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Welcome Alex

One of the pastors here at CLC

Continuing our series on Ephesians

We’re going through Eph 3 today.

Background on Ephesians

Paul wrote it in prison.

The goal was for it to be passed around to the churches in Ephesus. Called a circular letter

REMINDER: The breakdown of different parts of scripture was not initially included. Translators broke it down into different parts to make it easier to reference specific parts.

Ephesians would have been read as a letter. So Ephesians 2, references and builds off Eph 1. Eph 3 builds off of 1+2, 4 builds off of 1+2+3 etc…

If you’re not already, add Ephesians into your scripture reading :)

Recap Ben N and PA

Ephesians 1 unpacks what it means to find our identity “in Christ.” The big idea is that because we’re united with Him, we get to share in that victory—not because of what we’ve done, but because of who we’re with. It reminds us that we’re already chosen, loved, redeemed, and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that our purpose is tied to God’s big plan, not just our own goals. Instead of striving to earn our place, we’re invited to live from a place of confidence, knowing that we already belong and have everything we need in Him.

Ephesians 2 unpacks how it’s God’s grace—not our effort—that saves us. It talks about how we were spiritually dead, not just struggling, and how those two words, “But God,” change everything. Even in our mess, God steps in with love and brings us to life through Jesus. It’s a reminder that God loves us right now—not some future, cleaned-up version—and that we’re His masterpiece, created with purpose. It’s a powerful mix of solid truth, real hope, and practical encouragement.

Pray

In Ephesians 3, Paul is a little ADHD lol

He starts off in V1 with “When I think of all this…”

Then gets side tracked

Then he restarts his thought again in V14 “When I think of all this…”

But the first part has a header called “God’s Mysterious Plan Revealed”

Ooooh God had a secret

Everyone loves a good secret

You see it all the time

“3 things the government doesn’t want you to know”

“3 new stocks that are going to 10x in the next 30 days”

“Timothy Chalamet said WHAT?!”

Everyone wants to know something someone else doesn’t

Sophie and I had a secret

We’d go home and talk and say “It’s fun that we have a secret” and laugh

We got to share in something beautiful before sharing it with everyone else

Then the time came when it was right to share our secret, and we shared it.

How I told my family we were pregnant

In the same way, God had a secret, a mystery, that He was waiting to reveal in the right time!

Eph 3:3-5 “God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me. 4 As you read what I have written, you will understand my insight into this plan regarding Christ. 5 God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.”

What do we see?

This chapter, Paul is revealing something to us that was not common knowledge at the time.

Eph 3:9 “I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that God, the Creator of all things, had kept secret from the beginning.”

Everyone say “oooh… God had a secret”

What was the secret??

Eph 3:6 “And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.”

God’s secret was that everyone gets the same access to God, gets the same riches, gets to be a part of the same blessing BECAUSE they belong to Christ Jesus.

Not because of:

Ethnicity

Black Hebrews

Black hebrew Israelites

Academic knowledge

Political affiliation

Social economic status

God’s plan, thank you Drake, was that we get back to the way we were designed.

In Genesis 1-2:25 we see that humanity was made to be in relationship with God.

To walk with Him, talk with Him, spend time with Him, and to be in His presence.

Then in Gen 3, humanity rebels and decides to do things our way. We break the relationship.

But God, had a plan.

He was not surprised! God has no plan B!

What was His eternal plan?

Man would be in fellowship with God

Man broke that relationship

The restoration of God’s image and fellowship with mankind is the goal of God’s activity in the Bible.

This goal is met through the work of Christ and the ministry of the Spirit

Why did He keep it a secret?

It wasn’t the right time.

Sometimes the right thing at the wrong time, isn’t helpful.

My wife and I are in a pickleball league.

Last week, we did not have a good time.

We left frustrated at each other.

The right thing, if we want to win, is to give feedback

The wrong time is while we’re frustrated at each other.

In our conversation I remember pausing and having to say “I have nothing productive to add to this conversation”

IT WAS NOT THE RIGHT TIME.

We could be right, or we could be happy. We chose happy lol

So what was God’s purpose?

Eph 3:10-11 “God’s purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

He waited so that He can use THE CHURCH to display his wisdom.

This was His eternal plan which He carried out through Jesus.

The Church. The Gathering of Believers (the ecclesia).

You see, The Church is the greatest institution to ever grace the earth.

Current philosophies and ideologies are based upon traditional Christian ideals, but don’t want God attached to them. Without God as the basis of them, they don’t work.

Christians and Christian beliefs have built western society

Monks started hospitals and orphanages

Taught agriculture

The Benedictine monks would manage civil life.

When a bridge collapsed they were the engineers who rebuilt them and would invent new processes to do it better/easier

Preserved literacy

Made latin easier to write and read for ease of communication

Recorded ancient literature

Educated children - aka schools

Perfected beer - LETS GO

Adding milk to coffee was named after the Capuchin monks.

Where we get cappuccinos from

Ended slavery in the 11th century. The west had very little slavery because Christians understood and believed that we are all created in the image of God and deserve fair treatment

Christians have done it twice in modern history, and we’re going for a three-peat.

Christian responsibility to change the world is part of our devotional life

Science was a way to understand God better

The modern scientific method? Created by a Friar named Roger Bacon

Modern Genetics? Father Mendell

The Photon was discovered by a Baptist Deacon

We see let there be light all throughout creation

When light photons - specifically gamma rays - collide they can create matter.

Maybe God was the Big Bang (the guy who coined that term, catholic priest Georges Lemaître)

When a sperm fertilizes an egg, the zinc causes a flash of light.

How cool is God?!

God’s wisdom is displayed THROUGH the church. Not outside. But through the gathering of believers.

Eph 3:12 - “Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence”

3:12 - Term is used for freedom of speech

We can approach God (who is in authority) with confidence.

Christ is our mediator

Not a priest, not Mary, but Christ is the one who we approach God through.

The term is ‘we’

Priesthood of all believers. We receive faith individually, but Christianity is a corporate experience.

Why do we emphasise getting on teams and joining life groups?

Because it is the best thing for us to do.

When you join a team, you are not another cog in the wheel.

You are a priest, giving acceptable sacrifices to God, with the rest of the body of Christ.

Serving God, together, is how He designed His church to work. It is not a man-made thing, it is a central design point.

Through faith in Him - Jesus is God’s channel for all spiritual blessings.

Because of Jesus’ faithfulness and fulfillment of the OT Law, we get access to every blessing.

After this Paul has this great prayer

Eph 3:14-19 “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[e] 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

The prayer which began in verse 1 and finishes in Eph. 3:14-21 divides into three segments

Believers receive inner strength, Eph. 3:16-17a

by the Spirit's power

by Christ's indwelling

2. We may fully comprehend the truth of the gospel and the mystery, Eph. 3:17b-19a

to grasp so as to hold on to

to know by experience

3. Believers are filled with the fullness of God, Eph. 3:19b

When Christ lives in us, we receive a strength to go throughout our lives that is not our own. It is God’s.

“God never gives you things you can’t handle” WRONG

We go through things all the time we can’t handle by ourselves. THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT.

We NEED God when we go through things.

THEN we can comprehend the gospel and the mystery

AS we experience the love of Christ, we will be made complete. PAST TENSE. We were made complete.

Paul writes in 2 Cor 5:17 ESV “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

ei tis en Christō, kainē ktisis

“If anyone is in Christ—new creation!”

There’s no verb. No pronoun. It’s abrupt, declarative, and almost confrontational. This is a linguistic punch in the face. Paul doesn’t say “he is a new creation.” He just says it: new creation. Period.

The old you is gone. There is no old you. I am something brand new.

I want to dig into V18-19

Understand God’s love fully

Fully filled with God

We see this belaboured in V18-19a “As all God’s people”.

Our knowledge of God’s love is not known individually, it’s a love that is known corporately and unites.

How are we supposed to understand God’s love fully?

How are we supposed to be fully filled with God? Even the universe can’t contain Him? But I’m supposed to?

Paul has made some difficult statements for us.

But then He ends with this:

Eph 3:20-21 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

God can do infinitely more than we might ask or think.

How often do we limit God?

We can ask God for prayer over a headache

“God heal this man. Relieve him of pain. Amen”

Cancer?

“Oh no no no… that’s going to take more than a simple prayer. You have to fast, gotta work yourself up, gotta go to a prayer meeting every night”

Nothing is difficult for God. The same ‘effort’ that He heals a common cold with He heals cancer.

Have you come today with a limited view of God?

Maybe you’re here and you think God can’t do something in your life

Praying for a pregnancy

Healing from a disease

Healing from trauma

Restoring a marriage

Provision

God can do immeasurably more than you think or ask.

What are you asking God for?

Transition to Altar call.

After Altar Call

We’re going to take communion together.

1 Cor 11:24-26

“On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread 24 and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you.[f] Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” 26 For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

1 Cor 10:16 “When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ?”

Communion is an opportunity to remember Christ’s sacrifice.

What does this mean?

This means that when we take communion, we are having an active common share in the life, death, resurrection, and presence of Jesus Christ.

He is here right now, in a special and unique way.

Paul goes on to say something interesting right after v 26 in 1 Cor 11

1 Cor 11:27-29

27 So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against[g] the body and blood of the Lord. 28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ,[h] you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself.”

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Paul, in the previous part of this chapter talked about how the Corinthian church had started to misuse communion.

They started to create divides by rich and poor, socio-economic, and ethnic divides within the church.

I go to church with these people, but do not want to be around these people.

In short, they put their preferences at a priority before God.

Today, maybe you’ve put your preferences before God.

We share in the Body of Christ

What is the body of Christ?

Not only is it referencing His physical sacrifice, but it is referencing the church - the body of Christ.

Today, we’re going to share in the blood of Christ, that we get to enjoy the benefits of Christ’s death.

We’re also going to share in the Body of Christ, that our faith is not done alone, but done together.

Pray, communion.

CALL TO ACTION - Encourage people to get involved on team and in a Life Group.