Let's turn again to God's word.
We'll turn now to Ephesians chapter 4.
In our last session we considered that Ephesians
is divided into two sections.
The first three chapters are the foundation on
which the next three chapters, like the superstructure
of a building, are built.
And if the foundation is strong, then only
will the superstructure be strong.
And if you only build the foundation and
don't build a superstructure, you're like that man
whom Jesus spoke about in Luke 14 who
laid a foundation and everybody began to laugh
at him because he never built a house.
There are a lot of Christians like that
who live in Ephesians 1 to 3 all
the time.
They always talk about being in the heavenly
places.
There's that expression which says that you are
so heavenly minded that you're of no earthly
use.
We shouldn't be like that.
Our head is in the heavens but our
feet must be on the earth.
That heavenly life must be manifested on earth.
That's how Jesus lived.
Jesus demonstrated how a Christian must live an
ordinary earthly life, living at home as a
little boy, working as a carpenter, as a
full-time worker, preaching the gospel, but always
bringing that mind of heaven to his life
as a little boy at home, to his
work in the carpenter shop, and to full
-time Christian work.
See, we live our life at home, in
our place of work, and if you are
in the ministry, in Christian work.
Jesus had all three.
He lived at home, in his place of
work, and in full-time Christian ministry.
And in all three areas, he demonstrated the
spirit of heaven.
That is the Christian life.
Anything less than this is not Christianity.
And so, Jesus was not a hermit.
He was not one who did not eat
and drink what other people ate and drank,
or didn't dress the way other people dressed.
Remember this, that Jesus lived just like other
people.
In the garden of Gethsemane, they needed somebody
to identify him, which proves how much he
looked like the other disciples, that unless there
was somebody who knew him well, they could
not identify him.
He was just like the others.
He dressed like the others.
He looked like the others.
He behaved like the others.
He ate like the others in all his
external life.
But it was always the mind of heaven
that controlled his behavior and character.
And he has given us an example of
how we are to live as individuals, in
our Christian homes and in the church.
And this is what Ephesians 4-6 is
all about.
It begins with, I therefore, therefore I entreat
you to walk like this.
I told you, in the first three chapters,
there is no command, there is no exhortation.
Everything in chapters 1-3 deals with what
God has done for us.
He has lifted us up when we were
dead.
He has placed us in heavenly places.
He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.
He has given us the Holy Spirit.
He has given us a calling.
He has made us his inheritance.
He has given us his power.
He has put the enmity to death on
the cross.
He has united Jew and Gentile.
It's not my business.
He has already done it.
He is the one who has now promised
to do beyond all that we ask or
think.
And so the emphasis in chapters 1-3
is on revelation.
You must have revelation.
We saw that in chapter 1.
Paul says in chapter 3 verse 3 about
revelation, on this great mystery.
And he says now, in our earthly life,
we must live out this revelation.
And there is a verse in chapter 3
verse 10 which I want to show you,
before I move on.
The purpose of all this is, Ephesians 3
.10, that the manifold wisdom of God, manifold
means many-sided wisdom of God, can now
be made known, through the church, to the
rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
That means there are demons, satanic powers, that
keep saying, you know what they keep saying?
Nobody can live like this on earth.
Then Jesus lived like that, as a man.
He was made like us, tempted like us,
and he lived a heavenly life.
Now the principalities and powers say, while Jesus
could do it, nobody else can ever do
it.
Every believer will be earthly minded.
God says, no.
I'll show you.
I'll show you a bunch of people, who
live heavenly minded on earth.
Through the church, through the unity in fellowship,
they say, the demons say, it's impossible for
Jew and Gentile to be one.
Even the Malayalees and Tamilians cannot be one.
And the Anglo-Indians and the Malayalees cannot
be one.
God says, I'll show you.
I'll show you how Anglo-Indians and Malayalees
and Tamilians and Telugu people and North Indians
and Bhutanese and Sikkimese and Burmese and Sri
Lankans can all become one.
And not, you know, devalue another person.
We can all be one.
Now that includes all the others I left
out, by the way.
It's not just these people I mentioned.
It includes everybody.
Too many to mention.
But everybody can be one in Christ.
And that is to show the principalities and
powers.
See what I've done on earth.
Now let me ask you.
What is happening in the church today?
Is it demonstrating that wonderful wisdom of God
to the principalities and powers?
What a tremendous calling we have to build
a church on earth.
I don't mean a building.
People.
That this church, like it says in 310,
can be a demonstration to these principalities and
powers of the tremendous power of Christ and
the power of the Holy Spirit.
I don't know whether you see that challenge.
That's the thing that's gripped my heart.
God wants such a church on earth.
Always think that you're building a church which
the demons must look at and say, that's
amazing.
We thought it could never be done.
In chapter 4, it speaks about how each
Christian must walk if we are to be
that type of demonstration to the heavenly powers.
To these evil forces who are always criticizing
God for the way His people live on
earth.
Sometimes we lose that vision which is there
in Job chapter 1 and even here in
Ephesians 3.10. In view of all this,
in view of all that God has done,
in view of your tremendous responsibility to demonstrate
a life to the principalities and powers, how
should you walk?
Walk in a manner worthy, chapter 4, verse
1, of the calling with which you have
been called.
You've been called with a calling.
Walk in a manner worthy of that calling.
Number one, humility.
With all humility.
I told you the other day the three
secrets of the Christian life.
Humility, humility, humility.
That's where it begins.
Jesus humbled Himself with all humility and gentleness.
Why does He begin with these two things?
Because Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 29,
take my yoke upon you and learn from
me for I am humble and gentle.
The only two things He told us to
learn from Him were humility and gentleness.
Why?
Because in all of us there's a lot
of pride and hardness.
And Jesus wants us to learn from Him
humility and gentleness.
If you're going to demonstrate this heavenly life
on earth, it's not going to be demonstrated,
first of all, by evangelism, healing, preaching, Bible
teaching.
Nothing.
Social work, nothing.
It's going to be demonstrated, first of all,
in your personal character.
In your attitude of humility and gentleness.
Remember always in the tabernacle, God began with
the ark.
Man always begins with the outside and inside
he cleans whenever he has time.
God begins with the inside and moves towards
the outside.
If you are human in your thinking and
approach, you'll be more concerned about the outward
appearance.
If you are divine in your thinking and
approach, you'll be more concerned about the inside.
In other words, you'll be more concerned about
the quality of the people in the church
than about the painting on the walls.
This can impress people.
God looks at the quality of the fellowship
of the people you have gathered together.
So, humility, gentleness, patience, showing forbearance with one
another in love, or like one translation puts
it, making allowances for each other's faults because
of your love.
Do you know that there is no one
on earth who is perfect or will ever
be perfect till Jesus comes again?
And therefore, we are working with people who
are going to make mistakes.
If you work with me, you'll discover that
I make mistakes and you'll have to bear
with my mistakes.
And I will discover that you make mistakes
and I'll have to bear with your mistakes.
And we make allowances for each other's mistakes
because we love one another.
And if you've made a mistake, I can
cover it up.
If you left something undone, I can do
it for you.
That's how the body of Christ functions.
Making allowance for each other.
And in it all, verse 3, being diligent
to preserve the unity of the spirit in
the bond of peace.
Unity is a great theme in Paul's letters.
Because, you know what is the mark of
death?
When a body dies, when a human body
dies, you know what happens?
It begins to disintegrate.
These are bits of dust that at the
moment are, the bits of dust are held
together.
You know that our body is made of
dust.
But even though it's made of dust, the
bits of dust are all held together because
there's life in this body.
The moment life goes out of this body,
the disintegration process starts immediately.
After a few months, you find it has
all become dust.
It's all disintegrated.
It's the same with a fellowship of believers.
Where believers are coming apart, you know death
has already come in.
Where a husband and wife are having tensions,
you know death has already come in.
Don't wait till the divorce takes place.
That's many, many years later.
Disintegration sometimes starts within one day of marriage.
Tensions, fights, little distance, misunderstandings.
It can happen in a church.
Two or three go with great zeal to
work for the Lord in one place.
And within a few days, disintegration has started.
Death has come in.
So unity, the wonderful thing about this body
is that all these little bits of dust
are united together that you can hardly see
where it is joined.
And even if you get an injury in
this body, immediately the body processes start to
close it up to join it.
It doesn't like a cut in the body.
Immediately the body processes go to fight it,
to unite.
The way this body functions is towards unity.
No separation.
If two bones break, if a bone rather
breaks into two, you put it together.
Do you know that no man on earth
can join two bones?
Do you know what a doctor does when
he puts a leg in plaster?
He cannot join the bones.
Only God can join the bones.
He just puts it in the proper place.
And in a few weeks, it's joined.
How did it join?
Just by putting it together.
Because the whole body system works towards unity.
Unity, unity.
If there is a breakage, come back together
and unite it.
This is how the body of Christ should
function.
And if it doesn't function like that, what
you are building is not the body of
Christ.
So, God is not building a whole lot
of individuals.
He is building one body.
And that's what He is speaking about in
Ephesians 4.
This building of one body.
He speaks about our being built together, verse
12.
The building up of the body of Christ,
it says in verse 12.
So, He goes on to say, preserve this
unity of the spirit, because there is one
body.
Now, how do you know there is unity?
It says in verse 3, by the bond
of peace.
If when you think of a brother, your
thoughts are always of peace and rest, you
know there is unity.
But when you think of a brother or
a sister, and you are a little agitated,
disturbed, whenever you think of that person, even
though you may say, praise the Lord, brother,
praise the Lord, sister, outside, there is no
unity there.
The test always is peace.
Whenever you think of anyone who is in
that body of Christ, and there is peace
in your heart, you know there is unity.
So, the unity of the spirit is preserved
in the bond of peace.
There is one body, one spirit, one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, and so on.
Just let me mention one thing about that
one baptism.
Some people do not take believers baptism because
they think they took one as a child.
Now, when it says one baptism, it means
one proper baptism.
A child baptism is not a proper baptism.
And it says here about gifts, to build
up this body, you cannot do it without
supernatural gifts.
To each of us, grace is given according
to the measure of Christ.
And then, he speaks about Jesus' ascension, verse
8, when he ascended, he led a host
of captives.
Now, I understand that verse to mean, that
when Jesus died, he went to the heart
of the earth for three days and three
nights, as he said he would.
And we also know that paradise was in
the heart of the earth because he also
told the thief, today I will be with
you in paradise.
So, paradise must have been in the heart
of the earth and that's where he was
for three days and three nights.
And then he came back into his body
in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, came
out and he was on earth for 40
days, appeared to many people and then he
ascended and when he ascended, he took all
those people who were in paradise, who were
captives down there in the heart of the
earth, up with him to the third heaven.
Now, how do we know that paradise today
is in the third heaven?
Because we read in 2nd Corinthians 12, that
Paul was caught up to paradise, not down.
And he says he was caught up to
the third heaven.
So, we know that paradise is up there
today and we know from Jesus' words to
the thief, that paradise was in the heart
of the earth at that time.
This was the point at which he took
it up.
He took all those captives up to heaven,
so today when we die, we don't go
to the heart of the earth like David
and Moses, we go up to be with
Christ, like Paul says.
That's where we go.
And first, he had descended verse 9 into
the lower parts of the earth.
Why?
How did he go to the lower parts
of the earth?
Because paradise was there, next to hell, but
with a big gulf in between.
They could see into each other like the
rich man and Lazarus saw.
And then he ascended up to heaven, and
after he ascended up to heaven, he gave
some gifts to the church.
And those gifts were people.
He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers
to equip the saints so that the saints
will build up the body of Christ.
Read carefully.
It doesn't say the apostles build up the
body of Christ.
The apostles and prophets and so on equip
the saints, and the saints build up the
body of Christ.
So every believer has got a part to
do in building up the body of Christ.
But to equip those believers, God has given
five gifts, ministries in the church.
First are apostles.
And those apostles are not only the first
twelve apostles.
If you read Acts of the Apostles, you
read that Paul and Barnabas were also called
apostles.
And you read Revelation chapter 2, when there
was only one of those twelve apostles living,
John, he says, you tested those who claimed
to be apostles and were false.
So that means there were other apostles also.
Some false apostles, but there were genuine apostles.
If they were only the twelve, then there's
no need to test.
You just want to know whether they are
one of the twelve.
So there are a number of passages which
show there were apostles right up to the
end of the first century.
And there are apostles today.
Apostles are not people who write scripture.
Not all the apostles wrote scripture.
Andrew never wrote any scripture.
And a number of other apostles didn't write
any scripture.
But they were people who were sent out
by God with a specific task.
And the apostle means sent.
Sent one.
Sent by God.
And usually to establish local churches in a
number of places.
To appoint elders in those churches.
And then to be an elder to those
elders.
To guide them.
To solve their church problems.
And to lead them to maturity.
And then to move on.
To lead them so that they take care
of those churches.
And then to move on to some other
ministry.
An apostle never stayed always looking after one
church.
So that's the ministry of an apostle.
He's an elder to the elders of the
churches he's planted.
Then we read of prophets.
Prophets are those who are given God-given
ability to diagnose the problems in a church.
It's like a good doctor who can diagnose
the problem and give the remedy do the
surgery remove the cancer and stitch up the
person again.
And prophets are not very popular because they
are always diagnosing sin wherever they go.
They are diagnosing disease.
And just like a person may not be
happy with the results of his x-ray
or scan many people are not very happy
when the prophet tells them what they are
really like.
But it's a very very important ministry in
a church.
If you want a church to remain in
life it must have prophets who are I'm
not talking about these type of false prophets
in Christendom today who are just telling you
where to travel, whom to marry and that
type of rubbish.
I'm talking about prophets who expose sin in
the meetings and where people are convicted and
they repent and they turn to God and
acknowledge that God is there.
And third, you have evangelists.
Evangelists are those who go out to those
who have not heard the gospel and have
got a special ability from God to witness
to people in personal evangelism or large scale
evangelism and they've got a burden to reach
people who have not heard the gospel and
to bring them to Christ and God blesses
their labors and bring many people to Christ.
Now a prophet may not bring people to
Christ.
He like I said the other day the
evangelist is the one who takes the chapati
from the plate and puts it in the
mouth the prophet is the one who bites
it up and makes it small and throws
acid on it in the stomach and makes
it part of the body.
That's not a very popular ministry.
This gentle ministry of picking it up and
all is so nice.
But once you get to the ministry of
the prophet, that's the thing that makes it
part of the body.
So the evangelist and the prophet has to
work together.
So the evangelist goes out and reaches people
and brings them into the body and then
pastors or shepherds you know what a shepherd
is who looks after the sheep cares for
it if the sheep is wounded, the sheep
needs water the sheep needs food, the sheep
needs to be nurtured that's a shepherd's job
to lovingly, tenderly care for the weak ones,
for the lambs and make sure that they
grow up in a proper way that's the
calling of shepherds and every church needs shepherds
not just one pastor Jesus could pastor only
12 people so if a church has got
120 people how many pastors do you need?
It's simple division you need 10 pastors at
least so what does it mean to be
a pastor?
it doesn't mean to be a full time
worker who's got a title called pastor so
and so and stands up there, no it's
a man who's got a shepherd heart he
may be in a secular job but he's
got a shepherd heart for these younger ones,
goes and encourages them a man could be
only 23 years old and he's encouraging the
15 year olds and the 13 year olds,
he's a shepherd he's a pastor, he's a
great help to the older shepherd, the older
pastor so as a church grows in size,
if there are 20 people you need at
least 2 shepherds if there are 40 you
need at least 3 then only it'll grow
so this one man who's a pastor for
3000 people he's not a pastor he's just
an administrator and a preacher who's just glorying
in a large church he may be a
teacher but he's not a shepherd shepherds you
need many many shepherds in a church and
it's impossible for all of them to be
full time workers and then it speaks about
teachers teachers are those who can explain the
word of God and make what looks so
complicated so simple so that's another thing, every
church does not need a teacher because there
are not many good teachers so you can
have one teacher who travels around to 20
-30 churches but what every church should have
is a prophet every church does not need
an evangelist because an evangelist can bring a
lot of people from many places and move
on that's why you read in Acts 13
there were prophets and teachers there in the
early days and those teachers moved around but
what is needed in every church is prophets
and shepherds and the purpose of all these
ministries is to build up the body of
Christ, in other words an evangelist must not
just have his own ministry saving souls and
say go wherever you like or go back
to your old dead church, that's not the
type of evangelist spoken here, today we have
a lot of people like that who got
their own name attached to an evangelistic ministry
and they go and conduct a huge campaign
and people are saved and they say please
go back to your dead church, in that
dead church there may not be any shepherd
or teacher who leads them to the right
thing to the truth an evangelist must work
together with the prophets and shepherds and teachers
and if he's not himself a shepherd he
must hand over his sheep to a good
shepherd this is where there's need of cooperation
that's how it was in the early days
Philip was an evangelist in Acts chapter 8
but he was not a shepherd in Samaria
other people took over the shepherding responsibility, he
didn't just let them wander and a lot
of evangelistic ministry today is just to build
up one man's name and he makes a
lot of money that's not the type of
evangelist spoken here here the evangelist is the
one who builds the body of Christ and
he says we have to grow up, verse
13 to the unity we must, until we
attain the unity of the faith we must
keep the unity of the spirit verse 3
says we must preserve the unity of the
spirit, verse 13 says until we attain the
unity of the faith there are a lot
of things in which we are not united
for example you may not agree with my
view of the tribulation and whether church goes
through it or not that's fine, but until
we agree, maybe we'll agree only when Jesus
comes after the tribulation but but until then
we must remain united in spirit even if
you hold a different view and if Jesus
comes before the tribulation I'll tell you brother
you were right I was wrong, but till
then let's keep the unity of the spirit,
that's very important we have to preserve the
unity of the spirit until we attain the
unity of the faith, don't wait till we
have united in everything before we keep the
unity of the spirit so we are growing
up gradually, verse 13, to a mature man
to the fullness of Christ our aim must
be we all grow and we help others
to grow to the fullness of Christ and
we must not be children we must not
be babies always tossed about here and there
no, by the cunning of men, trickery of
men, their craftiness their deceit, their scheming, God
allows us to be exposed to all this
because that's how we grow up, that's how
we get our sense of discernment developed, that's
why he has allowed deception, that's why he's
allowed false prophets that's why he's allowed deceivers
around us so that we can discern that
fellow is not right his spirit is not
right and every time you discern like that
you don't have to judge him but you
must discern and avoid him and thereby your
spiritual senses are exercised verse 15 speaking the
truth in love, we grow up, see the
balance between truth and love, should you speak
the truth, yes can you speak it any
way you like no, you must speak it
in love if you cannot speak the truth
in love, don't speak it wait till you
have enough love before you speak the truth
like I said the other day, let's have
the blackboard first, that's love on that you
write the truth don't write the truth if
you don't have the blackboard of love first,
that's how you grow up to the head,
even Christ and from there the whole body
is fitted together by that which every joint
supplies, you know the joint the joint speaks
of fellowship you know how many joints there
are in one hand, there's one of the
shoulder, one of the elbow, one of the
wrist and then in the fingers, there are
joints in each finger, there's one, two, three
each finger, one, two, three these are all
joints and it's the functioning of the joints
of fellowship that make the body function together,
for example if I have a strong upper
arm and a strong lower arm, but the
joint is not functioning what can I do
with this hand, if all my joints are
like this what is the thing that makes
this hand useful not just strength but fellowship,
that's called a joint, here's a good brother
the upper arm, here's a good brother the
lower arm, but unfortunately sometimes they can't fellowship
with each other you know there's when people
have problem in their joints, they call it
arthritis very painful and a lot of Christians,
churches, a lot of arthritis, now have you
seen how when these joints function properly there's
no noise but some people, when they have
arthritis it gets it's all noise and some
people's fellowship is like that, between two brothers
always some going on between sad but see
how all these things function so freely and
no sound at all, that's how your fellowship
with other brothers must be if it's not
like that, take some medicine for arthritis and
get rid of that sickness so that you
come to the place where your fellowship is
glorious that is God's will ok so Christians
this I say therefore, don't walk like other
people in the world walk, verse 17 their
understanding is darkened, they are excluded from the
life of God, you must walk differently, you
did not learn Christ, verse 20 in this
way we have to learn Christ you know
the difference between learning the Bible and learning
Christ do you understand what it means to
learn Christ you look at the Bible and
look at Jesus and learn Christ and he
says, if you learn Christ you won't walk
like the Gentiles and you put aside your
former manner of life and you are renewed
in the spirit of your mind, verse 23
it speaks about putting away falsehood, verse 25
relationships, when you are angry verse 26, don't
sin before the sun sets set right every
wrong attitude you have, verse 26 with everybody
else, husbands and wives, don't ever go to
sleep without setting your quarrels right without removing
tensions when the sun sets all anger should
be over don't give the devil an opportunity
if you don't do that you have given
the devil a chance between both of you,
whether two brothers or husband and wife then
it goes on some practical advice, be careful
about not stealing be careful about the speech
verse 29, that comes out of your mouth
and don't ever do anything that grieves the
Holy Spirit, verse 30 let all bitterness, all
wrath, all anger be put away that verse
teaches us, there must be zero bitterness in
my life zero anger zero gossiping zero slander
zero wrath zero hatred I remember seeing in
a automobile factory once, a little board which
said, our aim is zero defect they wanted
to produce cars with zero defect and I
thought, boy I want to keep that on
my wall my aim is zero defect even
if it takes time to get there I
want to come to the place where I
have zero bitterness zero anger zero gossip, zero
slander zero sin it takes time but let's
get there, look at these automobile manufacturers they
press on to zero defect why don't Christians
press on to zero defect let us be
kind to one another forgiving each other as
Christ has forgiven us be imitators of God
verse 32 says, as God forgave you forgive
other people that's where you must imitate God
and walk in love and don't ever talk
about anything immoral, verse 3 or impure or
anything filthy, verse 4 or silly or dirty
jokes that's not fitting but you must be
thankful people, because you must remember that impure
people have no inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and it goes on speaking about purity
in our life and then it says in
the short time that you have left verse
15 and 16, chapter 5 make the most
of your time because the days are evil
how important for the days in which we
live the days are evil therefore make the
most of the time that you have not
being unwise but knowing what the will of
God is then this wonderful verse be not
drunk with wine verse 18 but be filled
with the spirit there are two sides to
that one side is don't be drunk with
wine that's a command the other side is
be being filled with the spirit it's a
continuous word continuously be filled not just once
for all that means even if you were
filled with the spirit once, you need to
be filled with the spirit again in the
evening, again next morning again next evening, it's
a continuous thing, it's no use quoting a
date, be continuously filled with the spirit, let
God fill you all the time, now what
I want to say is here are two
commands two commands of God one, don't get
drunk with wine, the other be filled with
the spirit now if you had a person
in your church who was drunk with wine
and comes to the church meeting you'd be
horrified that fellow is disobeying a command what
about if a person comes to the Sunday
meeting and he's not filled with the spirit
don't you think he's disobeying a command it's
the same verse, two commands why is it
we look at only one command and not
at the other command this is how we
our mind is blinded when we read the
scripture you're horrified when you see a man
drunk but you're not horrified when you see
a person not filled with the spirit because
we think one is important the other is
not important but the same verse says don't
be drunk be filled with the spirit both
are equally important if you think getting drunk
is serious I'd say not being filled with
the spirit is also serious any day can
you afford to get drunk once in a
month no, not even once a month can
you afford not to be filled with the
spirit even one day in a month not
even one day in a month, it's exactly
like that if you're not drunk even one
day in a month you must not be
without being filled with the spirit even one
day of the month ok, when you're filled
with the spirit what will be the mark
of your life it's not primarily speaking in
tongues but it'll be speaking in a pure
way your tongue will be on fire notice
the emphasis again is on your speech verse
19 you will speak there'll be joy in
your speech psalms, hymns, spiritual songs singing and
making melody in your heart to the lord
there'll be a spirit of thankfulness and rejoicing
even in your conversation to one another it
won't be like we read earlier about gossip
and slander and all the other things mentioned
there you will always be giving thanks, verse
20 mark of a spiritual man is that
he's a thankful man thankful for everything god
allows in his life and all the other
things that are mentioned right up to the
end of chapter 6 a spiritual man his
life is described from verse 19 of chapter
5 till chapter 6 verse 24 that is
a spiritual man it begins with thankfulness to
god it begins with praise and worship and
it continues in subjection to one another verse
21 chapter 5 it continues on to home
relationships chapter 5 verse 22 onwards and it
continues on to fighting against the devil chapter
6 verse 11 onwards all this is the
result of being filled with the holy spirit
be filled with the spirit comma be filled
with the spirit comma all the rest of
the letter to Ephesians, so the secret of
this walk and warfare on earth is being
filled with the holy spirit you cannot walk
the way god wants you to walk without
being filled with the spirit you cannot fight
the devil without being filled with the holy
spirit you cannot live at home as a
husband or a wife or bring up your
children properly if you are not filled with
the holy spirit you cannot praise and worship
properly if you are not filled with the
holy spirit so that's very important in the
home it speaks about three areas of relationships
first of all husbands and wives 5 22
to 33 then children and parents chapter 6
verse 1 to 4 and then masters and
servants chapter 6 verse 5 to 9 in
those days like in many of our homes
in India there are servants in the home
and it also applies to people who work
in an office they are servants in that
office government servants or servants of a company
even if you are earning twenty thousand rupees
a month you may be a servant you
have a boss on top of you it
tells you how you must work with that
boss and if you are a boss with
people working under you it tells you here
how you must be a boss in your
office towards people who are under you and
how you must treat the servants who work
in your home so there are a number
of instructions here on the home and the
office which is the place where we spend
almost all our time we spend almost all
our time if you are in a secular
work either at home or in an office
ninety percent of your time anyway and spirit
filled a spirit filled person his life is
transformed in his home and in his office
it's only then that he can build the
body of Christ you know Ephesians speaks about
building the body of Christ and Ephesians also
speaks about how you work in your home
and how you work in your office as
a boss or as a servant and the
principle first of all that overlies all these
areas is Ephesians 521 be subject to one
another in the fear of Christ now when
husbands want to tell their wives how wives
should behave at home which verse do they
go to they go to Ephesians 522 and
if the wife is clever I am giving
a little hint to all the wives here
you must point out to your husband before
verse 22 there is verse 21 where it
says be subject to one another so the
wife must be subject to the husband and
the husband must be subject to the wife
did you know that the bible says the
husband must be subject to the wife its
there in verse 21 before it goes to
verse 22 what does it mean does the
father have to be subject to the child
yes just like the child to the father
does the master have to be subject to
the servant yes just like the servant to
the master the verse that controls the remaining
verses is verse 21 and many many people
never go to verse 21 the secret of
good relationships at home is verse 21 what
does it mean to be subject to one
another everyone has got a boundary that God
has drawn around him a husband has got
a certain circle, a wife has got a
certain circle, a child has got a certain
circle a servant has got a certain circle
for example let me take a servant first
if you got a person working in your
home lets say it may be a little
girl but that little girl has got a
circle of a boundary for example you are
supposed to give her her meals you are
supposed to give her her salary you are
supposed to respect her dignity not violate her
in any way that's a little circle and
you must be subject to that you must
not deny her her salary a decent salary
her food etc anybody who works for you
must be paid properly must be given their
rights that right, those rights which they have
is that circle and by giving them those
rights I am being subject to them not
being subject means I say you don't have
any rights I am you are my slave
you have no rights that's not, Christian way
is not like that even a child for
example when a child is being punished for
a some bad behavior I have always made
it a rule as a father when my
children were small never to punish them publicly
in the presence of guests because that is
a double punishment first of all the belt
and secondly the humiliation before all these visitors
and that humiliation can be more painful than
the belt or the rod so a child
has got a little circle circle of dignity
and the father must be subject to that
child in that circle and say I must
not punish this child and humiliate him in
the presence of others, maybe his friends are
there, his classmates are there imagine if a
father beats his child in the presence of
his classmates that's a double punishment, humiliation before
his classmates which is worse than the rod
so the father must be subject to the
child and take him home into a private
room and there beat him that's the meaning
of being subject to one another, recognize even
that child has got a small circle of
dignity about it, respect that circle, a wife
has got a certain circle, she may want
to do things in a certain way in
her kitchen okay, that's her sphere the husband
need not go there and interfere how she
runs her kitchen I remember a beautiful story
I heard of a man of god who
was a very orderly man, his whole mind
used to function perfectly in order and his
wife was chaotic all in confusion and her
whole way of life was like that if
you went into her kitchen, all the plates
and this thing is all slip shot and
not orderly at all and sometimes the husband
would go to help his wife wash up
the dishes it's unfortunately what Indian husbands sometimes
don't do, but this husband had some sense
that his wife needs a little help in
the kitchen and used to help his wife
wash up the dishes and then he used
to see this disorderly way in which everything
was kept and he could have tidied up
that kitchen, he could have told his wife,
just let me tidy up that kitchen and
you know what would have happened if he
had done that his wife would have been
so discouraged I can't think like my husband
I'm not able to do it but he
was such a wise man, he would put
the plates and the forks and spoons in
exactly the same disorderly way in which he
used to keep it in the kitchen, so
that she felt comfortable there what did they
have in that kitchen?
fellowship beautiful fellowship no tension but the kitchen
was a chaos now some people they have
order in the kitchen but no fellowship who
is the wise man, tell me the man
who allowed the kitchen to be like that
and had fellowship with his wife you know
there are some people who tell their children
you must not play around in the house
and turn everything upside down, I say where
else can they play, they have to play
at home I say this is their place
I say I'm not bothered what the other
fellow comes and thinks about my house I
want my children to be happy in my
home I want fellowship with my children I
want fellowship with my wife and I'm not
bothered if there's orderliness and tidiness and all
these things which that's good if you can
have it along with fellowship but fellowship is
more important so be subject to one another
here is an example and then it goes
on to speak about wives must recognize the
authority of their husbands, God has placed him
as the head the husband is the head
of the wife in what way, just like
the head of the body just like a
man cares it says for the members of
his body, verse 28 so a husband must
love his wife as his own body, what
does it mean to be the head head
doesn't mean just passing orders the head passes
orders tells the hand to do this, do
this legs do something tongue to speak the
head controls, the brain gives orders but there's
something else the head does which husbands must
also do, what is that if there's the
slightest injury anywhere in the body, immediately the
head feels it and does something what should
husbands do they must be very sensitive to
the hurts of their wives I don't mean
physical hurt emotional hurts when a wife is
feeling sad about something, the brain must sense
it, the head, the husband when a wife
is feeling depressed husband must sense it when
a wife is feeling discouraged when a wife
is hurt by something somebody said husband said,
he must sense it if you don't sense
it like that you're not fit to be
the head what type of head are you,
just giving orders that's a dictator that's not
the head of the body the head of
the body gives orders at the same time
is very sensitive to the slightest pain, even
a pinprick the head feels it that's a
challenge for husbands and if a husband can
be like that and a wife can work
in submission to that husband, there's a beautiful
picture of what Christ and the church should
be, that is the type of home we
must build, it may take time let it
take 20 years, but let's build that type
of home children must be brought up chapter
6 to obey their parents most important thing
we have to teach our children is to
obey their parents slaves and masters, not by
eye service masters without partiality then finally we
come to chapter 6 verse 10 onwards where
we speak about this warfare with Satan immediately
after the home comes this subject on warfare,
warfare is always in the home first, the
devil attacks the home that's why immediately after
the section on the home, you have the
section on warfare stand against the devil put
on the whole armor of God because we
are not struggling with flesh and blood verse
12, if you want to fight the devil,
number one qualification stop fighting with human beings
verse 12 stop fighting with human beings, anybody
who fights with human beings cannot fight demons
the reason why many believers cannot fight the
devil is because they are fighting with other
human beings I made a decision many years
ago in my life that I will never
fight with a human being, you make that
decision and then you will be able to
fight demons and do something for God in
the church, that's number one, we are to
fight against these demons and to fight against
these demons there are a number of things
we need he uses the picture of armor
a belt, a breastplate feet, shoes, shield, sword,
etc number one is, verse 14 the belt
of truth if you don't have truth in
your life, that means sincerity, reality no hypocrisy
no telling lies brother, sister forget about fighting
the devil if you got lying in your
system, the devil is a liar, he will
have fellowship with you, you can't fight him,
if you want to fight the devil who
is a liar, there must be no lie
in your life, your life must be transparent
number two you must have the breastplate of
righteousness there are two types of righteousness the
righteousness of Christ with which we are clothed
we stand complete in Him and the righteousness
of Christ which we partake of through the
Holy Spirit little by little in the areas
where we have light, in other words a
clear conscience in my heart that's the breastplate
clothed with the righteousness of Christ and not
conscious of any unrighteousness that I'm doing in
my life number three choose choose the readiness
to preach the gospel, do you know that
preaching the gospel is one way by which
we can overcome Satan, those who are lazy
and never think of serving God, they are
overcome by Satan frequently, but those who are
active serving the Lord they are protected, I
remember in my younger days, the thing that
protected me so much from so many temptations
that young men face was I spent all
my spare time serving the Lord, I was
working I spent my spare time either studying
the Bible every day of the week doing
something for the Lord twice a week in
the open air down the streets of Cochin,
I think I covered all the streets of
Cochin in those couple of years I worked
in the naval base there evangelism giving out
gospels visiting homes having little meetings in homes
with two or three people always busy, that
protected me from so many temptations many of
you have temptations because you got a lot
of spare time which you are just lying
in bed sleeping or doing nothing else feet
shod with the readiness always ready to share
the good news with somebody you try that
and see if you don't overcome Satan, the
next one the shield of faith, the devil
tries to attack in so many ways we
say I believe in the love of God
I believe in the love of God I
believe he loves me, I believe he loves
me every missile is quenched the sword of
the spirit which Jesus used it is written,
I don't care what you say Satan, the
Bible says he will not allow me to
be tempted beyond my ability the Bible says
he is able to keep me from falling,
the Bible says vengeance belongs to him, I
will not take revenge you quote the word
of God and he will flee and overall
this is to keep all the armor oiled
how do you keep the armor oiled and
fresh with all prayer, verse 18 praying at
all times in the spirit, in the spirit
does not mean in tongues it means not
in the flesh, that means not for carnal
things in the spirit means with your mind
or in tongues, either way but it must
be in the Holy Spirit and praying for
other saints, Paul says pray especially for me,
we need to pray especially for God's servants
like the Apostle Paul who are out in
the forefront fighting the Lord's battles and if
we do that we can build the body
of Christ and make it triumphant against the
gates of hell let's pray heavenly father help
us to do your will on earth to
build your body body of Christ to be
overcomers against satan in this battle, we pray
in Jesus name, Amen