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

            

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