Prisoner of Christ, Not of Circumstances
First B Jackson
2015-02-11

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Thank you, ladies. Thank you. Good morning. I missed you all last week very much and happy to be back with you. So today, we're going to unpack Ephesians three one through 13, and I'm actually gonna read from the NIV version today.

I know I said I love the NLT, but today we're gonna read from the NIV. So let's just, if you have your Bible and wanna follow along, let's read that section. Paul is writing, from prison. As you know, he's been in prison for about five years. And I love the first verse.

He says, I, Paul, prisoner of Rome, prisoner of my circumstances. No. I, Paul, prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles. Do you all know who a Gentile is? Gentiles, any person who's not Jewish.

So pretty much everyone in the world except for a small number of Jewish people, We are Gentiles. He goes on to say, surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you. That is the mystery made known to me by revelation as I have already written briefly. In reading this, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

He says, I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all of the Lord's people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things. His intent was that now through the church, the wisdom of God should be made should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. In him and through faith in him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, do not be discouraged because of my suffering, are for your glory.

There are four awesome points I wanna touch on this morning with you from this passage. Grace, the church, suffering, and the riches we have in Christ. You know, Paul mentions the the word mystery a lot in this passage, and he makes it clear it's his job to explain the mystery of Christ. And one of those mysteries is grace. Paul says, it's a mystery and that it was kept hidden until this time in history.

Until Jesus died, rose, and was resurrected, there was a different age, and it was called the age of the law. And God had chosen his special people, his Jewish people, and they lived under the law. And that age began when the Lord gave the law to Moses. And we don't say the law's a mystery. We can get our brain around that.

I mean, should we lie? No. K. That makes sense. Should we murder?

No. I get it. That makes sense. It's the law. It's not a mystery.

But Paul is saying we're entering into a new age, and that's the age you and I live in today. And he said it's gonna be called the age of grace. And it's a mystery because it wasn't the age, but it's also a mystery because it's very counterintuitive to the way our human brain thinks. Our human brain says, be a good person, go to heaven. I get that.

But Paul says that's not what it's about, guys. This counterintuitive thinking is gonna be hard for us to work through, but it's super important. We can't grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. We can't grow to know Him if we don't if we don't have some understanding of His grace. You know, we in our Western mind, we kinda think and our schools are kinda taught way back from Greek philosophers, Aristotle and Plato.

And Aristotle said, believing is seeing. Excuse me. Aristotle said, seeing is believing. If I can see it, if I can touch it, if I can experience it, then I'll believe it. And Jesus turned that upside down, and Jesus said, no.

That's not the way it is. The way it is for us is believing is seeing. When I believe that God loves me so much that He would die for me, when I believe that He loves me so much He's always gonna be with me through everything, never forsaken me, when I believe that He always has my good in mind, that is when I start to see truths. That's when the eyes of my heart start to open to how the Lord works instead of how the world works. So this mystery of grace was so counterintuitive, and it was very hard for the people of that time to understand.

They wanted the law. They wanted to be told what to do, then they would try to do it, and then they would fail, and then they would get very frustrated. And Paul says, we're entering into this new stage, and in verse four, he says, in reading this, I want you to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. And I pulled that verse out because insight in the Greek means knowledge. Paul said, you have to mentally comprehend this before you can ever spiritually apply it.

Grace is so hard for us. You know why? Because we don't naturally extend grace. It's hard for us to forgive. We've been hurt.

I don't wanna forgive in my humanness, and yet Jesus says, I forgive you twenty four seven. And because of that, I want you to forgive others. It's hard for us just to be kind. Jesus said, what is it to love those who are easy to love? I want you to love those who are difficult to love.

I want you to go out of your way and reach out to them. And that was a mystery to the people. Remember, they came from the law, an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth. You know, they didn't extend that love and grace and mystery and and the riches of God's mystery of grace. You know what's amazing, Paul says next in verse 12, he says, and this is truly amazing grace, that we can approach God with freedom and confidence twenty four seven.

This was also a very new concept to followers of God and believers in God. Remember how the Jewish people could approach God? Only through the priest, and then the priest could only go into the presence, into the throne room, into the holy of holies. How often? One time a year.

One time a year, the day of atonement, Yom Kippur. And do you remember how serious that was? They sewed bells around his robe and tied a rope around him because if he did one thing wrong, he was in the presence of holy God, and he would drop dead, and they'd have to pull him out by the rope. Paul says, that chapter has been closed. You as a sinner can go before God twenty four seven.

He will never reject you. And the most amazing thing is when you go before Him, who's sitting at His right hand interceding for you, rooting for you? Who is that? It's Jesus. This was hard for the people of that time to comprehend And it still is hard for us, isn't it?

I mean, we still we wanna do something for the Lord. And the Lord says, just trust me. Let me do for you. The Lord says, just commit to me. Just love me, and let me show you my grace.

Let me show you how I work. The other mystery that Paul unpacked was the mystery of the church. You know, I had no idea how important this message was to the Lord until I started unpacking this. It is absolutely critical, and we just don't even get it today. Paul says in verse six, it is that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together in one body, one body.

We are one. Galatians three twenty eight, Paul wrote, there's no Jew or Gentile, Greek, barbarian, slave, free man, male, female. We are one in Christ. God does not have favorites. We are one in him.

John MacArthur said, when Paul shared that, the Jews understood that Gentiles could be saved. They understood that we could go to heaven, but they never understood that we would literally be one in Christ. And, you know, I think that we still see that today, don't we? You know, we put man made labels, and we put man made distinctions to say to make us feel like a better Christian or to say, you know, I was born into this family that's gone to this church or I have a special gift. I've had Christians tell me that they are better Christians than me because they have gifts that I don't have.

Does this bring glory to God? Was that his goal? Never. Man divides. God unifies.

Man puts labels. You don't find those labels in the New Testament. Over and over, God says, you are one. You are my kids. And you know what?

The Lord does not have favorites. I love how pastor, James McDonald says, the Lord doesn't have favorites, but he does have intimates. And I like that because the Lord is with everyone who comes to Him. He doesn't care who you are or where you came from or what you did or what church you go to or what gifts He gave you. He doesn't care.

We are one in Christ. John MacArthur says, how what is our role as a Christian to promote that unity? Paul says it's so important. What are well, how do we engage in that? He says the way to stimulate unity in the church is by a faithful ministry of your gifts to other members, meaning all your brothers and sisters, not just the church you attend, but all your brothers and sisters.

The way to stimulate unity in the church is by getting involved and allowing the spirit of God to move through you to help other people, to make a contribution to other people. That's our job. And he goes on to say, Unity is also not kept by being silent. If there are things being taught that don't line up with Scripture, it is our job to say, well, wait a second. Let's go to God's word.

The Bible says in the end times, many wolves will enter our churches and try to lead us away from the truth. It is our job to say, woah, wait a second. I don't think that's found in God's word. That's our job to promote unity in Christ. You know, there's an amazing example of this in Matthew 25.

Jesus took three people. He gave them resources. And do you remember what happened? Two of them used those resources for others and for the kingdom. And one of them just kinda hung out and did nothing.

This is how serious he is. I'll read from Matthew twenty five twenty nine through 30. He said, to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. And you know, our Lord is a Lord of amazing grace and love, but He's also a lord of justice.

Check out what he said about the servant who did nothing. He said, throw that useless servant into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Do you think he's serious about us sharing our gifts to build others up? I think he is really serious about this. Ephesians three ten, Paul goes on to say, through the church, the wisdom of God will be made will be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.

Paul is saying, because of how we treat one another, we show the world Jesus. This is why it's so important. We show others who we are in Christ. I love what the two New Testament scholar, F. F.

Bruce, said in Ephesians three ten. He said, the church appears as God's pilot plan for the reconciled universe of the future, a time when all the mutually hostile elements in creation will be united. The church is a new society, a fellowship in which the world can see what family life, what business, what economic practices, what race relations, what all of life should be under the healing kingship of Jesus Christ. If we are in the word and we're seeking to glorify God, we are showing other people grace. The world knows nothing of grace.

It doesn't. It is our job to do that. I don't it is so important. Far be it for the Lord to say to us, you useless servant. That's what he said to the man who did nothing, who did nothing to promote unity, who did nothing to share the love and grace of Jesus.

We are called to do that in our family, in our community, in our church. Jesus said this is important. He agonized over this prayer in John 17. He said, oh, Father, I pray that they may be one as you and I are one. And guys, we cannot be one living in isolation.

A shocking recent poll shares that 81% of Americans believe they don't need to go to church. They can be a Christian on their own. That is not found in the New Testament. The Lord is serious about this. Get involved.

We're doing church right here, right now. Don't allow man to put a certain label on your church, but it requires coming together. It requires reaching out. That's why we take prayer requests in our small group. That's our job to pray for our sister.

That's our job to lift our brothers and sisters up. It's our job to call them and encourage them. We honor our Lord when we do that. And remember what Saint Augustine said, in the essentials, unity. Jesus was born of a virgin.

He is son of God and son of man. He died on the cross to save us from our sins. He ascended and sits at the right hand of the father interceding for you and me. That is our future. In those essentials, unity.

In the non essentials, liberty. Don't die in those hills with your Christian sisters. Don't go there. That does not bring honor to the Lord. And in everything, love and grace.

In everything. I have to take a drink of water before I hit my next point. Okay, suffering. I love how Paul started this. He's been in prison five years.

He says, I'm a prisoner of Christ, not in my circumstances. And he ends the passage by telling his brothers and sisters, when you look at me, don't be discouraged because it looks bad. Don't be discouraged. Our families had a really rough couple weeks. The last time I taught, the next day we went to California.

And around Thanksgiving, we had to get a new heater system put in our house. Through the holidays, I had company for a month. My family, my kids, I had 12 young people sitting at my table for a week. We went to California on Thursday, and on Friday, something went terribly wrong with our heating system and filled our home with carbon monoxide. My sweet cleaning lady that I've had since we moved here seven years ago walked into the house, and within minutes, she passed over to the other side.

Yeah. I cannot tell you what I've been through the last two weeks and how the Lord has caught me through such a dark, heart wrenching time. And I wanna share three things that he has clearly ministered to me with that might help you at some time in your life. You know, when we go through suffering, I think the first thing that sometimes I think of is, Lord, where the heck were you? And I have to tell you that what's interesting about this is about a month ago, in the morning, my husband and I do devotional and we pray together.

And I said to my husband, I feel so heavy in my heart to pray for protection for, our family, our house, our property. So my first thought was, Lord, why did you put that on my heart to pray for that? And then this comes up on us. I don't understand that. And the Lord, the first thing he told me was I am here with you.

I have not rejected you. This is a wonderful verse, guys. It's one of my life verses. Isaiah 49 b through 10, you are my servant. You are mine.

I have chosen you and I have not rejected you. So do not fear for I'm with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you.

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. And the Lord showed me how he really did protect in a big way. That furnace was installed at Thanksgiving. It could have been very different. So then my mind went to, well, Lord, why didn't you protect Monica?

I love that sweet lady. Why didn't you protect her? And immediately he said to me, Deborah, when you pray to me, I'm going to answer it in my sovereign way. I may have to say no to some of your prayer, but I hear you. I've got it.

Her days were written in my book, and this is how I chose it to be. It's not up to you. And then in His amazing grace, he took me back. Many of you've heard me share this when my husband and I almost drowned in the river. It was the year that, the river was running at like twenty seven thousand, I don't know, whatever the equation is, and it usually runs at, like, six.

And I just remember when I kept getting pulled down in this jetty, and I couldn't breathe anymore, and my heart was crying, Jesus, help me. I couldn't open my mouth because I was drowning. And at some point during that, there was just this calmness and this amazing warmth. And in my mind, I'm like, Am I dying? Like, what's going on?

But it felt so good. I didn't even care if I was dying. I felt Him right there with me. And the Lord reminded me of that and He said, I was with Monica in your house. I was with her, and I just took her home.

Wasn't a bad thing, even though in my mind, it was a very bad thing. The Lord never leaves us. And you know where else he led me? To Psalm 34 for her family. Psalm thirty four eighteen, the Lord is close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those who are crushed in spirit.

He's like, I I'm not only with you, I'm with them too. You don't need to worry. And I will just tell you, when a tsunami hits you, your mind is gonna go to some crazy places. I mean, John the Baptist? He had baptized Jesus.

He had declared him the Messiah. He knew he was the savior. And do you remember he's in prison and he's gonna die. And he says to his disciples, go to Jesus and ask him, are you really the one or should I expect someone else? John's like, did I get this wrong?

And your mind just goes to those places, even John the Baptist did. And my mind went to, Lord, we should have never moved to Jackson Hole. And I was in California, I was like, we made a mistake. I didn't hear you right. And you know where the Lord led me there?

To Psalm 23. He leads me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. For His name's sake. He led us here. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, He led our family here.

It was no mistake that our family came here. But the next verse really spoke to me. Even if you're going down the right path like Paul was going down the right path, God said, even if you're going down the right path for me, you may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but fear no evil because I am with you. My rod and my staff, they'll comfort you. And you know why Paul wants us to understand grace?

Because grace is always available. And God is saying, I am not gonna leave your side. You and I are gonna get through this, but you have to receive it. Don't push away from me, Deborah. Receive it.

Say I trust you, Lord. And that was the second point. The Lord can be trusted, and His purposes are always for good. And can I just tell you, it didn't feel so good? It felt really bad.

I was like, Lord, good? I don't Where's the good? Psalm one nineteen sixty eight says, you are good, meaning the Lord, and you do only good. And one of my mottos in life and one of my mottos I've tried to teach my kids is to say, God is always good and I am always loved. He is my Abba.

Love doesn't always feel good, but love is for my good. Psalm 2seven 13 says, I would have lost heart unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. The Lord is saying, don't lose heart. Choose to believe it, and you're gonna see good working. And can I just tell you, my husband and I have already seen so much good?

I called pastor Ray. Monica's family doesn't know pastor Ray. He immediately reached out to them. They met with him. Then they asked Him to be part of the service.

They loved Him. After the service, two people went up to Him and said, We want to know about that God you were talking about. You don't think Monica is rejoicing in that? It's amazing the good that we have seen from this. My non believing neighbor, we called them and said, can you go down?

The sheriff's calling us. The fire department's calling us. He went to the service with us. He said, okay. So your pastor who had a fully booked schedule canceled everything for this family he doesn't even know, then he went to the gravesite and did that service.

And he has spent so much time loving on this family. He was taking notes, you guys. And then on top of that, the outpouring and support of love my husband and I've got from our sisters and brothers, he's like, wow. You know, it's amazing how your friends are handling this. And they came to our house and sang praise and worship songs and brought us lunch, and he came down.

I invited him and he said, okay, as long as you don't ask me to pray or do anything weird. He goes, I'll come down. And he sat there and he watched the church one in Christ. And he said, I've never experienced anything like that. And he said, You know what's really amazing?

How you guys were laughing and you weren't even drunk. That's why it's so important to be one in Christ. In Christ makes all the difference. Psalm ninety one fourteen says, I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.

Can I just tell you something? Trust in the Lord is one in the battlefield of your soul. It is not one running around like a chicken with your head cut off, joining this, doing that, going here, going there, chasing material things, experiencing the Lord, tasting and seeing how good He is, that is only one in the deep wells of your soul. When you're just at that hard place and you're sitting there saying, Lord, oh my gosh. You know the vision the Lord gave me when we're getting phone calls from everyone and it's just complete chaos?

The Lord said, right now, spiritually, you're like a storm at sea. The waves are breaking against you and clouds are coming down on you. But if you dive deep enough into those waters, you're gonna come up on a calmness. And that's what happens at sea. There is a calmness underneath the storm.

And he promised me, if you dive deep enough into me, I will give you a peace that surpasses understanding. And you know what keeps coming to me? I don't understand it, but I keep hearing it as well with my soul. I would never have chosen this, and I wish it wasn't part of my history, but you know what? It is.

And that leads me to my third point. The Lord said, don't run from it, Deborah. Can I just say, we were in California and I told my husband, I'm staying in California? I every fiber of my being wanted to run. I knew what I was coming back to.

The funeral service, where I had to look at her husband and her daughter and her two sons. But the Lord blessed me so much. I was able to look into their eyes and say, please don't hate me. I'm so sorry this happened in my house. And you know what they said?

By the grace of God, they said, Deborah, this was an accident. I could have been there. God took her when he took her, and we don't hate you one bit. Do you know how freeing that was for me to hear? The next big hurdle was walking in my house.

I told my husband, I can't go back there. I'm terrified to go back there, and then I have to face what happened there. I don't wanna go back there. And my my baby girl, she's like, mama, you cannot go in there unless pastor Ray prays over every room. I said, okay, that's a dignity.

So pastor Ray walked in with us. We prayed and we felt the presence and the peace of our Lord and savior. He was right there with us. The next day, another hurdle. My husband had to meet with the insurance company and he said, Honey, this is gonna be like a three hour meeting.

I have to leave you alone. Are you gonna be okay? And the words that came right out of my mouth was I'm not alone. I am not alone. The Lord told me to stand firm and lean into Him.

Stand firm, Deborah. Don't run. Stand firm and lean into me. Lean into me. Don't lean away from me.

Luke six forty eight says, and this is talking about a person who seeks the Lord and builds brick by brick, truth by truth, grace by grace their life. Luke says, it is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it will stand firm because it is well built, rooted in the Lord. Psalm ninety one four says, God will shelter me with his wings. His faithful promises are my armor and my protection.

Ladies, I have to share this with you. You have to build that foundation now. Don't wait. When the tsunami hits, it's too late. It is too late.

All that time I've been spending with the Lord for twenty years, it started surfacing. My brain couldn't seek the Lord the first couple days. I could just get out, Jesus help me. That's it. And then the Lord started saying, remember Psalm 23?

Read Psalm 34. Read Psalm 31. And it started coming back to me. But you've got to build that house now rooted in truth and grace because someday a tsunami may hit you, and you want that foundation, and you will stand. God will be so evident to you, you won't even believe it.

It's incredible. I I sleep all night now. I I mean, it took me a couple days, but on Monday, they took everything out, the old system, and yesterday put a new system in. And the owner came in the kitchen, and I I was shaking because we we were gonna have to turn the heat on again. And he said, are you okay?

And I said, I don't I don't know. Am I? And he goes, I wanna show you something. He took me out. He showed me their whole piping, tubing, the extra measure he did.

And he said, Deborah, I have three little ones. I would be okay with them sleeping here. This is behind you now. Move forward. And I said, that's exactly what the Lord's telling me.

I am safe in His hands. I don't need to go back and fear. Fear not for I'm with you. And don't be discouraged. Suffering will lead us to discouragement.

Just as Paul told those who were so discouraged because of his imprisonment, they didn't get it. They're like, you're you're doing everything for the Lord. Why are you in prison? And the rumor has it they're gonna kill you. And Paul's like, I'm not a prisoner of those circumstances.

I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus. You know, after pastor Rick Warren's son shot himself and killed himself, Rick Warren shared it was his worst fear. Matthew, his son, had always threatened to kill himself. And Rick Warren said, my worst fear in life came true. Matthew did it.

And he goes, I will tell you that as a person who has suffered, suffering will do one of three things to you. It will destroy you or you can let it define you or you can allow God to use it to develop you. As a believer in Christ, we know all of our suffering is redemptive. God promises to take all suffering and turn beauty from ashes. That's what he does for us.

All suffering is to teach me more about him. I feel closer to Him now than I ever have. I wish it wouldn't have been like this, but it was. All suffering is to teach me more about Him. And He also says that all of your suffering is to comfort others.

Second Corinthians one four, this goes back to the one in Christ. He comforts us in all of our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. If we open our mouth and say, yes, Lord, I trust you. Yes, I trust you.

He is going to unleash His divine power in our lives. There's nothing else we need. There's nothing else we need. I am telling you this thing works. I'm not telling you it's easy, though.

But what's your alternative? Be a basket case? Medicate yourself? Become an alcoholic? I mean, what's our alternative?

Stand firm in Him and watch Him part the red seas in your life. And just to end on a high note, you know, Ephesians is all about the riches we have in Christ. And just from Paul's writing, don't try to write all these down. And this isn't, you know, an all inclusive list, but I just it comforted me so much. Ephesians one seven, God says, my grace is rich.

It's in abundance. You can't you can't, deplete my grace for you. I have so much for you. Romans two four, my goodness and patience are rich. God gives us the grace and His patience and allows us the time to come to Him.

I love Him for that. Romans eleven thirty three says, God's wisdom and knowledge are are rich. And James says, just ask me for that. I'll guide you. I'll give you my wisdom.

Ephesians two four says, his mercy is rich. Ephesians three sixteen, His glory is rich. Driving in this morning, my heart was just so heavy. This was my next hurdle coming up here. I don't want to do that.

I was like, I don't want to do this. And the whole way in, the Lord was just showing off with His beautiful glory in this valley. And I was like, you know what, Lord? You are such a big, God. You're with me.

We're gonna get through this. His glory is rich. First Timothy six seventeen, His blessings and provisions are rich. Colossians two two, his assurance is rich. Colossians three sixteen, his word is rich.

Are you feeling a little malnourished? Open just open the Psalms. Read the Psalms. They're so rich. Ephesians three eighteen and nineteen, his love is so rich.

You might be thinking, well, why don't Christians live in that richness? We have this incredibly rich spiritual bank account. I think a lot of us have lost our checkbooks. We are not withdrawing from that account. Why?

Why aren't we withdrawing from that account? Jesus spoke to this in Revelation three. He was speaking to the church in Laodicea. He said, you've become so lukewarm. Why were they lukewarm?

Because they had comforts. They had material richness. And you know what Jesus said to them? You're not rich. You are poor, you're blind, and you're naked.

Spiritually speaking, you are so poor and malnourished. You're so blind, you don't even see the truth around you. You don't even see me anymore, and you're naked. How does Colossians tell us to dress every day? To dress with kindness and humility and compassion.

And Jesus said, you've forsaken all that because you're so comfortable. But I love how he says, just repent. Here I am. I stand at the door of your heart, and I knock, knock, knock. If anyone hears me and opens the door, I'll come in, and I'll eat with that person and they with me.

In other words, he says, I'll do life with you. Moment by moment, I'll be with you. And I love how he ends it. He says, to the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I was victorious and sat down with my father on His throne. That's our encouragement.

That's our future. If we will receive His amazing grace, choose to embrace His truth and His love, He says you're gonna be victorious. And not just for all of eternity, but for right now, deep within your soul, there is gonna be a calmness regardless of what's going on around you. We are so rich, aren't we? Thank you, Lord, for your incredible words of truth and grace.

I just thank you so much, Lord, that you really do never leave us or forsake us. I thank you that you gave us your words that we can anchor into so that we don't fall apart in this world. I thank you for your peace that truly does surpass all understanding. It doesn't make sense for it to be well with our soul when circumstances are not well. But I thank you, Lord.

I thank you for every soul in this room that you chose today to hear your beautiful message of love and grace and truth. Thank you, Jesus. To you be the glory forever and ever. Amen.