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Invited to the Party: Parables Week 1
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In this message from Ephesians 5:21-33, Pastor Steve teaches on how both submission and sacrifice in marriage serve as symbols of the relationship between Jesus and his church. At its best, marriage points us to the sacrificial love of Christ and is itself empowered by the sacrificial love of Christ.
Compare and contrast a baseball and a pen. Kinda a weird comparison right? In Ephesians 5, the Apostle Paul makes a similarly odd comparison: being drunk vs. being filled with the Spirit. In this message from Ephesians 5:15-21, Pastor Steve looks at how those who are awake in Christ are invited to celebrate in such a way that the world around us can't quite understand because we celebrate in anticipation of the coming of the New Creation in Christ and the eternal celebration it will bring.
In Ephesians 5:1-15, Paul calls us to "awake, o sleeper." Those who are sleepwalking 1) walk in impurity, 2) walk in darkness, and 3) walk in foolishness. But those who are awake in Christ 1) walk in love, 2) walk in light, and 3) walk in wisdom.
In Luke 14:12-24, Jesus tells the story of a master throwing a party and sending his servant to invite guests to his party. Because the servant knew how great the party is going to be and how good his master is, he invites people in. While some decline, the "others" joyfully receive the invitation into the master's home.
Ephesians 4:25-32 calls us to a maturity, empowered by the Holy Spirit, that:
Replaces Falsehood with Truth (v. 25)
Replaces Anger with Forgiveness (v 26-27)
Replaces Stealing with Giving (v. 28)
Replaces Corrupting Words with Words of Grace and Encouragement (v. 29)
Where the light is gone, there may Christ be born. In our first Christmas as a new congregation, we consider the great promise that Jesus came not into a world that had it all together, but into the midst of sadness and sorrow, brokenness and hurting.
Pastor Steve invites us to walk the Grace Walk, not the Futile Walk. The Futile Walk is marked by living as the old self. The Worthy Walk means living as the new self. And The Grace Walk is that worthy walk of living in light of the cross.
Guest preacher Paul Martin looks at the first part of Ephesians 4 and highlights four crucial truths:
1) All of us are called to be growing in spiritual maturity.
2) The work of ministry belongs to all of us, not just the leaders. In fact, the job of the leaders in a church is to equip everyone to serve.
3) All of us need someone who is discipling us to help us grow as a follower of Jesus.
4) All of us are called to disciple someone and help that person grow as a follower of Jesus.
Pastor Steve looks at the prayer of Paul over the church in Ephesus... and over us today. In that prayer we see: God’s great plan of salvation fills us with his Spirit, fixes us in his love, and flows out of us in doxology.
The mystery of the gospel is that it is for all people, bringing with it both the riches of the inheritance in Christ and suffering. In this message, Pastor Steve looks at:
1) The posture of the mystery - a right view of oneself.
2) The people of the mystery - a gospel for all nations.
3) The proclaimers of the mystery - the place of the church.
4) The promise of the mystery - the invitation of Christ in both riches and suffering.
5) The priority of the mystery - the glory of God.
The two most beautiful words in the Bible: “But God.” Our salvation rests not in what we have done but in the work of God to intercede and redeem us.
In our sin, we were:
dead
disobedient
depraved
doomed.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us...(Eph 2:4) Because God intervened to save us, we have
a new status (alive in Christ) and
a new identity (God's workmanship).
In our second message in Ephesians, we see that God is sovereignly in control and he is working all things for his glory and for our good. God's sovereign control is seen in that
1) Jesus is above all powers and rulers in this world.
2) Jesus is above the church.
So we can rejoice that God is sovereignly in control because when he is (which is all the time), he receives the glory and he is working it for our good, even better than we could have ourselves!
The book of Ephesians serves as a beautiful blueprint for the new church he is making us into as New Creation Church. In this first message of the series, we see that:
1) Salvation is Triune - involving Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
2) God is the actor in salvation - it is he who initiates and accomplishes our salvation and we are the recipients of that saving work of God.
3) God deserves all the glory for our salvation.