your life. Verse Ephesians 2:4 . For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes in Him does not perish but has everlasting life. You might as well just, you know, get into a fuzz of drugs or into the folly of liquor, because there is no sense in trying to be sober. Shall we turn in our Bibles now to Ephesians, the second chapter.Paul is going to talk about someone tonightvery interesting. Few would venture on so bold a statement as that; but if you boldly do the thing, I must speak of it. Very likely the old sinner's experience will not be a feeding experience. "He hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together." And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; And you hath he quickened: The writer now shows that the same power exercised on the body of Christ to raise Him from the dead (1:19-20) is used upon those who are dead in sins to resurrect them from spiritual death (2:5). When I say Christ is our peace. For we were by nature, that is, we were doing what comes naturally to the fallen man. It was written by Thom Shuman. "Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. The sinner chooses to live in contempt of any law or higher authority that would supersede his own will. Ah! I have heard that they have never had a headache in the last hundred years, and no rheumatic pains, nor have they been troubled with the gout, The reason is that they are cut in marble, and they are dead; but a living man feels the fog and the winds; he knows whether it is an east wind or a west wind that is blowing. So that our business as ministers when the young lambs are brought in, is to remember the injunction, "Feed my lambs;" take care of them; give them plenty of meat. Angels, for instance, are there; but they have no such relationship. I know it on the best authority, and the truest, too. Ah! He merely now touches on the principle, as he had before let us see not merely God's counsels from before the foundation of the world, but the manner and means of their application through Christ our Lord to us in time.
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