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Feb 19, 2023

Awake (Again) to the Dance

Awake (Again) to the Dance

Passage: Ephesians 5:6-14

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Song & Dance - The Gospel Melody that Moves in Ephesians

Something happens–a glory or a tragedy–and we see the world anew. The experience is as if we’ve been awakened from sleep. We wonder, and perhaps lament, how we came to see and to live like we had for so long. We’ve heard Paul say we’re to “walk in a manner worthy of our calling,” and to “walk in love.” What does he mean by “walking in light”? Continuing to tease out this dance to the music of the gospel is key, but even more is how we are reawakened to all its brilliance when life and our choices lull us into a kind of sleep.

Readings & Scriptures

PREPARATION: Psalm 16:5-8. 11
LEADER: The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

PEOPLE: I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

LEADER: You make known to me the path of life;

ALL: in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH/SCRIPTURE READING/CORPORATE PRAYER: John 1:1-5, 9-13
LEADER: John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word of the Lord (if Scripture)
ALL: Thanks be to God.

CENTRAL TEXT: Ephesians 5:6-14
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them; 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), 10 and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. 13 But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, 14 for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

CONFESSION OF SIN: Proverbs 28:13

ALL: Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON I John 1:6-9
LEADER: If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

ALL: Thanks be to God.

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Psalm 107:10
  • Isaiah 9:1-5
  • Isaiah 26:19; 51:17; 52:1; 60:1
  • Matthew 18:15-17
  • Mark 14:37-43
  • John 1:1-13
  • John 3:19
  • John 17:15 / 1 Corinthians 5:9-10
  • Romans 1:32
  • Romans 12:1-2
  • Romans 15:14 / 2 Thessalonians 1:11
  • 2 Corinthians 5:9 / Hebrews 13:21
  • Galatians 5:22-25
  • Philippians 1:11
  • 1 Thessalonians 5:21
  • 1 Timothy 5:24-25
  • Hebrews 2:1-4
  • 1 Peter 1:7

ILLUSTRATIONS:

QUOTES: 

  • Why, didn’t I face death for three-quarters of an hour today, live with this thought in my head, was I not a hairsbreadth away from death, and now I am living again! I am being reborn in another form. . . .When I turn back to look at the past, I think of how much time has been wasted, how much of it lost in misdirected efforts, mistakes, and idleness, in living the wrong way; and, however I treasured life, how much I sinned against my heart and spirit—my heart bleeds now as I think of it. Life is a gift, life is happiness, each minute could be an eternity of bliss. Fyodor Dostoevksy, from a letter to his brother Mikhail
  • Am I sleepwalking through the best years of my life? Billy Crockett, “The Question Pool”
  • Johnny said the most beautiful, most poetic grace you’ve ever heard. Then he leaned over to me with this devilish look in his eye and said, “But I sure miss the drugs.” Bono
  • As long as you live, you will be subject to change, whether you will it or not - now glad, now sorrowful; now pleased, now displeased; now devout, now undevout; now vigorous, now slothful; now gloomy, now merry. But a wise man who is well taught in spiritual labor stands unshaken in all such things, and heeds little what he feels, or from what side the wind of instability blows. Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
  • You cannot keep birds from flying over your head but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. Martin Luther

  • https://hfh.fas.harvard.edu/religious-upbringing

 

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