Three divisions in the book of Ephesians
- Our position in Christ (Chapters 1-3) SIT
- Our Life in the World (Chapters 4:1-6:9) WALK
- Our Attitude to the Enemy (Chapter 6:10-24) STAND
The life of the believer always has these three aspects:
- To God
- To the World
- To the enemy
To be useful to God we must be properly adjusted in all three: His position, his life, and his warfare.
We don't begin with Walk, or Stand, but with Sit because Christianity beings not with a big DO, but with a big DONE!
As long as we are struggling to do, we get nothing from God. We are to live a life of faith. So until a man says "I can do nothing to save myself, but by His grace God has done everything for me in Christ, I receive it by faith." He is no Christian until then.
Remember God's seventh day was really man's first full day. Man was created on the sixth day so his first full day was a day of rest!
Man could do nothing himself until he first entered into God's rest and then alone can he work.
***This is a great analogy for the need to pray and start a day with God. Enter into His rest before you can do anything for Him!
Our life begins with the discovery that all things are now provided. Think of the invitation to the king's supper given to us in Luke 14:17 : "Come; for all things are now ready."
How do I get the Holy Spirit baptism? The same way that you received Christ. You didn't work for your salvation, or beg, or plead, you didn't afflict yourself with fastings and etc. You asked and received! The gift of the Holy Spirit has already been poured out, you just need to receive Him!
Ephesians 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
The law was meant to unite all mankind in a universal guilt, and in man turning to God for deliverance, unite them in a universal salvation.
Instead, the Jews, used the law as a means of showing they were better than the Gentiles. Look we have the law! Even though they didn't fulfill it. It became a division instead of a tool of uniting. A wall that separated the Jew and Gentile.
Ephesians 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Jesus, by means of the cross (death, burial and resurrection) tore down the thing that separated the two, declaring all guilty and all having a chance to be part of the one body, the body of Christ, the one faith, Christianity.
Ephesians 2:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
The law killed us, He killed the law! We were the gangrenous amputated arm, dead! Jesus took that arm and attached it to Himself, our sin coursed through His body, killing Him, separating Him from the Father.
But then!!!! He was resurrected and His life coursed through our dead sinful lives and cleansed us from the gangrene of sin and made us who were dead alive! We became one with Him! In Him!
Ephesians 2:17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
Ephesians 2:18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
NOT through the law, not through our works or efforts, but through HIM!
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
I am a citizen with rights...and responsibilities.
Not only do I enjoy the rights of an American, but I also have the responsibilities of one.
- Pay my taxes
- Jury duty
- Fight for my country if called upon
- Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.
So as a Christian I enjoy the privileges of answered prayer, fellowship with God, healing and the Holy Ghost baptism. I also have responsibilities: To support my church with my tithes and offerings, to fulfill the duties God calls me to do (prayer, bible reading, soulwinning, serving in the church) and to fight for my Jesus, my leaders, my church!
I am in His household, I am privileged to eat at His table and enjoy the bounty and blessings, but I must also live by His house rules:
- Dinner time...He wants you at the dinner table! Not hungry? Doesn't matter, a meal has been prepared for you, your friends are at the table, your Father is there, His command is: BE THERE!
- Put some clothes on! Don't represent this family (God's family) be being naked or near naked in the world.
- Watch who you hang around! We can't fellowship with those who will destroy or distract us... Come out from the world be ye separate...You are either a friend of the world or a friend of God. Friends of God don't listen to the worldly music glorifying sex, drinking, killing, going to jail. You must make a decision, who will you have as a friend? God? or the devil and the world? Who can help you more?
Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
Ephesians 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Ephesians 2:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Now the metaphor changes to us being a building, a place for God to inhabit, a temple, individually and as a group.
