Ephesians 3:8-13 | A Life of Abiding
Notes
Transcript
| A Life of Abiding
Recap:
Recap:
Paul has been spending every word to the church in Ephesus pointing them toward Jesus and their new identity that they have received as sons and daughters within His forever family.
Most recently at the conclusion of Ch. 2 and into Ch. 3 he has focused his energy on writing about their new communal identity in light of their sonship. In effect, if we have all been adopted into a new family from all across the map into the same family, then we have a new relationship with one another. Regardless of social background, Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, all of those dividing factors that have created a “wall of hostility” has been broken down by the Good News of the Gospel.
Paul goes onto say that we are apart of a New Family, a New Nation, and a New Temple. Our divisions have been overruled by the Gospel of reconciliation.
In vs 1-7, Paul gives some enlightenment into the privilege that he holds as the one who has come to bring this good news of reconciliation to the church. Because for so long the only conceivable thought was division, and a Jewish hope to one day rule OVER the nations, but Jesus changed the game by suggesting that all together are meant to one day rule together.
This is powerful and potentially revolting news to this church in Ephesus. They had been raised to seperate but now Paul is calling them toward unity.
So the question for today is WHY SHOULD THEY LISTEN TO HIM?
What I believe God has for us to discover today is why should they listen to us?
Main Idea: If we desire to have an eternal impact within ourselves and in the world it must be rooted in Abiding in Jesus
God:
God:
Vs 7 – Why should he be trusted? Because he is first and foremost a recipient of God’s unmerited grace. Notice he doesn’t first fall back on how awesome he is, I am so generous, such a sacrificial leader, such an impressive man. He begins with an acknowledgement that he has received a unique call as a Gospel voice to the gentiles all based on God’s grace.
This is important to know because Paul from all accounts seems awesome! He is bold, loving, protective, heartfelt, well thought, super knowledgeable, discerning, and carning!
Wouldn’t it be great if we could just snap our fingers, say a phrase, go through the procedure, put on the armor and just be as awesome as Paul?
I think of Captain America and Iron Man, if you watch both of their first movies you never quite know when they learned to be so awesome at fighting and strategic thinking… Captain America just got done with his operation and all of a sudden he is chasing down a submarine and beating up Nazis. Iron Man created his armor and starts taking out trained terrorists and mercenaries.
That is fantastic! And it is nothing like my life.
In my life, I desire to grow, to be “better” whether it is with the things I think, the things I do or don’t do. Just to fall back into the same patterns in my mind, my heart, and my life.
Apparently I am not alone because if you search amazon there are thousands of self help books, Youtube is filled with social media stars who want to help you improve every aspect of your life, and every branch of spirituality and religious thought has a different method for the same goal.
But for all this work, what do we have to show for it?
More often than not it is disappointment, frustration, and we can start feeling hopeless. Despite our best efforts and best intentions, somehow our journey to awesomeness, to impact our world and “be better” comes up short.
And if we are awesome at anything, we might be quick to deflect credit but if you are anything like me you can easily begin to believe the hype in your own heart.
Main Idea: If we desire to have an eternal impact within ourselves and in the world it must be rooted in Abiding in Jesus
Don’t you think Paul knew what that felt like? But he explained that his reason to be heard as a Gospel Voice and a communicator of this powerful news of reconciliation was not rooted in Him but was rooted in God’s undeserved grace and power.
Vs 8 – Paul doesn’t come with false humility, because he came to Jesus with baggage.
Maybe you have heard his story before, He was the martyr maker turned into a minister of reconciliation.
But even that was not overnight, on the road to Demascus Jesus changed his life but Paul was not immediately planting churches, enciting riots and writing a bunch of the books in the Bible. He went into the wilderness of Arabia for three years and learned, waited, and listened.
Unlike Captain America or Iron Man, Paul had to go through a refining process where he was discipled, where he learned what it meant to follow after Jesus, and he was taught about what it meant to draw near to Jesus.
This is more like Doctor Strange. If you haven’t seen Doctor Strange, it is basically the Inception of the MCU. Stephen Strange is a world renowned surgeon, but ended up in a car accident that left nerve damage in his hands, which is kind of vital for a surgeon, and after he exhausts medical expertise for the fix. He ends up at a mystical interdimensional training facility. He is blown away by their ability to manipulate reality and cross between dimensions, and asks an important question that all of us should ask… “How do I get from here to there?”
We can go through our entire lives with Jesus and never really think about what it looks like to become more like Him, to love more like Him, to serve more like Him.
But this is exactly what Paul went and did, and what He learned is growing in Jesus comes out of drawing near to Him. No short cuts. Just abiding in Him in every moment of life.
Paul had learned this lesson deeper than most because of his past. He had been so broken, filled with bitterness towards Jesus and his followers, assisted in their deaths, and was undone when He experienced Jesus for the first time.
He had experienced such deep forgiveness, but the weight of his past must have always stayed on his mind. But not out of lingering shame and guilt, but out of gratitude and adoration. Even though he was responsible for carrying the Gospel across the Roman World, he considered himself the least of all. But his focus was not on himself, but on the way that his story simply proclaimed the richness and magnitude of the Gospel. The grace of Jesus paid whatever the outstanding debt each person carried, and each of us were forgiven a different amount, but what Paul is saying is look at how incredible this good news is! You thought it was awesome before, remember my story, how it is even greater than you previously knew!
This is the kind of humility that we should allow the Gospel to bring us toward as well, a radical dependence on Jesus that flies in the face of our culture and our nature.
In my life, I am continually made more and more aware of how much I need Jesus, and have seen the fruit that only He could create in my life. Before following Him I was mean spirited, deeply hurtful, indulged whatever would make me feel good, manipulative, and lustful. Just to name a few things…
I have seen God bring healing and restoration in my life over the last eight years that I have followed Him, but the grace of Jesus hasn’t only been present in my life during a specific time, but if I have learned anything in following Him it is how I need Him more than I know, and when I have failed to remember that… when I think I am pretty awesome on my own, that is when I fall.
I began looking at pornography when I was 11 years old and I wouldn’t have called it an addiction because I didn’t see anything wrong with it until I was 18, and by then I realized this sensual and private room I created in my mind had become a prison I couldn’t escape. It wasn’t until I surrendered the fight to Jesus that I saw any version of freedom, but even in that there have been times where I began to believe this was up to my strength.
Last year Ali was out of town when I felt this draw toward porn, and a few times throughout the weekend she was gone I would pull up a website just to turn it off a few seconds later.
I never followed through on any of it, and I deceived myself in my mind that was victory. Until Ali asked me a month later how my mind and heart were doing in terms of purity and I told her, but I didn’t confess because I thought I had won!
I didn’t anticipate the damage it would do to our trust, and her heart. It wasn’t the act, it was the deception. It was the deception of myself into believing that I didn’t need Jesus at that moment, that I had it under control.
Paul considered himself the least of the saints simply because he had discovered his deep need to draw near and Abide in Jesus. This is what Paul had seen as the richness of the Gospel.
How rich is the Gospel?
Vs 8b-9 – How rich is the Gospel? Think about the richness of a decadent dessert, like Molten Lava Cake. How rich and flavorful.
Paul had to make a new word to describe the richness of the Gospel. The unsearchable riches of Christ, is a word that doesn’t appear in Greek anywhere outside of the Bible. It is a word built on the word “footprint.” As in, a tracker who follows the footprint of another. It is like if we go on a quest looking for how rich is the good news of Jesus? We will go searching and continue to discover more and more without ever coming to the end of it.
It is good news that reconciles us to one another, to our new family, to our renewed purpose, and ultimately to our Creator who we now can call Dad!
Paul has been so impacted by the grace of God that HE MUST go and be a Gospel Voice to the world.
And as Paul went as a Gospel Voice to the Gentiles, He shed light into the implications of the Gospel to everyone who would come to follow Jesus. Not just the obvious suspects, but that ALL who would come after Him could experience new life found only in the Creator.
Main Idea: If we desire to have an eternal impact within ourselves and in the world it must be rooted in Abiding in Jesus
It is only when we live with eyes open to how desperately we need Jesus in every moment do we begin to have an appreciation and a gratitude for the richness of this good news!
Vs 10-11 – But we also see the impact of God’s abiding grace had on His view of this new family he belonged to. Paul was not naive to the church, he had seen the frustrations, tense elder meetings, betrayal, miscommunications. All of it, he had seen it all yet Paul still believed in the church.
In the same way, many of us come from various faith backgrounds, and I know some, like myself, have seen the brokenness of when the family of God is NOT living out love for one another. It can be discouraging and easy to give up on the church and do spirituality on our own.
As Tony Merida wrote, “There is more going on with the church than meets the eye. If you are part of the church, then you are a part of the cosmic sermon that is being preached to spiritual rulers and authorities.” These rulers and authorities are most likely both messengers of light and darkness. That the messengers of light would be in awe at the radical reconciliation that the Gospel evokes within the church, as Peter explained, “things into which angels longed to look.” They have been curious and it all makes sense!
That the messengers of darkness would cower in fear. They thrive off of isolation, fear, anxiety, frustration, hurt, and chaos. But the Gospel guarantees a reconciling victory!!!! When they look at the church being reconciled they know they have lost the war. Merida continues, “His grace and glory are displayed in a diverse New Humanity – a many-colored Nation, a multi-cultural and multiethnic family – a New Temple who have been called, redeemed, forgiven, made alive, and united in Christ.”
Vs 12 – This is exciting news. Without this news all of us, unless you are ethnically Jewish, would not have had a shot at eternity with our Creator!
All of this doesn’t come by Paul’s brilliance, his courage, or his heart. It comes from him drawing near to Jesus. Our boldness and confident access into this Kingdom reality comes from abiding in Jesus. That like Paul, as we are anchored in our faith to Him we are transformed, empowered, and propelled into our calling as ministers of reconciliation. But we don’t only do this in isolation, we do this in intimacy with God, we do this in Biblical Community, and we do this on Mission.
Main Idea: If we desire to have an eternal impact within ourselves and in the world it must be rooted in Abiding in Jesus
This is what victory looks like, us drawing near to Jesus together. But from the world’s standpoint remember where Paul is sitting. He is sitting in prison waiting trial because he drew near to Jesus and encouraged others to do the same. He looked like a loser to the world.
Which is why he finalized this passage with calling out the elephant in the room.
Vs 13 – As we abide in Jesus we are guaranteed victory. It is not victory the way we normally think, it is a glory that follows in the steps of the Suffering Servant King Jesus.
Main Idea: If we desire to have an eternal impact within ourselves and in the world it must be rooted in Abiding in Jesus
You:
You:
Why should they trust the Gospel he was proclaiming? Because He was abiding in Jesus and encouraging others to do the same in every moment of life. Regardless of circumstance, regardless of the difficulty of the lessons to be learned he drew near to Jesus.
Why should they trust the Gospel we proclaim? Not because we are awesome, but because we abide in Jesus and His love compels us to love like Him, think like Him, and Hope like Him.
Us:
Us:
We have been adopted in a new family filled with ethnic diversity, a new temple filled with gifting diversity, a new nation filled with cultural diversity, one guaranteed to win!
One rooted in Jesus!