Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro [Slide - 1]

Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul to the Ephesian Church ():

[I pray that you may know] . .

.19 [God’s] incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

What went through your mind when you heard those words?

What did you think about as Paul underscores for us how incomparable the indwelling power of God is in us.

The very power that rose Jesus from the dead, that gave Him new life, that gave us new life, is living in us!

And now, this power of the resurrection goes beyond the work of God in redeeming us, buying us back from the bondage of sin.

This power equips us to face life’s struggles: anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction.

It gives us the ability to Rise UP, to find our strength and reliance on Jesus to overcome.

That thought right there might sound foreign to some of you.

The very thought that you can overcome the struggles of life, the struggles of life that rage not outside of yourself but within your very, soul may seem like a fairy tale.

Yet it is this very truth that we would like to share with you over the next month as we lead-up to Easter.

Such was the case for all of you at one time in your life and still is for some of you.

Transition: [Slide - 2] For that place of hopelessness and despair is...

Such was the case before you knew Christ,

I.

A perfect description of Who You Were Without Christ

Paul is describing the life of one who does not know Christ:

Described a life

Lacking understanding

Void of true purpose and meaning

Separted from God

Having Callused hearts insensitivity to the world around them

Not true of all without Christ but in this general direction for those out of touch with God.

Four descriptors of a life without God:

But, it is not unfair to say that this is the direction in which every life is facing which is out of touch with God.

“Darkened in their understanding” = They didn’t have the wisdom and knowledge that comes from knowing God

“Separated from the life [that comes from] God” = The life that is found in God Himself, one of true meaning, purpose and joy, is lost to them

“Harden[ed] [callused] hearts” = Completely focused on self and as a result lacked a moral compass

“Lost all sensitivity” =

In , after listing a list of un-god-like lifestyles, Paul reminds the church of Corinth - “And that is what some of you were...” If I may, “any this is what some of you were.”

It is not implied that all that is said in this section is true of all who are not Christian, but it is not unfair to say that ‘this is the direction in which every life is facing which is out of touch with God; and this is the kind of life which will be reproduced in a community in which Christian influence is not active’.

Transition: Yet this was a description of who you were when you did know Christ and the direction you were going without Christ...

[Slide - 3]

II.

But this is not Who You Are In Christ

“However” = “In Christ” your minds are no longer darkened, lives are no longer alienated from God, hearts are no longer hardened and impure

You have learned about Christ and have been taught the truth in Christ (cf.

:6)

You know this truth and this truth has set you free!

Free from the bondage and control of sin

Free to live righteous lives

They heard and were taught Christ is the subject they “heard” and the Sphere they were “taught” in It was in accordance with the truth because He is the truth ()

“Put-off” deceitful desires - self-centered lusts, which deceitfully promise joy but fail to provide it.

“Put-on righteousness and holiness” = Allowing the attitude of your minds to be changed and results in changed living

Put-off deceitful desires - self-centered lusts are deceitful because they promise joy but fail to provide it.

The unsaved person is subject to a continuous process of corruption which grows worse as time goes on.

This process is of corruption is “according to the deceitful lusts.”

Put off the evil cravings, the passionate desires (it was put-off when one was saved)

; they are no longer futile in their thinking, darkened in their understanding, and ignorant (vs.

18-19)

Put-on righteousness and holiness, which is based on truth (vs.

24).

This truth contrasts the deceitfulness of lustful living (cf. vs. 14-15).

Believers are made new in the attitude of their minds; they are no longer futile in their thinking, darkened in their understanding, and ignorant (vs.

18-19)

These are not commands, they are facts that believers have learned (; ); believers are new creatures in Christ, and hence they can no longer live as Gentiles live.

These are not commands, they are facts that believers have learned

[Slide - 5] You are a new creatures in Christ and something within us won’t let us live as we did without Jesus

(; ); believers are new creatures in Christ, and hence they can no longer live as Gentiles live.

Their minds were no longer darkened; their lives are no longer alienated from God; their hearts no longer hardened and impure.

There must be the complete abandonment of the old way of living, and the working out of the new in personal life, and also in human relationships.

Though

There is a desire to completely abandonment the old way of living.

“However” = Contrast Their minds were no longer darkened; their lives are no longer alienated from God; their hearts no longer hardened and impure.

“Attitudes of your mind” = Higher life-principle in man by which the human reason, viewed on its moral side-the organ of moral thinking and knowing is informed.

“A description of the walk of the heathen world generally - a walk moving within the limits of intellectual and moral resultlessness, given over to things devoid of worth or reality.”

They heard and were taught Christ is the subject they “heard” and the Sphere they were “taught” in It was in accordance with the truth because He is the truth () Content is twofold: Put-off deceitful desires - self-centered lusts are deceitful because they promise joy but fail to provide it.

The unsaved person is subject to a continuous process of corruption which grows worse as time goes on.

This process is of corruption is “according to the deceitful lusts.”

Put off the evil cravings, the passionate desires (it was put-off when one was saved)Put-on righteousness and holiness, which is based on truth (vs.

24).

This truth contrasts the deceitfulness of lustful living (cf. vs. 14-15).

Believers are made new in the attitude of their minds; they are no longer futile in their thinking, darkened in their understanding, and ignorant (vs.

18-19)These are not commands, they are facts that believers have learned (; ); believers are new creatures in Christ, and hence they can no longer live as Gentiles live.

“Old man” refers to the unsaved person dominated by the totally deprave nature, the “new man” refers to the saved person dominated by the divine nature - this is what Paul was referencing when he says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.”

()

There must be the complete abandonment of the old way of living, and the working out of the new in personal life, and also in human relationships.

Transition: If this is truly the case, if we are made new in Christ Jesus, how are we to “put on the new self?”

How are we to use this indwelling power we possess in Christ to face head-on life’s struggles ?

How are we to reconcile our present fight with promises like what we find in ?

Take anger, for example.

We all have experienced the consequences and affects of human anger.

We have all been angry at times in our own lives and we have people who have been angry with us.

Anger is one of the most destructive forces that can be unleashed among us.

An emotions, a posture, an attitude, anger is so power and so real and so pervasive in our culture.

Left unchecked it has caused wars, torn countries apart and ruined countless relationships.

This power equips us to face life’s struggles: anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction.

anxiety, anger, perfectionism, doubt, despair, addiction

[Slide - 6] How can God redeem our anger?

Question: How can God use our anger for good?

Transition: So, how can God use our anger for good?

Each of the following five exhortations about a believer’s conduct have three parts: (1) negative command, (2) a positive command, and (3) the reason for the positive command

We all experience the consequences and affects of human anger.

We have all been angry at times in our own lives and we have people who have been angry with us.

Anger as a force or a power is one of the most destructive forces that can be unleashed among humans.

Emotions, posture, an attitude, so power and so real and so pervasive in our culture, you would think we would have a better handle of our understanding of it.

Anger unchecked has caused wars, torn countries apart and ruined countless relationships and Yet, it seems as though we still struggle on it.

Passage gives (5) exhortations about how believers are to live and he talks about anger on more than one occasion.

We all have experienced the consequences and affects of human anger.

We have all been angry at times in our own lives and we have people who have been angry with us.

Anger is one of the most destructive forces that can be unleashed among humans.

Emotions, posture, an attitude, so power and so real and so pervasive in our culture, left unchecked has caused wars, torn countries apart and ruined countless relationships.

So, how can God use our anger for good?