Bright Hope for the Future

 

We have a bright Hope for the future!  Let us start by reading Psalm 90 together.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God. You turn men back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, O sons of men.” For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered. The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on Your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with Your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us, or as many years as we have seen trouble. May Your deeds be shown to Your servants, Your splendor to their children. May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands. – Psalm 90:1-17

Now the year 2023 will be over tonight.  It has been a rough year on all accounts.  We have had millions of people cross our southern border illegally.  They are not all bad but amongst them are many bad actors who have carried illegal drugs specifically fentanyl.  In 2023 there were reported more than 112,000 deaths due to this one drug.  Drug overdoses have killed almost a million people since 1999.  Overdose deaths ranks just below diabetes in terms of highest death count.  In 2022 the US Drug Enforcement Association (DEA) seized 59.6 million fentanyl laced fake pills and 13,300 pounds of fentanyl powder these seizures were equivalent to more than 397 million lethal doses of fentanyl. The present US population is 335.9 million.  The 2023 fentanyl seizers surpassed the fentanyl seizers from the previous three years.  So in 2022 the DEA seized enough illegal fentanyl alone to kill every man woman and child in the US.  In 2023 the DEA seized more than twice the amount of fentanyl that they seized 2022.  In addition this year they seized fentanyl laced pills that resembled the smarties candy that kids get on Halloween and fentanyl laced gummy bears. 

In 2023 there were more than 18,600 murders in the US. There were more than 500,000 cars were reported stolen in the first half of 2023. In 2023 the average number of rape and sexual assault victims is 463,634 in the US. In 2023 Satan Clubs in the primary schools.  “in a victory speech and religious freedom, a federal court has ruled that the Saucon Valley School District must allow the After School Satan Club to meet in the District facilities. In 2023 Drag Queens held story time in the public libraries for children. In 2023 Pornographic books were allowed in public schools and public libraries. In some denominations Homosexuals have been ordained as priest and Bishops. In 2023 the Roman Catholic Pope has permitted the priest to give a blessing to same sex couples. 

I know that this all seems depressing.  So why did I title today’s message “We have a bright Hope for the future”?

Because we do!

In Revelation 21 read of John’s vision: 

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” - Rev. 21:1-7

Skipping ahead we read:

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. - Rev. 21:22-27

In Daniel 12 we read:

“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.” Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted His right hand and His left hand toward heaven, and I heard Him swear by Him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.” I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?” He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” - Dan. 12:1-13

In Matthew 24 we read what Jesus says about the end and how it relates to what the prophet Daniel wrote:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time. - Matt. 24:3-25

Jesus continues:

“So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. - Matt. 24:26-44

To recap, Jesus warns that because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And the good news is that this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 

Jesus also says that this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Those things did not happen in Matthew’s generation but they are happening in our generation.

In Revelation 22 Jesus Himself says:

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” - Rev. 22:12-16

This our hope for the future and our future is bright. No matter how dark the world gets Jesus promised that He was coming.  He had the apostles record His words so that when we see these terrible things happen that we would not despair as the world does who have no hope.  He wants us to fix our hope on Him. Our future is bright. As we see these things happening we can count on Jesus’ promise that He is right at the door. Things may get worse before they get better but don’t lose hope trust Him. He will make all things new when He comes as He has promised. 

Jesus the Light

 

Good evening! Tonight we celebrate the birth of Jesus, long prophesied as the Messiah who was to come. There are many Old Testament verses that point to Christ, but I want to just look at one tonight:

This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: “I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness; I will take hold of Your hand. I will keep You and will make You to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. – Is. 42:5-7

If you listened carefully to this passage, you may have noticed that God promises to make this Person into two things. The first promise of God to make this person into is a covenant. This is a strange idea. How can a person be a covenant? Well, Jesus gives us the answer at the Last Supper, where in Luke 22:20, He says, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.” The Old Covenant was the sacrificial system given to Moses and explained in Exodus and Deuteronomy, where innocent animals were sacrificed to atone for the sin of people. This system was only a shadow of greater things to come, however. The Old Testament sacrificial system was temporary, in the sense that you had to keep sacrificing animals over and over as you continued to sin. It was also ineffective, in that the sinner did not seem to be able to stop continuing to sin, despite the fact that animal after animal was sacrificed; that is, the sacrificial system did not seem to be able to permanently change the sinner. And because of this, it was incapable of truly bringing God and man together; the intimacy with God experienced by Adam “walking with God” in the Garden of Eden was never reproduced. In fact, God was unapproachable. Only the high priest, once a year, after undergoing all kinds of purification practices, could enter the Most Holy Place, where the Presence of God dwelt. 

But the New Covenant is different. Jesus, the God-Man, fully man and fully God, also without sin, became the Covenant. That is, He allowed Himself to be sacrificed, through death on a cross, as a once-for-all sacrifice to atone for sin. His incarnation – His coming in the flesh – to Earth, as an infant to be brought up by Mary and Joseph – was necessary for this New Covenant to happen. This Covenant is eternal, not temporary, because the one sacrifice is for all sin forever. And it is effective, not ineffective, because God is working through His Spirit in us to make us become people who never sin again. This process has its beginning in our present lives, but it will find its completion later, when “we will all be changed – in a flash, in a twinkling of an eye”, as we are told in I Cor. 15:51-52. And this change will include changes to our bodies, so that death itself is defeated, and we will be clothed with immortality. And unlike the Old Covenant, the New Covenant will truly bring us and God together. We experience this to a degree now, in how the Holy Spirit lives in us, guides us, teaches us, and comforts us. But we will experience this too in another way, as we will be with and worship the Lamb who was slain, and we will experience true intimacy with God forever.   

The second promise of God in this Isaiah passage is to make this Person, whom we know is Jesus, into a light for the Gentiles. What does this mean? Well, the passage itself provides some explanation. This Light for the Gentiles will open eyes that are blind and free captives from prison, release from dungeon those who sit in darkness. Now this is highly symbolic language, so it is fair to again ask the question, what does this mean?

Well, being a Light is a major theme in the Gospel of John. Starting in John 1:4, we are told,

In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1:4-5

And then we are given an almost parenthetical comment:

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. – John 1:6-8

But then we get back to the Person who indeed was the light:

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to that which was his own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. – John 1:9-13

And so, although it is true that Jesus literally healed blind people of their blindness while He was on Earth with His disciples, I believe the Isaiah passage has a deeper fulfillment. John says that the world did not recognize Him. But then those that received Him, who believed in His name, became children of God. How? By opening their eyes. And if you are here today as a believer in Christ, He has opened your eyes as well. You are a fulfillment of Isaiah 42. 

And, as for freeing captives from prison and releasing from a dungeon those who sit in darkness, I think we could say that how Jesus cast demons out of people was one fulfillment of this passage. We could also point to the Book of Acts, where God miraculously released His followers from jail. But the deeper meaning and fulfillment is again referring to us, to all believers. We sat in darkness, because we did not have the “light” of Christ. And we were captives, prisoners, because we were slaves to sin and we were also headed for eternal separation from God as our sin separated us from Him, and a day was coming when we would be judged for our sins. And apart from God, we were powerless to stop sinning. We were utterly unable to break free from the predicament we had put ourselves into. But through receiving Jesus, believing in His name, we went from prisoners in darkness to children in light. 

The theme of the light of God runs throughout Scripture. In Genesis 1:4, God says that the light is good, and He separates the light from the darkness. In Exodus 10, one of the plagues sent against Pharaoh is a plague of darkness. It affects all of Egypt for three days, except where the Israelites are, where there is light. And then as God leads the Israelites in the Exodus, He does so as a pillar of fire, a source of light. In the Tabernacle and then the Temple there are lamps that are burning continually. Light is a frequent theme in Job and in the Psalms. And it is a huge theme in Isaiah – we have looked at one passage but there are many more, and in nearly all of them they point to Christ. 

And then we have Jesus. During the transfiguration His face “shone like the sun,” and his clothes became blindingly bright white. And He spoke of Himself as the light, saying for example in John 8:

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12b

And in John 12:

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.” – John 12:46

And because this is Christmas Eve, I last turn to Simeon, the old man who was led by the Holy Spirit to go to the temple courts when the Christ child would be there. And he had the rare blessing few people will ever experience, the blessing of picking up his Savior in his arms. And this is what he said:

“Sovereign Lord, as You have promised, You may now dismiss Your servant in peace. for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” – Luke 2:29-32

And so we have one song left to sing, Silent Night, and as is our tradition for many years, we will turn off the lights and sing to the Lord in candlelight. We are incredibly blessed, because we are the beneficiaries of God’s promise in Isaiah 42, where God said [I] will make You to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Christ Jesus is indeed our covenant and our light. Let us sing to Him.

This Good News

Luke 1

Good morning!  As Carl mentioned last week, we are taking a break from our series on the book of Ephesians.  Today, we will have a Christmas focused message.  After Christmas, we will have a New Year’s message before returning to the Ephesians series on January 7th.

It is a rare occasion where I start with a nearly blank sheet in front of me.  I say nearly blank because it’s supposed to be a Christmas message.  Obviously, that narrows things down a bit.  I had been thinking about using Luke 1 as a basis for the message, but the title did not come about until David asked me what to put on the sign last Sunday.

We are going to take a look into the first chapter of the book of Luke.  It’s a long chapter, 80 verses.  So, we won’t be taking the whole chapter into view but rather the messages that Gabriel brings to Zechariah and Mary and then the prayers of Mary and Zechariah as a result of what God had done.

Let’s take a moment and pray and then we’ll jump right into the word.

Dear Jesus, thank You that You came from heaven to earth to show us the way.  Thank You that you are the Way.  That You came as a little baby, and You lived a sinless life.  Then, You gave Your life for us on the cross so that we could be a part of Your family forever.  Thank You Jesus, Amen.

We’ll pick up the reading at Luke 1:11. The first few verses are Luke’s introduction.  Then, we are told of Zechariah, a priest who lived during the time when Herod was king of Judea.  His wife’s name was Elizabeth. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God and observed the Lord’s commands and decrees. But, they didn’t have any children.  We are told that Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and now they are both very old.  The expression here is the same as used to describe Anna in Luke 2. Anna was at least 84 years old.  So, Zechariah and Elizabeth are old enough that any hope of having a child is gone.

Zechariah is in Jerusalem working in the temple as his division was on duty.  He is chosen to go into the temple to burn incense.  While there, an angel of the Lord appears.  Remember, Zechariah went in to burn incense.  It says the angel is standing at the right side of the alter of incense.  The altar of incense is not big.  I didn’t find dimensions for the temple in Jesus time, but in the tabernacle, it was only a foot and a half by a foot and a half.  In the temple of Ezekiel’s vision it’s three feet square.  Either way, the angel is “right there.”  When Zechariah saw him, “he was startled and gripped with fear.”

But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." – Luke 1:13-17

Gabriel starts by saying: Your prayer is heard. (A prayer of long ago.) Elizabeth will bear a son. You are to call him John. (The Lord is gracious.) He will be a joy and delight to you. Many will rejoice at his birth. He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is to be set apart for righteousness (no wine or fermented drink). He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. He will bring many of the people of Israel back to the Lord. He will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children.  (A prophecy in Malachi 4:6 of the Elijah before the Lord comes.) He will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.

Why?  To make ready a people prepared for the Lord.  John will prepare.  He is a forerunner.

Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." The angel said to him, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time." – Luke 1:18-20

Zechariah doesn’t ask the angel how it can happen.  He wants to know how he can know, how can he be sure that what the angel told him is true.  Gabriel answers.

I am Gabriel (mighty one of God). I stand in the presence of God. (Contrast with Zechariah’s words “I am an old man.”) I have been sent to speak to you. (This doesn’t happen every day.) I have been sent to tell you this good news.  Without Zechariah, there is no John the Baptist.  If there is no John the Baptist, there is no herald who announces the coming of the Messiah.  If there is no herald, the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah are not fulfilled.  If any of the prophecies aren’t fulfilled, then the Jesus doesn’t fulfill all things.  If Jesus doesn’t fulfill all things, then God’s plan for our redemption for us is not completed.  This message from Gabriel to Zechariah is good news.

Zechariah is going to lose his voice for about 9 months.  Already when he comes out of the temple, the people are waiting because he has been inside too long, he cannot speak.  How difficult it must have been to be unable to speak at the moment of the greatest good news.  After his time of service, Zechariah returns home, and lo and behold, Elizabeth becomes pregnant.  She stays in seclusion for five months.  We aren’t told why.  Maybe she is afraid she will lose the child.  But maybe she is secluded in joy, devotion, and gratitude to the Lord.  She is convinced that the Lord has allowed her to have a son.  “The Lord has done this for me.  In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Now in Elizabeth’s sixth month of pregnancy, Gabriel is sent again by God with a message.  This time it is not to the big city of Jerusalem, but to a small village in Galilee.  Not to a priest but to a young virgin named Mary.  Mary is pledged to marry Joseph, a far descendant of King David.  But Joseph is not a king, not even a wealthy many, he is a carpenter in a small village in the remote northern region of Galilee.

The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end." – Luke 1:28-33

Gabriel opens saying: Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son. You are to call him Jesus.  Yeshua, Savior. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High.  The divine Son of God, and the Messiah born in time.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.  (Another promise to the Messiah from the Old Testament.) He will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever. His kingdom will never end.

This is a different level than John.  It reminds me of John’s words about Jesus. “There is one coming after me whose sandals I am not fit to untie.” (Mark 1:7)

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail."  "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May your word to me be fulfilled." Then the angel left her. – Luke 1:34-38

Contrasted with Zechariah, Mary doesn’t ask for a sign or proof.  She’s asking a question for understanding.  How can a virgin have a baby?

Gabriel gives Mary’s humble question a full answer.

The Holy Spirit with come on you.  It will be a supernatural conception, not a natural one like John. The holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  He is God’s Son from birth. Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age. Though she could not conceive, she is in her sixth month.

Why? For no word from God will ever fail.  No word of God is without power to accomplish what He has said.  The things Gabriel has said will come to pass.

At this point, Mary gets ready and goes to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea.  Upon her arrival Mary greets Elizabeth, and the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit.  She exclaims with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!” – Luke 1:42-45

Blessed are you among women. Blessed is the child you bear. Why am I so favored the mother of my Lord should come to me?  (Again, a clear difference between John and Jesus.) Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her.  

Here the emphasis is on Mary’s faith, and the work is the Lord’s, not Mary’s.

Mary’s Prayer:

Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is His Name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors." – Luke 1:46-55

My soul glorifies the Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  Mary considers her own need for a savior.  Mary is favored by God, blessed by God.  She is not divine.

Why?  He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed. 

Why?  The Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is His Name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds. He has scattered those who are proud. He has brought down rulers from their thrones. He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things. (Beatitudes.) He has sent the rich away empty. (Physical and spiritual, John 6:35.) He has helped his servant Israel.

How?  Remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as He promised.  The Savior has come from and to Israel just as had been foretold.

Mary stays on with Elizabeth for about three months and then returns home. That means it was time for Elizabeth to have her baby, and Mary stayed for the birth before departing.  As Gabriel foretold, she gives birth to a son. Neighbors and relatives share her joy which was also foretold by Gabriel.  At the time of circumcision on the eighth day, it is tradition to name the baby then.  Everyone expects the baby is going to be called Zechariah Jr. after his father.  But Elizabeth speaks up and says, “No! He is to be called John.”  Now everyone is curious because John is not a family name.  So they make signs to Zechariah which is a funny thing to me.  Zechariah is not deaf, he just can’t speak.  He gets a writing tablet and surprises everyone by writing, “His name is John.”  At that moment, Zechariah’s speech is restored, and what does he do first?  He praises God.  Everyone is amazed and story goes throughout the region with everyone wondering who then will this child become, what is he going to do?  Meanwhile back at the moment of getting his voice back …

Zechariah’s Prayer:

Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied: "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come to His people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David (as He said through His holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-- to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember His holy covenant, the oath He swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for Him, to give His people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." –  Luke 1:68-79

Zechariah starts with praise as Mary did. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Why? Because He has come to His people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David (as He said through His prophets long ago)  He’s not talking about John but Jesus. He has raised up salvation from our enemies and the hand of all who hate us.

Why? To show mercy to our ancestors and remember His holy covenant, the oath He swore to Abraham.

Which oath? To rescue us from our enemies and enable us to serve Him without fear in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. You, my child, will be called prophet of the Most High.  John will be a prophet.  He is not the Son of God, like Jesus.

Why? You will go before the Lord and prepare the way for Him.

Why? To give His people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of sins

Why? Because of the tender mercy of our God by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.

It is clear that Zechariah is not speaking only about his newborn son John.  He is speaking of Jesus, the one who John will go before.  Jesus who will come from heaven to shine on those in darkness.  Zechariah even includes himself in the ones living in darkness who will be guided into the path of peace by the Messiah.  He says guide our feet.  Both Mary and Zechariah recognize their need for a Savior.

People today have the same need for a Savior.  And as we sang in the third verse of O Little Town of Bethlehem, “Where meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.”

Luke 1 is a remarkable whirlwind of revelation.  The last recorded prophecy had been the book of Malachi, 400 years prior to the events of Luke 1.  Now, we have two visits and messages from God by way of Gabriel.  And, the divinely inspired responses of Elizabeth, Mary, and Zechariah.  

Their messages blend together and point to the arrival of the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  The already, but not yet.  This is a moment of revelation and yet, we’re left holding our breath waiting for the real events to come.

Most if not all of us look forward to Christmas.  To me, it somehow captures a similar feeling of anticipation combined with fulfillment in the same event.  This is the place we live today.  Jesus has come and he is coming.  He is risen, and he will return.  

Going back to the words of Gabriel in Luke 1:37, “No word of God will ever fail.”  He will reign forever.  His kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:32-33.)

This is good news!

Rooted and Established

 Eph. 3:1-21

Good morning! Today we continue our series in Ephesians by looking at Chapter 3. For some context, I think it is necessary for us to review the second half of Chapter 2. Now the book of Ephesians, written by Paul, the “minister to the Gentiles,” is primarily addressed to Gentiles – that is, to believers who were not of Jewish descent. And in the days before Christ, Jews and Gentiles largely kept to themselves, although a small number of Gentiles did become attracted to Judaism and even supported the Jews as they could. These people are mentioned repeatedly in the book of Acts, sometimes by the name “God fearers.” They are also mentioned on multiple synagogue inscriptions – on stones that describe those who helped to build the synagogues – from around the time of Christ. 

Specifically, Gentile God fearers are mentioned in inscriptions at synagogues in Aphrodisias, Panticapaeum, Tralles, Rhodes, Venosa, Miletus, Sardis, Philaelphia, and Rome. I also think of the centurion in Capernaum in Luke 7 who had a sick servant. He sent some elders of the Jews to Jesus to ask Him to heal his servant. They went willingly, and told Jesus, “This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.” As for the rest of the story, Jesus is on His way to him and the centurion sends friends to tell Jesus to heal the servant from a distance, because he does not consider himself worthy to meet Jesus, and he knows that Jesus can do this. Jesus, the passage tells us, is amazed and tells the crowd following Him that he has not yet found such great faith even in Israel. He then, from that distance, heals the servant. 

Now some God fearers chose to formerly convert to Judaism, but most did not. We don’t know all the reasons they did not, but to do so was a long process that required approval from the local Jewish community. Because Jews were not, in general, viewed favorably, it also represented a loss of status and could even be impossible for people in some occupations. For example, I strongly suspect that conversion was not even an option for the Roman centurion. 

Now the Pharisees also had rules about Jews not associating with Gentiles. Did this apply to the God fearers? Not fully, but there was a degree of separation that was maintained. They were not permitted in the places Jews were permitted to go to in the Temple, for example. They could not participate in the sacrificial system. And there were undoubtedly countless other restrictions. And so what Paul writes in Eph. 2 is especially powerful:

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. – Eph. 2:11-13

We live nearly 2000 years after the time that this letter was written, and for most of that time, the number of Gentile believers has greatly exceeded the number of Jewish believers in Christ. As a result, it can be easy to miss the power of these words. For as long as we have been alive, and indeed, for much, much longer, all we have known is the Gentile church. But when you take a longer view, you can start to see how wonderful and special this really is. From the time of God’s calling of Abraham in Genesis, God worked and spoke primarily – but not exclusively – to the Jews. It was from the seed of Abraham, and then Isaac, and then Jacob, that the Messiah would come, and God gave amazing covenantal promises to Abraham and his descendants. And then God powerfully delivered the Israelite slaves from Egypt and led them supernaturally through the desert into the land He had promised them, the land of Israel. 

And then, through the times of the Judges, and on into the time of Saul and David and Solomon, and even into the darker days of the divided kingdom, the destruction of the Temple, the years of exile, and the return to rebuild the Temple and walls of Jerusalem, God continued to have a unique relationship with the Jewish people, performing occasional miracles and speaking to them through prophets. And then there was a period in which the prophets were silent, and then sent an angel to speak to Mary and to Joseph – for the Messiah, at last, was to come. And by His blood, all those people groups who were, as it says figuratively, “far away”, at long last had the opportunity to become near to God. And this includes all of you.

My story is, ironically, a bit different. As a Jew, I should have been one of those whose family recognized Christ for who He is, and indeed, I should be the umpteenth generation of believers who followed Christ as descendants of those early Jewish followers. But, alas, most Jews did not receive Him. And so, in a way, our roles are reversed. Many of you come from generations of those who have been close to God, because your parents and grandparents and beyond have given their lives to Christ. And so you were the ones who were “near,” and I was one who was “far away.” And so it is for most Jewish believers today.

The end of Ephesians 2 says this:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. – Eph. 2:19-22

When I read this, I think of you as people who have citizens and members of His household, and me as the one who is no longer a foreigner or stranger (but who used to be one). I know, though, that really the description of being a former stranger really applies to all of us, because nobody is born into the kingdom of God. Each and every person must come to God in repentance and faith in Christ, for we are all sinners, all separated by our sin from a perfectly holy God.

In Christ, we are the same. I am reminded of what Paul writes in Gal. 3:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. – Gal. 3:26-28

We are in Him, together – by faith, because of what Jesus has done to save us. If you have wondered what the background image for this entire series is about, it is this. It shows a piece of Hebrew scripture on the left Greek scripture on the right, brought together to symbolize this joining of Jew of Gentile in Christ. And this brings us to Ephesians 3.

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. – Eph. 3:1-6

Paul starts with a form of “therefore”. And we have just looked at what came before. So, to use a modern phrase, what is Paul’s “why”? Why does he do what he does? What is his motivation? Paul’s “why” is that God has done this epic thing – opening salvation by faith in Christ to the vast world of the Gentiles, to seemingly countless peoples and nations. But how will they partake, how will they be saved, if the gospel is not explained to them? And so Paul has dedicated the rest of his life to presenting the Gentile world with the gospel. 

Paul then describes himself as a prisoner of Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles. What does this mean? Well, he is an actual prisoner. He is chained, almost certainly to a Roman soldier. We know this from chapter 6 where, in the closing of the letter, he describes himself as an ambassador in chains. Why is he a prisoner? Because he is, with God’s help, laboring to help the Gentile world come to Christ. We don’t know for certain if this imprisonment is the one described in the later part of Acts or a later imprisonment (if there was a later imprisonment). In the imprisonment described in Acts, the event that led to it was the fact that he was seen associating with a Gentile believer in Jerusalem. This particular Gentile believer was Trophimus, interestingly, an Ephesian. If he had not been ministering to the Gentiles, this particular arrest would not have happened.  And this should inspire us to likewise be willing to sacrifice for God’s people, for those who have put their faith in Him. Here in America, at least for now, it is unlikely that anything we do for the sake of the kingdom of God will lead to our arrest – but that could change in the future. And being arrested for the sake of the kingdom is a sobering reality in much of the world where persecution of believers does take place. 

Now there is a long dash, and the sentence doesn’t complete. What is happening? Paul is interrupting himself. We will see Paul come back to his uncompleted sentence in verse 14 to finish his thoughts. But now Paul appeals to them through his personal history, which we have covered in detail in our previous series on the book of Acts. He reminds them that his ministry to the Gentiles was not an idea he came up with, or something he reasoned out. Indeed, as we know from Acts, he was busy persecuting believers when God powerfully took hold of him. And it was God who supernaturally revealed to him the mystery that the gospel was not for Jews only, but for Gentiles as well, indeed, for the entire world, for all who would believe.  

I had a very encouraging conversation with a faculty member from China on Friday. He has, from time to time, visited a local Chinese Christian church, and he agrees with some of the things he has heard. He told me the pastor came up to him and asked him about baptism. He was asked if he believed. He told me he thought about it and said he was “willing” to believe, and was that good enough? And to his credit, the pastor told him no, do not be baptized yet. 

That is not enough. 

This faculty member strongly reminds me of the God fearers I spoke about at the beginning of the message. He has respect for what he knows so far of Christianity, and he supports what he sees are the positive benefits of believing, both in the present and in history. But he has not yet personally taken hold of faith. He is willing to believe, but he does not yet believe. I believe his understanding of the gospel is very limited, and of the Bible even more so, and so I hope to be able to talk with him a lot more in the coming year and perhaps even study the Bible with him. We’ll see if this works out – you can pray that it will. 

And in this situation I see the power of what Paul is saying in this passage. We forget that the people of the various regions that Paul went out to share the gospel with were from a wide variety of beliefs and cultures and practices, all generally very foreign to the message of Christ. And yet, when some of them heard, they believed, and they began a whole new life in Christ. And as they shared with those close to them, the gospel began to make inroads into these very different cultures. I think of my faculty friend from his Chinese cultural background, so different from cultures built upon western tradition which is itself in many ways built upon Christian belief and practice, albeit very imperfectly. And yet God may use, in His grace, me and other western believers to bring him to faith, and perhaps spread from him to his family and his acquaintances. This mystery is that through the gospel the Chinese (or fill in whatever people group you want) are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. This is indeed a fantastic and wonderful mystery being revealed. Paul continues:

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory. – Eph. 3:7-13

Paul, of all people, is selected by God to preach this message of unity between Jews and Gentiles. I encourage you to stop and think for a minute how ironic, or ludicrous, or perfect this is, depending on your point of view. God chooses Paul, who describes himself as the least of all the Lord’s people, because he formerly persecuted Jews for coming to faith in Christ. Paul was an extremist. He promoted violence. He was the opposite of a unifying voice. As a fanatical legalist, given how much he hated Jews who didn’t believe what he believed, he of course hated Gentiles. And yet the Lord chooses Paul to not only be the person who brings the gospel to Gentiles, but also promotes this message that, in Christ, there are not two bodies of believers – there is only one. I think God often does this. He took a friend of mine who worked at a Salvation Army shelter and became worn out by all the alcoholics and how so few were open to the gospel and sends him to Mongolia, which at the time had the highest rate of alcoholism in the world.  Or I think of Chuck Colson, who served under President Nixon and went to prison in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal for obstruction of justice, but was saved shortly before serving his time and then was used by God to lead a prison fellowship ministry that provided for prisoner’s needs but also led to many prisoners coming to faith in Christ. 

And so Paul, whether despite or because of his background, or both, is chosen by God to explain to the Gentiles the gospel and to explain the “boundless riches of Christ”. The Greek word for “boundless” here is translated “unsearchable” in the King James Version, and this is a more literal translation, but one that might be harder for us to understand. Actually, I think in the computer age in which we now live, this term is easier to understand than it was in relatively modern times before computers. Think about the Internet and using Google or some other search tool. Are some things unsearchable? Yes, absolutely. Some things simply aren’t on the Internet, but more commonly the problem is that we don’t have enough specific information to find what we are looking for. Suppose you are trying to find someone you met on vacation named John Smith. Good luck! That is unsearchable. Literally, the Greek word here – which I will not attempt to pronounce – means “beyond finding out”. The idea is that the revelation of this mystery Paul is talking about, that the Gentile and Jewish believers are members of one body and sharers together in the promises of Christ, was hidden prior to God’s revelation of this in Acts. Although almost completely ignored, it was known that God had plans to have all nations worship Him some day. But the idea of Christ dying for the sins of all people, Jew and Gentile, and the idea that all believers would be together as brothers and sisters in Christ – that the ceremonial parts of the Law would be fulfilled in Christ, and that unity among Jewish and Gentile believers would be a distinguishing characteristic of the church – all of this was “beyond finding out” – it was “unsearchable”.   

And not only was it beyond finding out for us humans, it also was a mystery even to the angels.  His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose that He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. The word “manifold” is not used often today (except as part of an engine) so let me explain it. It means many-faceted, many types or kinds. And so the manifold wisdom of God is wisdom on many different levels. That is, when people (and angels) realize God’s plan to bring the offer of salvation through Jesus to all people, whether Jew or Gentile, and to pour out blessings on both and have a unity among believers – not just a positional unity but even a unity in fellowship together – that people (and angels) will marvel at all the ways God is wise with this plan. 

Then Paul says, In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. How do we approach God? Through prayer. Jew and Gentile together can approach God boldly and without restriction or hindrance in prayer. What a contrast this is to the past, where only the Jews to go to the most parts of the Temple, and only the priests to certain parts, and only the high priest once a year to the innermost part. Recall that the huge, thick, curtain of the Temple was supernaturally torn from top to bottom upon Christ’s death. No longer do only the Jewish priests have access to God. Now every believer can pray to God and know that their prayers are heard. We can approach God with freedom and confidence.

Paul is overjoyed by these truths and he is happy to encourage the Ephesians with these truths. He tells them not to feel sad for him and his imprisonment and other challenges, because he is happy to pour out his life in the service of God in this way. He goes on:

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. – Eph. 3:14-19

And so now we return to the thought Paul started in verse 1 of this chapter – “for this reason.” And then Paul gives us one of the most glorious prayers in all of Scripture, one we would do well to emulate. 

Paul starts by praying to God that He would strengthen us with the Holy Spirit’s power in our inner self. Why is strengthening important? Because it makes us able to withstand temptation, to be victorious and bold in faith. If we are weak in our inner self, we will fold, or give up when hardships come, or we will give in when temptations occur. Note that this power to be strong in our inner being is not a self-effort; it is supernatural power from God. And it enables Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith. If Christ dwells in our hearts, then there is no room for something else to dwell there, such as our own selfish will. What an excellent thing to pray for!

Paul goes on. The word for “rooted” is rizahoh, from which we get the word rhizome. Rhizomes are a type of plant that has a root system that spreads plants but they stay connected. Unlike regular root systems, they store lots of energy in the root system through bulbous portions. An example of a rhizome is a ginger plant. Another example is aspen trees. Aspen trees grow in stands, or clumps, and not only are the trees in a clump connected together, the stands themselves are also connected. In this way, the aspen can be considered to be the largest organism on earth. I find this a great word picture for the body of believers, fitting well with this chapter. We, the church universal, are all connected to Christ, all rooted in Him. 

The word for “established” is in some ways similar, but it applies more to a building than to a tree. It refers to laying down a foundation. A foundation connects the structure built upon it to the ground. A foundation ensures that the structure cannot tip over or sink in a soft spot. And so Paul says that believers have both roots and foundations in love, and the word for love here is agape, the sacrificial kind of love. Paul means by this that we are rooted and grounded in the love Christ has for us, the love that led Him to die for our sins so that through faith in Him we might be saved.  

And what does Paul pray for, for those of us who are rooted and established in agape love? He prays that we would be able to grasp the hugeness of the love Christ has for us. This is not something that is easy for us to grasp. But the more we understand Christ’s love for us, the more we want to live sacrificially for Him. 

This is profound. Paul isn’t just praying that we live for Christ. He is instead praying that we would grasp the hugeness of Christ’s love for us, because this will enable/empower us to live for Him. 

And so I would ask you – do you think about Christ’s amazing depth of love for you? This is how you become “filled to the measure of the fulness of God”. The word for filled here in Greek is used in fishing to describe stuffing a huge fishing net into a sack. I find this a very vivid picture. It reminds me of my backpacking days decades ago where I had to get my sleeping bag back into a nylon sack that came with it. I remember dreading the process of trying to roll it tightly enough to get it back in, wondering how it had ever fit in there before. Comprehending, taking hold of, the depth of Christ’s love for us can be hard, too. In fact, I would say it is impossible without the help of God. But the first step, I believe, is to accept how incredibly important this is. Paul could have prayed anything at all for these Gentile believers. He chose to pray this for them. And he gives the reason – it is critical for spiritual growth. When we sin, or when we stop growing in Christ, our problem is not a behavior problem. The behavior is only the symptom. The core problem is one of faith, one of comprehending. When we think of Christ on the cross, do you think of Him doing that for you? Not for the world, for other people, but for you? 

If you were foolishly out in traffic and a stranger came, ran into traffic, yanked you out, but got hit by multiple cars and died as a result, you would understand that he gave his life for you, and I think it would change you profoundly. You would want to find his family and tell them what a hero he was and offer to do anything for them.

Now let’s slightly change this picture. You and another person, a total stranger, someone who is quite different from you, say a different race, a different culture, maybe a little strange to you, was also on that road playing in traffic, and the man yanked both of you out before dying. You two would now be connected. Both of you would want to serve his family. And because of this profound bond that you both have to this man, you would naturally want to work alongside this other person saved by him. His background wouldn’t matter, rich or poor, his race, his culture, etc. The bond you had through your savior would be infinitely more important. He saved both of you so you were equal before him. You both had an equal right and equal obligation to live for his family. This is what I believe Paul is getting at here. This is the transformative power of stuffing the hugeness of Christ’s love for you into the little sack of your heart. 

Paul finishes his prayer, and indeed the first half of the book of Ephesians, with these verses: 

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. – Eph. 3:20-21

This verse reminds me of what I came to call the second law of parenting. What we called the first law, by the way, was this: Don’t do something with your child that you are not willing to do over and over and over. Like most parents, we learned this the hard way, and we learned this pretty early in our parenting journey. The second law we learned later: If your child is doing something annoying, anything at all, instruct them to stop it. It’s not a permanent, unchangeable part of their personality. And if it annoys you, it will probably annoy many people. You are actually doing them a service in helping them to change this thing. Now parents cannot fundamentally change the personality of their children, and we should love our children for who they are. That’s not what I am talking about. I’m talking about things like using an indoor voice indoors, or not picking your nose in front of other people. I found that, for me as a parent, I tended to consistently underestimate the things I could change in my children, instead of just being embarrassed by what they did or said. 

In the same way, I think we consistently underestimate what God can help us with. We just don’t think to ask God to help us with our anxiety, or our grumpiness, or our children, or whatever “minor” things are bothering us. We just put up with them, like parents just put up with the things their children do. If we truly grasped the depth of God’s love for us, we would not do this. We would be quick to come to Him asking for help in the little things as well as the big things. 

And so, as an application this week, I would encourage you to do three things: First, spend a little time each day thinking about how much God loves you personally. Second, follow this up with time in prayer, giving Him praise as Paul does in the end of this passage, but also then praying for little things, the things you just put up with. And third, reach out to someone in the church this week that you don’t normally reach out to during the week. It can just be a text or email, or a phone call, or even a visit, but let us live out the truth that we are heirs together, members of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.

Two Become One

Eph. 2:11-22

Good morning, we are continuing in our series on the book of Ephesians which is titled “… Therefore …”  As we noted in our recent series from Acts, Paul spent more than two years in Ephesus, and from there, the gospel had gone out to the entire province of Asia to a million people or more.

Roughly 5 years later, Paul was in prison in Rome, and wrote a letter to the Ephesian believers.  “This letter powerfully explains our blessings in Christ as a result of the gospel and tells us how we should *therefore* live.”  And so, we are going verse by verse through this tremendously encouraging book.

Today’s passage begins with the word “therefore,” so I was curious how many therefores there are in the bible.  If you will bear with me, I even made a graphic of what I learned.

First, there are 442 verses with the word therefores in the whole bible.  Of that, 279 are found in the Old Testament and 163 in the New Testament.  If you take the four gospels and the book of Acts together, there are just 52 therefores in those longer books.  That leaves 111 verses in the New Testament Letters including Revelation.  Ephesians by itself has seven occurrences, and the first one is here in Ephesians chapter 2.  There is one in chapter 3.  The other 5 are all packed into the second half of the letter.  You’ll have to wait till the new year to hear about those (or you can just read ahead 😊).

Now, there are more than 600,000 words in the Bible.  If you take all those verses and separate them out by which part of the bible they come from, you do find out that compared to other books there are a whole lot of therefores in Ephesians, about 5 times as many occurrences per word as the bible in average.  One time per every 350 words of Ephesians, there is a therefore.

Ephesians gives us a lot to think about, and it builds on itself and the amazing truth of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.  Therefore, let’s pray and get into today’s passage.

Lord, we thank You for all the work that You have done on our behalf that we therefore can have confidence in You and Your saving power.  Teach us from these verses in Ephesians 2 today.  We need You and Your truth.  Renew our minds we pray in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Okay, Ephesians 2, verse 1 …

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (which is done in the body by human hands) – remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. – Eph. 2:11-12

I didn’t talk about the title for today’s specific message, but it’s “Two Become One.”  If you noticed the title beforehand, maybe you were thinking about marriage, but it’s clear that the two are not a man and woman here, but rather two groups of people, Jews and Gentiles.

Acts 19 tells of Paul’s stay in Ephesus.  As was his custom, he went to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews first.  He did this for the first three months of his more than two year stay.  Among the Ephesian believers, there would have been far more Gentiles than Jews.

I spent a lot of time talking about “therefore,” so what is the therefore there for at the beginning of verse 11?  As Brian shared last week, the first part of chapter 2 talks about how we were dead in our transgressions.  Then, it goes on to say that we are saved by Christ out of that.

Here, this is called to our minds again.  We, gentiles, were separate from Christ.  What does it mean that we are separate from Christ?  We had no citizenship in Israel.  We were not part of the family of God.  We were foreigners.  Essentially, we were stateless with respect to the kingdom of heaven.  As such, we were without hope and without God.  But now …

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For, He Himself is our peace. –  Eph. 2:13-14

I didn’t want to skip over these words too quickly.  This is good news.  We who were once far away have been brought near.  We have been brought into God’s people.  How?  We are brought near by the blood of Christ.  Jesus’ sacrifice of His own life has made a way for us.  Jesus is our peace.

When you walk with the Lord and you have His word and you sing His praise, you have peace.  Maybe not perfectly, maybe not all the time, but you have a refuge, a shelter, a rock to hold onto in the storm.

The people at the time Paul wrote Ephesians often lived in fear of the next thing that could happen.  Their false gods were wicked; they were capricious doing whatever selfish thing they could think of.  The people only thought of gods as ones to appease.  You wanted to try and stay on their good side as much as possible.

What about today?  We are living in a time when people are more anxious than ever before.  People do not have peace.  There are lots of ways that people try to find peace, but apart from Christ there is no real lasting peace.

We tend to focus on this internal peace that we have in Christ and the peace we have with God, but Jesus’ impact is even greater.  The peace he brings is not just to individuals, but it is between individuals as well.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. –  Eph. 2:13-15

I realize that a lot of time has passed since the Berlin Wall was torn down, but I have this picture, video really, in my mind of the wall being pushed over by bulldozers and other places by people.  The wall was toppled and fell toward the west, and the people on the east could escape.

What Jesus has done in making the two peoples one, he has broken down the wall from both sides.  Another way to translate the word destroyed is to say the barrier was dissolved.  He has removed the barrier in every aspect.  He has removed the hostility.  He has set aside the law.  He did not abolish the law.  He fulfilled the law. (Matthew 5:17) He did it with His own flesh.  Jesus was the sacrifice which removed the obligations of the law, its commands and regulations.  It’s amazing, wonderful.  What is the result, or why did he do it?

His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which He put to death their hostility. –  Eph. 2:15-16

This is a huge vision!  In Christ, there is one new humanity, one body, one person, one man, unified.

Think about what the world is like both then and now.  There is conflict between peoples wherever you look.  Hard-heartedness, bitterness, conflict and war.  

It pains me to say it, but even within the church of Christ, there is division.  Why must it be this way?  I think Paul explains this later in Ephesians.  I’m thinking of verses like Ephesians 4:2, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”  God didn’t inspire Paul to write that we should be humble and gentle when we feel like it or when we don’t have our dander stirred up.  It says to be completely humble.  We are to interact with one another with all humility.  

And then, I think about Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  Paul writes this command to submit before he writes about different roles within a household.  Before different God-ordained roles, we are told to submit to one another.  If we love our Lord Jesus Christ.  If we have reverence for our Lord Jesus Christ, then we will submit to one another.

And when we fail, because we will, we need to apologize and ask forgiveness.  Thereby, we will allow unity to be restored within the body of Christ.  Dissension or disunity is an act of the flesh spoken against in Galatians 5 (v.20).  We should not have hostility toward one another.  This has been put to death in Christ as Ephesians 2:16 tells us.  He has reconciled both groups together.  If we hold on to hostility toward another believer, if we are not believing the best about a brother (I Corinthians 13:7), that’s a problem.  Philippians 2:3 tells us that we should consider others better than ourselves, count them more significant, more important.  If our attitude toward a brother puts them down and raises us up, that’s not okay.  We are clearly not walking in the Spirit.

We have to follow the example of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.  For through Him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit. –  Eph. 2:17-18

Paul is speaking to both the Jews and Gentiles here.  The Gentiles were the ones far away from God, spiritual foreigners, remember.  The Jews were the ones who were near because they had the promises of God.  They had the Old Testament, the covenants.  But, the message to both is the same.  It is a message of peace, a message of reconciliation.

Both groups, Jews and Gentiles, have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ.  We have access to God the Father through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit.  What?!  If we’re used to hearing this truth, it’s easy for it to slip past us as ordinary.  We have access to the Father.  The King of the Universe is friendly toward us.  I know this is the third time I’ve looked ahead in Ephesians, but chapter 3 tells us that this access allows us to come freely to the Father with confidence. (v. 12)

I can tell you that the last couple of years have been tough for me on the personal friend front.  Two of my long-time friends from work left to take other jobs.  When I say long-time, I mean one was 10 years of daily interaction.  The other has been a friend for 24 years.  I don’t hear from either of them unless I initiate.  One of those doesn’t reply with any words, just links to things that are on his mind.  A third friend has moved on to other responsibilities within our plant.  We still talk fairly often, but we’re not “besties.”  I have conversations with other friends, and I feel like I listen well.  I try to interact.  To be honest and to my own shame, I think I’m a better listener to my friends than to my wife.  After trying to be there for them, they might ask me how I’m doing.  I start to tell them, but I feel like I usually get cut off.  Nothing harsh, I just feel that they don’t have time for me because something else is more important.  I don’t have free and confident access to the people I think are my closest friends.

That’s not the situation that we have with God our Father.  He is always there for us.  We can come to Him any time.  There is nothing more important to Him.  He is ready willing and able to talk to us.  He has given us His word to hear from Him.  He has filled us with His Spirit to guarantee that He is there for us.

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone. –  Eph. 2:19-20

Thinking about being a foreigner and stranger reminded me of something I experienced years ago.  There have been many times where I felt like a stranger in a foreign country that I was visiting.  But, the most out of place I’ve ever felt was actually in Los Angeles.  I had to go there on a business trip, and while I was getting my rental car, the guy at the counter looked at my driver’s license and says, “Hey, you’re Farmer John.”  And I respond, “Excuse me.”  At this point, he notes from my license that I’m from South Carolina and guesses that I’ve never heard of Farmer John sausage.  Well, it turns out that Farmer John is the Jimmy Dean of California.  Up until 2021 if you bought a hot dog at a Dodgers game or the Staples Center, it was a Farmer John hot dog.

It also turns out that there was a huge Farmer John packaging plant adjacent to Los Angeles in a city called Vernon.  Vernon’s city motto is “Exclusively Industrial.”  The city has a population of 328, and many of these are employees of the city.  The 10 acre Farmer John plant had about 2000 employees and was completely painted with murals starting back in 1957.  So, I think, “Man, I’ve got to see this.”  So, when I visited, it was so big, I had to drive around the whole thing.  Then I stopped and got out and walked around taking pictures mostly with my jaw on the ground.  The guy who started the murals worked on it for 11 years, and then after he died another man continued for years.  It is really something to see, not so much something to smell.  

I walked around a corner, and I’m right next to the main entrance to the plant.  I was wondering to myself if I should show my ID and see if they would let John Farmer in to see Farmer John.  Right at that moment was shift change, and I go from being the only person on the street to standing in the middle of a crowd of several hundred people, and except for me everyone is going in the same direction, away from the plant.  There was this dynamic that they all had a similar purpose.  They were all moving the same way.  They knew each other.  They didn’t know me.  They were dressed for work in a meat packing plant.  I was dressed business casual.  At first, I was moving sort of against them, or at least not along with them.  As it became more of a wall of people, I just kind of got swept along with the crowd and then started making my way back to my car.  And for that 5 or 10 minutes, I felt like a complete outsider.  I was an alien.  And I guess because of the suddenness and unexpectedness of it, it really stuck with me.

Another aspect of difference was that I was the only Caucasian that I could see in that crowd.  There were about an equal share of people of Asian descent, Hispanic descent, and African descent.  Fast forward a few years from this event, and I’m telling the story I told you to some friends at work including a dear brother in Christ who is of Indian-descent but is actually from Trinidad and Tobago.  I get to that part about never feeling like a stranger to that extent, and I say something enlightened like, “I’m the only white guy in this HUGE crowd.”  I look at my friend.  He doesn’t say anything and doesn’t betray anything to the others listening.  But, in about a half a second, I realized while I didn’t see him as a stranger, he had had that feeling of being a stranger a whole lot more times that I had.  And in fact, I had just made him feel like a stranger and foreigner in the way I told that story.  Ugh.  I think it doubly hurt him because I was his friend.  And I couldn’t see the danger because he was my friend.  He’s moved away, first to Europe and now eastern North Carolina, but I have a reminder in my calendar, and I try to keep in contact with him each year.  Why do I tell that story?

We are no longer foreigners and strangers to one another in the body of Christ.  (I Peter 1:1 tells us that as believers we are strangers in the world though.)  We have a common citizenship.  We are fellow citizens.  We have a place for eternity with God’s people.  Not only that, we are members of His household.  We are part of God’s family.

Paul turns his metaphor here and begins to look at the body of Christ as a building.  Our place is much higher up or farther out in the construction than when Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus.  Even then, he wrote of how new believers are added into the construction built on a foundation of the apostles and prophets who rest upon the chief cornerstone, Christ Jesus.

We sang that song earlier, “In Christ Alone.”  He is our cornerstone, our solid ground.  He is firm through the fiercest drought and storm.  If we do not build our spiritual house of Jesus Christ, then we will not stand.  Why?  Because …

In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit. - Eph. 2:21-22 

It reminds me a little of Colossians 1:17 in how Jesus holds everything together, the whole universe.  More importantly, Jesus joins together the whole body of Christ as a holy temple in the Lord.  Not only is Jesus the foundation.  He is also the mortar that joins us all together.

This earth and its heavens are passing away, but the family of God is forever.  And Jesus is right there making sure we are built together and not apart.  And that, brothers and sisters, is good news!

It’s interesting how messages come together sometimes.  I thought that before the end, I would have come to the conflict between Israel and Hamas since this entire passage is about the reconciliation of Jews and Gentiles.  I hope it is plain to you all what the answer is for peace in the Middle East.  The answer is the that peace is only possible if they would accept the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We know from scripture that not all of them will, but some will, and we must continue to pray for the gospel to go forth and for people to come to Christ.  The answer to the peace of Israel on both sides.  It is for both Israel and her enemies to acknowledge and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Sadly, neither side has been looking to the Lord certainly not at the leadership level.  Again, I encourage you to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and the salvation of her people both Jew and Gentile.

And, may we continue to love one another, pray for one another, submit to one another, in Christ because we are held together in Him and by Him and through Him.

Therefore … in light of what Christ has done for us.  Let us continue to be built together as a dwelling in which God lives.

Let’s pray.

Lord Jesus, thank you that you not only save us as individuals, but you save us as a people together.  Unify our hearts as a body of believers who love one another, believe the best, and encourage and build one another up.  I ask this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.