throughout the church calendar. So we're coming to an end of that, as Nick has indicated.
I'd be grateful if you had Ephesians 6 in front of you, that Bible reading. Also, we also have a
service outline, which has the Bible passage in front of it, and a very brief outline of where
I'm heading. But also, there's St. Paul's app, so you can get it on there as well to follow along.
One other little shout out. I don't normally do this, but we've indicated that it's,
or highlight the fact that it's Ruby's birthday today. From my understanding,
according to Facebook, it's also Ali Rowe's birthday today. Is that correct, Ali? Is that correct?
That is correct. Happy birthday, Ali, as well.
That's the only value of Facebook, as far as I can tell. Let me pray. Father God, as we launch into
your word, we ask that you would reorientate our worldviews. Amen. World War I, while it was raging
in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, the United States maintained a policy of neutrality.
At the time, millions were dying in Europe. Life went on pretty much as normal for people in the United
States. There were some that were aware that there was a big war in Europe, but the majority of the
population just kind of cruised on with everyday life as if it didn't happen. It didn't really impact
them at all. The intention of the United States was to stay out of World War I. President Woodrow
Wilson's efforts to maintain neutrality, however, was totally disregarded by German submarines.
3rd of February, 1917, the USS Housatonic was sunk by German submarines. Three more ships, US ships,
were torpedoed in the following weeks. And on the 6th of April, 1917, President Wilson signed the
declaration of war against Germany. A couple of other sort of events tipped him over, such as the
possible invasion from Mexico into the United States. From a nation that had an intention of
staying out of World War I and to live in peace and quiet and to get on with life, they very quickly
shifted into a full-blown wartime mindset. Within two and a half weeks of declaration of war, Congress
passed the Liberty Loan Act to raise funds from the war effort, and $20 billion was raised for American
citizens in the next two years. Six weeks after the declaration of war, Congress passed the Selective
Services Act. 24 million men between 21 and 30 were registered. Three million were drafted immediately
into service. A month later, the Espionage Act put a 21-year prison sentence on anyone who hindered the
war effort or aided the enemy. On the 3rd of October, the War Revenue Act increased corporate and personal
income taxes and established excise, excessive profits and luxury taxes. On the 5th of April, 1918,
the War Finance Corporation is formed with capital of $500 million to support the war industry. From the
moment of declaration of war in April, 1917 to armistice in November, 1918, so 18 months, 4.744 million Americans
fought in the war. But the whole nation was engaged in it. The whole nation changed from the moment of
declaration of war. Now, all this is just simply to say that during times of war, everything changes.
Everything changes. Everything changes. And I want us to see from Ephesians 6, that passage in front of us,
that a war is in fact raging that is far more devastating than any world war we've seen.
The stakes are infinitely higher. World War I and World War II were devastating for the planet.
120 million deaths. And the war that we are currently involved in is a spiritual war that sees over 50 million
souls slip into a Christless eternity every year. And over the past seven years or so, we've been
reforming what we've been reforming what we do as a church to get higher and higher engagement in our
local area, especially, but beyond us in that battle. For me, what we're doing here, and as we've been
reinforcing it throughout this vision series for us, it flows out of a biblical conviction more so than
effective strategy, although strategic thinking is part of what we're doing. This biblical conviction
is for what we've seen throughout the book of Ephesians as it's unfolded before us.
It's God's grand purposes for all people on the planet, no matter what culture, what generation,
what people group you belong to. His purposes for his people, the church, and this world from
eternity past to eternity future. Ephesians chapters 1 and 2 and 3, as we have already been there,
reveals what God is doing about the mess that this universe is in because of human sin and our
rebellion and rejection of God. The disintegration and disorder and the chaos and the brokenness
is sold by God coming into this world himself, God the Son, the person of Jesus Christ, being made king
over all things. Under his kingship, all that is disintegrated and broken gets integrated. God's purpose
is to create a single new humanity through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The death
and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the core fact and hope of the Christian faith, and it is the solution
to the sin, the evil, the brokenness, the chaos of this world. And if you've never heard the term
gospel before, on the back of the service sheet, I've given you a brief explanation in English, and
there's one in Chinese and one in Korean. And what the Bible declares, what the Christian faith declares,
is that there is no other way to find salvation forever than in the blood of Jesus Christ. And
that's what we've seen in Ephesians 1 to 3. And Ephesians 4, 5, and 6 is how you live in accord
with that grand reality of all things. The reality of who we are as Christians, as a church, who are now
united in Jesus Christ. And so Ephesians is rich with the mystery and the wonder of salvation,
of peace with God, and unity among believers, and giftedness to serve God's human society.
Unity, diversity, purity, and harmony, these are some of the characteristics of the new life
and the new society in Jesus Christ. And they are exalted thoughts. They are wonderful thoughts.
And just when you think that Paul's going to end his letter with, and they lived all happily ever after,
which is kind of what you think he's going to get to, the conclusion he comes with, he basically
slaps us in the face and wakes us up from our dreamy reflection. He says the beautiful life
of the united and yet diverse new society is lived while camped out in the trenches of war
we're in the enemy territory. That is, Christian, you need to know you're in a battle.
It's a battle for souls. J.C. Rye was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.
He once preached a sermon about the war that Christians are involved in, and he said this,
true Christianity, true Christianity, and he says, mind that word true.
There is a vast quantity of religion current in the world which is not true, and it's not genuine
Christianity. There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday
and call themselves Christian, but you never see any fight about their religion.
Of spiritual strife, exertion, conflict, self-denial, watching and warring, they know literally nothing at all.
Such Christianity may satisfy man, but those who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable,
but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible. True Christianity is a fight.
The true Christian is called to be a soldier and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death.
He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, indulgence, and security.
He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven,
like one traveling in an easy carriage.
Ephesians 6.12, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Verse 10 opens with the word finally.
It's not, you know, like towards the end of this, I say, and finally, you go, oh, morning tea's on.
That's not what Paul's thinking here.
The word finally is not signaling his final thought.
The word is better translated for the remaining time.
Paul is indicating that the whole of the remaining time before Jesus Christ returns from when he left to when he returns
to hold all of history and humanity accountable is going to be characterized by this battle.
The peace which God has made through Christ's death is to be experienced only in the midst of relentless struggle against evil.
Verse 12 says it's not a war against flesh and blood.
It's a supernatural war.
That is, it's not just a war in the physical world with our own sin.
It's against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Now, some of you may be sitting here going, what?
Tell me, Steve, you know, you're educated, sort of, and you read stuff.
How could you possibly believe in this day and age, in this spiritual stuff?
And surely you're not actually saying that there is actually a bloke called Satan or a devil.
You don't really believe in a personal being who's evil.
Do you?
Yes.
Yes, I do.
The thinking of our world has changed dramatically.
And when I say our world, I mean the Western world.
So we're representing about 20% of the world.
It has changed dramatically.
Greek philosophers in the centuries before Jesus saw the material world, including the physical human body,
as subordinate, unimportant, and unreal.
And it's Greek philosophy that the Western society is built on.
The ancient world was dramatically changed by Christianity.
Christianity.
Because Christianity was the first of the religions that actually saw the physical world as a good creation of God.
Christianity was the first to capture the value of the physical world and human life.
To put value on individual freedom.
And the Christian worldview of a world crafted by a rational, personal God was a contributing foundation for the development of modern science.
Modern science would not exist if it wasn't for Christianity discovering the value of the physical world.
And what the modern secular world has done is taken Christian worldview, removed God from it, and amplified it to say that only the natural world matters now.
It's the only reality.
This world's view suggests that everything has a physical cause and explanation.
Even suggesting that love and moral feelings are functions of a brain, functions of chemistry.
This worldview is the basis of a power, very powerful consumer and technology culture,
with the view that all of the world's problems will eventually bow to a scientific solution.
In other words, human reason can solve what ails us because they are only material things that ail us.
Psychology and medicine will help us adjust and overcome emotional and physical problems.
We don't need spiritual resources for that.
Sociology will help us to create a just society.
We don't need divine virtue for that.
And so, what I've just read out there seems hopelessly naive.
Almost like a fairy tale.
And yet the belief that everything has a scientific explanation and a technological solution
is in fact the naive response.
It's hopelessly naive.
These verses are saying that everything...
And I would love more time to unpack that for you, but unfortunately I can't.
These verses are saying that every day there's a bigger battle at play
than the many battles that we face in this physical world.
And it's a battle for the soul.
That is, there's more to us as human beings than simply matter.
There is more to us than the bucket full of chemicals.
80% of our world's population still recognise that humans have a material part and an immaterial part.
We are both body and soul.
The soul doesn't die, but the body does.
And when we think about it though,
it's impossible to live consistently with the view that humans don't have souls.
If humans don't have souls,
then we are simply no different than just all the other buckets of chemicals.
There's no difference between a tree and a cockroach and you.
No different than a blade of grass.
Why then do we treat humans different to the blade of grass?
Or at least I do when I'm cutting it.
I don't lie my kids up out there as well.
Why give a human being dignity and respect that nothing else is given?
Even if we don't intellectually believe that we've got souls,
we inherently live it.
Because there's something more to us than just buckets of chemicals.
So Christianity, it's not naive.
It's not simplistic.
It hasn't got all the answers, but it's not naive and it's not simplistic.
Christianity sees that our problems are multidimensional.
Multidimensional.
And the consensus of the Bible is that human beings are involved in a spiritual war for souls
while we live in the physical world.
While we think that our problems are just flesh and blood, just material,
and we can fix it with better education and better technology and better police
and better social programs,
we will always be defeated.
We have these things in increasing measure in our world
ever since the dark ages.
And our world is not getting any better.
We're in a much more complex battle.
And what this passage and what the consensus of the Bible is,
is this is the world that Satan does his work.
1 John 5.19 says,
We know that we are children of light
and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
Ephesians 2.2, just a little bit early, we've looked at already,
the devil is called the ruler of the kingdom of the air,
the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
And so the devil and his angels are a great demonic enemy
with a defined and disciplined chain of command.
Satan is terribly powerful.
He doesn't possess anything like the power of the infinite God,
though he can only be in one place at one time.
For instance, with his army of evil agents,
he imitates God's omnipresence and his omnipotence.
He desires to be God more than anything else.
And in fact, his desire to be God more than anything else
is at the center of his terrible, total spiritual evil.
And it's what he'd led humanity to,
which is what the Bible declares.
It led his humanity into wanting to be God also,
just like him in his deception.
And verse 12 alludes us to this,
describing the enemy as the powers of this dark world
and the spiritual forces of evil.
Even those throughout history who have gone very low in evil
in what they perpetrate against humanity
do not in any sense match Satan's evil.
Satan has no compassion,
no conscience,
no remorse,
no morals.
He feeds on pain and anguish and filth.
There is nothing in Satan
which is even remotely redeemable.
There is no virtue.
There's only dark void.
That's it.
He is supremely cunning.
Verse 11 there speaks of the devil's schemes
and he's been honing his methods of deception for millennia.
He's an accomplished philosopher and theologian and psychologist.
He has studied for thousands of years
and enough time to become astonishingly brilliant
at every single discipline
directed in order to deceive humanity.
He is the ultimate manipulator and subverter and actor.
2 Corinthians 11 says that one of his deadly methods
is masquerading as an agent of God's.
And this technique is just mixing enough truth with falsehood
to make it seem plausible.
Another one of his is sensuality.
Many souls are sold to accommodate a downward spiral in morality.
And another which is just instilling doubts about God's goodness.
Whatever his tactic,
he seldomly attacks in the open.
His strategies administered by his agents
are nearly always unseen.
They are shrewd
and they're perfectly tailored for you
and for me.
He operates best when he can convince us
that he doesn't even exist.
He's done a great job of that in the Western world
and to persuade us
that the Christian life is in fact not a fight.
He is evil beyond our comprehension
with our conscience,
without principle.
He's diabolically cunning
and he is after us.
He hates God.
He hates God's children.
He hates the church.
He hates the mission and vision of this church
to see the Lord Jesus treasured
together by us
in such a way that more and more people
from every culture,
tribe and language
is rescued from his evil clutches.
He hates it.
He hates our plan to be united,
multi-ethnic and socially diverse church.
He desires to destroy
the work of the Father
to make one society in the Lord Jesus forever.
He will do whatever he can
to destroy the work of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ
in your life
and in the life of this church.
This is Paul's cosmic perspective.
And if you're sitting there going,
no, no, no,
there is no spiritual realm,
can I ask you not to be so naive
and dig deeper?
Now, all would be despair
except I've only described
part of Paul's cosmic perspective.
Among mortals like us,
Satan has no equal,
but he is far exceeded
by the God of the Bible
who's revealed himself,
the God of the universe,
the God who's created all things.
Satan is nowhere near God's evil.
Sorry, equal.
Let me just retract that.
Equal, equal, equal.
Nowhere near, he's equal.
Okay.
Not even close.
And this is different
between the Greek philosophy of old
that saw good and evil as a dualism.
Both Satan and God are fighting together
and hopefully one will get the upper hand.
Not even equal.
Satan is finite,
God is infinite.
In fact, Colossians 1 and 2
says that the entire spiritual realm
owes its existence to Jesus Christ,
including the thrones,
the powers,
the rulers,
the authorities,
both visible and invisible,
both heaven and on earth.
Christ is not only more powerful
by being virtue of Satan's creator,
but because he defeated Satan on the cross.
That's what the early chapters of Ephesians
have already declared to us.
He has sealed their doom.
Although in this present age,
they still exercise a control over those
who have not found freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ
just yet,
as we have already sung this morning.
If we are filled with the Holy Spirit,
Satan's forces cannot subdue you.
In Jesus Christ,
there is always victory.
But,
be realistic.
Real Christianity is a fight,
but the fight is the Lord Jesus' fight.
That's the good news.
The fight is his.
The battling's ours.
Paul leaves two commands that dominate,
and I want to do this real quick,
that dominate his advice
in these last two verses of the letter.
The first is in verse 10.
Finally,
be strong in the Lord
and in his mighty power.
It's a passive command.
Be made strong.
Jesus Christ has the victory,
and Ephesians 1 and 2
declare that he has given us
the resources
to stand and flourish.
We cannot fight this evil
by ourselves.
We are totally dependent upon Jesus,
and Paul expresses here
what you might see,
a proper combination
of divine enabling
and human cooperation.
He does it again
in the second command,
in verse 11.
Put on the full armor of God
so that you can take your stand
against the devil's schemes.
God has mercifully made provision
for us in Christ
so that we can stand
and not fall.
And the provision is his armor.
It's a picture of a soldier
in a battle.
So if your aim
is to persevere
in the Christian life,
not to be defeated
in the greatest sense
that is in a spiritual battle,
then you must put on this armor
described in these verses.
And we're told four times
in these verses
that the need to stand,
to stand our ground.
Paul is concerned
about our stability.
Wobbly Christians
don't have a firm foothold
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
are easy prey.
Easy prey.
Paul here wants to see Christians
so strong,
so stable,
that they're stable
in the face,
able to stand
in the face
of all of Satan's schemes
and stable
even when the day
of evil comes,
as it says.
So this armor is essential.
It's described
in the following verses.
Let me just quickly
touch on it.
The belt of truth,
verse 14,
basically held
the sword in place.
And to stand firm
in the battle,
you must be a person.
The sword here
is the truth
of the revelation of God
in the scriptures,
in the Bible.
And for that truth
to have transformed you
as a person
into truthful character.
Essentially,
important,
that's really essential.
It's so important
in a world
where absolute truth
is rejected.
The irony of that statement
that there is no such thing
as absolute truth
is that that in itself
is an absolute truth statement.
That's the irony of it.
And we're saying
our absolute truth
is in the scriptures,
be filled with it.
Secondly,
the breastplate of righteousness,
verse 14,
the breastplate of righteousness
is God's own righteousness,
his own goodness
and right standing
freely given to those
who believe in Jesus Christ.
This is the good news
of the Christian gospel
as we've seen
in Ephesians 1 and 3.
It's written on the back
of your service sheet again.
Jesus Christ,
perfect life,
right standing before God
has become yours.
You don't earn it.
You don't work for it.
You don't contribute
to your right standing
before God
at all.
It's Jesus.
He's achieved it
and given it to you
as a gift.
And not only that,
he's taken my unrighteousness
to the cross
and dealt with it.
A great protection
against the thrust of Satan
which remind us constantly
of our own unrighteousness
and our own unworthiness
before God
is the gospel
to hold it close.
Thirdly,
feet fitted with the readiness
that comes from
the gospel of peace.
Verse 15,
the peace with God
that comes to us
in and through
the gospel of the Lord Jesus
firmly plants our feet
and gives stability
in battle.
A gospel
that declares
that you are not
at war with God.
God.
He's not your enemy.
You are not at war
with him
but in fact
at peace with him
through Jesus.
Number four
is the shield of faith.
Verse 16,
as we are locked
in this battle
with the enemy,
this is the battle
that you will experience
deep in your soul
day in and day out.
Repeated volleys
of temptations
and rejection
and criticism
and hypocrisy
and deception
and doubting
of God's goodness
and doubting
of the truth
of his word,
doubting even
his existence.
That is the battle
that you fight
constantly
in your soul.
But up comes
the shield of faith
against a thousand
of those fiery arrows
as we believe
and trust
what God
has revealed
about himself
in his word
that in Jesus Christ
you are his son
as we have already sung.
Five is the helmet
of salvation
which is the assurance
of salvation
and the resulting
confidence it brings.
This helmet
assures us
that no matter
what happens
in this battle
we will be saved
and we will be
we will experience
victory
forever
in Jesus Christ.
that's the outcome
of this battle.
Lastly
the sword
of the spirit
we are told
that it is
the word of God
cuts to the heart
it lays it open
so that people
would believe
and repent
and be made alive
in Jesus Christ.
We're at war
and what this verse
tells us
as does the rest
of the New Testament
in fact all the Bible
is our razor's
sharp weapon
is God's word.
That's how
Jesus
when he was
tempted by Satan
in Matthew 4
he used the word
of God
to repel him
and our razor
sharp weapon
is the word
of God
and we would be
fools to lower it
simply because
our culture
says
it can't cut.
Our enemy
wants us to believe
that our weapon
is irrelevant
in the modern age
that it's archaic
that it's not
understandable
so keep it
in its sheath.
So friends
we must read it
we must meditate
on it
we must memorize it
we must study it
we must love it
the weapon
that we fight
with are not
the weapons
of this world
which brings us
to verse 18
and the importance
of prayer.
And pray in the spirit
on all occasions
with all kinds
of prayers
and requests
with this in mind
be alert
and always keep
on praying
for all the saints.
Prayer isn't
an added element
like another part
of the armor
it's the thing
that perviates
if you like
the whole war.
The prayer
referred to here
is comprehensive
pray on all occasions
regularly and constantly
with all kinds
of prayer and requests
for it takes
many and varied forms
being alert
and always keeping
on praying
because we don't
want to fall asleep
in a battle
for all the saints
since the unity
of God's
new society
which has been
the preoccupation
of this whole
letter of Ephesians
must be reflected
in our prayers.
Not
simply God
give me
a better job
but God's
agenda
being reflected
in our prayers.
And so my first
and my simple
challenge to us
at the end
of our vision series
is to rethink
your priorities
in these two areas
right now.
Commit to a new
resolve
to be a Christ
centered
Bible saturated
follower of Jesus
who's devoted to prayer
as we move into 2020.
Be committed to that.
Commit to a new
venture with God
today to pray
for this church
for its leadership
for its ministries
and its mission
and for the souls
the souls
of people
that they would
trust Jesus Christ.
My second
simple challenge
is to take us
back to the beginning
and for us
to take on
a wartime
mindset
in regard
to the spiritual
war that we're
engaged in.
A wartime
mindset
is where we
pour our resources
into the battle
to win the battle.
The thrust
of this whole
series
over the last
six weeks
is about
engaging
our time
our talents
and our treasures
our prayers
and our energy
to see
God's global
vision
advance
here in your
own life
but also
in the lives
of those
who are not
here at the
moment.
Our collective
response
is dependent
upon every
individual
response.
We want
each one of us
first and
foremost
to sign up
to serve.
We also want
every one of us
to give
financially.
as we do
each year
we pledge
to the work
that we're
doing a year
ahead
to engage
in this
battle
to see
many souls
won for
Christ
and as we
do each
year
our pledging
and our
leaders
that is our
parish council
and our
staff
they do it
in advance
as a sign
that we are
leading you
as a church
into this.
Now in a
moment they're
going to come
up
even though
they've already
done that
they've already
all pledged
to me
they're going
to come
up in a
moment
they're going
to also
put cards
in here
just as a
sign of
partnership
with us
as a church.
The reason
why we
pledge in
advance
is because
we want
to lead
the church
in this
matter.
So I'm
really happy
to declare
and I'm
going off
script here
John
or whoever's
up there
I can't
see
sorry
is that
Owen
it is
Owen
and Adrian
thank you
I'm happy
to declare
that our
leaders have
already
pledged
this is 27
people
staff and
parish council
have pledged
$4,321
a week
that's
slightly
over
than
40%
of our
budget
next year
they have
also
on top
of that
given
$29,600
towards
the target
of $75,000
that
likewise
is 40%
of that
target's
already been
hit
when we
hit here
this morning
so what
I'm calling
you today
is to
follow them
and to
make a
sustained
effort
not just
with a
one-off
response
but a
sustained
effort
to resource
the war
into 2020
right now
I'm going
to invite
John
is Ash
here as
well
Jake
Aaron
come on
up
these
guys
are
our
four
interns
Christians
and
right
now
we've
got
30
grand
to go
towards
the
battle
engaging
these
guys
in
that
but
I want
to pray
for them
because
they're all
here today
and I want
to pray
for them
that
they would
be used
by God
to be
effective
soldiers
and
servants
as we
even
just
prayed
for our
two
sisters
in
baptism
they
would
be
effective
soldiers
and
servants
for the
Lord
Jesus
in
this
battle
and
that
we
would
resource
them
as
well
let's
do
that
gracious
heavenly
father
I want
to thank
you
that
you
spread
your
gifts
ashore
to
all
of
your
people
thank
you
that
the
Lord
Jesus
has
given
his
gifts
to
his
church
he
held
them
all
and
he's
given
them
and
dispersed
them
amongst
us
so
that
we
might
continue
his
work
in
the
world
we
pray
for
our
four
brothers
and
sister
here
in
the
Lord
Jesus
who
have
been
impressed
by
you
to
be
set
apart
for
the
war
in
this
church
but
also
beyond
this
church
to
live
a
life
of
vocational
service
we
ask
that
you
would
fully
equip
them
for
that
work
that
as
they
battle
not
just
with
the
devil
beyond
and
the
world
from
the
outside
but
their
own
hearts
within
the
flesh
within
Lord
I
pray
that
they
would
hold
your
gospel
close
that
they
would
know
always
that
they
are
your
much
loved
children
and
that
you
would
continue
to
equip
them
for
this
battle
and
as
a
result
of
what
they
do
that
we
would
see
many
souls
won
for
you
for
the
glory
of
the
Lord
Jesus
Christ
Amen