Pastor James Allen (Swan Lake Evangelical Free Church, MN) warns about Frist Fruits of Zion

 

As Pastor James explains in the introduction, he and I connected a few weeks ago and I was happy to share my research with him as he prepared to lay out the case against FFOZ to his congregation.

Pray as other pastors and church leaders are made aware of FFOZ that they too will recognize the danger, and pray that they will have both the courage to act and wisdom in how to address the issues.

Sermon Video: A Household in Harmony: Parents and Children - Ephesians 6:1-4

Speaking to both children and their parents, the Apostle Paul gives timeless direction that is as applicable to Greco-Roman world of the 1st Century, as it is to our own post-modern Western culture.  (1) Children need to obey their parents, (2) parents need to not exasperate (frustrate) their children.

In this case Paul embraces the time-honored tradition of parental authority because it is the right thing to do.  Human nature requires it, kids need guidance.  However, this isn't a heavy-handed dictatorship that Paul is advocating, the command to fathers (mom isn't exempt) to not make this process difficult for their kids reminds us that all of us have value in God's sight, men and women, adults and children.

Our culture may be very different from that of the Ephesians, but these truths remain timeless.

sermon video: Christ and the Church - Ephesians 5:29-33

In the beautiful conclusion to his analogy between Christ and the Church and husbands and wives, the Apostle Paul emphasizes what we already know from history: Christ loves the Church as much as he loves himself.  In fact, there is no relational love that can surpass the love of Jesus Christ for the Church, not even that of a husband for his wife (or a parent for their child).  God's love for us, in Christ, is perfect in every way.

Our response, then, as we seek to be Christ-like in our discipleship, is to recommit to loving our spouse as we love ourselves.

 

Sermon Video: Husbands, love your wives - Ephesians 5:29-33

In a stunningly powerful analogy, the Apostle Paul tells Christian husbands that they are to love their wives, "just as Christ loved the church."  Since we know that Christ loved the Church perfectly and self-sacrificially, the bar is set higher than we could imagine.

The only way to live up to it (while depending on the power of the Holy Spirit) is to love our wives as we love ourselves.  Indeed, Paul tells us that loving your wife IS loving yourself.

Sermon Video: Submission for Christ - Ephesians 5:21-24

The Apostle Paul lays the foundation for a discussion about specific commands that apply to segments of the Church (wives, husbands, children, fathers, slaves, and masters) by laying a foundation of mutual submission "out of reverence for Christ."  Given that we must all submit to each other to imitate the servant's heart of Jesus, what then does Paul ask of wives (the focus of these 4 verses)?

How we understand Paul's command that wives submit to their husbands often says more about our cultural setting than that of Paul.  Rather than uplift or tear down an American cultural understanding of gender roles in society (or idolize a rose-colored vision of the 1950's), our key task is to embrace the goal/purpose that Paul's instructions had for the church at Ephesus: peace within households.

What this will look like within any given marriage is something the Holy Spirit can help that husband and wife understand as both seek God-honoring choices.