Captivated by the King: Belonging to Christ

Ephesians 1:1-14

The “in Christ” dillema:

Show picture of all the accounts of “In Christ.”

But have you ever thought about what these words actually mean?

Our Issue:

We gloss over them. We’ve read them so many time

But what do them mean? Why are they sprinkled every where?

Take out words ‘in Christ’ or ‘in him’ in PPT

Did Paul struggle with wordiness, and just used “In Christ” like we use exclamation points?

“In Christ”: Like seasoning this passage with salt: Just makes it taste better! Sprinkled for a reason!

When it comes to redemption, predestination, our future destination: None of it makes sense without it sprinkled with the words, “IN CHRIST!”

Honesty: We will not exhaust all of what the words “In Christ” means:

Just too much theology packed up in these two words.

For our purposes today: “In Christ”=Belonging to the King and His Kingdom:

Mission statement: We are captivated by the King, so our mission is to make disciples who discover the joy of belonging to Jesus. Last week we talked about robust joy, this week we talk about what it means to be in Jesus, to belong to him, and why that makes a difference for Resurrection Life...

Belonging is about Place

Being in Christ produces disciples who discover the joy of belonging to Jesus.

vv.3-6: Replace “in Christ” with “in North Carolina”

“Don’t add to the words of Scripture”: Just to help us...

vv.3-6:

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, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Belonging is about Place!

Ephesians 2:12-13; 19-22

12 Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Belonging Leads to Praise!

Why do you live

Brag about North Carolina:

!!Praise!!

Praise throughout! Not a theological treatise. Not an examination.

11 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, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 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, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

About God’s reputation!

Belonging Has Benefits!

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

What are the benefits of living in Wake County?

Live close to the mountains

Etcs.

Personal Redemption

Belonging was through the blood:

Redemption. Forgiveness of our trespasses. Lavished by grace.

Immediate experience of connection through the blood:

In a list of laws in Deuteronomy, it talks about the importance of citizenship. In chapter 23:2 it says, “No one born of a forbidden marriage nor any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.” It took more then ten generations before Gentile blood is purified. Only pure blooded Israelites could access the presence of the LORD, and even then their were loads of restrictions. Only priests could enter into the Most Holy Place once a year. But for us New Testament folk, us “in Jesus folk”, the landscape changes. The promise of hope, and a future no longer belongs to a strip of land along the Mediterranean, it’s a person seated at God’s right hand.

Kingdom Unification

But in Christ, we are immediately brought in!

Klyne Snodgrass says (click), “In losing life, we find it. In trying to keep it for ourselves, we lose it. True freedom and true self-actualization are found in life with Christ.”(click to blank) (Snodgrass, 189).

Belonging is Practical

What are the Practical Implications of Belonging to Christ?

1. Practical Aspect of Place

It means that we live under the same roof

Belonging is Practical Because when you’re redeemed, we all live under the Same Roof:

Ephesians 2:22: In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We live together in the same roof

Robert Frost: “Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to let you in.”

Challenges of being new

Fostering new community:

Questions was never asked before the pandemic:

“What’s their name?”

“Who’s that again?”

“Where do they sit?”

“Yeah, I don’t think I met them.”

But new faces leads to new challenges!

It takes more of us to take the risk of getting to know other people

Being together means we are spiritually living together under the same roof!

I’m discovering that very few people like things I like:

Woo World: “In your world, there are no strangers, only friends you haven't met yet -- lots of them.”

13% of those surveyed have WOO in there top 5.

Challenge: Embrace our inner woo.

You have no excuse not to get to know everyone in this church!

2. Practical Aspect of Praise

Predestination leads to praise, not pride!

Cage Stage Calvinists: The need to cage people who are wild with enthusiasm about discovering the importance of predestination.

Frozen Chosen: Election doesn’t depend on my emotional response to the Gospel, therefore emotion has no place in the church. The gift of salvation is a reminder of my sinfulness, not joy!

Rev. William Still

“I wonder what it is about poring all over a great deal of Puritan literature that makes so many preachers of it so horribly cold. I don’t understand it, because I think it’s a wonderful literature. . . . I don’t know if you can explain this to me. I’d be very glad to know, because it worries me. But I hear over and over and over again this tremendous tendency amongst people who delve deeply into Puritan literature that a coldness, a hardness, a harshness, a ruthlessness—anything but sovereign grace—enters into their lives and into their ministries. Now, it needn’t be so. And it isn’t always so, thank God. And you see, the grace, the grace, of a true Calvinist and Puritan—that is to say, a biblical Puritan and Calvinist—is wonderful. . . . But O God, deliver us from this coldness!”

Theological Arrogance:

Are you Calvinist or Armenian?

“I just stick with the Bible.”

“Oh, so you’re a Calvinist then”

Sounds pretty arrogant:

But notice the tone in Ephesians 1: Not a hint of arrogance. Not a hint of insecurity. Not a hint of pride:

Predestination leads to PRAISE!

And it’s to the praise of HIS GLORY! To to the praise of my soul getting saved, it’s to the praise of his glory! His reputation. His character! His name and His fame!

God has taken you on your one way trip to hell, turned you around while you were kicking and screaming.

Positioning his Sovereignty over my free will of hating him should bring me to my knees in humility, but it should also bring me to stand with arms raised in praise thanking him for saving a wretch like me. All for the praise of HIS glory, not mine.

3. Practical Aspects of Benefits

In Christ means that you live in a spiritual geography of hope, love, truth, salvation and a future destination of joy...

Christ achieved it all for us!

In Christ=accepted into this spiritual reality:

Fully known and fully Loved: That’s what we experience in Christ and that’s what we’re supposed to put into practice in the church.

Unknown and fully Loved: Coffee Shop Conversation with Pastor who said his dad (Lee) was unknown but fully loved… Celebrity culture Church

Unknown and Unloved: Church’s in conflict, misunderstanding. Churches made out of clicks and segments.

Fully Known and Unloved: When vulnerability backfires. You share you testimony and people start to distant themselves from them.

Challenges of Being a Small Church

You have no choice but to be known, so it makes it feel awkward if you don’t feel loved! You will not stick around if you don’t feel loved!

Risky business

But Christ brought us near, he accepted us while we were still sinners. While we were enemies.

The result of the Gospel is that it breaks down walls of hostility! It breaks down separation! That’s the mystery Paul is talking about in verse 9: “making known to us the mystery of his will.” The mystery there is that those who formerly were outside of Christ are now found ‘in Christ’. They belong to Christ, and therefore they belong to the church.

The result of the Gospel is that the church must operate: Breaking down walls of hostility.

Model Christ: Accept one another. Accept their idiosyncresies. Accept their oddities. They’re political leanings.

We do not all have the same cravings for sushi.

We do not all have the same parenting styles.

We do not have all the same views on a whole range of political and social views.

We do not all vote the same!

But what we do have in common is Christ:

Those in Christ are under the same roof, and it’s our responsibility and duty

Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast:

We can come up with the greatest process of belonging, but at the end of the day, Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast:

Fellowship Initiative: Get us back on track:

Project assumes an end!

1. Newness can Lead to Awkwardness:

Who’s new? Who’s old?

2. Relationships are Risky