0:00

A long-suffering person is a

0:02

person who puts up with

0:05

stuff day after

0:07

day after day after

0:09

day. And when Paul

0:11

here speaks about long-suffering, we're to

0:14

imitate God. Because how long-suffering has

0:16

God been with you and

0:18

with me? What

0:25

should the Christian life look like? What

0:28

is it about the character of Christians that

0:30

should be different to that of the world?

0:33

Paul tells us to walk in a manner

0:35

worthy of the calling to which you have

0:37

been called. And today we'll

0:39

consider how Paul describes that worthy

0:42

walk. Hi, I'm Nathan

0:44

W. Bingham, and it's great to have you join

0:46

us for this Sunday edition of Renewing Your Mind,

0:49

as we feature the preaching and

0:51

teaching ministry of R.C. Sproul. We're

0:54

currently in Ephesians, and we're

0:56

spending several weeks considering portions

0:58

of Ephesians chapter 3 and

1:00

chapter 4. If you'd

1:02

like to study this wonderful letter by the

1:04

Apostle Paul, line by line, you

1:07

can request R.C. Sproul's new expositional

1:10

commentary on Ephesians when you give

1:12

a donation of any amount at

1:14

renewingyourmind.org. So

1:17

what does that worthy walk look

1:19

like? Paul answers that in Ephesians

1:21

4, verse 2. Here's

1:24

Dr. Sproul. Paul

1:27

describes what sanctification

1:29

will look like, what

1:33

our lives will be when

1:36

we walk in a

1:38

manner that's worthy of the grace

1:40

in which we were called. When

1:42

we walk in this

1:44

axiomatic fashion, the

1:47

first way he describes it is

1:49

that we will walk with

1:51

all lowliness. Now,

1:55

it's a fascinating thing to me, because

1:58

the Word that he uses here, Loneliness

2:00

sometimes other transsexual friends,

2:02

slim humility. Is

2:05

a word. That. Was

2:07

a completely. Negative word.

2:10

In. The Greek and which. And then

2:12

the Greek culture. For. Somebody

2:14

to be lonely. Meant

2:17

that they were have

2:19

a base character. They.

2:22

Were the. Dregs of the

2:24

Earth's. The. Worst. Of

2:27

the worst. Oh and Paul

2:29

says walk in loneliness is

2:32

not encouraging us to be.

2:34

Base persons living in

2:37

sorted sinfulness, but rather

2:39

he's using it in

2:42

the Jewish manner of.

2:45

Humble flowing us.

2:48

Away Mary and the Magnificent said you

2:50

know my soul to magnify the Lord

2:52

and so on for he has regarded.

2:55

The. Lo est. Of

2:57

his and maybe. This.

2:59

Is a call. To.

3:01

To melody. So. That

3:03

the first thing that we should understand.

3:06

Is. If. God has been

3:09

gracious to us and we're in

3:11

the his kingdom through no merit

3:13

of our own. We. Can't

3:15

really say there, but for the

3:17

grace of God go I. We

3:20

have to believe that there. But

3:22

for the grace of God go

3:24

I and we have nothing and

3:26

ourselves of which to boast. We

3:28

are to be. In

3:31

this sense. Totally.

3:34

Humble. And not

3:36

only humble, But. Gentle.

3:40

One translator has translated the

3:42

word there and of gentleness.

3:45

Mild. To.

3:48

Remember Superman series. Portent.

3:52

Was described. As what

3:54

Kind of a reporter for the Metropolitan

3:56

Daily Planet? Mild

3:59

mannered, reporter, but when

4:01

he went into the phone booth and

4:03

he changed his clothes, out

4:05

comes Superman. Anything

4:09

but Mr. Milcos, anything

4:12

but mild. This

4:14

concept here is the

4:16

concept biblically of meekness. Moses,

4:20

who was a powerful leader of

4:23

the Jewish people and the mediator of

4:25

the Old Covenant, was

4:28

described in sacred scripture as

4:30

a meek man. You've

4:33

all heard of Frederick Nietzsche

4:36

and his doctrine of

4:38

the superman or

4:40

the uber-mensch. He's the one

4:43

who declared that God is dead, and

4:45

he said the reason why

4:49

God died was

4:51

he died of pity, and

4:55

he blamed the death of God and the

4:57

death of 19th century

5:00

European culture on

5:03

Christianity because it

5:05

exalted meekness

5:08

as a virtue. When

5:11

for Nietzsche calling for the advent

5:13

of the uber-mensch of Superman, he

5:16

said that the superman will be known

5:19

as a conqueror. He'll

5:22

sail his ship into uncharted waters,

5:24

he'll build his house on the

5:26

slopes of Vesuvius,

5:28

he'll shake his fist

5:30

defiantly against all others,

5:33

and he will get rid of this culture

5:36

of meekness that was

5:39

destroying the very fiber of

5:41

humanity, according to

5:44

Nietzsche. Whereas

5:46

in Nietzsche's view, meekness

5:49

was a weakness. According

5:53

to the New Testament, meekness

5:55

is indeed a virtue.

5:59

Again, it is the polar opposite

6:02

of arrogance. A

6:04

meek person is not a

6:06

panty waste. A meek

6:08

person, biblically, is not a

6:10

coward. A meek

6:12

person is a person, again,

6:15

who's gentle in

6:18

his dealings with people.

6:22

And when we think of Jesus, he

6:25

was the supreme gentleman.

6:30

Obviously, there were times when he was not

6:32

so gentle. When

6:34

he was encountering the

6:37

strong leaders of his

6:39

day, he responded to

6:41

their strength with a greater strength.

6:45

He was not blessed Jesus, meek and mild, when

6:47

he was dealing with the Pharisees. But

6:50

when he dealt with the normal people,

6:54

the fallen people of this world, and

6:57

when he deals with you, even

6:59

when he admonishes you in your sin

7:03

and rebukes you for your sin, he's

7:06

gentle. That's

7:09

the difference between the accusation

7:11

of Satan and the

7:13

conviction of the Holy Spirit. Both

7:16

may address the same sin in our lives,

7:19

where the goal of Satan is

7:22

to destroy us with guilt, where

7:25

the goal of the Spirit is

7:28

to heal us and redeem us

7:31

from our sin. And

7:34

so, as God the Spirit has been

7:36

gentle with you and gentle

7:39

with me, so the

7:42

Christian life in response to

7:44

that is to

7:46

be one that manifests gentleness,

7:51

lowliness and gentleness, with

7:54

long suffering, bearing

7:57

with one another in love. Now,

8:02

we talk about people who have short

8:05

tempers, fly

8:07

off the handle easily, hot heads.

8:11

They're short suffering. They're

8:13

not long suffering. A

8:15

long suffering person is

8:17

a person who puts up

8:20

with stuff day

8:23

after day after

8:26

day after day without

8:30

going ballistic. And

8:34

when Paul here speaks about long suffering,

8:37

again, we're to imitate

8:39

God. Because

8:41

how patient, how

8:44

long suffering has

8:46

God been with you and

8:49

with me? Forbearing

8:53

when he could have crushed me like a bug. For

8:56

Edward's sermon, sinners in the hands of

8:58

an angry God. I

9:01

think the greatest sermon ever preached in North America,

9:03

if not in the world. When

9:06

he talked about the imagery of the

9:08

fire of hell and he said, oh

9:10

sinner, you hang like a spider on

9:12

a slender thread above a

9:14

burning fire with the flames of divine wrath,

9:17

dashing and thrashing about it, ready to burn it and

9:19

the sins of it at any moment. And the only

9:21

thing that keeps you from falling into that fire is

9:23

what? God's

9:26

hand that keeps you up. And

9:29

then he asked the rhetorical question, can

9:31

you give any reason since

9:34

when you got out of your bed this morning, God

9:38

hasn't dropped

9:40

you into that fire. Let me just

9:42

pause. Does that offend you? It

9:45

offends a lot of people that read it. But

9:48

let me ask Edward's question. Can

9:51

you give any reason? Why

9:54

since you got out of your bed this morning, God

9:57

hasn't dropped you into the pit of hell. I

10:02

can't. Not

10:04

and myself. But.

10:06

Only his for bearing. Long

10:09

suffering. Tender

10:11

Mercer. Keeps

10:14

us from what we deserve. This.

10:17

Ras in his judge now. This

10:20

for bearing the powers talking about.

10:24

This long suffering. Is

10:27

a long suffering that has to

10:29

be done in love Again were

10:31

called a mirror and reflect the

10:33

way God treats us. God

10:36

doesn't just put up with us.

10:41

Film just indoor us. But

10:44

in this long suffering patient. He

10:49

loves us. And

10:52

his forbearance. Is

10:54

rooted in love. And

10:58

so even if I'm annoyed constantly

11:00

by somebody. Posts

11:02

much assess me to put up on some. And

11:06

the tolerate him. A

11:09

Be patient. In

11:11

the same manner of love. That

11:15

God is patient with me. And

11:18

again, this was a paradigm. How

11:22

can I Not be patient? With

11:25

other people. When

11:27

gotta so patient with me? How

11:31

can I not be loving? I don't have

11:33

to like people, but I have to love

11:35

them. and there's a difference to love a

11:38

means to be loving towards them to treat

11:40

them kindly. And

11:42

just. And

11:44

merciful. As

11:46

God treats us, Bearings

11:51

one another and

11:53

loves endeavoring. my

11:57

grandmother was a methodist She

12:01

couldn't help it. But

12:05

she used to talk about being

12:07

a member of their group in

12:09

the church. In those days, it was called Christian

12:12

Endeavor. Some

12:14

of you may have heard of that

12:16

Methodist organization, which was really

12:19

an evangelical organization, and

12:21

it was trying to teach people

12:23

the pursuit of holiness and the pursuit

12:26

of godliness. And

12:28

the idea, the title of the

12:30

organization was Christian, that defines it.

12:34

It's Christian Endeavor. It's

12:36

an attempt. It's

12:38

something that people were trying to

12:40

do that had a Christian significance

12:44

to it. Now

12:48

every time we try to do something,

12:51

we hope we will succeed, but

12:54

we don't always succeed. All

12:56

of us have been involved in all kinds

12:58

of endeavors in our life that

13:01

have ended in frustration and in

13:03

failure. We didn't

13:05

accomplish, but we set out

13:08

to accomplish. But

13:10

at least we tried. We

13:12

endeavored to reach a

13:15

particular goal. And that's what

13:17

Paul is saying here. He

13:19

said, we are to endeavor, to

13:23

try, to work at keeping

13:28

the unity of the spirit in

13:31

the bond of peace. Now

13:34

Paul doesn't just here introduce the concept of

13:36

unity. He's labored earlier on in

13:39

the epistle about the unity

13:41

between the Gentile believers and the

13:43

Jewish believers that were one body.

13:46

And Christ has brought us together

13:50

in unity in Him. And

13:54

that unity that we enjoy as Christians, humanly

13:58

speaking, is a

14:00

fragile unity. It's

14:03

a unity that can easily be

14:05

broken. It

14:07

can involve relationships among Christians that

14:09

are shattered. We're

14:11

all aware of that. But

14:14

Paul said if we are to walk worthy

14:16

of the calling by which we are called, we

14:20

are to live, lowliness,

14:22

gentleness, trying

14:27

to maintain the unity

14:29

of the Spirit. And

14:33

then he tells us how in

14:35

the bond of

14:38

peace. The

14:41

word that he uses there for bond is the

14:44

word that could be translated ligament. It

14:48

ties together various muscles and

14:50

so on, keeps

14:52

them connected. And

14:55

what Paul is saying here is that what really

14:58

maintains spiritual unity among

15:00

the people of God

15:02

is peace. Now

15:08

there is such a thing

15:10

as a carnal peace. You

15:13

never forget the image of Neville

15:15

Chamberlain with hanging

15:18

over the balcony with his umbrella saying

15:21

we have achieved peace for our time. While

15:24

Hitler was mobilizing the Blitzkrieg, there

15:28

is such a thing as a false peace. It

15:31

was the favorite message of the false prophet of

15:33

the Old Testament. Jeremiah

15:35

complained to God because the false prophets

15:37

were crying, peace, peace,

15:41

when there is no peace. And

15:44

we have people like that in the church who

15:47

can't stand to debate any point of

15:49

truth. They'll surrender the

15:51

whole gospel for the sake

15:53

of peace. That's not

15:55

what Paul is talking about here. That's

15:58

a carnal peace. But

16:00

rather, there is an authentic peace

16:04

that comes from Christ, the Prince

16:06

of Peace. His

16:09

legacy to His church and to His people

16:11

was what? Peace

16:15

I leave with you. My

16:17

peace I give

16:19

unto you, not the way the world gives peace.

16:24

Peace I give to you. And

16:27

it is that peace that passes understanding,

16:29

that peace that is shed abroad in

16:31

our hearts by the Holy Spirit that's

16:33

the cement of

16:36

spiritual unity among

16:38

the people of God. We

16:41

are to be people of

16:43

the peace of Christ.

16:46

And then he goes on to say, because

16:51

there's one body, one

16:54

Spirit, just

16:56

as you were called in one hope of your calling, look

16:59

at all the ones that are here already, one

17:03

body, there's only one body

17:05

of Christ. There

17:08

may be 10,000 denominations, but

17:11

the invisible church, the

17:13

true body of Christ, made

17:15

up of every person who is in Christ and

17:18

in whom Christ dwells, there's

17:20

only one body. That's

17:22

the true body of Christ. There's

17:25

one Spirit. There're

17:28

not five spirits. There's

17:31

one Spirit, just

17:36

as you were called in

17:38

one hope of

17:40

your calling. Every

17:43

Christian who is justified

17:45

by faith also

17:48

has hope. And

17:50

again, the Greek concept, the Greek word for

17:52

hope in the New Testament is not, I

17:55

wish something would come to pass, but I'm not

17:57

sure it will, but rather

17:59

the biblical concept of hope is

18:02

that which is the anchor for our

18:04

souls. It is the sure promise of

18:06

God for the future that He's laid

18:09

up for His people. And

18:12

that hope of heaven and the

18:14

ultimate kingdom of God is singular,

18:16

and every Christian possesses

18:18

that same hope that

18:21

is shed abroad in our hearts by

18:24

the Spirit. One

18:27

Lord. Those

18:29

were fighting words when Paul wrote this. The

18:33

emperor, presumably, who was the one who

18:36

commanded Paul's

18:39

execution, Emperor

18:41

Nero, said that

18:43

he was the Lord of

18:45

the entire universe. The

18:48

loyalty oath to the Roman Empire were

18:50

the two words, Kaiser

18:53

Curios. Caesar

18:55

is Lord. It's been

18:57

argued that the earliest Christian confession of

18:59

faith was in response to

19:01

that where the

19:03

New Testament believer said, Jesus,

19:06

ho, Curios. Jesus

19:10

is Lord. Not Caesar,

19:14

not the King, not the

19:16

President. We're

19:18

to respect them, to honor them, but

19:22

none of them is Lord.

19:25

There's only one to whom the

19:28

title, Curios, has been

19:30

given by the Father, the Lord

19:33

Jesus Christ. And

19:35

every Christian is

19:38

subject to that same

19:41

unique Lord. One

19:48

faith, as a

19:50

dispute about what that means here, does it

19:52

refer to that we all have the same

19:55

pistalio, that faith that saves

19:57

that every Christian who is justified.

19:59

justified by faith, is

20:01

justified by the same thing, namely

20:04

that trust in Christ and in

20:06

Christ alone. Maybe that's what Paul has

20:08

in view. Maybe he has

20:10

a broader view where sometimes the

20:12

entire content of biblical truth was

20:15

called the faith. When

20:17

we say keep the faith, we

20:19

say keep the theology. There's

20:21

only one true theology. I

20:26

know of a professor in the seminary the first

20:29

day of class for New

20:32

Testament exegesis, Greek exegesis. He assigned

20:34

a passage to the

20:36

students and he said, find

20:39

50 applications

20:43

of this text. The

20:45

students stayed up all night,

20:47

shared their discoveries, compared notes,

20:50

dragged themselves into the class the next day with their list

20:53

of 50. The

20:55

assignment for day two was find 50 more

20:58

applications from the same verse.

21:01

He said a verse can have 100 applications,

21:03

but only

21:06

one meaning. I

21:09

don't know how many times I've been in discussions with

21:11

people and I'm talking about a biblical text and somebody

21:13

will say, well, that's your interpretation. Well,

21:17

what do they mean by that? That's my interpretation and the one

21:19

that just gave it. What

21:24

do they mean? Do

21:26

they mean, well, that's your interpretation and the

21:28

unspoken assumption is any interpretation that

21:31

Sproul makes is wrong. Since

21:33

this is Sproul's interpretation, must be the wrong one.

21:36

I don't think they're that base in

21:38

their attack on me. But what

21:40

they often mean is you interpret the Bible one

21:42

way, I interpret it the other way. So

21:45

our interpretation of the Bible is different.

21:47

We're both right. No.

21:50

No. If we

21:52

differ on our interpretation of Scripture, we

21:54

could both be wrong, but

21:57

we can't both be right. There's

22:00

only one correct meaning. Got.

22:02

Us has begun to for done. Gods.

22:04

Not a pluralist, noisy relativist. You live

22:07

in a culture that saturated and that

22:09

sort of phone. But it's not. In

22:11

the Word of God. So.

22:14

Paul says there's one size. One.

22:17

True face. Is a

22:19

lot of false was. One

22:22

baptism. Again,

22:25

we don't have a speaking of Water

22:27

baptism because all the signs of that

22:29

time shared in that this new covenant

22:32

sign of baptism. And

22:34

it was only one or more than one. But.

22:37

Also, the deeper meaning

22:40

and Paul expounds elsewhere

22:42

that all believers are

22:44

baptize. In the Holy Spirit.

22:48

And that every Christian shares that

22:50

spirits baptism. Contrary to views that

22:52

are held widely in our culture

22:55

today that say some Christians have

22:57

the baptism of the spirit, others

22:59

don't I don't think that's a

23:02

New Testament view been. in any

23:04

case, One.

23:06

God. And father

23:08

of all. Eyes

23:10

are talking about the father of all people. He

23:14

saw in about a father of all of us. A

23:17

father who was adopted, Every believer.

23:20

And to his house or just

23:23

as God has only one son

23:25

among organize the only begotten of

23:27

the father. So through Christ, our

23:29

elder brother, all of us share

23:31

the same parent. By

23:34

adoption. Into the house

23:36

and family of God the Father. Who

23:38

was above all. Through

23:41

all. And

23:43

in all, It's

23:45

almost like sometimes paul. Can't

23:48

help himself. In

23:50

the middle of his exposition of doctrine.

23:53

Spontaneously he breaks out. And

23:56

doxology. are all

23:58

have one father the

24:01

Father who's above all, transcends

24:03

all, He

24:06

governs all things, He

24:09

permeates all things, and

24:12

He is in all

24:15

of us. So here

24:17

is the preparation that the Apostle gives for

24:19

part two of

24:22

his letter to the Ephesians in

24:24

terms of the practical outworking of

24:27

our sanctification that

24:29

we would walk worthy of

24:32

the calling by which we

24:34

were called. When

24:43

we realize that it is God who

24:45

has called us when we were dead

24:47

in our sins as Paul tells us

24:49

earlier in Ephesians how can we not

24:51

strive to walk worthy of the calling

24:53

by which we were called. That

24:56

was R.C. Sproul on this Sunday edition

24:58

of Renewing Your Mind and

25:00

he was the first minister of preaching

25:02

and teaching at St. Andrew's Chapel in

25:05

Sanford Florida where he preached and taught

25:07

through many books of the Bible and

25:10

Ligonier Ministries has just released his

25:12

expositional commentary on the book of

25:14

Ephesians and you can request the

25:17

hardcover edition to add to your

25:19

library when you give a gift

25:21

of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. This

25:23

letter paints a beautiful picture of

25:26

the gospel reminding us of our

25:28

union with Christ and the sovereignty

25:30

of God in our salvation. Take

25:33

time to work through this letter of

25:35

Paul with the help of Dr. Sproul's

25:37

new commentary. Request yours today

25:39

at renewingyourmind.org while there's still

25:41

time as this offer ends

25:43

at midnight. Join

25:48

us next Sunday as we continue

25:50

in Ephesians picking up at verse

25:52

7 here On Renewing Your Mind.