Ephesians 6:10; Christ’s strength is our own when we are wise, believing, and faithful.

Class Outline:

Tuesday March 15, 2022

 

Someone said that the Bible starts with a garden and ends with a city and there is a cross in between - an oversimplification, but one of the better ones.

 

The passages that we have studied in reference to strength concern being faithful, but not faithful at any one moment, but consistently. It is a mindset based on the truth that as sons and daughters to God we have an obligation to be faithful in all things, and if we are, we will be people who are strong in the mighty strength of God.

 

Strength is not about being faithful in any one thing, but being willing to be faithful to God in everything.

 

In Paul’s letters to Timothy, he strongly exhorted Timothy to use power to fulfill his ministry. In the second letter he reminded Timothy that at salvation we received a spirit of power and love and discipline, and not a spirit of fear. Timothy would have to stand firm against the schemes of the devil, many of which are designed to discredit the truth.

 

2TI 1:13-14

Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus [stand firm]. 14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.

 

EPH 6:10

Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might.

 

It is not only the lies that believers have to stand against, but the greater challenge is the people who spread them. They persecute and attack those who disagree with them. They assault your character, lie about you, spread malicious gossip about you in the hope of getting public opinion against you. You must stand firm against the false doctrine, the people who spread it, and the lies they purport about you. We saw that Paul wrote that the Lord stood with him and strengthened him and delivered him out of the lion’s mouth. He wrote of the harm done to him by others who hoped to scare him into shutting up.

 

2TI 2:1-2

You therefore, my son, be strong (endunamoo: same “Be strong” in EPH 6:10) in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.

 

Strong in grace would refer to strength to remain in the sphere of all that God has given us, and also to witness and do for others graciously for the purpose that they would see the need to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

 

“be strong in the grace” and then Paul goes into faithfulness as a life, using the soldier, athlete, and farmer as examples, all of whom demand long term dedication for success.

 

Is a life a faithfulness inconsistent with the grace of God? Does grace mean that fleshly believers should experience the life of Christ, which is strength, goodness, faithfulness, righteousness and more like these? How can we experience something that we don’t live? People actually try that all the time, in fact, our smartphone world has been trying to accomplish it for years now. For instance, establishing meaningful and rewarding relationships while alone in a room staring at an electronic screen. We cannot experience something that we don’t actually live.

 

Paul wrote that he was strengthened because he was faithful. Read of his strength and apply it to your own faithfulness to God’s ways in your current circumstances.

 

2TI 2:3-6

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 5 And also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. 6 The hard-working farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.

 

The soldier, the athlete, and the farmer all deny themselves of certain things and work hard at other things in order to achieve a desired result.

 

Paul is not telling us to remove ourselves from the affairs of everyday life as if we are actually a soldier in a war. (our phrase “active service” and the first century’s use of it would be quite different). Nor are we to be like full time athletes or farmers (unless we actually are). Paul is making the point that these professions were all very disciplined in their own way or they were complete failures. In the same way, suffering hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ demands self-discipline, belief, wisdom, and faithfulness without which our lives will be a failure.

 

We pick up our crosses, deny ourselves daily, stand firm against the schemes of the devil, lose our lives in order to grab hold of Christ’s, and the promise is that we will see the desired result.

 

PSA 66:18

If I regard wickedness in my heart,

The Lord will not hear;

 

Then Paul says that if we want to know these truths we will.

 

2TI 2:7-11

Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything. 8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, 9 for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned. 10 For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory. 11 It is a trustworthy statement:

 

For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him;

12 If we endure, we shall also reign with Him;

If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.

 

Strength becomes operative by faithfulness and faith.

 

HEB 11:1-3

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.

 

HEB 11:32-34

And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

 

Strength comes by faithfulness, faith, … and wisdom.

 

As we would expect, faithfulness and faith and wisdom and many other virtues, like love and righteousness and obedience all go hand in hand. If you could remove an attribute from God He would cease to be. Remove any virtue from the Christian and the rest fall with it like a house of cards.

 

COL 1:9-12

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

 

From such a life we should “joyously” give thanks to the Father who has blessed us with an inheritance.

 

The schemes of the devil are too many to list. We do not have to know them all anyhow. When something pressures us or tempts us to do anything ungodly, we have found one. When we see our church, marriages, families and homes, and our friendships begin to be divided, we have found one; and we can be sure that sin has been committed and is still ongoing. Therefore, we can see the importance of wisdom to divine strength. We must see the enemy’s scheme and stand firm against it, and if sin has occurred and the enemy has taken advantage of it, we must see the sin and confess its reality and repent from it, then regain God’s strength in grace, and then stand firm.

 

Being strong has nothing to do with good breeding or training. It is those who know they are weak who are the best candidates.

 

ISA 40:25-31

"To whom then will you liken Me

That I should be his equal?" says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high

And see who has created these stars,

The One who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power

Not one of them is missing.

 

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,

"My way is hidden from the Lord,

And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God"?

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable.

29 He gives strength to the weary,

And to him who lacks might He increases power.

30 Though youths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous young men stumble badly,

31 Yet those who wait for the Lord [faith, faithfulness]

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.