Demystifying Marital Solutions | Ephesians
Introduction:
Like everything else in the Christian life, marriage is lived out in a world of spiritual conflict.
Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with spiritual forces warring against what is God-glorifying and good for people.
The devil who schemes, and the demonic forces that execute those schemes, represent a kingdom of God hating — people hating — hostility.
So, how does one STAND in the face of such hostility?
THIS IS THE REPEATED STATED GOAL.
“so that you will be able to stand firm” (vs.11)
“so that you will be able to resist” (vs.13)
“having done everything to stand firm” (vs.13)
“stand firm therefore” (vs.14)
Well, how do you do that?
In this spiritual struggle, what has God given for our provision?
That’s what we think about tonight.
Tonight, we think about demystifying the solutions for the struggles of marriage.
As soon as we acknowledge that we are in a spiritual battle — indeed, a battle with demonic forces — we might be tempted to think that the solutions for that struggle would be mystical. After all, you’re dealing with demons!
HERE IS THE AMAZING THING ABOUT HOW OUR GOD WORKS ON BEHALF OF HIS PEOPLE.
The solutions are SPIRITUAL and yet PRACTICAL.
That is, God is WORKING SPIRITUALLY (supernaturally) through the means that He has ordained for the strength of His people — MEANS THAT SEEM ORDINARY.
What we see in a text like this one is the extraordinary benefit of God’s ordinary means.
What are those means as we see them in our text? I want to point out eight of them. Eight ordinary means that God uses to produce extraordinary blessing.
• WORSHIP (vs.10)
At the very outset of this section, our focus is set upon God Himself.
He calls us to access God’s strength in practical ways, but he is very careful to begin by identifying the nature of that strength and the source of that strength.
THE STRENGTH IS GOD’S (vs.10)
THE ARMOR IS GOD’S (vs.11,13)
EVEN THE PRAYER THAT WE OFFER — AT ALL TIMES — IS IN THE SPIRIT (vs.18)
There is no standing firm, there is no resistance, apart from God Himself.
We stand as we LOOK TO GOD.
We stand as we DEPEND UPON GOD.
We stand as we TRUST GOD and truly believe THAT THE BATTLE IS THE LORD’S.
ESV 1 Samuel 17:46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD's, and he will give you into our hand."
ESV Psalm 44:4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! 5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. 6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. 7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. 8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah
QUESTION: When you find yourself in marital conflict, do you begin with worship? WHERE ARE YOU LOOKING FOR YOUR SOLUTIONS?
• OBEDIENCE (vs.10,11,13,14, 17)
Take note of the imperatives in this section.
“be strong” (vs.10)
“put on” (vs.11)
“take up” (vs.13)
“stand firm” (vs.14)
“take” (vs.17)
All of this is a call to action. Passing the test in the midst of spiritual conflict is not a matter of passive rest but DEPENDENT, yet ACTIVE, obedience.
This is where we will all be tested in our moments of struggle in marriage — will we worship God right here, and WILL WE OBEY GOD, taking the practical steps that He has set forth in His Word, at this very moment?
• CONFIDENCE
Everything that Paul shares in this section can only be accessed by faith. But there is a foundational faith that is on display here, that must exist before the practical faith is exercised.
What is that foundational faith?
It is the confidence that what God is telling us to access is REAL and IS ACTUALLY ENOUGH.
• THAT GOD HAS SUPPLIED WHAT WE NEED
This one of Satan’s great schemes. He wishes to convince the people of God that they need something that God has not supplied.
“Yes, God has given you all that you have in this garden, but there is something that He has withheld from you.” That was the original scheme.
He hasn’t changed. How many professing believers are on a search for what God HASN’T PROMISED, while BYPASSING what God actually points them to?
In search of:
The something more.
The something hidden.
The something that you find after the metaphorical scratch off.
Has God given us what we need?
• THAT WE CAN ACCESS WHAT WE NEED
And then we need the faith to believe that we can truly take hold of it.
Is there some secret METHOD to accessing these things?
Is there some TECHNIQUE that I haven’t learned?
Is it really within my grasp as a believer? This is the kind of language used throughout the section — “take hold of it!”
