Equip the Saints

Equip the Saints

Raz Bradley

Transcript

G'day guys, my name is Raz. It's good to be with you this morning. Excuse me, I'm sorry, I was singing so loud that my throat is super parched. I want to begin this morning with a simple, pretty easy question. What does a mature church look like? That's really the question.

What does the mature church look like? What are the marks of a mature church? What kind of things do they do? What is it that qualifies them to be called a mature church? Typically, when you talk about maturity, a good starting place is age. Typically, youngers, kids are not so mature.

You could say, oh, he's mature for a nine-year-old, but really you're saying he Acts 10. But otherwise, age plays a factor. And our church is just about to turn five. We started about five years ago in March. Are we, by nature, an immature church because we're only five years old? Is a more established church, maybe 50, 100, 150 years old, are they inherently more mature because of their age as an establishment?

Maybe not. Maybe it's more to do with the age of the people in the church, right? Not the establishment, but the people who make up the church. Maybe their age plays some kind of a part in it. If you look at our church with the current rate of reproduction, our average age is going down month to month as kids are added over there. But if you exclude Kid City and just kind of ballpark this room, my guess is somewhere in the mid-30s would be where our kind of spectrum meets, somewhere in the mid-30s.

So because we're a church with an average age of mid-30s, are we inherently immature because of that when there's other churches out there where everyone's in their mid-70s? Are they inherently more mature? Maybe age has nothing to do with it. Maybe it's to do with tenure. Tenure would refer to how long the people in the church have been Christians. So if this church, the average tenure is eight years, and that church, the average tenure is 30 years, are they inherently more mature as a church based off of the amount of time people in there have been Christians?

Maybe. Maybe it has nothing to do with age or years or tenure or anything like that. Maybe it's more to do with how is this church structured versus how is that church structured? What is their position on this doctrine? How strict are they when it comes to that thing or that thing? Maybe it's how good is this church at engaging the culture where they're at?

How good is this church at bringing new people in? Maybe all of these different things factor into what it is that makes a church mature. How do we measure that? When we see it, how do we know? What is the metric? That's kind of the question that I want to open with today.

Um, we're in this middle of this Ephesians series. Last week, we kind of turned the page. We moved from the first half of Ephesians into the second half. So Ephesians is a six chapter book, six chapter letter, really. The first three chapters really cover a lot of theological ground. They cover a lot of these things are true about Jesus.

These things about true about the gospel. These things are true about who you are as Christians. And then in the second half, it kind of says, because of all these true things, this is what life looks like. Because of all these true things, here's how you go and do marriage, how you go and do life together. This is how you go and do work. This is how you go and do submission to leadership, that kind of stuff.

That's all true. This is how we live. And we turned that page last week and entered into chapter four. And we talked a lot about unity, how unity in the church is one of the big goals. And we had that recurring theme of one, one, one, one God, one faith, one baptism, one Holy Spirit. And this week, we're going to move pretty quickly from that idea of unity to the idea of diversity and how those go hand in hand in the life of the church so that we can have one kind of vision, one kind of goal for the church.

But it actually takes a pretty diverse crowd to make that goal happen. I'm going to pray for us as we as we open up the word and then we're going to get into Ephesians four. Father, we thank you for the opportunity to learn from your word this morning. I pray that it can be foundational for us as a church, as we understand who we are, how we factor into your big picture and what we can contribute. I pray that as we look at Paul's words to the Ephesian church, that that can be mirrored, that their strengths can be mirrored in our church and in our lives. It's in Jesus name we pray.

Amen. If you've got a Bible, open up to Ephesians four. If you've got one of these blue guys on one of the chairs in front of you, it's going to be on page 568, but only for a little bit. Then it's going to go into 569. So kind of a deceiving slide up there.

It's a bit of both. We're going to be reading starting in verse seven. It says, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. And saying he ascended, what does it mean? But that he had also descended to the lower regions, the earth.

He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things. Now, in this, we're going to keep reading. But in this first little section, there's a little quotey bit there that's indented and quoted and that kind of thing. That's a little chunk out of Psalm 68. And what Paul is doing is he's referring to some Old Testament history, a little bit of Old Testament foresight and prophecy, and also a little bit of Old Testament, old fashioned imagery of what kind of happened back in the day. So these words were actually written by David, King David, a thousand years before Jesus was even a part of the picture, really.

I mean, Jesus has been a part of the picture forever. But before Jesus was born as a baby into the world, this happened a thousand years before then. And back then, what would happen is when the kings would go to war, there's all these different nations, everyone's vying for power. The kings would go to war, and when they would conquer a particular area or a city or a village or whatever, they'd beat the other army, and then they'd loot all of the villages and that kind of stuff, and all of the valuable things they would collect. And they would bring it all back before the king, and the king would give portions of those as gifts to the people who were pivotal in the military conquest.

And so the commanders or the guys who fought bravely or whoever trained the horses, I don't really know who got the gifts. The king would say, you were important, here's your share in the loot, basically. And so what Paul is doing in this little section here is he's laying the groundwork to say, Jesus also does that for us. When Jesus conquers death, conquers sin, he is also a king who destroys all of his enemies, and he gives gifts to the church just as a king used to do back in the day. So that little brackety part and the quotey part, that's what's going on there, is Paul saying, just as David talked about this back in the day, Jesus both fulfills that and does that for the church today.

We're going to talk a little bit today about what those gifts are and how that plays out. Now, before we keep reading, before we get into the next chunk, I want to kind of illustrate like ahead of the game so that I can refer back to the picture that I'm about to paint for you. And I thought, what better way to appeal to my audience is to speak in American isms. And I would normally, you know, kind of lean into my foreignness and come up with some interesting foreign thing to explain. But I actually think this is going to be helpful.

I get the opportunity now to explain American football to you. And I'm obviously going to crush it because you guys have no idea and I know everything about it. And so bear with me as I struggle my way through this. And it's relevant because I just watched a game for the first time last week. I'm kidding. I've seen more than one game.

But I did watch the Super Bowl last week. So it's fresh in my mind. I'm going to crush this. It's going to be great. In football, I'm just, I only know half the game. So I'm just going to refer to the offensive team.

Because in America, you have multiple teams on your team. And that gets confusing. So I'm just going to, let's pretend we're only on offense. Okay, we're only on offense. Now, the offensive team has one goal. That one goal is get the ball that way, like down the field.

It doesn't matter. I mean, it's got to get a certain distance. You've got to get to the line that the TV magic's on there. And then you've got to get beyond there. And you've got to just keep going until you get to the logo, right? That's called the end zone.

See, guys, I know some stuff. Your goal, get the ball to the end zone, make the touchdowns, get the Ws, that kind of stuff. As a team, all of our team is united in our effort to move that direction. As a team, we want the first down. As a team, we want the end zone. As a team, we're working together to just go that way.

And when somebody doesn't go that way, everyone goes, no, go that way. Because that way is the goal, right? But within the team, there's all these different people who have different jobs. And I am about to crush this as I explain all the different jobs on the offensive team. You have the catchy dudes on the side. Their job is to catch.

They line up with everybody else. They stand on the side. They run forward. And they go that way. And then that guy throws the ball. And they catch it.

And sometimes they do the flip. Sometimes they do the thing where they jump over the other guy. They're the nimbly, bimbly dudes who spin around and keep running. They're quick. You can't catch them if they take off. They're the catchy dudes.

They stand on the sides on either end. They're called receivers, guys. I looked it up. Don't worry. Then you have the running guys.

They're called running backs. I don't really know the difference except that these guys aren't expected to catch the ball. So you give it to them. I guess they can't catch. So rather than standing on the side and running that way, they have to run across, grab the ball in the middle, then keep running.

And they either run straight into all the people and stop or they run around and they go all the way. That's the running dudes. So you've got catching dudes. You've got running dudes. You've got big dudes. They form the line.

I don't really know what their job is except weigh 600 pounds and start here and go to here. That's their job. And then there's one special big dude. He's in the middle. I don't know if he's called the snapper, but that's what I call him. He gets the ball and he goes like that.

And then he goes like that. Two jobs. Gets the ball. One Job. Second Job. Two jobs.

Snappy dude. And if he does any of those jobs badly, he gets in a lot of trouble. Two jobs. Then there's the tight end. He thought I was going to skip the tight end, but I'll look this one up too. I didn't look up what he does.

I just looked up the name. So I might not get this bit right. The tight end, I think, is probably the most multi-talented person on the offensive team. I don't know for sure, but he seems like he's got a lot going on because he's expected to be able to do this. But if there's nobody to do this to, he's expected to run and then catch the ball as well.

And if somebody else catches the ball, it's his job to stop the other people from stopping the guy who catches the ball. And then sometimes he's expected to come this way. And if that guy doesn't get the ball, he's got to get the ball and run all the way around. So the tight end, he's got a lot going on. But he's bigger than most of the other people.

So he's not that fast. So he normally gets stopped. He's a little bulldozer-y. He can kind of plow his way through some people. But anyway, that's the tight end.

Then there's that guy. He stands back here. This is the stud muffin of the team. The quarterback, I think, if my movies have taught me well, he's the prom king. He dates the head cheerleader. He gets paid like $300 billion a year.

And his jobs are to catch the ball and throw the ball and not get injured. I think prom king paid lots of money. Don't get injured. That's pretty much what he's... That's his job. And it's actually pretty cool.

Like, I've been... When I first moved here, I thought, you know, the quarterback does absolutely nothing. But then, you know, when they play the highlights, it's pretty awesome. When he throws... Like, he does math in his head. Like, that guy's running that way.

That guy's running that way. I know he's going to turn. So I'm just going to throw it there. And he's going to... Like, that's pretty cool when that happens. Like, it doesn't happen all the time, especially when you're watching college football.

But when you're watching NFL, it happens all the time. And it's really cool. All of that is to say, everybody on the team working together, one goal. Move the ball that way. Everybody on the team, diverse in their skill sets. They're not all expected to do all the things.

They're all expected to do one thing pretty well. And if you mess up your one thing, like, everyone gets real mad at you. You've got to be able to do your one thing. You've got to be able to do your one thing super well. The point is, unity in the mission, strength as a team, only when everybody's doing their part, right? So that's the goal of the illustration.

Now, it's not perfect, but it is going to help explain what's about to come next. Because just as a strong football team needs that diverse set of skills, so also a mature church is going to need a variety of strengths, too. We're going to look at verse 11. Verse 11 through 14, actually. And it says, So when it says, and he gave, it's talking about when we talked about earlier the conquering king giving gifts. This is Jesus, our conquering king, giving gifts to the church.

It says, And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Paul is saying this. He's saying, The church is gifted with different kinds of complementary leadership, whose Job it is to equip the saints for ministry, so that we will attain unity of the faith, become mature, and reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's what he's saying.

Now, that's a complicated sentence, so we'll break it down. Now, to be clear, those five categories that he lists, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, it says that those five categories are given to equip the saints, to equip the church. That gives us an indication that these five people are leaders in the church, and what Christ is doing is he's giving these forms of leadership to the church to equip the church. Now, I don't think that list of leaders is exhaustive. I think there's other ways you can lead the church as well. But I do think that they give a good picture of what it looks like, at least as far as a team that is functional, what kind of five categories of strength are needed in order for the church to be strong.

Paul is saying that these five types of leadership are present in the church to equip the saints for ministry. Now, a mature church, a strong team that can get the ball to the end zone, a good team, a good church that can move the ball down the field, needs to show signs of these five different types of leadership. They need to show signs that all five of them are present and working together at the same time. We're only going to really scratch the surface on this, but in order to explain the strengths of each one of those, I'm going to do a little bit of defining those strengths. And I say that deliberately as defining strengths, because when I was talking about the football team, I was really trying to distinguish different players from each other and say, this is how they're different.

And I don't so much want to make you think of these leadership characters, these leadership positions as distinct from each other, so much as each one has a particular strength, a particular leaning that they're better at. So it's not to the exclusion of all others, so much as this one is stronger over here, that kind of thing. So we'll walk through them. They're apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teachers. Apostle literally, when translated from Greek, it means sent one, a person who is sent. Apostles lend themselves towards entrepreneurship.

They're really leaders. They're pioneers in their field. In the church, they have a vision for the gospel moving forward, and they rally people together to do that mission. And they're church planters. They're missionaries. They're the people who train future leaders because their vision for the future of the church is specific, and they want to move people towards that area.

That's kind of how an apostle leans in its strength. Prophets is the next one. Prophets are mostly concerned with maintaining faithfulness to God. That's true in the Old Testament when we think of the word prophet. Israel would stray from God's path, or Judah would do something that's in conflict with what God has instructed them to do, and he would send a prophet, and that prophet would just be the person who's supposed to correct the direction that the church or the nation at the time was headed. And they function, you know, we don't have this title of prophet today, but the leadership function is pretty similar.

These guys are concerned with holiness in the church. They're concerned with calling out sin. They're concerned with pointing people back to the truth. And it's not just in the church. It's in society as a whole. People who show that prophet leadership style are fairly politically engaged.

They stay up to date on the controversial issues of the time, and they're not really afraid to hold their ground in those situations. The next one is evangelist. Evangelists proclaim the gospel. The gift of evangelism is really the ability to speak to people about Jesus in a way that is easily received. So these guys are typically pretty convincing, pretty lovable.

They're good storytellers. They're naturally infectious. That kind of personality that draws you in and is easily able to explain to you why something is better than something else. And the next one is shepherds. Shepherds are mainly concerned with relationship. They're mainly concerned with community.

They're mainly concerned with family. They want to make sure that the relationships are working the way that they're supposed to. And so when they see conflict, they help other people solve conflict. When they see weakness because of, you know, this area of the church or this area of this group of people are fighting about something, it's the shepherds who want to maintain that unity in the family. Teachers are mainly concerned with the transfer of knowledge and wisdom from one generation to the next. So for millennia, we have relied on the Bible for all of our source of truth.

It is the teachers in the church who really take that to heart. This is what we have believed forever. This is the truth. This book is foundational for us. We must make sure that the next generation believes that about this book as well. That's essentially the function and the role of the teacher.

So you can see even with a basic overview, apostles being the leaders and the pioneers, the prophets being the ones who maintain faithfulness, encourage others to maintain faithfulness to God, the evangelists who are proclaiming the gospel, the shepherds who are concerned with maintaining unity in the church, and the teachers who want to make sure that the next generation is equipped as well. With all of those playing at the same time, you can see how that would contribute positively to the life of the church, at least to make that team strong so that as we're moving towards Christ-likeness as our end zone, we stand a chance because we've got those five different categories leading well. So we have these five categories of leadership in the church. The question becomes, what do they do?

Now we're going to pick it up in verse 12. It says, They equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. I think that this verse in particular, verse 12 in particular, it raises an important question because we've just discussed that it is the leader's Job to equip. The question in this verse becomes, whose Job is it to do the work of the ministry? And it says that the leaders equip the saints for the work of the ministry, right?

So whose Job is it to do the work? Typically, I think the cultural understanding, the normal social understanding of whose Job is it to do ministry would be ministers, pastors, church staff, employees kind of deal. That's certainly what, when you would ask that question without any context, whose Job is it? To do ministry, people would typically fall back on minister or pastor. Maybe a little, but that's certainly not how Ephesians 4 reads, right? Now, for definition's sake, there's a word in there that might trip us up.

That's the word saint. Saint, certainly if you look in a dictionary or just general life, typically brings with it this idea of the person who's super holy, has a little halo that buzzes around their head. In the Catholic Church, it has a lot to do with how well a person lives their life so that they can be sainted in the next life and intercede on behalf of us in different ways, the patron saint of this and the patron saint of that. Most of that seems arbitrary and outside of the authority of Scripture, certainly outside of the context of the book of Ephesians. So in Ephesians, a saint is basically any Christian in the church.

If you are in the room and you are a Christian, you are a saint. Welcome to the club. It's great. You can pick up your halos on the way out. The saints, actually in verse 1 of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 1, this book is addressed, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus. He's talking to all of them.

He's talking to the church. He's talking to everyone who is a Christian, who is a believer in the church. So when it says, when we read this passage and it says that the leaders equip the saints for the work of the ministry, what he's saying is the leadership, the apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, their job is to equip the church. It is then the church's Job, the church's responsibility to do the work of the ministry. That's not exactly what we expect. So what does it look like?

What happens when the everyday missionary, the everyday pew sitter or ugly green chair sitter in our case, what happens when that person takes ownership of their responsibility to do the work of the ministry? Well, this passage says a couple of things. It says they attain the unity of the faith, that they grow in their understanding of the knowledge of Jesus, that they mature, and that they move towards the fullness of Christ. As a church, that sounds like our end zone to me. That sounds like the direction that our team is moving towards. That's what happens first.

And as a result, this is in verse 14. As a result, we see that the church is strengthened. It says, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness, and deceitful schemes. That's what the church looks like. So at the beginning, when I said, what does a mature church look like?

That's a pretty good answer. The mature church looks like this, moving towards that goal, and unshakable. Unmovable, not tossed about, not easily deceived. They're strong, they're capable, and they're unified. The church, I think, starts to look a lot more like Jesus. The church starts to exhibit some of those qualities that we talked about in the leadership.

So the leadership who is equipping the church, the church starts to look a little bit more like that leadership. The church is strengthened based on its ability to be like Christ. Now you might be wondering what that toss to and fro about by the waves would look like. In 2003, I was 14 at the time, so glorious middle school years, a little known author called Dan Brown released a book called The Da Vinci Code. Now it didn't blow up immediately, but it blew up pretty quick after that.

It became a movie, it became all sorts of like conspiracy theories and everything. Now this book, to be clear, is a fictional book. It is on the same bookshelf in the stores as Harry Potter, as Lord of the Rings. It is in the fiction section. This is not a real book. Well, it's a real book, but the content is not genuine history.

But, because it refers to some historical characters, people lost their minds. And so at its core, this fictional book, I'm emphasizing fictional. This fictional book is really just a quest for the Holy Grail novel. There's a bunch of them out there. This book in particular, quest for the Holy Grail novel. And it really, the whole conspiracy about it rests on the fact that back in the day, the symbol for cup is the same as the symbol for woman.

Right? Obviously, guys, woman and cup, same thing. So whenever back in the day, this cryptographer or whatever in the movie says that that mistake was made back in the day and the Holy Grail became this big thing. And so he even bases his argument on Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Last Supper. You've all seen the Last Supper, the big painting. It's got people eating around.

It's a picture of Jesus and that kind of stuff. It was painted in the 15th century, guys. That's 1,480 something years after Jesus walked the earth. This painting was way after Jesus. And this whole movie, this whole story, based on the fact that they couldn't count 12 disciples in that photo and it looked like one of them might have been a girl. And because cup and girl and woman are the same thing, it must mean that the Holy Grail is actually a woman.

And it must have been the woman in that painting that was painted 1,400 years after Jesus. And you know what? I bet Jesus was married to her. And when Jesus was married to her, that girl must have been Mary Magdalene. And so if Mary Magdalene is the Holy Grail and Jesus married Mary Magdalene and they had kids, then those kids are still in the world today. And those kids in the world today have part of the blood of the Holy Grail in them.

You guys, I might be the Holy Grail. That was the point of that book. And in 2003, 4 and 5, the church lost its mind. And the church went, what if Jesus did get married? What if it was to Mary Magdalene? What if I have the blood of Jesus in my veins?

And it just went, and all the pastors all across the world were going, guys, what are you doing? Wrong book. And it's because the church was deceived. And the crazy part is, the crazy part is, when Dan Brown wrote the book, it was not his goal to try and screw up the church. His goal was to write an entertaining novel that would be interesting for people to read and I assume make lots of money doing it. And yet the church, for some reason, was deceived anyway.

That's what it looks like. That is like the furthest it can get for the church to look like to be weak, for the church to look like immaturity, for the church to be deceived and thrown about by the waves. And so for us, it probably won't, look, I hope it won't be that again. But it might come in the form of the next book that talks about how everybody is going to get into heaven. or the next book that, you know, somebody has a dream or a vision and they have a conversation with Jesus and they write it down to try and convince the church that the new thing is this other thing that we've been wrong all this time and we now have to do this other thing.

The next time one of those books comes out, the mature church says, this book over that other book. That's what it looks like for the church to not be tossed about to and fro by the waves. So it continues in verse 15 and he concludes with this. He says, rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. And I think that really seals the deal, right? This whole idea of the team needs to work together for the team to advance is really summed up in that.

They grow up in every way into him who is the head Christ when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. When everyone is playing their part on the team, the team gets stronger. The team looks more unified and the team has less weaknesses. And on our team, on the church's team, that team is growing towards Christ. That is our end zone, the fullness, the stature of the fullness of Christ. So I think that what we get to say is the mature church looks like Jesus.

And I think a good way to think about it is back in the day when the Truman Show came out, I remember this distinctly for some reason, the Truman Show came out and the movie poster for the Truman Show was like a million little snapshots from his life. And you know, there was the one little, when you look up close, there's a little photo of him walking his dog and riding his bike and eating food and at the store and at his job and all these little photos of him. And when you stand back, it's actually a collage and you see his face, right? And I think that's the same for the church because we have some people who are really good at conversations with married couples who are struggling.

We have some people who are really good with their finances and coaching other people how to make a budget and be generous with their finances. We have other people who are really good and compassionate with how do we reach out to the homeless and how do we reach out to the people who don't feel loved? And we have all these different people who make up this bigger picture that when we step back and we see the church, hopefully it looks like Jesus. That's kind of how I pictured that, right? So a mature church has all kinds of people with all kinds of talents in every walk of life, all with unity in the spirit, working together to do the work of the ministry, building each other up to grow more like Christ.

So the question becomes, what does that mean for us? How do we become more mature? What steps do I have to take in that direction? I don't think it's too much of a stretch. It's a little bit of a stretch, but it's not too much of a stretch for us to say that the church, us Christians in the room, we should start looking more like Jesus and we should start looking more like those five, at least corporately as a church, our church should start showing signs of those five different strengths, those five different areas, prophet, apostle, evangelist, shepherd, teacher. I think that corporately, if we lack any of those, if we start leaning too much towards, you know, our church is very leadership oriented, our church is very groundbreaking, we're very apostolate, but we're really not shepherdy or teachery or we're really not evangelistic, then we start to topple this direction and be really, show a lot of weaknesses over here in that direction as well.

And so we see that the mature church, not just in the leadership, but in the people as well, is really going to show all five of those different areas. To explain a little how that works, I'll talk a bit about us as a church. And some of this is going to be a little critical, it might hurt a little, I'm not sure how you guys are going to feel sensitivity wise to this. But I'll talk about strengths first. I think as a church, we're pretty strong on that, on the prophety side. I think we're pretty strong on, you know, we believe this book and we don't really move from it.

And so society can come up with a new definition of marriage, society can come up with a new definition of gender, society can tell us when people are allowed to sleep with each other and we say, no, we land here. And I think as a church, that is a strength of ours. Now we don't go out and pick fights. There's some people out there who, you know, just inject themselves into politics for the purpose of ramming the book down people's throats. But as, as those issues come up, I think our church stays, stays pretty true to the word, pretty true to the Bible.

And we don't really have any intention on believing anything that's outside of this anyway. So I think that's a strength for us. I also think that we're pretty good at shepherding and teaching. I don't know if you know this, maybe you haven't been around long enough, maybe you're super new here, in which case, this might just be good information for you about our church. We, we are really into this idea of building up leadership from within. Anytime there's an area in our church that we, we want to see growth, we will do what we can to empower the people that we've got with the, the equipment, with the equipment that they need, with the stuff that they need, with the training that they need to be able to go and do that job so that when Kid City blows up, we take the people we've got and we, we help them lead that well.

When the next thing comes up that we're going to want to corporately sponsor or corporately get behind, we're going to get the people that we've got and we're going to equip them to be able to go and do that. What we don't do is something that's pretty common in every other church is that when a vacancy appears, they form a committee and they hire someone from Texas, Nebraska, someone who Skyped in for an interview and they get someone else to come in and fix the problems that are here. That is a pretty normal thing in the church these days and I think for us as a church, we're pretty strong in that category, it's pretty strong in that area. We take training the next generation pretty seriously and we build up from within and I think that's good for us.

Some areas, one particular area that I think we're not as strong in. When it comes to those five areas, I think we're not the most evangelistic church ever. This is where I get a little bit self-critical of us. I think we're not the most evangelistic church ever. I mentioned earlier that we're coming up on five years old. When we started five years ago, there was eight people in a living room.

Obviously, we have grown since then. But anyone who's been around for a while knows this because we've talked about it some, is that somewhere about probably just over a year ago, we hit the ceiling. We've created our own ceiling. It's somewhere around 100 people so that every time our church grows a little bit, we hit 100 and then we bounce back down. Then we hit 100 again and then we bounce back down.

And something's going on there where as a church, we've just kind of lost our hustle on growth, on expansion. And I think that plays against our evangelistic ability. And so that's why as a leadership, we've come up with this idea for the, you've heard it the last couple weeks and we're doing an everyday missionary training thing. It starts in a couple weeks where we really want to be doing exactly what we're supposed to, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. And if equipping the saints means identifying that we've got a weakness here in evangelism, we've got a weakness here in this evangelistic category, how do we help our people see that weakness and want to overcome it?

See, identify the issues there that are preventing us from being successful in that area, being strong here and overcome it. So we see the weakness and we're doing what we can starting in a couple weeks trying to raise awareness for this to try and get stronger in that particular area. Because as an organization, we're kind of leaning this way and that area over there, the evangelism category is a weakness for us. Now, I don't think that's a deal breaker. I don't think that makes us a bad church or an immature church, but we need to address that so that we can be mature and continue to grow as a church.

Because if you've got a weakness on your team, you need to fix that weakness or the whole team is going to struggle to move forward. Does that make sense? So, I think that we will see our church mature as we continue to identify our weaknesses and make them grow. So I want to help you out here because maybe you've also seen some weaknesses or maybe you've, it's not necessarily that you've seen a weakness, but you've seen an area where maybe we're just not strong. Maybe it's not necessarily that we're bad or that we're weak at it, we're just not strong there. Um, maybe you've, uh, some examples might be that maybe you've, you've, you've been around for a while and you think, man, I just wish that our church did more for the homeless.

I just wish that our church got behind helping the poor, helping the poor. Sorry. Uh, maybe you, maybe you're thinking, uh, our church doesn't have a very good system for helping people who are struggling with anxiety or depression. Maybe, maybe you think, uh, maybe you think our church, uh, could, could use some help in, in working out how to help new believers take that next step, how to, how to help new believers understand where to start when they want to study the Bible. people. And chances are, if you're asking or, or thinking any of those things, uh, you may not think immediately that you're gifted or strong in that area, but you're certainly passionate about it where perhaps not enough other people are.

And so I think your role in that situation is, is to be the one who identifies that weakness for us, uh, and helps us take, take steps towards, you know, what, what is it going to look like to equip the saints to, to handle that issue? And let me tell you this, if this starts happening, it'll probably happen first at a groups level for us. Uh, you spend enough time around us, you're just going to feel like we're ringing a gong for groups. And we are, and we will, and we will continue to, until the gong breaks. Because we believe in our community groups, and we believe that that is the best way for, um, for people in our church and people in general to relate in such a way that they can grow, uh, on the back of the, the word of the, of truth that comes out of scripture.

So every week we'll, we'll have a sermon, we'll, we'll have a, um, something going on on Sundays. And then throughout the week, we'll have opportunities to live out that truth in community groups. Uh, and I think, especially when we're talking about teamwork and what it looks like to have different strengths in the team and move that team forward, that becomes most obvious in groups because you know each other well and you know what you want to achieve as a group. So a couple things on that. If you're not in a group, that would be a great first step for you because, uh, that would really be you getting on a team in order to play a team sport.

And if you're not in a team, it's really tough to play a team sport. Um, church is a team sport. Uh, if you're already in a community group, uh, first thing would be to be fully invested in that group. Uh, and that means, that means a couple things, but, but first it means be there. That's it. Be there because we, we kind of, there's a trend.

I don't know if it's a trend so much as it's just human nature is we, we, we make poor excuses for why we don't have to be there. Things like, I'm kind of tired or I'm kind of hungry or I have an exam in a week. All these kinds of things, uh, they, they just come up and they get in the way and, and when you're not there because you were tired or when you're not there because you had an exam, the team feels it because it's a team sport. And if you're not there, the team misses you and you also don't get the benefit of the team. It's, it's a two-way street. You need to be there for the team and you also need the team in your life.

And so when the quarterback is missing, somebody else has to play quarterback and the ball doesn't move down the field. When there's no receivers, the quarterback has nobody to throw it to and we've got to let the running dudes do all the work. That's how it works in community groups. So if you're in a community group, be invested and be there. Unless you have the flu, stay home. If you're already a group, in a group and you're already there and you're already invested, help that group get stronger.

Your role in the group is to play your position well, play to your strengths well, help the group identify weaknesses and grow in those areas. Find its weaknesses and this is what Spencer was talking about last week, what it means to be unified in this effort. With humility, gentleness and patience, speak the truth in love so that your group can find those weaknesses and instead of hating you for pointing the finger at the weakness, they want to be on your side so that your group can grow up to the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's your role if you're already in a group and you're already there all the time.

Help that group get stronger. The band's going to make its way back up and this is where we're going to land the plane and this is what I'm going to leave you with. There is no sitting on the bench on this team. We have a much higher calling than coasting. This is not a spectator sport where in American football you get to say I'm an Eagles fan and therefore I celebrate because the Eagles won. That doesn't work in the church.

You're either on the team or you are not. There is no bench warming. We have been given the responsibility of doing the work of the ministry. That is not a spectator sport. And until we all attain the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, we haven't done that yet. This is what the mature church looks like.

It looks like Jesus. It looks like a team that needs each other, that complements each other, that each person is doing their part on the team so that the ball can move forward. That's what a mature team looks like. And when that's happening, that team is impenetrable. It does not show weakness. It can't be moved.

And when each person is doing their part, working together, the team grows, the church grows up into Christ and is built up in love. That's what a mature church looks like. And that's the kind of church that we get to be. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the opportunity that you have given us to learn from your word. And I just pray that we can show those five signs.

I show that our team can be united in our effort to grow into the fullness of Christ and that we can take seriously our responsibility to contribute to that. I pray that that will rest with us not just for this week but for the rest of the year, the rest of our lives. That we can contribute something valuable to the church that the church may grow. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Unity

Unity

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm a pastor in training here with Mill City Church. We are in Ephesians 4. We've been in like Ephesians 3 for four months. I know that's not completely accurate because we had a couple series in between them, but we have finally made the shift into four, which in Ephesians, the first three chapters are doctrine and theology for the church as an encouragement.

The next three chapters from four to six are the application of that, how we actually live that out. So we finally made it. We're in Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 6 today, which is going to be on page 568 in your blue Bible that is near you. If you don't have a Bible, please take that home. That is our gift to you. In high school, I played two sports.

I played football and I played baseball. Now, I realize when I say that some of you just died inside because you heard a sports reference. It's the Super Bowl, so it's a little bit appropriate today. But I can't give you a whole lot of musical ones. I love music, but I was not good at music and still not. I was in orchestra in the fifth and sixth grade, and I was last chair of the cello section.

I might as well have been last chair for the entire orchestra because I was terrible at it. So I've got sports to work with. And in football and baseball, I had two vastly different experiences. My football team was a unified bunch of guys. We loved one another. It started at the top.

We had a coach that loved us, that invested in us, that spent time with us, that built the identity of family that we were supposed to play with. And we did. We loved playing together. We had each other's back. My sophomore and junior year, it doesn't matter how much you love one another. If you don't have the talent, you don't win games.

So we didn't win a whole lot of games. But my senior year, we finally had the talent to compete, and we won a lot of games because we were a team. One of my favorite experiences from that senior year was the last summer practice before the school year started. We had a guy that missed practice, a senior that missed practice. And he got there for the last five minutes, and he explained the situation, and it was a difficult one. He was working a job.

That job helped support his family, and he could not miss that shift. But we had rules. We had rules on the team, and if he wanted to be on the team still, he was going to have to run for it. And what we did, because we were a family, is a dude, you know you're in a tough spot. We're going to run with you. So we ran all the sprints together, and that kind of set the tone for the whole season.

We ended up losing the semifinals, but it was a great season. My senior year of baseball, or just my baseball team in general in high school, was a completely different experience. It was different for a lot of reasons. We had a strong tradition of winning. Won a lot of titles over the years. Our coach had a great baseball mind, but we were not a team.

We just weren't. We weren't a unified bunch. From the top down, our coach, he knew baseball, but he didn't really show a lot of investment in us. He didn't really care for us off the field. It just was a different feel altogether. So we won a lot of games until my junior year, when the talent ran out, which is when I also started playing.

And the talent ran out. We weren't a team. And man, for two years, we didn't win as many games as we had in the past. There was a lot of finger pointing, a lot of clicks on the team. It was just weird. Some of the same guys I played football with were on the baseball team.

And it was just weird. One of the worst moments I remember was there was a game where I was in second base, and I ran out to catch a ball between me and right field. And the ball dropped right between us. It was my fault. When I got back to the dugout, my coach laid in to me, which is fine in sports. But then he got two former players from our freshman state title team who were in the stands to come around to the dugout and to shame me in front of all the other players.

And it was the most embarrassing moment I've had in sports. And on top of that, none of my teammates backed me up. It just was that that was us. We just weren't a unified bunch of players at all. Unity is vital for the health of any organization, for the growth of any organization. I mean, companies get this.

They spend millions of dollars every year investing in team building. There's entire team building recreational centers that are designed for this, that you might grow in being a unified organization. There are tons of books. There's tons of thought on it. I think if you boil down unity in a team, unity in an organization into three things, there are three things that rise to the surface. There's a culture, firstly, of team over individual.

A culture of team over individual. There's usually a leader or a set of leaders that everyone can get behind, that everyone will rally behind. And then lastly, there is a cause that everyone's bought into. Those three elements show up in unified teams. And the reason that this is true is because God has designed us this way. We have been designed to function and to flourish as a unified team when these three things are present.

And they show up in our text today. We're in Ephesians 4, verses 1 through 6. And in this text, we're going to see a culture of unity, a culture of team over individual, a culture of whole church over individual Christian. We're going to see the leader that we rally behind. And then we're going to see the cause that we're bought into. So I'm going to read the text.

We will pray. And then we will dive in. Verse 1. Verse 1. Let's pray.

God, I'm thankful for this word. I pray that we would receive it. I pray that we'd be able to be present. And I pray that you would go to work on our hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so he starts out, verse 1.

He says, I therefore. So that therefore is the big shift. From the first three chapters to the next three chapters as he closes out. I love it because it builds off of what was preached last week, Chet. Preached on the love of Christ. It was a summary of the first three chapters.

And the depth of the love. The height of the love of Christ. The greatness of the love of Christ. So everything in those first three chapters. All the force of that gets pulled in to these first few verses. And he says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord.

So that little insertion there is him saying, I'm in prison for you. He's writing this letter from prison to this church. And he's letting them know, I'm in prison so that you would believe the gospel. I'm in prison so that you would get this. So that you would walk in a manner worthy of the calling.

So he's heightening it up. Showing the importance of what he's getting ready to say. He says, I therefore a prisoner for the Lord. Urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. And this is when the shift happens. All the theology and doctrine of the first three chapters.

Everything that he says from chapter one. That you were chosen. That you were adopted. That you were sealed by the Holy Spirit. That you were dead in sin. That you received grace that you could not earn.

All of that that went into your redemption. You were called to walk in a manner worthy of that. So he's continuing to heighten it up. And at this point, the Ephesian church imagined when they originally heard this. They kind of saw what was coming. These letters, like the Ephesians and Galatians and 1st and 2nd Corinthians.

These letters circulated throughout all the churches. So they're probably familiar with how Paul writes. And they're probably wondering what's coming up. That he's getting ready to address some things that are going on in this church. So they're nervously awaiting.

And then he shifts into the next verse. He says, with all humility and gentleness. With patience. Bearing with one another in love. Eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit. In the bond of peace.

And when they get to that. At that point, they see it coming. I mean, he kind of tipped his hand a little bit in chapter two. When he mentioned that the wall of hostility. That was between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Those who were not Jewish.

That there is disunity in this church. And he is going to address it. And he starts by addressing it with the first principle. A culture of team over individual. It is not about you. It's about the church as a whole.

Disunity was a major problem in the Ephesian church. And many other churches in the New Testament. Because of these differences between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. And he starts by addressing it. Addressing the pride that is dividing them. By mentioning with humility.

With humility. Alright, so that word humility. In the Greek. In the original language that this was written in. Was not a word that Greco-Romans across the Roman Empire were familiar with. It's not a word that they used.

In fact, we don't really even see it show up. Until the New Testament starts using it. They basically had to invent this word. Because in Greco-Roman culture. Humility was not a quality. Being proud.

Being confident. That was a quality. That they upheld. But they didn't. Humility wasn't a thing for them. So they had to invent a word.

And a concept. For a culture that didn't understand it. Which I think. Is actually really cool. That they got to invent something. We actually don't see this word used.

In contemporary non-Christian sources. Until after the early churches begun. I think that's pretty cool. They got to invent a word. And a concept. For a culture.

That didn't really understand humility. And the English language. We don't get to do that. I mean. We don't get to invent cool things. The words that we get.

Introduced in our language now. Are words like yellow. Which somebody should punch Drake in the face. Forever mentioning that word. We get words like squad goals. And phrases like that.

We get words like clap back. Right? I was in the office the other day. And I was talking to Matt. I was talking to Chet. And I used clap back.

It just came out of my mouth. And they said. What? What did you say? I said. You know.

I clapped back. And I could look into their eyes. And I could tell. What they were thinking. Like we had so much hope for you. Like when you came here.

We had so much hope for you. And you just crushed it. Because you used the word clap back in the sentence. And I was like. It's like. You know.

You say something to somebody. And you insult them. And they clap back. And they insult you back. Like I saw it on Twitter. I won't use it again.

Like we. We even had the dumbest things. We even had things like triggered. And microaggressions. Which are my two favorite awful ones now. That you.

Someone could say something to you. That would so offend you. It would trigger you. And cause microaggressions. Small aggressions. Like that.

That blows my mind. That we invent stupid things like that. We don't get to invent cool words. And cool concepts. Like humility. But they did.

They got to bring that into their language. To show them. The value of humility. And Paul. He goes after their pride with it. He goes after their pride.

To show. How these Jews and these Gentiles. Have been divided. Because both of these groups. Jews and Gentiles. Both thought that their backgrounds were better.

They both thought that their culture was more superior. So you can imagine. How their early community groups were. How they were. I mean. You had.

If there was ever a problem in them. You had Jews on one side. That were like. Listen. We're the chosen ones. We've been here.

For like 2,000 years. You guys just got brought into this. Like. The problem must be with you guys. We certainly can't be the problem. On the other side.

You got Romans. And Greeks. And Africans. Who are like. What are you talking about? Like.

We're Roman citizens. We're dignified. We've. Guess what. We just got a copy of the Old Testament. And we've seen your history.

You guys fight all the time. It has to be on you. And these two sides. Are. Are completely. Divided.

In a lot of ways. Because of their cultural backgrounds. Because they both. Are prideful. And they think. That they're better than one another.

Because here's the deal. Pride. It kills humility. Because if you think you're better than someone else. If you think that you're always right. That you've always got the right answers.

You've always got the right ideas. You can't actually ever be truly unified. I mean. Many of us. We've been in community groups. In churches.

With people. That are just like this. They always think that they're right. The church that I came from previously. Was in a. A seminary.

A city. With a big seminary. And there's a lot of groups. That had seminary people in it. And man. Sometimes seminary people are the worst.

I was one of them. But man. They. They would argue over the smallest of things. And they always. Always.

Always had to be right. Always had to get the last word in. And it's like. Then arguments can come out of that. And people can get upset. And then you might go to reconcile with someone.

Who always thinks they're right. You might go and say. Man. I'm sorry. I got. I got heated.

And then they'll come back with. Oh. I'm sorry. You got upset. That's a non-apology. That's.

I mean. That's not. An apology is. I'm sorry. I sinned against you. Will you forgive me?

It's not. I'm sorry. You got upset. And. And. And you see this happen.

In community groups. And if you're like. Man. I've never seen this. I've never actually. I don't think I've ever come across people like that.

There may be people in your group. That are thinking it's you. Pride shows up in a lot of different ways. It shows up when. Maybe you have someone in your group. That you were just annoyed by.

Like man. Because. Because sometimes you get in groups of people that have. Completely different personalities. And you're like. Man.

That person annoys the crap out of me. And I know. That. I know I can't just like dip out. I know that we're supposed to stay in this together. But man.

I can. I can avoid them. I can not return their texts. If they want to hang out. I don't have to return their phone calls. You know what?

I think it's time for us to launch a new group. We need to be more missional. You know what we'll do? We'll launch a new group. And when we launch this new group. We're going to send them out.

And then I'm good. I don't have to hang out with them anymore. Listen. If that is your mindset. You need to know. This is free.

That our God is a God of irony. He just is. And if that's your mindset. Get ready. You will be with that person. For the next three group cycles.

Like it's just. That. Because. If we just get to hang out with people. That are just like us. If we just hang out with people.

That have the same interests. And that don't bug us. How are we ever going to grow. In actually loving people? How are we ever going to grow. And actually be able to.

To endure different personalities. No. We have to grow in this. The last way I see pride. There's many ways. But the last one I'll mention.

As far as that I see pride. Sometimes. Some of us. Will listen to sermons. Or will read the Bible. And will think.

This is good for somebody else. Now. Encouraging someone with. A word. Encouraging somebody with. Something you heard in a sermon.

Is fine. But here's the deal. If you're listening to a sermon. Or you're reading the Bible. And you're not letting it impact. Your own heart first.

And at the overflow of that. Encouraging others. It comes from a place of pride. Pride. Destroys. Unity.

And that's why Paul addresses it. On the front end. And then he goes into the next part of the approach. He goes into. Gentleness. He calls them to gentleness.

Now. If you're like me. This is a struggle. Gentleness for me. Is a struggle. Because.

I go hard after everything. I will bring a sledgehammer. To take out a tiny nail. That's just my MO. Like I just get excited about things. And Matt and Chet first realized this.

Really early on. When I got here. That I would get excited about the smallest of things. And would get all intense about the smallest of things. That is why you've heard so many jokes about Chipotle over the last year. It's brilliant.

Because the Chipotle MO's debate. It illustrates two things. It illustrates the differences that are there. Petting one against the other. But underneath it all.

It's Chet just giving a small dig. Because he knows. That gets me stirred up. Because I'm like. Listen. Chipotle's obviously better.

Mo's has rice pellets. You can't call that a burrito. Just because you have queso. That's not how that works. And I get all excited about this kind of stuff. And it's.

And it's fun. Right? But gentle. The lack of gentleness is not fun when it's my daughter. It's not fun when I'm raising my daughter. And my wife reminds me of this consistently.

She's like. You can't have the same tone. For every misstep that she has. You can't be that way. And I just come hard after every little thing. Like when she.

Is spazzing out. And swings at my wife. That ain't gonna fly in our house. The tone needs to be sharp. But that is not the same.

As when she smells juice on the couch. Or when she does something small. And the wife says. You can't. You can't blow up over every little thing. You can't get intense about every little thing.

You have to have a tone difference. You have to learn. Gentleness. So my wife comes. In a spirit of gentleness. To correct me in this.

And to help me see. And I am. I am trying to grow. In gentleness. But I am thankful.

That she comes alongside. In a spirit of gentleness. As Galatians 6 says. To help me on this. And the same way. That is what we are called to do.

With other people in our group. With other Christians. That we are walking alongside of. We are called to. When. Maybe someone gets offended.

Maybe you get offended. By what someone says. Or someone says something mean to you. Or your wife. Or your friend. Man.

You don't respond with a sledgehammer. You don't come hard. We come with a spirit of gentleness. How. How much more unified. Would the church be.

If we address one another. Like surgeons. With a scalpel. As opposed to coming out. With some brute force. We are called.

To gentleness. To strive for it. And then Paul keeps going. He says. With. Patience.

With patience. Patience. Patience is not putting up. With somebody. For. For a few different.

Community group meeting times. That's not patience. We have a warped. Sense of time. Because of our culture. Because in our culture.

Everything happens. Instantly. I can pull out my phone. Order food. It comes in less than 30 minutes. I can look at news.

That is happening. In remote parts of the world. All the way across the globe. Everything is happening. Like that. And we have this.

Warped sense of time. That we bring into the church. That we think. Relationships. Should happen. Just like that.

And it messes with the fact. That relationships. Take time. Life together. Takes time. It is walking with someone.

For a year. For two years. For five years. As they learn to walk. In the grace. That Jesus provides.

That's why Jesus says. You don't forgive seven times. No. You forgive. 77 times. I mean.

Think about how long. That kind of relationship is. You need to forgive someone. 77 times. Some of you are like. Man.

You didn't see in our group. That's like a week. Maybe. For most of us. That is a long period of time. Of enduring.

It takes. Patience. As we walk with one another. Which means. That you don't get to run. At the first sign of trouble.

At the first sign of trouble. You don't get to dip out. And switch groups. And leave churches. That's not how this works. Like you don't get to do that.

With your own family. Most of the time. Like with my daughter. When she wakes up from a nap. Sometimes she just wakes up angry. Like I always walk in.

I'm like. How's it going to be? Is she going to be happy? Or is she going to be ticked? And then sometimes she wakes up. And she's ticked.

I'm like. You were too. What possibly. Could you be angry about? I don't get to just shut the door. And say.

You're in here all day. Deuces. And walk out. That's. You don't get to do that with your own family. You don't get to do that with church family.

You don't get to just dip out. The first sign of trouble. Leave group. Leave the church. Nah. It's patience.

We're called to walk in patience. And then Paul. He keeps going. He says bearing with one another in love. Bearing with one another in love. Man.

I'm thankful for the sermon last week. I encourage you to go listen to it if you were not here. We need to grow in reclaiming the depth and the height and the beauty of the love of Christ. Because here's what happened in the American church. In the American church throughout the 60s and the 70s the hippie movement happened. And then like the hippie movement got attached to.

That free love and everything else got attached to Jesus. And the picture of Jesus in the 70s was. He was a hippie. And he. He was like. I love everyone.

Doesn't matter how you live. It's just. It's all. You just love everybody. It's all good. And then.

In the American church. There was a response. Because we saw that. And it's cheap in love. And we said. No.

No. No. No. I like the picture of Jesus. When he's making a whip. And he's beating people out of the temple.

Because our Jesus is about truth. And then a lot of us just bang the truth drum. Man. We bang the heck out of it. We're about truth. And theology.

It's not about this cheap version of love. It's about truth. And doctrine. And theology. And we go all hyped up. And excited.

And we listen to pastors online. And what we did. Was we pitted truth against love. We create a false dichotomy. Which is two different truths. They can go together.

But we say that they don't. We love on one side. And truth on the other. And it's like. That's. Maturity is realizing that those two go together.

I mean. Jesus sums up the entire Old Testament law. All the theology in two ways. Love God. Love your neighbor. Love your neighbor.

So we. We. We fail to. To grow into this. If we don't realize that those. Go together.

If we don't deepen our understanding. Of love. Loving. And bearing with one another in love. Looks like. It looks like.

When you're a mom. And another mom in our church. Or in our community group. This happened a lot in the church that I was at previously. Some mom posts. The most ridiculous.

Over the top. Judgmental. Opinionated mom blog. And it's like. If you don't rub essential oils. On your child's eyes.

Before they go to bed. You hate them. And they will grow up awful. It's like. What. What is this?

Like there are so many. Terrible mom blogs. They're the worst. And someone would post something. That was so outrageous. And so over the top.

And it would make other moms. Like man. I'm a bad mom. I'm a. And then. And then.

What happens out of that. Is. I'm done with her. I don't want to hang out with her. I'm unfriending her on Facebook. I don't want to be in community group with her.

I don't want to deal with her. I was like. No. That's not the response of a Christian. That's not what we're called to. We're called to bear with one another in love.

Now there may be a conversation. That comes out of that. That is. That is reconciled. That said. This isn't helpful.

This is actually hurtful. But you don't get to just block people out. Because. Of stuff like this. We're called to bear with one another in love. This looks like when.

Again. If you've got someone who's just got a different personality than you. It's like. No. You don't get to block them out. This looks when.

When someone hurts you. When someone offends you. When someone sins against you. You don't get to just say. I'm done. We're called to bear with one another.

In love. So Paul. He's driving this home. For the Ephesian church. And for us. He starts to.

To show us. The culture of team. And one another. Over individual. And then he starts to transition. Into the leader that we rallied behind.

He says in verse 3. Eager to maintain. The unity of the spirit. In the bond. Of peace. And what we see here.

To start out with. Is that our leader. Is our God. Spoiler alert. I bet you didn't see that coming. Like our leader.

Is our God. And he focuses on the Holy Spirit. And he's getting ready to unpack the Trinity. That's showing up in verses 4 through 6. But he starts with the Holy Spirit here.

And it's a good reminder for us. Because the Holy Spirit. Is inside each of us. Those who believe the gospel. He reigns inside of us. The understanding is.

Is that the church. Is the new temple of God. The Old Testament. There was the temple. And that's where God's presence was. And that's where he ruled and reigned from.

In the New Testament. We are the church. We are the temple. And God resides in us. And his Holy Spirit. Is inside of us.

And why that's important here. Is because we are all bound together. By the spirit. We are all bound together. By peace. Which means.

We're not meant to be divided. Because God doesn't want his spirit. Divided against one another. So he says the bond of peace here. And the word for bond here. Conveys a couple ideas.

It's used in the bonding together of a building. Into a sturdy structure. This word bond is also used. Into the binding together of individual threads. That make up an entire garment. Paul in Colossians.

He uses it. As how ligaments. Bind a body together. And hold a body together. And out of that. He says there's no individual here.

There's no Jew. There's no Greek. There's one body. Bound by one spirit. Which means there's no more hostility. There's no more hostility.

Because of the peace of Christ. Because individualism. Crushes unity. And that individualism. It took a hard turn in the 16th century. When the enlightenment happened.

And the enlightenment happened. And we took the focus off of God. And creation. And we turned it on ourselves. And we thought about how great we were. And then modernism happened.

And then recently. We're in the age of post-modernism. And we're on the back end of post-modernism. The narcissistic. Inwardly focused version of it. That means it's all about you.

Our culture says it's all about you. Your thoughts. Your ideas. Your feelings. Your truth. You have to live your truth.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard some version of that. Now we in the church understand there's absolute truth. And that that is a ridiculous statement. A ridiculous thought. But here's how that kind of individualism seeps into the church on a practical level.

It shows up when somebody is. Maybe they're sleeping with their boyfriend or their girlfriend. Or maybe they're doing something they're not supposed to do. Or maybe they're choosing something that is just not good for them. And someone else in their community group. Or a group of people in their community group are saying.

I don't know if you should be doing. I'm looking at the Bible. And we're praying. We love you. We don't think that you should be. We don't think this isn't good for you.

And the hyper-spiritualized version of individualism. A person says, no, no, no, no. This is. It's about. God wants me to be happy. Or the even hyper-spiritual version is.

Is that. No, God told me. The Holy Spirit told me. And everyone else who loves them. Who has the same Holy Spirit inside them. Is praying to the same God.

And looking at the same Bible. Saying, no, no, no. I think you're an heir. And we make it about ourselves. And that kind of individualism. It crushes unity.

So he starts in this. And he kind of completes the thought here. Of team over individual. And he introduces leader. And then the leader that we follow really shows up. In verses 4 through 6.

He says, there is one body. And one spirit. Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord. One faith. One baptism.

One God and Father of all. Who is over all and through all. And in all. So Paul, he attaches that culture of unity that he's been building. To the leader that we follow. And the cause that unites us.

And he drives home that unity idea. By using the same word seven times. And when you hear it. You're supposed to feel the force of it. He says one. One.

One. One. One. One. One. One.

One. It is supposed to be that forceful. That you would understand. The oneness. That he is striving for here. The oneness.

That is in the Trinity. He introduces Father, Son, and Holy Spirit here. And we are called to reflect. The God that we're made in his image. We're called to reflect. The unity.

Of our God. That there's one spirit. That unifies us. That we belong to one Lord. Jesus. That there's one God.

And Father of all. And in order to understand that. We need to have a better understanding. Of the oneness that is within the Trinity. That our trinean God. Is one.

He's eternally. Existed. As three. And as one. Before time was created. God has perfectly been unified.

In himself. Now there's a lot of attempts. There has been a lot of attempts. To oversimplify. Our understanding of the Trinity. I've heard people say.

It's kind of like water. It's when it's frozen. It's ice. But when it melts. It's water. And then when you heat it up.

It's gas. It's like our God is one. He's got three forms. Or I hear people say. No. It's like a man who's.

He has one role as a father. He has another role as a son. And he has another role as a brother. Any explanation like that. Is actually a heretical understanding of the Trinity. That goes back to the third, fourth, and fifth century.

It's not one God, three modes. We don't try to oversimplify who our God is. He is three. And he is one. I had a professor once tell me. That when you think of his threeness.

And you thought of his threeness too long. You shift back to his oneness. And when you thought of his oneness too long. You think of his threeness. And the beauty of this. Is that our God is in perfect relationship with himself.

He is perfectly unified. And we are made in his image. Which is why. When our community groups. Are great. Like we are loving one another.

We're serving one another. We're unified. We love it. We love our community group. We love when we meet. It's awesome.

But man. When somebody is mad at someone else. When there's bitterness. When there's sin. That's breaking people up. Man.

How fun is our community group then? How fun is meeting together once a week then? Man. It can be brutal. Because we are not imaging our God. We're not flourishing in the way that we're supposed to.

And being made in his image. God wants us to be unified. As he is unified. God. And he wants us to buy into the cause that unites us. Which is what we see in these final verses.

He says. Just as you were called. To the one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord. One faith. One baptism.

One God and Father of all. Who is over all. And through all. And in all. And the cause is this. The cause is the gospel.

That's what we talk about all the time. And it shows up here. And the one hope. That binds us together. The one hope. That is actualized.

That is real. That Peter. And first Peter calls a living hope. It is alive. We get to see it. In part now.

And we get to fully take part in it. In the future. That right now. God. The hope we have. Is he has made us new.

And that one day. Down the line. There's a day coming. When everything is going to be made new. When everyone is going to be made new. There will be no more sin.

There will be no more pain. We will forever be in the presence. Of our God. That is the hope. That we get to see in part now. We're united by the one faith.

That he mentions here. The one faith. That we could not earn. The one faith. That was given to us. The one faith.

That was secured. By the life. Death. And resurrection. Of our Savior. And we're bound together.

By the sign of the one baptism. Now that's the internal baptism. The changing of our hearts. That is also. What we get to celebrate. Here.

Coming up on this Easter Sunday. That we're going to have some people. In a heated tub. Right in front of us. They're going to step into the waters. And they're going to say.

Jesus is Lord. And they're going to be dunked in the water. Which is a sign that you were dead in sin. And they're going to be brought back up. That you are alive. In Christ.

We are bound together. By that sign. We are bound together. And unified. By the gospel. So the hope coming out of this.

Is that if you've not fully bought into this. If you've been trusting in anything else. Other than the finished work. Of Jesus on the cross. If you thought that your good works can save you. If you thought that your church attendance could save you.

If you thought that anything else. Could stand in your place. And the hope and the appeal is this. That you would believe this. That you would be fully bought in. That you would trust in Jesus as your only hope.

And that you would see that Jesus is better. Than everything else. And that out of that. We would continue to apply the gospel. That's why we talk so much about. Gospel fluency in our church.

That we would apply the gospel. In every aspect of our life. Because that is the cause that unites us. That is the cause that keeps us together. The beauty of it is. Is that we have a father.

Who sent his son. To purchase us his bride. And that as Ephesians says. He has sent the Holy Spirit. As our guarantee. As our down payment.

That we have a triune God. Who is the leader of our church. And we have a cause. The cause of the gospel. That unites us. And that out of that.

We strive. For a culture of unity. We strive. For it to be more about ourselves. More than about ourselves. But about the church.

About one another. Another. So that's what we're going to. Practice this morning.

The Love of Christ

The Love of Christ

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 3.

So we are back in our Ephesians series. We spent a good bit of time in the fall walking verse by verse through the book of Ephesians. And we are going to spend a good bit of time in the spring doing the exact same thing. So we took a little break for our Give series. We started this year off talking about Jesus is better than everything else. And now we are back in Ephesians.

How familiar are y'all with the pole vault? Moderately, like I'm a pole vault tier. If that's not what they're called, that's what they should be called. Like I'm not that familiar with the pole vault, so I'm going to explain it to y'all. So the pole vault is an athlete, a track athlete, a pole vault tier, dresses up in like a track outfit or looks kind of like a wrestling singlet.

Don't call it a onesie. They get upset. It's a singlet. And they have a big stick. It's a pole is the technical term. And it is bendy, the stick is.

So it's not like a super rigid stick. It's like a long bendy stick. And they run quickly holding their stick as fast as they can. And then there's like a football goal post thing set up here with another stick across it. I don't think that one's as bendy as the one they're holding. It could be the same type of stick.

I don't know. But it's running across here. And the goal is to take this stick, stick it in the ground. That's why it's called that. And then run. It bends.

And then they jump. And they fly through the air holding on to their stick. At some point they let go. And the goal is to get their feet and then the rest of their body over the... I don't know which one's the pole. This is the pole or that's the pole.

Maybe they're both the pole. But maybe they're vaulting with a pole or over a pole. But they've got to get over. Over... This is the vault part. They get over that.

And then on the other side there's like a big... Like a big mat or air mattress. Like the air mattress you sleep on at your grandma's house. But like... Like also like a gym mat. Like if they had a really big baby.

Like that's what's on the other side. And they fall on top of that. And they do a good job if they get over the goal post. That's like... That was like a win. And then they raise it.

And it's like the opposite of the limbo. They keep raising it. And then eventually they hit the stick. And I think everybody laughs. And then it's over with. And so...

That's what Paul's doing in this letter. And we've reached the moment in the letter where he sticks the stick in the ground. That's where we are today. So the fall... We spent him building momentum. We looked at all the theology behind his letter.

So he... In the fall is building up. He's running towards the goal. He's running towards what he's going to eventually vault us into. And so the fall has been him saying in chapter 1 that all this truth about who God is and what he's like and what he's done. And so he's...

He says that we've been blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That he chose us before... Chose us in him before the foundation of the world. That he predestined us for the adoption of sons. That he loves us. That he redeems us.

That he gives us an inheritance. That he sealed us with the Holy Spirit. And then he kind of says, so... Because that's true, I pray that you would know this. So the back half of chapter 1 is he just saying, I pray that you would know all that he's done for you in Christ.

All of this rich and deep theology, I pray that you would know it. Then he goes into chapter 2 saying... That you've been saved by grace. You didn't earn this. You weren't good. You weren't special.

You weren't holy. You weren't moral. You weren't smarter. He says, you were dead. You were useless. You were trapped in your sin.

And then by grace, Jesus Christ swapped places with you. That he died for you. That you were saved by grace. And then he says, and you've been now saved by grace. Equipped for works. And then he goes into saying, because we've been saved by grace, we actually get to relate to one another.

And so we spent some time talking about racism. Because that's what he begins to address. Is that both Jewish and Gentile believers need to get along and grow together. And then today, the back half of chapter 3, we're going to pick up in verse 14. He says, for this reason. And so he begins this.

He's saying, because of all this stuff back here. For this reason. For all the stuff I've already said. And then at the end of this, he's going to say, amen. And the next verse is going to be, walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. And so what he does is, he takes all of this theology.

All of this dense, rich. I'm going to be careful what I'm saying here. Dense, rich truth about Christ and his work and his goodness for us. And he uses it to build momentum. That's him sprinting. You don't get over that by just sticking it in the ground and trying to build momentum.

Today, he sticks the pole in the ground. And again, I'm not a pole vaulter. Father, I'm assuming where you put the end of that stick matters. I'm assuming that if you do it too soon or too late or at a different wrong angle. I'm assuming that this really matters. That you get it right in the exact spot.

So that with all the momentum that you've built. You can propel yourself towards the work you're supposed to do. And that's what's happening in this letter. That Paul's running full speed with all of this truth. And all this momentum of the truth of the gospel for us in Christ. And his love for us.

And his adoption of us. And his salvation for us. And then today he sticks. That truth. Anchors it. And uses it for the rest of the letter.

He's going to say, now here's how we live that. Here's what we look like to live that. And so today is actually a really important day for us. As we get to see, what is he anchoring in? What was all of that building to put us in? And then the rest of the letter he's going to say, here's how to live.

Here's how to relate to each other. Here's how to love one another. Here's how to get along with one another. And so we're going to pick up verse 14. This is where Paul anchors this to propel us into everything else that we're going to look at. And we'll pray before we read this whole passage together.

God, I pray that you would give us grace today. That as Paul says this prayer and as he transitions this letter from all the true things about you into all the things that we're supposed to do, how we're supposed to respond and live in light of that. God, I pray that you would help us to see this clearly, to feel it deep inside of our hearts, that your Holy Spirit would empower it in us and that you would help us to know your love and walk in a manner worthy of you. In Jesus' name, amen. Chapter 3, starting in verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

So he begins by saying, because of all this truth about Jesus and what he's accomplished for us in the gospel, here's what I pray. That's what he means by I bow my knee. I submit myself in prayer to the Father. And then when he says, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, what he means is he's the father of everybody. He's in charge of everybody. There's nobody outside of his scope that he's the God of everything.

I like the movie, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? And throughout that movie, he's going to try to find his family after he escapes from prison. And he keeps saying, I'm the paterfamilias, which means I'm the daddy. I'm the father of this family. Like nobody can replace me. And that's what he's saying here is that God is the paterfamilias.

He's the father of the family of everybody. He's in charge of everybody. And then he says, that according to the riches of his glory, he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. So he's built all of this momentum. And this is where he's sticking his pole in the ground and saying, this is what we land in in order for us to move forward. And so his prayer, his request is, and we're going to highlight this, that he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being.

So he prays, his request, the thing he gets down and asks the father for this church in Ephesus. And as we read this for all Christians, is that the Holy Spirit would strengthen us, strengthen them in their inner being. And this is one of the beautiful things about Christianity, is that you can be weak physically, and you can be weak mentally, and you can have a ferocious spirit. That you can have an inner strength beyond compare, and be built in by the Holy Spirit, with a power and a strength that is unapproachable. And that's what he says, is that I pray that he would strengthen you by the power of his spirit, strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being.

And then he says, so that. And so these words are important when you're reading your Bible, so that. So now he's giving us what will happen if that happens. So he's saying, so that. Yeah, I want him to do this, so that. Here's the result.

Here's what will happen. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. So he's saying, I pray that the Holy Spirit would come in your heart, and give you the ability to contain Christ, to have Christ dwell in you through faith. That you would believe in Christ, that's faith. That you would trust in him, and that he would dwell, live in your heart. And I pray that the Holy Spirit would give you strength to handle that, strength so that this will happen.

That's the result. And so look at the rest of verse 17. It says, That you being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And so he says, I pray that you would be strengthened in your heart, so that Christ would dwell in you. And he says, that you, so now we're seeing, he's making another point. And then it says, comma, being rooted and grounded in love.

And so we're going to highlight that. That is, that's just kind of inserted into the sentence. So the sentence is going to keep going here in a second, but that's just inserted in there. And I just want to pause for a second, because Paul just inserts that in the middle of his sentence. So what he's saying is, I pray that he'd give you strength, so that Christ will dwell in your heart.

That you, and he's about to say the reason, but then he just inserts in the middle, now being rooted and grounded in love, it'd be a little bit like, if you had a commanding officer in the military, and he said, okay, you went to boot camp, we trained you, we made you mean, we didn't make you ugly, you were ugly when you came here, but we made you mean. And now, we did that, so that you, and then he just stopped and said, with all the equipment we've given you, can go win the battle. Like he just pauses in the middle. That's not the reason they did it, but he's just saying, with all this. And so I just want to pause, because I think this is a beautiful picture that he gives.

So he says, that you, and he just kind of pauses and says, being rooted and grounded in love. And he gives two pictures here. I want to take a second for us to picture this. And I got really kind of increasingly encouraged as I thought about this. So the first picture is rooted.

That we're rooted in love. So that we would be planted in, and begin to dig roots in, and grow in love. Now, as he's used love in this letter so far, that's the love of God for us. That's our love for God. And that's our love for each other. And other people's love for us.

The church's love for us. And so he means love. Like all the love between the church, between each other. The love between him and you. And so that we would dig roots in love. Now, the reason this encouraged me was, I have before seen a small, we'll say sapling.

A thin tree. And wanted it to not be there. And so I've just grabbed it with my hands, and tried to just pull it out of the ground. Because this weak little tree can't hang with me. And guess what? Yeah, it could.

Because it had a whole lot of roots. I couldn't see. It had been there for, I don't know how long, and it had big roots, that grew into smaller roots, that went and touched everything, and were just, it held on with a strength, that was beyond mine. That I grabbed it, and went to pull it, and I could twist it, and I could get it down, and I could, but I couldn't get it out of the ground. I couldn't just snatch it up. And what's beautiful, is he's saying, that's us, that's the church.

And we've dug roots in, the love of Christ, our love for Christ, our love for each other, their love for us, and it makes it hard for us to move. That we can't be taken down. The other thing, I got encouraged thinking about roots in a tree, was that I had a tree in my backyard, that was crooked, and so I took an axe, and I cut it down. And then, I looked out in my yard one day, and it had sprouted, like 15 little sticks out the top of it, with leaves growing on it. That tree said, you can cut down this one, I'll grow 15 trees. It's like, I'm re-treeing right now.

So here's what he's saying. Life, your circumstances, difficulty, can come through, and mow you down. Where are your roots? And the love that Christ has for you, and the love that you have for Christ, and the love that you have for his church, and the love that church has for you, and guess what? You're coming back. You're not going anywhere.

Life can try to manhandle you, but you have an inner strength, that's beyond what they can see in you, because Christ dwells in your heart, and the Holy Spirit has given you power, and through faith he dwells in you, and you're not going anywhere. The second one he says is grounded, which means have a foundation in, that we would be rooted in love, and then he just gives another picture, that we'd be grounded on it. That's what we'd be built off of. That's where we would anchor in. I remember getting to go, on a mission service trip, to Louisiana, and we were working with a church, that had just been completely devastated, by one of the hurricanes, that came through right around Katrina.

It wasn't Katrina, but one had come through, and just hit this different part of Louisiana, and just wiped it out. And I remember standing with them, on a very flat piece of concrete, and they were telling me, what used to be there. Because there used to be a building, on top of this foundation, and the hurricane said, not anymore. And you know what they were telling me then? Here's what we're about to build here. And they were laying it out, and saying here's what's going to come in here, and they were actually kind of excited, because they were like, we've actually been able to raise some support, so people gave us some money, we're actually going to get to do something, a little different than what this was.

That's what he's saying. Life can just completely, just knock you over, but it can't take away, the love that you're built on. And guess what? We're going to rebuild. That's not his main point here, but it was important enough, for him to just insert it, in the middle of a sentence, and so I wanted us to take a second, just to think about it. It keeps going.

So we're going to take that away, because we're not, so he says, that you may have strength to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth. So can we highlight that? That's not a real complete thought, because he just says, what's the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and you're going, and then he just says comma, and it confused me for a while, but it's the love of Christ, the next thing he's going to mention. So we're going to highlight that. So he says, I pray, his request is that God would give you strength, in your inner being, so that the result would be, that Christ would dwell in your hearts, and then he says his reason, that you may comprehend, the length, and breadth, and height, and depth, of the love of Christ.

That by Christ dwelling in us, we might begin to see, how massive, how beautiful, how uncomparable, is the love of Christ. Now, this is his point. This is what he was getting at. This is where he drove, his momentum into the ground. The love of Christ. I'm going to read a poem, because I think it helps us begin to see this, imagine a little bit, the length, and breadth, and height, and depth.

It says, 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. So he says, if, you filled up the ocean with ink, you turned the sky into paper, you made everything that was pointy, into a writing utensil, and you made every person on earth, fully just devote all of their time to writing, we couldn't write out the love of God. Before we drained the ocean, we wouldn't fill the sky, we would be done. We would not be able to finish the work.

We would run out of sky. We'd run out of ocean. We wouldn't run out of the love of Christ. That you, being rooted, and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth. I love that it says breadth, so that's width, length, and then he says height, and depth. Most things don't have height, and depth, unless they are both above ground, and below ground.

Like they don't usually have height, and depth. Like if you're, if you're looking at a building, and you go, how deep is it? Your friend's going to say, you mean tall? And if you were with them later, and you looked at a swimming pool, and you said, how, what's the height? How tall is it? Your friend's going to say, you mean deep?

And then they're going to think to themselves, I don't need to be your friend anymore. Like you, I either got to help you out, or I got to be done with this. But what he's saying is that God's love has both. That it's in the sky, and it's in the ground, that it's wide, and long, that it's all around. And he's saying, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God, would let Christ dwell in your heart, so that you might comprehend. That this love might start getting into your head.

And you might begin to wrap your mind around it. And, to know, oh, can we take some of that green away? We're going to take some of that green away, so that's just, he may have strength to comprehend, because otherwise, this is going to get way too colorful, and look kind of crazy. So he says, I pray that you may have strength to comprehend. That's the, that's the, the reason he wants us to have Christ in us. And then he says, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.

That's the, the reason why he wants us to have the strength to comprehend. So he's saying, I want you to begin to wrap your mind around this. And then he says, so that, not just so that we would all go, hmm, yes, I see now. He's saying, no, so that you would know it. So that it would go from your head to your heart, so that it would, that it would become part, you would become intimate with it.

That Christ would dwell in your heart, so that you would comprehend it, and you would know it. That it would become real to you. That you would know the love of Christ, that surpasses knowledge. And I love, that our goal, is to comprehend something, that is incomprehensible. He says, I want you to know, something that surpasses knowledge. I want you to know the unknowable.

That's why he's praying about this, and asking the Holy Spirit to do it. And then he says, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. So that, that you again, is just kind of giving you the transition, it may be filled with all the fullness of God. So he wants us to know the love of Christ, so that all the fullness of God, can be in us. So that we'd be filled with the fullness of God.

Now, sorry, let's show a recap, kind of give us what he just prayed here. His request, that God would, through his riches of his mercy, would grant you to be strengthened. The result would be, that Christ would dwell in our hearts. The reason was, so that we may comprehend, the length and height, and breadth and width, so that we would know the love of Christ, for the reason that we'd be filled with the fullness of God. That's his prayer. So he says, all of this deep, rich theology, he's building all this momentum, and then he says, I want, I get on my face before God, and I pray that you'd begin to see how big his love is, and I pray that you'd begin to know it.

Now, I'm willing to bet, that if we had to guess, if we just at the beginning of this, passed out a little sheet, and said, Paul's big prayer here. Halfway through the letter, his big transition thing, what's he going to pray for us, before he starts telling us how to live, and how to walk, and how to act, and how to treat each other, and how to be married, and how to work, and how to raise kids, and like, he's going to do all of that in the back half of this letter, but before he does that, what's the big thing he wants us to know? What's his big prayer? When he gets to beg God for something, what's he going to beg?

And I don't think all of us would go, oh, to know the love of Christ. Maybe you would, and we're proud of you. I wouldn't. If I just had to guess, I'd have been like, ah, that we would stay far away from sin, that we would do what we're supposed to, that we would look the way, like, that we would be effective for mission, that we'd see people come to know Jesus, and what he says is, no, I pray, I pray, I beg, that you'd begin to see how big his love is, and that you would know it. Now, I'm also willing to bet that most of us go, oh yeah, Jesus loves me. Good.

How much longer is this sermon going to be? Because I got that. I got that Jesus loves me. I want to read a few quotes, because I disagree with you. I think you don't got that. I'm going to read a few quotes, and then I'm going to try to illustrate this, and then we're going to spend the rest of our time trying to get it a little bit.

So he says, I pray that you would know the love, so that you'd have the fullness of Christ, that we'd be full, that we'd be complete, that we'd be whole. 1 John 4.8 says, Perfect love drives out fear. Are we fearful? We anxious? We're plagued by doubt, unsteadiness? Maybe we hadn't comprehended the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ.

A Protestant Puritan pastor says this about the love of Christ. He says, How often has God loved his haters? How often has he loved his mortal enemies with an everlasting love? There is such love and such grace in the heart of God that if you understood the length and breadth and height and depth of it, you would never be discouraged. Are we discouraged? Hard to wake up sometimes?

Hard to do what we're supposed to? Hard to follow? Hard to pray? Maybe we don't know the love of Christ. Augustine, the early church father, says the essence of sin is disordered love. Meaning that we love something too much.

Over and above God that we've gotten our loves out of order. Are we fighting sin? Are we losing? Maybe we don't fully know the love of Christ. Maybe we don't fully grasp it. If we're discouraged and fearful and weak and filled with doubts, maybe we hadn't fully gazed into the length and height and breadth and depth.

Maybe we don't understand it yet. I looked this up because I was trying to think like what's big and what also is something that we might feel like we kind of know. So I looked it up. I went with the ocean. So y'all know the ocean, right?

Familiar with it? Heard about it? Okay. Maybe you've seen it. How much of the ocean and this isn't just the United States, it's not like the World Series where we, you know, we do, we play and then we say we're the champions of the world which is fine. I'm cool with that.

I live in America. It's not like that. This is all of humanity together. How much of the ocean do y'all think is unexplored? Because you've heard that there are parts of the ocean we still haven't explored, right? You've heard that.

You know that stat. Like Bill Nye the science guy probably said it. How much do you think we haven't explored? Okay. Who would say 10%? 10% of the ocean we just don't know anything about.

Who'd say that? Do you mind raising your hand? Can we do that? Can this, can y'all participate? Nobody says 10%? That's too high?

No, you're going to keep our hands up. We're going to keep moving. So it's 10%, at least 10. How about that? Who would say at least 10% we don't know anything about? All right.

Who would say at least 20%? Like we just haven't explored at least 20%. Who would say 30%? Who would say 50%? We just don't, half the ocean we just don't know anything about. 60%?

Some of you are saying, no, we got, we got, okay. Who would say 75%? 75% of the ocean we hadn't seen, we don't know anything about. 85? It's 95. So some of y'all are on track with that.

It's 95% of the ocean hasn't been explored. So people can tell you mermaids don't exist. They don't know. 95% of the ocean. The ocean floor, 99% of the ocean floor. Unexplored.

We haven't even seen it. We don't even know what it looks like. It may not even be there, you guys. At this point, it's a theory. We know about 5% of the ocean, about 1% of the ocean floor. Now, I would have thought more.

I did think more. I looked this up and then I looked it up a couple of times because I was like, that's probably, come on. And now that's what it is. And this is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is their job, y'all. 5%.

Like we mapped out the moon, what y'all been doing? The ocean is very deep. I don't know if, did I tell you something y'all didn't know? You could stick Mount Everest in it and it would be a mile and a half from the surface at the deepest part. So if you just sunk Mount Everest, mile and a half.

It's 36,000 feet. So if you, if, if, if God took you out over it, the deepest part and then he just removed the water and let you go, you would fall for 136 seconds. And we assume you would hit a floor. We don't really know. 136 seconds, you would just free fall. And we're all going to stand here silently for 136 seconds and picture falling.

No, we're not actually going to do that, but. So here's what, here's what happens. When we say, I know the love of God, like I know it, I got it, I got it. When somebody starts saying, we're going to talk about the love of God, when Paul says, this is my big prayer and we go, let's get to the good stuff in Ephesians. I think it's kind of like being like, yeah, I know everything there is to know about the ocean. I've been to Myrtle Beach.

I think it's kind of like that. Like, you know, some stuff, like, I mean, when you stand on the edge of the sand and you look and you're like, whoa, it's really big. Look, it's as far as you go. Just whoa. And what Paul's saying is, yeah, you've gotten a taste of it. You're rooted and grounded in it.

Yeah, you're not going anywhere because of the love of Christ, but I'm praying that he'll pick you up by the scruff of your neck and just start flying you around. I'm praying that he'll walk to the edges of it. I'm praying that he'll take you and just dip you to the depths of it. I'm praying that he'll get to see the length, the height, the breadth, the depth. I'm praying that through his Holy Spirit, he'll begin to let you see how massive it is. And so let's just assume because of our doubt and our fear and our sin and our discouragement and let's just assume we've got a Myrtle Beach understanding of God's love.

Now, here's what we're going to do with the rest of our time today. We're going to look at a couple of pictures that the Bible gives us of his love. And then we're going to spend time singing about his love. But if we're going to know his love, we've got to do what Paul did. We've got to start getting on our face and asking the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to handle it. We've got to have Christ dwelling in our hearts so that we might begin to comprehend.

So we're going to take a shot at it today to know something that is unknowable to hopefully just pique our interest. to as much as you're going to go home and Google our mermaid's real to hopefully have us go do that as well with God's love that we might begin to realize I don't fully know this. So I want to give three quick pictures that the Bible gives and all we're going to do is just talk through some of the pictures the Bible gives. We're going to try to imagine this type of love and then we're just going to say okay, if we know that type of love God has that type of love for us but bigger. That's all we're going to do.

If you know that type of love it's that but bigger. The first one is friend. The God in the Bible calls humans friends. This is crazy because Abraham is friend. John 15, 15 Jesus tells the disciples he says I don't call you servants anymore I call you friends. Psalm 25 says that God treats us like friends that he loves us like friends.

There's a Jesus actually tells his disciples no greater love has a man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. So I just want us to for a second because we can't fully see the height and length and depth of the love of Christ I want us just for a second to picture the love of a friend and what that's like and to think about the fact that God would love you like that. So a good friend enjoys you and you enjoy them. You want to be around each other. You want to talk to each other. You want to know each other.

You want to serve each other. Good friends are the people that you want when everything is terrible it's fine for them to be there. When everything's just falling apart you just walk over the door you open it for them they come in they sit next to you. Good friends are the people that you want there when everything is great. You want to celebrate with that you want to walk through life with. As I was thinking about this when I was in college there was a couple of us were friends and we lived near each other in a dorm room there was a guy that used to come by and just bust up in our rooms because we always had our doors open and he would he would overstay his welcome.

Granted his welcome was relatively short so it wasn't hard for him to overstay it. I'd like to think I've grown some since then but we just didn't like this cap. Hopefully it would be more gracious now but I'm just telling you about I'm just a story you guys about a thing in the past. Actually I probably I would just I would know I had to be more gracious now. Is that fair? Like I might not actually feel more gracious but I would be like no Jesus help me.

At this point we were just like we ain't trying to so what we started to do was lock our doors and you would just hear boom and he would just smack his head into the thing and you just kind of knew okay and so then he learned to start knocking but we also we would knock on each other's doors or whatever but it just got to where like you know knocking doesn't always work because it could still be him when you open the door so we just came up with a secret knock. Matt Freeman still knocks on my door this way when he shows up at my house. Like you'll hear a knock at your house and I don't know if y'all are like me you're like why is this in my house? Like why is there a person here?

Because we don't visit each other anymore. Every time I'm knocking on one of my neighbor's doors they come to the door like what? Like they're ready to fight me or whatever. if they come at all sometimes you just hear noise and you're like they're not coming. He'll knock on the door and I'll hear the knock and I'll be like hey Matt's here. Like I just why are you busting up at my house? But it's fine.

I know who it is. And I just got to think about the fact that if God loves us that's my love for a friend. You guys it's not great. But if God loves us even just like that that he wants to see you wants to spend time with you wants to be around you enjoys you looks forward to it goes out of his way to be around you when he doesn't have to. That's the thing about friends. You don't have to be around them.

That's a love we know and his love is unknowable. Myrtle Beach Ocean of God's love so that everything that is true about true friendship and true love within friendship is true about God's love for you. So every good and true thing you can think about about love for a friend is true about God's love for you in Christ. The second picture that is given to us throughout the Bible and given to us often is the image of a father. The Ephesians begins by saying he adopted us to himself and I love that he says to himself that he actually wanted us to belong to him. Have you ever seen any of those videos online of people being adopted like they finally sign the papers or they give it as a gift and they open it up and the person's like 18 or 17 and they see that they've finally been adopted and they just start weeping?

That's what Christ has done that God the Father has adopted us through Christ. Proverbs 3.12 says that he corrects us like a father. Hebrews is going to say the same thing that he disciplines us because he cares about us. Psalm 103 says that he pities those who fear him like a father does his son. It's cool with as many children being born in our church family when we're hanging out sometimes and you'll hear a cry and everybody listens for a second and then people go not mine because you've learned. you've learned what your kid sounds like and you'll go okay hold on a second guys like this one's me.

You know this one's me. Tomorrow morning at 9.30 my wife will go in for a C-section we'll have our second our second son we're very excited about. Yeah. Woo! Y'all have had to stay up with a kid before you know what's up. You're like woo!

Woo! No but I'm excited tomorrow I'll get to I'll get to meet him. My wife's kind of gotten to know him a little bit more than I have you know because he's been like hanging out with her this whole time and so I'll get to meet him tomorrow and what's cool is I'll get to hold him and he doesn't know it yet but he has no choice I'm on his team. For better or worse I'm on his team and here's what that means and it's what the Bible just said about God as a father is that he disciplines us because he cares about us. You know whose kids I don't discipline? The ones that aren't mine.

Does that make sense? You know the kids I don't discipline? The ones that aren't mine. Like I've never just spanked a child in Walmart that didn't belong to me. I have spanked a child in Walmart but just the one that belonged to me. Like I am bent on making him grow into what he's supposed to grow into and he has no choice I belong to him but guess what?

I'm for him for his discipline for his training for his good and I'm for him against everything else. I remember in high school this is just a picture of what a father can be like. You maybe don't have to be like this as a father. Maybe you can. I'm not trying to say whether or not this is good. I'm just trying to tell you a story.

I get corrected sometimes after the stories I tell so I'm giving a caveat. So I remember in high school my brother had a couple of guys that said they were going to maybe they were going to fight him. This had gotten out that he was going to have a couple of guys fight him. It's possible it was something I had done. That doesn't really affect the story. So they were going to fight him and so he went home he had a block a class and he went home and got a t-ball bat because he just thought me versus three guys t-ball bat will help.

So my dad saw him come home walk in and get a t-ball bat and my dad said hold on hold on what are you doing? And he said well there's a couple guys that might jump me and I thought if there's three of them maybe a t-ball bat would help. My dad went you want me to hide in the back of your truck? That way when they show up I can jump out. My older brother Logan sat there and thought for a second and was like um and I really think he was thinking if I do this by myself there's a chance that we don't all go to the penitentiary but if you're there there's a chance that we all do. So he just said I think I got this one and I was like just let me know if you need help.

And tomorrow I have a son who gets me on his team. And for better or for worse from now on and that's what that's messed up sinful human fatherly love. Some of y'all had terrible fathers and I'm sorry because they were meant to be a small picture and a stand in of what the good glorious father you have is like. But that God says he loves us like a father which means that we belong to him he is for us and he's not going anywhere. That he's for our discipline he's for our health he's for our training and he's against all that would come against us. This is what we read earlier which is if he's for us what can stand against us?

C.S. Lewis has a quote where he says that when it comes to the love of God we don't have a senile benevolence that drowsily wishes you to be happy in your own way. And we don't it's not the cold philanthropy of a conscientious magistrate. Nor is it the care of a host that feels responsible for the comfort of his guests. But we have the consuming fire himself the love that made the worlds.

But we have the consuming fire himself the love that made the worlds. And when we picture the best father the most loving the most gracious the kindest and gracious and stern and disciplined with love like when we picture the best father that would go to the ends of the world for his children what we've pictured is a Myrtle Beach version of the love that God has

For us. The third one he gives is husband so he friend father and whatever's true about true fatherly love is also true about God but further and greater and bigger and he says husband it's another picture that the Bible gives it Isaiah 62 5 says as the bridegroom

Rejoices over the bride so shall your God rejoice over you Ephesians 5 which we're going to get to in a little bit says that husbands are to love their wives like Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her so that the story of the Bible is that God has this love and that Christ comes and rescues his bride that he makes

Her spotless and clean and holy that he draws her to himself this is why we love love stories because it all flows downhill from a good and loving God this is why people love a good father and get to see it and it's joy filled and this is why people love a good romance story this is why we love these stories because it comes from him

I was thinking about this morning Sleeping Beauty Sleeping good gosh I was thinking about this this morning Sleeping Beauty the Disney version not the version I said the Disney version is this story of this wickedness that has come over this girl that she's completely helpless and people get mad about this story now that she's helpless and he has to come

Rescue her but this is our story we're Sleeping Beauty we're helpless that's what Ephesians chapter 2 said that we were dead in our trespasses and sins that we had nothing we could offer that we were helpless and then what happens in the story is this guy Prince Charming his name's Prince Philip rides in he has the sword of truth and the wickedness that was pretty turns into a dragon and he kills her

That's the story of the Bible and then he claims his bride that Jesus Christ rides in with the sword of truth and destroys the dragon and sin and wakes us up from our sleep that would have been dead and claims us the song the song of Solomon stands in the middle of the Bible and throughout years centuries

It has been people have understood it as just a picture of the love that Christ has for the church which I'm going to tell you if you've ever read the Song of Solomon it makes me uncomfortable people now are just saying no it's a really good picture of a husband's love for his wife and it is but most of these theologians will say but secondarily first it is a picture of the love that Christ has for the church and you guys it's like gushy and poetic

And like and I'm bad I'm bad at that kind of stuff like when I want to say something nice to my wife I just go girl I got it that's it I don't have I don't have good words so I have read the Song of Solomon and they use like weird pick up lines so everyone's all text her and be like your teeth are like two sheep that have just come down from the shearing she's like what does that mean I was like

I don't know but it worked for Solomon so the love that Christ has for the church the marriage that he has when he claims his bride and destroys Satan and sin is not a marriage of convenience but it is one enraptured with love that he desires his bride that he longs for his bride that he rejoices in his bride that he celebrates his bride and the most beautiful

Captivating love story we've ever told is Myrtle Beach compared to the love that Christ has for the church the overwhelming overcoming love that he has for his bride so that everything that is true about the love of a husband for a wife in the truest most beautiful sense is true in Christ but exponentially more those are just three small pictures that if you can take the best friend

You've ever had and you can apply the truths of the love that they've shared with you Christ is like that but better if you can take the best father you've ever known God is like that but better his love is greater it's deeper if you can take the greatest husband the greatest love story that you've ever seen that God in Christ is like that but bigger and greater and more and we need

The Holy Spirit in us giving us faith in Christ so that he can dwell in our hearts so that we might begin to comprehend this so that we can know it and here's the thing all of the truth of the gospel has built up to this moment that you might know the love of Christ he wants you engulfed in his love then as Paul says now we get to walk in that but we walk in that as people who are loved people who are cherished people who are cared for

That he delights in us that he desires us that he prefers us that's the love of Christ and I recoil from it because I know I don't deserve it and that's what he said in chapter 2 you don't but he loves you anyway because he's loving and gracious and good not because we were the most beautiful or the most lovely but because he is the most loving and that he rescued and claimed us those are three pictures I want to give us proof the proof is simple

As the Bible tells this story 1 John 3 16 says for we know by this we know love that he laid down his life for us Ephesians 2 4 says but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ that the love that God has for us is known in the cross that that's where we see it that's where we that's where he proves it that when we look and say well how do I know

That he loves us how do I know this is for me we look to the cross I have one more C.S. Lewis quote he says God who needs nothing loves into existence holy unnecessary creatures in order that he may love and perfect them he creates the universe already for seeing he said or should we say seeing because there are no tenses in God so he's not seeing in the future he just sees it because everything exists before God already seeing

The buzzing cloud of flies about the cross the flayed back pressed against the uneven stake the nails driven through the messial nerves the repeated incipient suffocation as the body droops the repeated torture of back and arms as it is time after time for breath's sake hitched up if I may dare the biological image God is a host who deliberately creates his own parasites causes us to be that we may exploit and take advantage

Of him here in his love this is the diagram of love itself the inventor of all loves that when God created humanity he did it so that he might love us and he did it knowing full well the cost to himself to claim his bride that the proof of God's love is in the cross that we might know how loved we are how fully loved we are last two verses as Paul

Ends this section of the text and begins to move into the next part of Ephesians he says now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen so he says now who now to him

Who is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think to him be all the glory forever and ever and so what we're going to do the way we're going to finish today is we're just going to sing about the love of Christ that we might begin to comprehend it we're going to sing and proclaim and give glory to God that he loves

Us in a way that we don't understand and hopefully in the singing we'll begin to absorb some of this truth so we're going to stand we're going to give glory to God and we're going to sing about this love that's incomprehensible and we're going to ask as we sing and I would encourage you if you are a Christian and if you're not to begin to ask

That the Holy Spirit would empower you to see this that he would give you faith in your heart as Christ would dwell in your heart that you might know this type of love that throws out fear that throws out discouragement that wraps us up that makes us his and that loves us beyond anything we can imagine that our world is so caught up in beautiful love stories and the reason is because we have a beautiful loving God who created the world

That he might share his love with us so y'all stand we're going to sing

Jesus is Better Than Everything Else for Everyone

Jesus is Better Than Everything Else for Everyone

Chet Phillips

Transcript

How we doing this morning? All right. Flu season got all y'all, huh? My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our third week of our Jesus is Better Than Everything Else series.

And really, we're kind of shifting how we talk about what we do as a church and how we think about who we are as a church. And so we just kind of are taking this three weeks as we started this year to begin to highlight what we mean when we say Jesus is better than everything else. And so we're in our third week, and we're going to be in Isaiah 55 today as we kind of finish this up. I was watching. I have a three-year-old son, and we watch TV together, and he does not mind watching the same thing over and over again. But I do, and so I have to find different things for us to start watching.

And so we started watching Planet Earth 2. It's the same Planet Earth. They just did another one video of it. And so we're watching the first episode of Planet Earth 2, and they're showing us iguanas on a little island. And all these iguanas are over here. And then it kind of goes to this, like, rock bed area where there's this gravel and then these stones all around it.

And it shows this little baby iguana crawling out of the ground, his first little peeking out into the world. And you can just kind of see in his face, like, oh, what a wonderful day. Like, you know, I'm alive. I made it out of this egg. I get to go start the adventure that is life. Could this day get any better?

And the British guy is like, today is about to get terrible. Like, he pops out, and there are just snakes everywhere. Now, I don't know if you watch nature shows. I think it's probably a good, like, psychological indicator when you're watching a nature show as to whether or not you root for the predator or the prey. Like, are you wanting the deer to get away? Or are you like, get them, wolf, let's go.

Like, I don't know what you're... But I'm not rooting for snakes. So this iguana pops out. I'm not cheering for a snake. And these snakes, like, as soon as they see movement, all these little heads go... And then there's like 30 of them.

I mean, just chasing after this iguana. And I've never been this into a documentary about lizards. Like, I've never cheered for a lizard before in my life. I mean, we've caught them before, used them to terrify my grandmother, but I never was, like, on the lizard's team. Like, he was on my team. But like this, I'm like, I'm rooting for this lizard.

And he's running, and these snakes are just chasing after him. And the snakes can't see real well, so there were times when the lizard would just freeze. The snake, like, crawled up all across his tail. And you're going, oh, keep it together, keep it together. And then he just, he bolts, and the snake's snapping. He runs.

He, at one point, gets hit by the snakes. He gets wrapped up by the snakes. There's all these other little baby lizards that are getting eaten. And it's like, I made my wife watch this. And she was like, what is wrong with you? Then I have to watch this.

He gets hit, and she's like, really? And then he squirms out. And the snakes are, like, wrapped. There's, like, four snakes wrapped around each other. And he, like, you know, the thing they do in cartoons where the person getting beat up at the bottom of the pile sneaks out, and they keep fighting. This happened with these snakes.

They're, like, biting each other. And this little lizard escapes. He runs. These snakes chase him. He finally jumps. He jumps across this pit.

The snake bites a rock, and he gets away. And I was like, yes! And I look over, and my three-year-old son's standing like this. He did it! And it was this, like, he lands on this rock, and you kind of just, you know, the music changes. It calms down.

You realize they're not going to have a secret snake pop out and get him. And you're like, okay. And then I thought, now all you have to do, little buddy, is that exact same thing every day for the rest of your life. You have to beat the snakes. You have to escape all the things that are going to try to destroy you. And then I just got to thinking about it, and honestly, I feel like we can all relate to that lizard, that we were born into a world where it feels like things are out to get us, that the world just doesn't work the way it's supposed to, that it's way more difficult than it ought to be in so many respects.

Like, you think about that perfect pairing and how it really does describe the existence that we have, that this miracle of a lizard can lay an egg in gravel, and then it can just form from, I don't know, scientific, biological magic, and this lizard can jump out and take off running. Like, that thing was quick. Looking at my kid who's three, and I'm like, man, it took you forever to get it together. Of course, it would be real bad if humans were like that, because we'd have to, like, the whole operating room would be different, because if he could hit the ground and take off running like that, he was already all greased up, hospitals would be a trip.

But life, life's like that. There's this very moment when this magical, beautiful, like, mind-blowing thing is happening, snakes surround you and try to kill you. Like, that's what it feels like our world is so much, is that everything is beautiful and good, and then at the same time so broken, so fractured, so despairing, so dark, and that some of you feel this very, very active and present in your life right now. That you're like, yes, I am fighting daily to not get caught, to not get taken down, to not lose to sickness or depression, or to not lose my job, or to not have this relationship fall apart.

Like, I am laboring. Some of you are cynical, and things are good right now. But you're like, yeah, but there's probably a sneaky snake right behind me. Like, everything's good now, but at any moment the music will change, and I'll be... We just live in a world where things are beautiful and painful and difficult all at once. And that, honestly, is the story of the Bible.

That we were created by a good and holy God who made the world beautiful and lovely, and we were designed to relate to Him. That everything was supposed to be at peace. Was supposed to be right with the world. You ever just said, like, this feels like hard... This feels like it's harder than it should be. About anything?

Like, it just feels like this shouldn't be this difficult. This relationship shouldn't be this difficult. Raising children shouldn't be this difficult. Finding a job just shouldn't be this difficult. And the truth is, it was meant to be harmonious. But that humanity sinned and rebelled against God, and that our own wickedness, our own flesh, our own sinfulness, broke and fractured God's good design, and that's called the fall, theologically.

That there was creation, and then there was a fall. A fall from grace. A fall from a good relationship with God. And that all of us are more like that lizard than we would want to admit. That we're all actively having to fight against everything that swarms around us to destroy us. And we have, as humans, actively chosen to sin and tear things up ourselves.

And so we're in this spot where the question in the Bible, and the question throughout the Old Testament, and the question that the Bible is answering is, what does God do with us in our sin? What is the response now that we're in this world that is broken? How do we get out of it? How do we move back to what we were supposed to be in the first place? In a good relationship with each other, in a good relationship with God. And so in Isaiah 55, what we're going to see is this invitation made by God, through the prophet Isaiah, and it's almost as if he's standing at this point in history where there's this brokenness of his good design, and he's saying, here's how to fix it.

Here's the invitation. Here's the hope. Here's the call to all those who will listen. And so let's pray, and then we'll read all of Isaiah 55 together this morning. God, I pray that we would listen. That we would listen well to the invitation that you make to the prophet Isaiah.

That we would respond. And that whether we currently feel like life is good and things are going well, or we currently feel completely out of sorts, and as if this could all fall apart at any moment. I pray that for the time that we have this morning, that we would listen well to your word, and respond actively to your invitation. In Jesus' name, amen. Isaiah 55, verse 1. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.

And he who has no money, come, buy and eat. So he says, come, everyone who thirsts. So what he's saying is, anyone who feels a longing. Anyone who feels a sense of emptiness. Anyone who feels this ache. I love that God in this passage, the prophet Isaiah is speaking on behalf of God.

So this is God's word. This is God speaking. I love that God is saying, for everyone who thirsts, I love that he chooses thirst. Because you can go for a while without sunlight before you'll go crazy. You will go crazy, but you can go a while before that happens. You can go a while without food before your body will shut down.

The thing you need most is water. And we live in a society where most of us don't know thirst. I've got to think about it. I'm thirsty all the time. And so I just get to drink liquids all the time. I have perfect access to...

I very rarely have to deal with the thirst for a very long time. He's writing this to a people that grew up in it, that lived in an arid climate in the Middle East. When there was drought, they didn't have a way to get water. And he's telling that for those of you who are aching, who are empty, come to the waters. So the invitation is, for those who are empty, for those who are aching, for those who are in need, for those who feel this sense.

And then he immediately says, I have the answer. I can fill you up. You can come to the waters. You can have it restore you. When I was playing football in high school, there was one day where I was evidently getting dehydrated because I could feel my mouth just get, I mean, incredibly dry. And so I ran over to my coach, and I was just going to ask.

It wasn't a time for us to go get water, but I was going to ask, can I go get water? Because I felt like I'm having some problems here. And so I ran over and I said, coach. And when I said coach, my next sentence, I had to stick my tongue to the roof of my mouth, and it just stuck to the roof of my mouth and did not move. And so I said, coach. He looked at me.

And then I went to talk, and I stuck my lips together to try to fix this, and my lips just stuck together. So then I just went. He said, look at me like, you okay? And I was like, he said, you need water? I said, okay. So I went.

I had to like squirt water on my mouth just to get it to loosen up enough so I could open and drink water. And he's saying, some of you in life, you feel like that right now. I may shut down at any moment. Like when he says, come, those of you who thirst, if you're feeling that, if you're feeling this, I don't know if I'm going to make it. He says, come, you who thirst. I have water.

Come to the waters. And then he says, and he who has no money, come, buy, and eat. So that for all of us who would respond, that's a great invitation, but I don't have anything to offer you. He says, yeah, I know. I know you don't have anything to offer. I know you can't do this on your own.

I know you're not rich. I know you're not able to buy this on your own. Come, buy, and eat. Come be filled. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price. All right.

So this just got exciting. The invitation that God makes into human history for us who are lacking, who are thirsting, who are broken, who are in the midst of sin, who are needy, is come be revived. Come get water. Then he says, and wine and milk. So we need life.

We need restoration. We need the refreshing that comes from water. But we don't just drink water forever. That's not like his table gets more beautiful. It goes from just finding life, just being refreshed, to now you get a glass of wine. Now, when it's not being mishandled, wine is beautiful.

It's used in celebration. The Bible says that it's used as a picture of wealth and of fullness, and God gave it to us for joy. So what he's saying is that this isn't just find restoration, but it's find peace, find rest, celebrate, find joy. And he says, and milk, which the promise of the promised land was. He was taken to a place filled with milk and honey, and what that means is that there's fullness. There's protein in milk.

There's energy in it. There's life in it. And so this invitation to this table that is well set. And then he says, come by without money, without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good.

Delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear that your soul may live. So this invitation to everything rich and delightful and good is an invitation to God. He says, come to me. So he gives us all these pictures of being thirsty and getting water, of being hungry, and without any money, and without anything that could give this to you.

And he's going to feed you, and he's going to make you full. And what he's saying is, I'm the one who does this. The invitation that God gives in human history is to come to him. That with him is delight and fullness and richness. And so let's look back up where he says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? There's two types of people in this room right now.

All of us ultimately are in the same boat, but at this very moment, you may be the type of person who is saying, I'm thirsting. And I have no money, and I have no energy, and I have no life in me. And he's saying, come. I have water. I have food. Without price.

Come. I'll fill you up. And then, maybe at this very moment, you're one of the people who says, that he looks at and says, why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? That at this moment in life, you're saying, no, I got this. I got a little money in my pocket. I got some energy in me.

I'm going to make it work. I'm going to satisfy myself. I'm going to fill myself up. The truth is, at all times, we're both. We may feel one or the other. That even if you say, I have money, and I have labor, and I can do this, you're actually one of the people who's thirsting, and that won't satisfy.

And if you're one of the people who's saying, I'm thirsting right now, there's this tendency in us to chase after things that won't satisfy. It actually won't fill us up. That we're running to a bunch of smaller tables that are meagerly spread, and that ultimately can't fill us up when he's saying, I've set a table for you in my presence that'll satisfy. That'll make you full. That'll make you whole. That'll fix the ache in your soul.

So I don't know what it is that we're laboring for. I don't know what it is that you're laboring for, that you think will satisfy, that'll fix you. I don't know what it is that you're looking at right now and saying, you know, if I could just get this, then I'd be fine. If I could just have this, if this would just work out, then we'll be okay. Then everything will be good.

If I could, if I know that if I could just get in this relationship, I know if I could just get out of school, I know that if I could just get this much money, if I could just have a salary that paid this, then everything would be good. We wouldn't have problems anymore. We wouldn't argue anymore. And honestly, if you're a Christian, that should sound so silly to us. We do this all the time, but what we're telling ourselves is, if I could just have, if I could just get paid this much money, I'd stop being a sinner. And so would my husband.

No, I'd stop longing. One of the, I love this quote by Jim Carrey. He says, I think everyone should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer. I honestly think celebrities should prove to us, verse two, I think we should believe God when he says it, but I think celebrities should prove it to us because all of us somewhere, because we're Americans, have in the back of our mind, if we were just rich enough, I was just rich enough, I'd be fine. You can't be sad and rich. I don't suggest you spend a lot of time paying attention to celebrities.

I think you have better things to do with your time. But those people aren't the happiest people in the world. They're not all fulfilled, and everything's working out fine, and they're all happy and joyous and get along, like, that's not how it works. Now, we're all poor enough that we can keep telling ourselves that's what'll happen if we get rich enough. You can keep telling yourself that because you're not Jim Carrey. But Jim Carrey's had all the money he could ever dream of, done everything he's ever wanted to do, and said, it wasn't it, you guys.

I read an article one time about a person who was a waiter in the Hollywood area, and they said that all the people who were striving to become famous were fine. They could be friends with them, that worked well. But they said as soon as they got famous, they were horrible. They said because it made them miserable. As soon as they got everything they ever dreamed of, they were miserable because they realized it hadn't fixed them. And that's what he's saying, and that's what this is saying, is that you're spending your money for something that won't satisfy.

You're buying bread. You're buying things that aren't bread and labor for what doesn't satisfy. And he says, listen diligently to me. Eat what is good. Delight yourselves in rich food. Okay.

The Bible tells us that we were designed to exist in a perfect relationship with God, that we rebelled against God, that we sinned, that we ran from him, that we hate him. John says that, the gospel of John says that we hate the light, we love the darkness because our ways are evil. And we're told that God designed, that there was a snake in the garden that tricked our first parents into rebelling against God, and that ultimately that snake was Satan, and that God has designed a place of destruction and torment and pain for Satan, and that humans who do not repent of their sin and follow Jesus will follow the way of that snake ultimately to destruction and to eternal torment in hell. We're told that.

But that's not the invitation. The invitation is, I've set a rich table full of satisfaction, food, beauty, fullness come to me. He doesn't say, let me tell you exactly what's going to happen to you if you don't listen. Like, that's mentioned, it's talked about, but the primary invitation is, come back. I don't want that for you. I don't want pain and destruction for you.

He's not standing over us and go, you're going to face the air of your way. Like, he's saying, no, come, come to me. Listen. Hear every word. Listen diligently means hear every word. I'm saying, come to me.

Let your soul live. Delight yourself within rich food. Now, somehow it has crept in that to be Christian is to reject everything good and delicious. And to be, the invitation to God is somehow this invitation into just pain, just suffering. Now, what he says is, come delight yourselves in what is rich and delicious and good. Now, that's by way of a cross, so there is pain and suffering for Christians, but we hold out through the cross, through the pain, through the suffering, through the sacrifice, that the ultimate thing we're going to get is this, rich food.

When God spreads the table in heaven, there's no kale on the plate. It's rich food. Now, I know what you're saying. Now, you got to be rich to buy kale all the time. I got, I got, rich food. It's dense.

It's flavorful. Kale sits next to your steak to remind you of the fall so that you might worship while you eat your steak. My wife and I got a gift card to Ruth's Chris one time. So we went to Ruth's Chris one time. We were in there and I ordered a filet mignon and when they brought it out it was about this thick and it was in a plate with butter that was still like bubbling and I thought this is what food is supposed to look like. We ate that at one point they came by and they said um, is this a special occasion?

And I just thought is that obvious we don't belong here? Like, did I use the wrong fork? Like, what was I supposed to do, Ruth? Or Chris? Who's in charge here? So we just were like, yes, it's our anniversary.

They said, okay, would you mind if we brought by cake? And I was like, we will never mind that. They came back and they brought us a slice of cake. I'm not kidding you, it was this tall. I didn't even know you could make cake that tall. It's like, I thought after that I was like, everybody who's ever made cake needs to step their game up.

This is amazing. The table that God sets in His presence makes Ruth's Chris look like a Burger King. Burger King may be a little bit high on the totem pole compared to what God has for those who love Him and those who chase Him and those who belong to Him that we would delight ourselves in rich food. He steps into the middle of the chaos and says, come to me. You're longing, you're thirsty, you're weak, you have this spot in your soul that forever tells you that things in this world are wrong and broken and should not be like this and He's saying, yes, they shouldn't. Come to me where everything is good and everything is delightful and you will be full and satisfied.

That's the invitation. Verse 3, incline your ear, come to me, hear, that your soul may live. This is what Jesus says repeatedly in John 4 and John 7 where He's saying that this thirst is not a thirst that is quenched for a short time and you get it again. He's saying, no, this is soul level, heart fulfilling, thirst quenching. You will be forever full, forever satisfied. So He's saying this is just your soul.

This isn't just earthly richness, earthly wine, earthly milk. No, He's saying it's soul level, eternal level fulfillment. I will make with you an everlasting covenant. My steadfast, sure love for David. Now if you don't know the story of the Bible, that may not be as impactful and as exciting as it is meant to be when God utters it through the prophet Isaiah.

God came to King David and He made an everlasting covenant with David. He said, you are going to be a king forever and you can't mess this up. Like, I'm going to fulfill this promise to you. And He does fulfill that promise through Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the root of Jesse and Jesse is David's father. That He's the root of Jesse.

He's the root of David. That He's this promised Messiah, this promised king who's going to reign forever. And so what He just said was, I'm going to love you the way I love David, the way I love Jesus. That I'm going to make this covenant with you. If you come to me, you'll have the covenant I give to King David, the covenant I gave through Jesus, you will belong to me forever and you can't mess it up. So if you were a Jewish person and He says, the invitation to everyone is the invitation I made to David, you're like, what?

Everybody gets what David got? You come to, like He came to David, one specific human and said, I'll make this promise to you. And now Isaiah is saying, the promise is to everyone, they can have the same promise that was made to David. That you will forever be loved and welcomed. He says, behold, I made him a witness to the people. So He's talking about David, but He's also pointing forward to the Messiah, to Christ.

And so He says, I made him a witness to the people. What He means is not that He saw the people, that He witnessed the people, but that He put on display for the people this promise. So that God, in the midst of our rebellion, in the midst of our brokenness, calls out to us to come to Him and to be fulfilled. And then He sends Christ and Christ comes not to destroy us, but to be destroyed for us. So that He displays for us what God is like.

That Jesus is God's character witness. That He takes the stand and says, here's how much God loves you. Here's how good He is. And here's how honest He is to this offer. that He's made. That you might receive only good from Him. So that Jesus Christ goes to the cross so that we might see how much God loves us and that we might be redeemed from our sin because Jesus paid for it.

And so that when He says, I'm going to give you my sure covenant, what He means is that Jesus has already accomplished it. And when you place your faith in Him, you get all that Jesus deserved because He took all that you deserve. A leader and a commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation. Now He's talking to this leader, to this commander.

Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know and a nation that did not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. So what He's saying, when we find all this out later as Scripture helps us understand what the prophet meant, was that it's not just Jewish people who will be saved. Which, since I know most of you, is very good news for the people in this room. That everyone gets to be included. That this Messiah is going to call a nation that hadn't belonged previously to God and make it His. Seek the Lord while He may be found.

Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake His way and the unrighteous man His thoughts. Let Him return to the Lord that He may have compassion on Him and to our God for He will abundantly pardon. So what it just said was, the invitation was, come to me, I'll make everything delightful and good. And then He says, stop your evil and come right now while the invitation is open. Come before the party starts.

Show up before we close the door. Repent of your sin, your wickedness. He says your wicked ways, meaning all the actions that we do that are evil. And then He says the unrighteous man, and His thoughts. There are some of us in this room who think this isn't bad because it hasn't left my brain. And He says, no, it's bad.

I'm not actually cheating on my wife. I'm just thinking about it. I'm not actually an angry person. I don't act on any of these things. I just run through scenarios in my head where I choke my boss. He says, no.

Get rid of not only your actions, but your evil thoughts and come to me while the door is still open. I was talking to a student at the University of South Carolina that I know. And we were talking about this. And he had grown up in a Christian home. And I just knew he kind of wasn't walking with Jesus. And so I just kind of said, at what point did you just decide that you didn't really believe what your parents believed?

And he said, no, that's not it. Like I, I know what they believe is true. I just know that if I believe it right now, I'll have to change the stuff I'm doing. And I'm really young. And there's still time. So what I want to do is get to just kind of enjoy college.

And then, at some point, I know I'll follow Jesus. It was a very sad conversation. Because he was very mistaken in two different distinct ways. One, he thinks that all the stuff he's going to chase after in college is actually more enjoyable than Jesus. And it is not. He thinks it will satisfy him when it is not bread.

And it does not satisfy. And two, he's confident about something he cannot be confident about, which is that he has all the time he needs. See, this invitation is Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts. What that means is that there will be a time when he cannot be found.

And there will be a time when he is not near. And when people beg and plead and weep and grind their teeth and scream as loud as they possibly can. Please, please, please, please. And he says, No. No. The door is closed.

I am not near. I cannot be found. The party has already begun for all those who ran from their sin and ran to me. The invitation was made to you. And you said, No. That moment is not this moment, but that moment is coming.

And so at this moment, I urge you, seek him, turn from your sin, and run to the table that he set where true satisfaction and joy can be found. Let him return to the Lord. This is the back half of verse 7. That he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. Presidential pardons, I always find them very interesting. The president, right when he gets to the end of his time, he just starts releasing people from prison.

And he does it right at the end of his time because he doesn't want to have to hear about it. He knows people are already kind of moving on. They're going to talk about it a little bit, but they're paying attention to who the next president is. The reason presidents don't just show up and start releasing people from prison is because they'd have to deal with all the people who were like, What the heck are you doing? But they do it right at the end of time and they just let people go.

And as the president, once they let you go, you're done. You get to go. It has to be a certain set of crimes that the president has oversight over. But once they say you're free, you're free. Nobody gets to round you back up. Nobody's sending a U.S.

Marshal after that guy. You're free. And what he just said was that the God of the universe who has oversight over all of our sin abundantly pardons. He signs the paperwork and you're free. That nobody can round you up because he's the king of the universe. That if we turn from our sin, we run to him and he says, free.

And he makes the covenant he made with David which was, you will forever belong to me. And the way he does it is that Jesus Christ paid our punishment so that we could go free. Verse 8. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. I don't know if this is the case, but if any of y'all just thought, that doesn't sound fair. I'm glad his thoughts aren't your thoughts and his ways aren't your ways.

He decided to redeem those who don't deserve to be redeemed through the blood of his own son because he's good and because he's smarter than us and better than us. For as high as the heavens are higher than the earth, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Meaning, he's going to do what he wants to do. He's declared this and this is how it's going to work. I also want to just tag this. I don't think this is what the author is saying, but I want to tag it. He says that the word of God is like rain that falls down, that it brings forth life. And for those of you in this room who are Christians, if you feel dry and withered, weary and exhausted, I just want to ask, have you been pulling up to the table lately?

Have you been studying the word? Have you been letting it soak into you? Have you been letting it give you life? Have you been drawing yourself close to the God of the universe who says he has milk and water and wine? If you feel like you have no energy, he has milk. If you feel like you're about to die, he has water.

And if you just need some joy, he has wine. And it's better than what you bought at Walmart. It's verifiable. Read John 2. God makes good wine. Verse 12.

For you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace. If you right now knew that there could be a promise over your life of joy and peace, you take it. Honestly, if I could just know that my life would be filled with joy and peace, that just sounds wonderful. I pray for that all the time, that my house would be filled with joy and be filled with peace. And he's saying that's what belongs to those who will belong to him. And it's not just here, it's an eternal promise.

The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth into singing and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Those who belong to Jesus get to live in a Disney movie. You guys. Instead of the thorn, there shall come up the cypress. Instead of the briar, shall come up the myrtle. And it shall make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

The invitation is that we would turn from our sin, be abundantly pardoned, welcomed in the celebration, and enter into a place that forever, that is an everlasting, eternal home where there is no more sin and destruction. There is no Me Too movement in eternity with Jesus. There are no protest marches, no sit-ins, there is no weeping in eternity with Jesus that we have all been invited into and welcomed at a table that belongs to Him. That's a promise made in Isaiah. This idea of flowing water is mentioned in John 4 and mentioned in John 7. It's mentioned in Zechariah.

It's mentioned in Jeremiah. It's mentioned throughout the Old Testament in Ezekiel. It's this idea that God would give joy and peace and an overflowing well of water that would not run dry. Revelation chapter 22 says this and this is where we'll end today. The spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Just leave that up there for a little while for a little while. We're told in Isaiah that the God of the universe steps into the brokenness and says come to me if you're thirsty come drink. And the book of Revelation says that the spirit spirit of God and the bride of Christ that's the church stand together and make the same invitation. That the church that belongs to Jesus will be so filled with the spirit that we would be inviting everyone we can to come. That our role because we actually believe this is to stand and say no, no, no, no, no. I know of something that does satisfy.

I know of one who does fill the longings of your heart. I know of something that will fill you up. I know of water while you thirst and long. I know of a much better invitation that's made to you. This is why I had someone the other day was saying like why do we tell people they should break up with people? We don't always do that.

Some people shouldn't break up. A lot of people should. And here's why we tell people that. We actually believe verse 2 why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy? We believe that a lot of people are in relationships and they're actively running away from Jesus. They're actively pursuing sexual sin.

They're actively chasing after things that will not satisfy. And without hesitation without blinking we can look at them and say stop. There's a much better invitation made to you that will not be found in this relationship. This is why we can look at someone and say I don't think you should take that promotion. This is why we can look at someone and say I think your job's too big of a deal. This is why we can look at someone and say I think you're placing too much weight in this area because we believe that it's in our hearts to chase after and labor for things that won't fill us up but that God promises that he will.

And that we get to join the spirit of God, the prophet of God echoing the voice of God and say come. All of you who are thirsty come. There's a beautiful invitation for you. There's richness and depth that you can't even imagine. That's what the church gets to do. That's who we get to be.

That's one of the reasons why we exist in community groups because we get to be a small picture of this party, this celebration that is coming. We've had recently a couple of stories that came out of our community groups that were really encouraging to me. There was somebody hanging out with the group. It was his first time hanging out and after he'd been there for a little while he goes, okay, can I say something? Am I allowed to talk? They were like, sure.

He said, um, my roommate had been inviting me to this for a long time and now I see. I see why he likes it. This is just great. So I don't know if I'm supposed to say stuff like this but this is great. And can I keep coming? That group they said absolutely.

This is why he kept inviting you. He knew it was great. You thought he was weird. He didn't care. He kept inviting you because he knew what was on the other side. He knew what was set at the table.

Somebody would come hang out with a group and they were just playing poker together. They were just sitting here for a while and after a while he just said, how do y'all know each other? Because I just haven't been around people like this. His assumption was y'all have to have been friends for a really long time. Y'all have to have really deep meaningful relationships. And they were like, we just met.

It was just kind of like, we all were part of the same church? And what it was, he had gotten a glimpse into what it looks like for a group of people to be sitting at a table who had been brought in because their sins had been pardoned. Who had been brought in because they knew they had been eating dirt and now were getting to eat bread. They had been brought in because they knew. And there's a grace and a peace and a joy and an ability to talk about really serious things and really jokey, frivolous things and swap back and forth with ease because they're people who've been invited to a table where they didn't have to earn their way in.

My group is going to need to multiply at some point. Dawn Gooch, who's on the video, she's in my community group. I don't want our group to multiply, if I'm honest with y'all. Can I confess sin up here? But I remind myself about Dawn and then I do want our group to multiply because there's other Dawns out there that need to be on a video four years from now saying, I'm so glad they harassed me.

I think she said, I'm glad that Kelly stalked me. Super weird. If this is your first time, I'm sorry. That was creepy, you guys. Here's the thing. We are too.

And if you actually get to take a seat at that table where the food is rich and the God is good who pardons sin, you'll get to say the same thing two, three years from now. You see, we believe that Jesus is better than everything else for you, that you should put your sin down and you should chase after him. And we believe that Jesus is better than everything else for the people in your group, that you should look at them and say, you need to run after him headlong and you need to run away from your wickedness and you need you and he'll make you whole. And we believe that Jesus is better than everything else for everyone else.

And our prayer is that two years from now, you get to stand right here in a portable hot tub, put your hand on the back of your neighbor, put your hand on the back of your co-worker, put your hand on the back of your roommate who currently has no desire for anything that has to do with Jesus and actually is a little bit annoyed with you every time you bring it up. Put your hand on their back and say, who is your Lord and Savior? And have them say, with tears rolling down their face, Jesus Christ. And for you to slam dunk them in some water, because it represents that they have died with Christ, that their sin has been taken away, that they've risen with him, and that they will forever have a seat at that table.

Our prayer is that four years from now, we'll be sitting with someone who right now you haven't even met yet, but you're about to this week, because they're about to get a job, two cubicles down from you. And we'll be laying our hands on them, and praying over them, and weeping over them, because we're not going to see them again for a while, because they're going overseas to tell everybody that there's a God of the universe who stepped into our brokenness, and he says, come, come to me, find fulfillment, find joy, find satisfaction, quit eating dirt. that's our hope, that's our prayer. So we're going to keep actively running from sin and helping each other run from sin, and we're going to keep actively trying to equip ourselves and grow in what it means to be gospel-centered and to love Jesus and to exist in relationships with each other, and we're going to continue to multiply groups and train group leaders, and we're going to continue to repent of sin and practice church discipline, and we're going to continue to do all of these things, because we know there's a moment in time when the door gets shut and the king of the universe starts to party. And we want as many people as possible at that table, and we honestly don't care if they want to hear it or not, because we know what's at the table and who makes the invitation and how good and satisfying it is.

Matt's going to come back up here. We're going to sing. During this next song, you have the opportunity, to sing. You have the opportunity to sit and pray. Maybe you have some people right now that you know you need to begin telling. You need to begin standing with the Holy Spirit as the bride of Christ and saying, come.

Everyone, come. I love in that verse where it says, let the one who hears say, come. That's who we're praying for right now. That's who I was just talking about. That's your co-worker who's going to get to do the same thing, who's going to get to go to someone right now. They don't know Jesus right now, but at some point, they're going to have heard it and they're going to begin to shout alongside you and alongside the Spirit of God, come, this invitation is beautiful and good.

In a minute, as we've repented, as we've reflected, we'll be able to take communion, which is our promise of the future hope of the resurrection. It's us remembering the cross and looking forward to the hope that we have forever in Jesus, that his body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us, that he invited us in. If you're a Christian, that's for you. If you're not a Christian, we'd ask you to not partake in communion because you don't fully know what it means at this point. So during this next song, Matt will sing, we'll pray, we'll take communion, and then in a minute we'll have a chance to stand and sing together as a church.

Let's pray. God, we ask that we could stand shoulder to shoulder with your spirit, that he would dwell in us and empower us as your bride to invite to an unending supply to invite everyone we know to true satisfaction, true hope, true fulfillment, to proclaim Christ. We ask for those in this room right now that need to turn from their sin, that need to run to you, that they'd find you with open arms ready to abundantly pardon. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name.

Jesus is Better Than Everything Else for You

Jesus is Better Than Everything For You

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Over the past several months, we're looking at who we've been as a church, where we're wanting to go, what we've always kind of tried to claim and point people to, and we just came up with this as a helpful way to say kind of the heart behind everything else we're going for. So last week, we specifically spent some time talking about Jesus is better than everything else for you. For you personally, for you as an individual, that Jesus is better than everything else for me, that he's better than everything else, he's more enjoyable, more lovely, more to be pursued, more to be chased after, more to be desired than all the other things that I could desire. And now today, we're talking about Jesus is better than everything else for those around you, those next to you, those who walk in life with you that are believers.

So that Jesus is better than everything else for me, and Jesus is better than everything else for you. For the people in your group and in your family, that we would take the time to intentionally point them towards Jesus. We said last week that the whole point of the gospel was for joy, for enjoyment. That Hebrews 12 says that it was for the joy set before him that Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame. That he went for our joy in his glory and in a relationship with him, and that we are meant to find our fulfillment, our pleasure, our happiness, our joy in him. So as we get started this morning, I have a personal question for you.

How argumentative are you? Not you, don't like look at your spouse. How argumentative are you? Are you the type of person who just enjoys a good exchange of ideas? You don't even like the word argue, because it's like, I'm not mad. You're just wrong, and I'm trying to help.

That you don't mind hopping in. You don't mind correcting. You don't mind engaging. That you'll actually, you don't have to raise your hand or raise your spouse's hand, but you'll overhear a conversation and just hop in. I'm sorry, what? No, Thai food is terrible.

Like you just, it's like they were talking to you. You like that movie? Like you just jump in to start an argument. To engage in a discussion. Robust dialogue. Whatever you call it.

Now, there's other people on the other side of the spectrum. How many of you in this room are just not? You're not going to correct people. You're not going to disagree with people. Either it makes you feel uncomfortable, or you just don't care. So like there's some people who watch someone do something wrong, and they'll be like, hey, I know it's none of my business, but can I help you?

Can I tell you what you're doing wrong here? And there are those of you in this room who will watch someone try and fail, and try and fail, and you'll sit back and go, idiot. But you're not going to tell them. You're not going to tell them they're wrong. Maybe you know they're wrong. You just don't want to.

Maybe you're not mad at them, or you're not judging them. You're just thinking, maybe they know a different way, and it's just not working for them. I don't know. My wife, I'm the type of person, I don't mind getting into engaging in an argument, a discussion. I don't mind it at all. My wife is on the opposite end of the spectrum.

So like we've been places before where she's like, when we're showing up, she's like, oh, they think my name's Tina. It's like you haven't corrected them on your name? Like, she will. She'll let somebody call her. I'll be like, I'll fix this. Like, I'll walk in and like announce your name loudly.

And like, she's just that type of person. She has to care a lot. So if you're the type of person who doesn't engage, how much do you have to care? How close do you have to be to the situation before you'll wait in, before you'll correct, before you'll... So like I've had people say like, I could just never imagine your wife getting upset.

It's like, I can imagine it. I've seen it. Because she cares. She's invested. She's close. And so some of you, it takes a whole lot.

And what we're going to look at today in this section in Titus, so if you want to grab your Bibles and head to Titus chapter 2, we're picking up with the Apostle Paul. He's writing to a pastor. And he's saying, here's something worth engaging over. Here's something worth waiting in. Here's something worth discomfort, frustration. This is worth your hopping in, arguing, declaring, insisting.

So let's pray for our time as we begin to read this this morning. We're going to read a good bit and just kind of try to walk through it together where Paul is saying, hey, this needs to be engaged. Father, we ask that your word would train us, that it would show us your glory and your grace, that you might equip us to love and to follow you and to care enough for those around us. To point them to Jesus. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You see, we naturally point people towards things that we think are better. We naturally will point someone towards something that we think is good. You do this with mechanics. You do this with movies. I had a friend of mine who told me he'd moved up here from Florida and he's like, yeah, I've never had fried chicken. And I was like, get in the truck.

Like, we're going now. You need to eat fried chicken. Like, he got him a chicken breast. He looked at it and said, okay, now what do I do? I was like, bite that part. He's like, just grab it.

I was like, yes. He ate a little bit and then he put it down and he said, I see why everybody talks about this. I was like, yes, fried chicken is amazing. But we do that. When we know something is better, we know something is good, we point people to it. And this is where we're looking at actually pointing each other towards Jesus, which we would say as Christian is supreme, that he is above everything else, that he is what is most good for us.

We're going to pick up in verse 11 of chapter 2. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. Okay, so look back. We're going to look at verses 11 and 12 together. They'll be on the screen. As Christians, our goal is to remain Christians.

Once you believe in Jesus, you want to continue to believe. You want to continue to have him at work in your soul. You don't want to drift. You don't want to run away. You want to stay tethered to Christ. You want him to be at work in your heart to make you look more and more like him.

Now, we believe that he does that in us through the power of his spirit, but that we collectively work together to continue to point each other back towards what most matters so that we might most enjoy, love, and follow Jesus. And so what he says at the beginning of this passage is he says, For the grace of God has appeared. Well, what's he talking about? What's the grace of God that has appeared? We'll have that on the screen. The grace of God has appeared.

And then he says, bringing salvation for all people. So that tells us what the grace of God is, that the salvation brought for all people, we know, is Christ. So what he's saying is that when Jesus showed up and went to the cross, that grace appeared, appeared, and this grace brought salvation for all people. That Jesus Christ lived perfectly on our behalf. That he died a sinner's death. That all sinners deserve to die, but that he didn't deserve to die.

And that he was laid in the tomb, and that he rose again. That he conquered sin and death on our behalf so that we might be saved. That that's grace. That that's what's appeared. That it's God showed up in history. That the grace of God appeared, bringing salvation.

And then he says this, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. All right. As we want to follow Jesus, we want to grow. And what it means to be healthy, and to walking away from sin, and walking closer to Jesus. And one of the things that happens, on a regular basis, is that someone becomes a Christian, and that we step in and say, okay, they're a Christian now, and it's almost like, you need grace. You need Jesus to save you.

You're a sinner, and you need grace. You need to be saved from your sin, by no work of your own, but you need Jesus to redeem you, and then you become a Christian, and it's like, okay, now there's a lot of rules you need to learn. You've got to get your stuff together. Now that you're a Christian, there's a whole lot of mess in your life, that we've got to work on. And sometimes it can feel like, what we think is, no, no, I needed grace to be saved, but now I need the rules to grow. But what's he saying?

When he says, training us to renounce ungodliness, and worldly passions, what trained us? The grace of God that appeared. That it's grace that trains us. It's grace that calls us out of our sin. That it's God's grace on our behalf that keeps us from chasing after our old worldly passions. And worldly passions are the things that we used to love and desire.

I love the word passion is there. Something that you're just passionate about. Your face lights up when you think about it. And it's one of the things that you used to just chase after. Your world was built around it. And how did your passions change?

Grace came in. How did your loves change? He began to love something more. That's what the next verse is. I want to show this to you. I find it so encouraging.

He says, We're waiting for our blessed hope. The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. So that what happened was, he stepped in and we, our hope, our longing, our desire changed. Our passions changed. So that what you used to be passionate about, what you used to look forward to, what you used to build your calendar around, what you used to change.

And now you have a blessed hope that your passions changed to a longing and a deep desire. I love when you get to see at like airports and stuff where someone's waiting on a soldier to return. A spouse is waiting with a family and they've got those sons that they just can't wait. And the ones that truly just waited, longed for them, couldn't wait for them to get back. That life wasn't the same without them. It's so beautiful to see that and to see them reunited.

To see tears. I love the ones where it's like the dad shows up at someone's school and just appears like he's the chicken. He takes the mascot head off and all of a sudden it's like, oh my goodness! Like I love those where it's like life wasn't the same without you. You now become so ingrained in us, so longing to see you, longing to enjoy you, longing to have you. And that's what happened.

That we had worldly passions but that Jesus changed our hearts and we now have a deep, blessed hope, a longing and a desire that won't be the same until he comes back. I have a two-year-old and I drop him off at different places and dropping him off isn't that much fun, picking him up is like to see his little face light up and he'll say, Dad, you came back for me. And that's us. That we're waiting for Jesus to come back for us that our hope is now the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ that we want to see him glorified, that we want to see him lifted up so that we used to love worldly passions.

We used to have things that we chased after but that he wooed us, that he stole our hearts. And here's how he did it. He gave himself up for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. That we used to have things that we loved. My wife and I started dating in high school and she, the first time she ever like saw me, someone pointed me out to her and was talking about me or whatever. The first words my wife ever said about me out loud, she looked at me, she really soaked it in, I think, like if I'm going to picture this in my head.

And then she said, I don't like him to the person next to her. And her friend was like, okay, like, it's fine with that. Some of you are like, hey, I have something in common with your wife. But here's what happened. Here's what happened. I wooed her.

I stole her heart. She can't at this moment now even hear my voice without her heart just almost skipping a beat, you guys. And that's what happened. We had worldly passions and worldly pleasures and the grace of God appeared in Jesus Christ who came and gave himself up for us to redeem us. That he came and laid his life down that we might be his. And what happened in that moment was that he stole our hearts and our passions changed and our longings changed and our desires changed because we saw that he was better and more glorious and more to be desired.

That's what Paul's saying. That he came and changed our desires. That he called us out of that and into something else. That he made a people that belonged to him for his own possession who were zealous for good works. Verse 15. Declare these things.

And he's going to say stuff like that several times throughout this text. He's going to talk about these things. And what are these things? The gospel. That the grace of God appeared. That he called us away from our sin, away from our old passions, gave us a new hope and new longing and new desire through what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

And that we declare those things. Now, Titus was a pastor. He was an elder in a church and so Paul when he's writing this is giving specific instructions to Titus as a pastor. But when we read it as the church at large what we just see is what's valuable for churches to talk about, what pastors to talk about and so therefore what's valuable for us to talk about. So when he says declare these things, he's specifically talking to Titus as a pastor, as a shepherd, as a teacher but it's also for us to do the same.

So what he says is declare these things, exhort and rebuke. So that's encourage and correct. That's clap and slap. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. And I love that he says let no one disregard you.

Do you want to know why I love that? Because so often in our lives we're going to want to tell someone this truth about Jesus and they're not going to want to hear it. We don't go, oh they don't want to hear it. We go, hey! No, no, no. This is what we're talking about.

You're going to have friends that are going to say, hey can't we talk about something else? Like I know we've been friends for a while and I was walking in your group for a while but I've made my decision. I'm chasing after this and every time we get together all you want to do is tell me that Jesus is better and that I need to turn from my sin and I need to can't we talk about something else? And you get to say, no. No we can't. But I am willing to continue to hang out with you forever.

Every day for the rest of your life. Not allowing you to disregard me. So that's how we exhort, that's how we encourage and it's how we correct, it's how we rebuke. So that what he's saying is that he called us away from sin and he called us to good work so that when someone in your group is just exhausted, they just don't, like I just can't, I just can't anymore. Like I just, if they call me one more time, I'm just, I just can't, I'm just not going to answer. Like I just have no desire to do anymore.

Like I'm done with them. And what you get to step in and say, no, let me encourage you in how good the gospel is and how grace has worked on your behalf and how you've been equipped and called for good works. And when someone's chasing after old sin, you get to step in and say, no, let me tell you how we've been called out of that. Not so that you might earn your salvation, but because Jesus has already laid down his life for you and you have a better savior. You have a greater love that we exhort and rebuke with it. Now, we're going to move into chapter three and chapters and verses in the Bible were added later.

They are helpful because they help you find things. It'd be really hard if you were like, hey, turn, if we stood up and said, turn to the middle of Isaiah, kind of under, like it would take us forever. So they were added later to help us find things. But Paul didn't write that giant three right there. So one of the problems that I have sometimes is that you're reading, you hit the end of two, you see that giant three and you think, well, I should be done for a little while.

He stopped his thought. It's like, no, he didn't. He just wrote a letter. We added the three later. So ignore the three and let's move on.

He says, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. I love the beginning of this verse, these few verses we just read. Remind them. Isn't that encouraging? You know what Paul just assumed? We're going to forget this.

You're not going to be gentle. You're going to not want to submit to rulers and authorities. You're not going to want to be ready for every good work. Like, that we're going to drift from where we're supposed to be and that one of the things we're supposed to do collectively as pastors and as each other in church families is to remind each other, hey, no, that actually isn't the best. Like, you shouldn't be doing that. Like, he assumes that our hearts will drift and he keeps going.

Verse 3. 4. So he says, this is what you do. Remind them. Call them back to the good things because, that's what 4 means, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. He said, this is what we used to be like.

You've got to remind them because here's what we used to be like. And I love the phrase where he says, slaves to various passions and pleasures. That one of the reasons we need to be reminded about the goodness of Jesus, that we need to exhort and declare to one another about the gospel is because we used to have another master. We used to be enslaved to our desires. We used to be enslaved to our passions. We used to build our life around our pleasures and we're called now to a greater love, a greater hope, a better master.

We're betrothed to one who is greater and more enjoyable and more to be desired. I played football throughout my life. I started when, I used to play baseball and then I started playing football when I was like 11 and I went home one day and was like, football is better than baseball and I will never play baseball again because I get to, one of the things that had a problem with baseball was when they hit you with the ball, you just get to take, you just get to go to first base. You don't get to try to hurt them. I mean, you can't in the pros some. They really frowned on it in the little league.

But in football, if you hurt me, hey, next play, bro. Like I get to try to come back and I remember being in football in college. I was playing in college and it was right before, it was the most depressing hour of the day, right before we began to stretch and have to start practice and all the guys are just kind of standing around talking to each other and I remember picking up one of the footballs and I was just kind of looking at it and I held up and said, hey, just a few guys around me and I said, hey, you ever thought about how much of your time, how much of your energy, your life, your sweat has been devoted to this oddly shaped brown object? You ever thought about that?

And I said to one of the guys, his name was Antoine, he was All-American and he went, hey, y'all shut up. Everybody shut up. Listen to this. Say it again. And I was like, nobody was paying attention to me but they listened to Antoine so everybody now, all the defensive players are looking at me and I said, have you ever thought about how much time, how much of your life you've devoted to this? And I just, I remember them just looking at it and going, like there were some guys that you were like, that guy's doing some good math and you're like, your math's not great but you know it's a lot.

And when he says that you used to be slaves to various passions and pleasures, what that means is they used to tell you where to go, what to do. You weren't at liberty. They owned you. They owned your schedule. They told you how to spend your time, how to spend your money. They told you what life was going to look like for you.

That your passions owned you. And so I don't know what I could, if I had a big bag, if I could pull something out. I don't know for you what would be the thing that you've devoted so much of your life to. I don't know if I could pick out a mirror. I don't know if I could pick up a paycheck. I don't know if I could hold up a title. or a plaque that you'd set on a really nice mahogany desk.

I don't know if I could pull out of this bag and hold up something that was, I don't know. I don't know for you what would be the thing that you could look at, the object that you could look at and say, no, I've really spent a lot of my life obeying that. I don't know if you spent your time chasing after being admired or being desired. But what we know is we as Christians were slaves. We have former masters that told us where to go and what to do and what mattered and how to spend our time and how to make friends. Which friends to keep, which friends to lose.

We have masters that have owned us. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaved to various passions and pleasures, passing our day in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But, when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, that's verse 4, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy. by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Alright, so this passage, this verse, what He says, just parallels perfectly with what He said earlier. So what He says is, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, so what did He say appeared earlier?

Grace. What's He saying appeared now? Goodness and love and kindness from God. It's the same thing. It's the same thing that appeared. It's Jesus.

That when Jesus showed up, we saw how good God was. We saw how loving He was. We saw how kind He is that He would redeem, that He would lay His life down. And He says the same thing. Earlier He said, bringing salvation for all people. What's He say here?

He saved us. That His goodness, His loving, His kindness saved us and now it's more personal. So what He's saying is for your life, there was a moment where God's goodness intercepted you. Where He claimed you. Where He made you His. If you're a Christian, there's a moment where His goodness and His kindness saved you.

And then He says, not because of works done by us in righteousness. So earlier He was saving us away from the sinful things and here He says it in a different way but what He says is, God did not save you because you had it together, because you were good, because you were holy, because you were perfect. He wasn't looking around going, who do I need on my team? That person. No, He chose us while we were in the midst of being slaves to our passions and our pleasures. Setting our whole calendars around food and sex and drink.

Setting our whole calendars around ambition. That He redeemed us in the middle of that. And that He washed us, renewed us through the Holy Spirit. And then in verse 6, talking about the Holy Spirit, He says, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And so that's the same thing where we have a blessed hope, now He says it's according to the hope of eternal life. We have a new hope, a new longing that we're now heirs belonging to Jesus.

Verse 8. The saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for the people. So He says, this saying is trustworthy, this gospel saying I just said, and then He says, I want you to insist on these things. And so the two words here is insist on these things. I want you to hammer on this.

I want you to pound on this. I want you to make this the thing that you talk about. And these things, He says that a couple of times. I want you to declare these things. I want you to insist on these things. It's this truth about the gospel that He said.

But I want you all to notice who He says to insist on this too. So that those who have believed. Who are you insisting on the gospel to? The people who need to be reminded. The people who used to have a former master. You're insisting on the gospel to them so that they might be changed, be claimed, continue to run towards Jesus.

That they might have grace change their hearts and call them away from them worldly passions. That grace might train them. We insist on the gospel repeatedly over and over and over and over and over and over again. That's our job as Christians with each other because Jesus is better. So when someone's drifting and running after something else, we try to remind them and insist and declare.

And this is what He's saying. This is worth waiting in. I was at a football game for my younger brother and we were watching and they had a running back that had just marched the ball down the field. They get right at the goal line and they start trying to throw some passes. It's an incomplete pass. Incomplete pass.

My dad's sitting there like just, you know, like he's just getting, he's just crawling all over him. Finally, he just, they throw another pass that's incomplete and he stands up and yells at the top of his lungs. Dance with the one what brung ya! You guys, I was so excited. I just froze. I smiled.

I turned at him and I said, what? What on earth are you talking about? He's like, you know, a pretty girl takes a guy to a dance and then when they get there she dances with everybody else. Dance with the one what brung ya. He marched it all the way down the field. Let him score the touchdown.

Quit trying to get cute. Hand the ball off. He's gotten five yards every daggum time. Oh, dance with the one what brung ya. Okay. I will totally use this again in life.

I'm ready. That's what Paul's saying. When he says insist on these things, he's saying dance with the one what brung ya. He's saying that Jesus got us here. Grace got us here. It wasn't about you learning all these new and wonderful things and learning all these rules, but it was that Jesus stole your heart and so that when someone's drifting, when someone's chasing after something else, that we collectively as a church sit them down and say dance with the one what brung ya.

We sit them down and say Jesus is better. He's more glorious, more holy, more to be desired, more lovely than the thing you're chasing after. That he ultimately is what will fulfill your soul, your desires, your hope, and that he's brought you this far and we're not changing the story and we're not changing the things that we declare. We're insisting on this. I often, when I'm reading the Bible, look up words. I just hit a word and it's like, I kind of know what that means.

I think I could use it in a sentence and not look like a moron, but I want to know what it means. I want to fully, and so I just, in this one, I just looked up the word insist. Like I know the word insist. I got it. But I wanted to read and I love the definition.

There's two. Demanding something forcefully, not accepting refusal. And Paul says, insist on this. He means demand forcefully and don't accept refusal. Don't let them squirm out. The second one is this.

Persist in doing something even though it is annoying or odd. When the people in our church family come to you and they're in the middle of sin or they're talking about their life or they're confessing things or they're just talking, like a lot of times when people are doing that, they really want three things. One of three things. They may want you to advise them. You're close enough. You're in a relationship to where it's like that.

I just want some life coaching here. I want some good ideas here. They may want you to empathize with them. They just want you to look at them and say, I'm so sorry. It sounds so tough. And the person who wants advice doesn't really care about your empathy.

That's so hard. It's like, yeah, okay. You got any ideas? It's like, I ain't trying to get a hug. I ain't telling you this just because of that. And the person who wants you to empathize is so mad at you when you give advice.

They're like, I just wanted you to say it was terrible and give me a hug. And you're like, well, but here's what you really need to do. They maybe just want you to listen. A good way to tell is if it's a phone conversation. Right after they're done talking and you start talking, they get really busy. They've said all their stuff and you're like, well, hey, let me, oh, well, look at that.

My cat just caught on fire and they just hang out the phone. They didn't want you to say anything. They really, empathy would be okay. Advice is terrible. And you know what we do? As Christians, as church families, those who belong to one another and belong to Jesus, we do something very odd and annoying and we don't stop.

We say, you need Jesus. If you're tired, you need Jesus. If you're sad and lonely, you need Jesus. You need to remember the gospel. If you're frustrated, if you're hurting, if you're in the middle of sin, if you need to be encouraged or you need to be rebuked, I have one message. I have one thing to insist on.

I may have some coaching later. I may have some advice later. Certainly, you can have some empathy, but the one main thing you need to get out of this is that you need Jesus, that He's ultimately better. You just lost your job? I'm so sorry. You didn't lose Jesus.

When you just lost your job, it's like, shut up. No. No, I'm not going to because He says, these things are excellent and profitable for people. You want empathy, but you really need a balm that heals. You need wounds that are bound up and guess what? Jesus does that.

You need to run from your sin and guess what? Jesus works in that. You need to be redeemed and forgiven and guess what? Jesus works in that. You need to calm and quiet your soul. You need to know that someone else rules over the universe and guess what?

Jesus does that. And so that when we are walking with people in life and something happens, our response is, Jesus is better and more glorious. That at the end of this, I have nothing better to offer you than Jesus. And even if you follow my wonderful, intelligent, super great advice and you don't end up with Jesus, I've failed you. I haven't helped you because what you need is Him. And so we insist so they won't ignore us and we persist in it even though it's annoying.

This is as a church when we say like, you'll hear someone say, yeah, I had the chance to gospel them. That's what we mean. I had the chance to tell them this message again. These things again. I insisted once again on these things for them. You'll hear someone talk about gospel fluency and that's what we've taught before.

It's just that the gospel is our native language. This is what we talk about. We say that we give good news before good advice or that we talk about Jesus before we talk about you. We've labeled it with 13,000 different things but it's this, that we insist on this message. So when He says these things, it's the two things that He said multiple times.

We'll reread verses 4 through 7. That's the most close one but He said the same thing earlier when He said declare these things. He was talking about that same kind of framework of grace has appeared, it saved us, that He called us away from our worldly passions, that He gave up His life for us. So let's read verses 4 through 7 where He's saying the same thing. He even does it in this passage. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness but according to His own mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

So that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So that's the message. a good, loving, kind God had grace breakthrough in your life and He saved you away from your worldly passions, your sin, and your former slave master and towards, and not because, any of your own good work, merit, effort. Washed you, cleansed you, gave you a new hope, a new longing, a new desire, and, on the back end of that, some good work to do. That's what we declare, that's what we proclaim over and over and over again. So that when someone's lonely and sad, we say, hey, I insist that there's a good and loving and kind God that wants to redeem you and make you His.

I insist that He made you an heir, which means He made you family. When someone's chasing after something, they say, if I could just have this, then everything would be fine. And you say, I insist that you have a better hope. I insist that there's something more to be looked forward to and more to be desired than that. When someone's chasing after sin, we sit down with them and we say, I insist that God's called you away from that, that He's a better master, that He's a better lover, that He's a better, that He can woo you and steal your heart than that thing will ever be. And we do this over and over and over again.

And we have to remind one another over and over and over again because you know who can be tricked by their former masters? All of us. You know who can be called back into their past pleasures and passions? All of us. I want to talk to y'all. I think it's a good example of this.

It's one of the great characters in American theater. Ron Swanson. He's a character on Parks and Rec if you're unfamiliar with the show. He is one of my favorite characters ever. He's one of the most put together people in the show. Like he has some eccentric.

He's eccentric. But he's kind of even keely kind of like for the most part. And one of the big storylines with him is that he has some former wives named Tammy. They're different wives from different stages in life but they're both named Tammy. And he's terrified of them because they're crazy. That's the way I'm not saying all ex-wives are.

I'm just saying these are in the story. All right. So he's terrified of them because they're crazy. And what we see is that he's got all these plans and all these things and all these guardrails up to keep them away from him. But there are a few times in the show when they show back up and he's suddenly like, you know, they're not as bad as we like made out to be.

And the people around him are going, no, yes they are. And he's like, well, one lunch won't hurt. And the people around him are going, yes it will. One lunch will hurt. And he's like, no. And then what happens in these few episodes where they do this, he completely gets owned by these ladies.

They change his whole personality. They change everything about him. And they reclaim him. And it's his friends around him that have to step in and fight on his behalf even though he doesn't want to hear it. Because he's lost his senses and re-submitted himself to a former master. That's you.

You have a former master. In Jesus, he's stolen your heart. And there are moments in your life when you're going, I'll never, ever look longingly at that again because he's so glorious. And the people around you are going, yeah, that's right. You do confession and sin. You go, I just am so free from this.

And your group's like, yeah, that's right. You're free from that. That's beautiful. And then six months later you're like, well, you know a little bit of that. And your group's going, what? Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

And you're going, no, no, no, it's not that big a deal. Like I just, we just kind of, you know, I just picked up a little bit of that. I just started a little bit. It's just online. It's just, and you have all these lame excuses, but you're unwilling to listen to anybody in your group's going, whoa, ho, ho, ho, and we're designed as church family to grab you and smack your head against the wall and say, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus is better and that's about to reclaim you and I insist that you remember the basics.

Not, you need to behave. Not, this is going to, like, no, Jesus is more glorious and more holy and more beautiful and he can steal your heart and his grace is for you and you never earned this in the first place and you need him and we're meant to do that because we all so easily can go astray that you are not responsible for the people around you. You cannot repent for them, you cannot make them behave, but you have a responsibility to them to insist on the gospel, to hold up for them these things that Jesus Christ is good and glorious and gracious and that he saves based off of his good work, not ours, that he calls us away from our effort, our self-sufficiency, that he calls us away from our former slavery to passions and pleasures and that he calls us into a better family with a better hope. And if you are a Christian, you need to memorize these things so that you can insist on them.

That's step one. If you're a Christian and when you go to talk to somebody about this, you just kind of don't have, you need to start memorizing some Bible verses, you need to start memorizing and reciting this for yourself so that you can point other people back to it because we believe that Jesus is better and so that when someone in our church family is sitting with you and they said, well, I just don't see why God would say no to this if it makes me so happy, you can say, whoa, the reason he'd say no to that is because he gave himself up for you that you might be ultimately happy and joyous and engulfed in an eternity of joy rather than this little thing that's right in front of you right now. When someone in our church family looks at you and says, well, I prayed about it, I just don't feel convicted which, by the way, please never say that. If the Bible specifically says something is to be repented of, don't announce I'm so far away from Jesus I can't even hear that anymore.

That's all you're saying and when someone says that to you, you can say, okay, I honestly don't care. We're sinful. You're messed up. Of course you're not convicted. You love this thing. It's your former slave owner.

You can't see it but I can and I'm insisting that Jesus is better. Like we said last week when someone says, well, I think God just wants me to be happy. You can agree wholeheartedly but their happiness will be found only in him and so you're willing to fight alongside of them so that they'll ultimately get Jesus. The band's going to come back up. This is the message that we declare. We have been invited to the dance by Jesus.

He's the one who saved us. He's the one who's redeemed us. He's the one who's claimed us. He bought our corsage. We're going to keep dancing with Jesus. We weren't perfected by good works.

We weren't welcomed in because we got in our mess together. We were invited in in spite of our mess and without any good works to present. We weren't the ugly girl at the beginning of the rom-com who later fixes her hair and gets her glasses off and is now beautiful. We're ugly when we showed up to the dance. But that we belong to him and that he changes our hearts and he claims us and makes us his and we will forever point to one thing and one thing only.

Jesus. That he's better, that he's more glorious, that he redeems, that he claims, and that you want him above everything else. Let's pray. God, I pray that our church family would so believe that you are better, that it would be natural and easy and unacceptable in our own hearts to point to anything else. And I pray, Lord, that you would bless our church with the grace to when others point us to Jesus that we would yield, that we would bend, that we would listen. And I pray that you'd bless our church with the grace to be unyielding, to declare, to insist that you are better.

May this grace forever apply to us. And for those in this room this morning who need to stop pointing people to something else, I pray that they would. And for those in this room this morning that needed to hear that you are ultimately better, I pray that they would believe it. That your grace would train them to turn away from their old passions. And to be swept up in your love. In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Jesus is Better than Everything Else For Me

Jesus is Better than Everything Else for Me

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Good morning. How's 2018 treating you? This is the first time that I, today was the first time I did not mind the bridge being out at all and me having to drive a little more because I'm trying to get my carbon footprint up to get that global warming started back up. Because, man, it is not working right now. One of the things I love about the beginning of the year, this time of year, is just how much kind of collectively we all begin to look back and to look forward. So there's just this time of year, this kind of season, everybody just kind of, the year ends and everybody begins to look back at what was 2017 like, what was the last year like, how did it go, what was good, what was bad.

I mean, there's a lot of articles and things and news reports of the 10 best movies that happened, the five best this, the seven worst these, and then there's this consistent like looking forward into where are we going from here. And it's just this season of re-evaluating our lives, re-evaluating, re-deciding what has value, what matters, what is good, what's worth pursuing, what's worth changing so that we might gain what we truly desire. Desire. I know for me, usually the last couple months of the year, I'm not thinking ahead. I just, I'm not. I think in my head, it's like, it's like, I'll get it together in January.

I know for a fact, one of the indications of this for me was coffee cake. My mom makes a coffee cake that's, the bottom layer is like a half, like an inch of bisquick. And then the top layer is like an inch, inch and a half of brown sugar. That's pretty much what it is. You melt butter on the brown sugar to make it stick together, right? So it's like a stick of butter, brown sugar.

And so I would eat that at my parents' house. And I was like, you know, it's only Christmas once. So I ate like half of it. But I said it's only Christmas once. But I also made it at my house on Christmas Day.

And I also made the same thing to take to my group when we hung out. And I ate a pile of it. And it was like, that was kind of my mentality during the season. It's like, well, you know, I really value sweets. And I really value anything that I can just put in a bowl that's hot and put crackers in. And like dip a biscuit in.

So like, this is my season of just getting to eat piles of food out of a bowl. Like, I just really value that. And I would tell myself, you know, it's only Christmas once. But it was like the third Christmas party I'd been to that week where I was just eating carbohydrates. Or just drinking like two glasses of eggnog every night at 10 right before I went to sleep. And so now it's January.

And I'm like, you know what? Yes, eggnog is delicious. But I want to make it to like 60. Walking is good. Like, I just want to be able to like get it together enough to. And so there's just that kind of season.

And we're starting this year with three weeks of Jesus is better than everything else. Where we are just intentionally trying to reevaluate and re-remember what actually matters. What is actually good. What is actually worth pursuing. Reorient our hearts to Jesus. So if you'll grab your Bibles.

Go to Philippians chapter 3. It'll be on page 571. If you have one of the blue Bibles that's in the row. We'll be in Philippians chapter 3. And we'll be in this series for three weeks. And then we will pick back up in Ephesians.

And finish the back half of Ephesians. Kind of in the spring. We have that board that Matt Davis had. That says Jesus is better is right over there. And as we go through this series. It'll be over there.

If you want to write something. If you want to take a picture of yourself. If you want to remind yourself. Holding it like this is what he's better than for me. If that's personal. And you just want to put it on your refrigerator.

So that you see it every day. If you just want to make that the background of your phone. So that you see that every day. That you'll remember. Jesus is actually better than this thing. I'm tempted to pursue.

I'm tempted to love. If you want to share that. You can. You can put it on Instagram. Facebook. That's not really the point.

But if you want other people to know. What he's better than for you. You can do that. But it's intentionally reminding ourselves. That he is good. And he's worth pursuing.

So what we're going to do. Is we're going to read the first 11 verses of chapter 3. We'll talk a little bit about what Paul is saying. The point he's making. And then I just want to pull out a few things. That just kind of flow out of him.

As he makes this point. That I think are very helpful for us. That are core to Christianity. And core to our life with Jesus. So let's pray.

And then we'll read these verses together. God our hearts are deceitful. And they're cluttered. We're pulled in so many directions to go pursue and love other things more than you. And we are often tricked. By hooks that are baited with something that we desire.

But that ultimately lead us to destruction. And so we pray that for these three weeks. And for this time we have this morning. That you'd help us to remember that you truly are better than everything else. We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

So today we're going to be talking about Jesus is better than everything else for me. For me personally. For you personally. That he's better than everything else for you. Next week we'll talk about Jesus is better than everything else for the people in our church family. For the people in my community group.

And then finally last week we'll talk about he's better than everything else for everyone else. That we would be intentional about seeing other people come to know the goodness of Jesus. Philippians 3 verse 1. Finally my brothers rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. So he starts off with finally.

He's wrapping this letter up and he says alright here's my last main point. Like I want this to be impressed in your head. Finally rejoice in the Lord. Verse 2. Look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers.

Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. That's weird. He's going to clarify. That seems like yeah okay. If there are dogs evildoers and flesh mutilators we probably should have our our eyes peeled. He has a specific group in mind.

He's about to tell him for we are the circumcision. Who worship by the spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh. So he had a specific group in mind when he said dogs evildoers and those who mutilate the flesh. He was talking. We figured this out when he says we are the circumcision. So what he's saying is circumcision was a sign that was given to the people of Israel.

It was given to Abraham and it became the covenant Mark of we're in. We belong. And then the law was given. And so they the circumcision began to be just the term they used for those who belong to Israel. Those who belong to the God of Israel and those who followed the law. Well Jesus comes along and Jesus says that he saves by grace.

Meaning that the law was only ever going to teach us how sinful we were. That God's moral rule was only ever going to teach us how pitiful we are. How far short we fall. And then there was a group of people that came along and said okay yes Jesus saves by grace. Yes Jesus was good on your behalf. But also you need to follow the Jewish law.

If you're non-Jewish you need to get circumcised. You need to begin to follow the law. And so what they were saying was it's Jesus certainly plus this other stuff. And so Paul says they're just mutilating the flesh. They're dogs. They're evildoers.

They're leading you away from Jesus. Rather than glorifying him and honoring him and saying that he's accomplished everything. That when he said on the cross it's finished he meant it. They're saying no you need Jesus plus this other stuff. And so Paul goes after it because it stands in the way of Jesus. It robs glory from the cross.

And that's why he says we're the circumcision. We're the true Israel. Those who glorify God and put no hope. No trust in the flesh. In our ability to accomplish this. That's what he's saying.

Four. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh. I have more. He's disarming. Right now he's about to disarm one of the arguments that they would have come back with.

Which was of course you Christians say God saves by grace. And you don't have to follow the law. And the reason is y'all can't get it together. You can't follow the law. Of course you think basketball is stupid. You're uncoordinated.

You can't even dribble. Like that's what they would be following up with. And he just immediately is just knocking that down and saying no. If we wanted to boast in what you want to boast in. I'll win. I'll dunk on you.

I still think basketball is stupid. That's what he's saying. If anyone thinks he has confidence in the flesh. This is the back of verse four. I have more. As to zeal.

Circumcised on the eighth day. Of the people of Israel. Of the tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew of Hebrews. As to the law. A Pharisee.

That's one of the most strict sects inside of Judaism. As to zeal. If you want to say I was a lazy Pharisee. Nuh-uh. As to zeal. A persecutor of the church.

When I found out about this Jesus that you're trying to get in the way of. I started killing people. That's how into being a Pharisee and the law I was. As to righteousness under the law. Blameless. But.

Whatever gain I had. I counted as loss. For the sake of Christ. Indeed I count everything as loss. Because of the surpassing worth. Of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake. I have suffered the loss of all things. And count them as rubbish. Now. I want to tell you one quick thing about Bible translation. Sometimes the Bible uses words.

That good Christian Bible translators aren't comfortable with. Because you know like kids read this. And people tell you like you should. That word rubbish. We don't use the word rubbish. If you're from Australia you might.

But we don't use the word rubbish. You might would say garbage. The word is scubula. Which better translates to crap. Or a less. Appropriate version of that.

A word I'm not really allowed to say from up here. Because people get upset. That. Um. So he just used a really strong word.

The Bible translators hit and go. What's a word that's kind of like that. But that doesn't make our Bible be the one that cusses. And they went with rubbish. Paul used strong language. Because he was making a strong point.

And some of you are like. Do you hear that honey? That's all I'm doing. No. He doesn't do it all the time. Um.

Count them as rubbish. In order that I might gain Christ. And be found in him. Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law. But that which comes through faith in Christ.

The righteousness that's from God. That depends on faith. That I may know him. And the power of his resurrection. And may share his sufferings. Becoming like him in his death.

That by any means possible. I may attain the resurrection from the dead. So what Paul just said. Is that anything that stands in the way of Jesus. Is garbage. That he even would look back on his life.

And the things that he devoted himself to. The things that he poured himself into. That he was zealous for. That he would fight for. Very literally. That once he realized those stood in the way of Jesus.

That they gave glory to him. That they stole glory from Jesus. That anything that would stand in the way. And rob value and worth from Jesus. Because what the law did for Paul. And what the law did for these people when they came in.

And that's why Paul was arguing. Was that the law became a. Here's how I build myself up. Here's how I save myself. And here's how I make myself good. And every time anyone steps in and does that.

They're beginning to say. Jesus has less value. I have a little more. Maybe not more than Jesus. But I got some of it.

I'm adding in a little bit. And Paul says no. It's not Jesus plus anything. It's Jesus. And all the glory. And all the worth.

And all the value go to him. So that anything that stands in the way. Is garbage. Now. Paul's primary point in this passage. Is that you will not earn your own righteousness.

But as he writes this. In that section. As he's writing that. He frames it in this concept. That I just think is so helpful for us. As we think about.

Just the general idea. That Jesus is better. Than everything else. Not just for our salvation. Not just for our righteousness. But that he is genuinely.

Actually. Just better. So I want you to go back up to the first verse. Paul says. Finally my brothers. Rejoice.

In the Lord. Now. He. Quickly. He goes. Rejoice in the Lord.

And then he quickly is like. Look out for the evil people. And it feels like he's changed the topic. But he hasn't. He's telling us. How to rejoice.

He's beginning to give us the idea. Of what rejoicing looks like. Because he bookends it. At the end of this. He says. Stand firm in Jesus.

And then he says. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I'll say. Rejoice. Like he's putting. Our joy.

He's hanging it around the fact. That Jesus saves. By grace. But I want to talk about the word. Rejoice real quick. Most of us.

Don't use that word. You may have sung it. In some Christmas carols. But you don't use it in real life. You weren't like. Oh.

I was at the game. And when he broke free. Got into the secondary. Juke that guy. And ran into the end zone. The entire stadium stood and rejoiced.

You don't say that. You say. We went nuts. It's crazy. But. You don't say.

We rejoiced. Now. The word. Means. To delight in. To be.

Swept up in. To be captivated by. To have deep. Joy. In. So there are things.

That you rejoice in. You don't use the word. But you do it. Maybe some of you. Over this past season. Rejoiced in.

Delighted in. Family. That you look forward to it. Much of our church family is young. Many of you traveled. Traveled.

I don't know how that was. Like Anna. Anna and I. We used to travel together. It was four hours. We hit four hours.

Argument. It's like all we could take. We started listening to books. We don't argue anymore. We just listen. Like I wonder what's going to happen.

With that Harry Potter character. And we just don't argue with each other. But we hit four hours. We start arguing. And I know for some of y'all. You traveled.

And you got there. And then you walked in. To where your family was. And maybe it just melted away. Maybe it was just like. We're out of the car.

I think you're great again. It's Christmas. Let's go. Like I. I don't know. That you rejoice.

And stuff. You spent time with family. Some of us are in the season of life. Where people come to us. For Christmas. Some of you got to.

Spend different time. Maybe you rejoiced in something else. Maybe for you. It was. The second half. Of the Michigan game.

Was rejoicing. The Outback Bowl. Was good. You went and got a blooming onion. For some of you. Maybe it was that you made it.

To the college playoff. Maybe not rejoicing much. After that. But you made it. And the most of the season. Was really good.

It was delightful. Beautiful. I don't know. I don't know what you rejoiced in. Over this past season. But we have things.

That we enjoy. That we look forward to. That we delight in. And I think. If we're honest. For Paul to say.

Delight. In the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Enjoy. Jesus. I think that's harder for us.

I think maybe we trip. Over that. I think. We might go. Yeah. Mmm.

But I'm going to be honest with you. Sometimes it feels easier. To rejoice in. To delight in. Bread that just came out of an oven. Than Jesus.

That I actually know. How to enjoy. Some things. Better. Than I know how to enjoy. Jesus.

Now that's a problem. For a couple of reasons. One is. If I have things. On the regular. In my life.

That I. Pursue. Seek after. Set time aside for. Because I enjoy them deeply. And Jesus isn't one of them.

I've got two primary issues. One is. I'm robbing glory. From Jesus. Because I have a list of things. That are more enjoyable.

Than he is. More delightful. Than he is. And two is. They actually aren't. More enjoyable.

Or delightful. Than Jesus. So I'm robbing myself. Of enjoyment. We're robbing Jesus. Of glory.

And we're robbing ourselves. Of delight. And I want you to see. That by the reason. Paul says rejoice. And then he talks about the cross.

And he talks about. Salvation through Jesus. And he talks about. Righteousness coming through faith. And then he says. Rejoice again.

Is because the purpose. Of the cross. Is joy. God's goal. Was. Joy.

Was. Was. Restoration. Was. Happiness. Was.

Fullness. Was. Completeness. That's why Hebrews 12. Says this. That's why Hebrews 12.

Says this. Looking to Jesus. Jesus. The founder. The founder. And perfecter.

Of our faith. Who for the joy. That was set before him. Endured the cross. Despising the shame. And is seated at the right hand.

Of the throne of God. When Jesus looked at the cross. He looked beyond it. To joy. That the cross. Was the road.

To victory. And joy. The English. And Scottish church. Got together. In 1646.

And they wrote. The Westminster. Shorter. Catechism. Some of you. Just got excited.

Some of you. Were like. What are you even talking about? Some of you. Were like. I don't believe in anything.

Somebody said. I'm like. Just. All it was. Was a doctrinal. Q&A.

For people. Who are trying to grow. In their faith. That it was just a. For those who were young. For you training your children.

For training your family. It was just. That we're going to get together. And write. Some doctrine. Question and answer form.

To just try to help people. Begin to learn. The faith. The first question. They put on there. Was.

What. Is. Man's. Chief. End. That's not how we would say it now.

We would say. What's the point? Why do humans exist? Why are we here? That's what they wrote first. First question.

Why. Why did God make humans? What's the point of humanity? And this is the way they answered it. The chief end of man. Or man's chief end.

Is to glorify. God. And enjoy him. Forever. Because they were reading passages like this. They were seeing where.

The point of the cross. The point of salvation. The point. Of God's rescue. For humanity. Was.

Joy. And enjoyment. Now. If it just said. The chief end of man. Was to glorify God.

I'm ready. I got that. That fits in my head. That he's glorious. That he's holy. And so my goal.

The purpose of my existence. Is to. Bring him glory. But it says. And enjoy him. Forever.

And it's like. Ah. How do you. Enjoy. What does that look like? What does that mean?

John Piper actually steps in. He's a pastor. In the Midwest. And. He's written a lot of theology. He steps in and says.

That actually. You could say. The chief end of man. Is to glorify God. By. Enjoying him.

Forever. That actually. In our enjoyment of God. We display his glory. We display. How good.

He is. You. Were designed. For enjoyment. And pleasure. You know that right?

There's a reason why pain. Is the worst. And pleasure. Is great. This is super simple stuff. You guys.

But that's the way it works. You're designed. To like things. You just are. And there are some things. You just like.

And you naturally think. I like that. I will have some more please. You. Go to a buffet. And you just put a bunch of little things.

On your plate. And that's just your tester plate. My wife's plate. Always looks like a tester plate. This is. No.

This is pre-plate. This is one bite of this. And it's like. Nope. One bite of that. Yep.

And you go back. And your next plate. Is just like three things. In giant mounds. Because you figured out. What you liked.

And didn't like. There is no virtue. In just partaking. In the things you don't like. We naturally do this. I have a two year old.

He naturally does this. And it was really difficult. At our house for a while. Because the way he said. He liked something. Was he would say.

I like it. And the way he didn't like. Say. Say he didn't like something. Was he would say. I like it.

We had to use context clues. So you give him something. He'd go. I like it. You start giving more. And he'd be like.

I like it. It was like. You better calm yourself down. And learn the word don't. Because you're going to have problems. You keep tricking me.

But we're designed. To pursue the things we enjoy. To pursue pleasure. To pursue the things that we like. God put that in us. There is no virtue.

There is no. There's no. Something extra special good. About like. You ever taste something. And think this tastes terrible.

And I will eat that every day. From now on. That I might be more holy. No. You think this tastes terrible. Throw it away.

Get rid of it. I don't know. Feed it to someone else. Who likes it. Like. We get an argument about Moe's.

And Chipotle. Underneath that argument. That has always been assumed. Is the goal. Is enjoyment. The goal is pleasure.

We don't even have to talk about that. I've never once been in that argument. And been like. Wait. Time out. Let's set the parameters.

Are you somehow pursuing. Your own sanctification. By eating dirt. Do you like. Cold chairs. Paying more for.

A dry burrito. In a place where everybody. Makes you feel ugly. Is that the goal. Like we never done that. We just assume.

We're going for enjoyment. We're going for maximization. Of pleasure. Now we can have our argument. That's at the bottom of everything. And God designed that in us.

But then. He stands. And says. I am most enjoyable. I am most pleasurable. I am most to be desired.

That's why. Matthew. Luke. Someone comes to Jesus. And says. What's the greatest commandment?

What's the biggest rule? Some of you rule followers. It's like your favorite. Like your little heart. Best rule. What's the best rule?

What's he say? To love the Lord your God. With all your heart. With all your soul. With all your mind. With all your strength.

To love him. Not obey. Not serve. Those are. Those are in there. They come later.

Love. Primary goal. Love. Now. I will tell you something about love. It is not made more pure.

More beautiful. The highest pinnacle. Apex of love. Love. Is not. Just devotion.

For devotion's sake. It is not just. Obligation. My wife and I. We've been married. Nine years.

I can't mess that up you guys. Nine years. This year. We're going on ten years. I wouldn't stand up here and say. Yeah.

We've only been married about ten years. And so we're really kind of in the JV version of love. Where we still enjoy each other. Where there's still some of. Some of my love is really just that I like her. And I kind of delight.

In our relationship. And I like talking to her. And like we're working. We're working to get to where. We've been married for 30 or 40 years. And it's pure obligation.

Where we display our love. By the fact that we have no enjoyment of one another whatsoever. But we're. We're in it. Because we've made a commitment. Like that's not what love is.

Now sometimes love entails that. There are days that my wife. Continues to love me. And pursue me. Even though she didn't get up. And write in her diary.

Dear diary. Chet was so delightful yesterday. We've moved from one stage of euphoria to the next. Like she did. She. She could stay married.

She could keep fighting. But. The goal of love is that we would delight in one another. That we would enjoy one another. And so when he says. Love the Lord your God.

I don't know how we've somehow. Replace that with. Pursue. Serve. Obey. And taken out of it.

Enjoy. Delight. Run to. Sit with. Speak to. Grow in.

Have this be. One of the things in your life. That you look forward to. That makes everything else good. Makes everything else make sense. Colors everything.

I don't. But that's there. That's the point. It was. Joy was beyond the cross. Not just salvation.

That's why Paul says. Rejoice. You've been saved by grace. Rejoice. Jesus is better than everything else. C.S.

Lewis. When talking about this idea. In his sermon. The Weight of Glory. He says that if you. If you asked 20 people.

What the greatest virtue was. He said he thinks. 19 of them would say unselfishness. They would just say do not be selfish. He said. But if you asked 20 Christians.

From history. They would say love. And he said. What's happened is. We've taken a negative term. To withhold from ourselves.

To not be selfish. And we've replaced a positive term. Which was to look out for the good. Of those around us. He begins to point out. That the Bible.

Doesn't make this. This isn't a Christian virtue. He says. The New Testament. Has lots to say. About self-denial.

But not of self-denial. As an end in itself. So self-denial isn't the point. We are told to deny ourselves. And to take up our crosses. In order that we might follow Christ.

And nearly every description. Of what we shall ultimately find. If we do so. Contains an appeal. To desire. That heaven is good.

That God is loving. That what we read. At the beginning of this. Is that there's pleasures. At his right hand. Forevermore.

He said. If there lurks. In the modern minds. The notion. That to desire. Our own good.

And to earnestly hope. For the enjoyment of it. Is a bad thing. I submit to you. That this notion. Has crept in.

From Kant. And the Stoics. And it is no part. Of the Christian faith. Indeed. If we consider.

The unblushing promises. Of reward. And the staggering. Nature of the rewards. Promised in the gospels. It would seem.

That our Lord. Finds our desires. Not too strong. But too weak. We are half-hearted creatures. Fooling about.

With drink. And sex. And ambition. When infinite joy. Is offered us. Like an ignorant child.

Who wants to go on. Making mud pies. In a slum. Because he cannot imagine. What is meant. By the offer.

Of a holiday. At sea. We are. Far too easily. Pleased. I used to say.

God doesn't care. About your happiness. I'm pretty sure. I said it. From this beautiful. Green carpet.

I don't say that anymore. The point. I was trying to make. Was. And because I was so. Furious.

At everybody. Who says. Well God just wants me. To be happy. So I can just chase.

After this thing. That's right in front of me. I said. God doesn't care about your happiness. And it was really just. I don't.

This. That's not the point. God does. He cares about your infinite joy. Your infinite happiness. So much so that he would go to a cross.

So that you might have it. He doesn't care about this moment. He cares about eternity. Where moments don't even make sense anymore. That his goal. Was our happiness.

In him. That we might rejoice in him. That we might delight in him. That we might enjoy him. Forever. He cares infinitely more.

About your happiness. Than you do. I talk about him a lot. But that's because he takes up. So much of my time.

I have a two year old. And I fight him every day. For his happiness. He fights me for his happiness. That's what we're in a battle over. Because all he can see.

Is that candy will make him happy. And staying up late at night. Will make him happy. And watching that show. I just told him he couldn't watch. Will make him happy.

And I know. That eating just candy. Will make you miserable. And staying up late at night. All the time. Will make you miserable.

And not only will it make him miserable. Make everybody in our house miserable. He shares it with us. I know. That if he throws a fit. And then gets a reward for it.

The only thing he'll learn. Is that having a bad attitude. And being miserable. Is the best way to be happy. Now tell me.

That's not something messed up. So when he starts crying. And throwing a fit. I just will look at him. And say. You better get it together.

Because all fun will die. Everything good. Will leave the world. You won't get that. You won't have this. You'll get spanked.

You'll sit in your room. Until you get it together. The goal is not his misery. The goal is that he would learn. How to enjoy life. And have better things.

And God steps in at times. And says. No. Put it down. Walk away. Get rid of it.

Not because he hates your happiness. But because he wants it so much more infinitely for you. Beyond your ability to understand. So much so that he would die for it. So yes.

Next time your friend says. God just wants me to be happy. High five him. Say thank you so much that you understand the gospel. Now break up with your boyfriend and let's rock on.

I'm so excited that you understand eternity. And the cross. And the pain that Jesus went through. So let's put the bong down. Let's move.

Let's not take that promotion. I'm so proud of you. Because you understand that infinite joy is offered for you. And you don't want to sit and make mud pies in a slump. Let's move to verse 7.

Verse 7. The point of life. The goal of the cross. The purpose. The end of joy. Is that we would know the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.

That we would understand he has surpassing worth. That if you take anything and you put it in the balance. And you put Jesus here. And you put something else here. Jesus outweighs it. He is more valuable.

More enjoyable. More good. You could put everything here. And Jesus will outweigh it. That he has a surpassing worth. And Paul says.

I counted the loss of all things. I count them as garbage. In order that I might gain Christ. And be found in him. If you are a Christian. That's your goal.

And if you are not a Christian. It should be. That one day. You might get Christ. You might get him. That you might be found in him.

Later he says in the same chapter. I don't chase after this to make it my own. I do it because he has already made me his own. That he has already wrapped me up in himself. That he has already claimed me. That he has already taken me.

He already loves me. That he has already taken me. It's one of the things we work hard in. And I get so frustrated in. It's one of the reasons why we talk about. Jesus is better than everything else.

Or why we talk about gospel fluency. For those of you who have been around for a while. We talk about. We talk about Jesus. We do give good news. Before good advice.

Is because Jesus is the goal. He's the hope. He is better. That if you get him. You got it. That everything else can be thrown away.

Everything else can fall. Everything else will fade. Everything else will die. Everything else will fail. But then we might have him.

We've succeeded. We've won. It's ours. This is why I get so frustrated. I've sat in sermons before. And I know people love Jesus.

And they mean well. But there are times where I've sat in a sermon. And I've listened. And the goal was. Work really hard. So that you might gain the perfect spouse.

Spouse is good. It's not the goal. It's not Jesus. Won't redeem you. Won't save you. Won't fix your soul.

This is actually why God set things up in the world the way he did. Here's how it works. Everything in your life. Really needs to fit in one of two categories. It's garbage. Or it points you to Jesus.

It's garbage. Or it gets you more Jesus. When we get off stage. We can use the word other than garbage. It either pulls you away from Jesus. It stands in the way of Jesus.

Or it points you to Jesus. So this is why in the Old Testament. God gave a calendar. He gave feasts. Fast. Festivals.

He gave them times when they would withdraw from food. When they would mourn. When they would rub dirt on their head. Put on uncomfortable clothes. And then he gave them times where they would celebrate. Where they would party.

And he held this very strictly. There's passages in the Old Testament where God says. If you show up to the party late I will kill you. And some of you type A people were like. Yes and amen. I said seven fools.

If you work an extra day. It's going to go bad for you. And here's why. When we take everything off our plate. When we give up something. When we fast from food.

We're doing it to remind ourselves. That Jesus is better than food. That God is more fulfilling. And more satisfying. And guess what? When we feast.

When we enjoy the deep. Flavorful. Savory. Carbohydrate filled. Fat covered. Feast.

We do it to remind ourselves. That Jesus is better than food. That he's savory. That he's flavorful. That he's good. That when we have festivals.

When we celebrate. I love our church. We've got a younger church. We're working on it. If you're not considered younger. Stick.

Help us. Talk to people who. Aren't younger. When they show up. We have a younger church. There's a lot of people getting married.

I love going to weddings. It's a small picture. Of the party. The celebration. That heaven will get to be. This is why.

The Bible says. That Jesus is claiming. A bride for himself. That marriage. Is just a little picture. Of what he's going to get to be like.

It's a sign post. That points up towards him. And if we just enjoy it. As an end in itself. Then we rob from Jesus.

We've got it. Mixed up in our mind. If we just enjoy food. As an end in itself. If we rob from Jesus. But if we use it as a way.

To roll up and praise for him. If the next time you're at a wedding. And it feels like. This is just so good. You remember. It's going to be infinitely better.

When Jesus claims his bride. And the celebration. The celebration will never end. The next time you go hungry. You remember. Yeah.

This hungry reminds me. That there's a gnawing pain. In my soul. That will never be satisfied. Outside of Christ. But that I might give everything up.

That I might gain him. And the next time you enjoy. The most beautifully prepared. Plate of food. You say. Yeah.

This is so it'll roll up. And praise to God. You see. Your friends who don't know Jesus. Will only ever enjoy a steak. They'll only ever enjoy.

A good glass of wine. It'll never roll up in praise. It never goes beyond the table. But Christians get to gather. Around a table. And have it all roll up.

Into eternity. Into a God. Who's more enjoyable. And more delightful. More flavorful. So this is why.

There's some things in your life. That's standing in the way of Jesus. That he's prohibited. And you're saying. No I believe it's better. I believe it has more worth.

And your. Your role. Your job. Your response. Is to get rid of it. It is to break up.

It is to quit. It is to walk away. And this is why sometimes. We're supposed to stay in something. That isn't going very well. Because God tells us to.

And it. The point of it. Isn't. That this will fulfill us. But that ultimately he will.

Some of you long to be married. And marriage is a good gift. That points to Jesus. Jesus. And you may never get married. But you can still get Jesus.

Which was the point of marriage in the first place. Some of you long. To have a child. And maybe that's not going to work out for you. We don't know why this side of eternity. But we do know.

That family. And bloodline. And last names. Are all fulfilled in Christ. That he has better blood. And he's got a better name.

That we might fully partake in one day. Some of you are married. And it is excruciating. But you stay. And you fight. Because you know your marriage is just a signpost.

To the gospel. And Jesus is at work in your heart. That you might one day. Gain him. This is why when we're resting. We rest in Jesus.

And while we're working. We work in Jesus. This is where all the times the Bible is going to say. Do this in Christ. And do this for Christ. Is because all of it is meant.

To point us to him. And if it doesn't. It's garbage. Write it off. Count it as a loss. Get rid of it.

Now. Here's my fear. So we finish up today. Here's my fear. My fear is that for many of us. Hearing that Jesus is better than everything else.

You just go. Yeah. Okay. You'll get in your car. And you'll think he is better. Neat.

And you just go. That's my temptation. After our work on this stuff. Sometimes people will say. Like what did you preach two weeks ago? I'm like.

I don't know. That's why I like doing a whole book series. Something in Ephesians. Nailed it. It's so easy for us. To just say.

Yeah. I knew that. Here's the danger. I want to tell y'all a Bible story. Second Corinthians. Nope.

I'm not going to tell you a story from there. Second Kings. Chapter 17. The Assyrians show up. Nope. That shouldn't be there yet.

Sorry. The Assyrians. Thank you. The Assyrians show up. Gave away the end. The Assyrians show up.

They destroy. And they take captive the people of Israel. And they carry them off to Assyria. And they did this all the time. So then they would take a group of other people from different places.

And they would just put them together. And they took them back down to where they had taken them. From Samaria. And they just put them all back in Samaria. And said y'all live here now. And they did this to destabilize people.

To not have one whole big people group together. They were too worried about getting along with each other. Than trying to lead an uprising. And so they did this. They brought them down there. And so what 2 Kings chapter 17 tells us.

Is that lions started eating people. They were in Samaria. It says they did not know how to worship the Lord. And so he sent lions to eat them. Some of you know the movie Ghost in the Darkness. It was like that.

Terrifying. Some of you don't know what that movie was about. It was about lions eating people. And so they. It's such a big deal. Such a big problem.

That they actually go back to Assyria. They send people to Assyria. And say send us some of the Jewish people. Who used to live here. Because the God of this land does not like us. And we got to figure out what to do.

This is not going well. Lions are eating people. So they send some Jewish people back. They send them some priests. And the priests teach them. How to serve the Lord.

And what it says is. They start. They start serving the Lord. Lions stop eating people. And then it says. But.

None of them quit serving. The gods from their hometown. And it ends with this. So they feared the Lord. But. Also served.

Their own gods. And my fear for us. Is that some of us. Had life. Running into the wall. Had a lot of pain.

Had a lot of problems. And we figured out. How do I begin to worship Jesus? And how do I begin to believe. Some of these things the Bible says. And how do I begin to change some stuff?

But. We still have other things. That we don't mind. Stealing glory from him. We still have other things. That we don't mind.

That when he just faces off against them. He can just lose in these three categories. These can be more glorious. And more enjoyable. And more delightful. And more lovely.

And I can pursue them. Over and against what he says. And I can pursue them. Over and against who he is. And I can give them. Surpassing worth.

Over Jesus. As long as I mostly. Am here. We lie about Jesus. We rob ourselves of joy. And we sin.

We lie about Jesus. So. How do we cultivate a delight for Jesus? Well you make time for the things you enjoy. Sometimes you get less time. Sometimes it feels harder.

But you make time for the things you enjoy. You're going to see the new Star Wars movie. Eventually. You'll figure it out. You're going to find a time to sit. You're going to find a time to play video games.

You're going to find a time to read a book or to sit, whatever it is that you enjoy, you make time for. And so that's what always, whenever we say, just so you know, when you say, I really don't have time to pray. I really don't have time to read the Bible. I just really hadn't had time for our community group. All you have really articulated is I don't enjoy it that much. I don't think it's that glorious.

I don't really think Jesus has surpassing worth. And that should scare you and that should draw you into figuring out how to actually enjoy him. What I'm not saying is that you need to pretend that Jesus has surpassing worth. What I am saying is you need to enjoy the fact that he does. That actually spending time with him is your best spent time. That working towards him is how work was meant to be done.

That parenting in a way that is for him and in him is how parenting was meant to be done. So I would argue, I would say, first step, make some time. And I will tell you that it will be awkward at first. It's like a first date. First date is, I'm hoping you're not a terrible person. I suggest people get coffee for their first date.

If it's good, get a second cup. If it's bad, chug it and say, this was great. Well, my coffee's done. Bye. And sometimes reading your Bible, sometimes praying, sometimes you're going to have to get with someone else to help you do that. You're going to need to talk with someone in your community group and say, help me study the Bible.

Help me learn how to do this. And sometimes it's going to feel awkward. But the point is that the more you get to know Jesus, the more he'll matter, the more you'll see his glory, the more captivated you'll be, the more lovely he is. And you are wrong if you think, if I spend time doing that, I won't actually find anything glorious about him. You haven't met the Jesus I know. He is infinitely glorious.

He has surpassing worth. We just got to find the time to get around him and enjoy it. Jesus is better than everything else for you. He just is. And he's invited us into his goodness and his glory and joy so much so that he died for us to welcome us, to belong to him. The band's going to come back up.

The way we're going to respond right now in reminding ourselves and partaking in the goodness of Jesus is that you are a Christian. We're going to take communion.

The Incarnation

The Incarnation

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. This is our Christmas gathering. We finished up our three-week Give Series this past week. And so what we do in our Give Series, we spend some time talking about generosity and how we ought to think about and handle money. And so I got kind of a report on our Give project and how some things went. So we threw a party with Midtown Two Notch.

And so what we did was we had three kind of aspects of our Give project. We were going to gather gifts to give to the children in the neighborhood, in the Two Notch area, the Pinehurst area, so that they could. The plan was, and this is not how it worked out. I'll explain how it worked out in a second. But the plan was that parents would be able to come.

We would distract the children with shenanigans and s'mores. We would stuff them full of chocolate, make them jump on a bounce house, let them see Santa Claus. And parents would get to go pick out gifts for the children to be able to have at Christmas. And so you can see in the background the bounce house. We actually went over to Midtown Two Notch's area and made a Christmas kind of shop. And so this is one of the rooms that we set up with all the gifts that y'all, our church kind of gathered together and brought over here.

If you were to turn back the other way, there's the other side of the room that looked like that. But the whole room was just filled with toys. It was really cool to see. And so parents were going to get to go in there and pick out gifts while their children were on a bounce house. And while we were giving them s'mores, we had a whole s'more set up. And it was actually really cool because a lot of the adults that ended up coming out had never had a s'more.

And so we got to coach them up on how to do that and how to make them. And it's really fun to get to watch a 30-year-old take a bite of a s'more and look at like, it's like, yeah, you've missed out on a lot, man. Like, yeah, your whole life, this is simple and you've missed out, you know. But we were able to do that. But here's what happened.

We learned a thing. And I think Midtown Two Notch learned a thing. So we came to them and asked them what they wanted us to do. They said they wanted us to throw this party. They wanted to gather gifts. They wanted to empower parents to be able to give gifts to their children.

And so we said, yeah, that sounds great. And so they said that's going to be a secret, though. And they sent out flyers and they kept it a secret on the flyer. But the problem was if it's that good of a secret, the parents don't know. So we had a pile of children showing up with no adults.

And so about 30 minutes in or something, the Midtown guys come around and they're like, hey, change of plans. We're giving gifts to children right now because we're not sending kids home without getting something. And if their parents aren't coming, we don't know how to fix that. And we were like, fine, sounds good. So they got to go in and see Santa Claus.

And so some of our people showed up early and set up a whole big Santa Claus area and made it look really beautiful. The only thing that was borrowed, I think, was chairs. Everything else was brought in and set up and made amazing. And so Santa Claus got to sit right there. And kids got to go see Santa Claus. And then they got to immediately go pick out a gift.

We had kids coming out with gifts. And they were like, I'm going to keep playing on the bounce house, but I'm going to go home first. We had some kids go home. They said, they were like, I'm going to open one now and I'm going to save one for Christmas. And there was these two boys. They were brothers.

Open one now. Save one for Christmas. That's a great idea. And they came back and they said, Grandmama said, we've got to save both of them for Christmas. I was like, all right, man, hop in the bounce house. That's a good idea.

Your grandmama ain't wrong. But the kids did really enjoy getting to see Santa Claus. Some had a wonderful time getting to see Santa Claus. Some of them not as good a time. But she ended up fine.

She and Santa Claus ended up getting along. But what we were able to do was give gifts to children and spend some time with them and just kind of love on them. And there was a lot of children. I remember there was a lot of children, you guys. And at one point I was like, okay, how are we doing? I looked at my watch.

The party was from 2 to 5. I looked at my watch. It was 2.20. I was like, I've got to quit looking at my watch. It's going to be a long day. I've got to just be happy, smile, walk around.

We had a really good time. And before we left, Mark Shingler, one of the leaders over at Midtown Two Notch, grabbed Raz by his collar. And he said, Mill City Church made a difference in Pinehurst today. And Raz was like, okay. And he said, no. You need tomorrow to tell them, Mill City Church, tell your church family y'all made a difference.

This was huge. And so they were very excited and got to have conversations with parents. And one of the cool things was, some kids were there. As soon as we said, hey, we're giving out gifts, they left. They were coming over to me saying, we're meeting people who live in this neighborhood we've never met. Because I'm meeting kids and parents and saying, hey, where are y'all from?

They're saying the neighborhood. It's like, oh, okay. So we hadn't gotten to meet these people, but as soon as we were able to do this, they started showing up. And so it was a really cool thing to be able to do. And just really excited that we got to be a part of that and see how Jesus worked through y'all. It's a fun thing.

The other part of our Give project was that we wanted to raise support for Aunt Frederick. Because he has to consistently raise support to be full-time in that area, which is a lower resourced area. It's high poverty, high crime, low education levels. They have to raise support all the time for him to be able to be full-time there. And so we just said we wanted to join in on that for our Give project. We wanted to not only give gifts.

We needed to do that first, but then we wanted to raise money. And so, so far, and we're still, you can give today towards the Give project by the envelopes that go in the box. Or you can give online if you do the drop-down tab that says Give. You can do that today. And through the middle of this week or so, we'll still be taking Give donations online. When you get online and click the little drop-down and there's no more Give drop-down, we have written a check.

We are done taking money, raising money for Give. We have so far raised about $5,500. So $5,500 will go towards his salary. That's exciting. We should be happy about that. $5,500 will be money he doesn't have to raise. And we're still raising some money.

And so we'll be able to, at the beginning of the year, say, here was the final amount that went on a check. That we just said, hey, we love y'all. We love what y'all are doing. And we want you to be able to keep doing it. And so really, really exciting, really encouraging. And so what we're going to do today, we have our Christmas gathering today.

And then we have our worship night this Thursday. And so we're going to study in the book of John this morning. So grab your Bibles, go to John chapter 1. And here's what we're going to do. We're going to look at what John has to say about Jesus coming. There was a famous author who was talking about her remembering her first journalism class.

And she was in high school. And her journalism teacher gets up and says, all right, I want to teach y'all how to write a lead. And a lead is the headline of a story. So the way a good newspaper article works is that the main thing that you need to get is in the headline. That's the information. Most good news articles do not work like internet things where they're like, you won't believe what this article has to say.

The third paragraph is going to be amazing. Like, they don't do that. That's not how news works. It gives you the information you need at the beginning. And then it works its way down so that the last sentence is the least important sentence. That's the way they're supposed to work.

So he's teaching them how to write a lead, which is, this is the main point of what we're talking about. And so he says, all right, I want y'all to write your first lead. He says, here's the information. This is the story you're going to write your headline for. Next Thursday, Principal Williams, so they're in high school, Principal Williams, is taking the faculty and staff to a symposium in the state capitol where they will train for the entire day. And he starts listening to the main speakers.

And everybody's writing down all the information, you know, who, what, when, where, why. They're writing it all down. And he says, now I want you to write your headline. So all the students sit out. They type out their first headline. They get it up.

They turn in their sheets. And she said that he took them and he flips through them really quickly and says, nope, none of y'all did this correctly. The headline is, no school next Thursday. That's the headline. He said everybody was just writing regurgitated parts of that information. He said, you missed the point.

And so what we're going to look at in John chapter 1, John was the last gospel to be written. Matthew, Mark, and Luke have already been written. And Matthew and Luke spend time talking about the birth of Jesus and give us some of the information about it. From Matthew, we learned that there were wise men that came, magi that had studied the stars and came. And we hear the story about them having to run to Egypt to escape the fact that King Herod is trying to kill all the children that were born in that area. From Luke, we learn about John the Baptist's birth and the fact that Jesus and John are cousins.

And we get all of this stuff and all these stories that go along with it. And we learn all the things that we celebrate and we put in the nativity. And John gives us none of that. John just says, no school on Thursday. Like he just cuts right to why all of that matters. What actually happened?

What was the main point of Jesus coming? And so that's what we're going to look at today. So on Thursday, we'll get to read some of the birth story and some of the stuff that we look at a lot at Christmas. Today, we're going to look at John where he just cuts right to here's what happened when Jesus came. So that for us, as we try to in this season, when everyone feels like they have a little too much to do, a little too much going on, a little bit too much pressure, a little bit too much weight, and it can easily get cluttered.

But we're just going to focus in on why the incarnation, why Jesus' birth, why his coming to earth matters. Just for a little while to be encouraged today, to be reminded today of the miracle that God was born as a human. And so let's pray for our time. And then we'll begin looking at John together. Father, I pray that as we study this this morning, that you would help it sink into our hearts. That we wouldn't just be reminded of things we already know, or we wouldn't just get to learn something new, but that it would become real to us so that we might actually worship.

So that today, our gaze might be turned to you. And we might grow a little more in awe of your goodness. And that as we go the rest of this week or so into Christmas, and as we celebrate with friends and family, and in all the different ways we're going to celebrate, that we might have a better handle on why we're celebrating, and why it matters. We ask for your help in this, in Jesus' name. Amen. John 1, verse 1.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. So that's the first two verses. That's what he says. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

Now, when this was passed out as a gospel of John, people at this point would have known that he's talking about Jesus. He gets down there in a couple of verses and says, this is Jesus Christ. So most people would have known, this is who I'm reading about, this is what's going on. And so he begins with, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Now, that's kind of confusing, but what he's saying was, when he says in the beginning, he's immediately making us remember that's how the Old Testament begins. That's how Genesis starts.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so when John starts his gospel off with, in the beginning, what he's saying is, that beginning you already know about from Genesis, that's the beginning I'm talking about. And Jesus was there. As the divine Word of God, Christ was there. And so what he says was, Jesus was with God. So the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Now, as we believe in a Trinitarian God, that God is one God who exists eternally in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, that's what John's talking about. It's confusing, but that's what he's saying, that he was with God as the Son of God, and that he was God as God the Son. So Jesus, the preexistent Creator, was in the beginning, and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. My son is about to be three. He goes to a preschool that's like a Christian preschool at one of the churches down the road. And one day he just started asking me, he would be like, Jesus made this?

And he just pointed at the thing. And I'm great at that game, you guys, because I know John chapter 1, that disappeared, but it's still in your Bibles. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. John says that really confusingly, but he's making a point. It's just like when your mom says, I'm the only one who ever cleans around this house, and then doubles down on it and says, Not one single thing that has ever been cleaned in our home has been cleaned by anyone but me. So what are you doing?

All things were made through him, and without him was not one single thing. He's driving that point home that Jesus, this divine Word of God, was in the beginning and created everything. And so when you play with a three-year-old that did Jesus make this game, the answer is yes. We're walking down the road. He's like, Jesus made that tree? Yes.

That's an easy one, you guys. Trees? Yes. He pointed at a basketball goal. Jesus made that? And I was like, ah, yes.

Because all the things that were made were made when Jesus made them. Later, some people formed it into a basketball goal. But they're made. Now, at some point, he's going to be like, well, then why does my shirt say made in China? And I'll be like, who made China? I'm ready, you guys.

He made everything. It also says he was in the beginning with God. So this word is personal and masculine. He's getting to, it's Jesus. So verse 4.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. So the first thing that John tells us is that God has come. That it's God himself. When he gets to Jesus has joined us, he plants his foot. He makes it clear that this was divine, preexistent, eternal creator of all things that I'm talking about.

The eternal God is who I'm talking about. And then he says, and I love verse 4 and 5 because it's drenched with hope. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. I love that the creator of the world, and I'm assuming when he created light and darkness, he did this on purpose. Designed it the way he designed it so that he might later say, I am light, and we would understand what he's talking about.

Light always wins. Darkness cannot overcome light. You've never been in a place that was so dark that you couldn't see your hand, and when you turned your flashlight on, the darkness was just so thick it swallowed your flashlight. That's not how it works. That light always wins. And so when he says that in Jesus was life, and that life was the light of men, and the light has come into the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it, there's an immediate call to hope and joy in the coming of Christ.

That he brings life, and he brings a light that cannot be conquered. I love also how clearly that works in our mind when we think about darkness. That we would say to someone, yeah, man, it's just been, I'm going through a really dark time. It's been a really dark year. And nobody's ever responded to you like, what, you need like halogen bulbs? Everybody knows immediately what you're talking about.

It's been hard. It's been rough. It's been sad. It's been dismal. I can't see, but a foot in front of my face, like I don't know where I'm going. And the promise that we have at Christmas is that there is a light that brings life in Jesus that the dark times can't overcome.

That no amount of sin, and no amount of shame, and no amount of brokenness, and no amount of pain, and no amount of lies, and no amount of anything can overcome what's brought to us in Christ. Verse 6. We're going to read verse 6, 7, and 8 fairly quickly, because John is not talking about Jesus. He's talking about John the Baptist. So, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. So, John's just saying, John, the author John, is talking about John the Baptist, not the same guy. And he says, this guy came to proclaim and point to Jesus. He wasn't Jesus. He's not the light, but he came to point to him so that we might believe in the light. Then keep going, 9.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. So, what this is saying is that God, the creator God, who made everything, in eternity past, when he started time and began everything rolling, he created everything. And then he comes to the world that he created, and the world didn't recognize him.

Which is just baffling, but it's also amazingly beautiful to see how God humbled himself, that he would fit in. Like, that's, every little new show about an alien that comes to earth, or a robot, the whole funny part is that they don't really fit. Like, they're just weird, and they do, all the hijinks ensues when they do things that only an alien would do. And we're like, oh, this is, Jesus comes, and he's a builder for 30 years? Nobody notices? Like, even his parents, who had the angels come, and all the things happen, when he starts going and preaching, they show up, and they're like, hey, you need to come home, like, you're not, oh, I don't know what you're doing right now.

And how much honor God gives to humanity by joining us, it's, it's, it's baffling and beautiful that he would, that he would become one of us and fit in with us. And there are some things where he consistently, as we read the gospel, says some things that only someone who's existed for eternity and is God would say. Like, I'm God. And all the things we just talked about with how he talks about money and everything, but there are, it's just so honoring and beautiful that he would join humanity and live as a human, that he didn't just float down here, that he didn't just light up when he walked around, that, that he didn't, you know, he, he had feet, he had to walk places, he gets tired.

We get stories of him taking naps and eating food, that he joined us. The world didn't recognize him. It says he came to his own people, and his own people did not receive him. That's the Jewish people, that Jesus was Jewish, and he comes as the Jewish Messiah, and the Jewish people reject him. Because he turns their system upside down, and he calls them to something different, and they don't receive him. Verse 12.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So what he's saying is that it was God's will that all who would believe in Jesus would be welcomed into his family, would become children of God. And so at this point, John is continuing to just say, here's, here's the point, here's the reason he came, so that God became human. He joined us, he came into the world, and he came into the world so that all who would believe in him would become children of God.

That at Christmas we celebrate that God was reclaiming his children. That he was broadening his family. That what he had created in the beginning to be a beautiful relationship between humanity and himself, and had been broken by sin. That at Christmas, Jesus is coming, born into the world that he might claim those in the world to be his children. All those who would believe. And so that's why at Christmas, as you get to, over the next week or so, we get to celebrate family, and we mourn family.

That's what happens at Christmas. That at Christmas, and during this season, we celebrate family. And for some of us, it's like, you have those moments when you're like, this is just right. And it's just a moment. You have this moment where you're like, oh, this is what it's supposed to be like. And then it's gone.

Because your mother-in-law says something, and your uncle does something, or one of your nieces or nephews smacks your kid. Like, whatever. Like, there's this moment where you're like, oh, happy family. And then you're like, okay, that's enough. But we also mourn family, so that there's moments over the next week or so that are going to be very painful.

As we miss loved ones, or as we feel like we're missing out, or that something is missing in life and in relationships. And one of the beautiful things about Christmas is that Jesus came to invite all those who would believe in him into his family. That he's the son of God who wants brothers and sisters. He's the good older brother who comes to rescue and redeem those who've wondered, so that we might all call God the Father, Father. And we might all join his table. And so, as you, over the next week or so, get to celebrate with family, remember that all the beautiful parts of that point you towards your ultimate family.

And as you, over the next week or so, mourn, and have places in your heart that just feel broken, that just feel empty, remember that that longing and that brokenness will never actually be filled up here, but is meant to call you towards something that will be able to fulfill it. something that is eternal and is joy-bringing, that Jesus Christ came so that you might be his brother or sister and children of God through belief in his name. 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. So this divine creating Word that was God and was with God, becomes human, dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

15. John bore witness about him and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. Verse 16. For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Christ. This is the main point of the incarnation. This is the crux of it. This is what he's getting at. That the eternal God who created everything joins us in humanity, puts on flesh, and that from him we receive grace. So here's grace.

Grace is receiving something good that you do not deserve. If we can go ahead and have 16 and 17 up, we'll spin. That from his fullness we've all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. That we receive what we don't deserve.

We receive something good that we have not earned. That it's a gift. That it's something applied to our account that we haven't gotten. One of the ways that we've talked about this before is that when you have sin in your life, a lot of times we feel like Jesus comes and he cleans our slate. Then he hands it back to us and says, Okay.

Keep it together. That's not grace. Grace is that he takes our slate and hands us his. And if he had not come, if he had not been born, he can't do that. You see, what it says here is so helpful. It says, For the law was given through Moses.

Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The law is the Old Testament law that was given to the people of Israel. That was Moses. A cloud comes down on the mountain. And Moses goes up and he meets with God. And he comes down with tablets.

And then later he writes out the rest of what God says. And what it was was, Here are the things that we have to do to be God's people. Here are the things that we have to do to be treasured, to be loved, to remain where he is. And the truth is that every philosophy and every belief system can only ever give us what the law gave the people of Israel. Here's the way to think. Here's the way to live.

Here's what you have to do to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be a good person, to have God love you, to be moral, to be free. That's everything we have. It can only ever give us advice. It can only ever tell us how to live and what to do. It cannot give us grace. Jesus coming as a human is what offers us grace.

My grandparents were missionaries in Nigeria, West Africa. And so they were in areas where they would have to travel. There were times where my granddad would ride a bicycle with vaccinations. He was a doctor and they did medical missionaries and they would ride and they would give vaccinations. They would deliver babies. They did a lot of different things.

But they also, because the church was growing in that area, they would do conferences and they would do trainings. And so my granddad was going to be speaking at a WMU training in West Africa. And the WMU is the Women's Missionary Union. I was going to say alliance and I was like, that's an A. It's the Women's Missionary Union. And so they were, all the WMU people in that area, all the ladies were going to be coming to this thing.

He was going to go speak. And so he's riding in West Africa down one of the roads in the middle of nowhere. And there are two seasons in that area in Nigeria. There's the dry season and the rainy season. It was the rainy season. And so he's riding, sloshing through mud and muck on this lonely road by himself.

And then he gets a flat tire. And so he's sitting in his car, rain pouring down. It's muddy and terrible outside. And he's wearing his suit that he's going to go speak in. And he's trying to decide what he needs to do. In the middle of nowhere, he has one suit.

He's got to go speak in it. Strips down to his underwear, climbs out of the car. And gets in the mud and begins changing this tire. One of the things that is nice about being out in the middle of nowhere in this area in West Africa is that you can do these things. You can take your suit off so you don't get it muddy and climb out in your underwear and work on a car. If you did this on Highway 26, I don't know how well that would work out for you.

I mean, you could go for it, but probably not great. One of the bad things about being in the middle of nowhere in West Africa is that you're on one of the only roads. That's heading to the place that you're heading to. So while he's in the middle of changing this, he hears a vehicle coming and he looks. And it's not just one vehicle. It's several vehicles.

Actually, several vans filled with WMU ladies headed to the conference. He stands up. He looks at them. And he sees faces he recognizes. People are looking at him as they're driving through the mud. And he just stands in his underwear.

He's like, ah. And they go on. And he changes his tire. And he puts on his suit and heads on to the conference where, you know how sometimes they'll say, like, if you're public speaking, you should picture people. I think it worked the opposite that day. Like, they were picturing him in his underwear.

It was probably hard for them to listen as he opened the Bible and taught them things. But all other belief systems, all other philosophies just tell us what to do. And in the gospel, we're met with a God who stripped himself down, humiliated himself to get dirty to fix the problem. We're met with a God who is born as an infant. Now, think about this for a second. God is infinitely useful.

That all that he thinks and does immediately works out. That he works everything out beautifully to his will. There's that Christmas song. We sang it with, we sang it last night as we were putting Archer to bed, but it says, the cattle were lowing, the baby he wakes, but the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes. Like he's some sort of an infant, but he's also perfectly a God in the middle of that. And so he would just wake up and be like, hmm.

But that's not what happened. He cried. He wept. He had to grow in wisdom and stature. He fell down. He skinned his knees.

He had to clip his toenails. He had to cut his hair. He humiliated himself. Babies are cute, but useless. They're cute. But they don't accomplish much.

They're not pulling their weight. And the infinite God, who's infinitely useful, stripped himself to join us in the darkness, in the pain, in death, that he might share his life, and his light, and his hope, so that we might be free. That's what we celebrate at Christmas. That he stripped himself down and joined us in the mess, and that everything else is just going to give us law. Everything else is just going to say, here's what you have to do to be good, but from his fullness, we have received grace upon grace. That's the gospel.

That we believe that from Jesus' fullness, we receive grace upon grace. That he is a fountain that overflows, and it's not because he's lacking, but because he has so much that he shares with us. That's our hope in Jesus. That's what we believe. That's why we gather. That's why we celebrate Christmas.

Not that Jesus has given us law to teach us how to be full, but that we might believe in his name, and from his fullness, we receive grace. That he earned what we could not earn, that he accomplished what we could not accomplish, that he did for us what we could not do for ourselves, and that we trust in Jesus, and he gives us his fullness. We believe that he's strong, and he's smart, and he's good, and he's righteous, and he's holy, and that we get to be all of those things through grace from his fullness that's given to us. So it says, the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

So grace is that Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves, that he joined us in humanity and offered us something that cannot be offered to you anywhere else, that he would do the work on your behalf, and then it says we receive truth. Jesus later in this gospel is going to say that he is truth, so that we get him, but I want to share one of the truths that I think is clearly shown to us in Jesus' birth, that God would become a human. One of the truths that I think becomes so clear. Have you ever lied a lot and had to keep building off of your other lie, and you have to kind of reconnect things, and because you're not in reality anymore, so you have to just keep tying lies together.

My brother and I were in high school, and we were at a friend's house, and he wanted to show us a shotgun, so he walked into the room and fired it into the ceiling because he had done none of the things that you were supposed to do if you're going to show someone a gun. After that, when he's like, hey, you want to say, no, no, don't want to be around you in a weapon. You're terrible. But he walks in the room and a group of people and just shoots it into the ceiling and then was like, oh, and he was like, it's not supposed to be loaded. It's like, what's that not supposed to be loaded? Your finger, what was your finger on the trigger?

It's not supposed to have a safety. Go, go away. Like, but what we did, because we're kind, is we went to our house and got some stuff and fixed his ceiling, which was in his parents' room. We actually, Logan did this, but he patched the ceiling and then we took white out and drew little dots because we didn't have the little bubbly stuff, but we tried to make it look like it had some contour and we did pretty good. And then we all came up with, like, here's what happened this evening. And we just kind of, you know, just omit the thing in the middle and some of the story didn't quite make a whole lot of sense, but we were just like, we got it.

And so then we proceeded to just lie about this for a while. And then my parents say, Logan, check, come in this room. That's my dad. That's my mom. You know, if y'all could tell. We walk in the room and that was never like a, hey, y'all come in this room.

It was never like you walked in and they were like, we got pie. Like it just was never, you could tell the tone. You're walking in the room immediately. Like, it's just like you hear that voice guilt, just like you put a blanket of guilt on. You start walking in, you're going, okay, hold on a second now. And you're trying to think, what did I do?

When did I do that? Maybe it's mostly Logan. Maybe it was a thing he did. And I just get to be like, yeah, it wasn't me. You walk in, you know, you don't know you're going to walk in. He's holding a can of dip.

Like, you don't know what you're walking into. You're just walking in. And so you walk in and they were like, um, they started asking a few questions about this event. And we were both like, you know, there's this moment where you're looking at your brother like, I don't, are we, we stick into our thing? Like, am I going to mess you up? If I like, what do we do here?

But you also have a pretty good understanding if they're asking questions about this, they maybe have some information that you didn't want them to have. And so we're sitting there and we kind of like, well, you know, being mumbly. And then my dad just kind of with the truth and it really felt like we had had this elaborate system and that once truth hit it, it just kind of cut through like a stick through a, through a cobweb. I could just immediately, once truth hits lies, the lies just fall all apart. And so he was like, what about this? And we were like, oh yeah, no, yeah, that's a good point.

And it ended up not being too bad because we were just helping our friend out. Like, he didn't know at this point who had done what with what weapon that caused their roof to leak. We didn't think about that part. Yep. We didn't caulk their roof. So anyway, we, and honestly, when it says that grace and truth came through Jesus, it feels like the God of the universe took truth and he just broke right through time and history and space and he just landed so clearly.

I want to share some reality and just brought it down. And here's the truth at Christmas that needs to seep into our souls. The sheer fact that the eternal creator God humbles himself to become a human so that he might live a relatively short life to die a brutal, painful death on a cross declares definitively, eternally, that you were not going to get this together on your own. That the law that was given to Moses was insufficient as are all other rules and philosophies that say, you need this to be okay. That he came as a rescuer because we needed to be rescued. And for any of us who are saying, I'm going to be moral, I'm going to be good, I'm going to live a right life, all we are saying is, I definitively reject Jesus.

That's why it says that those who would believe in his name would be welcomed in. That we believe and trust in him and him alone and what he has accomplished, not our good works, not our morals, that we trust in him definitively have been declared that we need a savior, that we need someone to do this on our behalf and that we trust in him and from his fullness, we receive grace upon grace. That's what we sing about. That's what we celebrate at Christmas. That we have a God who loved us so much that he would send his son, that he would join us in humanity, humble himself, that he might do for us what we could not accomplish for ourselves.

And I pray and I hope that all of that was stuff you already know and believe and trust in and hope in and that maybe just a little bit of this today reminds us to focus on that and to have his light shine into the middle of this darkness and have his life buoy us and call us into hope and that we might remember again that it's not about our works and it's not about our effort but it's about what he's accomplished for us. That from his fullness we might receive grace. And if that's the first time you've heard it, the first time you've really thought about it, I want you to know that you can trust in his name. You can place everything on the name of Jesus so you can believe in what he's done and from his fullness you will be made full and you will receive grace and you will be given hope and you'll be invited into what happened in that moment a long time ago when a little baby was born in a podunk town in Judea that ended up being the light of the world and the hope for all humanity.

A band's going to come back up and we're going to celebrate today. We're going to remind ourselves of this and walk in this as we take communion. So communion is a celebration of the meal that Jesus had with his disciples the night before he was going to go to the cross and he takes a cup and he says, this is my blood shed for you and he takes bread and he breaks it and he says, this is my body broken for you and he says, do this in remembrance of me that as often as we do this that we would proclaim Jesus' death until he comes. You see, right now we get a communion meal. We get a meal that looks forward and backward.

We get a meal that looks back to Jesus' death and looks forward to his coming. And then when he comes we get a wedding meal. We get a consummation meal. We get invited to an eternal celebration where God the Father welcomes all his children home. And so today I want us as we take communion to do exactly that. I want us to look back and I want us to look forward.

I want us to hold the realness of the bread. Feel it. And realize that Jesus took on flesh. He became tangible for us to see and touch and hear that he was broken and that he bled so that from his fullness we might be made full. That we need him today. So if you're a Christian and you're part of our church family we invite you to pray.

We invite you to repent where you need to. Spend time with Jesus and then during this next song as they sing when you get ready come up take the bread dip it in the cup. Remembering that Jesus died for you and looking forward to the day when light fully pierces the darkness. And we're taking home to belong to him forever. Lord, let's pray. Let's pray.

God, we thank you for your grace. Thank you for your goodness towards us that through you we can be made full. And we ask that over the next week or so as we celebrate Christmas with friends, family as we walk through this season whether it's joy filled or mournful that we might remember the hope and the truth and the grace that we have in you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Lifetime Generosity

Lifetime Generosity

Spencer Cary

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm a pastor in training here with Mill City Church. We're going to be in 2 Corinthians 9 today, which is on page 563, if you have a white Bible. If you do not have a Bible, please take that home. That is our gift to you.

We are currently in our gift series. If you're new here, we do this gift series every year. It's a time for us in a culture that pushes possessions and material things all year, and it really heightens up right now. This is a time for us every year to reset and be reminded with the Bibles how it talks about money, how it talks about generosity, so that we can kind of reset and remember what the Bible teaches on it. So we're going to be in 2 Corinthians.

We'll get to that in a second. In seminary, I worked at a coffee shop. And this time every year in December was the best time to work at a coffee shop. It was my favorite time for a lot of different reasons. Firstly, this was the time of year that people, this is the season of generosity, that people would do one of those things where we had a coffee shop with a drive-thru, and the person at the drive-thru would say, I want to pay for the person behind me. And they'd start a chain.

You ever seen those or heard of those? So the person would pay for the person behind them, and then the next person would get really, really excited, and they'd say, oh, I've always wanted to be a part of one of these. I'll pay for the next person, the next person. The reason why I love this was because eventually someone was going to come up, and it was going to get awkward. And I just love to let awkward situations just simmer, let it go for a little bit. So someone's going to come up, and they're going to get a small coffee, which is like $2.

And then they're going to pay for the person behind them, and the next person, they're going to have the small coffee, and they're going to go, okay, well, that person paid for me. That's really cool. Like what? What did the next person get? I was like, well, they bought coffee for the office. Five drinks, all large, with espresso shots, $25.

And they would go, okay, and I just let it sit for a second. And eventually they'd either say like, I guess I'll do it, like reluctantly, or they'd just say, I can't do it. That was fun. That was a big part of December. Another big part of December, because this season, just a generous season, was you made more tips. This was the time of the year you could make the most tips.

So people would be dropping extra change in, extra dollars. I mean, this is the time of year that you would make the most money. And then January came. And when January came, it was like the holiday hangover. Everyone's 10 pounds heavier. They just got their credit card bills from December.

And they're like, how did this just happen? And then generosity culturally just goes to die in January. And that's kind of the cycle every year. It picks back up right around December. Remember, nonprofits that raise money for the next calendar year, they know this is the time of year where you're going to get the most donations. This is the time where you fundraise.

Like Giving Tuesday wasn't even a thing five years ago. And now, like the first Tuesday in December, there's a huge push because this is the time when people are culturally generous. So what I have for us today is to look at the season that we're in. To look at the season we're in and ask, do we want to be like the culture where generosity is just seasonal? Or do we want generosity to be a part of the regular fabric of who we are? Because the Bible calls us to regular generosity.

So as we take on this gift project, as we take on this gift series, I want to cast a vision for us that we might grow past this season. Because regular generosity is a Mark of maturity in the Christian life. And we're going to look at 2 Corinthians 9 today in verses 6 through 10. And we're going to see the vision he puts forth for this. We're going to see why it's good and give some practicals how we can actually get there. So I'll read it.

And then we'll dive in. Verse 6. I'll pray and we'll dive in. God, thank you for your word. Thank you that you speak tough truth to us. Money is such a difficult subject to grapple with because it's so connected to our heart.

God, I pray that you would help us put down our swords, that we would receive this, that you would speak powerfully to us and give us a vision for long-term generosity. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so. All right, so.

The context for 2 Corinthians here. All right, so. The context, if we go back to chapter 8. Paul is doing basically two chapters of expanding the Corinthian church's vision for generosity. And what he does in chapter 8, the beginning of chapter 8, is he gives an example. He gives an example of another church that's called the Church of Macedonia.

So this Macedonian church heard there was a need. There was a need amongst some of the churches in Jerusalem who were struggling. And the Macedonian church, he upholds this church as an example. This church being, we know from the context, being fairly poor. They didn't have a whole lot. And they responded in generosity in a big way.

He says in verse 3 of chapter 8, he says, for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. So this church didn't have a whole lot. They were begging to take part that they might be able to contribute to help this church. So he walks through that in chapter 8. He gives this example. And then we get to verse 6 in chapter 9 when he says, the point is this.

Meaning he's laying out the why behind all this. The point is this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So he uses this language of reaping and sowing.

It's agricultural language that they would be familiar with. So in their culture, every year when they would harvest grain, they would bring in grain that they would use for bread. And if they ate all the grain at once for that year, they'd starve the next year. That's not how you farm. You have to set aside grain for the future, for future harvest. If you didn't have grain to plant for seeds for next year, you were not going to have grain for future harvest.

This language is built off of that. They might give to something in the future that will reap something, that will sow, that you'll reap something later. Now, prosperity preachers, they will hijack this passage. And they'll say, you see, if you give to our ministry, if you give to what we're doing, God's going to bless you. You're going to have material blessings right now. Your business will grow and you'll get cars.

Look at our ministry. We've got Learjets. It's awesome. And prosperity preachers, typically you'll see on TV, rule of thumb, nine times out of ten, if they're preaching on TV, they're probably a prosperity preacher. And they're going to stand up there and they're going to use this about the material now. If you give now, you'll reap material benefits now.

And they've completely ripped this from its context. This is not about the material now. This is about the eternal later. Now, there's an element for right now when we get to verse 10 where God provides for your needs right now. But it isn't the fleshly desires that you hear from some of those guys.

No, this is about the eternal later. It's building off the same idea that we've been building off the past few weeks. It's not about storing up treasures here. It's about storing up treasures in heaven. That's why I love what Chad did last week. If you weren't here, I encourage you to listen to the podcast.

But the visual, you won't be able to see. He took this long spool of thread. And he took this long spool of thread. At the very end, he taped one small piece of it. And he held it up and he said, this is your life. You're born here.

You die here. The rest of this string, and he kept unraveling and unraveling it, helping us see. The rest of this string is eternity. And it's not even to scale. Because eternity goes on and on and on. And what he helped us see was that we think about money in the context of this right here.

We don't think about it in the context of what the Bible calls us to. We have an eternal outlook on the way we spend money and the way that we think about money. That was a helpful visual for us. And that's what they are trying to communicate in this passage as well. Because culturally, we just don't do this well. We don't think forward enough.

I mean, the best kind of picture of how culture thinks forward and investing in something down the road is retirement. That's pretty much it. And retirement's a good thing. I mean, the Bible, the Proverbs teach about storing up for later, about leaving stuff for your kids. Somewhat downplaying retirement. You should be investing in retirement for later.

But, man, the way the retirement gets pitched in our culture is sad. I mean, the retirement commercials that you see, it's usually like a couple and they're on a boat. And maybe that boat, like the name of the boat is their retirement fund. And it's always on the Gulf because it's blue waters. They don't ever do it in the Atlantic where it's a little bit muddy. It's always blue waters.

And you work your whole life and invest in this retirement fund so you can get the boat, buy the ocean, and it's going to be great. And it's a sad picture for layers of reasons. Practically, how many hurricanes hit the Gulf on a regular basis? That boat isn't going to exist past a few years. Your beach home is going to get jacked up. And to think that we would invest so much and put so many eggs in that basket that for like 10 years we could actually enjoy that.

And then, I mean, you'll enjoy it for a moment and then it's gone. To think that we would put so much hope in the last few years of our life instead of thinking about the eternity that is to come is sad. And that's the best example we have of our culture investing in something down the road. So Paul is trying to expand the Corinthians, their understanding of this, that storing up treasures here is foolish. They're here for a moment and then they're gone. So he teaches on this and he's teaching on the heels of using this example of this Macedonian church, how they responded greatly in generosity.

And I think that's helpful. I think having examples of how other people, other churches have responded radically and generously, that's helpful. I don't remember a whole lot of sermons from when I was a kid. I didn't become a Christian until I was 17. But I do remember one sermon specifically.

And it was about, he used this example of this guy who had built this construction business. And he built this very successful multi-million dollar construction business. And he lived on 10% of what he made. And he gave 90% of the church, 90% to see the mission go forward. And I was like, man, that has always stuck with me, that kind of radical generosity. It's helpful when you hear about villages in Africa where churches don't have hardly anything and they come together and they pull the resources to be able to help somebody.

It's helpful to see stories like when Jesus told the parable of the woman, the widow, who gave everything she had. It was just two pennies, but she gave everything she had. Those stories are helpful because they give us a picture of what radical generosity looks like. But sometimes, if we're honest, sometimes they can be a little bit discouraging. Because hear this, if you're giving like 40 bucks a month and you hear stories like that, you're like, man, I am never going to get there. I can help out with your gift project.

I can pitch in a little bit there. But, man, I've got diapers I've got to pay for. And my kid's 529 educational account has like 80 bucks in it. And some of you are like, I don't even know what a 529 educational account is. Like, I've got needs that I'm trying to take care of right now. So I'll help a little bit.

But, man, I don't think I can do much more. Or maybe you've been in a state where you've been able to give for a season. And then all of a sudden some bills came. And it just, you got scared. And it was like, I don't know if I can keep this going. The credit card bills are coming in.

I don't know if I can do this. So if that is where you're at, if that's the zone that you're in, what Paul says next in verse 7 is of great value to us. Because he's going to expand our understanding of giving in a big way. In verse 7 he says, All right, so where he wants to move us to is regular sacrificial generosity that is cheerful. So if you're in the zone where it's like, I'm currently not giving at all.

Or maybe you're in the zone that I'm giving a little bit. It's not sacrificial. You may even be the person that's actually giving somewhat sacrificial. Maybe you heard about tithing growing up and you've always given 10%. That's been your mindset. But you don't do it cheerfully.

You do it because it's what you've always done. Or you do it reluctantly. Or maybe in your mindset it's like, this is how I peace God in some way. That I just give 10%. That's what I'm supposed to do. And Paul's trying to move us to know.

Sacrificial giving that is cheerful. If you do a word study and the word cheerful, it comes back cheerful. Joyful. That you might be excited about how you can give. Now in order to get there.

Which I don't know the word. In order to get there. We have to look at what he says here. When he says decision of the heart. Because that is huge for us. He says it's a decision of the heart.

That phrase right there is helpful. Because it reminds us. That this is a heart process. That giving is a part of our heart process. It's a part of our maturity. It's a part of what the Bible says is our sanctification.

Which is growing in holiness. Which is growing into Christ. It's a part of the process of maturity. And hear this. Maturity doesn't happen in a moment. It doesn't.

It takes time. My daughter. She's two and a half. And she's learning how to use sentences. So she's.

She'll come to me. Have you ever seen my daughter? She's really stinking cute. She's got blonde curls. And she comes up to me. And she'll go.

Daddy. Hold you. And I'm like. Oh. That's so sweet. Pick her up and say.

You mean. Daddy. Will you hold me? Daddy. Daddy. Hold you.

I was like. All right. We're working on that. Sometimes. Sometimes. She'll.

She'll get to talking. And she'll say. Daddy. Can you please. And she hears us talk. And we talk fast.

And she'll just all of a sudden go. Daddy. Can you please. Oh. And she starts speaking in gibberish. And I'm like.

Child. Are you speaking in tongues? What's going on here? Slow down. Like. You need to just.

Use. Like. Slow down. Work. And we work on that. Now.

Here's the deal. What kind of dad would I be. If my cute little daughter comes up to me. And says. Daddy. Hold you.

I say. Child. Please. No. You use correct English. We'll get somewhere.

Until then. Talk to your mom. Like. What. What kind of dad would I be. If I wasn't patient with her.

Knowing that. She's got a long way to go. She's got a long way to mature. And in the same way. We have a God who is gracious. A gracious heavenly father.

Who is waiting for us to mature. Waiting for us to grow. I mean. That's true for any part of your process of growing into Christ. Right? Like.

When you first learn. That. As a Christian. You're actually supposed to. To be reconciled in relationships. That you get angry with another Christian.

Like. You're not supposed to just be passively aggressive. And just. Let anger just brood inside. And never talk to them. No.

Like. You're actually supposed to address them. The first time you actually go. And try biblical reconciliation. Like. You may go for it.

And you may. Man. I just. I'm so angry with you. And it may come out complete. Gibberish.

But God's patient with us. Until we speak the gospel fluently. He's patient with us. Until we grow. In maturity. And we have to have that mindset.

And apply it. To our generosity. You have a ways to go. I have a ways to go. But we have a father who is generous with us.

Who is patient. With us. And who's given us the Holy Spirit. To work in us. I love the picture that Ezekiel 36. 20, 60, 27 gives.

It's looking into the New Testament. How the Spirit is going to work in the church. He says. And I will give you a new heart. And a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh.

And give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. And hear this. And cause you to walk in my statutes. And be careful to obey my rules. The picture is that he's traded out a heart of stone.

And he's put in a heart of flesh. And he's put the spirit inside of us. Who is going to cause us to walk in his statutes. Who is going to cause us to walk in his ways. We're not alone. The spirit is working through us.

And we have to have a long term picture of what that looks like. So that we can extend our generosity past this current season. So if you're currently not living generously. If you're currently not giving to the church. If you're currently not living generously towards the needs of people in your community group. Like hear this encouragement.

You can get there. You can get there. The Holy Spirit is in you. Working in you. He can grow you in this. But it's going to take some time.

And it's going to take some intentionality. And that's true for anything. It takes time. It takes intentionality. This is the time of year we're getting ready to have New Year's. And with New Year's comes New Year's resolutions.

Which means the gyms are about to be packed. They are. Jeremy Powell is a personal trainer here. My father is a personal trainer. They call this season tourist season. Because this is the time when everyone shows up to the gym.

And they're like, I'm going to get fit. This is going to be my year. And I personally, I hate working out. Like I hate it. Like I despise working out. Like if you want to play basketball.

And I do like being active like that. But man, going to a gym working out is just not my thing. I hate it. There have been seasons where I was like, man, I think I could be a gym person. And I would go. And the only time I've ever worked out consistently was when I was in high school training when I was playing baseball and football.

And I'd go in the gym. And I'd pick up right where I left off and do hour workouts and work out early. And then two weeks in, I'd be like, what am I doing? Like I'm trying to pick up where I left off. I'm trying to be the most advanced version of what I was doing. Like what am I doing?

You just don't jump into the gym and start killing it. The same thing happens with diets. Like you don't go from McDonald's to Whole30. You just don't. Like I've tried. My wife does Whole30 about once a year.

It's coming up again. And the first time she ever did Whole30, I was like, baby, I'm going to come alongside you. I'm going to help you do this. And I did Whole30. Because it's the worst diet ever. You can eat like air, water, and squash spaghetti.

And squash spaghetti is terrible. It's an abomination of foods. Like it's awful. Like it's not spaghetti. If you just want to call it squash and eat it and realize you're eating something that's objectively terrible, go for it. But don't make spaghetti out of it and say, oh, this is great.

No. It's terrible. And I made it three days because I'm like, this is the worst diet ever. Because you don't go from McDonald's, which I enjoy sometimes. You have a McDonald's app. You can get $354 deals.

You probably judge me, but that's okay. You don't jump from McDonald's to Whole30. It takes time. If you actually want to have a diet and sustainable and go long term, you cut out some things. You introduce some vegetables. You introduce some whole grains.

Right? So in the same way, this give project. This give project is a small start for us. Right? Like it's a way for us to go check out the gym. It's a way for us to introduce some whole grains to start getting a little more healthy.

But we don't go from zero to 100 just like that. You just don't. That's not a sustainable outlook on giving. That's why I don't really like the language of tithe when it comes to giving. I just don't for a couple of reasons. Like tithe is an Old Testament concept.

It's an Old Testament concept of you would give a tenth of what they made to the temple. And then they've, you know, scholars have done the research and they've seen that it's a tithe on what they would make, a tithe on certain harvests, a tithe on certain festivals. And it ends up being somewhere between 20 and 30 percent. But they don't really know. There's not a New Testament command to go and tithe. The New Testament command is to give and give sacrificially.

And some of the reasons I don't like tithe is that for some of you, you're not feeling 10 percent. That's not sacrificial. You can just put auto-give 10 percent of your income and you'll never feel it. And it robs you of actually being able to grow into sacrificial giving. But the other reason I don't like the language of tithe is that if you're not giving at all, or if you're giving a few bucks a month, and your understanding of giving is I have to give 10 percent, you're like, I'm out.

I'm never actually going to get there. Like, what's the point? If giving is 10 percent, I'm never actually going to get there. So a more realistic outlook, a more realistic approach is to look at 2018 and think, you know what? I think if we move some things around, I think we can do 2 percent this year. We can do 2 percent this year.

And then having a long-term outlook that says maybe in 2019, we can give 4 percent. And maybe in 2020, we can give 6 percent. And having a long-term vision of slowly growing in this so that you can actually get to sacrificial giving. And as you do this, and as you think through this, we do it prayerfully. We don't do it reluctantly. We don't do it under compulsion.

We do it prayerfully. And we ask God to go to work in our hearts. We might do this cheerfully. And once you've prayed, and once you feel like God is calling you to give something, like this is a time to look at our budgets going into 2018. If you don't have a budget, you should. You should have a budget.

If you are currently struggling to live within your means, you should have a budget. And here's the deal. At our church, we have a toast team. They are our financially wise people in our church. They're here to help serve us. And they want to meet with you.

If you don't know how to make a budget, if you will help with your budget, if you're looking to get out of debt, we have a team that will sit down with you. And they will help draw up a plan. They will help you figure out how to grow in this. And this will actually help free you up to be able to start giving. And when you look at your budget, I just want to give you a few quick ways. If you look at these right now, you'd find some ways to grow and be able to give.

If you have cable, and you're like paying hundreds of dollars, if you switch to like Sling TV, which is like 40 channels, it's 20 bucks a month. If some of you can be looking at cheaper phone plans, some of us can start shopping for insurance rates. Because what I've noticed the last few years, there's like zero incentive to actually stay with an insurance company. They will just jack up the rates on you. For some of you, it's going to be looking at how many times a week you eat out. Because if you're eating out seven times a week and getting drinks five times a week, maybe it's time to pare that down a little bit.

For some of you, it's not jumping on every single Lula Rowe outfit that comes out, but thinking about Target. And for some of us who are due a pay raise coming up, so much of this is realizing that we either worship God or we worship money, like what Chet talked about last week. When it comes to getting a pay raise, it's having our mindset adjusted. When we get that pay raise, it's not how much more can I get? It's like, God, what do you want to do with this? What do you want me to give?

How do you want me to grow here? We had someone during this series who came up and said, I have a brand new car and I want to start living within my means. And I want to figure out how to sell this car and see if I can get a used car to have smaller payments. That's the kind of response that I love seeing. And the way we do this is we look at our budgets and we do some praying and we start considering things. And we also, maybe for some of us, is bringing people into this.

Because, man, I am naturally prone to worship money. And if I have my budget in front of me, I will try to justify it to myself in any way possible. But when I bring in somebody else and they're looking at it, it helps me think through what am I actually doing with my finances. All of us, this is a heart-level process. And, man, it's a heart-level process that we go to war in. It just is.

Because when you start to do this, temptation is coming. From your flesh, from the world, from the devil. Like, it is going to come. And you're going to feel the pull to want to focus on the possessions of this world as we strive to have a long-term vision of generosity. So, at this point, at this point, you may be frustrated. Like, you may be ready to, like, bow up or walk out.

Right? Because, I mean, talking about money, it causes us to sit in our seat a little bit. And you may even be a little bit discouraged. I feel like that Paul felt the same thing. And that's why in verse 8 he gives a pretty solid encouragement in verse 8. He says in verse 8, And God is able to make all grace abound to you.

What Paul gives here is that God is the sufficiency for our change. God is the one who's sufficient. He's the one that makes all grace abound. He's the one that is going to grow us. He's the one that is going to help us change. Because here's the deal.

If you try to muscle change yourself here, like, you're going to fail. Because we're not the ones that are sufficient to change our views on giving, to grow us in this. That Jesus is our sufficiency for change. He's the one that will change us. He's the one that will form us. And that comes, firstly, through believing the gospel.

Which is why I love what Paul says in verse 9. He says, As it is written, He has distributed freely. He has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Paul quotes Psalm 112 here. And I love what he's doing here.

Because when we connect this to the gospel, we see that Jesus embodied this perfectly. That he's the one who perfectly distributed freely and helped the poor. And that he distributed grace to those of us who are spiritually poor and spiritually bankrupt. That we might have a righteousness that endures forever. The God who generously poured out his son for us is the one who enables us. He is the sufficiency for our change.

And then he goes on to show us how we can continue to trust him in this. He says in verse 10, He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase your harvest. Increase the harvest of your righteousness. So Paul gives a picture of God as the one who provides here. Like God's the provider. He's the one who supplies.

I think oftentimes the reason that we get discouraged when we do this, when we try to step into this and live generously, is we just get scared. Like how am I going to do this? I'm looking at my bills. I'm looking at my income. How in the world am I going to actually begin to do this? Here's the deal.

I've never met anyone who began to trust Jesus with their finances. I've never met anyone who started to do this, and all of a sudden everything fell apart and God didn't provide. Like usually the story that you hear is, I don't know how all this worked out. I don't. Like I don't know how the math worked out, but God continued to provide. And as I increased my giving, God met me where I was at and he provided for my needs.

And as that process goes, you start to trust God. You start to realize how awesome this is to take part. And you start to grow cheerfully to the point where you're like waiting for someone in the church to have a medical bill or to lose a job because you're ready to come alongside and see, how can I come alongside this and give? God provides. We trust him with our finances. He provides.

And when we trust and have an eternal outlook on our finances in the way that we give, and when we do that and we give to the mission of God, what that means is it frees us up to be able to do more ministry. When we give to the church, it allows, like we have two full-time pastors. We have Matt and Chet that are full-time. It allows them to not have to go and get jobs. They can be able to strategically focus here. It allows us to be able to meet here on a Sunday.

I know you're thinking, this place ain't amazing, but if you actually took a step back and realized how many stories have changed happened in this building, it puts it in perspective. It puts it in perspective when you have eternal mindset that there are neighbors and coworkers and friends and family members who can come and hear the gospel here. That's eternal. It puts it in perspective when you think about our kids that are up in Kid City right now and someone is walking them through the gospel that one day we might stand in a baptism pool. And they might say, Jesus is Lord. That's an eternal outlook on the way that we give.

That's the eternal nature of what we're giving to. Because here's the deal. A thousand years from now, a thousand years from now, you're not going to care about that top-of-the-line remodel that you missed out on. You're not going to care about that you didn't have the newest and the nicest cars. You're not going to care about that you didn't have the newest and the nicest gadgets. What you will care about is who is standing with you in the presence of God for eternity.

You will care about your family, your friends, your coworkers and kids who through being here in community groups on a Sunday heard the gospel and were changed. That's the vision of long-term generosity that we have to have. Because we want to see long-term change happen in this city. Matt and Bianca are going to come up. We're going to close this in a song, a couple songs. A easy step to move into generosity right now is owning this gift project.

We've been doing this gift project, and there's been kind of two main goals here. The first, if you haven't heard what we've been doing yet, we're partnering with Midtown Two Notch. It's a church over on Two Notch on the other side of Columbia, and it's in an area of town that is way under-resourced. The average household income is like $18,000, and like the normal household income for the state is around $50,000. So they don't have a lot.

And there's a lot of families there that aren't going to be able to celebrate Christmas by getting their kids gifts. So one of the things that we're doing is we've been collecting gifts like this because this Saturday we're going to do a toy shop. So throughout the week we're still collecting gifts. This Thursday is the cutoff day. Please bring gifts by the office for kids ages 3 to 18. We're expecting 100 to 150 kids, so we need more gifts.

So if you're at Target this week or you're at Walmart, please pick up some more gifts and bring them by the office on Thursday. If you'd like to serve this Saturday for the toy shop that we're running at their church, you can sign up online. Please do this as soon as possible so we can have some Numbers of what we're going to do. And this Saturday we're going to show up, and we're going to play the background. We're going to serve, and we're going to let Midtown Two Notch be the face of who is helping do this. And there's going to be a toy shop for parents to go inside and be able to pick out toys for their kids.

And we're going to be outside doing games with kids like bouncy houses and hot chocolate and fire pits and crafts. And then the next Sunday, these families are going to be able to show up at Midtown Two Notch's gathering. And they're going to collect these gifts for their kids, and they're going to connect that to this as a church who is in our area, who is serving us in a big way. And God willing, we hope to see some people that will meet Jesus because of this. So if you want to serve in that, please sign up for that as soon as possible.

The last way we're serving that church, their lead pastor, Aunt Frederick, is support raised because he's in that area and it's underfunded. Like he may never be fully supported by the church, so he fundraises every year to get by, and we just want to bless him. We're collecting money right now to be able to help ease the burden of his 2018 salary.

Faithful in Small Things

Faithful in Small Things

Chet Phillips

Transcript

I was reminded this week, more specifically this week than in other weeks, that pastors and preachers are not supposed to strut. They're not supposed to have swagger. There's not supposed to be, in pastoring and relating to people, you're not supposed to hold yourself too highly, and in preaching, you're not supposed to strut out to preach that actually good pastoring and good preaching is done. Our view of our finances, our view of our money, our view of eternity, what I was reminded of was that I like stuff. I have. One of the running jokes in my family that they point out was that when I was younger, when I would have a birthday or when I would have Christmas or whatever, my birthday's in the fall, that I would have a birthday, and I would open all my gifts, and I'd be all excited, and then the next day I'd start saying stuff like, hey, let me tell you what I want for Christmas.

I had in my mind all of this, and I already see that in my two-year-old. He does the same thing. You can buy him a toy, and he will play with it, and then he'll look at the box on the back and say, I want that, I want that, like I want. There was a little train set thing. He was like, he could barely talk, and it came with a little brochure for more train set stuff, and he started flipping through it, and he was like, I need a purple one. And I was like, that's the most coherent sentence you've ever said.

That came directly from me. Like I know where that comes from. And so it's like I just know that. Like I know as we talk about generosity in our gift series, which every year around Christmas we just take a couple of weeks to talk through how we view money and how that affects our hearts and how we walk in generosity. I'm sorry, this is distracting me. Can we get the lights, these two pole lights up?

Y'all seem like y'all are really dark back there. We've got to do some things to adjust with lights around here because it's not the brightest room in the world. Oh, no, sorry, that's not on y'all. That's on a switch up there. My bad. That was not for y'all.

That was for the, there we go. See, all right. We'll edit all that out of the online recording and make it seem really smooth. All right, anyway, as we talk about this at this time of year, this generosity, this walk in finances, I just got to thinking about the fact that really what I want, if I was completely honest, I want to be generous enough. That's what I want. I want to be generous enough.

I know that if I got more money, I don't know if my percentage of generosity would increase. I know overall, financially, I would increase in generosity because, you know, 10% of 100 is different from 10% of 1,000 or whatever. But my percentage would probably stay the same. I don't know if I would get more generous. I do know I'd have more stuff. And I'd feel fine with it because it'd be a smaller percentage of my budget.

Like, if I got more money, I would also have more stuff. I might have some land. You guys, you don't even know how much I want to just live around trees and not people. You have no clue. I would have more land. I would have, like, I just know that about myself.

And as I read this passage this week, I just was convicted. And so I just want to say that I feel like I have limped up here this morning. And I am a sinner in need of a Savior and in need of this truth and just trying to study it with you. That's not, that's not, the goal is not, hey, listen to what Jesus said and look at how awesome I do it. That's not what this is. That's not what this has ever been.

This has been, we're sinners in need of a Savior and in need of Him to go to work in our hearts. So let's study that together and let's walk in that together. So we're going to be in Luke chapter 16 and Jesus is going to tell a story that confuses people. I know it confuses people because as I read commentaries on it, they said, we're confused. It's not exactly what they said, but that's what they communicated. It confuses people, but I actually think it's a really straightforward story.

And so we're going to take the time to understand the story that Jesus is teaching so that we can understand His point. But His point is very simple. His point is this. Christians do not handle money well in light of the fact that they will exist for eternity. That's the point. And in general, Christians do not handle money well in light of the fact that they will exist for eternity.

That's what we're going to see today. So we're going to pray and ask the Lord to help us as we study this. And we're going to look at this story that Jesus tells. God, we thank You for this time we get to spend in Your Word. And we thank You that Your Word, through the power of Your Spirit, that You may have to ask for the ability to convict, the ability to speak into our souls, and the ability to actually change us and to save us. And so I pray, Lord, that we would not enter into this lightly this morning.

But with the weight of the task that we all endeavor to accomplish this morning, would be present and that we would study Your Word well, that You might work in our souls through it. We love You and we thank You in Jesus' name. Amen. Luke chapter 16, verse 1 is where we'll pick up. It says, He also said to His disciples, this is Jesus speaking to His followers. If you're a Christian, just kind of you can put yourself in the role of a disciple, someone who's trying to follow the will of Jesus, trying to be a follower of His.

When He leaves, He tells His disciples, those who He had trained to make more disciples. And so that's kind of the position we're in, is those who follow Jesus now are still disciples of Jesus. So He tells them a story. There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions. And he called him and said to him, What is this that I hear about you? Turn in the account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.

And the manager said to himself, What shall I do since my master is taking the management away from me? I'm not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do. It's kind of like an aha moment is verse 4. I have decided what to do. So that when I am removed from management, people may receive me into their houses.

So, summoning his managers, summoning his master's debtors, one by one, he said to the first, How much do you owe my master? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And he said to him, Take your bill, sit down and quickly, and write fifty. And he said to another, How much do you owe? And he said, A hundred measures of wheat. He said to him, Take your bill, and write eighty.

Okay, so that's the basis of the story. Jesus is going to kind of sum it up in verse 8. The master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, so now he finishes the story, now he's making a statement, a command to his disciples. I tell you, make friends for yourselves by the means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings.

Okay, let's retell this story, just make sure we got it in our head, and then we're going to zoom in on verses 8 and 9. And we're going to take a minute to walk through 8 and 9, because if we understand 8 and 9, we understand what Jesus is saying. If we miss 8 and 9, this is going to be a long day. All right. So, here's the story. There's a man who's so rich that he just has a manager to handle his wealth.

He's so wealthy, he just has a manager to handle his wealth, and he gets a report that this manager is doing a poor Job, so he comes to him and says, hey, turn in your books, you're done. So, the manager freaks out. He says, I'm not strong enough to dig. Like, I'm not a manual labor person. I'm a management person. And he says that I'm too proud to beg.

You know that song, Ain't Too Proud to Beg? He hated that song. He's too proud to beg. He's not going to. He says, I've got to figure out something to do, and he says, I got it. I got it.

I am going to cheat the master out of things, because he's firing me anyway. I'm going to cheat him out of what is due him, and I'm going to make people like me by doing this. That was his plan. And so what happens in verse 8 and 9, let's pull this back up, this story is weird. It's weird because it seems like Jesus just told a story about a crooked man and said, good Job. And we have a hard time with Jesus saying that.

And we should, because why would he say that? So here's what's happening in this story. Jesus is telling us a story of a crooked man, of a dishonest man, and saying, even crooked, dishonest people know how to do this. And then he says, and you don't. That's his point. Even crooked, dishonest people know how to do this, and you're not even doing that.

That's the point he's making. So let me show my work on that so that we can see this clearly. So it says, the master commended this honest manager for his shrewdness. Now, this is the first time dishonest shows up in the text. Earlier he was inept. The beginning he was mishandling things.

Now he's a liar. He wasn't, earlier he wasn't in the beginning of the text in verses 1 through 7, he wasn't called dishonest. It just said he was mishandling things. He wasn't being a good manager. Now he's called dishonest, which means that the transaction he just made, the list of bringing people in and saying, quickly, change the amount you owed, was cheating and stealing.

It was not, some people write that it was like him getting rid of his own commission. There's nothing in the text that says that. It says he's dishonest. Okay. He's dishonest. He's commended, not for his honesty, but for his shrewdness.

Now, shrewdness, we most often, you hear it in a negative context, but it really just means he's astute. He made a good decision based off of his position he was in. He made a good decision, a good business decision. He looked out for his own interests. That's what it means. So if you hear that someone's a shrewd businessman, it just means he doesn't do deals that are good for you and not good for him.

If you've ever watched Shark Tank, the people doing the business deals are shrewd. You'll see them put people in really bad situations. They'll make a terrible deal, but it's a good one for them. They'll make a terrible offer. It's a good one for them because they're shrewd businessmen. And so what it says is, he hands the books back to the rich man.

The rich man sees scribbles and Numbers changed and says, well played. Now get the heck out. Like that's what's kind of, it's understood in the text here. Okay. So then Jesus says, so he's not honest, he's shrewd.

He made a good business decision in his own self-interest. Okay. Then Jesus says this, for the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. Everything in yellow, we got to define because otherwise we won't know what he's talking about. Okay. Sons of this world versus sons of light.

Sons of this world are those whose existence, whose home is this world. And that's why he says their own generation, meaning that they exist around those who will be on earth while they're on earth and earth is their home. And he compares that to sons of light. And I want to show you this. So, uh, uh, John 12, 34, uh, 35 and 36 says this. Jesus said to them, the light is among you for a little while longer.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light that you may become sons of light. Jesus is talking about himself in John 12. What he's saying is it's where the light came into the world. Jesus says he's the light of the world.

So what he's saying is the lights in the world for a little while and your role is to believe in me, to believe in Jesus and you become a son of light. So go back to the, the colorful one that we just had. That's what a son of light is. It's a person who's believed in Jesus and has eternal life in Jesus. So a son of this world is someone whose life is here and then they will enter into eternal death, separated from Jesus and paying the penalty of their sin.

And a son of light is someone who has an eternal life through Jesus. Now, this does not happen often in scripture and I think Jesus did this on purpose to hurt our feelings a little bit. He says, the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. So, what we want to say is, oh, being more shrewd is bad because the sons of light aren't. We want to automatically say that those who are Christians are the good guys and those who aren't Christians have done it poorly. That's what we want to do.

I don't think that's what Jesus is doing in the text and the reason I don't think that's what he's doing is because his next sentence doesn't, doesn't hint towards that. So look at verse 9. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of the unrighteous wealth. So that first little part where he says, and I tell you, he looks at his disciples and says, sons of this world are better at, are more shrewd, make better business decisions than sons of light. And I'm telling you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous, oh, good one. You good.

Make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwelling. So what he's saying is he's then taking his story that he just had and he's using that idea from the story and saying, what I'm telling you is to be like the manager. Because the manager used the wealth he had at his disposal, which wasn't his, used the wealth he had at his disposal to create friends for himself and he says, I tell you, do the same thing. So go to the one that's just verse 9. Let's look at just verse 9 together.

And I tell you, make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings. That's a really confusing sentence but here's what I think Jesus' point is. When he says, make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth, he's going to use unrighteous wealth throughout the rest of this passage and all he means, and he says it here so that when it fails, all he means is the money and possessions that won't last forever. Non-eternal wealth. It's not in and of itself unrighteous, but what he's saying is the stuff that won't last forever, the stuff that's going to fail.

That's what he's talking about. When he says, make friends for yourself, I read a lot of commentaries that were like, we've got to figure out who the friends are. I don't think we have to figure out who the friends are. I think he's just stealing the idea from the passage, from the story he told. So the story was, manager mishandles his stuff, he's going to get fired, so he uses his master's wealth to gain friends.

And he's just using the concept of gaining friends, meaning, use your money now for your benefit later. Use your money now for your benefit later. The reason I think that's what he's doing is because I do this all the time. And so I'm meeting him like, oh yeah, I see what you're doing there, Jesus. He just in the middle of, he just tells him a random story. He's trying to teach him something and he tells him a random story.

Instead of just saying what it is, he tells a story. And I do this all the time. I'll be like, all right, it's like this. If we're all trees, and I do this over coffee, I do this over, I'll tell a story about scuba diving or I'll tell a story about, like I'll end with, I won't end and go so, and translate it, I'll end and say, so, be willing to share your scuba mask. Like I've really made some mm point. And you gotta figure out what the heck I was just talking about.

I do that all the time. I do it so much that I was, two days ago, I was at my house, my wife and I were having a discussion about something, and I said, well, it's like this. And she goes, no! She's on the couch across the room. She said, no, it's not like something. You were doing so good.

You were about to say something real. It is something. It's not like something. Please just say it in words. I was like, imagine you're at the Daytona 500. Like, I just can't not tell a random story and then say, so, put the pedal to the metal.

It's the last lap. I can't do it. I can't not do it. And so when he says, make friends for yourself, I think that's all he's doing. He just told you a story, and the guy in the story uses the rich man's wealth to gain his own friends. And so when he says, so make friends for yourself, I think what he's saying is this one simple concept.

See that word eternal? I think that's the main point here. And I tell you, make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, it will not last. When it fails, they, those are the friends, that we don't know exactly who they are, may receive you into the eternal dwellings. Okay. Luke only uses the word eternal when he's talking about eternal life.

In all of his writing, we got Luke and Acts, he only uses the word eternal when he's talking about eternal life. Dwellings is the word for tabernacle or home. So he is not saying this sarcastically as use your money how you want and then you can go to hell. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's saying, use your money here that's going to fail for your own future eternal benefit. And this lines up with a lot of other things that Jesus says, even in Luke 12, what we looked at last week.

That there is a way for us to use our possessions, our finances here for our own eternal benefit. We would like to say, because it sounds more holy and pious, that we should not look out for ourselves. That sacrifice here should just be that, just painful, not self-serving at all. But when Jesus teaches on money, that's not what he says. What he says is, give it up here for your own eternal future. He doesn't say, get rid of money bags in last week because money bags are bad.

He says, sell your possessions, give to the needy, and buy for yourself money bags that don't go away, that last forever. True riches in heaven that doesn't fade, that can't be stolen. That's what he's saying here. Use the money you have now for your own eternal good, that you would be welcomed, that you would be accepted, that you would be brought in. So, recap, real quick. Sons of light, wild dishonest, wild crooked.

It's like when my dad used to fuss at us if we were mistreating my mom. He would, my dad would say stuff like, let me tell you something, you want to challenge me? We'll find out who's bad real quick. He says, you try something with your mama, I will kill you. And he says, boy, he would say, boy, sorry people are nice to their mamas. People in jail are nice to their mamas.

Criminals are nice to their mamas. The worst thug you can find anywhere that's running the mafia is nice to his mama. Don't you dare not be nice to your mama. His whole point was, even crooked dishonest people, that's what Jesus is doing. Even crooked dishonest liars who can't, who are inept, and then cheat people, still understand, I should make decisions that make sense for my own future. That's why he says, for their generation.

Okay. I don't usually do this, but I think it's helpful today. Now this is not to scale. Bianca, I'm still in your pen. This is not to scale, but this is a generation. So this is a timeline of life.

It's lime green. Can you see it over there? It's lovely. It's a string with duct tape on it. Right here is when you were born. This is right here.

A doctor slapped you, and you went, ah! And right over here, you went, ah! First one, last one. That's what that is. And if that scared you, I'm sorry, that's happening. All right.

We tracking? Somewhere right around in here. This is a generation. This is all the people you're on earth with. Y'all know some people, this little green piece of tape was 16 years. You know some people the green piece of tape was 55.

You know some people the green piece of tape is rocking on up to 95. For the sake of argument, let's say about 80. Okay? About 80. Somewhere around in here, you learned how to read and write and tie your shoes and some of you it was closer over here, some of you it was further over here, but you figured it out. Somewhere around in here, you kind of decided, here's what I want to do and be in life.

There's a lot of anguish over it. You're trying to figure it out. Some of you are still there. Trying to figure out, like, where am I going? What am I going to do? Who am I going to be?

What's this going to look like? Somewhere around here, you made a really good business decision or a really good relational decision. Somewhere around here, you made a really terrible one. Maybe around here, you got a bad diagnosis. Maybe around here, it got a good one. Eventually, though, everyone hits this.

And that's it. Sons of this world, that's it. You see, we're people who believe in eternal life. There are eternal dwellings. That's what we believe. And we believe that in Christ, there are sons of light who this life is as bad and as painful and as difficult and as much heartache as it will ever be.

You are as depressed here as you'll ever be if you're in Christ. You are as anxious here as you'll ever be if you're in Christ. Life is as difficult. If you don't know Christ, this is as good as it gets. So, Jesus says, sons of this world make good business decisions. They're shrewd.

They're astute because they make them based off of this. And that's as good as it gets. They make them based off of this. He says that sons of light don't make good business decisions. And that's because sons of light live well beyond this little green piece of tape. So, sons of light, when they go to make a business decision, when they go to make a financial decision, when someone who's going to exist for eternity tries to decide what to do with money, you see, their timeline, their generation is just different.

The decision making process should just look different. Because they're only going to be here for a little while. And then there's a life that's to come. There's time that's got to pass somewhere else. There's a future and a hope purchased by Christ. that financial decisions that only take into account the piece of tape are not good financial decisions. They're silly.

That sons of light aren't shrewd. Aren't good business deciders. Aren't good investors. Because they don't pay attention to their generation. They don't think about the amount of time that they're going to spend. The amount of life that they're going to have.

Let me explain something to you. If you're going to exist in Christ for eternity and this is not to scale. I said that earlier. This isn't how this would work. If this was eternal if this was eternal you wouldn't be able to see this and this part of the string would keep going so much that it would suffocate all of us destroy this building take over South Carolina engulf the world and swallow the cosmos. because that's how eternity works. But what he's saying is that sons of light if this is as good as it gets certainly make really good decisions for this amount of time.

If you're a son of this world and this is as good as it gets make good decisions here. But if you're a son of light making all your decisions for this is silly that we ought to that's why he says and I tell you make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that you'll have an eternal welcome. Not that using your money will save you but that there is a way to use your money with an eternity in mind. So let's read through the rest of the passage to understand what we're looking at here. That Jesus is saying use the money you have here for this amount of time that is to come. verse 10 one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.

One who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. That's a basic life principle. If someone can't borrow a DVD without scratching it all up don't let them borrow your car. They'll say well no it's your car it means more it's like yeah it means more and you can't even handle like no no thank you like that's kind of the small principle that's where someone says I'm a terrible boyfriend I'll be a great husband. I know I can't even show up to work when I'm here to cook fries but I could totally be a manager. No you couldn't.

Good managers can cook fries. That's the point. But what he's saying is that that principle applies to this. If you don't handle this well very little why would you get much? He tells parables like this all the time where he says that a rich man gave a bunch of people money that was his money and he left and then he comes back and says what did you do with my money and one guy was like I turned it into a whole bunch of money and he says cool you can be in charge of some cities. One guy was like I buried it in the ground and he was like okay you don't get to be in charge of anything.

Don't banks exist? That's what he responds. At least could have gotten interest. I don't care how much money you make on earth it will only ever be very little when compared with this. it's very little. This is much. This is a funny looking timeline but it's much.

If then you have not been faithful in unrighteous wealth who will entrust to you true riches? this is not true riches. Lifestyles of the rich and famous not true riches. It's not. It has nothing on this. This has nothing on just what I can hold in my hand. It has nothing on eternity.

This next one was messing with me all week. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's who will give you that which is your own? Now think about this for a second. Everything that you have on the green tape is on loan. You're a manager. It belongs to the rich man.

At some point he says turn in the account. At some point we walk to the rich man and we open the books. Everything. I don't care. I don't care what it is. I don't care if you have a prized possession so you wear it on a chain around your neck.

At some point that is no longer yours. Every piece of land you own own paid cash. It's mine. I pay taxes so I'm kind of renting it from the government but I own it. it was owned by someone else and it will be owned by someone else and ultimately it belongs to God. Everything on earth is on loan but guess what? When you get to eternity and he gives you something it's yours because this string doesn't end.

Now that's crazy. You get to own stuff. That's what he says. If you can't handle stuff that's borrowed who's going to ever give you something that you get to own? I was just blown away by thinking about I get to own things in eternity. That's crazy.

No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he'll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Okay now here's the way he says this. He does not say you cannot serve God with your money and serve money. He says you cannot serve God the whole big concept and serve money. Cannot serve God and money.

Why is that? Why can't we just be unfaithful in money but faithful in everything else? Why can't we just say I don't serve God with my money but I serve God and everything else? I think it's because in order to serve God with our money which is so tangible, so clear, so clear. If I said would you like a thousand dollars? The answer is yes.

Yes I would like a thousand dollars. Would you like five thousand dollars? Yes. Would you like fifteen thousand dollars? Yes. Nobody's going I don't know if that's going to probably mess up my budget.

You're all saying yes. Because it's so tangible, it's so clear, I know exactly like that sounds wonderful. So clear. What we would use it for is so visible. And do you know what we have to have in order to handle money the way that Jesus tells us to handle money? Faith.

I've seen this. I know what this looks like. I know the palpable fear of having bills show up and not enough money to pay them. I know the fear of losing your job and not knowing what's going to happen next. I know the fear, I've seen it when people enter into a retirement and do not have enough money to pay their bills. I know that, I've seen it, I don't have to have faith.

I've also tasted steak, ridden a roller coaster, sat in a leather seat. I know what it's like. I know the promises it makes. I know what sitting in a hot tub is like. Nice. I've got to believe Jesus to do anything else.

I've got to actually believe. I've got to actually believe. Not just say I believe, actually believe. If I told you, if someone came to you and said, I've got a sure thing business investment, sure thing. Okay. Okay. how much money are you willing to put towards a sure thing business investment from a friend of yours?

What kind of sure thing trust you got? We've got some questions. Who's the friend? What else have they told me in the past? What is their job? Is this insider trading?

Well, I go to jail. We've got questions. I've been in multiple conversations where people talked about and argued about what to go, like if you could go back in time and invest in something, what you would invest in? Coca-Cola. If you could be in the ground floor. Microsoft.

That's what investing is, is people trying to figure out right now what's the thing that's going to, I looked it up, you guys. In 2010, there was a guy named Laszlo. I can't say his last name. His first name was Laszlo. He used 10,000 bitcoins to buy two pizzas. Now, if you are unfamiliar with bitcoin, it is online, encrypted, digital money, and it is insanely expensive right now.

2010. This isn't a long time ago. This isn't like the guy who messed something up in 1910 and if he had actually just kept blah, blah, blah. This is seven years ago. 2010, he bought two pepperoni pizzas with 10,000 bitcoins. If you could have gone to him and said, Laszlo, I'll tell you what, hold on to those 10,000 bitcoins for seven years and instead of two pepperoni pizzas, I'm assuming pepperoni, maybe he got pineapple and that just indicates how dumb this guy is. just messing with you all.

I just felt like alienating two people. I don't know. I do that every once time. If you could go to him and say, Laszlo, hold on to that for seven years and instead of two pepperoni or two pizzas, sorry, I just wanted to be pepperoni. Instead of two pizzas, you can have 110 million dollars. A Bitcoin right now costs $10,000, $11,000.

For what? I don't even know. I don't even understand it. I had to Google, like, what is a Bitcoin? It was like internet money and I was like, that's not real, you guys. Two pizzas, $110 million over seven years.

Now, if you told Laszlo, Laszlo, Laszlo, just, just don't eat pizza today or get a job, use cash. You can have $110 million and he responded to you, but it's meat lovers. If he looked back and went, oh, stuff crossed, you guys don't even understand how hungry I am right now. So the question would be, for Laszlo, how much did he believe you? How much did he think you knew what you were talking about? That's the question.

And I think the reason why finances are set up the way they are in the world and the reason why Jesus calls us to handle them the way he does is because the only way for us to handle money the way Jesus tells us to handle money is we have to believe that Jesus knows what he's talking about. And we have to believe that he's good. You see, we actually have to believe the gospel. in order for me to handle money for this, I don't have to believe in anything other than what I like or don't like. If I use my money for comfort my whole life and you use your money for security your whole life, neither one of us really had to believe much of anything.

I have to believe that I am a sinner who deserved the wrath of God, but that on Christmas, the God of the universe became a baby and that he lived a perfect life and that he went to a cross to bear the wrath of God on my behalf and one day when I take my last breath, I will take my next breath, entering into an eternity where I walk before the king of the universe. He says, open the books, it's time to turn in the account of your management and I will step into a life that does not end. I have to believe that to handle money the way Jesus wants me to handle it. And that's why I think he says. Handle money this way and you'll receive great reward.

You'll get to own something. You'll get to have true riches. You'll be welcomed in because it'll be a faith exercise for our entire life where we use our money and we say, I think that Jesus is real and I'm willing to bank on it. And I think that's why it says you can't serve God and money because what we want to do, what I want to do is kind to serve God with my money and then say I'll do the rest of my life for this. But the problem is money is so tangible and so real that if I'm only using it for here, there's a good chance I also don't care about my neighbors.

And if I'm only using my money for here, it's a good chance I'm not thinking about this very often. There's a saying that says someone's so heavenly minded that they're no earthly good and Jesus disagrees with that. The Bible disagrees with that, that we would think so much about an eternity that we would become extremely helpful on earth through generosity, through love, through sacrifice. Now, the question for us today and every day until this day is do we trust Jesus? Did he mean what he said? And I just want to tell you that the end of this gospel, if you keep flipping ahead in Luke, Jesus Christ goes to a cross because he so believed in this, he was willing to come just so that he, the eternal God, could take a last breath and make sons of life.

He so believed that all of us were headed for a Christless eternity of destruction and pain and hopelessness and despair where this is as good as it gets, that he was willing to come and die so that we could have hope, that we could be sons of life. And the question is for each of us today and every day, how much do we believe Jesus when he says he knows a sure thing? How much do we trust him when he says that what we're messing with right now is very little and one day there will be much? What we're messing with right now is on loan, but one day we get to own something. What we're messing with right now will fail, but one day we will enter into something that doesn't.

So here's what we're doing with our give series. we're trying to respond to right now. To begin to press our hearts right now to believe this so that we might believe it from now on. So what we do with our gift series is we intentionally try to give money away. Spencer earlier said that we're in the Advent season, which is where we kind of partner with the Old Testament church where they were looking forward to Christ, that he would come, that someone would rescue, that someone would redeem, that we as Christians remember that time and look forward to this eternity. And so one of the ways that we practice that here is that we have a give series where we give money away in looking forward to eternity, in looking forward towards a future hope that is offered to us only in Christ. that we remember and make good business decisions.

So we as a church family pick something, church leadership, we pick something around the give time of year to intentionally give money to, to intentionally cost a sacrifice for. Our hope is that we would grow as a church and we would grow collectively as a people in always picking something that's around you, that you would always be looking and saying, I'd love to give money to this, I'd love to help with this, and coming and even talking to your group and saying, hey guys, I'm working on this, can we rally for this, can we give support towards this? We just pick something on around Christmas for us to try to do collectively and we hope that we do this all the time. So here's what we're doing, we're partnering with Midtown Two Notch, which is a church plant in inner city Columbia.

I said last week that they're in a part of the city where people won't even deliver pizza. Because it's not a safe place in the city, that it's not a safe place to be, and so they intentionally went there and ordered to plant a church so that they might hold out the hope of the gospel towards people in an area where it's few and far between, where people are going in there intentionally. And here's what we're doing, we're doing three things. First one, is we're getting gifts, new toys, new and used, gently used clothing so that the Midtown Two Notch church family might serve the families in that area.

So here's what we did. We went to them and said, hey, we want to partner with y'all, we want to serve y'all, what would y'all like to do? And we just kind of held it out to their leadership team for them to say, here's what we think would be helpful and good in our area of the city. One of the things they said was around Christmas, a lot of the people right around where they are don't celebrate Christmas, they wait till tax time, or they do celebrate Christmas, but they really didn't have the means to do that. And they said, we'd love to just bless this part of our city, to just hold out a little bit of hope and a little bit of joy and cause a little less stress this time of year by having a party where we allow parents to come in and basically shop.

They pick out what they want to give their children. We don't let their children know. We don't give the gifts to the children. The parents get to give the gifts to the children. That's what they wanted to do. So we said, that sounds great.

We'll partner with that. So here's what we're looking at. Gifts need to be somewhere in the five to $15 range. I mean, they can be less. I'm just, this is kind of ballpark in it. They want gifts for ages three to 18 with giving a little more weight towards the younger ages.

Just because an eight year old doesn't handle disappointment as well as an 18 year old. They think they'll have a hundred to 150 children from right around that area. Like that we need gifts for. So that means if we got $5 gifts for a hundred kids, that's $500. If we get $15 gifts for 150 kids, that's $2,500 ish dollars. I'm just trying to give us a ballpark on what we're shooting for, what we have to accomplish here.

Boys and girls, for the older kids, you're looking more at gently used clothes. They even said you could go to Burger King and get $5 and $10 gift cards. You can go to McDonald's and get $5 and $10 gift cards. That's a cool gift for a 13, 14, 15, 16 year old. They also said, because they know their area of the city well, soccer balls are great, but not for that area of the city. Basketballs and footballs are going to get more traction.

They just kind of pointed out some like, here's some things that would be helpful for us. I'm sure getting soccer balls, if you already got one, somebody's going to love that. But that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to build a toy shop so that parents can come in and pick things out, so that Midtown Two Notch can take the credit and ultimately point to Jesus and his graciousness and love for that part of the city. And we're collectively trying to remind ourselves that our eternity is where our good things are. The second part of that is we're going to have a party, Saturday, December 16th.

They want to do the party from 2 to 5 p.m. So we said, sounds good if that's what you think will be best for this neighborhood. We probably need volunteers from 12 to 6 p.m. because we'll need some people to show up and help set everything up. We'll need people to be at the party from 2 to 5 and we'll need people to help tear everything down, clean everything up. Setting up takes longer than tearing everything down. We need two to three volunteers per station.

If you have a station idea, we're going to do some fire pits, some s'mores. If you want to face paint, if you want to say, hey, let's try to figure out how to do a bounce house, as much as we can set up so that parents can bring kids, kids can play, parents can shop. We want to do a Santa Claus. We're in talks with them right now as to whether or not we need to provide a Santa Claus or just a Santa Claus outfit. If they want to have one of their people be Santa Claus, we've intentionally said, look, we want to, as much as we can, be invisible here. Serve y'all so that y'all can take the credit.

Not just roll in and make it real obvious that some other people were doing this. That's our hope with them, but we're also going to let them set the pace for what they want done because we're serving them. And we know that they know their areas and good missionaries to that part of the city. So we'll need probably 15 to 25 volunteers for the party and probably another 20 to 30 for setting up and tearing down. Or 15 really exhausted, grumpy volunteers. Now you're going to have a good attitude if you come.

But we'd like to have a lot of volunteers, people who would show up, help set things up, people who would stay and run stations from two to five and people who would help clean up. Then the third thing. So we need to do this really well. We need to knock one and two out of the park. Given the amount of money we've raised in the past and the amount of gifts we've given in the past, I think we can. The third thing we want to do is intentionally help Aunt Frederick with his pay, with his salary.

He has to raise support all the time to be a pastor in this area. And we want to be able to say we want you to be able to minister and pastor there without having to worry about as much support as you raise. So we just want to raise support for it. That's our gift project this year. And hopefully our goal is not that we as a church would collectively think for a couple of weeks, oh, yay, eternity. Be real generous right now in a time when it's actually pretty hard to be generous.

We're trying to be generous with our church, with our family members and our church family and those around us. But that actually we would begin a lifetime process of thinking about eternity when it comes to our finances, holding out for ourselves the hope that Jesus holds out for us and trusting that he's good and he knows what he's talking about. The band's going to come back up. We're going to sing together. And prayerfully begin to ask Jesus. To help us to trust him.

To help us to remember that all we'll ever have here is on loan. All we'll ever have here is going to fail. All we'll ever have here is very little. All we'll ever have here is unrighteous wealth and that one day there's a hope for us in Christ that we would step into an eternity where there's life and joy, true riches, something that gets to belong to us because we've been welcomed into the eternal family that's provided for us and the eternal salvation that's provided for us through Christ. So when he says, make for yourself friends so that you'll be welcomed into eternal homes.

I think he's just taken the picture of the story where this guy used someone else's stuff to gain himself some good and saying, wise sons of light do the same thing. They take the stuff I've let them borrow and they intentionally let it walk out the door towards people who can't pay them back. They let it walk out the door for things they won't ever get credit for. They let it walk out the door in so many ways that honestly point to the fact that they trust that I'll make good on my promise to save, to redeem and to give them an eternal home. Let's pray.

God, we ask that through your Holy Spirit, you'd help us to have faith. To look beyond everything that we can see and feel everything that we know to be true because it's right in front of us, but that through faith in Christ, we would know your word to be true and the hope of the gospel to be true, that we might live wisely as eternal people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

The Abundance of Possessions

The Abundance of Possessions

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Well, good morning. It's our first week of our Give Series. Grab your Bibles, go to Luke chapter 12. What we do in our Give Series is we take just a little time to focus our attention on God's generosity towards us and how we might in turn be generous, how we ought to think about our finances, how we ought to think about our possessions and our money. And so we just every year around this time, we try to just kind of push back on the cultural current of consumption and try to intentionally put our eyes on generosity and living in a way that makes sense financially. And so what we're going to do for the next couple of weeks is just spend some time looking at money and how to think about money and how to handle money.

And today we're looking at Jesus teaching on the concept of possessions. And we're going to pray and then we will begin looking at this passage together. God, I pray that as we enter this room, as people who have been blessed with possessions, and maybe a little bit different from the person sitting next to us, but as far as history goes, very blessed. And so I pray that you would help us to rightly look at this and to listen to what you have to say to us through your word, that we might repent where we need to repent, that we might grow in generosity where we need to grow in generosity, and that we might not be tricked by owning the things that we own.

And so God, we love you and we ask for your help this morning through the empowerment of your spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, Luke chapter 12, we're going to read from verses 13 to verse 34, and we're really going to just kind of hone in on three verses. So we're going to read a lot of the text, and then we're going to spend most of our time talking about three verses and trying to dig as much out of them as we can. So let's pick up in verse 13.

Jesus is teaching a crowd at this point, and then he's interrupted, and that's kind of where we pick up this story. So someone in the crowd said to him, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. But he said to him, man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you? And he said to them, so first he says to him, he responds to the guy who just interrupted him, and then he says to them, the rest of the crowd. And he said to them, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. The word covetousness there means to desire something that's not yours or to yearn to possess or have something.

So he's referring both to, I think at this point he's responding to both the brothers. He's responding to the brother who does not have the inheritance and wants it, and he's responding to the brother who does have the inheritance and also wants it and does not want to share it to the point that it's become an argument. And when a traveling prophet and teacher comes through the town, this guy interrupts him and tries to get some of the inheritance. He's like, hey, you don't know me, you don't know my brother, but could you real quick, because you're a prophet and you speak on behalf of God, tell him to give me some of this money.

And Jesus is like, slow down. I have nothing to do with that. And then he just turns and immediately starts teaching on this. He's like, but while you brought up the subject and while you're here, let's talk about the issue that's going on in your heart and your brother's heart. And I think that guy thought, you know, I probably shouldn't do that again. Next time I'll wait until it's not a crowd, and maybe I'll just slip him a note or something.

Anyway, he turns and he starts teaching. So he says, take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. And he told them a parable, saying, the land of a rich man produced plentifully. And he thought to himself, what shall I do? For I have nowhere to store my crops. Then he said, I will do this.

I will tear down my barns and build larger ones. And there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, fool, this night your soul is required of you.

And the things you have prepared, whose will they be? So it is with the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. Jesus tells this story, and in his mind, he's demonstrating something that most people believe, that people at this time definitely believe, and that we as Christians believe, which is that at some point this life will end, and when it does, we will be accountable to God. And I know this is a Christmas series, and so I hate to bring up the fact that the mortality rate in this room is 100%. That at some point we will die, and in that moment we will be accountable to God.

We will stand before God and enter into an eternity. And what Jesus is saying is that all that we see here and all that we handle here does not just terminate here, but it actually rolls up into an eternity that matters. But I want us to look at what he says at the very beginning of this in verse 15. Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. That's the first verse we're going to focus in on. He starts off by saying take care, be on your guard.

When do we say that? When would you look at someone and say watch out, be careful? We say that when there's a danger, when there's something to watch out for, when there's something to be afraid of, when there's something that is around us that could harm us. And so Jesus is saying, I'm about to tell you about something that could harm you. I got to thinking about this. What he says is, he says, watch out that you don't believe that life is found in your possessions.

And I got to thinking about what are the things that I'm on guard against. I used to didn't think about this stuff very often. I got married to my wife and immediately when I got married, I felt this weight of responsibility of if anything bad happens, I'm supposed to like protect her. Now, some of you, maybe your wife is a black belt. Mine is not. She weighs about 90 pounds.

She does not think about this at all. And one of the other things that she's given me a complex is she watches all these like forensic files and Dateline and all of these like any kind of creepy murder thing. And then she just is like, she's just, she can immediately just fall asleep. And it's just amping up this like fear intensity. Like I'm on guard. So one of the things that happens now is if I come home and realize that we left our back door open or I see the little stick out, I will walk through our entire house and check all the closets and stuff.

Because I've seen on those shows someone hid in a closet for five hours. And I know that I'd be like, oh, it's not that big a deal. And I'd lay in bed and it'd be about 10 o'clock and I'd be like, I wonder if there's someone in our closet. So I'm just skipping that step. I don't get ready for bed first. I have to fight someone in my underwear.

I walk around the house and I check all the closets. But what Jesus is saying is I'm on guard against that. What he's saying is that I've never once come and opened my closet and looked at my possessions and been like, what you playing at, shirts? Why do I need 45 flannel shirts? I've never looked and been like, why do I have five pairs of boots that look about the same, but I only got two feet? Like what?

I've never, I've never just been really concerned that my possessions were out to get me. I've never been on guard against my stuff. My radar is not up there. But what Jesus says is be watchful. Be on your guard against, and it's not just your stuff, it's this idea that's attached to your stuff. Be on your guard against the belief that life is found in your possessions.

Now, what does he mean by that? What does he mean that we would begin to believe that our life is found in our possessions, in the abundance of possessions? Because most of us would not say that our life is actually connected to it to the point that if you took my stuff, I would fall over dead. But he gives an example when he tells this story. What does the man say to himself? He says he's already rich, and then his land produces plentifully, and he says, I'll tear down my barns, I'll build larger ones.

And then I'll say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years. Relax, eat, drink, be merry. What the temptation is with possessions is that we would somehow convince ourselves that the good life is found in them, that true comfort, that you'll say to yourself, you know, if I could just have this much money, then I'll finally be able to relax. Yeah, yeah, I'm tense now, and yeah, I've got stress now, and I'm on my grind now, but if I could just get to this place, if I could just get this promotion, if I could just get this job, then I'll relax. Then I'll finally be able to quiet my soul.

Or that you'll look and say, if I could just have that, then I'd be happy. That's why he says, eat, drink, be merry. That really what I need is, the reason I'm so frustrated, the reason that life is so difficult, the reason that I don't have any joy is that I'm stuck in this spot, and if I could just get this, or have this, or this vacation, or this amount of money, or this much in the bank, then finally I could be happy. That we've begun to believe that the abundance, the accumulation of possessions will give us joy. And this is a danger both for the brother that has the inheritance and the brother that doesn't.

So even as we begin this, don't sit and think, oh, that doesn't affect me because I don't have anything. It absolutely does. We can still begin to believe that the good life is found in possessions. One of the ways to help you think about this is when do you say in your head, or out loud, must be nice, must be nice. Like I have seen people pull up in beautiful trucks. Now you might not describe a truck as beautiful, and you would be wrong.

There are some trucks that are beautiful. I've seen them ride up, and I thought, oh, it must be nice. You ever just open the door to a brand new vehicle? Like if a friend of mine gets a new vehicle, I'm just like, hey, can I go sit in it? Like I just want to, just to see, just pretend, like what would this be like? Like I, just there's something new, there's something about like a big truck, but you have to actually like use a ladder to climb in, and you can ride around traffic and spit on other people's cars.

Like I, there's just something, and I've thought, man, it must be nice. I've never once had a friend show up to something, I was waiting on in the parking lot, and you can hear their vehicle coming, like from around the other side of the building. Like it announces that they're on their way, and I've never, and they pull around, and they've got one door that's a different color from the rest of their car, and I've never once thought, man, it must be nice to be free from this longing for possessions to define you. I've never been like, I'm so proud of you. You know what I've assumed? Oh, bro, you just only got the money to get a car that all the doors match.

Like I just, I didn't think you've taken a vow of poverty, I just thought, that's all you can handle right now. That's cool, I'm not judging you, but I didn't think, man, you must be, you must be so free from the love of possessions. I've never thought that. I've never been in someone's house that was just, you know, small and okay, and wanted to take pictures. I've been in rich people's houses and pulled my phone out because I know what type of person I am. I take pictures real quick and I'll show my wife, like, did you see this kitchen?

I think you could bowl in here. And what I'm saying, what I'm betraying in my heart every time I do that is this is the goal and this is where you'll finally reach. Like if I had this house, if I had this car, then, then I could say to my soul, soul, be happy. Soul, be at rest. You've done it. Hey soul, up top.

High five. We made it. That's what I'm saying. That's what we're betraying in our hearts. I don't know for you what it is. I don't know where you set your sights.

I don't know if you see somebody. There's a new eBay commercial that is, it is just covetousness, which by the way, that's what commercials are. This is a commercial about covetousness. It's like layers deep, like inception. It's like five. We're going in pretty deep.

It's an eBay commercial and what it is is it's like they see somebody walking and they see their boots and they're like, they immediately get their phone out and what it's telling you is when you see something you want, don't even wait. Get it right now. Which I don't know why I licked my finger. That's not how you use phones, you guys. If you're doing that, gross. But you don't even have to wait.

You can do it right now. Let's see somebody with a shirt and they immediately pull out and just, and that, honestly, I was watching that and I thought, no, that's us. How many products have you bought because you saw it at someone else's house or you saw someone else wearing it and you said, hey, where'd you get that? Where do you have that? That's covetousness and that's growing in our souls. That's, Pinterest is great in so many helpful ways and it's also covetousness, which is saying, if I could just have my house look like that, if it could just be like this, HGTV is covetousness.

It helps breed it in our souls. I'm not saying it's immediately evil. I'm not saying go home and get rid of HGTV, maybe, but I'm just saying that we have our whole economic system built around this and this time of year is that the goal of our economy is to whip us into a frenzy to buy things that we don't actually have to have, to accumulate an abundance of possessions with the belief that life will somehow be added to and made better and Jesus says, watch out. Watch out. I'm willing to bet many of us had a pretty good Christmas last year. I'm also willing to bet that most of us didn't roll into this Christmas and go, oh no, I did it last year.

I'm good. I got the thing. Life is complete. No, we're always consistently setting our sights a little higher and beginning to believe a little bit more and a little bit more and a little bit more would finally fix me, would finally make me happy. It doesn't matter where you are on the scale. If this is the poorest American and that's the richest American and all of us are lined up with this belief that possessions and vacations and corner offices that somehow fix us would somehow finally make us okay, if we're all on that scale, what happens to most of us if we stand right here and say, this isn't a problem for me, look at how far away I am from the top.

And it's a little bit like Jesus walked over to a cow and said, you're in line for the slaughterhouse. And they went, yeah, but I'm like 20th in line. I'm really far away. It's like the line still gets you slaughtered. It's a bad line to be in. And so for us, what happens is that there's this chance there's this possibility that we slowly over time begin to believe the lie that possessions will finally make us comfortable, will finally let us rest, will finally give us joy, and we keep kicking it further and further down the road.

I thought it was this amount of money, but it's actually not. It's got to be that amount of money. I thought it was this type of car, but it's actually not. It's got to be that type of car. And so what I'd like for us to do as we move into what else Jesus says here is to at least admit that this is a temptation and that this is a problem and that this is something that we should be concerned about, that we can actually begin to believe that life, that joy and fullness and satisfaction are found in our stuff. You see, as we desire possessions, pursue possessions, gain and accumulate possessions, we can begin to believe the lie that they offer us the good life.

All right, now we're going to keep reading from 22 on down to 32. And he said to his disciples, therefore, so therefore meaning because I said all this stuff about money and not being rich towards God and because I told you that your possessions can't give you life, therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on, for life is more than food and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens, they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?

And which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you were not able to do such a small thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow, they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you? O you of little faith. And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried, for all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. All right, we're going to spend just a minute in verse 32. So he tells this whole big thing, and he's saying, don't be anxious. Don't be anxious about what you're going to eat. Don't be anxious about what you're going to wear.

Don't have your life and your anxiety wrapped up in finances. Don't have your life and your anxiety wrapped up in, how am I going to make it? He then says, fear not, little flock. That's graciously, lovingly, condescending to us. Calm down, little flock. Fear not.

He looks at us like we're a bunch of sheep that he's the shepherd over because we're a bunch of sheep that he's the shepherd over. And he says, fear not, calm down, quiet your soul a little bit. You see, when it comes to money, we actually do have a lot of fear. There's a lot of them. I'm going to quickly tell you four. I think there's more.

I just want to share four that I think we have wrapped up when it comes to money. I think one of the first and main fears is that we just have a fear of pain, suffering, difficulty. That our fear is placed on this idea that money would fix that. That's what he's talking about here. He's talking about eating and drinking and having your clothes. Like he's just, there's something about like I'm, we're not going to be able to make it if we don't have money.

When he's talking about, he says you'll eat, you'll wear clothes. Like that's bare minimum for existence. He says, calm down, you're going to be okay. But we have this fear of I won't make it if I can't, if I don't have stuff, if I don't have possessions, if I can't, I won't eat. I won't be okay. I think that when it comes to money, there's a fear of failure.

It's often hard to quantify how we're doing and money and possessions just makes it easy. I'm doing good. I'm doing this much, this amount, good. How am I doing? This amount in the bank, good. It's a quantifiable number that tells us we're okay, that tells us life is good.

People can actually look around and look around at their house and their possessions and go, okay, we're doing all right. Like I can see, I can see it and there's this idea that if I don't have that, then who am I and am I okay? And so there's this fear of if we don't have finances, we don't have possessions, how do we know, how do we know how we're doing? I think there's a fear of the future and uncertainty. All right, look, CrossFit's great.

Essential oils are fine. Drinking tea is good. From what I understand, if you do all three of those, you become immortal. If you read the stuff people say on Facebook. But there's no better way to prepare for the future than being really, really rich.

That's what we tell ourselves. Sure, being in shape's fine. But having a lot of money will fix that problem. Drinking tea is great, sure. But having money, like there's just this, nothing can get to me if I have a pad of money around me.

And so there's this amount of, I have to have this to be okay. And the last one, and I think this may be particular to us, I don't know. Maybe it's exacerbated in us, but there's a fear of missing out. My dad growing up would always say, he's like, money isn't that great, but the stuff it can get for you is. Like money itself isn't great, but it can buy you a boat. Like he just kind of has that, like that's good.

And I realize I just quoted the country song and you're welcome. But there's like, this idea that, like if I don't have money, if I don't work real hard, if I don't save my possessions, if I just give my money away, like everybody else gets to go to Disney World, I gotta go to Dollywood. Or tweets he railroaded. Like, there's this idea that like, I'll miss out. Everybody else is gonna have these good experiences. Everybody else will get to, like have you ever said to yourself, like I wonder if my whole life I'll never own a new car.

I wonder if my whole life I'll just always rent a house. You ever said that? Because what you're communicating to yourself is I'm going to forever miss out. I'm going to forever miss out on the thing that would fix me, that would make me okay, that would make life better. But I want to tell you why I think Jesus says it's dangerous.

Why we ought to be on our guard against it. Verse 32, some of this will be on the screen to help us see it. Fear not, little flock, for it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You see what he did there? What he did there, I want to show this to you before we move into why it's dangerous. Fear not, little flock, it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

He just swapped it out on us. He doesn't say, fear not, little flock, it's your father's good pleasure to give you a bunch of possessions. No, he said he's going to give you something better. That the reason why possessions and the belief that they give us life is dangerous, we should be on our guard against it, is because he has something better to offer. And here's what we actually miss out on. You know when someone tells you you should wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle?

Or that if you've got little kids, you should watch out for them when you're out places. Do you know why we have to be on guard for things? It's because we have something of value that we might lose. I don't care how fast you're going, you can still flip a motorcycle over a curb and hit a tree. We have something valuable that we might lose. And so we're told to be on guard and to be watchful and to be mindful of the situations that we're in.

And so here's what he's saying that's valuable that we might lose if we believe the lie that possessions give us life. Fear not, little flock, it's your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail. Let's highlight that.

Where no thief approaches, no moth destroys, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Here's the danger when it comes to believing that possessions give us life. First, we'll miss out on true treasure. What he does not say is money bags are bad. He just says your money bags will wear out. Get ones that don't.

He does not say treasure is bad. He says you're chasing fool's gold. There's a better treasure. See, if we believe the lie that our possessions here will give us life, we will miss life and we will never actually get true treasure. Secondly, the danger is that they can lead our heart astray. For most of us in this room, we love Jesus.

We want to follow Jesus. We want our life to mean something for Him. We want to be devoted to Him. And what he's saying is that your possessions pull at your heart. That if we're, as Christians, supposed to look beyond the horizon into an eternity where souls hang in the balance, where people will either spend eternity with Jesus in worship and in rescue because He died for their sins or an eternity separated from Him paying the penalty of their sin. And if we're supposed to believe that and know that and our value system is supposed to be different and we're supposed to look beyond the horizon, that possessions clutter up the view.

And rather than helping us look upward, they force us to look down and they can begin to lead our hearts astray. That's what's at stake when it comes to believing the lie that our possessions will fill us up and give us hope. They trick us. They trick us into believing to changing our value system and they lead our hearts astray. But Jesus came to wreck our value system and to steal our hearts.

Jesus comes from heaven, which is really nice. He leaves heaven and comes here and is born in a stable. We sang about that earlier, that He left the riches of heaven and was born in a stable and that He intentionally lived His life on purpose so that He could die in our place for our sin. And when He did this, He did this to wreck our value system so that if you belong to Jesus, what you value does not look like what your neighbor values. that He's changed our understanding of eternity and He's changed our understanding of what has value and what doesn't. And He came and when He died for us, He did this also to steal our hearts and He is not okay with us sharing our hearts.

They belong wholly to Him and they are not to be spent on loving and believing in our possessions. Jesus came to wreck our value system and steal our hearts. Paul talks about the same idea in Timothy and I want us to look at this real quick because I think it's clarifying. As for the rich in this present age, charge them, that means aggressively tell them, give them a rule, charge them not to be haughty nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.

So what He says is to the rich in this present age, tell them not to strut around and be all excited about being rich. Tell them not to place their hope in their riches. So what He's basically saying is tell them, set their hopes on God. Not on the uncertainty of riches but on God. So He's saying, tell them to set their hopes on God.

So let me point out a few things that I think are helpful from this passage. Paul does not say, tell all the rich people, you terrible, terrible person, don't be rich. He does not say, tell all the rich people to give everything they have away. No, He says, tell them not to hope in it. Tell them to realize where it comes from. Tell them to be generous and ready to share.

One of our general reactions to this when we start talking about this and we see how blatantly and bluntly Jesus says things is to go, oh, so I can't own a hot tub, I can't enjoy life, I can't, Disney World's wrong, I went to Disney World last year, it was alright. I've been to Tweezy Railroad too, it was alright too. Like, like to have this like, but what's He say? who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Oh God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. That we actually can enjoy the things we're given. That we can, that it's okay, but that we can't, can't, place our trust in them.

That we can't let them begin to lie to us and tell us that they'll give us life. I'm going to tell you a situation that'll play out in a community group if you're in one long enough. You'll see something, something like this will happen. There'll be someone in the community group who will pull money out of their savings account or their retirement account, pay extra penalties on it, and use it to buy a hot tub. And they'll say things like, yeah, but I'm not going to retire for like 20 years and I can own this hot tub for 20 years. And there's someone else in your group who's like, I'm going to punch you in the face.

Because not only did you have to pay taxes on that, but now you paid extra penalties and taxes and also, that hot tub didn't going to last 20 years. And in the middle of that argument, you know what might, might be happening? You might have two people who both believe that possessions give them life, they just have a difference about going, a different way to go about it. You might have one that believes that possessing money in the bank helps you have security and hope that you can look at your soul and say, relax. And you might have someone else who's more going to say eat, drink, and be merry, but they both believe the same lie.

That possessions give us life and they're both confused. Now, that may be happening. The guy who bought a hot tub probably, wisdom-wise, is making a worse decision, but they both still have an issue. Could be. Could be that when we get in arguments with your spouse, my wife recently was saying, when we were coming up for Christmas and we were talking about my parents were saying, hey, what should we give Archer? And she was like, I wonder if they'd give money to his so that we can open a mutual fund for him.

Because she's been saving up and she wants a little bit more so we can open a mutual fund. And I was like, you're ruining Christmas. That sounds terrible. But the truth is, maybe in the middle of that argument, I'm saying the good life comes from eating, drinking, and being merry. And she's saying the good life comes from security. And I think that has a lot to do with how she and I argue about money.

But neither of us have looked beyond the horizon to an eternity where things actually matter more. Where we can give some stuff away and have treasure that doesn't fail. So let me ask, has it worked? Has it ever worked for you? Have you ever gotten to the point where you said, I did it, I reached the amount that I had set out to reach and now I'm fulfilled and now life is here and now everything's good? Let's imagine that you had a friend who told you every year, I save up $2,500.

I have a set amount that I set out of every single paycheck. And every year, I save up $2,500. And then, in October, when the state fair comes, I take a week off of work, I rent a hotel, and I go to the fair from open to close every single day. Now, even if you love the fair, you're saying, dude, that is the worst vacation I have ever heard of. Like, you can only eat so many elephant ears, you can only watch so many pig races, you can only spin counterclockwise and clockwise so many times. I don't care how many times you ride a camel, like, at some point, you are placing way too much weight, way too much pressure on the state fair to accomplish something for you that something else would do a better Job at.

How do we know that? We've seen the something else. We've seen the state fair. Jesus looks at us and says, if you believe and if you buy into, this is all we'll get, so I might as well get as much as I can. You're placing too much weight here and it will not accomplish what you want it to accomplish. Why?

Because he's seen this and he's seen the money bags in heaven. He's seen this and he's seen eternity. And he's saying, I've got a better deal for you. Can we enjoy the things we have here? Yes. Is it wrong to own a hot tub?

No. Not in and of itself. Maybe for you, yes. Is it wrong to save for retirement? No. It's actually a good idea.

But maybe for you, it's drifted into a place where you've begun to believe the lie that this will somehow fix you and this will somehow give you hope and this will somehow allow you to relax and yes. You've made a bad choice. You've made a bad switch. Jesus has seen both and he says, don't do it. So how do we fight it?

Jesus gives a very simple command on what to do to fix this in our souls. Verse 32, fear not little flock for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the needy. That that's actually how you provide yourself with money bags that do not grow old with the treasure in the heavens that does not fail where no thief approaches, no moth destroys for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. What he says is sell your possessions, get rid of the things in your house, give to the needy. Sell your possessions, give to the needy.

That provides for you money bags in heaven. Now, does that mean you cannot own a thing? I don't think so. Does that mean you have to sell all your possessions? I don't think so. I think there's actually some wisdom to having an income, having a home, having some things set up where you can consistently forever give to the needy.

But I will tell you this, I think as Americans, we try to talk ourselves out of this way too much. And we try to lower the bar way too much. And we even try to talk others out of it. Now, you should give some, but no, not like that. No, no, no, no. Like, I wouldn't make that decision.

Like, it's okay to, like, we try to talk each other into having extra things. And I honestly think Jesus would stand alongside us and nod us along on everything we decided to give away and everything we decided to pass along and to give to the needy. There's a missionary named Jim Elliott who eventually died for going and being a missionary. And one of the things he wrote in his journal was, he is no fool who gives away that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose. The truth is, all the things you own, you won't keep. Everything you give away, you won't lose.

You'll keep forever. But I do think that this is a pattern of life more than it is a one-time thing. There's a pattern of life that we are on our guard against our possessions, that we fight our possessions and their ability to claim our hearts, that we sell them, that we give them away, and that we consistently let our money walk out the door. So sometimes when we do stuff like this or when we're called to give or when we're looking at it, we honestly just say, I don't have the income to do this. Like I'm strapped as far as income and so that's why Jesus says, sell your possessions. Some of us need a lower car payment.

Maybe some of us as we pray about this are going to be called to sell our beautiful truck, pay cash for one that's not as beautiful and every day when we crank it up and it cranks on the second try, we remember that eternity exists and that we've got better money bags and we've made a good investment. That this is to be a pattern of life, that maybe some groups are going to have some yard sales, but the way that we fight this is that we begin to give our money away. That if your possessions have begun to claim your heart, the way to move your heart is to begin to give them away. So here's our give project this year.

As we actively as a church fight our desire to spend all of our vacation time at the fair, that's what we're doing. We're actively as a church fighting our desire to put all of our eggs here and to believe that everything here and all of our possessions and having a hot tub and having a nicer house and finally getting that new iPhone X because it's a thousand dollars and apparently someone reviewed it and it's better than the Samsung. Like, ooh, like fight the desire to think that'll fix us so that'll make us happy as we fight that. One of the ways that we're going to begin is our give series.

But I do think this needs to be a pattern of life for all of us. So here's what we're going to do this year. Midtown Two Notch is a church plant in inner city Columbia off of Two Notch and Schoolhouse Road. They have a building that they lease over there. I was out there one time for a, I know Aunt Frederick was one of the pastors there. We actually kind of launched that at the same time.

I was out there for a pastor's like lunch thing and they had ordered pizza and so we're all sitting around, pastors are all sitting around waiting for pizza and they get a, they come back in and go, sorry guys, we're going to have to send someone to get it because when we told them the address, they said they don't deliver pizza here. And I was like, I didn't even know that was a thing. But they got a spot in Columbia that's marked off that they're not sending a truck. They're not sending someone to drive in there and deliver pizza because it has gone so poorly for them. Aunt Frederick felt called to plant in this area.

Let me explain to you about church planting. It is difficult. Financially, it is hard. They planted a church where there's no way to financially succeed. If he's going to be full time, if they're going to do the things they need to do to minister to these people, the average household income in that city, in that part of the city is $18,000 household. The average for the state is $56,000.

The average household income in that part of the city is $18,000. One of the issues with inner city church planting is that guys like Aunt will go to a place, try to plant a church. They consistently have to be raising support because they are missionaries where they are. They're running out of money and then a nice church in the suburbs that has a lot of money and is trying to grow in diversity goes to Aunt Frederick and says, hey, we'll pay you X amount of dollars to come be on staff here. And we, collectively, with the Grassroots Church Planting Network, never want that to sound like a good option and so we intentionally try to support this church plan.

And so we called them as we went in this next year and we just said, hey man, I think for our gift project we just want to love y'all. We want to bless y'all. We appreciate what you're doing. We want to help. And so there's three ways we're going to partner. We started talking to them about how we could bless that part of our city and how we could not just bless that part of our city.

See, it'd be cool if we just picked and said this is an area in our city that needs blessing. We're going to go bless. What we've actually said is this is an area in our city that needs blessing but they also need to be blessed by the local church and so we're going to partner with a church that's right there so that they can continue to walk with all the people that are blessed to see them grow in their love for Jesus and have their lives changed. So we, the first way that we're going to do this, Midtown Fellowship Two Notch, our first part of our give project is this. New toys, new and gently used children's clothing and shoes.

New toys, new and gently used children's clothing and shoes. So here's, here's why that we're doing this. They said, they have some people that work in social services and they said one of the biggest issues in that part of the city at Christmas, a couple things happen. People feel like they have to celebrate Christmas. They're going to and so they make poor financial decisions to do so because they don't really have the means to do it but they want to be able to give their kids something. They want to be able to have some kind of a Christmas.

A lot of them do not celebrate Christmas, wait and give their kids Christmas gifts at tax time when their tax return comes. And one of the things that they noticed was that for people who at times when they're given a gift, people do show up and make sure the kids have gifts, that organization gives them. And what they said they'd like to do is help parents be able to come and actually set up a toy shop at their building that they lease and let parents come pick out gifts and then they'll help so that the parents at Christmas can give the gift to their child and take all the credit for it. So that it empowers what they're doing and makes them feel like they were able to do it and the kids don't feel like somebody else had to come in and do this.

And so what the plan is is that we would get to be elves for three weeks, $15, $20 or less. We don't need to have some really big things stuck in there. We need to have a pile of things that parents can go in and pick out a few things for boys and girls. And so we're just looking at all new, $15, $20 or less on toys. Clothing, I don't know how much that's going to cost but just kind of find some things. But we're going to try to have new toys, new and used, gently used clothing and shoes.

And we're going to fill up a room. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to fill up that room. The second thing we're going to do is have a Christmas party where we're going to go volunteer to man all the stations so that the people of Midtown Two Notch can interact with everybody so that we're going to be the ones making sure everything's tended to so that they can be having all the conversations, loving and serving them. They want a Santa Claus. So if you feel like, I get Santa Claus, let's talk.

They want a Santa Claus. They want us to do s'mores and any other fun things that we can come up with so that the families can come, we can watch the children so the parents can go pick out what they're going to get. They won't take it with them right then. They're going to get to come back and pick it up later, but it gives a time for a whole big party. Kids get to talk to Santa Claus. Parents get to go pick out toys.

We get to be a loving, beautiful diversion. We're going to get to love and trick children and it's going to be awesome because I think that's what Christmas is about. So that's the second part. We want you to sign up. We're going to need people to show up early and set things up. We're going to need people there during the party.

We're going to need people to tear things down. You'll actually be able to sign up online tomorrow. So that's the second part of our Give Christmas project. We're going to help them bless these families with a Christmas as we sell our possessions and give our money away to the needy, intentionally setting our sights beyond the horizon. The third thing we're going to do, and if I'm honest, I'm a little more excited about the third thing, but we've got to do one and two first. We're going to actually give financial support to Aunt Frederick for his salary.

He has to raise support every year. We want to make that easier for him. This is his family. He has a young daughter now that's just been born, but I couldn't find a picture of all of them on Facebook. I guess I could have asked him to send me one, but I didn't. Those are his two boys, Colby and Malachi.

Malachi is the one on the right. He has venous vascular malformation in his face, head, and neck. We asked Aunt, hey, would you be willing to come and just kind of talk to us during the gift series? He said, no, I'm heading to Boston for surgeries number 19 and 20. What happens with Malachi's face is that the blood vessels don't close off properly, so his face just kind of fills up with blood. They go in, they open him up, they cauterize a few of the blood vessels, and they immediately have to close him up because his whole face is going to swell.

Then they wait until it goes back down and do it again. He's on surgeries number 19 and 20. So that this pastor who's in a difficult part of the city, actively having to raise support, he's also having to fly on a regular basis to Boston. There have been weeks where he said he spent 40 hours on the phone with insurance companies just having to get him to commit to do the next surgery. And that's a regular thing. He said he's getting pretty good at it, but he has to do it a lot.

And so one of the things I'd love for us to do is for us to collectively as a church start buying toys, you can bring them by the office during the week which is right down the hall, you can bring them on Sunday and we'll just pile them up here to start bringing used clothes and shoes and buying new clothes and shoes to sign up to serve on the party we're going to help throw.

Mystery of The Gospel

Mystery of the Gospel

Spencer Cary

Killing Racism

Killing Racism

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. An extra hour of sleep. You guys have figured it out. You just need an extra hour and you're awake at this point. That's great. We'll go back to next week when I say good morning.

Do not respond. Alright, grab a Bible, go to Ephesians chapter 2. So we've been walking verse by verse through the book of Ephesians, studying that together. And we are in chapter 2. We're going to pick up in verse 11. As we get started this morning, I'm going to read.

We'll read together 11 through 16. And then we'll pray and I'll kind of talk about what we're doing this morning. So it should be on page 568 if you have one of these white Bibles. 11 through 16. Therefore, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision, by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. Okay. So we just read what Paul just said was, hate Gentiles, which is all non-Jewish people. And hey, Jewish people, Jesus has made you one through the cross and he's killed the hostility.

So what we're going to talk about this morning is racism, is our own prejudice towards other races, other people groups, people from other cultures. And so before we get started talking about that this morning, I want us to pray for our own hearts, that we would hear this well, listen well as we step into something that is difficult to talk about and currently the issue and the idea is very inflamed and we automatically bring some baggage to the table. So let's pray for ourselves, for our time this morning, and then we'll jump in and start walking through this. God, we ask that what Paul says here would be practically true for us, that you would begin to kill the hostility.

We ask this morning that we would, with very clear sight, see our own hearts and understand our own tendencies towards prejudice of other people. We ask for your grace and we love you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so what Paul says here is that through the cross, Jesus eliminates racism. So that's a good news for us, that we actually, as Christians, have the tools to have a perfectly good group society of people who are of different races, of different cultures, of different backgrounds, and have joy and genuine real relationships with one another.

Now, Christianity has not always done this, but when Christianity has, it is beautiful and countercultural. And Paul says we do have the tools to accomplish this. Now, as we talk about this today, we are not going to be talking about systematic oppression or systematic racism or systematic injustice. We will spend some time talking about that at the beginning of the year. So we're in Ephesians right now.

We're going to pause Ephesians. We're going to do our gift series, which is right around Christmas every year. We talk about generosity and giving to kind of specific causes and not getting caught up in consumerism. We do that every year because by the time we hit Christmas every year, we've all completely forgotten that and totally bought back into the American dream. And it's helpful for us to re-remember, hey guys, here's some real specific things Jesus said. And so we're going to do that again.

And then at the beginning of the year, we're going to do a series on the image of God. And in that series, we will spend some time talking about systematic racism. But today we're going to talk more about our own personal prejudice. We're going to talk to all the racists in the room. Good morning. It's good to see y'all.

Here's how this works. This issue has cultural historic baggage. In 2017, for people who live in South Carolina, we have racial baggage. We do. We don't get to step into this conversation as third-party outsiders just looking in on it. We have historical baggage.

We live in the United States. We live in a racialized society, meaning that we notice race. You are aware of the race of the person you are speaking to. You tell people when you tell a story, and I notice this in myself. I'll tell a story and I'll say, man, I was in this store and this old black guy came walking in. Or I'll say, man, there was this super mean white lady behind the counter.

I just include that because I feel like you should know. It helps you picture the story. But what I'm doing is I'm acting as if this somehow matters to the story. And sometimes I might be willing to argue that it did. And so I'm noticing that we are people who notice, realize, pay attention to this kind of thing, that there's actually a social – I had this backwards, sorry. A social scientist named Andrew Hackler says, America may be seen as two separate nations.

Of course there are places where the races mingle, yet in most significant respects the separation is pervasive and penetrating. As a social and human division, it surpasses all others. What he's saying is that when you look at statistics, the thing that most adjusts income – in this article he's talking about income, college educations, health, life expectancy, the thing that most adjusts that in the United States is if you change the race. That as a social division, it surpasses all others. That we live in a racialized place. Now here's the thing.

We have baggage. In the United States, we had our most devastating war with the most casualties was the Civil War that was largely about slavery. Now I know if some of you grew up in the South, you have heard a lot of it had to do with states' rights. Sure, that may be one of the planks in the platform of why there was secession. I'll concede that. But when the guy who gets to be the vice president of the new Confederate United States says, now finally we'll have a whole country devoted to the idea that black people are inferior, it's a quote in one of his first speeches.

You have to understand, though, there are some racial issues there. That we have some baggage. We have Jim Crow. We have the Civil Rights Movement. None of us get to walk into this just completely devoid of this. And here's the thing.

I don't care where you're from if it's Australia. Y'all still have racial issues as well. That it does not matter. Here, this is a worldwide phenomenon. The only places that you do not have racial issues and racial tension and cultural divisions are in places where there are no multiple cultures, multiple races. This is a human heart level issue.

And one of our goals as we enter into this conversation, we're not going to spend a whole lot of time on it because Paul doesn't. And we're studying through Ephesians, so we're taking what Paul gives us. But one of our goals as we enter into this conversation right now, this week, and as we hopefully continue this conversation, we have a couple of things that we want to promote here. One is we believe that we are sinners saved by grace, meaning that Jesus redeems the most broken, messed up parts of us, and that one of the ways that he begins to break down our sin is that we openly confess it. And so we want this to be, I know that in our culture, racism is one of the highest, most heinous, terrible sins that you can absolutely commit.

And so it becomes very difficult to confess to having racist thoughts and a racist heart and prejudice towards other people groups. But if we want it to die, we're going to have to talk about it. We're going to have to own it in our community groups, and we're going to have to allow people to own it because we believe that Jesus saves us by grace, which means that Jesus redeems racists and racial prejudice. And that's our hope. Secondly, we want to grow in reflecting the demographics of our city. So if you just do Lexington County, it's about 60% white, 20% Hispanic, 20% African American.

If you look at Columbia as a whole, it's about 40% white, 40% African American, about 20% Hispanic. We want to more accurately reflect that because that's what heaven looks like. We live in a place where white churches and black churches exist. And we want to overcome that through gracious pursuit, friendship, love, and laying down some of our cultural preferences. So those are some of our prayers as we get into this.

So let's look at what Paul's talking about, who he's talking to, why he's addressing this. So he begins, Therefore, remember, so when it says therefore in your Bibles, I just want, I want you to know this, and this is a hokey way to remember it. Whenever you read the word therefore, you got to look why it's, what it's there for. Like, why is it there? What is it in the text? Because it's always referring to what just came before it.

And so in this part of the text, Paul is saying, because we're saved by grace, meaning that Jesus saves us through his work, not ours, that none of us have anything to boast in, none of us bring anything to the table. It wasn't like Jesus said, okay, I'm here for all the good people. Okay, I'm here for all the Jewish people. Okay, I'm here for all the well-behaved. I'm here for all the moral. I'm here for all the people who've never watched an R-rated video.

Go ahead and line up. Like, that's not what he's done. He saves by grace, meaning that Jesus is here for all the messed up, terrible, broken people who will raise their hand and say, I need a savior. That's what he's talking about. He says, therefore, because we're saved by grace, remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision, that's in quotations, by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Okay, got to have a little historical background here as to why this matters for him to talk to the Ephesians and why it's a big issue.

So in Ephesus, we read when we started our first week of this series, we went to Acts and we read about how this church got started and we saw that there was extreme racial tension in the city of Ephesus. That the Jewish people were separate. And this is true for this time period. They had their own dress. They had their own language. Now, they would interact some.

They knew Greek, but they had Hebrew. They had their own dress, their own language, their own foods, their own guilds. They didn't participate. If you were a blacksmith, they had separate Jewish blacksmiths. They wouldn't let non-Jewish people eat with them. They had all of these regulations.

They were a separate group. And so what happens is Jesus is Jewish. I feel like I have to explain this because it's confusing. Judaism is a religion and Jewish is a people group. And they overlap. So the Judaism, Jewish people practice Judaism because they were both a people group and a religion.

And that's true even now. Someone can be Jewish and not practice Judaism or now practice Judaism and not be historically family-line Jewish. So at this time period, though, you were Jewish and you practiced Judaism for the most part. And if you didn't, you were thought very, very low. You had very low esteem in Jewish culture. You were outcast.

You were a sinner. You were separated. Okay. What we see in the story in Ephesus is that Jewish people become Christians and then the Ephesians starts messing up their political system and their economic system and they start a riot. And it says that one of the men stepped forward, who was a Christian, stepped forward to speak. And it said when they noticed he was a Jew, they chanted, great is Artemis of the Ephesians for two hours.

So he steps forward and they were going to listen. And then they were like, he's Jewish. So they obviously could tell by dress and look that he was Jewish. And then they just chant a racist chant, which was saying great. It's like chanting USA, USA. Or ole, ole, ole, ole.

Or ozzy, ozzy, ozzy. All right. There you go. All right. It's like that. They chanted this for two hours.

And so Paul, then though, people begin to become Christians. They begin to believe in Jesus and they become one church family together. And there's tension. Because you have Jews and Gentiles now trying to figure out how do we belong to Jesus together. So Paul's addressing that here.

And he says, remember Gentiles. And Gentiles is a term for all non-Jewish people. So in the Jewish mind, there were Jews. Everybody else. That is a form of racism. That they would take one group, that you elevate one race above all others.

That's what the Jewish people did. Jewish people? Everybody else. They just had a term for you're not a Jew. And they draw this line on circumcision. Weird place to draw the line?

That's what they did. So here's what that means. God takes Abraham. He says, I'm going to make you into a people group. And he gives them the sign of circumcision. If you don't know what circumcision is, ask Raz at the connect table when you leave today.

They give him the sign of circumcision. That's going to be the sign for this people group. And so they said, we're the circumcised. That's our sign. And everybody else is uncircumcised. And that's how racial slurs work.

You pick the thing that's different and you point it out. They were from the same area. They look the same other than dress. But they begin to pick the one thing that separates us. And you just, now that becomes a derogatory term. That's what we'll use to call each other.

So the uncircumcision. He says, okay, so Gentiles, all the people who aren't Jewish, you were separated. The Jews were in. And that's what the Jewish people thought. Verse 12. Well, remember that you were at that time separated from Christ.

Alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise. Having no hope and without God in the world. He is not saying that's what the Jewish people thought. He is saying that is what was true. That you were alienated from the Jewish people. You had no hope and you were without God.

Because God had picked the Jewish people and said, you're going to belong to me. And through you, I'm going to bless the world. And for a time, it was the Jewish people related to God correctly. And everybody else was out. Everybody else was excluded. And so the Jewish people began to say, we're the good ones.

We're the ones who are loved. We're the ones who have the covenants of promise. We're the ones who have the right culture and the right way to think and the right way to approach God. We're the ones who are the good ones. We're the ones who are in. And then draw a line.

Gentiles. Everybody else is out. And here's what the Gentiles did. Gentiles had a different form of racism. Pretty much all of us are okay. For the most part.

Greek. Scythian. Barbarian. Roman. Like we're all kind of in the same zone. The Jews are the worst.

That was kind of how they thought about it. They took one race and they lowered it below everybody else. There's actually a place in some historical writings where there's this Greek guy and he refers to Jewish people as they're prickly people. They're prickly. Which I guess is like a heck of a cut down at that point. But it just means they're unpleasant.

They're not nice to be around. They're kind of bad people. They just exist as this little minority that's separated from us and they're worse than everybody else. That's what was happening here. So Paul begins to write into this situation.

And here's what he says. The Jews say the Gentiles are out. The Gentiles say the Jews are the worst. Jews say we're the best. You were alienated without God in the world. And then verse 13.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. So what he says is we're now one. That Jesus in his flesh has broken down the dividing wall of hostility. That he's destroyed it. That we can be brought together.

That you who are far off have now been brought in. This is the gospel. This is what it was going to be forever. That God takes Abraham and says I'm going to use you to bless the nations. You're going to be a light to the Gentiles. Meaning eventually everybody's going to be brought in.

Which is good news for the majority of us in here because I don't think many of us are historically lineage wise Jewish. For the most part. Big old room full of Gentiles. What he says is you who were far off. You who weren't Jewish. You who didn't belong to the covenant's promise have now been welcomed because of Jesus.

And then he says this. What he says is he is our peace. He's made us both one. He's broken down in the flesh the dividing wall of hostility. So the wall of hostility that stood between the Gentiles and the Jews is gone because of Jesus.

What he just says is Jesus got rid of racism. Jesus got rid of prejudice. And now a really good question is how? You look. We got 14 through 15 here. It says for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of command.

Stress and ordinances. The question is how? I have a two-year-old son. And he says daddy what you doing? 14,000 times a day. Daddy what you doing?

Daddy what you doing? And I've begun to learn how to respond to this question because I'll be messing with something. I'll be working on something. He'll go daddy what you doing? And I'll say I'm fixing this. Daddy what you doing?

I'm fixing this. Daddy what you doing? And I've learned fixing this doesn't make any sense to him. I have to say I'm holding a screwdriver. I am sticking it inside of our television. I am tightening this down because you hit this with something.

And now I have to open it up and put it back. Like and then then he'll stop. Cool. He gets to see what I'm doing. Daddy what you doing? I'm driving you to school.

Daddy what you doing? I'm holding the steering wheel so that we do not strike other vehicles. And then he'll stop. And we get to ask that question of this. Because what Paul just said was Jesus fixed racism. Jesus what you doing?

How did you do that? I need more details here. I need you to explain how you actually went to work on racism because just saying you fixed it. I'm going to be honest with you. I'd like to look. I mean this happened 2,000 years ago.

Paul wrote this. I'd like to look at the United States and just kind of respond to Ephesians. Nuh-uh. You did not. But actually he tells us how he crippled it.

How he broke it down. How he destroyed it. How that dividing law of hostility goes away in the sweetest section. In his flesh the dividing law of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. Now what does that mean?

Because he says this is how he did it. All right. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances. What he's talking about is God gave commandments to the Jewish people. Do this. Don't do this.

Do this. Don't do this. Then you'll be okay. And then they took those commandments. Don't murder. Don't steal.

These are the clean and unclean laws for the Sabbath. And then they made ordinances. So maybe if you've been arrested before, if a police officer knocks on your door and he says something along the lines of, you're breaking county ordinance number 2. It's a law. It's a legislation. That's what an ordinance is.

So then they made ordinances about how are we actually going to practice these commandments. But what it was, was a giant list of, here's what makes us the good guys. We believe these things. We hold these values and we practice them. We express them in this way. And that's what makes us good.

So they had core values, the commandments, that they practiced in a certain way. And that was their resume. If you do this, if you act this way, if you think this way, if you treat people this way, then you're one of the good ones. And what Jesus does is in the cross, he walks over and he takes everybody's resume. He balls it up. He throws it away.

And he says, you get to be involved because of me. My dad is an entrepreneur. He helps run some fireworks stores. And I know some of you all met me and thought, man, I bet he's super classy. I bet he runs a fireworks store. Yes.

I get to run a fireworks store. They're amazing. And we love to y'all. No, I'm sorry I'm going to do a commercial right now. But I just mess with you.

All right. I get to. I have one of the stores I manage. I get to just walk into the other stores. I've walked into the other stores before. Never seen the people before and started being like, hey, you need to come reprice this.

You need to do some of these things because it's my brother's store. He oversees it. But I just am there and I noticed this was wrong. So I'm being helpful. Do you know what my resume is? My daddy.

I didn't even apply. I didn't even have a choice. I was just told, go to work. He didn't want to see my resume. I can't get fired. I just get cussed at.

I still have to show up the next day. Let me tell you who hates resumes being pulled off the table. It's the people who had a good resume. Do you know who loves turning in their resume? People who have a bad resume. That's why when Jesus saves by grace, terrible sinner, racist, mess, messed up, hateful, lying, stealing people go, ooh, me.

That's why when people say church is so hypocritical, everybody in there is messed up. I'm like, right. Good people don't think they need Jesus. These people think they need Jesus. I hang out with my group and people start confessing terrible sins. And it's like, yes, thank you.

We need Jesus. He took our resumes away. And for people with terrible resumes, that's beautiful. But if you are a person who says, this is what makes me good. And he starts saying, no, no, no, no, no. And starts pulling that.

You hold on to it. He's got to wrench that out of your hands. And so when he says, Jesus destroyed the wall of hostility by abolishing the commandments expressed in ordinances. What he's saying is, he took away everything you used to say, I'm what's good in the world. And once that's removed, racial hostility is removed. Let me explain how.

Most of our racial hostility does not begin with simply these people have a different racial background. It's actually, most of it, a cultural hostility. They're different. Speak differently, act differently, think differently. That's why if someone ever says, man, you are so white. For the most part, they do not mean I'm talking about the melanin levels in your skin.

For the most part. They're referring to your job, the type of food you like, how you dance. They're referring to culture. If someone ever says, oh, yeah, he's, if you ever hear someone say, yeah, he's, he's, I mean, he's not really black. They're referring to culture. They're not talking about skin tone.

That for most of us, the lines are cultural lines. Now, they're cultural lines that are drawn right on racial lines. They overlap. And so it becomes really easy to take cultural prejudice and begin to just apply it to a whole race. But as soon as Paul removes, here's what makes your culture good.

That's what he took away from the Jews. Here's what makes you present to God. Here's your resume. As soon as he removes that, as soon as Jesus takes that away, then we have nothing that we get to look at and say, here's what makes me special. Here's what makes me good. Here's what makes me one of the good ones.

Here's what invites me in. Now, this is why, I want to just pause for half a second. This is why whenever anybody comes along and says to you, the way we really worship Jesus is we practice all of the old Jewish laws and rules. The way we really, the way you really get to be involved is that you pick up on all of the old ordinances and commandments. When you do that, you practice the Jewish festivals. That completes, the reason why that's a lie is that Jesus got rid of that in the first place.

The answer to that is no. Secondarily, if you are non-Jewish, the answer to that is no. Because they didn't even make the Gentiles in the New Testament do that. How are you going to come reapply that to me now? And then they took it away from the Jewish people. You don't even get to practice all of this to say this is what makes me okay.

This runs along cultural lines. Let me explain. I heard somebody explain this one time to me, and it was helpful for my brain. He said in every culture. So a pastor who's in Memphis, and he's now in California.

His name's Brian Lourdes. He said in every culture, there are three different types. There's C1, C2, C3. This isn't in the Bible. This is just a way to think about it, but it helped my brain, so I'm going to try to explain it. There's C1 culture, C2 culture, C3 culture.

C1 culture is you have historically come out of a certain type of culture, but you have completely adopted another culture. He said this would be Carlton from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Wear sweater vests, speak a certain way, Acts a certain way, dances like this. C2 is someone who is culturally fluid, can go back and forth, can fit in one culture or another, get along with one culture or another, appreciate one culture or another. And then C3 is someone who is culturally rigid, like their culture, believe in their culture, do not leave their culture. Their culture is the best culture.

And he pointed out that most white people in the United States are here. He said this is Will Smith from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He's culturally rigid. He wasn't going to fit in. He always wore his sweater inside out to kind of visually represent this. And what he said is most white people are here.

He said you will hear white people say, I'm not racist. And he said for the most part, that may be really true. They're not just saying I dislike someone because of their skin tone. Because what a lot of white people will say, I'm not racist. I love Carl from work. I know Dave.

He's great. He's saying what they often are saying is, I know this C1 guy who's completely adopted my culture and we get along fine. And that they're actually just really culturally rigid. They're not drawing lines based off of skin tone. They're drawing lines based off of culture. And he says most white people are here not because they're evil.

Most white people in the U.S. are here not because they're bad, not because they're evil, but because they live in a place that is predominantly their culture. So they never had to change. I heard a poet, he kind of does spoken word stuff. His name is Michael Borne. And one of the things he talked about was he was at a friend's house taking a shower. He's an African-American guy.

And he said he saw the shampoo and it said for normal hair. And his argument was not everywhere. Like I don't think that's normal hair at Benedict and Allen. That's abnormal hair there. That was his point was that for most white people in the U.S. We've got normal hair and normal culture and normal food.

And everybody else has culture. Everybody else. There's the normal way to preach and then there's a black way to preach. There's normal regular music and black music or Hispanic music. There's normal food, regular, like this is just normal. And then there's, it's because we've always been in the majority.

For the most part. For most, most people. That's what he says. That there's culturally rigid people who draw this line along cultural lines. And what Paul says is that all the things you took and said, here's what makes us great. That you drew culturally.

And there are things that I really appreciate about my culture. That I want to say. I want to elevate. I want to say this is what makes us great. He's saying all of that's been removed because Jesus is the only one who you get to put forth as, here's what makes me okay. Only in Christ.

So I love biscuits. Love them. They are a part of my culture. Parties. It's a part of my heritage. I went to Spice Junction over in West Columbia.

And this was the first time this had ever happened to me. It's an Indian restaurant. The lady was really nice behind the counter. And I, she was helping me see some stuff. And there were a few things I put on my plate that I put in my mouth. This was the first time this had ever happened.

I didn't even know this could happen. My body did not recognize it as food. My immediate reaction was, I don't know what this is, but just get it out of your mouth. I was able to control that. But it was the first time ever.

I was like, there was no flavor that I recognized whatsoever. Now I will tell you, it wasn't great. And I might be willing to say, Indian food's not that great. But what I'm saying is, for a guy who has Hardee's heritage, Indian food's not that great. Some of it was okay. But only if it tasted like other things that I already like.

And that's what we do culturally. But as soon as we start saying, and this one's the right one. And this is the one that ultimately should overshadow all the other ones. And we'll allow, your language is cute. Your dress is cute. You can, you know, I love having Mexican restaurants around here because I love Mexican food.

But I need it to be Americanized Mexican food. We'll allow some amount of it. But mostly I want our culture to be the dominant culture. And that's what happens. And that's where Paul says, no. As soon as you start doing that, you're broken down.

Now, let's keep reading because I think we need a little more clarification here. Verse 15. By abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two. So, making peace. So we're going to put this on.

He might create in himself one new man. Here's what happens. When Jesus gets rid of the ordinances, when he gets rid of the commands, he comes in and he makes one new man. He does not say, sweet, everybody can now be Jewish. Completely adopt this culture. What he says is, I'm making a new people.

There are things in your culture that are good, that reflect God, that reflect his values, that demonstrate the gospel. In every culture. Because every culture is made in the image of God. There are things in culture. So what will happen sometimes is it's like, okay, so I can't say that I don't like this.

I can't say that this is wrong. I can't say that this culturally is bad. No, you can. But you have to do it like a Christian. Here's what I mean. Can I address sin in your life?

Absolutely. I should. If we're friends and we're walking together, I should point out where you're wrong. But I have to do it like a Christian. Not like somehow when I point this out, it makes me better and I'm trying to help you behave and be as good as me. I have to do it as a person who's saved by grace.

So I have a friend, Quincy. He was baptized here last year. He's in my community group. And he does, he produces his own music and he does raps and stuff. And one of the things I've been talking to him about or we're talking about, I was like, man, I think one of the issues with rap music is it just glorifies violence and sex. It has this whole picture of how you treat women.

It glorifies drug use. We had that conversation. And then I thought about the music I listened to. That's the night that the lights went out in Georgia. It's about a girl sneaking in and shooting somebody because her wife's been cheating on him. Or, uh, I might have been born just plain white trash, but fancy wasn't my name.

Apparently, it doesn't glorify sex and violence if Reba sings it. Lay, lady, lady. Lay across my big breastplate. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Bob Dylan, like he can sing stuff. We don't notice that.

Oh, Red Solo Cup. Anything by Toby Keith. I started thinking of songs. I was like, man, pick an album. Half of that's violence. Half of it's sex.

Half of it's alcohol. Really, what I was in some ways saying to my friend Quincy was, I don't appreciate how explicit y'all are with it. How clear you make it. I need it to be, I believe in miracles. Which is about just hooking up with somebody. But it's got a good little, you know.

Sounds nice. It says the word miracle. That's in the Bible. Come on. That we can point out what's wrong, what's broken in a culture, but we can't. I read an article and it was talking about the kind of the race debate that has begun and been intensified over the past couple years.

And it was just, they just polled white people and black people. So what they did, just asked them a bunch of questions. I don't remember all the questions. I remember the first one was, race relations get worse when we talk about it. And my response to that was a couple years ago. And my response to that was, yeah.

I'm not talking about it. It's fine. And I went through the rest. I took the little test. I just answered the questions. And do you know what I found out?

I'm white. That was what I discovered. I took a little quiz and it turns out I think like the average white person. And that scared me because it means I don't think like a Christian all to me. Because if I just line up with white people, I'm off. Because the Bible corrects culture.

It celebrates culture, but it corrects it as well. One of the beautiful things in scripture, in heaven, it says that he looks and sees heaven. This is John in the book of Revelation. He says, I saw every tongue and every tribe and every language and every people. And one of the things that's beautiful about that is that it means that Jesus is redeeming people from everywhere. You know what else is beautiful about that?

He could still tell they were from a different tribe, a language, a people. We don't get to heaven and he goes, here, all of you have this skin color. Now we can get along. You get to heaven and he says, here, everybody has the blood of Christ. Now we do the blood.

And there's parts of your culture that make it. Biscuits are in heaven, you guys. They're there. Consumerism isn't going to make it. One of the things that people say often is, well, you can tell this culture is dominant by how it works in the world. And honestly, all you're saying is, I'm taking my cultural grade sheet.

I'm grading the rest of the cultures based off of what I value. And now we can say what's good. When this ought to be our grade sheet. That's what Paul says. That's what he's getting at here. That as soon as Jesus wrestles your resume out of your hands.

Your hostility towards other cultures and other races and other people groups dies. And that we get to be made into one new man. Verse 16. And might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross. That ultimately what accomplishes this is Jesus on the cross. That it was one body that brought us to God.

That we have one thing that fits on our resume now. Jesus. And I will tell you, if you are trying to put something else on that resume. It's not the one the Bible has given you. If you were trying to say Jesus plus or Jesus and. Yeah, yeah, Jesus.

But also. It's not the one we get. We get one body on the cross. Jesus. We're saved by grace. We don't get to add anything in.

And through that. We reconciles both to God in one body through the cross. Thereby. Because he did this on the cross through Jesus. Thereby. Killing the hostility.

Here's what this means for us as Christians. If we have racial, cultural prejudice and hostility. We are failing to believe the gospel. I grew up in a home. Where we freely used racial slurs. All of them.

Didn't matter. Used them. Whole jokes. And our basic attitude was, well, as long as it doesn't affect how we treat individuals that we encounter, this is fine. And you've got to understand that there are some things that are just terrible about that whole group. Not the individuals, but the whole group.

And there's a difference between them and how they act. Really, what we were saying was, not racist. I just value my culture above and against all others. But everywhere in my heart that that still grows is me. I'm jerking my resume back out of Jesus' hand. Slapping it back on the table and saying, here's where I'm going.

I don't want to believe the gospel right here. I want to think more highly of myself than I ought to right here. I want to elevate myself above you right here. I want my good works to take place right here. And that we need, as Christians, Jesus to come in our hearts and begin to kill the hostility. It is a violent word on purpose.

That he comes in and begins to root this out in us. That we need Jesus to go to work. That we need to lay down our resumes. That we need to realize everywhere that this is growing. And some of you just became a Christian or you've been a Christian for a while or you're walking with Jesus. And honestly, this has been left alone and not really paid that much attention to because it doesn't play that much of a role in your active life.

And you have so many other things you're working on. But in our church family, this has to become one of the things that we talk about, that we confess, and that we walk over the way. We have very few non-white people in our church family. Which means that this is something that is at work in our church family. In the way we live, in the way we interact with people, in the way we automatically drift towards and put around us. That on some level, it's at work.

Now, it can also be at work in other people. It can also be at work in people who dislike and have a racial prejudice towards us. Like, I get that towards white people that are trying to do this. And honestly, I'll say to the people in our church family who are of a minority, stay with us. Stick. Help us see it.

We're blind to it. We don't see it that often because we don't ever walk into situations where we are the minority. I remember walking into one of the things that I've noticed, and I have to address it this way for two reasons. And I'm just trying to help you understand. I'm not trying to say it's bad to be white. I actually like being white after it's straight.

I don't wake up feeling bad. I do think because we're in the majority, we don't see and feel what some of our non-white brothers and sisters in Christ are saying to us. I don't think we see it. I don't think we feel it. One of the ways that I have to pull this into a different situation, I have to think about it. My older brother used to pick on me a lot.

And there are times in life where I will enter into a situation and I suddenly feel bullied. I feel picked on. And my reaction is not fitting to the situation. It goes to this place in my brain where I respond really poorly. I respond really violently. But for people who've never been picked on or never felt put in a corner, you may not understand that.

Now, I was playing ping pong the other day with a friend of mine, and he beat me. And then afterwards, he was going to hug me. Not nicely. It wasn't a friendly hug. It was a, oh, there you go. And I came out here.

Because I lost. So I was already annoyed. I put way too much into ping pong, you guys. But I lost. And then I felt like he was just going to come show his dominance over me. And I went to this, like, five-year-old bullied chap who was going to just assault someone.

He came at me. I was like, don't. And then I, like, twitched. Left the room. Came back and was like, I'm sorry. That may not have fit the situation.

I'm kind of a psychotic sinner. But it tapped into something in my brain in a different area where there's some people where they respond in a certain way. And it's because they've always felt this. They felt it so many times before that when they enter in a situation, regardless of what you were thinking and what you were attending, they feel it. One of the ways I've noticed this is I walked into a winged place in West Columbia. I opened the door.

And I stepped in. And I was the only white person in the room. And I had two immediate thoughts. And both of these may be wrong. But these were my two immediate thoughts.

Oh, my bad. Like, I didn't realize I wasn't supposed to be here. And then, secondly, I was like, I bet the wings here are really good. But as a white person, I hadn't walked into too many situations where I was the only white person. I get to roll around everywhere being a part of the majority. And when I get in situations where I'm not, I suddenly feel it.

I noticed it. And as a white person, I can say, when we don't talk about race, everything's fine. Because I don't notice it and I don't feel it at all. And so what I'm saying to our minority brothers and sisters in this room, help us. Help us see it. And don't push away from the table.

We're going to say things that people who've always been in the position of authority and majority are going to say. And you've got to help us see it. And help us grow. Help us walk out of that. In order for us to begin to kill this hostility, we need somebody pointing out where we are just believing things that aren't true and aren't in line with the gospel. And ultimately, we need Jesus to go to work in us.

Because everywhere we practice this and believe this, we are not believing the gospel. And therefore, racial and cultural hostility and prejudice has no place among God's people. No place. And that's for everybody. Racial and cultural prejudice has no place among God's people. And that's how we have the tools to begin to practice a harmonious group of people who can repent of sin, walk openly with Jesus, and be a picture of what the gospel actually looks like to everybody in the midst.

Band's going to come back up. We need to begin to see where we've begun to elevate our own culture, our own people group, our own. Some of it's good. Some of the things we see and we say, no, the Bible affirms this. The Bible celebrates this. That's okay.

But where we've begun to just draw lines on our own culture and our own preferences, we need Jesus to go to work to begin to kill the hostility. And we need to spend a minute just praying and asking. The Holy Spirit would help us see it. Help us walk openly in this with each other. So we might actually begin to look like this is a group of people where the gospel has taken root.

And that's what Paul was writing to them to say. Y'all get to be one. Your new primary reference group is the church. Is I belong to Christ. That's first before everything else. Let's begin to practice that here where we get rid of the things that don't fit with Jesus and we accept the things that do and we celebrate differences.

We celebrate what's beautiful about the different cultures. We repent of sin and we walk together as a bunch of people saved by the blood of Jesus. Let's pray. God, we ask for your grace as we walk in this. As it's tense and difficult to talk about and even where in maybe some of the stuff that was said today, it wasn't helpful or wasn't as clear. We ask for a whole lot of grace and an empowerment by your spirit to be a group of people who are Christ's first, covered by the blood of Jesus, who have fully submitted their resume to the shredder.

It's been nailed to the cross so that what we bring to the table is that Jesus was good enough for me. I'm free to be a sinner who's slowly being changed into the image of our king. We love you. We praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Y'all stand.

Let's sing.

Created for Good Works

Ephesians Week 8 - Created for Good Works

Chet Philips

Transcript

He was talking about this and he was saying that they found this out. And so they said, OK, we're all going to Disney World. And that the closer they got to going to Disney World, the more this child's behavior just bottomed out. That she was doing everything she could to be as bad as possible, because in her mind, she had decided that the reason she never got to go to Disney World with the other family was that she had done something wrong. And so she began to basically sabotage her ability to go to Disney World. And he said he was getting close to about a week out from going.

And he's talking to her and she says he's fussing her about something that she had just done that was just terrible and kind of out of character for her. And she said, I know what you're going to say. I don't get to go to Disney World. And he said in the article, he's like, I hadn't even considered that. He said for half a second, I thought about going. Well, you won't if you don't straighten up just to try to see if it works.

And he's like, then I was just like, no, I won't be helpful. So he just said he was like, no, you're going to Disney World. It doesn't have anything to do with this, but you need to change your behavior. And he said he explained it to her. And you would have thought maybe her behavior would have gotten better. It got worse up until the point when they're loading the car.

She's breaking down and throwing fits. And they drag her to Disney World. And they take her. And he says they have a day at Disney World. And it was like Disney World. Very, very hot and terrible with just enough magic sprinkled in that you think maybe we'll come back.

And he said that he puts her in her bed that night. And she looks at him and she says, I get it. Or, Daddy, I understand. And he said, what? And she said, I got to go to Disney World not because I was good, but because I'm yours. And he just was like, that's grace.

That's how that works. That it's not because we're good. It's because of who we belong to. And that when we understand this, that by grace we've been saved through faith. And he keeps going. He says it's not a result of works.

This is verse 9. So that no one may boast. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God. Not a result of works.

So that no one may boast. You didn't do it. If you're saved, if you're in Christ, you are saved not by something you did, but because he's generous and gave you a gift. That both your faith and your salvation are a gift from God to you. My wife works at a bank. And periodically they'll have people come through that are just hard to get along with.

And some of the ones that frustrate her the most are when somebody breaks down, starts yelling at the tellers, and cites their church membership or their church attendance as a reason why they should be cared for. Or a reason why they're a good person. So she's had some people before say, I'm a member of this church and I've been a member of that for 50 years. And it's like, what does that have to do with teller service anyway? Secondly, what does that have to do with anything? You're not even going to get to cite that the day you stand before God because you don't get to boast in anything.

It was not your own doing. It was not your work. It was not your effort. It was not your intelligence. It was not your morality. You don't have anything that you come and present to God.

We walk to God hands empty, not hands full. We walk to God with a terrible resume that disqualifies us rather than one that qualifies us for the position that we had nothing we brought to the table. And when we understand this, the church, Christians, those who belong to Jesus, have a humility and a confidence. A humility that's unparalleled and a confidence that's unshakable. We have a humility that's unparalleled because we know we didn't bring anything to the table. And we have a confidence that's unshakable because we know we didn't bring anything to the table.

So it's not based off of us. It's not based off of our work or our effort. One of the things that used to happen between nations when they would go to battle is that they periodically, rather than everybody fighting, they would just send forth a champion so that your side of the army would send a champion out and their side would send a champion out. This is at the beginning of the movie Troy. This is what happens in the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel. That Goliath comes out and he's a giant who's been part of war since he was a child.

I don't know if I can say since he was little because I don't know if he was ever little. He was like 10 feet tall. He comes out and he basically says, send forth your baddest guy, your biggest, toughest man, and we'll fight. And whoever wins decides for both nations. So if I win, you're our slaves.

And if he wins, we'll be your slaves. And this was a normal practice to keep from having to have these big bloody clashes. They would send out a champion. And daily Goliath stood and he issued this threat and he mocked them. And every single warrior wearing their shield and their helmet would have to line up every day for the Israelites and mentally look at themselves in the mirror and say, Mm-mm. Not me.

I think maybe at first people were looking around like, who's going to go? I think after a while nobody was making eye contact. It was just you lined up and put your head down. This is the daily shaming. As everyone knew, I'm not big enough. I'm not bad enough.

I can't go out there. It gets desperate to the point that the first person who's a boy who tends sheep, who says, I'll fight him, they were like, you're the best we got because you're the only one who said you'd try. We're going to lose anyway. At least we don't have to lose a warrior over it. Just a shepherd. They send him out there.

He wins. That's why you've heard about it. That's why you've heard about fighting Goliath and David and Goliath and stuff because if Goliath just stomped him, people wouldn't quote that all the time or bring it up. He wins because God works through him. And the truth is that's the church. That's us.

That we have sent forth a champion to face our sin and our inability. And so we have humility because we had to look at ourselves and say, I couldn't do this. I couldn't be good enough. I couldn't be big enough. I'm not strong enough. I'm not smart enough that the church should be filled with very humble people.

But we have an insane amount of confidence because Jesus was big enough and strong enough and smart enough and good enough and he fought the giant on our behalf. And that's why we don't boast in anything because we didn't do it. The Bible says if you're going to boast, boast in the Lord. And that's what we get to do. We get to boast in Jesus, our champion, who faced the enemy for us. So that's the point.

By grace, you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is a gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. After you graduate from school or get a promotion, people say, congratulations. And they're saying, you did a good job. You worked really hard.

When you brag about a Christmas gift, people don't say, congratulations. You worked really hard. Man, you crushed it having her as a grandmother. People don't say that. We just say, that's great. Or we say, your grandmama's nice.

Her knitting skills are legit. Whatever. Whatever. Like, you just brag on the gift and the giver. And that's what he's saying. It's a gift.

We didn't earn it. You didn't achieve it. You have nothing to brag about other than in the one who gave the gift. Okay. So Paul says that, and he's about to make a big shift.

And there's a reason why he ties these ideas together. There's a reason why he hammers this into the ground. You didn't do this. It wasn't your work. It wasn't your effort. You didn't accomplish it.

You have nothing to brag about. And then he turns, and in verse 10, says this. For we, that's the church, that's all who belong to Jesus. Church, when I say that's the church, I don't just mean you're a member of a church or you go to a church on Sunday. What I mean is you belong to Jesus. It's the big, all of those who place their faith in Jesus and what he accomplished on the cross.

That he died for our sin. That he rose again. And that he was good in our place. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Okay. He says, you didn't do it.

You didn't accomplish it. You're not good enough. You have nothing to boast about. And then he says, we are his workmanship, his craftsmanship, meaning Jesus specifically designed us, built us, poured himself into us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he prepared beforehand that we would walk in them. So here's what he's saying.

Good works don't save you. But we were saved for good works. Good works don't save you. You're not saved because of what you did. You're saved because of what he did. But we are saved for good works.

Martin Luther, the guy we talked about earlier, has a quote where he says, God doesn't need your good works, but your neighbor does. And that's the point, that God has decided to use his church for a purpose. So Ephesians 1 says that we're his body, meaning that Jesus shows himself, displays himself through the church. That when people see the church and the work that the church does, they should be able to see Jesus. Ephesians 3 says that God has chosen to display through the church his wisdom so that his plan is that people would be able to look at Christians, those who belong to Jesus and see Jesus.

Ephesians 4 says that he equipped the church in order that the church might grow collectively in maturity and grow by seeing more people become Christians. So that the good work he's called us into is all of the good things that are laid out for us in scripture, like generosity, service, telling people about Jesus and the grace and the freedom and the joy he offers. That they don't have to save themselves. They don't have to be good enough. They don't have to be work hard enough that they get Jesus because he died for us and loves us like that. That all of the good work that we're called to do is repentance of sin and pointing out sin in each other.

And so when it says you were created for good works, that that really just means all of the good things that the church is supposed to do. That we're called to do. So it says that Jesus is a craftsman and this is really encouraging. We have some people in our church family who are good at building things. They can, we've got some people that can make wood, sing and dance. I mean like they are able to work on things and there's just something about when they show you something they've worked on.

And they'll point out things that you wouldn't have noticed and they're like this took me like an hour and a half or it took me a while to figure this one out. And I got better as I worked around and they have these things that they did. I got to go to Bradley's house. He's one of our pastors and he has a deck where he's got two latches so that he can latch his deck shut or he can latch the doors open. And I had never seen that before. But when I saw it, I was like, man, that's really smart.

Like that's a cool thing. He also built a headboard that has lights in it and stuff. And I was like, that's neat. I'm not doing it because I'll burn our house down. But that's cool.

Like you just get to see some of these guys who know how to do stuff. And what it's saying is that that's what Jesus did, does with you. That you, we, the church, are his workmanship. Meaning that Jesus is going to work on you. To change you, to mold you. And then, even more encouraging, it says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good work.

Look, Jesus is not a 45-year-old Star Wars fan who buys the toys and puts them in a display case. He rips the package open, puts the lightsaber in the hand, and uses the karate action arm. Like we are designed for work. Jesus isn't a hipster. He gets mud on his duck boots. He wears flannel and cuts down trees.

Like when he, it's designed for work. That the church is designed for work. That he is actually a master craftsman who builds his own tools for his own distinct purposes. That's one of the cool things when you meet somebody who's worked in an industry for a long enough time. Worked on something a long enough time. They've begun to design their own tools.

They'll have taken three different tools and welded them together. And they'll have this weird looking thing. And it's because they realized they had a tool that was like this. And Jesus, when he was on earth, was a builder. And I can just picture that what he's doing now through the church is a very similar thing. When he used to pick the right tool for the job he was about to do.

That he does that now through his workmanship in us for the good works he's created us for. My wife and I are about to have another child. My parents were asking how we were trying to get ready for it. And I told them we were moving some stuff out of a room. And they said, well, we'll help you try to replace some carpet in there. And I said, sounds great.

And so they did. And the guy was replacing the carpet on Friday in this room. And he said the other guy was coming to help him be there in a little while. And there's two guys named Miguel. And they were real nice. But my first introduction to the second Miguel is he comes walking to my house because the door was open.

He comes walking to my house holding a hatchet. And I was like, I don't know much about carpet, but do you need that? Like, I don't know the tools of the train. I later saw him. Like, you know, it was just my first reaction. The guy walking to my house with a hatchet.

I was like, you can hear it with the carpet? Or you just, like, saw the door open? I saw him using it later. And it made sense. It was a hammer on one side. And he used it to tuck in carpet around on the outside.

I didn't know enough about putting in carpet. But I was like, sweet. But Jesus knows the tools. When he designed the church, when he designed you, when he saved you, he designed you in a specific way for a specific purpose. He does not save and put his workmanship and have all of the same gear. Like, if that guy, if I had gone by later and saw a bag and it was just a bag full of hatchets, I would have thought, no, I'm going to get murdered.

Because there's no reason why you'd need 17 of them. Jesus, when he designed the church, doesn't fill his tools, his workmanship with just a bag full of the same stuff. Does that make sense? The reason I'm saying that is if we say, well, there's a bunch of us. I don't have to really get involved. It's like, no, because God designed us for a specific purpose.

If you came to me and said, man, you've got 10 wrenches. Just give me two of them. I'd be like, dude, they're different sizes. Jesus, I can't just give up my 916ths because then I won't be able to do some of the work I need to do. I didn't buy 10 of the same size wrench. Jesus' tool bag makes sense.

When he designs the church, when he saves, he does it for a purpose. And then he displays his work through his church. And I get to see this all the time. Our church is young. We're a couple years old. I get to see this all the time in our church family.

Where Jesus is specifically showing off his ability, who he is, his work through us. I get to see it on Sundays with our host team. The people who intentionally wear Connect badges and go around and talk to everybody. And are intentionally friendly. And the way we recruit is we're like, hey, you're friendly. Want to do that on purpose?

Like Kelly Weed, who just, she's a hairstylist. She can have a conversation with anybody about anything. Dawn Gooch, Emily Teagle, Matt Toast. Some of these people that just intentionally go out of their way to welcome and host and be friendly. And the truth is, they show it off on Sundays. They actually are supposed to be doing it all the time in normal life.

Because God's gifted them and designed them for that work. To be friendly, to be welcoming, to make people comfortable. And the truth is, that's stuff Jesus did when he was on earth. That's Jesus doing it now through his church. Displaying himself. Showing what he's like.

I see this when, in Kid City, when people are gracious and welcoming to children. That we have an intentional time for them. We tell Bible stories to my son. And we were telling him the one about where the kids try to come to Jesus. And the disciples are like, no, you can't come. And then Jesus lets them come.

And so I would try to act them out. And I would say, okay. I said, Archery's two. I said, your mom's Jesus. Now you want to go see Jesus?

Go see Jesus. And I said, you have to say, I want to see Jesus. And he said, I want to see Jesus. And I said, I'm a disciple. And I pushed him to the ground and said, you can't see Jesus. He loved that Bible story.

He made us tell it like 35 times. And I made Anna say, stop it. And then he would get to go see her. And then we just played a game. Try to see your mom. I'm a disciple.

Stop it. And I thought, maybe I'm teaching bad things about the disciples. But they did it in the story. And so Jesus welcomes and was intentional with children. And there are people who intentionally volunteer for our church family to do that. Today, I had to stand outside because I was drinking some tea because my throat's been messing up.

And I could hear my son grabbing the little rail thing and yelling, Mama! And he belongs to me. And I was like, I'm going to go up and spank him. This is about to get serious. And there are people who he does not belong to, sitting next to him, talking to him, being kind with him, welcoming, like explaining to him why it's going to be okay. And it's like, yeah, that patience and graciousness, that's Jesus at work.

I see this in our groups, our community group and Pine Ridge group that intentionally does stuff with Gentle Pines, the apartment complex over here, where they're giving up time and money and effort to go do cookouts and welcome children and build relationships with people and try to help them get jobs and give them rides and go to the store and supply food. I see this every time our church family rallies around somebody to deliver food. Like, it's something so simple after somebody's sick or in the hospital or has a baby and we deliver food. But it's like, Jesus did that. He fed people. It meant something.

It meant something. We got to go to Midlands Tech Airport Campus. It was myself, Matt Freeman, and Jordan Surratt. And Matt and I set up cornhole boards. And our job was to hand out Mountain Dew and get guys to play cornhole with us. We just ran our mouths and got people to play cornhole.

And Jordan Surratt's Job was to play big Jenga. It's like Jenga but bigger. And hand out, like, cards about our church and talk to people because they were doing some kind of fair and they asked us to be there. And we wanted the opportunity to kind of get to know some of the students. And Matt and I were crushing our job. Hand out Mountain Dew.

Playing cornhole. I was great at that. Like, if that was actually like a paid position, I could just do that all the time. And every once in a while we would look over and Jordan would be holding hands with somebody. They'd be crying and he'd be praying with them. And we're like, Jordan, play Jenga.

What are you doing? And the truth is, it happened like four or five times. People are walking around a little thing. And then they run into Jordan Surratt. And he says, hey, how are you doing? And they say, I'd like to tell you secrets about my life.

And he says, I know you would. Tell me. And if I'd have been over there, I'd have been like, why? Why would you want to tell me secrets? But he's designed for that.

I've been with him at Lowe's. We're just trying to buy stuff at Lowe's to get back to work. And then the teller starts crying. And they have to like, I guess it's not a Lowe's teller. It's just a point of sale person. Cashier.

Thank you. She starts crying. And they have to, like, he's quoting scripture. And I'm just standing there awkwardly. We're like, we go to Lowe's. Like, peace be with you.

Oh, you give him a receipt. Okay. Like, he's designed for it. And the truth is, that's stuff you see in the Bible. That's stuff Jesus did. When he would run into somebody, when he'd meet somebody, he would just go to work.

There are people who are designed to share the gospel, to help people come to know who Christ is. There are three times this past year that people in my group sat me down and said, I need to address some sin in you. I'm so thankful for them. Because that's stuff Jesus does. Sit somebody down and says, you're wrong here. You're off here.

You shouldn't talk like that. You shouldn't act like that. Your attitude here was wrong. That God has designed his church for his good work. On purpose. Because he has actual things he wants to done.

Got to see this this last year as Nick and Bianca McDowell. Nick had to have multiple eye surgeries. And our church family just rallied around him to help pay bills, to bring him meals. They had to change Job situation. Bianca had to do a whole lot to take care of Nick. And then Jordan wrecked a motorcycle and hurt his leg.

And Bianca said, come stay with us. I've gotten really good at taking care of sick people. And so he just got to go stay at their house for a while. And it's like, that's stuff Jesus does. That's his church at work. I get to see this every time somebody comes over to me and hands me a lot of money.

And says, will you go hand this to this person? Hands me an envelope. And says, will you go give this to this person? And all I get to do is walk over and say, hey, this isn't for me. But that's the kind of stuff that Jesus does.

And he still does as he empowers his church to do it. Because he's designed us for good works. Sam and Jen Garcia. So encouraging this year. Jen became a believer and was baptized at Easter. And one of the things we always say to people when they're getting baptized is, we don't want this to be the last time that you step into this baptismal pool.

We want you to get in again to help lead other people you've led to Jesus and told about this same amazing grace. We want you to get to baptize them. And then last week, Jen got to stand in the baptismal pool with her husband as he was baptized. And I just can't help but be excited because it's like Jesus has good work for Sam and Jen that he specifically designed them to do. And only Sam and Jen can do it. That he's poured himself in as a master craftsman into the people he wants to use for the good work he has for them.

And then Paul says this. Verse 10. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. He knows the job he wants to do. And that's why he's designed us the way he's designed us and poured himself into us on purpose for the work he has for us. That we should walk in them.

That he prepared beforehand that we should walk in the meaning that if you are a Christian, you have work to do prepared beforehand by God who specifically designed you for his good work and you should walk in it. You should do good work. I am. I'll take a second to just talk about our church in general, because that statement is true for us. It's true for us specifically Mill City Church that God has specifically designed us, the Christians in our church for good work, and he specifically designed this church collectively for good work that he's laid out beforehand. I don't know what our church is going to look like in 2025, and I don't know the ministries we're going to get to be involved in, but Jesus does, and he's going to work in us now for that purpose.

That he's building us now for 2025 and 2030 and 2035. That he's at work in the Christians in our church family for that purpose. We're a young church, and honestly, we're still getting to see like how are we, what's our church shaping up to be like? What is this? If this is Jesus's toolbox, what kind of tools? What's he, what's he shaping us for?

What are we going to look like? What are we going to get to be? What's he calling us into? What's the good work he's placed out for us? I was talking with a pastor of Midtown Lexington. He's a friend of mine, and their church is in a similar situation, about the same size as we are.

And he was telling me how they think about it, and I thought it was helpful, so I wanted to share this with you all. We have, this is our church family, we have about, we have 80 members, people who have actually committed to membership, and we have about 115, 120 so adults in groups. So, 80 members, 115 adults in groups, so, either way you slice that, if you're here, you're about 1% of our church family. You're about 1%. So, if you're in a group, a little, if we do it by groups, you're a little less than 1%, if you're a member, you're a little more than 1%, but you're about 1%, and since math's hard, just 1%, you guys.

You make up 1% of our church family. So, what you do, the work you're called into for our church family, matters, extremely, because we're still getting to set the stage for who are we going to be. What's Jesus designing us for? What are we going to look like? What does 2025 look like? If you grow in service, and giving, grow in generosity, grow in repenting of sin, and addressing sin in others, if you fight gossip, then guess what?

Our church grows in all of that, and fights all of that, and changes in all of that. Now, maybe it's possible that some of you just thought, well, 1% isn't a whole lot. There's two big problems with that. First big problem is, 30 of you just thought that. And that's damaging, insanely damaging to the health of our church. Secondly, you're responsible for your 1%.

You're held accountable for your good works, that He's designed for you to walk in. And so it matters, extremely, that your participation, or lack of participation, has a major effect on our church family, and on our obedience, and on our ability to walk in good works. That when three people call out on a Sunday from Kid City, that, we're not big enough to just handle that. That becomes a big issue. That's a hard thing to walk through. We just pile all the kids in one room, and lock the door.

We don't. I'm kidding. And if you're new, I'm sorry, if I just freaked you out, if your kid's up there. That's a big deal. I was reading this. Over the past couple years, a good bit of large church pastors, and large churches, have just kind of fallen apart.

It's been really sad. If you've paid attention to it, it's always harmful, and saddening to see that. And I was reading an article about a church, that it just kind of, it was a major church, a big church, and it had just kind of, disintegrated, imploded. And they were just trying to follow up, with people who had been a part of that church, and see where they were. They were talking, doing an interview with a guy, who had gone to a smaller church plant. So he'd been a part of this mega church, or he'd gone to a smaller church plant.

And when I read this quote, it was just, he said, when he first got to Tappery, that's the name of the church, he was shocked to realize, that if he didn't give, or serve here, the church dies. In a small church, he's an integral part of the system. And I read that, and was like, yeah, exactly. That's a good point. Like, there's something about us, collectively called to do, what we're going to do, that it matters, our good works, us walking in them, affects everybody. So, how do we respond?

If you've been saved by grace, not by your work, not by your effort, but you've placed your faith in Jesus, and you've been saved, to walk in good works, how do we respond? What do we do? Some of you, the Holy Spirit's already telling you, you already know, some of the work he's calling you to, some of the things that he's placed in front of you, and said, you need to get in on this, you need to get in on this, you need to get in on this. Some of you, maybe you are supposed to go be a missionary, in some place, where you're going to do that, for a couple of years, and then you're going to go to jail.

Some of you, maybe you need to go to a place, where you're going to fight, for the rest of your life, to try to translate the gospel, into another language, and they don't want to hear it, and it's not going to go well. Some of you, maybe you are supposed to go be a part of a church plant. Some of you, maybe you are, your group knows, and we're supposed to get involved, in this specific area, in our city. Some of you right now, it may be just real small, simple things. I've got to address this sin, I'm supposed to give money to this person, some of the good works, that you're seeing, that God's calling you into, but in order for us, to kind of have some, real tangible, immediate steps, for our whole church family, I've got four, that I think will help us, begin to take some steps, in walking in the good works, that Jesus has designed us for, because it matters, that we all get involved.

So the first one, commit to a group, if you haven't yet committed to a group. Now, committing to a group, I would not argue, is a good work. I mean, it's a good thing to do, I guess, but it probably doesn't fit, in the category of good work. But, being committed to a group, opens up an avenue, for a whole lot of good work, because there's sin to be addressed, and forgiven, and people to, you have to walk through life with, and burdens you need to share. Ephesians, as he keeps going, and he starts giving specific instructions, on how to live this out, he starts giving, love one another, forgive one another, bear one another's burdens, because it all applies, to relational connectivity.

So if you haven't committed to a group, commit to a group. And, I mean specifically, if you're not in one, you should get in one, because it's one of the best places, for you as a Christian, to walk out your faith. And if you are kind of in one, commit. Show up, when your group's meeting, when your group's serving, show up, when your group's throwing a party, show up, bring something. That's stuff Jesus does, by the way, one of the first things we see in John, is he goes to a party, and he makes it better. So go to the party, make it better.

Don't show up to a party, with a bad attitude, and make it worse. Go to the party, bring something, make it better, stay after and clean, help participate, in your group. So commit to a group, if you have not already, committed to a group, because that is where we, get to walk out, many of the good works, that God's designed us for. Commit to serve, if you have not committed to serve. So the second one, would be to commit to serve, if you haven't committed to serve.

If there are opportunities, in our church family, for service, and if you're sitting there going, I'm saved, I'm a Christian, I don't know what work, he's called me into, start trying something. One of the best ways, to find out whether or not, you're good at something, is to just start trying stuff. We believe, and the Bible says, that we're all designed, for good work. So we don't mind telling you, you're bad at something. Because we don't think, we're hurting your feelings, we think we're helping you, find the thing you're good at. So you're like, I'm filled, called to sing.

I'm supposed to sing. We'll say, cool, meet with Matt, and sing. And Matt will say, you're called to sing by yourself. Or maybe he'll say, yeah, maybe you are, maybe you are gifted to do this. One of the things, when I first started feeling called, in the ministry, I did a whole summer, I committed to doing, children's ministry. And I've never been around, children's since, until I had one.

Because I did it for a summer, and I was like, nope. It wasn't designed for this. And I started praying, I was like, Lord, let me yell at adults. That's what I got to do. So, commit to serve, we have opportunities for it. We've got Kid City, and our finance team, and people show up, every Sunday morning, here at seven, and begin to set things up, and line these chairs up, and vacuum up the glitter.

And if you don't know, what I'm talking about, come here at seven, next week, and help vacuum up the glitter. We don't know, where it comes from, but it's here. And we vacuum it up. There are people, who show up early, to help do all the stuff, that we're doing. People that built the walls, that we unfold, and try to keep standing up, in our hallway. Like there's, there's good work to be done, in service here.

And so if you, haven't committed to serve, commit to serve. Thirdly, commit to give, if you have not, committed to give. Our church, brings in about $10,000, a month. So, we run on about $120,000, budget for the year, which just means, things are pretty tight for us. We pay two pastors, out of that. We rent this facility.

We do all the upkeep stuff, we do here. And so that's, light bulbs that seem to go out, all the daggum time. And, we try to help upkeep, the area we're in. So we try to paint, and do some different things, to make the school nicer, while we're here. We, in our kid city, our kid city volunteers, are now writing their own curriculum, to save us some money. And I think their curriculum's better, so it's been a good, it's been a good change.

But, all the amount of graham crackers, and goldfish, and stuff it takes, to run that up there, and construction paper, and sticks to make swords out of, and all the mess they do, that's beneficial and good. Like, we pay for that. I have periodically, people ask, like, are we ever thinking about, getting our own place? And our response is, we think about it all the time. No, though, we don't have the money, to pay for that, we just think about it. We did have a church, that was talking to us, and they had some property, and we went and sat down with them, and we said, how generous do y'all want to be?

We're still praying about that, but, we don't really have the money, to pay for it. We're just like, if y'all are just looking, to get rid of this, if this land's getting on your nerves, you just give it to us, we'll put up with it. So, commit to give, if you haven't, if you haven't committed to give, that's one of the ways, to begin to do good work, with what God's blessed you with, and what he's designed you for. One of the ways, that helps us specifically, in that, is to sign up to give online, because it cuts out the, the having to remember, because I think a lot of our church family, like, we want to give, we intend to give, and then, by the end of the month, we've forgotten, or it just doesn't work out, and so giving online helps.

I really think, that our church family, we probably could be, in about the $15,000, a month range, and that really would allow us, to do all the stuff, we're trying to do right now, and more. There's some things, we're wanting to do with students, there's some things, we're wanting to do with, with kids ministry, and keeping up, with all that up there, there's some, I mean this year alone, we gave away $7,500, to people in our church family, just to help them pay bills, and that's one of the things, we think, is financially responsible for us, and so, we just, I think we can, I think we could do that, and I think it would be helpful, and I think it's a good way, for us to, to continue walking, the good work God's given us. The fourth one, is commit, to the mission, if you hadn't committed, to the mission. Commit to, seeing people, come to know Jesus.

The truth is this, everyone you know, is working on a self salvation project, they're trying to save themselves, either through their own good works, and their morality, or they're trying to give themselves purpose, through finances, or having a good marriage, or, or, or pouring something into society, but every single person, is trying to store up something, that they can point to, and say, this makes me okay, and we're the ones who know, that we can be saved by grace, through faith, in the finished work of Jesus, and if we're not telling people, we're not committed to the good works, he's called us to. We're not walking them out, because he's designed us, to help people know that.

We experienced some technical difficulties with this audio recording, but in the interest of serving our church family who could not be at the Gathering, we are posting what we have. We apologize for the abrupt beginning.

Reading is from Ephesians 2:8-10

From Death to Life

From Death to Life

Chet Phillips

Transcript

Good morning. Grab your Bibles. Go to Ephesians chapter 2. If you have a white Bible like this, it'll be on page 568. If you don't own a Bible, you may take this one with you. We want you to own a Bible, so take this.

You're not stealing. We gave it to you. You may have it. So we get to celebrate baptism today, and we're celebrating that Jesus takes dead people and makes them alive. That he takes people who are trapped in sin, and he brings life to them, and he forgives them. And so we have two physical reminders, two physical signs given to the church that we celebrate, that we practice.

One is communion, or the Lord's Supper, where we take bread and we break it. We take wine or grape juice, and we drink it and remind ourselves that Jesus' body was broken for us, that his blood was shed for us. And then we have baptism, where we celebrate that when Jesus died, we were buried with him, and we rose to life with him when he rose again. So we're in Ephesians. We've been walking through, and we're in chapter 2 now. We're going to spend time walking through this today.

And I love the beginning of Ephesians chapter 2. It is a very condensed version of the entire Bible, that it just clearly kind of lays out, in so many ways, the point of the Scriptures, the main story of humanity. And so what we talked about last week, what we're going to talk about this week, what we're going to talk about next week, kind of is laid out a condensed version of the whole story. And so let's pray, and then we'll hop in together. God, we ask that through your word you would go to work in our hearts, that we might more clearly see the reality of our existence, and that we might fear, rightly, repent, see our sin and hate it, and come to know and love you through your mercy and love shown to us.

And so we pray for that this morning, and that we would celebrate well as people who actually have something to celebrate. We love you, and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to pick up in chapter 2, verse 1. We read through this last week. Spencer walked us through it.

And so we're going to kind of walk through just to set the stage for where this is going and kind of understand the context. So chapter 2, verse 1, it says, And you, so Paul's writing to the church in Ephesus. So this is believers, Christians in Ephesus. He says, And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. So that's Satan.

Among whom, so the sons of disobedience following Satan, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. So Paul walks through and says, You were dead in your sin. And I know for some of us here, maybe this is your first time hanging out with us, or you're kind of new to kind of checking out the church and trying to figure out what Jesus is all about. I just want to say, Good morning. Glad you're here. Hopefully I'll get to meet you a little later on.

And you maybe are suddenly going, Oh, second, people still get together and talk about sin? Like that sounds really old. Like I didn't know this still happened. It does still happen because we believe it still matters. So what Paul says is you were dead in your sin, that you had rebelled against God, that you had lived out your life following the course of the world, following Satan, that you'd actively joined in the rebellion against God, and that you lived your life chasing after the desires of your body and mind, meaning that every whim you've had, every desire you've had to puff yourself up, or every lust you've had, or thirst, or hunger, or desire, your cravings have led you through life.

And you maybe had more sophisticated cravings or more base cravings, but you still just followed your cravings. Now, if you weren't here last week, Spencer kind of, we spent the most of our time there. And Spencer just walked us through it. And if you weren't here, I hate you missed it. It was very depressing. Most of last week was just, here's how terrible you are.

And if you left feeling good about yourself, and not seeing the reality of your sin, I don't think you paid enough attention. It's bad. Paul ends there, he says, you are by nature children of wrath. Meaning that our nature, who we are, was deserving wrath. We deserve to be destroyed for our rebellion. We deserve to be crushed for our rebellion.

For our heinous disregard for God and His goodness. This is the story of the scriptures that God created the world, and He put Adam and Eve in a garden. And He said, you can have everything except for this one tree. You can have all the trees that are there for your goodness, but not this one. And that's the one they're like, well, why not that one? And Satan comes along, and he tempts them there.

And one of the things I realize as I read that story, is that you could swap me out for Adam. I've got the same inclination. That there's this tendency to go, I feel like God's withholding good things from me. You could take my three-year-old, two-year-old, and swap him out. He's got the same thing. All I have done for his entire life is tend to him, and look out for his good, and he thinks I'm suspect.

I'm suspect. I'm like, I want to look at him and be like, let me explain something to you. Since you have been born, all I have done, like half of my life now has been taking care of you. For a while, you were a potato that could poop itself, and I just took care of you. And then I'll tell him not to do something, and he looks at me like, oh, keeping back the good stuff, huh? Like, there's something that makes him suspect that I am not in it for his good, and there's something deep in all of us that has that towards God.

That when he says not to mess with something, it's probably because it's the good stuff. And that we actively have joined in this rebellion against God. And this is where Paul says, so Paul says, you followed your cravings, you followed Satan, you followed the world, you were a child of wrath, you deserved destruction. And then he says, but God. Okay, now, we should all, maybe some of us have gotten familiar with this story, but just for a second, we should all hold our breath at but God. When it hits but God, there should be a moment where we all go.

Give me an example. If someone was telling you a story, and they said, I was at my grandmama's house, and I was down in their basement, and it was like an old school, like block cellar basement. They had their laundry room there, and they had just some old, like, maintenance stuff there. And I found a can of spray paint, and I just went to the block wall and just tagged it. Just, I mean, went ham on spray painting my logo that I invented. I had to practice a few times over here, and then I did a good one here.

And then they said, but my grandma... Your grandma what? Like, there's a moment of like, all right, this story's taking a turn here. Your grandma was too blind to notice. Your grandma couldn't make it down the stairs. Your grandma didn't care.

Your grandma didn't play. She took a drop cord and beat you for 30 minutes. Like, where's this story going? There's this moment where Paul just said, you were worse off than you could ever imagine. Your sin was more heinous. More wicked.

Somebody once said, and I saw this in an article recently this week. It said, sin is an injury to our greatest lover, a betrayal of our truest friend, a dishonoring of our heavenly father, an act of war against our mighty king, the creature spitting towards his almighty creator. That sin, our state before God, is worse than we could ever fathom. And then it says, but God. And there's this moment where we should all hold our breath and try to say, okay, where's this going? But God is wrathful and he destroyed us in our rebellion.

But God has a host of angel armies. Like, what's it going to say? This is the moment where the judge has sat behind the bench and is about to pass his sentence and bring his gavel down. I think there's part of us that wrongly believes, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second. God created us. And we say that as if because God created us, he owes us something.

No, no, no, but like God made us. And it's like, yeah, we're creatures. The Bible says he took dirt and molded it together. Like, we're dirt people. Or secondhand rib from dirt people. Like, it doesn't get better.

Like, we're creatures. And we act like, well, he owes us something. And honestly, I think it's like we think, well, if you had a child. It's like, well, that's different, though. You're giving birth to the same kind. Like, it's on par with you.

And it's more like if you owned a dog. But even that's still a creature. We still kind of owe something to our ant farm and our goldfish. We don't really have the gap there. We're not picturing that right when we say God owes us something. Honestly, we're creatures.

We owe him something. So just for a second. And this breaks down if you think about it too hard. But just imagine with me to try to help us understand what it's like for a creator over his creatures. If you, let's say you got really good at tinkering with things. This is just something you had a scientific mind.

And you just were brilliant. And you could do machinery. And you could make stuff. And let's say eventually you made a doll. Maybe like this size. And you made it like, you put a lot into it so that it was intelligent.

It wasn't a doll. It was like a doll robot. Like it actually interacted. And you made it cute. You like gave it some overalls and some cute red hair. Maybe it looked something like this.

You made a cute, precious doll. Now let's say that this doll became sentient. And then actively worked to destroy everything around it. Destroy your family. Like you had to hide knives from it. Like this doll.

I don't think you'd be going, well, I created it. I really owe it. No. Catch that thing. Burn it. Crush it.

Do something to it. It's trying to destroy everything. I don't think any of us have watched the movie Chucky, which is where that doll comes from. And thought, and sided with Chucky. Well, that doll's really got a hard shake at things. It's like, no.

And if you did, we'd do counseling stuff. We'd love to talk with you. If you sided with Chucky. It's more like that. God created us and placed us in a good world. And we actively went to work to destroy it.

And then we have the audacity to look at him and say, well, it's your fault and you owe us. We should hold our breath. And beads of sweat should form on our forehead when we hit but God in this passage. Because it just said we were children deserving of wrath. That that's who we are. That was our nature.

It wasn't something we grew into. It was something we were born into. And there's something wrong with us. And we've actively rebelled against God. And it's worse than we could ever imagine. But God being rich in mercy.

That's a beautiful sentence. But God being rich in mercy. Meaning we did not receive from him what we deserve. But God being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses.

Made us alive together with Christ. God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses. Made us alive together with Christ. So that's the story.

That God created a good world. But that humans were put in it. That humans openly rebelled. Ran against God. Tried to harm everything in their path. And then it says.

But God stepped back into the picture. And through Christ redeemed. And if we don't understand what Spencer talked about last week. If we don't understand the weight of our sin. We won't understand the beauty of this picture. And my wife and I.

If you don't know us. We're classy. Sophisticated. We have refined tastes. We like the finer things in life. Some of you.

Maybe you watch things like The Walking Dead. Which premieres tonight. We watch high quality television. Like Live PD. Which is just like cops. But live you guys.

And it is awesome. We're watching Live PD on Friday. And they catch a 17 year old girl in Columbia. That's part of the reason we watch. It's Richland County. Anna sees people that she knows on there.

Because she works at a bank. She's like oh I know them. Like I want to go speed in Richland County. Just so I can meet some of my new heroes. They pull me over. I love your work.

They pull this girl over. They smell marijuana in the car. Which means they can now check her car. I'm also learning all kinds of things about how policing works. They smell their car. They say there's marijuana in.

They pull her out. They're like alright if you just have a small amount of marijuana. That's a misdemeanor. I will write you a ticket. They pull her out. They bring her back.

They cuff her. They're just kind of you know hanging out. And then he finds a Xanax. Pulls that out. He walks over to her. He says this is a controlled substance.

This is a narcotic. This is a felony. She's 17 years old. She's about to start college. He said you're done. You're done.

No school for you. It's over. This is a felony. You are being arrested. This is going to go very poorly for you. He walks around behind his car.

He gets to talk to the other cop. And they decide. We're going to take it. We're going to confiscate it. We're going to destroy it. And we're going to write her a ticket for the marijuana.

And we're going to let her go. And you have to know. You could see on her when he said. This is a felony. And it's over. You could see this weight press down on her.

And then they went back around and said. Okay we're not going to. We're not going to press the full charges. That we could press on you. And I just know. For someone who's gotten pulled over.

For doing like 55 and a 35. And got a warning. Like that makes your day better. Like you call people. And you're like. This is the greatest thing ever happened to me.

And that's just a glimpse. Of how we ought to feel. When Jesus Christ. Swapped places for us. To become a child of wrath. And a son of disobedience.

So that we could be adopted into the family of God. That the weight of sin. That was pressing down on us. Was not bearable by us. But Jesus Christ took it.

And bore it to the cross. So that we could be free. And that's what he's saying. When he says. But God.

Being rich in mercy. Because of the great love. With which he loved us. Even when we were dead. In our trespasses. Made us alive.

Together with Christ. That it's Christ that accomplished this. For us. By grace. You have been saved. And he just kind of blurts that out.

If you look in the. In the scriptures there. There's a dash. It says by grace you have been saved. Dash. And it says and raise this up.

He just blurts that out. In the middle of the sentence. Because he wants to make it so clear. God loved you. And he saved you by grace. I need.

You need to hear that this morning. That God loves you. Loves you. And offers a salvation by grace. And grace means you don't earn it. You don't achieve it.

You don't become good enough. Or lovable enough. Or beautiful enough. He loves and saves by grace. My mom told me a story. She was.

She had an older sister. And a female cousin. That would always go to this. Her aunt's house. And they had dolls. When they were little.

They had dolls that they would play with. And she got to go back in college one time. And she saw the doll sitting in one room in the house. And she noticed her cousin's doll. That was like. Had this beautiful little blue dress.

And had all these accessories that went with it. And she saw her sister's doll. That was. This little boy doll. That because her sister always wanted a boy. And so she had this little doll.

That was a little boy. And then she saw her doll. And it was. A head and a torso. No clothes. Like just like a.

Like a not even like a pretty head and torso. Just like a. Messed up. Head and torso. And she went. And she asked her aunt.

She was like. What happened. To my doll. And her aunt was like. What do you mean what happened to it? She said.

It's just a head and torso. And it's like. Torn. And her aunt said. That was. That's the way that doll always looked.

That's been your doll forever. Like some. Like. Like the type of doll. That's in the room. In the haunted house.

Like one eye half shut. Like. Creeps you out doll. That was my mom's doll. She never noticed. Because the doll wasn't special.

The doll wasn't magical. The doll wasn't beautiful. The doll was creepy. But my mom. Loved it. That's us.

That's what Paul blurts out. In the middle of that sentence. We've been saved by grace. Because God. Loved us. Some of you.

Live your life. And you're like. But I. I'm not pretty enough. I'm not. I'm not put together enough.

I'm not. Lovely enough. And it's like. Right. You're a haunted house doll. There's something wrong with you.

You're a child of wrath. You got. One eye half open. You feel like your head's going to spin around. You're creeping everybody out. Like this is.

We're busted. And broken. And in our sin. But God. Loves us. And by grace.

He saves us. And that's the story. That's what we get. That's what we believe. And that's what we proclaim. In Christ.

That none of us were lovely. You didn't just come out the box. You don't have accessories. We're. We're broken. We're busted.

And Jesus loves us. And redeems us. Let's keep reading. By grace you have been saved. Verse six. And raised us up.

So he's finishing that sentence. He says. But God being rich in mercy. Because of the great love. With which he loved us. Even when we were dead.

In our trespasses. Made us alive together with Christ. So he inserts right there. By grace you have been saved. But he's finishing that idea.

He made us alive together with Christ. And raised us up with him. And seated us with him. In the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus. He raised us up with him.

Seated us with him. In the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ went to a cross. And died in our place for our sins. So that we can be in him.

Do you hear the structure of that sentence? It says. He raised us up with him. Seated us with him. In the heavenly places. In Christ Jesus.

That's our hope. That our life. That our hope is in Christ Jesus. That's what we celebrate in baptism. That we're in Jesus. You hear a lot.

Growing up in the south. That you would pray. That Jesus would come into your heart. The Bible talks about Jesus being in us. Mostly it's talking about the spirit filling us. But way more it talks about us.

Being in Christ. That we're included in Jesus. So what it's saying here. And what our hope is. And what Talha's hope is. And what Sam's hope is.

Is that we're in Christ. So that when we placed our faith in Jesus. And he went to the cross. Our sin. We went with him. When he was dead.

And buried. We were buried with him. And in him. When he rose again. Conquering sin. And rising to life.

We were in him. With him. That he took our disobedience. In him. And that we have our righteousness. Our goodness.

Our right standing with God. In him. That it's all about Jesus. And what he has done. And we place our faith. In him.

And so when he rose from the grave. We rose with him. And when he ascended into heaven. What it says is. We ascended with him. That if you are in Christ.

You are already included in Jesus. Where he sits enthroned in heaven. How does that work? I don't know. But it's great.

I don't know exactly how that plays out. But I know that it is a spiritual reality. That those who are in Christ. Are already raised with Christ. Seated in heaven. Above everything.

And that one day. We will be fully included in him. Brought back to him. And spend eternity with him. And that's what Paul says next. Verse 7.

Well let's read 6. So that 7 makes sense. Raised us up with him. Seated us with him. In the heavenly places. So that.

Okay. That helps us. Earlier it told us that he saved us. Because he loved us. Because helped. That's his reason.

So that is his purpose. So he saved us. Because he loves us. Not because we were special. Or magical. Or lovable.

But because he is loving. He is rich in mercy. He loves us. And then it says so that. Which means. Here we are going to hear the purpose.

Why God saves. So that in the coming ages. He might show. The immeasurable riches. Of his grace and kindness. Of his grace and kindness.

Toward us. In Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages. He might show the immeasurable riches. Of his grace and kindness. Toward us.

In Christ Jesus. We are saved in Christ. So that God can show us. How immeasurably good he is. That he can show us. The immeasurable grace and kindness.

Towards us. Who believe. That's amazing. That our salvation. Is so that one day. We will fully realize.

How good he is to us. His immeasurable grace and kindness. Towards us. Who believe. There is a moment. When we will enter into eternity.

We will see Jesus. As who he is. And we will see ourselves. For who we are. And we will fully understand. How much of a child of wrath we were.

And then. We will enter into an eternity. Where he displays. His immeasurable grace and kindness. Towards us. I remember growing up.

And I would play outside. And I would get completely covered. From head to toe. In dirt. And I would not even notice. Until I started to walk back in my house.

You start to walk back in the house. And you are like. Whoa. I am dirty. That I am like. I can't just walk in here.

Like this. And there is going to be a moment. For all of us. When we stand before the king. We are going to think. Whoa.

I am dirty. I am more despicable. More wicked. More broken. Than I could ever imagine. But he is going to show.

Immeasurable grace and kindness. We believe. That we are all. Designed to exist. For eternity. And that we will either.

Enter in as a son of God. Or a son of disobedience. We will either. Be held accountable. For our own sin. Or we will be in Christ.

And our sin will be in Christ. And our righteousness. Will be carried out in Christ. That is what we believe. That is what the Bible says. Now.

As we finish up. I want to take just a second. To talk to the Christians in the room. And then I want to talk to the. To the non-Christians in the room. Try to.

I think. There is a temptation for us. As Christians. To see this. To read this. And think.

Yeah. Yeah. This is what we say every week. Y'all. If you have been around a while. This is what we say.

We do it more specifically. We say. Here is how you were. A son of disobedience. A child of wrath. And here is how Jesus saves.

Specifically. But that is pretty much what we do. Every week. It is. Here is how the type of sinner you are. And here is how you ought to repent.

And here is how Jesus is good. This is just the baseline. That is the only story we have. By the way. We are not changing that up. That is the best news.

That is what we are going to talk about. That we were sinners. Saved by grace. That God is rich in mercy. And that he loved us. We are going to keep talking about that.

But there is a temptation. I think. For us as Christians. If you have been around for a while. If you have walked with Jesus for a while. To go.

Yeah. And so I came up with this. I was trying to think about. Ways that I think this breaks down. That we would actually say we believe this. But then it would not show up in our hearts.

So I have kind of three quick ones. To try to maybe help you test. Do I actually believe this? Do I actually believe this? Do I actually walk in this? The first one.

That might indicate to us. If we are. If we are a Christian. But we. We aren't actually believing this. Is that you have a pet sin.

That you have a sin. As a Christian. That you are okay with. That you are trying to tame. You have a sin. That is in your life.

That you. You circle back to. Maybe every couple of months. Maybe you are saying. Well. It is not as bad as it used to be.

Or I only ever do this every couple of months. Or you have got some kind of sin in your life. That you just act like. This is kind of okay. It is not that big of a deal. I am doing pretty well.

You point at other areas of your life. And you actually betray the fact. That you do not understand. How heinous sin is. And how dangerous sin is. I read this in an article this week.

It is a quote from John Bunyan. The article was talking about. How dangerous sin is. That is part of what made me realize. That if we do not actually believe this. We will do this.

He says this. This is a quote about sin. He says. It is the dare of God's justice. Meaning that we are looking at God. And in our sin.

Saying I do not think you will actually carry out justice. It is the rape of his mercy. It is the jeer of his patience. Meaning that we are standing by God. And in our sin. We are poking at him.

And saying I am not touching you. I am not touching you. Assuming he will not do anything about it. It is the slight of his power. He can't do anything about it. And it is the contempt of his love.

Sometimes we use God's love. To try to tame our sin. We say. Well it is not that big a deal. God loves me. And he is saved by grace.

And so we allow things to hang around. That shouldn't hang around. We allow ourselves to circle back. To certain things. That we shouldn't be circling back to. And we are actually showing contempt for his love.

Not an appreciation of it. I think if we are in here. And we say. Yeah. Of course. But we have sin.

That we are okay with having around. I don't think we have fully understood. The gravity and the weight. Of our sin. Secondly. I think there is a temptation.

And I see this a good bit. In counseling with people. Is this idea of. I am not worthy. Or my sin is too big. It is kind of the opposite.

Of the first one. The first one is. Is we minimize our sin. You see. When we. We approach God.

And we want to act like. It is not a big deal. We either have to elevate ourselves. We have to lower God. Or we have to minimize our sin. That is the first one.

The second one is that we have maximized our sin. We completely understand. Verses 1 through 3. But when it hits the but God part. We just break all down. There is no way he can save me from this.

There is no way he can cover this. There is no way. I will be forever marked by this. And it is like no. The sentence starts. But God.

Who is rich in mercy. Meaning that yes. You do deserve destruction. Yes. You are a child of wrath. But he is rich in mercy.

And he saves. He accomplishes this. It does not say. You were this. But you.

It says. You were this. But God. We have all watched enough Disney movies. To understand how this works. If there is a king.

And he falls in love. With a poor maiden. And he wants to marry her. And then someone says. You can't marry her. She is poor.

She is a maiden. She is not royalty. What is our response to that? Yeah. But he is a king.

And he loves her. And he can do what he wants. Flip it around. It is the story of Aladdin. Jasmine at the end. She loved him.

He was poor. You all know this story. Nobody says. Well she is not poor. She is not a maiden. We do not make that argument.

You just say. Yeah. But he is a king. And he loves her. And that is what happens here. No.

You do not know my sin. You do not understand how dirty I am. You do not. But God. Is a king. And he loves you.

And he makes you beautiful. Yeah. We will agree all day long. In our church family. We will agree with you all day long. You are a haunted house doll.

You were. That is what Paul says. It is all past tense. You were a child of wrath. You were a son of disobedience. But now.

You have been saved by grace. You have been made lovely. And you will be welcomed into an eternity. Where he will show you the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness. The third test for us. I think.

Is that we do not tell anybody about this. I think if we are Christians. And we say. I absolutely believe. That this is the story of the world. That this is what is playing out.

That we are all. Either sons of disobedience. Or sons of God. We are already the children of wrath. Or children of God. Saved by grace through Christ.

And we have no desire to tell this to people. It does not show up in our schedule. It does not show up in our time. We are not intentional with our neighbors. I honestly just think. We probably don't actually believe this.

I think you could take any excuse you make. For not telling people about Jesus. And run it through this passage. And it will fall apart. They don't want to hear it. Well of course they don't want to hear it.

It starts off with. You are the worst person ever. And you are following Satan. That is a hard lead. I will give you that. It gets better.

I don't want to bother them. If this is true. This bothers no one. Not ultimately. It is like a symptom. That leads you to the doctor.

So that you can be cured. This may bother them. A little bit. Now. But ultimately.

To lead them to freedom. And joy. And grace. That if we actually believe. As Christians. That this is the true story.

Of the world. I think it would show up more. In how we spend our time. And how we spend our money. And how we. How we leverage.

And are intentional. With our relationships. I think at the end of the day. We'd say. I'm willing to lose. All of my friendships.

Over they don't want to hear me. Tell them about Jesus anymore. Rather than lose them. For eternity. Because I wasn't willing. To ever talk about.

What I actually would say. I believe. Is true. About the world. So if we're in here.

And you're a Christian. And you were nodding along to this. I think those are the three tests. To ask yourself. Do I have a sin. That I'm okay with.

That I think is cute. And I'm trying to tame. Like I said. My wife and I are class. You know those. Those animals gone wild stuff.

Like when animals attack. You know what I'm talking about. Like the high quality television stuff. And they always have like a guy. With like a lion. And then it attacks a person.

And then he's like. I just didn't see that coming. And you're like. Bro. There's a lion. I mean.

I'm not a scientist. I'll draw you a food chain chart. The only way we fix that. Is rifles. Otherwise. This is how it works.

And we do that with our sin. All the time. I just didn't think. It would be that big a deal. It's sin. It's trying to kill you.

It is a rebellion against God. It is not cute. It is not your pet. I think we ask that. I think we ask. Do I have a humble confidence.

That Jesus has made me lovable. And that I can rest in his goodness. Not mine. Or am I constantly beating myself up. And saying I'm not worthy. And then I think we ask.

When was the last time I told somebody. About how good Jesus is. Not just how good our church is. Not just how good our groups are. But when was the last time.

I looked at someone and said. You're a sinner who needs Jesus. And if you don't meet Jesus. It's going to be a problem. When was the last time. I made time in my schedule for that.

Now. If you're not a Christian. This is what we want you to know. That on your worst day. At your most depressed. When you have felt the most guilty.

About something you did to a past relationship. Something you did to a parent. Something you did to a friend. When you felt the most shame. Over your brokenness. When you felt the most vile.

I want to look you in the eye. And lovingly say. You hadn't even gotten close. To the weight of your sin. You hadn't even scratched the surface. On what you're going to feel like.

When you stand before the great high king of the universe. And realize that all of your sin. And all of your rebellion. Was always aimed at him. I hadn't even gotten close. You are more desperately sick.

And wicked. Than you could ever imagine. Than on your worst day. You've even come close to. To feeling and picturing. And you are more undeniably loved.

Than you will ever understand. That Jesus Christ was willing to swap places with you. And you can be in Christ. Redeemed and made whole. That there is hope. And it's not in you.

And it's not in positive thinking. And it's not in finances. And it's not in your next relationship. It's in Christ. And Christ alone. Because only he can die for your guilt.

And take your shame. And set you free. And he loves you. I've gotten intense. And I don't know how to say that. Without seeming intense.

And annoyed about it. But he loves you. It's an actual real love. That makes him rich in mercy. And saves us by grace. That he takes haunted house dolls.

And makes them lovely. And beautiful. He accessorizes. He clothes us. He fixes our wonky eye. Like he does that.

That's who he is. That's what he does. And there is hope. And love. In Christ. And we want you to know that.

And Talha. And Sam. Are a celebration of that today. Their baptisms. Are not. A declaration of turning over a new leaf.

Or getting their life together. Or they're not. Hey here's how I'm going to be a good person from now on. They are. A declaration of I'm saved by grace. I was a child of wrath.

Deserving of destruction. And I've placed my faith in Jesus. And when he died. I was in him. And when he rose. I was in him.

And when he went to heaven. I was in him. And one day I'll be eternally in him. As he shows off. The greatness of his immeasurable kindness and grace. Toward me.

In him. That's what we celebrate today. Now. First time. We've ever done this. Talha's baptism.

Will be filmed. We baptized him a week ago. Sam's baptism will be right now. The reason we did that. Is that Talha is coming out of an Islamic family. And we wanted the opportunity.

They work at the flea market. We wanted the opportunity for two things. One. To have his family be present for his baptism. If they were willing. They were.

And it was great. Got to be around them. Got to explain the gospel to them. They are very kind and gracious people. And it was enjoyable to get to know them better. Secondly.

They work at the flea market. Talha works with them. Lives in their home. And we want him to honor his parents. And work with them. And not miss out on work.

For something they don't really agree with wholeheartedly. So we wanted to be gracious to his parents. Have the opportunity to build with them. Have the opportunity to serve them. And not try to work around our own preference on schedule. But actually work around there.

So that we could be around them. And share the gospel with them. So that's why Talha was baptized last week. He's going to be on screen. And then Sam will be baptized here today. And on both of them.

We're going to clap and yell and be excited. Even though Talha can't hear you. We can hear. And it'll be really sad to watch him get baptized. And everybody go. So we're going to yell.

And celebrate. And then we're going to baptize Sam. And then we're going to spend the rest of the day. So the band's going to come back up. We're going to sing one song. And then we'll do that.

But I wanted to explain a little bit about. What's happening in baptism today. So for us it is a physical picture of being in Christ. That when he died. We died with him. Our sin died with him.

When he was buried. Our sin was buried. Never to rise again. When he rose. We rose with him. His righteousness now covers us.

The same way that the water. Now covers us. That we are completely clean. Washed. Made new. And that we will spend eternity with him.

Because of what Jesus has done. Not because of what we do. Let's pray. God we ask. That through your spirit. You would help us.

To celebrate well. That your grace is sufficient for us. That you because you loved us. Are rich in mercy toward us. And that in Christ. We do not have to get what we deserve.

But that we can be made. Beautiful. And new. That's our hope. That we are in Christ. And we pray that in Christ today.

We would celebrate well. We love you. We praise you in Jesus name. Amen.

Dead in Sin

Dead in Sin

Spencer Clay

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I'm a pastor in training here with Mill City Church. We're going to be in Ephesians 2, so we made it into chapter 2. We're going to be in verses 1 through 5. We're mostly going to be in the first three verses.

If you have a Bible, I encourage you to open it. We're going to sit in that and just walk through that. If you don't have a Bible, there's a white Bible probably in the seat next to you. We're going to be on page 568. If you don't have a Bible, please take that home. That is our gift to you.

All right, so it was like three or four weeks ago I was preaching, and I tipped this story just briefly. I want to walk more in-depth in it. It is the story of how my stepdad first watched my brother and I. And so basically, my brother, who's kind of, he was five, I was four. I don't really have a really good memory of this. I have it mostly through my stepdad and my brother, so I can kind of write in some of the details here.

But my brother was kind of the ringleader of trouble for the two of us. And he schemed the first time that my stepdad was going to watch us. My mom went to the grocery store. She left us with him. And he schemed and said, well, we should eliminate the threat. Let's stone him.

So that was the plan. I just followed suit. We're going to stone him with rocks. And we're going to see how it plays out. Now, there's some things in context to understand here. Firstly, I didn't really, before then, I don't think I'd been spanked.

I'm not really sure. I don't think that, and the other thing was, is that my stepdad came from a family of spanking. So what my brother had not factored into is there might be retribution for our actions. So we pick up rocks. We start laying into them, calling them every name we can, throwing the book at them. And then we bolt.

So we had not anticipated that he might come after us. So my brother was older than me. At that point, he was faster than me. And I got caught first. And I was spanked. And I don't think I'd ever been spanked like that before.

And I act like I've been murdered. I was in tears. My brother turns around, sees the carnage, and says, at least I'm faster. So he gets upstairs. He makes it to my mother's bed. He goes under the bed.

And my stepdad goes, pulls him out from under the bed, and spanks him. And sits us both in front of him. And basically gives us a speech of how this is not going to go down the way you think it is. At that point, we realized there's a new sheriff in town. Like, this wasn't going to fly. Now, there's a couple things that stand out from that story.

Firstly, was that crazy? Or was it brilliant? Brilliant. Yes. It was both. Like, we laugh about it now.

But that's crazy. Like, the first time you're actually watching someone's kids that you're dating, you spanked them. Like, you may think that's normal. I think that's a little crazy. And it was brilliant. Because he'd made the point.

That wasn't going to fly. From this point forward, stoning was not going to happen in this household. They're still married. They're actually here today. They're still married. Happily married.

The discipline we received after that in the years to come was good for us. There is something really striking about that story. It's the fact that my brother and I tried to stone another human being at ages four and five. Where did we learn that? It's not like my mom read us bedtime stories as kids that had stoning in it. And then she said, you see this?

This is what has happened over the last centuries and millennia. People have stoned other people as his approval. It is a form of capital punishment. No, we like invented a form of capital punishment on the fly. I mean, where did that come from? I see that in my own kids.

Like, we have a two-year-old. And there's actually in our church, we have a lot of ages one to three. And when they get together, part of it's like really cool. It's like, man, our kids are going to grow up together. They're going to hear about Jesus together. This is beautiful.

And then we turn our backs. And it turns into the Lord of the Flies. They start biting and stealing. Then you ask them what went wrong and they start lying. Who taught them that? Who taught them to lie?

Who taught them to steal? Who taught them to bite? Who taught them to act like complete anarchists? Those are questions that our culture is uncomfortable asking. But the Bible has a clear answer for.

It comes from within. That is our nature. And that's what we're going to walk through in Ephesians 2, 1-5. We're mostly going to sit in 1-3. In this section, we're going to see the condition of humanity and how we come into this world. And to be honest, it's going to be a little bit uncomfortable.

It's going to be an uncomfortable look in the mirror at our own nature. But we're going to see how this makes God look good. All right. So we're going to be Ephesians 2, verses 1-5. Starting in verse 1. And you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of our body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. I'll pray and then we'll dive in. God, thank you for your word. Even difficult passages like this. I pray that we would put our swords down, that we would receive this, that you would speak through me, and that your truth would communicate a beautiful part of the gospel.

In Christ's name, amen. Alright, so he starts out, verse 1. And you were dead in trespasses and sins. Alright, so the way that this sentence is structured is that that phrase, and you were dead in trespasses and sins, that is the thesis statement for the next three verses. Everything that follows in the next three verses is going to be a further unpacking of that statement. So to understand this statement a little bit better, we need a little bit of context.

The context of this goes all the way back to the garden. All the way back to Genesis 1, 2, and 3, when God created the world. God created the world, and he created Adam and Eve. And it was good. It was, he gave them the garden that they might enjoy, that they might use their creativity and their gifts as made in the image of God to help make this garden better. And he said, you can enjoy all of this, but this tree over here, this tree of knowledge and good and evil, avoid it.

Don't eat of this tree. Everything else I've given you, you can enjoy. Just trust me, trust my word. Avoid this tree, do not eat of it. And he says in Genesis 2, 16, for in that day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So, Genesis 3, Satan comes in the form of a serpent and comes and causes them to question God's word, question his goodness, question his character.

And they trust Satan's word over God, and they eat of the tree. Now, when you're reading it, you might be wondering, if you're just reading through, wait a second, God said that they would die. They just ate of it. They don't die. In fact, they live a long time after that. Like, what actually happens there?

So, there's two things that happen. Firstly, physical death is actually introduced to the world. When that happens, it affects all of creation. There is a time clock for everyone and everything at that point. So, they are going to die one day. From dust, they were created.

From dust, they will return. So, that is one thing. Physical death is introduced. But also, they spiritually died in that moment. There was spiritual death that happened. And that, they did this on behalf of the world, because what follows after that is what we see in Romans 5.12, which says, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.

So, from that event, all, everyone, all of us who come from Adam and Eve inherit spiritual deadness. Which means that you're not actually born a Christian. That's somewhat of an understanding of that here in our culture, that you're born a Christian because you're born in a Christian family, or you grew up going to church. And that's not what it says here. It says that you were born spiritually dead. Now, I wanted to double check this to make sure that dead meant what it really meant.

So, I went back and looked at the original language, looked at a definition for it. And the definition I got said to, it says, being so morally or spiritually deficient as to be, in effect, dead. Comma, dead. And they wanted to really make it clear. So, morally and spiritually deficient, absolutely dead. This is not, you show up to the ER, and you just need a little resuscitation.

Like, I watched ER in the 90s, and it seemed like every show, someone was to end up on the table, CPR, resuscitation, they were brought back. This is not that picture. This is like CSI, or Bones, or Law and Order, or whatever show where they are absolutely dead. Spiritually, absolutely dead. Now, Paul further unpacks this in the following verses that come after it. So, he goes in verse 1, And you were dead in trespasses and sins, and then here is the further unpacking, In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

So, Paul describes spiritual deadness in three ways. And if you've been here long enough, this is going to sound familiar. He says, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, that's the devil, and following your flesh, the passions of your flesh. We say the flesh, the world, the devil. And Paul has a different order here. He says, the world, the devil, your flesh.

The rest of our time today is going to be walking through that, is unpacking what that looks like. All right, so he starts out, In which you once walked, following the course of this world. Spiritually dead people follow the course of the world. That is our nature. This is just practical human nature. They do social conformity experiments all the time.

And to test, how do people actually follow the crowd? And there's some that are really funny, and there's some that are actually really, really dark. One of the funny ones that I saw recently, I watched this video. This video is from a show called Brain Games. And basically, they put these actors in a doctor's office. And they're sitting in a doctor's office waiting room.

And then a person, a test subject, she comes in, and she sits down. And then a bell is rung. And all the actors stand up. And she looks around like, what's going on? They sit back down. Bell rings again.

They stand up. And you can tell she's starting to get uncomfortable. And they sit back down. By the third bell ring, she stands up with them. She had to go with the crowd. And then they do it over and over again until they start taking people out of the room.

The actors go to see the doctor. They leave the room. And it's just her by herself. And they ring the bell. And she stands up. And she sits back down.

Then other people come in. Just random people walk in. This guy walks in. He sits down beside her. They ring the bell. She stands up.

Sits back down. And he looks at her and goes, what are you doing? And she's like, I don't know. I just, there are people in the room. And they're just, they're standing. And I think we're supposed to be standing when the bell's rung.

Next bell rung. They both stand up. And one by one, they bring people into the room. And each one of them does the same thing. They look around for a second. And they all start standing up.

That's our nature. We follow the crowd. That's a part of our fallen human nature. Now, the way that plays out in everyday life is maybe you work at an office where there's always like one person in your office that's just obnoxious or annoying or frustrating. And everyone has that in their office. And everyone, it's just easy to make fun of them.

It's easy to crack jokes when they're gone. It's easy to slander them. It's easy to gossip about them. You're like, I don't have that person in my office. Think about it. I heard this radio commercial recently that said everyone's got a Dave in their office.

And they just made the point about, like, don't hire a Dave. Use our hiring service. You have a Dave in your office. And they're just easy to make fun of. And what happens? Everyone starts piling on.

And then finally you start joining in. Because you follow the crowd. It's our nature. This happens even in the church, I see, when it comes to watching TV and movies. Please. Like, we shouldn't watch as Christians everything that comes on TV.

Everything that comes on Netflix. Everything that comes on HBO. Every movie that gets released. We should use discernment. Now, I'm not saying you just watch VeggieTales on PBS. All right?

I think there's a lot of value in being discerning and looking at art and how different artists and different musicians and different filmmakers do things. I think there's a lot of value in that. But it doesn't mean you get to watch every single thing because everything you watch is not going to be good for your soul. It's not going to be edifying. And what I see happens is when one of those shows is a little bit edgy and everyone's watching it. What do you do?

You want to see if anyone else is watching it. Is anybody else watching? Are our church watching? Does somebody else in our community watch it? You get on Facebook when it comes out. And it's like, oh, everyone else is watching it.

I feel a little bit justified. I can watch it too. We justify our actions by following the crowd. This happens in practical things like cheating on your taxes, which almost happens seemingly universally in our culture. Everyone likes to point at the top 1% on Wall Street, shifting money around, moving stuff around, hiding money from the government. But I used to wait tables.

I used to serve coffee in the service industry. What is common in the service industry? You don't report cash tips. They don't track that. You don't have to report your cash earnings. That's cheating the government.

And Jesus says, pay to Caesar what is Caesar's. It was funny because I used to listen to people who would rail on the 1%. I'm like, but you do the same thing. You just do it on a much smaller scale. We follow the government. And what happens is when new people come into a job like that, someone, you don't have to report your cash earnings.

You're good. And it's like, oh, okay, we're good. We justify our actions. We follow the crowd. And I could keep going down that list. And you may be thinking, nah, I'm different.

Now, you don't know me. I'm a nonconformist. I walk in that doctor's office. I'm sitting down. I ain't standing up. You may think, oh, no, I wouldn't make fun of Dave.

I wouldn't do any of those things. I don't conform. And that's a little bit of my heart when I hear stuff like that. I like to think I wouldn't conform. And I could go down the list and you might combat everyone. And here's what I'd say.

I think that you have misunderstood and underestimated how much the world has influenced your views on money, on power, on sex. I think that you've really misunderstood and you've underestimated how much the world has shaped your views. And honestly, you might be a little bit self-righteous to think that you are that much better than everyone else that you would not conform. But that is our nature. We conform to the world. So Paul makes that point.

Following the course of this world. And then he gets to the next part. Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. All right, so here's where Paul starts to get offensive and he starts to step on toes. He says, you follow the course of this world and you follow the devil, the prince, the power of the air. That's who he's talking about there.

Now, in order to understand this, we need a little bit of context to understand who our enemy is. He's referred to as the devil. He's referred to as Satan. Satan comes from the Hebrew word for adversary. He's also called the tempter, the evil one, the accuser, the father of lies. And there's he has all kinds of names.

We look at Isaiah 14 and we have reasonably from that in a passage in Ezekiel that Satan was once an angel of God and that he wanted to be like God, rebelled against God with other angels and was cast down into the earth. And those angels became demons. And from that, ever since, his whole goal has been to undermine God's rule, to undermine God's reign and destroy the fabric of God's creation. That's been his role. And Adam and Eve, when they sinned against God, what they did was they joined forces with the devil, trusting his word and his ways over God. And they became sons of disobedience.

And we have inherited that same sons of disobedience, seeking to defy the king, the ruler of the universe. We became sons of disobedience. And that is the story of Eden playing out over and over and over again. And here's the deal. There's no neutral ground. The Bible makes it clear.

You're either a child of God or you're a child of the devil. Now, when the Bible says that, culture goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, I heard we are all children of God. I've always heard that. I think I heard Michael Jackson sing that once. We are all children of God.

And Paul says, no, no, no. You were born as sons of disobedience. Or in the end of verse 3, he says, children of wrath. Or as Jesus says in John 8, like your father, the devil. So we need adopting out of that family.

That's why when we started this series, we started in chapter 1 and verse 5, the picture of adopted as sons points to this right here. You are adopted out of the family of Satan into the family of God. And that's one of the reasons why I love adoption so much. I came from a church before this that there's a lot of adopting going on. And I think of one specific instance where this family adopted this girl. She was given up for adoption as a young baby.

Ended up in the foster system. It was eventually adopted by this family. Not the family from my church, another family. And that family was a bad family. And they, like they wouldn't let her, they would take their kids they had the old fashioned way. They'd take those kids to Disney World and they'd leave her behind.

Just making the case, you're not like our other children. And so she inherited through the foster system, through this family. She inherited all kinds of bad habits and all kinds of problems. And then this family in our church adopted them. Adopted her. And they adopted her and the first thing this dad did was he looked at her and he said, You are my forever child.

This is your forever family. You're not going anywhere. Pack your bags. We're going to Disney World. All of our kids go to Disney World. So they took her to Disney World.

And you think that story would have had a magic like bow wrapped at Disney World. No. That trip was all, it was, it was rough. She acted out. She was frustrated. And she had reason to be because she inherited all these bad habits, all these bad things from these former families.

And then over the next year, they started to unpack the gospel with her. And one of the coolest things that I've ever seen was when she got baptized. Her dad baptized her. And I got to hear her testimony read. And she connected the dots that she'd been adopted out of a bad situation, out of a bad family, into this new family. And how that was a reflection of the gospel.

It's one of the coolest things I've ever gotten to see. Because with a new family comes new ways, comes new joys. And that's God's appeal through Ephesians, through the scriptures. That you be adopted into his family. Because his family is better. And with his family comes new ways that are better.

And sure, you bring some baggage with you. That's honestly one of the reasons that I love our church so much. I love our church so much because many of you have professed Jesus in the last couple years. And have been brought into this family. And you might come in on a Sunday. And you might hear someone drop an F-bomb.

Or get in an argument about something. Or like hear a vulgar joke that you might not hear in a church that's all well put together on the outside. And we have people from other churches that come from well put together on the outside churches. They come in here and I feel like they get a little bit uncomfortable. Now, we should grow in maturity. We should correct those things.

But I love the rawness of our church. Because it shows that people are being adopted out of this. That every person that we baptize. And we're going to celebrate baptism next week. Every person we baptize is one more person that we're celebrating. They're not in the family of Satan anymore.

They're in the family of God. And that is why I love being here. So Satan has a grip on those who are dead. And then Paul walks into our sin nature. So verse 2.

The spirit does not work in the sons of disobedience. He transitions to verse 3. Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh. Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind. Spiritually dead people carry out their desires of their flesh. I mean, there's a lot of parallels to zombies.

Like, I love zombie movies and TV shows. I just do. Like, I think part of it is because they're really basic. Like, zombies, they wander, they eat people. Like, that's a pretty easy enemy to figure out. They wander, they eat people.

In some movies and TV shows, they're faster. In some, they're slower. But basically, that's what they do. They made this one movie once where the zombie fell in love with a human. And their heart changed. And everyone hated it.

And it was terrible. And no one, and it lost lots of money. Because we don't want our zombies to do that. We want them to wander and eat people. It's really basic. It's really simple.

And that's why we love to show the walking dead. I mean, they wander, they eat people. There may be complex storylines that happen on the outside. But the zombies are pretty common. They're just walking dead, fulfilling their nature. And the picture that Paul paints here is that we were all once walking dead.

We were. I mean, we're just a little more complex. Zombies wander and eat people. We have a lot more complex things going on in our nature that we default to. Like stealing. Like lying.

Hurting other people. Lust. Pride. That is why when you leave kids in a room by themselves, it quickly falls apart. Because left to their own nature, that's what they do. And when I hear a common pushback on that, part of me goes, Well, do you have kids?

Have you seen them in action? This is what they do. This is also why when anarchy happens in other cultures, when the government breaks down, some of the worst atrocities in human history happen. You think of Rwanda. 500,000 people. Genocide.

You think of Sudan. Close to a million people dying. You think of when the UK quickly pulled out of Pakistan and India, split the country just rudely across a line, and a million people killed each other. When the government breaks down, anarchy happens. And so mass rape, mass murder, some of the worst things happen. Now, some people in our culture might say, but those are foreign cultures.

We in Western culture, we wouldn't do that. Paul's got a word for you in Ephesians 2. We're going to get to prejudice and racism coming up. But at this point, it's important to know. I mean, just plug. Watch The Walking Dead.

You don't have to watch the whole show. My wife doesn't like it. Watch The Walking Dead. When society breaks down, even in American culture, we'll do the worst things. It happens when you're alone at your house, and no one's watching, and you've got your phone out, and you're scrolling, and you click on a video link, and you watch another video, and you keep scrolling through porn. Your flesh says, nah, just keep going.

Just do it. No one's watching. No one's here. Just do it. It happens when you're alone in your thoughts. Think of the thoughts that go through your head, and think of where those come from.

Think of when you might compare yourself to others and think, man, I think I'm honestly just better than them. I think I'm honestly just better than my spouse. I think I'm honest. Or how we manipulate situations in our head. If I do get this person to do this, and get this person to do that, and they follow this, then the situation works out in my favor. You can go on and on down the list, left to our own devices, left to our own thoughts.

That's what we do. I mean, even our good deeds are corrupted by selfish motives. Like you give to an online cause nowadays, what happens when the money clears? A little box pops up and says, would you like to share this? On Facebook? On Twitter?

On Instagram? Or if they're annoying, on Google Plus? Because nobody uses Google Plus. And they want you to share it. And you first look at it, and you're like, ah, that seems really self-centered. I'm not going to share this.

And then you think about it, and you're like, wait a second. It's about the children. And you know what? How are people going to know about this cause if I don't share it? It's about the children. It would be morally wrong for me not to share this.

No, people need to know that I gave to this. They need to click. I'm a good person. I mean, philanthropic organizations, they know that most of the giving is about yourself. I mean, that's why you can't go to a college or a school that doesn't have a building named after it. People don't just give to that.

They've got to have their name attached to it. Even our good motives are tainted by selfish ambition. And you may think as we've walked through some of this that, man, this cannot be that big of a deal. And I'd say the Bible says that you've severely underestimated your sin. The Bible says that our sin is cosmic treason against the king of the universe. And it earns us death, and it earns us hell.

And the reason why we don't take it seriously is because we have our flesh saying, no, it's not that big of a deal. The world is saying, no, this isn't that big of a deal. Satan is whispering into our hearts, no, it's not that big of a deal. And Paul is saying it's absolutely a huge deal. At this point, you're like, man, Paul, I like chapter 1. It was encouraging.

You flip to chapter 2, and Paul is a downer. He is negative. Like, what? And then he, like, doubles down on it in verse 3. He goes, and we're by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. And you're like, man.

Even in Romans 3, he makes the point in verses 10 through 12. He says, none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside.

Together they've become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. And he makes the point, if you think you're put together, if you think you're killing it, that you're crushing life, you're not. You were all jacked up. You're all by nature children of wrath.

That's humanity. That's what it means to be humane. Like, when I hear people in this political, crazy season that we're in, when I hear people from the left call out the right and say, that person's inhumane. Where's the humanity in their speech? Where's the humanity in their position? I hear people from the right going, where's the humanity in their positions in the way they vote?

I'm looking back and I'm like, this is humanity. This is humane. This craziness, when the fabric of political correctness or whatever was holding our culture together before ends, this is humanity. This is who we are. Left to our own devices. This is what we do.

And it's a bleak picture that Paul paints here. I mean, think of everything that he's got here that is stacked against us. I want you to just take a second and absorb this. That we come into this world with a sinful nature that seeks to rebel against the God of the universe. That you come into this world as a conformist. Conforming to the patterns of this world.

Conforming to the ways of rebelling against God. Conforming to the people. Conforming to the people. Conforming to the people. Conforming to the people. That you come into this world as a son of disobedience.

As a daughter of disobedience. And the family of the evil one. That is a bleak picture of what we come into. And then Paul says, but. Verse 4. But God.

Being rich in mercy. Because of the great love with which he loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses. Made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And he comes in with the good news of the gospel.

But God. Who is rich in mercy. Who is rich in kindness. Who is rich in grace. Because of his love. Not our own.

Because of his love. Made us alive. Made us alive. Together with Christ. Together with the one. Who came into this world.

And did not follow the patterns of this world. Who was tempted in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights by Satan. When Satan was attempting to father him. And bring them into his family. He said no. My father's ways are better.

And he took that record of perfection to the cross. Where his flesh was ripped open. Where his body was broken. And where he was placed in an empty tomb. And when he resurrected from the grave. What happened was.

He made a way for us to be made alive. For the first time. To be made alive. That he hindered the power of Satan and his kingdom. Bringing it to his knees. That he made a way for us to be alive.

And the picture that follows. Is that God comes in. And he scoops us out of our mess. He brings us out of death. And brings us into his family. And makes us alive.

And gives us a perfect righteous standing before him. This isn't a picture of. We do some good works. We meet God halfway. No. He brings the dead to life.

Which means we have a new picture here. That God made us alive. So if you are in Christ. If you trust in him as your only hope. You're no longer dead in sin. You're made alive in Christ.

You no longer have to be a conformist. And follow the world. No. Like you can follow Jesus. That you're no longer a son of disobedience. That you're a child of the most high king.

That you're no longer a slave to your flesh. Obeying it. As that is your master. No. We have a new master. Who is much better.

And we have the freedom to say no to sin. And to say yes to Jesus. So. For believers. Verse 1 through 3. Is a picture of who you were.

It's not a picture of who you are. Now we still carry the stain of sinful flesh. And we're still going to struggle. We're not yet perfect at all. But that is not.

That was a picture of who you were. And we have a new picture of who we are. That we are made alive. Now I'll close with this. If you think. That you've been made alive.

By anything else other. Than belief in the finished work. Of what Jesus has done for us. Like if you came in today thinking that. I'm a Christian. Because I was born to a Christian family.

I'm part of a Christian culture. I've been in church my whole life. If you came in today thinking that. I think that. I get to God by being a good person. By living a good life.

By doing good things. And I'm going to be okay. Paul's message for you here. Is that if that's your understanding. Of the gospel. You are probably still dead in sin.

And the appeal that he makes. Is being made alive. Coming to this family. It is much better. Be made alive. Band's going to come up.

And they're going to close us. In a song. We're going to sing about the cross. And the cross is where this journey begins. The cross is where Jesus went. To die for us.

So that we could be made alive. And as we sing this song. Just take a moment. To ask God. Do I actually believe this? Do I actually believe.

That I'm made alive solely by Christ? Or if I believe. And place my faith. And other things. And our hope for you today. Is that you would see that Jesus is better.

That God's family is better. That you would trust in him. And from this day forward. You'd be alive. Let's pray.

God thank you. That though this picture is bleak. That we have so much. Staffed against us. That you didn't leave us there. That you didn't leave us in our sin.

That you did not leave us dead. That you came. God I pray. That we would believe that as a church. I pray. That if anyone.

Is feeling the weight of conviction. About that. That they might believe today. And be made alive. Amen.

Head Over All Things

Head Over All Things

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

Well, good morning. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. Grab your Bibles. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 1.

If you have one of the white Bibles that's in the row near you, it'll be page 568. If you don't own a Bible, take this one with you. It's our gift to you. We want you to have a Bible. So we are in the book of Ephesians.

It's a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote from prison to a church that he had helped get started. It's a fairly young church, and we're just walking through this letter week by week, verse by verse, and we have gotten past that first big sentence. I'm so proud of us. We're five weeks in, and we got past the big sentence. We did kind of set the stage the first week, and then the first sentence that really Paul kind of starts talking in this, is it takes up verses 3 through 14 in our Bible. So we just spent three weeks just really trying to take this sentence in and see what Paul means by it.

And it's very encouraging what he's talking about and what he's trying to explain to him. And he says basically in that sentence that God foreknew those whom he would save, that he chose us before the foundation of the world, that he predestined to adopt us as sons, that Jesus through his blood died to forgive our sins, and that when we believe in Christ, when we hear this and we believe it, the Holy Spirit seals us and guarantees that he'll carry us all the way into our inheritance. It's kind of what Paul says in that sentence. So basically what God planned, Jesus accomplished, and the Holy Spirit guarantees.

That's kind of his big main point. And then we're going to pick up today in verse 15 and continue with kind of how Paul begins to explain and continue to write to this church. So he says in verse 15, For this reason, and what he means is the stuff I just said, that one really big sentence about what God plans, Jesus accomplished, and the Holy Spirit guarantees. For this reason, and because I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints. So Paul's in prison, and he helped this church get started.

He was there for about three years, and then he is now either in prison in Caesarea or in Rome. We think, most people think Rome. But he was going to be in prison for about five years or so total, and then he is beheaded. So he's in prison, writing letters, and he's basically saying, hey, I've heard good things. I've heard that y'all have faith in Jesus still, and that you love all the saints. And that just means the church.

Those who've been saved by Jesus are the saints. So it's not like the Catholic understanding of like special people that have done extra things. When the Bible talks about it, it just means all those who are in Christ, who have been saved by Jesus, are saints. And so he says, I heard that you love them, that you're following Jesus still, and you have love towards all the saints. And then verse 16, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. So he's saying, I continually, as I hear about what's going on with y'all, I continue to thank God for you, and I'm remembering you in my prayers.

And then he says that, so he's about to tell us what he prays. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of Revelation in the knowledge of him. Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know, and then he kind of says what he wants them to know. So he says, here's what I've been praying for you, and we're going to spend the majority of our time today just walking through what Paul prays for the church. And so here's what he starts off with. He says, I've been praying that the spirit of wisdom, and so that word spirit, it's capitalized in the ESV, which means that the translators who are translating this from Greek believe he's talking specifically about the Holy Spirit.

But he's saying that the spirit, and he says a spirit of wisdom and of Revelation. That's going to light up in just a second, it's going to be awesome. Spirit of wisdom and of Revelation, there you go. In the knowledge of him. So he's saying he wants in the knowledge of God, the spirit to give you wisdom and Revelation.

So Revelation means to reveal. So he says, I want in the knowledge of God, I want him to reveal knowledge to you, but not just reveal it. I also want him to give you wisdom. So the difference between knowledge and wisdom is knowledge is knowing facts, having information. Wisdom is knowing what to do with that information. Now somebody once said that knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, and wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.

So there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom. So he's saying he wants both for them. He's saying I'm praying that he would reveal knowledge to you, and that it would work. That it would actually begin to apply that in your life, so that it wouldn't just be knowing information, but it would actually be wisdom that it would go to work in life. And so that's how we're going to talk about this today. We're going to say, what is his prayer for them?

What is he talking about? And then we're going to say, how does that work? How does that actually show up in life? And so he says, and you can take all the colors off of him. So he's praying that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of Revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know.

So he's praying that they would know a few things, but not just know it. He says, have the eyes of your heart enlightened. A lot of our church family, you're new to Christianity, you're new to the church. Some of y'all, maybe it's the first time you've ever hung out with a church, but some of us aren't. And we used to sing that song, open the eyes of my heart, Lord. It was biblical, you guys.

And what he's saying is, help your heart see. Help it become real. Not just something you've heard. Not just something that you can recite the facts, but it actually sinks into your heart. I have two brothers. My younger brother, so when my older brother and I were coming through, we were growing up on things like Mary Poppins, bed knobs and broomsticks.

We were watching Disney movies. So my older brother is three years older than me, then me, then I'm four years older than my youngest brother. And by the time he was like four or five, I think my parents really just started phoning in this parenting thing. They just let him graduate into some stuff that probably his favorite set of movies when he was little was Aliens, Terminator, and Jaws. And he loved Jaws. He watched that on repeat.

So we got to go. He was like four or five years old. We got to go to Universal Studios, and there was a Jaws ride at Universal Studios. And so you get on this boat, and you ride around, and then a giant animatronic shark attacks the boat. And so he'd been riding, and I had fun all day, and we're like, you want to go ride Jaws? He was like, yes, because he loves Jaws.

So he gets on the boat. He's sitting there, I think at three, four, somewhere in this zone. I can never tell how old children are, and I don't really remember how old he was at this point. But somewhere in the three to five zone. And he's sitting there, and we're riding, and all of a sudden, it starts like he's getting uncomfortable. He's on a boat, and basically the way the ride was set up is like a little tour guide was taking you around.

It was just going to show you some things, and then a shark's going to attack. And so over the radio, they're talking to this other boat, and all of a sudden, you hear him saying like, there's a giant shark, and then it gets all garbled, and then you hear it like the whole boat sinks. It's like, and he's like, uh-uh. He's hitting my mama. He's sitting next to me. He's like, we got to go.

Like, we can't. Uh-uh. And she's like, we're fine. We're fine. He's like, no, we're not fine. Did you hear the gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble?

Like, they, I don't know why. I'm three. I have to explain this to you. They drowned. Like, this isn't okay. And so the whole time, he's freaking out.

It's getting more intense. And just by, I mean, it was perfect. He just happened to be right on the section of the boat where the shark shoots out of the water, hits the side of the boat, water splashes everywhere. And this jaw shoots out, hits the boat, and my brother stands up in his chair, because it wasn't a crazy ride. He didn't have to be strapped. He stands up in his chair and goes, we're all going to die.

Tears just streaming down his face. He is losing it. My mom looks at him and goes, we are not going to die. You need to sit down and be quiet. And he was just like, okay. So he sat down.

He's like, I guess he was thinking, if she's mad at me, maybe we aren't going to die. Or maybe he just thought, I'm not getting spanked before I get eaten. Like, that's not happening. At least to have good relationships with my mom before all this goes down. He cried the rest of the ride, got off. And it took a little while.

They took him to the side, and they were like, it's a ride, just like all the other things we've been doing. That wasn't a real shark. And then at some point it clicked. And he was like, and he rode it like four more times. Like, made them spend the rest of their day in that line at that ride. Like, that was what happened.

And he loved it. It was his favorite ride. And it went from, before he got on, he understood the concept of ride. But it was like, as soon as everything got messed up, it was like, we're all going to die. Like, this is. And then it clicked.

It locked into place. And he was actually free then to kind of, and that's what Paul's praying. He's saying, I want you to not just know it, but I want it to sink into your heart to be a substantial reality. I want this to be a settled reality in your heart. That you don't just know the information, but that you know it. That it's real to you.

That's Paul's prayer. And so, before we start reading what Paul prays, I want us to take a second. And if you're a Christian in here this morning, he is writing to the church, to those who believe in Jesus. And so I just, if you're a Christian, I want you to take a second to just ask, Lord, help my heart see this. Open the eyes of my heart that they would be enlightened to see this truth, that it would become real to me. And if you're in here this morning and you're not a believer, and that's fine.

We have a lot of people that hang out with us on a regular basis that are just kind of checking us out, or you're just friends with somebody, and they've asked you 37 times. So you're like, look, if you will leave me the heck alone, I will show up. That's fine. I would invite you to pray the same thing. To just say, help me see this, if this is real, if this is true. If it is true, it's something you actually want to see, you actually want to know.

But if not, if you don't want to pray that, that's fine. Just sit for just a second. But we're going to pray this together. So I want to give you just a second to ask the Lord to help you see this as we read this this morning. And then I'll pray and we'll keep going. Father, we ask that Paul's prayer for the church in Ephesus would be answered for us.

Would you give us a spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of you. That you would enlighten our hearts. That we might see this. So it becomes a settled reality for us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Look at verses back half of 18 and 19. So he says this. He says, Having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? And what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe? So those are the things he's saying.

I pray that you would know what, what, what. So we're going to look at those three things. And we're going to basically follow this idea of knowledge and wisdom. So we're going to say, what does it mean? What's he actually talking about? And then, how does that apply?

How does that work? And really the way we're going to ask that is, what is at stake if we don't believe that? That doesn't become real to us. What do we lose? What do we miss out on? What happens in our lives?

So he says, I want you to know, the first one, what is the hope to which he has called you? I want you to know the hope to which he has called you. Now, in the Bible they use the word hope kind of the same way we do. There's really two kind of definitions. They use the idea of like an uncertain hope. So Paul in Philippians says, I hope to send Timothy to you soon.

He says that a couple times in Philippians. Basically saying like, I hope this works out. I don't really know. Like, I don't know if that's actually what's going to happen. But I hope that happens.

We use hope that way a lot. It's Ted's birthday. I hope there's cake. You're like, I hope it's chocolate. Like that. Like we use it like, if you ask me, are the Gamecocks going to win this weekend?

I would say, I hope so. I have no clue. Because sometimes they look like they're good and most of the times they don't. I've been a Gamecock fan long enough. Sometimes I don't even say I hope so. I just say probably not.

Go ahead and get my little heart ready for that. Then there's the Bible uses the word hope as like a certain hope. Like an expectant certain hope. That there's a confident hope. And so we'll see that in Ephesians. That's what he's talking about here.

So Ephesians 1.12. We've studied this already together. But he says, we who are the first to hope in Christ. Meaning that we've placed weight there. We've pushed our chips there. Like we believe this is going to work out.

We're placing our hope in Jesus. Ephesians 2.12. Later than this, he's going to say, at that time you were separated from Christ. You were alienated. And you were without hope. Without God in the world.

And so it's this hope that's like a certain confident hope. Colossians 1.15 says, because of the hope laid up for us in heaven. So what he's saying when he says, I pray that you know what is the hope to which he has called you. Is that he's saying, I hope your heart sees. I hope you know fully. All of the good things that come through Christ.

Through salvation in Christ. I hope that you see that Jesus is your only hope. That what he's already talked about. That what God planned, Jesus accomplished, the Holy Spirit guarantees. That he's our hope. For life.

For joy. That all good things are in Christ. So here's the question. For the church. What happens if we don't believe that? What happens if we don't see that?

What's at stake if we don't see that Jesus is our hope? I really think the biggest thing is this. We're going to find something to hope in. We're going to find something to hope in. We're going to find something to place weight on. Something to say, this is what will make life good.

This is what makes life enjoyable. This is what makes, this is the purpose of life. That's what hope is. Like this type of hope is a lifelong, weight bearing, foundational. This is what I believe is actually the good things in life. And so we see this consistently.

But people hope in, you pick a thing. Hope in money. That money is what makes life good. That's what fills up the goodness of life. Or the hope in success. Like if I can just make a name for myself.

If I can just prove that I have value. We can hope in anything. People will pick things like family. I say no, no, no. Money is not the big deal. But family is.

Like just having a good family and raising your children well. And they place all of there. That's what value comes from. That's what I'm leaning on. To give me worth. To know that life matters.

Some people pick things like just being a good person. Like I'm just believing that if I'm a good person. Then that was my point for existing. That if I just serve those who need to be served. If I just. We find something to hope in.

Now. All those things aren't wrong at all. Like family is not bad. Money in itself isn't bad. Serving people isn't bad. But here's the problem with placing our hope in them.

They all fail. They can't handle the weight of a hope in Christ. They ultimately don't pan out. That's why Paul says in Ephesians 2.12. You were without hope without God. You were without hope without God in the world.

That ultimately we believe as Christians. And Paul is telling them. I pray that you see that all of the good things are in Jesus. That ultimately everything else will fall short. I even believe that as we started talking about this. Some of you maybe have been like.

Not everybody has a thing to hope in. Because I've met people that are hopeless. Not saying they'd never get it together. But they just don't have. They don't have any hope. And some people are saying like I'm hopeless.

Like I don't have anything I'm leaning on. I have no hope whatsoever. And all I would say to that is I think. When you meet somebody who's hopeless. Or you feel hopeless. It really just means.

That six months ago. Three years ago. Five years ago. The thing you had placed your hope in. Failed. The thing that you were using to bear weight.

Shattered. It was too flimsy. And it couldn't handle it. That when we get to a point of hopelessness. It just means that the thing we had leaned in for our hope. Our marriage.

Our family. Our finances. Our health. Broke. And what Paul's saying is church. I hope you see.

I'm praying that you'll see. The hope that's in Christ for you. That nothing else carries this promise. And can bear the weight of a life. And ultimately an issue for us as a church. If we don't see the hope that's in Christ.

Take this encouragement. That Paul's looking at this church and saying. You're doing well. I just want y'all to see this. I want you to continue in this. Is that we'll all find self-salvation projects.

We'll find something. To save us. Something that says. This is what makes me good. This is what makes me okay. And ultimately.

If I can just do these things. Or have these things. Then I won't need Jesus. And that's a big problem. So what do you lean into?

Where do you run? Where do you rest? What drives you? What do you fear you might lose? Paul's saying. I hope.

I'm praying. That you realize that it's only in Christ. And only he can carry the weight of that. Let's look at the second thing. He begins to pray for him. He says.

That you may know what is the hope to which he has called you. And. I'm sorry. He doesn't say and there. I just read and there. Hope to which he has called you.

What are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints? So I pray that you know the hope. And I pray that you hope to know. What are the riches of the glorious inheritance in the saints? So again.

This is the inheritance that the saints receive. That this is what happens for the church. So Paul's saying. I'm praying for you. Not that you'd be obedient. Not that you'd get it together.

Not that. He says. I want you to know how good Jesus is. And I want you to know. How glorious the inheritance is. He's praying that the Ephesian church would see.

How beautiful. Ultimate reality with God is going to be. That what he just said in the beginning of this chapter. Was that the. The Holy Spirit guarantees our faith. Until we acquire possession of our inheritance.

That he's going to carry us to the end. Until we actually have the inheritance. And he says. I pray that you see how good the inheritance is. So let's just talk about that for a second.

Spencer was just talking about it. A minute ago. Josh was talking about it. A minute ago. But it's this.

This. That we will finally be free from sin. That we'll get God. It's that we'll get heaven. That we'll be ushered into a place of freedom. And joy.

With no pain. And no hurt. And no crying. And no tears. And no mourning. A place of celebration.

And joy. The way God intended the world to be. That we'll get all the good things. That come in Christ. And he's saying. I want you to know how rich.

And glorious it is. I want you to have that so settled in your heart. That as the church. You have a rich. And glorious inheritance. Now.

This may make you a little weird. Here. Let's be honest. I think. That the more the church. Sees a rich.

And glorious inheritance. That the more strange. We seem. Here. Here's why. If we don't see this.

What's at stake. If we don't know. Our rich. Glorious inheritance. We have in. In Christ.

Honestly. I think we just. Care a whole lot about. Everything here. We care a whole lot about. Stuff.

We care more about money. We care more about. How life works out. Here's one of the things. I think that happens. In my life.

The less I see. How good and glorious. The inheritance is. That I've been called into. When things go bad here. I get really frustrated with God.

I don't know why this can't work out. It works out for other people. I don't understand. See. Ever heard anybody say. Or felt.

Like. I just feel like God's picking on me. What Paul's saying is. No he's not. There's a rich. And glorious.

Inheritance. Laid up for you. That if you suffer here. You're fine. Nothing was taken away from you. We're actually told.

In throughout. A scripture. That suffering. Actually builds weight. Helps us. Be able to handle.

How good it's going to be later. That our suffering. Actually prepares us. For that. One of the ways. I think this shows up.

In scriptures. The way the Bible. Talks about money. Which is a big deal. And. So in the Old Testament.

They would give. At least about 10%. Of their income. Whatever came in. They would give it away. And then.

It ended up being more than that. Now in the New Testament. It doesn't say. Give away a percentage. Or anything like that. But.

We believe. And teach here. That actually. 10% is actually. Kind of the floor. Would be a good starting place.

Because. We know the gospel. Of what Jesus was ultimately going to do. So why would we give less. Than people who just had a rule. We get Jesus.

Here's why I'm saying this. If you work. And you are a Christian. That means that Christians. Give away. Thousands.

Of dollars. A year. That all Christians who work. Would be giving away. Thousands of dollars. A year.

So if you. Part time jobs. What? 10,000 to 20,000. If you're working a full time Job. You're 20,000 up.

How crazy is it. If you make 20,000 dollars. That you would give away. 2,000 dollars. Y'all. Not crazy to y'all.

That's crazy to me. That doesn't sound crazy to y'all. You paying bills. And you're giving money away. That amount. Like a substantial amount.

Of your money. People would be giving away. If you make 30, 40, 50. People would be giving away. Thousands of dollars. Let me tell you something.

My wife and I. We do this. We give away money. That's jet ski money y'all. Not a great one. But a jet ski.

It's used. I got it off. A for sale free Lexington. Whatever. But like.

It would be a jet ski. And then it would float. That's. That's play golf money. That's. That's eat out.

All the time money. Y'all don't even understand. How many times I could eat a Cracker Barrel. For thousands of dollars a year. Here's the thing. If we don't as the church.

Remember. The glorious inheritance. That awaits us. We are. We will only be able to see. The.

Unglorious. Stuff that's in front of us. We'll care. A lot about money. We'll care a lot about how life's working out. We'll care a lot about.

That it's actually. Some of these things. Where Paul says. No no no. Remember how good it's going to be. Hold that in your head.

That actually sets us free. To begin to follow some of the things. That we're called. To do. It's not just money. My wife.

Is about as introverted. As a person can be. She has to remember. How good heaven is. To go hang out with people. She has to.

Remind herself. No there's more to life. Than. Than what I can just see. And I actually have to care enough about people. And remember that there's a glorious inheritance coming.

And. And care about that for them. So that I can try to be around them. And I can love them. And I can get to know them. She says.

In order to sacrifice. So Paul says. I hope you see this. I hope this becomes a settled reality for you. That what's coming is better. So that we wouldn't have an allegiance to stuff.

But that we'd be free. He doesn't say that. I just think that's one of the implications. There's probably a lot more. But I think that's the most direct one for me.

That the more I remember heaven. The more willing I am to sacrifice. And to serve. And to care for others. And to give money away. And the less I think about it.

Like I think if I sat down and thought. Ten minutes about a glorious inheritance. Right before I did my budget. I think it would change how I did my budget. But if I don't think about it.

I think it. I think it changes things. Okay. Nineteen. And. Verse nineteen.

And what is the immeasurable greatness. Of his power. Toward us who believe. So this is for those who believe. Those who have placed faith in Jesus. He says.

I pray. That you would know. What is the immeasurable greatness. Of his power. Toward us who believe. According to the working.

Of his great might. That he worked. In Christ Jesus. When he raised him from the dead. According to his working. Of his great might.

That he worked in Christ. When he raised him from the dead. So the third thing he prays. That would be a settled reality for us. Is that we would know. The immeasurable greatness.

Of his might. The immeasurable greatness. Of his power. That he worked for us. Now. Greatness means bigness.

And it's immeasurable. So he's just saying. Not that you would know the extent of it. That you would know it is immeasurable. That you would. You would be overwhelmed.

By how powerful. His salvation was for us. When Christ rose from the dead. How powerful his power. At work for us was. When Christ rose from the dead.

This is. This immeasurable greatness. This immeasurable greatness. Of power is. You watch Rocky. He trains the whole movie.

They enter into the ring. And he one punch knock out. Apollo Creed. Just walks in. Slips a punch. Knocks him out.

Turns to the camera. And goes. Hey yo Adrian. Like. No drama. It just takes all the joy out of it.

Like it just. It was immeasurable. Great power. Or it's. You've watched seven or eight. Movies of.

Of Harry Potter. You've read thousands of words. They get to the end. Snake face shows up. And Harry Potter is just like. Aardvarkadabra.

And he just dies. Just turns into dust. He looks at the camera and says. That's what I call magic. And then it just ends the movie. It's like.

He ruined it. It was supposed to be some tension here. And so. What he's saying is. Church. I want you to see.

I want you to see. Jesus didn't just barely save you. When Christ rose from the grave. That wasn't just. Some little parlor trick. There was a measurable great power.

That goes to work. For those who believe. That when you place your faith in Jesus. An immeasurable greatness of power. Has been applied to your account. And here's what happens.

If we don't believe this. I think two things happen. At least. I mean. There's a bunch. But.

One of the things is. I have to be powerful. If Jesus' power is in it. That work for me. I have to be powerful. I have to be powerful in conversations.

I have to be powerful in relationships. I have to be powerful. Or. Everything else is terrifying. Bosses are terrifying. The person you're dating is terrifying.

That you might lose them. That. That. They'd be mean to you. Some of you are like. Yeah.

The person I'm dating is terrifying. We advocate all the time. At our church. So you just break up with them. Sorry. I've lost it.

Guys. Let me give you a second. All right. That everything else becomes more powerful. That. That.

The Democrats. If they take over the White House. The Republicans. If they take over the White House. Everything is going to melt down ten years from now. We're all just going to.

We're all going to. I watch The Walking Dead to train. Because I know what's coming. You guys. Like. Everything else becomes more terrifying.

But he. What. What happens to us in our sin. Some of you. You're fine. You're fine.

You're fine. You're doing great with Jesus. As long as you're behaving. But as soon as you start seeing your sin show up. This is why. When someone starts pointing out your sin.

You won't listen. Because they're attacking you. If they say. Hey. You're off here. You're wrong here.

You can't hear that. Because your. Your value. Your worth. Your stability. Is built off of your behavior.

And if they suddenly point out sin. You will crumble. But if you actually notice it. If it actually. What happens in this situation. For someone who has.

Lost the power of Jesus's salvation for them. And is not holding it in their head. What happens is. I have to be good. I have to be moral. Everything has to work out.

This happens all the time. For those who are in the church. When people point out sin. You won't listen. Can't. You can't listen.

Because none of it. They just don't understand. They don't. They don't understand the circumstances. They don't realize how it was the other person's fault. You can't listen.

And then. You. Because you won't listen. To them pointing out little sin. It builds. It builds.

It builds. You're still trying to hide. And mask. And cover. And protect. Train wreck.

And in that moment. You're like. I don't know if I'm a Christian. I don't know if I'm saved. I don't know where Jesus is. I don't know.

I don't know. Because you're completely unstable. Because you're not resting in. The power. Of the resurrected Christ. On your behalf.

To conquer your sin. And to set you free. But when we know that. When we know the power of his resurrection. That is for us who believe. When someone points out your sin.

You're like. Yes. And Jesus conquered it. And I can be free from it. And when you do. Train wreck things.

When you do mess stuff up. You can be honest about it. And you can walk in it. Because Jesus's power. Has so much conquered that for you. That you're free.

You didn't have to be strong. You didn't have to be powerful. Jesus is. He says. I pray that you would know. The immeasurable greatness.

Of his power. Towards us who believe. That for those who have placed. Faith in Jesus. There is immeasurable greatness. Of power for us.

Applied to us. In defense of us. Conquering our sin. Our death. Our shame. The enemy.

Okay. So in verse. 20. No. Back half of verse 19. Where it says.

According to the working. Here's where he starts. Kind of saying. That all three of those. I'm praying these three things for you. What what what.

And then when he says. According to the working. Of his great might. He's kind of binding them all together. And saying. That they're actually.

Brought together. Held together. Kept. By this. According to this. And so the rest of what he says.

Is basically like. If. If you want to know. What your hope is. And you want to have a place. To.

Ground that. If you want to know. The inheritance you have. And want to have a place. To ground that. If you need to know.

The immeasurable greatness. Of his power. And have a place. To ground that. He's saying. Let me tell you how.

How absolutely. In charge of everything. Jesus is. So that you can have a place. To set all of this. And it won't go anywhere.

According. To the working. Of his great might. That he worked. In Christ. When he raised him.

From the dead. So first. He says. That this is grounded. In the fact. That there is an empty tomb.

That used to hold. A dead Jesus. There's an empty tomb. That used to hold. A dead Jesus. But that Christ.

In great power. Was raised from the dead. And seated him. At the right hand. In the heavenly places. Far above.

All rule. And authority. And power. And dominion. And above every name. That is named.

Not only in this age. But also in the one to come. I love. That verse. 21. Far above.

So he's not just above. He's far above. All. All. All rule. And authority.

And power. And dominion. Above every name. That is named. Not only in this age. But also in the one to come.

What does that include? All of it. Who's Jesus above? Yes. All. All authority.

All power. Every. Every municipality. Every throne. Every king. Every prince.

Every. Every political party. Every regime. All demonic influences. Influences. And forces.

Everything. Jesus is ahead. Over all of it. I was giving my son a bath. He's two. He's really into the Avengers right now.

Which is good. It's better than some of the other stuff. He gets excited about. Like that wheels on the bus show. On Netflix. I can watch Avengers with him.

Way better. He's taking a bath. And I was like. Archer. I just want to tell you. That Jesus is strong.

Do you know Jesus is strong? Like I'm just. Talking to him about it. And he sits and looks at me. He says. Jesus is strong?

I said. Yeah. Jesus is strong. He said. Okay. Kept playing for a second.

And then he went. Are you going to have to fight Thor? I said. Jesus will wear Thor out. He said. Wear him out?

I was like. Yeah. I said. Yeah. No. No.

No contest. And I. Guys. I was just teaching him about the Bible. Like this is it right here. And I was like.

What are y'all talking about? I was like. Theology. That he's ahead of everything. Over all rule. All authority.

Every name that could be named. Thor. Odin. Everybody. Verse 22. Verse 22.

This is going to be on the screen. We're going to walk through this for just a second. Because I. The more I read it this week. The more encouraged I was by this. The more.

Captivated I was by this idea. That he kind of finishes this thought with. And he put all things under his feet. And gave him his head over all things to the church. Which is his body. The fullness of him who fills all.

And all. So in here there's two. There's two kind of. Players I guess. There's Jesus. And there's the church.

And he just kind of weaves them together in this last thing. So he's saying. This is for all who believe. And then he ends this by saying. Here's where it's grounded. Here's where you can bank on it.

And here's what he says. So he says. He put all things under his feet. So that's Jesus. And gave him as head over all things. So that's Jesus.

Him as head over all things. To the church. Which is his body. So that's the church. It's also Jesus. It's his body.

But the church is his body. The fullness is referring to his body. Which refers to the church. Of him who fills all in all. Now this was.

So all the brighter yellow is Jesus. His feet gave him as head over all things. To the church. Which is his body. The fullness of him who fills all in all. So I want you to see this real quick.

Jesus who's head over all rule and authority. Because of the cross. Because of the resurrection. He has ascended. Above every name. Every dominion.

Everything. And God gave Jesus. Who is the head of all things. To the church. That Jesus was given. To the church.

And it says the church. Is his body. So now. Now they're given in this like. Connected. Perfectly unified.

That Jesus is the head. And the church is his body. The fullness. That's referring to the body. So the church becomes the fullness.

Of Jesus. The church. Those who believe in Jesus. Become the fullness of Jesus. And Jesus. Is him who fills all in all.

Okay. When it says. He's him who fills all in all. That means that. Everything. That ever existed.

Or ever will exist. Will only ever find its purpose. In Jesus. That its fullness. Is found in Jesus. How it related to him.

Is where it finds its. Purpose. Its role. Its place in the universe. Is connected. To Jesus.

Who fills up. Everything. Who makes everything full. And Jesus. His fullness. Is united with the church.

That Jesus has chosen. To only be full. Only be complete. In as far as he brings the church. To belong to himself. That those who are in Christ.

Are his body. And his fullness. Is. God. второй. We have. For.

God. Lord. Amen. Always. He is. The inheritance that you have.

The great power that was at work for you when Jesus rose from the dead. And I want you to see that he's head over everything and that we're in him. The privileged position that those who believe hold in the universe because of how good Jesus is. That when all of this plays out and everything is said and done, that the creator of the universe will call his church home to enjoy all of the good things that were ever meant to be enjoyed and rightly enjoyed in the world. And that belongs to the church. To those who have been saved by the grace of Jesus.

Not by their effort, not by their goodness, but the fact that Jesus died, rose from the grave, and they believed in him. Now, if that sinks in, if that becomes real to you, personally in life, if that becomes real, if it sinks in that your hope is in Jesus, meaning there are no other hopes that are worth hoping in, nothing else will satisfy, and that your inheritance is in Jesus, meaning that all the good things ultimately are in him. So there's nothing good outside of him. All the good things are in him. And his power is at work for those who believe. And we've been united with him, given a privileged position in the universe, that Jesus' fullness is full when he brings the church to himself, that we become one with him.

Here's what happens. Let me explain how this slightly applies to jobs. If you lose your job, you didn't lose your hope. You didn't lose the goodness of your inheritance. And you are not powerless. And your position in the universe is untouched.

If you get the greatest Job offer ever, it's not a better hope. It doesn't give a better inheritance. It doesn't give you more power. And it has nothing on your position in the universe. Let's talk high school students, college students, maybe some middle school students in here, I don't know.

Let's talk about embarrassment. You know what I'm talking about? Like you go home from school and you said something or did something. A fifth grade chet, one time, while his teacher was up in front of the class, giving a little talk about something, I don't remember, dropped his pencil, bent over and passed gas loudly in front of the entire class. And then my teacher, in order to help me, gave a speech about how that was normal and that's okay. I was like, I'm going to harm you.

This is terrible. Like you're making this way worse. But you know those days you would go home and think, I don't want to go to school tomorrow. I don't want school to exist anymore. We're going to move. We're just going to move.

I'm going to move. You see, like the days you go tell your parents, like I think I have some sort of learning condition. I'm going to need to go to a different school. And you think, middle school is like this, but it will go away. No, high school is like that, but it will go away. No, college is like, people go home from work and go, I don't want to go to work tomorrow.

I don't want to look at those people. What will I say? Hi, Tina. Like I have nothing. Like I don't even want to make eye contact after what happened. Didn't change your hope.

Didn't remove your inheritance. Hasn't altered your position or power. Hadn't touched where you exist in the universe if you belong to Jesus. You can go down the line. Relationships, family, health. You get a report that you have cancer.

Doctor looks at you and says, We can do treatment. Small percentage of that will work. Didn't change your hope. Doesn't affect your inheritance. You're not powerless. You're not powerless.

There's an immeasurable greatness of power towards those who believe because Christ rose from the grave. And your position in the universe is untouched. Christians are more equipped to suffer than any other humans on the face of the earth. Because we're untouchable. That's why Paul can write this from prison a few years ahead of being beheaded. That's why he can be in prison and say, I hope you know how good Jesus is.

And I hope you know how wonderful it's going to be. And I hope it sinks down into your heart that we're not powerless. It's like, bro, you're in chains. Chains. They're going to, at some point, walk in and say, Today's the day. You don't exist anymore.

And Paul's like, nope. I exist in a more greater reality than you'll ever enter into the moment that my head falls off my shoulders. Because this reality had sunk into his heart. I think if our church begins to believe this, you won't be able to peel us away from each other. That we will be so focused on Jesus' church. That we'll be hanging out with our community group and fighting for the things that matter.

That we'll be serving. That we'll be giving. That you won't be able to get us away. Because no, this is where all the good things belong. They're in Jesus and his people that he's elevated above all the rest of creation. Not because we're great, but because he is.

I don't think you'd be able to get us to stop telling our friends about Jesus. Because we'll be able to see through how much of a mirage, everything that they're leaning into for hope is. How much it will all falter and fall short. And that one day we will have a glorious inheritance that is untouched. By how much money we give away right now. By how much we sacrifice.

By how much we serve. I think that we would get to look a little bit more like Paul. Where they could take everything from us. And we go, I'm fine, you guys. This hurts. But I'm okay.

Because ultimately, it wasn't where my hope was. It's not where the good things in life come from. I'm not powerless. And my position in the universe hadn't changed. Matt and Bianca are going to come back up. And here's how we're going to respond right now.

Honestly, I hope that the way we respond is that as a church, we begin to study this so that it does sink into a reality in our hearts. We begin to read this passage until it changes our wallets, until it changes our time, until it changes how we treat one another, until it changes how much we believe that each other matter. How much we care about our neighbors who are doing really well when it comes to South Carolina standards. Who are doing really well when it comes to American standards. But that are putting their hope in something that one day will snap.

And honestly, as Christians, we pray. One of the things I hope for all of my neighbors, for all the people who don't know Jesus, is that their hope snaps now. So they can see how brittle it was prior to the day they stand before the King and see that their hope being misplaced was a dire, drastic issue. So here's how we're going to respond in this moment, though. Matt and Bianca are going to play, and they're going to sing in just a second. And the song they're going to sing is for us to just kind of listen and think about.

They're going to sing about no matter what else we could find on earth, it's just not enough. We could chase every avenue, we could pursue everything we could get, it would ultimately not be enough, that only Jesus is. And if you're a Christian, I just want you to sit for a minute, and then when you feel ready, you'll take communion while they're singing. You just sit, you're going to pray, and then you're going to go, we get to take communion today, remembering that because Christ died for us, we've been incorporated in Him, that His body and His blood were shed, His body was broken, His blood was shed for us, so that we could become one with Him.

That our hope could be in Him, that our inheritance could be in Him. And if you're not a Christian, I just ask you to believe this. This is for all those who believe, that you can go to Jesus and say, I want this, I want the hope that is unshakable, that's grounded in an event that happened in the past. That you rose from the grave, and from now on, hope is secure. That Christ rose, and so I can forever have this be real for me. I want to cease to believe that everything here is beautiful and good, and chase after everything that's shiny, that ultimately won't fulfill.

And I want you, Jesus, I'd ask you to pray that. Ask Him to change you, to place your faith in Him. And then you can, for the first time ever, as a real, genuine follower of Jesus, come take communion, which is the celebration that Jesus' body was broken for us, and His blood was shed for us, and that He was laid in a tomb, but that He rose. And there's an immeasurable greatness of power towards all who believe. So I'd ask you to believe this morning.

Let's pray. God, we thank You for Your goodness. I thank You for Your love that You have towards us. And I pray, that this will become a settled reality in our hearts. There wouldn't be a day that went by for our church family, that we didn't remember that all of our hope is in You. That ultimately, we have a glorious inheritance that awaits.

That all of this is just temporary. And that there's an immeasurable power at work for us, through Christ. Amen.

Inheritance

Ephesians - Inheritance

Spencer Clay

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Spencer. I am a pastor in training here with Mill City. We're going to be in Ephesians 1, verses 11 through 14. So you can go ahead and turn there.

If you do not have a Bible, there should be a white Bible around you somewhere. If you do not have a Bible, we want you to take that home. That is our gift to you. So Ephesians 1, 11 through 14, I am going to read a quote. It's a rather lengthy quote, so stay with me. It comes from a story.

Down to the last day, even the last hour now, I am an old man, lonely and unloved, sick and hurting, and tired of living. I am ready for the hereafter. It has to be better than this. I own the tall glass building in which I sit, and 97% of the company housed in it, below me, and the land around it a half mile in three directions. And the 2,000 people who work here and the other 20,000 who do not. And I own the pipeline under the land that brings the gas from my building to my fields in Texas.

And I own the utility lines that deliver electricity. And I lease the satellite unseen miles above me, which I once barked my commands to my empire flung around the world. My assets exceed 11 billion dollars. I own silver in Nevada, and copper in Montana, and coffee in Kenya, coal in Angola, rubber in Malaysia, natural gas in Texas, crude oil in Indonesia, and steel in China. My company owns companies that produce electricity and make computers and build dams and print paperbacks and broadcast signals to my satellite. I have subsidiaries with divisions in more countries than anyone can find.

I once owned all the appropriate toys, the yachts, the jets, the blondes, the homes in Europe, farms in Argentina, an island in the Pacific, thoroughbreds, even a hockey team. But I've grown too old for toys. The money is the root of my misery. I had three families, three ex-wives who bore seven children, six of whom are still alive and doing all they can to torment me. To the best of my knowledge, I followed all seven and buried one. I should say his mother buried them.

I was out of the country. I am estranged from all the wives and all the children. They're gathered here today because I'm dying, and it's time to divide the spoils. So that is the first page of a John Grisham novel that I've been reading called The Testament. And it's a brilliant hook. Like the first page, you read that right there, and you want to read more of the story.

So what John Grisham does there is brilliant. He hooks you in. But what is really, really cool about what John Grisham does in this first part is he had the whole point of the Testament. It's his last will and testament. It's how his inheritance is going to be divided. And by all accounts from what our culture would say is if you've built your businesses from the ground up and you've accumulated $11 billion in assets, like you crushed the American dream.

You owned it. Like that's it. That's what our culture upholds is saying that is what you would aspire to be. And what John Grisham does here is he says that this is the root of his misery, that money is the root of his misery. In fact, you get a little taste here that his kids and his family hates him. And you find out in the chapters that fall, they really hate him.

He has nothing left. He is left empty, and he's on his deathbed. And then a few pages later, he actually kills himself. And I love what John Grisham does here is because he hooks you in and he shows you how fleeting the pursuits of this world are. And in the same way, Paul begins Ephesians with a hook. We've been taking the last three weeks to walk through Ephesians 1, 3 through 14.

It's one long sentence in the Greek. We've been walking through it because that is the hook that reels you into Ephesians in which you read the rest of the book. And what I love what Paul does is the end of this hook, he talks about an inheritance. An inheritance that is so much better than what this world has to offer. So that's what we're going to be walking through today.

We're going to take a look at this inheritance that he's talking about. We're going to see who he's talking to. And then we're going to see what he promises. And here's one clear truth that we'll walk away with. That we have a guaranteed inheritance through faith in Christ that is eternally secured by the Holy Spirit. That we have a guaranteed inheritance through faith in Christ that is eternally secured by the Holy Spirit.

All right, so I'm going to read the passage. I'm going to pray. And then we're going to dive in. Verse 11. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. So that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. God, I thank you for this picture that you give us here. I pray that you would help us be present, that you would clear out any of the distractions, any thoughts, and that you would show us how good your inheritance is. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, so he starts out verse 11.

In him we have obtained an inheritance. So this word inheritance is jam-packed with meaning. On the surface, it simply just means all the good things that come with believing in Jesus. This is what is awaiting. This is what you get to take part in. But inheritance here also, in the original word that it was written in, links back to the Old Testament, to the Hebrew word for allotment.

Specifically, an allotment of land. And as people who are familiar with the Old Testament, the Jewish Christians who are in this church, and others who might be familiar with how the Old Testament is read, they would hear allotment of land and they would go back to the book of Joshua. And the book of Joshua follows the event of Exodus. God brings the people of Israel out of Egypt. He brings them into the promised land. And Joshua is their leader who brings them in.

He clears out the wicked nations that were controlling it. And then he secures land for his people. And there's six chapters in the book of Joshua. They're about allotments of land. He gives this tribe this allotment and this tribe this allotment. Think counties almost.

And he gives each of these tribes allotments of land. And then in those tribes, he gives individual families parcels of land. So when they hear that, that's their thinking. And land for them, this land was really, really special and important for them. Firstly, it helped them remember that this piece of land that our family owns, that our tribe owns, was secured for us by God. The God came in.

He cleared out the nations. He gave us this land. And we are amongst his presence. So it ties them back into their national identity. We are the people of Israel. It had strong family ties.

Like their family would own this land for generations and generations that followed. Even if they sold off a piece of it, maybe to pay off debts, there was a whole system in place called the year of Jubilee that eventually, about once a generation, the land would come back into the family. That your family would still have this land. Land was, this allotment, this inheritance for them was a means of providing. You used your land to make money, whether it was farming, whether it was tending the sheep. That was how God provided for you.

So the picture of allotment, the picture of inheritance here that Paul is drawing off of, is that you, Christian, have an allotment in the kingdom. Like you have a place in God's kingdom, in God's presence. And there are riches that come with that. So this picture here, it builds off of verse 5. In verse 5 we read, you're adopted as sons. This picture of adoption is linked right here at the end to inheritance.

With the adoption comes an inheritance. It might be similar to if Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, adopted a kid, an impoverished kid from one of the poorest countries in the world. And I want you to picture this. Like what it would have been like for this kid. Never has seen anything remotely rich. Has never even seen a plane.

Then Bill Gates brings in a private plane. This kid boards the plane. Flies to America. Gets out. Sees America for the first time. Then sees a private car that comes, picks him up.

And then he goes to Bill Gates' estate. The gates open. Think Richie Rich style. Gates open. You are coming in. This kid has the abundance of riches he's never even seen before.

Gets out of the car. Sees the huge mansion. Sees the Gates family. Bill Gates comes up to him and says, You are now my child. And this, you take part in all this. This is yours.

This is your life. This is your inheritance. Think about how that kid would feel. Think about all the riches he would have seen for the first time. And that illustration pales in comparison to the riches that we get in Christ. Those riches are material.

They're temporary. And this inheritance is eternal. So the word inheritance here, it's in packed with meaning. He goes in verse 11. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. Now what Paul's doing here, he's making a little bit of a shift.

He's starting to address individual parts of the church. So Ephesus, the church of Ephesus, like many churches in the New Testament, were divided or were made up of both Gentiles and Jews. All right? So Jews, Jewish background, Jewish Christians were tied to Judaism. Gentiles is everyone else. So that included Africans.

That included Greeks. That included Romans. That included Asians. And we're going to see some tension is happening. And we're going to see that in chapter 2. But he specifically here is addressing Jewish Christians.

So he says, this is how it should be written. Paul says, in him, he says, in him, he means we Jewish Christians. We Jewish Christians have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we Jewish Christians, hear this, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be to the praise of his glory. That phrase, first to hope in Christ, in the language of we, what he's doing is, is Paul, a fellow Jewish Christian, is saying, we, the first to hope in Christ. He's talking to them. He's really illustrating the order of God's redemption.

God chose the nation of Israel to be a light amongst the nations. When they failed, Jesus came. And after Jesus ascends into heaven, the church begins, the church begins in Jerusalem. The church explodes with thousands of people professing Jesus and placing their faith in him and being changed by him. And all of them are Jews. And then later on, keep reading throughout Acts, you see Africans and you see Asians and you see Greeks and you see Romans.

You see Gentiles also being brought into the church. So this part right here is he's illustrating the order of God's redemption. And then he addresses the entire church. He gets to Gentiles in verse 13. He says, in him, you also, so meaning you also, everyone else. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed in him.

So he's opening it back up, the whole church. In him, you also. He echoes the same sentiment that Peter does in 1 Peter 2, 9 and 10, when Peter says, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, which is kind of strong Jewish language. He says that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light. And then you see who he's talking to. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.

Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. He's saying, once you were not the people of God, you were not a part of this, and now you've been brought into this family. We are all one big family now. And then he shows how he rescues them. He goes, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him. So last week, we walked through how God chooses the church, how he chooses the church for salvation.

And as I've walked through this before, myself with other people, the question comes up, wait, really? Like God chooses us for salvation? God chooses the church? The answer that we walked through last week was, yeah, the Bible absolutely teaches that. But here it says, and we have to believe the gospel to be saved?

And we say the same thing, yes. Both are true. The Bible teaches both. If you want to take part in this inheritance, you have to believe the gospel. Now, I think part of the problem here, well, firstly, is the misunderstanding of the gospel. I mean, the fact that we were dead in sin, that we had no hope, and that God looks upon us in our sin and says, I'm not going to leave them there.

That I'm sending Jesus. I'm going to send, that the God of the universe comes himself and lives a perfect life of obedience. The life of obedience that we could never live. He loves God and loves others in ways that we never could. He lives a perfect life of obedience. He dies on the cross.

His blood is shed for us. His blood covers us through belief in him. And then he conquers death at the resurrection, loosening its power on us, so that we can have a new life in Christ and take part in this inheritance. Part of it's misunderstanding that message completely. But I think another real part of it is our understanding of belief.

I think for many, especially down here in the South, many people that profess Christianity, I think it is a head knowledge belief. Like belief is, I know things about Jesus. Or maybe it's, I align myself with Jesus. I'm a Christian, or they just asked, I'm a Christian, I was born in the church, or I was, you know, it's just a simple, a head knowledge and aligning yourself with Jesus. I see this on a practical level when it comes to sports. I'll ask people, who do you pull for?

Especially the NFL. And they'll say, every now and then I'll meet somebody and they'll go, well, I'm a Patriots fan. And when they say that, like I immediately get triggered. Like I immediately just get, like it just, this stirs like anxiety in my soul. And the reason why is because I'm a Colts fan. I've been a Colts fan since the 90s when Peyton got drafted.

And there's been some, a few good years, there's been some really bad years, especially right now. And when I hear that, the reason why it triggers me is because my first game as a Colts fan, my Christmas present, was the 04 Divisional Playoff Series game in Foxborough. Get off the plane, I've got a thermal and a Peyton Manning jersey and jeans. I roll up into Foxborough, it's a blizzard, it's freezing cold. I'm freezing cold because I wasn't prepared when I got off the plane. And we got our teeth kicked in.

I watched my hero get destroyed. Like it was, it was terrible. And I was surrounded by Patriots fans who were like, just absolutely giving it to me. And I was like, this is the moment. This is the moment from now on. I hate you people.

I hate it. So, and then from years that followed, we just kept getting beaten. So when someone says they're a Patriots fan, I get a little triggered. I'm like, well, what do you mean by that? And they're like, well, sometimes they'll go, well, I mean, I don't really care about football. Like I, it's not really my thing, but, but I do watch the Super Bowl because I like the commercials.

And, and it seems like the Patriots play in it once every two or three years. So I just pull for them. I hear that and I'm like, it's all good. Like you, you are not a part of the axis of evil. You think you are. You think that you're a Patriots fan, but you're not.

Because when you heard when I was a Colts fan, we had immediately gotten into the flight gate and there would have been a huge debate. You're not actually a Patriots fan. You just kind of align yourself with them and you know a little bit about them, but you don't embody what it means to be a Patriots fan. And in the same way, I meet people down here, in our culture, that say I'm a Christian. And as I press into it, there's a lot of different understandings that aren't the gospel. And what really has happened is they've believed in their head, they've aligned themselves with, but that belief has never sunk into their heart.

And their heart has actually been changed by the gospel. Because the misunderstanding with the word belief is that belief, when it's used in the New Testament, implies trust. It implies faith. And that faith and that trust is life-changing. It's not just surface level. And that's going to be important for us as we walk through the rest of this passage to have a right understanding of what belief is.

So verse 13, he says, in him, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. So when you believe the gospel, you've put your faith solely in the finished work of Jesus, it says here, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit. you're sealed. Now that word sealed has a few, like there's commentators debate over what that is implying, what that image is. Some say that that was when a king or an emperor, like if Rome, had made an official royal order that he sealed it.

And that order meant, it was not sealed, meant it was not going to be broken. That order would be followed. There are other commentators that think, no, no, no, this is more like when someone would purchase property back then, they would put their family or their official seal on it and that meant they possessed that property. Some think this just simply means certifying the validity of the guarantee. And really, each of those understandings applies here. That God, the king of the universe, when he saves you, has marked you.

He is sealed. He said this, that he is, their faith is going to continue. That is a guaranteed order that's going to be followed. The same thing applies is if when the Holy Spirit seals us, we are gods. He is saying, I have taken possession of you. It means that this guarantee is certified.

The word guarantee here, in verse 14, it also has some pretty cool meaning. The way they would use that word at the time of the New Testament, what it meant was, was a down payment. It was a deposit. So the picture that we have here with being sealed and with this deposit, with this guarantee, is that when we place our faith solely in Jesus, that could be in a moment for me, like I can remember back when I realized I was not a Christian and that I needed Jesus. So for some of you, it may have been a moment.

For some of you, it may be a season where you're starting to believe the gospel slowly and then all of a sudden you realize something has changed about me. Whenever that is, whether it's a season or a moment, when you believe the gospel, He seals you. And that is a guarantee so that throughout the rest of your life, whether you are in seasons of trials, you could be facing all kinds of sickness, God is saying, remember the seal? Remember the guarantee? Remember the deposit? The down payment?

I make good of my payments. He's going to be with you no matter what. In disease, in trial, in sickness, when you are struggling with sin and starting to question your identity, God's saying, no, no, no. Remember the deposit? Remember that I sealed you? I'm going to make good until you finish the waste, until you acquire possession of it.

And acquire possession of it is just a euphemism for when you die. When you finish this race, this is guaranteed. That is a picture that we need. And that's a picture that the New Testament says over and over again. Like Jesus, in John 10, 28, He says, He just got done teaching about how He's the Good Shepherd. And then He says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish.

And hear this, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. Like, feel that promise that Jesus, the God of the universe, says, look, I've got you in the palm of My hand. No one is snatching you out of My hand. Like, the devil and his band of demons, they're not going to get you. They're not going to take you. Your flesh is not going to bring you down.

The world's not going to take you. I've got you in the palm of My hand. You're not going anywhere. That's a promise we need. Paul, in Philippians 1, 6, he says, and I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion the day of Jesus Christ. Paul's saying, the work that He began, the grace that He began, He's going to continue it.

He's the one that started it and He's going to carry you all the way home. Peter, in talking about the same inheritance in 1 Peter 1, 5, he says, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Guarded. Like, this inheritance, Fort Knox times a billion. It is guarded. No one's touching that inheritance.

It is yours until you acquire possession of it. And that is one of the most comforting promises we can have in all the scriptures that Jesus has us in the palm of His hand that God is going to protect us and He's going to carry us home. That's what a good father does. I mean, and we need that. Like, I think about my relationship with my daughter and kind of what we're going through right now. We are in the midst of potty training and for me to say it's been an unmitigated disaster is probably a little bit of an understatement.

Like, we're two months in and it's been rough. Like, my wife, she called me a couple weeks ago and she said, hey, by the way, I just want to let you know what your daughter did today. I was like, okay. And she says, well, she walked outside with the dogs. She pulled down her diaper and just started peeing. And I was like, well, that's pretty airtight logic.

The dogs use the bathroom outside. We need to correct that, of course, but, I mean, that makes sense. And then, and then she said, or then she said, I don't know what's going on. Like, she just, like, this even happened yesterday. She's like, hey, she just takes her diaper off outside and I don't even know where the diapers are. They're just gone.

And she just comes in naked. So a couple weeks ago, I found them. She was like hiding in the bushes, but she has a shopping cart, this little toy shopping cart for outside. And I see it from like 20 feet away and I see flies hovering. And I was like, no, no, no. And I walk over towards it and there's a stack of poopy diapers that she's collected and that she's just thrown in there.

And it's been, it's been difficult. What kind of dad would I be if I said, if I took her inside after that event and sat her down and said, look, this has to stop. If this doesn't stop, you're out. You're not, you're not a part of this family anymore. We'll find you a new family, but this, this has got, you have to get your, you have to get your stuff together because if you can't figure this out, you can find a new family. Like what, what kind of dad would I be if that was my response?

That's not all I do with her. What I do with her is we have a song that we sing together. We have a song that we sing together. It's by a singer-songwriter named Drew Holcomb. He wrote this song for his daughter where he says, you'll always be my girl no matter what, whether there's good seasons or bad. I sing with her and she sings with me, you'll always be, you'll always be, you'll always be my girl.

And we sing that song together because I want her to know that no matter what happens, she's always going to be my child. She's always going to be my girl. I hope my daughter has the most boring testimony imaginable. I hope that she places her faith in Jesus at age six and I just, we disciple her. Like that's what I want for her. I don't want her to walk the same path that I went.

But man, if she goes wayward and she starts acting a fool, I want her to know you will always be my girl. You're always my child. And God looks at us in the midst of our filth, in the midst of our struggle, in the midst of our trials, and he says, no, no, no. You'll always be my child. You will always be my son. You will always be my daughter.

When I sealed you, that guarantee was for eternity. Now that brings up some valid questions. And one of those valid questions that I hear often, it comes from experience. Like what about people that I've been in church with, pastors that I've known, people that baptize me or people that I baptize, people in my community group who were with us for a season for years. And then all of a sudden they just said, I'm out. I'm done.

Like what about them? I feel that. In college, I was part of a college ministry. I was a junior. We invested in two of these guys. They both professed Jesus.

And then I got to spend the summer with one of them. Had a summer beach project with our college ministry. Pouring into this kid. Like he was devouring, like studying the scripture, going out and sharing his faith. He was an aspiring hip-hop artist. And he was actually really good.

He wrote this Christian hip-hop song. I watched him perform that song at a conference to 500 people. And he crushed it. And then like a year later, he went and studied abroad. And when he came back, he said, I'm out. This isn't for me anymore.

And his buddy, who was his best friends, who had professed faith in Jesus at the same time, like he was crushed. We were all shook. Like what happened? I mean his buddy is actually still, he's the college ministry director at Clemson. And I see from time to time the other guy on Facebook and it doesn't look good. And we've had those experiences.

And you're left wondering, like what does the Bible say? I know what you're saying, they're guaranteed, but what does the Bible say about people like that? And 1 John 2.19 kind of gives us the clearest answer to that. In 1 John 2.19, it says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become clear, it might become plain, that they are not all of us.

And what John is saying there, is that they had the appearance of faith, like it looked like they believed, but they had not actually been changed by the gospel. It may have been a head belief, but it had not sunk deep into their heart. Now, after reading that, that may bring up a fear, that may have the same thought, you may be having the same thought still, that this hasn't cleared up in your head, is how do I actually know that I'm saved? Like how do I actually know that I'm sealed? I think part of that tension is resolved by really leaning on the right definition of belief. This doctrine, you can call it eternal security, perseverance of the saints, whatever you want to call it, and this means that when you were, when you were sealed, you're guaranteed to the finish, is sometimes unhelpfully linked to a wrong definition of belief.

And the most common way I see that nowadays, it used to be when people would just walk down an aisle when they were a kid, talk to a pastor, profess Jesus, and there wasn't any real life change. The most common way that I see it now is at churches where it's an exciting event and the lights dim and the smoke machines are going and the music's flowing and it's like everything is awesome and everything is hype and all of a sudden it's like, come, believe in Jesus and people are just going down and scores and they're professing Jesus but they're not actually having their hearts changed. It has not sunk in their heart. And what's happened is is that this has been taught alongside of that and they're thinking back to that moment when I got fired up about Jesus for a moment but it actually wasn't continual.

It didn't keep going. And that's one of the other wrong definitions we have for belief because when belief in the New Testament is used as a verb it does not mean a one-time event. Belief is a continual, it means to continue to believe. Not just believe once but continue to believe the gospel. So how do you know if you are sealed by the Holy Spirit? you keep believing the gospel.

I was about to say you don't stop believing. I'm not going there because that brings it a whole. You keep believing the gospel until we acquire possession of it. Until the race is finished you keep believing. So here are the encouragements that we're left with here as we believe the gospel is if you believed it and you're still believing it you need to remember we have the Holy Spirit.

We have the God of the universe that says I have marked you I have sealed you I have made the deposit I have made the guarantee I am never going to leave you. Like in any season where you might feel like I'm alone no the Spirit is with us He's in us He's working in us You are not alone You have the God of the universe If we have God in our side which is what Paul says in Romans who in the world could be against us?

According to His Will

According to His Will

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

How are we doing this morning? Bless your souls. My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in the book of Ephesians, so if you want to go ahead and grab a Bible and go to Ephesians. If you have one of the white Bibles that's kind of been sitting on the chairs around you, will be on page 567.

And so that's where we'll be. We're studying through the book of Ephesians. When we planted this church a couple years ago, we said we wanted to be a gospel-centered community on mission. We want to be a gospel people. We want our lives to be built around the fact that Jesus Christ died to save sinners and to give them a place with him. Which means that we want to be Bible people.

Because the point of the Bible is to point us to Jesus. The goal of the scriptures is to get us to the fullness of understanding God's mystery revealed to us in Christ. So we want to be Bible people. So if you've been a part of our church for a while, maybe you've been hanging out on Sundays, you've been in a community group, you may have noticed that we've changed some of how we're doing things on Sundays. We're reading the Bible more. We're reading the Bible out loud together.

It's a little weird for me. Not reading the Bible, like that's good, but reading it out loud together, like I never did that. And it just feels a little odd to me. So if you're in that boat, I just want to explain a little bit of why we're doing that. We're like a vending machine that you put the coins in, but they didn't drop. And so you have to start smacking the side of the vending machine to get the coins to drop.

That's kind of how we are when it comes to believing and remembering all that is good and true about Jesus. That we maybe have it in our head, but it hadn't quite dropped to our heart yet. And so one of our goals on Sunday is to smack our heads with the gospel repeatedly, in as many ways as we possibly can, so that it will drop to our hearts. So that's going to be us reading the Bible. That's going to be us reading collectively together, saying things together. It's going to be us singing.

It's going to be us studying scripture together, because our goal is to saturate ourselves with this truth so that it sticks with us. So standing up and collectively reading underlying portions together is kind of weird for me. Maybe you love it, and I'm excited. I'm glad for you. But maybe the person next to you doesn't.

But last week we did that, and then three days later I remembered what we read. And I was like, okay, then fine. If it's weird but it helps me remember it, it's worth it. So good morning, and hopefully we can help ram the Bible into our brain so that it goes to our heart and sticks with us this morning. So that's one of the reasons why we study through books of the Bible together.

So we're in Ephesians. We're a couple weeks in, and we aren't that far into it, because Paul starts this letter off with a very big, very dense sentence. We read it last week, and now we're kind of zooming back in to try to understand a little more. So I'm going to pray, and then we're going to pick up in verse 3 and begin kind of our time this morning together studying the Word. So let's pray.

God, I just pray that through the power of your Holy Spirit we would see the immense glory of your grace towards us, that we would see the beauty in it this morning as we study this, and that as Paul meant it to be an encouragement, I just ask that it be an encouragement to us today as well. In Jesus' name, amen. We're going to go to verse 3. We're going to read 3 through 10, because I want to kind of focus in on something at the end there just to get us started, and then we'll go back to verse 3. So, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight. This is what I want us to see as we get started this morning. Making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven, and things on earth.

Throughout that passage, it says that He chose us, He predestined, He did this according to the purpose of His will, and then it kind of comes there and it says, to reveal the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, as a plan for the fullness of time. And so what it's saying is that God's intention to save was a plan that He worked out according to the purpose of His will throughout history, that human history is playing out according to the will of God. That's what that passage is telling us. Now, this is very encouraging to us because God has never been surprised. He's never suddenly had to huddle up with Jesus and the Holy Spirit and say, what are we going to do here?

Like, He's never had plans that went differently than He had intended. Like, His overall plan for the world has worked out the way He has intended it. He's working all things according to the purpose of His will. So I don't know about you, very rarely do my plans work out. Like, have you ever planned the perfect vacation and came back more tired? Because the pictures weren't exactly the way they showed them online.

Like, you didn't know the carpet was going to make that noise when you stepped on it and, like, you were afraid to wear... You had to wear shoes. Like, we went on vacation one time and we just wore shoes in the hotel the whole time because I didn't know quite what we were stepping on. But it was like... Every time you walk somewhere, it was just weird. Like, there's...

I have a two-year-old son. My wife and I have to huddle up on a regular basis. I'll have to, like... I'll put him to bed. And then it's like, we have to recap the whole day and try to figure out how we're going to do this better tomorrow. My wife is a very smart lady and I'm like, all right, you've got to help me out here.

Because one of the things she's told me is that neither me nor my two-year-old knows how to de-escalate a situation. She is correct. He goes big, I go bigger. He goes bigger, I go biggest. Like, I'm... You know, it's like I'm not going...

And she's going, you can... You're an adult. And I'm like, yeah, I'm going to win. And... So we have to work on making plans all the time, but God's plans work out.

His purpose for the world is working out. And so let's go back and begin to ask, what is His purpose? What is He doing? What are these plans that He's working out? What was the plan for the fullness of time that He purposed according to His will? Okay.

Verse 3, right at the top. Blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. That's what we spent our time on last week. Verse 4, Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him, in love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the beloved. Alright, so here's what I want us to see. We've got it pulled up so we can just kind of look at it together.

First it says that He chose us in Him and it also says that He predestined us. So I want to highlight that. That's what God did. That He chose us in Him and He predestined us. In Him there's Jesus. So every time it says in Him it's talking about Christ.

So what it's saying is that God chose the church. That's what Paul's telling them. So again, we're trying to be Bible people. We're just trying to understand what this passage is saying and it's saying that God chose the church in Christ. That He predestined which means that before everything got started He predestined it. So if you just look at the chronology of that it says He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.

So before the world got started God was already working on this plan. He was already actively through the purpose of His will choosing the church. Now, people will explain and have explained that as what it means is that He chose to save through Christ and He chose the church in general not in specific. But in the book of Revelation chapter 17 verse 8 it says those whose names were written down in the book of life before the foundation of the world. So it actually is saying that no, God chose in specific those whom He would save before the foundation of the world.

That's what the text is saying. Now, why? What was His purpose? What was He trying to accomplish? And so it says He chose us in Him that we should be holy and blameless and He predestined us for adoption. So God's immediate goals were to make us holy and blameless and to adopt us into His family.

That was the short term goal but it keeps going. There's a bigger goal. It says to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will to the praise of His glorious grace. That God's choosing and saving the church that God's adopting those who would believe in Christ was to the praise of His glorious grace. His ultimate purpose was to show in the Greek it kind of originally says the glory of His grace was to show how good grace is. So we're going to spend some time there this morning.

What is grace? Why is it glorious? And why would God as He purposed the world set it up in His saving and in His work through Jesus do it to point to how glorious His grace is? There's a pastor named John Piper. He's a pastor theologian. He's written a lot of books.

He in explaining this passage said that there's two other places in the New Testament where Paul helps give a definition for grace and we're going to look at those two because I do think it is helpful. So Romans 11 we'll have it on the screen. You're more than welcome to flip there but we'll have it on the screen. Romans 11 we're going to look at verses 2 through 7. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. So He's talking at this point in the book of Romans to a church in Rome and He's talking about God's relating to Israel the people of Israel in the Old Testament and now Him working through Jesus for the church and the church is all those who place faith in Jesus.

So He said God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah that's a prophet in the Old Testament how he appeals to God against Israel Lord they have killed your prophets they have demolished your altars and I alone am left and they seek my life but what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So what he's he's just telling a story he's saying remember this and then he's going to apply it to the church and what he says is don't you remember when Elijah said I'm the only one I'm the only one who hasn't worshipped someone else I'm the only one who hasn't run away from you and he said what was God's response?

Who have not bowed the knee to Baal. So what he's he's just telling a story he's saying remember this and then he's going to apply it to the church and what he says is don't you remember when Elijah said I'm the only one I'm the only one who hasn't worshipped someone else I'm the only one who hasn't run away from you and he said what was God's response? No no you're not the only one

I've kept a remnant for myself I've kept a group and so then Paul says so too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace so there's that idea again that God chooses that He because He's God chooses but He did it by grace and so now He's going to help us understand give us a definition

For grace but if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace so He gives us kind of a negative definition but what He's saying is but if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace if you add in works

Grace ceases that's what He's saying so like if I gave you a glass of water it's water if I add a little bit of poison is it still water I think police officers would say it was poison I've watched enough of those creepy murder shows with my wife to understand how this works a little bit of poison

Makes it poison what He's saying is grace is unadulterated like it has nothing else added to it once you add in a little bit of effort a little bit of work a little bit of here's what I did grace is no longer grace that's the definition He's giving us here so here's what's helpful

For us to see that God we may be tempted to say okay okay okay okay if the Bible says that God chooses God chose whom He would save and if it says He chose specific people then maybe God before He founded the world because He's God and He's outside of time

And just so y'all know all the timelines get really confusing when God enters in because He is outside of time like He created time so He's before it and after it and in the middle of it and so some of the logic begins to break down just so you know so if you'd like to get a headache think about that for a while but

God's outside of time but He looks forward in the future and He picks the people He likes He picks the people who have it together He picks the people who have this certain quality He picks the humble He picks the good He picks the nice He does all these kind of things but what Paul's saying is no as soon as you add in here's the thing they did here's the effort they put forth here's the quality

They had it's no longer grace so who'd He pick? people based off of nothing so far that's all that's all we've got so far there was no marker no indicator no here's who I'm going to save but Paul in another in 1 Corinthians gives us a little more of a definition that I think is helpful for us 1 Corinthians we'll look at this one again we'll highlight some stuff

In it as well for consider your calling brother so he's writing to the church and he's saying remember when you were converted remember when you became a Christian for consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world

To shame the wise God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong okay so here's why here's why God chose what He chose it says He looks at the church and says remember when you became a Christian how many of y'all had it together let's do this this is collective just sit for a minute remember when you became a Christian how many of you would say oh I was crushing it

Oh man I became a Christian at the pinnacle of life for me He's like no not many of you were smart not many of you were strong not many of you were influential not many of you were powerful He's leaving a little room maybe some of you a little bit but not many of you had it together and then He says here's what God did He chose what is foolish that's y'all that's us that's the church

To shame the wise and He chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong He keeps going go to the next section yeah God chose what is low and despised let's cross stitch that on a pillow that'll be our Bible verse low and despised not only do people not really pay attention to me and I'm very low but also I'm disliked low and despised in the world even the things

That are not to bring to nothing the things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God we're going to look at that bottom verse in just a second but I want to explain this real quick what He says is that God when He picked the church when He chose whom He would save when God went to work for salvation He chose the weak the small the dumb the uninfluential those who do not

Have it together in order to shame the wise to shame the strong to shame the influential that when we look in the world and we'd say these are obviously the people who have it together Jesus says well I'm not picking those I'm picking these and we're going to make them look like fools I played college football I was on the team it was my sophomore year I had a helmet I had a locker

I was moving up in the world it's big things you guys they let me have a practice jersey and cleats but what I really wanted to do was ride the bus I wanted to get something that actually let me dress because every week you'd go look at a list of names and I'd go to the piece and then I would go to my room because there was no like my name wasn't on the list and so I was working really hard just to get on a special team so I was going for kickoff and all I was on

Was on the practice squad kickoff team which means that when they were kicking off to the actual return team I got to run down and try to tackle them and I was just doing my best to try to show them you should want me to play football for you we're in film and I'm watching and I was the first one down I'm running with some fast guys like there's some guys on this team that like I I was the first one down the second time I'm the first one down the third time I mean these are just sprints we're running as fast as we can

And trying to run into someone and so I'm every single time I'm running as fast and finally the coach goes stop takes his little red pointer he goes go back he says is this Phillips Phillips I was like yes little college football butterflies I'm like yes here we go he goes Phillips look at this he shows it he says

Phillips is the first one down show the next one Phillips is the first one down show the next one Phillips is the first one down and I'm going yes here we go he's going to say Phillips well done good and faithful football player you may now ride the bus what's he say he points the pointer at everyone else and goes Phillips is the first one down y'all aren't trying he used what was slow to shame the fast he used what was weak to shame the strong he used the thing that was not

To bring to nothing the things that were like he that's what he did and that's what God does in the church that if you are a Christian you're low and despised you're weak and you're small you're nothing and then God has claimed you and here's why he gives us the negative reason and the positive reason here's the negative reason so that no human being might boast in the presence of God that on the day when Jesus Christ comes to claim

His church it will not be a group of people that rise up and say finally our goodness is on display finally our morality paid off finally our wisdom our rightness our accomplishment our suffering finally our humility has been acknowledged and we'll get to look around at those who did not have it together no no one boasts

In the presence of God he grabbed all of those who had nothing to offer nothing to display nothing to show nothing that was honorable and he saved them for go to the next the next section and because of him that's Jesus you are he's talking to the church we're in Christ Jesus and who became to us wisdom from God righteousness righteousness means right standing all that is good about us sanctification

Which means that he's slowly working out in us to make us better and redemption meaning that he bought us out of sin to set us free so that as it is written let the one who boasts boast in the Lord do you know who's magnified on the day that Jesus claims his church Jesus because nobody bought by Jesus brought anything to the table except their own sin they were low they were despised they were wicked

They were broken they were dead in sin slaves to sin and Jesus saved them and on that day we boast in Jesus that's what it says let the one who boasts boast in the Lord that as Christians our claim is that Jesus is good and Jesus is holy and he's redemption for me and he's righteousness for me and he's sanctification for me not my ability to memorize scripture not my ability to obey not my ability to be moral not what movies I have and haven't watched just Jesus not what I did do

Or didn't do or how I've repented or like it just Jesus he's what makes me good that's grace so back in Ephesians Paul says that he chose before the foundation of the world to make us holy and blameless meaning we weren't homely and blameless but he makes us holy and blameless that he predestined to adopt us meaning it wasn't just about getting rid of our sins but it was about welcoming us in bringing us into the family

That we get God out of this and he did this to the praise of his glorious grace to show how good his grace is it'd be like a little league coach who wanted to display how great of a coach he was so he let everybody else pick and said give me all the kids nobody wants and then won the tournament with them and it would be to display he's a great coach

It's kind of what God was doing on a much more massive scale when he chose the church he claimed all those who had nothing to offer nothing to show nothing that was amazing about them or glorious or awesome and then he makes them holy and blameless and brings them into his family now I think if we think about this if you're like me

You're looking at this and you're going okay I see that the Bible says that it bothers me a little bit it doesn't sit quite right with me like I get that I didn't bring anything to the table I'm not really upset by that I see the Bible says but here's the question I have and here's what I think one of the common kind of and I want to take just a minute to try to help us think through this

I think common common response is but wait we're free and if God just saves whoever he wants to save and if he actually wrote our names down and if he did it based off of nothing then that means he just chose and did what he wanted doesn't it make us not free doesn't it make us some sort of like puppets isn't this just like a big play where God's just acting stuff out

And if you didn't have that pushback I gave it to you so sorry that's a that's a that's a tension I feel I want to give two quick answers to that first one about us being puppets doesn't this just make us robots we don't get to say that because the Bible does not say that it's logically it makes logical sense to say well if God chooses then I had no choice

In the matter but the Bible doesn't let us say that and we try to get our theology from the Bible see the Bible says that you do have a choice and that your choices do matter consistently like when Jesus says he came and he began preaching repent for the kingdom of God is at hand when he says repent he means it he means see your sin

Turn when all the times where it says like choose this day whom you'll serve or God saves all those who believe in him or everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved like this call to like if you repent if you acknowledge if you turn like it it means it it's a genuine call if you just look at the book of Ephesians

There are 41 as we keep going through the book of Ephesians there are 41 direct commands meaning that Paul looks at the church and says do this make a choice change at one point he says do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God that's Ephesians 430 don't grieve the Holy Spirit of God meaning that we can act in such a way as to hurt God

At another point in Ephesians 5 he lists off a whole bunch of sins and then he says because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience so what he's saying is that it's because of our sin it's because of our rebellion God's wrath is coming one of the things the Bible makes very clear is that we have moral responsibility that our choices

Are real choices that actually matter we are not robots or puppets the Bible says very clearly that God works everything according to the purpose of his will that he he accomplishes that what he set out to accomplish that he's going to work all things in accordance with his will for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose

That he's declares the end from the beginning that he chose those whom he would save like it says that very clearly but it also says that you choose that you actively choose sin that you have actively willfully rebelled against God that you need to repent and choose to follow God like it says both of those clearly and the question

Is well how do those fit together and the Bible does not tell us that which I have one small answer and then the illustration help us picture this small answer is it doesn't perfectly fit together as frustrating as that is especially for the people who have to have it fit together we can trust

That if God were going to develop a system there's a good chance it would be more complex than what we could come up with so I'm willing to at least concede that he could come up with something better than I could come up with that would have components that are more difficult to understand than I could come up with the other

Thing and this is just an illustration to help you think about it a theologian named G.K. Chesterton said that there are some philosophies some ways of thinking about the Bible some theology some philosophies for the world that are like the moon they make perfect logical sense you can define their edges clearly you can stare at them endlessly

But they don't light everything up they make that philosophy makes perfect logical sense you can study it you can know it in and out but it doesn't light everything up he said the sun is not like that I don't know if any of y'all when you were looking at the solar eclipse learned as the sun poked its head back out that the sun even a little

Bit of it is really bright I know Donald Trump learned that the sun's really bright he stared directly into it his point about the sun what he says is the sun's not like that the sun is not easily stared at it's not

It doesn't have easily defined edges you can't just wrap the sun around like you can't do it but the sun lights everything up I think this fits into that category it's not easily perfectly understood how this fits

Together but to say that God sovereignly rules over the universe and we are free moral agents does light up all of scripture it even makes sense of some passages that that are like in Acts 2 23 Peter's preaching by the power of Holy Spirit and he says Jesus delivered up

According to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God meaning that Jesus went to the cross why because of the definite plan and foreknowledge of God that was what was going to happen and then he ends the sentence by this you crucified and killed

By the hands of lawless men definite plan and foreknowledge of God you did it in lawlessness mean open rebellion you actively chose this and it's like which is it the Bible says yes yes it is both it's in Isaiah 10 one of my

Favorite passages that perfectly displays this Isaiah 10 5-12 God tells a nation I'm going to raise you up and I'm going to use you to conquer nations and you're going to be like a tool in my hand and then he says and the whole time you're going to be arrogant and actively participating

In it and as soon as I'm done using you I'm going to punish you for your wicked sins and it's like what did they did they do it or did you do it were they a tool in your hand or were they actively choosing to sin and the Bible says yes now I'm going to be

Honest with y'all I have there are days when this is immensely comforting to me and there are days where this is very frustrating and there are times where I'm going I don't I'm wrestling with God I'm like how does this work and how does this work itself out and if that's true isn't this true and trying to study the Bible on it and

There's something that wins me over so back back in Ephesians let me let me pause before we go back to Ephesians let me say this there is there's an inclination in us to say no I'm free I'm free God can't overstep his bounds the Bible

Though does not agree with you on your freedom the way you think it would it actually says this Romans 7 14 says Paul's writing he says I know that the law is spiritual but I'm of the flesh sold under sin meaning I'm a slave Jesus says truly I say to you everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin

Ephesians 2 says we're dead in sin so this freedom that we have is actually a freedom to be dead in sin or a freedom to be a slave to sin you are absolutely free to choose to rebel against God and run in sin but in order to be set free from slavery or brought back to life you actually need Jesus to overstep

His bounds to come rescue you it's a little bit like if you were at a swimming pool and somebody drowned and the life guards got in and pulled them out and they were laid out on here and they were pale and you could see water kind of coming out of their

Eyes and nose and the life guard said can I resuscitate you may I resuscitate you go get the waiver go get the waiver he's gotta sign a waiver he's like no just he's not gonna sign a waiver resuscitate

Him that's us we're slaves in sin we're dead in sin and unless Jesus just kicks down the door and rescues us we're stuck children of wrath that's what he adopted us out of Ephesians 2 says we were children of wrath sons of disobedience

That he adopted us into his family but he had to act in order to set us free so the freedom that we like to believe that we have is not as free we actually need Jesus to set us free it's what John 8 36 is where

Jesus goes he says if you sin you're a slave to sin but if the son sets you free you'll be free indeed we actually need Jesus to go to work on us back to Ephesians as I wrestle with this and am

At times relieved and frustrated I think here's what the Bible says repeatedly that silences my frustration or calms my fears about God and his plan verse 7 talking about God working everything according to the purpose of his will this is working out perfectly and then it

Says this in him we have redemption through his blood God before the foundation of the world said I'm going to save you I'm going to carry you on my own back I'm going to take your sin into my flesh

I'm not going to sit up here and be distant from it I'm going to join you and be crushed for it and I think at times we forget that our redemption is through his blood that when God chose to adopt us he chose to adopt us in

Him that when he chose to redeem us he chose to redeem us in him that our salvation comes through Jesus who redeemed us through his blood that God's plan and mystery for the fullness of time was that Jesus Christ would be tortured suffer be punished

Be crushed would breathe his last and be laid in the tomb dead and that when I have this tension of like God are you good and how does this work and I just get to go back to the cross and say I know you love me and I know you're good I know you're for my good and that whatever this plan was

If I would like to think that maybe you could have done it differently the way you ordained it and laid it out and purposed it was that you would save us at great cost to yourself and I can trust you that's what wins me over is that we saved we're saved we're redeemed we're chosen by way of the cross at great cost

To God himself and through great pain and by his blood so there's a tension and there's some mystery but our hope will be forever in the fact that Jesus saves through the cross now when Paul wrote this his goal I don't believe was just to tell us some theology

Just to talk to us about big picture things about God he actually starts his letter here and then he works his way through the rest of it so I think here's where he was going look in verse 9 we'll read 9 and 10

Making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him things in heaven and things on earth what he's

Saying is that as God did this one of the implications of it one of the reasons behind it one of the ways that it works is that it actually unites us that he unites us with him and it unites us that everything is united in him

And that's one of the reasons Paul writes this letter to the Ephesians he talks about unity a good bit here's what he's saying if if we're saved saved by something we did then who's in who's accepted who's

Welcome those who do the thing whatever it is memorized behaved well enough we're good enough repented enough prayed enough whatever whatever whatever we kind of get zoned in on we say if you

Do this then you're in like this is what makes you in this is what makes you good this is what makes you okay

Now we know that all those who are saved will call on the name of the Lord will place faith in Jesus we're not saying that people

Are saved outside of that we are saved through Christ it's in him and nobody will be saved under any other thing here's what

Paul immediately applies this to racial prejudice it's the first thing he goes after when he's talking about unity we saw as we began this book we read in Acts

Where they had a big riot and they noticed the guy was Jewish and so they chanted great is the Artemis of the Ephesians for

Two hours these Greek people in this area in Ephesus or his skin tone or his pants I don't know what looked Jewish about

Him but they saw he was Jewish and they chanted great as Artemis of the Ephesians for two hours that's some serious racial tension

That would be like saying something was going on down at the courthouse or down at the state house and somebody showed up and

Was trying to calm them down but when they saw he was white they yelled this for two hours or when they saw he

Was black they yelled this for two hours and nobody could calm them down it's like whoa that's some that's some devoted racial tension

Because I'm not chanting anything for two hours but they did so Paul immediately applies this to racial prejudice and here's what he's saying

Here's how this works with racial prejudice cultural prejudice you like the stuff you like you appreciate the things you grew up with and

Enjoyed like there's something about your own heritage your own people group your own language your own that begins to think this is the

Best version of it we have this some with people who've moved to South Carolina from places up north and they talk to us

About like the types of bread that you can find up north or the types they miss sausage I remember I went to Virginia

And I was like y'all even have barbecue places like what is this I talked to a guy into trying to make it and

He made it and I was like this is terrible you just never mind like you made it worse you somehow made it worse

Like I don't know how you made and what Paul what made you special what saved you what what was good about you why

Were you redeemed why were you accepted what made you okay and he's standing in between them and they're saying nothing just Jesus and

He goes okay so y'all are fine you can get along because you don't have to look at anybody and say here's what makes

Me better and here's how I look down on them this is one of the things we talk about on a regular basis but

If I get all my value from hard work who has to be the bad guy lazy people they're ruining society they're destroying everything

They have to be the bad guy if I get all my value from hard work if you get all your value from your race from

Your heritage who has to be the bad guy anybody not of your race and heritage and usually just because that's too broad pick

A specific one and hate them the most if you get all of your value from being a mom who do you have to

Look down on bad moms they have to be the world's criminals in order for you to be the world's savior for you to

Be good but Paul says he stands in the middle accepted so here's what happens is this as we begin to truly believe that

We are saved by grace and grace alone here's how this begins to work Paul first applies it to racial prejudice secondly he just

Applies it to sin and he goes hard after it here's what we get to say if we believe that we're saved by grace

And grace alone guess how hard we get to be on sin infinitely aggressively insanely hard on sin I can sit you down you

Can sit me down we can sit in our community group and say what you are doing is wrong what you are doing is

Wicked what you are doing is despicable it's broken it's destroying your family it's destroying you and we can do all of that without

Condemning you you're not condemned because Jesus can save you we also get to be infinitely hopeful in the midst of our own sin in the

Midst of other sin because we believe that Jesus is who makes us okay so that when you're in the middle of sin and

You start noticing it and confessing it so one of the reasons we go really hard after it is because people don't notice it's

Going to be a train wreck it's terrible it's destructive we go hard after it as soon as they go you're right I'm a sinner I need

Help what do I do I'm a terrible person we go Jesus is great he's what makes us okay he's what invited us in he's what fixes

Us you're not more wicked than we are we just had to talk to you tonight two weeks from now y'all be talking to

Me I have a conversation like that recently in my community group where it was like this is we just believe that we're saved by grace through

Jesus that's our hope so we get to be infinitely hopeful in the midst of sin this means that we actually can be united

Our culture currently says the only way to be united is relativism that's the best thing culturally we've come up with which just means

That everybody's right everybody's welcome we're just going to be open minded everything you believe is good and welcome and open and we're all welcome

And if we'll all be relativists then we're all welcome the problem with relativism is you can only welcome other relativists relativists do not

Like me because every time I'm like no I don't believe that at all I think there are people who are definitively wrong and

There are things that are actually wrong in the world and there are actual right answers they're like you're ruining society and it's like

Well I'm no longer welcoming your club but I don't think I'm ruining society you can only be open minded the problem with open mindedness

Is it only welcomes other open minded people but the gospel means that we can say I think you're wrong I think you're causing

Problems I think this is broken and I love you I have hope for you I believe I can learn from you because I

Don't think I'm special I don't think I've accomplished anything I think I've been saved by grace so we have infinite hope in the

Midst of walking with people who are caught up in sin we have infinite hope in our own sin we believe that we can

Walk with people and be absolutely clear about the terribleness of sin and the hope in Jesus because he's what ultimately saves us and

As a bonus we just don't get to take ourselves all that seriously Christians don't take themselves that seriously because why am I a

Christian because God's really good he's got a sense of humor he chose what was low and despised and weak and dumb and here I am I'm not better than

You I'm not smarter than you I actually think you probably got it together more than I do but I just believe that Jesus saves

Sinners and I'm welcome because he's welcomed me that's the hope we have in Christ that we are saved by grace that he did how glorious and

Good he is and that we who have nothing to offer get welcomed and invited in band's going to come back up and we're going to pray and

Then we're going to sing together God we thank you for your goodness towards us that we are saved by grace that we can forever rest in the fact that we brought nothing to our salvation that we have not

Earned anything that we have not been smarter or more humble or understood it better but that we are saved purely because Jesus has become for us righteousness and redemption

And sanctification and wisdom and that on that day we'll boast in him and him alone we ask Lord that that would become so true and real to us that we would be hard on sin welcoming and gracious towards sinners that we would be open to all of those from different

Backgrounds and histories remembering that we've been brought in by you and you alone and nothing we have done or accomplished has made us okay we pray Lord that we would take you and your word very seriously and then

We'd have a really good sense of humor and a really immense joy as we follow you in life we love you we praise you in Jesus name amen and God all Jesus will one may may sell yours

Ty

What God has done through Christ for us

This week’s audio recording encountered some technical difficulties. In the interest of serving our church family we are posting what we have. We apologize for the poorer than normal audio quality.

What God has done through Christ for us

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

This week's audio recording encountered some technical difficulties. In the interest of serving our church family, we're posting what we have. We apologize for the poorer-than-normal quality of our audio. All right, good morning. All right.

We're going to be in Ephesians, chapter 1. So we're taking this fall, and then we'll take a break at our Christmas and New Year, and then we'll be back up in the spring. We're going to study straight through the book of Ephesians. It'll be on page 567. We have one of these wine bottles. If you don't own a bottle, take this one with you.

It's our gift to you. We want you to have a bottle. We want you to read it. If you know anything about wine tasting, which I don't know a whole lot. My wife is a hotel restaurant tourism management major at USC, so she knows someone who's taught me some things. But maybe you've seen it on TV or if you're not a connoisseur.

So a wine tasting. You're going to have a little bit of wine, and you're going to do everything you can to exact to extract. That's how that works. Extract all of the flavor of that little bit of wine. You're going to swirl it and look at it. You're going to check the colors.

Then you're going to swirl it again. Take a full bouquet. A lumbar. You're going to stick your nose in it and smell it like that. Some people are like smishing and spit it out. Some people are just small, like a big bouquet and a couple of small bouquet.

But you're trying to find a full. And sometimes reading scripture and sometimes what we do on Sundays is like that. We take one little section, and we just try to get everything we possibly can out of it. We try to see fully every little nuance detail. Like that. Then we can hit that.

And just start to play. That's what today's going to feel like. You're not going to take it all in. You're not going to catch all the nuance and flavor. We're going to try to get one big overview. One big try to catch the gist of what Paul is saying.

Because we're going to look at verses 3 through 14 in the book of Ephesians. This is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to a church in Ephesus that he helped get started. And verses 3 through 14 in the original Greek is one sentence. He just was like, I'm not done yet. He just kept going. If you turn this in on a paper, your teacher would have read your first sentence, which is pretty much his first sentence, and just been like, no.

Go back. Start over. This can't all be one sentence. But he made it all one sentence because Paul doesn't care about Greek and Rayburn. He cares about the point he was trying to make. And I love him for that because I also hate grammar.

One big sentence. We're going to look at the whole sentence in this entire day. And then next week and the following week, we're going to kind of mine in it a little bit. We're going to spend a little more time looking at some of the specifics of it. So let's pray, and then we're going to read this entire sentence.

It's a lot of sentences in English because the English translators are just like, no, we're going to make it work. But in Greek, it's an Olympic sentence that doesn't really work. So we're going to read it all at once. Let's pray first. God, we ask this morning as we try to take all of this in, as we try to take it in one full look, we just pray that you would help us to catch the overwhelming point that you're trying to make in this text. So God, I pray that you help us to see that today.

And then you would receive a lot of glory from it. In Jesus' name, amen. So again, we're not dipping our toe in. It's a hot day, and we're jumping in a freezing cold pool, and it's going to shock our senses, but it's going to be good for us. So we're going to read it all in one clip, and then we're going to go and work our way back.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him for the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him, in love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the below. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven, and things on the earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance, until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Okay. Back to verse 3. Paul, in that one sentence, said nine times, nine times he showed us where God was acting on our behalf. Where God did something for us. Eleven times he uses the phrase, in Christ, or in him, or in the beloved. Eleven times in one sentence.

If you got a letter from a third grader, who was at Summer Pan, and they used the word awesome, eleven times in one sentence, you kind of get the gist of, oh, hey, it's going well, they're having a good time. Like that's eleven times in one sentence he says, in Christ, in him, this is what Jesus has done. And then fifteen times we're mentioned, but as passive receivers of God's works. And here's Paul's big point, and we can see it very clearly in verse 3. So let's read verse 3 together, and then we'll talk about the big point.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you use the word blessed in the Bible, when it says blessed be God, it means praise, exalted, honored. When it talks about us being blessed, it means you're receiving something from him. So, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So the us there is the church.

It's all of those who are in Christ. All those who believe the gospel and been saved by Jesus is the us. So here's Paul's main point. Praise God for what he has done through Christ for us. That's the point of the sentence. That we would praise God for what he has done through Christ for us.

That God has worked through Christ for us and that we would praise him for. That's what he says over and over again. Four times at kind of the end of every little main thought he has. He says praise, praise God. He starts off with blessed be God. He ends with praise to his glorious grace or to his glory.

In the middle he says praise to his glorious grace, praise to his glory. That we would praise God for what he has done through Christ for us. So we're going to walk through and read what these spiritual blessings are. It says, Bless me God for us to the verse 3 of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us as the church in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Okay. There's two ways you need to listen today.

And it kind of depends on the seat you're sitting in. If you are here and you are a Christian, you place your faith in Jesus. The way we're listening today is almost as if we're going to look at all of the spiritual blessings. He's blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. That this is yours. So in some ways it's like someone showed up and said, you didn't know that you're the only person related to this very rich person and they left everything in their will to you.

My name is Doug and I have your butt. Oh gosh. Now, come with me. You get in a limousine. He drives you out. You get in a helicopter and you fly out and you and your new butt and your helicopter pilot are flying out and he says, this is the first island that you own.

You're like, ooh, ooh, ooh. I own multiple islands. You're just flying in a helicopter and he's just kind of pointing. This is this. This is this. If you are a Christian today, that's what we're looking at.

We're looking at Paul at the very beginning of this letter says, here's everything. You're in spiritual blessings that Christ has given us. Again, I don't think it's exhaustive but he's saying he's blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing and here they are and he gets to list them all. And if you're a Christian here we're just listening for, what has he done for me? What's true for me because of Jesus? But if you're in this one and you're not a Christian, you're, you've been hanging out with somebody, one of your friends at work has kept inviting you or someone who's your neighbor kind of kept inviting you maybe you've started hanging out with a community group.

Maybe this is your first time hanging out with us or you've been around someone some days but you're still just kind of checking out this Jesus thing. Maybe for some of you, you grew up in the South so you're fine with Jesus and honestly, you prayed a prayer, you said something up, you're pretty sure you're like, oh, I'm going to play them. But the more you've been hanging out the more you go, I don't know, I'm going to actually follow them. I don't know if this is actually praying with me. I'm still kind of checking this out. What I want you to hear today as we go through this is this is what can be true for you in Christ.

This is what Jesus does for all those who believe in him and you can today believe in him. You can hear today what he does and you can say, no, I love you, you're glorious, I want to repent of my sin, I want to follow you. So that's the way we're going to listen as we go through this. We're going to see the blessings that we have in Christ. Now Paul gives a lot of them so you're going to have to work a little bit to pay attention to that because we're going to move fairly quickly and I'm trying to explain what he gives a lot of them.

But, they're yours. If we went to listen to the reading of a book and they said our name, I'm pretty sure we would listen well when they listed off all the things. So I'm going to try not to move, but I want us to be able to hear all this and let's pay attention to what Christ has done for us. Okay. Verse 4. So he's blessed us with every spiritual blessing in every place.

Verse 4. Even as he chose us in him so that he there is God the Father, in him is Christ. So even as God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. The first thing that he says we're spiritually blessed with in Christ is that before God set the world in motion, he chose the church. He chose those who would believe in him that he would make them holy and blameless.

If you're a Christian, he chose you to make you holy and blameless. Now, holy and blameless aren't words we use a whole lot, but man, is it nice to be described that way if you're a Christian. Like, the only time some of y'all use the word holy, some of us, like, when I use the word holy is like, hey, these are more blue jeans, these are holy. Like, they wore out on these means. What it means, those that were set apart, that he took us, pulled us out, set us apart, and then made us blameless. Now, I know a good bit of y'all.

I don't know all of y'all, but I know one thing very clearly. Ain't none of you blameless. If something turned out missing, I'd just go, yeah, somebody. I mean, I wouldn't even be sure I'm just, I'm just, that's all right, you know. Like, who we are in Christ. That we get to walk and stand before the God of the universe blameless.

That no one can say anything bad about us. We've been blessed by that in Christ. Meaning that when Jesus died, he took our blame. It's calm. You don't have it anymore. You can't beat yourself up anymore.

You can't carry around shame and guilt anymore. Jesus was beaten up for your blame. You are blameless. You have no more. Let's keep going.

Next blessing. Five. In four, in verse five. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. According to the purpose of his will. According to the purpose of his will, there means because he wanted to.

Predestined. We'll talk more about it next week, what it means for God to do things according to his will. We'll be back in this section talking about what it means, what predestination means, like how it works. The word predestined means he destined pre, what he did beforehand. Like, if I knew we were going to get an argument, I pre-slapped you. He's going to say like it happened beforehand.

He destined us beforehand. He predestined us. That's what it means. And we'll talk more about how it works next week. So if that's something you've always been curious in it, or you're interested in, or you have, you know, you know some theology so you showed up really worried about that this morning.

We'll see you next week. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Christ. Jesus Christ was the son of the fathers. The only begotten son of the father. What he did was he took our sin on himself so that we could become sons. Sons receive inheritance.

We'll get to that in a minute. That's one of the reasons why the Bible consistently says we're sons. Some of you are like, oh my father, no, you want to be a son, but the sons in their culture get the inheritance. So he made us sons, meaning that God the father because he loved us opened his home to us. You see, if he just said he made us blameless, it couldn't just be, okay, I won't send you to hell. Okay, you won't pay the debt you owe.

But he says, no, he made us blameless and then brought us into his home. He adopted us. My cousin, Robert, his wife, Lord, recently adopted a little girl named Elliot. They had to, the first mother kind of picked them out of the island and all this work today. I know they took a lot of time, took a lot of money in the birth certificate and said I want them to be the parents of my daughter. So they had to fly to Hawaii because there was a small island here in Hawaii that made this a new born.

And they got the date wrong. They didn't, the doctors who were saying what time the date was going to be born. And the baby was born three weeks later, which was kind of like good news, bad news. Bad news, you've got to be out of work for a lot longer and spend a lot of money that you weren't planning on spending. Good news, you're in Hawaii. It wasn't like they drove to North Dakota and they were like, tough luck, I feel like you're going to tell me.

Like it was, it was a decent deal. And I told him, I saw him this year and you could just see him with her and they love her and they're playing with her. And he's sitting in arms and I said, man, your daughter's beautiful. I'm sorry, because they're moving to Tennessee now. And I said, you are going to one day have to explain the direction because I grew up in Hawaii and now she goes to Tennessee. He didn't do much of this.

But that's all. I'm used to that. that they did this. The reason they adopted Ellie was because they loved her before they knew her. And then they waited on her and they loved her. It was to bring her into their home. What they were choosing to do was to, at great cost and expense to themselves, they said, we want to have you belong to us and you share our life with us.

And the God of the universe does that with us. That he predestined us for adoption as sons. That he did it in love. That he would open his home to us. That he would, Jesus Christ would die so that we could have seated on the table. That in the eternal, cosmic world where God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit existed in relationship with one another forever, Jesus would actually leave that.

God would turn his back on Jesus on the cross. That Jesus would take the wrath and the punishment we deserve. He would actually walk away, come here, take our sin, be crushed for it, so that space could be opened up and we could be welcomed. So that the table could get, and that's for us, from God, through Christ. We've been adopted. Verse 6.

So it says, through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which, with his glorious grace, he has blessed us in the blood. Okay, so, in Jesus, he blessed us with his glorious grace. Grace means unearned, undeserved, favor. faith. The Bible uses it. It means unearned, undeserved, favor. That you received something that you had not merited.

That God chose to bless us, not based off of what we have done. Actually, give us what we did not deserve. But one of the ways that someone can talk to remember is that it's God's riches at Christ's expense meaning that Jesus paid for us to get God's riches every day from God. Verse 7. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. So in Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

So when he says redemption through his blood, he's pointing back, he's pointing back to the Moses bringing the Israelites out of slavery from Egypt. So what he's saying is that in Christ, we've been brought out of slavery. That we were slaves to sin, that we were slaves to our flesh, we were slaves to our desire that he's going to go to that more in chapter 2 where he says that we all once walked bowing down, basically worshiping our own desires, our own flesh, and following after Satan that we were enslaved, but that Jesus through his blood redeemed us, brought us out of slavery. That we're no more owned by sin, but we belong to Jesus.

And then he says the redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses. You ever seen a sign that says no trespassing? You know what that means? Don't cross this line. If it's on this side of the tree, don't go past the... You ever come out of a place and you see no trespassing sign?

You're like, oops. God created the world to set up no trespassing signs. This isn't how you're going to treat people. This isn't how you're going to treat your famed Jews. This isn't how you're going to handle money. This isn't how you're going to treat those around people.

This isn't how you're going to treat the world and recreation and animal. He set up this world and you know what we've done all day long. We've crossed those lines as much as we possibly can. We just have. I feel like sometimes that I have been like, been to God when my two-year-old son has been to me. Tell him to do something.

He looks at me like, how quick are you? He was eight months old, nine months old, stuff like that, and he was across the room at an hour little. I said, uh-uh, he looked at me. Reached his hand and he was going to go back. He started going. He wasn't supposed to mess with stuff so he'd look at you and be like, you want to tell me to stop?

I said, you better quit. And then he looked and went, pfft. So he'd go touch as much as he possibly could before I got there. It's just a different looking spot on the wall that I told him he couldn't touch. He didn't know anything about it. It just looks a little different and he's not allowed to touch it so he'd probably should touch it as much as he possibly can.

And that's been us. What did I say? I don't go to the best spot to be. We just had trespassed as much as we possibly can and then at some point, for those of you who were in the church, for those of you who were Christians, there was a moment when it dawned on you with that. When it clipped in your brain, oh no, I'm going to face the godly universe and all I've ever done is run past every boundary I've set up and acting like those boundaries were an affront to my freedom and acting like he had himned me in with nonsense that Jesus Christ through his blood offers us the forgiveness of our trespasses that all of our former debt is gone to be covered by his blood for free. says this, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight.

According to the riches of the he redeemed us through his blood and forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, I have not, I've lived a life where you could use the word comfortable pretty easily to describe my life. Like in general growing up I've just been kind of comfortable and life's been really comfortable. You couldn't use the word lavish though. You just wouldn't describe most of my life as lavish. I'm just willing to bet that's true for all of us that the word lavish there, it means it's overdone. You ever seen anything and you just thought this is lavish?

It's a little too much. It's a little too big, a little too clean, a little too shiny, a little too nice. It's like lavish. It's like whoa. Don't miss what you just said about the salvation of God in Christ. There's some of us in this room who believe the lie that you got in on a technicality or that you barely skirted through before the door closed.

Or that God saves other people because he loves them but you he tolerates. It's not true. He was rich in grace and he lavished it upon the church. He was rich in grace and he lavished it on. Don't look at God and act like he was stinty with his grace. He over did.

You say well I've sinned really like I've done this. Yeah. look at the cross look at that. The son of God would die and shed his blood for you. He has lavish grace on you. You've been paid for. My wife and I got married and someone of the family paid for us to go to Samles which is an all inclusive resort and it was weird the first day and I had to pay for this and it was not weird any day after.

He fell here at first. After that I was like cheeseburger please. The church ought to have a little bit of slatter when it comes to the grace that God has offered us. Not because we've done anything but because his grace is so pitch and so lavish that our sin can't get to us, can't wear us down, can't make us feel guilty and shame anymore. That we repent and be rescued, lavish, overpaid grace. The bill's already been paid.

God's taken it all from us. We're free. So, we have redemption through his blood, we brought out slavery, we have forgiven our trespasses according to the riches of his grace which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things in earth. So, he also revealed to us the mystery of his will that we would know the gospel, that we would understand that Jesus Christ died for us so that we could be saved. That the mystery of God's will has been revealed to us, sent forth in Christ, so that God could unite all things to himself.

Things in heaven and things in heaven. Verse 11. in him we have an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Let's read that again. In him we have obtained inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. We have an inheritance. That word here in the Greek can easily mean that we have an inheritance or we've been made into a heritage.

Having an inheritance means that because we've been brought into the family, we get all of the good stuff. We've been brought in, we're a co-heir, we have an inheritance of God, we'll be brought into heaven and it's like, oh, this is ours. And to be made a heritage means that he intentionally put on the greatness of his goodness on display in the church. He said, this is what I'm going to Mark the world with so that people know what I'm like. And either way, it works out the same. If we're a heritage, we've given an inheritance and if we're given an inheritance, he's made us into an inheritance, he's claimed us with his name.

But the blessing there is that we receive everything from him. We've been given an inheritance because God works everything according to the counsel of his will. Verse 12, So that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. So what Paul says is, we who are the first to hope in Christ are to the praise of his glory, and you also, when you heard the word of truth and you believed in the gospel, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we get possession of it.

So he looks at the Ephesians and says, isn't it just for us, it's for you. It's the same for us, it's not just for them, it's for us, it's for everyone who heard the word of truth, the gospel, and believed in it. So when we heard that Jesus Christ died for our sins and placed our faith in him, he saved us. And when that happens, he says we're sealed by the Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit came and grabbed you when you believed the gospel and said, I'm not letting go, I'm your guarantee until you acquire possession of the inheritance. That God has chosen to bless you in Christ and I'm not letting that fall apart, I'm not letting that get away, the Holy Spirit came and claimed us and made us his and said, I'll hear you through the finish.

We've been sealed by the promise of the Spirit. Okay. Real quick, let's recap. What did he say? Some people have been blessed with a spiritual blessing in the heavenly places and then he just listed these things off. I'm going to put it on the screen so you can see it all together.

We were chosen to be holy and blameless. We were adopted in love. We were redeemed from slavery. We were forgiven of our sins. He revealed to us the mystery of the gospel. We were given an inheritance and we were sealed by the Holy Spirit.

All of that's going to work out because the Holy Spirit's going to work it out in us as we've had faith in Jesus. Paul says all that without taking a break. He says this is what the gospel is. So if you're a Christian in the room, I hope that doesn't acknowledge you. And if you're not a Christian in the room, I hope you see that as an temptation. That Christ is love that gives us to be abide by them.

They love the source that can be guided for us so that we can obtain that, so that we can be brought in. I'll leave that up for a second. What do we do with that? How are we supposed to respond? He tells us in the text. He starts off by saying bless me.

He ends up to the praise of his glory. Throughout the day he says to the praise of his glory is grace, to the praise of his glory. And God did all of this for his praise. Now, we can praise things that we don't enjoy. praise. I can say Kentucky Wildcats played a good game yesterday. Their quarterback is fast.

I did not enjoy any of that. I can just acknowledge it. It's more of an acknowledgement than it is praise. I'm saying something nice, but I don't really feel it. The true, genuine praise, true, genuine, it's the culmination of true, genuine enjoyment, satisfaction, and fulfillment. So what he's saying is, here's how good God is, and here's our response.

Does everybody have a chance who wants to write that down? Do you write that down? It's also going to be good. So we praise God for what he's done through Christ for us. That's it. That's our response.

We praise God for what he's done through Christ for us. I have not been to the Grand Canyon, but I think I hit the point. I've been to the ocean. I think it's a similar point. I think the ocean probably a little bit more. You can participate.

I guess the Grand Canyon you can hike. I think in some ways the point of the Grand Canyon is the same point of the solar eclipse we just had. Why people enjoy it. Why people appreciate it. I'm skeptical about most things. I thought the solar eclipse would probably be an upper height.

But I was going to look at it. I'm not that cool. I was going to make sure the pain is a good issue. So the sun, the moon, the whatever, the sun disappears behind the moon. There's that shining little yellow thing. And I was by myself.

The first thing I said was, oh, yeah, that's cool. Like, you bested me. We did each other. Sorry. I said immunity to us. That's cool.

Now, if you were watching it with someone else and the person next to you, right when that happened, what do we do with it? What's the point? You're like, look at it. What's happening to me? I'm having an experience here. If you're standing in the Grand Canyon, you're just trying to soak it in.

Someone said, what do we do? What's the, you've missed it. What he just said was, here's what God has done through Christ for us. And he did it. What do we do? We acknowledge it.

And when we truly acknowledge it, we're overwhelmed with praise for his glory. Thank you. That love and that big and that good and that generous and that rich. There's a song we'll sing every once in a while. I think we'll have it on our playlist. And it says, when I first met you, I didn't know you were a king.

I didn't know you were that rich. It's just like the more I've gotten to know you, the more gracious you've become, the more rich you've become, the more generous we've been. I'm starting to understand that my proper, appropriate place is to enjoy you, to magnify you, to glorify you. That we would just be caught up in how good he is. And that's where true joy and satisfaction comes. that God's glory and our enjoyment, our satisfaction are woven together. that. If I cooked you a meal, the more glorious the meal, the more enjoyment and satisfaction you receive.

They're woven together. the greater it is, the more overwhelmed you are. A county fair is fine. State fair is better. Carolines is better than that. You've got Disney World. The greater, the more depth to it, the more richness, the more overwhelming it is, the more joy and satisfaction is found in it.

And that's what God is. He's glorious beyond compare. And he accomplishes all of this for us in salvation. And the point of it, the purpose of it, the correct consummation, the right end of it, is that we would just be thankful and acknowledge. Now, that is good news. We don't gather on Sundays.

We don't go through the Bible and see that what Paul said was, here's what God needs you to do for him. Here's how good you need to be. Here's how more you need to be. He doesn't need to be. He doesn't need to follow the hand. He doesn't say that.

He doesn't start there. He doesn't say, here's what we do. He says, here's what God has done. Here's who he is. Here's what he's done through Christ for us. This is good news about what he's accomplished for us, not what we have to accomplish for him.

And that makes way more sense because why would he do this to accomplish anything? We are small and new and our God is big and glorious and rich. He has accomplished everything for us. He says where Paul starts. He goes to write a letter. He says, and in one sentence, here's what God has done through Christ for us.

And then from there, he's going to say, now here's how people respond. We praise his glorious grace. We acknowledge and we're overwhelmed by it. We just say, wow. And then he says, and everything else flows out of it. That's why we say we're going to be a gospel-centered community on mission because we believe you have to get gospel-centered first.

You have to know Jesus first. You have to have to go work in you first before you can move on to anything else. The gospel has to be real. One of the things that we talk about periodically is if our church isn't on mission, we're not actually trying to see other people meet Jesus and we've forgotten this. But when we believe that that's true, that that's what Jesus does for us, we want everybody to do that.

When we're not loving each other well, we're not existing like families, it's because we've forgotten how good Jesus is. This is the launching place for everything else. And it's the launching place for the joy in our life, the satisfaction in our life, that we can just enjoy God and be filled up with him. Everything else, when you shared the clips for a while, everything else just kind of looked stupid for a little bit. And I walked back to my house and I was like, okay, everything else is so good a little over here today because that was really cool. And I have to say that because it bested me.

I didn't think it was good for me. I have to tell you, I was cool. You got a grocery store full? You got a grocery store hungry? You got a grocery store hungry late at night? Do you know how much stuff you convince yourself the future you will be?

I'm just like, I'm kicking things out for my car ride. That's how bad it is. I'm going to eat that. I'm going to cook this. And then tomorrow, oh, I love that. And most of it's like microwave stuff because I'm not thinking well.

It's like, I don't want to have to cook something. That would take forever. hot pockets. Because groceries are full and everything looks the way it's supposed to. Hot pockets do not look good when you are full. And you know what we guys would call after? I'm going to go to other things.

When we're filled up and satisfied in Jesus, everything else gets to just be what it is. Money doesn't have to ruin our souls anymore. It's just money. We can be having relationship issues and it hurts and it's hard, but it doesn't rob us of everything good in the world. It doesn't completely bottom us out because we're filled with Jesus and everything else gets to just be what it is. But when our community groups struggle or we're hurting or we're not getting along with some people in our church family, we go to work on it to make it better because Jesus is filling us up.

We know that he forgave us, that he redeemed us, that he's at work in our sin, that he's paying for our sin, he's paying for their sins so that we can actually forgive and work us out. When Jesus is praised and his glory is held up, everything else makes sense, works out, and looks right. That's why Paul starts here and then says everything else comes out of that. So I would just invite you today. to stare at this. Hold this in your head as long as you can and actively work to be overwhelmed by it. If you're a Christian here today and we talked through this and there wasn't something you used to know, you weren't just reminding him how rich and how glorious he really is, I would just encourage you to spend some time staring at it.

If you're here today, you're not a Christian. this is what is offered to the church. We're not here to help you become a better person. We're here so that you can have all your sin be forgiven and you can be made blameless by Jesus. Nobody here, they invite you, their friends aren't going to be satisfied until you are as cured and as blameless as Jesus and that won't happen by what you do, it won't happen by what you do. So we gather and gather together to celebrate.

Here's what God has done through Christ for us. God's praise him. If you're not a Christian, what he said was when you heard the word truth, the gospel, and believed in him, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. So if you're not a Christian, I would advise you to believe in Jesus, to believe that he's the one who's accomplished this for you through his blood, to believe that he's the one who's done this through the cross. And the Christian's in the room, Yama's going to sing for a minute, but we're just going to try to meditate on what he's accomplished with. She's going to sing, we're just going to think about how good he is.

We need to hold your Bible up, and we need to read this passage a couple times. We need to talk to him about how good it is to be adopted. We're just going to try to hold this in our minds for a minute. And then in a minute, she's going to invite us to stand and sing together. We'll respond to what Paul says we're supposed to. We'll praise his glory.

We'll just share that and sing. You're good, you're generous, and we love you. Because our response is to be grateful. So let's pray. Holy Spirit, we ask that you can empower our grace. It wouldn't be begrudging and acknowledgement, but it wouldn't be overwhelming how good you have been to us, how generous you have been, and we would just be grateful.

No promises to accomplish something. No, I'm going to get better, no, I'm going to prove myself though. You won't be sorry you did this. We'll just acknowledge that you were rich in grace and you lavished it on us. Respond. Grateful and saved.

Thank you. In Jesus' name.

Jesus Changes Your Life

Jesus Changes Your Life

Chet Phillips

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Transcript

My name's Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're starting a series in the book of Ephesians. So if you want to grab your Bibles and go to the book of Ephesians, that'd be a good place to be this morning. Page 567, if you have one of these white Bibles. If you don't own a Bible, grab one of these, take it home with you.

We want you to have a Bible. If you already have three of these Bibles in your house, bring two back. No, but we're excited to get started in this series this morning. Let's jump right in. What we're going to do today is a little bit different as a way to start the book of Ephesians. So we're going to start reading.

We're going to read the first two verses here. And then we'll kind of talk about how we're going to approach things this morning. So, Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Paul is writing it. He puts his name first. He says, Paul, this is who's writing.

And then he says to whom he's writing. He says to the saints, which means those who have been made right by Jesus. That's what saints are, to the church. And he says who are in Ephesus. That's why this is called the book of Ephesians, because it was written to people who lived in Ephesus. Real clever.

And are faithful in Christ Jesus. So, Paul is writing this letter to the people in Ephesus. And he's going to kind of coach them up. He's going to write this letter and walk them through some things that are helpful. So, that's all we're going to read in the book of Ephesians today. Did y'all like it?

Was it good? All right, cool. So, because we're starting to study just the book of Ephesians, we thought we would, in all of our wisdom, go to the book of Acts. So, go to Acts chapter 19. Here's what we're doing. As a church, we're going to walk through the book of Ephesians.

We're going to spend the fall here. And then we're going to break it up a little bit. We'll have two series kind of at the end of the year and one at the beginning of the year. And then we're going to pick back up in Ephesians. We like to walk straight through books of the Bible. We think it helps us out.

We think we grow as a church by learning whole books of the Bible together. We think it helps us out in leadership because I'm the oldest pastor our church has. It's kind of scary, right? So, we just study books of the Bible together because we're not replete with great aged wisdom. We're just going to read what the Bible says and try to talk about it, try to grow in it together. So, we're doing that this fall.

The reason we're going to Acts chapter 19 is because it gives us some background for the book of Ephesians. It kind of lays out for us how the church at Ephesus got started. So, the book of Acts was written by Luke and it's explaining how the church began. When the Holy Spirit came on the believers at the beginning of Acts at Pentecost and how then the Holy Spirit empowered them as missionaries to start churches. And to see people repent of sin and become Christians. And that's what the book of Acts is.

And it follows at some point. It picks up with Paul and it begins to follow him on missionary journeys. And so, what we're going to get to see today in chapter 19 of Acts is how the church at Ephesus got started. And that's helpful to us because it gives us some context. And when you're studying the Bible, context matters. In life, context matters.

If I just told you that yesterday I said angrily, what are you, blind? You better go look at that and change it. Okay? That's a sentence. Context matters. If I told you I was yelling at a referee in the Missouri-South Carolina game when they called a touchdown on a pass that was obviously not caught by a Missouri player.

And I said, what are you, blind? You better look at that and go change it. Okay, context helps us understand that. If I told you I said that to my wife about her outfit before we went on a date together. Okay, yeah, it makes a difference, doesn't it? Like that's, my evening was different yesterday than you thought.

So that's the context matters. And so what we're doing is we're going to Acts chapter 19 to begin to get some context for the book of Ephesians. And here's what we're going to see. The letter written to the church in Ephesus is not specifically addressing anything. So some of the letters we have in the New Testament, Paul's writing or the author's writing to try to correct something or to fix something.

In Corinthians, there's Paul's addressing questions that they have and he's kind of addressing some sin issues going on. In the book of Galatians, he starts off by basically saying, hey, I'm Paul. What the heck? Like he just kind of begins with this like, have y'all lost it? I'm going to show up and hurt someone. And because he's addressing something specific.

But that's not what's happening in Ephesians. Paul's in prison at this point when he's writing. He spends four years in prison and then he's executed. And so Paul's in prison and he's writing to the church in Ephesus. And he's saying, he's just kind of coaching them up. He's just addressing some things that we're going to get to see in Acts where he's just reminding them.

Where they come from and what matters. What he worked with them when he was there. He spends three years in Ephesus and he's just kind of writing them a letter saying, hey, remember these things. That's kind of how he's approaching this. He's just reiterating some of the things that we're actually going to see in this chapter to help us understand. But the biggest point of Ephesians and what I think we'll see clearly as we walk through Acts chapter 19 is that Jesus saves.

Jesus saves you. That he is the one who works. That it's God who works on our behalf and that Christ saves us. The Holy Spirit empowers us, seals us, gives us new birth. And then life changes. That Jesus saves you and then your life changes.

That's how Ephesians is broken up. The first part of Ephesians is just saying, here's who God is. Here's what he's done. He's just reminding them. Here's who Jesus is. And then he goes into, now here's how you live.

Here's how you act. That's what he says in Ephesians 2 where he says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. This is the gift of God. It's not works. You didn't do this on your own so that no one can boast. And then he says, but you're his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.

So what he says is, you didn't earn this. You didn't work to save yourself. Jesus saved you. But now we work. Now we live this out.

Or he says in Ephesians 4, he says, I want you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have. So they would live their life looking like they actually believe this, that Jesus has saved them. And so that's what we're going to see, I think, clearly as we walk through Acts. We're going to get to just kind of talk through this story. It's interesting to see how this church got started. So there's some stuff we'll just read and get to talk about.

But I think it will help us understand a little bit of why Paul writes the book of Ephesians the way he does. So let's pick up Acts chapter 19. I'm going to pray. And then we're going to walk through this whole chapter so we've got some work to do. God, we thank you for your word. And we pray that over this season, the life of our church, as we study through the book of Ephesians, we just ask that you would bless it.

That your Holy Spirit would be at work in our lives. To change us. To have your word work on us and work in us. That your Holy Spirit would be at work in our lives to lead us to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. Worthy of the calling through Christ Jesus to be in your family. We ask this in your name.

Amen. Acts chapter 19, verse 1. It's on page 541 in the White Bible. And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth. So Apollos is a guy who'd been in Ephesus.

He is kind of trained up a little bit. He heads over to Corinth. Paul has been in Corinth. And Paul heads back to Ephesus. So it says that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus.

Okay, so yes. Corinth's right there kind of in the middle. Paul passed through the inland country. So that was a long trip. He had to go all the way around this way to get to Ephesus. Nothing apparently happened much there.

He just looped on around. He gets to Ephesus. Ephesus probably has 200,000 to 250,000 people that live in it. By comparison, Columbia has 140. So Ephesus is as big as Charleston and North Charleston combined.

And it was prominent. It was probably, if you were listing out cities in the Roman Empire, you would go Rome, Athens, Ephesus. Ephesus is the most prominent city in Asia, which is modern-day Turkey. And so Paul goes to Ephesus, and one of the things he would do is he would travel to cities and proclaim the gospel and then try to work out movements of the gospel from cities. So Ephesus is a wealthy port city.

And in Ephesus, they have the Temple of Artemis, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It would have looked something like that. That's a computer rendering. But it was big and fancy and beautiful. And it was one of the main things about Ephesus. And they were very much into the worship of Artemis as their God.

She's the God of that area. And they would have had temple prostitutes that they would have visited as a worship act for her. And it was a very big, very spiritual city. And that's where Paul goes and begins to proclaim the gospel here. And so it says that Paul goes to Ephesus, came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.

And he said to them, we're going to read this whole thing and then we'll talk through it. He said to them, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said, no, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. And he said, into what then were you baptized? They said, into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptized with baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him.

That is, Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. And they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. They were about 12 men in all. So speaking in tongues either means speaking in languages that everyone can understand or speaking in a language that is not native to your own language.

Or speaking in a language that would be like a heavenly language that no one can understand. And it kind of means all three of those in Scripture. We're not told specifically what it means here. Okay. Paul shows up to Ephesus. He meets some disciples.

So these people would have looked like followers of Jesus. That's what it says. Like they looked like, as far as they weren't practicing Judaism, they weren't practicing the Greek philosophies and religions. They were disciples. But then it says that at some point, and I don't know, we don't know if Paul asked this immediately, if this was just a normal thing he asked when he met people.

Or if at some point he was hanging out and was like, oh, cool, some people who believe. And then after a while was like, wait a second, something's off here. But he asked them, did y'all receive the Holy Spirit when you were baptized or when you believed? And they were like, we don't even know what the Holy Spirit is. We hadn't even heard that was a thing. Which is not the best response.

They're like, no, we don't even know what you're talking about. And he goes, okay, what were you baptized into then? And they said, John's baptism. Well, John's baptism was just a baptism of repentance. He's talking about John the Baptist. You read about him in the beginning of Mark, Luke, Matthew, Book of John.

Like you learn about him in the beginning of the Gospels where John comes and baptizes as a forerunner to Jesus. And all he says is, I'm baptizing you in repentance. Meaning that you're going to come and be baptized because you're a sinner acknowledging your sin. But he proclaims, but there's someone who's coming after me who can actually fix your sin problem. That through the Holy Spirit, he'll baptize you in the Spirit and you will be changed. You'll be born again.

You'll be made new. And so these people had just been practicing repentance. But they hadn't actually believed in Jesus. He says, no, no, no, no. John points to Jesus. And it says immediately, oh, okay.

So they were baptized in the name of Jesus. And then Paul lays his hands on them. They're filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit begins to magnify Christ through them. Begins to show up. Here's why this matters for us.

And here's why it matters for the book of Ephesians. Christianity is not first and foremost life practice. It's not first and foremost morality. It's not first and foremost getting your Acts together. See, these people looked. They were disciples.

He calls them disciples. They looked like followers of Jesus until he kind of got around them. It was like, wait a second. Something's missing here. You see, some of us would say, oh, no, no, no. Like my neighbors are good.

They're good people. They behave like they're, you know, they got it together. And it's like, well, not if they don't have Jesus. Some of us, maybe you grew up in the South. And actually, you maybe have been baptized. You've been baptized just into the baptism of John.

And what I mean by that is you've been baptized into good religious moralism. You've been baptized into behavior. Maybe when you got baptized, it was, I'm going to get my stuff together. I really got to get my life back together. I really got to begin to do this right. And it was just a, I acknowledge that I messed up and I got to get it together.

I need to change. And Paul says, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit to change you. You don't need to change on your own. It's not about you fixing this problem. It's about the Holy Spirit coming in and actually making you new.

It's about a new birth. And so for some of you, the thing you need to get out of today, you need to realize today as we walk through this is that maybe you've been baptized, but maybe you should be baptized again in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins in Christ and be empowered by the Holy Spirit and actually be born again as you believe that Jesus saves you from your sin. Not, I'm going to work really hard. I'm going to be moral. I'm going to live the right life and be okay. So they looked okay, but they weren't baptized into Christ and they weren't filled with the Spirit for life.

Christianity is not just a set of rules. It's not just a religion that we follow and practice. It is about a relationship with the God of the universe. Y'all catch that? That he hangs out with them and they were disciples. They were practicing.

They were following. That's what a disciple was. That's someone who followed a teacher and they were following some of this, but he was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Do y'all know the God of the universe? Is he at work in you? Is the Holy Spirit here?

What's going on? We're not here to be good people. If you are trying to be a part of a church where they're going to help you be a good person, I don't know if we're going to be able to help you that much. That's not our main aim. Our aim is that, is to know Jesus. And then, yeah, he'll change us.

He'll go to work in us. But we've got to know him first. This is why Paul in Ephesians is going to say things like, he says, in him, that's Jesus, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him. So he said, you heard the gospel, you believed in him. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. So that when you actually believe in Jesus for salvation, the Holy Spirit seals you, changes you, comes in, you have a relationship with God.

And he says, you were dead in your trespasses and sins. But God, who's rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead, made us alive with Christ. And it's through grace you have been saved. So what Paul's going to hammer in Ephesians at the beginning of the book is just, no, no, no, no. Jesus saves. He has to work on our behalf.

He has to seal us and save us. All we do is believe in him and the work that he's done. And then life changes. But if you've been baptized or raised up in some sort of, I'm going to be a good person and church will help me do that. Christianity is about being moral. You've missed it.

You need Jesus to die on your behalf. You need the Holy Spirit to be at work in you. You need a new birth. Life is what Jesus refers to it as in John chapter 3, that you actually need to be made new. And you can't do that. The Holy Spirit has to do it.

Verse 8. And he, that's Paul, entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some became stubborn and continued in unbelief, speaking evil of the way, that's Christianity, before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus. Okay. He goes to the synagogue. That's the Jewish place of belief.

And Paul starts there in most all of his missionary work. And the reason is they already know about God. They already know about sin. They already know about the Messiah. All Paul does is show up and say, Jesus is the Messiah. He just connects one dot for them.

He goes into the Jewish people, into their, to the synagogues. And he begins to say, let me show you the scriptures that you already know and trust. And let me point out how Jesus is the Savior. And then they don't want to hear it. Do you know what he does? He goes to some other people who do.

Now, there's two things we can learn that are very helpful for us here. Just as, this is just observation. It's not a, not a big point. Some of us need to quit preemptively disregarding the word on behalf of those around us. What I mean is, we just say, oh, they won't want to hear it. So we never tell them about it.

That is incorrect. And some of us need to be okay with, once we've told them about Jesus and talked to them about Jesus and moving on to people who do want to hear it. So we get to do like Paul. We get to eventually just say, hey, look, I'm working, I'm trying, but I'm going to go to this person who wants to hear it. I'm going to build with the person who wants to build it. I'm going to show the person in scriptures who wants to see it.

It's okay to move on. It's not okay to move on before people have had the chance to reject them, reject Jesus on their own. So Paul moves on. He moves to the hall of Tyrannus, which was just a big lecture hall. And this continued for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. So for two years, Paul sits in a lecture hall and just teaches about God, about what he's done, about who Jesus is, about the kingdom of God, about the Messiah.

Just for two years begins to just send out the gospel of what Jesus has done to teach about the spiritual reality that the Holy Spirit works in us, changes us through the gospel, that through Jesus, we can actually be made right with the God of the universe. Verse 11. So during this time, it says, and God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul. So that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. That's a crazy sentence. Paul wore an apron.

No, I'm sorry. God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul so that even handkerchiefs or aprons. Y'all ever watch somebody on TV like praying over a rag and if you give them a certain amount of money, they'll like mail it to you. You ever seen this? Paul started that, you guys. Here's what I want us to see here.

There's a couple of things that I think are really helpful in this text. When Luke wrote this, I think sometimes there's a tendency when we read the book of Acts, and we should do this. We should read the book of Acts and then look at ourselves. If you're reading the book of Acts and you are immediately discounting everything that happens in it, there's something wrong with your theology. If you're going, well, yeah, but technically God doesn't really do that anymore. It's like, stop it.

God does. He does these things. But also there's a tendency to read the book of Acts and act like it is prescriptive for how God works in every situation and then feel terrible. But that's not even what it says. Luke's writing this and he says God was doing extraordinary things. Luke doesn't say God was doing what he always does everywhere we went.

We just read in one verse that Paul traveled from Corinth all the way to Ephesus, and we weren't told anything about that trip. You know why? I don't think much happened on it. I don't think Paul was healing people with aprons. I think that would have been told to us in the loop. It just said he traveled.

Maybe he got sick. Like, we don't know. He got, you know, he got to eat some really good food in one of those cities. But that's not going to tell us that. It just was normal stuff. But then he did extraordinary things.

God did. God did extraordinary things through the hands of Paul so that diseased people were healed and evil spirits left at aprons and handkerchiefs. Here's what I think we ought to respond to this. Here's one of my prayers. I have a few prayers for our church family. I have a few prayers for myself.

I pray specifically that I'll, that God will keep me faithful, that I'll just get to keep doing this for a long time. I pray specifically that you keep me far from sin, that my last day in the ministry is a good day. That's the thing I pray. That the last day, my last day in the ministry, my last day of serving Jesus is a good day. It's not burnout. It's not train wreck.

It's not shipwreck. It's a good day. And I pray that I'll get to be a part of some of this. God doing extraordinary things. And I think that's something we ought to pray together as a church. You're going to get one run at this of following Jesus and living a life for him.

You're going to get one shot at this before we hang it up. Before we go out with our boots on, hopefully. And I just pray that we'll get to be a part of that. Some stuff that we can't explain, where the Holy Spirit was at work, where God was doing extraordinary things. Stuff that you tell your friends and they think you made it up. Yeah.

Let's ask for some of that. But it was extraordinary. God was showing his power as he began this church, that he was working mightily. And it says, Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists. Okay, itinerant means traveled around. Jewish means they practiced Judaism and were Jewish people of heritage and line.

Exorcists means they casted out demons. So like the exorcism, you were correct. That's what they were. They traveled around and did that. They undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims. Okay, so they traveled around trying to cast out demons and they find out that Paul doesn't even have to travel.

He just sends an apron. And they were like, that sounds awesome. I want some of that. So all they started doing was just claiming Jesus's name by whom Paul proclaims. They don't know Jesus. This is secondhand.

He's just the new magic trick. He's the more powerful magic. And that's one of the things that was going on in Ephesus at this time was they were very spiritual. And they believed a lot in the occult and a lot in magic and a lot in spiritual activity. And so these Jewish exorcists just start claiming the name of Jesus over things. But they don't know Jesus.

So it says seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. So they were claiming the name of Jesus. They were saying in the name of Jesus by whom Paul proclaims, leave. They were exercising some sort of a demon. There was some sort of demonic activity going on with a person and they were claiming Jesus over it. Now it gets crazy.

But the evil spirit answered them, Jesus, I know. And Paul, I recognize. But who are you? And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. All right, real quick, let's pause.

I'm going to go ahead and venture a guess that most of us in this room are Western, grew up in the U.S., have been affected by the Enlightenment and Western thought and culture. And we don't really have a place for spiritual stuff. Angels, demons, sure, they're good on that TV show with those long-haired guys that fight them or whatever. But that's about it. What's that, Supernatural? Yeah, they're good on that show.

Cool. But otherwise, we don't really. We'll watch some movies about them. But it's all like fictional horror movies. This isn't a real thing that happens. If you are a Christian, your thought process on that has to change because the Bible disagrees with you.

That you actually believe that there is a God, a spiritual realm that you cannot see and that there are good beings, that the Holy Spirit goes to work in our hearts to change us. And the Bible also teaches that there are evil spiritual beings in a spiritual reality that we cannot see. And I think the book of Ephesians is going to help us because Paul says this a good bit in Ephesians. He actually writes and says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, meaning human issues, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

So Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, is reminding them. And they already know about the spiritual world. They have a leg up on us in that they believe in this whole stuff that they can't see. And he says, no, no, no. Our fight isn't just with human issues. We actually have an enemy that doesn't want people to believe this gospel.

And he begins to coach them up on how to walk in them. Okay. So let's go back. This isn't just a story. This is a real thing that happened. These guys go in and they begin to claim the name of Jesus over this person who has a demonic spirit.

And he says, Jesus, I know, which is true. All the demons know Jesus because he's the king of everything. Paul, I recognize. I've heard of that guy. Not super important. Who are you?

And then he beats up all seven of them. So they left naked and wounded. Okay, guys. I grew up in Edgefield, South Carolina, most of my life. One of the things we used to do is we'd go hang out at horse shows where they would sell horses. And then my redneck friends or myself would get in fights.

I've been in a few fights. I'm not amazing at it. I haven't been in as many fights as some of you. I've been in more fights than others. I know a few things about fighting. Here's one of the basic rules they teach you early on.

If you enter into a fight with pants on and you leave the fight with your pants off, you lost. It's just a basic. It's one of the first. It's like first ten rules of fighting. These guys got owned. It says he mastered them.

That's where that phrase getting owned comes from. They actually beat the pants off of them. That's where that phrase comes from. I actually don't know if either of those are true, but it seems like it could be. They got just worked. I've seen guys get in a fight before and they get beat up.

And, you know, you try to encourage them. They're your friend. And you're like, man, you got in a few good licks before. Well, you got in a few good licks. Like you just try to encourage them. If you were friends of these guys, you'd just be like.

I'll help you find your pants. Like I don't have much. It didn't work out well for them. So here's what happens. This happens. These Jewish people had been exorcists, been traveling around.

I'm assuming it had been somewhat effective. They get owned. And it says, and fear. Oh, and this became, this is verse 17. And this, this event, became known to all the residents of Ephesus. Both Jews and Greeks and fear fell upon them all.

And the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. They see that Jesus is the ruling spiritual power. That he is real. That he is real. And he is at work in Paul. And he's at work in his church.

That's one of the things Paul writes over and over in Ephesus, in the book of Ephesians. That he's the head of all rule and authority. That we've been sealed in him. That we're seated with him above all rule and authority. That we're in Christ. And we don't have to fear these spiritual realities.

We need to be aware of them. But that we can be protected in Christ. And so, it says, also, many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. That many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. What that's saying is that the Christians began to openly confess. People were being saved.

The Holy Spirit was at work in them. And they were just showing up and saying, here's what I've been like. Here's what I've done. Here's my sin. Here's what I used to be a slave to. Here's what I used to do.

I used to visit the temple prostitutes. Or I've been in an adulterous relationship. Or I've been cheating on my financial reporting. Or I've been cheating people in business deals. Or I've been treating my spouse this way. Or they became openly confessing their sin.

Now, my dad, when I was growing up, if people said too much about their personal lives, he would go. I'd be darned if I'd have said that. That was his response to you oversharing. He wasn't very compassionate. If you said something that was a little too much, he'd just be like, keep that to yourself. That was it.

That was his response. And I think a lot of us have that same general kind of like, I want Jesus to save me from my sin. But I'm openly divulging my practices. I'm not doing that. This is actually something the Holy Spirit authors in us. And it's something that we want to see take place in our own lives.

This isn't something you want to see happen in your group. It's something you want to see happen in your life. Here's why. The person who can openly confess their sin is free and believes the gospel that Jesus saves sinners. That's why they come openly confessing. Because all the stuff that used to would have damned them to hell, all the stuff that used to enslave them, all the stuff that used to own them and control them has no power any longer.

Because Jesus Christ died for it. They've been sealed with the Holy Spirit. And it will not stick to them. They will not be held accountable for it. They are no longer guilty. They are no longer covered in shame.

They are free. And they openly confess and divulge their sinful practices. And we want that. And Paul covers that. He talks about that in Ephesians. He says, don't become partners with them.

He's talking about the sinfulness. He says, at one time you were darkness. But now you're light in the world. Walk as children of light. Try to discern what's pleasing to the Lord. And take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness.

But instead expose them. And then he says, everything that's brought into the light becomes light. Everything that's brought into the light becomes light. That the sin that used to own you, that you feel like right now you have to hide, when you bring it into the light, the light wins. And that sin actually shines to point to the great goodness of Jesus Christ who saves sinners. It becomes light.

And that's why this group of people, as they were saved and changed by the Holy Spirit, he began to author in them confession. It's one of the things we're called to in the book of Ephesians. That we would know who Jesus is and that he saves. And then we would begin to change. That life would change as Jesus works in us. But it keeps going.

Verse 19. So these people used to practice magic. They would have done divination. They would have cast spells. They would have read palms. They would have done all these kind of occult practices.

And when they realized that Jesus is king of everything, they just come and burn all their books. And it's 50,000 pieces of silver. Some of you may have a version of the Bible that says 50,000 drachmas. You know what a drachma is? It's a piece of silver. And a piece of silver or drachma is one day's wage.

So this was 50,000 days worth of work, which means 137 years of work was just burned up. 137 years of work. I mean, let me help you picture that. If you worked starting today straight for 137 years, does that help? No, it's the same as if the average income, household income in South Carolina is $40,000, right around there. That means it's $5.5 million.

It's 180 brand-new Dodge Rams. That would be like if our whole parking lot and a little bit more out in the grass over there was brand-new Dodge Rams. I mean, so new they still had the balloon on them that made you want to buy it. You're like, that ram looks good, but look at that balloon. If people became Christians and they were like, I'm a Christian, and they just torched their Dodge Ram, it'd be that. I don't know why you'd have to burn your Dodge Ram to be a Christian, but I'm trying to help you picture the value.

That'd be like if every, I looked at the values of the houses in my neighborhood. That's 55 houses in my neighborhood. That's if like my whole street just said I'm a Christian now and burned their house down. Again, I'm just trying to help you see the value here. So some of you, like, can you imagine how much life had to change for these people if they're burning thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, 137 years worth of work?

They're just burning it? Do you see that? That the Holy Spirit comes in, that the gospel becomes real, that Jesus claims heart and then life changes. They just said it's not worth it anymore. It has no value to me anymore. Some of us right now in this room, you are saying, I want to follow Jesus, but I want to hold on to this.

You're trying to shield parts of your life from Jesus. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I want, I want you, but I don't want you to mess with this. It would, it would affect my life too much. My, my boyfriend would break up with me. I'd have to quit my job.

My income level would drop. Um, I'd have to get rid of some things that mean a lot to me. They've been passed down in my family. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And that's not how it works. And I don't know what it is, but some of us in this room have some things we need to burn.

We need to be gone. Don't need to have a part of our life anymore. Some of us in this room have some things that we need to openly confess. And you need to begin right now praying that the Holy Spirit would empower that in you. That you would get to experience what it is like when the Spirit of the living God sets you free from sin. So much so that you can talk about it and then it becomes light in your life.

And some of you in this room have some things you need to go home and get rid of. Some things we've been holding on to. Because what happens when Jesus comes in and the Holy Spirit goes to work in us is that life changes. And I love the way Luke writes this. Verse 20. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Prevail means powerfully overcome. Honestly, that's our prayer for the study in Ephesians. That's our prayer for the life of us as Christians. Is that the word would prevail mightily. That when the thing in your life that you were trying to defend faces the word of God. That the word of God would win.

That when the stuff in our hearts that we want to hold on to comes up against what the Bible says. That the Bible would win. That the gospel would overwhelm it. And the word of God would prevail mightily. 21. Now after these events Paul resolved in the spirit.

So prayerfully discerned is what he's supposed to do. To pass through Macedonia. And I don't. I never know how to pronounce this word. Achaia. There you go.

And go to Jerusalem. Saying. After I have been there. I must also see Rome. And having sent into Macedonia. Two of his helpers.

Timothy and Erastus. He himself stayed in Asia for a while. About that time. There arose no little disturbance. That means a big disturbance. Concerning the way.

For a man named Demetrius. A silversmith. Who made silver shrines for Artemis. And brought no little business to the craftsmen. That means brought big business to the craftsmen. These he gathered together.

With the workmen in similar trades. And said. Men. You know that from this business. This business. You know.

From this business. We have our wealth. And you see and hear. That not only in Ephesus. But in almost all of Asia.

This Paul. Has persuaded and turned away. A great many people. Saying that gods. Made with hands. Are not gods.

Crazy. And there's danger. Not only that this trade of ours. May come into disrepute. But also.

That the temple. Of the great God Artemis. May be counted. As nothing. And that she may be deposed. From her magnificence.

She. Whom all Asia. And the world. Worship. This guy named Demetrius. He's a silversmith.

His whole. Trade. Gets messed up. Because. Too many people. Are becoming Christians.

And they've stopped believing. And worshiping. And following. Idols. They've stopped believing. Artemis.

They've quit. Worshipping. Artemis. His whole. The economic system. Of this place.

Is breaking apart. Because the gospel. Has spread. So there are people. Taking shrines. Of Artemis.

Walking outside. And throwing them away. Or bringing them to him. And saying. Hey. Can you melt this down?

Make some drachmas. I don't need your silver shrine anymore. Some pieces. Would be great. Some people. Maybe.

Just were like. I don't want anything. I don't want to spend it. I don't want to have it. I want to throw it away. I'm not selling it.

I don't want somebody else. To worship this thing. It's gone. I'm going to toss it in the ocean. And then I'll fish around it. Like.

The economic system. Is changing. And he's saying. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No. We can't have this.

Happen. So. He goes and tells everybody. Wouldn't it be beautiful. If the Holy Spirit went to work in us. Went to work in this.

In the church. In this area. Which is not just this church. But it's all the churches that faithfully follow Jesus. So much so.

That the economic system of Columbia. Looked different. You know. It starts with us. If you say. Yeah.

I want that. Has your economics. Household system. Started looking different. Because of Jesus. That's how that works.

That we would begin to. Help people. When we wouldn't otherwise have. That we would begin to. To spend money in different areas. Or.

Or change the way we. View. Like. That. That our lives would change. That Jesus would save us.

The Holy Spirit would empower us. And our lives. Would change. Verse 28. When they heard this. They were enraged.

And were crying out. Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. So the city. Was filled with confusion. And they rushed together. Into the theater.

The theater held about 20,000 people. It was a big theater. Dragging with them. Gaius and Aristarchus. Macedonians. Macedonians.

Who were Paul's companions in travel. But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd. The disciples would not let him. Paul was like. I'm going to go talk to him. And they were like.

You're going to sit down. Because I don't think it's going to go well for you. They wouldn't let him. And even some of the Asiarchs. Those are people who were just Roman officials. Who weren't Christians.

Who were friends of his. Sent to him. And were urging him. Not to venture into the theater. Again. Small point.

Christians ought to have friends who aren't Christians. That was it. That was my point. Now some cried out one thing. And some another. For the assembly was in confusion.

And most of them. Most of them. Did not know why they had come together. They just saw a riot. They started yelling things. People were yelling.

Great is our midst of the Ephesians. And someone was like. We need a living wage. And someone else was like. Women's suffrage. And someone yelled.

Free chicken on Fridays. Because they didn't know. They were just hyped up. They all went into the theater. And started shouting. Most of them.

Did not know why they were there. But they were super ticked about it. Okay. There is something. That's going to rally them all together. Here in a second.

And we'll see that this has. Been a problem for thousands of years. Most of them. Did not know why they were there. Why they had come together. Verse 33.

Some of the crowd. Prompted Alexander. Whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander. Motioning with his hand. Wanted to make a defense.

To the crowd. So I don't know what. Motioning with his hand was. I don't know if he stood. I think this is what. I would have gone with.

Maybe he did like a. I'm going to talk. Like. I don't know. I don't know what he did. He motioned with his hands.

Trying to show them. Hey. Let me. Let me give a response. To y'all yelling. And being angry.

Verse 34. But when they recognized. That he was a Jew. For about two hours. They all cried out. With one voice.

Great. Is Artemis. Of the Ephesians. Do you see what rallied them together? Some good old fashioned racism. They saw that he was a Jew.

So they all yelled. For two hours. Great. Is Artemis. Of the Ephesians. They didn't want to listen to him.

Because he wasn't their type of people. That's. That's how. That's why throughout this. John. Lucas kept saying.

The Jews and the Greeks. The Jews and the Greeks. The Jews and the Greeks. And then he gets here and says. When the Greeks saw that he was a Jew. They yelled.

They yelled. Great. Is Artemis. Of the Ephesians. That doesn't even rhyme. Run.

We looked it up in the. In the. In the Greek. Doesn't even rhyme. It actually sounds kind of similar. Artemis and Ephesus.

It's not a good chant. But it's like they said. When they saw he was a Mexican. They chanted USA. For two hours. I have never been.

That excited about anything. To chant the same thing. For two hours. I go to Carolina games. Like one a year. And by the time sandstorm's done.

I'm done. Like I'm tired of spinning that rag. Like. And if they ever set up the little. The ball. And the wind knocks it over.

I'm like. Put it together. I only jump up and down so long. But these people shouted. Great. Is Artemis.

Of the Ephesians. For two hours. There was great racial tension. In this city. Paul addresses that. In Ephesians.

One of the things. He begins to try. To help the believers see. Is that because you belong to Jesus. Race isn't an issue anymore. That he's destroyed the hostility.

That's actually what he. The way he words it. If I can find it. For he himself is our peace. Who has made us both one. And has broken down in his flesh.

That's Jesus. The dividing wall of hostility. By abolishing the law of commandments. Expressed in ordinances. That he might create in himself. One new man.

In place of the two. So making peace. And might reconcile us both to God. In one body through the cross. Thereby killing the hostility. When Christians try to come together.

Race is an issue. Not was. Is. Because we have a lot of racial preferences. And cultural preferences. That we're unwilling to lay down.

That become very difficult for us to work together. And Paul says. No, no, no. Y'all got to figure it out. Because we have one new man. There's unity.

And Jesus has killed the hostility. And that was very important to those in Ephesus. You know how many people. Greek. Believers. Who had become Christians.

That had to give up Artemis. And how much of their history. And their life that was. Had been there for 500 years. How much they had celebrated Artemis their whole life. And how much they were like.

Well it's just part of our culture. And it had to die. To follow Jesus. They had to lay it down. In order to walk with him. And be able to welcome others.

Do you know how much Jewish history was entrenched. And these Jewish believers. Just had to let stuff die. So that they could be one new man. But they yell for two hours.

Great is Artemis of the Ephesians. I'm looking forward to it. We're going to get to spend some time. Talking about race. In the book of Ephesians. I think it will be good for us.

It will be hard. Verse 35. When the town clerk. Had quieted the crowd. He said. Men of Ephesus.

Who is there who does not know. That the city of the Ephesians. Is temple keeper of the great Artemis. And the sacred stone. That fell from the sky. Seeing then.

That these things cannot be denied. You ought to be quiet. And do nothing rash. For you have brought. These men here. Who are neither sacrilegious.

Nor blasphemers. Of our goddess. And if therefore. Demetrius and the craftsmen. With him. Have a complaint against anyone.

The courts are open. And there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges. Against one another. But if you seek anything further.

It shall be settled. In the regular assembly. For we are in danger. Of being charged. With rioting today. Since there is no cause.

That we can give. To justify this commotion. And when he had said these things. He dismissed. The assembly. We're not going to spend much time.

Talking about this. But this clerk. Had it together. He apparently had some authority. He shuts down the whole thing. And sends everybody home.

And knew what the issue was. He was like. Y'all brought them here. Under a pretense. We're going to get in trouble. With the Romans.

For having a riot. And if Demetrius has a problem. He can go to the courts. Go home. Verse 20. I mean chapter 20.

After that. The uproar ceased. Paul sent the disciples. After encouraging them. He said farewell. And departed for Macedonia.

That's Paul's time in Ephesus. He shows up later. One time. Talks to the Ephesian elders. That's in this chapter. Chapter 20.

He writes two letters to Timothy. Who is a pastor. In Ephesus. And he writes the book of Ephesians. And in the book of Ephesians. He says.

Jesus saves. He goes to work in us. And what we believe about him matters. Our theology matters. That's what he showed up. And corrected with those disciples.

He says. Wait. Wait. Wait. Y'all are thinking about this wrong. You need to know.

The reality of what's going on. You need to understand. How Jesus works. And. Then life changes.

That we would walk in a manner. Worthy. Of the gospel. That's our hope. That's our prayer. For this series.

That as we walk through it. We would see Jesus change lives. That we would grow. In our knowledge of the gospel. That we would grow. In our understanding.

Of right doctrine. And then. Our lives would change. But for some of us. This morning. The band's going to come back up.

And we're going to respond. We're going to respond. Today. We're going to act. Today. Today.

Some of you need to repent of sin. Have Jesus save you. And the Holy Spirit make you new. That you've grown up in the church. You know things about Jesus. But you don't know Jesus.

The Holy Spirit has never gone to work in your heart. You have never been born again. Saved by grace. Through the accomplishment of Jesus Christ on the cross. And you need to. You need to place your faith in Jesus.

That what Paul says. That when you heard the word of the gospel. And you believed. You were sealed with the Holy Spirit. And some of you right now. That needs to happen.

That you're here this morning. Because of moralism. Because you're here to be a good person. And to behave well. And to get your life together. And you need Jesus to change you.

You're not going to be able to do it. Some of us here. Need to confess openly. That in a minute. When the band's singing. You're going to need to get up.

And go walk over and talk to somebody. You're going to need to tell them. That something's going on in your life. That you've been hiding. That you've allowed to have power. And control over you.

You need to bring it into the light. And celebrate. That Jesus Christ saves sinners. You need to bring it into the light. So that it becomes light.

And so that you can be free from it. Everyone in this room is a sinner. And everyone in this room needs Jesus. To save you. And he died. To set us free from sin.

So that it would no longer have to follow us around. You would no longer have to tell yourself. Yeah they love me. But only because they don't know this. Yeah they accept me. But only because I keep this a secret.

That's a lie. That we get to be open. We get to be honest. We get to confess. And divulge our practices. And be real about where we are.

Because Jesus Christ saved sinners. He didn't call us together to be good. And to behave well. And we need to ask the Holy Spirit. To author in us. To work in us.

To empower us. To confess. Some of you have. For lack of a better phrase. Some books that need to be burned. You have some things in your life.

That just need to be torched. You've been holding on to. You've been saying. Well it's not that big a deal. It's okay. Because I you know.

It's just this. It's a memento. It means like. Whatever. Some kind of thing that's going on. And the way you're living.

You just got to get rid of. Because when Jesus comes in. Lives change. And I want to be real honest with you. If that's not true for you. If Jesus hasn't been disruptive.

If he just slid into your life. And everything looked the same. That's not Jesus. Jesus. When Demetrius says. God's made with hands.

Aren't gods. Some of us. Have a little handmade God. That we've named Jesus. But it goes where we tell it to go.

And it does what we tell it to do. And it sits where we put it. And we can go back. And visit it again later. And we can do what we want to with it. Or we can leave it the heck alone.

That's not how Jesus works. He's disruptive. He's a king. He does not do what you tell him to. And for some of us. If your life has been.

I follow Jesus. But he only ever moves. When you tell him to move. And he only ever works. When you ask him to work. And he only ever is present.

When you want him to be. That's not how Jesus works. Some of us need to repent. Confess. Ask Jesus to save us. And to disrupt our lives.

To change our finances. To change our life goals. To go to work in us. So that we can live. And walk in a manner worthy. Of the gospel.

The band's going to sing. Some of us are going to repent. And become Christians. And in a couple weeks. You'll get to be baptized. Into Jesus.

Maybe you were baptized before. Into good behavior. Good behavior will not save you. But Jesus will. And the Holy Spirit can. And we'll baptize you in Jesus.

And we'll celebrate with you. Some of you have some sin. You need to confess. You're going to need to say out loud. For the first time. Something you've never said to anyone.

But that you've been telling yourself. You cannot be free from. And that is not the gospel. Some of you have some things in your life. That you're going to have to get rid of. But ultimately.

It's all joy. And it's all something. That leads us to Christ. Because we get to have a real relationship. With a living God. Who goes to work in our hearts and souls.

To make us new. And then we're going to take communion. And communion for us. Is a celebration. A reminder of the gospel. That we.

That as often as we. Break the bread. And drink the cup. We proclaim Jesus' death. Until he comes. That we gather regularly as a church.

And we take communion. Because we're celebrating. That we are people. Who needed the death of Jesus. To be okay. We've recently moved the tables.

Up to the front. And the reason for that. Is that we get to proclaim. Openly to each other. As we take communion. That when you walk up here.

And people can see you. You're celebrating the fellowship. Of our church. The connection you have. With each other. And you're proclaiming the gospel.

Which is. I'm a sinner. Who needs. A savior. This band is going to sing. We're going to repent.

We're going to confess. We're going to become Christians. We're going to take communion. We're going to celebrate. That Jesus Christ died for sinners. And that in him.

In him alone. We have hope. Let's pray. God. We ask that the same Holy Spirit. That was at work.

In the believers. In Ephesus. Would be at work. In this room today. That you would work. In our hearts.

Just as you did there. That you would do here. That there would be confession. That there would be repentance. That there would be forgiveness. That there would be freedom.

And that you would move. In extraordinary ways. We ask this in Jesus name. You guys stand and sing with us.