Everything is Different - Imagine

What does that mean? Is Paul Jesus’ prisoner? No; Paul’s writing to the Ephesians from an actual prison—but he got sent there because of what he was preaching about Jesus (hence, “prisoner of Christ”).

Paul went on (3) different recorded missionary journeys (or 4, depending on how you see it) as documented in the book of Acts. On his 2nd missionary journey, he traveled to the city of Ephesus, where he stayed for a couple of years and preached the gospel and planted churches.

And after that, Paul eventually made his way back to Jerusalem, where this happens. And turn there if you want to, but this is how Acts describes it:

Excursus: Paul in Ephesus, Acts 19-21

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Acts 21:27–30 “…some Jews from the province of Asia saw Paul at the temple. They stirred up the whole crowd and seized him, shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help us! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people and our law and this place. And besides, he has brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”

(They had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.) The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.”

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So, some important details here. First:

Ephesus was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia - about 600 miles or so away from Jerusalem. And Ephesus was a huge city for the time—4th largest city in the Roman Empire; around 250,000 people.

Paul traveled there and stayed for a little over (2) years. Trophimus was one of the Ephesians who stepped across the faith line and started to follow Jesus as Paul preached the gospel. And then, Trophimus joined Paul in his journeys.

So now they’re back in Jerusalem, and some Jews from Asia—where Trophimus was from—recognized him.

And they “assumed” that Paul took him into their temple—which would have been a desecration of something that they held as sacred.

Notice their accusation:

This man, Paul, is going around everywhere teaching against our…

People: Our Jewish heritage.

Law: Our religion; our faith.

And this Place: this temple in our nation’s capital.

You want to stir up some quick mob anger: combine someone’s heritage along with their culture’s faith plus a threat to their land. Watch the frenzy unfold.

And unfold it did:

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Acts 21:31–34 “While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks.”

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And so now, Paul is writing to the churches in Ephesus from prison, because Ephesian Jews recognized an Ephesian Gentile Christian and whipped a mob into a kind of Zionist frenzy in Jerusalem.

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This actually wasn’t the first time that Paul suffered because of and for the Ephesians. Go back a couple of chapters in Acts with me and read about what his time there was like. Acts 19:

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Acts 19:1–7 “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied.

Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in 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 on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.”

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So, pretty cool. 12 guys had heard about John the Baptist, but hadn’t yet heard about Jesus. Paul shares, they believe, 12 new converts.

More cool stuff happens in the next few verses. Little bit of resistance, but more good than bad. But then, verse 23:

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Acts 19:23–24 “About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there.”

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This was one of the reasons why Ephesus was such a large city: it housed one of the seven wonders of the world, the temple of Artemis, who was the Roman adaptation of the Greek god, Diana. You can still see the ruins of her temple today; here’s what it probably looked like during Paul’s time:

SHOW TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS PICTURE

As you can imagine, people from all over the world came to see this; the tourism and industry around Artemis and her temple was huge for the Ephesian economy.

Also in Ephesus was the Great Library. This is what it looks like today.

SHOW GREAT LIBRARY PICTURE

There were something like 30,000 scrolls housed in that library, many of them dedicated to Artemis. Extremely valuable. But if you read vv. 11-20, you’ll see that so many people came to Jesus that they started burning these scrolls—to the tune of about $7mil in modern dollars.

And Paul and his message, turns out, started to become a threat. Verse 25:

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Acts 19:25–27 “He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia.

He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”

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It’s a pretty good recipe for building a platform and getting a huge reaction, seems like. These guys ran it; the Ephesian Jews in Jerusalem ran it a couple of years later when Paul came to Jerusalem… heck: most of the politicians today run the same play. Land, faith, heritage, economy… if you can convince people that someone is a threat to all of those, you can build a platform or even a mob pretty quickly. Pretty potent (and turns out, ancient) combo.

Which leads to verse 28:

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Acts 19:28–31 “When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.”

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Paul ended up dodging a bullet that day, as it turns out. But just 3 months later… read with me in chapter 20, verse 3:

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Acts 20:3 “…some Jews had plotted against him just as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to go back through Macedonia.”

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So that’s Paul in Ephesus. That’s what it was like for him while he was there. On mission. For the gospel.

He had some people come to know Jesus and join this movement called the Way. He saw God do some powerful things.

But then he had this group on his right who… thought he was a heretic who hated his country and his heritage.

And he had this group on his left who… thought he was a threat to their culture, progress, and way of life.

Sound familiar?

Who Could Have Imagined? Ephesians 3:1-6; 20-21

Go back to Ephesians with me. Paul writes in chapter 3, verse 1:

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Ephesians 3:1–6 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.”

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Paul, of course, is talking about his own faith line story—which began when Jesus literally knocked him off his donkey as he was murdering Christians in the name of God and country and then gave him this new mission:

You’re gonna stop preaching against me and instead you’re going to start preaching about me.

Who could’ve imagined?

Your friends today will try to murder you tomorrow but the people you were trying to murder will become your new friends.

Who could’ve imagined?

And all the suffering you’ve inflicted on so many others, you, Paul, will now experience for yourself—but it’s gonna be ok, because you’re gonna see me do incredible things in people’s lives through it. It’ll bring you joy to suffer for my name. Because you’re gonna see me build my church through. You.

Who could’ve imagined?

And I’m gonna take (2) groups of people you never thought would ever want anything to do with each another, the Jews and the Gentiles, and I’m gonna make them one—unified and bonded forever around what I have done in each of their lives.

Who. Could. Have. Imagined.

Paul knew who dreamed all this up. Paul knew who’s imagination was behind all of this transformation and new creation. Verse 20:

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Ephesians 3:20–21 “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

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God’s Vision for His Church

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God imagined and envisioned his church is to be a place where…

Jesus’ transforming work in our lives…

creates such a unified community that…

even the most powerful forces in the world could never divide it.

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God imagined his church to be a place where we check our politics at the door.

God envisioned his church to be a place where we set our personal preferences aside.

God imagined his church to be a place where we hop off our little soap boxes.

God envisioned his church to be a place where we keep the main thing the main thing.

And the main thing in the church is for everyone in the church to be unified around the transformation that is found only in Jesus and his love for everyone.

Remember week 1? Everyone and everything. All things in heaven and on earth. Under Jesus’ love.

Our Vision for You: Being the Church that God Imagined

Hey:

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When was the last time that you experienced Jesus in such a way that made everything else small and his church big?

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When was the last time?

When was the last time you felt God convict you of your sin through his church, and move you to confession and repentance with his church, and replace your guilt and shame with his peace at your church? And this thing that had become so big in your life suddenly became so small in light of Jesus?

When was the last time you saw God open up a door to speak into someone’s life, and then you watched him bless that beyond what you could have ever imagined? An elevator conversation, like Pastor John’s story—or something like that? Where all of your anxiety about just responding to that nudge suddenly became so small, and Jesus became so big? Because everyone and everything and he’s working all the time and he wants everyone to be a part of his family and us to be on that mission with him?

When was the last time you got real in your group? Or someone else did? And you watched God show up in the messiness of life? And all of a sudden those invisible barriers that separated you were torn down as Jesus started building his community and family in your group?

When was the last time you saw someone that you thought would never, ever darken the door of a church come, get knocked off their metaphorical donkey (so to speak), and leave as a new member of the family of God?

140 people have done that in the last 3 weeks.

Jesus did that with 140 people in the last 3 weeks at Prairie Lakes.

When was the last time that you experienced Jesus in such a way that made everything else small and his church big?

If it’s been awhile, chances are…

You’ve just been playing church. Maybe whenever it’s convenient, or maybe to whatever level is comfortable. But you’re just kinda playing around with it.

Some people can play church for a long time. But most of us… can’t. Most of us are on the hunt for something real. Something bigger than us. Something we can feel good about giving our lives to, together.

And if we’re not finding it, then (1) of (2) things will happen:

We’ll go looking for it at some other church (and then some other, and then some other,)…

Or we’ll stop looking for it at church altogether, and start looking for it somewhere else.

What if 2024 was the year where we stopped playing church and we started to experience the kind of church Paul saw grow up in Ephesus and all over the world?

What if 2024 was the year where we started chasing after the kind of church that our soul longs for?

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What if 2024 was the year in which we experienced the kind of church that only God could have imagined?

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Think about what your experience of church is like currently. What’s your relationship to Prairie Lakes look like right now? If someone could see it, would they go, “wow… I wish I had that in my life.”

Are you experiencing the kind of church that only God could have imagined? Or are you just kinda…

Playing church?

Here’s what playing church looks like:

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Playing church:

-attending so infrequently that I feel like I “missed a few episodes”

-some acquaintances, but no meaningful, deep friendships

-giving like it’s a small background subscription

-serving like it’s a box to be checked (if at all)

-don’t invite because on some level I’m not excited about what I’d be inviting them to

-fruits: tribalism, mistrust, complaining, gossiping, self-focus

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Look at that. Who wants to be a part of that? Sign me up for that, right?!

No way does a church like that or doing church like that result in anything close to what the Ephesians experienced.

And truthfully, even though some of these might describe you, (and, gosh, even me at times) I know for a fact that this isn’t what you’re shooting for. It might be what you’re doing, but it’s not because this is what you want at your deepest level. (“Hm… today I think I would like to continue my tenuous relationship with the church…”)

We all want something different. Something better.

But, like…

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Anything that is authentically better always costs more—because it’s worth more.

If it’s truly better, we’ll give more to get it—and we’ll naturally tell others about it.

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What if the reason you haven’t invited someone to church in forever is because you’re not experiencing something worth sharing?

AND:

What if the reason you’re not experiencing something worth sharing is because you’re just playing church?!

The irony, right? Oh, what a twisted web we weave!

But If there’s some truth in it, and if that’s the case, then here’s what we’d expect:

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When we stop settling for just playing church,

And we start being the church that God imagined,

Then we’ll experience a church worth sharing.

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Kind of a good news/bad news situation:

The good news is: you can experience the church that you always wanted!

The bad news is: you can only experience the church that you always wanted if you start being the church you always wanted!

Oh… but it’s so worth pursuing. Here’s what it looks like:

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Being the Church only God could have imagined:

-attending regularly because it’s my family and my home and a blessing to me

-finding real friends by being willing to build real friendships

-tithing and offering above because my money doesn’t control me and I’m bought in

-serving to discover, use, and grow the gifts God has entrusted to me

-inviting because I’m experiencing something worth sharing

-fruits: family, trust, gratitude, truth and grace, others-focus

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Here’s how I’d like to end. This year, 2024, if we’re gonna start being the church that only God could have imagined, I want you to prayerfully consider taking (1) or all (3) of these steps: