Father, we ask that you would fan into flame within us
the true longings and yearnings that are in us as human beings.
Father, our yearnings are too weak.
We often do not recognize them,
but we ask that you would fan into flame within us
the longings and yearnings of our heart.
And as you fan into flame, Father,
the longings and yearnings of our heart,
help us, Father, to take comfort in the gospel
and to read your word,
as seen in it,
the end of our longings and our yearnings.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus,
your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
Just recently, China celebrated being in existence for 70 years.
One of the things that I don't think it was talked about very much
in the different news reports about China
is that almost from day one,
China has persecuted Christians.
At some points in time, very, very, very severely.
Other times, not quite as much.
And in fact, right now,
there's a growing persecution of Christians in China.
And one of the things which is behind
the persecution of Christians in China
is the desire of the Chinese government,
or the party, I should say.
Government gives the wrong impression.
The Chinese Communist Party
is that they want to make China more Chinese
and sort of exclusively Chinese
as it's understood by the Chinese communists.
And so any type of outside influence
or anything which doesn't seem to be Chinese,
they want to have to put to death.
It's not as well known,
it's even less well known in Canada
that there is, in fact,
growing persecution of Christians in India.
Mission organizations have been forced
to leave the country,
and not all of them, but many of them.
And part of what is at work there
is a type of Hindu nationalism
with a desire to have foreign,
non-Indian, non-Hindu influences
removed from the country
and to have India become more Indian
and more Hindu.
And it isn't reported very much
in the press in Canada,
but it's something which has been developing
over the last few years or longer.
Now, I just want to share that
and hold that in sort of a bit of a tension
or a bit of a difference
to one thing that happened to me very recently.
I was in one of my favorite coffee shops,
and, you know,
I used to always have my Bible open
when I was working on my sermon.
True Confessions,
other than one day of the week,
I've gotten so used to using
an electronic version of the Bible
that I, you know,
I use that silly little phone
because at my fingertips,
I have like dozens and dozens of versions
and all that type of stuff.
So I realized I wasn't having
as many conversations as I used to.
So now, whenever I'm working,
on my sermon,
or just when I'm working,
I'll have a Christian book out open.
And this particular time,
I had a book by C.S. Lewis on the Psalms,
and I was working on my sermon.
And an Asian couple came into the coffee shop,
and I wasn't really,
I wasn't paying any attention to them.
All of a sudden,
the man said,
excuse me.
And I looked up,
and he said,
you're reading C.S. Lewis.
And I said, yes.
And then he looked at me,
and he said,
are you a brother?
And I said, yes.
And he reached out his hand,
shook my hand.
Good to meet a brother.
And it made me think afterwards,
as I was going home at a time
a couple of years ago
when I was in Chicago,
at the airport in Chicago,
and I had been at a conference,
a Christian conference,
and I happened to be on the same plane
with somebody from the conference.
They were flying to Toronto from Chicago,
and I was flying to Ottawa.
But we had time,
and so we went to a place
to have supper,
not a very healthy supper,
I think,
you know,
one of those,
you know,
two billion calorie hamburgers
with fries.
And we ordered our meal,
and there was no ketchup
on the table.
We asked,
and the waitress said,
do you want ketchup?
We said, yes.
But as she was going to get
the ketchup,
we bowed our heads,
and we prayed grace.
Prayed grace.
And with our eyes closed.
And then we realized
that she had come back,
and I wish I could imitate her.
She didn't have a Chicago accent.
She had some pleasant
southern accent.
I wish I could imitate it.
And she said,
it's so nice to see brothers
unashamed of praying
in the Chicago airport.
This African-American woman
in Chicago
from somewhere
in the deep south.
And that's how she spoke
to two white guys.
And it just feels so right,
doesn't it?
So how,
you know,
why is it that there'd be
many people in our country,
and not only in our country,
but many places around the world,
who have a sense
that there's just something
not right
about a country
just wanting to be
more American,
or more Chinese,
or more Canadian,
or more white,
or more black,
or more whatever.
That there's something
just somehow right
about the races,
and the cultures,
and the ethnicities
somehow being in harmony.
And the Bible text
that Laurier read
that we're going to look at
actually speaks very powerfully
into this situation.
So it'd be a great help
to me,
and a great benefit to you,
if you were to get
your Bibles out
and look.
It's really,
you know,
we're going to have
the scripture text
up on the screen,
but it's a really good thing
to be able to have
your own Bibles with you,
that you can make
some notes on them,
and all of that type of stuff,
maybe something you want
to memorize
or look at later on.
But we also have the text
up here on the screen,
and here's how it begins.
It begins like this.
It's Ephesians chapter 3.
Ephesians chapter 3,
and we're going to be looking
at verses 1 to 13,
but we're going to
obviously start at verse 1.
Not obviously.
We will start at verse 1
of going through Ephesians 3 to 1.
We're preaching through
the book of Ephesians.
That's why we're looking
at this text,
and here's how it begins.
For this reason,
I, Paul,
a prisoner for Christ Jesus
on behalf of you Gentiles,
and just sort of pause.
One of the things
which is really interesting
about this letter
is that Paul begins
to say one thing,
and then something
pops into his head,
and he's going to actually
spend verses 2 to 13
on this other thing
that pops into his head,
which is what we're going
to look at this week,
and next week,
we get to verse 14.
He says,
oh yeah,
I was going to say,
get back on track, Paul,
and he goes right back
to what he was going
to originally talk about,
which is this spectacularly
beautiful and powerful,
mind-blowing prayer,
which we're going to look
at next week.
But Paul is going
to talk about one thing,
and all of a sudden,
something pops into his head,
and what really pops
into his head
is sort of connected
to several things.
I've said over the different weeks
that Paul is writing this
from jail.
This is why I know
that he's writing it
from jail,
because he talks about
being in prison,
and from a variety
of other things,
he's in jail in Rome,
and from a variety
of other things,
if you look at the book of Acts,
and you put things together,
interestingly enough,
one of the reasons,
there's two reasons
he's in jail.
One of the reasons
he's in jail
is because he's a Christian.
The other reason
is because he understands
the Christian faith
to mean that God
is making a multiracial,
multicultural,
multi-ethnic new society,
and he is willing
to go to jail
over that proclamation.
And the word Gentiles
is a bit of an unusual word
if you're a guest here
this morning,
and for the Jewish people
at the time
that Paul was writing this,
it's around the year 60.
Basically,
for Jewish people,
the word was very simple.
There were Jewish,
and there was everybody
who wasn't Jewish,
and if you weren't Jewish,
you were a Gentile.
And in those days,
basically,
it meant you were a pagan
as well,
because that's basically
the only options,
fundamentally,
was being a Jew
who believed in the one God
and pagans who,
I know there's a little bit
of things about Zoroastrianism,
but fundamentally,
just Jews and pagans.
And that's who he's talking about.
He's in jail
because of the pagans,
because of everybody
other than Jews.
And he pauses,
and he's going to sort of explain
why it is he's in jail.
So look at what comes next.
He's going to explain
why he's in jail.
Look at verses 2 and following.
Assuming that you have heard
of the stewardship
of God's grace
that was given to me
for you.
So he's in jail
because of God's grace
was given to him,
and God's grace
was given to him
not just to puff himself up,
but for other people,
for them.
And then in verse 3,
how the mystery
was made known to me
by revelation,
as I have written briefly.
That's earlier on
in Ephesians.
When you read this,
you can perceive
my insight
into the mystery
of Christ,
which was not made known
to the sons of men
or the daughters of men
in other generations,
as it has now been revealed
to his holy apostles
and prophets
by the Holy Spirit.
Now just sort of pause
there for a second.
This sounds very proud
and exclusive,
doesn't it?
I, Paul,
know things,
a mystery
which has been hidden
to all other human beings,
and I know it.
And it sounds actually
very proud.
In fact,
many Canadians,
when they hear
something like this,
it strikes them
as a very proud claim,
an arrogant type of claim
that will make you
more and more proud
and make you
more and more arrogant.
But it's actually
the complete opposite.
When we think
that we're mishearing
and misunderstanding
what's going on.
the other night,
two weeks ago,
I was trying to describe,
I teach a course
in preaching,
and I was trying
to describe
sort of how the gospel
works and how it
changes lives.
And one of the things
I was trying to get
people to understand
is that there's a default
way of human beings
thinking.
And the gospel
goes against that
default way of human
thinking.
And I'm not going to go
into the specific thing,
but there's the same
thing here.
There's a default way
of human beings thinking.
And so,
because we have
this default way
of thinking,
when we hear claims
like this,
we just interpret it
within our default
way of thinking.
But Paul actually here
is saying something
which is profoundly
anti-proud.
It's profoundly
humbling.
I'm going to put it
up here in terms
of the form of a point.
And the point is this,
that the true
and living God
stooped down
to Paul
to reveal
some of what
he is thinking
and doing.
The true and living
God stooped
down to Paul
to reveal
some of what
he is thinking
and doing.
This is connected
to the blog
that I've written
this week,
which is in the bulletin
and it's also online,
which is
the default thing
of the human mind,
the human being,
is that there's ways
for us to ascend
to God,
to know God
and what he's thinking
and what he's planning.
It's a default
of almost every
single human being.
If there's some way
for you or me
to do this,
it might be
through meditation,
it might be
through rituals,
it might be
through science
or philosophy,
it might be
through poetry,
it might be
through developing
your mental powers
or your emotional powers.
It might be just
that everybody
in the culture,
like time out,
on the electronic
version of the blog,
if you look it up
later on,
I've added a little
two sentences
that it's not there yet,
it'll be there on Monday.
Basically,
all progressives' thoughts,
even though
most progressives
don't believe
there is a God
that exists,
in fact,
at the heart
of all progressive thought
in a secular form
is the belief
that they know
the future
and they know
how things are moving
towards the future
and they know
that the future
is good
and all of those things
are things
that only God
could know
and only God
could do
and so hidden
within all claims
of progressive thought
is a claim
to know
the mind of God
and as I talk
about in the blog
and I'll share
with you right now
because you don't
have to read my blog,
like why read my blog?
here's the thing,
I'll use a different
example from in the blog,
what am I thinking
of right now?
Okay,
I don't know
how many of you
guessed that I was
thinking about the fact
that I have two
grandchildren being born
in January.
Anybody guess that?
You'd guess it,
you wouldn't know it,
right?
So here's the thing,
if you human beings
can't figure out
what another human being
is thinking,
why on earth
would you think
you can think
what God,
know what God
is thinking?
If you are completely
and utterly dependent
upon me as a human being
to tell you
what I'm thinking,
why is it we think
any human being,
any human being
could ever know
what God is thinking?
Unless God tells us,
you can't know.
And so what Paul
is saying here
is Paul is saying here
there's mysteries
that only God knows
and he's not saying,
and by the way,
because of my rituals,
because of the power
of my intellect,
because of the
spectacular,
sophisticated,
way of my emotions
and my poetic sensibilities
and just,
and because of my
physical regimen
and my diet
and all of that stuff,
I, no, no,
he's not saying that
and later on
he's even going to mention
I'm the least of the least
of the least of the least
of the apostles.
Paul is just making a claim
that unworthy as he is,
those of you who know
a little bit about Paul,
why would he say
on and on and on
throughout his life
that he was unworthy?
He would say
on and on and on
throughout his entire life
that he was unworthy
is because he so thought
that Jesus was a dangerous
faker,
that he conspired
with others
in positions of power
and authority
to put Christians
in jail
and to have them killed.
That's why.
And he's saying
as worthy as he is,
God
stooped down
to Paul
to reveal some,
not everything,
obviously,
of what
God is thinking
and doing.
and that's all
that Paul did.
He just communicates
something
that he humbly received.
You see,
it's so hard
for us to think
that human beings
aren't making this claim
of knowing what God thinks,
which is absurd.
That when we read
something in the Bible
like this,
we put it within
our categories
and don't understand
that God's making
a very,
Paul,
the Bible here
is making a very,
very,
very different claim.
Now,
some of you might say,
why on earth
should we believe
such a claim?
And that's a very,
very good example.
I have a friend
I talk to regularly
and he regularly tells me,
you know,
every religion
makes some types
of claims like this
and I actually
have to keep telling him,
actually,
they don't all make
the same type of claim,
by the way.
They make actually
very,
very different claims.
But why should we
believe this?
And I'm not going
to go into a long,
a long thing about it
other than just to say this,
that if you know
anything at all
about Paul from history,
you know that he went
from being a person
who thought that Jesus
was a dangerous fake
to being a person
who saw Jesus
after he had risen
from the dead.
And he,
in fact,
is an eyewitness
to the truth
that Jesus died
and tasted everything
there is to taste
of death
and on the third day
he emerged
on the far side
of death,
having defeated death,
that he was resurrected.
And Paul
is an eyewitness
of this truth
and he will eventually
die a martyr's death
maintaining that
right till the end
when all he had to do
to get out of suffering
and to get out of death
was to say,
no, no,
just made it up.
Just made it up.
Goes to his death.
But I want to challenge you
with something else
because we're going to look
at a sense
of what Paul is claiming.
What Paul is actually
going to claim.
You see,
part of the problem
we have with the Christian faith
is of the mind.
We have different objections
to it.
But part of it
is of the heart.
And sometimes,
many times,
we don't want
certain things
in Christianity
to be true.
But what if
what Paul is about
to reveal,
like,
what if it's true?
Like,
I'm going to suggest
to you
that if
if it's true,
don't you want
it to be true?
Like,
what Paul is about
to say,
if we're honest,
we want something
very much like
that
to be true.
Well,
some of you might say
don't believe things
just because of
wish fulfillment.
I agree with you,
but we're going
to walk towards
what he says
and we're going
to just think
about it
as well as
some of the reasons
as to what's going
on and why
it's important.
Look at verse 6.
If you're following
along in your own
Bibles,
what I've done here,
if you're using
the ESV,
which is usually
what I have up
on the screen,
I've translated
this a little bit
different.
Just trust me,
I'm not like
some Christian authors
who go looking
for a translation
of the Bible
to fit what
they want to say.
It's actually
bringing out
what the original
language says
very clearly,
which is a bit
more awkward
in English.
So my translation
is a bit more
awkward,
but it's capturing
what is actually
there in the original
language,
and that's this,
verse 6.
This mystery
is that the pagans,
the Gentiles,
are co-heirs,
co-members
of the same body,
co-partakers
of the promise
in Christ Jesus.
This mystery
is that the Gentiles
are co-heirs,
co-members
of the same body,
co-partakers
of the promise
in Christ Jesus.
See,
if you've been here
or if you go back
and you read Ephesians,
you'll see there's
many powerful images
of what happened.
Jesus died on a cross.
I mean,
he lived a human life.
All the records are
that he lived
an exemplary human life,
and Christians claim
that he lived a life
always in obedience
to God
with no type of sin.
He dies on a cross,
and his death
upon the cross
is not just a,
it's not a tragedy.
It's actually
everything in his life
was moving towards
him dying upon the cross,
and because he's,
he's in a sense
the perfect man,
the second Adam,
and also God's son,
what happens
on the cross
is something
that can actually stand
or have a bearing
for everyone.
I shared a couple
of weeks ago
about how,
if you think about it
for a second,
because he's God's son
as well as a human being,
that what happens
in history
at one time
in one place
just outside
of the gates
and the walls
of Jerusalem
is a man dying
a death
by crucifixion.
But at the same time,
because of who he is,
in a sense,
it's something
which is happening
in eternity,
outside of time,
and by being outside
of time
and for all eternity
and something
that can touch
every human being.
And so what's going on
with the death
of Jesus
and the cross
and his resurrection
is this profound
substitution
and exchange
and transaction
that God does
for us human beings
because we cannot
do it for ourselves,
whereby,
in a sense,
all of our alienation,
all of our shame,
all of our wrongdoing,
all of the accusations
that could be made
against us,
all of these
fall upon him.
And his great goodness
and his destiny
is given to us.
And I've given the image
over several weeks.
It's as if
when we call out
to Christ
to be our Savior,
it's as if he comes
and wraps his arms
around you.
And there is this
profound
act of uniting.
I mean,
he's still him
and you're still you,
but there's this
profound act
of uniting
where it turns out
because
Jesus is,
Christ is outside of time
but he died in time
that on that cross,
even though it was
2,000 years ago
for me,
I died on that cross
with him
and I am raised
with him
and I am ascended
with him.
And now Paul
is going even farther
than this
because he describes
how in a sense
what I've just described
is not just
what happens to me,
it's what happens
to you
and to you
and to you.
It means that
this morning
if there is
a person
who's the head
of an LGBTQ plus
chapter,
a lesbian,
and she
gives herself
to Christ,
Christ embraces
her
and is united
with her
and she dies
with Christ
and is raised
with Christ
and becomes
a new person
in Christ.
And if this,
and if today
there is somebody
in Kenya
in Nairobi
who's a lawyer
and he gives himself
to Christ today,
that same thing
is happening
to that man
in Nairobi.
and we could
go on and on
and on and on
in the underground
church in Iran
if sometime today
some person
bows the knee
and asks Jesus
to come into their life,
Jesus comes
and so hugs
and is united
to him
or to her
that they die
with Jesus
and are raised
with Jesus
and that there
is now
a new
type of human
on the planet
not by works,
not by pride,
not by arrogance,
not by accomplishment,
but the lesbian,
the Chinese,
the straight old guy,
that's me,
that waitress
from the deep south,
African American,
the Asian couple,
each of us,
although Asian
and African
and American,
we all individually
are a new human
and God
doesn't just
make new humans,
he creates
a new society
that all of us
become members of
by adoption
and grace
and so whether
it is that lesbian
that I described
or the Kenyan lawyer
or somebody
in the underground
church in Iran
or somebody
in post-modern,
post-capitalist
Ottawa today,
each of us
together
become co-heirs
of the new heaven
and the new earth
through Jesus
and both of us,
all of us
are equally members
of the same body
and each of us
equally
and fully
are partakers
of the same promise
and reality,
partakers
of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit
and the love
that exists between them
that will go on
for all eternity
and one day
become the new heaven
and the new earth.
And Paul is saying
that is what is happening,
what God
in his grace
and mercy
is doing.
That is the mystery
that God
who made
all human beings
equally,
whether you are
from China
or Kenya
or South America
or Iran
or Canada,
French or English,
whatever language,
from India,
he made all
human beings
equally
to bear
his image
and his likeness.
and through
our desire
to be God
ourselves,
that which
should be
a wonderful
tapestry
of beauty,
the beauty
of languages
and the beauty
of culture
and the beauty
of old
and young
and tall
and short
and of colors
and this beautiful
manifold
tapestry
of beauty
that God
had created
the human race
to be
became a source
of pride
and anger
and envy
and racism
and prejudice
and hatred
and war.
But that is not
how God designed it.
And it is not
the end of the story.
The end of the story
is in a far
greater garden
than my Kenyan brother
and my same-sex
attracted sister.
And my Chinese
sister
and I
will be in the garden
together
walking with our
Heavenly Father
in the cool of the evening.
That is the end
of the story.
Through the gospel
ordinary people
of every race
and culture
become co-heirs
co-members
of the same body
and co-partakers
of the promise
of God.
I just want to
pause for a second.
Why is it
that human beings
have any longings
or yearnings
at all?
Like,
why do we have
any?
Like,
unless,
I mean,
there may be some people
who don't recognize
longings and yearnings,
but I think
most human beings
recognize these,
that there are longings
and yearnings.
Maybe it is
you have gone
on a canoe trip
and you're with
your best friends
or your family
and you've had
a wonderful day
of canoeing,
you've had a wonderful meal,
you're sitting around
the campfire,
there's a nice breeze
so there's no bugs,
and you're full
and you're joking
and you're just
with each other
and the stars
and it just looks
so beautiful
and you just think,
this is just somehow
not just something earthly,
but something
transcendent,
touching on
something more
and surely
there's even more
to this
and it's a type of
enjoyment
and longing
which we view
as a high point
in maybe our week
or month
or year.
or maybe it's just
on a beautiful,
beautiful,
beautiful spring day,
the snow's melting
and it's just
the perfect temperature
and you can feel
the new life coming
and you're feeling healthy
and there's no pain
in your body
or maybe there's
a little bit of pain
in your body
but you just look around
and say,
this is just so
touching on
something
transcendent,
something bigger,
than experience
and at the same time
that we have this sense
of it's just
so right
that we have a sense
that there must
be more.
Why does any human being
have any experience
like that ever?
Like if you think about it,
we shouldn't have them.
We just happen by evolution
and when we die,
that's it.
There's nothing transcendent,
there's just the next meal
if you want to be
brutally honest.
But we human beings
know that there's something
that's longings
and yearnings
and why is it?
Why is it that human beings
long?
Why is it that if we see
something,
maybe it's a YouTube video,
maybe we're just walking
down the street
and we see a park
and we see kids
of every race
and culture,
not all maybe
even able to speak English
and we just see them
all playing together
on a beautiful day
and it just looks
so beautiful
and we say to ourselves,
that's just so right.
Why is it that that's right
and what China and India
wants to do is wrong?
Like why is it that
that's right
and being racist
is just wrong?
Like where do these things
come from
and how on earth
can they possibly
be grounded?
Where does it come from
and can it be true?
As I've shared,
the Bible says
that the story
that Canada tells
about who we are
is just wrong.
We are created
in the image of God.
We are fallen
and because we are created,
God has continued
to put within us
and allow to have within us
some hints
that there is more
to this life,
that there is in fact
a God that exists,
that there is in fact
a way that he intended
and we long for it
and I suggest to you
that if you follow
the longings
and yearnings
of your heart,
it will lead you to God.
It will lead you
to understand
what Paul is revealing
in the gospel.
It will clarify it
and ground it.
See, I began by saying
what if this picture
is true?
And on one level,
isn't that exactly
what we long to be true?
What Paul is announcing
that God originally did
and what he is doing
and has done in Christ
and what will in fact
be the very, very end
of the story
and Paul is saying this
not because he's proud,
not because he's arrogant,
he is the least
of the least
of the saints.
It has been revealed
to him
what God
has done
and is doing
in the person
of his son
as he died upon the cross
and rose from the dead.
Now we need to wrap this up.
The big question
that often comes
to people
when they think
about stuff like this,
when I talk about things
even remotely like this
in a coffee shop,
is once again,
how is our mind hardwired?
Usually when people
make a claim like that,
it means the next thing is,
that's why I should be in power.
Or in our case,
that's why we should be in power.
Is that what Paul does next?
Not at all.
Look how he moves.
This is very, very important.
Look at verses 7 to 9.
Of this gospel,
I was made a minister
and the word for minister
is the word for servant.
So of this gospel,
I was made a servant
according to the gift
of God's grace,
which was given to me
by the working of his power.
To me,
though I am
the very least
of all the saints.
And in the original language,
you could actually say
the least of the least
of the least
of the least.
To me,
though I am
the very least
of all the saints,
this grace was given.
What?
To rule?
To have authority?
To be an elite?
To look down your nose
at other people?
No!
A servant!
To preach?
To proclaim?
To every people group?
The unsearchable riches of Christ?
The gospel makes no one poorer.
Do you believe this?
Do you believe that to come
to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord
will only make you richer?
Will only make me richer?
Could you pray for me
that that will be
the habit of how I think
as I go through my day?
That for any person
that I get to share the gospel with,
if they come to a faith in Christ,
they are coming to faith
in the one whose riches
are untraceable,
unsearchable,
will never,
ever,
ever come to an end.
Every human being
will only be richer
when they come to faith
in Jesus.
Do you believe that?
Can we pray for each other
that we will believe it
as a habit of being,
as a habit of how we think?
By the grace of God,
you are called to be
a servant who proclaims,
one of a servant
who proclaims to the nations
the unsearchable riches
of Christ.
You see,
what I would say
is for those of us
who walk by
on a beautiful fall day
and see a playground
and see a whole pile
of unbelievably adorable
three-year-olds
playing together
of all the colors
of the rainbow
and of different ethnicities
and not even maybe
being able to speak English
to each other.
They're speaking
their own languages,
but they're just playing
and they are having
a great time
and their parents
are standing around.
Whether they're talking or not,
they're just all
enjoying the day
and enjoying their kids.
And we see that
and we have a sense
that that is somehow
how things should be.
No matter how secular
or atheist you are
and you have a sense,
maybe even a sense
of longing or yearning
that that is the way
that that should be.
That which you know
but don't know
why it should be
other than that you think
it should be,
the gospel proclaims to you
because that is how God
created things to be.
That is what he is
redeeming things to be.
That is what he does
through the gospel.
That is what he desires
to do through the church.
And that is what
the new heaven
and the new earth
will be like.
And it can be only achieved
and entered into
by faith and trust
in Jesus
as Savior and Lord.
The Bible doesn't kill
your longings and yearnings
but helps you
to understand them
and interpret them
to kill the ones
which are fell and evil
and to walk towards those
which are rooted in creation
redeemed in redemption
and will be true
for all eternity.
I just want to wrap up.
There is something
which comes next
in verse 10.
I am just going to
put it up there.
It just,
it blows my mind.
I don't know how
to communicate it.
I just have to show you
because you probably
missed it when you were
reading it.
Look at what verse 10 says
as we just wrap this up.
Remember he said
how what God is doing,
the mystery is
is that when you put
our faith in Christ
whether it is
whoever it is
you become a new humanity
in Christ
and he's creating
this new society
that is multiracial,
multicultural,
multilinguistic,
multiethnic
but one society,
one reality.
And then look at
what he says
in verse 10.
So that through the church
the manifold wisdom
of God
might now be made known
to the rulers
and authorities
in the heavenlies.
And whether that just means
different ranks of angels,
and whether it means
different ranks of angels,
the heavens,
that's a better way
to put it.
There's no real simple
English word
for this idea
that above
whatever is physical
that there is a realm,
a realm,
a real realm
of spiritual beings
of both angels
and demons
and ranks upon ranks
of both.
And the Bible is saying
that what God is doing
through the church
as hard it is
for us to believe
because we are lowly
and weak
is a graduate school
seminar that angels
and demons
are studying.
I don't know
how to communicate that.
And how can anybody
communicate that
other than that's
what the Bible says?
only God
could use
lowly
local
gospel churches
to make known
His manifold
wisdom
to the rulers
and authorities
in the heavens.
We are weak
and from a Canadian
point of view
irrelevant.
In fact,
maybe even dangerous.
But that is not
the truth.
This should encourage
us to pray.
Let's just finish
and then we will pray.
This was according
to the eternal purpose,
verse 11,
that He is realized
in Christ Jesus
our Lord
in whom we have
boldness and access
with confidence
through our faith
in Him.
So I ask you
not to lose heart
over what I am
suffering for you
which is your glory.
To be gripped
by the gospel
and gripped
by the scripture
is to know
that we have
access to God
and we can be
bold in prayer.
I invite you all
to stand.
Thank you.
If you have not yet
given your life
to Christ,
there is no better
time right now
than to say,
Lord,
I have fears
about you.
I have fears
about what you
will do in my life
but I know
that you are
the end of my
longings
and the end
of my yearnings
and that
what you have
done for me
in Jesus
is what I need
to make me
right with you
and one,
with all that
you are doing,
Father,
there is no other
way than by faith
in Jesus
and so,
Father,
I ask that
Jesus would
come into my life,
that he would
be my Savior
and that he would
be my Lord
and I know
that he will
never let me go
and so,
Father,
I give myself
to him.
Please take me,
all of me,
with nothing left over
from this day forward
to all eternity.
I give myself to you.
There is no better
time than right now
to call out to him.
For those of us
who are weary
and broken down
by our lowliness,
there is no better
time than right now
to call out to the Lord
and say,
Father,
thank you so much
for your word.
Use my lowliness
for your glory.
Fan in the flame
within me
deeper longings
and yearnings,
true longings
and yearnings.
And grow within me
a deeper sense
of how even
in our lowliness
you are doing
things which have
eternal significance.
There is no better
time than now
to call out to him
for that.
Father,
pour out the Holy Spirit
upon us.
Pour out the Holy Spirit
upon us.
Pour out the Holy Spirit
upon us.
Jesus,
pour out the Holy Spirit
upon us.
Make us disciples
of Jesus
who are gripped
by the gospel.
Learning
to live
for your glory.
Learning
to winsomely
and quietly
share who Jesus is
and what he has done
is doing
and will do.
Help us,
Father,
not to say
people's no for them
or to think of ourselves
as the world
thinks of us,
but,
Father,
make us disciples
of Jesus
who are gripped
by the gospel.
Understanding
who we are
from who Jesus is
and what you have
revealed in your word.
And make us
servants,
Father,
make us servants
for your glory
and for people's good.
And all God's people
said,
Amen.