Take your Bibles and turn in them to Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to be looking at verses 7-10.
! And I know for many of you it's repetitious, but I think sometimes
repetition is appropriate, particularly given the importance of that which is to be repeated.
And I would appeal to you this morning that while I preach, which is my responsibility and
the preparation of my heart, that you who are God's people would pray for me.
Let me read the passage.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7.
But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore, it says, when He ascended on high, He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.
In saying He ascended, what does it mean but that He also descended into the lower regions of the earth?
He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.
Let's pray together.
Father, we are thankful for the fact that you have drawn us to this place by your kindness and your grace,
that were it not for your work in prompting us to see the misery and the hopelessness of our sin,
and in your mercy, burdening us and convicting us so that we cried out and asked for salvation.
You who have saved us have drawn us together this morning that we might worship you,
and that we might attend to your word first, that we might grow to know you better,
and by that knowledge that we would grow in being more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
And also that we would understand the way in which you want us,
we who are your children, to walk and live in this world that is so desperate.
And Father, we pray that your Spirit would give to us humble, contrite, hungry souls,
that we might feast upon the word through the power of the Spirit.
And Christ might be the one that is exalted.
And we pray this in His name.
Amen.
Well, last week as we began, I started out by reminding you of the truth that when sin entered the world in the garden,
the first visible evidence of the fact that sin had come was the fact that man and woman distanced themselves from one another.
They were ashamed, it says, and they made clothing out of fig leaves and tried to cover themselves,
and subsequent to that, they hid from God in the garden.
And ever since sin entered the garden, sin has led to separation and a breakdown of relationships,
and it is one of the things that manifests itself in every case where you see sin having its place.
You see a broken and a separated, a disjointed, a disconnected group of people.
And so you can understand why, after having taken three chapters, and that's what Paul did in the first three chapters of Ephesians,
he laid out for us the glory of what Christ has done in salvation.
Do you realize that salvation is something that is incredible beyond imagination?
No man, no woman would have ever, in their wildest dreams, ever figured out how salvation should actually come about
through God sending His Son to die in my place.
You know, the truth of the matter is, the logic of the world would say,
hey, here's how you save yourself.
There are things you need to do.
You need to do this, you need to do that.
I bump into people all the time, and I ask them, so why should you get into heaven?
And we say, well, my good outweighs my bad.
You know, try that with one fly and a gallon of milk.
Does the good outweigh the bad?
What's the answer?
Not on your life.
You know, my good and my bad, here's the issue.
God has judged every one of us, and we have fallen short of the glory of God, and we stand condemned.
And God, in His kindness, brought salvation to us through the finished work of Christ.
And three chapters lay out the glory of God in salvation.
The next three chapters really deal with the way in which those who are saved are to live.
And what we found in the last several weeks in particular, beginning there in Ephesians chapter 4,
is that Paul's lessons to the church at Ephesus begin with the subject of unity.
Well, what does that have to do with it?
I mean, let's get to the good stuff about how a husband is to behave towards his wife,
and how a wife is to behave towards her husband, and how we are to be good children,
or how we are to be good employers and employees.
That's the heavy lifting stuff that we...
No, no, no.
The book of Ephesians is written principally to the body of Christ,
and it begins, first of all, by reminding us of the corporate relationship we have.
And all of the counsel of Ephesians flows and sits under this umbrella of the relationship we have together in the bride of Christ.
And so, we see the opening discussion that Paul has of the practical life of the believer
focuses in on this subject of unity.
He actually is going to take the first 16 verses in Ephesians chapter 4
to lay out the doctrine of the unity of the body of Christ.
And as we find, we remind ourselves of the fact that in the very first going couple verses there,
we are told that unity is really something that comes from the Spirit of God.
He's the one who made it.
By the way, I would not be united with you, nor you with me,
apart from the fact that we, by God's grace, have been put into lasting relationship.
Were it not for conversion, you would not be my brother or my sister.
And my relationship to you would be kind of circumstantial
or dependent upon what you were to get out of it or I were to get out of it.
Very kind of a manipulative kind of thing.
And that issue of the sweetness of communion would be absent.
And Paul says, hey, listen, you're united by the Spirit of God.
And then he goes on, and there in the verses that we've looked at,
he says, beginning there in verse 4, it says,
One body, one spirit.
We recognize that this issue of the unity of the body of Christ
is something that really is hammered out theologically.
We are one because of our faith in Christ.
Do we have different perspectives on some nuanced things scripturally?
And the answer is yes.
But the truth of the matter is, here's the fact.
All of us come to Christ by faith,
having seen the broken, despicable condition of our soul,
and we cry out and ask him to save us.
We believe together in the virgin birth.
We believe together in the sufficiency of Scripture.
They're cardinal doctrines that we hold together.
And that brings us now there to verse 7, actually through 10,
where Paul is explaining this matter of unity a little further,
and he brings into our understanding a very, very important doctrine,
namely the matter of the doctrine of the gifts that God gives to us
for the sake of unity.
And so what we're going to find here in the text this morning
is, first of all, that we are gifted by his grace.
Look at the passage in verse 7.
It says,
But grace was given to each one of us
according to the measure of God's gift.
Paul opens his lesson here by talking about the fact
that each believer at conversion, at salvation,
is given something.
The verses actually touch very, very briefly on the Bible truth
that each believer is given a spiritual gift or gifts
for the good of the body.
It is evident by the short nature of Paul's comment here
in Ephesians chapter 4
that the believers in that local congregation
had some kind of understanding of the doctrine
because he just alludes to it or comments on it and moves on.
It is not the primary nature or substance
of what he's going to teach in this case.
And so we make the assumption that Paul evidently
had taught it earlier or that Timothy had taught it
so it wasn't necessary for him to launch into the full subject.
Actually, the doctrine of the spiritual gifts
appear in four major passages.
And if you're into little devices to help you remember,
remember 12s and 4s.
If you want to remember where the passages are
on spiritual gifts,
and it is an important doctrine
for your relationship to the body of Christ,
think about it in terms of 12s and 4s.
It is, first of all, in Romans chapter 12
in verses 3 through 8,
and it is in, guess what,
can anybody tell me the other 12?
1 Corinthians 12.
If you got the 12s, you're good.
Those are the predominant passages,
and we're not going to look at them in detail this morning.
But Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12,
Ephesians chapter 4,
what we're looking at today,
and then 1 Peter chapter 4, verse 11 and 12.
I am not going to take the time this morning
to go at this subject at length
because in the past,
we have at various times
studied the matter of spiritual gifts.
But I do want you to understand
in a broad perspective.
For one, each believer,
as we see in the Scriptures,
both in particular in Romans 12
and in 1 Corinthians 12,
each believer, every person,
is equally valuable and important.
I do want you to turn,
so you can kind of put your eyes on this,
turn back in your Bible a little bit
to 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
Evident that the church in Corinth
was struggling in their relationships
with one another.
We know that from the recurring cautions
that Paul gives to the body of believers
and the reminders over and over again
of the factionalism
or the kind of divisive spirits
that seemed to have its place
in that congregation,
Paul would say,
hey, this ought not to be.
Now there in chapter 12, verse 1,
he says,
now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers,
I do not want you to be uninformed.
I want you to know the facts.
Very interestingly then,
when he begins with the subject,
he says,
you know that when you were pagans,
you were led astray to mute idols
however you were led.
Therefore, I want you to understand
that no one speaking in the Spirit of God
ever says Jesus is accursed
and no one can say Jesus is Lord
except in the Holy Spirit.
And so, kind of in a summary statement
at the very beginning,
and I think you understand this
about many forms of writing,
an author will usually tell you
what's being said at the beginning
and kind of an overview,
and that's what we're looking at here.
He then launches in
to explain this larger issue
of the gifting of the Spirit.
He says, listen, verse 4,
there are varieties of gifts
that has the same Spirit,
there are varieties of service
but the same Lord,
and there are varieties of activities
but it's the same God who empowers.
So we understand that every believer
is equally valuable and important.
Every believer is equally valuable
and important.
Secondly, I think it's fair to say
that there really are no duplicates
or unnecessary pieces.
I want you to think about that
just for a moment.
You're the only you
that God has ever or ever will make,
and He has a part for you to play
in His body,
and He intends for you to get to it.
I think that's important
for us to understand.
The fact that this matter
of spiritual gifts
is discussed four different times
in the Scriptures
indicates that it is of some importance
to the kingdom of God
and to the ministry
that He has called all of us
to be part of.
The fact of the matter is
is that in creating you
the way He has made you,
He has ordained for you
to take the characteristics
that you have
and the spiritual gifts
that you have
and put them into valuable utility
to the body of Christ.
I love the fact
that we really go after
a vacation Bible school
in a big way.
It's a blast to watch
as it kind of begins
to gain steam
somewhere back in,
when is it, Pastor Saul?
February, March,
we begin talking about it,
and people begin
getting geared up for it
and then we have
the artists go to work
and you know,
I am brain dead in that area.
A straight line
is pushing it for me
and they get over in the gym
and they take a whole week
putting the set together
and I read a little article
on the internet
about the fact
that those who are creative
like dark,
kind of muted lights,
I'm a bright light guy.
You know,
when we go to the restaurant,
I want to dial it up
so I can see the food
on the table.
Judith wants it very dark.
I'm suspicious about why
you know,
but God puts all kinds together
and when VBS is doing its thing,
all the parts matter.
I mean,
the artistic people
are doing their thing
and the musical people
are doing their thing
and the ones
who can really get fired
into teaching those Bible lessons
are doing their thing
and the organizational people,
I mean,
hey,
do you know for a fact
that every time
we have VBS now,
we pay attention
to who has allergies.
I don't have allergies,
never thought about
having allergies,
wouldn't imagine
that there are people
that are allergic
to dairy products,
allergic to this thing
and that thing
and there was a lady
who was coordinating
all of that,
aren't you glad?
God,
it's a good thing.
You know,
that's the body
doing its thing,
right?
And by the way,
when you say,
well,
I'm not going to do,
I'm not going to be part of that,
you know what,
God will find somebody else.
He does.
Is it a good thing
to mess with God
and say,
I'm not going to do my part?
No.
No,
don't do that.
Don't do that.
Because you have
that kind of attitude
and he'll say,
hey,
go ahead,
sit on the back bench.
I'll find someone else.
Not a good idea for you.
And,
you know,
we think about this business,
no duplicates,
no unnecessary parts.
God has a part
for you to play
and he wants you
to get involved in it.
And I got to tell you,
being part of his team
is far more important
than fishing
or playing ball.
I think it's important
for us to recognize.
We live in a day and age
where there are a lot of things
that take the place
and are a substitute
for the bride of Christ.
Now,
I've been there with you.
There are times
when the appointment
and divine call
that God has given to me
has been a little troublesome.
You know,
you may think
being a pastor
is all sweetness and light.
And it is.
I have said,
you have heard me say this
over and over again,
I have the best job
in the world.
I will tell you,
when I was called
as a little boy
about 12 years old,
I didn't want to do it.
And being the stubborn,
perverse spirit
that I am,
I didn't only say
I didn't want to do it,
but I acted like
I didn't want to do it.
And guess what he did?
He began
kind of choreographing
a lot of different details
in my life
that kept on
just kind of
putting the pressure on me
until I finally said,
yes, Lord.
And a couple different times
in the flow of ministering,
we're talking about
spiritual gifts
because God gifted me
to be a pastor.
It wasn't a career decision,
it was a calling.
There have been some times
where I have,
I've thought to myself,
I'm tired of doing this,
I want to quit
and go sell used cars
or something like that.
You know,
do something reasonable.
And that's when
the Spirit of God
kind of taps me
on the shoulder
and says,
Tim,
you're blood bought.
You're a friar tried.
You've been whacked
all over the place
by His grace.
He's put up with you
all these years.
What do you think
you're doing
thinking about quitting?
It's one thing
to sing that song
and by the way,
I love it.
His love never quits,
never gives up,
never runs out on me.
Do you like that one?
I love that one,
but it doesn't have
any heavy drum parts.
It's just,
I like the heavy drum parts,
I gotta admit it.
But you know what?
Listen to me.
It's one thing
to sing the song.
It's another thing
to show that you
understand that song
by hanging in there
when it's tough,
by staying the course
when ministry is hard,
when people have
broken your heart,
and when you see
the parts not
always fitting together
and you're frustrated
by that.
Lord, Lord, Lord,
help it not overwhelm me.
Well, look,
we're looking at that passage
in Ephesians,
and I want you
to recognize,
going back to the text
in Ephesians chapter 4,
that Paul is making
this statement
in the larger context
of, hey,
this is the body of Christ.
And so we need
to understand
that every believer
is given spiritual gifts
for his glory
and the bride's good.
Being gifted,
and every believer is,
every believer is,
being gifted is all
about his glory
and the good of others,
and I'll throw this in,
and your own connectedness.
I believe the matter
of his glory
and the good of others
is relatively easy to see.
You can understand that.
So let me just take
a little moment
to step over on the side
and touch on
one of the things
that I,
over the years of ministry,
and I've got 30 plus
of doing this now,
so I'm not a newbie to it,
but I've heard people
on various times say,
well, I'm not connecting,
or I have no friends,
or, you know,
things like that,
and one of the things
that comes to my mind
is this.
One is from the Proverbs.
Here's what it says,
and we all know it,
and you can say it
with your eyes closed.
If a man wants friends,
he must be friendly.
Well, I tried once.
Really?
You know?
There are a lot of you
who are married
sitting out here this morning,
and I tell you one thing
about marriage
is that I guarantee you
the first person
who said no to you
probably didn't end up
being your wife
or your husband.
You kept on pursuing.
If you want it bad enough,
guess what you're going to do?
You're going to make it happen.
Everybody said amen, right?
Say it loud.
I mean,
be ugly Baptists
about this thing.
Amen!
Okay, I'm sorry.
Amen!
No, thank you.
It's all right.
Some of you are in
for culture shock
when we get to heaven,
so if you want to have friends,
be a friend.
Okay, now listen
to the second point.
If you take the gifts
you've received
and invest them in the body,
connections happen.
If you take the gifts
you've received
and use them in the body,
connections happen.
Amen!
Listen to me.
If I walked home
this afternoon
and said,
listen,
I am done
being pastor.
I quit.
Your relationship
with me
would change.
For one,
because it would be,
everybody look up
and smile right at me,
look me in the eyes.
For one,
it would be
because that would be
tacit,
open,
rebellion
against the gifting
of God
in Tim Kenoyer's life.
Do you understand that?
Oh,
is Tim Kenoyer
a different kind
of saint than you?
And the answer is,
not on your life.
So if I was gifted
for your sake,
you were gifted
for our sake.
And you need to get
that in your mind.
Well,
I don't like
some of the people
that God has here.
You're one of them.
Well,
and I have trouble getting,
you know,
here's one of the things
I've come to realize.
The biggest problem
I have in life
is me.
And as I submit
and let God work at me,
I,
strangely enough,
get along better with you.
Well,
we are who we are
and have what we have
because of His sovereign grace
and purpose.
And we,
we're each individuals
uniquely created
and gifted by His grace
for His glory
and His good
and for the good of the body.
And so,
here's the point
of this truth.
Get with it
and do what you're gifted to do.
And so,
there's some of you
sitting out here saying,
well,
I don't know
what my gift is.
Here's,
here's what will be
the giveaway
of helping you find out
what your gift is.
Just show up and say,
what can I do?
I'll do anything.
What can I do?
I'll do anything.
And over a period of time,
God will use
your willingness
to be used
by the Spirit of God
to put you into
the slot
and place
He has for you.
You find people
who are always
walking around
and say,
well,
I have the gift
of administration
but nobody
lets me practice it.
There might be a reason
why they don't
let you practice it.
You're so full of yourself
that you want to run
the show
kind of like
the,
you know,
chief potentate
and God's interested
in those who are servants
not those who are,
you know,
slave masters.
You know,
you want to find out
what your gift is?
Get involved.
Well,
let's come to another part.
I don't know how much time
I have but I got plenty.
Here we go.
This is a very interesting
thing that happens.
You know,
verse 7,
Paul just kind of
hits the button
of spiritual gifts.
That's what he does.
And then he comes
towards the end
in verse 7.
Come on,
follow along with this issue.
He says,
but grace was given
to each of us
according to the measure
of Christ's gift.
And when Paul
is appointed
by the Spirit of God
to use that
C word,
which is what?
Christ?
Every time he thinks
about Jesus,
he launches.
Do you follow
what I mean by launches?
It's like,
ah,
this is about Jesus.
Well,
let me tell you
what I'm thinking
about right now.
And he steps off
in there.
Now,
by the way,
the Spirit of God
is leading him here
but it is interesting.
It's a little bit like
thinking about Jesus
just kind of
fires
Paul up.
Therefore,
it says,
when he ascended
on high,
he led a host
of captives
and he gave gifts
to men.
A little sidebar
on this
that I want
to be characteristic
of this fellowship
in the days to come.
I pray,
I do,
and I'm probably
overbearing
on the subject
a little bit
but when we think
about things,
I want us to think
about things textually.
Do you follow that?
That's what Paul
does here.
He stops
and he gets
bumped with this
idea of Christ
and then he
connects it
to a passage
in the Old Testament.
So,
kind of for the sake
of practice,
when we're singing,
what do I want you
to do?
What does God
want you to do?
He wants you
to cross-reference
songs with what?
With Scripture.
He wants you
to cross-reference
everything you do
and every thought
you have
against the text
of Scripture.
Amen?
And one of the things
I've said
is the characteristic
of a growing believer
is that the gap
between when he thinks
the thought
and when the Scripture
comes to his aid,
the narrowing
of that gap
is an indication
of his progressive
sanctification.
Would you agree
with that?
And so,
you can sit there
and say,
how am I doing
to growing?
Well,
I sit there
and talk to myself.
Tim,
that's a dumb idea.
That's not good.
The Holy Spirit
is not obligated
to use my self-talk.
Do you understand that?
The Holy Spirit
is obligated
to use the Spirit of God
and the Word of God
to do the job.
So,
when I say to myself,
here's what the text
says about Tim,
this is what the Bible says.
It's like,
oh,
I got that.
That's how you get there.
So,
we have Paul
thinks about Jesus
and then launches in
and he has this thought
that makes it very clear
that we are gifted
because of his victory.
Why is it
that Jesus has the right
to give us gifts?
We find there
in verses 8,
9,
and 10
a very clear exposition
of the fact
that the reason
we have the gifts
that we have
is because Christ
is the one
who has won
the victory for us.
Now,
Paul could have spoken
in this case
about gifts
without getting
into the Old Testament,
but it's an illustration
that when we think
about things,
we think scripturally,
we think about
something in the Scriptures
that affirm
and confirm a matter.
And so,
what Paul is doing
in this case
is he is relying
upon a victory psalm
that David wrote
over in Psalm 68.
We're not going
to look at it
in detail
because I don't think
it has primary bearing
on where we are
this morning,
but I want you
to understand
that he takes
that passage
from Psalm 68
and particularly
verse 18,
which Paul uses here,
and he uses it
to reference
what was an ancient practice.
When a king
had been victorious
in battle,
he walked into
his city
with his soldiers
in the victory march,
but he also walked in
with the pile of loot
and booty.
How many of you
understand?
In the old days,
you didn't carry
a MasterCard.
Whatever you owned
when you were going away
on a long trip,
what you didn't need
to leave behind
for your wife and fam,
you took with you.
And so,
when there was a battle
and there was a victory,
the one who,
have you ever heard
the statement,
to the victor go the spoils?
You guys are well-versed.
History is something
you understand.
To the victor go the spoils.
And so,
into the city
would come striding
the victorious king,
and behind him
would come his soldiers
marching along,
you know,
and they're showing
their battle wounds,
and hey,
we won.
And right behind
would come ox cart
after ox cart loaded
with, you know,
gold cups
and bags of coins,
and the king
in his generosity
would walk into town
and he would throw
those things
at his subjects.
It was his right.
And Paul says,
let me tell you something.
When he ascended
on high,
he led a host
of captives,
and he gave gifts
to men.
Now,
we look at this passage
in verse 9.
It says,
in saying he ascended,
what does it mean
but that he had also
descended
to the lower regions?
It's interesting
to read
the diversity
of speculations
on this passage.
And I do call
them speculations
because there is
no clear indication
in the scripture
of what is meant.
Some have
fancied
that this refers
to Christ's descent
into the grave
and his rising
in the resurrection.
Others have
understood
this to mean
that Christ
descended into hell
during his three days
in the grave,
and there are
some very animated
disputes
over what
this passage
actually means.
And animated
disputes generally
are over passages
where there isn't
a clear and
definitive
understanding.
I would
believe
that this is
talking simply
about the words
themselves
and are
relatively clear.
It says there
that he descended
and he ascended.
And I think
that refers to
our Lord Jesus
coming here to earth
and going up again.
In broad terms,
I do want to take
advantage of this
kind of
difficult passage
to lay out
a couple principles
of scriptural
interpretation
so you can do
that on your own.
And that's my purpose.
Listen,
let me make this point.
We understand
that scripture
is understandable.
Would you agree
with that?
God gave us
his word
for the average
person
to understand it.
Agreed?
You don't
have to be
ordained,
stamped on the
head,
to have a little
extra spiritual
insight so I can
automatically,
I don't know
what this means
but let me ask
the pastor.
No, no, no.
Get it yourself.
God means for you
to get it yourself.
That's the reason
that evangelicals
have been such
advocates for
reading
and for
having your own
Bible
and translation.
God intends
for us to
understand it.
So here are a
couple principles
for Bible
interpretation.
Number one,
rely on scripture
to interpret
scripture using
the actual
vocabulary and
grammar of the
text.
You want to
understand what's
being said?
Look in the
Bible.
Don't ever say,
well I was having
difficulty with this
pastor and I went
to pastor and he
explained it to me
and I don't know
how he got there
but he explained it.
And so the pastor
said it's not a good
answer to what you
believe about the
Bible.
Everybody said what?
Amen.
Okay.
Number two,
here's a little
ditty.
If the plain sense
makes good sense,
seek no other sense.
I'll say that slowly.
If the plain sense
makes good sense,
seek no other sense.
In other words,
if it's obvious,
stick with what's
obvious.
I'm not into
kind of getting
things all wigged
out here on
the side.
And by the way,
I was a literature
major.
I can do that
left-handed.
But the Bible
is designed
for clarity.
Okay?
And so Paul,
in this passage,
I think in simple
terms,
is lifting up
the glory of
Christ by
pointing out
his humiliation
and then pointing
out his
ascension.
And the Savior
who gives us
salvation
salvation and
our gifts
is the same
one who
was willing
to be humiliated
and die for us
and rise again.
And it follows
then that the
same Jesus
who was willing
to humble himself
even to death
on the cross
and be our
sin bearer,
understandably,
should be exalted.
Now,
I want you to turn
with me just over
to another passage
just for a second.
Colossians chapter 2
verse 13 through 15.
Colossians chapter 2
verse 13 through 15.
As you think about
what is being said
here at the end
of Ephesians
chapter 4
verse 10
where it talks about
that he would fill
all in all.
Listen to what it says
there in Colossians
chapter 2.
And you who were
dead in your trespasses
and the uncircumcision
of your flesh
God made alive
together with him
having forgiven us
all of our trespasses.
Hey,
how much of your sin
does God remember still?
None.
There is now therefore
what?
No condemnation.
And listen to me carefully.
I will sin tomorrow.
But Christ has already
satisfied my debt
and the reality
of my sin
has been covered
by his blood
and I am forever
cleansed
and righteous
in his eyes.
You want to know
why I love Jesus?
It's because
he did it all.
He did it all.
verse 13.
And you who were
dead in your
trespasses
and the uncircumcision
of your flesh
God made alive
together with him
having forgiven us
all our trespasses
by canceling
the record
of the debt
that stood against us
with its legal demands
and this he set aside
nailing it
on the cross.
Now,
that's an image
I like.
How many of you
have ever paid off
a car?
Raise your hands.
What comes in the mail
when you get your
car paid off?
A title.
That's a big thing
even if the thing
has 190,000 miles
on it.
It's yours.
It's not yours
in the bank.
Right?
That's a good feeling.
Better than the title
that comes in the mail
is what this verse
is describing.
In the ancient culture
a debtor
was someone
who could be
thrown in prison
who could be mistreated
and abused
for his debt.
And when a debt
was canceled
the record
of that canceled debt
was taken
and nailed
in a public place
so everybody knew
he's not a debtor
anymore.
And what this says
is that Jesus
took the record
of your sins
and he put it
on the cross
and he nailed it there.
He said paid,
paid, paid, paid,
paid in full.
And so I want you
to recognize
that when he came
down to this earth
and he bowed down
upon the cross
and he took the burden
of our sins
and he died
and suffered
in our place
and rose again
in triumph
and purchased
our redemption
and he has the right
to call us
to be his servants.
Doesn't he?
He does.
And you have no business
Now let me say that again
this way.
I have no business
being gifted
by the Spirit of God
and being worked on
all these years
I have no right
to say
well I don't like
working here anymore.
That would be
profoundly selfish
and actually
it would be
retrograde spirituality.
What do I mean
by retrograde spirituality?
Backsliding.
Do you understand that?
If I can't pull that off
with righteousness
can anybody
who's part of the body
of Christ
and the bride of Christ
do that?
And what's the answer?
No!
And Paul argues
Paul argues
for believers
being invested
in the bride
of Christ.
So here's my
practical questions
as I close.
What you doing?
You're gifted.
What you doing?
Here's another question.
Do you know him?
You can't go to work
if you don't know him.
If you're not part
of his family
if you're not part
of the team
you don't ride the bus.
Years ago
I coached soccer
and providentially
I learned something
if you have the horses
you can win the races.
Now that's a little
tricky statement
for the fact
that we did fairly well.
We did real well.
I can't take a lot
of credit for it
because we had the horses.
And you know what?
Riding on the team bus
was a real...
We went 18-1-1
one year.
We were a little school
of about 300.
We actually went
to the state playoffs
in North Carolina.
And riding on that bus
was kind of like
being in the kingdom.
I mean it was really...
We got fired up going.
We got fired up coming.
And every time
we came back
to the school
to let out
there was a crowd
there to greet us.
And when we were
making the last turn
coming in towards
where the crowd
was waiting for us
that bus was rocking.
Here's what we were singing.
Na-na-na-na.
We were doing that.
And the bus
was just like booming.
It was really weird.
Nobody rode that bus
but the team.
Do you follow me?
I'll tell you
if I had looked around
I was a coach.
If I'd looked around
on that team
and I'd seen some
of the grumpy faces
sitting out there
I don't happen
to like Steve Smith
even though
he's our only goalie.
It's just that
he's got a bad heart.
And I don't happen
to like Gary Hall
because I just
don't like him.
Whack!
What's your problem?
We're part of this
team together, right?
You got me?
I've often said
I want one thing
written on my grave
and that would be this
what sayeth the scriptures?
I'll add another one.
I loved the bride
of Christ.
I want that remembered.
This passage
is about the bride
of Christ.
Let's close
as John comes.
As John is coming
we're going to sing
together this morning.
I don't know
let's stand together
would you please?
And I got to tell you
that the purpose
of preaching
is not to entertain you
but it's to put you
on the spot
of saying yes or no
to God.
And there may be
some of you here
that need Christ
as your personal savior.
I don't know your soul.
That's not my business.
But today
we've been talking
about the family of God
we've been talking
about the church
and it may be
that you're sitting here
saying man
I don't know him.
I don't want you
to leave here
without coming to Christ.
And that is
a profoundly humbling thing
because the gospel
first of all
makes it clear
that we are sinners
condemned before
a holy God.
And the gospel
tells us
that Christ came
to die for our sins.
and the gospel
tells us
that whosoever
calls upon the name
of the Lord
shall be saved.
That's humbling.
There may be
some of you here
that truth of the matter
is there is a lot
of spiritual turmoil
there's some bitterness
there's some dissatisfaction
you found yourself
being drawn away
from being part
of what God is doing
you've given in.
God says stop it.
You can take care
of that where you sit.
Or you can humble yourself
and say
God's dealing with me
I want God's people
who are part of the family
to know
I rededicate myself
to the bride of Christ
until he comes
and takes me home.
I'm with it.
There may be
somebody here
that need Christ
you come forward
you may be here
and you need someone
to pray with you
you come as John leads us
as we sing.
You're ending us
ending us