Tawa Baptist

One

Scripture: Ephesians 4:1-6

Title: One

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Calling
  • Oneness
  • Worth
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians by focusing on chapter 4 verses 1-6

  • If we think of Ephesians as a door, then chapter 4 is like the hinge, where Paul connects what God has done with what we must do
  • Or if we think of Ephesians as a book, then today’s passage is the spine, holding together theology (what we think and say about God) with praxis (how we are to live our lives)
  • In Ephesians 4 Paul opens the door from heart to hands
  • He turns the page from praise to practice. From verse 1 we read…

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called. Be completely humble and meek; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us

 

On the wall here we have three letters: W C O

  • What word can you make with those three letters [Wait]
  • That’s right; COW
  • A cow is a wonderful creature; it has the ability to turn grass into milk
  • So many great tasting things come from cows, like hamburgers, ice-cream and thick-shakes. Cows are a source nourishment
  • This morning’s reading from Ephesians is like a cow in the sense that it is rich in nourishment too; it contains so many tasty words

But, to give some structure to the message, I want to focus your attention on three words: Calling, Oneness and Worth. First let’s consider our calling

 

Calling:

In verse 1, Paul writes: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

    • And in verse 4 …just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
  • Calling features quite strongly in these verses, so what is our calling?
  • Very simply, our calling is to be the people of God

Imagine you are at work. You might be sitting at your desk clearing emails, or rewiring a house, or dressing someone’s wound in hospital, or standing in front of a class of kids, or whatever it is you do for a job – and as you are working your cell phone rings

  • You take a quick look at your phone and see that it’s an unknown number so you ignore it, because it’s not a very convenient time
  • Later, during your lunch break, you’re sitting there with a coffee and you notice there’s a voice mail on your phone
  • Curiosity gets the better of you so you dial 083210 and listen to the message
  • A voice you recognise from TV addresses you by name and says,
  • “Look, I’m ringing to say we’ve had our eye on you for a while now and we see real potential in you. We would like to give you a place on the team for the world cup. Give me a call back when you get a minute.”
  • You sit there stunned for a few moments while your coffee starts to go cold. You can’t believe what you’ve just heard – you’ve received the call.
  • You’ve been offered a place in the team. You’re going to the world cup

 

From a western perspective we tend to think of calling in individual terms

  • We might think, my calling is to be a teacher or a doctor or a minister or a missionary or a mother or some other personal vocation that is all encompassing and more than a 9 to 5 job
  • And while that is a legitimate way to think of our calling, it’s not exactly what Paul means in Ephesians 4
  • The sense of calling in this context is more along the lines of becoming part of a group
  • It’s like the call to join the team that is going to the world cup
  • In the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul talked about being in Christ
  • Our call is to become part of Christ’s team; his body the church
  • Our calling is to be the people of God – to represent God like the Silver Ferns or the Black Caps or the All Blacks represent New Zealand

 

When our kids were younger and we were away on holiday we had this tradition that whenever we saw an assembly point sign, like this, we would go and stand up straight at attention beside it

  • Sometimes your body can go on holiday but your mind is still at work.
  • Looking out for assembly point signs to stand by was a fun way of calling our minds away from work so we could relax and enjoy our time together

The Greek verb for call shares the same root as the Greek word for church

  • When we hear the word ‘church’ we tend to think of an institution or a building. For us, the term ‘church’ has 2000 years of history attached to it
  • But for people in the first century, ekklesia (the Greek word for church) was not a religious word. It simply meant ‘assembly point’, a gathering of people who have been called together in a particular place. [1]

The calling we have received from God is not just an individual thing; it is also a collective or team thing

  • Our calling is to gather together around Christ, who is our assembly point
  • Sometimes our body can come to church on a Sunday but our mind is elsewhere, thinking about school or work or some other worry
  • The ritual of gathering together, in the name of Jesus each Sunday for a worship service, actually helps our mind to take a break from the burdens we carry and enjoy God

So much is lost in translation. Returning to verse 1 of Ephesians 4, Paul says, … I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

The Greek word for ‘call’ is kaleo

  • And the Greek word for ‘I urge you’ is parakaleo [2]
  • Para means ‘alongside’ and so parakaleo literally means ‘to call from alongside’
  • Parakaleo can also be translated as ‘I encourage you’, or ‘I beg you’, or ‘I exhort you’
  • Paul isn’t calling the Ephesian believers from on high – he’s not wagging his finger at them or exerting his authority over them
  • Rather he is coming alongside them to urge and encourage

 

Okay returning to our C.O.W.

  • Our calling is to assemble, to come together as the people of God, to stand alongside each other, with Christ at the centre as our assembly point
  • Or said another way, our calling is to practice oneness

Oneness:

In verses 4-6 we come across 7 ones: One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all

  • These 7 ones are not separate or independent of each other – they are all inter-related. The 7 ones are one.
  • Paul is reminding us here of the things that all believers share in common
  • And we need to be reminded because they are things we don’t necessarily see

The one body is the church invisible – all Christians everywhere throughout history

  • The church may seem fragmented and divided from our perspective, with all its different denominations and flavours, but from God’s perspective the church is one (like a tapestry with many different coloured threads)

The one Spirit is the Holy Spirit who gives life and breath to the body

  • The Spirit animates the body. Without the Spirit the body is dead

The one hope refers to the end of history when Christ returns in glory to bring heaven to earth and resurrection to the dead

The one Lord is Jesus Christ who has authority over all things

Although Christian believers might hold slightly different beliefs on the finer details of doctrine we still share one faith – we all believe in Jesus

  • We could think of the one Christian faith as a wheel
  • Although there are many spokes of belief, apparently branching off in different directions, Jesus is the hub at the centre of the wheel, holding all the spokes together, while the holy Scriptures are the rim of the wheel providing an anchor point for the spokes of belief
  • The wheel as a whole, with Jesus at the centre, is the one faith we share
  • And this faith is not static; it’s dynamic, it takes us on a journey

 

Likewise, although different Christian denominations may practice baptism in different ways, it is the one baptism we share, for we are all baptised by the same Spirit into the same person (into Jesus Christ)

  • If we think of the church invisible (the body of Christ) as a massive stadium, then baptism is like a door through which we enter the stadium
  • Most stadiums have a number of doors of entry all around the sides
  • Some people might enter through the Catholic door and others through the Anglican door and others through the Baptist door and so on
  • All the doors of baptism are one in the sense they serve the same purpose; they let people into Christ
  • If baptism is like a door into Christ, then the Holy Spirit is like the usher who leads us through the door
  • We need the Holy Spirit at work in our heart to germinate faith and right living

 

The seventh ‘one’, in Paul’s list, is the one God and Father of all

  • God is our creator; we are made in His image and those who believe in Christ are part of God’s family

 

Worth:

We are called to oneness and that oneness is not something we create by our own efforts or by some clever organisational structure

  • Our oneness is created by God; Father, Son & Holy Spirit
  • Responding to God’s call, walking in the oneness he has created, requires us to live a life worthy of that call

 

It’s 6:30pm on the 17th March, 1919. The Great War ended over four months ago and finally you are on your way home, aboard the RMS Remuera

  • You signed up more than 4 years ago, although it seems a lot longer
  • You served in Egypt to start with and then at Gallipoli before being sent to the Western Front

It’s a long voyage home from Plymouth in England to Auckland NZ

  • Staring out over an endless ocean you struggle to forget the heat and the flies and the stench in the Dardanelles
  • Or the mud and the groans and the cold of Passchendaele
  • You saw good mates die and you were powerless to do anything
  • You’re 26 and you’re old before your time
  • You aren’t sure what it was all for – both sides prayed to the same God
  • And as for ‘king and country’, you don’t believe in that anymore

Somehow though you survived while thousands around you died

  • ‘Why is that? Why did I make it and they didn’t?’ you ask yourself
  • ‘It’s not like I was a better soldier or even a better person.’
  • ‘We were all scared. All weak. All morally flawed.’
  • You soon realise that asking ‘why’ is like staring into an abyss – there’s no bottom to it

At that moment you feel a calling. Not an audible voice; more like a tugging on your heart

  • So you step away from the edge and you think about the future
  • You tell yourself, ‘There is nothing I can do about the past. I can’t control other people but I can try to control myself’
  • Deep down you know that for all that death and suffering and sacrifice to mean something you have to live a life worthy of surviving it.
  • You have been given a gift. You have to make the most of every day
  • You have to enjoy it because your mates can’t
  • You have to find the strength to resist violence, to be gentle and seek peace, because you know now that war is not the answer
  • You have to turn away from intolerance and find the love to be patient with your neighbour
  • You are counting the miles back to New Zealand where you will live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

In verse 1 of Ephesians 4, Paul urges his readers to live a life worthy of their calling, then he describes what a worthy lifestyle of looks like…

  • Be completely humble and meek; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

Paul gives us five qualities of a life worthy of our calling to be God’s people

  • Five attitudes which are essential to keeping the unity of the Spirit
  • This is how Christians are to treat each other; with humility, meekness, patience, forbearance and love

Humility in this context means ‘lowliness of mind’, not being proud or haughty[3]

  • Being humble is about having an accurate awareness of yourself in relation to others – not thinking too much of yourself or too little
  • Humility keeps our ego in check – it prevents us from worshipping ourselves. Humility also makes meekness possible

Meekness is strength with gentleness

  • Or said another way, meekness is strength under control
  • A soothing medicine is meek in that it is both powerful to overcome the illness and (in the right dose) also gentle on the body
  • A horse which has been broken in and trained is meek; the horse is stronger than the rider but that strength is under control
  • A gentle breeze is meek
  • A skilled surgeon is meek. The surgeon, with scalpel in hand, holds the power of life and death over their patient but uses that power carefully and gently to restore life
  • We see Jesus’ meekness when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane saying, ‘Not my will Father, but your will be done.’
  • Jesus had great power to save himself but controlled his power, in obedience to God the Father, so that we might be saved

Meekness is not popular these days. Violence, brute force, power – these are the things which are glorified in this world

  • Meekness is often misunderstood as weakness when the truth is: meekness requires greater strength than brute force or violence
  • Meekness requires self-control and skill

If violence is the hammer, then meekness is the screw driver

  • If force is the butcher’s cleaver, then meekness is the surgeon’s scalpel
  • If power is a drone strike, then meekness is the wise word of diplomacy

 

Patient endurance is another attribute we need to be worthy of our calling and to live in peace with others

  • An ancient Christian preacher by the name of John Chrysostom said,
  • To have patience is to have “…a wide soul” [4]
  • Having ‘a wide soul’ means being spacious and tolerant of difference, able to make room for other people in our lives

Take a moment now to look up and around you. What do you notice?

  • The ceiling is high; this auditorium is roomy, it’s spacious
  • I quite like that about this place. The architecture speaks of the spaciousness of God and the wideness of His mercy
  • The Lord is patient and slow to anger – he makes room for us

We can make room for each other in a whole variety of ways

  • By allowing ourselves to be interrupted for what is important
  • By singing each other’s songs and preferring each other’s needs,
  • By listening to a different point of view from our own without compromising our values and beliefs
  • By showing understanding when someone makes a mistake and not getting angry with them
  • Or simply by waiting for others and not hurrying them

 

Bearing with one another goes hand in hand with patient endurance – it means putting up with people

  • The reality is that other people can be annoying sometimes – they can get on your wick (often it’s the little things)
  • It’s not that they mean to aggravate you – they are just being themselves and it gets under your skin
  • Maybe they don’t put their dishes away in the dishwasher
  • Or they don’t replace the toilet roll on the holder when it runs out
  • Or they leave their toenail clippings on the floor
  • Or they leave an empty bottle of milk in the fridge
  • Or park their car across two car parks so you can’t fit in
  • Or perhaps they don’t use enough deodorant
  • Or hog the remote and keep changing the channel every 2 minutes
  • Or they don’t reply to your emails in a timely way
  • Or they use up all the hot water in the shower
  • Or they don’t follow the give way rules on the roundabout…
  • And so the list of little stones in our shoe goes on
  • Now, to avoid misunderstanding and to keep the bond of peace, I just need to say that I’m not trying to get at anyone in saying these things
  • To be clear my family do not leave toe nail clippings on the floor or hog the remote or anything like that (although I sometimes might)

The point is, don’t sweat the small stuff

  • Don’t walk away from the church over some trifle
  • Put up with the little things for the sake of love – that is for the well-being of the whole community

I remember the pastor who married us said, “Don’t worry about a bit of muck in the stable – muck is a sign of life” (except the word he used wasn’t ‘muck’)

Yea – people will annoy you sometimes but don’t lose sight of the fact they also have qualities which are good and which the rest of the church needs

    • Besides, we all have things about us which annoy others
    • You might think you are being very gracious in putting up with someone
    • But they probably think they are being gracious in putting up with you
    • What we realise as we get older is that we are all difficult in our own way
  • So we all need to show each other patience and forbearance

 

  • And we need to be able to laugh at ourselves as well

To humility, meekness, patience and forbearance Paul adds love

    • Love is a commitment to other people’s well-being
  • Love holds us together, it is the soil in which our relationships find stability and grow
  • Love gives humility, meekness, patience and forbearance their meaning, it makes our lives worthy of God’s calling and clears the path for peace

 

 

In verse 3 of Ephesians 4 Paul says we are to make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

This tells us that we don’t create unity, the Holy Spirit does

  • However, we are responsible for maintaining the unity
  • And we maintain unity through the bond of peace
  • Peace (in the Bible) isn’t just the absence of conflict
  • It is shalom, it is abundant life, joy and right relationship in community with others
  • The bond of peace is not a bond which stops us from doing things
  • It’s not like hand cuffs or shackles or a leash
  • The bond of peace is more like a garden hose, gently watering our relationships
  • Sometimes, like a hose, the bond of peace gets a kink in it
  • Sometimes our relationships get a bit twisted
  • People misunderstand each other or have expectations which are disappointed, then one thing leads to another and before you know it they’re not talking – the gentle flow of water stops altogether
  • When our relationships get a kink in them we don’t throw the relationship out – we straighten the hose
  • We find a suitable time when we are calm and unhurried to talk it through and make peace. Is there anyone you need to make peace with?

 

Conclusion:

This morning we’ve heard that our calling is to be the people of God together, centred around Christ

  • We are to reflect and maintain the oneness God has created

In a few moments we will share communion together

  • Communion is a time when we remember our calling and express our oneness in Christ

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?
  • Why do you think this stood out to you?

 

2. What does Paul mean by our ‘calling’ in Ephesians 4?

  • To what extent are you aware of God’s call on your life?
  • How do you understand this call?

 

3. Discuss / reflect on the 7 ones in verses 4-6 of Ephesians 4

  • What do you observe about these 7 ones?
  • How do they interact with each other?

 

4. What difference does it make knowing that God creates oneness (unity)?

5. Discuss / reflect on the five qualities or attributes in verse 2 of Ephesians 4. (I.e. humility, meekness, patience, forbearance and love)

  • What do each of these words mean?
  • How might we put these things into practice? (Think of specific examples that could apply in your own life.)

 

6. What is the bond of peace?

  • How might we maintain the bond of peace?
  • Is there anyone you need to make peace with?

 

[1] Eugene Peterson, ‘Practice Resurrection’, page 170.

[2] Eugene Peterson, ‘Practice Resurrection’, page 171.

[3] Klyne Snodgrass, The NIVAC on Ephesians, page 196.

[4] From Chrysostom’s homily on 1 Corinthians 13:4 – referenced in Klyne Snodgrass, The NIVAC on Ephesians, page 197.

Tawa Baptist

Fullness

Scripture: Ephesians 3:14-21

Title: Fullness

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Paul’s prayer for fullness
  • Strength for your inner being
  • Knowing Christ’s love
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

I have here a dry sponge [hold up the sponge] all rigid and hard

  • For this sponge to be useful it needs to be wet
  • I could sprinkle a few drops of water on top so that its damp in places but that’s not really going to work for wiping down a table
  • To carry out its purpose this sponge needs to be filled with water
  • [soak the sponge in a bucket of water]
  • When water has passed through every pore the sponge is no longer hard but becomes flexible and able to serve its purpose

This morning we continue our series in Ephesians by focusing on chapter 3, verses 14-21. This is Paul’s prayer for his readers

  • From the New Revised Standard Version we read…

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this Scripture for us

Paul’s prayer for fullness:

Prayer isn’t just words we might say. The 19th Century hymn writer James Montgomery wrote…

Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire,
Unuttered or expressed,
The motion of a hidden fire
That trembles in the breast. [1]

This tells us that prayer has to do with true intention or desire

    • Sometimes that desire is expressed in words and other times it burns in our heart like a hidden fire
  • We might not always have the right words when we pray but that doesn’t matter so much to God because His Spirit understands the unseen intention of our heart

In verse 14, of Ephesians 3, Paul writes, “I bow my knees before the Father…”

    • Most Jews of Paul’s day stood up to pray, so the act of kneeling to pray is unusual; it demonstrates Paul’s earnest intention, his heartfelt desire
  • The richness and beauty of Paul’s language in Ephesians 3 suggests he is trying to find words to do justice to his hidden fire
  • Paul’s prayer is that his readers (people like us) would be filled with all the fullness of God
  • In other words, Paul wants us to be filled with the Spirit of Christ – not just a few drops on top of the sponge of our soul but completely saturated so our inner being expands to become flexible and useful in God’s hand
  • For that to happen though our inner being needs to be strengthened

 

Strength for your inner being:

In one hand here I have a plastic bag and in the other a hot water bottle

  • If I was to fill both of these with boiling water, which one would you put in your bed to warm up the sheets? [Wait]
  • I would put the hot water bottle in – I wouldn’t risk using the plastic bag because the plastic bag isn’t really strong enough

 

These are a couple of cardboard boxes and this is a wooden chair

  • What do you think will happen if I sit on the card board boxes?
  • Let’s find out [sit on the box]
  • Now what happens when I sit on the chair? [sit on the chair]
  • The card board boxes weren’t strong enough to support my weight but the wooden chair was – no surprises there

 

Okay, one more – If you are planning to stay in the same place for a while then chances are you will live in a house

  • But if you are just passing through or visiting a place on holiday then you might camp in a tent
  • A tent is okay for temporary accommodation but it’s not as strong or as warm as a house – houses are generally more permanent

In verses 16 & 17, of Ephesians 3, Paul writes: I pray… that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through God’s Spirit and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

As I said earlier, Paul’s prayer (his deep desire) is that we (his readers) be filled with all the fullness of God, but for that to happen our inner being needs to be strengthened 

God fills our inner being (our soul) like hot water fills a hot water bottle, so that we radiate his warmth to others

  • Without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit our inner being is like the plastic bag; it’s not suitable for holding the hot water of God’s fullness

 

Our inner being (our heart – the core of ourselves where desires are born and decisions are made) is a bit like a chair or, better still, a throne

  • Without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit our heart is like a cardboard box; it’s not strong enough to hold the weight of Christ the King

Our inner being is like a dwelling place; through Christ, God fills us like a family fills a house

  • For you Bible nerds out there, there are two words in Greek for dwelling
  • paroikeo, which means to inhabit a place temporarily as a stranger
  • And katoikeo, which means to settle down permanently – to make that place your home [2]
  • The word that is used, in verse 17, for Christ dwelling in us is katoikeo
  • Without the strengthening of the Holy Spirit our inner being is like a tent; it’s okay as a temporary measure but Jesus isn’t just passing through
  • Christ intends to take up residence in us permanently
  • God wants to make his home in us – pretty amazing aye

As you can see there, at the end of verse 17, Paul uses two other images of strengthening – being rooted and grounded in love.

  • Being rooted in love makes us think of a tree
  • Just as a tree gets its strength from being rooted in the soil, so too our inner being gets it stability and nourishment from being deeply rooted in God’s love
  • Being grounded in love makes us think of a building
  • Just as a house gets its strength from a firm foundation, so too our inner being gets its security and resilience from remaining in God’s love

You may be wondering, ‘what does it mean to be rooted and grounded in love?’

  • Well, in John 15 Jesus says, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love… This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you…”
  • We remain in Christ’s love by loving one another

Some of you may have noticed Paul’s reference to the Trinity in Ephesians 3 – God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit

  • In receiving the Holy Spirit, we are receiving Christ and in receiving Christ we are receiving the fullness of God

 

Okay, so Paul’s prayer is that we (his readers) be filled with all the fullness of God and for that to happen our inner being needs to be strengthened

  • But there is something else we need in order to be filled with the fullness of God and that is the knowledge of Christ’s love
  • It seems we come to know Christ’s love incrementally, in stages

Knowing Christ’s love:

In verses 18-19, of Ephesians 3, Paul writes…

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

In these verses Paul seems to be talking about the dimensions of Christ’s divine love, which are beyond measure

  • Sometimes (perhaps most of the time) our thinking is too small where God is concerned
  • We have a tendency to put God in a box because it’s too overwhelming or too scary otherwise
  • As well as being strengthened, our inner being (our thinking) needs to be expanded or enlarged to receive the fullness of God
  • Knowing Christ’s love enlarges our inner being to make room for God
  • Sort of like water enlarges a sponge or like warm air inflates a balloon or baking powder expands cookie dough

How then do we know Christ’s love?

  • Well, Paul touches on two ways in verse 18: by the Holy Spirit and through the church

The ‘power to comprehend’ is likely a reference to the Holy Spirit

  • The Spirit of Jesus is a Spirit of love and truth
  • Jesus said His Spirit would lead us into truth
  • So we comprehend Christ’s love by the power of God’s Spirit, just like we understand the Scriptures by the illumination of God’s Spirit

The Holy Spirit gives us a lens through which to interpret the events of our lives

  • Two people may have exactly the same experience and yet see that experience in a completely different way because one has the power to comprehend and the other doesn’t
  • When the people of Israel were in the desert, Moses sent 12 spies into the Promised Land to check the place out
  • Ten of the spies returned saying the people are giants and we can’t possibly take them on
  • Those 10 spies had a pretty small idea of God – either they didn’t really believe that God loved them or they thought God was pretty weak
  • But two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, returned excited, believing that God wanted to give them victory
  • While all 12 spies had the same experience, only Joshua and Caleb had the power to comprehend that God loved them and was bigger than the people of the land

Let me give another example of how the Spirit helps us to comprehend Christ’s love. This is a personal example and I’m reluctant to share it because it makes me feel vulnerable so please don’t make me regret it

  • Last week we were away from Tawa on holiday and for some reason or other I was feeling grumpy so I poured out my heart to God
  • Things build up over time and the holidays are often the only opportunity I have to do any house-keeping on my soul
  • Anyway I was honest with God about how I felt and my feelings were not pretty – I was quite sour with God
  • Afterwards I felt a bit bad for being so honest with the Lord
  • God is incredibly good to me, He is so kind and gracious
  • I want to always give God my best but sometimes he gets my worst – my pain and my anger; and that’s not fair because he doesn’t deserve that
  • But in that moment, of feeling bad for being sour, I sensed God’s Spirit saying to me that he likes both my sweetness and my sourness
  • Just like I enjoy sugar and lemon on my pancakes
  • You need the sourness of the lemon to cut the sweetness of the sugar

Normally I would hide the fact that I can be sour sometimes but I take the risk of sharing this with you because I think that most of us (perhaps all of us) unconsciously think that there are parts of ourselves which are unacceptable to God and which God cannot love

  • We don’t like that part of ourselves so how can God like it?
  • God’s love is far more spacious and generous than we imagine
  • God’s love is great enough to swallow our sourness and kiss our ugliness
  • It’s God’s Spirit who reveals this truth to our inner being
  • I can tell you that God accepts you but you won’t be convinced until God’s Spirit touches that part of you
  • I believe this is one of the things Paul is praying for when he says, ‘may you have the power to comprehend Christ’s love.’

 

The next thing we note, in verse 18, is that knowing Christ’s love happens ‘with all the saints’

  • ‘Saints’ is just another word for other Christian believers – the church
  • A saint isn’t an especially good Christian in this context
  • In Paul’s thinking, all those who believe in Jesus are saints, no matter where they are in their journey of faith
  • The point is, we need other Christians (or the church) to enlarge and deepen our knowledge of Christ’s love

For example, when you look at the church, through the lens of God’s Spirit, you see the wide range of different people who follow Jesus and you start to get an idea of the breadth of God’s love

  • You realise that God doesn’t just love people like me – he loves all sorts of different kinds of people
  • You only have to look around this room – Tawa Baptist is made up of people of every age group, from many different cultures and countries and with a whole variety of denominational and theological backgrounds
  • God’s love is big enough to embrace humanity in all its diversity

Now anyone who has managed to remain in the church for more than a few years will realise how imperfect the church is. People get hurt in churches

  • Usually it’s not intentional or malicious but either way it’s only a matter of time before someone ruffles your feathers or offends you or takes you for granted or even wounds you deeply and you are faced with a choice: either forgive them or leave in a huff
  • It is in the act of forgiving the hurt that we begin to know Christ’s love in forgiving us
  • The paradox is we wouldn’t have known that aspect of Christ’s love unless we had been hurt ourselves

Of course, we learn about Christ’s love in more positive ways too

  • Not long after I became a Christian my parents divorced – I was in my early teens at that stage
  • In the years that followed I experienced the love of Christ through one or two men in the church who took the time to come alongside me and be there for me, to listen and give me support
  • The time they spent with me showed me I was cared for and valued
  • Looking back, I may not have experienced that aspect of Christ’s love unless my parents had split up

We come to know Christ’s love, therefore, through the Holy Spirit, through other Christian believers and through our own suffering

  • You see, there are two sides to love – there’s joy and there’s pain, there’s comfort and there’s grief
  • The truth is we can’t know Christ’s love without some degree of suffering
  • And so we come back to our need for Christ who redeems our suffering
  • By His Spirit, God takes the imperfect circumstances of our lives and uses them to renovate our soul – to strengthen and enlarge our inner being so that the fullness of God fills us

Conclusion:

We do well to remember that it is God who renovates our inner being

  • We can’t enlarge or strengthen ourselves any more than a plastic bag could change itself into a hot water bottle or a cardboard box could change itself into a chair or a tent could change itself into a house
  • As Paul says in verses 20-21, of Ephesians 3, the glory goes to God, who is able to accomplish abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine…

 

  • Paul’s confidence was in God

Having said that, we still need to cooperate with God’s Spirit at work in us

  • We still need to pay attention to our inner being
  • We need to spend time in prayer and study of the Scriptures
  • We need to guard our thoughts and weigh our desires
  • We need to be intentional about listening for God and discerning His will
  • There is a healthy balance to find here of course – we don’t want to become so focused on our inner life that we forget to love our neighbour
  • By the same token, we don’t want to become so caught up in serving others that we neglect our own soul

How is the sponge of your inner being?

  • Is it filled with the fullness of God, wet through and flexible in His hand?
  • Or is it dry and hard and in need of refreshment?

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1.) What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon?

  • Why do you think this stood out to you?

2.) Discuss / reflect on James Montgomery’s thought that, Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire, unuttered or expressed.

  • Are you aware of your soul’s sincere desire?
  • To what extent do the words you pray reflect your soul’s sincere desire?

3.) What was Paul’s sincere desire for his readers?

  • What does it mean to be filled with all the fullness of God?

4.) What do you think Paul means by our ‘inner being’?

  • How is our inner being strengthened and enlarged?

5.) How do we come to know Christ’s love?

  • Can you think of a time when the Holy Spirit has given you power to comprehend Christ’s love for you?
  • Can you think of a time when you have experienced some aspect of Christ’s love from other Christian believers?
  • What role does suffering have to play in the process of knowing Christ’s love?

6.) How is the sponge of your inner being?

  • Is it filled with the fullness of God, wet through and flexible in His hand?
  • Or is it dry and hard and in need of refreshment?

 

[1] John Stott’s commentary on Ephesians provided the inspiration for this illustration on prayer

[2] John Stott, The Message of Ephesians, page 135-136.