BBC Sermon Cast

Christ’s call to deny ourselves and pick up our cross and follow him is a familiar passage of Scripture. Yet could it be that our familiarity with this passage has jaded the imperative of the call? This calling is particular to those who would follow Christ; humbling to those who would count the cost; and worthy when one considers that this is a call to the kingdom of God.

In chapters 1–3 Paul has revealed the supernatural new society of the one new man in Christ. Now, in chapter 4, he begins to reveal the new standards of this society. They are extraordinary and yet for the Christian they are what is expected of the normal Christian life.

In these opening verses Paul highlights three fundamental principles to help us to live the normal Christian life.

This psalm is one of the seven penitential psalms. It is so saturated with gospel hope that Martin Luther called it a “Pauline Psalm.” In this psalm we go from the rock bottom of guilt to the boundless heights of glory.

Because Paul is persuaded of the purpose and the power of God, he knows that these believers can experience so much more of personal sanctification. He knows that they can experience and achieve so much more of Christlikeness. He knows that this congregation can achieve so much more supernatural power in their community of faith. And so can we.

As we study this benediction, may the Lord once again open our eyes to see how much more we can have of the so much more grace of God.

The phrase “the perseverance of the saints” describes the biblical teaching that, once a person is justified by faith alone in Christ alone, they are forever justified. This is because Jesus Christ preserves us. He, in fact, perseveres with us—and so we persevere to the end (Jude 24–25).

Those who have been born again by the grace of the gospel of God are assured that they will be increasingly sanctified and ultimately glorified. We will persevere to the end and be finally and fully saved. But the reason, fundamentally, is because of the perseverance of the Saviour: Jesus will complete what He has begun. This conviction will go a long way toward helping us to persevere in the face of difficulties as we seek to be faithful and fruitful disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the theme of Psalm 129.

In Acts 20, Paul meets with the Ephesian elders and tells them that elders of the church must be found transparently tested, tirelessly tenacious and tearfully testifying. If they are, they will be men who are trusted and treasured by the sheep they lead.

Ascension Day is perhaps the most comprehensively significant day in the Christian calendar. It gives us great hope and comfort as we live in a world of trial and sorrow. The ascension is designed to provide perspective and unusual power for those who, by the grace of the Spirit, see its reality.

The church, as God has intended it, is a supernatural community. But sometimes there is huge gap between theory and practice. “The church must be the church” is a popular expression but is more easily said than done. But it must be done, and this was Paul’s burden for the church at Ephesus.

He was concerned that the Ephesians come to appreciate the glory of being the church. And he was concerned that they express the glory of the church as they lived together as the community of faith. He wanted the doctrine he taught about the church to be put into practice. And so he turns, in the closing verses of chapter 3, from exposition to intercession.

The ability to form and retain memories is a wonderful thing. It must be a terrible thing, on the other hand, to lack this ability. Psalm 126 speaks to us very clearly about the importance of remembering God’s past mercies, but it also exhorts us to not live in the past, but to look ahead for more of God’s mercies in the future.

As we have seen, Paul, in Ephesians, is glorying in the power of the gospel that has made outsiders into insiders and insiders truly insiders (2:18). Those who once did not belong now believe and therefore they do belong. Those who were at one time alienated from both God and one another now share in the life of Christ. There is great common ground shared by all believers, regardless of any superficial differences.

In our third study of Ephesians 3:1–13, we will consider this common ground, with particular emphasis on v. 12, where we see at least three explicit truths concerning the common ground shared by believers.