You call me out upon the waters : Ephesians 4:1-10
Ephesians • Sermon • Submitted
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The Christian life, the calling
The Christian life, the calling
Paul has spent the last 3 chapters giving us an overview of our salvation. How we are saved, and his love for us. That we are saved by Grace alone. There is nothing you or I could do to make God love us any more than he already does. And we can’t earn our salvation. It comes only through Christ. Through accepting him.
We’ve learned that we were known by him before the very creation of the world. And that we were created for a purpose, to live in relationship with him, and to demonstrate this love to all those around us. To become more like him each and every day, and to grow close to him.
Let’s pray...
I’ve shared about 6 weeks ago about my sailing on the Norfolk broads, which was a very new experience for me.
I remember the briefing we had on the first morning explaining the basics of sailing, what each of the parts of the boat were and how they worked together. We were then shown the different roles which we’d each take. No-one was left in one place, we each had to learn the different elements. We had to learn how to take up the mast, and lay it down, how to steer with the tiller and how to sail using the main sail. In order to take the boat out, we all had to work together, each of us with our unique insights and perspectives, playing our part in sailing the boat.
At the begining we relied on the skipper, the captain, to guide everything we did. As we got more skilled, we were able to take the skippers instructions, follow out his plans, but without the in depth instructions which he’d given us the first time. We all trusted the skipper to get us through in one piece, and through practice and team work, we each got better at sailing together.
This makes me think of this passage in Ephesians
In the first 3 chapters of Ephesians, Paul has shown us that we have been called to be part of one family
we have been called to be part of one family
we were brought into God’s family by adoption through Jesus
The family originaly for the Jewish people
Now open to everyone who accepts Jesus
The good news is that we are all welcomed into this family where we can all have unprecidented access to God the creator, our Father, our saviour and our friend
Church is a big family, and we are designed to be ONE
One Body - when we share communion - one bread
One Lord - Jesus Christ
One Spirit - the Holy Spirit who empowers us
One Faith - the faith revealed to us through Jesus
One Baptism - the outward sign of adoption and acceptance into god’s family
One God - the one who is over all and in all
But remember that Unity is not uniformity
we were created by our One God to be unique, to be different, but to be united
35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The first 3 chapters revealed what God has done for us through his grace
in stepping down to earth in Jesus and rescuing us from sin and death
now we turn to our part, how we should live and what our example to the world should be
We need to excercise and demonstrate the practical living out of our faith, showing the love of Jesus to others
this will be part of our next Sermon series as we explore how we can practically share our faith through our words and our actions
it’s massively behind Vision 2020, our 110th anniversary where we’ll have the oppertunity to invite the community into our buildings, and to go out to the community
To celebrate the churche’s 110th anniversary, TANGOs 20th anniversary and the Community Garden’s 10th
We’ve got opertunities to be trained in evangelism by the Billy Graham group and the oppertunity to take our searching friends to see his son Franklin in the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool
It’s why we’ll be running the start course for those exploring if there’s a God, and alpha for those who are asking the big questions of life, and exploring who Jesus is
It’s quite a year that God has ahead for us
And so, at the begining of a new year, our behaviour is so important in witnessing to God, in showing the love of Jesus to those around us
One of the main ways non-believers can see God is through seeing him in you
Sadly the reputation of the worldwide church has been severeley damaged by those who know the right things to do, but don’t do them. They are often proud and quick to tell others what they should do and what they shouldn’t do, but then they don’t do it themselves
So many people are desperately looking for a genuine faith, a genuine encounter with the supernatural. And we know we’ve experienced the most truly powerful life changing love in Jesus
We are called to behave the way Jesus did. Our purspose and goal is to become even more like Jesus everyday, through our relationship with him
9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
In what practical ways can you demonstrate your faith in God and your understanding of what he has done for you in Christ?
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The parable of the fig tree which did not bear fruit
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The parable of the fig tree which did not bear fruit
Jesus saw the leaves on the fig tree, but he left as hungry as he came, because it had no fruit on it -21
19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. 21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
(NIV)
19Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
We know a tree by it’s fruit
20When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
21Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.
22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Our lives should be like bill boards, advertising the beauty of relationship with God through Jesus - Joyce Meyer - a biblical commentary on Ephesians
Do you have the proper fruit to back up your claim to be a Christian?
How do we treat eachother? -v2
2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
humble
humble
gentle
patient
bearing with one another in love
Humility is not self-rightous
never seeing ourselves as better than anyone else
Knowing ourseleves and facing our weaknesses keeps us from feeling superior or sel-important
Gentleness doesn’t mean being a pushover,
but it does mean being tender of caring toward others in our approach and dealins with them
The opposite you could say would be the bull in the china shop
Patience is all about holding back from jumping straight in and waiting for the right moment without becoming anxious or adgetated
I love taking risks with Jesus, and I want to follow where he’s leading us
But often that comes after a time of testing and waiting on him
And when we’re working together, we’re so different, and sometimes that difference frustrates us because we don’t understand why our brother or sister in Christ is doing something in that particular way. Through patience, our relationships grow. We start to understand each other better, and how we each have something unique to offer
Just before arriving in Haydock, I was helping build a church in Romania, literally helping build it and there was one guy I really struggled with. We got on well, but working together was infuriating
And bearing with one another in love
We were given the task of plasterboarding the inside of the church and he
As Jesus said “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
We bear with one another because of our love for each other, and our love for Jesus
That means we don’t give up on each other
We forgive, we work hard at forming lasting relationships
3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Eph 4.
And we make every effort to keep united
And we make
Satan loves to divide and bring disunity, division
He seeks to turn our differnces into problems, rather than seeing how we all compliment each other
Next week Richard will be exploring some of the roles which members in every church are given
As I said earlier, Unity is not Uniformatiy. We will disagree on things, and we bear with one another in love
We will disagree on politics, on how we should execute a plan and sometimes even on how we understand what the Bible says
But instead of letting these things divide us, let’s bear with one another in love. Because we love each other, because we are a family here at St Marks. Let’s unite this year under Jesus to see amazing things happen in Jesus name here in Haydock.
Let’s pray for growth in our church, not for the sake of numbers, but for the sake of our friends and neighbours who don’t yet know Jesus.
Let’s commit to being humble, gentle, patient, and loving to each other, and to those we meet, so that they may see Jesus in us
I wonder who Jesus is laying on your heart today
What act is he asking you to do to show them His love?