Ephesians 3:14-21 "Strengthened to Understand"

                Our text for today brings to an end the first half of Paul’s letter to this thriving church in Ephesus.  It also brings a thematic end to what Paul has spent the entirety of this letter talking about thus far, and that is the privilege of the Christian.  Remember, this is the standard format for the Great Apostle.  He first deals with doctrine and theology, and then deals with the implications and application of all that he’s been teaching.  Our text for today, the second half of chapter three, is somewhat of Paul’s doxology on all that he’s said thus far.  Very quickly I’ll remind you of where we’ve been.  For the most part we’ve been talking about the great privilege that it is to be found in Christ.  Paul’s talked about how salvation is completely a work of God (chosen, redeemed, and sealed) and that regardless of what nationality you are that the gospel is open to you.  Now, this doesn’t mean that it’s some universal thing that is everyone’s right and privilege, but that there is nothing inherently within anyone that makes them a recipient of God’s grace and mercy.  That choice is completely and totally up to God and God alone.  We are simply the ones who very lovingly, graciously, and humbly receive the benefits of that election that Paul spoke of in the opening statements of this epistle; that’s why we say that it is the privilege of the Christian and not the right or reward of the Christian.

                So, as Paul prepares to bring to a close the doctrinal portion of his epistle about the church (which many biblical scholars have taken this to be a written prayer of Paul’s), he begins by saying, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father.”  Two things; the first is that the phrase “for this reason” refers to, in my opinion, the entirety of what he has said.  Again, in my opinion, Paul isn’t just referring to the most recent thing that he’s talked about (which is the gospel being as much for the Gentiles as it is for the Jews).  Some scholars have wanted to limit the scope of these words to mean either only his most recent doctrinal point or the fact that he didn’t want them to lose hope because of his being under house arrest.  However, even in the most limited view of this phrase, Paul would be referring to this very same plan of salvation that is made known through Christ.  So, we can safely assume that no matter what view you take of the phrase “for this reason”, Paul is speaking about rejoicing in God.  Secondly, the fact that Paul talks about his posture is important.  You see, the Jewish custom for praying was to stand up.  They would think it a farce for us to be sitting down with our hands in our pockets during a time of prayer.  The Jews (as well as some other Christian churches through the ages) understood reverence to be conveyed to God during prayer only when standing.  Honestly, it makes sense.  When the president of a company, a superior office, an elected official, or anyone else whom is owed respect walks into a room what do we do?  Well, we stand (or at least we ought to).  We stand to show them the honor and respect that they deserve.  However, by Paul’s bowing his knees, by his kneeling, there is a sense of humility and urgency and importance that is being conveyed here.  Paul is, in essence, saying, “Thank you, God, for all that you’ve done and all that you are doing.  Lord, I am not even worthy to stand in your presence and so I lower myself to the lowest possible place.”  It’s Paul’s way (and a right way) of showing reverence and honor to a holy God.  Yes, it’s different from Jewish tradition, but different from tradition doesn’t necessarily mean worse than traditional.

                After Paul’s reminding his audience what he’s previously said, he also reminds them that as followers of Christ, they are all part of the same family.  All Christians are brothers and sisters in Christ.  If we wanted to make some type of analogy, we could say that we’re all related in Christ with church being sort of like a family reunion with the blending together of a lot of different types of people who are all related.  Yes, we’re very different people with very different views and opinions, but we’re all related; we’re all related in Christ.  That’s where we’re going to spend the rest of our time together this morning really looking at two things.  We’re going to look at how this body collectively and we individually are strengthened by the Holy Spirit, and how we are made to comprehend the love of Christ. 

                All of this sort of comes out of a natural progression throughout this text really.  First, there is Paul’s thanking God because of all that he’s already taught, followed by the petition made by Paul on the behalf of his audience that they would be “strengthened with power through his [Holy] Spirit in [their] inner being.”  In other words, that our hearts would be strengthened, our minds changed, and our souls shaped by this power.  Any change or confidence that one has that stops at a surface-level isn’t from God.  Paul prays that the teaching that he has given thus far would not be a point of contention and anger, but would be one that only renews our faith in God.  I love what John Calvin says about this being strengthened by the Holy Spirit.  He says that, “believers have never advanced so far as to not need farther growth.  The highest perfection of the godly in this life is an earnest desire to make progress.”  In other words, even though this church was doing well and even though Paul had just given them all of the information that he had and even though he knew that they were as well-equipped for ministry and growth as anyone, they still needed more.  They needed the Holy Spirit, and they didn’t just need him a little, but they needed him in their inner being.  They needed him to change them and strengthen them down to the most intimate parts of their bodies, minds, and souls.  They needed what is known as divine grace; grace that only comes from God.  God knows our limitations and our inabilities; therefore He is the only one who can overcome them in His creating within us a new man.  In order for us to really transform and change, we must have the Holy Spirit.  We can’t do it by ourselves.  We don’t like hearing that because we’re a people who for the most part pride ourselves on our self-sufficiency.  However, when it comes to our salvation, we simply have no choice but to rest in God that He will perform this saving work in us and to us.

                Now, out of this grace, as a result of the Holy Spirit’s working in us and strengthening us, we ought to grow in our comprehension and understanding of the love of Christ.  Naturally, as we come to understand what God has done to us and for us, our appreciation and admiration ought to grow, but our understanding of Christ’s love for us ought to grow as well.  However, one thing that I think we need to get a handle on (or at least try to) is what we mean when we say or read “the love of Christ.”  Obviously it’s something that is very expansive, and impossible for our finite minds to completely understand.  These general units of measurement or space that Paul gives us here of “breadth and length and height and depth” ought to harken our minds back to our saying at the end of chapter two that we are Christ’s temple, the “living stones” of 1 Peter 2.  This tells us that Christ’s love for us is great.  So, there’s no denying that in understanding Christ’s love that we have to think about something that is quite large.  Our problem, however, has been that far too often we have actually over-sized the love of Christ.  I know that that sounds odd, but follow me for a second.  If you were in our Sunday School class last week, you might recall that I said that Christ died specifically for you and not generally for you.  In other words, at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, he had you and me on his mind, specifically.  His death, his sacrifice, wasn’t undertaken with just the general thought of whoever determines later on that they wanted a part of what he was offering would receive it.  No!  Christ’s death was to redeem to the Father those specific people whom the Father had given to him.  Some of them were past, some present, and some future.

                Perhaps instead of saying that we over-size the love of Christ, we might could say that we over-extend it.  You see, we make Christ’s death a universal truth for all mankind.  We make the sacrifice on the cross include those whom Scripture clearly teaches that it doesn’t include.  This past summer, we looked at John 3:16 and specifically at that word that is translated “world’.  We find in that passage “For God so loved the world…” the cosmos in Greek.  We try and apply the death of Christ to those whom it does not apply to.  It applies only to those whom, as Paul said to begin this epistle, those whom He chose before the foundation of the earth and that He predestined for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ.  Paul has come full circle in this first half of his epistle.  God has chosen you to be His people, He has given you the power of the Holy Spirit to work on your hearts and change your minds and strengthen you for the ministry of the gospel.  And he has done this not because of anything that is present within you or that He foreknows as being present within you, but simply because He loves you.  He loves you so much that He sent His Son into the world to die, specifically for you.  Not for mankind in general, but specifically for you and for me, for those whom God chose before the foundations of the earth.

                Paul concludes this first half of his letter to the Ephesians with a doxology.  “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that 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.”  In other words, thank you, God.  Thank you for who you are.  Thank you for what you have done.  Thank you for what you are doing.  Thank you for what you are going to do.  We are to trust in God and to trust in the unfolding of His plan.  It may not be easy, and it may not be what we want, but if it is the will of God, then is good and perfect.  Thank God for what He is doing, and thank God for His calling us to play even the smallest part in it.

Ephesians 3:1-13 "The Gospel Mystery"

                Do you know what makes a good teacher or a good instructor?  Yes, there are a number of things that we could say to answer that question.  We could say compassion, understanding, confidence, knowledge, etc.  However, one of the most often overlooked qualities of a teacher is their ability to anticipate confusion.  What do I mean by this?  Say for example we were going to begin a Sunday School series on a set of very complex or controversial theological topics, I wouldn’t be a very effective teacher if I went into it with the expectation of simply giving you the information one time and expecting you to understand it.  I would need to anticipate the difficulties that you might have and make preparations for them.  Every teacher (no matter the subject) is knowledgeable, confident, etc., but it’s the ability to anticipate the difficulties and overcome them that separates one from another.  Well, that is exactly what Paul is doing here in chapter 3.  Think about what he has already dealt with here in this epistle in only two chapters.  He’s talked about the work of the Trinity (chosen, redeemed, and sealed), he’s talked about what is granted to us in Christ, how all that is granted to us comes through faith, and that these riches and mercies aren’t just granted to a select nationality, but to all who profess saving faith in Christ.  We spent a great deal of time talking last Sunday about how this last item was quite controversial to the people in Ephesus at this time.  In fact, Paul was actually in Rome under house arrest at the time of his writing this epistle for teaching that very same thing.  When Paul says that he is “a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles” he’s telling the truth.  He was currently awaiting trial for speaking about the equality, in God’s eyes, that now existed between Jews and Gentiles.  He was currently living the reality that these were some difficult and controversial matters that he was talking about. 

Paul knew that he needed to explain a little more all that he had given them (and us) thus far.  I’m sure that Paul was anticipating the leaders in the church reading this letter, looking at one another, and saying, “Surely Paul doesn’t mean what he just wrote about Jews and Gentiles being equal?  There has to be some lasting difference right?”  You see, Paul knew that the Ephesians were going to have some difficulty with this topic, just as numerous other groups had.  He knew that there was going to be confusion and head-scratching.  He even calls it a “mystery made known to him by revelation.”  Now, the meaning of this word mystery isn’t what comes to mind when we hear the word today.  This isn’t some Scooby Doo (I’ve got kids) mystery that must be solved.  NO!  The Greek word that we get the word mystery from actually means “something known or understood only by the initiated.”  In other words, the gospel, the Christian faith, is only truly understood by those who have this saving faith.  Others may know about Christians, but until they fully become one then there is much that isn’t known.  I’ll be honest with y’all, most of the rest of this country looks at south Louisiana and the way of life here as a mystery.  It’s not that something has to be solved, but something that until you become one (initiated), then it’s pretty confusing.  After almost four years Amy and I are still confused about certain things on a regular basis.  Or, and perhaps a better analogy, parenthood.  You can’t describe to someone what it’s like to have a child that you’re responsible for.  However, there is a sense and a feeling that you get from having a child of your own.  In essence, once you’re initiated into parenthood, there is a revealing of the mystery of what it’s like to be a parent.  That’s what Paul’s talking about here.  He’s saying (and we’ll talk more about this later on) that it’s going to look odd to those outside of professing believers, but that’s normal.

                To drive his point home even further, Paul says in verse 6, “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  So, what is he saying here?  And as I answer this, I’m going to substitute the title all Christians for Gentiles.  And by all Christians, I mean those who truly profess saving faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Paul is saying that all Christians are heirs with Israel, co-heirs with Christ.  He says that all Christians are members of the same body. It’s the same thing that we’ve said before in our look at this epistle about all Christians making up the body of Christ with no one more important than another, but with Christ as the head.  And finally, Paul says that all Christians are partakers of the promise in Christ.  Now, it’s important that it is promise singular; because that leaves no interpretation other than the promise of redemption that God made with Adam in the Garden and later repeated with Abraham in Genesis 12.

                Now, before Paul simply says that things have changed and moves on to something else, he takes some time to reemphasize the importance of what he has just been teaching them about.  He doesn’t want to give the impression that what he has said is only for informational purposes.  Back when I taught high school biology my students would always ask me, “Coach Robinson, why do I need to know all this stuff?  Why is it important that I know what role the mitochondria plays in the cell?  What use is it for me to learn the steps of photosynthesis?”  What made matters even worse was when they went home to their parents and their parents or grandparents would say they didn’t have a clue.  They would come back and say, “My grandfather worked for 45 years and he said he’s never even heard of photosynthesis.”  Well, Paul is trying to make sure that these Christians don’t just simply say, “Why does any of this matter?  Why are we wasting time over this issue?”  Think about what many folks like to do today.  We like to say, “Well, God will sort all that out so I’m just not going to worry about it.  I don’t know how I feel about it so I’m just going to push it aside and go about my business.”  We tell ourselves that we’re just not getting bogged down, but in all honesty it’s more like we’re afraid of offending someone so we run and hide from questions and difficulties.  I’m not talking about wrestling with difficult and complex issues, I’m talking about just not caring enough to put in the effort to try and gain some understanding.  Paul’s not giving this information just to have something written down.  He’s giving them this information because it is of use and importance to their spiritual growth.

                Paul is telling these folks that this distinction (or should I say the abolition of this distinction) is something that is of such importance that his entire ministry is based on it.  His entire ministry is about proclaiming the good news of Christ’s resurrection to those who were once thought to be outside of God’s covenant people.  He says that not only is it his calling but that it is to be the calling of the Church as well.  “Through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”  And I don’t want you to miss this ever so subtle use of the word manifold here in verse 10.  God’s manifold wisdom, says the biblical scholar and precursor to the reformation, Erasmus, “regulates all things by amazing plans, through death bestowing life, through ignominy (disgrace) conducting to glory, through abasement (lowering) displaying the majesty of God.”  God’s manifold wisdom, i.e. His plan of salvation, is now no longer for only a select nation, but is to be known world-wide.  It’s no longer known by a small number, but has been made known to the entire world.  In fact, it is to be known even beyond the ends of this world, in the heavenly places.

                Paul is encouraging these Christians to not lose hope.  Again, this might seem a little strange because as we’ve said before, things were going really well there at the church in Ephesus.  The church was growing and there wasn’t really much strife that existed within the church.  However, there did exist the possibility for strife and potential problems.  Remember that I said a good teacher can anticipate the problems before they even arise.  Paul’s brought up both the doctrine of predestination and the concept of God’s covenant promise being just as much for the Gentiles now as it is for the Jews.  If there weren’t problems beforehand, Paul is doing a fine job of creating them isn’t he?  I mean, if I wanted to start an argument within the church and I didn’t want it to be about paint colors or room temperatures then predestination and the non-exclusivity of the gospel are pretty good options.  However, we can take Paul’s bringing these topics up along with his words about this epistle being for the benefit of the church and glean one thing from it.  It is for our own good and our own benefit that we seek to gain an understanding of how God works.  Don’t misunderstand what I’m saying, we will never fully know how and why God works the way that He does, at least not in this life, and maybe not after that.  However, that should not stop us from striving to gain an understanding to the method in which He works.

                We, Bible-believing, Christ-professing, God-fearing Christians, are part of this initiated group.  We are, like Paul, one’s who have had this mystery revealed to us.  Now, it may not have happened in a singular moment like we see with Paul.  Maybe you’re like me and you just kind of realized after years and years of hearing someone teach or preach on the gospel, maybe the importance of what was being said finally dawned on you.  However you came to know Christ, you are the possessor of a great gift.  You are someone who has received the greatest and most precious gift that anyone could ever receive.  Don’t waste it.  Don’t just file your faith away and keep it as some dusty box that you only pull out during a time of trial or hardship.  Let it be something that you use so often that it becomes part of you.  Spend so much time growing in your relationship with God through prayer and Scripture reading and other wonderful resources, that your faith isn’t a part of who you are but is who you are.  Your growth shouldn’t stop upon this mystery being revealed to you, but this mystery being revealed to you ought to cause your desire for growth to become insatiable.  

What I Learned Through the Delta State Shooting

                We’ve all heard the story of the high school valedictorian who gets us on stage and thanks someone in the crowd who spoke a kind word to them years ago.  The short of it is that the valedictorian, years earlier, was on his way home to commit suicide when someone spoke a kind word to him and unknowingly gave him a the courage to continue onward.  It’s a wonderful story about not knowing the impact that you can have on someone around you.  It may be true, or it may be completely made up, I don’t really know.  However, until yesterday it was just a story for me, until it became somewhat of a reality.

                As news broke yesterday about an active shooter on the campus on Delta State University in Cleveland, MS my mind immediately jumped to the events of only a few weeks ago at my alma mater Mississippi State.  My first thought was that I hoped that the events at Delta State would turn out like those at MSU…no fatalities.  I prayed.  A little bit of time went by and then came news that there had been one fatality.  I prayed.  A few minutes later, I saw where it was a faculty member who was shot and killed.  I prayed for his family.  As the “urgency” of the situation began to fade away and as the new information stopped coming in as quickly, the day seemingly got back to normal.  I really didn’t hear much more other than people supporting the university during this horrific ordeal.  Things seemed to be pretty much over except for merely apprehending the suspect.  Then, that’s when things got extremely real for me.  I was scrolling through Facebook and saw where they had released the identity of the suspect and given a picture of him…my heart fell into my stomach.

                I stared at my computer screen in my office for what felt like hours in disbelief.  I was reading that a man named Shannon Lamb was wanted and that the picture was a recent one taken of him.  Most of you don’t know (or at least didn’t know until yesterday) who Shannon Lamb is.  However, I know him, and have for roughly 10 years.  Back in 2005 I became a high school science teacher at Murrah High School in Jackson, MS.  Shannon was a math teacher at that same school who taught in the classroom next to mine.  We would talk almost every day during breaks between classes, lunch, and before the school day started.  We taught a lot of the same kids, so we usually talked to each other about who was struggling and who was doing well…teacher stuff.  However, there were moments where we talked on a much deeper level as well.

                Shannon was kind of a quirky guy.  He was very quiet, very nondescript, and wore a suit to work every day (actually it was either a blue suit or a gray suit that he alternated each day).  He was very serious about his job and honestly one of the smartest people that I have ever known.  I guess what I’m trying to say is that he seemed almost the opposite of what you would think of as someone who would ever commit these actions taken yesterday.  He shared with me stories of how he was brought up with a troubled past.  He came from a broken home where drugs and alcohol weren’t just present, but encouraged at an early age.  He shared with me how in his past he had had his own issues with addiction and how they had wrecked his first marriage (a marriage that he said came about because he and his first wife were either drunk or high for almost their entire relationship).  He had shared with me how up until a few years prior, the only things that he had ever done of any account in his life were his education and his children.  He was a good father who tried his best to remain active in the lives of his children.  Despite his past mistakes, he wanted to provide something for his kids that he never had…guidance.  He had seemingly turned his life around and was only worried about providing for his kids and making sure that they succeeded in life.

                After that one year teaching together Shannon accepted a position with Delta State because of a research grant that he had gotten.  It was a position that was going to put him working between Cleveland, MS and Gautier, MS, and give him more time with his kids.  He had even started dating his ex-wife once again (after she had cleaned herself up as well) and they seemed to be on a possible road to reconciliation.  When I last spoke to him in May 2006, he seemed to have his life headed in the right direction.  Yet, as I write this entry 9½ years later, Shannon’s life crumbled and he’s taken three lives, with the last one being his own late yesterday evening.  I have no idea what happened during those 9+ years, but over the last 24 hours I have asked myself one question over and over again…“Could I have done something about this?”  Now, let me state very clearly that the events of yesterday aren’t about me.  I have little-to-no relationship with DSU.  That’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about my interaction with Shannon.  Did I do everything I could have to help this man out who I knew had a troubled past?  The answer, quite simply, is no; no I didn’t. 

                As I think back upon our conversations, I realize that nowhere in there is the gospel present.  It would be easy for me to defend/excuse myself and say that this was prior to my feeling called to gospel ministry, but the truth of the matter is that I was a Christian at that point in my life.  It’s not just pastors or devout Christians that are to witness to others about Christ, but it’s the task given to all Christians.  It’s a task that I failed at miserably in the case of Shannon Lamb.  Would my speaking to him about Jesus have made any difference…who knows?  Would my speaking to him about my faith or his faith have prevented the events of yesterday…maybe not?  However, we’ll never know because I never spoke up.

               As I said, the events of yesterday in Gautier, MS (where it is believed he killed his girlfriend before driving to Cleveland, MS to kill the DSU professor) and at Delta State aren’t about me.  I’ve only stepped on that campus a couple of times and don’t have any emotional connection to it at all.  The focus, as it rightly should be, is to be on helping a campus, a town, and a student body heal and recover from a horrific tragedy.  However, I can’t help but think about the lasting impact that this will have upon me in my ministry and my life moving forward.  Are there times that I should speak up that I will remain silent…probably.  However, I can tell you that they will be few now moving forward.  I no longer have to hear the story of the valedictorian to know the power of speaking up because I have the heartbreak of knowing what it feels like when you say nothing.

               

Please pray for the families of Amy Prentiss and Ethan Schmidt, Delta State University, the Cleveland, MS community, and the teenage children of Shannon Lamb.  May Shannon’s kids no be crushed by the weight of their father’s sin, but driven to Christ instead.  Also, please pray for a seminary classmate of mine, Seth Still.  Seth is the RUF minister at Delta State and will be tasked with proclaiming the gospel to this group of young adults who are looking to make sense of the events that have taken place.  May God speak through Seth and all other campus ministry persons to bring about his glory through disaster.

Ephesians 2:11-22 "Built on Christ"

                A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the first half of the second chapter of Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus and we saw those sweet words, “But God” that D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said were in a sense the gospel itself.  We talked about how despite our sinfulness and our separation from God, that He restores us through the work of the Triune God; chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.  In essence, that is the past, present, and future for mankind.  We fell and were separated from God, Christ’s death changes that, and our future is to be delivered to glory through the work of the Holy Spirit.  However, we have to remember that in Paul’s time, there is an entirely different argument that was going on.  You see, we live in a time where we understand that anyone can follow Christ and that it isn’t the exclusive right of one nation, i.e. Biblical Israel.  However, that is exactly the problem that Paul makes mention of in our text today as we look at the past, present, and future of the Gentiles (but also there is news for us as well).  I guess if I were going to describe it in something that makes sense to us, it would be like a citizen of another country coming to America and committing a crime, yet finding themselves afforded all the rights and privileges of the American justice system without being a part of our country.  We would be upset because our Constitution applies to American citizens and not to those of another country.  Yes, I know this happens, but it isn’t really supposed to.  Also, keep in mind that we are talking about the Bible and God versus America and the U.S. Constitution.  One of these is infallible, while the other is very much prone to error.  Israel had a problem with the Gentiles claims to God and Paul was to setting the record straight on this matter.

                Much like the first part of the chapter, Paul starts off by telling these Gentiles just how grim their position with God really was before Christ.  Of that he says a number of things.  Paul says that they were separated from Christ, alienated from Israel (God’s chosen people), strangers to the covenants of promise, hopeless, and without God.  None of those paint a pleasant picture for the Gentiles (or the uncircumcised as they’re referred to here).  In fact, it sounds a lot like what Paul had to say previously about us being dead in our trespasses and sins and being children of wrath.  I know that we just glossed over the list here, but think about what it really means to be separated, alienated, hopeless, without, and a stranger.  Paul has been preaching and teaching about the fact that in order to be saved you have to be in union with Christ and yet he’s saying that these Gentiles have nothing connecting them to God at all.  That is, they didn’t until the time of Christ.  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  How much does that reverberate the sentiment of the previous phrase “But God”?  In other words, despite the Gentiles having no claim to be part of God’s chosen people, because of Christ, they can now come to God; we can come to God.

                Paul goes on to add, “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 hostility.”  Alright, there are a couple of things in there that I want to expand upon for just a moment.  The phrases “has broken down…the dividing wall” and “created…one new man in place of the two” both speak to what Christ did in terms of opening up salvation to more than just national Israel.  If we were to look at a picture of the ancient temple, we would see that it looked kind of like a square target.  With each ring or wall, the number of people who could continue inward became fewer and fewer.  Now, the very center of the temple was the holy of holies, the symbolic dwelling place of God, which was raised above all other levels.  Next, came the levels for the Jews.  There were levels for priests, men, and women of various statures.  Then, a few steps down from this level were the levels for all those who were not Jews, not part of the nation of Israel.  There was always a great distinction made between Jews and Gentiles, even when they both professed faith in God.  Well, Christ has knocked down those walls and he’s leveled the steps to where there is only God and man.  There are no longer subclasses of mankind, just people.  We think of the great racial and social walls that have been torn down over the last several generations.  Some of them are worthy of celebrating like the abolition of slavery and the fulfillment of women’s right.  Others are not as glorious; the changing of the definition of marriage most recently.  However, this tearing down of the exclusivity of the covenants and promises of God is the most celebratory of all wall destructions.  In Christ, we are all new creations, none of us more rightful recipients of God’s grace than the next one.

                You see, what God has done through Christ is to create a new humanity.  In this new humanity, we may still look very different on the surface, but in reality there is no difference amongst all of mankind.  We are all children, made in the image of God, we’re all fallen, and we’re all in need of his saving grace and mercy.  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”  No longer strangers or aliens, but fellow citizens and members of the household of God.  Now, the Greek word that is translated here as “household” is a word that could be translated as family.  However, it doesn’t mean biological family, but it encompasses all peoples that one might think of when describing or thinking of family, even servants and hired workers.  I look at it like this, have y’all ever been to a family reunion…a big one?  I mean one of those that you don’t know but about a quarter of the people there, if that many.  Now, I can say this is true for both my family and Amy’s, but you start looking around the room at one of these events and you start thinking that there’s no way you’re related to these folks.  There is nothing externally that shows any commonality between you; however, there is no other word to describe them other than family, part of the same household.  The household of God, the kingdom of God has gone from national to international.  It has gone from national Israel to the international Church, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”  As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”  A life, a relationship, and a church (Church) all must be built upon Christ in order to withstand the trials and hardships that are bound to happen.  Amy and I got to watch last Saturday as one of our friends pledged to his bride to build their home upon the foundation of Christ, which is exactly as God commands us to do.  Christ must the foundation for all that we do.

Now, I’ll come back to the analogy of a marriage resembling the church when Paul gets to it later on in this epistle.  So, for now let’s move on and look at what this has to do with us as we sit right here.  As I’ve said over and over again, Paul is talking about the Church here in this epistle.  And as we just said a moment ago, the Church, like our lives, must be built upon Christ.  Christ must be the foundation and cornerstone of what the Church is built upon.  However, there is still more that Paul wishes for his audience to know, and it is specifically about the role that individuals play in the life of the Church.  “In [Jesus] the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”  I want to use Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2 as a commentary on Paul’s language here.  Peter writes, “As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  Well, what do these two verses mean?  You see, because of Jesus, the living stone that was precious and chosen by God, we are the living stones of God’s temple and priesthood today.  We hear all the time statements like “The church is much more than brick and mortar” or “it’s the people that make the church, not the building.”  One that I’ve said for years is that “the strength of the church isn’t in the pulpit or the property, but in the pews.”  You see, Paul and Peter’s words are telling us that the Church’s foundation is Christ, but the walls, the infrastructure, and all else are to be the people of God carrying out the commands of God.  That is the charge that is being made to us this day and it is the charge that was being made to the Ephesians during this time.  Yes they all came from different backgrounds just as we do today.  However, we are all a new creation, one new man in Christ Jesus.  And being this new creation, our focus is to shift from being focused on our own interests to being aimed at fulfilling the will of God.

The gospel is not exclusive.  If ever there was something that would seemingly be exclusive, this would be it.  However, because of Christ, the gospel isn’t the right and privilege of one nation, one race, or one people group.  The gospel is the good news for all mankind.  It is the news that regardless of who you are or what you have done, you can have a relationship with the Creator of the universe.  And when you do have this relationship, you become the instrument of God working in this world to carry out His works.  These words of Paul’s about the gospel being for all and not a select few might even mean more to us today than they did to the Gentiles at the time.  Think of how distraught we would be thinking that we had no standing with God simply because we were born to certain parents.  That would be terrible wouldn’t it?  “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Ephesians 2:1-10 "But God"

                Back in the fall of 2011, shortly before I accepted a call to become your pastor, I went on a trip to Haiti, to a remote portion of the island outside of Gauthier City near the Dominican border.  I, along with several other pastors, went with a newly formed mission organization and was going as a representative from the church where I worked at the time.  The purpose for my going was to determine whether or not Grace Chapel EPC wanted to partner with But God Ministries in their mission.  But God Ministries was started by a man named Stan Buckley while he was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Jackson, MS, one of the largest churches in the U.S., and it was something that he felt so passionate about that he actually left pastoral ministry so that he could devote himself fully to this ministry.  Their vision was simple, to go into this place that was largely dominated by a mixture of voodoo and semi-Catholicism (sound familiar?) and plant not just a church, but an entire Christian community with Christ as the cornerstone.  They were going to work their way outward from a water well and move onto medical facilities, housing, and a worship center.  In other words, despite everything else telling them that what they were doing was foolish, bordering on impossible, they were going to do it, and believed that they could do it.  Why did they believe so adamantly about this?  Why did they know that despite everything telling them otherwise that their plan would work?  This verse right here in the middle of our passage today, “But God…”  Yes things were bad; yes they were awful; and yes there was a seemingly certain chance of failure, but God. 

                Paul, in our text for today, starts off by telling these Christians in Ephesus of where they stand on their own merit, and it isn’t a good place.  He says that they “were dead in trespasses and sins” and were once “children of wrath.”  Now, one of the things that I find so astounding about this passage comes from adding the previous chapter to this.  Paul has laid out in chapter 1, basically God’s plan of redemption.  He’s talked about Jesus and the work of the Trinity and then he went on to talk about the work that ought to be done through the Church after the time of Christ.  Now, he’s talking like there’s no hope for us.  He’s talking like no matter how much we are a part of the body of Christ, it isn’t going to do any good.  At least that’s the sense that we get from those first three verses.  Then, there are those sweet words of verses 4-6.  “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 raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ.” 

                Did you notice the phrase “dead in our trespasses and sins” being in there both before and after this turning point in verse 4?  In other words, even though we are exactly as broken and undeserving as Paul described us as being in the first three verses of this chapter, God still carries out His saving and redeeming work in us; “by grace you have been saved.”  Notice that that statement is in there twice as well.  Yes, you’re sinners.  Yes, you’re broken.  Yes, you’re fallen.  Yes, you’re disobedient.  Yes, you follow your own desires over the Lord’s.  Yes, you’re constantly straying from the Father’s will for you, but God.  D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said of these two words that “These two words, in and of themselves, in a sense contain the whole of the gospel.”  Lloyd-Jones is exactly right.  The gospel is all about our coming to know and understand just how errant we are, how broken we are.  It’s about knowing that we don’t measure up to the standard that God has set for us.  However, despite the absolute truth of that fact, God still sent His Son into the world to pay the price that was owed for our sins.  God still sends His Holy Spirit into the world to be the power of God working in us, to us, and through us.

                You know, it’s not like the text says, but God forgave everything in Jesus.  I mean, it would be great if that was all that Paul wrote, but it’s not.  Instead, we find something so much more joyous than we could imagine:  “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”  So let me get this straight; not only is God not going to punish us and exercise His wrath towards us (which He is perfectly within His rights to do), but He is also going to show us such riches and grace that the only way that we can quantify them is to call them immeasurable.  Surely there’s some catch here.  Surely there’s something that we must give up or do in order to be shown these immeasurable riches of His grace.  You know what they say about a deal that sounds too good to be true…it usually is.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.”  Wait a minute.  You mean to tell me that all of this, all of these wonderful blessings that God has promised to, and indeed will, bestow upon us are granted to us because we have faith in Him?  “And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ok, now things are starting to seem just too good to be true.  I mean, rationally thinking, there’s no way that we could be the recipients of something that we so clearly do not deserve… “But God.”

                I want to remind of a few things here.  First, faith is much more than acknowledgment.  We covered that pretty in-depth when we studied the epistle of James.  Faith is not just admitting or acknowledging the existence of God, but instead it is knowing that God is real and trusting in Him.  To borrow a phrase that we used last week, it’s heart-knowledge and not just head-knowledge.  Secondly, even when we get that assurance that we have faith, even when we know beyond and shadow of a doubt that we believe wholeheartedly in Christ and rest upon Him for our salvation, we have absolutely nothing to brag about.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about celebrating.  Being found in Christ gives us every reason to celebrate.  I’m talking about boasting or bragging as if we’ve done anything ourselves.  If you recall, back in the opening part of this epistle, Paul wrote that one Greek sentence that talked about the work of the Trinity in terms of our salvation:  chosen by the Father, redeemed by the Son, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.  We don’t find our names anywhere in there except for being the ones who everything is done to.  It’s not as if we really contribute anything to our salvation.

                I’m kind of a particular person.  I have certain things that just jump out to me in certain ways and I really don’t know why.  Now, my wife has finally after some time gotten through to me and helped me to see that I don’t have to point out every little thing that I notice.  For example, I’ve often found it puzzling why after a surgery the doctor or surgeon comes in and tells the patient that they did great during the procedure.  Did they?  Well, what exactly was their role in the operation?  I mean, can you really count being laid out and knocked out by gas as doing something?  After all, they have people now whose sole job it is to monitor your vital signs throughout the surgery.  In essence, when you don’t even do the one thing that you’re supposed to do, they have someone to do it for you.  I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of anyone making it through a procedure and bragging about how well they did during the operation.  However, I know a lot people who like to brag about their standing with the Lord even though, as Paul wrote here, they really don’t have anything to do with it.  Again, I’m not talking about celebrating.  Celebrate all you want because it’s something worth celebrating.  I’m talking about boasting about what you did to give yourself that standing with the Lord.  God gives each one of us our position with Him, “it is a gift from God, not a result of works.”

                You see, this is the application of Ephesians 1:3-14.  Chapter 1, as I mentioned earlier, is the revealing of God’s plan of salvation through Christ and carried out by the Holy Spirit through the instrument known as the Church.  Chapter 2 is the position that the Christian has in that plan.  It’s not our plan for our lives; it’s God’s perfect and righteous and holy plan for our lives.  God is the one who is the architect of the plan.  God is the one who executes that plan in Jesus Christ.  And God is the one who applies the benefits of the execution of that plan to our hearts through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Paul is writing to the Ephesians and telling them of the work of Christ that is to be done to them and in them.  He’s telling them that they “who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, [Jesus] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present [them] holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (Col. 1:21-22). 

                You see, these 10 verses that we have for us in our text for today are basically a summation of much of what we looked at during the first part of our look at James’ epistle.  It’s great that we’re found in Christ and that we have a relationship with God.  It’s great that despite our faults and our failures that we are still able to enjoy such wonderful blessings.  However, don’t think for one second that it is because of your own doing that you have that relationship.  Yes, you make the decision every day to follow Christ, but it is because God has put that burden upon your heart.  As we’ve already said, if we completely fell during the fall so that nothing good exists in us naturally, then how could we come to saving faith without God first planting that seed of faith within us.  It is by grace that God grants to us that faith.  It is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that we are saved.  How do we come to know about Christ?  We come to know him through the Church.  Remember that this entire epistle is centered around the Church and the one on whom the Church is founded and built.  Christ must be at the epicenter of all that the Church does and is. 

I’ve been giving this text a lot of thought this week and it’s been a bit strange.  I mean, just think about the last couple of weeks.  We’ve had websites hacked that exposed countless marital affairs, news crews shot on air, potential school shootings, police officers shot, and even today we remember Hurricane Katrina.  I mean, that’s a lot of bad stuff.  However, in the midst of that Amy and I have been able to celebrate the birth of our niece, spend time with our kids, and wake up each morning and praise God.  In other words, yes there’s a lot of bad stuff out there, yes there’s evil in the world, and yes sometimes it seems like we’re almost fighting a losing battle being Christians who are trying to raise and make Christian disciples, but God.  Because God is who He says He is, we know without a shadow of a doubt that not one promise that He makes will fail.  We know that He will see us through any storm, any season, and problem that may arise.  It may not be pretty, and it may not be without some discomfort and hardship, but He will see us through it.  And that’s the hope that we all must have.  Despite who we are and what we actually deserve, God gives us so much more.