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“The Reason” Tour.

Mark your calendars for December 8th.

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “i’m new” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out, we would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

Today we will be continuing our study of Ephesians chapter 2. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 977

TRANS: Pray

Intro

What is our ultimate purpose?

This past summer, before we moved to Devils Lake, I led a group of 40 people to Boulder, CO to do an evangelism trip. Some of you may have heard about this from me already as we’ve interacted.

We worked with an organization called MAVEN. Actually, it was started by the same person (Brett Kunkle) as who started the Reality Conference that a group of our students are at right now.

MAVEN has a unique approach to evangelism: Expose teenagers to different worldviews and see if they hold up. So while we were in Boulder, we equipped them in theology, philosophy, logic, debate tactics, how to ask good questions, etc. Then, we invited atheists from the area and one we flew in and handed them the mic, so to speak. “Give them your best shot” was essentially our message.

One such group was the Humanist group from the university of Colorado. We had hyped up this event, invited the church we were partnering with there, and spent time equipping the students with what we thought they were going to say. It turns out, we over equipped them.

This group of atheists, it seems, thought they could spout their normal slogans to our group and expect to convert some people. But our group was ready. They made a presentation, and our group of teenagers picked up on the fact that they had no answers as to origins, purpose, or morality. You know, the small stuff in life.

Then came the Q/A. A lot of our questions to them centered around these questions of origin, morality, and purpose. On one question about purpose, one student simply asked them, “What do you think is your purpose in life?” Each of the three answered.

“To be a good person. To do good in my community.”

The second said the same thing.

The third, a woman, said “to be a good grandmother.”

Now to be clear, these are good things. But as far as “ultimate” purpose? Really? That’s it?

Here’s what the kids picked up on based on their training, and what we emphasized after they left and we debriefed:

Why OUGHT we do good in our community if there is no God? No moral law-giver? There is no ultimate difference in consequences between living selfishly and living generously.

If we are going to die, and that’s it, not only will you not remember the good you did or the roles you played (like grandmother) but neither will anyone else in 100 years.

Further, if there is no objective morality, how do we define “Good?”

Let me put this succinctly, we have a longing for purpose, for a mission. We want what we do to matter.

So let’s pause and sit in this fact for a moment: The mission of Christ -- sharing the gospel and being a force for good — eternally matters. It transcends all other smaller purposes and goals in this life. In fact, the call to make disciples, to spread the gospel, is the kind of mission that (if we give ourselves fully to it) will shape everything we do. How we parent, how we work, how we interact with people, etc.

TRANS: The high call of our mission gives clarity to how Paul talks about his circumstances in our passage today. Starting in Ephesians 3:1

Ephesians 3:1 ESV

1 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

Pay attention to how Paul describes his circumstances as he opens chapter 3. He does not say he is a prisoner of Rome. But isn’t that true? He could have said, hey, by the way, I’m in prison because the romans put me here after I was evangelizing.

We find this scene out of Acts 21. I’ll read some and summarize the rest:

Acts 21:26–36 ESV

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them and went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering presented for each one of them. 27 When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut. 31 And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. 33 Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks. 35 And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, 36 for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”

This is how one commentetor put it,

Acts 21:26–36, where it is clear that Paul’s ministry to the gentiles—and the false claim that he brought some into the Jerusalem temple—ignited Jewish opposition, which led to his Roman arrest.5 15 5 For this being the only mention of being imprisoned because of his gentile ministry

1 Constantine R. Campbell, The Letter to the Ephesians, ed. D. A. Carson, Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2023), 129.

Paul’s Motivation

God was sovereign over Paul’s circumstances

Notice how Paul puts his circumstances under the ultimate purpose and will of God.

Paul was in prison in Rome when he wrote Ephesians. He did not consider himself to be a prisoner of Rome. He considered himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus, because it was out of obedience to Jesus that he was a prisoner there; and he trusted completely in the sovereignty of God. He considered his circumstances to be in the will of God so that the gospel could be spread to the Gentiles. Therefore, he considered himself a prisoner for the sake of the Gentiles.11 Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, vol. 8, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 128.

A question we could ask ourselves is, what would drive Paul to such lengths to share the gospel? Watch how Paul talks about the mission God has for him in verse 2:

Ephesians 3:2 ESV

2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,

Paul talks about God’s grace as something he is a steward over. Something he has to carry for the Gentile’s sake. This is of course a metaphor, God doesn’t need help carrying his grace. Yet, God does use his church to spread the message of the Gospel as his ambassadors!

TRANS: Paul strongly believed he had an important part to play in God’s plan to spread the message of grace to the world:

Paul’s Motivation

Paul took responsibility for the lost gentiles.

You could summarize Paul’s motivation like this:

“How can they know unless I speak?”

And the “I” there is critical, because Paul saw himself as The person to do this. Not just one of God’s options, not “well if I don’t feel like it someone else will.” Paul did not have that mentality. He knew God had given him a large task and his sense of responsibility and ownership of his mission fueled him to keep going.

TRANS: Paul paid attention to the big picture. God had, through time, slowly revealed his plan of salvation. Now, in Christ, the mystery of God’s plan was fully made known.

Ephesians 3:3–5 ESV

3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.

The Big Picture of God’s plan was fulfilled in Christ. This is why it’s so important to know your old testament, because little comments like this carry so much more weight when you bear in mind what God had been doing up to that point.

There is an idea in theology called “progressive revelation.” This means, God did not explain his plan all at once. Rather, he slowly revealed the plan, piece by piece, person by person, generation by generation.

Some of the highlights include:

The promise to Eve after the Fall that one of her offspring will crush the head of the serpent.

The promise to Abraham that his family tree will be as many as the stars in the Sky, and that God would bless his family so that his family can be a blessing to the nations.

The law was given to Moses so that the Israelites could live as holy and separate people.

God lived with his people, the Israelites, but in the Holy of Holies in the temple.

The promise to David that in the house of David would come a line of Kings that would rule over God’s people.

All of these are revealed in Christ.

Jesus crushed satan on cross.

Jesus is the one in whom the nations are blessed. More on this in a moment.

Jesus gives the “Law of Christ” that fulfills the law.

God makes us his temple and lives in us.

Jesus is the King of Kings and will rule and reign forever.

The apostles and prophets of the New Testament bore witness to Christ as the fulfillment of God’s plan.

But as to the mystery, Paul had something very specific in mind:

Ephesians 3:6 ESV

6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

This is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. That his family tree would be a blessing to the nations. Well, now anyone can be a part of the blessing!

The Mystery is Revealed

Salvation is open to all people.

As one commentator, Dr. Snodgrass, says,

The promises were formerly made to Israel, but now Gentiles are “heirs together with” (cf. also Rom. 8:17; 1 Peter 3:7) the Jewish Christians and receive a full share of all benefits.11 Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 161.

Gentiles are not second class citizens, they are full members in the promises of God by faith in Christ.

It’s important to note why this was a mystery.

The Jews had an expectation: the messiah would be a political figure - the next king in the line of David, who would set them free from the oppressive rule of Rome.

Baked into that line of thinking is “us vs them.” If I were to ask Jews from 2,000 years ago “so when the messiah comes, is he going to welcome in the people of Rome into the household of God?” I’m confident their answer would be no. Yet, this is Paul’s mission. But not just Rome, the world.

TRANS:

A Call to Evangelize

Embrace Paul’s motivations to fuel your heart for the lost.

Two Motivations:

God’s Sovereignty (don’t try to control the outcome)

Our responsibility (God will use our faithfulness)

You never know who will come to Christ. Our responsibility is to trust God’s sovereignty and to speak. And God will use our faithfulness. And pay attention if we believe someone is too far from Jesus to receive him, God can do miracles.

Yesterday I was reading a story about a devout atheist who became a Christian. Remember how I began with what is our ultimate purpose?

“Atheism failed to answer a simple question: what is the meaning and purpose of life?…. Christianity has it all.” - Ayaan Hirsi Ali

After 20 years as a devout atheist, Ayaan became a Christian. We never know who will come to Christ. But I do know this, her phrase, “Christianity has it all” points to the longing we all have in our hearts. A longing for relationship with God, a longing for life, a longing for piece, a longing for inside-out transformation. And so on.

People ignore this longing, that’s why they are spiritually lost. Without hope, without purpose, without meaning. But if we keep inviting, by God’s grace people will come.

Reject intolerance, colonialism, and white religion narratives.

“Evangelism is intolerance. Respect what other people believe and leave them alone.”

In order to be tolerant, I must Disagree with you while still respecting you as a person.

Irony: people claiming we are intolerant are being intolerant.

All people are created equal, but ideas are not.

I am a Christian because Christianity is TRUE. If I believe that, then by necessity, others are wrong. Does that make me hateful? No. But it underscores that truth is exclusive. If “x =y” then “x=/Q” Am I hateful for believing that? No. This is how claims about God work as well. Some are true, and most are not. The road is narrow that leads to everlasting life, Jesus says.

Our mission from God is actually higher than tolerance. It’s love. And love, according to 1 Corinthians 13, “Rejoices in the truth.”

In order to love our neighbors, we must share the truth about reality with them. The good news of Jesus.

“Evangelism is colonialism. It’s all about power for you people.”

Marxist framework - Oppressor vs the oppressed.

On the Christian worldview, ALL people are under the oppressive rule of sin and death.

Evangelism is not about dominating cultures, it’s actually about setting captives free from the oppression of sin and death into the freedom and life of Christ.

“Christianity is a white religion. Stop trying to force your whiteness on marginalized groups.”

There are so many problems with this claim, but it has become common in our culture so let’s address it.

First, it commits a fallacy in argumentation: the genetic fallacy. One commits this fallacy when they disregard a claim someone is making not based on the merit of the claim, but based on the source of the claim.

We do this all the time. Imagine there is a politician who has a scandal. I know, it never happens. So really try hard to imagine this with me. But let’s say in this thought experiment that this politician is in the same party as what you would align yourself with.

Now you hear this news from two different people. First you hear it from a friend who votes differently then you, then you hear it from a friend who votes the same as you.

Pay attention to this: Odds were that when your friend who votes differently than you told you, “hey, a guy in your party is going through a scandal” you were skeptical. But when your friend on the same side of the isle told you the news, you probably believed them.

This is how the genetic fallacy works.

If someone says this, they are not trying to even consider the claims of Jesus or the truthfulness of Christianity, they are brushing it off because (in THEIR minds) Christianity is for privileged white people only. But this is totally and completely false.

Christianity is a white religion if we don’t look at history past a few hundred years, and if we don’t pay attention to what God is doing throughout the world even today.

Christianity started in first century Jerusalem. Most people living there were brown.

The early church leaders were diverse in their skin color: Athanasius was brown, Augustine was black, and so on.

Not to mention Jesus was also, likely, brown. (the Chosen gets this right)

But I REJECT the framework of our modern era that essentially says “stick to your race lane” as it were. Jesus is mine, Jesus is yours — not because of what he looked like, but because of what he accomplished.

Jesus is the hope of the world, not one particular race.

Story of African missionaries at the airport in Minneapolis.

Not everyone is gifted, but all are called to evangelize.

Evangelism is not my gift

Just because evangelism does not come naturally to you, doesn’t mean you are not called into Christ’s mission.

Believe it or not, evangelism does not come naturally to me. At least how I was trained to do it.

When I was a teenager I thought all evangelism had to be done with a tract where you draw a cliff over here, us, and a cliff over here, Jesus, with the cross in the middle. It’s a good illustration, but I remember trying to explain this to someone and I got all tongue tied. I thought I’d failed. So honestly, there were opportunities for evangelism for a period that I didn’t take because I just thought “I’m not good at this.”

It wasn’t until this truth set in that I realized, I simply need to be trained. So I learned a new method, a more conversational one, one that was more organic and relational, less “take out a white board and present” and more natural. That’s when I’ve thrived.

But what also set me free was recognizing what Paul knew, that the results weren’t up to me. My job is to plant and water. It’s the LORD that brings growth.

This leads to our final point:

Do not make sharing the gospel complicated.

Share story of evangelizing Hunter in my office.

Closing:

What is our ultimate purpose? To glorify God and make disciples. This is why Bethel church exists.