Live in Obedience

Announcements

“The Reason” Tour.

They have invited all the area churches for their family Christmas experience. Live music and a message on Christmas.

Mark your calendars for December 8th.

End of year giving.

Make note of the giving in the bulletin.

Opener

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 3. If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 977.

TRANS: Pray

I grew up in a Christian home. My dad has been in ministry for somewhere in the neighborhood of 35 years, so all I’ve ever known is church. And with that as well, I grew up with the label “pastor’s kid.” I remember mostly not thinking much of it, except my dad had the keys to the closet where all the dodgeballs where. My friends would come up to me as “the kid with connections” and I’d go get my dad’s keys. Life was good, it was simple. I liked being a pastor’s kid.

But then I get a bit older, and I started to make mistakes. By most measures I was a good christian kid in high school. I knew what to say and what to do. I knew how to play church. But on the inside I knew I didn’t much care for following Jesus. Not day to day. Maybe in big moments on youth trips or conferences. I’d get emotional and recommit my life to Christ. But that would fade.

Perhaps you have experience with church in similar ways. You know how to play the part. So when topics like obedience to God come up, we feel pressure to perform. We display a “christian self” even if we don’t feel it on the inside. Even if the other 6 days don’t look like what we present at church. We feel those expectations. Obedience feels like pressure, it feels like obligation, and it often produces feelings of guilt and shame.

And maybe you’ve noticed in recent years that the church in America has really stopped talking about obedience. Perhaps this is one reason. We don’t want to guilt and shame people. We don’t want to heap heavy weights and burdens on people. So let’s talk about other things like freedom, joy, and peace. The good things, the things we think people will like.

But here’s the problem: How can we experience the joys of God unless we walk with him? This is what obedience is. It’s walking with God. Yet when many of us have tried, we don’t feel joy, we feel burnout.

TRANS: Today I want to reframe the idea of obedience. Because we have fallen for a subtle trap: the trap of the starting point. We believe, albeit accidently, that obedience comes from us. It is something we “do.” Yet this is precisely the opposite of what Paul teaches in our passage today.

Obedience starts with God’s resources.

Pay attention to how Paul emphasizes God’s work in him that fuels his ability to do what God has called him to do:

Ephesians 3:7–8 ESV

7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Paul has been emphasizing his ministry to the gentiles over and over, and this is no exception. But Paul talks about how he “was made” a minister. This was not something he did, but this passive voice communicates that it was something that was done to him and through him. God chose, empowered, supplied, and commissioned Paul.

Notice it was “by the working of his power” that Paul was able to enter this mission. It was not his own ability, his own intellect, his own passion or drive, it was not his personality or temperament, it was God’s power working in him. God certainly used all of those things that were unique to Paul, that’s why he chose him, yet those things were secondary to God’s power at work in him.

And Paul is sure to emphasize it was not something he did. As he considered himself unworthy for what God had made him to be given his past. This is why he called himself the “least of all the saints.” One commentator notes,

He felt he should have been rejected because he persecuted the church, but he was chosen—a choice not based on his ability, but on God’s grace. Anything he accomplished was a result of the power of God at work in him.25 125 25 See 1 Corinthians 15:8–10 and 1 Timothy 1:12–17.

1 Klyne Snodgrass, Ephesians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1996), 162.

Like a light bulb that has all the ingredients of light, yet without electricity, sits unable to accomplish it’s design and purpose. God is the “power” that takes his design and makes it all work.

Paul’s ability to obey and follow in God’s mission for his life did not come from him, it came from God’s power, his grace, his forgiveness, his transformation from a persecutor of the church to a leader of the church.

TRANS: Paul lived from God’s power at work in him. This leads us to our second point from the text:

Obedience is God’s invitation for us to play our part in His story.

This was God’s resources, not his own. And this empowered Paul to be a part of the larger purpose that God was doing. Let’s read on.

Ephesians 3:9–10 ESV

9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

It is the CHURCH that God’s wisdom is known. Specifically, to the rulers and authorities.

Who are the rulers and authorities? From the context of the rest of the letter of Ephesians, it seems that they are those that oppose God. We see this in Ephesians 1:20-21, where Christ is seated far and above these rulers, and again in chapter 6 where the rulers are to be opposed by putting on the armor of God.

Dr. Michael Heiser makes this comment on this passage,

“It was only after Christ had risen that God’s plan was “made known … to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). These cosmic forces are “the rulers and the authorities” disarmed and put to shame by the cross.”

(Col 2:15).1esv esv English Standard Version

1 Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 121–122.

Paul is claiming that it is the job of the church to proclaim to the forces that oppose Christ that He Is Risen. Death and sin are conquered, evil forces have failed, God is victorious and will one day make all things new. This is not just Paul’s job, this is the part to play of the church.

When we obey God, we are taking our place in God’s grand mission. This is where victory, purpose, and freedom are found, when we play out our role.

Roger Staubach who led the Dallas Cowboys to the World Championship in '71 admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn't call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Landry sent in every play. He told Roger when to pass, when to run and only in emergency situations could he change the play (and he had better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said that he should be able to run his own team.

Roger later said, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory."

TRANS: Obedience is never about one specific moment, it is about God’s grand story. When he sends a “play” into your helmet, you better believe there is a purpose behind it.

TRANS: But some of us have been in the game, so to speak, for a long time. We are worn out, tired, discouraged. Maybe obedience has felt like a joyful invitation once but now feels as though we have to drag our own feet forward. How do we continue? Paul answers that.

Obedience is sustained by beholding Christ.

I have been drawn to how Paul ends this section all week. It has encouraged and strengthened my heart. Watch what he says:

Ephesians 3:11–13 ESV

11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

Our God is a God who invites us in. Nearer and nearer. Yet how often do we approach Jesus with boldness and confidence? If we don’t, if we come to him out of shame, often times it’s because we are paying attention to our own effort, our own weakness. Yet Paul says clearly, we approach Jesus in this way “through our faith in him.” It is by faith that we boldly go to Jesus our King.

I’m reminded of when Peter was called out of the boat to walk on the water — to meet Jesus. Peter fixed his eyes on jesus, and actually walked on water. He was moving toward him, but was filled with fear at the sight of the waves, spraying water, the powerful storm. He moved his eyes off of Jesus. And he started to sink.

READ: How do we sustain obedience in the face of being worn out or discouraged? By fixing our eyes on Jesus. This is the essence of faith. He renews us and restores us, he builds us up in the strength of his power.

So when Paul says “I ask you not to lose heart” he is calling us out of discouragement. Grab the rope, Christ will bring you up. The temptation to give up, to call it after a time of great effort. No. Through Jesus sustains us by his power. And this power wells up in us to give us the ability to walk with Him — obedience.

Application

Obedience comes from being united with Christ, not human effort.

Very often, we put obedience not under the category of joyfully following God, but under meeting the expectations of others. To be sure, a lot of people have expectations of us:

Parents/family, teachers, peers, coaches, church, spouse, boss, society, kids, self.

Whether spoken or unspoken, we experience expectations all around us. Many of us feel that if we meet those expectations, life will go well for us. Perhaps this is right. But then many of us get trapped in what Pete Kuiper calls “The performance treadmill.”

Meeting expectations often comes from a fear of failure. What happens if I don’t meet the expectations of others? I’m a failure. I’m a fraud. I am not good enough. I am inadequate.

Here’s the false belief in a nutshell.

False Belief: “My well-being depends on meeting the expectations of others.”

What if we approach God with this belief? Until we are fully united with him in heaven, we will never be perfect. We will make mistakes. So if my well-being depends on meeting the expectations of God… but I can’t be perfect, then I hide. It’s the Adam and eve in the garden problem. Failure breeds isolation.

We tell ourselves “I should do better.” “I should be healthier.” “I should be further along in my walk with Jesus.” “I should have gotten over this already.” That’s called “shoulding” all over yourself. This is a problem. There must be another way.

Now if the only way to experience joyful obedience is through the power and resources of Christ, but we hide when we fail, are we not setting ourselves up to keep failing? This mindset isolates us from our Lord who loves us. It isolates us from the one who can help us in our weakness. This is when we “try harder” rather than abide in him. “Try harder” rather than depend on Jesus.

But obedience is by grace.

This is how John Stott put it,

Christian obedience is unlike every other kind of obedience. It is not the obedience of slaves or soldiers, but essentially the obedience of lovers who know, love and trust the person who issues the commands.

John Stott

Oftentimes, when I hear of people who are obeying Jesus, and this is true in my own life, I feel like I am not the one “doing” it. It’s done through me. It’s done in me. I feel moved along by the Spirit of God who is in me, I sense the calm assurance of Jesus giving me what I need. It is done in me, and I say yes.

Obedience to Jesus is a get to, not a should do. It’s freedom, not heavy expectations. It’s joy, not shame. This is why we spent so much time on Ephesians chapter 1. It is foundational for ideas like this. The Father chose us, Jesus paid the price for us, and the Holy Spirit guarantees us power now and a secure future. This is about what God does for us. Obedience on our part is a response, worship, because of God’s great love for us.

When we live by the grace that comes from being united with Christ, we are able to obey him.

This is why we read the Bible, so our minds are saturated with the truth and can combat the lies that try to destroy us.

This is why we pray, so that we are in communion with God who reassures our hearts and strengthens us when we are weak, tempted, broken, discouraged, shame-filled, or hopeless. He establishes us and builds us up in Christ.

Consider what step of obedience God is leading you into.

What is God saying to you today?

This morning we are going to witness four individuals get baptized. They are saying YES to that next step because of God’s power in them.