One year from now, you'll wish you began today.
Either you change or your life stays the same.
At some point, pain becomes the purpose.
Nobody cares. Work harder, start today.
Get up, rise and grind. Be relentless.
Are you feeling motivated yet? These are all common sayings or
phrases that get repeated in many motivational videos.
You you see these videos online, whether it's fitness, business,
or self improvement. A lot of them, they share the
same structure or these same tropes.
If you've watched any of these videos, you'll probably quickly
pick up on the similarities. They'll start with an emotional
hook and dramatic music and then they introduce the problem,
something that's wrong with modern people.
Then comes the pivot, the identity change.
You'll hear phrases like winners don't do what winners do what
losers won't. The then following there's a
montage of people running, working late, early sunrises.
And there comes the call to responsibility and
self-reliance. This lone wolf mentality, alone
in the gym, alone studying, alone suffering.
And then finally, it's a call to action, something more to do.
And to be honest, it's a pretty good structure.
I watched a few of these videos for examples, and by the end of
it I was amped up to start living my best life.
Now, not really. But in honesty, I'm not hating
on motivational videos. I think they have their place.
But a better question is why do they work or why don't they
work? I think part of the reason that
they do work is because most of the good advice that they give,
they borrow from scripture. But even beyond that, these
videos attempt to make you feel worthy of something that you are
not. In my current condition, I am
not worthy to win a marathon race, but after watching a few
motivational videos, I sure feel like I am.
Which therefore I believe it. There lies attention.
Many of these videos contain a genuinely good idea and like I
mentioned, even things you'll find in Scripture like the
importance of discipline, responsibility, and
perseverance. But many of these videos, they
also move toward a performance based identity or an obsession
with personal achievements or viewing rest as a weakness.
And these are all things that the Bible speaks against.
As Christians, we're not always going to feel motivated.
And if we go online, the overwhelming attitude of these
videos seem to be they seem to give the message that real
Christians, they're always crushing it spiritually.
But as a Christian, you'll know that's not the case.
There are times of doubt and fear.
And in particular, there are times when you simply feel
unworthy to be saved by Jesus. Times when you wonder, why would
Jesus save me? If you will, please open your
Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3. What I don't want to do this
morning is give a motivational speech on why you're good
enough. I don't think that alone is
sufficient, but what I do want to do is I want to look at the
1st 13 verses of chapter 3 to attempt to answer the question,
what do we do when we feel unworthy?
And so with that as our backdrop, let's read Ephesians
chapter 3 verse 1 to 13. For this reason, I, Paul, a
prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming
that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that
was given to me for you, How the mystery was made known to me by
revelation, as I have written briefly.
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the
mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men
and other generations, as it has now been revealed to His holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,
members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in
Christ Jesus. Through the gospel of this
gospel I was made a minister 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.
This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the
plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all
things, so that through the Church the manifold wisdom of
God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities and
the heavenly places. This was according to the
eternal purpose that He has realized in Christ Jesus our
Lord, and 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.
In the previous weeks, we've been going through the book of
Ephesians and we've seen Paul. He lays out this foundation of
theology. Paul writes about knowing and
living in the identity of who you are in Christ.
And specifically he talks about the blessings in Christ, both
for the individual believer and for the body of believers.
And last week we heard how through Christ, though through
Christ, those who are far off from Christ have been brought
near the Christ has broken down the dividing wall and reconciled
us to God the Father. In this passage today, Paul is
still laying on that foundation while taking a bit of a step
back to explain his own mission. In all of this, we see in the
passage Paul admitting that he doesn't consider himself worthy
to preach, but it has been given the tasks to do so.
Paul doesn't give a motivational speech on five things to do to
become worthy, but instead I believe he provides areas of
grace for what to do when you feel unworthy.
Ultimately, when we feel unworthy of the cost, we must
accept that Jesus paid the price.
By myself, I am unworthy. By yourself, you are unworthy.
But through Jesus, we are accepted.
We don't become worthy because of what we do.
We are accepted because of what Jesus did.
And so when we feel unworthy to be saved by Jesus, we must
acknowledge our identity in Christ.
We must act as a servant of Christ, and we must approach the
throne of Christ to combat. To combat this feeling of being
unworthy, we must first and foremost acknowledge our
identity in Christ. This is important because as I
just mentioned, that by ourselves, without Christ, we
would be unworthy to be saved. And so it's not helpful to
pretend that we aren't sinners or that we have some kind of
merit to make us worthy. We must start with the truth of
our old identity, that we were sinners in need of a Savior.
And when we start with that, it provides the proper appreciation
for our new identity. It helps us see the need for
Jesus and appreciate the price that he paid.
This passage starts off by Paul. He gives an identity statement.
He says for this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ, prisoner
of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, Paul called himself a
prisoner of Christ Jesus. And this could take a double
meaning. For one, he was an actual
prisoner on house arrest in Rome when he was writing this to the
church in Ephesus. And because of his boldness for
the faith and out of fear for their own traditions, the Jews
had Paul arrested and through many trials Paul would end up in
Rome. Ironically, what they were
accusing Paul of was bringing Greeks into the temple and
defiling the holy place. This was not true, but it
foreshadows what Paul reveals in this passage about the Gentiles
being brought into the body. Many of the Jewish leaders.
They were also concerned about their identity, but their
identity was wrapped up in their good works, not in the good
works of Jesus. By calling himself a prisoner of
Christ, Paul is also saying that he has surrendered his life for
the sake of Christ, not that he is being kept against his will,
but that he is primarily concerned with spreading the
gospel, particularly to the Gentiles.
Remember the previous verses that Pastor Jake spoke on last
Sunday? Paul talks about how Jesus
removed the dividing wall and that those who are far off from
Christ have been brought near. And Paul says for this reason he
is a prisoner of Christ. On multiple occasions in the
book of Acts, God calls Paul to bring the message of the gospel
to the Gentiles. Paul and Barnabas speaking to
the Jews in Acts 13. They say it was necessary that
the word of God be spoken first to you, since you thrusted aside
and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life.
Behold, we are turning to the Gentiles, for so the Lord has
commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the
Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the
earth. Paul finds his identity not as
someone who is bound to his own will, but as someone who is
bound to the will of God. In First Corinthians 9, Paul
surrenders his own rights and effort that the gospel may be
brought to more people. He says, For if I preach the
gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting, for necessity is
laid upon me. Woe to me if I don't preach the
gospel. Paul leans into this identity in
Christ. He doesn't focus on himself.
He admits that he can't even boast about his identity because
it has been laid upon him similar.
Similarly, as Christians we should take the same approach.
Our new identity is something given to us by Jesus.
We each have a role to fill in this king in the Kingdom of God.
And Paul elaborates on this continuing at verse 2.
He says, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of
God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was
made known to me by revelation. As I have written briefly, when
you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of
Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men and other
generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles
and prophets by the Spirit. Paul states that his identity as
a prisoner of Christ and as a steward of Christ stewardship
here, that means management. What Paul is saying is that he
is not the one who came up with this message or who owns it, but
rather that he is simply managing it.
He's managing what has been given to him.
It's not a message to it's not his message to change or to
alter to better suit him. And he writes it has been given
to him for the benefit of the Gentiles.
Again, not claiming his own identity to be great, but that
it was revealed to him through revelation.
Paul is acknowledging his identity in Christ by stating
that it was the Holy Spirit that revealed these things to him.
In verse 4, Paul is basically saying based on what you've seen
so far, see for yourself the insight that I have been given.
He's not arguing to prove that he has greater knowledge because
he's more special, but that the insight he has written about to
this point has been given to him.
Verse 5 Paul says there was not made known in previous
generations as it has been made made now, made known now.
It's mentioned in the Old Testament when God tells Abraham
that all nations will be blessed through him, and Isaiah speaks
of the Gentiles coming to the light, but it had not been made
as clear as it had now through Paul and the other apostles.
Paul could have thought much of himself for possessing this
knowledge, but he doesn't do that.
He focuses on his task of being a steward of the gospel, and
this should give us an example to follow.
When we feel unworthy about what we've been given, we can
reflect, internalize, and analyze until our head spins
about why we've been given grace.
But I think what Paul is exemplifying is that a better
use of your time is not to overthink your position and and
rather focus on stewarding what you have been given.
Steward the gift of grace well so that others can also hear of
Jesus and believe. Manage what you have been given
to the glory of the one who has given it.
And verse 6, Paul gets to the heart of his message.
He has stated his identity as a prisoner of Christ and as a
steward of Christ, and now he lays out the identity of all who
trust in Christ as heirs of Christ, Verse 6 reads.
The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the
same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through
the Gospel. Paul saying that the Gentiles,
they're fellow members of the same body and this was
blasphemous for the Jewish leaders to hear.
Remember, this was the reason the Jewish leaders had him
arrested in the temple. They falsely accused him of
telling Jews to forsake their heritage.
But inwardly they were proud and they hated that Paul preached
things like we read last week in Ephesians 2 where we're all one
in Christ. The Jewish leaders held on to
their identity as morally superior, while Paul
acknowledged his identity in Jesus as being one in Christ.
He says the Gentiles are now fellow heirs, that they share
the inheritance of God's people, that they are members of the
same body belonging equally to Christ's global church, and that
they are partakers of the promise, sharing in the
blessings that Jesus brings and forgiveness and reconciliation
to God and receiving the Holy Spirit and adoption and
ultimately an eternal life for those that believe.
And that applies to us today as well.
When we feel unworthy to be saved, we must remember our
identity in Christ, that we are prisoners of Christ, stewards of
Christ, and heirs of Christ. Through the gospel, through the
good news of Jesus, our identity is secure in him.
When you first meet someone you haven't met before, what do you
normally do? You give them a brief overview
of who you are, right? Hi, my name is Joel.
I work at so and so. My parents are such and such.
I live in this town. In other words, you give them a
part of your identity. Maybe you try to say as little
as possible in hopes that you won't have to talk too long, but
normally you at least give them your name.
And as nervous as you may be to talk to a stranger, I don't
think anyone has ever questioned is if they feel worthy to tell
the person they are meeting their own name.
Why not? I mean, it sounds kind of crazy,
but who are you to say what your name is?
Who are you to claim that identity?
You didn't give yourself that name.
It was given to you, and now you're just going to tell people
about it. In the movie Gladiator, the main
character is fighting in this arena, and the emperor demands
to know his name. This is the same emperor that
has killed this main character's family.
And in dramatic fashion, the gladiator turns to the emperor
and says, my name is Maximus Decimus Boridius, commander of
the armies of the north, general of the Felix Legions, loyal
servant to the emperor, the true Emperor Marcus Aurelius, father
to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife.
And I will have my vengeance in this life or the next.
Now, that's just a fictional movie.
I'm not condoning the movie or the vengeance part of it.
But what I think the scene portrays well is the confidence
of the gladiator in his identity.
Not as a slave, not as a meager gladiator, but as a loyal
servant. His identity, as it were, is
rooted in allegiance to someone else and something greater than
himself. I wonder how our attitudes would
change if every time someone would ask us who we were, we
would answer them with My name is Joel Guisbrecht, prisoner and
steward of Christ, fellow heir, member of the body, and partaker
of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.
Nice to meet you. You might not talk much more to
them. They might turn around and run.
But obviously I say that in jest.
But the point is that our identity should be found in
Christ. When we feel unworthy to be
saved by Jesus, it's often because we're still holding on
to that old self, that part of our life that we feel ashamed
of, that part of our life that we wish we could redo.
But because our identity is in Christ, we don't need to hold on
to that former life. In Galatians 2, Paul says, I've
been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives in me and the life that I now live in the
flesh. I live by faith in the Son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Christ gave himself so that we could be presented justified to
the Father. When we feel unworthy, we must
acknowledge our identity in the risen Christ.
And when we acknowledge our identity in Christ, we must then
act as a servant of Christ. Feelings don't always tell us
the truth and anxiety it lives for the what ifs.
But one of the best anecdotes to anxiety is action.
When we feel unworthy to be saved by Jesus, we can start
going down the rabbit trail of what ifs.
We are told by Paul in Second Corinthians to examine ourselves
to see if we were in the faith. But if we have done that, then
as we just saw, we need to. We need to rest in that new
identity that we have in Christ. Rest doesn't mean do nothing
though. Just like you don't buy a new
pair of shoes and you leave them in the closet, we must proceed
to act as a servant of Christ. Paul is a servant of Christ and
from his writing we can observe what attributes of a servant of
Christ should be. In verse 7, Paul continues.
He says of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the
gift of God's grace which was given to me by the working of
his power. That word minister or diaconos
is where we get the term Deacon. Paul is saying that he was made
a servant, A Deacon if you will, according to the gift of God's
grace which was given to him by the working of God's power.
Paul is not taking credit for this ministry and he's also,
he's not shying away from it. He calls it a gift.
We can see one of the attributes of being a servant of Christ is
humility. In Paul's eyes it is a gift to
be a servant of Christ, not a burden placed on him, and also
at the same time not something which he uses to make himself
seem more important. One definition for a Deacon is a
leader or a servant in the church who is committed to serve
God through meeting the needs of the church, characterized by a
personality of humility and self sacrifice.
Here at LEMC this coming Saturday, we're going to be
voting on new deacons to serve the church body.
It's a big responsibility and it requires sacrifice.
And so I want to encourage you to pray for John and Katie
Friesen and Lisa Giesbrecht this week as well As for LEMC that
God's will will be done here as a church body.
Deacons, They serve others, but more importantly, they serve
God. In Ephesians 1, Paul uses the
word church to refer to all believers and he says that the
church is the body of Christ. So serving the church means
serving Christ. Those two aren't separate things
and serving others with humility.
You are acting as a servant of Christ.
Paul continues in verse 8 through 9.
He says to me, though I am the very least of all the Saints.
This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the
plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all
things Paul. Again he shows humility, saying
that he is the very least of the Saints.
Although by this point Paul has done many miraculous things, he
still considers himself no better than anyone else.
If there was someone that could boast about himself, it would be
Paul. He was highly educated,
intelligent, expert in Jewish law, a Roman citizen by birth,
teacher, missionary, mentor and author.
But even with all those accolades, Paul does not claim
them as a reason for his revelation or for the revelation
that was given to him. He says this grace was given to
me, not earned. I don't think Paul felt unworthy
of his position out of a sense of doubt, but I think he
correctly understood the position he was in relative to
Christ. Paul admits in a letter to
Timothy that he was formerly A blasphemer, A persecutor, and an
opponent to God, but that doesn't stop him from being
faithful now. And that's important for us to
see as well, that even though he is humble and he claims that he
is the least of the Saints, he's also faithful with what he has
been given, whether which is another attribute we see as a
servant of Christ. A servant of Christ is faithful.
Unlike the parable of the lazy servant who takes the talent he
has received and he buries it and does nothing with it.
Paul doesn't do that. He is faithful with what he has
been, with what has been revealed to him, and he goes and
shares it to the Gentiles. The Scriptures The scriptures
say that that he has been given the gift of preaching the
unsearchable riches of Christ and to share the plan that God
has in store for all people. Can you imagine if Paul wasn't
faithful with that message? Of course, God being God, he
would have still gotten the message out through another way,
but it would have been a big missed opportunity for Paul.
Acting as a servant of Christ means being faithful with what
we have been given. It also means being an example
for other people. In verse 10, Paul says so that
through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made
known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
places. Part of the reason for the
mystery being revealed is that Jews and Gentiles would be
converted and become jointly become joint members of the body
of Christ and therefore grow the church.
This is an example for those looking on of God's power and
grace that different people groups can come together and be
united under Christ. That word manifold, that means
many sided or greatly different colors.
It's the same root word that was used in the Greek translation
when it refers to Joseph's coat of many colors that was given to
him by Jacob. And like the many colors of that
coat, the church reflects the many parts of the body of
Christ. John Stott, he puts it this way.
He says the church as a multiracial, multicultural
community is like a beautiful tapestry.
Its members come from a wide range of colorful backgrounds.
As servants of Christ, we are an example not only to other
people, but even to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
places. In other words, to the angelic
beings. The angelic beings are not like
God and that they know all things, but that as Peter puts
that they long to look on what is being revealed through
Christ. And so God's plan and his wisdom
are not known by the angels, but revealed to them by the church
itself. There's no other human
institution or community that can replace or replicate what
God has created in His church. In Acts chapter 2, God confirms
His plan for the church by sending the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit comes down with power and a mighty rushing wind
and empowers the believers to speak in different languages.
But beyond that, the role of the Spirit would be to be the
presence of Jesus in the lives of believers.
Historically, Pentecost was known as the Feast of Weeks, and
it was also tied to get the giving of the law to Moses on
Mount Sinai. But for Christians today,
Pentecost is a celebration of the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit and the start of God's universal church.
God has ordained for believers, under the guidance of the
Spirit, to act as servants of Christ.
And shortly after the events on the day of Pentecost, we see the
formation of the office of Deacon as servants for the body
of Christ. But being a servant of Christ is
not reserved for deacons only. It's a responsibility of every
believer. Servants of Christ need to be
humble, they need to be faithful, and they need to be
good examples. But what does it actually look
like to be a servant of Christ? One way is to serve the church.
Remember, when you serve the church, you are serving Christ.
So serve using your talents that you have been given.
Be faithful with the abilities and strengths that God has given
you. Don't write those off.
I think something that often gets in the way of us serving is
not real humility, but false humility.
What's the first thing we do when someone gives us a
compliment? Oh, that's nothing.
Anyone can do that I that were that didn't really require much
work. It's uncomfortable because we
don't feel like we're worthy of that compliment.
But when we realize that every good gift comes from God and by
His grace He has given it to us, then we don't need to worry
about our worth because the gifting isn't tied to us, it
comes from God. Everyone has different talents
and abilities. We're not all going to play the
guitar well or lead a Bible study well, but we do need to be
faithful with what we have been given.
Your gifting is what comes easiest to you or what others
say you do well, so be receptive to the trusted input of the
believers around you. To be a follower of Jesus is to
serve Jesus and the church and acting as a servant of Christ in
humility and faithfulness. We don't need to worry if we are
worthy because it is God that has given us the gift through
his grace. And so when we feel unworthy to
be saved by Jesus, we acknowledge our identity in
Christ, we act as a servant of Christ, and just as importantly,
we approach the throne of Christ.
Let's continue reading verses 11 to 13.
This was according to the eternal purpose that He has
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. This plan of God to bring all
people together in Christ was not something that He came up
with on the fly. Paul says that it was God's
eternal purpose, something that he something that from the
beginning of time God had planned to accomplish through
Christ. I heard one commentator mention
that the Jewish people, they knew the scriptures well.
They knew that in multiple areas of the Old Testament where it
speaks of God blessing all nations.
But they suppose that it would be through everyone converting
to Judaism that the only way non Jewish people would become saved
was by becoming Jewish and following their strict rules and
traditions. But this mystery, it was hidden
from them. It was hidden from Abraham and
Isaiah, and it was only now revealed to Paul and the
apostles. When we feel unworthy or
insignificant, we remember the mean that the means of our
salvation rests in God's eternal purpose.
It wasn't random, it wasn't accidental, it was on purpose
for a purpose. And Paul reveals that because of
this former mystery that has now been revealed, that through the
plan God had from the beginning of time, we can now approach
Christ with confidence and with courage.
Verse 12 says in Jesus, whom we have boldness and access with
confidence, what an amazing God we serve, that He is not far
off, but that He is accessible to His people by His Son through
faith in Him. We can be bold then when
approaching God. We don't need to be scared of
God as someone that is just waiting to strike us down, but
as a loving Father who wants His children to come to Him.
Obviously we still need to show proper reverence and honor, but
we have freedom to bring all our cares, our doubts and our
worries to Him. We have access to the Father
through the Son. As we heard last week, the
dividing wall is torn down. We don't need any other
intercessors. Jesus is now our High Priest.
We can enter into God's presence knowing that we are, knowing
that we are unworthy, but trusting in the worthiness of
Christ. And we have confidence in Jesus,
knowing that Jesus was the fulfillment of God's plan from
before time, that although we may feel unworthy to come near
God, we have confidence that he will not turn us away.
I have a 2 year old son at home now and I tell you it's got to
be one of the coolest things watching him grow up.
This week in particular, he was pretty happy when I came home
and one day I opened the door and he's just running and
shouting and out of joy to see me, which was really cool in
itself. But he jumps into my arms and he
boldly and with confidence he says daddy go mow the lawn.
He loves riding the lawn mower with me and that moment he
didn't feel unworthy to be my son.
Although he can do nothing for me that I can't do myself, he
knows that I'm his dad. He knows that I love him.
And so he boldly approaches me and he has confidence that he
has access to me. And he's right.
His worth is he's his worth. As my son isn't based on what he
can do for me. How much more than should we not
have confidence to approach the throne of Christ?
Jesus talks about a similar thing in Matthew 7.
He says, if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your Father who is in
heaven give good things to those who ask him?
This ties back to where our identity lies.
If our identity is as a child of God, then our worth comes from
Christ and we can approach His throne with confidence.
We can also approach His throne with courage.
Paul says to those in Ephesus to not lose heart, that even though
Paul was stuck suffering in prison, he commends them to take
heart, to have courage. This was part of God's plan.
Paul being in prison and writing the many letters he did was all
part of God's plan. Paul says that his tribulations
are for the Gentiles, for their glory, which is a hard thing to
reconcile. How can suffering be glory for
other people? But Paul doesn't want the church
to become discouraged or to turn away from Jesus.
It would be easy to do so in the midst of suffering.
But Paul reassures them that even this is part of God's plan.
He didn't want his present suffering to cause the church to
fear. So he says, take heart, approach
God with courage, because even through suffering, God will work
out his plan. What does that mean for us?
One thing we know is that we are not immune to suffering.
The that suffering for Christ isn't a question of if, but
when. And when we do, we can have
confidence that we can approach Christ in prayer boldly and
present our requests, that we can share our deepest worries
and our fears. And he hears them and he cares
about them. It's not just a ritual to feel
better or a life hack. The act of praying to God is a
real and important discipline. And this means that we can have
courage in this life, that God's eternal purpose will be worked
out and we get to be a part of it.
I struggled to say the phrase God has a purpose for your life
because unfortunately it's very common with Christian jargon and
I believe it's lost a bit of its oomph because of how often it's
overused. But it's not just an idiom we
say to make us feel warm and fuzzy inside.
It's a scriptural truth that we are here for a purpose.
Remember, we are examples and image bearers of God.
To the angelic beings, that alone is already a meaningful
purpose. And so when the feeling of
unworthiness comes, when you feel like you aren't worth
serving in the Kingdom, bring those feelings to Christ in
prayer. Tell them your insecurities and
your shortcomings, confess your sins and repent of them.
And then focus on Christ. Focus on the work he has done,
focus on His worthiness. And in Thanksgiving, go boldly
forward with confidence and courage, knowing that you are a
part of God's eternal plan. At the beginning I mentioned I
didn't want to simply give a motivational speech on why
you're good enough or on why you're worthy enough.
See, the difference between most motivational speeches and the
proper exposition of Scripture is that the motivational videos
and speeches, they focus on you. It's all about doing more, doing
better. What we see from Scripture that
is not about your works, as someone put it, you are saved by
works, just not yours. You're saved by Jesus work.
I don't know where you are at with your in your walk with
Jesus, but maybe you're struggling with assurance.
Maybe you feel like Jesus could never accept a Sinner like you.
You may feel like you don't do enough for Jesus.
You don't know enough about Jesus, so why would he take you?
In the Gospel of John Chapter 9, we find the story of Jesus and
his disciples coming across a man that's been blind since
birth and the disciples assuming someone must have sinned for
this to happen, either the man or his parents.
And they asked Jesus, but Jesus corrects them.
He says that this man's blindness, it's not a
punishment, but instead it's an opportunity for God's power to
be displayed. Jesus then restores the sight of
this blind man to the astonishment of the people.
They even begin to debate if this man is really the same man
that they had seen used to sit and beg.
And when they asked him how he was healed, he says the man
called Jesus healed him. The religious leaders and
Pharisees, they start investigating this miracle
because Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath.
And some are angry because they believe Jesus broke their
Sabbath rule, while others ask how can a man who is a Sinner do
such a thing. They question the healed man
multiple times and even bring him to his parents, confirm that
this man really was born blind. And at first the healed man says
the man called Jesus healed him. And then he says Jesus is a
prophet. And finally, when the Pharisees
keep pressing him, basically interrogating him and telling
him that Jesus is a Sinner, that Jesus is a Sinner, the healed
man, he gives this reply. He says whether he is a Sinner,
I do not know. One thing I do know that though
I was blind. Now I see, you see, the former
blind man, he didn't know all the facts and the reasonings
behind what Jesus did. He didn't know why Jesus came to
him in particular on that Sabbath.
He didn't have any reason for Jesus to heal him.
And if you could ask him, I'm sure he didn't feel worthy to be
healed. But when asked by the leaders of
that day, he gave him the honest answer.
He said I was blind, but now I see.
And the man goes on to tell the leaders that Jesus must be God
because if he wasn't, he couldn't do the miracles that he
was doing. This makes the Pharisees
furious. And they say to him, you were
born in utter sin, and would you teach us?
And they proceed to throw the healed man out of the synagogue.
The Pharisees, in their pride, they couldn't accept that this
lowly man had knowledge that they did not possess.
They couldn't grasp the mystery that was in front of them.
They told the man that he was born in sin.
And to a certain degree they were right in so far as we're
all born in sin. But that wasn't his final
identity, Jesus. When Jesus approaches him after
the Pharisees questions, Jesus reveals who he is to this man,
and the man believes and he worships Jesus, the healed man.
The healed man's new identity was in Jesus.
He was now acting as a servant of Christ and had confidence in
Christ. Though he wasn't worthy to be
saved, Jesus showed compassion and saved him.
But maybe you're here today and you've never taken that step of
faith in Christ. Maybe you're feeling like you
don't deserve grace, that you don't deserve to be saved.
Well, the truth is that you don't deserve it, and neither do
I, and neither does any other Christian.
But grace is being given something that you don't
deserve, and that's what Jesus is offering you.
He's offering you grace when you repent of your sins and turn to
Him in faith. If you continue to put it off
until you perfectly understand it, you will never reach it.
Faith is more than intellectual agreement.
And lastly, I want to encourage you here this morning.
If you're feeling unworthy, look to Jesus.
He is worthy. We don't need 7 steps to get to
Jesus. There's nothing we can do to add
to our salvation. If you have trusted in Jesus for
your salvation, you have a new identity, you have a new purpose
as a servant of Christ, and you have access to the One who knows
you better than you know yourself.
Let's pray. I want to close in prayer from
Psalm 51. Create in me and clean heart, oh
God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Your presence and take not your Holy
Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your
salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for sending Your Son to
bring us into relationship with You.
That the mystery is no longer hidden, but that we are
partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
I pray that we will live in the light of your grace to not let
our feelings control us, but to acknowledge our identity in
Christ, To act as a servant of Christ and boldly approach the
throne of Christ by ourselves. We are not worthy, but we thank
you that Jesus is. It's in his name we pray.
Amen.