Posts

Posted on

The Preparation of the Lamb – Exodus 12:1-14

On this Palm Sunday, we are looking back to the Passover that brought the crowds to Jerusalem in the first place. We can also think back to our Advent series, looking at the three prophecies about the coming of Christ, a key fulfillment of which we celebrate today.

We think specifically back to Ezekiel’s vision of God’s presence leaving the temple, a vision of God on a throne in glory – because now he returns, incarnate upon a donkey. Love returns.

We’re going to look at the Jewish perspective on the events of Palm Sunday and the Triumphal Entry, and the rest of Holy Week in the context of the events in the time leading up to Passover.

The Passover Lamb is a picture of Christ. Paul writes to the Corinthians: “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” Even before His death, John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Jesus also entered at the time when the Jewish people would have been seeking the Passover Lamb.

This calls to mind a story even older than Passover, the story of Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac, but miraculously given a sacrifice in his place. This happened on Mount Moriah – the same location, per 2 Chronicles 3:1, as the Temple, where Christ approaches on Palm Sunday.

In addition, the time described in Exodus – twilight, or “between two evenings” – is the same time of day we know Jesus himself was killed.

In terms of the specific day, Jesus was killed on the Day of Preparation – in fact, his execution was rushed because the Jewish leaders wanted it all done before the time of Passover began.

The Passover lamb needed to be “without blemish” – as Christ was. It could not be either younger or older than a year, in the prime of its life, just as Christ was. The lamb was to be killed by the Jewish people themselves, and done publicly. Like the lamb, Jesus was killed publicly by God’s people.

In Exodus 12:7, we also see that the blood of the sacrifice was not to be spilled out but captured and applied for deliverance from God’s wrath. Romans 5:9 says, “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.” We see the wrath of God’s also in the fire where the lamb was to be “thoroughly” roasted – fire in scripture is a picture of God’s holiness and wrath, and Jesus took the full brunt of that.

The bones of the lamb were not to be broken, which we know was the case with Christ, despite all expectations.

All these connections were not just coincidence, but there to show that Christ is our Passover lamb. Christ was slain publicly, in the time and place, publicly, so that the wrath of God will pass over us.

Just as the Jews would take all of the leaven out of the house, representing sin, Christ’s sacrifice removes our sin. And as during Passover, we must apply the blood to our lives.

Have you “applied the blood,” accepting and requesting the salvation that Jesus offers through His death and resurrection?

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, March 28, 2021

Posted on

Closing and Review – Ephesians 6:21-24

As Paul wraps up his letter, he begins his closing with a shout out to Tychicus as a “beloved brother and faithful minister.” Tychicus is mentioned five times in the New Testament, usually in the context of him bringing a letter from Paul to a church or even an individual.

Consider the weight of the responsibility of bringing those messages, messages we are still reading today. Behind every Paul is a legion of Tychicuses, faithful church members taking the message out and doing the work of the ministry.

Keep in mind the difficulty of travel in the First Century – Tychicus’ task was not easy. The roads were long, the seas were rough, but he was diligent and got the message out.

We need to do the same in our own lives. We should want the words at our funeral to be about the seeds of the gospel we have sowed in people’s lives – sometimes big seeds, sometimes small ones. God can use all of them.

In the next part of the closing, Paul wishes peace, love, faith and grace to the Ephesians. This echoes the opening of the epistle when Paul wishes “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

This is a moment to consider the role of these concepts in our own relationships. Grace, the unmerited favor of God that we have received – are we extending that same grace to others?

Peace, then, is not simply the absence of violence, but the wholeness and stillness that comes when things are working in the way intended by the creator, especially between people.

Faith, next – the gift of God that connects us to His grace. But more than a single moment, we are meant to grow in faith as we mature.

Then love, a word used 14 times in the book of Ephesians. We see the love here from Christ and for Christ. A question arises around the term translated as “love incorruptible.” Is our love incorruptible? Not generally, but we know that Christ’s love and grace are both eternal. The New Living Translation may have it more correct here – “May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.”

And that closes the book. To review, Chapter 1 walks us through this concept of predestination. Some of us may be uncomfortable with that concept, but we should consider that this is a discussion of God’s nature, rather than our response to Him.

Chapter 2 we walk through both the darkness of our struggle with sin and separation and the path into the light – by faith, which we are given as a gift, preparing us for good works.

Chapter 3 focuses on reconciliation, both of us to God and between people and peoples, through the mystery of the gospel – all with the purpose of the glory of God, the church here in order to make known the manifold wisdom of God.

In chapter 4, we get clear instructions on how to behave towards each other as we seek unity: “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We must be “truthing in love,” tender hearted, bearing with one another with that same grace we have received.

In chapter 5, that gets even more real – we must imitate Christ, discarding immorality and filthy talk. Look for the fruit and, oppose deception. Then it shifts into a call to submit to Christ and each other, in our direct relationships, husbands and wives to start, then children and parents, then masters and slaves as we move into chapter 6 – mutual submission being the theme across each of them, with special attention to those hiding earthly power.

And then from earthly power to the “power and principalities” we are called to stand against. This brings up the “armor of God,” the tools we use in order to stand against the powers of darkness. These battles are battles that require righteousness, faith, truth, peace and the word of God. And Paul moves into the close we discussed today with a call to prayer and to recognize its power.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, March 21, 2021

Posted on

Prepared with the Armor of God – Ephesians 6:13-18

Looking at the story of David and Bathsheba, what is it that makes someone as close to God as David was jump as he did into adultery? We’ll leave that as a question and come back to it.

Coming back to Ephesians, Paul has been insisting on a couple important things. One, our enemies are not people, but spiritual forces – even when people, like the guild of craftsmen in Acts, sure look a lot like enemies. Second, in order to wage our battles against these enemies, we must be unified as a church.

And so Paul tells us to “put on the armor of God.” The tense here is immediate, not ongoing – implying this is something we should put on once, and then never remove (like Denethor!) Keep in mind that the Devil does not attack us when we are most prepared, but when we are least.

The first example is the “belt of truth.” Belts of the time were not there to hold up pants, but rather to gather in your tunic, giving you freedom of movement and giving you a place to attach your weapons.

What does that truth look like to us? In John 14:6, Jesus holds himself out as the truth that matters. By knowing this truth, we are prepared for the battle.

Next, the breastplate of righteousness – a breastplate was the last line of defense for a soldier’s vital organs, for anything that gets past shields and swords, often overlapping sheets of metal

We know, from Paul’s writing in Romans, that this righteousness comes from faith, and that Christ imputes His own righteousness to its.

Next, the “feet fitted with the gospel of peace.” Unlike today, shoes and feet were closely linked to messages in the ancient world, especially in the military world where couriers or runners often moved about on foot, like in the story of Pheidippides and the Battle of Marathon.

Likewise, we are fitted out to bring the good news of Christ, the promise of peace that He brings to mankind, the story of victory over sin and death.

Next, the shield of faith versus fishing arrows. Roman shields were large, built to defend against swords, spears, arrows and more. The “flaming arrows” referenced were built to kill even when they missed their target.

In Hebrews 11:1, we’re told that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” When we undergo attacks of all kinds, whether spiritual or just circumstantial (health, poverty, etc.), a head knowledge of the truth (even the belt of truth) is not sufficient. We need faith to truly protect both us and even, like a shield, those around us.

Next, the helm of salvation, protecting our most vital organs of all, not only the top of the head but also the face and the neck – while still managing to give freedom of movement to the soldier. It protects the brain, vision, hearing and speech.

Likewise, with assurance of salvation, we can go into battle with confidence whether the outcome of victory or death.

Next, the sword of the spirit. The Roman gladius was a very specific short sword built specifically for thrusting from a well defended shield wall. It was not a claymore used to bash obey people’s heads, but carefully and precisely. It was the core of a soldier’s offensive equipment.

Likewise, we must use the word of God offensively, like Jesus himself does against the tempter in the desert. We must be trained to use it properly and methodically. We do not use it as a blunt weapon or claymore to bash over people’s heads. But this means we must spend time getting comfortable and familiar with our weapon.

Paul’s last point in this passage doesn’t seem like it is continuing the military metaphor, but in fact communication is a vital aspect of any battle – we must keep lines of communication open so we can receive our orders.

This passage is largely about being in readiness, fitted with and prepared to use the gifts God has given us. It is also about heading into the fight – a key contrast with David, who stayed behind while his men went out to war and this fell into temptation.

This is a stark contrast with the story of Stephen, who stepped forward to serve the church as one of the first deacons. This ultimately led to his martyrdom in front of Paul, who wrote these words. Stephen was wearing the armor of God before Paul ever wrote the words, and your wonder how large the example of Stephen loomed in Paul’s mind here.

So why do we struggle? It may be less about the difficulty of putting that on, and more about the difficulty of taking off the bitterness, mistrust and despair that we often wear.

We do have both gatherings and people on hand to help you equip your armor and hone your capabilities.

– Sermon Notes, Aaron James, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, March 7, 2021

Posted on

Spiritual Warfare – Ephesians 6:10-13

Paul has been alluding to spiritual warfare and an unseen reality since early in the epistle, all leading up to this final section when he calls on the Ephesians (and us) to gird themselves for the struggle that they have ahead of them.

First, he instructs them to be “strong in the Lord.” This is much what he says he prays for the Ephesians:

…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19

This is what strength in the Lord looks like.

Paul is speaking into a community that had seen up close the way spiritual darkness could impact their community. In Acts 19, we see the story of the Sons of Sceva, ineffectually trying to cast out demons but in the process demonstrating the power held by those who are truly “strong in the Lord” and inspiring a mass turn away from occultism in Ephesus.

After being strong, we are called to stand firm, like an army resisting a charge. This term “stand” is used multiple times in this passage, and is in many ways the main theme.

Specifically, we are to stand against the “schemes of the devil,” which raises the question of “who exactly is the devil, who is our enemy?” The Hebrew terms for Satan intermingle seemingly incongruous concepts like serpents and seraphim and light and deception. The concept is not entirely clear, but what’s clear is that he is alluring despite being fundamentally opposed to God and His people.

We do see his strategies, though – deception, disunity, pushing us away from Christ and from each other. Psalm 1 shows the movement he seeks, from standing to sitting: walking in the counsel of the wicked, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of scoffers.

This means our response must be the reverse of that – coming closer to Christ, coming closer to each other. Our response is not mystical or esoteric, but the everyday Christian living that we know we must do, the prayer and fellowship and seeking of Christ’s will.

Spurgeon said, “The howling of the devil may tend to drive us nearer to Christ, may
teach us our own weakness, may keep us upon our own watchtower, and be made the means of preservation from other ills.”

Paul uses a wide variety of terms to describe the various forces of darkness: thrones, dominions, world-powers and so forth. There does seem to be some kind of relationship to geographic area, which comports with some of Daniel’s visions as well. What this means to us is not entirely clear – please don’t go on the internet to try to figure out which demonic kingdom you live in – but it does mean we should be zealous about making the places we control to be places of peace, live and prayer.

We can do this by doing as Paul instructs, to put on the armor of God and keeping in mind what Paul tells us in Romans 8:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

We can also look to the promises made to those who overcome in the letters to the churches in Revelation – each one promised something to those who overcome. From the tree of life to hidden manna, to authority over the nations to sitting with the father. The specifics of what all this means is unclear, but it’s certainly exciting.

When feeling oppressed or attacked spiritually, we should be vocal – these “authorities” are not omniscient. We should sing, as called to in the Psalms and elsewhere. We should pray, and immerse ourselves in scripture.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, February 28, 2021

Posted on

Servants of Christ – Ephesians 6:5-9

Off the bat, this passage is pretty uncomfortable for us. The term slave here is οἱ δοῦλοι – it’s important to understand that the systems of slavery discussed in the Bible were not the same as the racial-based chattel slavery of the United States. That doesn’t mean it was good or even defensible, but it was a reality throughout human history – and still is today in many parts of the world and even our own society.

The Bible is not silent on the evils of slavery – in Exodus, firm regulations are put around the practice, including limiting the time it lasts, strong penalties against kidnapping, and other instructions that stand in stark contrast to the society around them. This was the beginning of a longer term change that God was working. Why didn’t He just ban it outright? We don’t really know.

We see a similar story with polygamy, which God tolerates even though it clearly does not match His ultimate plan. Jesus addresses a similar concept when discussing divorce, where he says Moses’ allowances were “because your hearts were hard.”

Even in this chapter, we see Paul undermining the entire institution. We see the same thing in the book of Philemon, when Paul instructs a slave owner to accept back an enslaved person who had run away, not as a slave but as a brother.

There are instructions for slaves, as others put in a position of submission by the society around them, is to follow the material lines of authority, but to do so “as to the Lord.” This means behaving as if the work we do is done specifically for God, as is generally instructed elsewhere in the epistles.

Then he gives further details on how to obey – sincerely, in good will, serving as to Christ. That means we don’t just work in a way that is visible, but that actually accomplishes the tasks we have been given. In fact, we don’t even serve to please those in charge at all. Working for Christ should mean we are focused on outcomes, not on how we look in providing those outcomes.

And then, in a moment that is mind blowing even today, and must have been staggering at the time, Paul instructs those in charge to “do the same” to those under their earthly authorities. This means no threats, and a recognition that we are all equal in the eyes of God.

So how do we apply this? The most straightforward way is through a theology of work that both honors the work itself as God-ordained, and imbues us with respect for those we work with and for. The work we do for our employers is part of the good works we are called to, that those around us will see and praise our father in heaven. We should be praying for ways to be and share the gospel in our work.

More challenging, perhaps, is the theology of authority. Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew tells us “all authority has been given to Me.” But we see in Philippians that the One who has all authority has emptied himself of all that authority and made himself like a slave – δοῦλοι. In case we missed the point, Jesus acted this out by washing the feet of his disciples and insisting that they do likewise. If we do not, we are saying we are greater than Christ.

In John 15 Jesus explicitly cites his foot washing as he instructs the disciples to prepare to serve, to be hated, but to bear fruit and above all to love.

Paul, likewise is about to talk about how we are to go out, kitted out in armor of God. We are being called to something very different than the world. We have all the greatness and authority we could ever want in Christ, but like Him are called to empty ourselves and to serve.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, February 21, 2021

Posted on

Co-submission Between Parents and Children – Ephesians 6:1-4

Ephesians, as discussed, is broken into two parts. The first part is about Christ and who he is and what he has done for us. The second part is about our relationships between each other, both generally and in the specifics. This passage looks at children and parents but has implications for everyone who lives together in community.

It’s wild to think that, despite the difficulty and importance of the job as parent, there are no qualifications or applications for the role – and the same is true for kids!

We can use dogs as a good way to look at obedience. Some dogs are motivated by food or toys – they will do what you want as long as there is something in it for you. But other dogs obey because they want to please their master. That is the kind of obedience we want to achieve – pleasing not even those in charge, but pleasing God with our obedience to earthly authorities, particularly children obeying parents. Though children are not alone in having difficulty with obedience.

But note that the verse doesn’t just say “obey your parents” but to do so “in the Lord.” We use that kind of language a lot, but what does it really mean? Jesus describes it as the branches of a vine, calling us to “abide” in him, a relationship even deeper than obedience. We want to be branches that are fully connected to the tree, that do not break in the wind or under a lot of snow. So, children shouldn’t just obey their parents because they have power over you, but because it pleases them, who you love, and God, who you love, and because “it is right.”

But what’s more, Paul points out that there is indeed a dog treat involved here! The commandment to honor father and mother comes with a promise, that “it will go well with you.” This is general wisdom, not a guarantee that all good kids get rich and live long, nor that all bad kids get their just desserts, but it is still broadly and crucially true.

We discussed last week how a good marriage is a symbiotic relationship, like a clownfish and a sea anemone. That is true in its own way of parents and children as well. We see this in Proverbs – the teaching of parents are the lamp and the light

So when is it OK not to obey parents? What if they aren’t believers? Well, no – even in those circumstances you need to obey. There are extreme exceptions – situations like denying Christ or abuse, in particular. This includes emotional abuse from parents or authority figures, insulting or calling names, and physical abuse, touching, hitting and any violence or physical action that makes you uncomfortable. As adults, we need to be receptive to it when children talk us about this sort of thing. Jesus tells us in Mark 9:42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”

Then the passage shifts to parents, fathers in particular. In that culture, fathers had absolute authority over their children even into adulthood. And while mothers can struggle with this as well, fathers have a particular tendency to react in anger or other exasperating ways. This includes self-righteous or prideful anger; unrealistic expectations about their maturity level and not allowing them to fail; caring more about their material success than their spiritual well-being; impressing our passions and desires on them; cruelty through sarcasm and jokes; and certainly disengagement from our children and their lives.

Instead, we are to raise up, nourish and instruct our children, especially in this time of pandemic when so much is being expected of them.

One of the most critical ways to do this is to pass on to them a love of God’s word, which provides what we and they need to live in relationship – perhaps most importantly, grace. We also need to consider that when our children come to Christ they become our brothers and sisters in Christ. We want them to build a faith independent of our own – abiding in Christ like the branches and the vine.

This is another in a list of ways Paul gives us to “co-submit” to each other. We see this co-submission instructed to husbands and wives, now to parents and children, later to masters and slaves. Paul gives specific instructions as to how to live out that co-submission in our various relationships. But this is not the only passage that gives us guidelines for living in co-submission – all of scripture is there to teach us to do this.

This means to accomplish our goal of co-submission to each other and abiding in Christ, we need to be marinating in the Word and letting the Holy Spirit speak through that and other people into our lives.

As Paul writes elsewhere in Ephesians, we are to put off the old self and put on the new self and be renewed – whether as parents or as children.

– Sermon Notes, John Lehigh, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, February 14, 2021

Posted on

Profound Mysteries – Ephesians 5:28-33

The first half of Ephesians is deep theology, while the second half goes into the application of this theology, the “walk” as Paul calls it – walking together in unity, humility and gentleness, taking off sin and putting on good works.

In the passage today, Paul has just walked through instructions for living out this theology in the context of marriage – and now he’s going to cycle back into discussion of theology by relating marriage back to our relationship with God.

He does this by introducing the new “mysteries” of the epistle. The first was the mystery of the church gathering together the gentiles as well as Israel into relationship with God.

Here we have two mysteries, directly related. First, the mystery of the communion between husband and wife, making two into one, and the resulting truth that husbands should be loving their wives as they love themselves. After setting the bar so high, at Christ’s sacrificial love for the church, Paul boils it down into maybe a more accessible target. Though it is plenty difficult in and of itself!

We can see it, though, in couples living out the vow of “in sickness and health,” as spouses care for and nurture their ill or dying partner. And Jesus does this for us as well, as Paul points out.

It is vital for a healthy marriage that we come together as one team, because we are one flesh. This outlook, this mystery, sets us up for success when we have conflict in our marriages. To do this, though, does require self-sacrifice – giving up our individual identity and desires in order to attain a new identity, and even new desires. Like so much in Christian life, we must be constantly “dying to live.”

And Paul points out that this is true of our relationship with Christ, and each other, as well – “we are members of his body,” just as “the two shall become one flesh.”

And this is the second half of the mystery, a great mystery, the single Paul calls it, that the marriage relationship, properly undertaken, is the most beautiful picture of God’s love for us that we are likely to see in the world. The very nature of sexual reproduction in some ways exists in order to point the way to Christ.

Both the submission and the love that Paul calls for are facets of the selfless self-giving we are called to when we seek to imitate Christ. It is hard, because of sin, because vulnerability is hard, because conflict is real. But every conflict is an opportunity for a strengthened, more beautiful picture of Christ and the church.

If that concept is attractive but elusive, the first step is meeting God through the Christ who transforms us.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, February 7, 2021

Posted on

Be Filled with the Spirit – Ephesians 5:17-21

In the passages preceding, Paul has been walking through ways in which we are to “imitate God as dearly loved children.” He has addressed speech, sexuality and deception versus truth so far. Each one has examined both the action and their consequences closely.

Today he addresses two more items. First, drunkenness. The verb is present imperative, implying that this was an ongoing issue – and the result is “debauchery” or “dissipation,” an indulgence in pleasure that ignores the end results. It’s not that alcohol is innately bad – Jesus served up some tasty wine – but we should not be giving it control over us. And it may not be alcohol that does this for us – entrainment, leisure, money, power selfishness. Any of these can lead to bad fruit.

The next part of this command is to be “filled with the Spirit” as an alternative to drunkenness. On the one hand this means that, to begin with, we need to make sure we are connected to the Holy Spirit through the justification offered through the way created by Jesus Christ. But it also means to be open and yielding to the prompting and direction of the Holy Spirit.

The verb again indicates that this is an ongoing command – another tense of “filled” was used by Jesus during the wedding at Cana, to command the filling of jars with wine. So this is not a one time thing but an ongoing, constant filling.

There are then five results from this filing of the Holy Spirit: addressing each other with songs, singing, making melody, giving thanks and submitting to one another. One of the purposes of “psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” is to address each other, as both encouragement and exhortation. Another is to take it to God in our hearts.

Lots of people see singing as a take-or-leave hobby or preference. But God seems to see it as a far more vital piece of our relationship with Him. From the hosts of Israel to Paul and Silas in prison to the people of God into eternity in Revelation, we are created to sing to God.

Next, and related, being filled with the spirit results in giving thanks, even for difficult things.

Then Paul ends this section taking about the result of submitting to one another – a transition to the next section where he will walk through applications in different relationships.

This mutual submission is difficult to navigate in many relationships. But if we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we will be far better equipped to accomplish that navigation. If we are truly filled with the Holy Spirit, the specifics will work themselves out, as the spirit works through us.

So the command, at the end of the day, is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything else flows from that.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, January 24, 2021

Posted on

Light vs. Deception -Ephesians 5:6-16

In the previous part of the chapter, Paul encouraged the Ephesians to imitate God as children imitate their parents. Our relationship with God should be like that of a family, not a transactional one. He called our two areas where we are to imitate him in particular, in our sexuality and our words – both creative forces that can do great harm if misused.

In the section we’re discussing today, he addresses deception. Deception is a subtle and dangerous thing. If you know you are being deceived, then you really aren’t being deceived at all. It is when you don’t know that you are being deceived – that’s when your are at risk. We can be deceived by others or by ourselves, and once we have been deceived our is difficult to pull ourselves out of it, because we do not want to admit that we were wrong, or that we are gullible.

The Ephesians were dealing with a specific form of deception by a group of gnostics, teaching lies about who Christ is, His relationship with His creation, who we are and how we find a relationship with God. Paul calls these people “sons of disobedience” who were bringing on God’s wrath through their lies about Him.

Paul wants his readers to have nothing to do with those people, because in contrast, they are “children of light” – this echoes the first chapter of John. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men… to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

He calls us to walk as those children of light – live out the declaration that God has made about us. This is the fifth time in this letter that Paul has used this term to urge Christians to a holy life. And it is this walk that sets us up to combat deception.

One example that is particularly prevalent among us today is fear and anxiety – at the end of the day, these are deceptions, because we know the sovereign God of the universe, and know that he holds all things in His hand.

We have God’s word to guide us – it will not necessarily give us the direct answer in specific circumstances, but by immersing ourselves in the word of God, we better understand His character and better form our desires into His desires.

We are called to use this to first discern what is pleasing to the Lord, and then avoid those things that displease Him. And more than that, to expose them.

In fact, Paul connects the exposure of evil behavior to the salvation offered by Christ. It is the recognition of where we are being deceived that we have the opportunity to change course.

Paul also warns the Ephesians to be wise in how they use their time, “because the days are evil.” This is worth applying to our times, as well, even if the specific evils of the days may be different.

Let us walk in that wisdom and walk in that light this week.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, January 17, 2021

Posted on

Imitating the Father – Ephesians 6:1-5

In verses 1 & 2, Paul gives a positive encouragement. In the next two verses, he gives direct instructions of what not to do. He then wraps in verse 5 with the explanation of why.

This follows on chapter 4, where Paul describes our life with Christ and each other as a “walk,” in which we bear each other up and support each other with our different gifts, but not walk in the ways of the world – taking off the old ways and putting on the new life we have been given. Instead of lies, we speak truth. Instead of anger forgiveness. Instead of stealing, hard work and generosity. Instead of bitterness and malice, encouragement. God works in us for our sanctification, but we have our part as well.

That’s the context in which Paul gives instruction to imitate God, “as dearly loved children. ” How does it motivate us to behave, in the midst of the awesome, immense love of God. We don’t need to earn His love, but rather return it in our imitative behavior.

That means, per verse 2, we are to “walk in love” in the same way God loves us. That means, like God, we are not here to excuse sin but to give ourselves up to overcome it. The sacrifices we make are like the sacrifices of the Old Testament, “a pleasing aroma” to God. But we must keep in mind what the prophets had to say about sacrifice – meaningless without the heart of love behind them. Our sacrifices, imitating Christ’s, are to unify that heart and action.

Next, within that context, he moves on to the negative prohibition section. But as you go through this, don’t forget that context, the context of the Father’s great love for us.

Paul’s warnings are like the warning labels on medication or cosmetics: “use as directed.” Both sex and speech are great gifts, fundamentally creative acts that, in their own way, are both imitative of God’s creative power – and both have great power to destroy if used improperly. Paul reiterates the Old Testament’s prohibitions on sexual immorality, behavior outside God’s design.

Next, he warns against impurity – something that feels more difficult to avoid these days of graphic TV and an internet that seems entirely obsessed with sex.

And then speech – James writes strongly about the untamable “strong poison” of the tongue. When considering how to use our words, again we should be imitating God. Are our words the words that Christ would use?

Then he comes to the biggest reason for all of us. This sin cuts us off from God. His kingdom cannot contain impurity or immorality. Our response to those things is, we are shown elsewhere in the scripture, directional: “flee from sexual immorality.”

So our part is to reorient our direction when it points away from God, as ever, to confess and repent and return to the arms of the Father to whom we are dearly loved children.

– Sermon Notes, Bart Hodgson, Seed Church, Lynnwood WA, January 10, 2021.