Read Ephesians 6:10-20. What is Paul saying about the kind of warfare the church is engaged in? Is Paul primarily depicting just an individual believer’s spiritual battle against evil, or the church’s corporate war against evil?

Victory in Greek and Roman warfare was dependent on the cooperation of the soldiers in a military unit and especially in their support for each other in the heat of battle. Individualism in battle was regarded as a characteristic of barbarian warriors, dooming them to defeat.

Image © Review and Herald Publishing Assn. Goodsalt.com

There are important reasons to support the idea that Paul, in line with this usual military understanding, is primarily addressing the church’s shared battle against evil in Ephesians 6:10-20; 1. The passage is the climax of a letter that is all about the church. It would be strange for Paul to conclude his letter with a picture of a lone Christian warrior doing battle against the foes of darkness; 2. At the end of the passage, Paul highlights Christian camaraderie in his call to prayer “for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18-20, ESV); 3. Most significant of all, earlier in the letter when Paul discusses the powers of evil, he places them over against the church, not the individual believer: “So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10, ESV).

Thus, Ephesians 6:10-20 does not portray a solitary, lone warrior confronting evil. Instead, Paul as a general addresses the church as an army. He calls us to take up our full armor and, as a unified army, vigorously and unitedly press the battle. Paul chooses to conclude his thoroughgoing emphasis on the church, which has included sustained descriptions of the church as the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:1-16), the building/temple of God (Ephesians 2:19-22) and the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:21-33), with a final metaphor, the church as the army of the living God. Since we are approaching “the evil day” (Ephesians 6:13), the final stages of the long-running battle against evil, it is no time to be fuzzy about our commitment to God or our loyalty to one another as fellow soldiers of Christ.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Sunday: The Church ~ A Unified Army appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/sunday-church-unified-army/

The Mission program of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an opportunity for us to understand the needs of others and share in supporting them. Please click on the image below to watch the Mission Spotlight presentation for this week: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lya991xrNyE?si=7MOylGfZYjUu-Ibg&w=560&h=315]

Amen!(0)

The post Mission Spotlight for September 16 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-september-16/

Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read  for This Week’s Study: Ephesians 6:10-20; 1 Peter 4:1; 1 Peter 5:8; Isaiah 59:17; Isaiah 52:8-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

Memory Text: “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:16-17, ESV).

In John Bunyan’s devotional classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, written while he was in jail, Christian is escorted into a palace armory and shown “all manner of furniture [weaponry], which their Lord had provided for pilgrims, as sword, shield, helmet, breastplate, all-prayer, and shoes that would not wear out. And there was here enough of this to harness [fit] out as many men for the service of the Lord, as there be stars in the heaven for multitude.” Before Christian departs, he is again escorted into the armory where “they harnessed [fitted] him from head to foot with what was of proof [impenetrable], lest, perhaps, he should meet with assaults in the way.”

Bunyan’s writing in 1678 recalls a document written some 1,600 years earlier by the apostle Paul, the Epistle to the Ephesians, also composed in prison. In it the great missionary apostle imagines a great army, the church, visiting God’s armory and suiting up in the divine panoplia, the Greek term for full, head-to-toe armor. God’s armory holds enough of the finest weaponry for every soldier in His army to be “clad with northern steel from top to toe,” as they set forth to wage peace in His name.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, September 23.

Sunday–>

Amen!(0)

The post Sabbath: Waging Peace appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/sabbath-waging-peace/

Finding the Right Words

By Andrew McChesney

Alexei Arushanian, a 33-year-old Ukrainian national living in Poland, noticed a Bible and many other religious books in the apartment of the woman whose windows he was installing.

Alexei belonged to a group of church members who distributed Ellen White’s The Great Controversy. It was a difficult task with few receptive people, and he prayed for an opportunity to share a book in this home.

Image © Pacific Press

Then the woman, who was about 40 and lived alone, offered him a cup of tea. Alexei sat and sipped the tea as the woman went about her activities. She sang as she worked. Alexei prayed about what to do. Finally, he spoke.

“I see that you love to read books,” he said.

“Yes, I really love to read,” she said. “You might have noticed that I don’t have a TV. I read all the time.”

The woman resumed working and singing.

Alexei had an idea. “Are you a Christian?” he asked.

“Yes, I sing in a choir at church,” she said.

“I also go to church, at Foksal 8,” Alexei said, giving the address of the only Seventh-day Adventist church in Poland’s capital, Warsaw. “I’m a Protestant. I’m a Seventh-day Adventist.”

Seeing that the woman was listening intently, Alexei grew bolder.

“I’d like to give you a gift, a book about the history of Christianity,” he said. “It’s really interesting.”

The woman agreed to look at the book.

As Alexei took his tools out to the car, he worried that she wouldn’t open the door when he returned with the book. But she welcomed him back in. She was visibly impressed with the handsomely bound volume, and she immediately began to leaf through it. From the expression on her face, Alexei could see that she didn’t agree with everything that she saw.

“It’s up to you to accept or reject what’s in the book,” he said.

The woman accepted the book, saying, “Thank you very much.”

The pair spoke a little longer, and Alexei was filled with joy when he left. He was so happy that he had found a way to give her the book.

“I could have stayed silent,” he says. “But she had the right to decide whether to accept the book or not. My duty only was to offer it to her.”

This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will go to the Trans-European Division, which includes Poland. Thank you for planning a generous offering.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

Amen!(0)

The post Inside Story: Finding the Right Words appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/inside-story-finding-the-right-words/

Further Thought:

 “Our work is an aggressive one, and as faithful soldiers of Jesus, we must bear the blood-stained banner into the very strongholds of the enemy. ‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.’ If we will consent to lay down our arms, to lower the blood-stained banner, to become the captives and servants of Satan, we may be released from the conflict and the suffering.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

But this peace will be gained only at the loss of Christ and heaven. We cannot accept peace on such conditions. Let it be war, war, to the end of earth’s history, rather than peace through apostasy and sin.” — Ellen G. White, The Review and Herald, May 8, 1888.

How does Ephesians 6:10-20 relate to the book of Revelation? The passage exhibits the same basic view of last-day events, or eschatology, as the battle motif in the book of Revelation (see Revelation 12:1-17, Revelation 16:12-16, Revelation 19:17-21, Revelation 20:7-10). In both, the people of God are under attack by the enemy who is “in heavenly places” and “is active and powerful in the present aeon” (or age). In both, the people of God are encouraged by “the picture of the future aeon.” Further, “both scenarios explicitly point to the final battle when the enemy will be conquered completely after which the new aeon will be established forever,” a new age in which “the final glorious state of the people of God” and “the eternal doom of the enemy” will be evident. (See Yordan Kalev Zhekov, Eschatology of Ephesians (Osijek, Croatia: Evangelical Theological Seminary, 2005), Pages 217, 233-235.)

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

Amen!(0)

The post Friday: Further Thought ~ The Call to Stand appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/friday-further-thought-call-to-stand/