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To God be the Glory (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Jeremy — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:32:20 +0000

The first three chapters of Ephesians are one long theological summation of the good news of Jesus. Paul’s gone to great lengths in this worshipful section of scripture to talk about how it began in the mind of God, how it was carried out by Christ, how it is delivered by the Spirit, and how we have become the recipients of this amazing grace. Now, at the end of chapter three, he ends in prayer. So what is it we need to know before heading into the practical implications of all of this in Ephesians 4-6

Like all of the first three chapters, Ephesians 3:14-21 is filled with theological nuggets. It would be impossible to cover all of them in one message, so we look at a few. First, the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. He’s been all throughout Ephesians 1-3 but he hasn’t gotten the focus (which is how he likes it). Second, we’ll consider “love” in the life of the believer, and finally, the role that prayer plays and why it is so important. And in the end, we’ll end up right back where we started at the beginning of Ephesians 1: to God be the Glory.

The Mystery (Ephesians 3:1-13)

Jeremy — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:16:15 +0000

If we’re around something long enough, eventually we’ll get complacent about it. We were excited to drive for the first time; now we can’t wait to get home and out of our car. We were excited about our first day at our job; now we’re watching the clock all day. We were excited about marriage, or kids; now it feels like routine. It’s not out of the ordinary to become complacent towards things that used to excite you, but the sad reality is that for many of us, we’ve developed that same type of complacency towards the Gospel.

In Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul talks about the mystery that was revealed to him and for which he became an apostle. God’s wisdom is displayed when this mystery is revealed in the church–the mystery that was hidden in the mind of God from before the foundations of the earth. In this message, we’ll consider what that mystery is, and then consider how recapturing it will help us to value and take seriously our role as God’s church.

The Temple of Peace (Ephesians 2:11-22)

Jeremy — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:28:26 +0000

Once, you were far off, but now you have been brought near. That’s the message that Paul gives to the Ephesians Christians. He says to them that, because of where they stood in relation to God, they had no hope, but because of Jesus, they can have hope again.

We live in a world that longs for peace, and it remains elusive. Because of Jesus, peace is again possible–between man and God, and between man and man. The church is the evidence of that peace. It is, Paul says, the temple of God.

A New Way of Walking (Ephesians 2:1-10, pt. 2)

Jeremy — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:36:43 +0000

In the first three verses of Ephesians 2, Paul reminds the Ephesians of what their life looked like before they knew Jesus. In short, his estimation of their previous life was that they were dead men walking. If the story ended there, that would be extremely bad news. But in vs. 4, Paul writes the two most hope-filled words in the New Testament: “But God”. Whatever Paul is about to tell the Ephesians hinges on this statement; that even though this is where you were before Christ, this is how you lived, and this is the way that you walked, God will treat us contrary to the way we would expect to be treated. Rather than give us what we earned, he’s about to do something else entirely. That’s the significance of the “but God” in the middle of this section.

In this message, we’ll not only consider what it means for Paul to write “but God” in Ephesians 2:4, but we’ll also consider what it is that God has done that reverses everything. Instead of being dead men walking, Paul introduces us to the new way of walking–in Christ Jesus.

Dead Men Walking (Ephesians 2:1-10, pt. 1)

Jeremy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:48:55 +0000

In chapter 1 of Ephesians Paul elaborates on God’s sovereign and glorious activity in the world and in the work of Salvation. It is one of the most magnificent passages in Scripture, serving to raise our affections for who God is and what he has done out of love for his creation. Believers are stamped and sealed with the Holy Spirit as a promise for what is to come, and Paul, like a spiritual father, prays for the Ephesians that they would be filled with all the fullness of Jesus as individuals and as the church. In Ephesians 2, however, he comes at things from a different angle. Rather than focusing on God, he diverts his gaze back to the Ephesians–after thinking about all that God has done, he considers what they had done. And not just them, but all of us as well.

So what were the Ephesians like before God worked on their behalf? What were we like–or, for some of us, what are we like? How does the Bible describe our condition? In this message, we’ll consider how the Bible talks about what we were, and then ask the question “why does Paul take the time to remind the Ephesians what they used to be like? If they aren’t that way any longer, why bring it all up again?” Finally, we’ll consider what that means for us today.

Identity (Ephesians 3:14-15)

Jeremy — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 22:33:06 +0000

The Bible’s definition of fatherhood is different than the one that we typically see in culture. In fact, in Ephesians, Paul has a word for fathers and for families: your identity is found in God, the ultimate Father. In this Father’s Day message, we’ll talk about what that means for Fathers, and what that means for all of us who have fathers.

Reconciliation (Ephesians 1:1-14, pt. 3)

Jeremy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:15:08 +0000

The purposes of his God have been revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The mystery that was finally revealed was that, in Christ, all people would once again be reconciled back to God. This reconciliation has begun at the cross, but will be completed when Christ returns again. Until then, how do we live as Christians? In this message we’ll consider how the hope of our future redemption should give us a peace in spite of our circumstances, and a hope for a future glory.

In Love (Ephesians 1:1-14, pt. 2)

Jeremy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:35:23 +0000

In Ephesians 1:1-14, Paul is reflecting on the majesty and glory of God as he introduces the Ephesians to the kind of life they should be living now that they have heard the good news. In part one of this three part series on Ephesians 1:1-14, we considered what God was like. In this sermon, part two of the series, we consider how God acting out of and for his glory was “in love”.

How is God, working for his own glory, a loving act for us? That is the question we seek to answer in this message, called “In Love”.

What is God Like? (Ephesians 1:1-14, pt. 1)

Jeremy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:35:01 +0000

The apostle Paul wrote this book to early Christians, telling them what their new community–their new “walk”–ought to look like. But he doesn’t start by telling them how to act right. He begins by telling them about the glorious majesty of God. For Paul, everything points back to who God is and what he has done.

We begin our series in Ephesians with part one of a three part series on Ephesians 1:1-14 and ask the question, “What is God Like?”