A Happy Marriage Requires Fighting (Ephesians 6:10-20)

Ephesians 6:10-20

1. Strength for the conflict. In the Lord (Eph 6:10-11).
2. Source of the conflict. Not flesh and blood (Eph 6:12).
3. Strategy for the conquest. Full armor of God (Eph 6:13-20).
• Truth (Eph 6:14a)
• Righteousness (Eph 6:14b)
• Gospel of peace (Eph 6:15)
• Faith (Eph 6:16)
• Salvation (Eph 6:17a)
• Word of God (Eph 6:17b): Read the Bible together. Pray together.

Absolute truths regarding marriage

1. God brought you together (Mt 19:6; Mk 10:9; Gen 2:24).
2. Marriage is forever.
3. God intends for you to be gentle and humble in heart (Mt 11:29; Rom 8:29).

"Conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29) is what God intends for you through marriage (and all of life).

What a happy marriage always needs (Rom 8:32)

1. Love that is unconditional
2. Forgiveness that is endless
3. Grace that is ever present

Marriage is meant to mirror our relationship with God (between Christ and the church -- us)

1. For richer or poorer
2. In sickness or in health
3. For better or worse
4. (Whether cuter or less cute, more handsome or more ugly, fatter or thinner!)
5. ...till death do us part.

"...be content [satisfied] with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake [abandon] you'" (Heb 13:5; Dt 31:6).

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A True Leader

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Face the Truth and Accept Rebuke (Ezekiel 15-19)

You did not remember, yet I will remember: "...you did not remember the days of your youth..." (Eze 16:22, 43) "Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth... Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed... So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord" (Eze 16:60-63)

Face the truth (Accept rebuke); Useless, Faithless, Lustful, Presumption and Deserving of Judgment

• [Ezekiel 15 - A useless vine] You are useless. Why is Jerusalem like a useless vine (Eze 15:8)?

• [Ezekiel 16 - A nymphomaniac bride] You forgot God's grace and used your beauty for yourself. What is the problem with forgetting your past and how you once were (Eze 16:22, 43)?

• [Ezekiel 17 - The eagle and the vine] You broke your oaths. How important is it that you keep your oaths and your promises (Eze 17:18)?

• [Ezekiel 18 - Only the sinner needs to die] You blame others and do not take responsibility. What happens when you blame others (Eze 18:2)?

• [Ezekiel 19 - A lament] Your leadership sucks. What may be some causes of bad or failed leadership?

A Lament for the Dynasty of David (Ezekiel 19)

1. Presumption. The promises of God to the ancestors are no guarantee of divine blessing for their descendants. Ezekiel 18 affirms that children die for their own sins; they do not inherit the guilt of their parents. God had promised to bless Jacob/Isreal (Gen 49:8-12), and then narrowed this privilege to the house of David (2 Samuel 7). After four centuries of uninterrupted rule, the dynasty was governing the people as if by divine right, without any sense of accountablity to the people of God. For such leaders, the promises of David count for nothing.
2. Servanthood. The call to leadership is a call to servanthood. Ezekiel 19:3, 6 is a sharp indictment of the exploitative behavior of Israel's kings. Much of the responsibility for the fall of Judah/Israel would rest on their shoulders. According to Moses, leaders serve by divine appointment for the good of the people (Dt 17:14-20). The last kings of Judah were not the only ones who had betrayed their calling. Sadly, the history of the world and of the church is strewn with the victims of monarchical excesses. Solomon--the wisest of Israel's kings--demonstrated himself the consummate fool by disregarding Torah. So are all who use divine election as an excuse for high-handed rule. Government exists for the people. People do not exist for the government.
3. Commitment. The presence of God's chosen representative is no substitute for personal commitment to him. The people of Judah, even the exiles, continued to look on the ruling members of the dynasty as sure signs of divine favor, a kind of good luck charm. So long as a Davidide sat on the throne, God's protection was sure. They failed to realize that none of the divine promises was automatic; all are contingent. Without submission to the will of God of both leader and led, shepherd and sheep, pastor and congregant, any claim to security with God is a delusion.

References:

1. Block, Daniel I. The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24, NICOT (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997.
   
2. Wright, Christopher J.H. The Message of Ezekiel, BST (Bible Speaks Today). IVP, Downers Grove, IL, 2001.
   

References:

1. Block, Daniel I. The Book of Ezekiel Chapters 1-24, NICOT (New International Commentary on the Old Testament). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1997.
2. Wright, Christopher J.H. The Message of Ezekiel, BST (Bible Speaks Today). IVP, Downers Grove, IL, 2001.

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Encouragement, Idolatry, Beauty, Responsibility (Ezekiel 13, 14, 16, 18)

• [Eze 13:19, 22-23] When is encouragement wrong or bad?

• [Eze 14:3] When happens when you set up idols in your heart?

• [Eze 16:15] When others see your beauty, do they lust after your beauty or do they long for the God and Giver of your beauty?

• [Eze 18:2-4] Why is it always wrong to blame God and others (such as parents, the church)?

"The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them" (Eze 18:20).

# Why does blaming others and God prevent us from experiencing peace and joy?

The complaint of the exiles (Eze 18:2) encapsulates two fundamental human tendencies that are apparent in fallen humanity since the fall of man: (1) blame others and (2) blame God. Man would do anything but accept personal responsibility for sins committed.

# Why is it bad and wrong to blame others and God?

1. I dismiss or diminish my own personal responsibility. Then there is no real need to apologize or repent. But without repentance there can be no forgiveness and salvation. Thus blaming others provides a specious (superficially plausible but false) sense of security (I didn't really do anything wrong, it is his/her/their fault), and it blocks us from repentance and forgiveness, from peace and joy.
2. I make myself a victim rather than acknowledge that I'm a sinner. Blaming others and the victim mentality provides the perfect logic to unrepentance: "I'm the injured party here. Others and God have to get their act together."

The mantra today is "I am not to blame. It is someone else's fault (directly or indirectly)." So we blame the following:

• our genes,
• our environment,
• our upbringing,
• government failures, corrupt self-serving politicians,
• psychological stress.

We find the fault and blame with anything and anyone but ourselves and our own choices and actions. We also blame God. We encounter the popular perversity of people blaming the God they don't believe exists for allowing or causing things that he should have stopped or never allowed. But such blame-shifting tactics were unacceptable to Ezekiel then, and unacceptable to God then and now. Every generation and every individual needs to face up to take responsibility for their own sin, and to recognize that in God's justice, only the wicked will ultimately perish under his wrath and judgment, whatever the outward appearances to the contrary.

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The Gospel and Religion

Binary to make a point: Religion (wrongly understood and poorly communicated) says, "Live like this." The Gospel says, "You can't!" Religion says, "You better..." The Gospel says, "Freedom." Religion says, "Obey." The Gospel says, "Believe." Religion says, "Conform." The Gospel says, "Be transformed." Religion says, "Work." The Gospel says, "Rest." Religion says, "Do." The Gospel says, "Be." Religion says, "Change." The Gospel says, "Respond." Religion says, "Disgrace." The Gospel says, "Grace." Religion is about rules. The Gospel is about Jesus.

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Know One Thing - John Wesley

Wesley's famous declaration: "I want to know one thing -- the way to Heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be homo unius libri" [man of one book]. Standard Sermons, ed. Edward H. Sugden, 2 vols. (London: Epworth Press, 1921), 1:31-32.

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The Call - Bonhoeffer

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