Becoming Mature in Christ - Ephesians 4:7-16

BECOMING MATURE IN CHRIST

 

Last Sunday, Sharon and I hosted the guest speaker, his wife, and his three little ones for lunch. We had a great time with them and the other SBC students who came as well. After lunch, however, it was clear that “nap time” had arrived, and rather than wind down, the middle child seemed to wind up. Suddenly, Noah was climbing onto our coffee table and leaping nose first into our couch. No matter what Andreas said to Noah in High German, it did not deter him from repeatedly standing up on our coffee table and jumping onto our couch. He then changed his activity and began climbing our half-wall and…I don’t know what came next. Andreas stopped him…repeatedly. Nothing seemed to help.

            This was all fine for Sharon and me; it’s part of having young families in our home. But I couldn’t help imagining how we would react if we were hosting Steve and Pat at our house and Steve started climbing onto our coffee table and leaping headfirst into our couch. Or if he started climbing our half-wall with the intent to jump off it. What would we say to that? We might say that’s pretty immature. It’s fine for a three-year-old, but c’mon, grow up man. 

            With maturity comes certain expectations. We leave childish things behind; we act a certain way; we speak in a more discerning manner. Children say what they think; adults (hopefully) think twice before speaking. Children express themselves in wild emotional uninhibited ways; adults control themselves and consider others as they behave in public. 

            In speaking of nurturing the unity of the church in our previous text, Paul incites us to ask some questions. What are we supposed to do to help the church become what God intends it to be? In our present text (4:7-16), Paul answers that and says  the church as a body of Christ is to grow up. Our objective is to become mature together as the body of Christ. But how do we do that? It is not through applying business strategies or growth programs to the church. How then? Paul tells us…

 

Christ gives us gifts of Grace (4:7-10)

 

“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it,” (7). The conjunction “but” links this sentence to the “one body…one God” discussion. Paul is telling us that “each one of us” has received grace. Not in respect to salvation – we have that already – but in terms of a gift that will help you and I to build up the body of Christ. 

            Then with a strange OT quote, he backs up what he’s saying. This strange quote comes from Psalm 68:18, which if you look at it reads differently than how Paul quotes it. What’s Paul saying? Psalm 68 is a victory hymn written by David to celebrate the conquest of the Jebusite city and the ascent of God (represented by the ark) up Mount Zion. So, what’s happening here? After a king won a victory, he would bring home the spoils of war and some enemy prisoners to parade before his people. An Israelite king could take this parade through Jerusalem to the temple. Part of the parade would feature the king’s own soldiers who had been freed after being held prisoner by the enemy – recaptured captives – prisoners who had been taken prisoner again by their own king and given freedom. 

            Paul applies this imagery to Jesus, who came to earth (descended) as a human, died on the cross and won the victory over sin and death and over Satan’s forces. Now he has ascended to heaven, to the place of victory and giving gifts to his people. This is the grace we are talking about. 

            In the Psalm, God receives the gifts and gives salvation. Paul changes this slightly and shows that Christ gains salvation for us and gives us gifts or grace. What he is saying with this cryptic analogy is that every single person in the church – everyone of you (me too) – has received grace to serve in the church. It all begins with the victory that Jesus won at the cross, the spoils of victory are given to us (so that we might serve one another). 

            If we look at the church in North America, we will see lethargy, laziness, a lack of fire for the Lord. And if we presumed that the future of the church depends on us, we may feel like the church is doomed. The church fights internally; there are church splits; there are churches attempting to draw more people by being more progressive, by not being so rigid about the truth. I can understand why we might worry about the future of the church. But it’s not on us to find the solution – the solution is Jesus Christ and the victory he won on the cross. When we take our eyes off him, that’s when we are in trouble. The future of the church depends on Jesus. Yet he involves us by his grace to help grow the church. So, it’s all on him, but he wants us to work with him. 

            Jesus gives grace to each of us so that we would nurture the church and make it grow. What does this grace look like?

 

Christ gives Gifts to Equip his People (4:11-12)

 

Paul gives us a glimpse of how these gifts look. He writes, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers…” (11). The NT gives us lists of gifts (there are about 20) in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. They are not exhaustive, meaning, there are more spiritual gifts than the Bible lists. 

            But this list is a little different than the others. These gifts are not specific, diverse abilities or empowerments for ministry – these are people serving in certain roles. The leaders are the gift to the church. This is going to sound self-serving: I, as a pastor-teacher, am a gift to RFC. The apostles and prophets who wrote the Bible are a gift to the church. The evangelists who led you to the Lord and the pastors who nurtured your faith with Biblical teaching are gifts to you. Christ gave people-gifts to the church. 

            You know the expression, “He thinks he’s God’s gift to women…” or something like that. You can apply that to a lot of things. I know that I am not “God’s gift” to the church in the sense of being the be-all, end-all (the ultimate). Let’s clarify what Paul is saying. These people-gifts to the church are given “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up…” (12). These people are gifted to the church to be equippers.

            The NIV got it wrong saying “works of service” whereas the ESV expresses the Greek better “the work of ministry.” It is “the work of service” or “the work of ministry.” We’ll come back to that in a minute. 

            The leaders are given to equip the church. Paul uses a word for “equip” which is also used in surgery for setting a bone or putting a joint back in its place. It’s also used in Mark 1:19 for mending fishing nets. Fishermen would clean their nets after a catch to remove debris, repair torn parts, to basically restore the net to usefulness. The nets were prepared for service, not to be put in storage. See the picture? The pastor-teacher equips the Christian by teaching, guiding, caring and so on and helping you to become what you ought to be. 

            Let me ask to do something: Point to the ministers in our church. 

How many of you pointed to yourself? You are the real ministers in the church. The word “service” in the verse “to equip his people for the work of service” is diakonia. It’s the same verb that Jesus used when he said that he did not come to be served, but to serve. Our Bibles have adopted the Latin form of “serve” which we know as “minister.” But, somewhere in the history of the church we got the idea that ministers are the ordained ones and everyone else is second tier. Not true. When the church was established in Acts, everyone saw themselves as ministers. During the Middle Ages a great divide emerged between leaders and attenders, the servers and the served. This is just wrong. Our text says, “to each one” (7); “to equip his people” (12); and “as each part does its work” (16). 

            Now, I hear a lot of people say that they don’t know what their gift is, and they don’t know where to serve as a result. Do you know that the Bible never tells us to figure out what our gift is. We don’t need surveys or assessments. The Bible simply tells us to serve, and the gifts will emerge. 

 

Christ’s Goal: To Grow a Mature Church (4:13-16)

 

The goal of these verses is one word: Maturity. We have talked in the beginning about what maturity looks like: it has to do with how we talk, how we walk, and with our attitude towards one another. When we consider one another, we see someone whom we are called to serve. We have the attitude of Christ towards others (see Phil. 2:3-5). 

            My task as a pastor-teacher is to equip you by reminding you of the truths of Jesus Christ. Following Jesus, calling him Lord, leads you to no other conclusion than that you want to be like him, that you want what he wants. What does he want? He wants us to serve one another… (I keep repeating myself).

            Paul gives us our path for serving, “so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ,” (12b-13). It’s you; it’s me; it’s each other. I am responsible for your walk of faith; you are responsible for one another’s growth in Christ. Your maturity in Christ is my concern; the maturity of the person sitting beside you is your concern. 

            It’s not just an individual thing either. We are the body of Christ. We want to grow together into the image of Christ. We represent Christ. What people say about RFC reflects on all of us, good or bad. The responsibility is ours.

            We want to grow in maturity. If that is our goal, then we cannot water down the gospel to make it more palatable to the world. We cannot stoop to entertaining talks in the place of teaching the faith. Paul said that if we build up the body in the faith of Christ, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming,” (14). Paul mixes his metaphors to make a point. An infant is expected to grow up and leave infantile behavior behind. A maturing child no longer falls for “peek-a-boo.” The other metaphor is of a small boat thrown around like a plaything for the waves. Who’s in control? Not the boat. The boat is at the mercy of the waves. The waves are the many voices we hear that presume to speak the truth to us. The waves of popular opinion, waves of culture, waves of society…

There are a lot of voices out there on the internet, on YouTube, on your TVs, and you need to be equipped to tell the difference between truth and error. How do we know the truth from error?

            Paul continued, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ,” (15). That’s maturity! That’s our goal! To become like Christ. He is the truth. This repeats what was said before, that we attain to the full measure of the fullness of Christ (13). The aim of the church is nothing less than to produce men and women who have in them the reflection of Jesus Christ himself. 

            During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was passing down a hospital ward. She paused to bend over the bed of a badly wounded soldier. As she looked down, the wounded man looked up and said, “You are Christ to me.” A follower of Jesus can be defined as “someone in whom Christ lives again.” 

            What an honor it would be to hear someone say, “You are Christ to me.” How humbling. My prayer is that we would be a church where people having visited would say as they leave, “You have been Christ to me.” Or as it was said of Peter and John by the Sanhedrin in Acts. 4:13, “these men had been with Jesus.” Then we could say too, we are on the way to maturity as a church. 

            This only happens if we all serve together. Paul concluded this teaching on maturity saying, “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work,” (16). Someone said, “If each Christian was given the exhaustive repertoire of gifts, it is inconceivable that we could carry out our Divine mandate in isolation from one another. But because God has withheld some gifts from the individual Christian, and because God has withheld nothing from his church, our context for doing Christian ministry becomes clear. We must do the work together.” 

 

Some say we have become a spectator society. When it comes to sport, most of us have all the answers. If I were the offensive coordinator last week in that game, we will not mention, between the two teams I will not recall for some time to come, I would have run the ball with Brady Olivera more. We are expert armchair athletes, are we not? 

            D. Martyn Lloyd Jones, a British pastor, said, “Men and women no longer…exercise in sport as they used to. Instead, people tend to sit in crowds and just watch other people play. And I fear that then tendency is even presenting itself in the church. More and more we see…. people are just sitting back in crowds while one or two people are expected to do everything. Now that, of course, is a complete denial of the NT doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ, where every single member has responsibility, and has a function, and matters.” (Citation: D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Revival, Christianity Today, Vol. 31, no. 18.)

            That’s not us folks. RFC is not a church that sits back. We are all in the game. Let’s keep growing in maturity. Let’s keep striving to be a community that people could say, “You have been Christ to me.” 

 

 

                                                            AMEN

A Power Prayer for the Church - Ephesians 3:14-21

A POWER PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH

 

In 1985, Huey Lewis wrote the song “The Power of Love” for the movie “Back to the Future.” The catchy song contained these words: “The power of love is a curious thing; makes one man weep, makes another man sing. Change a hawk to a little white dove; more than feeling; that’s the power of love…It don’t need money, don’t take fame, don’t need no credit card to ride this train…can you feel it?”

            A lot of things are said about love in this ditty. Lewis got some things right and other things…well. He was correct that the power of love can change a person, that one needs help from above to know love. The closing question of the song begs an answer: Can you feel it? Can you feel the power of love?

            Of course, what I want to know is: Can you feel the power of God’s love in your life? I’ll bet that on most days, as a Christian, you feel kind of powerless. The challenge to be good and to do good finds little motivation in a world where people around you are focused on themselves. And the trials you face in health or family, or finances beats you down so that you feel anything but powerful. Being a Christian is hard. Can you feel the power of God’s love today? 

            Whether in the first century or the twenty-first century, Christians need a power outside of themselves to live in victory, in joy, in peace. Paul knew this and that’s why he prayed. He wrote of breaking down walls between us; he wrote of the mystery of the gospel being expressed in the church – in us – to show God’s grace is effective. Paul returns to his thought he began in 3:1, “For this reason…” Paul knew that if the Church, if Christians like you and me, were going to be a preview of what God’s Kingdom will look like when Jesus comes again, then God is going to have to help us in a big way. 

            So, Paul gets down on his knees. That’s not typical of Jews who stood to pray with hands outstretched. No, Paul gets down on his knees and prays a prayer so intense that he prostrates himself in agony before God for the church. This is a power prayer for the church. What does Paul pray?

 

That Christ may DWELL in your heart (3:16-17a)

 

Paul makes three requests in his prayer. You may note that the word “power” comes up three times in our text and is implied one more time in v. 19. You can also see an indication of these three requests marked by the words “that” and “may.” 

            The first part of the prayer petitions God to have Jesus dwell in your heart. He writes, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,” (16-17a).

            There is a great confidence in this prayer because Paul knows the limitless source that is God. That source, God’s boundless grace, can be called on to strengthen us through the Holy Spirit in our inner humanity. We’re not looking at outer appearances here, but rather having God get right into our persons and putting Christ in there. 

            There are two words Paul could have used when he said “dwell” in your hearts. The first option means to visit like a guest, like a stay in a hotel room. When we were in Europe in June, I did not unpack my bag, I did not use the drawers or closet – I lived out of my bag. You know you won’t be there long. The other option is a strong word that means “taking up permanent residence,” to really settle down. What Paul is praying is that our inner beings will be strengthened so that Christ may settle down permanently in our lives. 

            "That’s fine," you say, "I know that", you say. But you should ask a question. If Christ moves in when you put your faith in him, why would Paul pray for something that has already happened? Let me answer this way:

            In every house that Sharon and I have owned, we found ourselves changing something. You have done this too. When we moved to Rosenort, I was hoping that the house we bought would be a “dream house,” – you know, “the one”! But this house we moved into was underwhelming in that respect. Over time, we began to change things. We replaced the laminate flooring with vinyl; we painted the master bedroom and put up barn doors for the closet; we had a new fence built (to keep the neighbour at bay who wants to take me sky-diving); we put a different roof on our screen room. The more we change things the more I like what we have. We are making this house our home; we are loving it with our changes.

            That’s what Paul is talking about. When Christ takes up residence in you, he finds the chipped laminate, the old carpet and rips them out. As we do over time, Jesus moves in and begins renovating, cleaning, repairing, expanding. After a time, our inner being begins to reflect his character. 

             I want to add that this is not just a fact, but as Huey Lewis inadvertently affirmed, it is a feeling. Paul’s desire is that the Lord Jesus, through the Spirit, give us an emotional experience of that fact. God wants you to know his presence and I am confident he wants you to feel his presence.

 

That you may GRASP the Love of Christ (17b-19a)

 

Is Paul being redundant? Is he praying again for something that is already true of us? He prays that we will grasp the love of Christ. Don’t we know that Jesus loves us? Haven’t we sung since childhood, “Jesus loves me, this I know?” 

            Paul’s second request appears superfluous, “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.” But it’s not superfluous. 

            There is a double metaphor in this verse: rooted and grounded. To be rooted is to be planted with deep roots in the soil of Christ’s love. To be grounded or established pictures your life as a house built on the foundation of Christ’s love. Both images express the intense longing of Paul for us to grasp – to take or to seize eagerly – the love of Christ. To know it and to be overwhelmed by it. 

            When you get married, you marry for love (I hope). You find the one you feel that you can be with “till death do you part.” But isn’t there a time when you think of your spouse, “Do you really love me?” Yes, you know they do, but you don’t always feel it. You want to hear the words “I love you” and at other times you want to experience it in some gesture that says, “I know you.” (Last week I had a bad dream where a man in black with a large black German Shepherd busted into my office at church. It caught me by surprise so that in my sleep I took several breaths in of shock. I woke up and was immediately aware that it was a dream and became quiet, even in my breathing. Sharon heard this and became concerned that I was no longer breathing at all and said, "Are you okay?" It was one of those moments when I felt her love and concern for me. "She needs me," I mused to myself.)

            With Jesus, we know he loves us, but there are times when we just don’t get it. We feel like we don’t measure up; we keep disappointing God; we try to obey but fail. What we "know" does not always line up with what we "feel." 

            Is this not why Paul prays for you and me to have power to grasp the love of Christ? We don’t get it; we don’t understand his love without the power of the Spirit showing us his most loving gesture – Christ on the cross. In the original Greek, the sentence has no ending: “…to grasp how wide and long and high and deep…” Of what? The perfection of God? The mystery of salvation? The NIV probably gets it right in adding the love of Christ because it restates how ungraspable is the love of God. Paul prays that we would know what can’t be known – a sanctified oxymoron – to know the love that surpasses knowledge. The context would suggest that "love" is the subject of this dangling description. 

            Dwight Moody experienced this love after praying a prayer to know this love. He wrote, “The blessing came upon me suddenly like a flash of lightning. For months I had been hungering and thirsting for power in service…Well, one day, in the city of New York – oh, what a day! – I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience to name…I can only say that God revealed himself to me, and I had such an experience of his love that I had to ask him to stay his hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present new truths, and yet hundreds were converted.” 

            Can you imagine having to ask God to stop giving you an experience of his love? George Whitefield often found when he prayed at night, he began to experience God’s love so powerfully that he couldn’t get to sleep. He had to ask God to stop because he had to get some rest. 

 

That you may be FULL(ER) of God (19b)

 

Paul’s third request really builds on and mirrors the other two. He prays, “…that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” 

            Paul wants us to be filled with his Christ; to be consumed with Jesus; to have God take us deeper into himself. To be filled fuller and overflowing with God’s moral perfection, his excellencies, empowering presence – all that God is as God. Yes!! To be filled with what? The radiant power and presence of God himself!

            Who is God? What will we know and feel if we are filled with God? John says, “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God…God is love! This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him,” (1 John 4:7-9). God is love!

            Posture is more important that we give it credit for. As Paul kneeled in prayer in agony for his congregation, I believe in kneeling before God. We submit our bodies as well as our spirits to the Lord. 

            So, consider this: when someone gives you a gift, what’s your posture? You reach out your hands. God wants to give you a gift: that you may be filled with himself. 

            This may seem too charismatic for some of you, so for the moment close your eyes and reach out your hands. You can rest them on your lap, palms up. This posture tells your spirit and the Holy Spirit that you are ready to receive what he wants to give you. Maybe it’s an experience of his love; it may be an answer to prayer; it may be wisdom for some trial you are facing; maybe you won’t receive anything right away. I believe the important thing is to say to the Lord: “I want to receive what you want to give me. Fill me to the measure of the fullness of your being.” 

 

Back in 2017, I learned a little photo trick from our Grand Canyon tour guide. I wanted to capture the beauty of the canyon in all its glory. But he told me to capture more sky in my frame. I did as I was instructed and was blown away by the composition. In my mind, the logical shot was to focus on the earth below, but I had to retrain my mind to look up. In doing so, the immensity of the sky makes more of the subject below. Like a tiny house on the prairie, focusing on the grandness of the blue atmosphere makes the house stand out all the more. 

            Paul’s prayer draws our attention off of life and its intricate issues and problems and puts our focus on God. He prays for an experience of the Holy Other to put into perspective life as we know it. When we consider the immensity of God’s love for us, we are empowered to face life’s challenges and to experience God’s gifts of joy. 

            This is a huge “ask” of God, isn’t it? 

            That God would give us the power both through his Spirit and through the indwelling Christ.

            That God would strengthen us to grasp the magnitude of Christ’s love.

            That God would give us power to be filled with God’s own fullness. 

            The result is that we would expand our vision of what life in Christ is all about. Will God do this for us? 

            No prayer that has even been framed has uttered a bolder request. Is it possible to ask God too much? No, for the Father’s giving exceeds our capacity for asking or imagining. We must pray this prayer. If you love Jesus, you must want more of him, to experience him in all of his fullness. 

            Fredrich Lehman wrote a song with better lyrics than that of Huey Lewis about the power of love. You know the song:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made.

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade;

To write the love of God above

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

 

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! AMEN!

            

 

 

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