The Mystery of the Kintsugi Church: Ephesians 3:1-13

THE MYSTERY OF THE KINTSUGI CHURCH

 

 Do you know the mystery of the kintsugi church? You’re probably thinking, “No!” Then you’re thinking, “It sounds Asian. Does it have to do with the persecuted church?” Not really. So then, it remains a mystery until I reveal it to you.

            Most of us enjoy mysteries. When a documentary promises to reveal a hidden mystery of the ages, we are intrigued; we, the viewers, are allowed into a secret that few know about. I personally enjoyed the “Hunting Hitler” docs on History TV as they pondered whether Hitler fled to South America. You may enjoy a mystery novel that keeps you in suspense as you try to figure out if the butler did it. Other mysteries are like conspiracies for which the answers may never be known (like who shot JFK).

            Paul speaks of a mystery in our text today. If by mystery we mean something impossible to understand, Paul means something else. “Mystery” in the first century meant something only known to the initiated. You had to be “in” to know the secret. There were in those days “mystery religions,” kind of like the Free Masons. But Paul uses “mystery” to mean something that is beyond natural knowledge and yet is opened to us by revelation through the Holy Spirit and the Word. 

            To give a better sense of “mystery” in the Bible, think of a treasure hunt. In a treasure hunt, you are given clues. You must figure out one clue in order to discover the next. When you have discovered all the clues and deciphered them, you arrive at the treasure. Finding the treasure, the mystery is solved. For Paul, the Lord Jesus is the treasure. In the OT, God gave his people many clues through the prophets concerning the Messiah. But they couldn’t put the clues together to figure out the treasure. Even the OT prophets didn’t really know the depth of the words they gave the people (Deffinbaugh).

            Using simple imagery, I want to share with you the mystery Paul discovered in Jesus. And then I will reveal the mystery of the Kintsugi Church to you.

God Uses Unlikely People 

 

Paul transitions from what he said about dismantling walls to what he writes now, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles…” (3:1). And then he stops. He won’t finish this thought until verse 14 (see v. 14).

            As Paul wrote this letter, he was probably under house arrest in Rome (or he may have been in Judea). His chains will have clinked possibly as he reached for more ink, and he was reminded of something he wanted to say.

            Imagine for a moment getting a letter of encouragement from a prison inmate at Stony Mountain Penitentiary. A murderer, a man who created trouble wherever he went, a disturber of the peace. This man sends a sermon to us at RFC and wants to tell us about the hope of Jesus. Would you take that letter with the weight it’s intended? Sounds incredulous, doesn’t it? That’s Paul. 

            He is a prisoner in Roman jail. Yet Paul does not say he is a prisoner because of the Jews, or of Nero. He says he is a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul was a captive of the grace of Jesus and believed that every situation could be used for glory.

            In the last verse of this section (13), Paul talks about his sufferings. Imagine again a man confined to his bed in a hospital with an incurable cancer telling you how Jesus heals the sick. Ironic, isn’t it? Paul is not ill, but he is suffering in prison, has suffered shipwrecks and hunger and beatings, and he says, “this is for your glory,” that you would know Jesus through all these hardships of mine. 

            God chose this man, Paul, to be a servant of the gospel. Looking through the eyes of the first century readers you will perceive that this man is disqualified from credibility. Tradition says he was short, bald, and stooped. Then he is in prison (failure) and has suffered (weakness). F.R. Maltby used to say that Jesus promised his disciples three things: that they would be absurdly happy, completely fearless, and in constant trouble. Paul was all of these things.

            That’s not all. He makes this confession about his own qualifications saying, “Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things,” (8-9).

            Paul is not shy about his past. Politicians will try to cover up their scandalous pasts for fear that it will be used against them. I’m reading in 1 Timothy for my own devotional time and remembered something Paul said there in relation to his messy past (see 1 Tim. 1:12-13). A blasphemer, a persecutor of the church, a violent man. Who would listen to a man like this? What an unlikely candidate for the awesome task of revealing God’s great secret. 

            That’s a mystery in itself. That God would choose an unlikely person to be his messenger. Paul realized that he was part of something much bigger than himself: part of the plan of God who created all things. He realized that the mystery of Jesus Christ overwhelmed his past and by the grace of God made him a steward of it. 

            God uses unlikely people: clue number one.

 

God Builds an Unlikely Church

 

Imagine that you are applying for membership at a country club or a private school. But you don’t meet the criteria. You have the wrong skin color; you don’t have the finances to afford membership; you don’t come from the right family. You are rejected based on things you can’t control for the most part. You are not “in.” You will never be “in.” 

            This was how the Jews viewed the Gentiles. This was us before Christ came. Before Jesus, there wasn’t an understanding that Jew and Gentile would become one and that all social distinctions would be nullified in the church. But now the mystery of God is revealed in Christ Jesus. Someone said it this way: When the Jews rejected Jesus, the Gentiles were not plan B. God had always intended to bring the Gentiles into his family. 

            Paul states the mystery clearly: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Jesus Christ,” (6). There never was a plan B. God is building a community of people, the church, with the most unlikely people coming together. Ordinary people. The gospel of Jesus is for everyone who wants to live for something more than the meaningless day-to-day existence. Built into each one of us is a desire to be part of something more. That’s God given. 

            The gospel of Jesus gives us something more, something that takes the ordinary “you” and your ordinary job and transforms you into a servant of Jesus. It takes our suffering, our illness, our pain, and gives it a purpose. It takes the humdrum and the lowly tasks you do and makes it a ministry. And we marvel that God has chosen us even though we are the least of all God’s people. The mystery of the gospel gives us confidence and hope in our trials. The mystery of the gospel is that God chooses YOU!

            God wants to take your ordinary self and use you. Ray Ortlund writes: Don’t waste your life in the false peace of worldly comfort and small ambition and being cool.  Jesus is looking for gospel hooligans who want to get messy and relevant and involved.  He wants to use you for the advance of the gospel.  Don’t miss out.  Don’t settle for a life that won’t matter forever.  Do you want people to say at your funeral, “What a nice person,” and that’s it?  Your life can count for many people forever.  All he asks of you, all you can do, is keep listening to him moment by moment and then take your next step, whatever that might be.  You provide your weakness and need.  He provides his strength, his wisdom, everything.  And if we will together live that way on mission, we will experience what only God can do.

Clue #2: God builds an unlikely church with unlikely people. 

God’s Purpose for Choosing the Unlikely 

 

Why?!? Why would God choose the unlikely, the ordinary, and the rejected types like Paul to build his church?

            First, why Paul? Paul wrote and said this to Timothy: “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life,” (1 Tim. 1:15-16).

            Was Paul the worst of sinners? Surely Nero was worse. He killed his own family members out of paranoia that they were plotting to take his throne. We can think of worse sinners than Paul. But Paul looked at himself and saw his own sin, his own spiritual bankruptcy, and in the presence of Christ realized his true condition. Brothers and sisters, that is how we should see ourselves. I, Darryl, am the worst of sinners. And look at the mercy of God that Jesus displays in loving me. 

            This leads into the second reason why God chooses the unlikely. Paul writes, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms…”(10).

            I hope this rocks your world. The church has a greater and higher purpose than we can perceive with human eyes. God is showing his wisdom in the church. Think of all the ways God could show angels and demons, powers and authorities his great wisdom. Science continues to explore the information stored in our DNA and how it makes us who we are. The universe is filled with secrets yet to be discovered. But God has chosen to reveal his wisdom in the church. 

            John Stott puts it this way: It is as if a great drama is being enacted. History is the theatre, the world is the stage, and church members in every land are the actors. God himself has written the play, and he directs and produces it. Act by act, scene by scene, the story continues to unfold. But who are the audience? They are the cosmic intelligences, the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. We are to think of them as spectators of the drama of salvation. Thus ‘the history of the Christian church becomes a graduate school for angels’

            When spiritually dead people are raised to new life, when former enemies become family, when we work for unity amid disagreements, God’s wisdom is revealed in the church. William Lane Craig has said that the greatest proof of the truth of the gospel is the existence of the church. 

            That’s why God chose Paul; to demonstrate his incredible grace to the worst of sinners through Jesus Christ.

            That’s why God chose you, when you confess your ordinariness and sin, he demonstrates his patience and grace to you. One of my students handed in a paper late a few weeks ago. He wrote to me saying that he knew his submission was late and I could fail him if I chose to – he’d understand. I said that I’m not without grace and marked his paper. He still hasn’t handed in his next paper and I’m not going to be gracious again. 

            God never stops being gracious. He opens his arms wide and welcomes you when you have sinned (again). The worst thing you can do is NOT come to him. In this he demonstrates his patience and wisdom and love to the spiritual realms that must be staring in shock.

 

One more time, imagine that I am holding an elegant pottery item. I let it slip from my hands – butter fingers – and it smashes on the floor into many shards. The pieces are a variety of jagged shapes with no redeemable value. Someone will have to clean this vase or bowl up and throw out the pieces. Right? It’s useless now. It’s good for nothing but the trash. Right?

            This is the mystery of the Kintsugi Church. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold, silver, or platinum. Kintsugi is the combination of two Japanese words: “kin” meaning gold and “tsugi” meaning joinery or repair. Literally “golden joinery.” The art form does not hide the breakage or flaws but draws attention to how they are put together with the gold. Gleaming seams hold together what was once divided. 

            

We are the Kintsugi Church. We are all broken people. We all need Jesus. And the grace of Jesus Christ is the gold seam that brings our brokenness together into one beautiful work of art. 

            Are you feeling broken this morning? Do you feel that you are irredeemable and good for nothing? Do you feel like you don’t belong in this group of people because you haven’t got your life on track yet? Or maybe never will? 

            You belong here. With us. In the presence of Jesus. I am the worst of sinners. I don’t have it all together. Yet Christ is in me is displaying his perfect grace and is using me to demonstrate his wisdom. If I am the worst of sinners, then you are in good company. 

            God is on the move. God is working in you. God is working in us TOGETHER to show the world the power of Jesus to transform lives. 

            God is on the move.

 

                                                AMEN

            

Breaking Down Walls: Ephesians 2:11-22

BREAKING DOWN WALLS

 

Why do we build walls? Walls in a home provide a barrier to keep out the elements, to ensure privacy, and to hang pictures. Why do we build walls? Fear! For protection. As a defense against hostile forces, to keep people out (Great Wall of China; Hadrian’s Wall)

One of the most infamous walls, the Berlin Wall was built to keep people in. Those who had visited the wall before its destruction in 1989 said that they could feel the built-in suspicion and mutual distrust, the hatred and hostility, and the outright defiance represented by that wall. East German guards would watch with keen eyes both sides of the wall making certain that no one came in or out. Many people were killed trying to escape East Germany. And where their bodies fell, West Germans would erect crosses as a reminder and open defiance of the East German guards.

Do you remember how the world rejoiced when the Berlin Wall was dismantled by exultant Germans in 1989? West Germans were reunited with East Germans to become one Germany after 45 years of painful division. But when the wall came down, I believe the Germans discovered an invisible wall that was even more difficult to tear down.

There were two cultures at odds: one of an oppressed people, the other free-thinking and prosperous. East Germans may have felt like 2nd class citizens, charity cases for the West, while the West felt resentment at having to support their poor brothers. It was a new kind of hostility. 

Why do we build walls? All of us have invisible walls that are difficult to deconstruct. If we are honest about who we are, we must admit that we do not allow others to see our true selves. For some people we build higher walls, while for others we keep a waist high fence. We are afraid people will see too much of us. Or we are afraid we will lose something if we allow others to influence us or change us. So, we throw up a wall. We have many walls.

Jesus came to destroy walls. His mission was to remove the barriers that keep us from knowing God, knowing each other, and ultimately living in community. In this part of the letter to the Ephesians, Paul describes how Christ breaks down walls and brings people together in community. 

 

Walls That Separate Us (2:11-12)

 

A great wall separated the church at Ephesus into two categories: Jew and Gentile. Apparently for Ephesus this division was the reality. There were two interrelated types of division: social and spiritual.

a) Social Division. We read in v. 11 that Gentiles were called a derogatory name by the Jews, the “uncircumcised.” For Jews, circumcision was a badge of honor, a mark of distinction: “We are God’s people, and you are not.” There are two kinds of people to Jews: those who are Jews and those who are not. 

Jewish literature from that time indicated that Jews believed God created Gentiles for the sole purpose of fueling the fires of hell. It was even unlawful for a Jew to help a Gentile woman give birth: You’re just helping add another Gentile into the world.

Can you imagine the hostility that would ensue when you bring these two groups together in one church? There’s a lot of deep-seated animosity to get over. It may also explain, though in no way justify, why there is so much anti-Semitism in the world.

It's not just Jew vs. Gentile; many people fear the “other” race. Fear gives birth to anger. In the West there is a growing fear of what immigrants will take away from those who have lived and worked for generations to build. 

b) Spiritual Division. An even deeper division existed between Jews and Gentiles before the Gospel came. This was a spiritual division based on genuine ignorance. Paul gives five indicators of spiritual division:

Gentiles were separated from Christ – We may be led to think “Jesus Christ,” when we should read “Messiah.” Israel had the expectation of a coming Messiah or King who would triumph over Israel’s enemies. Gentiles had no “Messiah” to hope in.

Gentiles were not citizens of Israel – God had chosen Israel to be his people, no one else. If you weren’t Jewish, you were excluded from all God’s promises. No blessing for you!

Gentiles were strangers to God’s promises – Strangers or “foreigners” to the covenant promises given to Abraham, Moses, and David. 

Gentiles were without hope – They did not have any confidence in a future reality, no vision of a restored world.

Gentiles were without God – This is where we get the word “atheist.” Gentiles had many gods, but not the true God and thus were truly godless. 

c) Other walls. There are many other walls that exist in the Church today. There are ethnic walls: Mennonites and non-Mennonites. Academic walls: Bible College or University educated people vs. high school dropouts. Male vs. female. There are walls between husbands and wives; children and parents; wealthy vs. blue collar. There is a wall that separates Churched from unchurched people – “us vs. them.” There exist in the church various walls that divide. These walls do not belong in the Church…

 

Peace That Destroys Walls (2:13-18)

 

When do walls become obsolete and unnecessary? When there is peace. What is peace? It is not when armies lay down their weapons. In the last 4000 years there has only been 268 years of peace. There were 8000 treaties signed…and broken. Is it peace when a husband and wife stay together for the sake of the children? Is it peace when friends agree to disagree and then not talk anymore? The walls remain. Hostility persists.

Paul begins to define true peace with a dramatic “But now…” in v. 13. “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.”

What is true peace? Peace is oneness and harmony. Peace comes to us in a person. Jesus is our peace. Paul does not say Christ’s death reconciles us specifically, but says our reconciliation is made possible through his blood. Paradoxically, the violence of his death makes our peace possible. And it is only when you find peace with God through the cross of Christ that we can begin to know peace with each other. True peace (shalom) is best described in Isaiah 32:16-18

Peace through Christ’s own shed blood is what destroys the walls that divide. I believe Paul uses the imagery of the temple to illustrate. In the Jewish Temple stood the Holy of Holies, the place where God was said to dwell. Only the priests could enter this area. Outside of this was the court of men – Jewish men only. Beyond this was the court of women. Finally, furthest from the presence of God was the court of the Gentiles. No one was allowed to go beyond these sacred walls…in 1871, archaeologists, digging around the temple site in Jerusalem, uncovered the very stone marked with this warning. Written in Hebrew and Greek, it said: "No man of another race is to proceed within the partition and enclosing wall about the sanctuary. Anyone arrested there will have himself to blame for the penalty of death which will be imposed as a consequence."

Another view of the “dividing wall of hostility” was how the Jews understood the Law of Moses. The law kept Jews distinct from Gentiles through circumcision, Sabbath, and food laws. These fostered a lot of hostility between Jews and Gentiles in the Roman world. Jews looked down on the “unclean Gentiles” for their failure to keep God’s standards and Gentiles despised Jews for their peculiar practices.

Christ, Paul wrote, has now set aside those peculiar practices and has made one new humanity out of the two. These peculiar practices no longer keep you from God.

The walls that kept us from God are gone, but what about the walls that keep us apart from each other? These walls are created by hostility and hatred and distrust. How can we dismantle the walls of hostility? Paul said that Jesus abolished in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations…and through the cross he put to death their hostility. What that means is quite profound. You see, the strength of any hostility is demand. What creates hostility? A self-righteous demand upon someone. When we demand that others conform to our standard of what’s proper, or Christian, or correct, we create hostility.

The Jews hated the Gentiles because they thought they were better than the Gentiles. They had the Law and therefore they thought they had God in their back pocket. It was this feeling of superiority that created the divide and the hurt. The Gentiles could see through this self-righteous hypocrisy and in turn hated the Jews and their law. Jesus’ solution then, was to abolish the law and show them both how much they needed the grace of God. Jesus accomplished this on the cross. 

This is the solution to the hostilities in our own world. We can break down the walls that divide us from our spouse, or our children, or our parents or friends…by stop being so self-righteous. Stop demanding that someone change for you without admitting that you need to change too, that we are all under grace. When we do that, we end the hostility. But if we pretend that everyone else is wrong, that we don’t need to change, hostility and resentment remain. Remove the demands and hostility ends.

 

Walls That Unite Us (2:19-22)

 

Now that Jesus has dismantled our walls, Jesus wants to build some new ones. These are walls that unite us into one building, as Paul now tells us, a temple where God dwells.   There are three important images given to us in these verses, each one increases the intimacy of the previous.

            First, Paul says that we are now citizens in God’s kingdom. Remember that he said we were excluded from citizenship in Israel. If a Gentile were permitted into the community of Israel, it would only be as a second-class citizen. Canada has limited immigration this week making it harder to enter the country. Becoming an American is even harder. But through the cross of Christ, we don’t need to be permanent residents or get a green card to qualify. We are now fellow citizens with God’s people. 

            The next image is sweeter yet. Through the cross of Christ, we are now members of God’s household. We are related by blood. You know that feeling when you first marry into a family, and you feel that initial awkwardness? You don’t get the inside jokes that the family has told for years. You don’t understand why mother-in-law refuses help in the kitchen. You are not really “in” the family yet. In Christ, you are family! The ties are intimate! You are related to each other in this family – you are in that “book” – you know the one I mean. You’ve been added to the genealogy of God’s family. 

            But then, the pinnacle of intimacy with God is revealed. You and I, each one of us, is a brick in the new wall. You and I are being built (note the ongoing tense) into the temple in which God lives. In the past, the Jews greatly valued the temple in Jerusalem as the place God lived. When they were being attacked by enemies, they would look back and say, “It’s okay, we have the temple,” meaning God’s presence was with them. But you know that the dwelling of God was originally the Tabernacle, a tent that was mobile and went wherever the people went? God never really wanted a static building in one place where people had to come to him. God wanted to be with his people. Through the cross of Christ, God has begun to build a new dwelling place, a temple in which each of us is a stone. In plain English, we are the place God now lives. You don’t need to go to Jerusalem to find God; God lives in his people. You and me! Where the people call Jesus Lord, that’s where God lives! 

The Great Wall of China was breached not by force but by bribery. Hadrian’s Wall was overwhelmed by Celtic hordes. The Berlin Wall was dismantled by ideas of freedom and liberty.

Your walls cannot be broken by bribery or force or mere ideas. Your walls can only be broken by the person of Jesus Christ.

But here’s another truth to dwell upon. Eight in ten Canadians say that you don’t need to go to church to be a good Christian. Seventy percent of Christians say that their private beliefs are more important than the church. But that’s not what we heard Paul say this morning. Your faith is personal but it’s not private. We are part of a greater kingdom. We are made a family through Christ Jesus. We are the place where God lives. We can’t do that alone. We were never meant to do that alone. Through the cross of Christ, the walls that separate you from other people has been broken down. 

            You have heard phrases like, “If you were the only person on earth, Jesus would have died for you.” The intention of this saying is to personalize Christ’s death for you. It is supposed to inspire you to respond to God’s love. But it’s wrong! Ephesians 2 shows us this is not true at all. First, you are not the only person on earth. Second, yes, Jesus died for you, but not just for you. Jesus made it possible for there to be peace between you and God AND between you and all those who call Jesus, “Lord.”

            We are fellow citizens TOGETHER in God’s kingdom.

            We are members TOGETHER of God’s family.

            And TOGETHER, we are the place where God is found. He dwells in us as his holy temple. And there are no walls to divide us where God dwells.

 

                                                            AMEN

A Thanksgiving Prayer: Ephesians 1:15-23

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

 

Happy Thanksgiving! I trust that you will have your fill of tryptophan and enjoy the nap that comes with it. For those of you who don’t know, turkey contains tryptophan, an amino acid that helps you relax and make you sleepy. So, eat up.

            Stories of American thanksgiving celebrations go back to the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, and the first pilgrims who feasted with Native American friends. What’s true and what’s legend is hard to cipher in this story. But where do Canadians get our thanksgiving story? It actually predates the American story, the first thanksgiving dinner by Europeans in North America being held by Martin Frobisher and his crew in the Eastern Arctic in 1578. They ate a meal of salt beef, biscuits and mushy peas to celebrate and give thanks for their safe arrival in what is now Nunavut. Makes you thankful for turkey and stuffing…

            I’ve always balked at the insistence that churches celebrate Thanksgiving weekend with a special service. I contend that the follower of Jesus should make every day a day of thanks to our God. But I recognize that as humans we need these special days to remind us to be thankful and to verbally declare in this assembly that God is good. And it just so happens that our series on Ephesians today focuses on the theme of thanksgiving. 

            Last Sunday we studied verses 3-14, a single long sentence in the Greek. That’s right – no breaks. Paul got carried away explaining the blessings of God poured out on us. He follows that up with another long single sentence beginning with “For this reason…” Paul looks back at the blessings and thinking of the Ephesian believers says, “I’m so glad you get this…For this reason…” And Paul gives thanks for this church. 

            In our study of verses 15-23 of chapter one, I want to apply Paul’s thanksgiving prayer to our church and pray his prayer for you.

A Pastor Thanks God for the Church (1:15-16)

 

Paul was a missionary with a pastoral heart. God had called him to travel through Europe planting churches as he went. But he did not forget the churches after he left; he heard of their progress, their troubles, and their joys, and wrote to them to encourage them and to challenge them. 

            Take a look at the beginning of the letter to the Philippians, “I thank my God every time I remember you…”(1:3-4). And to the Colossians, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…” (1:3-4). The same is true of his letters to the Thessalonians, Romans, Corinthians, and to his friend Philemon. In each letter, Paul gives God thanks for the faith that has taken root and expressed itself in love and fellowship among the congregants.

            It is entirely appropriate for a pastor to give thanks for the people of his congregation and to praise God for the faith we share. So, I am going to turn the tables on this “Pastor Appreciation” month and in the spirit of Paul, give thanks to God for you.

            Rosenort Fellowship Chapel has been an incredible blessing to Sharon and me these last three years. It is hard to know where to begin. I am afraid that if I start to get specific that you may feel left out of the categories I mention, and I don’t want that. We are thankful for each of you. I thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…

For the healing experience it has been to be your pastor…

For the unique community that is Rosenort and the way you come together to help each other…

For the friendships we have built with so many of you…

For the generosity you show for missions and other needs…

For the joy we have when we come together to eat and to share an activity…

For the way I have been welcomed at the coffee places in town… (where do I end? I am not deserving of this grace)

A Pastor’s Prayer for the Church (1:17-21)

 

Paul the pastor does not end his prayer with thanksgiving; he continues to pray that the church may build on these good things. He is not content to leave the church as it is but prays that they would experience more of what God has for them. Paul prays, “I keep asking…” What does he ask? So much…

That you may know God better (17) – This is my prayer for you too. I sincerely pray this over every one of you. “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of revelation and wisdom, so that you may know him better.”

            Knowing God is an endless journey. If you think you have God figured out, you have the wrong god. That’s not a discouraging statement because it means our God is awesome that we will never finish getting to know his love and mercy. This is why Paul prays that God would give the Ephesians the Spirit of revelation and wisdom. 

            In Greek it’s hard to know when to capitalize a word. Most scholars agree though that the Spirit here is not the human spirit but the Holy Spirit. We know from Jesus’ teaching in John 14-16 that the Holy Spirit’s main task is to make Jesus known. In the process of coming to know Jesus, you are coming to know God the Father (John 14:8-9). 

            AW Tozer in his book The Knowledge of the Holy Spirit, begins saying, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” I have also heard it said that how we pray reveals what we think about God. Knowing God is so important to our life journey.

            Jesus prayed for his disciples, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent,” (Jn. 17:3). The Ephesians knew God, but Paul wanted them to know him better. I know you know God, but I pray that you and I would know him better.

            Knowing God is never just intellectual understanding. It is also deeply personal, relational, and experienced together in community. We cannot know God in isolation because he has given us the church that we may know him through each other. 

            My son, and many young adults today, don’t have an experience of God they can look back to. He said that as far back as he can remember, he has never felt God. Feelings are important to the human psyche and experience, but we don’t begin there. Many of you know the “Faith Train” illustration – some may not. The Faith Train is driven by the power of “Facts” – Jesus died and rose again; this is followed by “Faith” – what do I do with this reality? Only then do we experience feelings about what we believe. And some days, we feel nothing. That’s okay, because the facts don’t change.

That you may know hope (18) – You may reflect that you have had the facts and the faith for a long time, but no feelings. Why do we not feel the gracious, omnipotent power of God that is now at work in us? Paul prays that believers would know the hope of God, but to know that hope he prays that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” – to see the spiritual realities around you. The eyes of our hearts tend to grow dull with the disappointments of life. It’s so difficult to hope when life gives you lemons.

            John Piper gives three more reasons why we don’t “feel” the hope: 1) We are not aware of the blinding, deadening power of sin at work in our lives. God has conquered sin through Jesus for us and we are forgiven. But if we allow sin to control us, we can’t see God. 2) We are not aware of the power of Satan that is always coming at us to try and steal our joy, our victory. You need to claim God’s victory over Satan and sin (“Resist the devil and he will flee”). 3) We may not consider fully what happened to Jesus and his present role in the universe. He was raised from the grave to life and enthroned at the right hand of God. He rules!

            One thing Piper did not say was that we belong to God. “The hope to which he has called you” speaks of the riches of his glorious inheritance. The text is a bit mysterious; it does not speak of the inheritance we receive, but of the inheritance God receives – you and me. In other words, we belong to God.

That you may know God’s power (19-21) – Paul concludes his three-part request for the Ephesians to grow in knowledge by asking that somehow, they would perceive how powerful God is. In these verses, he calls it “his incomparable great power for us who believe,” then describes it by pointing to the resurrection. 

            Is there anything that compares to the power to give life to someone who was undeniably dead? We may imagine the power to lift a rocket off the launchpad, or the devastating destruction of a nuclear war. I had never heard of hypernovas before this week. It’s a type of stellar explosion with a luminosity 10 times greater than a supernova. When stars 150 times the size of our sun explodes, they produce the brightest light in the universe and produce energy to last 10 billion years. But the power of God to raise the dead…how do you compare anything to that? 

            Paul prays that the Ephesians would know three things: To know God better, to know the hope to which he has called you, and the immeasurable power of God toward us who believe. He’s not praying that we get the hope to which we were called or to get the power of God at work in you. God is yours to know. You have the calling to hope. You have the power of God at work in you. And Paul says, you don’t know them as you should know them and could know them. I want you to know them. I am praying that you know God better, know his hope better, and know his power in Christ Jesus better and better. Paul is praying that we would be spiritually experientially conscious of God’s power toward us as believers now.

 

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything, for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way (22-23).  

            One of the pleasures I have in the College course I am teaching this semester is revealing the missing element in today’s gospel. Much of evangelicalism focuses on the cross of Christ and the blood of his sacrifice. Our message of the gospel tends to rest there and not move on. What’s next? The resurrection of Jesus. This is so important to the vindication of who Jesus said he was and who he is now. But that’s not the missing piece. 

            Notice when Paul talks about the resurrection in v. 20, he goes on to say it is the same power that seated Jesus in the heavenly realms, far above all rule, authority, power and dominion and every name that is named. The part we miss in our gospel is that Jesus is King! He sits on the throne and rules (present tense). 

            Astonishingly, Paul concludes his prayer saying that this King is most experienced in the entire universe in his church, in his people. As Eugene Peterson puts it, “The Church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence,” (The Message). 

            This is why I am thankful for the church. I am thankful that the King of the universe chooses to reveal himself most fully in the church. I am thankful for you, for the faith you have in the Lord Jesus. And I continue to pray that the God of our Lord Jesus will give you the Spirit of revelation to know God even better.

 

                                                            AMEN

Together...in Christ: Ephesians 1:1-14

TOGETHER…IN CHRIST

 

As we begin this study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, it is helpful to know a few things about the letter as we go deep. Some scholars question whether Paul wrote the letter because it doesn’t sound like him, and he doesn’t address a problem in the church like he normally does. Others say that Paul meant it as a circular letter, a letter meant to be read by several churches in the region. If Paul didn’t write it, who did? Bible experts would say that a student of Paul’s wrote in his name. I like the circular letter idea myself and believe that Paul wrote it.

            What’s the big picture of Ephesians? What was Paul’s overall message? It may best be described this way: God has a vision, a plan, to bring together people from all walks of life and ethnicities to be a single, holy family, who enjoy the peace of God and peace with each other. He is going to accomplish this vision through Jesus. Our response is required. We need to say “yes” to God and accept his plan for us and join his family. Then we need to walk as people who understand this calling. 

            The Ephesians did say yes to God, but they weren’t walking worthy of that calling. They were claiming God’s promises but living in their old sins. They weren’t living at peace with each other either. This is why Paul writes to them, to explain to them how the family of God lives and behaves in the world. This letter is written to persuade the Ephesians to change their thinking and thus their behavior.

            This is not just something that you do. You and I can’t transform our behavior on our own, God has to do it, and you have to allow him to do it. What God does, he does in Christ. That’s a phrase used 11 times in 1:3-14: “In Christ.” That phrase describes our union with Christ in and through baptism and our participation in his life. It speaks of how we share in the new life that Christ alone has made possible. 

            To begin our journey “Together,” we are going to focus in this text on what it means to be “in Christ.” 

In Christ, we are Chosen (1:3-6)

 

Paul begins with a three-fold expression of praise: “Blessed…blessed…blessing,” (3). It reminds me of the old expression, “Blessed to be a blessing.” God has richly blessed us in a variety of ways in this reality and in the spiritual reality or realm. This is why Paul writes, “Blessed be the God…” or “Praise be to God…” 

            The Greek word Paul uses is the root of the word we know as “eulogy.” We are familiar with “eulogies” as a speech someone gives at a funeral where they “speak well of” the deceased. That’s what “eulogy” means: “to speak well of.” Literally, it means “good word.” What Paul is getting at is this: We ought to bless God by speaking good words about him in response to how God has blessed us by doing good things for us. God has done great things; let’s give him praise.

            What has God done for us? Firstly, note that God is the initiator of this movement. He decided to do this; he started it. Secondly, what God has done, he did in Christ. That means that Jesus was the agent or the means of what he did. So, through Christ, God reconciled the world to himself. We know there was a breach in the relationship between God and humanity because of Adam’s sin. From our end, this was irreparable. But God in Christ made reunion possible. 

            That sounds very technical, I admit, so let’s use Paul’s word to warm this up: God chose us! He chose us before the creation of the world to be in his family. Before Adam and Eve sinned, God chose us. He placed his stamp of ownership on us so that no matter how far we wandered from his goodness, he would always work to bring us back. 

            God’s plan for us is that we would be “holy and blameless.” In my own journey I find it impossible to be holy and blameless. I’m sure you do too. We are supposed to be “saints,” but that brings up images of Mother Theresa and Billy Graham. We shudder to compare ourselves with such as these. But the saints of the NT are not perfect people; they are people like us. Saints are people who face struggles and difficulties, who have troubles at home, at work, and everywhere else. The key to this conundrum always comes back to “in Christ.” We are called to be “holy and blameless” in Christ, in what Christ has done for us. 

            Paul uses another word to emphasize our chosenness: “he predestined us for adoption” There is a lot of debate about that word “predestined.” Calvinists see it as God choosing some for salvation and others for hell. They would say that before Creation, God already had in mind who he would save through Jesus. Those who believe in Free Will disagree saying Christ is the One Chosen and we who believe in Jesus get to participate in his election and Sonship. 

            These words “Chosen” and “Predestined” were not meant to be a matter of debate. This is a reason to praise God! By his will he chose us, he did it, and he was pleased to do it. We get to be in God’s family. 

 

In Christ, we are Redeemed (1:7-10)

 

Redemption sounds like a “churchy” word unless we are cashing in a coupon. Fair enough. It is a rather technical term. Redemption is also called manumission. It means to free slaves from captivity. We could also use it in the sense of paying a ransom for kidnap victim. 

            If God paid a ransom for our release, who did he pay it to? This is where it gets tricky. If we say that Satan demanded payment for our release from his slimy hands, then that gives Satan the upper hand on God. It puts him in the driver’s seat. We can’t say that. To say Jesus is our ransom, our redemption is not a matter of “from whom” but “from what.” 

            The “from what” is our bondage to sin. Later in chapter 2, Paul writes of how we were dead in our sins because we followed “the course of this world” and we followed “the prince of the power of the air” and “lived in the passions of the flesh.” We were in serious bondage folks. We were under Satan’s power and trapped living in the cycle of sin, shame, and guilt with no way out. 

            But God had a secret plan. Paul called it a mystery. In verse 9 it says, “making known to us the mystery of his will.” Mystery in Greek always conveys a sense of secrecy, but in this verse it’s not a secret. I can keep a secret, but not from Sharon (or not very long). I did not throw her a surprise birthday party because we just don’t do the secret thing. God can’t keep a secret. God loves to reveal his mysteries to us. So much for a secret plan. 

            The plan has two parts. First, through King Jesus, his death and resurrection “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” Jesus’ blood pays the price to free us from our bondage to sin. We are free to be God’s children now. We know this, right?

            The second part is not as well known. Through King Jesus the plan includes the world as we know it “to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth,” (10b). Other translations prefer “to gather up all things in him” or “to bring everything together under the authority of Christ.” In essence, it means “to bring to unity, sum up.” Like summing up a verbal argument. In other words, Jesus is the final word. He sums up our existence by reconciling us to God AND putting everything in the universe back in the right place. In Jesus, the final word, the whole universe is restored. 

            To the politicians and their promises, the person who does not call Jesus “King,” this is a mystery. It is a puzzle they cannot solve. If humanity cannot figure out peace in the Middle East, then there is no hope, they say. But in Jesus, all things are made right when he comes.

 

In Christ, we are Heirs (1:11-14)

 

There are many things that divide people today: race, nationality, Conservative or Liberal, rich and poor. I watched a movie a few weeks ago about a future civil war in the US. These reporters were trying to say they weren’t the enemy by claiming to be “American.” The man with the gun and a slow southern drawl replied, “What kind of American?” 

            The division in the ancient world was between Jew and Gentile. Jews were God’s chosen people; Gentiles were idol worshipers. But now Paul is talking about how in Christ, God is bringing everything together, including Jew and Gentile. 

            There is a curious shift in these verses indicated by “we” and “you.” Paul stands with his Jewish heritage when he says, “In him we have obtained an inheritance…we who were the first to hope in Christ…” The “we” refers to the Jews. They were the race through whom the Savior of the world has come. They had the scriptures. They had the advantages of prophecy and insight into this mystery. And they were the first to believe in Jesus.

            Then comes the “you also” part. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him…” (13). Paul now speaks to the Gentiles and affirms them that they are part of the chosen people too. Both Jew and Gentile have been chosen to be part of the new family of God. We know this because God would not place his seal on Gentiles unless he chose to possess them. They are sealed, branded as it were, with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. This is the evidence that we belong to Christ, and a guarantee that we will one day fully realize what it means to be in God’s family. 

            Before you and I were sealed in the Holy Spirit we did two things: First, we heard the word of truth – the gospel, the good news of how God was saving people. Second, you gave allegiance to Jesus as King. Belief alone is not enough because it’s not just believing that something is true. Believing is more like allegiance, like pledging loyalty to King Jesus and his way of living. The gospel is something you obey. You submit to Jesus as King. Then God seals you with the Holy Spirit. 

            God does this for his glory. Look at v. 6 “to the praise of his glorious grace…” and v. 12, “to the praise of his glory,” and at v. 14, “to the praise of his glory.” This is the chief purpose of our lives. This is the reason God chose us before the creation of the world to be his family. He transformed us from rebels steeped in sin to children of God. You and I bring glory to God. And we do this by living a life that reflects King Jesus. 

 

Rick Warren, in his book The Purpose Driven Life, explains from the outset what the purpose of your life is: 

It’s not about you. 

The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose.

            Consider what God has done for this specific purpose in Christ:

·      He has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” (3). 

·      “he chose us in him before the creation of the world” (4). 

·      “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,” (5).

·      “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins,” (7)

·      He made “known to us the mystery of his will…in Christ” (9).

·      He is uniting all things together in Christ (10).

·      “In him we have obtained an inheritance” (11).

·      “In him (you) were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,” (13). 

            For these reasons, we live to the praise of his glory. What does it mean to live for the glory of God? 

            If you have been moved by the Spirit to hunger for more of what God has in store for you in this life, keep reading the letter to the Ephesians. For now, what Paul has done is introduce us to our amazing God and why we ought to worship him…in Christ!!

 

                                                            AMEN

 

 

Prayer

Our Father, we pray that you will take away the dimness from our vision, the dullness from our understanding, and help us to comprehend these great themes which have changed the history of the world again and again as men and women have grasped them. Save us from the danger of taking them for granted or of giving them no attention. But help us, Lord, young and old alike, to think deeply and seriously about these great statements, to understand that this is the way that you are acting, this is the course of your movement through history. Lord, help us by thy grace to rejoice, to lay hold of what you have done for us, and to respond by being instruments in your hand; in Jesus' name we ask, Amen.