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ss=MsoNormal>May the words of my mouth and the mediation in in all our hearts be acceptable to you, our Lord and Saviour - Amen
How important is the truth in your lives?
What value do you place on the truth?
Put it another way - Would you characterize your life as a quest for things truthful?
Truth - important or not
We as Christians have made the decision that truth is important
I think that consciously or unconsciously that truth is our prime Goal in life
I think that we are all searching for truth in its various forms
And for those that are not here or any other place of worship, they have simply decided that ultimate truth - spiritual truth is not their present priority
they are engaged into other pursuits of truth - /maybe the perfect sleep-in/
I have always had this vision that one of the purposes in my life is to be a father,
and I am living the dream
I am living fulfilled a truth for me
There are also sorts of small examples truths
Only the right key works for each vehicle
Or the right answers on a test
From traffic laws to the laws of nature and principals of physics
Gravity is a truth only escaped when we leave the pull of the planet
Or I knew I was marrying Mrs. Right, however I didn’t know that her first name was always
The examples are limitless
In the end - everything we do is based on little or big truths
So we get to St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians and the truths he is trying to share with that community of believers 2000 years ago and with us today.
We have had several weeks now of Ephesians and this is the final week in the series
The first half of the letter - Paul is trying to instruct the reader on the believer’s *position* or relation in Christ
With teaching on:
Praise and thanksgiving for God
And the saints that have prepared the way for them
Instruction of the full body of believers
Including both the Jews and the gentiles
And then the teaching on the mystery of God
That is the grace of God
The second half of the letter, chapters 4-6 is Paul teaching on the truths for the believer’s *practice* in the Lord - or the true application of a believer.
There is an appeal for unity in Christian fellowship
A plan for the proper functioning of Christians within the church
an appeal for a new morality
and for personal piety in the Christian household
but then - as Paul draws this epistle to a close.
He does it in the most dramatic way.
We have the passage for today,
It is about what Christians are *truly* battling
- it is about spiritual warfare
Paul is trying to reveal to readers - To uncover for them
The *true* opponent
/For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places./
Jews and gentiles living under occupation could easily thought that the Roman army or the emperor were the enemy
But Paul removes that vale
Paul is getting to the heart of the matter and sharing a timeless message
The real enemy is the enemy that attacks us *all* at the spiritual level
Examples of belief in spiritual-world-beyond-our-vision are riddled through out the bible
Beginning with the serpent in the garden
To warnings of the first commandment - that we should worship the one true God
To the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness where he says
“/Go, Satan!
For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve."/
Paul was not the only New Testament writer who recognized Satan as a threat to the believer
* James believed it!
- (James 4:7) - /Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." /
* Peter believed it!
- (Acts 5:3) - /Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land?"/
* Also in (1 Peter 5:8,9) - /Be self-controlled and alert.
Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings./
· Certainly all the gospel writers do as they describe the healings of those that were demon processed *or* in describing the transformation of Judas Iscariot in the betrayal of Christ
And of course Jesus instructed against it with what we know as the Lord’s Prayer! - (Mt 6:13) - /And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one./
We have adapted the Lord’s prayer slightly – but that is exactly how it is recorded in Matthew’s gospel
If the Word of God is true, then we must take this spiritual warfare seriously
We must take the advice from proverbs which tells us that we should believe that /“Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.”/
*a shield *
From my own life I can testify to spiritual warfare
Spiritual warfare is a topic that I was quite skeptical of before I experienced it first hand
In the two week period when I was discern the call to ministry I was faced with more dubious situations then ever before or afterwards
I was in sales and in that short two week span I had so many opportunities to make big sales - if I only comprised my values
Yet when I had made my decision - the opportunities completely went away
Temptation was there in that time of great questioning and transition
In retrospect I can only attribute it to spiritual warfare
I believe that in the life of those in the bible and for us today, life has an element of spiritual battle
I want to say though, that I don’t believe in demon possession in any kind of large scale
The devil is much too clever and subtle for that
And also that there is no place for using spiritual warfare as an excuse.
“the devil made me do it”
God has provide us with too much to use that cope out.
My mother used to say to us kids one thing that always stuck in my mind
It might well have been the wisest thing that she ever taught me
“Tell the truth to shame the devil”…
The devil lurks in the dark places, the places that don’t see the light of day
The devil schemes and asks questions like in the garden and in each of our lives…
“/Did God really say…”/
St.
Paul in this passage is writing to warn the people that evil is hidden all around them.
It is a timeless message
- Timeless because the forces that oppose God’s will *are* all around us
They are there when we get angry
And think about how we would like to live out that anger.
They are there when our Pride shows up
And we think we can do it on our own
Without God’s help…
Contrary to the very words and promises of our baptism
They are there when we think-about telling a lie,
Even a small one.
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