“A Ministry of Integrity”

The whole of the teaching this year was focused on the heart of the pastor and this message was no different. Dr. MacArthur taught on the integrity of the minister of God’s Word from 1 Peter 5:1-11 as the foundation for this message, but covered others such as Psalms 101:6, Psalms 15:1-5, Deut. 18:13, 1 Tim. 3:1-7, 2 Cor. 5:11-14 (where he spent most of his time), and John 10:

It was a powerful and packed message that included statements that not only encouraged but challenged us. His opening statement:

“I never think about the Cross in vague terms. I never think about the Cross in general terms. I always think about the death of Christ in specific terms. I always think about the death of Christ in a very personal way.”

And;

“If you get a sermon in, you’ve got to get it out!”

As well as a three-point challenge on integrity that included:

1. Manifest integrity in your family!

“You want to be sure that the life you live so well matches the message you preach; that your children and your wife, and the people who know you most intimately never lose trust in you!”

2. Manifest integrity in your local church!

“… if you can survive with your integrity intact, there is a joy and a level of trust that exists in the church family that is hard to describe!”

3. Manifest integrity in the global church!

“They need to know that you can be trusted too!” Ps. 101:6

He stated that integrity should mark the spokesman of God as he began to build his way to the example of Paul and his ministry. He talked about how Paul’s ministry was being attacked unjustly and that he defended his ministry and calling. Paul in defense of his ministry eventually states that God knows his heart. Implying that God knows he is a man of integrity.

Dr. MacArthur began to talk about defending yourself and your ministry and how dificult that is since one never feels comfortable doing it. Using his own ministry as an example he stated that the hardest thing in ministry for him was dealing with false accusations. The false accusation can destroy the man of God by destroying another’s trust. So, the man of God who is going to defend himself and his ministry needs to first be a man of integrity.

In one sense, he says that what has been said about him doesn’t matter. It is about what that stuff does to your ministry opportunity that matters. It cuts you off from the opportunity to teach the truth of God to those people begin to distrust you.

In order to help us understand what he ment, Dr. MacArthur used the 2 Corintians 5:11-14 passage to show how Paul dealt with this very issue in his own life. Paul pursuaded his readers to trust him as a man of integrity and his apostleship as genuine by defending God’s call upon his life. From these verses Dr. MacArthur gave five reasons for the defense of a ministry.

1. Reverence for the Lord! (2 Cor. 5:11)

1.1 Defend His name more than your own.

2. Concern for the Church! (2 Cor. 5:12)

2.1 Concern for the unity of the Church.

3. Devotion to the truth (2 Cor. 5:13)

3.1 Be a fanatic for God and His Word.

4. Gratitude for saving love (salvation) (2 Cor. 5:14)

4.1 Christ’s love controls the man of integrity who is grounded in Christ.

There is so much more in this wonderful message and I would encourage you to watch it. For the download or to watch it online go to the Shepherd’s Fellowship website.

General Session two at the Shepherd’s Conference was taught by Tom Pennington. He spoke on “Preaching in the Spirit’s Power”.

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 was Pennington’s text. In order to give everyone a sense of the context he took us to 1 Corinthians 1:17. From there he explained how the culture was influencing the Corinthian church’s behavior and practice, and why Paul needed to address the problem. He talked about how a group, known as the theosophists, were influencing the thinking in relation to the preaching of the Word and how that line of thinking was causing division. He challenged us to understand that the preaching of the Word of God was to be for the glory of God by the power of the Spirit of God. That Pastors are called to announce the testimonies of God as revealed in His Word.

He challenged us to preach every sermon, as Paul did, to reflect Christ and Him crucified by asking “What is the road to Christ?” From every text in Scripture there is a road to Christ. It is the preacher’s job to discover that road and lead the sheep to it.

He reminded us that we have no adequacy to preach in and of ourselves for we are only adequate in Christ and that self-confidence is deadly to any pastor.

He was speaking to me personally (at least it felt that way) when he reminded us that God chose the “foolishness of preaching” to be the most powerful way to communicate His truth because it is His method. How arrogant of us to think that any other method would trump His!

The 3 main points of his message were:

1. Focus on God’s message and not our glory.

2. Depend on God’s grace and not personal ability.

3. Trust in the Spirit’s power and not any method or message of man.

All in all it was a wonderful and powerful message to be faithful to the Word of God and preach powerfully by His Spirit.

You can go to the Shepherd’s Fellowship site and watch the video or download it to your computer.

Well here it is, as promised. A review of the 2010 Shepherd’s Conference. For the sake of time and ease of reading I am going to post a review of each session separately.

If you are the Shepherd of a flock or someone who loves the Word of God you’ll love this conference. A passion for the Scriptures and its bold proclamation is not something for the faint of heart or the man who thinks he has it all figured out. But if you desire to know God deeper and be challenged by Him this is the place for you.

The fellowship of like-minded pastors and teachers is precious and encouraging. To listen to an auditorium filled with thousands of men of God singing praises to the Lord is beyond words.  If you are unfamiliar with the Shepherd’s Conference you should check it out at www.gracechurch.org. There is a video there that will give you a pretty good idea what it’s all about and the purpose behind it.

This years conference keynote speakers where Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., Dr. Steven J. Lawson, Tom Pennington, Phil Johnson, Dr. Rick Holland and a host of others that taught various break-out seminars.

The opening session started out powerfully with a message from Dr. MacArthur titled “Separation From Unbelievers.” As usual, he spoke boldly and with compassion about this vital issue in our churches today. The text was 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1. Early in his message Dr. MacArthur stated that “You can’t marry the Church to the World!” and he challenged the pastors to live by the Word. He quoted verses such as Romans 12:2, 1 Corinthians 10:20-22, 2 Kings 21:1-18, Leviticus 20:1-21:24, and Deuteronomy 7:1-7, to name a few. He masterfully painted a picture of separation that was both Biblical and practical for the Church. Not practical from the position of compromise but from a position of blessed and holy practice. He was passionate, funny, sincere and pastoral as he shared from his heart and from the Word. He made it very clear that we as the Church cannot have true fellowship with unbelievers and that the clear call to the Church is to remain pure, making a clean break from the culture. He pointed out how America is different than any other culture before it in that there is a separation between the government and what people believe. No state run religion! In all previous pagan cultures a citizen who did not practice the religion of their government was obvious because they would be so clearly counter to the culture. This was what Paul was calling the Corinthian church to - an obvious separation from their culture. In our day that separation is not so clear.

He shared how the Church cannot experience the complete blessing of the Lord while being blended with the world. He pointed out how the modern church of today is very much like the Corinthian church, seeking to blend christianity with popular culture and thus make it more palatable.

He challenged the pastors at the conference to remain in the favor of the Lord so that all who sit under their teaching would also remain in and experience His favor. Dr. MacArthur’s challenge was one that came from years of faithful pulpit ministry. He just celebrated his 40th year in the pulpit at Grace Community Church. His is a passion for the purity of the pulpit. He was pointed, bold and real as he shared something that most in his audience could relate to. He said of himself in this matter: “I want all the discipline I need to be holy … and no more!” It was a statement that resonated with all in his audience because all pastors who love the Word and desire the discipline of the Lord also understand the pain that comes with it.

May this message be shared all over the globe and challenge the Church of the Living Lord to return to their first love and away from a culture of compromise.

I would strongly encourage you to go to the Shepherd’s Fellowship site and watch the video.

Just thought I would let you all know that I am headed to the Shepherd’s Conference this week. 3 and 1/2 days of intense interaction around the Word of God with men of God who desire to communicate clearly the truths of Scripture! Wow! This should be a great time of challenge and fellowship.

Please be praying for all of the attendees as well as the speakers that we would allow the Holy Spirit to do His work in them as God’s Word is presented. That we would be humble and teachable.

When I get back I will give you an overview and somewhat of a review.

Dave

I was reading a blog post the other day that dealt with a tragic “spanking” incident that ended in the death of the child that was receiving this supposed discipline. The “spanking” post can be read at: http://mommypress.com/waterlilly/2010/02/18/spanking-in-anger-isnt-the-problem/ . This author had some interesting things to say, as did the people who responded to the post. I actually came accross this post when a friend of mine made a comment to it on FaceBook. As is the case most of the time when it comes to the issue of “spanking,” the discussions where full of opinions and judgments and it got me to thinking about how best to address the subject. So I decided to write a post that deals with the topic from a Biblical point of view because I want God’s Word to be our foundation, not human emotion or society’s opinion.

I would like to look at some of the passages of Scripture that speak about the “rod” and others that speak of the discipline of a loving parent to see if we can’t come to a clearer understanding of the subject. As I do this I would ask everyone to go to the Word, not to me or any other author on the subject, including the supposed “Christian parenting experts.”

This series will take two or three posts to cover and given the amount of time that I have right know for writing this, it could take a few weeks to get done so I want to apologize ahead of time for any delay.

The Rod

The Hebrew word for “rod” in most of the Old Testament is the word šēbeṭ and one must go to context to determine (as always) what the word means. The generic meaning is rod or branch but it can also mean sceptre, staff (like a shepherds crook), or even the shaft of a spear or dart. Given these definitions you can see that context will play a huge role in determining which meaning is to be taken.

2 Samuel 7:14-15

In this passage of 2 Samuel we see God addressing David and making a convenant with Him in which He says of Solomon;

““I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.” (2 Samuel 7:14-15, NASB95)

The context clearly indicates that Solomon will be corrected when he commits iniquity (i.e., injustice or sin). How will he be corrected? With the rod of men and the strokes of men. The Hebrew people would have clearly understood this to mean that Solomon would receive a “spanking” (to use a modern term). The discipline was to bring correction but it would also be painful. It is clear in the context that the correction would come from God via the rod and strokes of men. God was tying the discipline to an earthly form of discipline that would have been understood by David. (David is being told what would happen to his son Solomon)

I would like to bring up something else about the context that I believe is key to the understanding of the use of the rod in the life of the Christian. Notice that the purpose of the rod is to bring about correction and that it would be done with lovingkindness as an over arching concern. God wanted David to know from the outset of this covenant that He would never remove His lovingkindness from him or his son. Lovingkindness is a word that means MERCY! That means that one of the things that needs to guide our discipline, not just with the rod but also in other forms of discipline, is MERCY!

There are some who would argue that this is not a “spanking.” They would argue that David was a shepherd and that God was talking to him in terms that he would relate to (like he couldn’t relate to getting a spanking from his earthly father) so He was refering to a shepherd’s crook and the way a shepherd used his crook was to bump and nudge the sheep in order to correct their path. For those who think that this is the only application of the crook to the sheep you might want to do a lot more research on the shepherd’s staff and how it was used. You might be surprised to find that it was not always used so gently with the sheep.

This is not the sole passage to stand on in building a Biblical world view of spanking nor is it one that even speaks to parents. It is however a passage that shows the Heavenly Father’s love in the discipline of His own and that is why I felt it neccesary to look at it. We will also look at Hebrews 12 next for a very similar reason because although it doesn’t speak specifically about the rod it does use a term that will help us understand the intent of corrective discipline when coming from a loving Father. We will then move on to other passages that deal specifically with the parent and the “rod of reproof.”

I hope you will join me and be challenged to look carefully at God’s Word, not my opinions, to determine just what He has called us to.

I write this post because I often feel like I should be a better parent! Like every other parent, I have thoughts like “If I were a good parent my children would follow God and live lives that would be pleasing to Him.” I have taught many parenting classes over the years and I know for a fact that many older Christian parents feel that same way. They feel like they are inadequate teachers of the next generation of parents because they didn’t do everything right. Their older kids have not followed God and they feel that is a direct reflection on them as parents. After all if they had not made so many mistakes, their kids would have grown up to be God-fearing, God-loving and God-serving adults.

Is this what Scripture teaches?

These are tough questions; ones that I can’t fully deal with in one post on the subject. In fact, I don’t think I could adequately deal with them in 100 posts. So, I won’t even try. What I will attempt to do is challenge us to again look at the question of who is responsible for what.

As I have been writing and studying for my next parenting class at our church, I have been attacked over and over in this area. Though not all of it can be considered a direct attack from the enemy, I am sure that some of it is. The materials that I am writing will give families hope and victory in areas that they may not have had in the past. (I am sure the enemy doesn’t like this.) The reason I know this is because they are meant to do one thing and one thing only: give parents the tools they need to study and know God’s Word. These materials are intended to help parents work through passages of Scripture line by line, word by word so that they will be able to apply them to their lives and the lives of their children. They are not meant to be an all-inclusive study of how to parent so much as a tool to help parents find the answers they seek in God’s Word.

Let me fill you in on some of what I mean when I say that I have been attacked. As many of you who read this blog know, I am the father of 14. My children range from age 3 to age 23 so I have not only experienced raising kids, but I am currently raising them. We have tried many different things over the years and have been very strict to fairly loose (at least by my standards). We have always taught our children the truths of Scripture and have often sat around discussing it after church on a Sunday afternoon. We are homeschooling or have home schooled all of our children all the way through High School and have always kept them in church with us instead of sending them to Sunday School. We take the responsibility of training our children in the ways of God very seriously and yet three of my older children have chosen, to varying degrees, to ignore these teachings and do what they “feel” is right, not necessarily Biblical.

This has caused me to ask myself over and over again “What have I done wrong?” Well, the reality is that I have done plenty wrong. I have sinned against my children many times over the years and have done so sometimes without even realizing that I was doing it. I have been a lousy example of a Christian man on so many occasions that I can’t even begin to count them.

Am I the reason they have rebelled? Are these even valid questions to ask?

Let me start by answering that second question first. Should you ask yourself these kind of questions? Yes. I believe so. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 13:5 says:

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? “

The context of this verse is that of Paul defending his apostleship. The principle: is it Biblical to question yourself? To ruthlessly evaluate your position? In this example Paul was challenging the Corinthians to think about the genuiness of their faith and in so doing determine whether or not they were saved. The test? Is it evident that Jesus Christ is in you? If the answer to that question is yes, then you have passed the test. So did Paul find it valuable to ask the hard questions? Yes! Being honest with yourself before God can be a valuable thing in your life and the lives of your children. If you discover in this evaluation that you have sinned against them, then go to them and seek forgivess and reconciliation.

Now let’s answer the first question: Am I the reason they rebelled? Is my sin and failure to live the Christian life perfectly in front of my kids to blame for their rejection of Christ? Talk about tough questions! What does the Bible have to say about it? The question really comes down to individual responsibility. Is each one of us responsible for our own sin no matter what our background and influences?

In Romans 2:12 Paul tells us that “… all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;”

This seems to include everyone and doesn’t put any of them in a very good light.

He goes on in 3:9 to say “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks (a term used by Paul to cover everyone not a Jew) are all under sin;”

Again Paul seems to be placing everyone under this judgement of sin. If he wasn’t clear enough in those verses, he continues in 3:23 by speaking even more clearly “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

Scripture is clear that each one of us individually (our children included) are guilty of sin and responsible for our own sin. It is the doctrine known as original sin. Granted there are other passages that seem to make a strong case for adults causing children to sin (see Matthew 18:6) but I have never found a single case where one adult is held responsible for another adult’s choice to sin. What this basically comes down to is that each of us, as adults, need to take ownership of our sin and quickly confess it to the only One who has effectively dealt with it and who can effectively deal with it in our lives.

So do you “cause your children to sin” by making mistakes and sinning against them? Am I the cause of their rebellion? No! Most often the issue of sin in the believer’s life is one of continual repetition or habit of sin - not occasional sin. In other words if a father, for example, is known for constantly or habitually driving his kids to anger, he is in clear violation of Matthew 18:6 and Ephesians 6:4. However, if he causes his child to become angry by mistake because of a misunderstanding, then he simply needs to recognize the mistake and apologize. All parents make mistakes. God, because He is loving, discipline’s us as His children. Will He also hold our children accountable for their own sin? Yes! Because He is the perfect loving Father of all who belong to Him, He will indeed hold them accountable and it is what’s best for them.

The first part of this book review touched on chapters 1-7 dealing with many different aspects of the christian walk in relation to marriage and the family. Chapters 8-13 are no different. They are filled with a whole lot of meaty stuff that continues to offer up a high view of God, His Word and the institution of the family.

Chapter 8 deals with parenting issues as well as spiritual warfare related to the family. Such things as single parenting, physical discipline, and other alternate diciplinary forms are dealt with in the parenting section. The section on spiritual warfare covers issues like sexual temptation, anger, knowing the enemy, and most importantly knowing God’s provision.

On the issue of parenting Kostenberger builds on a solid foundation when he says:

“In the end, therefore, a proper approach to parenting needs to leave adequate room for the relational component in parenting. Christian parenting should be undergirded by wisdom derived from meditation on Scripture, the filling of the Holy Spirit, advice from others (this is where quality literature on parenting can be very helpful if it is balanced and based on bilical principles), and relational experience with the child. Ultimately, we should be careful not to rely on any one human method that, no matter how biblical it may be, is always one step removed from the Bible. Our supreme trust should be in God and in His Word, and we must humbly acknowledge that our understanding of Scripture is not to be equated with the teaching of Scripture itself.”

Great stuff! This is a wonderful foundational statement but then when he deals with physical discipline he gets a little weak and makes it sound as though “spanking,” what Scripture refers to as the rod, is optional. At this point I would be in strong disagreement. Scripture makes it very clear that the rod is a neccesary tool in the life of a child. I often ask people when they struggle with this issue, “What makes you think that the Creator of the universe, which includes you and your child, doesn’t understand how to get to the heart and mind of His own creation?” The use of the rod is not optional in parenting but its use can be very differnt in each family and even with each child. Don’t make the mistake of banishing it all together just because our culture doesn’t like it or because it just makes you uncomfortable. Biblical parenting isn’t comfortable or popular for that matter!

In the next section on spiritual warfare Kosentberger does a wonderful job of pointing the believer to Christ and His provisions. He has a wonderful section on the believer’s position in Christ and how knowing that truth can make a huge difference in the battle. He then goes on to talk about several areas that Satan seems to regularly attack within the family and ends this chaper with a fairly detailed look at the armor of God and how to use it. It is a great read and one that many Christians don’t understand.

Kostenberger spends an entire chapter dealing with singleness and even the title of that chapter (Undivided Devotion to the Lord: The Devine Gift of Singleness) gives you a clue as to his high view of this wonderful gift that, as he explains, is not given to many. He deals with many issues related to the area of singleness such as divorced singles and widowed singles. He talks about sex, dating, courtship and many other issues that are important for the Christian single to consider. His high view of Scripture drives his conclusions in each of these areas in a way that, to this reader, was very refreshing. He even talks about how to deal with failure (sin) in the above mentioned areas and the forgiveness that is theirs in Christ.

In chapter 10 he deals with the issue of homosexuality in the most indepth way I have ever seen. He starts and ends with Scripture as he evaluates each area and he doesn’t shy away from calling it what it is, sin. He does so in a very loving and clear manner and I would recomend that all Christians who want to gain a biblical understanding of this issue get a copy of this book for this chapter alone. He talks about the issue of being “predisposed” to this, or as our world like to say “born that way”, and does a masterful job of debunking that kind of thinking. This is a must read for any Christian leader who is in a counseling situation with some one struggling with this sin.

In chapter 11 Kostenberger takes on the issue of divorce in,again, one of the most detailed biblical and cultural evaluations of the subject that I have ever read. His high view of God, Scripture and marriage come out loud and clear although there are several parts of this chapter that were a little hard to follow at times. His conclusions are excelent and based in Scripture and one of the things that I love about this chapter is that he gives many different views on this, including a chart that compares them, and which prominent leaders in the church today follow them. At the end of the chapter he sums it all up and draws his own conclusion but does one of the best jobs I have seen of not condemning other views. This is clearly a humble man of God.

In chapter 12 he deals with a very touchy subject in the church. The issue of elders and their qualifications. He doesn’t go into to much detail on any one issue, as his emphasis seams to be on the one phrase “husband of one wife”, but does a good job explaining the biblical requirements. One of the things I love about his evaluation is that he sticks to a strick and litteral understanding of the passages and doesn’t make any extra biblical rules. One of the tough issues he deals with is whether or not a divorced man can be an elder. Very interesting stuff! That’s all I will say about it. If you want to know more I would suggest getting a copy of the book.

In the final chapter he just does a real quick wrap up. The book goes on to give additional resources for your own study as well as a study guide. It is a great resource for any church or individual who would like to have a biblical world view of God, Marriage, and the Family.

One final thing I would like to say as I end this review. Although I don’t know Dr. Kostenberger or David Jones (the coauthor) I would love to meet them. The humilty that comes out in their writing is refreshing to say the least. It was an honor to read material from men of God who maintain such a high view of God, His Word, and the structure and purpose of His people in all areas of life.

Thanks for the great read and invaluable resource you have provided to the church.

Sorry for how long it took me to get to this post. This is a good book and I was hoping to get to it sooner but better late than never.

Let me just say from the start of this review that this book comes highly recommended. It is praised by men such as J.I. Packer, Kent Hughes, John Piper, Mark Dever and Russell D. Moore. That alone should tell you it is worth the price and has some valuable content.

The current cultural view on marriage and the family is less than Biblical at best, and completely devoid of God and His truth at worst. Our churches have lost their understanding of the Bible’s teaching on marriage and the family and have no clue how or why they should defend it. They have become weak advocates and poor examples of the love relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church. Mr. Kostenberger attempts to deal with this in a way that few, if any, have dealt with it in the past or at least for quite some time.

He starts with a Biblical/Historical look at marriage and builds from there. He deals with children, extended family, singleness, homosexuality, divorce and several other topics that are relevant to any Christian seeking a more thorough understanding. Because of this lack of understanding of a Biblical view he writes:

“For this reason there remains a need for a volume that does not treat issues related to marriage and the family in isolation from one another but shows how human fulfillment in these relationships is rooted in the divine revelation found exclusively and sufficiently in Scripture.”

It is statements like this that continually kept me saying “AMEN” as I read this book. Kostenberger’s high view of God and His Holy Scripture is weaved throughout as he deals with each topic and that, my friends, is absolutely essential to a Biblical view of any and all of life! For without a high view of God and His word we begin to have a higher view of man and his.

After dealing with the need of our current culture (even in the church) Kostenberger gets right to it, dealing with marriage first. This is vital in my opinion because the relationship of husband and wife is where the Scripture starts also. Kostenberger’s high view of marriage comes out in many different ways throughout the first several chapters but one of the things that really impressed me as I read was to see his care in handeling the roles of both the man and the women in marriage. He paints a beautiful and Biblical picture of servant leadership as well as a truly uplifting view of the Biblical submission of a women of God to her husband. Both of these based soley in the fact that each are to be lead by the Spirit of God as they fulfill their roles for the glory of God.

He very quickly delves into the tough topics of homosexuality and monogomy as well as sterility. He points out in each case how the Bible needs to be our standard of measure not our opinions or the culture’s. There is one point in the issue of sterility that he makes it sound as though any man or women who is sterile is that way due to sin but I would incourage you to keep going as further into it he clears that up. On the issue of monogomy he points out that Adam and Eve clearly understood and practiced this and were faithful in it until the end. As for the topic of homosexuality he only briefly touches on it in the beging of the book but deals with it in detail in a later chapter.

His focus on being “Spirit Filled” in all these relationships is refreshing to me as most leave out this critical aspect of the sucessful walk of the Christian.

Kostenberger is one of very few men that I have read that doesn’t teach “mutual submission” in marriage. He, like me, believes that Ephesians 5:21is often taken out of context as people read into it something that was not, and in fact can not, be the intention of the passage. I don’t want to give to much of this away so I am just going to encourage you to read carefully (and study the word for yourself) as he shows what the true contextual meaning is and I believe you will come away seeing a very beautiful picture of marriage.

In dealing with the children and their role in the family I would disagree with him on one point. He leads the reader to believe that the family is complete when there are children. The Scripture clearly teaches that God was very pleased when he was done creating man and women. He didn’t wait until the first child was born to call it “very good” because the family was complete with the husband and wife. That being said I love the fact that he makes clear that even the children can’t fulfill God’s intended role of submission in their own strength. A child who belongs to Christ must rely on the Holy Spirit to trully be able to obey this command. He also talks about another topic that is very unpopular these days and that is the issue of respect of elders and parents. It’s a great read and builds a truly Biblical view of God’s intentions in this area.

In Chapter 4 he paints a beautiful picture of the “covenant” of marriage and how it is so much more than what our culture has made it out to be. A must read in my opinion.

In 5 and 6 Kostenberger goes on to build on the whole family all the way out to the extended family and it’s importance in a Biblical world view. He deals with the historical understanding as well as the Biblical one in order to rebuild, in many cases, our understanding of this vital truth. God has designed the family to function as a whole and one that doesn’t simply can’t be totally healthy.

In Chapter 7 he begins a kind of mini series that deals with special issues within the family and marriage such as “To Have or Not To Have Children” in which he deals with abortion, contraception and it’s many forms and even touches on the “number” issue, how many kids is enough. He covers the issue of reproduction and our current practices as a culture in one of the most biblically masterful ways I have ever seen it dealt with.This section of the book is worth the cover price all by itself. I find that most Christians have no clue how to Biblically deal with most of these topics. If I had my druthers this chapter would be a must read for every couple in pre-marital counseling and would stop the naive killing of many children.

This is were I am going to stop for now. In the next post I will do my best to finish this review even though it will only skim the surface of the content. Until next time!

… continued

In the Roman culture there was a practice that resembles the modern day practice of adoption but the two are very different. Our modern culture sees adoption as a rescue mission, and it is, but we have a tendency to see the children who are the object of that rescue as “poor little orphans” as though they are not quite as good as other kids. We see them as somehow “tainted” or “broken.” In the Roman culture, adoption was a choice to recognize a son as legitimate whether they were biological or not. It was a public recognition by the father that he was accepting this “chosen son” as his heir. He would be given all the rights and privileges of sonship including power, position, and property of all that was the fathers. In some cases the father would choose someone other than his “own” son either because he didn’t have one or because his biological son was not “worthy.” In these cases the biological father of the boy chosen would sell his son into slavery to the adoptive father at which point the adoptive father would return him to his biological father. This would happen 3 times and on the third time the adoptive father would publically proclaim the boy as his heir, his son. The son would become wholly and completely son to his adoptive father and by law have no more obligation to his biological father. This son was not seen as “an adopted son” he was seen as his son in every respect. A son who had been publicly recognized as worthy of all that was his father’s!

In our family we have 12 adopted children of various backgrounds and races and most of them do not look like my children. But let me assure you they are! Not just my adopted children but my specially chosen children. They are just as much my children as the two who God specially chose for us because He is the one who specially chose them to be part of our family. Each one of them is precious to me and I am proud to be their father. Although they are all very different, from skin color to hair to personalities, they all hold a uniquely special place in my heart because they are “my” children.

In the state of Nevada when you finalize an adoption you must file a petition for adoption that then must be accepted by the court at which time the children become yours. (Sounds simple but not really.)  This is a fairly long and drawn out process which culminates in the day of the adoption as you stand before the judge and he passes a ruling that says that these children are now part of your family. One of the things that happens as a result of this ruling is that the “adopted” child receives a new birth certificate. That birth certificate states their new name and you, the adoptive parents, as their mother and father. Not their adoptive mother and father but their birth mother and father! They are, by law and by birth, your children with all those rights and privileges.

So given this Roman understanding of adoption you can see how powerful this statement of Paul’s would have been. They were being told that they had been specially chosen by God to be publically presented, in the heavenlies, as His children! Just like when we adopted our children we publically acknowledge them as ours. However, there is one key distinction between the Roman practice, our current practice in the state of Nevada and what God has done. God who desired before the foundations of the world to adopt us had a plan for how He would become the Father to the Fatherless. His Son would pay the “slave price”! The “bio-son” is the One who bought us for His Father and it is the Father, who by a deliberate act of His loving volition (willful intent), set this in motion as acceptable. God the Father actively, lovingly, and deliberately chose to adopt you and His Son obediently, willingly and lovingly did what it took to pay the price. WOW! That is love! Both on the part of the Father and on the part of His Son! They agreed together, in eternity past, that they desired to have you as part of their family!

By the way did you notice that the adopted son was no longer obligated to his previous father? In chapter 2 Paul tells them that they were all formerly “children of wrath” but God, who is rich in mercy, made them alive in Christ. They, and we, are no longer children of wrath! We are adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God and He has through His Son given us new life and a new family. We no longer have to be slaves to sin because sin is no longer our master according to Romans 6. We are now children of God by birth and this should greatly impact how we think and behave as such. Remember back to verse 3 where we were given “every” spiritual blessing? God has provided us the means to live this Christian walk in victory over sin.

In verse 6 Paul seems to simply be pointing out the logical response of the believer to what they have just heard… PRAISE GOD FOR HIS MATCHLESS GRACE! Oh that that would be the answer of everyone who heard this truth! That all would praise Him for such a marvelous love, a love that He is said here to have “freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

Have you ever been talking on the phone to a loved one and said to them, “Give so and so a kiss and tell them that I love them!”? It is a statement that comes from a heart of love and requires no further explanation. It is not based on the performance of the one being loved. That is basically what we see here. God communicated and proved His grace and love for each of us in and through His Son. As Joel has said many times over the years, “History proves God’s love in the Man Jesus Christ!” And I believe it was PJ who said, in answer to the question, How can I know that God loves me? “Because I can look back in history to the Cross of Christ!” The cross is where Jesus paid the “adoption fees” for you before the courts of Heaven so that IN HIM you might become children of God.

So what does this all mean to you? That’s a good question! Are you one who has placed your faith in the saving work and Lordship of Jesus Christ? If so, you have been adopted! It’s a fact! If not, and you are still questioning His love and doubting His saving work I would encourage you to consider what you have just heard. God has chosen to make a way possible for you to stand before Him holy and blameless, no matter what your previous sins, and He has predetermined that those who would accept the gracious gift of His Son would become his sons and daughters. You too can be adopted by this loving Father who desires to have you as His child.

If you are of the first group, who has already placed their faith in Christ, I am going to say it again; you are sons and daughters of God with all the privileges that come along with that. You have been given a new life and a new family, in other words you have been “born again”. Your identity is now IN CHRIST as a child of the Living God!

I would also challenge you to continue reading through to verse 14 today after you leave here and see the wonderful truths that are yours as a result of being “adopted” by God. Truths like:

You have been redeemed and are now Sons and Daughters of God!

The riches of His grace have been lavished on you because you are His children!

You are IN CHRIST as His brother or sister!

You have obtained an inheritance! (You are sons and daughters)

You are sealed IN CHRIST with the Holy Spirit who has given you the means to be victorious as one of God’s children!

This is who you are! Believe it and let Him live His life through you as you yield yourself to these truths and His Holy Spirit!

I am reading a book right now that I would encourage you to get. In it, the author makes a statement that I just love because it says so much about the church when it understands this truth about adoption. The book is called “Adopted for Life” written by a man named Russell D. Moore who is a pastor that has adopted children from Russia. The quote is this: “When we find our identity anywhere other than Christ, our churches will be made up of warring partisans rather than loving siblings.” And a church full of “loving siblings” has a much greater chance of pointing a lost world, full of the fatherless, to the Father who loves them so much He sent His Son to be their Savior and who by His loving and deliberate act paid the adoption price that they might be children of God and heirs of the grace of life IN CHRIST.

So I ask again: By a show of hands, how many of you are adopted?

(I will try to get either the video or audio of this sermon up in the next week or so.)

I challenged my Facebook friends to use their spiritual gifts to encourage someone today so I thought I would post a couple of things that would do that. A few months back we had a special weekend that focused on ministries within our local body of believers, as we do once a month. This particular month the focus was on adoption. I was given the privilege of sharing from God’s Word on the subject of our adoption into God’s family. What I’m going to share with you is that sermon. I hope it blesses you as much as it did me when I studied it.

Determined To Adopt

The loving volition of a Father

Ephesians 1:1-14

By a show of hands; How many of you here today are adopted? How many of you know your family history? Do you know who your relatives are? Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, Great Grandparents and maybe even second and third cousins are all part of our family. Family history is very important and helps us to feel like we belong, even if our family is dysfunctional. Our families are a huge part of our identity and so today I am going to teach you a little bit about your family identity. Today I am going to teach you about our adoption into the family of God.

Turn with me to the book of Ephesians, chapter 1 verse 1 as I take you on a very quick journey through this wonderful truth, the truth that every one of us sitting here who has placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is indeed … adopted!

But before we get started let me give you a really quick background on Ephesians.

This letter is written by the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus around 60-62 AD during his imprisonment in Rome and although written to the Church at Ephesus is considered to be a circular letter. In other words it was meant for all believers.

The church was established by Priscilla and Aquilla and later strengthened by Paul’s visits. He had visited them several times and stayed for about 3 years on one of his visits giving him a good understanding of their culture and surrounding influences.

This city of Ephesus was a leading city of the Roman Empire and housed one of the 7 “wonders of the world,” the temple of Dianna. It was a city of great prestige and great spiritual corruption. A city filled with people who did not worship YAHWEH, “children of wrath” not children of the living God and yet within it was a growing church that was being pressed from every side.

This is a letter that is written to people who were part of a very selfish and self gratifying culture not unlike our own. A culture that was saturated with sex and entertainment! Sound familiar? The Ephesian church needed instruction and encouragement in order to deal with the constant barrage of temptation from a culture that was pressuring them to fit in. We are just like those early Christians! We too need encouragement and instruction so that we can understand just who we really are …. the children of God who have been adopted into God’s family.

Follow along with me as I read verse 1-6.

Ephesians 1:1-6 (NASB95)
¹ Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: ² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, ⁴ just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love ⁵ He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶ to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

Paul starts this letter off in his traditional way by identifying his calling as an apostle and making sure that it is understood that this calling is not of him but of God’s. He continues with a blessing for them and then turns his focus to the longest single sentence in all of scripture. A sentence that many believe is just an outpouring of praise to God. A sentence that goes from verse 3 all the way through to verse 14 in the Greek and although I would love to teach on every one of these verses our focus will be on verses 3 through 6.

Verse 3 starts off with the foundation of this long sentence. The foundation of praise to God who is both God and Father! Notice to whom He is Father! It is our Lord Jesus Christ who is identified as His Son! In John 3:16 we are told that Jesus is God’s ONLY begotten Son. In our cultural vernacular, Jesus is God’s birth Son or Bio-Kid. In other words, Jesus is an “ONLY Child”… by birth! This is an important point to make in light of the fact that we often call ourselves children of God! If Jesus is an “only child” what gives us the right to call ourselves “children of God” just because He created us? That’s what we are going to discover as we continue.

Going on in verse 3 Paul continues his praise. This God, who is the Father of Jesus, has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Did you get that? EVERY! Not just some of the blessings but EVERY. Now notice where and in whom it has been given. The place? In the heavenlies, from where God rules and reigns over all of His creation! In who? Christ Jesus Himself who has bought us with His very life! This is the foundation on which Paul builds the rest of this letter. The foundation of God, who loves us and identifies us with His Son and therefore bestows on us everything we need to serve Him and offer up praise to Him. WOW!

If that isn’t enough to make your heart swell with praise to Him look at the next verse. Verse 4 tells us that this God who loves us, specifically, intentionally, and at a particular time, chose us for a specific purpose. And that purpose? To be holy and blameless before Him! Why? Because He loves us! He chose, before the creation of the world, to make a way for us to be pure and without blemish in His presence and He did so through the work of His Son. The Father and His Son acting in perfect harmony in order to present us holy and blameless in the courts of Heaven! You and me, holy and blameless before God! I keep repeating it because it just blows me away that the God of all creation would care enough for me to desire my fellowship and praise but, the only way that I can offer that up in an acceptable way is to be holy and He has made that possible. Is your heart swelling yet?

Do you remember the story of Jesus’ baptism? Remember how God the Father said of His beloved Son; “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased!” Don’t you just long for that kind of recognition from your father or mother? Even for Jesus, who is God, the recognition of His Father in this way was very encouraging. The kind of public recognition, from someone you love and who loves you, that says to the whole world; “This is my kid and I am very proud to be their dad! They bring joy to my heart and I take pleasure in what they do!” Wouldn’t that be so cool? Well let me share with you a mystery, which biblically means something that was formerly unknown that has now been revealed. The mystery is this; God has already done that in the heavenlies!

Let me share with you a little something that I learned in my studies that might help shed some light on how I know this to be true. (In the next post)

Many people treat the next three verses as though they are somehow a different thought, but when one understands the cultural and historical context it becomes clear that Paul is just continuing the military discussion. The Roman soldier was taught that communication with the other soldiers and his commanding officer was not only key to the success of the whole but was vital for his own safety. Like the Roman soldier, the Christian soldier must be constantly in communication with the rest of the body and it’s Commander. In verse 18 Paul tells the troops that they must be in communication with the Father at all times by the power of the Spirit bringing the needs of the saints to the One who can do something about them and keeping alert for enemy attacks. Paul doesn’t command the saints to pray here. It is as though the Christian soldier who is clothed in armor is one who understands the need to be in constant communication about the battle with his Lord.

Paul seems to be giving a practical example of that communication in verses 19 and 20 by showing them what it looks like and what kinds of things we might need prayer for. It is a wonderful picture of a humble leader opening up his heart and life to his brothers and sisters in Christ as one who is a servant like them.

Spiritual battles are fought in the spiritual realm by soldiers who are operating in the Spirit’s power, wearing the armor of God in the strength of Christ standing together in order to hold their ground on His behalf. It is good for me to be reminded of this because I often get the enemy in this battle confused. When my wife is having a particularly hard day and being short with me or even downright mean, I often forget that she is not the enemy. In fact she is my fellow soldier in battle and in need of my prayers and petitions in order to stand with her in the battle she is facing. I find it difficult not to think of men like Harry Reid and President Obama as the enemy and yet the belt of Truth tells me that they are not the enemy, they are simply pawns in his hands and I need to pray for their salvation not their destruction. This enemy of ours is very crafty and good at getting us to focus on the wrong target.

I often struggle sharing my weaknesses and temptations with others because I don’t want to burden them with my little problems. Sometimes, out of pride, I don’t want to appear to be weak in a particular area of my walk. Paul makes it very clear however, that we must stand together and pray for each other. There are not supposed to be any Lone Rangers in the army of God! We are all in this battle together and we have been given everything we need to hold our position for Christ. He is our Commander and He has made it very clear what we are supposed to do in this battle …. STAND FIRM ….. TOGETHER!

Your Fellow Soldier in Christ,

Saint Dave

Put your girdles on boys, we’ve got a fight comin’ ! I know that sounds funny but it is a fairly accurate term for this piece of armor. The “belt of truth,” as some call it, is referring to the apron-like belt that was the foundation for all of the armor. It was typically made of leather straps that where sewn together and kept all of the loose clothing tight against the body. This foundational piece is likened to truth. So what is this truth that builds the foundation of our armor? Paul has spent this entire letter telling these believers truth. He has been grounding them in it the whole time. The truth here is foundational and therefore must be referring to the truth of God’s spoken and written Word, not just that the believer must live a virtuous life, as some might suggest. The foundational truth of God’s Word is what the Christian soldier must have fastened on in order to keep all of the rest of the armor in place. The Roman soldier’s belt held up the breastplate so that the full weight of it was not on their shoulders and back. Their shield would clip to it during certain formations and while marching so they didn’t have to hold it up all the time. Their sword hung from it so it was close at hand. The believer who loses sight of the truth of God’s Word becomes vulnerable to attack in many areas of life. The enemy that can get to a soldier’s belt and weaken it or destroy it wins, so it is vital that the Christian soldier be firmly grounded in God’s Word so the lies of the enemy cannot prevail.

Paul continues to tell the believers about the next piece of armor — the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate was commonly made of brass, and wrapped around the mid-section of a soldier to protect his vital organs. This piece of armor required two people to put it on correctly. This is interesting because Paul equates it to righteousness and while some would say that this righteousness is referring to the righteous acts of believers, it just doesn’t fit with the context of the letter or even the understanding of the piece of armor itself. The righteousness being talked about here seems to best fit the righteousness of Christ that has been placed onto the believer (Romans 5) which has put us and keeps us in right standing before God. This righteousness, like the breastplate protects the “heart,” if you will, of our Christian faith. If we do not understand our position in Christ, the enemy can shake us at our very core by attacking our right standing before God which was won by our Savior. This imputed righteousness brings about righteous actions as we walk by the Spirit, further guarding our heart from deceit and doubt thrown at us by the enemy.

The third piece of armor is the sandals of peace. The soldier wore a sandal that was almost boot-like in that it provided support and sheer footing for the wearer. They typically had “cleats” in the bottoms made from hollow nails giving the soldier additional traction in unstable conditions. When a soldier has a firm footing it is much easier to stand firm and hold his position. That is why Paul compares the sandals to peace. This is the peace that comes from knowing you’re no longer at war with God. The Greek word for peace in this verse is the same one used in the Old Testament and translated shalom. We must look at context to gain a clearer understanding of what this peace really is. Notice that we have shod our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. The word preparation can be translated readiness or foundation and the word gospel is a word that simply means good news so the most compelling thing to look at in order to gain understanding is the letter itself. Paul alludes to the peace between Jew and Gentile believers that is now available in Christ and of the peace that we all now have with God because of the work of Christ so it only makes sense in keeping with the context of the letter that one or both are being referred to here. The only one that makes contextual sense is peace with God. Satan and his minions do not want us to be grounded in that truth and will do everything they can to “knock us off our feet” so to speak. The Christian soldier who doubts his or her position before God becomes uncertain and ineffective in their ministry but the one who stands firm in the fact that they are no longer at war with God can stand boldly for Christ no matter what comes.

In addition to these pieces take up also the shield of faith. The Roman long shield was made of wood that was curved and the edges covered in metal to protect them from damage. It covered the majority of the soldier and when used in conjunction with other soldier’s shields created a formidable barrier against enemy attack. The shield’s primary purpose is to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. Remember the Parthians? This is the picture. As the evil one shoots his arrows at the saints they are to stand firm together with their shields locked in tortoise formation and the evil one’s arrows will have no effect. (Isn’t that cool?) So we must determine what this faith is all about in order to know what this piece of armor is and how to effectively use it.

Faith can mean certainty or conviction so we must ask in what or who is this faith? The context once again gives us the answer. Throughout this letter Paul has been speaking of faith as faith in Christ and His work. The believer’s faith is grounded in the person and work of Jesus and when the enemy attacks with doubts about the sufficiency of that work or the need to do something to complete it, the soldier who has his shield up and stands with others holding their shields up will quickly extinguish those arrows for they have no power over an all-sufficient Savior.

With that we come to Paul’s last command in this section, the command to “take.” Again we have the second person plural telling us that although we are individuals we must all stand together in this battle as we take the helmet of salvation. The Roman helmet was made of bronze and was fitted over a leather skull cap. By the time Paul had written this letter the helmet also included a long back to cover the neck, a brow-ridge which extended to protect the nose and eyes, and two hinged cheek pieces to protect the rest of the face. In other words the helmet protected the entire head. Paul uses it to give a picture of salvation. The word salvation here is the Greek word sōtēríon and it is only used five times in this form in the New Testament. The word means deliverance. Salvation in the context of this letter has been looked at from several vantage points. Salvation in terms of the gift that was given at conversion (chapters 1-2), the power of that salvation which we experience in our daily walk (chapters 3-6) and here in this verse were Paul seems to be including the very absence of the presence of sin in the future. This is were the 1 Thes. 5:8 passage may bring some clarity. In 1 Thes. 5:8 the helmet is referred to as the helmet of the hope of salvation, which lends to a future understanding. It appears to me that the context of the letter as well as the help of this passage lends to the salvation being spoken of here as all-inclusive. The past salvation, the present power of it in our lives and the future hope that we have knowing that we will someday be free from sin all together. The enemy’s attack can come from all sides and the Christian soldier who is not wearing his helmet will have his mind filled with doubt and insecurity. The Christian soldier whose hope is not based in and on Christ’s saving work, past, present and future, will be weakened and ineffective for he will feel defeated at every turn.

The final piece of armor is the sword and it is a formidable weapon in deed. The sword spoken of here is the short sword worn on the belt and used in hand to hand combat with an enemy. This is not an offensive weapon any more than any of the other weapons described. The key to understanding this is the fact that all of this weaponry is in the context and command to stand firm. Without getting into the grammar I will just say this: The grammar makes it clear that this verse should be translated in the English to read; “and the sword given by the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” This not only fits the context but is supported by Jn 14:26 where we are told that the Holy Spirit will bring to our remembrance all that Christ said. The greatest example of this sword in use is in Mt4:1-11 and Lk 4:1-13 when Jesus uses it to defeat the attacks of satan in the wilderness. The Word of God in this verse is the spoken word of God and the point is that it is spoken out of the mouth of the soldiers. Just as Jesus spoke the word to satan so we as Christian soldiers must speak the Word of God to defeat the enemy. The enemy hates the truth and twists it into a deceitful web meant to trip up and trap the believer, but the believer who relies on the Spirit of God and knows the Word of God will recognize it for what it is and speak truth. (To be continued!)

The context of this letter is one of the church operating in UNITY!

Verse 10 starts off with the word “finally,” a word that reminds us to look back at what Paul has already stated. It is as though Paul is saying, “Finally, after all that I have taught you and before I close this letter I have one more thing to say on this subject of the unity of the church and your faithful walk as believers.”

Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might! Paul uses his first command of five in this passage telling the church to “be strong.” The word means to be empowered by something or someone. Paul makes it very clear here from Whom that power is to come. It is the Lord who is to empower us and by the strength of His might we are to operate. Paul wants the believers to know that the battle he is about to describe is not something that they can do in their own strength or even corporately. It can only be accomplished through a Church that is reliant on Christ and His strength and this is the picture that Paul wants them to see.

Verse 11 continues and builds on the idea of being empowered of the Lord by taking them to the battle front where only the Lord’s strength will prevail. He tells them that they must put on, or cloth themselves, with God’s armor. There are several important things to notice here. First, this is a command! This isn’t a suggestion. Paul’s command is similar to a leader in the army telling his troops to: “Prepare for battle!” The second is not readily noticeable in the English. One must go to the Greek to see the whole picture here. The Greek word is written as a second person plural in the middle voice. In this context that means that although it is written to the one who needs to obey the command (the individual), and it is something that the individual is accountable to do, it is a plural command meaning that it is something that the whole body is being called to do in unity. This is true of every command in this passage including the command to be strong! So what is it that we are all individually to do together? Stand Firm! Remember the tortoise formation? Here it is! The body of Christ is to work together as one unit, each individually clothed in God’s armor in order to stand firm against their (corporate) enemy! Notice also that the armor they are wearing is God’s not their own. The picture that comes to my mind every time I read this verse is one of David coming to Saul to tell him that he will go fight Goliath and Saul says: “Here, take the my armor into battle!” The major difference here is that Saul’s armor was too big and heavy for the young David and the armor God gives to us is perfectly fitted! The reason it is perfectly fitted? Look at Romans 13:14. In Romans 13:14 we are commanded to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ …”. The armor is His, the strength is His, it is His might, and He is the one who has won the war. That may be exactly what Paul is alluding to in that Romans passage. The reason the armor fits is because it is all about Him.

This battle is a serious one that requires serious measures because there is a seriously treacherous and deceptive enemy to fight. We are commanded to stand firm, equipped with God’s armor against the devil. He is described throughout Scripture and though I will not go into depth about him here let me give you some idea who he is. He is referred to as a roaring lion seeking to devour (1 Pet 5:8), as the father of lies (Jn 8:44), and as the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10), to name just a few. He is a wicked adversary and one we must not take lightly.

Paul, after telling us who our enemy is, tells us who it is not. Although we are often attacked by individuals, they are not the enemy. When our children are disobedient and hateful, they are not the enemy. The politician who is screwing up our country is not the enemy. The teenage kid who lusts after your daughter is not the enemy. When your wife is not Spirit-filled and is disrespectful, she is not the enemy. Are you starting to get the picture? We often let our experience and emotion tell us who the enemy is and Paul tells us here in verse 12 that our struggle, or wrestling, is not against flesh and blood. So if the people in our lives are not the enemy, who is? Paul tells us at the end of verse 12.

Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. So who are these rulers and powers? All of the words used here are plural in nature and accusative or descriptive meaning that the enemies listed are many and ultimately in context tied to the devil. These enemies are clearly demonic forces that have evil intent at the core of their being. They want nothing more than to destroy the brethren through any means possible. The believer who is clothed in God’s armor will be able to stand against their attacks.

The enemies are real and very dangerous to the unprepared saint, so Paul again reminds the Ephesians of the need to be fully clothed with the armor of God by commanding them to take it up. Why? So that you (plural) might be able to resist in the evil day, having done everything, to stand firm. Again there are three things that I would like to point out here. The first is that you are completely able to “dig in.” The word resist is a word that means to dig in for the purpose of holding your ground. The Christian soldier is not called to advance here, he/she is called to dig in. Notice that with the armor on you are perfectly capable of doing so. The second thing is that the Christian soldier is prepared. Notice the past tense “having done everything.” As Christians we are called to action not complacency. The third thing I would like you to see is that we are told again the purpose is to stand firm! The Christian soldier is called to hold ground on behalf of his Commanding Officer. The evil day mentioned here is said by many to be a future day when satan and his army will be given freedom to roam the earth. That doesn’t seem to fit the context and it is better understood to mean that there is evil in every day because the enemy is at work, so put your armor on every day.

Paul, just in case he hasn’t made his point clear yet, commands the believer to stand firm. The command is again second person plural and this time it is in the active voice. What he is basically saying is this: Be individually standing firm together right now! The active voice gives this command a sense of urgency by letting us know that the threat is upon us and we must do something now. So what are we to do? Well Paul tells us in the next several verses. (Which we will look at in the next post.)

The following is a letter that I wrote to our local church as an assignment in a discipleship class that I take along with several other men in our church. I wanted to share it with you to encourage you to stand firm in your faith in these difficult times. It is lengthy so I will break it up into a few posts. My hope is that if you take the time to read it you will be encouraged. May the Lord use His Word to bless you greatly and arm you for battle.

To the beloved at Hilltop Community Church,

I praise God and the Lord Jesus Christ for you, for it has been my joy and honor to stand with you in the Lord! It is my prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit might use me to encourage you in your faith as you have encouraged me in mine.

Over the years I have often felt alone under the weight of temptation not knowing who to turn to, feeling too embarrassed to say something to those around me because I assume they don’t struggle with this kind of stuff. Do you ever feel that way?

Sometimes the pressures of life feel as though they are going to crush me under their weight and I feel defenseless against them. Have you ever felt like the pressures of life were going to crush you?

There have been days when I’ve screwed up so badly that I begin to wonder whether or not I’m really saved. Have you ever felt like that?

If the truth were known we have probably all experienced similar feelings of failure, doubt and lack of hope. But God has an answer to that found in His Word. God has graciously allowed me to spend some time in the letter to the Ephesians lately and I would love to share what I have learned from it. First let me fill you in on some background to this letter.

This letter is written by the apostle Paul to the church at Ephesus around 60-62 AD during his imprisonment in Rome. Although written specifically to the church at Ephesus it is considered to be a circular letter. In other words it was meant for all believers, even you and me.

The church was established by Priscilla and Aquilla and later strengthened by Paul’s visits. He had visited them several times and stayed for about 3 years on one of his visits, giving him a good understanding of their culture and it’s surrounding influences.

This city of Ephesus was a leading city of the Roman Empire and housed one of the seven “wonders of the world,” the temple of Dianna. It was a city of great prestige and great spiritual corruption. A city filled with people who did not worship YAHWEH, “children of wrath” not children of the living God. Yet within the city was a growing church that was being pressed from every side.

The city was said to have had between three to five thousand Roman soldiers guarding it and marching in its streets at any given time. The soldiers were positioned in Ephesus to guard against the Rome’s enemies, the Barbarians to the North and the Parthians to the West.

This is a letter written to people who were part of a very selfish and self gratifying culture not unlike our own. A culture that was saturated with sex and entertainment. Sound familiar? The Ephesian church needed instruction and encouragement in order to deal with the constant barrage of temptation from a culture that was pressuring them to fit in. We are just like those early Christians! We too need encouragement and instruction so that we can understand just who we really are …. the children of God who have been adopted into God’s family and given everything we need to STAND FIRM!

Turn with me to Ephesians chapter 6:10-18. The passage is probably familiar to many of you as it has been taught many times in this church over the years. But as I have found in my studies of Scripture, God always has something new for me.

In this letter, Paul has already told them that God, along with His Son Jesus, determined before the foundations of the earth that it would be a good thing to adopt them, the believers, into His family. He then goes on to tell them that this plan was not just for the Jew but also for the Gentile. As if that wasn’t hard enough for them to swallow he goes on to tell them that God has, through Jesus, made them all equal in the faith and that He desires unity amongst them within the church for they were all dead in their trespasses and sins but now are made alive together in Christ. After blowing them away with this incredible news, he goes on to tell them how to “walk in a manner worthy of the calling.” Paul never loses the vision of unity as he continues to speak to them, even though he often talks about the individual’s gifts and responsibilities he never separates them completely from the whole. The letter of Ephesians is a letter about the unity of the body of Christ in a world that is in stark contrast.

These verses, in chapter 6, talk about the armor of God and the fact that the church is in a battle against a very dangerous and deceptive enemy and in order to understand this battle it is critical that we understand some basics about the culture of Ephesus regarding the Roman army that occupied the city. Paul as a Roman and student of his surroundings was using something very familiar to his readers to describe a spiritual reality and so it becomes important for us to go back in time to try to see what they saw in order to gain better understanding in our day and age.

As I mentioned in the background, the Roman army was in charge of this city. These soldiers often practiced throughout the city and in the amphitheater, performing many of their common formations including one called the “Tortoise” formation. This formation was one that the soldiers used to hold their position (Stand Firm). The tortoise was exactly what it sounds like. It was the process of interlocking the shields of all of the soldiers in such a way that they created a virtually impenetrable “shell” around the men with the Centurion being in the middle so that he could give commands to the rest of the group. The men would communicate to one another while in this position, constantly keeping the Centurion aware of the status of the “shell” so that they could quickly make adjustments to keep him safe. It was essential that each man did his part in order to protect the whole and himself. The Romans had two primary enemies in this region, the Barbarians to the North and the Parthians to the East. This is important in that it gives us some understanding of why Paul describes the attacks in the way that he does and what the Ephesian believers would have pictured.

The Barbarians from the North would hide in cover close to where the Roman army would be marching looking for opportunity to attach while they were in long straight lines unable to get into Tortoise formation quickly. The Barbarians would come at them yelling and making all sorts of noise in order to stop the vital communication necessary for the soldiers to form their life saving “shell.” This would allow the Barbarians to come in close and keep the combat one-on-one making the soldiers much less effective.

The Parthians from the West were known for their incredible skill as both horseman and archers. The way they would move to defeat the Roman army was again to get them out of formation but this time out of the Tortoise. They would approach the army on horseback in the open causing the soldiers to enter the Tortoise formation. The Parthians would come close and then turn to ride away causing the soldiers to break formation, thinking that their enemy was fleeing, at which point the Parthians, who were now riding backwards on their horses, would shoot arrows with incredible accuracy and begin to pick off the soldiers one by one before they could get back into formation.

Keeping all that in mind we can now begin to look more closely at the text. (In the next post)