Grad & Career Sunday School

Announcements

• Prayer and Praise meeting: 7:15 p.m. Friday October 5 at the Home of David Bordelon: 4005 Sturbridge Drive in Hope Valley Farms, Durham

So What is Happening?

Common grace: God blessing all humanity with relative provision of rain and sun (Mt 5.43-48) order, justice, peace, governments, leaders (Rom 13.1-7). “Just War” lies here.

God is at work to accomplish his purposes in history through special grace: undeserved salvation through the life, death and resurrection of his son (Lk 9.22-27) which results in power, security, comfort now (Rom 8) and incomprehendable wholeness, joy, love and celebration (Is 25.6-10; Rev 21.1-7), and terrible justice (Rev 21.8).

God battlesPeople and Powers in theConsummation

God BattlesSpiritual Powers (not People) throughThe upside down Nature of The cross

God battles Israel because of her unfaithfulness and/but proclaims a future day of ultimate judgment

God battles people with intrusions of the final consummation

So What is Happening?

Common grace: God blessing all humanity with relative provision of rain and sun (Mt 5.43-48) order, justice, peace, governments, leaders (Rom 13.1-7). “Just War” lies here.

God is at work to accomplish his purposes in history through special grace: undeserved salvation through the life, death and resurrection of his son (Lk 9.22-27) which results in power, security, comfort now (Rom 8) and incomprehensible wholeness, joy, love and celebration (Is 25.6-10; Rev 21.1-7), and terrible justice (Rev 21.8).

God battlesPeople and Powers in theConsummation

God BattlesSpiritual Powers (not People) throughThe upside down Nature of The cross

What is our situation? What did Christ do? To Whom did He do it?

What do we do?In What context do we do it?

War in Paul

• What are the images of warfare in Paul’s letters?

War in Paul

• What are the images of warfare in Paul’s letters?

• We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor of God”

War in Paul • What are the images of warfare in Paul’s

letters?

• We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor of God”

• But also 1 Thes 5.8: “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

War in Paul • What are the images of warfare in Paul’s letters?• We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor

of God”• But also 1 Thes 5.8 • Weapons: Rom 6.13 “and do not go on presenting

the members of your body to sin as instruments (weapons) of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments (weapons) of righteousness to God.

War in Paul • We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole

armor of God”

• But also 1 Thes 5.8

• Weapons: Rom 6.13; 2 Cor 6.7 “in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left,”

War in Paul • We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor

of God”• But also 1 Thes 5.8 • Weapons: Rom 6.13; 2 Cor 6.7; 2 Cor 10.3-5 “1

Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ …. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

War in Paul

• We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor of God”

• But also 1 Thes 5.8 • Weapons: Rom 6.13; 2 Cor 6.7; 2 Cor 10.3-5• Titles as Illustrations

– Soldiers: 2 Tim 2.3-4 “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.”

War in Paul • We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor

of God”• But also 1 Thes 5.8 • Weapons: Rom 6.13; 2 Cor 6.7; 2 Cor 10.3-5

• Titles as illustrations: – Soldiers: 2 Tim 2.3-4; Phil 2.25 “Epaphroditus, my

brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier”, Phm 2 “Archippus our fellow soldier”

War in Paul

• We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole armor of God”

• But also 1 Thes 5.8 • Weapons: Rom 6.13; 2 Cor 6.7; 2 Cor 10.3-

5• Titles as illustrations:

– Soldiers: 2 Tim 2.3-4; Phil 2.25 “Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier”, Phm 2 “Archippus our fellow soldier”

War in Paul • We think of Eph 6.10-17: “put on the whole

armor of God”

• But also 1 Thes 5.8

• Weapons: Rom 6.13; 2 Cor 6.7; 2 Cor 10.3-5

• Titles as illustrations: – Soldiers: 2 Tim 2.3-4; Phil 2.25, Phm 2– Fellow Prisoner of War: Rom 16.7; Col 4.10;

Phm 23

War in Paul • Just as Jesus words about peace are not what we

usually think of – MT 10.34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the

earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 “For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

• So we can miss the abundance of war related language in Paul’s letters

• But is God saying about war through in Paul?

War in Paul

• The presence of War: Engaged in war today; it did not start 9/11/01

• Against whom?

• What did Christ do and how did he do it?

• What attitudes does this understanding of war produce?

Presence of war• Christian’s are in a battle• Eph 6.10-16 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his

power. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. 15 As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Christ as Warrior in Paul • Against Whom• Our culture thinks of battles against cultural issues

– Liberals: against narrow minded bigots

– Conservative: against unrighteous people

• Islam• Christ: against

– Powers and Principalities

– Sin

– Death

– Law

– Flesh

Christ as Warrior in Paul • Christ: against

– Death: not just the fear of death,

– Death is not natural to the world; not created by God

– It is an intruder, an enemy

– It is the future, but it is today (Rom 5.14,21; 8.6.

– Thus it is personified as an enemy that is defeated (1 Cor 15.54,55; 2 Tim 1.10

– It is still gone through by Christians but it has no “sting” because of the resurrection.

Paul’s Warfare in Christ• Doesn’t fight against people

– Closest he gets is his animosity against those who corrupt the faith of his churches

– Christ’s words to love our enemies stands a

Christ as Warrior in Paul • Christ Triumphs over the powers Col 2.15

– Using “the Greek term for the Roman triumphal march in which a victorious general or ruler in ceremonial dress and riding a splendid chariot drawn by four horses would drive his captives (those who had held authority and power, the spoils of war) into Rome. There the prisoners were customarily executed.

– This general was Simon, the son of Gioras, who had then been led in this triumph among the captives; a rope had also been put upon his head, and he had been drawn into a proper place in the forum, and had withal been tormented by those that drew him along, and the law of the Romans required that malefactors condemned to die should be slain there. -Josephus, F. (1996, c1987). (Wars VII, v 6).

• The victory accomplished but not completed, decisive but not fulfilled.

Christ as Warrior in Paul • Cross is shame (Much worse that capital punishemnt in US)

– Public, Naked, not buried,

– Sociologically you would never identify with unless something tremendous through it. No group uses electric chair as a symbol (and we are not talking about an anti-capital punishment group).

• But God turns it around – “The paradox of the crucifixion is thus placed in it strongest light—triumph in

helpless ness and glory in shame. The convict’s gibbet (gallows) is the victor’s car (chariot).” Lightfoot (Colossians)

• Judo

• The victory accomplished but not completed, decisive but not fulfilled.

Paul’s Warfare in Christ• Christ Triumphs over the powers Col 2.15 but

in 2 Cor 2.14 Paul is lead in triumph by Christ as one of his enemies who had been conquered, now marched as a captive and continually led to his death. – “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His

triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”

Christ as Warrior in Paul

Attitude

• Triumph but Triumphalism

• Christ suffered and we suffer also – Sharing the tribulation of the world and

creation. Rom 8.18-27

• We fight with judo power not tour de force power

So this conflict

• It is not against the right enemies

• We need to remember that we are in warfare and were so before September 11th. (Matt 10.34,35)

• We need to remember what are the enemies of Christ