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“The New Man And The World” • 8.18.13
• Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- Paul has been writing to the Ephesians from a
Roman prison cell and the first two chapters have literally been heavenly!
- The Apostle has emphasized the blessings that
have flowed freely from heaven, gracing people with salvation and uniting even
the most ardent enemies under the banner of Christ's love.
- Coming to the end of chapter 2 and moving into chapter 3, Paul wants the Ephesians to
comprehend their position as a saved people.
- We saw salvation's implications from God to
Man, then from Man to Man. Today we see salvation's implications from the New
Man to the World! Note these 3 sections today.
I. What He Has Done (2:19-3:7)
II. What We Are To Do (v.8-12)
III. How It Is Done (v.13-21)
Text
I. What He Has Done (2:19-3:7)
• Ephesians
2:19-22 : "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but
fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,
in whom
the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the
Lord, in whom
you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." : What a word to hear from Paul! The Gentiles were no longer outcasts
and outsiders! They were now fellow citizens!
- They weren't second class citizens with a few
privileges of visitation. They were full blown natives of the heavenly country,
and even greater, members of God's own household!
- You are not only welcome in His country, but
expected at His very table for dinner!
- Unlike the unbeliever who meanders through
life seeking a place to belong, being drawn incessantly toward any sinful and
destructive desire, the believer knows who he is and where he fits!
-
Why is this? Because he or she has been built upon a solid, two fold
foundation.
- First, the life of God's people is built upon
the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.
- The Apostles brought doctrine, a witness of
the life and sacrifice of Christ, while the Prophets spoke boldly about the
need for holy living in Christ.
- According to Hebrews 1:1, both
offices are closed as the Bible retains their testimony.
- Our lives are built upon the Word of God, not
our feelings or our cravings. The Word of God is our compass, which is why we
seek to unveil what's here in every age group, every week!
- The second part of the foundation is who the
Apostles and the Prophets pointed their ministry toward: the Lord Jesus
Himself. We are built upon the Word of God which reveals the Word of God!
- Paul calls Jesus the "chief
cornerstone." This is an architectural reference to a stone that would bear
the weight of a building and provide measurement to the rest.
- This stone had to be perfectly cut and placed
level so that the building would be sound.
- Jesus, the stone that the builders, the
rulers of Israel at His time, rejected, was the stone that God the Father chose
to build the Christian life upon! What is happening with this building?
- When Jesus is the foundation, pieces are
added to it and measured by Him!
- He is fitting stones together in order that
these stones which are a building, will become a Holy temple!
- When we are gathered together in one place,
we become a place where God is met and His Spirit resides! This is why you are
a necessary piece, why God keeps calling you back: You fit here!
- As a stone, cut to size within the church,
you are necessary for the expression to be it's fullest. Don't be arrogant! You
are just a stone after all, but a stone that fits!
- You are a citizen of heaven, a family member,
a properly built person belonging to a place where someone from the world might
meet God and say, "Surely God is here!"
- What a profound thought! He reconciled two
irreconcialable groups to make this a possiblity!
• Ephesians
3:1-7 : "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you
Gentiles—if indeed
you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me
for you, how that by revelation He made
known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made
known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy
apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and
partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister
according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working
of His power." : For this reason. The reason being that God is unveiling a new
institution, a new type of temple, centered on Jesus Christ where men can meet
God.
- Paul was in a Roman prison, but it was Jesus
who captured Him! Paul was there on behalf of or because of his ministry to the
Gentiles.
- it had been believed that he had brought a
few Gentiles into the forbidden area of the temple, a riot ensued and Paul was
arrested in Acts 21, so he was
literally in prison for his ministry to them.
- God had given this dispensary of grace to
Paul for them. The idea didn't originate from or by men, but was unvelied to
Paul during this pivotal time. Paul had come to understand God's purpose.
- Prior to this time, the church was a mystery,
something hidden that would remain hidden until the one hiding it chose to reveal
it. That's what God did for Paul as well as the other Apostles!
- God's Spirit has chosen to unveil that the
Gentiles are fellow heirs of God alongside of the Jews! They did not have to
become Jews and Jews did not become Gentiles.
- They both became a new man, a third race,
inheritors of the same body of Christ. They have a stake in the Holy Spirit
through the gospel message!
- At the Jerusalem Council, Peter uttered these
words after defending the act of God in bringing the Gentiles to salvation in Acts 15:11.
• Acts
15:11 : "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
we shall be saved in the same manner as they."
- Jews would be saved by grace through faith as
well as the Gentiles! This was Paul's ministry, but was not Paul's energy. It
was God's grace working effectively, powerfully through him!
- "Effectively" points to the energy
provided to do the work and "power" speaks to the dynamic ability of
the work to produce, in this case, godly results.
- The Gentiles were saved, not because of what
Paul was doing, but because of what God was doing through Paul! We are heirs
because God wants us to be heirs!
- Paul is telling them, "You heard this
through me, but it was God who spoke and changed your lives and your
destiny!"
II. What We Are To Do (v.8-12)
• Ephesians
3:8 : "To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace
was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of
Christ," : Paul is amazed that he gets to be
on the frontline of what God is doing even though he felt himself to be the
lowest of the low!
- But God's grace chose Him for this moment and
for this audience! He got to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches
of Christ. Before we move on, please don't pressure yourself.
- Notice that Paul did not choose this. God had
given him grace to preach and an audience to preach to. Paul was merely living
in what God chose for Him.
- We see Paul's calling as significant because
of the degree of success and the enduring results, but we fail the course if we
see it as any less significant than what He calls us to!
- Where you are, you can preach the same
message as Paul to the audience that He gives you! Tell your world of the
unsearchable riches of Christ. "But, they are unsearchable!"
- The concept here is that the riches of Christ
are past our ability to find them all out! If a hunter used this word, it would
refer to a lack of tracks to follow! So follow as far as you can!
- We have reached the top of an eternally deep
treasure chest and will exhaust ourselves for eternity seeking to find the
bottom!
- It was Paul's privilege to make them known
and a privilege as a church to bask in them in order that we might continue in
Paul's mission in sharing Christ's riches! He continunes...
• Ephesians
3:9-12 : "and to make all see what is the fellowship of the
mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created
all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made
known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose
which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access
with confidence through faith in Him." : Paul was
gifted to preach Christ's riches and to shine the light on the partnership in
this formerly hidden intention of God!
- The idea of the church was kept secret in God!
There was no clear communication given by the Lord in the Old Testament of this
new institution.
- There are hints all over the place, and one
can certainly see them now, but then, it was kept in God's crypt! God, the One
who created all things through Christ Jesus!
- God created the Worlds through Christ Jesus
and He created a new Man, a new institution on earth through Jesus. Why? To the
intent that He might display His manifold wisdom!
- "Manifold" speaks to multi-colored.
There is a great variety of colors on display! There is nuance and artistry
that is revealed in layers the deeper one looks. Who's looking? The angels!
- God wants to display His wisdom by the church
to all of the authorities and powers in the heavenly places, the angelic host.
"Look at what I can do through that group of people!"
- Even more, He wants the church to teach
angels something about Himself! Imagine that! Angels are created powerful, but
God uses ordinary people in profoundly powerful ways!
- This was the eternal purpose, the reason for
what He accomplished in Christ Jesus, in whom we have boldness and access with
confidence through faith in Him.
- The word "boldness" speaks of
honesty in speech, without ambiguity. "Access" speaks of the ability
to bring something directly to God, with no intermediary.
- We can speak freely and walk in directly with
a sure trust that He will respond to us because of our faith relationship in
Jesus Christ! The Angels look on and marvel!
- This is the wisdom of God! The world around
us and the powers that exist in the heavenly places, see a group of people
endowed with a powerful relationship to God!
III. How It Is Done (v.13-21)
• Ephesians
3:13 : "Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations
for you, which is your glory." : When
they heard of Paul's imprisonment, they were completely dispirited. But those
pressure filled moments were their glory, their boast!
- Paul's sufferings prove that what has been
happening in the lives of the Ephesians was real! God had really worked in
their life and now, to some extent, Paul is paying the price for it!
• Ephesians
3:14-16 : "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, from
whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in
the inner man," : Listen to Paul. He's
sitting in a prison cell and he's praying. He's bowed down. He's using that
bold access to come to the Father!
- He sitting in a heavenly place isn't he? He's
right where he needs to be to meet with God!
- He is praying to the One from whom the whole
family in heaven and earth is named! What a thought! You and I belong to the
same family as Abraham and David, Spurgeon & Campbell Morgan!
- We are all named for Christ! Christians from
all ages and times are one whole family!
- Paul is in prison praying to God, but note
that he is praying for them! He prays that God would grant or gift them,
according to what He has, to be strengthened!
- Elsewhere the word "strengthened"
is translated "strong in spirit" or "brave." Paul is
praying that the Lord's Spirit would make them courageous people in the face of
certain persecution.
- They would need this bravery in the inner
man, the soul or the conscience. In this world, we must pray the same thing:
May our hearts be brave to follow the Lord!
• Ephesians
3:17-19 : "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width
and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may
be filled with all the fullness of God." : Paul
petitions God to allow Christ to dwell or settle in their hearts. May your
heart, the center of your life, be a comfortable dwelling place for the Lord.
- He continues, noting that his prayers were
that they would be rooted, firmly established and grounded, stabilized in love.
That love is the love that the church has for Jesus.
- A church cannot be a church unless it is
taught and willing to be in love with the Lord! But it's equally true that
loving the Lord must also extend to loving our brothers and sisters in the
Lord.
- Love is what establishes and stabilizes us!
It is the genuine proof of our relationship to the Lord, an evidence of His
relationship to us and an attraction to the world!
- Paul continues, asking that they would be
able, that they might have the full strength capacity to comprehend something
special with all of the churches.
- "Comprehend" means more than
knowing something. It speaks of a knowledge which has seized control of your
perception of life. Would it be that we had this as we study!
- If you could only be influenced by the width,
the length, the depth and the height of Christ's love! Imagine how that would
change our lives together!?
- This sentiment was recorded by several
commentators. I paraphrase them all now.
˚
"The love of God is wide
enough to include everyone who has ever believed. It's long enough to encompass
eternity. It's deep enough to root out and conquer sin and high enough to reach
heaven!" (Various Commentators)
- In 1917, Pastor Frederick Martin Lehman wrote
some of the greatest extra biblical sentiments that I know about the love of
God in the hymn of the same name on a box of lemons during a break!
- Listen to the opening line: "The love of God is greater far / Than
tongue or pen can ever tell / It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to
the lowest hell!" Read the rest later today!
- So profound! This love passes, far beyond,
any person's knowledge. What we know or think that we know can never compare to
the love that He has for us!
- Finally, Paul ends his prayer for them with
this: That they would be filled with all the the fullness of God! What an
amazing statement!
- The Apostles desires for them to be filled
full, stockpiled, supplied to full capacity. Paul wants the church to be filled
to such a capacity with all that is in God!
- Why? When His love is our compass and we have
all that we could need or want in Him, nothing will keep us from being the fullest
expression of His genius!
- You know, it's one thing for Paul to want it
for the Ephesians. It's another thing for me to want it for you or vice versa.
It's quite another thing for you to want it for you and me for me!
- Would you pray this today: Lord, fill me to
my current capacity with all of you and then increase my capacity for more!
Watch what He'll do!
- Expect that He will clear out some
unnecessary things to take advantage of your current capacity first. Then,
watch Him begin to add and add. I would look forward to the church we'd be
if...
• Ephesians
3:20,21 : "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by
Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." : Paul ends his prayer and this first section of Ephesians with
this beautiful doxology beginning with the familiar words "now to
Him!"
- This moment is for the Lord, Paul exulting in
all that He is in this moment to him! He is caught up in wonder and praise.
- All of these things that he has written about
in the first three chapters of this book are overwhelming his senses.
- The God who has given of Himself, to save
people from themselves, for Himself, as an expression of Himself, joining an
entirely new man into one body in Himself is deserving!
- "Now to Him who is able!" He that
is always endowed with the ability to act.
- How can a people be right with God? God is
able. How can people who hate each other be brought together and made a family?
God is able! How can a man in prison rejoice? God is able!
- You and I? Not so much! We lack all the
resource to effect change. He is not limited. In fact, He is able to do, to act
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think! Infinity times
inifinity!
- God's resource is far above and far beyond
all that we could begin to beg for or conceive of!
- That's the power that works in us, the church
of God, either in Ephesus 2,000 years ago, or Colton today! That's what Paul
means!
- May He receive all the value of His worth in
the church, by Jesus Christ to all generations! In this generation, it is our
privilege to call each other to glorify God, to lift up the name of His Son!
- We are responsible to lead that chorus today,
even unto forever and ever, Amen!
Conclusion
- What has He done? He's made a new man, a third race out of believers in Christ. He's given us a country, a home and made us a temple for His Spirit to indwell. He's revealed all this to us.
- What has He done? He's made a new man, a third race out of believers in Christ. He's given us a country, a home and made us a temple for His Spirit to indwell. He's revealed all this to us.
-
What are we to do? Be a display item of His great wisdom to the world and even
to the Angelic host which watches even now in amazement!
-
How is it to be done? With a Spirit strengthened and emboldened by Him. With a
heart overwhelmed with His love!
-
We are powered by His unparalleled power, so our mouths will bring Him praise
and honor in our generation!
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