Did you know? “When the Library of Congress in Washington DC was rebuilt in the late nineteenth century, prominent religious leaders, after considering notable quotes from all known religious literature, chose Micah 6:8 as the motto for the alcove of religion.” The inscription reads, “What doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.” 

Chances are that most of us have heard verses from Micah, such as this promise of peace:

Micah 4:3

He will judge between many peoples

     and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.

They will beat their swords into plowshares

     and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not take up sword against nation,

     nor will they train for war anymore. (NIV®)

 Or maybe around Christmas time you’ve heard read aloud this prophecy about the birth of Christ:

Micah 5:2

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

     though you are small among the clans of Judah,

out of you will come for me

     one who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

     from ancient times.” (NIV®)

But although we may have heard verses from this book, chances are we don’t really know what it’s about or why it matters for us today. I hope by the end of this sermon series we will understand why Micah is worth a whole sermon series. And since some if not all of us are asking “Why Micah?” I thought I would make today’s sermon all about why I’ve chosen this book. So…

Why Micah? So that we might know the real God better. (Micah 1:1-2)

Now it’s easy to say, “All Scripture matters! That’s why we’re studying it!” Which would be true. But why do we read and study the Bible? So that we can know the real God better by what he has told us in his Word. 

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. (NIV®)

The name “Micah” is actually a rhetorical question in Hebrew, “Who is like Yahweh?” or “Who is like God?” I’ve broken Micah (מִיכָה֙) down the best I could here:

Miy (מִי) – Who is

ca (כָ) – like

h (ה֙) – Yahweh (abbreviated form of יהוה)

The point Micah’s name makes is that no-one is like Yahweh! No one is like our God. That means you can’t accidentally believe in this God. You need to be introduced to the true and living God. You need to know his character and compassion. By the end of the book Micah himself declares that he knows the real God.

Micah 7:18

Who is a God like you,

     who pardons sin and forgives the transgression

     of the remnant of his inheritance?

You do not stay angry forever

     but delight to show mercy. (NIV®)

Micah is a man who knew and experienced God. We really don’t know much about Micah. He’s from the town of Moresheth, which was located in a farming region about “22 miles southwest of Jerusalem.” He prophesied during the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah somewhere between 750 and 686 BC. Hosea and Isaiah were two other prophets from around this same time. But we do know that Micah delivered a hard message about God’s holiness and justice to the people of Israel and Judah.

2 Hear, you peoples, all of you,

     listen, earth and all who live in it,

that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you,

     the Lord from his holy temple. (NIV®)

Micah is acting as a type of covenant lawyer. Back in Exodus God made a promise (a covenant) with the people of Israel that if they would obey him he would bless them but if they disobeyed him they would experience curses. They disobeyed God by worshipping idols and forming political alliances with foreign nations and now he has taken them to court and is acting as a “witness” against them. 

It’s tempting to imagine that God is like a kind and gentle grandpa who doesn’t really care what his children and grandchildren do as long as they listen to him tell stories. Maybe you’ve heard that “God is love.” Well that’s true, but love is not God. God is love an

Today we are at the end of our series in Ephesians.

This has been an exciting study.

This letter transformed the early church and hopefully it will transform our church,

As well as our homes and our society.

This was Paul’s prayer and it is my prayer.

Paul’s prayer and my prayer is not that you will be inspired but that you will be transformed.

Today’s section of scripture begins with Paul trying to prepare us for the battles that we will face.

He does this by first describing the enemy.

And second, by describing the tools that we have to defend ourselves from this enemy.

I want to begin with the big picture.

What is this all about?

Well, back in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve fell prey to the serpent.

Satan came before them and tempted them.

Satan tried to get them to question what God had said.

Adam and Eve lived in a perfect society.

They lived walking with God.

In many ways, this new society, the church, was to be the same.

All of what Paul teaches in Ephesians is to bring us to a place of holy living with God.

That we might trust God fully and live accordingly.

Jesus had come that we might have full abundant life.

In John 10:10 Jesus says, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come to give you life and life to it’s fullest.”

Back in the Garden of Eden, Satan came and he stole the trust that man had with God.

He killed and destroyed that pure relationship that they experienced.

Satan was able to do all of this with very little resistance.

The battle that Paul is trying to prepare us for today is the same battle that Adam and Eve faced.

This battle is with Satan.

When you see problems creep into the church or in your homes, it’s tempting to blame the people involved.

But, Paul is warning us to look deeper.

Paul is saying that Satan and His powers of darkness are at the core of all disunity.

Paul says that our battle is not against each other in our homes or in the church.

No more than Adam’s battle in the garden was with his wife Eve.

Adam and Eve would have had a perfect marriage if not for Satan.

And, you would too.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers and the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

The enemy is not us, it’s Satan.

It is Satan who is the enemy and he is out to destroy us.

He is out to destroy our homes and he is out to destroy our church.

Adam and Eve fell prey to Satan in the garden and it cost them everything.

We are now under the same attack as Adam and Eve were under.

Paul understood this well.

His prayer was that you would also understand it well.

Understanding who the enemy is, is the first step in being able to win the battle.

Unfortunately, most of our homes and most of our churches don’t get it.

And the result is that we have weak homes and weak churches.

Instead of this new society working in unity and love,

It often doesn’t work at all.

Often we blame each other just like Adam and Eve did.

How sad that we should blame each other and not the real enemy.

We could have the perfect church.

So, now that Paul has described the enemy he continues by describing the tools that we have to defend ourselves against this enemy.

The good news is that this new society, which is to be like the old society of the Garden of Eden, has been giving tools to defend itself.

These tools are more powerful than anything on earth.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

When we use these tools we are told that the gates of hell will not be able to defeat us. (Matt. 16:18)

Unfortunately, most of us never pick up these tools;

Most of us are unaware that the

Have you ever received a letter from someone that was 4 or 5 pages?

What do you do?  You read it right?

Most of us would read the whole letter.

We would never just read one paragraph each week for 12 weeks.

The book of Ephesians is a letter.

            The problem is that we have taken many weeks to study it and sometimes we get lost in the details and lose track of the main point.

So, today, before we begin, I want to do a review.

The letter that Paul writes is about a new society, the church.

It begins by talking about what blessings God has given us.

God chose us before the creation of the earth.

God sent His son to die to pay for our sins.

Because of that God would now call us righteous in spite of our sins.

God adopted us into His family.

We will become joint heirs with Jesus and all that He has we will also have access to.

We as God’s new society will inherit eternal life.

Because of all that God has done for us, we will spend eternity with God.

Paul was so excited about all that God had done for us that he praised God and prayed that we would fully understand just how great this good news, the gospel, was.

He prayed that we too would have our eyes opened and that we would be as excited as he was.

The mystery of God’s salvation was now revealed to us.

All of God’s mercy and grace toward us overwhelmed Paul.

So, Paul tried to build up our faith so that we would in return bring honor to God.

As I said, the main theme is that those who believe are a new society.

This society would be made up of all peoples who put their trust in Jesus.

The mystery of the Old Testament was now revealed.

Jesus the Messiah and Savior was the head of this new society.

And God’s Holy Spirit would now dwell within us.

Because of Jesus, we would now have full access to God.

Paul then went on to describe the structure of this new society.

There would now be God appointed leaders but each person would be given different gifts.

All of us were to use our gifts and work as one body.

We were to be one body united with a purpose, to bring glory to God.

This new society was to be like the first society of the Garden of Eden.

There would be full unity.

This unity would be formed by people who loved each other fully.

People who would forgive because of the fact that God had forgiven them.

People who would submit to each other as God Son submitted to the cross.

This new society was to be different from the people outside the church.

The people outside take care of number one first.

They don’t submit at all.

They argue about what truth is and what life styles are acceptable.

This new society had a higher standard than the world.

We submit to our elders as they submit to God.

An example of this is found in Exodus.

God appointed Moses to lead but they didn’t follow.

And instead of getting to the promise land in three weeks,

It took them forty years and they all died in the desert.

Would you have seen the promise land?

This new society was to be different and there was not even to be a hint of immorality.

Martin Luther said that the world never be able to follow the laws of God.

But, the church should live by God’s standards.

These people were to be holy as God Himself is holy.

This new society was not to be influenced by the world but it was to have an influence on the world.

Paul says that we are to be imitators of God.

In this new society, all of us are to submit to each other in love to create unity.

Paul tells wives to submit to their husband and husbands to love their wives.

But, in this new society wives were not property, they were to be treated with respect.

This kind of mutual submission and love were revolutionary at that time.

Today we will talk about parents and children and other relationships.

But, first I want to say a few words about how Paul ends his letter.

Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God.

As, I said this new society was to be like the old Garden of Eden.

In the garden Adam and Eve were deceived by Satan.

In this new society, G

Christmas Eve Lesson #1

Do we worship baby Jesus?

Welcome to our lessons and carols Christmas Eve service. My name is Jonathan Romig and I am the Pastor of this church. We’ve just opened our time by singing O Come, All Ye Faithful. I think this is a great Christmas carol to open with because it’s invitation to us to come and worship Christ Jesus. But who is the Jesus we’ve come to worship?

I once saw a scene in a movie that I thought made a really great sermon illustration. But I never thought I would bring this scene up at a Christmas Eve service. The scene is from the movie Talladega Nights. This is a NASCAR driving movie starting Will Ferrell and in it his character, Ricky Bobby, prays to “Dear baby Jesus.” He actually gets into an argument with his wife and father-in law because he prays this way. His wife interrupts him when he’s praying to baby Jesus.

Carley: You know sweetie, Jesus did grow up. You don’t always have to call him baby. It’s a bit odd and off puttin’ to pray to a baby.

Ricky: Well look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I’m sayin grace. When you say grace, you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whatever you want.

I think that’s a great illustration because although it’s funny, it also get’s right down to the heart of Christmas. When you think of Jesus this Christmas who are you thinking of? Are you thinking of the sweet innocent baby in the manger? He’s the harmless Jesus. He’s the Jesus who can’t do much but sleep, cry, and eat. He won’t tell you how to live your life. He doesn’t expect much of you.

Or are you thinking of the grown up Jesus who died and rose again and is seated on the throne next to God the Father? That Jesus is Lord of all, including your life. In the first verse of O Come, All Ye Faithful we do sing to Jesus born at Bethlehem, but he is “born the King of Angels.” Even in the first verse we recognize this isn’t a harmless baby, but one who has power and authority. And although each verse sings about some aspect of his birth, each ends with the words, “O come, let us adore Him Christ the Lord!” To be Lord is to rule. To be Lord is to be king. To be Lord is to be sovereign. 

Jesus was king at his birth and he is king today. But he’s no longer a baby. The New Testament book of Hebrews says this about Jesus.

Hebrews 1:3 “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (ESV)

Yes, at Christmas we come to remember the birth of Jesus. But when we sing to Jesus we’re not singing to a baby. We’re singing to the living reigning Lord. “O come, let us adore him. Christ the Lord!” Join me as we continue to worship and sing to Christ Jesus, our Lord and King, no longer a baby but the one who sits on heaven’s throne.

Pastor Jonathan wrote this homily for Cornerstone’s Lessons & Carols Christmas Eve Service.

Christmas Eve Lesson #2

What does Emmanuel (or Immanuel) mean?

For the remaining lessons I’m going to introduce the songs we are about to sing. We are about to sing the Christmas Hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. This is a beautiful and powerful hymn with the chorus, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emman-u-el… shall come to thee, O Isra—el.” Now we’re not telling Emmanuel to rejoice but we’re telling God’s people to rejoice because God has come to them. The chorus itself makes a lot more sense if you know what the word “Emmanuel” means. 

The word Emmanuel appears in an Old Testament prophecy spoken 700 years before Christ’s birth. In fact, we actually have a hard copy of this prophecy that pre-dates the birth of Jesus—The Great Isaiah Scroll, which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls dated at 125 BC.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (NIV®)

The Hebrew form of Immanuel is spelled with an “i” (עמּנוּ אל) and the

Today we are finishing our two-part series on marriage. Last week I spoke to the wives and this week I’m speaking to the husbands. If you missed last week, I’d encourage you to go back and listen to it because tonight’s sermon is half the story. Even if you’re not a wife, it’s helpful to understand the wife’s role, or if you’re not married how you can encourage your married friends or prepare for marriage. Husbands, I’d encourage you to listen to it because I say things about marriage in that sermon that I don’t in this one.

I want to make a couple remarks upfront on this sermon. First, like last week, I’m trying to tell you what the Bible says because God’s word matters most. Second, although I’ve been married for six and a half years, I’m a slow learner. I have not arrived. So I don’t preach this sermon from a place of having it all figured out, but as someone who is also on a marriage journey. Let me pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to examine your plan for husbands in marriage, how we can love and care for our spouses in the best way possible. God, we want our marriages to be according to your plan and to reflect Jesus’ love for the church. Help us hear you today. Amen. 

At crossfit we have a workout of the day (a WOD). So every day the workout is mapped out for us. Every day there are two levels of weights listed, one for men and one for women. For example, on Friday men and women both had to do the same workout involving deadlifts. A deadlift is when you pick a bar up from the ground to about midway up your thighs, till your back is straight. The weight for women was 155 pounds and the weight for men was 225 pounds, and we each had to pick up that weight a bunch of times. 

Now why am I bringing this up outside the obvious reason that crossfit is amazing? Because this biological reality reflects a spiritual reality. Because God created men and women with different capacities in marriage. Both lift a lot of weight and work incredibly hard, both are an equally valuable member of the team, and both give 110%, and yet in marriage God has built and called husbands to lift more weight.

The wife’s role takes three verses to describe (v21-24). The husband’s takes nine verses (v25-33). The husband’s section is three-times as long as the wife’s section. Why is that? Because God gives husbands a heavier role in marriage. He calls wives to submit to their husbands (a heavy and hard task) and he calls husbands to lay down their lives for their wives (a nearly impossible task).

Husbands, love your wives completely sacrificially. (Eph. 5:25-27)

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

This word for “love” is the Greek verb agapao (ἀγαπάω). This kind of love is different than eros, which is sexual love. Agapao love may include that kind of intimacy but that’s not its primary motivator. Agapao is related to the noun for love, agape (ἀγάπη). We watched an animated word study earlier tonight on agape by The Bible Project. Their big point is that agape love “refers to a way of treating people that was defined by Jesus himself: seeking the well-being of others regardless of their response.” We see that theme continued here. Husbands are to love their wives by seeking their best regardless of their response. Paul gives Jesus gives himself as an example. As husbands, we are to love our wives at cost to ourselves just like Jesus loved the church at the cost to himself. Here’s the call to husbands.

Come and die with Jesus. (v25)

As the Pastor martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer said to all believers, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Like Christ sacrificed himself for the church we are to lay down our lives as a living sacrifice.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (ESV)

This call in Romans is a general call to all Christians,

Today’s sermon is the first part of a two part-series out of Ephesians on marriage. This week I’m talking to wives and next week I’m talking to husbands. All I have to say to wives is that you’re awesome. The end… I’m just kidding, but when I told my plan to several Cornerstone women about preaching on wives one week and husbands the next I could tell it made them each a little nervous. 

But if you think you’re nervous. Imagine how I feel. In case you haven’t noticed. Although I am married to a woman, I am not a woman and will never be a wife. I was originally going to try and preach all of Ephesians 5:21-33 today, and speak to the both roles of husbands and wives in a single sermon, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to slow down and do a more careful and thorough job. I’m speaking to wives first because your section comes first in the text. So ladies first.

Although I am the one preaching today I hope you will first and foremost hear what God has to say about marriage. He created marriage in Genesis 2 and he has a perfect plan for it. When we abide by his plan our marriages work the best. So I’m going to do my best to say what the Scripture says and to not add gender-stereotypes or other extra-Scriptural lessons. I’ll do my best to preach the Bible and we can each wrestle with what it has to say. Let me pray and we’ll begin…

Heavenly Father, please guide my words as I speak today. Help each one of us understand our God-given roles in marriage, whether we are married or want to be married or will never be married but want to support our friends in marriage. Open our hearts and minds to your plan for us. Amen.

How we understand the roles God gives us as husbands and wives can depend on how you read this section on marriage in Ephesians 5, and more specifically, where you start reading. For example, the ESV places the header “Wives and Husbands” right before verse 22, so we start reading the text like this, “Wives, submit to your own husbands….” The NIV on the other hand places its header before verse 21, “Instructions for Christian Households” and starts this section by saying this, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” So the ESV starts by focusing on wives submitting to their husbands and the NIV starts by focusing on mutual submission. Which one is right? 

In the original Greek manuscripts there are no headers. Instead, a better way to understand the text is to look at the grammar. The word “submit” in verse 21 in the NIV, is better translated as “submitting” because it is grammatically dependent on an earlier verb in the text. The verb “submitting” is dependent on an imperative, which means “command,” found in the second half of verse 18, “…be filled with the Spirit.” So the point it’s making is to be filled with the Holy Spirit through the process of our mutual submission.

Within the church we are filled with the Holy Spirit as we submit to one another. (Eph. 5:18b, 21).

Before Paul ever addresses wives specifically, he addresses the church generally. If we as the church want to be filled with the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit there needs to be a general-attitude of mutual-submission throughout the entire church body. As believers interact, whether we are male or female, young or old, Elder or Deacon, a longtime member of the Congregation or a new member of the Congregation, we are to have listening hearts and attitudes. We should prayerfully consider what others have to say. When we do this, there will be a sense of peace and calmness in the church body and I believe the Bible promises us that the Holy Spirit will fill us and work through our church in a special way. 

I thought of a recent example of mutual submission in our church. This example begins with Molly C. Molly, I want you to know that I called your mom and asked if I could share this story and she gave me permission, and when I asked her to ask you she said, and I quote, “No! She’ll be fine.” 

Some of you may have not

My sister-in-law recently poked fun at me by posting this meme on my Facebook page. It pictures a rather stiff looking aristocrat at a sporting event clapping and saying, “I say, what a rather robust group of fellows. Which color are we rooting for?” She knows I don’t really do sports. I don’t watch football or basketball or baseball or golf except for when I’m with friends or family. But I still want to try and start today’s sermon with a sport analogy.

The chapters 1-3 of Ephesians are like an inspirational pep-talk. The coach is telling his players why he chose them, what he sees in them, how fantastic they are, and that they’re going to do great. It’s an encouragement. It feels good. It’s motivational. But in chapters 4-6 of Ephesians it’s getting real at halftime. The team is down by 21 points and the offense has to move the ball. The coach doesn’t pull any punches. They have to play differently or they’re going to lose (obviously, I’m talking about golf).

Coach Paul is telling the believers at Ephesus in Ephesians 5 how they must live. First came the motivation, now comes the action. As we read and study the second half of Ephesians 5 it can be a bit discouraging and frustrating. I don’t like him telling me how how it is or how to live. I don’t like to hear “Don’t do that” or “do this now” but it was good for the their church and it’s good for our church. So what play does Paul call believers to run?

We must abstain from immorality. (Eph 5:1-7, 18a)

For those of you who were here last week this theme is really a continuation of the contrast between the old self and the new self. Just like last week, Paul roots this change in following Christ Jesus himself.

1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (NIV®)

If I were to continue with a sports analogy, many sports have a team captain. For example, in soccer you have a team captain who is responsible for rallying the team on the field. It’s not a perfect analogy but I think we sometimes think of God as the owner of the team. He’s way up in the private boxes watching the game. But in reality, through Christ Jesus God has stepped down onto the field and has played the game with us. Now we can follow his lead and example. Although our team captain has stepped off the field, he will return at the end of the game. Until then, we follow his example. Loving and living like him.

So as we follow Christ, what are we supposed to do? Paul first outlines what we’re not supposed to do, the things we are supposed to avoid. Paul says we must abstain from immorality. What types of immorality?

Sexual (v3a, 5)

The first type of immorality is probably the one we think of first anyways, sexual immorality.

3a But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity,

“Sexual immorality” is the Greek word “porneia,” which is where “we get words like pornography.” What does pornea mean? It means any and all sexual activity outside of committed lifetime marriage between one man and one woman. At the end of chapter 5 Paul gives us a picture of marriage should look like by citing Genesis 2:24, which tells us God’s plan for marriage is rooted in the creation account.

Ephesians 5:31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” (NIV®)

So Paul is prohibiting people from engaging in all types of sexual activity outside of God’s Genesis design. This includes things like premarital sex, fooling around with your boyfriend or girlfriend, adultery, divorce and remarriage without following the Biblical guidelines, looking at pornography, filling your eyes with lustful images or movie clips, and when two men or two women engage in a sexual relationship.

But when Paul says “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality” does he mean that if you’ve

Have you ever met your doppelgänger? A doppelgänger is someone who looks like you but isn’t related to you. This is an example of a doppelgänger. A wedding photographer met his doppelgänger flying from Ireland to Scotland. I met my doppelgänger when I lived in Falls Church VA. We attended the same church and people would walk up to him and say, “Hi Jonathan.” His name is Russell. 

In Ephesians Paul calls the church the body of Christ (Eph 4:15-16). So my question for us today is who does our church body look like? Who is our church’s doppelgänger? There are only two options: the world or Christ. If we look like the world we will look and act like the non-believers we see around us every day. We will talk like them and think like them and value the things they value. We will mirror their lives. Or, we will talk and think like Christ who looks completely different than the world. 

The Apostle Paul who wrote the letter to the Ephesians is asking the church at Ephesus the same thing. Who do you look like? Do you look like the world or do you look different, like Jesus? 

Here’s what’s at stake… Everything. If we claim to be Christians but the world is our doppelgänger, we look and talk and act like non-Christians, we might not be real Christians at all. But if our doppelgänger is Christ, if we’re becoming more like him over time in our thoughts and actions, then we are on the right path. Let’s take an honest assessment of ourselves today. Let’s get real. If we look like Christ, wonderful, praise God. But if there are ways we look like the world, let’s repent and return to following Jesus.

What does the world look like? (Eph 4:17-19, 22)

In the first three chapters of Ephesians Paul talks about all the grace God has given believers. For example, if you are a believer, God has forgiven you of your sins (Eph 1:7); he has adopted you into his heavenly family (Eph 1:5); and he will treat you with grace and kindness forever (Eph 2:7). Now in the second half of the letter Paul gives a playbook for how God’s grace should change our lives. And he does this partially by contrasting us with how non-believers think and behave. 

Thinking: ignorant/hard-hearted, selfish/deceived (v17-19, 22)

17 “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. (NIV®)

Something about the way non-Christians think is wrong. Right now the Bible is saying that anyone not saved by Christ thinks incorrectly or foolishly. Their minds are darkened. They are blinded to the truth. Their worldview is wrong. To be quite frank this is incredibly offensive. But just because something is offensive doesn’t mean it’s not true. 

Why do people think this way? Paul gives us two reasons in verse 18.

Ignorance – They don’t know the truth of the Bible and Jesus (Acts 3:17, 17:30). Gentiles in our passage really means non-believers. But does that mean they’re off the hook? 

Hard-hearted – They are willfully hardening their own hearts. They don’t want to know the truth. Romans 1:20-23 says all people can see God’s power in creation but they reject him anyways. 

In our Discipleship Class, Grace/Truth 2.0, the author Preston Sprinkle writes:

Dr. Jonathan Haidt is a world-renowned social psychologist who specializes in moral theory. Put simply, he looks at why people believe the things they do. After years of looking at why good people disagree on core moral and political issues, he learned that people typically believe certain things because they first want to believe them. In other words, desire precedes belief. Then, after believing it, they find rational reasons to support their belief. But the thing that anchors the belief is not primarily rational arguments. It’s the desire to believe the thing in the first place.

Non-believers believe the

Chris Lake, Executive Director of the Vere Institute, explains the frontline ministry calling Jesus gave us at the Great Commission in Matthew 28:16-20. You can watch or listen to the sermon and check out the slides below. You can watch the full service on Facebook, which includes our commissioning of our church members for their frontline ministry, or you can watch the sermon only on YouTube.

Loading...

Taking too long?

Reload document

|

Open in new tab

Download [1.19 MB]

Two weeks ago we learned what it means to live worthy of all the gifts God has given us in Ephesians 4:1-6. We talked about specific steps we can each take: humility, gentleness, patience, and love. Together these steps maintain church unity through the Holy Spirit. But they don’t actually create unity. We are unified by what we believe in, “one Spirit… one Lord… one faith… one God and Father.” So a church is unified by the character of its people and by believing the same thing. 

Our text today, Ephesians 4:7-16, adds one more way we are unified, through the diversity of our gifts—by all the different ways God gives us talents and abilities to serve him by serving the church. We each have different gifts but they fit together as one, like a puzzle.

Have any of you put together a puzzle recently? Growing up my family would put together 1,000 piece puzzles right around Christmas time. How big was your puzzle? 100, 500, 1000, 2000 pieces? On Amazon you can buy puzzles as large as 40,000 pieces, which covers a whole wall. 

According to the Guinness Book of World Records an economics school in Vietnam put together a puzzle in 2011 that contained 551,232 pieces. 

This summer in Dubai a business group constructed a 12,000 piece puzzle that covered 65,905 square feet, which is the largest puzzle in the world. 

So today I’ve brought an equally impressive 13-piece puzzle. A puzzle is a great illustration of the church body and what our text is talking about today. A puzzle is made up of differently shaped pieces, and when the pieces come together they can create a beautiful picture (aka. “Sprocket”). Getting to witness and see that picture (to see the church come together) is a gift given to us by God.

Christ gives gifts to the church. (Eph 4:7-10)

7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:

“When he ascended on high,

     he took many captives

     and gave gifts to his people.”

9 (What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) (NIV®)

This is a challenging passage to read and understand but it becomes a little easier if we examine the Old Testament passage Paul is quoting, Psalm 68. Psalm 68 tells us of God driving away his enemies before him as he enters victoriously into his holy sanctuary, the temple in Jerusalem, with his people. When a king conquers his enemies what happens? Those defeated kings and nations pay tribute. In fact, Psalm 68:18a says God receives gifts from men.

Psalm 68:18a

When you ascended on high,

     you took many captives;

     you received gifts from people, (NIV®)

But when Paul quotes this passage what does he do? He reverses it. Instead of “receiving” gifts Christ Jesus gives gifts (aka. “…gave gifts to his people”). Through his death, resurrection, and ascension to the throne, Christ Jesus has won the right not just to require tribute but to bestow blessing. 

Have you ever intended to give a friend or family member something and instead you received a gift? Like inviting a coworker out for lunch and they insist on paying? Maybe you’ve done a gift-swap with a friend and you felt like they got you a much better gift than you gave them? How about when you hire someone to work on your house or fix your car and they don’t charge you what they could? We owe everything to Christ and he still gives us more. Christ gives gifts to the church. What are they?

Christ gives the gift of leadership to his church. (Eph 4:11) 

Now there are more gifts than the one listed in today’s passage. You can find those in Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28. But even those lists aren’t comprehensive. God can gift us in a multitude of ways to serve the local church. But our passage today focuses on specific leadership gifts (so if you don’t have one of these gifts in today’s passage don’t worry, there are other gift