1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome to the River City Church podcast and a message by our 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,960 lead pastor Jason Powers. Our prayer is that this message 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,240 would inspire and encourage you, build your faith and point you 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,840 to the life changing love of Jesus. 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,680 May you enjoy the goodness of God as you follow Him today. 6 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,080 Good morning everybody. My name is Johnny Griffiths. 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:24,480 If you've not met me before, I am a volunteer member of the 8 00:00:24,480 --> 00:00:28,560 teaching team here at River City and my family and I have been 9 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:33,120 here since about 3 years ago. And it's a joy this morning to 10 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:37,240 be the one who gets to kick off our new series in the book of 11 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:40,480 Ephesians. Pastor Jason mentioned sort of 12 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:43,160 been passing out in the lobby, I think towards the end of last 13 00:00:43,160 --> 00:00:45,080 year, hey, I'm thinking about teaching Ephesians. 14 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,600 And I had a don't throw me into the briar patch kind of moment. 15 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:52,600 And he very graciously welcomed me to be a part of the 16 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:55,280 preparation and the teaching of this book. 17 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,960 Before we dive in, there is something that we do as a 18 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:03,600 community. It's a marker of who we are that 19 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,440 almost every week we tell the truth about ourselves. 20 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,120 It's our confession. It's a two-part call and 21 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:17,760 response which encapsulates the story of our life this side of 22 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:22,120 the age to come. It's a recognition that we are 23 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:27,880 entirely, completely loved by a good and gracious and holy God 24 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,600 and that we are not yet as we will be. 25 00:01:32,080 --> 00:01:33,320 It's something that we say together. 26 00:01:33,320 --> 00:01:35,600 And if your first time here today, I invite you to read 27 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:37,760 along with us. I'm going to say the first part 28 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:40,000 and then we all say the second part together. 29 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,880 OK Church, this is who we are. We are badly broken. 30 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:47,840 We are deeply loved. Yes, yes, we are. 31 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:55,520 Ephesians, this is a letter that takes up 6 chapters in your New 32 00:01:55,520 --> 00:01:59,640 Testament. It is a letter that we'll get a 33 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:02,720 little history on in a moment here. 34 00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:07,320 It is a letter that has transformed people, which we 35 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,680 will hear a little bit about. And it is my hope and our hope 36 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:16,160 that as we spend 14 weeks Sunday by Sunday, studying through 37 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:21,280 this, all of us will also have transformation moments in the 38 00:02:21,280 --> 00:02:24,760 way of Jesus. And so talking about Jesus, let 39 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:32,480 me ask you a question. When did you last behold Jesus? 40 00:02:35,040 --> 00:02:39,480 When did you last have an encounter with His Majesty and 41 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:44,280 mystery and love that stopped you in your tracks? 42 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:50,320 Maybe the kind of encounter that caused tears to well up, either 43 00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,960 in repentance or in deep joy and gratitude, or in all of those 44 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:59,360 things together, to behold Jesus is more than merely to see some 45 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:04,960 information about Him. When did you last behold Him? 46 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:10,080 Hold that question as we continue into this. 47 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:12,280 Now, a little bit of background for you. 48 00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:17,960 What Scott read for us is a short section of Acts 19 and a 49 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,720 sort of overview of the birth of the church in Ephesus happens in 50 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,880 Acts 18 through 20. And what we got was a little 51 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:29,720 snapshot of really the first formation of disciples in the 52 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,680 way of Jesus and Paul's ministry there. 53 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:35,760 But it wasn't his first visit. Paul had been there almost a 54 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:39,400 decade earlier on the way through, left a couple of people 55 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:41,880 there who knew Jesus and went on his journey. 56 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,080 He then came back to find as we heard some people that had heard 57 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,000 some stuff about Jesus and have been baptized into John's 58 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,480 baptism but didn't really fully understand the gospel message. 59 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:57,800 He then spent years with them forming them in the ways and the 60 00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:01,040 teachings and the person of Jesus. 61 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:06,080 Now this letter, little pro tip for you, the today's going to be 62 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,800 a bit more kind of teaching and might have some more classroom 63 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,280 style vibe to it. I hope you can roll with me for 64 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:13,080 that will set us up for things to come. 65 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:20,640 But what you have is a copy in an English translation of a 66 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:23,600 letter, for which we have various manuscript copies. 67 00:04:23,600 --> 00:04:25,840 This is the formation of the Bible. 68 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:30,320 These books that we hold as the word of God aren't magic. 69 00:04:30,520 --> 00:04:33,600 They didn't just mysteriously appear in different languages 70 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:38,280 around the world in the perfect form of only God has touched 71 00:04:38,280 --> 00:04:41,280 this. Human beings were involved in 72 00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:45,440 the process of writing down the message and the words that God 73 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:50,120 wanted us, His church, to have, and he guarded that message. 74 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,480 And we can be confident in these texts for many, many reasons, 75 00:04:54,680 --> 00:04:57,520 but they are historical documents first and foremost. 76 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,400 You got to hold that these were written by people that weren't 77 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:04,320 us, in a place that wasn't here, in a time that wasn't now. 78 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,160 And in the transference of those documents, sometimes things 79 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,000 happen. So we have this letter to the 80 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:14,320 Ephesians, but if you read more than one commentary, you're 81 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,280 going to run into a bit of a problem. 82 00:05:16,280 --> 00:05:18,800 So if you want to have no problems with your theological 83 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,880 study in life, read 1 commentary and only one and you'll be fine. 84 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:26,840 But if you mean read more than one, you find that humans have 85 00:05:26,840 --> 00:05:29,440 different perspectives. Some people think that this 86 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:34,520 letter wasn't written by Paul and wasn't written to the 87 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:36,720 Ephesians. And I want to tell you that not 88 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,960 to trouble you, but to let you know that there is study you can 89 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:44,240 do to dig into these things. I've read a lot of commentaries. 90 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:46,280 I took that for the team. You're welcome. 91 00:05:46,280 --> 00:05:50,160 All right. I am actually convinced from the 92 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:53,520 arguments and from the text that Paul wrote this, and I think he 93 00:05:53,520 --> 00:05:56,640 wrote it somewhere around 6162 AD. 94 00:05:56,840 --> 00:06:00,680 And from the text we see the Paul was writing it from prison. 95 00:06:01,200 --> 00:06:04,160 He was a prisoner for the Lord as he penned these words. 96 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,320 And some people think that he was possibly in Rome at the time 97 00:06:07,320 --> 00:06:09,760 in prison when he penned this letter. 98 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:11,400 And then what about the audience? 99 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:14,760 The, the, the text that we're going to read says to the Saints 100 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:18,080 who are at Ephesus, but the earliest manuscripts don't have 101 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,760 the words at Ephesus. So is it to them or is it not? 102 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:26,200 Well, the letter itself, if it was written only to the 103 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,480 Ephesians, would be a bit confusing because it's slightly 104 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:32,040 impersonal. But we've seen Paul has spent a 105 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:35,360 significant amount of time with these people. 106 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:40,480 The best understanding that I found about this letter is it 107 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:43,240 was a circular. It was written to travel around 108 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,680 multiple churches in Western Asia, one of them being the 109 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:51,960 churches at Ephesus, and Ephesus was a significant place. 110 00:06:51,960 --> 00:06:56,400 More on a in a moment on that, but most likely because of the 111 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,760 deep personal relationship and because of the commercial status 112 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:04,800 and cultural status of a city like Ephesus, that the church 113 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:09,040 made a copy for their own records in Ephesus and just put 114 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:12,080 in Ephesus so that when they read it, which was the practice 115 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:14,920 of the churches, they knew. This is addressed to us. 116 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:19,280 It's also addressed to others. So for the sake of this study, 117 00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:23,360 in these next 14 weeks, we're going to focus on this letter in 118 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:27,080 the context of Ephesus. Just know it probably went to 119 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,160 other churches in the region as well, and that the manuscript 120 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,040 that we're reading is valid and authoritative and good. 121 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,200 OK, everyone, good. Seven of you are good. 122 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:40,400 I'm very glad about you. If you could spread the word, 123 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:46,080 we'll be fine. Ephesus was known as the first 124 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:52,360 and greatest metropolis of Asia. It was a crossroads of land and 125 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,560 sea routes. It had vast commercial and 126 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:59,360 cultural, military and economic importance. 127 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,600 It wasn't the capital of the Roman Empire, but it was 128 00:08:02,600 --> 00:08:05,320 extremely significant. We've got one of those handy 129 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,920 dandy artist renditions of the city of Ephesus to go up on the 130 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:10,840 screen here for you. And you might look at it and 131 00:08:10,840 --> 00:08:14,040 think, well, that doesn't look like very much, but it had some 132 00:08:14,040 --> 00:08:17,280 significant architectural features that have been 133 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,760 discovered, including a large theater and the Temple of 134 00:08:20,760 --> 00:08:23,840 Artemis. It was an established and 135 00:08:23,840 --> 00:08:26,760 beautiful city. And during Paul's lifetime, the 136 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:30,920 population would have been around 200,000 people. 137 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:35,480 So bigger than here, right? 200,000 It was only exceeded at 138 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:39,799 the time by Rome and Alexandria. Ephesus mattered. 139 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,880 And if you start reading your New Testament looking for 140 00:08:42,960 --> 00:08:45,360 Ephesus, Ephesus is going to pop up a whole bunch. 141 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,480 Let me tell you, it's going to be an act. 142 00:08:47,800 --> 00:08:51,680 It's right here in Ephesians. It's in first and second 143 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:54,040 Timothy. It's in Revelation. 144 00:08:54,560 --> 00:08:59,840 It was an important place. And in this important place, 145 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,720 they've discovered now by archaeology, a massive Ephesian 146 00:09:03,720 --> 00:09:06,920 theater that looks like this next picture up here. 147 00:09:07,520 --> 00:09:10,760 And this was likely the site of the huge commotion and the 148 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:14,640 protest against Paul by the silversmiths of Ephesus that you 149 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:19,840 can read about in Acts 19. It's big by ancient standards. 150 00:09:19,840 --> 00:09:22,760 You might look at that and be like, man, ain't no Pro Football 151 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:24,880 team playing in that thing. And you're right because they've 152 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:29,160 only got half of a field. But this would have been a place 153 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,480 of of culture and of games and of learning and of debate. 154 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:40,560 It was a significant place, but more so than that, Ephesus was 155 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:45,440 the home of the famous temple to Artemis in Roman pantheon Diana. 156 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,280 It was situated on the northeastern edge of the city. 157 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:52,200 And it was one of the wonders of the ancient world, which 158 00:09:52,560 --> 00:09:55,880 scholars NT Wright and Michael Byrd say was an icon of Ephesus. 159 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:59,480 In the same way that London is known by the Big by Big Ben and 160 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,760 Sydney is known by the Opera House, right? 161 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:04,440 Those things that people just know. 162 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:06,960 Oh, yeah, Ephesus. I know that it's got that big 163 00:10:06,960 --> 00:10:10,280 temple to Artemis, right? That's Ephesus. 164 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:15,240 But what about this letter? You could read it every single 165 00:10:15,240 --> 00:10:18,280 week before we're done with this study. 166 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:21,960 Read it 14 times, and it's not going to take you that much time 167 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:24,960 a week to read it. And yet it has the power to 168 00:10:24,960 --> 00:10:28,800 transform as God's Spirit is at work through His word. 169 00:10:29,760 --> 00:10:33,960 Tom Wright, who's NT right just by a common pseudonym in his 170 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,600 Paul for Everyone, says that the letter to the Ephesians stands 171 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,400 in relation to the rest of Paul's letters, rather like the 172 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:42,480 London Eye. It isn't the longest or fullest 173 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:46,000 of his writings, but it offers a breathtaking view of the entire 174 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:49,880 landscape. To continue on a roll of quoting 175 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:53,240 British people, John Stott says it was John Calvin's favorite 176 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:55,680 letter. Armitage Robinson called it the 177 00:10:55,680 --> 00:10:59,640 crown of Saint Paul's writings. William Berkeley quotes Samuel 178 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:03,600 Taylor Coleridge's assessment of it as the divinest composition 179 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,920 of man, and then adds his own dictum that it is the Queen of 180 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:12,640 the Epistles. Church history holds up this 181 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:19,640 small letter of as worthy of our close attention because of who 182 00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:24,560 it tells about, because of who we are in light of the teachings 183 00:11:24,560 --> 00:11:27,280 in here. So this week, I'm trying to 184 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:30,800 paint kind of a big picture and give some scaffolding for us as 185 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:36,040 we spend these next 3 1/2 months studying this book and some of 186 00:11:36,040 --> 00:11:39,480 the key themes that are kind of come up, a lot of them next week 187 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,560 and the week after. You're welcome, Pastor Jason, 188 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:43,840 you can have that rambly long sentence. 189 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:49,640 Include things like identity and authority, unity not just 190 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:53,080 amongst the body, but unity between the heavens and the 191 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:58,520 earth, themes of the ages. When do we live? 192 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:01,640 Do we live now? Do we live in the age to come? 193 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,520 Do we live in both? Stay tuned. 194 00:12:05,520 --> 00:12:08,840 Themes of faithful living faithful living in the household 195 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,760 of God, Faithful living in our social relationships, in our 196 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:16,920 family dynamics, in our relation to government and politics and 197 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:20,760 civic entities in relation to neighboring countries. 198 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:25,800 Faithful living in light of the powers and principalities. 199 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:32,600 If you hold what would actually be called a secular humanist 200 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:34,960 worldview, which I'm sure you would all outright say you 201 00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:37,360 don't. But if you did hold such a 202 00:12:37,360 --> 00:12:40,720 thing, Paul's teachings are going to rub you the wrong way. 203 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,760 Because Paul, along with the majority of the rest of the 204 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:48,280 world, believes there's more going on than we can touch and 205 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:51,400 see. More going on than a science lab 206 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,520 alone can prove He's going to talk about these powers and 207 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,320 principalities. But one of the key themes, and 208 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,040 it's a word that only shows up a couple of times in the text, but 209 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,320 is throughout. And it's why our series is 210 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,680 called Apocalypse Now. That fill you with a little bit 211 00:13:07,680 --> 00:13:09,760 of anxiety. Like, oh, boy, are we finally 212 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,320 going off the deep end? Like we navigated a series on 213 00:13:12,320 --> 00:13:15,560 Revelation and we didn't go weird and crazy. 214 00:13:15,560 --> 00:13:19,440 Is this the moment? We're not going weird and crazy? 215 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,360 And here's why, because of what this word actually means in the 216 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,680 original text, apocalypse and mystery seem to go hand in hand 217 00:13:27,680 --> 00:13:31,840 in Paul's thinking and writing. And I want to recommend a 218 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:34,480 resource to you. bibleproject.com is a great 219 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,480 website for digging into the scriptures and the wholeness of 220 00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:39,640 them. They have a classroom feature, 221 00:13:39,640 --> 00:13:41,400 which I did the class on Ephesians. 222 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:43,160 It's free. It's wonderful. 223 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:46,840 If you're like 14 weeks isn't enough, Johnny, I need more. 224 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:50,640 Go sign up for this class. It's really, really good and 225 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,160 it's going to open up some areas of study and understanding for 226 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:56,840 you. In their notes on this word, the 227 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:01,400 Greek word apocalypsis means to uncover or reveal literally and 228 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,640 metaphorically. And they say that Ephesians 229 00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:09,200 summarizes the most important apocalyptic event in history, 230 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:13,160 Jesus life, death, and resurrection, as well as the 231 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:16,600 gifts of the Spirit. They break it down at chapters 232 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,840 one through 3 of Ephesians cover how to understand the apocalypse 233 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:25,120 of Jesus, and chapters 4 through 6 talk about how to respond to 234 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,960 the apocalypse of Jesus, how to understand it, and how to 235 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:33,480 respond to this apocalypse. And along with apocalypse, we 236 00:14:33,480 --> 00:14:35,680 have this word mystery in the Greek mysterion. 237 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:38,040 You can see how we jumped real far from the Greek to the 238 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:43,120 English right mystery, which to you might conjure up ideas of 239 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,880 something which is like hard to know and you can't see it and 240 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:48,360 it's hidden and veiled and I just don't know what's going on. 241 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,280 But in this context, mystery is specifically more like what 242 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,800 Leslie New Begin calls an open secret. 243 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:01,400 It's something hidden that has now been made known. 244 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:06,640 Something hidden that has now been made known. 245 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,520 So I brought a visual aid thanks to Ricky and the team for 246 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:12,080 helping me out and getting this set up. 247 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:15,560 You may have been wondering like what is under here? 248 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:18,280 Why does Johnny have two tables? Who does he think he is? 249 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:20,440 Is it because he's British and he thinks he can just can't 250 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,160 commandeer more tables? Maybe. 251 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:27,320 But you don't know what's under here. 252 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,960 I'm assuming I do know. But actually it's covered. 253 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,560 I I mean, like, I could have a trick played on me right now. 254 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:40,280 The apocalypse is the unveiling. The apocalypse is the moment 255 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,120 that I do that. Yeah. 256 00:15:45,080 --> 00:15:50,080 The mystery is the content of what is in here. 257 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:53,760 Now, this box says doughnuts all over it. 258 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:58,960 You might assume that there are doughnuts inside of this box and 259 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,920 you would be accurate. There are doughnuts right here. 260 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:07,040 And this is a little testing moment of your bravery, I 261 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:10,760 suppose, or your hunger. But I'm just going to sit that 262 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:15,240 bad boy right there and you're welcome to a doughnut. 263 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:17,400 You can have a doughnut for real. 264 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:19,400 It's like I'm not going to point you out and be like there you 265 00:16:19,400 --> 00:16:21,880 are getting a doughnut. If you want a doughnut, please 266 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:23,360 have one. They're available. 267 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:30,200 Here's the thing by sight, you see that there's doughnuts here, 268 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:32,080 right? I see some people wanting some 269 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:33,440 doughnuts. I put these in the wrong place. 270 00:16:33,440 --> 00:16:38,240 Excuse me just a second. Maybe an adult would take those 271 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,320 from me and pass them to children that are like, I 272 00:16:40,320 --> 00:16:42,920 really, really want a doughnut. You're welcome, kids. 273 00:16:44,120 --> 00:16:48,400 And here's the thing that those kids know, eating a doughnut is 274 00:16:48,400 --> 00:16:50,840 not the same as looking at a doughnut. 275 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,520 When was the last time that you beheld Jesus? 276 00:16:57,120 --> 00:17:00,280 Not so that you looked at him objectively at a distance, but 277 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,600 that you tasted and saw that He is good, right? 278 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:07,680 Can't just look at the doughnuts, people. 279 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:12,359 You've got to eat the doughnuts. Apocalypse has this weird vibe 280 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:16,200 that goes on in our own lives. It's not just a religious word. 281 00:17:16,200 --> 00:17:18,200 It happens in our life. I want to tell you a couple of 282 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:21,560 quick stories here. The start of 2025 was brutal for 283 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,680 me. I got I heard on January 16th 284 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,200 from my sister that my my mom in England, who I'd not long before 285 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:31,360 moved into a care home, was very, very unwell. 286 00:17:31,720 --> 00:17:34,840 And so on the same day I packed a bag, got on a plane and flew 287 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,320 to England. I got two days with my mom 288 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,240 before she passed. I'm so thankful for those days. 289 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,160 Hold your loved ones close, OK? Just hold them close. 290 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,440 I went through the process of all of the preparations for the 291 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,320 funeral and gathering family together. 292 00:17:49,320 --> 00:17:51,200 And my, my father has Alzheimer's. 293 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,400 So you can only imagine, I'm sure, what that process is like 294 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,360 to walk your father who has Alzheimer's through the, the 295 00:17:58,360 --> 00:18:02,480 funeral of his beloved. We got through it because God is 296 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,040 kind and gracious and there's a lot of humans in the world that 297 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:07,560 we're close with that helped us through that season. 298 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:10,680 And I was stood after the service. 299 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:14,320 We gathered a few people at the care home to have some some 300 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:16,960 sandwiches and snacks and bits of British food scattered 301 00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:18,000 around. Picture what you want. 302 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,560 If it's scones and cream, go for it. 303 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,080 They sadly weren't there, but they should have been there, 304 00:18:22,080 --> 00:18:27,640 right? My cousin Nick came up to me and 305 00:18:28,920 --> 00:18:32,160 when he came up to me, he, he just, we were just talking, 306 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,160 reminiscing, telling stories. And he said, Johnny, I really 307 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:37,160 love that season where you lived with us. 308 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,920 Like the whole room just sort of faded. 309 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,800 I just said, Nick, you're going to have to tell me. 310 00:18:45,360 --> 00:18:48,080 What do you mean? Oh, after you were born, your 311 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,960 mom wasn't well, I knew that Cesarean section in 1981 is not 312 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,360 the same as AC section today. Recovery time is longer. 313 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,960 I also had recently, in the last year or two, found out that my 314 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:03,680 mom struggled with postpartum depression again 1981. 315 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:05,400 It's not the same thing as it is now. 316 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:08,040 And so she was carrying a lot of shame and struggle. 317 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:11,760 My dad had to go back to work and it turns out I spent some of 318 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:14,960 my first months living at my aunt's house with my cousin 319 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:18,480 Nick, delighted to have a baby brother essentially in the 320 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,360 house. I did not know this. 321 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,680 I had an apocalypse over a ham sandwich. 322 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:27,640 Looking at my cousin. Right. 323 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:30,680 Sometimes apocalypse is a big. Sometimes they're a little 324 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,520 smaller. Like the time I recently had a 325 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:37,560 family member with me and her kids and we'd gone to the 326 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,480 library that just moved here. Gone to the library, hit HEB on 327 00:19:40,480 --> 00:19:43,360 the way back, did some shopping. I'm loading my groceries into 328 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:45,560 the trunk of my car. My sister-in-law is loading her 329 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:50,320 groceries in, and she hangs them onto hooks that I swear didn't 330 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:56,000 exist previously. Somehow, between entering HEB 331 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:59,800 and coming out of HEB, they've been communication with Honda, 332 00:19:59,800 --> 00:20:02,560 who had quickly engineered these handy little hooks. 333 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,200 I didn't know they were there, let alone what they were for, 334 00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,360 but once I'd seen it, I couldn't Unsee it. 335 00:20:09,360 --> 00:20:11,600 You better believe my eggs. Hang on, those bad boys. 336 00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:17,280 Now, with an apocalypse, once you've seen it, once you've 337 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,560 heard it, you can't go back. It changes your understanding of 338 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,720 the past. You, it changes your experience 339 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,960 of the present and it changes your actions moving forwards. 340 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:32,440 And it requires a deep humility, A teachability that says, I 341 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:36,040 don't have it all figured out and I'm willing to change. 342 00:20:36,680 --> 00:20:41,080 It's the feeling of the plot twist, but it's your life. 343 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,680 Quoting John, start again. He says many readers have been 344 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:49,520 brought to faith and stirred to good works by the message of 345 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,880 Ephesians. One search was John McKay, 346 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,400 former president of Princeton Theological Seminary. 347 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:58,720 To this book I owe my life, he wrote. 348 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:02,240 He went on to explain how in July 19 O3. 349 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,640 As a lad of 14, he experienced through reading Ephesians A 350 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:09,880 boyish rapture in the highland hills and made a passionate 351 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,640 protestation to Jesus Christ among the rocks in the 352 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:15,200 Starlight. Here is his own account of what 353 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:20,480 happened to him. I saw a new world. 354 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,280 Everything was new. I had a new outlook, new 355 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,640 experiences, new attitudes to other people. 356 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,160 I loved God. Jesus Christ became the center 357 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:36,680 of everything. I'd been quickened. 358 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:43,760 I was really alive. When was the last time you 359 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:51,920 beheld Jesus? See Jesus, people are post 360 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:55,720 apocalyptic. So actually another question to 361 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,480 consider that's like the first I asked, is this, when did you 362 00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:05,840 first see Jesus? Do you remember the moment when 363 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:10,440 sight gave way to faith and you knew that he was the Lord? 364 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:16,440 See, both Paul and the Ephesian church are post apocalyptic, and 365 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,720 we tend to import our ideas of the apocalypse from contemporary 366 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:21,480 movies, right? And if it's post apocalyptic, 367 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:25,000 we're dealing with Terminated Judgement Day and we're dealing 368 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,480 with the Book of Eli, and we're dealing with Hunger Games, and 369 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,120 we're dealing with all these narratives. 370 00:22:29,120 --> 00:22:31,880 And there might be a few zombies running around in there as well, 371 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:33,160 right? We're dealing with all these 372 00:22:33,160 --> 00:22:36,520 narratives that depict a world that has completely fallen apart 373 00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:39,680 and the few shraggly survivors who are left trying to eke out 374 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,120 an existence in the barren wasteland of life. 375 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:47,640 That's what we think it means. Jesus people are truly post 376 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:50,840 apocalyptic. Everything is different because 377 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,480 of an encounter, a first encounter with Jesus. 378 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,800 Paul. He wasn't known as Paul at 379 00:22:57,800 --> 00:22:59,440 first. He was known as Saul and he was 380 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,240 one of the Super elite up and coming loud voices. 381 00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:06,480 Get it done. Keep the purity of Israel, 382 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:10,600 Jewish people. And if you read about him in 383 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:15,600 Acts and especially historian Acts 9, you see this remarkable 384 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:18,960 transformation. Saul is on his way to Damascus 385 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,200 to persecute the church. That's his job that day woke up, 386 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:28,400 got got washed and dressed, but on my robes said my Shema, and 387 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,320 I'm going to go kill me. Some Christians, right? 388 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:36,840 That's the job for the day. And on the road on the way down 389 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:42,360 there, the risen Jesus encounters him, and Saul is 390 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:45,840 knocked from his horse and knocked from his arguments and 391 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:50,440 knocked from his way of seeing so that he cannot see the world 392 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,600 actually at all to begin with. He's blind. 393 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:58,360 He's LED into the city, and he's there for a few days until some 394 00:23:58,360 --> 00:24:01,480 guy who was like Jesus, I don't want to go to him because he's 395 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,120 here to kill Christians. And if you notice, I am one of 396 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:05,840 your people. And I don't think that's a hot 397 00:24:05,840 --> 00:24:07,320 mix. OK, let's not do it. 398 00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:09,720 And God was like, no match. Let's do it. 399 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:11,400 Go. I want you to go and talk to him 400 00:24:11,480 --> 00:24:14,160 and tell him the truth. And when Ananias goes and speaks 401 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,840 the truth and prays for him, scales literally fall from Pauls 402 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:23,000 eyes and he sees Paul is post apocalyptic. 403 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:26,480 The Ephesian church is post apocalyptic. 404 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,360 They have this moment initially in Acts 18 where they sort of 405 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:32,040 hear some of the message, but it's not quite all clear. 406 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:35,200 And then Paul comes and explains the way more clearly and they 407 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,960 are baptized. And not only are they baptized, 408 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,600 if you keep reading, they do some weird stuff like they take 409 00:24:40,600 --> 00:24:42,920 magic books, right? Because we've all got a stack of 410 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:44,560 those hiding around somewhere, right? 411 00:24:44,720 --> 00:24:47,640 There was a really famous one, the Ephesus grammator. 412 00:24:47,640 --> 00:24:51,360 It's like a historically famous form of magic. 413 00:24:51,480 --> 00:24:56,640 They took their books and they he burned them because they were 414 00:24:56,640 --> 00:24:59,600 post apocalyptic. They couldn't go back to seeing 415 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:02,680 how they'd seen Wright and Bird again. 416 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:04,000 Say. Paul's powerful ministry in 417 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:05,840 Ephesus had three immediate results. 418 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,480 A split in the synagogue community leading to continuing 419 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,240 opposition. The burning of magical scrolls 420 00:25:12,240 --> 00:25:15,760 by many who in a strong local tradition had practiced various 421 00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:18,800 kinds of sorcery. A decline in the worship of the 422 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,880 goddess Artemis. This last caused trouble with 423 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,160 the local silbersmiths whose livelihood focused on making and 424 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:29,440 selling Artemis related idols. Do you think you just walked 425 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:32,560 into like the MCU or something? You're like, what is going on? 426 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:37,520 There's sorcery and there's gods and idols and things happening. 427 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,520 Maybe there's more going on in the world than comfortable 428 00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:46,720 western worldview things. Maybe there's more going on in 429 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:52,600 your life behind the scenes than you've realized, but the 430 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:55,880 Ephesian citizens were radically changed by Jesus. 431 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,560 And however, if we jumped forward to the revelation as 432 00:25:59,760 --> 00:26:06,160 given to John, Revelation 2, one through 7 to the Angel of the 433 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,080 church in Ephesus, right? The one who holds the seven 434 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,200 stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden 435 00:26:12,200 --> 00:26:15,320 lampstands, say this. I know your deeds and your labor 436 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,360 and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil people. 437 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:21,320 And you have put those who call themselves apostles to the test, 438 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,560 and they are not. And you found them to be false. 439 00:26:23,760 --> 00:26:26,960 And you have perseverance and have endured on account of my 440 00:26:26,960 --> 00:26:31,120 name and have not become weary. And we're like, yeah, love this 441 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:32,560 report on me. It's great. 442 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:38,520 But I have this against you. You've left your first love, 443 00:26:38,920 --> 00:26:41,560 therefore remember from where you've fallen and repent and do 444 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:43,400 the deeds. You did it first or else I'm 445 00:26:43,400 --> 00:26:46,880 coming to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place 446 00:26:46,880 --> 00:26:49,880 unless you repent. And he goes on to a few more 447 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,160 details. But what happened between Acts 448 00:26:53,160 --> 00:27:00,240 20 and this radical saw Jesus changed my whole life. 449 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:06,040 And some 30 years later Jesus is like hey I see the things you're 450 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,600 doing but where's your heart? Where's your heart? 451 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,720 You don't love like you used to love. 452 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:20,400 Repent Jesus. People must be apocalyptical. 453 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:24,360 I don't think I made that word up but I am stretching its 454 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:26,280 meaning. OK. 455 00:27:27,120 --> 00:27:33,880 Because what I mean is 2 things. Firstly, you must be a people. 456 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:39,960 We must be a people who have an ongoing real encounter with 457 00:27:40,360 --> 00:27:44,080 Jesus that we see and keep on seeing. 458 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:46,200 Why? So that you can be 459 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:50,360 apocalyptical, meaning that you can be a revelation to the 460 00:27:50,360 --> 00:27:54,880 culture around you of the love and the goodness of Jesus. 461 00:27:54,920 --> 00:28:00,200 So when did you last see him and we need an apocalypse. 462 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:04,320 We need fresh eyes to see the beauty and the majesty of Jesus 463 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:07,600 and the love of God from which we can truly live. 464 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,120 We need an apocalypse and we need it now. 465 00:28:11,120 --> 00:28:14,320 So every week I invitation for you and it's on the notes as 466 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:18,880 well is to look for and capture and insight a fresh bread. 467 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:23,720 Today's stuff about Jesus, His church, the Kingdom, this age, 468 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,440 and the age to come. Make those notes and share them. 469 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,560 Talk with each other about these apocalypses. 470 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:33,320 Now we're going to go to the text of Ephesians and you'll be 471 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,760 very glad to know, based probably on the time here, that 472 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:39,560 we're only doing 2 verses. You'd be amazed how long I can 473 00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:41,480 take on 2 verses, but I'm going to be quick. 474 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,800 So let's hear the opening of the letter that we have known as the 475 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,760 Letter to the Ephesians. I'm reading from the NASB. 476 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:50,960 Couple of points for you. We're going to have our public 477 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,640 readings from a version like the New Living Translation or the 478 00:28:53,640 --> 00:28:55,800 Message, because those are good to hear. 479 00:28:55,960 --> 00:28:59,000 But we're teaching from the NASB so that we actually capture some 480 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,800 of the Pew peculiarity of the language. 481 00:29:02,040 --> 00:29:05,720 Specifically, this is the 2020 setting of the NASB. 482 00:29:05,760 --> 00:29:12,320 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 2 the Saints 483 00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,240 who are at Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus. 484 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:20,560 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 485 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,080 Christ. That's our text. 486 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:26,640 You might think, well, that's just like dear Ephesus, Why are 487 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:28,480 we going to spend the rest of our time there? 488 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:31,560 Well, it's like dear Ephesus, but Paul's actually a master 489 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:35,800 writer, and he packs so much of what he's going to explode out 490 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,200 in the rest of this letter into these two verses. 491 00:29:39,280 --> 00:29:42,080 His dear Ephesus is not like ours. 492 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:44,680 So what's in here? Well, he starts with this. 493 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:48,600 He says Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus. 494 00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,160 Now again, some of you in the room might be starting to feel 495 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,080 nervous like apostle, are we going to get weird? 496 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:55,600 We're not going to get weird in that way. 497 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:57,240 I hope we're weird in the right ways. 498 00:29:57,240 --> 00:29:59,640 I hope we're weird in the ways of the Kingdom that don't live 499 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,040 according to the ways of the earth. 500 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:07,160 But an apostle Paul wrote in common language, just like 501 00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,680 Apocalypse had an A meaning and an understanding apostle did 502 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:13,920 too. And I do believe that God gave 503 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,840 some specific people to the early leadership of the church. 504 00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:19,600 But there are lots of apostles mentioned in the New Testament 505 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,120 who aren't part of the 12 that might ruffle your feathers. 506 00:30:23,120 --> 00:30:25,080 But just read the Bible and let's talk about it. 507 00:30:25,520 --> 00:30:27,800 This word apostle is the Greek apostolos. 508 00:30:27,800 --> 00:30:29,600 Again, we didn't reach far, did we? 509 00:30:29,600 --> 00:30:31,280 To get from the Greek to the English. 510 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:36,720 And it means ascent one. The term is used of one who is 511 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:40,800 sent under authority under another's authority, with the 512 00:30:40,800 --> 00:30:44,120 stress resting on the sending authority. 513 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:48,320 It's not really about the vessel that's carrying the message, 514 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:51,600 it's about the one who gave the message and the content of that 515 00:30:51,600 --> 00:30:53,960 message. Apostles, according to Mark 516 00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:58,120 Roberts and his commentary, were authorized by someone and give 517 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:01,480 an authority to carry messages on the senders behalf. 518 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:04,880 So in many ways we can look at Jesus as the apostle of the 519 00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:07,160 Father. He was sent as actually says I 520 00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,440 only do what I see the Father doing. 521 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,840 Those are his words. He looks to the Father and he 522 00:31:12,840 --> 00:31:15,360 does what the Father leads him to do. 523 00:31:16,040 --> 00:31:23,280 Paul is now sent of Jesus. Paul now envisages his self, his 524 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:27,360 life, his identity, his purpose, his significance in the world as 525 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:32,000 a representative agent of Christ Jesus. 526 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,720 The diplomatic ambassadors are a great picture of apostles. 527 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,840 They're not the sum total of it, but a diplomatic ambassador is 528 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:44,800 sent with authority to represent a nation to other nations. 529 00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:48,360 And they typically live outside of their home country where 530 00:31:48,360 --> 00:31:52,000 they're sent from, right? They have authority to 531 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:54,040 represent. They have been called to it, 532 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:56,760 appointed to it, and they carry this message so much so that 533 00:31:56,760 --> 00:32:00,840 they embody the rulership of the one who sent them. 534 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:06,920 Paul says I'm an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 535 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:12,160 Paul is not working from his own power. 536 00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:15,920 He is not working from his own position or privilege. 537 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:21,000 Paul is not doing this by his self will or setting his own 538 00:32:21,120 --> 00:32:23,000 course. If you were setting your own 539 00:32:23,000 --> 00:32:25,960 course, I don't think shipwreck, beatings, imprisonment, 540 00:32:25,960 --> 00:32:29,040 execution would be like your top methods of getting the job done. 541 00:32:29,040 --> 00:32:34,280 You'd probably be like, hey Gemini, hey ChatGPT, could we 542 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:36,240 come up with an alternative plan here? 543 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:40,600 This one is death and I'd like a life one, but because he is 544 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,400 yielded to the way of God, It's not his self will. 545 00:32:44,400 --> 00:32:47,480 He's not his own course and he is not the platform. 546 00:32:47,480 --> 00:32:49,120 He's not trying to build himself up. 547 00:32:49,440 --> 00:32:53,080 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. 548 00:32:53,680 --> 00:32:59,040 This is who it's from A to the core Jewish man in other 549 00:32:59,040 --> 00:33:02,520 writings where he'd be like, I am the most Jewish Jewish person 550 00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:06,920 you've ever met. Look at my credentials and who 551 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:12,280 is he writing to? He calls them the Saints who are 552 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:14,760 at Ephesus. Or if if it was a broader 553 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:18,760 letter, the Saints. And we picture people with Halo 554 00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:22,280 trapped in stained glass who we've just forgotten all of 555 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,680 their foibles and faults and problems, and they're just like 556 00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:28,800 these perfect people. That is not what this word means 557 00:33:29,280 --> 00:33:31,480 to Paul. He's writing to the church, 558 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:35,520 including Gentiles, predominantly Gentiles in these 559 00:33:35,520 --> 00:33:37,640 regions, and he calls them Saints. 560 00:33:37,800 --> 00:33:41,440 Everyone's a St. Everyone is a St. 561 00:33:42,680 --> 00:33:46,240 The English phrase Mark Roberts, again, it's translated, I think 562 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:50,240 in the NIV as God's holy people, translates a plural form of the 563 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:53,800 Greek word hagios. And typically Haggio is rendered 564 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,920 as Saints, but God's holy people faithfully captures the meaning 565 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,960 of the original. He goes on to say that it's 566 00:34:00,960 --> 00:34:04,680 important to remember that all believers, not just special 567 00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:08,480 Christians, are Saints. Did you wake up this morning, go 568 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:12,159 and brush your teeth and look in the mirror and be like, hey, I'm 569 00:34:12,159 --> 00:34:15,440 a St. I'm a part of God's holy people. 570 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,760 Is that how you view yourself? Because Paul addresses this, 571 00:34:18,760 --> 00:34:25,239 This way, you are holy ones. And whilst everyone's a St. it's 572 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,440 also worth noting that Saints are special. 573 00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:32,840 That word hagio is used in the Septuagint, which is the Greek 574 00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:37,560 translation of the Old Testament to refer to created spiritual 575 00:34:37,560 --> 00:34:44,880 beings like angels and stuff. Paul equates God's people with 576 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,440 the angels as well. There's something wonderful 577 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:53,080 going on here which will unpack further in the teaching. 578 00:34:53,480 --> 00:34:55,360 It's worth knowing everyone's a St. 579 00:34:55,440 --> 00:34:58,960 Saints are special and Saints are locals. 580 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,360 The Saints who are at Ephesus, if I was to say the Saints who 581 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:06,840 are at River City, I can name a good amount of them. 582 00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:11,160 I can recognize them when I find them shopping in HEB, which is 583 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,880 apparently the place that River City people connect is. 584 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,200 Like in the grocery store, right? 585 00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,200 That's where we see each other. Quick check in, how's it going? 586 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:23,640 Or in the school line or wherever it is, you can know 587 00:35:23,640 --> 00:35:28,440 Saints, you can know their lives, you can know what they 588 00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:31,880 are about. And he says that they are 589 00:35:31,880 --> 00:35:35,320 faithful in Christ Jesus. If you think of something like 590 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,440 James's writing in chapter 2 when he talks about faith and 591 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:43,160 deeds, the the faith and action go together and he's 592 00:35:43,160 --> 00:35:46,560 acknowledging the partnership is the life of an apprentice. 593 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:53,000 We join in by faith and do the things of faith. 594 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:57,480 We are called holy and we live out of our identity. 595 00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:01,520 So one apocalypse that you could have in this, an apocalypse now 596 00:36:01,520 --> 00:36:05,440 would be Jesus is the Lord who makes our lives significant. 597 00:36:06,560 --> 00:36:10,360 Jesus is the Lord who makes our lives significant. 598 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,920 So you don't have to go scratching after significance 599 00:36:12,920 --> 00:36:16,960 somewhere else. Verse 2 grace to you and peace 600 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:19,280 from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 601 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,360 An important point that that third word, that grace to you. 602 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:27,720 Our English doesn't hold it, but Texan does and as a Brit I'm 603 00:36:27,720 --> 00:36:31,160 going to attempt it. This is the y'all of Paul. 604 00:36:34,520 --> 00:36:40,480 Grace to y'all, you together, a people together. 605 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:43,120 Not a collection of individuals who are going to remain 606 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,600 individuals, but a people. Grace to you and peace. 607 00:36:46,800 --> 00:36:48,720 And he's saying this to Gentiles. 608 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:51,960 And throughout this letter, when he's saying you, he's talking to 609 00:36:52,040 --> 00:36:55,880 the y'all, the Gentile community who are now part of the church. 610 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,240 And then he'll say we. And he's talking about the 611 00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:02,840 joining together of the Jew and the Gentile into one people, 612 00:37:02,920 --> 00:37:07,200 grace and peace, that which is freely given to bring about a 613 00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:11,200 wholeness of life. It's a really clever thing that 614 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:12,960 Paul does. I mean, we can get geeky for 615 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:13,800 just a minute more. Yeah. 616 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:15,760 Typically, I didn't wait for an answer. 617 00:37:15,760 --> 00:37:17,840 I'm just going ahead. So typically, letters would 618 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,200 begin with this word Chiron. And some of the New Testament 619 00:37:21,200 --> 00:37:22,760 lets us have it. It's like greetings. 620 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:25,160 And it comes from this word for Joyce and more like greetings. 621 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:27,760 It's like a peppy sort of like, hey, how's it going? 622 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:33,640 Paul kind of explodes that word from Chiron to Karis and Irene, 623 00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:38,120 Grace and peace. It is a beautiful way of 624 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,960 acknowledging and being together and saying this is what we live 625 00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:44,160 by. Grace and peace. 626 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:46,640 I'm badly broken and deeply loved. 627 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,480 Why would the Ephesians need this? 628 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:54,720 They're living in like the hotbed of life, like all of the 629 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:58,080 culture and money and everything flowing through Ephesus. 630 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:00,120 Why do they need grace and peace? 631 00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:04,680 You see, the Ephesian church had dis empowered itself to hold to 632 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,640 Christ. They had put themselves in a 633 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:11,960 vulnerable position to say yes to Jesus and Paul had done the 634 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:14,040 same. He had disempowered himself from 635 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:20,280 the religious elite and he's writing from prison with the 636 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:23,680 loss of power and privilege. It was a precarious looking 637 00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:26,560 existence that faced those who confessed Christ alone. 638 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:29,600 The cost of apprenticeship was high. 639 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:37,760 Human experience needed. Comfort, right to be comforted, 640 00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:41,920 the provision and blessing and a wholeness that incorporates 641 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:46,320 health to all of your life was available was a vital reminder. 642 00:38:46,560 --> 00:38:49,960 This wasn't just dear Ephesus, this was coming out the gates 643 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,240 with everything that would cause people to lean in. 644 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:56,400 I need to hear this. Do you need grace and peace? 645 00:38:56,920 --> 00:38:59,800 Is there anything in your life that comes to mind right now 646 00:38:59,800 --> 00:39:03,200 where you're like, well, that's just chaos and a heart mess and 647 00:39:03,200 --> 00:39:06,840 I'm working so hard and getting nowhere over here, and it just 648 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:08,680 feels like the walls are pressing in. 649 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:15,000 Do you need grace and peace? We live in New Braunfels. 650 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:17,280 They lived in Ephesus. But it's not that different, 651 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:20,520 right? It's not that different. 652 00:39:22,760 --> 00:39:24,280 Where could such promises come from? 653 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:29,600 Applause as they come from God our Father and the Lord Jesus 654 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:34,840 Christ. God our Father due to Gentile 655 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:38,400 slave to master across all the borders that you can think of. 656 00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,680 Paul is saying we're family. I'm not alone. 657 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:45,200 If you look around this room, you are not alone. 658 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:50,200 You are a part of a people that belongs together under the same 659 00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:53,760 God, God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 660 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:56,720 Not the Emperor, not Artemis, not the powers and 661 00:39:56,720 --> 00:39:59,880 principalities. Jesus is Lord, and this is what 662 00:39:59,880 --> 00:40:03,680 got Christians killed. It was not a good time to be a 663 00:40:03,680 --> 00:40:07,160 Christian under Roman rule. They got blamed for all kinds of 664 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,640 stuff. They were used as puppets in 665 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,000 political games. They were thrown to lines. 666 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:16,560 It was bad. But primarily, they suffered 667 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,760 because of their fidelity to the Lordship of Jesus alone. 668 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:23,440 And so another apocalypse just from this verse would be we are 669 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:28,760 joined together as family under the lordship of Jesus. 670 00:40:29,040 --> 00:40:32,200 And this is Abraham Kuiper quote that some of you may know, but 671 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,880 if you don't, it's worth hearing where he said that there there 672 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,600 is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human 673 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,560 existence over which Christ who is sovereign over all does not 674 00:40:41,560 --> 00:40:45,360 cry mine. There is not a part of your life 675 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:51,080 that Jesus isn't seeking to be the good Lord over for your 676 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:53,480 welfare. There's not a part of your 677 00:40:53,480 --> 00:40:56,520 existence that he desires for you to keep separated from the 678 00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:59,720 family that we are in, God the Father. 679 00:41:00,720 --> 00:41:02,480 And so here are the implications for you. 680 00:41:02,760 --> 00:41:05,880 Firstly, we belong to God and one another. 681 00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:10,040 Therefore, we do not need to fight to belong. 682 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:16,320 Instead River City and every local church that belongs to 683 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,360 Jesus. It can be a community that 684 00:41:19,360 --> 00:41:21,680 welcomes others into the family of God. 685 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:25,080 A community that breaks down socio economic barriers, a 686 00:41:25,080 --> 00:41:28,800 community that reaches across the divide for the sake of 687 00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:31,080 togetherness. In love. 688 00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:34,920 We already belong. It's what he's saying to them. 689 00:41:35,000 --> 00:41:38,400 Hey, you arrived, you're here. We're part of the family 690 00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:42,040 together now. We got to live this out, and 691 00:41:42,040 --> 00:41:44,880 where do we live it? We live in the Kingdom now. 692 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:51,000 This is your second implication. We live in the Kingdom now, so 693 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:53,880 we don't need to fear the culture. 694 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:58,640 So much of what goes wrong in our witness to the world of the 695 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,040 goodness of Jesus and his Kingdom is that we're just 696 00:42:01,040 --> 00:42:03,320 afraid. We're afraid we're going to have 697 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:05,960 what's as taken from us. We're afraid that we're going to 698 00:42:05,960 --> 00:42:08,640 get contaminated. We don't need to fear it. 699 00:42:08,640 --> 00:42:12,400 The kingdom's already here. It's already here. 700 00:42:12,720 --> 00:42:17,480 The age to come has broken into this one, and nothing can be 701 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:21,000 taken from us that would be kept anyway. 702 00:42:22,040 --> 00:42:24,800 Nothing can be taken from us that would be kept anyway. 703 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:30,200 Instead of living in fear, we can live right here, right now, 704 00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:34,040 as people of another Kingdom. We can be rooted in the love of 705 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:38,520 God in order to offer a taste of the Kingdom in the fruit of our 706 00:42:38,520 --> 00:42:43,280 lives. You are to be an apocalypse to 707 00:42:43,280 --> 00:42:47,440 people around you. And thirdly, we serve the true 708 00:42:47,440 --> 00:42:51,440 Lord and He gives all we need. We don't need to fight for 709 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:56,440 power, position or privilege. Instead, we get to be a people 710 00:42:56,440 --> 00:42:59,560 who give their power, their treasures, their talent, their 711 00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,960 time, their influence for the good of others. 712 00:43:02,800 --> 00:43:06,480 We are a people who get to rely on the authority of God. 713 00:43:06,640 --> 00:43:10,960 We are a people who serve God and those around us for His 714 00:43:10,960 --> 00:43:15,320 glory and for our joy. These are the implications out 715 00:43:15,320 --> 00:43:19,320 of just the dear Ephesus. I hope you're prepared for more. 716 00:43:19,320 --> 00:43:21,240 We're going to go deep. We're going to go broad. 717 00:43:21,760 --> 00:43:23,560 It's going to mess with things in our lives. 718 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:27,480 My life is transformed through the study of and the reading of 719 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,160 and the living of this book. And my prayer is that it would 720 00:43:30,160 --> 00:43:33,240 be the same for you. So you're going to see next week 721 00:43:33,240 --> 00:43:34,960 that Paul writes in really long sentences. 722 00:43:34,960 --> 00:43:37,120 So I made one of my own. I think it's going up on the 723 00:43:37,120 --> 00:43:43,960 screen in the spirit of Paul, our hope that y'all will see and 724 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:47,760 encounter the Lord Jesus more clearly so that each of you 725 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:51,880 individually and all y'all as a community, see, I know how to 726 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:55,680 use this. We'll grow in unity and maturity 727 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:59,800 in Christ, living freely, courageously, and counter 728 00:43:59,800 --> 00:44:02,760 culturally in and from your true identity. 729 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:08,080 That's a big long sentence, but that's our heart for you, for 730 00:44:08,080 --> 00:44:10,760 us. Together though, we would see 731 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,760 and encounter the Lord Jesus more clearly and be transformed. 732 00:44:14,960 --> 00:44:20,400 When did you last Behold Jesus? Ask that question every day and 733 00:44:20,400 --> 00:44:23,720 try to answer it today. This is how I saw Jesus today. 734 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:29,200 Let's pray, church. Father, we're so thankful that 735 00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:31,440 you have done all that is needed to make US1. 736 00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:35,160 We're so thankful for you, Lord Jesus, who through your blood, 737 00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:38,720 through your death and resurrection have given us life 738 00:44:38,720 --> 00:44:42,640 together that we might abide in you and therefore in the Father. 739 00:44:43,720 --> 00:44:46,720 We thank you, Holy Spirit, that you are one who comes to open 740 00:44:46,720 --> 00:44:49,880 our eyes to see the goodness, the truth, the power, the wonder 741 00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:51,480 of Jesus. Would you do that? 742 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:54,480 I pray these next 3 1/2 months would be deeply transformative, 743 00:44:54,480 --> 00:44:57,400 not just for us, but for all the communities that we walk in. 744 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,000 And would you be glorified in US and pleased in US? 745 00:45:02,320 --> 00:45:03,520 Thank you, Lord, for your goodness. 746 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:07,200 In Jesus name, Amen. Thank you for joining us today. 747 00:45:07,600 --> 00:45:10,400 River City Church is all about experiencing and expressing 748 00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:13,080 God's love in our lives and community, and we hope that 749 00:45:13,080 --> 00:45:15,120 you've been able to experience that today. 750 00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:18,280 As grateful as I am that you've spent this time listening in 751 00:45:18,280 --> 00:45:21,360 this morning, this podcast is no substitute for full 752 00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:25,240 participation in a local church. I love it when River City people 753 00:45:25,240 --> 00:45:28,600 listen to other pastors, but it is those who show up week after 754 00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:31,520 week faithfully giving their support and time and resources 755 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:34,920 that make all of this possible. If we can help you get connected 756 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:38,920 to a local church, pray for you, or support you in any way, click 757 00:45:38,920 --> 00:45:40,640 the link in the description and let us know. 758 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:43,240 If you'd like to financially support the ministry of River 759 00:45:43,240 --> 00:45:46,200 City, click the give link on our website in the description. 760 00:45:46,640 --> 00:45:49,320 Don't forget to subscribe and don't forget to share this with 761 00:45:49,320 --> 00:45:51,320 your friends. Thanks so much for listening. 762 00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,480 May the Lord bless and keep you in all grace and peace.