There is no shortage of evil in our poor neighborhoods, but our rich neighborhoods aren’t much better. If you think the problem of evil has been solved, have a talk with a policeman-or a social worker. Family disintegration, children having children, and “Crack babies” are rife. Washington DC, the capital of our nation, has become the murder capital of the world. Drug dealers and gang members not only endanger our lives they compete for the souls of our children. You certainly don’t have to look far these days to find evidence of spiritual warfare. The slogan was “Day by day, better and better in every way.” But then came the Depression, two world wars, the Holocaust, and Stalin, and people began to realize that public education hadn’t solved the problem of evil in our world. Technology promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Education promised to transform us into rational, happy people who would shed our primitive tendency to sin and put on a new, enlightened exterior. Resources to inspire you - and your congregation!Įarlier in this century, many people seriously questioned if we weren’t on the verge of overcoming evil. Is there a message in this book for us? Do we face the same quality of evil in our day?Ī SUBSCRIBER SAYS: “Life would be much more difficult & my ministry poorer but for this service (especially the Exegesis).” The forces of evil would be arrayed against them, and would have very human faces-from the face of the emperor to the faces of the gladiators to the faces of crowds crying for blood.īut those days are over. As we read early church history, with Christians being crucified along the roads to Rome and thrown to the lions in the Coliseum, it isn’t difficult to imagine what Paul was preparing these new Christians to face. He envisioned a spiritual warfare between Christians and very personal forces of evil. Paul was writing to his churches (and to us) to prepare us to face great powers of evil. That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.įor our wrestling is not against flesh and blood,īut against the principalities, against the powers,Īgainst the world’s rulers of the darkness of this age,Īnd against the spiritual forces of wickedness We certainly see the evidence of Paul’s concern for evil in our text for today.
(2) Christ uses us, his church, as his chief instrument for establishing this healing and harmony. (1) First is the reality of evil and strife in the world and the healing and harmony that come through Jesus Christ.
This book of Ephesians has two primary emphases: For the purpose of this sermon, I will assume that Paul is the author. Therefore, he took many of the ideas from his previous epistles-particularly from Colossians-and crafted them into a fine theological treatise to circulate among the many churches that he had started.
However, when he wrote Ephesians, he was in prison. Paul had always written his letters “on the run.” He was a busy man. Paul is traditionally considered the author, but the vocabulary and style of Ephesians is different from his other letters. This book of Ephesians is one of the most finely crafted books of the New Testament, and has been called the “Queen of the Epistles.” There is some question about its authorship. By Richard Niell Donovan Ephesians 6:10-20
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