Used to
Counter Culture • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Intro
Intro
Good morning church fam in the house and those online. Today we are continuing our study in the book of Ephesians. This is a challenging book in the sense that Paul charges the church to live their lives different than the culture it is in.
The theme of this series and really the main theme of Ephesians is Counter Culture.
Some may ask, why do I need to live my life the way God wants us to?
Who better than to guide the way we live than the One who knows us?
Fun fact, there are about one billion grains of sand in one cubic foot.
That’s just in one cubic foot. Now multiply that by all the beaches in the world. Let’s not forget about all the sand on the floor of the lakes and ocean.
Nobody can count that high. And yet, David said this about God:
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
So I ask the question again, who better to guide our lives?
Let’s dive in today in a message I call “Used To”.
Used To
Used To
This phrase “used to” refers to something familiar or routine as in “I'm used to getting up early for work,” or to say that something repeatedly happened in the past like “we used to go out more.”
It is this latter “used to” that Paul uses in our text today. Something that repeatedly happened in the past.
1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins.
2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Paul is saying that you used to live this way. You used to live in sin. You used to live in disobedience to God, just like the rest of the world.
For those that may not know, I want to define what sin is. Too often we think of right and wrong when it comes to sin. The thing is, right and wrong doesn’t determine what sin is.
You see, God doesn’t deal in the realm of right or wrong. God deals with life and death. This is why Paul said, “Once you were dead” and not “Once you were wrong”.
Never once will you see Jesus say, “I am right and you are wrong.”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
God told Adam in the beginning of it all:
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
God never intended His creation to determine what was good or evil, right or wrong. Man was created to live by the Word spoken to him by God. It is that Word that brings forth life.
Once Adam was disobedient to the Word spoken to him, a spiritual disconnect took place. We call this a spiritual death.
It is our disobedience to God’s word that disconnects us from God and leads us to a spiritual death.
What is Sin
What is Sin
Living in sin, is living the way you want to live, instead of living your life guided by God.
As I mentioned a moment ago, sin defined is not right or wrong, because we all have a different definition of what right and wrong is or even what is good and what is evil.
Here is some examples.
It used to be considered wrong to own a tv, go to the movies, not dress up in a suit and tie. If a guy wore his hair long or if a woman wore makeup, it was considered a sin.
I remember I was in a line at a gas station when I was a youth pastor back in Indiana and the guy in front of me was singing a hymnal. He got to the chorus and stopped so I picked up and continued on.
He whipped his head around and looked me up and down and asked with a snarl, “How do YOU know that song?”
The reason for the snarl was I had piercings in my face and tattoos.
I replied with a smile, “I am a youth pastor.”
He started in with Leviticus and quoting the Old Testament Law at me.
Another time I was at a pastors conference at predominant church in our hometown and they had tracks for youth pastors.
While I was there, no one greeted me. No one said hi. Nothing.
It wasn’t until I was leaving I was approached by two girls and as we were talking they began to ask me about salvation.
I told them I was saved and they asked me how did I know. I said, “well I am here at this Christian conference for leaders and I am a youth pastor.”
They responded with, “That doesn’t mean you are saved.”
True. Just because you are in church doesn’t mean you are saved anymore than you standing in a garage make you a mechanic.
I responded, “I know Jesus as Lord and Savior.”
Again I was met with the response, “That doesn’t make you saved.” Now they told me this while looking me up and down.
I wasn’t dressed like them. My hair wasn’t like theirs. I wore skate shoes, had a chain wallet, piercings, baggy pants.
I told them I see what you are doing.
I am so thankful that there is a God in heaven who doesn’t care about how I look on the outside. He cares more about the inside. It is the heart He is looking at. c
The moral of the story is they both had a definition of what right and wrong was and they were trying to put it on me as though I was this great sinner.
Sin is not a matter of right and wrong. It is a matter of life and death.
14 But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.
Sin = to miss the mark; to err; to be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour
To miss whose mark?
To wander from whose path?
To err or be mistaken?
It is to miss God’s mark. It is to wander from the path that God intended for you. It is going against what God told you.
Yes we are the ones in error if God said to do one thing and we did the opposite.
Here is the great lie of sin that the enemy wants you to believe.
I’m not living in error. It’s my life. I am in control. I am a good person.
“To err is human.” - Alexander Pope
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.
It makes Sense
It makes Sense
It just makes sense to follow the path that God has for our life.
Go back to the sand.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
Let this sink in this morning.
In one cubic foot of sand, there is one billion grains of sand.
Mojave Desert - 47, 877 square miles of sand
Sahara Desert - 3.5 million square miles of sand
God’s thoughts of you out number all the sand in both of these deserts not to mention all the beaches, dunes, bottoms of the lakes, and all the sand at the bottom of the ocean.
Tell me, who better to give guidance to our lives than the Creator of life who out thinks everyone on this planet combined.
As humans, our brains only process about seventy thousands thoughts per day and God thinks about every single person on this planet at the same time.
Tell me again who better to guide my life!
God’s Mercy
God’s Mercy
Paul said you used to live this way.
As we have learned learned last week, the Jews and Gentiles had some division issues, some racial issues, and so Paul wrote this letter to remind them of how they used to live this way and they ought not to anymore.
They fell off the path.
We all have fallen off the path. Some of you may have never been on it and some may have gotten off the path. The good news is, either way, you can start on that path or get back on it again.
4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)
Mercy - kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them
Our God is not just merciful, but He is rich in mercy. His mercy never ends. His mercy never runs out. No matter how many times we fail and fall, His mercy will always be there to help us back up.
This is what a Father does. He helps us back up. This is why Paul said,
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
God is the Father of mercies. It is what He produces.
The way that God helps those who have fallen off the path or never started on the path is through Jesus Christ.
Each and everyone of us today are invited to draw near to His throne of grace and you can be rest assured that when you get there, you will receive mercy.
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
How many of you here today would be honest enough and say, “Pastor, I have wandered off the path this week. Pastor, I never even started on the path. I am miserable. I need help.”
How many of you here today need some grace in mercy?
Closing
Closing
As the praise team comes up, I want to share with you how simple it is to get on the path for the first time or get back on the path you wandered from.
Paul says,
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.
9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Paul tells us that we are saved by grace when we believe.
The moment we believe that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead, is the moment we receive the mercy of God. It is at that moment we can get on the path for the first time or get back on the path we wandered from.
Part of this process of getting on the path is repentance.
Repent - to turn or to turn back
Paul preaches and teaches about the need for repentance to both Jews and Gentiles alike.
21 I have had one message for Jews and Greeks alike—the necessity of repenting from sin and turning to God, and of having faith in our Lord Jesus.
True repentance leads a person to say, "I have sinned" and prove it with a 180-degree change of their direction.
Repentance requires true brokenness.
Repentance is NOT asking the Lord for forgiveness with the intent to sin again.
Repentance is an honest, regretful acknowledgement of sin with commitment to change.
Repentance leads us to cultivate godliness while eradicating habits that lead into sin.
This whole series is based on living different than the culture around us in order that God may be revealed to those outside these four walls.
I have been seeing a lot of pictures on social media about a revival that is taking place across the nation. I see churches with people crying out to God and worshipping.
Unless repentance is a part of it, revival is not happening.
I don’t just want to see the church packed out with people worshipping Jesus in unity, I want to see the entire community impacted because those on the inside are being impacted and change is taking place in their lives to the point they walk, talk, look, and live differently than the culture.
If you feel the same way I do, I invite you today to pray with me. Confess with me. Repent with me. And receive the mercy of God.
The altars are open. Whether you wandered for first time, second, third, or never even got on the path.
ADVERTISEMENT