Life is War

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. If you want to survive spiritually, you've got to drive the gospel down deep into your heart so that every single part of you has been transformed by the gospel so that your dating relationships, the way that you handle anger, the way that you dream, the way that you handle everything has been transformed by the gospel. Welcome back to Summit Life with pastor, author and apologist, J.D. Greer.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Have you ever noticed that our culture tends to portray Christianity as bland and boring? If you want an interesting life, the last place you're probably going to look is the church with its stuffy liturgy, uncomfortable seeds and long-winded sermons. But today, pastor J.D. reveals that the Christian life is far from boring.

In fact, it's an all-out war with plenty of action to get involved in. We're studying through the book of Ephesians here on the program. And if you've missed any of the previous messages in this series, you can listen again by visiting us at jdgreer.com.

Now here's pastor J.D. with a message from Ephesians 5, he called Life is War. Tuesday, June 6, 1944, 6 30 a.m., about five, a little over 5,000 ships carrying 175,000 allied troops approached the southern beaches in France for the largest invasion in modern history, what we now refer to as D-Day. Some of the men who survived the invasion said that they remember the steady stream of messages and exhortations being broadcast over the ship intercoms in those final few minutes as that fleet of 5,000 ships approach the French beaches. Fight to get your troops ashore. Fight to save your ships. And if you've got any strength left, fight to save yourselves. Another went, we shall die on the sands of France but we will never turn back.

Another one, this is it, pick it up, put it on, you've got a one-way ticket and this is the end of the line. The two messages that the survivors most remembered was the clear call that rang out on all of the ships at about 6 20, away all boats and our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Over 12,000 Americans died that morning in a span of about 15 minutes. As the boats reached the shores, the disembarking soldiers literally had to crawl over the bodies of other soldiers to be able to make it onto the beaches. That is an image that I realize that is not pleasant. It is sobering.

Makes you grateful. But I share it because the men that approached the beaches of Normandy that day had no delusions about what they were going into. They did not think that they were going to the beach for a vacation. They understood exactly what they were walking into. They knew that there was a vicious enemy who wanted to destroy them and they knew that many of them would die.

The book of Ephesians pulls back the curtain on the mysteries of life and shows you and I that we are in the midst of a battle that is no less stringent with an enemy that is no less fierce. And quite honestly the tragedy is that many of us have no idea that we're even in a battle. We approach life as if it were a vacation and not a war. We live life as if we were on a playground and not on a battleground. But it's not.

It's not. And you can wish all day long that it was. I do sometimes. I wish that life were a vacation. I wish that life were rest.

I wish it was a playground. But that doesn't change the fact one bit that this is a battle and unless you wake up to that fact you are going to waste your life. And even worse you and those you love might be casualties. For those of you that are familiar with the book of Ephesians you may be used to thinking of Ephesians 6 as the passage on spiritual warfare and it is. But the theme of battle pervades really all of Ephesians. And I want to show you that today from Ephesians chapter 5. So if you have a Bible I would invite you to take it out and open it to Ephesians 5.

We're going to begin about halfway through the chapter where we left off last week. Ephesians 5 today this morning I am going to show you why many many many tragically many people honestly don't make it as Christians. Matthew 7 Jesus speaking to a group of religious people and he made a statement that if you grew up in church you're familiar with the statement he said broad is the gate and easy and easy is the way that leads to destruction and many there are who go in that way but narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life and there are only a few who find it. I guess what's really sobering to me is when you consider the fact that he gave that statement not to a mass audience of people that represented all the gentile nations he gave that statement to a group of religious people and he's saying that even in religious circles broad and easy is the way that leads to destruction and many there are who start down that path that they end up on the path of destruction and only few actually enter into the path of life. Jesus told another parable where he basically said the same thing he told the story about a sower who went out to sow some seed in the in the soil and he says that some seed fell on soil that when it hit the soil it sprang up quickly it had spiritual fruit there was an immediate response people were sincere they wanted to follow God he said but because the sun came out it withered up these plants that had sprung up so promisingly at the beginning and dried them up because they had no root it said others were choked out by the cares of this world by the weeds of temptation and the weeds of materialism because they didn't have roots that go deep enough to give them the ability to withstand the other weeds and the and the sun that was shining on them he's saying the same thing he's saying that there are a lot of people who begin with God there are a lot of people who just don't make it just don't make it because they've never got the concepts that I'm going to talk to you about this morning I hope to warn some of you today and in a roundabout way I'm actually hoping to comfort some of you because some of you have wondered why this Christian life is so hard for you I know I've talked to you in the last few weeks you're like I just became a Christian here a couple months ago and I feel like it's supposed to be easier than this I mean maybe I'm not cut out for this kind of life I mean I look around at people at church and they're always you know walking around with their bibles with the sheep on the front they get a little gleam in their teeth when they smile and I just don't it's not me I'm struggling it's difficult I don't know if I'm cut out for this I think something might be wrong with me yes something is wrong with you but something's wrong with all of us and that's the point there is something wrong with all of us and that's why this is so unnatural for many of us I'm going to show you that today and I hope in a roundabout way kind of ironically it comforts you to show you that you're not you're not weird this is something that all of us deal with because of the world that we live in and I want to show you why that is all right Ephesians chapter 5 context of Ephesians 5 is that the world we live in is not a friendly one for growing spiritually there's several different metaphors at work in Ephesians 5 verse 8 verse 8 the world is a dark place verse 14 the world is a gray verse 16 the age that we live in the days we live in are evil into that world Paul gives a number of commands that tell us to fight against the current to struggle to do things that feel almost unnatural for us the point is if you coast you are going to drown if you coast you're going to drown here's what I mean verse 8 in the midst of a dark world he says walk as children of light and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord try to discern it I almost get the image here of trying to read in the dark you ever do that you ever try to read in the dark and you got to get the book right up close to your face and see if you can make out what the words are you got to concentrate on it I like to read after you know that's the last thing I do before I go to bed and it really annoys my wife when I turn the bedside light on because she can't sleep so being the great husband that I am I went out and bought one of those little like cave headman lamp like the lamps that go right here where's this big like flashlight that's shining out and the thing is when you're using that to read you got to focus right on where you want to look at because you can't see anywhere else in the room except where that light is shining what's really awesome is when she says something to me and I turn to look at her it's like you know right in her right her face but the point is you got to focus you got to focus on on what you're looking at because only what you're staring at intently are you going to be able to see that's the image that I get from this walk as children of light in the midst of darkness and try to discern try to discern the other image I get here is or maybe a memory of when I was in calculus class you know calculus class you're watching the teacher go through this series of steps and you guys if you remember this those of you that were in calculus you just remember like you're watching this thing and if you doze for one second I mean if you get distracted by a bird out the window you come back to that thing you're like what just happened what do we have here and there and there's all these squiggly lines and numbers and these energy I don't know what's happening you got to focus intently on it because the natural current of your brain is not going toward calculus the natural current of your brain is going toward moron land right and if you want to be able to master these concepts you got to focus intently that's what he's saying here focus and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord because it's not a natural current but verse 14 jump down there therefore it says awake oh sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine on you this is a great one you know how hard it is to get up from a good sleep can we all just quit being like really you know responsible and spiritual and just admit I don't know if you're like this maybe you know I never feel like getting up I always feel like man five more minutes would change my life right now I never come closer to bursting into the gift of tongues than when I recall after waking up that glorious blessed invention called the snooze button right and you're like oh I don't need to go to the gym today snooze right I can take another day off work snooze you just get this image of it's difficult to wake up and that's what he's saying he's like wake up that's not easy because the world's asleep get up notice verse 15 look carefully or in Greek it's actually diligently strive on how you walk not as unwise but as wise verse 17 therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is verse 16 go back there making the best use of the time because the days are evil in other words the tempo and the rhythms of this world are not in line with God's purposes the world has different values and different priorities and if the rhythms of your life are set by the world you're going to completely waste your life the point of all these all these different metaphors all these different commands is one thing christian life is struggle and if we are going to make it we have to declare absolute war on the gravitational pull of the world a world which is sleeping a world which is in the dark and a world that is in the grave you're listening to summit life with jd greer we hope you're enjoying this series in the book of ephesians and that it's been an encouragement in your daily walk with god i wanted to remind you about a resource that can also help you stay connected to god's word throughout the week our daily email devotionals written by pastor jd offer insightful reflections on the bible and practical applications for your life each day's devotional corresponds to our current teaching series here on the program as well so you can stay plugged into the themes and ideas we explore here even if you miss a day and best of all it's completely free to sign up simply visit jdgrier.com resources and enter your email address to begin receiving them right away thank you for your financial support that makes this resource and the rest of summit life possible it's because of friends like you that we are able to proclaim the gospel each day to a dying world now let's get back to our teaching for the day once again here's pastor jd remember in ephesians 2 4 if you were here several weeks ago when we studied chapter 2 paul talked about the course of this world that course is completely anti-god that course prioritizes the lust of the flesh which means it prioritizes the fulfilling of sensual desires above obeying the will of god you got to get this you got to find it you got to make yourself happy if it feels good this is what you should probably be doing it prioritizes the lust of the flesh it prioritizes the lust of the eyes which is coveting what other people have wishing that you had their job or lived in their house or drove those kind of cars it prioritizes the acquisition of stuff thirdly it prioritizes the pride of life which is exalting self above god being focused on yourself thinking that you are the point wanting to make your glory and your purpose is the point the world that we live in the course of this world the music of this world is that the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life but not only that our own flesh is tuned to that music paul has taught us in ephesians that our sinful flesh gravitates toward the anti-god course of this world like a moth to a flame and if you don't realize that then you are in deep trouble that's the way your heart goes we are like a car that is severely out of alignment you ever had that happen you run over a pothole you're driving through a parking lot you don't see that little cinder block thing there in the middle and you hit right over it and so next time you drive your car you know you take your hands off the wheel and it just veers left as fast as you can get it into a ditch you're like a car severely out of alignment so the moment you take your hands off of the wheel it veers into lust of the flesh lust of the eyes and the pride of life and so if we're going to make it you've got to declare war and that means if you're not fighting actively you're losing john owen the the famous puritan said it this way we are either actively killing sin or it is killing us that means at every point one of two things is happening at every point you are either actively striving to grow in godliness or you are having the sinful tendencies of your heart and the world around you kill you at every point that is happening going through this this week has made me realize how unaware most of us including me are to that i was just going in this message going back through looking at how this past week how i have flirted with different sins how i flirted and entertained different desires and inside there's this internal monologue saying to me that's not that bad it's not really hurting anybody you're not actually going to do that so this you know kind of kind of fantasizing about this pride right here kind of letting this coveting thing go in there indulging a little bit in the lust of the flesh that's not that bad because it's not really hurting anybody not realizing that this is a war where at every point sin is killing me and unless i am striving to grow in godliness and unless i'm striving to grow in the gospel it is killing me and overtaking me and again the tragedy is most of us have no idea that this is going on so how do we engage in warfare that's the question how do we engage in this type of warfare i count at least six different commands in these verses that we read and a couple more that we'll read after this at the end of chapter five six different commands if you've got a pen i would encourage you to take it out need to circle these in your bible or write these down okay number one paul says you ought to look carefully on how you walk look carefully on how you walk that's verse 15 try to discern what god wants strive to understand his will because it won't come naturally y'all when i first became a christian i thought that escaping sin was more like a decision that you made one time for all time i thought you know okay so you got two choices here you can follow your the sinful ways or you can follow jesus and as long as you choose not to follow the sinful ways i'm not going to go to where they you know get drunk get plastered i'm not going to go where they you know everybody's sleeping with everybody else i'm going to be a jesus guy and so i'm going to put on the jesus t-shirt wear the jesus bracelet listen to jesus music right i'm going to go on the jesus mission trips i'm going to do jesus stuff that's what we do that's what christians do we do jesus stuff and so i got all involved in in jesus things and filled up my calendar with jesus things i even did the ultimate jesus thing which is go be a missionary right that's like varsity navy seal level for for me like man that's you're going to be a missionary right i want to be a missionary in a muslim country and here's what i found that same sinful heart that had led me into sins before i became a christian was the same simple heart i carried over with me on the mission field and suddenly walking on the mission field didn't make all those things disappear i just found a christian way to indulge all those lusts of the flesh i was still the same greedy apathetic proud lazy non-self-controlled person that i had been before i became a missionary what he's saying is you got to drive the gospel deep into your life so that every different part of you you see to the lens of the gospel every part of you so that your relationships your hopes your dreams your desires your fears your anxiety all of it the gospel has gone deep and changed those parts of you you have to strive to understand what the will of the lord is in every situation it's not just going to come naturally you hear that remember that parable i told you at the beginning that jesus used about the sea falling on the soil and how some of the stuff springs up quickly guardian d martin lloyd jones had a great way of of applying this he said the only seeds that made it in jesus parable were the seeds that went down deeper than where the roots of the world could touch them which means if you want to survive spiritually you've got to drive the gospel down deep into your heart so that every single part of you has been transformed by the gospel so that your dating relationships so that what you are the way that you handle anger the way that you dream the way that you handle everything has been transformed by the gospel that is the only seeds that survive and that is an active pursuit the other analogy i use here quite often when i'm talking about this i actually thought i used it too much but then last night at the saturday service everybody acted like they'd never heard it before so i'm gonna assume it's kind of depressing and encouraging for me because depressing means that you guys don't remember like 85 of the stuff that i tell you that the encouraging thing is i can keep using the same stories over and over again because y'all don't remember that i told them all right the image that i always get as of a movie i saw back in the early 90s called the rock with sean connery and the most underrated actor of our generation nicholas cage okay and yes indeed i'm the preacher don't argue with me okay so so there in this movie the general gist of the movie is that you've got um the bad guys want to destroy san francisco with these balls of green nuclear gas right and if you get in the presence of the green nuclear gas you remember this kind of nod your head if you you know if you're in the presence of the green nuclear gas it eats your face off right and the only hope that you have of surviving in the presence of the green nuclear gas is to take a needle that's like that long and to stick the antidote in your heart and that's the only way to survive so the climax of the movie nicholas cage is fighting a bad guy and he takes one of these balls of green nuclear gas and he shoves it in his mouth and he punches him in the face and this bald green nuclear gas breaks open and eats the guy's face off and then nicholas cage always one of the smartest guys ever figures out i'm in the presence of the green nuclear gas i'm going to have my face eaten off so he turns and he starts to run right and the green nuclear gas follows him you know in the room and he goes up to the hall and he turns runs down the hall and the green nuclear gas turns and follows him down the hall and he goes into this room where there's no doors no windows and he can't get out here comes the green nuclear gas and so he reaches in his backpack and he pulls out this needle he unsheathes the needle he holds it out in front of his chest and for just a minute he hesitates and you're watching this movie and you're like don't do it don't do it it's better to get eaten by the green nuclear gas than it would be to put that thing into your heart but then at the last second right before the green nuclear gas gets there he puts it in his heart and shoves the antidote in and he's fine that's pretty much the end of the movie all right and if you're like bro you totally spoiled that for me it's 17 years old get over it okay i've always thought that that was a really good image though of how we survive in a toxic world like the one we live in the only way is to get the gospel so deeply into your heart that every molecule of your body responds to the lens of the gospel every single relationship every single emotion every single temptation all of it has to be saturated in the gospel otherwise it will die so the first thing he says about engaging in warfare is look carefully strive to understand in how you walk number two be intentional with your time he says be intentional with your time that's verse 16 make the most of it because we live in an evil age i'll tell you guys a little secret i don't always feel like seeking god you know i'm not the kind of guy and this may disappoint you but i don't get up in the morning like playing a harp singing chris tomlin tunes in my head thinking man i can't wait to spend four hours with god with god i get up and i'm telling you when i get up the first thing on my mind are a list of things i got to do when i get to the office and it's just about every morning i'm hearing this little voice say you know you ain't got time to spend time with god today got to understand you got to get there and return some of those emails you got like a list of meetings that you got to get to there are so many things that you need to do you don't have time to do that this morning or you need to work out because if you get out of shape and you know it's just that's not gonna be good and so you don't want to die so you better go ahead and work out and not spend time with god this morning or here's one here's what you know what the best thing you could do is you could get another 30 minutes of sleep because then you're going to be better for your church and your family if you're refreshed so don't spend time with god spend that extra 30 minutes sleeping anybody else have this monologue going on inside of them and then when i get home at night i'm like oh i'll spend time with god damn i get home i'm like my online shot now it's not gonna do any good to spend time with god so i might as well you know watch tv because that's pretty much all my mind is good for and then i'm gonna go to bed i'll do that and do this tomorrow and i get up in the morning and the same monologue is going on and here's the whole thing if i don't intend if i don't set times if i don't make the use of the time the natural direction of my heart is not toward godliness it is toward tedium that's what he's saying there make the best use of your time you got to choose to do it you got to be intentional with it so how do we engage in warfare you've just heard the first two commands look carefully on how you walk and be intentional with your time that's a good starting point and you can hear the rest of our marching orders on the program tomorrow so be sure to join us again you're listening to summit life with pastor jd greer we've got a phenomenal week of teaching ahead of us as we continue our series through the book of ephesians called mystery and clarity tomorrow we'll wrap up today's message called love is war but before we part ways i wanted to mention how thankful we are for our gospel partners this ministry only exists because of the generosity of our financial supporters and especially because of our gospel partners who join with us in our mission by giving on a monthly basis if you've listened to summit life before you've probably heard me talk about our featured resources that we give our generous donors each month one of the ways that we thank our gospel partners is by automatically sending them a copy of each monthly resource that means that right now each gospel partner is receiving the second installment in our gospel flip book series which guides you through galatians ephesians philippians and colossians i'd like to invite you to consider joining us as a gospel partner today linking arms with us as we seek to spread the gospel all over the world to join us or to make a one-time financial gift call our number at 866-335-5220 that's 866-335-5220 or you can give online at jdgrier.com i'm molly vidovich join us again tomorrow as pastor jd reveals the rest of our assignment on the battlefield listen tuesday to summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries