Grace City Denver

It's often assumed today that when Paul wrote about marriage, he was simply reflecting the patriarchy and traditional marriage roles of his culture. But closer study reveals the opposite: what he wrote was utterly countercultural - both for his day and for ours. Instead of focusing on their rights, and on what each can get out of marriage, a husband and wife are called to focus on their God-ordained responsibility to give for the benefit of the other. A wife is called to a posture of respectful submission. And a husband is called to a posture of self-giving love. Together, they're called to an enduring, intimate union that reflects the love of Christ for his church. Only when our marriages are about something bigger than our marriages - namely, the Gospel - can we fully enjoy the joy and harmony God intends.

What if you could have something within you that automatically made you the kind of person who was simultaneously wise and joyful? What if the Christian life is less about being an obeyer of a bunch of individual, isolated rules and more about being surrendered to the fullness of God's Spirit? This text explores and explains five hallmarks of that kind of life.

One of the metaphors the Apostle Paul uses to describe our salvation in Christ is the conversion from darkness to light. We were darkness; now we are light in the Lord. As light, we must reflect the goodness, righteousness, and truth of The Light. And in doing so, our lives will illuminate the darkness and expose sin, revealing it for what it really is.

The Apostle Paul now turns to a sixth category of putting off and putting on that relates to sex and sexuality. We must imitate the love of Jesus rather than patterning our “love” after the ways of the world. We are to put away all forms of immorality and impurity, which includes joking about these things. Instead, we are to remember who we are – and whose we are. We are beloved children; we are saints; we are light. As such, we have everything we need to practice the selfless and holy love of Jesus.

The Apostle Paul writes about the importance of putting off our former ways and putting on Christ, continued from the previous section. Now he gets specific, practical, and actionable. He shares five specific categories of sins that must be rejected and five practices of Jesus to put in their place. This section is important for our understanding of inside-out righteousness, as it goes beyond the mere "what" of our obedience to explain several Gospel "whys" and hows" of our obedience.

The Bible assumes Christians will live changed lives. Our former life (whether we sensed our participation in it or not!) was characterized by hardness of heart, imperceptiveness of mind, sensuality, and – ultimately – futility. God wants to redeem our lives through the knowledge of Jesus and re-create us in his image. Christ has objectively saved us by grace, yet we must practice walking in the reality of our salvation by continually putting off our former ways and putting on the new ways that reflect the heart of Jesus.

Immediately on the heels of urging unity in the church, Paul shares several important, clarifying details. Pastors are not called to do the work of ministry while others watch or merely receive. Pastors are called to equip all believers to do the work of ministry together. When each person does his or her part, the church grows in maturity, stability, and interconnectivity. Together we become more like Jesus, which is the end goal of true unity.

In a world ripped apart by division and strife, the church of Jesus Christ is called to unity. In fact, earnestly striving to preserve and practice unity is a key response to the truth and grace of the Gospel. But what are we to unify around? And how, practically, can we enjoy the kind of unity which is objectively ours but often so elusive?

A core part of following in apprenticeship to Jesus is seeking the righteousness of God. Instead of deciding right and wrong for ourselves, we conform our lives to God’s standards. This is not mere external performance; it’s a matter of the heart. We want to please God because he gave us the gift of righteousness – taking the punishment for our sin and blessing us with his own record of perfect obedience. So the righteous live by faith and walk in obedience.

Over the course of a day, week, month, or year, we can't possibly do all the things we want, let alone need, to do. We must set priorities and be willing to live with a lot of things being left undone. So how do we decide what to focus our time and energy on? Unfortunately, in a broken world, we're often controlled by sinful or relatively insignificant things. But Jesus said, "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." That's a great place to start: Pursue the rule of King Jesus in your own heart and seek to advance his kingdom purposes each and every day.