Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

“Community is your middle name”

Search Committee made it clear that you want a pastor who is known in the community.

We had the privilege of seeing VBS with 2/3 of the kids coming from the community.

In my perspective, Chase County is our community including Cedar Point to Toledo and Matfield Green to North of the Tallgrass Prairie.

How Does a Church influence a Community?

The Church at Ephesus is the church that we understand the best.

Founding of the church in Acts

Organization of the church in the book of Ephesians.

Two letters to their Pastor - Timothy

Listed as one of the 7 churches in Revelation

As diverse people unite, God is exalted, the Gospel is proclaimed, and church members are encouraged to live in grace.

We live in a time that is more divided than any that I can remember.

Race, gender, politics, economics, KU/KSTATE/ESU/WSU have left people suspicious, distrusting and skeptical of each other.

Turn with me to Ephesians 3:1-13 as we will see 4 images of a church living and proclaiming the Gospel within their community.

Even thought our English Bibles break this up into several sentences and 2 paragraphs, when the Apostle wrote it, it was one long sentence.

It is similar to a 4-year old child who has just returned from his first circus—he is overflowing with excitement because of all the exciting things he has seen and his thoughts kind of run together.

Now that we have read the whole sentence, allow me to help us see 4 big thoughts.

God is pleased by Gospel Expansion Eph 3:1-6

1.

The Mystery was in the Hebrew Scriptures concealed.

The Mystery is in the New Testament revealed.

In this section I see the word “mystery” three times and the idea of “made known, insight and revealed” 5 times.

It is like a room full of furniture with the lights out.

If you try to cross the room you may stub your toe and become acutely aware that something is there, but you can’t see exactly what it is.

2. The Mystery has been revealed in v.6 as 3 ways that Gentiles have equal standing with God’s chosen people during this age.

Fellow heirs (awaiting an inheritance)

Fellow members of the body (people of God)

Fellow sharers of the promise (accepted in Christ)

The NIV repeats “together”3x; the NASB repeats “fellow” 3x; where the ESV follows the precedent of the KJV with “Fellow, same & partakers.”

All these English translations are trying to communicate the same idea—what used to be separate is now united.

What makes this such a great mystery?

Didn’t God make provision for foreigners living amongst the people of promise?

Didn’t Boaz marry a Moabitess who what David’s great grandmother?

Didn’t Daniel record that the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar honored and glorified the Most High God after his time of temporary insanity?

While God never excluded anyone from coming to Him in repentance and obedience, non-Jews were always kind of second class until the New Covenant.

I like to think of it like this.

What God did at the tower of Babel was to confuse their language so that the people would scatter rather than attempt to reach God on their own terms.

What God did at Pentecost was speak so that people heard in their own language how to come to God on His terms.

Paul says that the revealed Mystery is that both Jews and Gentiles could come to God in Christ Jesus.

For Chase County in 2018 this means that it doesn’t depend on what denomination (if any) that your parents raised you.

It doesn’t depend on how good of a person you’ve been (or not).

It doesn’t depend on your social standing in the community.

It doesn’ matter on if you were raised here or transplanted.

Paul writes that God’s grace has now been revealed so that ANY who come to Him in Christ Jesus as revealed through the Gospel can receive this inheritance, participate in God’s family and share in His promises!

Amen?

TRANSITION: God is pleased as more and more people join His family as they understand His Gospel and accept His grace.

But God’s grace does not only save us, it enlists us.

Look with me at the next 2 verses.

God Supplies Gospel Power Eph 3:7-8

1. God gives the gift of grace

Paul was ever mindful of his life before being converted.

He was fully aware that he had participated in the unjust gang killings of people simply because they claimed to follow Christ.

Paul creates his own word to describe his condition apart from Christ.

He calls himself “leaster” of all the saints.

Paul testifies that if God’s grace could be given to him and change him, then NOBODY is beyond God’s grace.

If you are sitting here today masking shame and guilt and thinking you are unworthy or unreachable.

I offer you the words of Paul in v. 8 “I am the very least deserving, but God’s grace reached to me.

2. God gives the gift of ministry (accomplished by His power)

Too many people think the gospel is all about where we spend eternity.

It is like a Hell Insurance policy with a one-time premium or like an immunization for tetanus--If I ever get stuck by a rusty nail, I’ll know I’m safe.

But Paul writes that something else happens according to the gift of God’s grace.

Paul called it his “stewardship of God’s grace” in v.2.

By “stewardship” he means the role that he is to play in God’s plan.

To use a sports metaphor, it is his assignment in the coach’s game plan.

Or for any of you guys who are quilters, it is the square that you are to contribute to the quilt.

If you are sitting here today like the student who refuses to make eye contact with the teacher because you don’t want to be called on, I offer you the sentiment of Paul in v.7.

“If God’s grace and power can make me a minister, I’m confident He can use you too.

To receive grace is to be taken into its service.

Grace connects, enlists, and empowers.

It will not allow us to be passive, for it is God’s power at work in us (cf.

also 1 Cor.

15:10).

This is the theology of grace the church must recover.

Susan has demonstrated excellence in the Christian Education ministries of the church.

But she can’t do it alone, she needs a team of people who love kids and can speak the truth in grace.

Brendan has a great burden for the teens of this area, but he and the other volunteers can’t impact the students of the High school as much as the students themselves can reach their friends.

Whomever God has chosen as your next pastor will have to give an account to God for his stewardship of God’s grace, but if you look ahead at the next chapter in Ephesians, Paul will say that your Pastor and elders’ job is to equip you to steward God’s grace in your relationships and interactions.

TRANSITION: In the next 3 verses we find that something special happens when each member of the church family is taking care of his or her own stewardship in cooperation and unity with the rest of the community.

God Honors Gospel Unity Eph 3:9-11

1. “rulers and authorities in Heavenly places” is not “Angels”

Allow me to dispel a common myth, that is what I call “Tabloid religion”.

Many people who have not given thought to what the Bible teaches about the afterlife, thoughtlessly post on social media “Heaven got another angel”.

The truth of Scripture is that angels and demons are separate created beings from humans who have left this body and await either the Judgment Seat of Christ for believers or the Great White Throne Judgment for those outside of Christ.

The rulers and authorities in today’s text parallels an obscure verse in 1 Peter 3:19 where the crucified Christ made a proclamation to the imprisoned spirits.

For generations authorities, politicians and false priests had risen that were set on discrediting the purpose of God.

After death these souls do not cease to exist.

They continue on in the spiritual or heavenly realm awaiting the final resurrection and the Great White Throne judgment.

Until that time God is not a sore winner, but He is setting the stage by reminding them that their plans came to nothing and that the wisdom and purpose of God are proven victorious through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the global unity and expansion of His church.

2. God’s wisdom and purpose in this age in Christ.

In contrast to the bully culture in may schools and workplaces, God’s wisdom is that EACH person is an image-bearer and deserving of dignity.

Our society honors the powerful, the pretty, the performer, and sometimes the public hero.

But those categories exclude most of us.

As bullying, depression, and suicide have an increasing influence on our young and old; As those with special needs are marginalized; and As our population ages and healthcare decisions begin to be made based upon cost vs.

quality of life; we do well to remember the end of verse 9—God is the creator of all things.

He has chosen to place His image in every single human being, and as image-bearers, we reflect His wisdom and eternal purpose when we unify with believers who are different from us.

TRANSITION: The fact that Jews and Gentiles lived together in Ephesus pleased God, operated in His power, and communicated God’s eternal purpose to the living and the dead.

But this text gives us one more dimension of the Gospel.

God’s Gospel Provides Hope Eph 3:12-13

1. Boldness (in witness)

Grace is not only the gift of eternal salvation, it is also the gift of current ministry with eternal consequences.

I hinted at this a little when we were talking about your stewardship of grace.