Made for More #2

The Temple of Artemis

The city of Ephesus was considered the second most important city in the entire Roman Empire, next to Rome. Its harbor on the Aegean Sea made Ephesus one of the most prosperous cities in the ancient world. At the center of all things Ephesus, including its economy was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world, the temple of Artemis. Artemis was the goddess of the moon, of wildlife, and of chastity. Her followers caused the great missionary Paul all sorts of grief when he traveled to Ephesus and planted a new church. The impact of the gospel was so great, the economy in Ephesus suffered a downturn because its biggest money maker was the worship of Artemis. Fewer worshipers meant loss of income. So they rioted against Paul in the 25,000 seat ampitheater near the center of town. The riot was dissipated when cooler heads among the city leaders prevailed. The city’s businessmen had a legitimate cause for concern. The Temple of Artemis was one of the largest buildings ever built in the era of the Greeks and the Romans. It was the center of worship. It functioned as a bank. It was home to merchandising and commerce. It also functioned as a place of refuge for those who feared for their lives. Ephesus was one of the greatest cities and the temple was its masterpiece. One ancient writer believed no other man-made architecture rivaled Artemis. It was a masterpiece. Until it was burned to the ground. This masterpiece was temporal, subject to the whims of the economy and political power.

That masterpiece is nothing compared to the masterpiece God is working on in Ephesians 2. Paul writes to the church he planted there in Ephesus. The very place where they rioted. The very place where the city’s businessmen zealously guarded their income from the goddess. Paul tells the church, in that difficult situation, they are God’s workmanship, His masterpiece. And it’s that masterpiece Jesus is using to fill all corners of Ephesus with more Jesus. Their church was made for more.

Live. Learn. Play. Work.

We’ve begun a series on just what it means for the church to be made for more. What does it mean for Jesus to fill all things with His body the church. Where are we to expect Jesus to be working? People often ask me what the logo means. It’s not so hard to see the cross, and then the vegas gold of the table. But what about these boxes? These boxes are homes, people, community gathered by the cross around the table. But for this series I want us to think about these boxes in light of Paul’s point in Ephesians: that Jesus is using the church to fill all things with more of Himself. This means all of life. Where we live. Where we learn. Where we play. Where we work. Jesus is more. The church is made for more. And it is all fueled by our story that begins in the cross and His Table, the Lord’s Supper. Through us, the Word of the Cross and the Sacrament of the Table begin to fill every aspect of our lives. We gather on Sundays because we need and must have the Word and Sacrament. But our mission is not simply to gather. Christ's mission is for us to be sent and to illuminate the fullness of Jesus in a lifestyle of worship and mission where God has perfectly positioned us already where we live, work, learn and play.

Whose work is it?

It’s a pretty tall task. How can we be expected to fill all things with the Good News of Jesus? After all, we’re a broken mess. Life doesn’t look all that great. I can point to each one of those areas and think to myself, yeah… good luck with that, Bresson. The great news is… it’s not up to me. This is Jesus’ work. It’s his filling. And I’m not alone. We’re all in this together. Immediately after saying that Jesus is going to fill society with himself through His church, Paul talks about the new life that God has given to His church. In fact, he tells us our story, a story true of every saint who has ever lived.

In the first three verses Paul says this:

Ephesians 2:1-2 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air.

That’s all of us without Jesus. Dead in our sins. Walking in the ways of the world. In bondage to the evil one, the devil himself.

Note here that Paul says “you”. That “you” here and throughout this entire letter is plural. We tend to personalize and individualize the “yous” in these verses, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is my story. This is your story. But we always have to remind ourselves that this is our story. We were collectively dead in our sins. As a group. In bondage to Satan, sin, and death. That’s OUR story.

But that all changed. One of the greatest statements in all of the Bible is in verse 4:

Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!”

Are you kidding me? BUT GOD. God steps into the darkness and the sin and the bondage and he makes us alive with Christ. With no help from us. We were dead in our sin and God made us alive in Jesus. And as if to make his point he says this:

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.”

You. There’s that plural “you” again. This is our story. We are saved by grace through faith. It’s not our doing, it’s God’s gift. It’s nothing we do, it’s nothing we deserve. We deserve the death and bondage because of our disobedience. And God steps into our story and gives us life. He makes us new. It’s all his doing. There’s no way for us to take credit for coming to Jesus. We didn’t do better than the next guy because we decided and made the good choice. Even our faith is a gift according to this verse. This was God’s doing. Here’s a summary of this entire section:

God’s Work

Made Alive

Raised

Seated

Saved

Workmanship

See this? Paul says “God made us alive, God raised us up with Jesus, God seated us in the heavens with Jesus, God saved us by grace”. God, God, God. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. How is it that Jesus is going to fill all things in all of our society through the church who fills all things? It won’t be the church’s doing. It will be the work of Jesus. Because it’s always been about Jesus and His work of making us a new creation. It’s always been God’s doing. And at the end of this, Paul summarizes our story this way:

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus...

You are a masterpiece

We are God’s workmanship. This salvation, this new creation is His doing. We are His masterpiece. That’s a big 180 from being dead in our sins. Masterpiece. All of us. Together. This is our story. And its this masterpiece that Jesus is using to fill all things with the Good News of who He is and what He has done for His people. From the very beginning of the world, God has been working in history to bring you and I to this moment. Jesus came on mission into this world to save us from our sin. Jesus went to the cross, on mission to forgive us our sin, and to give us new life. Our gathering this morning is the result of all of God’s work in history to make us His masterpieces.

Your calling

Wherever we live, wherever we learn, wherever we play, wherever we work, we are His masterpieces, regardless of whatever else is going down in our lives. Notice the rest of the sentence:

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

We are masterpieces not for ourselves, but for our neighbor. We’ve been given new life, created in Jesus for good works, works not to earn favor with God. Paul already dispensed with that notion when he says “not of works”. Our works cannot earn God any more favor than he already has toward us because of Jesus. Jesus is our favor with God. Instead, we’ve been created with new life to serve our neighbor with our good works. That’s how Jesus is filling every area of our culture with himself. Through His Good News of forgiveness and grace and through our good works for our neighbor.

That’s our calling. That’s our vocation. Regardless of what job we have or where we live or who our friends are. We are God’s masterpiece through all the blessing he has given us in Christ.

Gifts

Passions

Story

God uses our gifts, our talents, those things he has made us good at and the things we like to do. God uses our passions and our desires that show up where we live, learn, play, and work. And God uses our story. That same story of how we were dead in sin and we’ve been made alive in Jesus through His grace. What are your gifts? What are your passions? What is your story? Whatever your answers to these questions, God is using you to fill all of society with himself. We are His masterpieces, and he uses our gifts, passions, and our story to impact others, to grace others, and to connect more people to himself.

The Shift: From more volunteers to more masterpieces

We tend to think about Jesus accomplishing His ministry and His work through volunteers. And he does. But the problem of viewing everything through the volunteer lens is that we tend to be focused on what is happening right here right now in the Community Center. What Paul wants us to see is that there’s much more kingdom to be accomplished and expanded where we live, where we learn, where we play, and where we work.

Everything, including the way we think about church is moving toward decentralization. It’s not about coming to a building as much anymore. People don’t view the church that way. In fact, people don’t trust the church. A new study this week suggests 70% of us here in the U.S. don’t trust the church, a drop of 20 percentage points in the last 13 years. Which isn’t surprising since more than 75% of us aren’t actively involved in church. One example of how this is in play for us here… we don’t have a Sunday school class or a Bible study here on Sundays. But we just started a new Bible study in Palm Resaca. We have a Bible study at Arnie’s Winghouse. I tend to think what we used to think of as Sunday School or class in a church building are more effective out where everyone lives. No class here, so let’s do one wherever you and your friends are. Let’s do one using your gifts, your passions, and your story where you live, learn, play, or work. We are taking the church to the world, being the church to the world, rather than the world coming here to church.

As we are his masterpieces in every sphere of our lives, Jesus will continue to grow his kingdom. God has perfectly positioned us in all of these areas to use our gifts, use our passions, and use our story to connect more people to Jesus. Remember how that “you” is plural? We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for Good Works. You’re not alone. We’re in this together. God is using all of us as His masterpieces to bring More Jesus into every area of our lives. The church is made to BE more for those who are yet to discover the masterpiece God is making of them.

Let’s Pray.

This Table is God painting a beautiful picture. This is where God forgives and gives life. Christ’s broken body and shed blood are creating stunning masterpieces, every time we believe His promise and receive His body and blood in faith.