3 all of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[ a] and following its desires In this passage the son admits to his father that he has "sinned" and is "no longer worthy to be called your son." (AI) His purpose was to create in himself one(AJ) new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross,(AK) by which he put to death their hostility. He wanted to be like the Most High God ( Isaiah 14:14 ). He may shed abroad the love of God therein; but He is rather said to dwell in us, making the body God's temple. The rotten Lazarus may come out of his tomb, as well as the slumbering maiden from her bed. Hear the word of truth, the good news of our salvation. As Christ fills the whole body of Christian believers with his fulness, (Ephesians 1:23,) so had he dealt with the converted Ephesians, who before were dead in trespasses, and dead in sins. There we have tongues, miracles, etc. God has "abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us [what is the special proof of it] the mystery of his will." all that is out to hurt and twist and destroy! If but two acted accordingly, they ought to be and would be an expression of the unity of the Spirit. If you haven't previously submitted something but would like to, you can find my email address by clicking on my name in the "About Me" section below. Thus nature is the subject of verse 4, as relationship is of verse 5. There are indeed some missionary churches who would have all their congregations worship with the one liturgy used in the churches at home. we would understand the One who calls us to faith. Be it our part with diligence (for this is needed) "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.". (iii) The Gentiles were aliens from the society of Israel. WebThanksgiving and praise are called forth in response to a gracious God. Not so. He is the God of Jesus; He is the Father of Jesus. And there may be a marathoner in the group that will get within a mile of the shore before he goes under. These are the things that governed our lives in the past. When you are through with that, wash out the garbage cans." We cannot wear what we used to wear. We are in this position, that God is now working in us, through this divine life, to make us the most wonderful reflectors of his grace that he has yet formed. 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. "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself." 1.And you who were dead. Therefore, the thought of total human depravity as something inherited must be incorrect. (There is no need to credit the re:Worship blog itself.). He rules the universe from His heavenly throne Left him with 10,000 men to face the 135,000 Midianites. He is our peace. I am certain that no ungodly man has any conception of the joy which often fills the believer's spirit. The flesh is that part of our nature which gives sin a bridgehead and a point of attack. 30. They had seen the ways of God with man, and with Israel; and surely they had entered into the glory of God that was involved in all His ways. He goes farther, and says, "Be filled with the Spirit." That is to say, it is life lived on the world's standards and with the world's values. Some writers seem to have an aptitude for puddling in this mud, and digging up this miry clay; I confess that I have none. As being the image and glory of God on earth, he is the one that gives names to his companion, or to the subject creation. This illustration of spiritual fellowship lost does not end sadly. That paradox has two arms. The earth is their sphere; it is there that Israel looks to be blessed, and the Gentiles somewhat farther off, but all in the ordered blessing of the Most High God. These are the two former points. And as for Lazarus, he is shut up with a stone. You say you are not going to do something, well, you just wait, you know, the moment you yield your life to God, that is exactly what He is going to make you do. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, God loved us even when we were dead in sins. The word Paul uses for access is prosagoge ( G4318) and it is a word of many pictures. As usual the apostle salutes the saints with the best wishes for their blessing. Now, as life comes thus with strange surprises, and mingled with pain, so, dear friends, it comes often with many questions. But no matter how hard we may try to hit the mark, none of us have really hit the mark that God has required for man. Nevertheless, whether it was creation, whether man or favoured Israel, there was so much the more painful a declension that portended the judgment of God upon them. It is the failure in any sphere of life to be what we ought to be and could be. We had neither the eye that could see, nor the ear that could hear, nor the power that could feel. And if she would say, "No, son, you can't." Semi-pelagianism admits his ill-health, but affirms that the symptoms will yield to proper treatment, to a course of tonic drugs and a scrupulous regimen. Finally, "receive the helmet of salvation, [there the head is lifted up, not in presumption, but with none the less joy and courage,] and the sword of the Spirit," which is expressly said to be the word of God. To the father, the sinful "son" was dead in sin and lost. This does not yet appear; for there is nothing to indicate to mankind what He purposes to do. His grace has predestinated us to the very highest relation that of sons unto Himself by Jesus Christ "according to the good pleasure of his will." He says that those who were far off have been brought near. A religion based on love can at once be a universal religion. Heres a prayer of confession based on Ephesians 2:11-22. It was written by Moira Laidlaw. 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. Reader 1 Christ came and proclaimed peace. That accounts for everything: "together with Christ." For it is he who is our peace; it is he who made both Jew and Gentile into one, and who broke down the middle wall of the barrier between, and destroyed the enmity by coming in the flesh, and wiped out the law of commandments with all its decrees. Our having put off the old man, and our having put on the new man. Sin brings forth death, and death brings forth corruption. 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. God grant you to know the joy of that condition! Oh! and after that, without touching the young man, he said in a louder voice, "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" He that sitteth upon the throne saith, "Behold, I make all things new;" and the renewed man says, "My Lord, it is even so." The moment the apostle comes to inward relationship, he leaves the universality of phrase and speaks only of the saints of God "in you all." You are looking : call to worship ephesians 2. If "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" has blessed us with every spiritual blessing above in Christ, this is the first need to have a nature capable of communion with His God, to have a condition that would do no dishonour, not only to the highest sphere, but to the holiest form and sphere in which God has ever made, Himself known. To us it could be but eternal purpose, to Him eternal being; to us pure grace, but to Him His own indefeasible right. The father affirms, "for this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found" (Luke 15:24 NASB). "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." It is not the wants of man in any sense, either positively or negatively. He that has the divine life is lifted up into the infinities; he gets to hear that which cannot be heard, and see that which cannot be seen, for "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. Since we are dependent upon God for our eternal life and since our sin destroys our relationship with God, we are dead, cut off, alienated from the source of eternal life. Start for FREE. There will never be a time when God doesn't love you. 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. -(c)2020, Nathan Decker, worshipswake.wodpress.com. It is not Jesus' purpose, however, that we should turn all men into one nation, but that there should be Christian Indians and Christian Africans whose unity lies in their Christianity. He gives them new life, and he does this on the basis of Christs death and resurrection. We cannot live where we used to live. The effect of a great love is always a cleansing thing. He to whom I look up, by and in whom alone I can know God and the Father, is God Himself Let the notion of time come into the conception given of Godhead and of the persons Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and all would be falsehood and confusion. What could this possibly be? The father in this parable represents God and shows our Fathers continuing love for his children who have forsaken the right way. 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.". (b) God is love; sin is therefore a crime, not against law, but against love. At first a man engages in some forbidden pleasure because he wants to do so; in the end he engages in it because he cannot help doing so. There might be many advantages about that kind of discourse. ye daughters of Sion, who are ever at the house of prayer, oh! Oh how happy is the man whose sins are covered. Call to Worship #1: L: Darkness is banished! That is, whatever way the wind is flowing, that is the way you turn, that is the way you go. Thus we have a new nature which hates sin, and the Holy Ghost which gives power for that which is good. Father Taylor of Boston used to say: "There is just enough room in the world for all the people in it, but there is no room for the fences which separate them." The essence of the worldly man is, as someone has said, that "he knows the price of everything and the value of nothing." This was the first of the great divisions. If you're interested in reading the results, visit here: https://pandemicworshipsurvey.blogspot.com/. If God's design had ever to be worked out, it must be worked out through a nation. The worm had not yet begun to gnaw her cheek, the flush had not yet faded from her face; she seemed well-night alive. And so maybe you would have five men in the contest. Stand, oh stand away from him. Heres a prayer of confession based on Ephesians 2:11-22. Let us use a human analogy. And Gideon took them down to the stream and 9,700 of them got down on their knees and put their face in the water and began to drink and 300 of them picked it up in their hands. You can scarcely get hold of the idea; death doth such awful work with us, it is such a Vandal with this mortal fabric, it so rendeth to pieces this fair thing that God hath builded up, that we can scarcely bear to contemplate his works of ruin. (There is no need to credit the re:Worship blog itself.). I thought I was going to die. (118) To bring home more effectually to the Ephesians the general doctrine of Divine grace, he reminds them of their former condition. In the verse before the apostle had spoken of the "one Spirit," and hence it would be superfluous to introduce the statement of His baptism here, even if the adjuncts did not exclude the idea. Because if you face reality, truth doesn't exist, and thus you will only end in despair. Accordingly the very opening brings before us this astonishingly elevated manner of presenting the great truth with which the apostle's heart was filled. He came a divine person filled with love; and He went a man also, triumphant not with love only but in righteousness and power, to give effect to all the glorious counsels of His Father, which unjudged sin would have for ever frustrated. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in offences and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." People are invited But there is yet more. Each sin makes the next sin easier. Just as Christ is the sample and model whether of nature or relationship, so the Holy Ghost is not without His own proper place in bringing the saint into the reality, knowledge, and enjoyment of both. Your habits are not now commendable, you know they are not; you stand convicted while I speak to you this morning; you know your ways are evil. At the same time there is no exclusion of Gentile believers, but the reverse. But now appeared something altogether new. It is not something extraneous that acts on God as a motive, but His own love flowing out from Himself according to His holy nature, and in perfect consistency with His character and ways. The song of the nightingale is not to be analysed by the laws of musical composition. C. H. Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens. I don't think that that would be challenged much anymore. That means that we all need help. The battle of the Reformation has to be fought over again. People: All of us once lived to the passions and desires of flesh and senses; Leader: But God, who is rich in mercy and full of great love, made us alive together with Christ, when by grace we were With a terrible activity of spiritual death; 3. Son, you ca n't. good news of our nature which hates sin, and he does this the! - ( c ) 2020, Nathan Decker, worshipswake.wodpress.com effect of a great love is always cleansing... 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