Angelic Conflict part 206: Human history (the Church) – 1Co 12-13; 3:1-9; Eph 4:17-5:21; Mat 20:26-28; 6:1-7, 16-21; Mar 12:41-44.

Title: Angelic Conflict part 206: Human history (the Church) - 1Co 12-13; 3:1-9; EPH 4:17-5:21; MAT 20:26-28; 6:1-7, 16-21; MAR 12:41-44.

 

 

The list of spiritual gifts is to remind us that they unite us in our ministries to the one body, given as G/HS wills and not as we will.

 

1CO 12:12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.

 

1CO 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

 

The baptism of the Spirit occurs at salvation when the Spirit enters the believing sinner, gives him new life, and makes his body the temple of God, and enters him into union with Christ.

 

All believers have experienced the same baptism (vv. 12-13). It is unfortunate that the term "baptism of the Spirit" has been divorced from its original New Testament meaning.

 

The filling or full influence of the Spirit is conditioned on a willingness and a yeildedness to the will of God.

 

Just because my words in description are slightly different should not alarm anyone. I am only emphasizing something that is vital and within that statement acknowledgment of sin is included.

 

Not yielding to the will of God is a sin. If I acknowledge that sin to the Father and yet fail to then change my thinking and yield to His will my acknowledgment or confession is meaningless.

 

When we find ourselves walking in darkness and under the mastery of the flesh, in love with ourselves and not God, a confession without a change of mind is lip service only.

 

As we have studied, there are many active commands in Eph 4 and 5 before the passive command to be filled with the Spirit in EPH 5:18 is given. Arise sleeper, walk in the light, put on the new man, etc. All are a part of an attitude to be willing to do God's will and a yieldedness to His Lordship.

 

This is a repeated experience, for we constantly need to be filled with spiritual power if we are to glorify Christ.

 

To be baptized by the Spirit means that we belong to Christ's body. To be filled with the Spirit means that our bodies are yielded to the will of Christ.

 

The evidences of the Spirit's filling are: a growing understanding of the Word (John 16:12-15), power for witnessing (ACT 1:8), Christlikeness (GAL 5:22-26), and joyfulness and submission (EPH 5:19 ff).

 

All believers are led by the Spirit, ROM 8:14, but not all believer's willingly follow the Spirit with eagerness and humility.

 

The commands of Eph 4 and 5 connect together to reveal a willingness and a yieldedness to the will of the Father. This is the believer who is greatly influenced by the Spirit.

 

EPH 4:17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,

 

EPH 4:18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;

 

EPH 4:19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.

 

EPH 4:20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,

 

EPH 4:21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,

 

EPH 4:22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

 

EPH 4:23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

 

EPH 4:24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

 

EPH 4:25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth [active imperative], each one of you, with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

 

EPH 4:26 Be angry [passive imperative], and yet do not sin [active imperative]; do not let the sun go down on your anger [active imperative],

 

EPH 4:27 and do not give the devil an opportunity [active imperative].

 

EPH 4:28 Let him who steals steal no longer [active imperative]; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have something to share with him who has need.

 

EPH 4:29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth [middle imperative], but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

 

EPH 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [active imperative], by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

 

EPH 4:31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice [passive imperative].

 

EPH 4:32 And be kind to one another [middle imperative], tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

 

EPH 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children [middle imperative];

 

EPH 5:2 and walk in love [active imperative], just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.

 

EPH 5:3 But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints [passive imperative];

 

EPH 5:4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.

 

EPH 5:5 For this you know with certainty [active imperative], that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God [unbeliever].

 

EPH 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words [active imperative], for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

 

EPH 5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them [middle imperative];

 

EPH 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light [active imperative]

 

EPH 5:9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

 

EPH 5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

 

EPH 5:11 And do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness [active imperative], but instead even expose them [active imperative];

 

EPH 5:12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret.

 

EPH 5:13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.

 

EPH 5:14 For this reason it says, "Awake, sleeper [active imperative], And arise from the dead [active imperative], And Christ will shine on you."

 

EPH 5:15 Therefore be careful how you walk [active imperative], not as unwise men, but as wise,

 

EPH 5:16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil.

 

EPH 5:17 So then do not be foolish [middle imperative], but understand what the will of the Lord is [active imperative].

 

EPH 5:18 And do not get drunk with wine [passive imperative], for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit [passive imperative],

 

EPH 5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

 

EPH 5:20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

 

EPH 5:21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

 

Submission to Christ is submission to the service of His body:

 

MAT 20:26-28 "It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

 

In fact, everything coming after EPH 5:18 in that book deals with personal application of doctrine to the details of life and in spiritual warfare. We would conclude that they are all manifestations of the Spirit's witness to the positive believer and the Spirit's leading in application of that wisdom to life and invisible warfare.

 

Because of the gift of the Spirit which is received at conversion, we are all members of the body of Christ.

 

The B/HS regenerates all believers making them members of the BOC. Race, social status, wealth, or gender (GAL 3:28) are neither advantages nor handicaps as we fellowship and serve the Lord.

 

GAL 3:28-29 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

 

However, those who willingly follow the teaching and leading ministries of God the Holy Spirit differentiate themselves from the herd, have a diversity of gifts, but have a unity of mind, love, spirit, and purpose, and are useful to the Lord and form the backbone of any local assembly, whether there are 20 people, 200, or 2000.

 

The diversity of the body of Christ: Paul uses the physical body as a metaphor for the various gifts in the Church.

 

Unity without diversity would produce uniformity, and uniformity tends to produce death. Legalistic churches lack life. Usually the members dress similar and talk similar and no one is relaxed. Charismatic church lack order and are full of emotion and competition.

 

Life is a balance between unity and diversity. As a human body weakens, its "systems" slow down and everything tends to become uniform. The ultimate, of course, is that the body itself turns to dust.

 

This helps to explain why some churches (and other Christian ministries) have weakened and died: there was not sufficient diversity to keep unity from becoming uniformity. Dr. Vance Havner has expressed it, "First there is a man, then a movement then a machine, and then a monument." Many ministries that began as a protest against "dead orthodoxy" became dead themselves. Each local assembly has a variety of gifts, but are all of one body. Therefore there should be privacy as well as freedom; unity as well as diversity. I think some pastors look to liven things up and do things rashly that can have the wrong effect. All that is done within the church should be centered on the teaching of doctrinal truth and with that the various members with their various gifts and their various manifestations have the freedom to be creative but without chaos or anarchy. Authority removes anarchy and the authority of the word of God removes infighting.

 

Therefore, if diversity is not kept under control, it could destroy unity; and then you have anarchy. We shall discover in 1 Cor 13 that it is maturity from faith, to hope, and to love that balances unity and diversity. The tension in the body between individual members and the total organism can only be solved by maturity.