God wants a church for you

Ephesians 3:8–13 | Colossians 1:28–29

INTRODUCTION

Summer is here. Many of you are about to travel.

We are starting a chaplain program this summer.

When you are away on a Sunday, consider not watching online, but finding a church.

Prayer for those headed out this summer:

Kevin White — pray they will be a blessing to the churches they serve.

SLIDE 1 — TITLE

God Wants a Church for You

Eight weeks ago we began with “With All Confidence” from Acts 28:31.

It has been a great eight weeks. From Joe to Brandon, God has been good to us.

Before Ephesians, let’s go to Walmart.

We are very resistant to anyone rearranging our objectives.

That instinct is reasonable in Walmart. It is unhealthy inside a church.

Most people are somewhere in between.

Believe in the church. Attend church. Would defend the church.

But never really let it get close enough to form them.

“A non believer hating the church makes sense. They do not see what we see. But a Christian merely tolerating the church does not.”

Paul is someone we watch move from one position to another, and he could not fathom living in the middle.

Acts 28:31

“Confidence” means bold speech. Unhinderable speech. The same word appears in Ephesians 3:12.

Ephesians 3:12

Paul’s confidence was not in his freedom. It was in what he knew about the church.

Though these are Paul’s words, I believe we should feel them as our own.

Premise

No man invented this.

We are not the audience.

God is not finished with us.

1. No man invented this

Ephesians 3:8–9 KJV

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

A. “Less than the least” — honest memory

Not polite humility. He is remembering something specific.

Paul invents grammar because no lower form exists.

Acts 8 — he dragged men and women away.

Stephen was stoned, and Paul approved.

He did not merely disagree with the church. He tried to erase it.

Now he writes that the church is God’s eternal instrument.

He writes about the church the way a man writes about something he once tried to kill and now cannot live without.

B. “Hid in God” — not invented, revealed

One word matters here: “hid.”

Stored up before creation.

Not a human response to a spiritual need.

Originated in the mind of God before the world began.

The church belongs in a different category than every human institution.

“Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community.” — Bonhoeffer

C. What this means for formation

Stop shopping for a perfect church.

Surrender to a real one.

Formation requires surrender.

You cannot be shaped by what you insist on managing.

2. We are not the audience

Ephesians 3:10–11 — read from Bible

A. Stage 1 — Paul received it

Grace was given to the least.

Ministry was powered by God’s working.

This is not about Paul’s greatness. Grace found the most unlikely man.

B. Stage 2 — Paul proclaimed it

“Unsearchable riches” means untraceable riches.

Too vast to map. “Make all men see” means more than informing people.

It means illuminating people.

The hidden mystery is now made visible through preaching.

C. Stage 3 — The church displays it

Raise the stakes. These are hostile powers.

Principalities and powers are real. Fallen. In league with Satan. God is making an argument to His enemies through reconciled people.

“Manifold” means many colored. Layered. Complex.

Solomon could not display this. Only the church can.

Think about music. Trumpet Bass Piano Drums No business working together.

Yet together they produce something none could create alone.

Heaven leans in because it has never heard this song before.

The man on the bus

I was distributing Bibles in the Republic of Georgia.

They finally said:

“We are going to plant a church in his community.”

That night my heart rehearsed what the church gave me growing up.

I wanted that for the man on the bus.

God wants that for you.

Some of you have never known how much you need a church. But the need is still there.

E. This changes what we think we are here for

“We do not usually hit targets we are not aiming at. The target is to demonstrate to the evil powers that God was wise in sending His Son.” — Piper

What we do in this church is not merely a local decision. It is a cosmic declaration.

BRIDGE — EPHESIANS 3:12–13

Ephesians 3:12 — read

SLIDE 9 — EPHESIANS 3:12

The confidence Paul carried in chains is the confidence the church carries into the world.

Can I share with you some things I have confidence concerning because of Jesus?

I want to see those who feel like the chief of sinners sharing their faith. I want to see zero children on a waiting list for foster homes in our county. I want us involved in printing Scriptures so people around the world can find hope through our simple obedience and folding papers.

Why?

People need discipleship. Kids need homes. People need the hope found in Scripture.

But even deeper than that:

The manifold wisdom of God found in the Gospel should be put on display.

1 Chronicles 22:5 — read

“And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.”

3. God is not finished with us

Colossians 1:28–29 KJV

28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

From the cosmic view down to ground level.

SLIDE 12 — TRANSACTION VS. TRANSFORMATION

The man at the kiosk wanted a transaction. The church wants your transformation.

A. Whom we preach — a person, not a program

Not “which doctrine.” “Whom.” Christ.

The church is not merely a content system.

It is a community oriented around a person.

B. Warning and teaching — both on purpose

Teaching shapes the mind. Warning shapes the will.

Only teaching produces informed people.

Teaching plus warning produces formed people.

C. “Present every man perfect”

Complete. Whole. Brought to the end God intended.

Not sinless. Mature.

Every sermon.

Every hard conversation.

Every act of discipleship.

D. Belonging to a church

A place:

For kids to learn the Bible For friends to love and warn you For opportunities to serve in ways that confound the world

That is what God wants for you.

When was the last time someone here knew you well enough to warn you?

E. Belonging, not content, is a wonderful reason to attend Sunday night church

Bookends the day with God — morning and evening worship, not just a morning transaction

Sanctifies the time between — knowing you return shapes how you use the whole afternoon

Another opportunity to learn — second sermon

Another opportunity to worship and sing — more songs than a single service can hold

Another opportunity to serve — more roles, more regularity for people eager to give

More time with the people you love — fulfilling the one-another commands

Countercultural — pushes back against convenience and low commitment

SLIDE 13 — APPLICATION

Four Questions

Does my schedule show the church has access to me, or just my attendance?

Am I known here, or am I anonymous?

When the church disappoints me, do I withdraw or press in?

Does my involvement cost me something?

CONCLUSION

Paul wrote this from chains.

Ephesians 3:14–21 — read from Bible

“Glory in the church” — not eventually. Now. Here. Through ordinary faithful people.

Ephesians 3:21 KJV

21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Glory in the church

Here is what I am asking you to do.

Not attend more. Not try harder.

Let the church get close enough to actually form you.

Stop managing your distance.

There is a person you are supposed to become.

The church is how God plans to get you there.

Colossians 1:28 KJV

28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: