The Mysteries and Majesty of God

Mark Buckley
Series: Ephesians

Good morning, Living Streams. Good to see you today. David is up at Lost Canyon with over 100 of our men with 450 other guys from around the Valley. They’re having a great time. He’ll be back preaching next week. We’re doing a sermon series on Ephesians. If you want to open your Bible to Ephesians, that would be great.

I want to say thank you to those of you who have been praying for Kristina and myself. My wife, Kristina, is a candidate for a heart transplant. She’s twelve sessions into a thirty-six session cardio rehab prep, so that the surgery itself is something she will survive, Lord willing. It is a big battle. But at the same time, with so many people praying for us, we’re experiencing a lot of grace. We’re enjoying life. So it’s one of those mixtures. It’s the best of times and also dark clouds on the horizon. So, thank you again for praying for her.

The title of this message is The Mysteries of God in Ephesians. When I was a kid, I went to church every week. I went to confession and communion and catechism classes. When I was a teenager, I asked in a catechism class one time something about God. It was a profound question on my heart. The teacher said, “Well, that’s a mystery.” Sort of like, if it’s a mystery then you’re out of it. You don’t have an answer. We’ll never know.

I began to think in my mind, “Well, if it’s a mystery to you and it’s a mystery to me, what am I doing here? I’m going to go somewhere where I can get some answers.” And I began a search that took me through all kinds of Eastern religions and occult practices and, ultimately back to Jesus. Ultimately, I saw in people who really loved Jesus, who believed that he’s alive, a life of vitality, something in the Spirit that drew me. I was drawn to him because of healing and miracles and a need that I felt in my own life to really connect to God—even thought the message itself seemed too simple. And the people seemed pretty simple. They didn’t seem like my people. For a while, that was a big struggle for me. 

So, today we’re going to talk about mysteries of God from the book of Ephesians. We’re going to talk about three things: The Mystery of God’s Will. The Mystery of Christ uniting Jews and Gentiles, and The Mystery of Christ and the Church.

First: The Mystery of God’s Will. Ephesians 1:9

9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 

Let’s pray together.

Father God, I ask that you, who are the revealer of mysteries, that you would speak to our hearts this morning; that you would touch us where we need to be touched; that you would show us life is not an accident. It’s not chance. We’re here for a divine purpose. And that you would reveal those divine purposes to each one of us. In Jesus’ name. 

So, Paul says, hitting the big mystery on the head, he’s like, “God has revealed to us the master of his will.” The first spiritual truth anybody understands is life is not an accident. It’s not just luck. It’s not just chance. 

I listen to a podcast that I love called How I Built This, by Guy Raz. He interviews the founders of Instagram, Airbnb, SnapChat and all these different companies. And he’s talking to them about how they got from zero—when they first started, when they first had an idea—to the fulfillment of this vision, in many cases which is far beyond what they had originally anticipated. And, at the end of the interview, he always asks them the same question, every person he interviews. He says, “How much of your success do you attribute to luck, and how much is just hard work?” And they all have various answers.

If, per chance, I ever was interviewed by somebody like that, I would not say it was luck. I would say there is a lot of hard work to get from where we are to the fulfillment of the dreams and visions in our heart. But there’s a lot of something else called the grace of God. And the grace of God is an impartation that allows us to fulfill a destiny far beyond our capacity, if it was just up to us and our hard work or chance. 

So Paul says the mystery of his will has been revealed to us. And here’s what it is in verse 10:

10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

This is the will of God. To bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. Now, if Genghis Khan had known that, he might have killed far fewer people in his attempt to conquer the world. If Alexander the Great had known that, he might not have died as a young man. If Hitler had known that, he would never have invaded Poland, Russia, Austria, Czechoslovakia. Because the destiny of the Germans wasn’t to rule the world and to bring a better order according to their understanding of how life should function. 

If the ruler of Isis had known that, he wouldn’t have had to flee Syria and Iraq and leave devastation in his wake. The destiny of the world is not to be united under an Islamic caliphate. 

America needs to know that. Our destiny is not to be all Republicans or all Democrats. Even though some of us push. I had dinner with a friend the other night. We got in a big political fight because, every now and then friends like to do that. Get rid of what’s in their heart—a little frustration. Nevertheless, we’re not destined to all be Catholics, or all be Baptists, or all be at Living Streams. We are destined to all bow our knee to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent by the Father to not only bring salvation, but to rule and to reign and to establish a kingdom that will last forever. 

The second mystery: The Mystery of Christ uniting Jews and Gentiles. Ephesians 3:

2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

He says, “I wrote about this mystery that came through revelation.” And it’s in chapter 2 and we’ll go back there in a minute.  

4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 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. 6 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.

Now, somebody might ask the question, when we talk about the mystery of Jews and Gentiles being united, the mystery of Christ and the Church and Israel. Somebody might say, “What’s the big deal? Why is that important? Who even cares?”

Well, let me say this. You will care a lot if you take the time to read the Old Testament and you see the covenant promises that God made to his people to bless them. Not just them as individuals, but to bless them for generations and generations, when they keep his promises. They have promises. They have prophecies. They have the law and the patriarchs. Everything that was first given to Abraham and then to his son Isaac, and then to Jacob and the twelve sons of Jacob who became the nation Israel. All those promises become our through Christ. We become inheritors of something through a mysterious union that allows Jews and Gentiles to become one. We’ll talk about that in just a minute.

The other day I was looking at Kristina. She was sitting at the kitchen table and there was a big, thousand-piece puzzle that she was putting together. And I walked by. It looked a little strange to me. I said, “How’s it going with the puzzle?” And she said, “Well, I like to do it upside down without looking at the picture on the box.” And I thought, “Yeah, that’s my wife. It’s really strange.” She said, “It’s good for my brain.” It would drive my brain crazy trying to do a thousand-piece puzzle, but to do it upside down without looking at the picture, that’s tough.

I’m trying to give you a picture today of what God wants to do. As much as anything, if you have a picture of his will and his purpose, then even though different events don’t always make sense, you can save the understanding of how that fits into your life for a time when there’s another piece that produces clarity, if you know what I mean. Are you following me? Because we all have certain events that don’t seem to fit. And some of those are very painful events. Some of those seem like scars. By faith we have to resist the temptation to be angry and to say, “That person has messed up my life.” Because nobody has the power to mess up your life. The only thing that will mess up your life is if you will let that pain fester through unforgiveness, resentment and bitterness. That will cause you some trouble. 

Now we’re going to go back into Ephesians and see how we become united with the Jews to fulfill God’s purpose. Ephesians 2 (RSV):

1 And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 

He’s talking about the demonic realm, and how, at one time we cooperated with the demonic realm. We were just going for whatever felt good, whatever was going to make us happy and gratify us at the time. 

3 Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 

The secret sauce that transforms us is called grace. It’s a divine energy that we didn’t earn, we don’t deserve, but we get to receive. Jesus received it from the Father. He lived a sinless life, and in his sinless life there was a grace that he was able to transmute—or to impart—to his disciples. And when he imparted that grace to them, they were able to heal sick people, cast out demons, and do amazing things that they were never able to do before. And he said, “After I’m gone, you guys are going to be even better off. Because I’m going to the Father and the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you.” 

This grace saves us. It makes us whole. I know that I’m not worthy in terms of being a good person for God to answer my prayers. I’m just sort of an average guy. Most people, if you do an intelligence test, they’re all just a little bit above average. Right? Nobody says, “I’m actually a little big below average, a little bit meaner, a little nastier than the norm.” But I know that I don’t drive real nice. I know there’s no impulse in me that says, when I’m at the grocery store, “Oh, let somebody else go ahead of me in line because they only have a few things.” No. I’m in a hurry. I’ve got people to see and things to do. You know what I mean? I need grace. 

And it says: We’ve been….

6 …raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— 

We have received this impartation of grace that lifts us up. Instead of being people that are bombarded because of the participation we’ve had in the demonic realm that leaves us vulnerable to all kinds of thoughts and impulses that leave people empty and defiled—now we have this grace. And grace, for the first time in my life when I was twenty years old, when I said, “God, I want to give my life to Jesus. I’m a little afraid to say the prayer, because I was afraid all my life that you’d make me wear a black suit and stay celibate and liven Iowa or something like that.” Every time I say that, somebody comes forward from Iowa, deeply offended. Nothing personal. It was my own fear. I’m sure it’s a lovely place. 

However, we have one sense of what our destiny is and then God gives us grace. We discover when we have grace, that we can overcome. That we can actually be the person that we really would like to be in our hearts. Now, do we do it all the time? No, not all the time and in every situation. But we have the power to do what’s right because we’ve been lifted up out of the mire—the Slough of Despondency that David was talking about last week. And we are seated now in the heavenly realms with Christ. That is a realm that has actually come to the earth. That’s another whole mystery. But Jesus brought the kingdom to earth. We live in a fallen world, but we live in the kingdom of God in the midst of a fallen world. 

That’s why my wife and I, in the midst of the fact that her heart is failing—she’s going to need a new heart—we can actually still enjoy life because we would be dishonest if we said we weren’t experiencing blessing right now. We are being blessed right now. If you’re living your life like you are waiting until the weekend to have fun, you are waiting until your vacation to relax, you are waiting until you retire to travel, if you are waiting and waiting and waiting, you’ll be waiting until it’s too late. You’re either going to experience God’s kingdom now, or you’re missing out. 

So, the second part, in terms of being united with the Jews, he deals with Ephesians 2:11

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, 

The Jews were the circumcision. The Gentiles were the uncircumcision.

which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility, 

The dividing wall of hostility. Why was there hostility between the Jews and at the Gentiles. It’s because God told the Jews to stay away from their corrupt practices. He didn’t mean for them to judge and despise the Gentiles. But you know, if you’re like me, that if you quit eating meat, or tried it for a while, you have a tendency to despise meat eaters. If you sit in first class, then you sort of look down on people in coach, you know? If you live in a nice house, then you’re not as impressed with somebody who lives in a lesser house, or whatever. That’s human nature. 

So the Jews who were very religious in keeping all of the law of God sort of despised the people who were eating anything, partying all the time. They despised the unhealthy lifestyle of the Gentiles. And when somebody despises you, you despise them back. When somebody judges you, you judge them back. It’s a natural self-defense mechanism. 

So there was a hostility. And now, Jesus comes. The Son of God is manifest. And before him, all men are sinners. All of us have a big need. And he sheds his blood. He dies on the cross for the Jew and the Gentile. We all need forgiveness of sins. The religious people couldn’t really connect with God, and the irreligious people couldn’t really connect with God. We’re all equal before God as sinners. We all can receive forgiveness. And when we do, the hostility goes away. We become brothers. 

17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; 18 for through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; 22 in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

That’s a lot of words. Here’s what he’s saying. He’s saying you have a place in the family of God. You are a member of the family. You are now a chosen person. And when you believe that, there’s something that changes in your life. 

My daughter Kelly, has a foster child. This little girl has been bounced from her dad to her mom. There’s drug addictions. There’s irresponsible behavior. She has appointments with family members who never bother to show up and take her. She has been a heart-broken person. But when my daughter invited her into her family, this little girl hit the jackpot, when it comes to foster care. Because she is loved and she is prayed for. Before she goes to bed, she wants me to pray for her when she’s at our house. And she gets all kinds of good food. And when we go to a restaurant, we don’t say, “The family eats one thing and you eat something else.” It’s like, “Go ahead and order whatever you want. When you are in this family, you are welcome. You are welcome here. Whatever blessing God puts on us extends to you, too.” 

That’s how we do life. That’s how God does life with his children. When he says you are a member of the family of God, he says, “I’m not holding anything back from my kids. I am giving them everything they need for life, everything they need to overcome. All the grace that will transform them and make them fruitful, and allow them to fulfill their destiny. That is the gift that I have for all my children.”

It’s not just for the Jews. The Gentiles are not excluded. They become one in Christ. Through the blood that was shed, we can all draw near. It says we can all approach the Father with freedom and confidence. The Church is a family. That’s what our theme is.

Our last mystery, I just want to touch on. We’re going to skip all the way to the third point. The Mystery of Christ in the Church. Ephesians 5. In Ephesians 5 he’s talking a lot about husbands and wives. And how husbands relate to their wives, how they should love their wives as they love their own body. When your body aches, you stop. You don’t just power through the pain. You make sure you get a massage or physical therapy or you rest, or whatever. Husbands love your wife like your own body. 

And wives, submit to your husbands. That’s a fearful command unless you realize that your submission to your husband is similar to our submission to Christ. Christ is the one who covers us. When you’re doing what he wants you to do, there’s a special blessing that is imparted to you.

He goes into this whole teaching on marriage. Then he says something that seems really strange at the end of verse 31. 

For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. 

The two become one flesh through the sexual union and the union of marriage. 

This is a great mystery. And I mean in reference to Christ and the church. 

He talks about mysteries. Now he says this is a great mystery. In some translations, this is a profound mystery. What’s the mystery? The mystery is that, just as a husband and wife become one, Christ and the Church become one. So, let’s back it up. What does it mean for a husband and a wife to become one? 

Kristina and I have been married forty-six years as of a week ago Monday. We’re one. But I’m not Kristina and she’s not Mark. We’re distinct in that. We have distinct personalities. We have different tastes when it comes to certain things. But when it comes to our standing before God, when it comes to our equality before God, when it comes to God’s love for us, we’re one. When we pray together in unity, we have power. When we have disagreements, if I’m too harsh, if she’s too whatever, and we’re battling each other, it hinders our prayers. That’s why Peter said in 1 Peter 3, “Husbands live with your wives in an understanding way so your prayers aren’t hindered.”

What he’s saying is there’s something really powerful that God wants to do when you’re in unity that doesn’t happen when you’re in disunity. So you’ve got to figure each other out. And husbands, it’s especially incumbent on you to figure out your wife. And I’ll give you a little clue that God gave you a gift and that gift is in the package of a female version of yourself, that you’re often out of touch with. She sees life different. She wants to drive through the city different. She wants to spend money a little bit different. But in all those ways, if you can understand where she’s coming from, you’re going to be enriched. You’re going to have a better chance of being in unity. And when you’re enjoying your unity, then things are good. Things are as good as it’s going to get in a lot of ways.

So now he’s saying, “I’m not just talking about husbands and wives.” That’s what he says at the end of this. “I’m not just talking about learning to figure out how you do life in a unique way; and the way you do life”—who manages the money, who does the cooking, who does the shopping, who cleans this and who fixes that. The way you do it should be unique to the gifts and skill set of your family, of your husband and your wife. He says, “I’m not just talking about that. I’m talking about Christ and the Church are one.”

I’ve had the privilege over this last year of preaching in California, Nevada, Hawaii, Arizona, in this Valley from Sun City to the San Tan Valley. I’ve had the opportunity to worship with congregations of people who were in retirement communities and also worship at ASU with Hope Church, where they have rap worship. I’m not a big rap fan, but their rap worship is awesome. I’m not a big old hymns fan. But you go to Glencroft Retirement Community and we’re enjoying one of their worship services. And I’m telling you the Holy Spirit moves in the midst of some really old, beautiful hymns. You know why? Because those people worship with all of their hearts.

What am I getting at? What I’m getting at is this. Whether you’re in a retirement community or a college campus, when you’re whole heartedly committed to Christ, then the church becomes one with Christ. The presence of God is there. And when the presence of God is there, the blessing of God is there. And when the blessing of God is there, people’s lives are transformed. It’s pretty cool.

Now, if you know me, you know I believe in speaking in tongues and prophecy and healing. I believe it’s all for today. But every now and then I’ll preach in a church where they don’t necessarily believe in some of those things. Or they definitely, even if they were to accept it, they don’t emphasize it any way, shape or form. But here’s what I’ve discovered. The people that are really committed to Christ, the people that are really involved in the church, have become one with Christ and over the years, they reach a place of maturity that makes them indistinguishable from anybody in this congregation. You know why? Because the life that transforms us, the grace that transforms us comes from Jesus himself.

In the midst of the Church, when the Church is one with Christ, is Christ himself. Not just at Living Streams or at Life Point or at Streams in the West Valley, but at New City, and Church for the Nations, and the Catholic parishes around. In spite of the fact that we actually have a few things and a few people that do life a little weird and don’t always believe the same way. And they have a few people that believe some things, and sometimes even leaders that do things they should have never done and they pay a price for that. And so do we. Because there aren’t any perfect congregations. It’s all a mixture of people that start in spiritual infancy and, hopefully, grow into a place of spiritual maturity as we are connected together.

Because it says here in Ephesians that, if we are built together, that he makes us into a dwelling in which he inhabits by his Spirit. We become stones—Peter says it—stones that form a building that Christ fills. So the real life-giving element in every church is Christ himself. And when we gather in his name, we’re together in his presence. 

So when somebody says, “Oh, I just can’t find a church.” That’s a little bit like when I hear somebody say (which you never hear), “I can’t find a restaurant that I like to eat at in this city. I can’t find one.” Really? It’s just food, you know. It’s just food in a restaurant. Church is just people. But a church is people gathered to meet Jesus.

As we close this service this morning, we want to meet with Jesus, right? We want to have some of the mysteries of our lives solved. We want to have the puzzle pieces of life fit together. Daniel, who interpreted the dreams of King Nebuchadnezzar, when he did so, he said, “God is the revealer of mysteries. God himself.” 

Let’s pray together.

Father God, you are the one who reveals mysteries. You are the one who unites us with your people. You have brought us into your family. You have called us to love one another. We want to bear fruit together, to make known your marvelous grace on the earth, to reveal your plans and purposes. In Jesus’ name.

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©️2019 Living Streams Church
7000 N Central Avenue ∙ Phoenix AZ 85020 ∙ 602-957-7500 ∙ https://www.livingstreams.org

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV®,
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.

Church as God's Greatest Creation

David Stockton
Series: Ephesians

We’re going to be starting a new book today: Ephesians Chapter 1 is where we’re going to be. I’m going to give you guys a little bit of insight into what we’ve been working on this whole year. We’ve been trying to sneak attack you guys a little bit.

Our leadership team went away last August. We were really seeking the Lord for the year 2019, which is the year we are in. We really felt that one of the things that kept coming up was the idea of “Family Strong.” We wanted to see how we can strengthen families. As we defined it more and more, we ultimately landed on, we wanted to see the households that you and I foster, that you and I create, that they would become more spiritually strong. So that’s something that we’ve done this whole year. We want family strong.

Up until this day right now, we’ve been focusing more on the biological family. We did Origins of Innocence where we kind of talked about generational type stuff, we did prayer and fasting at the beginning of the year. Home Full of Hope was our goal for fasting and prayer. We did things like Other Hours and all of those sermon series, Freedom Immersion. We’ve done all of those things. We did classes. Because, ultimately,  we were trying to get whatever kind of good resources we could into our households, hoping that they would become places where the good things of God could grow more easily.

What we’re shifting into now for the rest of this year is the same, exact concept—same banner, “Family Strong,” but we’re going to try to get a vision for what is church as family. When we read the Bible and we see Jesus’ life, he talks about the church, the people of God being family. Even, at one point, he said, “Who are my brothers? Who is my mother?” When his actual mother and brother were outside looking for him. And he answered that question by saying, “The people who follow God are my brothers. They are my mothers;” in so doing, in some way, kind of elevating the relationship that we have with the people of God, even above our own biological family. The Bible is very clear about making sure we don’t neglect our biological family. Some of you are like, “Man, my biological family, I’ve been neglecting for years. They’re crazy.” But that’s not exactly what we’re talking about.

We’re really trying to see the people of God, the Church family, not just here at Living Streams, but all around Phoenix, all around the world, every tribe, every tongue—it’s really a fantastic, amazing thing to get a vision for. And that’s what we’re going to be trying to do over these next few months. Not only get the vision for it, but let that vision kind of direct our lives into all that God has for us in the Church as family.

We also are going through some time as a nation and as a people, where things are a bit heavy. I wrote this in a weekly email, but I want to bring it up today, as well. 

When our eyes have been blinded by the searing pain of deadly shootings, the heavy burden of poverty’s constant ramifications, and the crippling curse that sin has brought upon humanity, we need a vision. We need a vision in days like this. We need a vision or else we’ll find ourselves succumbing to the sorrow of the Slough of Despond.

Now, that phrase comes from The Pilgrim’s Progress, which is a book describing the life of someone who’s trying to find his way into the life of Christ. As he’s going on his journey, he comes upon this bog of some sort, this swamp. And it’s called the Slough of Despond. Even when you say that, “The Slough of Despond,” that describes perfectly what I go through at times in my life. 

What that is helping us to identify with, the Bible is very clear that we, as a people, are living in a cursed world. I know we hate to hear that. It’s so frustrating and there are other truths that are just as real. But that is a fact that the Bible does not beat around the bush about. So there is a heaviness. I’ve been experiencing it recently. And it’s triggered by things in the news and all of that at times. Sometimes it’s triggered by my own soul. Or loved ones that I know are going through hard times. 

But the Slough of Despond is basically a description of what it’s like to live and be really aware of the curse that came into our world because of sin. Because Adam and Eve decided that they had a better idea than what God was leading them to do. They caught a vision that was not the vision of God and they leaned into that. And ever since then, we’ve been struggling under the weight of the curse of sin. Even when we try to do right things in our marriage, in our family, in our church, in whatever…so often we can end up hurting somebody or ourselves. And it’s a troubling place.

What do we need when we have a spirit of heaviness? We need a vision of God. The Bible says, “Put on the garments of praise for a spirit of heaviness.” And the concept there is, when you have that spirit of heaviness, you need to lift your eyes. You need to first see God and then get a vision from God for what he’s planning on doing in the world and in our days. 

So, I’ve been there recently. And some things that have come to mind: Revelation 21. I want to speak this over you, just in case you might have a spirit of heaviness today. 

1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven [the cursed heaven] and the first earth [the cursed earth] had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 

And the sea represents the division of the people. 

2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘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.”

That’s the vision of God. That is the end of those who follow in his way. They’ll be put together like a beautiful city, like a bride. And he will wipe away every tear and every stain that the curse of death has brought upon humanity. The old order of things will be gone and remembered no more. 

I have a guy that I go to often when I’m looking for hope. His name is Jon Foreman, and he writes songs. He writes, basically in response to this, 

Until the sea of glass we meet
When at last comported and complete
Where tide and tear and pain subside 
And laughter drinks them dry
I’ll keep waiting, anticipating.

The song that he writes all of that in is called “Restless.” 

Then I had another friend—he’s not very famous—but he wrote a song that I love and I think about all of the time, again, in light of this same vision. 

We will soon be with him forevermore
Where we can walk with him on that crystal shore
And talk with all the saints of old
And bow before the might throne of God

This is a vision that is not just revelation. It’s not just a vision in the end. But this vision actually begins in Genesis, as well. This concept, God has has this vision that, “They will be my people and I will be their God.” At first, the vision was for this family, that, “They and their family will understand that, they are my people and I am their God.” And that family turned into a nation called Israel, which means “Governed by God.” And that nation turned became someone that God intended, “They will be my people and I will be their God.” And that nation kind of crumbled and faltered. Then Jesus came and gave birth to something else, called The Church.

But the vision is the same throughout. “They will be my people and I will be their God.” And it has never wavered. It has never been in jeopardy. The vision of God has always been there and always will be there. And one day it will be completely fulfilled. Right now, the Bible teaches us that we see in part. “We see through a glass dimly,” is what the King James says. It’s like we’re looking through a glass and it’s all foggy. We can’t quite see what’s on the other side. But one day we will see face to face. That day when our faith becomes sight. Oh, what a day of rejoicing it will be.

And when we come to the book of Ephesians, what we’re getting is a guy whose name is Paul, writing to us because he is getting, like a prophet, a vision of what the church is supposed to be here and now. We know what the vision in the end is. But what is the vision right now? What is God doing in this thing called the Church? We did not replace Israel. We were grafted in. And God has plans for the Jews, no doubt about it, to be grafted in again as a people that belong to him. 

The Church is much bigger than us at Living Streams. It’s much bigger than us in America. It’s much bigger than us in this twenty-first Century. It spans all ages. All nationalities.—On that road trip to Texas last week, we went to Roswell.—It might even span the aliens! I don’t know. My wife is kind of into it. She was like, “Man, there’s some convincing stuff in that little museum.” I was like, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Whatever. Totally different discussion.

All right. Let’s get a vision for the Church. Some of you come to the Church and you have these ideas of what the Church is, what the Church isn’t. Some of you have been totally beat up by the Church. Whatever it might be. Let’s get God’s vision that he put in the heart of Paul the Apostle on what the Church his supposed to be.

Ephesians 1: 

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Praise for Spiritual Blessings in Christ
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 

Now, that’s a bold statement right there. And when you think of Paul, who’s writing this, a couple of things we need to keep in mind. First of all, Paul is not writing in the Twenty-First Century, where Christianity has become the dominant religion; where Christianity has been able to spread its wings and touch almost every part of this planet; where you can’t go anywhere in the world now and not find some little, old lady serving people in the name of Christ. It’s the most beautiful thing in the world. 

Paul’s writing when the church was, maybe, ten thousand people. Just a very, very small movement. And yet, he’s getting a vision of what the church is supposed to be. So keep that in mind.

The second thing to keep in mind is that Paul used to be called Saul. And Saul was a jerk. He was a big time jerk. Actually, he’s introduced to us in the book of Acts as someone who was breathing out murderous threats. That was Saul. He was so upset, so in turmoil, and so frustrated that he was actually persecuting a people group. He hated the Christians, the people who were following the way, the people who were saying that they know Christ is risen from the dead and has empowered them to walk in a new way. He hated them and actually put them in prison. He tried to remove all of their authority and power. He tried to keep them on the run and persecute them into nothing; and even oversaw the death of some of them. 

We don’t know why Paul was so angry. We know he was a Pharisee. We know he was legalistic. We know he was trying really hard to be good and do right—which is really one of the most frustrating things there is, because he was doing it all in his own strength. 

And then, one day, breathing out murderous threats, breathing in the toxic stuff of life and breathing out murderous threats, he has an encounter with Jesus. And they talk some things over. And the next time we see Paul, he is someone who is still breathing in all the same smog of life, all the same cures of humanity. None of those things changed around him, but, for some reason, now when he breathes out, it’s not murderous threats, but it’s words of life and love and grace and peace. He starts all of his letters that way, basically: “Grace and peace to you. I no longer say to you murderous threats. I now say to you grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

What a change. What an amazing thing that Paul, who is someone was persecuted, someone who has lost everything for the sake of the gospel, someone who is living in the most bizarre places as he’s sharing the grace and peace of Christ around the world, someone who’s been beaten almost to death, someone who’s been whipped forty times, someone who’s lived with nothing at all. He writes to the Ephesian church and says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. What an amazing thing to be able to speak that out, to write that firmly.

My question to us and to myself is, “Do I feel like I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms?” My answer, honestly, is, I think I’ve felt it at times. There are definitely moments when I can say, “Lord, I think I really do have it all.” Sometimes it’s been in good moments and sometimes it’s been in real, real hard moments. 

Paul is wanting us to understand that God has not withheld anything from his people. It’s not that, one day you need to gain something so that you can be more Christian or experience more of God. You have it all in Christ Jesus. All the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. We sang about it today.

So it goes on:

4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 

So in this little chunk—bam. Paul is the king of the run-on sentences. I love it. It gives me freedom to do run-on sentences. He starts gushing. He’s just gushing as he’s got this vision of what God is saying to him. He’s understood what God is doing in the Church. There are four things that I want us to notice here. I put it in a little different language. We’ll catch it in Paul’s language too. 

In this, he says, first of all, the Church is God’s purpose from the beginning of time. Right there. He says, “He chose us in him before the creation of the world.” Well, that sounds a little interesting, because, really, the Church didn’t really form until after Christ, and that was two thousand years ago. But that was just the newest phase of what God has been doing since the beginning of time. Again, the vision has always been there. They will be my people and I will be their God and I will wipe away every tear. That’s the vision. That’s what God’s been doing from the beginning. 

Somehow in that holy Trinity, that triune being of God the Father, God the Son, God the  Spirit that is in community within itself, created mankind, you and I, to enjoy that same community. Jesus prayed it. If Jesus didn’t pray it, I would not feel comfortable teaching it. But he prayed in John 17, “Father, I pray that they would be one with us, even as you and I are one.” 

That’s heavy. That’s deep. That’s a vision beyond what we could ever come up with on our own.  But it was God’s will from the beginning of time. So, when he made Adam and Eve, he had Revelation 21 and the Church and the Bride all in mind. When he made a covenant with Abraham, ultimately, he had the Church in mind. When he gave the law to Moses and said, “Let’s form this into a nation that’s going to be powerful and a witness to all the other nations, he had the Church in mind. When he whispered those things to the prophets, he had the Church in mind. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, it says that “He endured the shame for the joy set before him.” The Church was on his mind on the cross. And when he rose from the dead and he imparted to the apostles, he said, “Go be my witnesses,” the Church was on his mind. She’s a beauty. She’s a wonder.

Not only that, but the second thing, the Church as family. Here, the way  Paul says it is, “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship” [or daughter-ship. You could throw that in there, for sure.]  In love he predestined us. His whole plan was that we would be part of a family. You could picture the table in heaven and there’s a place set for you, with your name on it. 

Actually, the way the Revelation teaches us is even cooler. It says that you are going to be given a stone that has a name on it that is only known between you and Jesus. The name that’s going to be written at your seat, when you read that name, your heart is going to do a backflip. “How could he know me so well?” Because he’s your Father. In love he predestined you for adoption. He’s been watching you your whole life. He has such good plans for you to be a part of his family and to experience all that is there. 

The next thing: Church is what is glorious in God’s eyes. The way Paul says it, 

in accordance with his pleasure and will

All this was done in accordance with God’s pleasure. God’s not up there going, “Oh, man! It’s so much work trying to get these people all together. Wash them clean, give them vision. A bunch of squirrely people.” 

No, it’s his pleasure. He is so thrilled at the work that is being done in the Church and through the Church. It’s his pleasure. It’s his joy. It’s kind of like that hobby that he has that just is like, “I can’t wait to go do some more of that.” It’s kind of like that video game on my phone right now that I can’t wait to play all the time. He loves the work that he does with the Church. Which is amazing to me, because I work with you people. I work with myself. And it’s not always a pleasure. There’s pleasure in it, but it’s real and it’s hard. But for God, it’s all pleasure. It’s pure joy to make this family, to ready this bride. He loves it. “According to his pleasure…and will.” It’s not just God’s will because it’s good. It’s his pleasure and will. 

And then, the last thing is that the Church is what brings praise to God’s glorious grace. The way Paul says it, 

6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

The Church is the message to the whole world of God’s grace. Bono said, “Grace, it’s the name of a girl and it’s the thought that can change the world.” And it is a mystery. Because we, as people, don’t easily understand grace. We understand rules. We understand cause and effect. We understand consequences for actions. We don’t understand grace. And so the work that God is doing in the Church, when we get it right, it’s this amazing, marvelous light that shines and shouts to the whole world of grace. Of grace. That God’s righteousness is more powerful than your unrighteousness every single time. It can’t win. No matter who much unrighteousness you do, you can’t outdo the righteousness of God. It’s his grace that is more powerful than anything else in the world. It’s a marvel and it’s a miracle, and it’s hard to grasp. But it’s the thing that the Church is called to make so clear and plain to the world.

Verse 11:

11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. [there it is again] 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

In this little chunk that we did right there, we have the gospel in a nutshell. I just want to unpack a few words here for us, as we do this. He says here, “You have been chosen by God. You have been predestined by God.” That means he has a vision for your life and he knows how to get you there, “You have been included into his family. You have been marked—sealed in some way. Your name written in the book. And you have been guaranteed an inheritance.”

When we say “yes” to Christ, when we turn our direction from the vision that we’ve come up with, the vision the our parents gave us, the vision that America gives us—whatever vision it might be—the vision that Drake’s given us—whatever it might be—God’s plan, God’s plan, right? And we turn from those visions to the vision of God, found in Christ Jesus, in that moment, that’s it! In that moment, we move from death to life. We move from tension to grace. And we realize that, all along, we’ve been chosen by God. We’ve been predestined by God. We’ve been included into his family. We’ve been marked somehow by him as one of his one. It’s like we’ve got Stockton on the back of our shirt now. We’ve got Jesus on the back of our shirt now. You’ve been marked. You take on his name. And you’re immediately guaranteed an inheritance, the kind of inheritance we talked about at the beginning of this message.

Those of you who have made that shift and surrendered to the vision of God over your life, that’s you. Those who have not, that is not you. This is found in Christ Jesus. But today would be a great day to be like Paul, to be like me, to be like so many of the others in this room and to go ahead and take a step in that direction, and begin to walk with Jesus. It’s only you keeping you from Jesus. 

Today you really can get his vision for your life. And most of us are here because we’re so compelled by his vision for life that we don’t want to go anywhere else. And, yes, we still have pulls in other directions, but we continue to come back and say, “Ultimately, Jesus, your vision is the most beautiful.” But that’s a thing that can happen today. We’ll have opportunity for that later.

That’s the gospel in a nutshell. Let’s go on to verse 17 through 23:

17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his [Jesus] feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

This is the grand vision of God for the church, that we would be the body of Christ, moving at his leadership, his headship, and filling everything in every way. You can picture a frozen world as the light comes up and begins to thaw everything. That’s our job. That’s God’s vision. That we would fill everything in every way. We would bring the light and warmth of Christ to every person in every place forevermore. 

I know the Church, for you, might not be a glorious thing. It’s a little tricky because there’s the Church organization, and there’s the Church organism. The Church organization is what we’re basically doing right now, in a lot of ways. We’re in a building. We have some pastors and leaders trying to show us the way to go. We have a Starting Point luncheon happening soon. And the organization is a man-made thing, sad to say. Living Streams is man-made. Mark and Kristina started it in 1984 in their living room. And Mark and Kristina are amazing in a billion a ways. But they’s also not amazing in some other ways. So we have to live with the beauty and we have to live with the stink.

That’s what I’ve told the staff a couple of times. “Hey, I’m leading the church. You’re going to know what I smell like. You’re going to have to live with some stink.” Because that’s reality. We have a board of elders. We try to do our best. We try to be the best organization of the Church we can be. Create the best environment for the organism to prosper. But at the end of the day, let Living Streams fade and be gone, if at all it’s not helping the organism. Because that is what Christ died for. He didn’t die for Living Streams in this building and the plans we have. He died for this bride, which is a people called by his name, fit together, carrying out his work in the world. 

I’ll tell you, the Church organism is the single most dominant force for good the world has ever seen in any age, in any place. No doubt about it. No one in their right mind could argue that. Yet, the organization has had some very ugly times in world history, and maybe even in your life. I’m sorry for that. But Jesus isn’t the head of the organization. He’s the head of the organism. Hopefully he’s the head of the people in the organizations. They don’t always get it right. 

The Church organism is beautiful and marvelous. As we’ll learn as we go through the rest of Ephesians, it is so precious and vital in God’s sight. We get to be a part of it, both now and forever. Forever. This incredible vision.

Let’s take some time and pray. Now, in light of these things, I’m going to ask four questions of your soul. If you want to bow your heads and just close your eyes, you can. If you’re not comfortable, that’s fine, as well. We’re trying to create a moment where we can have a conversation with God. I’m going to ask the questions, and you and God talk about the answers. 

These questions come from that last passage we just read, where Paul prayed some things for the people of the Church in Ephesus. 

1. How are you doing in wisdom and revelation? Do you have a vision from God that stirs your heart, and when you tell it to the people around you, it stirs their hearts as well? Or are you lacking in wisdom and revelation right now?

Jesus, I pray that you would give this people, your people, your vision. You would give them revelation that would capture their hearts and compel them to walk in your ways. 

2. How are you doing on hope, knowing the hope to which God has called you? You can talk to the Lord about that. A spirit of heaviness or a spirit of hope. A home full of hope, or a home full of heartache.

Jesus, I pray that you would give these people hope, the hope that comes through Christ. Give it to me, too, Lord. 

3. How are you doing at enjoying the richness found in God’s holy people? How’s your community? Do you have the blessing of being able to impart and receive with other brothers and sisters who know Jesus and are chasing Jesus? Or is your community lacking that?

Jesus, I ask like Paul did, that you would help us to experience all the riches that are found in walking with your people. 

4. How are you doing at experiencing the power of God? Are the chains falling off? Are you able to see what you breathe in that’s hard and heavy turn into something that feels like blessing as you breathe out? 

Jesus, I pray that, as Paul prayed for the Ephesus church, that you would bring your power into this place, you would empower us to be witnesses for you. Lord, that you would bring power into these marriages so that they could be unified in that peace, and power into these families so that they could be heading in the same direction, experiencing the fullness of what you have for them.  That your power would come to the single people as they try and walk with you and fight off loneliness and temptation. Your power would come to those who don’t know you, Lord. That they would surrender to you and find your Spirit filling them and giving them a vision. Power for those who are caught up in addiction, that they’d be able to be free. Thank you, Lord.  We pray all of this in your name, Jesus. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV®,
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