The Spirit of the Age

Ephesians 2:1-3; 6:10-13.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 6, 2020.

We have reached Mark chapter 13, which is a big transition in the book.  We will also have a visiting evangelist next Sunday.  Therefore, I have decided to go a different direction today and talk about the Spirit of this Age.

Throughout history, it has been noticed that people groups can be infected by an idea that seizes them to such a degree that they are caught up into something that is bigger than themselves.  The group energy often pulls the individuals that comprise it beyond where they would go on their own. 

Fyodor Dostoevsky, among others, saw this happening in his country of Russia, and, at the end of the 1860’s, published his novel The Possessed (depending on how it is translated it could also be called The Demonized).  At one point in the book, some revolutionaries have started a poorer part of town on fire.  During the pandemonium of trying to put the fire out, one character that has been a bit of a goof, even borderline mental, shouts one of the best lines of the book.  “You can’t put out the fire; the fire is in the minds of men!” 

We similar activity in our own country today, and must ask ourselves the question.  Just what has seized the minds of not just 21^st century Americans, but people all over the world?  The Bible refers to it by many names, but we are going to use “The Spirit of the Age.”

The reality of the unholy spirit

In the opening verses of Ephesians 2, the Apostle Paul points out the reality of a spirit that is influencing this world.  Satan loves to mimic God.  If there is something that God has done then he will mock it with a false version of his own.  Just as there are true prophets of God so, he sends false prophets.  Those who pretend to speak on behalf of God, but delude the people.  Just as there is a true Christ so, he sends all manner of antichrists, or false Christs, in order to deceive the people.  The Bible warns of a coming, ultimate Antichrist who will deceive the whole world with the help of the ultimate False Prophet.  It should be no shock that there would also be the work of an unholy spirit, which represents the whole force of spiritual wickedness led by Satan.

Notice how Paul portrays those who do not follow Christ.  Yes, they are walking in their sins, but they are also under the influence of the “prince of the power of the air.”  In fact, he says more pointedly that this unholy spirit is presently “working in the sons of disobedience.”  They are those who refuse to follow the Holy Spirit of God and believe upon Jesus Christ.

There are some who disobey the Holy Spirit knowingly.  They believe that the God of the Bible and Jesus of the cross have misled the world.  They work directly against the Truth of God.  However, the great majority of people in this world participate in disobedience unknowingly.  They are simply following the course of this world that was laid out in front of them, and going with the overall flow of this Age.

Paul explains that this spirit uses the lusts of our flesh and the desires of our mind to influence and direct us.  Like a harness on a horse, we can be pulled around away from truth and towards the destructive ends of our own desires.

Satan didn’t make Eve want the fruit of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  He only influenced her towards the idea of rebellion against God’s command.  The Bible tells us, “when the woman saw [who saw?] that the tree was good for food [good for whom?], that it was pleasant to the eyes [whose eyes], and a tree desirable to make one wise [which one?], she took of its fruit and ate.”  The strong desires and appetites of our flesh do not want to be limited by the Truth of God.  The willfulness of our mind wants to go in particular directions that God warns against.  On top of all of this, there is a spiritual realm with beings who are working overtime to influence and manipulate us towards rebellion against God, whether knowingly or unknowingly.  This is the Spirit of the Age.

You should go ahead and read all of Ephesians 2.  When reading verses 1-3, it seems a rather dark image with little hope.  However, verse four says,

“But God, rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us to sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.”

Christians are no longer a part of the “walking dead.”  Instead, we have been delivered and made alive.  The biblical picture is not one of Zombie movies, or games, in which we are trying to slaughter all the zombies created by the evil spirit of this world.  Rather, we are the hand of Christ to touch the minds and hearts of the zombies so that they may have a renewed mind.  Everywhere he went, Jesus touched people and healed them.  He has given us the antidote to the greatest wound, the direst disease, that this world has.  We have compassion because, “we too were zombies once.” 

Let us never forget the battle that is going on all around us.  If we merely go through life trying “to get ours,” or trying to change the world according to the philosophies of this world, then we will find ourselves part of a fire that may promise a better future by which to warm ourselves, but in the end only leaves mankind in cinders and shackles. 

Later in the letter, Paul touches on this spiritual dimension again.

Our battle is not with people, but with the Spirit of the Age

In Ephesians 6:10-13, we are reminded of our real enemy.  Jesus has given us a clear directive, but it is easy for us to lose sight of the one we should be fighting.  Paul reminds us that our battle is with the spiritual powers that are enslaving people by their own lusts and self-will.

An important part of any battle is one’s protective gear.  Paul tells us to put on the armor of God.  The things that he lists involve the very things that often make us afraid.  The Spirit of the Age (SotA) warns us not to tell the truth because it will cause us trouble.  The SotA tells us that doing the “right thing” will only get us into trouble.  The SotA tells us not to share the Gospel because we will look stupid; don’t trust God because He doesn’t exist; don’t trust Jesus to save you, take your salvation into your own hands.  And, the antibiblical messages never stop.  Through fear, the Spirit of this Age convinces people to lay aside the only things that can protect them from it.

Christians, we cannot put our faith in Jesus without also trusting his armor.  Too many Christians are wearing the armor of Saul, the armor of this world.  However, Christ calls us to wear the armor that the world can’t see and it can’t understand.  It is an armor that protects our hearts and minds from the lies of a deceptive enemy.  Now is the day to stand on the Truth of God’s Word even when the world says it isn’t true.  Now is the time to do what God says is right rather than what the world says is right.  We need to be a people of the Gospel, walking in faith, and holding onto the salvation of Jesus through prayer.  This is the only protection we have against an enemy that is to us much more than Goliath was to little David.  However, always remember that is sufficient for the task.

Paul does list one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit.  He makes it clear that he is talking about the Word of God, the Bible itself.  It is powerful and able to cut to the hearts and minds of people.  It is the Good News of Jesus, which is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.  Becoming a student of God’s Word, and a follower of the Holy Spirit of God, will enable us to both stop attacks against ourselves, and rescue others from the grip of the spirit of this world.

Jesus said that you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.  This world tells us that our problem is that we don’t have stuff that other people have.  But, the truth of God tells us not to covet anything that belongs to our neighbor, much less steal or destroy it.  It tells us to love our neighbor like we love ourselves.  Yet, the spirit of this age stirs up envy, jealously, resentment, and then anger and rage.  It seeks to light a fire of passions in you that can be used to destroy you and your neighbor (and our communities, nations, world). 

The spirit of this age tells us that our problem is all the differences that we have: gender, race, economic status, etc…  But, the truth of God tells us that there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  It is not that these distinctions and affect on our lives aren’t real, but that they are used to manipulate us.  Men and women fighting against each other, blacks and whites, the have-nots against the haves, these are the things that only destroy us further.  In Christ, believers are to cease living for their distinctions.  They are to lay down the bloody flag of earthly revolutions in the flesh, and join God’s revolution against the spirit of this age.  If we will do this then we will truly find life.

Spirit Age Audio