(307) 733-3706
HomeVisitAboutMinistriesEventsMessagesGive Sign in

Messages

First Be, Then Do

July 9, 2017 · Ephesians

Scripture referenced 10 passages

The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.

  • Ephesians 1:1-2 Paul introduces himself as an apostle by the will of God, greeting the saints with grace and peace

    1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:

    2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

    World English Bible · Read it in another translation

    Keep this verse

Ephesians 1:3-14

described as a 202-word opening doxology about God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, summarizing God's will for his people

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love;

5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,

6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely gave us favor in the Beloved,

7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,

8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him

10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;

11 in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will;

12 to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ.

13 In him you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation—in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

14 who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 1:15-23

described as a prayer with a Trinitarian structure: Father wills, Son carries out, Spirit guarantees; the church as the body of Christ

15 For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you have toward all the saints,

16 don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;

18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,

21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.

22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,

23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 2:1-10

dead in trespasses and sins, but God made us alive together with Christ; saved by grace through faith, his workmanship created for good works

1 You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,

2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience;

3 among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;

8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9 not of works, that no one would boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 2:8-9

saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, the gift of God, so that no one could boast

8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

9 not of works, that no one would boast.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 2:10

we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 2:11-22

Gentiles once separated from Christ, alienated and without hope, but now brought near by the blood of Christ; the dividing wall broken down

11 Therefore remember that once you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “uncircumcision” by that which is called “circumcision”, (in the flesh, made by hands);

12 that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

14 For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition,

15 having abolished in his flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace;

16 and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby.

17 He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

18 For through him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God,

20 being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone;

21 in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord;

22 in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 3:1-13

the mystery revealed that Gentiles are fellow heirs; Paul the least of the saints made a minister to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ; through the church the manifold wisdom of God made known

1 For this cause I, Paul, am the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles,

2 if it is so that you have heard of the administration of that grace of God which was given me toward you;

3 how that by revelation the mystery was made known to me, as I wrote before in few words,

4 by which, when you read, you can perceive my understanding in the mystery of Christ;

5 which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News,

7 of which I was made a servant, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of his power.

8 To me, the very least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

9 and to make all men see what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ;

10 to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

11 according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord;

12 in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.

13 Therefore I ask that you may not lose heart at my troubles for you, which are your glory.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 3:14-21

Paul's prayer that God would strengthen believers through his Spirit, that they would be rooted and grounded in love, knowing the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, filled with the fullness of God

14 For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man;

17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth,

19 and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Ephesians 4:1-3

Paul urges believers to walk worthy of their calling with humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit

1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,

2 with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;

3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

World English Bible · Read it in another translation

Keep this verse

Recap

The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.

This message was a review of Ephesians chapters one through three, pulling together threads from the previous weeks before turning the corner into chapter four. The central idea was that the first three chapters are inspiration and motivation, not a list of commands, and that the doing asked of Christians in chapters four through six only makes sense once the being is in place. The sermon closed with a call to walk worthy of the calling, in humility, gentleness, patience, and love.

What was said

Paul opens Ephesians as an apostle who never claimed to deserve the role. He describes himself as the least of the saints and the chief of sinners, and he traces his calling entirely to the will of God. That posture runs through the whole letter. The pastor returned to it here because it sets the tone for everything that follows: whatever God does through this church, it will be because of what He has already done, not because of what we managed to produce.

Chapters one through three pile up what God has done. He wants His people saved, Spirit-filled, pure, thankful, submissive, and ready to suffer. God the Father wills it, Christ the Son carries it out, and the Holy Spirit guarantees it. The church, as the body of Christ, is the means by which that will gets carried out in the world. That is not a small claim, and Paul is not making a small claim.

The mystery Paul writes about in chapter three is that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has come down through the cross. Gentiles are now fellow heirs and members of the same body. The pastor used that to point at the unity of the church across flavors and traditions: Baptist, Methodist, Gentile, Jew, any of it, all called into one body around the central message of the cross. The manifold wisdom of God is made known through that unified, called-out people.

The prayer at the end of chapter three is there, the pastor said, precisely because Paul knows this is not humanly possible. The prayer is not decoration. Paul is asking God to do what he knows people cannot do on their own, which is to be rooted and grounded in love and filled to the fullness of God. The benediction, "to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think," is the pivot point of the whole letter.

That pivot is where "therefore" in chapter four arrives. Everything in the first three chapters has been building toward it. Because of all of that, Paul urges the church to walk worthy of the calling, with humility, gentleness, patience, and bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The application is not detached from the inspiration. It flows directly out of it.

The repeated question throughout the morning was whether we would rather have God work through our obedience or in spite of our disobedience. The pastor made clear he is glad God does both, but would rather be in the first category. Two testimonies from the congregation and a word from Eric of Run Ministries gave weight to the same point: the love and forgiveness that shows up in ordinary frustrating days, and even in the face of severe suffering, is not something people produce. It is what happens when people first be, and then do.

Doing a Bible study?

Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.

  1. Pastor asked whether you would rather have God work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience. Which has been more common in your own experience, and what did you learn from it?
  2. Paul lists three wrong turns a Christian can take after being saved: pride, escapism, and perfectionism. Which of those do you think is the easiest trap to fall into, and why?

and 3 more questions in the guide

Open the study guide

Read the full transcript 6,316 words
0:00 Good morning. Welcome to church. It's always a pleasure to be here. Amen. Will you please stand up and let's worship God this morning.
0:06 Amen? I feel blessed to be here, honestly. I feel very, very blessed to be here because we gather in his name. Amen? And my prayer is that this morning, everyone of us here would feel something special from the Holy Spirit.
0:20 Honestly, every single time I come to church, I always say this, God, I don't know what's gonna happen. Who's gonna preach? How? And who's gonna sing? Would you please speak something to me even if it's just one minute?
0:33 Would you please let me leave from church after that one hour with something that you spoke to me? So this is my prayer for us that God would speak to us. Amen? Come. Now is the time to worship.
0:45 Amen?
3:35 Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Got a few announcements this morning. Some of our things we've been announcing for a long time have come really close on us this week. So, connect hour is still happening between services.
3:48 Even though when you go down the hall, you'll see that the kitchen is blocked off with cardboard, there is still the rest of the fellowship hall and we will have coffee and sweets and treats and that sort of stuff down at that end of the hall. Connect hour between service is about ten ish. Monday nights at first B, home sweet home. This is an alternative service time. We have a meal together, then we have music, and then we have a message.
4:13 And while Carla's gone, that's still going on, and we're still eating, we're still meeting, and we have still got the band going. So Meal, Music, and a Message starts at six tomorrow night. Run Ministries is going be here tonight. They're here now. Would you stay in for just a second?
4:31 Would you mind? That's Eric. This is Becky Watt. If you all know them or if you don't know them, tonight they're still going to present, whether you know them or not. We've known them for a long time, and they're going to present here at seven 07:00 tonight.
4:46 So y'all are welcome to come join Reaching Unreached Nations. This display here is a part of their display. So thank you for being here. We've got Turning Points. Gala is happening this week.
5:01 So the Turning Point is a pregnancy resource center here that we are very closely tied. First Bees is very closely tied to Turning Point. And the gala is this week, Thursday, 05:30 p. M. At Spring Creek Ranch up on the top.
5:15 It's the most beautiful place to have a get together. It's wonderful. Anything you need to announce, Carolyn? Judy? Anybody?
5:22 Come on. All right. Let us know.
5:25 Yes? I have an announcement.
5:27 Very good.
5:28 We support missionaries.
5:30 Yes. The church supports missionaries all over the world. Okay. Raheem and Zama, would y'all please stand? We are y'all are our missionaries.
5:48 Some of us know you, some of us don't. But we would like for all of you to get to know them. The connect hour is a perfect time to do that. So down the hall, would y'all mind going down and just taking all comers, whoever shows up? All right.
6:00 Thank you very much. Right? Oh, you're not done. Okay. It's next Friday.
6:22 So I was gonna say we're competing here. Okay. Next Friday. Alright. Next Friday at 06:30.
6:27 That's a good time. That's great. Thank you very much, Ms. Becky Murphy. If they need more information, they can call you or me, and I'll get to you.
6:35 Okay. Relational Wisdom 03:60, that seminar is finally happening. We've been announcing this for quite some time. The same speaker that's going be speaking Thursday night at the gala, but we'll get a short version of what he does on Thursday night. We'll have basically all day seminar from 09:00 in the morning to 03:30 in the afternoon here at First Bee in this room next Saturday.
6:59 So before we all get together next Sunday, it's going to be happening. I don't want you to miss it. You can sign up right there at the rw360.org if you want to sign up ahead of time. And if you're going sign up when you get here, just get here a little bit early because it's going to start at nine, all right? And for everything else.
7:17 I'm so thankful for the announcements and the people who fold them. The bulletin, it's got all the rest of the announcements in it. And if you didn't get one on your way in, you can get one on your way out, and you can stick it on your refrigerator so you'll know what's going on. Anybody else? Nobody wants to testify.
7:34 Would you stand up? You can greet and meet one another, and we'll bring you back together with a peppy rum.
7:44 Let's worship God. Give thanks to the Lord, our God and king. Amen. Amen. God is good.
10:59 Amen? Amen. Would you please pray with me? Heavenly father, thank you so much for this morning that we have as a church gathering your name. It's so good to be here.
14:43 It's so good to hold to feel the Holy Spirit in this place. Would you please speak to us, bless us, and help us to understand more of your goodness? Heavenly Father, sometimes I really don't know how to pray in English, but you know what it what's happening in my heart and my mind. You know everyone in this room. You know their struggle.
15:02 You know you know everything. Would you please bless us according to your will and also according to our needs too? Please bless everything that we do here that would be in your name. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
15:15 Amen. It's a beautiful song. So we're gonna sing the, the verse normal. But there's gonna be a chorus that is kinda a little bit different. So please follow me because I remember last time, it was a mess.
15:35 So but this time we're gonna sing the the verse like a normal song and then the chorus you you gonna feel it. Okay? Amen.
19:13 Would you pray with me? God, thank you for this beautiful morning. I thank you for every soul that's here in this building, lord, and every family that they represent. God, I pray that that you would by your spirit fill us with the immeasurable riches of Christ of the knowledge of God. I pray that that's what you do here this morning lord that we would be filled to overflow and then when we walk out of this building, we overflow.
19:41 The grace and love of almighty God onto the people who do not yet know you. So, God, I pray that you would use the tithes and offers and offerings that go into these plates and that you would multiply them to do your kingdom's work. God, pray that in Azerbaijan and in South Africa and in Nigeria and in Indonesia, the Indonesian islands, that in all of these places, Lord, that you, by your spirit, are already active. There would be someone with you, with you, with your word, that carries it forth. God, would you use this church to do your will, miss Valley, and to the ends of the earth.
20:29 In Jesus name, Lord, please bless. I feel like we've been running this morning. Do y'all feel like we've been running? Maybe it's just me. Ephesians three.
22:50 So, last week, I went through all of Ephesians three, the whole chapter and I said, we're going to come back this week and we're to look at it again but Ephesians three is a very very powerful passage of scripture. I have been getting texts and no tweets because I'm not on Twitter but I talked to a couple people yesterday and they said, after the sermon last week, we said, what would you tweet about that sermon? Just a little short synopsis. And so since then, I have been asking other people that, what would you tweet about last week's sermon? And I've also been thinking about it in my head.
23:23 And so rattling around in my head all night, I have been coming up with little short synopsis things. You probably won't have enough space on your bulletin to scribble things even in the margin this morning because we're going cover a lot of ground. I don't think there's any way around this. Ephesians chapter one through three is very heavy on the being in Christ. And then four through six is doing as you are in your being.
23:51 Does that make sense? So let's go through it. I'm going to use some of the slides, the synopsis type slides, all the way through from our study together. Now if you just are joining us this morning and you haven't been here quite a lot, then, we are going through chronologically through scripture in the order the books were written and we're up to Ephesians three in the study of the New Testament. So, here we are.
24:15 Ephesians three but we're going to review. We're going to start with one one. Why not? Ephesians one one and two, Paul says that he is an apostle, one who has been sent, a sent one of Christ Jesus by the will of God. Remember what he was doing when he was converted.
24:32 He was completely against Christians and the followers of the way and then on that Damascus Road, he was converted and Paul would continue to say this throughout his ministry. It is by the will of God He didn't claim to understand why God chose him. In fact, he said he was the least of these the least of all the saints, and the chief of sinners but he said, by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and to us today, our faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Always start with grace and peace.
25:02 How many times have I said that? How many times have I said it? Well, every time Paul starts a letter, he says it and when he closes a letter, he says it again. So, always start and always end with grace and peace. Ephesians three one three through four is just one really long sentence.
25:17 202 words in Greek. It's like five sentences in English but when we go into that, it is an overflowing opening doxology. Paul is basically saying, God the father, Christ the son, Holy Spirit. It's a doxology about all of em. What he's saying?
25:34 Oh, that's not it. God is so good. God is so good. That's what the whole point of three through 14 is. The old song, y'all know it.
25:44 This old hymn, you sit around campfires and play is
25:48 the God is so good. So good. God God is is so good. He's so good to me. What does he do next?
26:06 He answers prayer. He answers prayer. He's so good
26:22 Amen. Thank you. Yes, that's it. So in 202 words, Paul says, God is so good and then the next thing he says, in that, actually, what he's what he's saying is what God wants and God wants for his people to be saved. First of all, he wants for people to be saved.
26:45 Paul makes that very clear that God is reaching out. He wants for his people to be spirit filled, to be led by the spirit. He wants for his people to be pure. Do y'all remember this sermon? He wants for his people to be pure, sanctified.
26:59 He wants for his people to be thankful. Y'all, a lot of y'all remember it because you remind me of my trip to Wendy's. When I went to Wendy's and I ordered something that was good for me and they gave me something that wasn't good for me I said, God wants his people to be pure. I chose to be thankful. God wants his people to be thankful.
27:14 God wants for his people to be submissive. That's not just for the ladies. He wants for all of his people to submit to authority. His authority, the governmental authority, and the structures of the church authority. He also wants for his people to be ready to suffer.
27:35 That's very apparent in those verses three through 14 and in what follows and I like Richard Strauss said, here there are six clear declarations of God's will for our lives. He wants us to be saved, spirit filled, pure, thankful, submissive, and ready to suffer. Seek God's wisdom in applying them to the next decision you face. Now, I was saying that one through three really don't have a stated application. They are inspiration and if you're paying attention to em, you can't help but apply it.
28:03 Christian, You cannot help but apply it if you pay attention to what God has done. And so this question came up in that first sermon. Would you rather have God work through your obedience because he's going to work. Would you rather him work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience? I'm glad he does both but I'd rather him work through my obedient submission to his will.
28:28 God is so good. There it is. So, that's one three through 14. One, fifteen through 23, I equated it to a syllabus and thankful and prayerful is the tone for this next portion and it's a prayer. God the father wills.
28:44 Christ the son carries out that will of God and the Holy Spirit guarantees. It's that Trinitarian thing I was talking about a minute ago. God the father is he who wills when Christ was asked what his mission was. He says, I am here to do the will of the father. He carries it out and the Holy Spirit guarantees.
29:01 Some people see in that God the father wills in the past eternity past Christ the son carries it out in the present and the Holy Spirit guarantees that future. Concentrating on Christ the son carries it out and the next statement that the church is the body of Christ. Who is to be carrying out the will of God? The church is the body of Christ. Christ is the one who carries it out.
29:32 We are to be carrying out the will of God. In in all humility, in all submissions, in all purity, we are to be carrying out God's will. And it came up again. It comes up every week. Would you rather have God work through your obedience or in spite of your disobedience?
29:49 It's his will. He's the one who calls the shots. We don't just say, God bless me as I do this trailing behind. God, what would you have me do and then do it Ephesians two one through 10 and you. Now, he's just said that we're up here seated in the heavenlies.
30:05 He has saved us and it's a mighty thing but he says, and you were dead in your trespasses and sins. You remember Rob Lillo actually expounded on this and you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Following the course of this world because that's just a normal thing that everybody does. Following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that's 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 the mind and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. That's a desperate state right there.
30:41 But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses. Can you think of anybody right now that is dead in their trespasses There's a but God moment waiting He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. He's raised us up with him and he seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians two one through 10 also talks about two spears.
31:10 I've been saying there's in sin which is the way we all start out and it is the way that we will all go by our nature and there is in Christ which is what God is calling us to and has made provision for and made a way for. I mentioned this and I mentioned it again because I think we still do it. A wrong turn that we could take is knowing that God has saved us. It can immediately lead us to pride where we think that we deserved it or because of the way that we live, we are better than them, others. The other thing it can do is lead us to escapism where we just turn inward as a church and we just love one another but we don't love anybody else.
31:53 So, we escape the world and the other is the trap of perfectionism. Believing that you can be, that you're completely rid of all of your sinful nature and that you see things just as God does. I think that all of those are three lanes on the wrong road So, the application for that one and I put question mark because I still don't think I think this is a statement We are his workmanship. We're created in Christ Jesus. This is right after we've been saved by grace through faith and that's not of ourselves but it's the gift of God so that no one could boast because we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before him so that we should walk in them.
32:39 That's inspiration To know that you are a masterpiece of God, you are a poem that God has written to the world, a love letter to the rest of the world that that's what you are in Christ, saved by grace through faith to be a work of God for someone else to come to know him. Works do not save but saving faith always shows itself in good works. Always. Ephesians two eleven, therefore remember, that remember is the first imperative we get in all of Ephesians. Remember that at one time, you Gentiles in the flesh, called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by human hands.
33:28 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. We go through hills and valleys in this, mountaintops, and really deep deep valleys in this. That remember and that remember are the only two imperatives, and it's saying, Christian, remember what it's like to be lost. If you don't remember what it's like to be lost, let me tell you what it's like. Separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of the chosen people of God, strangers to the covenants, having no hope and without God in the world.
34:03 I showed this and there is a dividing line between Gentiles and faithful Jews right there. The text goes on to say that Christ but now, the way it is now, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So, there is a possibility for that wall to come down between Gentiles and faithful Jews and it looks more like this by way of the cross. There are Jewish flavored Christians and Gentile flavored Christians. There may be baptist flavored and Methodist flavored Christians but they're Christians and they're called into one body.
34:42 One of the tweets this week was the power of the unity of the church. If we would, just be unified around the central gospel, the message of the cross. Two seventeen through 22, all of these are household words. All of them are words. They're about being in the household of God.
35:04 You're no longer alien, so you are of the household. The household word of being built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. The whole structure is a household word. Temple is a different word but it still means a dwelling place. You are being built together into a dwelling place for God.
35:23 The church is the body of Christ and as Christ walked this Earth physically as a 100% man, he also was filled completely with the spirit of God and he's 100% God at the same time. The church is the body of Christ, the body of Christ carries out the will of God. Being built together as a dwelling place for God. If we were to consider that we as a people, not as a building but as a people, we're the place where God dwells. I think we'd be ashamed of some of the things we say and do if we really consider that we're a dwelling place for God Ecclesia So far, he's not mentioned church in chapter two but he's pointing towards it in chapter three and the Ecclesia is some that are called out and they're called into.
36:13 In the Christian's case, it is people that are called out from the world. Every tribe, tongue, and nation and they're called into the family of God They are the body of Christ and once you have been called out and you are into in Christ, then, you are part of plan A, the only plan for how plan B comes to know Jesus The church is the body of Christ. The centrality of the church. That's another tweet that somebody sent me. We're up to Ephesians three.
36:43 This is what we talked about last week. The centrality of the church. He mentions it in a couple of verses here. The insight into the mystery of Christ which was not made known to the sons of men and other generations as it's now been made been revealed to this, to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. This mystery is this.
37:05 It's great when he says exactly what the mystery is, right? The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, that that dividing wall has come down and that they're members of the same body, partakers of the promises in Christ through the gospel. That is an amen moment right there. Amen. Thank you, John.
37:23 Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I'm the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles unsearchable riches. So, he is a prisoner and he's joyful and he's the least of the saints but he is the inspired apostle who's sending the letter. To bring the light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages and God who created all things so that through the church, the ones who have been called out from every tribe, tongue, and nation, not just the Jews, everyone, every tribe, tongue, and nation. So, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places.
38:12 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. It's by grace, by the grace of God but it's through our faith that we have boldness and access with confidence. So, I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering for you which is your glory. God wants his people to be ready to suffer. That's not to say that every Christian will suffer all the time, but he wants for his people to be willing and ready to suffer when he calls them to it.
38:50 This was another little tweet. Paradoxes, man. A joyful prisoner. There are so many. Actually, if you go back and you examine it under that heading, Paradoxes Man, if you look at that, there are a lot of them in chapter three.
39:08 The church is the plan. All of these broken people, all of these flawed individuals that God is saving and bringing out of their sin and into Christ. That's the plan for bringing everyone else in. Ephesians three fourteen through 21, I told you last week is a prayer about God, a prayer that God may bring it about everything Paul's been discussing because he knows it's not humanly possible. He knows that we will go wrong if we're left to our own devices.
39:38 For this reason, I bow my knees before the father. From whom every family in heaven and earth is named, 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. That you being rooted and grounded in love. What are you normally rooted and grounded in? Where do you start off?
40:03 What have I been saying? Your sins and trespasses, you're dead and your sins and trespasses but he is praying that you would be rooted and grounded in love. The kind of love that would take a perfect record and offer it to all and take their punishment, take their penalty for anyone who would believe and that is Christ's love. That you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all of the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. This was the benediction last week.
40:40 Now, this is really the turning point. So, when I've been saying all this time that one through three really don't have any application, the only thing is for I mean, they don't have a direct application that Paul says except for remember, remember, remember what it's like to be lost. And then four through six is very heavy on the application. If you don't take one through three, four to six sounds a little preachy. What's the worst thing a Christian could do out in the world?
41:06 Sound preachy. When I
41:08 tell people what I do, they're like, oh, yeah. They just ignore me. So I don't tell them what I do for a little while anyway. I let them get to know me first. I sneak up on them.
41:22 The now right there. I think that's the turning point. Now, cause he knows that it's God that has to do this work. It cannot be just by the force of your will.
41:30 I'm grunting it out. I'm gonna be better, and I'm gonna do better. I'm gonna read my Bible more, and I'm gonna pray more, and I'm gonna win somebody to Jesus this afternoon because I want to. I want to
41:41 feel better during the sermon. Now, to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or all we think, according to the power that's at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen. So, that's the end of chapter three. Amen.
42:03 I have not asked you if you want to do this. You, would you stand for a moment? And would you tell just a minute or two? Okay. About how you got to what the prayer was about what you're doing now.
42:19 Bad guys. Yeah, I'll get you a mic. Sorry, Eric. I should have given you warning. But you knew you were gonna talk all night tonight.
42:32 Yeah. Thanks. Yeah.
42:36 Can you explain the poster? How about that?
42:38 Sure. Alright. One
42:43 of the most amazing things that happens to all of us is like the pastor saying, we were lost and then we get forgiven and we become brand new people. And so this poster is a quote by someone who lost their wife, she was killed, their daughters were sold into sex slavery, their son was sent to a jihadi camp to be a future terrorist and so the man of the house met Jesus in one of our camps that you guys have been a part of praying for and blessing. And when he met Jesus, he said, I'm blessed by God. I no longer hold anything against anyone and I pray every day, God, please send your holy power to ISIS people and to change their hearts. That's gotta be God.
43:38 Last week, we lost, 14 of our team leaders. They were martyred in rescuing people. And so when I got the news, we started praying together and they all decided the best way they could get through it is to come together to fellowship, to read God's word, to forgive people, and to ask love and forgiveness to flow through them so that people could actually see the difference Jesus is making in their lives. And I think that's the power that God gives to us.
44:17 Thank you, Eric.
44:17 Sure.
44:31 Be willing to forego your privilege for someone else's eternal glory. A joyful prisoner, Paul is. And he says, don't worry about me. Don't worry about me. My suffering is for your glory.
44:45 Praise God if we could all grasp that. Doing follows being and not the other way around. So, first B, first, B. You do not get to be because you do. You get to be because of the power of God.
45:05 You are looking for that but God moment. The but now moment. First, be and then, look to him to see what he would have you do and then, do. Not everything is application. Some things are inspiration and I think those whole first three chapters are that to me.
45:25 Paul said in a different place that I have sought nothing but I've sought to live nothing but Christ and him crucified and so this week, I was trying to live out whatever that call was in those first three chapters of of Ephesians like, if God has blessed me, then I will be a blessing to others and I heard a song and I wish I could play it but I can't. It's called Help Somebody If You Can. It's by a band called Van Zandt. I think they're somewhat related to Leonard Skynyrd and y'all all remember the Leonard Skynyrd Mother's Day. So it says, never let a cowboy make the coffee.
46:00 It's a bunch of these little tweet like quips. That's what my grandma said to my granddad. Never tell a joke that ain't that funny more than once. And help somebody if you can. The good works that were prepared in advance for you to do are a natural outflow of knowing Jesus and haven't been changed.
46:23 So, love and forgiveness, God's message of love and forgiveness. So, Ephesians one through three, inspiration, motivation, you could say, and four through six, a real heavy application. I want to end with the application today. It's Ephesians four:one-three. I'll just state it, hopefully.
46:42 I therefore, therefore is all three chapters. That's why I had to cover it all. I therefore, because of all of that that has been said, a prisoner for the Lord, I urge you, that's an exhortation. He's actually asking them to do something and I am actually asking you to do something. I urge you to walk in a manner that's worthy of the calling to which you've been called in Christ, right?
47:07 It's a worthy of what you've been called into. With all humility and all gentleness, with patience, and bearing with one another in love. That's unity. Eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. For there's one faith, there's one body, there's one baptism.
47:25 That's what he's called us into. I think that's the last slide. I'm ten minutes early. Again, I thought this was going take thirty, thirty more minutes. So, we've got ten minutes.
47:38 I've already put Eric on the spot. Is there somebody here right now that has a testimony? We don't do this all the time, and I ain't gonna do it next week probably. But, hey, is there somebody that has a testimony they feel like they need to share? Amen.
48:22 Anybody? I thought I saw a hand. I almost jumped off the stage. I know you're Baptist.
48:29 Come on. Thank
48:32 you, Tim. I'm frequently asked, what do you do now? I'm motivated by your theme, first be. And I say, what do I do now? I'm on the toughest task of my life.
48:51 I'm trying to be a human being instead of a human doing, and that's commitment. That's success, and it's failure, and it's success.
49:13 I
49:16 have no idea what I'm going to say. But I'll be honest and and say one of the battles is the time the time that time screams and says, you have to get this done, that done. You need to hurry and that's part of doing that makes it so crazy that takes away from the being for me. So every day is a I don't know how the day's gonna go for me. Sometimes I have victory and some days I really, really struggle.
49:52 But my foundation is so wonderful and so many people here that have helped me grow in God. Jim, who just spoke. He's one of my true daddies. Thank you, Jim. And Ray, and just so many of you that some of you out there are gonna struggle by the minute, some by the hour, some by the week, some by the month.
50:17 And I guess I would say that call a friend, reach out to a friend. To me, the community of our church here and the things that we can come together for whether it's phone call or whether it's setting up for the church or having a barbecue. I just wanna say that, I'm I'm blessed because of Christ who lives in me and because of Christ who lives in you. So thank you. Amen.
50:48 If
50:52 there's really not anybody else and I see a Dutch reformed face looking at me going, oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. This is crazy. There's one more. And then I'll invite the band on back up.
51:05 So we were just kind of laughing and getting frustrated yesterday about how, you know, you get used to living here when it's quiet. And then in the summer, it's frustrating, and it's hard to show grace and peace. And we were joking with a pharmacist at Albertsons who had just had it with people, just being pushy. And I was watching somebody from a believer, getting short with the cashier. And I was just reminded that we just need to be in our everyday situations, loving on these people.
51:43 And, you know, we're all working in this community that we just need to show love and grace and peace even when we're just so frustrated with how people are acting. And she just needed to let off some steam, and we laughed with her. So my encouragement is in your workplace or wherever God has placed you, that you're showing that love and that peace and that grace to people who desperately need it. They just need somebody to encourage them and build them up.
52:11 Amen. Amen. Thank you. Alright. It's a reprieve for the rest of you.
52:18 I won't do it next week. Alright? But keep the tweets coming, alright? Keep the keep the conversation going. I I really, really appreciate that.
52:28 God, would you help us? As we endeavor to serve you, lord, and we fail, and we get up, and we fail. And then there's a little victory. God, would you help us not to go down that road of triumphalism? And pride?
52:43 But would you just keep us near the cross? Would you keep us close by your side? Would you fill us Holy Spirit and spill out onto others? Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
52:54 And would you all stand with us as we sing in the sweet by and by. It's been mostly present. It's gonna be future here. Yes. Alright.
53:00 One more thing that I wanna say. One more thing. I promise I'm not gonna preach. Of course, you remember Scott Eichen. Scott Eichen would every Monday would ask me, are you gonna sing with us?
53:12 Are you gonna play with us next Monday? And he did that for years, honestly. And my answer would be, no. I can't right now because I'm not worthy. Anyway, so so it took time.
53:26 It took time for me to to realize a lot of stuff and then every single time I'm standing I'm standing here in front of you, I'm still a mess. That hasn't been changed. But God is the one that covers my sins and he is the one that lives in me now. Amen. And I'm very thankful for that.
56:19 Amen. Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, our father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort, good hope, and grace. May he comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and work. Amen.

Share this message

Every word on these came out of the message. Download one and post it anywhere.

Scripture

Written up from the message given at First B Jackson. If something here reads oddly, the recording is the record.

Come find us

90 West Kelly Ave, Jackson, WY 83001 · Sundays at 9:00 and 11:00 am

Sign in to save messages and keep notes

Written up by Recap Sunday