BBC Sermon Cast

Loneliness is a universal human experience. We long for community and companionship. Yet while there is wonderful meaning to be found in relationship, under the sun even relationships prove to be unsatisfactory and a striving after the wind. Nevertheless, we were made for community, and only in Christ can we recover and experience it according to God’s design.

For a local church to remain healthy, it must stick to keeping the main thing—making disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ through the proclamation and power of the gospel—the main thing. This is captured in the final clauses of our church covenant and is exemplified in the closing chapters of Ephesians.

This particular text may well be the most depressing yet in this book. There is a lack of justice both in court and in church. There is hope of ultimate justice, but that hope of justice doesn’t change the fact that there is still a lack of justice on earth. This reality disturbed Solomon. For all his wisdom, he did not have all the answers. But at least he was asking the right questions.

The world is a dangerous place. It can be physically dangerous; it most certainly is spiritually dangerous. Ungodliness and worldly desires constantly assault the individual Christian, and therefore they assault the corporate church. We need to be on guard. Our church covenant takes serious cognisance of these dangers. Ephesians 4 captures the essence of our covenantal commitment.

John Calvin insightfully observed that the world is God’s theatre, the place where his glory is always on display. He believed that the world is the theatre where God plays out his drama of redemption. The Triune God is the author of what is being played out and we are the actors. One the many lessons from the book of Ephesians, particularly as revealed in chapter 3, is that the church is the greatest show on earth.

Do you spend time on things that really matter? When it comes to your work, how do we find the drive to keep going? Ecclesiastes 3:9–15 continues looking at the fleeting nature of our existence in light of eternity. From this passage we learn that God has given us many things to enjoy. Our work, and the joy inherent in other activities, is framed by a right fear of God. It's time to work.

Ecclesiastes 3:1–8 is arguably the best known text in Ecclesiastes. It reminds us that there is a time for everything and reminds us how to live in light of this truth. As Woodrow Kroll writes, “The omniscient hand of God has appointed a time when things are to be done and has a predetermined duration for those things to last.”

As we return to Ephesians 2, we consider further what is required for us to remain faithful as a work of God in progress. Verses 11–22 speak directly to the opening affirmations of our church covenant. As we will see from our covenantal commitment, we must work, pray, and love as we continue to be a work in progress.

BBC, like every local church, is a work in progress. Jesus is building his church “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). This sermon begins a series titled “A Work in Progress,” whose goal is to help us to more clearly and joyfully appreciate this work of God and to be better equipped to faithfully and joyfully fulfil our responsibilities to Jesus Christ and to one another, as expressed in our church covenant.

Death comes to all of us: rich and poor. We need to continually remind ourselves that we were created to enjoy life now, but because of sin we can’t. Finding fulfilment in Christ is the source of joy in this life.