WELCOME
So let’s pray first hit the first song, and then get back to our verse by verse picking it up at verse 15
PRAYER
SONG – The Cave
SILENCE
1st Corinthians 7.15
May 13th 2018
Milk
Okay, we left off last week with Paul saying to married couples that if they were in a mixed faith marriage, let it remain in tact – and Paul even went so far as to say that in that situation the believing spouse would “sanctify” both the unbelieving and the children – which we discussed.
At verse 15 he now says:
15 But . . . if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.
However, if the unbeliever chooses to leave the marriage, let them without recourse, disruption or war – “God has called us to peace,” he says and if such a thing happens the believer is, as Paul writes, “not under bondage.”
Bondage of what? Bondage of the law of marriage – which, as we have discussed, is not a yoke easily broken in biblical times.
In fact, in the book of Romans (chapter seven) Paul teaches a lesson about the Law, and applies it to the marriage bond, saying:
1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, (meaning divorced from the law and married to Christ, or as he adds) . . . even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
So, if the unbelieving spouse chooses to leave a believer, a “brother or a sister” is not under the bondage of that marriage any longer and they are freed from its demands upon them.
Being free, they are free from the unrest that comes with the breaking of the Law.
Now, there have been a number of commentaries over the ages that suggest that this means that the believer would be at liberty to marry again when the unbelieving wife or husband had gone away – Jean Calvin was one of them, for instance.
I agree with this interpretation. However, I’m not so sure this is the actual meaning Paul had when he wrote it.
The overall theme of this section (thus far) seems to be:
We are in some trying times – and if your spouse leaves, you are free, and I would that you remain single because the time is coming shortly where the marriage will be as single, etc.
In other words, I don’t see Paul as using the situation of the unbelieving spouse leaving the other as license to just jump right back into another union. His overall advice seems to be to be unencumbered.
Nevertheless, in our day, I believe that this verse COULD be understood in this manner and that if someone was to take all things into account when deciding how to walk, they could use this to support remarrying if a spouse abandons them over the faith.
In the end of this, however, Paul adds a very important line that I want to spend a minute on, saying “for God hath called us to peace.”
If the faith of following of Christ cannot provide us peace it seems to me to be a baseless religion.
Peace is one of the central products of the faith. In fact, in most of the apostolic epistles, peace is mentioned in the introduction – “typically grace and peace being with them.”
This speaks of the peace “that which is not of this world.” It is an ability to bask in heavenly reassurances even when the material world around us comes crashing down – as hard as that might be to our flesh, mind and emotions.
Certainly, life can be painful and brutal and disappointing, but having Christ in us – who we call “the Prince of Peace” – can, perhaps even ought – to manifest in a peace that cannot be upended by circumstance or trial, because “greater is He who is in us then he that is in the world.”
God has called us to peace – so many times – in fact that the word is used twice as many times as truth in holy writ.
The Greek term is IRAYNAY and it means rest, quietness, a place “when all essential parts have become united.” It is thought that the Greek word comes from the root IRAY which means, “to join.”
So from this we can see that to part, divide, separate, disjoint is often the result of unrest, division, and lack of the peace God has called us to.
Peace is a word that is weighing heavily upon me of late as more and more I see the value of it not only in the world around us but especially in the religious world and especially if one views Jesus as having had the victory over all things in heaven, on earth, and below the earth AS THE SCRIPTURE SAYS HE HAS.
If this is the case, then EVERYTHING has been handled and those who trust in Him can actually have “a peace that is not of this world” because they know their call is to walk in the faith that God has overcome all and to love all along the way – therefore refusing to “go to war” with the fallen world.
Apologies to those of you who watch or attended Meat last week because I shared a bit of this then, but in English we have an oppositional term to describe the anthithesis to peace – “war.”
And it is the nature of our flesh to go to war – with departing spouses, with neighbors, nations and other people and situation – with over almost everything under the sun.
But . . . God has called us to peace.
Something He does because His Son has had the victory over all things – trust in this, really place your flesh in the arms of this truth, and you will have peace when all the world around you is crumbling and falling apart.
It is interesting that the term bloodshed is used 46 times in the OT and only 8 in the New, that battle is used 163 times and in the New Testament only 5 times; and that the term war is used 228 times in the OT but only 17 in the New.
This is showing a tremendous shift in focus through Christ – even though that age was in the process of PASSING away once and for all in the New Testament narrative.
We recognize that Jesus embodied rest, ease, and peacemaking in His earthly life.
Healing the sick and diseased, granting forgiveness, sitting with sinners, calming wild animals, and bringing lost and possessed souls to peace through His power.
He called “the Prince of Peace,” and He embodied this attribute in His ministry.
Remember the story of the storm tossed sea? We read in Matthew 8
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Notice the emphasis of contrasting terms?
Great Tempest . . . . But He was asleep
We perish . . . . Why are you fearful
O ye of little faith.
Rebuked . . . . . A great calm
If your spouse leaves . . . God has called us to peace.
If you suffer loss . . . God has called us to peace.
If others wage war, seek peace whenever possible.
But I think this peace means more than these things. I think He has called those who are His to total peace with all things – except one.
When people confront us . . .
When people disagree with us . . .
When people challenge us . . .
When people malign us, mock us, or even go so far as to vilify us . . .
God has called us, in and through the victory of His Son, to peace.
To rest.
Where the COI were called to rest on the last day of the week, Jesus came and called all who are His to come unto Him and He said that “He would give them rest.”
Peace. And end to all warfare – except one.
Listen – and I know this is hard for some to accept – but we are not at war with anything in this world – if we were then we would not have peace.
But when we realize as Christians that we are NOT at war with any people group, not any lifestyle, political party, attitude, not any other faith, not any other person, place or thing, we are free and we can and will experience the peace that God has called all of us to.
Warfare is the way of the flesh, it is the product of carnal responses to life and to carnal perspectives.
To war with someone over a point of view or whatever else is the product of carnality or spiritual immaturity.
Romans 8:7 says it well:
“the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God (which is love), neither indeed can be.”
Simply put, to be in our flesh is to be both an enmity with God and also to be at war with people and things around us.
Therefore, without peace.
But to be spiritually minded is ???? That’s right, “to be spiritually minded is “life and peace.”
And Jesus plainly said in the beatitudes:
“Blessed (happy) are the peacemakers for they shall be called the Children of God.”
Jesus doesn’t say that peacemakers are called the babes in Christ -they are called the Children of God.
Now, remember what we learned back in 1st Corinthians 3? The believers were attacking each other and Paul says to them at verse 1:
1st Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
Eliminate carnal envying, strife and division (meaning war and warfare) and peace will reign – as God intended it to in the lives of those who are His.
The longer I live the more I see the principles of peace in all who seek to love and abide in Him.
When we choose to continue in distress and war, which means living in opposition to peace – and ours life will be one of constant warfare – and all the ugly things that come with it.
Listen – the wars – all wars but one – are over. All of them. They are over because Christ has had the victory over all things – trusting this, we enter into His peace and rest – we have truly come unto Him and He has truly granted us peace and rest.
Distrust this, and re-enter into unrest, disquiet, and frankly, forms of war.
Condemn others – enter carnal warfare.
Maintain anger for others – enter warfare.
Be impatient – warfare.
And on and on and on.
2nd Corinthian 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the (ways of the) flesh.
And then he adds a key verse. So let me read that verse again
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the (ways of the) flesh.
Then he adds in the next verse:
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God . . . to the pulling down of strong holds;)
But mighty “through GOD” to the pulling down of strongholds?
And here we enter into the only warfare that exists for the Christian ever since Jesus had the total victory over the surrounding world of sin and death –
through God . . . we engage in the wars that rage between our will and the will of God, through our flesh and His Spirit, through our former minds and our renewed minds.
So Paul tells us that our “weapons are not carnal” but that instead that they are “through God.”
Now let’s ask ourselves, how do we do ANYTHING through God? Obviously we do not do them through carnal (fleshly) means but by and through spiritual means.
Through Spiritual means which produce the fruit of the Spirit. So herein are the weapons of the Christians warfare against the self and flesh and corrupted mind – through the things of the Spirit and by the fruit thereof, which is as Galatians 5:22-23 says
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Got that?
Someone tries to go to war with us over this property line, that insult, this injustice, with insults, or with lifestyles, or whatever, Christians approach such situations with . . .?
That’s right, with and through:
“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
If these are the responses from God by which we present ourselves in the face of all potential war, how on earth are we able to do it?
Especially since our flesh is constantly pushing for us to abandon the fruits of the Spirit and to appeal to its will and ways?
Paul describes the means by which we will have success in allowing God to operate out of us rather than our operating out of our own flesh, and he says in Ephesians 6 beginning at verse 10:
(you ready?)
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (This is speaking directly of the internal battle we fight. Then Paul adds)
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, (we have zero fight against other people as Christians) “but . . . against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
For we wresting NOT against flesh and blood – not against other people in any way whatsoever – we are engaged in warfare against invisible powers that manifest and manipulate us (and others) in the flesh, namely:
“against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Four times in this one verse Paul uses the word “against” – so it is obvious that there is a war that remains in the Christian life.
But we note that the “against” are against invisible powers and rulers and wickedness, and that Satan nor demons are among them.
Why? Because He is not the “central,” end-all darkness – he just fell prey to it. The “principalities,” and “powers,” and “rulers of darkness” and spiritual wickedness in high places” are be met with spiritual warfare as we abide in the flesh. These wars will not end until the flesh has passed.
So, how does one war against invisible forces (notice the forces mentioned are all invisible)?
Paul tells us by telling us to “put on the whole armor of God.”
What does that armor look like? Well, appealing to the imagery of war which once surrounded the Old Testament culture of the COI, Paul now describes the armor of Christians use in our warfare, and says:
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
First, we note that contextually speaking Paul speaks to them of doing this so they will be able to stand in the evil day – which was approaching them.
We too may be called to stand in our own approaching “evil days” and so I think the principles remain.
So, he says:
Stand therefore,
having your loins girt about with truth
and having on the breastplate of righteousness
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
and take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
First of all do we hear ANYTHING at all about employing “carnal weapons of warfare?” Anything that has to do with warring against others with physical things?
None.
And since this was written BEFORE Jesus had the total victory over all things we have to note that there are some exceptions to what is said here and what we might assign to ourselves.
Let’s walk through these ten points quickly, remembering that the context is that we
First , do NOT wage war with things of the flesh and blood (what do we do with them – we engage with them through “the fruits of the Spirit” meaning, through God )
Second, but we realized that do engage in warfare against spiritual darkness and evil.
How?
Number one
We stand.
Throughout the book of Acts we read about the apostles healing people who were lame (jesus too, in the gospels) and in every case the first command given them is . . .
To stand.
We were once slayed and laying in the dirt of this faithless world, but once God moves in we stand upon a healed frame, and are willing to stand up to all that is ahead of us in life.
All of this is based on the presence of faith, standing because we possess faith.
We read in 2nd Corinthians 1:24
“for by faith ye stand.”
It makes sense that before we put on the rest of the spiritual armor we stand by our faith.
It is very hard to engage in warfare laying down so the command to first stand means ready oneself.
Once standing, Paul says that we should have
“our loins girt about with truth”
I have always hated that word loin – its weird to me – I supposed if someone wanted to put me in the psych ward they would take my two least favorite New Testament words and put them together in the couplet “loin ointment.”
That aside, the loin – osfoos – in Greek means hips, and by extension this is anciently equated to the reproductive organs.
The imagery Paul uses of course is that the spiritual armor of God that protects the hips is TRUTH – so thus far,
“Standing in who we are, with truth.”
I would suggest that we are all ambling forward with some portion of truth in our possessions, and that the more clearly we have our view of it, the better.
Of course, Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life – so in some ways we could suggest that the Truth Paul speaks about here is Jesus Himself.
I would also suggest that Truth with a capital T is not subjective, it is not variable – it is eternal and it is GODs.
We might only understand some of it, but His truth is eternal and never changes. This is the truth we seek.
Anciently, loose robes were worn and had to be gathered up and tied with a sash so as to be able to move effectively. This is also a reference to that.
Spiritually, falsehoods lend to disjointed views and ways. But the truth has a binding, unifying effect upon the bearer. To me this is the imagery being employed.
and having on the breastplate of righteousness
By the way, Paul is borrowing from the Old Testament in this imagery. For instance,
Isaiah 59:17 says
“For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.”
So this was very common literary devise employed by Jews when writing about preparing oneself for warfare in Spiritual matters.
A breastplate of righteousness, is, to me, another way to suggest the importance of protecting the torso, the vital organs by and through justification (which is what righteousness pretty much means).
Justification is the opposite of condemnation. So the breastplate of justification is a way to say our vital organs as believers is the justification before God and man – which comes by faith in Jesus Christ.
“Stand up in who you are, with truth, justified by the shed blood of Christ,”
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Here Paul taps into a well known phrase dating all the way back to the Old Testament, a phrase he uses in the Book of Romans too.
In Isaiah 52:7 we read “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!”
In Romans, Paul borrows from this very came verse and then here in Ephesians, in teaching us how to properly engage in warfare, he says:
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
What does this mean?
To me it means, the message of the Good News is bore on feet of peacemakers. That the message is one of peacemaking, though it can at times result in upheaval.
Obviously, the material association is to wearing boots or shoes or proper footwear for battle – which the Roman soldiers would don – often created out of brass – but the value to us is related to the idea of standing.
If you are not wearing the gospel of peace in warfare you may be rendered incapable of standing – the first directive.
The Good News is directly tied to peace here. Protect yourself and ensure your ability to continue to stand by always remembering that you are an emissary of peace which is tied to the Good News.
The Good news is NOT bad news in any fashion. Keep yourself standing on such a view.
“Stand up in who you are, with truth, justified by the shed blood of Christ, protected by the peaceful nature of the Good news”
At this point Paul gives us “an above all.”
Of all the things he has said and will say what is Paul’s above all?
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
The importance of faith cannot be overridden in anything we talk about in the Good News.
Everything is based on faith – built on faith, founded on faith – and it is such faith that the fiery darts of the wicked are extinguished.
We don’t have the time but if we did we could spend a few months in scripture proving the priceless nature of faith in the things of God.
Just know this – faith comes by hearing of the Word. I will say no more.
“Stand up in who you are, with truth, justified by the shed blood of Christ, protected by the peaceful nature of the Good news, shielded with faith,”
Then . . .
and take the helmet of salvation,
Encircle your head – where your brain lies – with “soteree-on” salvation.
This is an interesting line. We wonder why salvation is tied to the helmet? Which is tied to the head?
I would suggest that “our knowing” that we are saved, that we are His, is a matter of our mind, will and emotions – our understanding or comprehending the facts or promises of God relative to what we have learned by the Spirit and the Word of God.
Put on that helmet, Paul seems to be saying, as your knowledge of being saved or his will protect you from assault.
“Stand up in who you are, with truth, justified by the shed blood of Christ, protected by the peaceful nature of the Good news, shielded with faith, protected by the fact that you are saved . . . ”
Then Paul says something wholly radical. He says . . .
“and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”
Did you see here that Paul equates the Spirit – or at least what he calls, “the sword of the Spirit, WITH the Word of God . . . that the Sword of the Spirit IS, IS IS the Word of God?”
This is big. This is heavy. This is important, folks.
That Paul seems to be saying that as we study and hear the Word of God we are better armed with the Sword of the Spirit?
Why do we want to possess such a sword? Is it to kill people with, creating unrest and division?
No! The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, is used upon ourselves – upon our own minds and hearts, in the WARFARE that is going on in our souls!
The writer of Hebrews made this plain, saying
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
There is the warfare, friends, there is the battleground, there is the call we all have to go against – its personal, individual, and aimed internally.
“Stand up in who you are, with truth, justified by the shed blood of Christ, protected by the peaceful nature of the Good news, shielded with faith, protected by the fact that you are saved, taking the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God, and dissecting yourself with it in the ultimate warfare of every Christian . . .the war between our own flesh and the Spirit of God within us!”
We wrap up with what I think are ancillary additions that we are given, as Paul concludes by saying:
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Three things I think applied more to them then than they do to us today – however I agree the praying always is important but that it naturally occurs in the mind and heart of those who are His.
So there it is – all and I mean all wars are over in a Christians life, but one – and its internal.
We week to operate in the face of the rest of the world by and with the fruit of the Spirit and to do this effectively, we arm ourselves with the armor of God, which can be summarized as:
“Stand up in who you are, with truth, justified by the shed blood of Christ, protected by the peaceful nature of the Good news, shielded with faith, protected by the fact that you are saved, taking the Sword of the Spirit the Word of God, and dissecting yourself with it in the ultimate warfare of every Christian . . .the war between our own flesh and the Spirit of God within us!”
Comments/Questions.
PRAYER
