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call to worship: ephesians 2

76. Whether it was so or not, I do not know. For we have been brought together by the redeeming love of Jesus. No doubt it is a giving up of self, and therefore the fruit of divine grace. for you, that you should lack the root of the matter. The third case goes further still in the manifestation of death; for it is the case of which Martha, using strong words, said, "Lord, by this time he stinketh; for he hath been dead four days." At its heart is a desire to rediscover and refresh the best of past Wesleyan hymns and write new congregational worship that is a call to justice, compassion, mercy, The miserable condition of the Ephesians by nature is here in part described. It is the mystery of Christ; and this is what secures the blessing in its fulness and purity for the church of God. there are some that are a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty; some whose character is hideous beyond all hideousness. In body and mind they are under the control of Satan, and consequently are rebellious against God (2:1-3). says one, "I have lived fifty years, and I have never felt anything of God." When we get "together with Christ", then are we made alive, then are we saved. As He is outwardly called on, so there is everywhere the "one faith," which does not mean (alas! Upon his repentance and confession, his father forgives him; therefore, he spiritually "came to life again." That is all the worship a great many render to God, just getting to a place of worship, and there sitting still, and thinking of nothing at all. Whosoever will be taken doing so will himself be responsible for the fact that his death will ensue.". What a mystic union there is between the believer and his Lord! The apostle accordingly is now led at the sight of the mystery of Christ into another prayer, in which he asks "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [for now he takes up the other relationship,], of whom the whole [rather, every] family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; being rooted and grounded in love, that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fulness of God.". Here is the Pauline paradox. Are in italics. Is He not satisfied with giving us a nature like His own? "Among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest. He commands his companions, who by bad example are bearing him on his bier to his grave, to stop, and then there is a partial reformation for awhile, and after that there comes the strong out-spoken voice "Young man, I say unto thee, arise!" He was privileged to do all as unto Christ; as the master again must remember that he had his own Master in heaven. What could this possibly be? 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! Its construction was very elegant; upon it stood pillars at equal distances from one another, declaring the law of purity, some in Greek and some in Roman letters that no foreigner should go within the sanctuary" (The Wars of the Jews, 5, 5, 2). ), Someone can be physically alive and yet spiritually dead at the same time. It is Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ; like the harp of Anacreon. Paul speaks about people being dead in sins. The word for sin is hamartia ( G266) ; and hamartia ( G266) is a shooting word. That at that time ye were without Christ. He wrote in few words no doubt, but he has written with divine perfection, and clearly enough for those by God's grace made competent to understand, let the words be ever so few. The Lord is just in all ways, Faithful in all things. The work of Jesus is to show all men that God is their friend and that, therefore, they must be friends with each other. Then he adds the great exemplar and spirit of it all, according to the forgiveness with which God met us in Christ. And so accordingly all that is acceptable takes this shape. He says that the Gentiles are no longer foreigners but full members of the family of God. The oneness in Christ is in Christ and not in any external change. That awareness of God, that communion with God, or that fellowship and oneness that God intended that man should have with God. He had spoken of the poor idolatrous Gentiles and their awful condition; but "we all," says he, putting himself along with them, Jews as we were, children of the covenant and what not, were none the less dead in offences and sins. 'Spiritual Resurrection' and 'Life from the Dead'. Nor dare I tell the character of some men present here. There are merchants whose names stand high and fair. In this first part, Paul writes about humanitys reconciliation with God. according to the prince of the power of the air, that even now works in the children of disobedience ( Ephesians 2:2 ): Now, there may have been a time in the history of the world that a person would challenge the fact that Satan is behind the course or the flow of the world. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament, The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary, Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. "The danger lay," T. R. Glover wrote, "in every generation, in the same fact of single cities, furious for independence at all costs. For "if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ." (i) It is life lived in the way this present age lives it. So many times we think that God started loving us when we started being loving. Can I belong just for who I am? My dear friends, you who are quickened, let me advise you to take care of the devil; he will be sure to be after you. 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. And when a man is born into the kingdom of God, he has to learn everything; and consequently, if he is wise, he questions older and wiser believers about this and about that. What has all the confusion of men to do with the glorious reality that God has established His unity, of which we all form part by the power of His Spirit? Therefore we need never fear, no matter what the blessing and the privilege may be. Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; You are not only in the kingdom, but you are in the royal household, which is better still. How everything is connected with Christ! Thus is touched, incidentally, the need of our souls as offenders against God, but only so far as to show that it was in no way overlooked. For you will mark that men, when they are only half gone in wickedness, do it openly; but when they are fully gone their lust becomes so degrading that they are obliged to do it in secret. The old clothes were comfy and familiar. I. I shall begin by noticing, then, first of all, THE CONDITION OF MEN BY NATURE. He gives them new life, and he does this on the basis of Christs death and resurrection. That is what love can do. [Using THE FAITH WE SING, p. 2080, "All I Need Is You", offer the following call to worship] L: Place your trust in the Lord. P: Cast away those things which detract from your faith in God. L: God will provide for all your needs. P: The love of Jesus Christ and his witness strengthens and sustains us. ALL: AMEN! Not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. who were dead in trespasses and sins; not only dead in Adam, in whom they sinned, being their federal head and representative; and in a legal sense, the sentence of condemnation and death having passed upon them; but in a moral sense, through original sin, and their own actual transgressions: which death lies in a separation from God, Father, Son, and Spirit, such are without God, and are alienated from the life of God, and they are without Christ, who is the author and giver of life, and they are sensual, not having the Spirit, who is the spirit of life; and in a deformation of the image of God, such are dead as to their understandings, wills, and affections, with respect to spiritual things, and as to their capacity to do any thing that is spiritually good; and in a loss of original righteousness; and in a privation of the sense of sin and misery; and in a servitude to sin, Satan, and the world: hence it appears, that man must be in himself unacceptable to God, infectious and hurtful to his fellow creatures, and incapable of helping himself: so it was usual with the Jews to call a wicked and ignorant man, a dead man; they say i, "there is no death like that of those that transgress the words of the law, who are called, , "dead men", and therefore the Scripture says, "turn and live". And so in the morning when the fleece was wet and the ground was dry, he said, "Now I want to make sure about this. And desire is not simply a fleshly thing; it is the craving for any forbidden thing. It is told that in the congregation in Edinburgh to which George Matheson came there was an old woman who lived in a cellar in filthy conditions. "Oh!" The Jew had an immense contempt for the Gentile. , : , 196006, -, , 22, 2, . Only in verse 22 is the church even named for the first time, where it is said God has given Christ "to be the head over all things to the church." Alas! Reality is hopeless. That reality will lead to despair, therefore you cannot face reality. DEATH is often used by all writers, and in all nations, to express a state of extreme misery. Then we hear the particulars, and in a very orderly manner. 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. It was brought in either to convict the Corinthians of their utter departure through the spirit of the world, the flesh taking that shape, or it was brought in triumphantly on their restoration. God himself has had dealings with us. ~ written by Thom Shuman (2009), and posted on. The rose and the lily breathe forth their fragrance around it, but the corpse perceives it not. Scripturally-based resources for worship planners and leaders. For the mass subsequently brought in were Gentiles, and the gospel of salvation they forthwith received, without going through the intermediate steps that the others knew. And that is what should never happen in a church. God is not only love but light; and inasmuch as this epistle reveals how fully God associates us with Christ according to His own nature, so having first shown us the privilege of loving, as He Himself loved us in Christ, now it shows that we are made "light in the Lord." When did God start loving you? "Sir," answered the engineer, "I've got a glory." That law had been worked out into thousands and thousands of commandments and decrees. "The unity of the Spirit" seems to be the general name for that great fact which is now established that unity of which Christ is the chief, and to which we all belong. Paul will speak of nothing good except that which comes "through Christ Jesus." God Himself is acting for His own glory and according to His own love. And what will happen to you when the word of God is, "Depart, depart, depart, depart," and unto the graveyard of souls, to the fire that never shall be quenched, you and the rest of the dead are taken away? The words he uses are interesting. Any task that you may have around here, I just would like to spend a day with you, Dad, doing whatever you'd like for me to do." Those who were once "dead in sins" are now alive in Christ (Ephesians 2:1-10); and those who were once "aliens and strangers separated from God" are now members of God's family (Ephesians 2:11-22). The new life that made us sympathetic with God, and holy angels, and holy men, and with everything that is from above, has also made us capable of great pleasure. At the back of things there was a kind of essential despair. When the Psalmist sang: "I will extol thee, my God and king" ( Psalms 145:1) he meant it literally. She confessed that she was a sinner and asked to be admitted to the Jewish faith. As usual the apostle salutes the saints with the best wishes for their blessing. He is arrested, tried, found guilty, sentenced to a term of imprisonment and/or to a fine. Jesus Christ must quicken the one as well as the other, and bring them all to know and love his name. All these are sins of the flesh. There is no beauty there; we dare not look upon it. 41. We wait for nothing greater nor its match; we await the results of this glorious power for the body and the creation; but we look for no new putting forth of power which can enter into competition with that which God has already shown in Christ. P: Even though it is summertime, our lives are crowded and rushed. Ephesians 2:5- :. Paul thinks of this building going on and on, with each part of the building being fitted into Christ. It would be something like the minister's sermon which he "got up" beforehand, and upon which he wrote in the margin "weep here," "here you must show great emotion." 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. It is on the foundation of the prophets and the apostles that you have been built up; and the corner stone is Christ himself. See, it is always Christ, his flesh, his blood, his life. Christ did not do the same thing with the young man that he did with the daughter of Jairus. Before Christ the barriers were up; after Christ the barriers were down. Sin kills the will; the thing so grips a man that he cannot break free. If you're interested in reading the results, visit here: https://pandemicworshipsurvey.blogspot.com/. Where God now seats me together in Christ in these heavenly places, or in the heavenlies. Such seems to have been the measure of Adam's wisdom and prudence. It is not in treaties and leagues to produce peace. I know the heart of this people. and are scared of people who look strange. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. Kings on their coronation were anointed; and thus Christos ( G5547) , the literal Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah ( H4886) , came to mean the Anointed One of God, the expected King whom God would send into the world to vindicate his own and to bring in the golden age. I do not know how it is that the young man never was loosed. And if children that had a relationship with their parents in the flesh and under law did so (for it was indeed right), how much more did it become Christian children to pay them reverence? Hands had to be washed in a certain way; dishes had to be cleaned in a certain way; there was page after page about what could and could not be done on the Sabbath day; this and that and the next sacrifice had to be offered in connection with this and that and the next occasion in life, The only people who fully kept the Jewish law were the Pharisees and there were only six thousand of them. 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. Christ and you are one now, and you are made to live together with him. We don't want trouble, we dont do conflict here! CALL TO WORSHIP Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth. To those who want to reject Christ, the message is true; there is no escape. He came to take away the sense of estrangement and of guilt, by telling us that God wants us just as we are. But what has this to do with the kingdom of God? The "hope of his calling" is the bright prospect of the saints themselves, as they are in Christ before God. If you have been quickened, even though your life be feeble, you may cry to the living God with the "Abba, Father," which never comes from any lip but that which has been touched and quickened by the Holy Spirit. Sinners in their pre-Christian state were "dead in sins"; but that deadness was not something they inherited, but came about through the guilt of sins committed. Our world belongs to him! The re:Worship survey on pandemic worship practices has been completed. A thing which is kainos ( G2537) is new in the sense that it brings into the world a new quality of thing which did not exist before. Again, by it the apostle, writing to the Galatians, vindicated God's ways with man, and set the Christian outside the law. ! "Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end." Deepen your knowledge of Scripture. If you're interested in reading the results, visit here: https://pandemicworshipsurvey.blogspot.com/, We gather together in the name of Jesus Christ. When Paul speaks of you, he is speaking of the Gentiles; when he speaks of us he is speaking of the Jews, his fellow countrymen. there are some of the merchants of London who practise lusts that are abominable. P: Gods light has come to us! At bottom, all the wanderings from the faith at the present day amount to this, salvation by works instead of salvation by grace. "Youth's beauty fades, and manhood's glory fades. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." We must have faith. The world's motive is profit. I dare not come downstairs without speaking to him. Now my eyes will be open and my ears will be attentive to the prayers offered in this place. The sinner chooses to live in contempt of any law or higher authority that would supersede his own will. It is expressly not against any powers that were living and acting in the world. Not so. In these days of dividing walls of race and class and creed we must shake the earth anew with the message of the all-inclusive Christ, in whom there is neither bond nor free, Jew nor Greek, Scythian nor barbarian, but all are one.". Our world belongs to God! It is simply an inevitable law of love. You feel him; his presence is photographed upon your spirit; your very heart trembles with awe of him, and you say with Jacob, "Surely God is in this place." Amen. He consequently is the lone God and Father of all," not merely of all believers, for this is a mistake of its force, but of all absolutely; just as we were told in verse 15 of that same chapter, that of Him every family in heaven and earth is named. WebMade Alive in Christ. Paul could not forget, because it was a fact of history, that the Jews were uniquely the instrument in God's hand. You know I would. God is King! We are by nature bond-slaves to sin and Satan. Please note: If you use material from this blog, please be careful to credit the original author and source. It was not the result of works, for it was God's design that no one should be able to boast. He had missed the mark.Now, by the very root of the word, it does indicate, which is also true, that it is possible to be a sinner without wanting to be. Reader 1 There is a response in this reading. It is not so in the word of God. God had never so spoken of man before. Are we as good parents as we might be? We cannot wear what we used to wear. Do not the tears rain on her, as if they would sow the seeds of life in that dead earth again? But now they had consummated their rebellion by refusing the Christ of God. Contextually, the writer is stating that the Gentiles were spiritually dead to God because of their own "trespasses and sins.". 3. Its tougher than titanium and softer than a feather, more electric than lightning, more vast than the universe. 9:2). Paul was the chosen witness to fill up that blank. Revealed to all the apostles and prophets of the New Testament, to one as much as another, it never seems to have taken such a hold of the others as of Paul. Isaiah 59:1-2. "But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once .named among you, as becometh saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking [even light words dishonour the Christian, as being contrary to Christ], nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. "The air is the house of the disembodied spirits." 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. There is the whole Trinity in that one verse, Christ, the Spirit, the Father. This last was of all-importance to the saints, and the rather as that power had already been put forth. You are peers of the court of heaven: "and the household of God. (By grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. as we shine the light of goodness in the dark. ", 15, 16. This, then, was what was needed for the principalities and powers, and this is what they behold in the church of God. Love is God's nature, but it is a sovereign prerogative in Him. But was this all? And now but one thing I have to say to those who are quickened; and then adieu this morning, and may God bless you! Put away your previous way of life, your old self, corrupted and deluded as it was, and be renewed in every aspect of your thinking. who love our Lord Jesus with undying love , Liturgy for Holy Communion: All is grace!, Do I belong? A Dramatic Reading of Ephesians 2:11-22. Visit that site for many other excellent lectionary-based worship resources. We know ourselves chosen, adopted as children of God. The Lord is close to everyone who calls upon God; God hears our cries and will save us. You mothers, do this with your little children. It is not merely that he accepts names given him by God, but God delights in putting him in this place of lordship, and to a certain extent also of fellowship lordship to that which is below him, and fellowship as regarded his wife. To have consciousness is a great mercy, even if it be only painful consciousness, and if every movement of life within seems to harrow up your soul. Not only so, but they had walked according to the course of that which is most of all offensive to God "of this world, according to the prince of the authority of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience;" for indeed they were, one as much as another, children of disobedience. In communion with the objects of it, we go out into the resulting scenes of glory on every side; knowing Christ's love though unknowable, and filled into God's fulness though infinite. It needs the Trinity to make a Christian, and when you have got a Christian, it needs the Trinity to make a prayer. Is every working hour filled with our most conscientious work and is every task done as well as we could possibly do it? The moral order of this is exceedingly beautiful. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you! The words hath he quickened mean, hath he made alive, or made to live; John 5:21; Rom 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:36. Who were dead in trespasses and sins - On the meaning of the word dead, see the notes at Romans 5:12; Romans 6:2, note. that you should yet be without life! The ancient world believed strenuously in demons. 3. k Ib. One said to me, when joining the church, "Either I am a new creature, or else the world is altogether altered from what it was. What is the other?" True, he starts with adultery and fornication, but he goes on to idolatry, hatred, wrath, strife, envyings, seditions, heresies. You were really not going anywhere, you were just existing. That which was easy to him becomes a bed of thorns. Men by nature are all dead. They are "ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.". "Like trying to get an octopus into a paper bag." Try it FREE right now! Not with equal footsteps, but with tottering gait, we follow in that selfsame path that God has marked out for himself. I figured it was all right because there were so many around town. WebA CALL TO WORSHIP From the Shadows to Reality! They have to be covered up in the tomb of secresy; for men would scout them from society, and hiss them from existence, if they knew all. Everything else in Ephesians 2:1-7 is of subordinate importance. In this passage he shows how terrible the Christless life was for Gentile and for Jew alike. I would say, "Why, Mom? We are very changeable; but when God is with us, when the days are spiritually bright and long, and we have come into the midsummer of our heavenly bliss, we would not change places with the angels, knowing that by-and-by we shall be nearer to the throne than they are; and, while they are God's honoured servants, yet they are not beloved sons as we are. When I say Christ is our peace. And yet, people so blindly flow along with it. Certainly not in the first man Adam. The Church will realize her unity only when she realizes that she does not exist to propagate the point of view of any body of men, but to provide a home where the Spirit of Christ can dwell and where all men who love Christ can meet in that Spirit. It is altogether independent of the old creation, of that which might fail and pass away. Another plan discloses itself. Our first birth, the natural life was of the flesh. 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. You are princes of the blood imperial. Psalm 18: Part C- Jesus Resurrection Song, Psalm 51: Standing under the shower of Confession, Psalm 54: Help me now as youve helped me before. Jesus recreates the will. Call to Worship #2: L: We gather to share in our love of God. Oh, hideous spectacle! 2As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,(A) 2in which you used to live(B) when you followed the ways of this world(C) and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,(D) the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. That would cease, for God is a Spirit, they that worship Him worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Plato said that the barbarians are "our enemies by nature. They might otherwise think themselves more or less superior. They are clearly identified in each blog post. For by grace are ye saved through faith; We have this expression, "by grace are ye saved," twice over in this chapter.

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