©2002 Larry Huntsperger Peninsula Bible Fellowship

10/6/02

Arabia

Ephesians 1:1

10/6/02 Arabia

We are going to start a study this morning

of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

I don’t promise we will continue the study all the way through to the end of the letter.

In fact, I can’t even promise you

that we will continue it next week.

But we are at least going to start.

We started a study of this book once before.

It was in March of 1992.

But then, a few verses into the study,

I got side-tracked on something

and we never returned to the study again.

That isn’t to say we have never been back to key passages in the book, of course.

In fact,

we spent a full morning just a few weeks ago

on what I consider to be the key verse in this letter.

That verse is found in Ephesians 3:10

where Paul tells us that God brought His church into being

“... in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”

If we continue through the book

we will come back to that verse again

and the next time we see it

we’ll have a better appreciation for where it sits in the letter as a whole

and why it is so critical to the central message of the letter.

But for now we’re going to start from the very beginning.

For the past several weeks now

I have been considering the possibility

of moving us into Ephesians.

I think I have been drawn to this letter in part

simply because I have found myself more and more frustrated

with so much of what I see happening

under the banner of the Christian Church in our culture,

and I have longed for something that can help us reclaim the truth.

One of our people moved out of state this past week,

and before she left

she called me and asked for my advice

on how she could find “a church like ours” in the town she’s moving to.

Of course I was encouraged to know

she wanted to find something like us,

but the truth is

I had no idea what to tell her.

In the end I told her that her best bet

would most likely be

through the recommendations of fellow Christians she will meet in her new home town.

I have thought a lot about her question during the past few days,

and about my inability to give her a good answer,

and the more I’ve thought about it,

the more remarkable I have found this whole thing

because the truth is

there is nothing really remarkable about our church.

We get together once a week,

we sing songs together for half an hour,

we spend some time praying,

we study a passage of Scripture together,

and then throughout the week

we each do what we can

to take care of one another

socially,

and emotionally,

and sometimes physically as well.

That isn’t high tech, folks.

And given the fact that there are Christians everywhere I’ve ever been,

it seems to me there should be groups like us

scattered all over the place.

But the truth is

finding a church home

where we are not attacked

or manipulated

or controlled by guilt,

or fear,

or intimidation is frequently an extremely difficult thing to do.

The problem isn’t that our Lord

has failed to supply sufficient teachers or pastors for His flock.

One of the things we will see

as we move through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

is Christ’s absolute commitment to do just exactly that.

This is jumping ahead,

but let me read His promise to us:

EPH 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

EPH 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;

EPH 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.

And make no mistake here -

it is not our seminaries,

or our Bible schools,

or our Christian universities that produce leaders for the Body of Christ.

It is Christ Himself.

The schools may help train those that God has gifted,

but the source,

the One who places the gifts within His people is Christ.

And He would not,

He could not ever fail to provide His people with those we need

to equip us for the work He has for us to do.

So then why is it so hard in our society

to find sources of nourishment,

and encouragement,

and support?

Why is it so hard to find local fellowships

that function as local fellowships?

What I’m going to say now

is obviously an oversimplification

of an issue that has a lot of different aspects to it,

and nearly 2000 years of history behind it,

but I do believe there is one thing

that has taken place in our culture

that has had a devastating effect on the body of Christ as a whole.

We have been deceived into believing

that it is OK in our culture

to approach Christianity as a highly competitive industry,

an industry in which local churches

view themselves

not as the Body of Christ within society,

with each individual Christian

living out his or her calling to what Paul described as, “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ”,

but rather they view themselves as small businesses

that are in direct competition with other small businesses

for the money,

and loyalty,

and involvement of a limited number of customers.

There are all sorts of things

that can give one church a competitive edge over another -

the size and appearance of the building,

the credentials and charisma of the leadership,

the number of programs offered,

the attractiveness of the doctrine they’re peddling,

perhaps even whether or not the church has cameras and big screens,

and so forth.

The problem, of course,

is not that there is anything wrong with any of those things in themselves.

The problem comes from the power that the drive for success

and the competitive spirit has

to cause us to loose our ability to hear the voice of our Lord and follow His lead.

And in the end,

rather than focusing on developing hearts of compassion,

and kindness,

and faithfulness to the leadership of our Lord in our lives,

we develop and refine techniques

that keep us competitive in the battle for success.

This is nothing new in the history of the church, of course.

Very early in church history

Paul urgently sought to separate himself and his message

from this very evil when he told the Corinthians,

2CO 2:17 For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.

And when Christ offered His final words to the church at Ephesus at the very end of the 1^st century

it was clear that they were already struggling with this battle.

Through the Apostle John

in the book of Revelation he said to them,

REV 2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

REV 2:2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

REV 2:3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.

Sounds like a great church, doesn’t it?

their doctrine is pure,

and their stand against evil strong,

and their perseverance is great.

But then the Lord goes on to say,

REV 2:4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

REV 2:5 'Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent.

They had lost sight of their first love - their Lord Jesus Christ.

They had become so engrossed

in the business of being a church

that they forgot what the church is,

and why God brought it into being in the first place.

I want us to spend some time with Paul’s letter to the Ephesians

because this letter has the ability

to remind us once again

of the truth about the church -

where it came from,

and what it’s here for.

We won’t make it far into the book today,

but at least we’ll get started.

And I can promise you that,

as we move through this Epistle,

we will find our Lord giving us a perspective on what it means to be the church

that is nothing short of thrilling.

OK, the letter begins with this:

EPH 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and who are faithful in Christ Jesus...

Paul begins this letter with a statement about himself.

He begins by telling us

that he is an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.

But in that statement

he is telling us far more than just who he is

and what he does.

He is beginning this letter

from the very first sentence

by introducing us to some of the basic principles

that govern the Christian's life with God.

And the first thing Paul tells us

is that he is who he is

because God has stepped into his life

and made him who he is.

And maybe I can explain what I'm trying to say here

by doing it through contrast.

You see,

in this one phrase

Paul is modeling for us

one of the most crucial concepts

of the Christian life.

He is telling us

that God Himself is actively involved

in making us into people

we could never have been

outside of the working of God.

Imagine how different this would read

if Paul would have said,

"Paul an Apostle

by the majority vote of the Christians in Jerusalem."

Or perhaps,

"Paul, striving to be an apostle

through determined and dedicated efforts to be faithful."

Or possibly,

" Dr. Paul,

graduate with honors from Dallas Theological Seminary"

But that isn't what he says.

When Paul talks about himself,

he does not trace who he is

either to what he has done

or to what others have said about him.

Rather

he traces his identity

to who Christ has made him to be.

And there is one thing especially that I want us to see here.

God Himself is actively involved

in making us into people

we could never have been on our own.

I don't know what's happening in your life right now.

I don't know if this is a really good time for you,

or if it's a really hard time,

or if it's one of those times

when you feel like you're just cranking out

the endless routines of life

without any clear understanding of why

or what difference it makes.

But no matter what's going on,

I want to remind you of something

that can so quickly be masked from view

by the seemingly endless

pressure and routines of life.

God has not forgotten you,

nor has He set you on some back shelf

ignored and unimportant

to gather dust forevermore.

He can,

and He will,

and He is actively seeking to make

something of your life

that will truly give glory to Him and

significance to you.

He has very carefully placed you

where you are right now

and He has made no mistakes.

He knows just exactly what you need

at this point in your life

to further His commitment

to conform you to the image of His Son.

It may seem right now

like you're going nowhere

doing nothing

and your life is just being wasted.

But I assure you

that God is highly skilled

in knowing just exactly what we need

for the work He seeks to accomplish in us.

Trust Him.

If it feels all wrong right now,

still trust Him.

If you can see no purpose to what's happening,

still choose to trust Him.

And here is the really important thing -

the one upon which everything else depends:

don’t just choose to trust His ability to do it “right”,

trust His motives,

trust His heart intentions toward you.

Has He done something

or NOT done something in your life recently

that you didn’t like,

or didn’t understand?

How did it make you feel toward Him?

Did it cause you to step back a pace from trust?

Did it make you feel like saying,

“OK, I’ll still worship You, God,

but I believe I’ll do it from the back of the crowd.

The truth is

I don’t want to get too near again

because I just got hurt,

and I can’t figure out what You’re doing,

and I’m not at all sure I can trust you.”

Please hear me.

You can trust His heart.

He will not waste your life,

He will not waste your time,

and you will not be God's first failure.

Paul begins this Letter with a Statement about himself:

Paul, an Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

And with that statement

he is modeling for us one of the most fundamental rules

of this whole thing we call the Christian life.

You see,

God does not just collect people,

or win souls.

God recreates lives

that could never have existed

outside of His direct intervention.

When Paul declares himself to be an apostle

by the will of God,

he is not simply telling us

that God had slapped a title on him

so that people would listen to what he was saying.

He was telling us

that God took Paul

and actively remade him into someone

and something he could never have been

any other way.

Did you know

that early in Paul's Christian life

God led Paul to leave

the whole church scene

and go to Arabia by himself

probably for a full three years?

Here was Paul,

the man who was more hostile to the young Church

than any other person alive at that time,

the man who had vowed

to destroy this group at any cost,

suddenly,

dramatically converted through the direct intervention

of Christ Himself.

If ever the church had a star witness to its credibility

it was Paul.

Today it would be a little bit like Saddam Hussain

being dramatically converted to Christianity

and proclaiming deep repentance and remorse

for all his evil against Israel.

At the point in Paul's young Christian life

when he seemingly had the most to say

and the most powerful platform upon which to say it,

at the time when he could have toured from

young church to young church

encouraging and strengthening the Christians,

at that point

God pulled him out of the church scene

all together

and stuck him off in Arabia-

not to preach,

not to start churches,

just to sit.

Paul mentions those three years only once

in all of his writings,

in the first chapter of Galatians

I think those years were painful years for Paul,

years filled with frustration,

and confusion,

and questions,

and probably even a sense of failure.

But it was during those years

that God reshaped Paul into an Apostle,

not just in title,

but in reality.

It was during those years

that Paul re-thought all that he had been taught

and all that he understood

about Christ

about the Jewish law

and about what God was really doing

at this point in History.

Those 3 years

were the most crucial 3 years in Paul's life.

Ever been there?

I spent the year just prior to my move to Alaska

in my own Arabia.

I can remember going to church

and listening to the guy up front

butchering some passage of Scripture,

or even worse, boring the people of God.

And I can remember wondering

if I would ever again be allowed to teach.

And I also remember finding my hope

and my security in reconfirming to myself

that the only voice I really wanted

was the voice He chose to give me,

in His way, and in His time.

There are things that happen in Arabia

that cannot happen anyplace else.

When Paul begins this letter

by declaring himself to be

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

he is not just flaunting a title,

he is telling us that

when God takes a life

He also commits Himself to remaking that life

into something it could never have been

outside of His intervention.

That remaking process always involves

some time in Arabia,

because remaking a life is never an easy process.

But the time will come

when, with Paul, we will say,

I am who I am by the will of God, and I would not change it for anything.

Something beautiful

Something good,

All my confusion He understood,

All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife,

But He made something beautiful of my life.