Faithful in any Circumstance: Ephesians 3:1-13
Notes
Transcript
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Good evening. It is good to back with you again. I was thankful for another invite because that truly is the best compliment. If you go and speak somewhere and never hear from them again, it usually means you were so bad they want to pretend like it never happened.
So I am thankful to be back with you and thankful for this ministry and the light it shines on your campus.
Introduce yourself
You know...You are uniquely positioned to make much of Jesus where God has you. And I want to remind you that God has you here for a reason. It is not just to get an education, not simply to receive a degree. God has you here because He wants you to make much of His great name.
While you are here…different circumstances will arise. You will have good times and you will have bad times. You will have moments of rest and moments of chaos. You will have times of peace And times of trouble....but regardless of the circumstance, you are called to be faithful.
The mark of a faithful Christians is not that when hard circumstances come you are able to find a way out. The mark of a faithful Christian is that when hard circumstances come…you will endure well for the glory of God.
That is important…many are teaching something different. (ELABORATE)
So while you are in this season of life growing and learning here at IUS...The question you have to answer is, “Will I be faithful?”
You may answer that question and say, I want to be faithful, but the next question comes...how? How do I do that? Well…this passage in Ephesians 3 gives us insight into how it was that Paul was able to be faithful in any circumstance.
So let me recap for a second where you have been in the book of Ephesians. (ELABORATE-RECAP)
Remeber this…as Paul is writing all of this, he is sitting in a prison in Rome. He is not in the most ideal situtions…but yet he says this in
For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
And as he concludes this section, he says this in
So, then, I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.
What this teaches us is that Paul did not define his faithfulness or ability to be faithful based on His circumstances. He refused to let his circumstances define his identity, his purpose, or his calling.
Again…in these verses we see how Paul was able to think like this. We see how Paul was able to remain faithful in any circumstances. There are three things I want you to see...
And I would commend to you that if you have these three things in your life you will be able to be faithful in any circumstance.
Here’s the first thing…Right Motivation.
Paul was motivated by the grace of God. Look at what he says in verse 2
assuming you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that he gave me for you.
Look at verse 7
I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.
Look at verse 8
This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,
Paul was motivated…not by a need to look good, not by a desire to please others, not By social norms or expectations, Paul was not motivated by fear or approval. Paul was motivated by the grace of God that had been poured out on him. God’s grace changed everything.
In essence you could say Paul’s chief motivation was what He talked about in chapted 2.
Recount Ephesians 2.
Paul had a robust understanding of what God’s grace provided…not just salvation…but also a new purpose.
Paul understood that the gospel not only saves us from something…it saves us for something.
If all we think Jesus did was give us a “get out of hell free” card…we have missed the complete picture of the gospel.
Salvation allows us to do something we could not do…live a life for the glory of God. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we can, now, for the first time be faithful.
This ability to live for God, provided by the grace of God, was the motivation for all that Paul did.
The question becomes, “how do we allow the gospel to motivate us?”
The answer is simple, but sometimes hard to practice…we remind ourselves of the amazing grace of God every day. (ELABORATE-Not just saying the same thing…but savoring)
So Paul had the right motivation…but second notice this.
Paul had the Right mentality.
Look at how Paul describes himself in verse 7.
I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.
And look again at verse 8
This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,
You see…not only did the grace of God motivate Paul…but also helped him see himself clearly.
God’s grace reminds us that we don’t deserve what God has done for us. (ELABORATE-That's what Grace is…God giving us something we don’t deserve)
When we remember this…we will be humble. Humility is the neeeded posture for faithfulness.
If we are going to be faithful in any circumstance we have to be humble. This will give us a proper perspective when things go sideways...As they will!!! (ELABORATE BRIEFLY: This life is not easy)
Part of the reason we struggle so much in hard circumstances is because we believe we deserve better…and ultimately we are thinking too highly of ourselves. (ELABORATE)
To serve God, and to faithfully love those he has called us to…to be faithful in any circumanstance... it will require us to have a right mentality. And that mentality has to be one where we are honest about who we are. The right mentality will force us to be Philippians 2:3-4 people.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
The grace of God humbles us. I love what my dear friend Dr. Curtis Woods always. “Because of the gospel we not better than anyone. We are simply better off.”
The gospel does not make us great…it unites us to the one who is great. And we are privildeged to serve Him.
Speaking of Paul’s right mentality. One commentator said this about Paul. “This is no feigned humility. It is the inevitable attitude of one who was prostrated with wonder at the grace of God in Christ.” –Francis Foulkes
so Paul had right motivation, a right mentality…and finally.
Paul had the Right Mission.
Look at a few of these verses
The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ,
This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We cannot miss this…Paul knew what His mission was.
In order for him to be faithful, reagardelss of what was going on around him, Paul could not lose sight of the mission. He knew what God had called him to.
In Paul’s case, God had called him to take the message of the gospel to the gentiles. He knew it…therefore, he was undeterred.
Paul knew his mission did not come from individuals, it did not come from the church…Paul’s mission was given to him by God. Because of this…no eartly circumstance would stop him from being as faithful as he could.
If you are going to be faithful in any circumstance you have to know what God has called you to.
Jesus summed up the entirety of the law with two commands.
Love God…and Love people.
That is your mission. It will play itself in different ways…but ultimately....love God and love people.
You love God by…(ELABORATE)
You Love people…(ELABORATE)
Know your mission. Know what God has called you to do and think through how you can walk it out every moment of every day.
Like Paul…our aim is to be faithful no matter what circumstances come our way.
In order to do this we must have
The Right Motivation
The Righte Mentality
and The Right Mission.
Let’s be faithful.
