Sermon Tone Analysis

:* **1*  Several weeks ago, I was at Northrop Grumman, my old stomping grounds, and I bumped into an old friend in the coffee room.

His name is Paneer, and he always has a bright smile on his face, and he always greets me warmly.

You see, several years ago, when he was a subcontractor, I wrote a letter to his company, appealing for his sake, and asking if they would release him to come work for Northrop Grumman.

The letter, by the way, was a miserable flop, at least from my point of view.

They didn’t release him and he had to go through a “waiting period” before we could hire him.

But he always appreciated my effort anyway.

Go figure.

So in the coffee room, we chatted for a few minutes, I asked about how he was doing, and then he asked about me.

Now, he knows I am a pastor, so it is no problem for me to talk about the Lord.

But … in the seconds when I sensed an opportunity to bring up something of spiritual significance… I wavered.

Now, in that instant, I pushed through my hesitation, and shared with Paneer what a privilege it is to be a pastor here, because it is my vocation, my calling, to help people know for sure their eternal destiny.

It wasn’t a long conversation, and I didn’t whip out the 4 Spiritual Laws or anything, but I did push through my hesitation and engage, if only briefly, on a spiritual level.

I wish I could say that I am always like that.

To be honest, there have been other times at Northrop Grumman, or even here at Immanuel during the week, when I sense that a person may want to talk about spiritual things, deeper things having to do with their personal life.

But for whatever reason, there are times when I don’t engage, I don’t take the opportunity when it is there, kind of hanging in the air.

Or even worse, I wonder, when faced with someone’s problems of divorce, or trouble with their kids, or struggles with cancer, I wonder if the gospel message, that Jesus died for their sins and that they can find new life in Christ, I wonder what that message has to do with finding a solution to their problems?

:* **2*  Have you ever been there?

Have you ever questioned the truth of your own gospel?

Not that you don’t believe the gospel is true, but that you don’t believe in it enough to try and insert it in the face of their problem.

You see, I am convicted by Paul.

He seems to have this attitude toward the gospel that it is the only message worth sharing, that it applies universally, and that it is absolutely relevant to any situation in life.

I, on the other hand, feel a little old fashioned if I even use the word “gospel.”

If I mention the word “Hell” as a real place, or refer to the devil as a real person, or “sin” as something other than a disease or a victimization, I feel like a throwback to those guys with long beards and black coats, or to the caricatures of the preachers you see in the funny papers, TV shows, or movies.

:* **3*  But the fact is, the gospel is good news, not old news, but good news.

The gospel is the only thing that effects real change in a person’s life.

The gospel is the only reason we are around.

And as we are going to find out today, the gospel is a whole lot bigger, and wider reaching that we typically think.

:* **4*  Before we get into our text for today, in Ephesians Chapter 3, I would like to spend some time in review.

What we will see is that everything Paul says in Chapters 1 & 2 helps us understand the content of the gospel, and why it was so important to Paul  So let’s look back.

Our series name – “The Calling,” comes from Ephesians 4:1  “Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.”

A survey of Chapters 1 & 2 helps us answer, what is this calling?

From the first half of Ephesians 1, we saw that we are called to a rich inheritance in Christ.

We are richly blessed in 4 ways:

:* **5*  *1.

Election* – 1:4 –we see that God /“chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.”/

One friend of mine calls this the blessing of “*selection*.”

:* **6*  *2*.

*Redemption and Forgiveness – 1:7* – /In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

/These are the blessings that we typically associate with *salvation* – so you could say …selection… salvation… -  but just keep in mind that all the blessings of our calling are blessings of salvation, not just the ones that have to do with our redemption.

But to keep it simple, we will say we are blessed with selection… salvation… 

:* **7*  *3*.

*Inheritance – 1:11-12* /In whom also we have obtained an inheritance…v.

12 to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

/Our calling includes an inheritance – you might call this the blessing of *identity*.

So we have selection, salvation, identity…  I believe the whole point of this letter is to help the Ephesians see how rich they really are in their identity as a believer in Christ.

:* **8*  4.

*Sealing* – 1:13 /“having believed… you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

/ This is the blessing of *security*.

The blessing of assurance.

That what God began, He will finish – guaranteed because it is He Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, who works within us.

So there in the first half of Chapter 1, we have our spiritual blessings in Christ:  selection, salvation, identity, and security.

Now let’s move to the second half of Chapter 1.

There we see Paul praying for only one thing:   Verse 17, Paul asks that God would give them  “/a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him/.

That means he wants them, and us, to know certain things,  three things, to be specific: 

 

:* **9*  1.

*Confidence* = That’s a conviction of our *HimHimH purpose* in life.

Paul wants us to know, from verse 18 “what is the hope of His calling.”

That’s a calling to be a servant of the gospel.

A confidence that our message is the solution to the problems of our world.

:* **10*  2.

*Significance* = That’s a conviction that the result of my life somehow accrues to God’s greater glory.

Look in verse 18.

He wants us to know,  “what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”

Your life does have purpose.

It does have significance.

And it is significant by God’s standard of valuation, which is of course the only one that ultimately matters.

:* **11*  3.

*Strength* = Look at verse 19 – “what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”

What Paul is talking about here is supernatural strength, the kind that raises a person from the dead.

So we see 4 blessings:  selection, salvation, identity, and security, and Paul’s prayer that, *as* these blessings take root in our life, we will discover *confidence*, *significance*, and *strength* to be useful in accomplishing God’s calling for us.

* *

          In the next three paragraphs, Paul elaborates on our strength, our significance, and our confidence, but in reverse order.

:* **12*  From Ephesians 2:1-10, we found that our *strength* comes from becoming united with Christ in His resurrection power.

When God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, he also raised you and me – and any believer in Jesus Christ - in victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil.

Look at verse 4 – “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions and sins, [God] made us alive together with Christ.”

That’s the resurrection power that enables us to fulfill our call – our strength.

The secret to living this Christian life is to find ourselves in Christ.

This is the heart of the gospel message.

:* **13*  From the second half of Ephesians 2, we discover our path to *significance.

We* are called to remember – remember where we came from.

That, prior to Christ, we were strangers and aliens, having no hope and without God in the world.

But more than that, we are to remember what we are called into.

Look at  2:22,  /22in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

/  Of the two groups, God creates something brand new, the church.

As we will see today, the church is the most significant thing apart from Christ Himself in all of human history.

It – meaning true believers in Jesus Christ – is THE dwelling place of the Living God.

And is there anything more significant than that?

Notice that the *strength* Paul prays for comes from being united with Christ.

Our *significance* comes from being God’s great workmanship – the Church.

:* **14*  Now we will find today that our *confidence* comes from following Paul’s example, and *valuing the gospel as THE means to effect real change in both our lives and the lives of others – to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ!*

* *

*          *:* **15*  Now let’s at Ephesians 3, verse 1.  /1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—/   Notice the “dash” at the end of verse 1.

What you have here is the beginning of a sentence that is never completed.

What most people think is that Paul intended to pray for the Ephesians at this point in his letter.

But at his mention of the Gentiles, he decides to elaborate a bit about His own personal ministry, his calling as the one who would reveal to the world – Jew and Gentile alike, how the Church fits into God’s program.

In two weeks, Tom Joyce will pick up where Paul broke off, and take us through Paul’s prayer that really begins in  verse 14.

 

          :* **16*  So now let’s look at Paul’s digression.

It’s my hope that, as we see the *confidence* he placed in the gospel, we’ll be encouraged to do the same.

Let’s look at verse 2:  /if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you;/  That “stewardship of God’s grace” is Paul’s responsibility to preach the gospel, and establish the church.

Verse 3:  /that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

4By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,/  The phrases “mystery,” and “mystery of Christ,” refers to Christ’s  revelation to Paul and the apostles concerning the church, and the gospel of grace that brings people – Jews and Gentiles alike - into the church.

And when he talks about having written before in brief, I believe the simplest way to take this, is to things he has already said in this letter, but now will explain in more detail.

Now lets look more carefully at this thing called “the stewardship of God’s grace.”

:* **17*  The word “stewardship” is the Greek word, “oikonomian” which means “household manager,” or “household administrator.”

You see, Paul had a “stewardship,” or a responsibility, to introduce the gospel of grace.

With the apostles and prophets, he had the job of building the church upon the gospel.

Now that’s the responsibility part of stewardship, but there is also a use here that refers to the period or age associated with that stewardship.

If you look down at verse 9, you find the word “administration” / - 9to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery/.

That is the same word, “oikonomia,” but now it is being used in a slightly different way.