August 30 Looking Back Looking Ahead

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     August 30, 2015

    LOOKING BACK

    Fighting for Your Life: The Invisible WarCovered by Christ

    Ephesians 6:10-17  

    We’re all in a fight for our lives. Once we embrace that reality, we realize how exposed andvulnerable we are. Satan, by his very nature, is an accuser. He relentlessly hurls thoughts of guiltand shame at our very hearts. Praise the Lord that He’s given us armor! Through Christ, we canput on the breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of the readiness of the Gospel of peace.This putting on is an active receiving (by faith) what is already ours in Christ and living inawareness of it.

    Thinking It Through (agree/disagree consider/contemplate) 

    “We know that justification is a point -in-time past event. At the time you trusted Christ youwere at that precise moment declared righteous by God. You were justified. For the apostlePaul, justification was not only a past event; it was also a present reality. This is where so manyChristians miss it. They can look back to the day that they trusted Ch rist… But today they seekto live their lives as if it depends upon them (And in the context of this section of Ephesians,they try to carry out spiritual warfare as if it depended on them). In their mind they havereverted to a performance relationship with God. And so the thinking is, if I had my quiet timeand if I haven’t had any lustful thoughts and these kind of things, then I expect God to blessme today (Or I can expect to victorious in the ongoing spiritual war)… We want to earn God’sblessings. Th e apostle Paul didn’t do that. Paul looked outside himself and saw himself clothedin the righteousness of Christ. He saw h imself declared righteous....”

    ~ Jerry Bridges along with comments from John Piper

    Working It Out

    1.  Why do you think it is so easy to drift towards a performance-based relationship with

    God? 

    2.  How does Romans 5:1-2 incorporate and connect the themes of justification

    (righteousness), peace and standing? 

    3.  Do you think that we understand the weight of the truth that through Christ we can beat peace  with God? Why or why not? 

    4.  In spiritual warfare, why is it important to be settled in God’s peace? 

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    LOOKING AHEAD

    Fighting for Your Life: The Invisible WarProtected by Faith  

    Ephesians 6:16

    Where did that come from?  is a question often posed when we’re blind-sided by adversity thatappears out of nowhere. Our passage - Ephesians 6:10-17 – warns us to open our eyes to theinvisible war that is taking place all around us. In this daily battle our faith, we learn, is a shieldthat we must deftly use to fend off flaming arrows aimed our way.

    In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able toextinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16

    1.  Why does our verse begin with “In addition to all”? What does this suggest? 

    2. 

    Draw a sketch of what you think this Roman shield looks like that Paul had in mind.

    3.  What are some things unique to a shield as compared to the other parts identified in ourpassage?

    4.  Why do you think our text says “with which you will be able to extinguish….”? 

    5.  Can you think of how the adjective “flaming” describes the effects of these personalattacks?

    6.  How do these passages add to our understanding of the evil one’s schemes against us? 

    Luke 4:13

    John 8:44

    2 Corinthians 11:3

    1 Peter 5:8

    Revelation 12:10