Walking Through Ephesians Sermon Series - Week Three

All right, Church. Are you glad to be here today? Yes. Come on, John. Do better now. It is raining outside now. This must be the dedicated Christians. They matter. Yes. Rain, sleet, snow, hurricanes is not going to stop me from gathering with my people. Say man to man.

A man, A man. And we had a couple of many sermon. It's an ANL. I'm taking notes. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. Thank you, musicians. Thank you. Our sound team. Let's just give our volunteers our and just give them a round of applause. They do so much to keep this ship afloat and running. I'm just so grateful to.

To partner with them and labor with them in the ministry. And so I'm grateful for your your sacrifice personally. Your sacrifice is from your families and what you do for the sake of the gospel. So I want to kind of set the stage this morning, and I almost said it out of First Corinthians Chapter 11, I'll be reading 17 two verses 22.

And this is just going to kind of really just give us a kind of like a a platform from where I believe God is leading us to this morning. Now, many of us know that this is a very familiar piece of passage. This is a passage that we read at every communion. But I want you to look at this particular piece of scripture differently today.

And I'm a read it in the modern English version, but I believe we have enough before you. So kind of just just work with me here. Verse 17. First, create this. Chapter 11 says this now and what I have said to you, I do not praise you. You have come together not for the better, but for the worse.

First of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And in part, I believe it, for there must be also factions among you so that those who are genuine may come, may become evident among you. Therefore, when you come together into one place, it is not to eat the Lord's Supper for eating in each one's, eat his own supper ahead of others.

One goes hungry and another becomes drunk. What do you not have is have houses to eat and drinking or do despise the Church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? No, I do not praise you. This passage of Scripture hits a little differently for me. It resonates with me differently.

Although that we are very familiar with this passage. We call this particular passage the Lord's Supper. You know, we take it every single time when we when we partake of communion, the breaking of the bread and the wine or the juice. But if you look at this particular piece of passage, the Apostle Paul is rebuking the church. He's saying that your gathering does more damage than good.

He says when you get to the church, they won't even see a loving church. But a gathering of individuals intoxicated, full of themselves, leaving nothing for everyone else, selfish and self-serving. You are Paul Reiser. Do you despise the church and saying those who have nothing? Paul is asking, What shall I say? Should I praise you for this? Paul is asking him, What about the hungry?

Paul is asking, What about the homeless? Paul is asking the church. What about the elderly? What about the marginalized? What about the sick? What about your brothers, the sisters in Christ who have not yet arrived? Have you forgotten that when you do the least, you do. These are the least of these. That you do it unto me when you close those who don't have clothes, when you feed those who don't have food, you are doing that unto me.

This is a rebuke to the church. I'm reminded of a story by Pastor Brian Lawrence, and he tells a story about a woman whose name is Ethel Waters. So many of you may not know because that's a different generation. Ethel Waters was an amazing blues singer, and there may be a picture of her on the screen. This is this this is Ethel.

She looked like she can sing the blues. She looked like she can scat. I know what it is. Okay. Now, I don't know if that is. She's the goat of her time. The greatest. But one thing many of you may not know is what Ethel dealt with. You don't know her story. You don't know what she's been through.

Ethel grew up in traumatic circumstances. She did know her father. Some some believe that she was even possibly raped. She was adopted and cared for by another family. And that family didn't know how to show her love. That family never really took and embraced her like a child needed to be embraced. But yet that same family would go to church every Sunday, every Wednesday, prayer meeting on Thursday, fish fry on Friday.

Come on, Church. That very same family who was proclaiming their love for God, never proclaim the love that they have for her. In 1908, her family and the church family forced her into an arranged marriage. After one year, she says, I'm done. I quit. I can't do this anymore. Ethel describes this experience as one of the most worst experiences ever in her life.

Needless to say that Ethel soon left the church. Ethel left the church disappointed. Ethel left the church confused. Ethel left the church, hurt it to fully understand Chapter 11 of Apostle Paul, where he's talking about the communion of the saints and the giving and the breaking of the bread and the wine of Jesus. You have to kind of go back to chapter one, where Apostle Paul is writing to the Church of Corinth.

See, the Apostle Paul is getting reports that there's contention taking place in the church. He writes in chapter one of Corinthians that there may be no division among you, but you are yet perfectly joined together in the same mine, in the same same posture. He says that everyone is saying, I am appalled or I am of Apollos than I am of sickness in I am of Christ.

Is Christ divided? Paul, last Paul, like many pastors, has a vision for their church. Paul, like many pastor, has a vision for their church and their community. Paul, like many pastors, understands that people are coming to know Christ through their ministry. Paul talks through their Christian church, that they are crossing ethnic boundaries where you have Jews and Greek coming together to know Christ together.

The love of Christ. This is what the Corinthian church is talking about. But yet they allow and they become a church that has allowed certain things to creep in. But yet, in first Corinthians chapter one, verse four, the Apostle Paul writes this I always thank my God for you. Here, let me let me read that one more time.

I want to make sure I'm reading what the Scriptures is saying to me. It says verse four. Paul writes there, Create the church four verses into his letter known as the introduction. He says, I always think, my God for you, because of His grace given you in Christ, Jesus. This is the Apostle Paul who later writes in chapter three that you're living according to the flesh, but yet I am thankful for you.

This is the Apostle Paul who later writes in chapter five of First Create This that he finds out that you're sleeping with your step mother, but yet I am thankful for you. This is the same Apostle Paul who writes in chapter six that believers are dragging one another to court with biblically says that you are not supposed to take your brothers or sisters to court, but yet I am thankful for you.

I love this one. This is this. This is where Apostle Paul is writing in chapter eight and Chapter nine of First Corinthians, where he's saying that, you know, that you are still offering food to idols, meaning that you're still worshiping and believing in other God. But yet I Apostle Paul, I'm thankful for you, even when we just read Chapter 11 first treatises where we are partaking of the Lord's Supper and there are those who've gotten there early and they're turn it up like, turn it up.

Can never be ready. But yet I am thankful for you. let's not forget chapter 12 of all chapters right? The guy who created the heavens and the earth, he says that they are using these the spiritual gifts that I've given you for yourselves. But yet church. I am thankful for you. We've been in a journey of the Book of Ephesians for the past two weeks, and we've been slowly walking through the book of Ephesians.

And over these past few weeks we've been talking about that God has called us to be a blessed church, that God has called us to be a chosen church, that God has called us to be a church that is redeemed. And we begin to understand that this series, this letter to the Ephesians, to the Church of Ephesus, is not about a better you, but it's about a better church.

And because you are a part of the church, you become better. So as we lift up Ephesians chapter one verses 15 today, my first point is that I'm thankful for a testament of faith, that I'm grateful that I'm thankful for a testament of faith. Paul writes to the Church of Ephesus in verse 15 of Chapter one. He says, For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you in remembering you in my prayers.

For this reason, ever since I've heard about your faith and your love for God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks.

What would be the church report of one church?

What would be the letter that Apostle Paul would write to this church?

If I had to write a letter to our church today, I would say this Despite our rough three years, I am thankful for you.

I know you've had some ups, some downs, but yet I am thankful for you. I know. And I've counted the number of people who left your church, but yet church. I am grateful and thankful for you. I've know that there's been some division among you, but yet I am thankful for you. In your first year, people left because our stance on immigration reform.

But yet I am thankful for you in a year and a half, first year to have, you know, we go back and reflect that they didn't get what they wanted, so they left. But yet, you know, I am thankful for you. In year two we lost staff because moral failure. But yet I'm thankful for you. In two and a half years we can go back and reflect that we lost people because of spiritual immaturity, but yet I'm thankful for you.

Let's make it personal. I know that you're a fornicator, but yet I'm thankful for you. I know that you have the spirit of gossip, but yet I'm thankful for you. I know that you're a cheat, a thief, a drug dealer, a hope monger. But yet I am still thankful for you. And I know that you don't give to the church like I have commissioned and asked to do that you should do.

But yet I'm still thankful for you. Whatever that blank is for you. God is saying he is still grateful and thankful for you, that you remain faithful, that you still press in at your presence towards the mark of the high calling that's in Christ Jesus. I am still thankful for you. You know, your reputation is what others say about you when you're not in the room, right?

That's your reputation. Your reputation is what people say about who you are, who you are when you're not in the room. And only that. Paul writes that he said, I'm thankful that you are living a life of love, proclaiming your faith for all of God's people. See, Paul is talking about the Greek and the Jews and, you know, the new emerging Christians that's coming through the society.

Imagine it live a different side of the street, different cultures, different upbringings, different contexts. But yet you're desiring to come together as one church.

Paul writes in verse 17 I keep asking that God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit, but let me read that one more time. Verse 17 It says that I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom of Revelation so that you may know him better.

He says that he keep asking and asking and asking or petitioning and petitioning that the God our Lord Jesus Christ.

The glorious father may give you the spirit of wisdom. Wait till you see. I keep asking you that. God, our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father may give you the Spirit.

Let me let me put it this way. He's asking God, the Father, Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit. Paul has just represented to the Trinity in his letter. Do you see that? Why is that so important? Because this new thing just, you know, this. This new Christianity, just. It just took a flow, right? Christ, just died some years ago.

54 years ago. 65. Based on you look at great things or if Jesus. But the Church of Ephesus. Right. He's writing to the Church of Ephesians. Right. And he's saying this. Let me let me let me just let me give you some context. Chapter 19 verses one through 17. This is going to come up on the screen. This is one of Paul Apostle Paul's first missionary journeys to Ephesus.

Right. So Paul is writing to the Church of Ephesus, and we are given an account of what he's doing in the Book of Acts, the Bible.

He says this in verse one While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul to the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus, meaning that he was an emphasis there. He found some disciples and asked them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed the answer? No. We have not even heard that there was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, US Then what baptism did you receive?

John's baptism? Debris flying. Paul said John's baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him. That is Jesus. On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and prophesies.

There were about 12 men in all. What I want you to see here is this. When Paul went to Paul first missionary journeys to to to Ephesus, he's asking disciples, Have you heard about the Holy Spirit? And they're saying, Never heard of it. Is there such a thing? Which is not a thing? Is there such a person? Right.

And they say, no, we don't even know who he is. That's why if we go back to Ephesians chapter one verses 15, 16, 17, where he says that he's prayed continually to God, the Father, our Lord Jesus Christ, that you will receive this great. He wanted to let them know that there's a and a bastard or there is an advocate that you have access to that you're not even tapping into.

And for those theologians that's out there and they're gonna be like, Well, you can receive the speaking in tongues by the laying of the hands, because that's what we just read in, in Acts chapter 19, right? We see that we're the disciples laid hands, Paul laid hands on these seven disciples, and they begin to speak in tongues and prophesy.

That's not the only purpose for the Holy Spirit. And if you don't have the gifting of tongues, you're just to say the one who does have one, who does not have it. Okay, so I don't want you to live in this this bondage of being like, if I don't speak in tongues, am I truly say, yes, you are.

You have been redeemed by the blood of Christ for a or C in the Old Testament. The filling of the Spirit was temporary. The Holy Spirit will come upon them to do certain jobs or to accomplish certain things. That was the Old Testament, because we live in the old test, the New Testament now the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

It's not temporary. It is permanent with the black marker. Amen. God. Paul explains to them who Jesus was and who Jesus is because they only knew who John was. Okay, so Paul took time to tell them who Jesus was, and after receiving Christ, guess what? New Testament, the indwelling, the infilling of the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Okay, let me give you another alternative.

You don't even need to have the laying of the hands. You get the Holy Spirit. All right, let me back this up with the Scripture, because I know you are going to test me. Go to chapter ten Reverses 4448. You'll see that when Cornelius also the Holy Spirit dropped and they receive the Holy Spirit, it wasn't a laying of the hands.

It was the atmosphere. Come on, Church. it's all about the atmosphere.

Did you know that there's power in our atmosphere? That's why when we come together in worship, come out. It should be so thick in here. You should be suffocated. But when you boldly says that, you come boldly before the throne of grace, you got to want it. I'm not a drug addict, but I am because I, with the Holy Spirit all day, every day, like I need it.

I'd be scratching to be like, I get what I got to do. I mean, whatever I got to get the Holy Spirit. Give it to me right now. I know what to do. We got to smoke the Holy Spirit. Get it? Whatever. I'm just saying, just joking. I'm not advocating for that. So but my point is this. And I said today, if you want something so bad, come on back.

Go back. if you want something bad enough, you get it. And once you've had most, you taste it. And that's that's why for me, this church where we were is diverse. And we we worship in English and Spanish and different language. And there's a beauty of black, white, Asian, Latinos, all of that coming together in one roof light.

Once you've tasted of I don't want anything else. That's my testimony. Like, I've been to an all black church, an all white church, and my it's fine and dandy, but when you have your brothers and sisters, man, you know, you get just a potluck of just God's goodness. Hey, man, I'm on.

So when Apostle Paul is saying that I've prayed continually for you, I pray to God the Father, I pray to Jesus Christ our Lord and the Spirit, because the spirit is who gives you the wisdom. Go back and read First Corinthians Chapter 12 The Spiritual Gifts. He gives you all of that. So Paul prays for three things, and I'll make it quick.

He prays for three things in verses 17, 18 and 19, I believe. And it's this is the first thing that he prays for. He prays for hope. He prays that we have hope.

Verse 18 says this I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope through which he has called you. He says that I pray that the eyes of your heart that you may know, that you may be enlightened in order, that you may know the hope that he has called you in the liver.

He says the eyes of your heart. One of my favorite scriptures, it talks about out of your mouth, your heart speaks. If you have Christ in your heart, if you have hope, somewhere down the line, it's going to speak. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy will come in the morning. For some of us, hope is fleeting.

You can begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. To get to the hope, you have to go through the weeping. Right? I don't know if you ever hope for something before, but it's a place of where you're desperate. Yeah, that's hope. Hope puts you in a position, in a posture, where you say, God, whatever you have to do.

I just hope I can get to there. Weeping is necessary. I know that has been hard and difficult and it's been challenging. But hope shows that when desperation is present, I have hope in one hand, but I have tears in the other. I have hope in one hand. But I have fatigue in the other. I have hope in one hand, but I have a broken heart in the other.

I have hope in one hand. But yet I'm. I'm dealing with this diagnosis that my doctor's giving me. I have hope in one hand, but I have tears and weeping in anguish in a way where people this this on one. On the other hand, I have hope in one hand, but there's something that is the alternative that's in the other hand.

So you're holding on to both of them. You have hope in one hand, but then there's disbelief in the other. Just don't let go of hope.

Scripted tells us that he'll give us beauty for ashes. That's the hope that I need. Peter writes in verse Peter, chapter three on verse 515 or so. He says that always be prepared to give an answer to any and everyone who asks you for the hope that lives in you. So church we go, we start walking around like we just life is just, just, just having his way.

I mean, maybe have his ways. But guys, that you you have Christ in you. Yeah. The breath of life in you stop walking around with your head down low and, you know, pick your head up, begin to walk that you know, that you're walking in victory. That you are victory that he he's already called you into a posture of being victorious.

People don't want to be sad looking Christians.

Right? Change the station. Right?

Yes, sir. $20 will sell it next week, guys. $10 T T-shirts changing station, the next t shirts. Guess what it's going to be to get a snack and take a nap. Hey, we are making t shirts all day long. Church, you got to be here. You guys go. You got to be here. You got to be here. Got to be.

The second thing that Paul prays for. He prays for hope. He also prays for an inheritance. He says that I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope that which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance and his holy people in a theological sense to inherit means to receive an irrevocable gift that it can't be revoked, and then emphasizes that is a particular relationship, that you have to have to receive an inheritance.

Different scholars and different commentaries, as I read that would give a different viewpoint of this, or some give you both of them. And I believe the first is what I'm landing on is that when he's talking about the inheritance, he's he's now talking about us inheriting something. He's talking about God is inheriting us back to heaven. That guy gets an inheritance of his children coming back home.

Every parent who has a child has gone astray once their children need to come back home. That's one of the positions that some of the theologians have. And then, of course, our inheritance that we get as believers, that we get as believers who to partner with what God has called us to do and become and live a life that is Christ centered, we get an inheritance of everlasting, eternal worship before the throne of glory 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

There won't be any time in heaven, y'all. We get there worship our our Lord and Savior and every tribe and every tongue that we can imagine. So guess what? Guess what? You get to look forward to, you know, speaking in tongues. Now, guess what? When you get to heaven, you have all of them, all the dialects and everything.

He prays for hope. He prays for inheritance. Then he also prays that you have power. He prays that you will have power that is in comparably great and comparably great. That means there is nothing to compare this power to. You know, I'm reminded of a story in chapter eight where Simon saw the spear, right? Simon was the sorcerer and Simon takes out his pocket.

He says, You know what? Can I buy this spirit? You can't buy this power right? You cannot buy this power. Now, the only way that you can receive this power is by giving your life to Christ. Jesus. It says that and incomparable great power for us who believe the power that is the same as the mighty strength that exerted it.

When he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the right hand in Heavenly Ram's. We see the power through creation. We see the power when he split the Red Sea to allow the children of Israel to walk on dry ground, we see the power where he gave the valley of dry bones life. This is the only power in all the power that we need that's in Christ Jesus.

And as I begin to close our eyes, you can make their way to the stage. These two verses today, guys, 15, 16, 17, 18, four verses, the Power of hope. The prayer for your hope, the prayer for your inheritance, the prayer for your power. And I want to end the way that I started in 1908. Old Ethel leaves the church disappointed.

She leaves the church disappointed. She's frustrated. She's even hopeless. The something took place in 1957. In 1957, Ethel found herself in New York City. In New York City. She goes to this convention where she sees this tall, lanky man, an evangelist by the name of Billy Graham, still hurting and disappointed. Ethel walks down the aisle, still with little hope in hand, still remembering the hurt from the past, still disappointed from the failed marriages that she had years before, still carrying all of that baggage that she had before she walks down the aisle, still marked by disappointment, still marked by hurt.

And she dedicates her life to Jesus Christ. In the last 20 to 25 years, you won't see or you wouldn't see Ethel singing the blues on the stage, but yet you'll see her would have seen her singing the gospel with Billy Graham. So. Church Today I ask you if you're disappointed if the church has disappointed you. I'm sorry if the church has hurt you.

I'm sorry if your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your husband, your wife has disappointed you. I'm sorry. You know, when I get to heaven, I want to ask, you know, Miss Ethel, what made you walk down that aisle that day? What prompted you to go down that aisle to dedicate your life to Christ? I believe I was praying for her.

Hope. I believe that someone was praying for not only her heavenly inheritance, but her earthly inheritance. And I also believe that she was praying for the power that she had in her voice, her gifts and her talents, where she can help lead others to Christ. So even as Apostle Paul writes to the Christian Church, a harsh rebuke, even as Apostle Paul was writing to the Church of Ephesus, I believe that we all are marked by the testament of our faith and that we are all called to be praying for hope that we would call to be praying for power in our heavenly inheritance.

It's because we serve a holy God, a holy garden unlike any other God. See, there's something different about this person that we worship every single Sunday. There's something different about this person that we proclaim to give our lives to every single day. His name is Jesus. Jesus was different from any other man. Jesus. You guys know the story.

He's born of a virgin called Mary, born in a barn, a manger where three wise scientists or wise men came to give homage to gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh, proclaiming his kingship, his death and his resurrection. Jesus lived for 33 years, three years of ministry. That's all He did. So even if your call to ministry in your fifties and your sixties, or even in your seventies, God can use you if you're called to do ministry in your twenties, in your thirties, God bless you, God desires to use you.

You see, we serve and worship a holy God. And I want to remind you that you should not forget that he's holy, that he's been set apart, that he died for you and you alone, like Nicole said, that he would leave the 99 for you, that you're so great, that he has so much for you, that he will lead every one for you because Christ left heaven for one earth.

If you have never given your life to Christ, do it today.