Blueprint for the Church

Intro

What’s the first thing I would want to preach to our new church?

Really, it’s a question that both invigorates and haunts every pastor headed to a new church and every church planter as they start to gather

No matter where the Lord may lead our church in the years to come, there is a root and a foundation that is laid with the first series

In some ways I’ve been wrestling through this question in my mind since before the decision was made that we should plant this new church

What is the first thing I would want to say?

What’s the first thing I would want to preach?

And the answer in some ways, no matter what I was debating, was always clear: Ephesians

Intro Ephesians

First, a little historical context on the book of Ephesians

Authorship

Ephesians was written by the apostle Paul, one of 13 letters of the New Testament written by Paul

Paul was maybe the major missionary of the early church going on three missionary journeys and planting churches across a lot of Asia minor (present day Turkey) and Greece

Paul had visited the city of Ephesus on both his second and third missionary journeys

A few years after his third missionary journey, Paul was arrested

It was there, in prison, that Paul wrote a letter back to the church he planted and he loved

Theme

In 6 chapters, Ephesians magnificently highlights the beauty and glory of the electing, redeeming, life-giving work of God

and the implications for the church.

Transition

So what’s the first thing I want to preach on as a new church?

That Jesus is the one who redeems us and that Jesus is the one who remakes us as new creations

That the work of salvation, from beginning to end, is the work of the one true God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

That as new creations in Christ, we are called to live for his glory in deep repentance for our sins, in great delight in his redemption of us, and in the life we are called to live in obedience

That the work of the gospel transforms us and our relationships - how we relate to the church, to our families

So we turn to Ephesians

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 1:1-14

Ephesians 1:1–14 ESV

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Pray

Lord, this is your word for your people. By your Holy Spirit, apply it the hearts of us, your people. Amen.

Greeting

Paul opens his letter here with a greeting of affection

Ephesians 1:1–2 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul opens all of his letters in a relatively similar manner

Declaration of who he is

Blessing upon the readers

Declaration of who he is

Not just identifying himself as the author

But of his qualification to write to them

“an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God”

Paul was very clear that he was only there because of unmerited kindness and favor of God upon him

Blessing upon the readers

“Grace to you and peace”

These words follow Paul in all his letters

All 13 of those letters that Paul wrote in the NT include a blessing of grace and peace

The biggest variation in the blessing: some add “mercy” to “grace and peace”

Application: first invitation in the book of Ephesians to us

Can we be people of blessing?

Imagine trying to outdo one another in pouring the blessings of God upon one another

Years ago, just out of habit, I would greet people I saw at church with “God bless you”

It was, obviously, an intentional decision but never really know how people received it

One Sunday, saw a guy and was walking up to greet him

He came up to me and said, “God bless you”

“There, I did it.”

I was pretty confused. Did what?

“I beat you. I got to bless you before you could bless me.”

We live in a world that beats one another up with words

Reputations are ruined

Hearts are broken

And it doesn’t even matter if the words spoken are true because the damage was done when spoken, not when fact-checked

Could we, New Creation Church, speak life, speak hope, speak peace, speak blessing to one another and to those around us?

If we are going to have a competition in this church, let it be this: to outdo one another in speaking grace and peace upon one another

Transition

And now we come to verses 3-14

Kind of a long section to tackle all at once

But it is important to grasp something in the way this passage was originally written

In the Greek, this is one long, rambling, run-on sentence

When we translate it into English, we split it up into 5 still pretty long sentences

But at least that way it is readable

So I am going to read those verses again, but I am going to do so quickly to try and give a sense of how the words were written by Paul

Almost like he had all this bundled in and it just burst out of him

Salvation is the work of God

Ephesians 1:3–14 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Whew, I got it out, though I maybe could use an O2 tank about now!

4 things I want to draw out of that long run-on sentence

Salvation is Triune

Right now, Kim has our kids working on a couple of questions from the kids’ catechism

Q6: Is there more than one true God?

No. There is only one true God.

Q7: In how many Persons does this one God exist?

In three Persons.

Q8: Name these three Persons.

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Such important, vital truths and are all right out of our text here

Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,”

Ephesians 1:5 “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,”

Ephesians 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,”

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all present and all active in our salvation

God is the actor in salvation

Points 2 and 3 here are deeply interconnected

It starts with God as the actor in salvation

Not going to go through every verse, but could

Here are a few

God is the object of every active verb

Vs4 - “he chose us”

Vs5 - “he predestined us for adoption”

vs7 - “according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us”

So not only is salvation God’s idea, it is also fully his act

God is the actor - it is God who saves

We are the recipients

Point 3 is the converse

If God is the object of every active verb, we are the recipients

And the only sentences where people are the subjects of the sentences are those with passive verbs!

I already gave a couple examples above as humanity as the those who are acted upon with the active verbs

“he chose us”

But here a few examples highlighting humanity as the recipients of God’s saving work

Vs3 - “who has blessed us”

Vs7 - “In him we have redemption through his blood”

Vs11 - “In him we have obtained an inheritance”

Vs13 - “were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit”

As I said, points 2 and 3 here are deeply interconnected

God is the one who saves

We are the ones who receive the gracious gift of salvation

He acts, we receive

He blesses, we are blessed

He chooses us, we are chosen

He forgives, we are forgiven

He lavishes his grace, we are lavished upon

He seals, we are sealed forever with the Holy Spirit

God deserves the glory for our salvation

And finally, because salvation is the work beginning to end of the one true, Triune God, he receives all the praise and glory and honor

Ephesians 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,”

Ephesians 1:5–6 In love “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”

Ephesians 1:13–14 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”

Conclusion

For our first sermon series as a new church, we are going to study Ephesians

Incredible book that provides a blueprint

The blueprint shows us a foundation rooted in the saving work of God

And the blueprint shows us who we are called to be as those who are being made new by God

And we start today with the great reminder that salvation is fully, beginning to end, the work of God

And because it is his work, he receives all our praise

One of our desires at New Creation Church is to be a beautiful community

A beautiful community is not defined by us getting it right

That can’t and it won’t happen

Rather, we become a beautiful community as we rejoice in the saving work of God in life lives

He is making us new and we get to radiate the beauty of that new creation to the world around us

And as that happens, God gets all the glory because he is the one who, beginning to end, saves

Pray