Ephesians: The High Calling of Every Believer in Jesus Christ

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Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Ephesians. You can just turn to the first chapter; we're going to cover the whole thing today. So, I hope you brought a big appetite. I've been doing overviews of every book of the Bible, and we started in Genesis over a year ago. And now we're up to the book of Ephesians. And the idea behind these sermons is that, you know, pastors are called to preach the whole counsel of God. But few of them actually preach the entire counsel, right? So, they start Sunday morning studies, Wednesday night studies, Sunday night studies, and the effort is to try and get as much of the Bible to you as possible, so that we can know and understand God and his full revelation.

Ephesians is the most preached book in the church today -- it's not even close. It is an amazing book written by Paul. And it talks about the high calling of every believer in Jesus Christ. You can look at your journals there, if you got one of these. If you look on the inside, it will help you see kind of an overview of the entire book. So, I pray this is a great blessing to you today.

My wife and I took a vacation in the Boston area a few years ago. We went on a bike ride and went by the campus of Harvard. It’s a beautiful campus, what we saw. And there was an extension library there, one of the Harvard bookstores. And so, we went in, and we were looking around, and all the banners around had their motto on it. Their original motto was not on it; their current motto was on it. Now, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1636. So, I was feeling a little ornery and wondered if the people in the bookstore knew what the original motto of Harvard was. They had “Veritas” written on all the banners. And if you've heard me tell the story before, I'm sorry, I'm telling it again.

But so, I went up to the two guys who were running the library -- they were behind the desk there. And I said, “You know the Veritas symbol there,” -- it's on three books, now it's just repeated -- I said, “That's a great motto.” They said, “Yeah, yeah, we like that motto.” And I said, “Do you know what the original motto of Harvard was?” And they kind of did the head tilt and said, “What do you mean, the original motto?” So, the people working in the library didn't know. So, I told them. Do you know what the original motto was? “Truth for Christ and the Church” was the original motto of Harvard. Now, you won't find much biblical truth at that particular institution anymore. It's certainly not taught.

“Veritas,” or truth, just simply means anything these days that they want to call truth. Like Pilate, I guess we could say, “What is truth,” and you would be in line with what Harvard teaches. But that's not all. The original mission, in 1642, of Harvard is also very good. It says this “Everyone shall consider as the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.” I mean, that's a good, you know, theme for a school, as was their original motto. Well, the two guys were beside themselves after our conversation, and I just suggested you should tell people what your school was founded on. I think, you know, it's interesting that a school with the largest endowment -- a $50 billion endowment -- is not using that money to promote Christ. Some things start out really good and then veer off over time. And later this summer, you can attend our church history classes in the morning to see how that happens.

But Paul thought that model was pretty good: “For Christ and the Church.” See, Ephesians is really about the church. The first three chapters are about the call of the church. The second three chapters, four through six, are about the conduct of the church. And you can't just jump to conduct; you would maybe get, what would you say, you would probably get legalism, if you just did that. Or we just “do this, and do this and do this,” and you disregard the heart of the matter, which is the main idea -- that it is Christ in us that changes us. And we live because of that change. We don't change to live for Christ; we live for Christ because he's already changed us. And if you just skip to the obedience part -- which some, I guess, skip all together -- but if you just skip to that, and you start to think about, “Is this true? Is it a good idea to live in these certain ways,” if you just skip to the conduct without the call, then you end up with Harvard.

And while very smart, and very recognized, and very good at what they do, Paul thought it wise to teach the theology of the foundation of our lives before the call or before the conduct. So, we need to look and see what our position is in Christ, which is another way of saying “our calling.” So, the first three chapters here are about the calling of the church. Paul wrote this letter, not to combat any particular heresy that was going on, or not to combat the false teachers that were out there. He has many themes in this book. But as you'll see, the church is the main theme, with being blessed in Christ.

He talks about love 20 times in this book, most of it is in the conduct section. But he wrote this about AD 62 -- somewhere between 60 and 62 -- before the destruction of the temple in AD 70, and about 30 years after the ascension of Jesus Christ. So, Paul is, his theology is very developed. So, it's going to be a banquet of theology for us today. And I'm not just going to talk about Ephesians; I'm going to try and teach some of it as well. So, the overview will dip down at times, pretty quickly from the 30,000-foot view, down to running on the ground here.

But to set the course of the church, he first explains her position. So, look in Ephesians chapter one. If you need a Bible, there's one under a seat nearby. Ephesians chapter one, verse three: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” So that is the thesis, if you will, of the first three chapters. If you go to chapter four, verse one, he'll say, “therefore, walk worthy of your calling.” So, he's going to tell us about our spiritual blessings in Christ. What are those spiritual blessings? Verse four begins: “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Now as you go through Ephesians, especially in chapter one, you're going to want to remember every time you hear the phrase “in him,” okay? It's all over chapter one, but it's actually throughout the book as well. You and I are chosen. We aren't chosen because we chose God. That choosing of God, according to Scripture, happened when, according to verse four? Look at the Bible: “before the foundation of the world.” That is when that choosing occurred. And many think the idea of election or predestination is something that shouldn't even be proclaimed. But Paul thinks, before we get to salvation explained in chapter two, you need to understand the election choosing of God in chapter one.

He literally sets up his gospel message with a doctrine that we are timid to try and comprehend. And I understand our timidity. When I was first looking into these things, I didn't even know that I didn't believe this. I was just at a church that never talked about it. But we are chosen as believers, before we were born or ever had a thought, chosen to be holy. We should not ever wonder what our purpose in life is. You were chosen to be holy. Someone should be able to look at you and go, “That's what holiness is.” That's not a joke. They should be able to look at us and see the holiness of God because we don't live for ourselves; we live for God himself. And this should drive us to our knees, begging Jesus Christ for help.

But there's more. Look in verse five. He doesn't just mention this once. Verse five: “he predestined us for adoption” [for what purpose? to himself] as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of [whose will?] his will.” We have been set aside before the foundation of the world, chosen and elected, before we had a thought, before we were born, not according to our will (so that takes that argument out) but according to his will, according to the purpose of his will. And if you're reading in here, “Yeah, he's talking about my faith and my selection of him,” you have simply jumped ahead of where Paul has not gone. The purpose of God's will is the foundation of all things. And yet, sometimes we like to set it aside and say all things except the greatest thing, which is salvation.

And if you've never heard a sermon on these things before, just follow along, digest it a little bit, write down some notes -- all your counter arguments -- and then go back to Scripture, and see where maybe the opinion needs to be matched up with what the Scripture actually says, and give yourself the latitude to think about it. God doesn't anticipate or think that we should all just come to understand these things. He's writing to believers. And Paul thought it wise to further explain this theology as a foundation for the life to people who are already saved.

So that's okay to think through these things and to say, “I was tracking until verse four, and then I was lost until verse ten.” Okay, no problem. God already knew that. That's why he wrote verse four to ten. So, just give yourself a little latitude. And I don't claim to have all the understanding of this, but I do want to present to you what seems to be very clear: we were chosen to be adopted as God's son, as his daughter. Does that sound like a loving thing or an evil thing? Couched in predestined and election language, that God would want us, want you, to be part of his family -- to call you by his name -- is incredibly loving and incredibly kind, and just shows the magnitude of his graciousness on us, and his mercy on us.

Verse seven goes on to tell us more about our spiritual blessings: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [it took rich grace to forgive all of our sins. verse eight] which he lavished on us [and in case we missed the word ‘riches of his grace,’ the phrase] which he lavished on us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will [it's something not before known. it's a mystery], according to his purpose [not ours], which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

It's not just to provide a message by which we intellectually assent and our affections are moved, and so, therefore, our will is moved, and our feet and our minds bring us to church, and here we are. It's so much more than that. This is part of the eternal plan: to set everything in order, on earth and in heaven. Everything. It's part of his amazing will: either to be punished for all time or forgiven completely for all time. “Redemption” means to buy back, when you redeem something, right? You coupon it; you go and you redeem the coupon, and you get something in return. Normally, you get to pay less. But here, you don't have to pay anything. This redemption is full; it's complete. It's like a $10 off coupon for a $5 item. Right? You don't have to pay anything for it. It's free, you just receive it. And it's according to the riches of his grace. It's something he's lavished on us. It's according to his will and purpose in Christ. You and I haven't even been mentioned yet, except something that we receive.

We're trying to understand the full purposes of God, so that we can understand the full purposes of His grace, so that we can understand the full will and purpose of God for our lives, that he wants to unite us completely with him, not just a little bit. But completely. To unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. It's not universalism; that will be very clear in chapter two. You can't assume Paul just forgot his theology. Uniting all things under Christ's means some are going to be subjected under him, and some are going to bow to him as his sons and daughters. God doesn't work out the world according to our will. He works it out according to his will. If you've ever asked for something from God and gotten it, and then went, “Oh, no, what have I done,” you realize that his will is better. His will is perfect. His will is sustainable. His will is going to come to pass. His will is better than ours.

And we have to subject our own ideas and our own will, even our own understanding of what we think might be unusable theologies, and park it back in the most usable category, as we consider Paul's presentation of what he thinks is the foundation and the call of the church. Look in verse 11 with me of chapter one, and this is all part of the call of the church -- what we have been called to. “In him [that is in Christ] we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” How many things are outside of the counsel of God's will? “Who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” That's a toughy, right? This is in the good section. Right? This is still in the good section. Job said, “Shall we accept good and not bad,” or it's actually the word for evil. (Job 2:10) Right? We have to accept these things from God. It's according to his purpose, and it's predestined. This inheritance that you get, praise God, is based on the life of Christ -- which is much better than ours -- and not based on yours. That's going to be a good inheritance.

So, “Why?” That's the question we always want to ask: “why does he work out his will and not ours?” Verse 12: “so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.” You see, you and I know, that in our own minds, we feel like we've come to Christ. We heard truth, and we responded -- and we did. Paul will explain how that happens in chapter two, but what we need to know and understand is that our salvation must first be understood as something that is to the praise of the glory of God. We have not seen anywhere in here yet about our choosing of him. And nowhere in Scripture will you see that apart from the grace of God.

And the first verse that talks about that is verse 13. Now that we have that theology of being chosen, predestined about our salvation, being in Christ, and to the praise of his glory -- now we see this gift of grace, how it works itself out in our lives. Verse 13: “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, [right? faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of truth. (Romans 10:17)] when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” When you believed, you truly had to believe; you truly had to choose Christ. You truly had to say, “Yes, I want this. Yes, I need saved.” But in this context, that too, is a grace of God. That is because of his choosing, of his predestining you “before the foundation of the world.” And my dad -- who now understands all these things fully, because he's in heaven, praise God for that -- he would say, “Well, you know, this one famous Bible teacher, when he gave the altar call, he would say …” And maybe if you're older (40 and up or maybe 50 and up), you might remember this guy on the radio, he would say, “Now all those who have been chosen before the foundation of the world, come forward and receive Jesus.” That was his altar call. I don't know how you're supposed to figure out if you were chosen before the foundation of the world or not. But if you want Jesus, that means you are.

You see, in Jesus (verse 13), we heard the word of truth, believed, and were sealed with a promised Holy Spirit. Notice, there is no second blessing, no second receiving needed, right? Acts was an interesting time, an observational time. But Paul says when you believed, you were sealed. You don't need some higher life. In Ephesians 5:18, he says, “Don't be drunk with wine, but be filled …” That's a passive filling. “Be filled” -- that's not a command to go get more filled. You were sealed with a promised Holy Spirit. So now, when you think about your salvation, do you think about being sealed by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit? Or do you think about, “How accurate was my prayer when I was in third grade?” Right? Do you see the difference? “My life this last six months, I don't see a whole lot of fruit.” Well, that should cause you to go back to the foundation of our salvation, which is in Christ, which is knowing God, which is believing in him, receiving all of these wonderful things.

Friends, I just want to encourage you, when you think of your salvation, think of Jesus Christ. Think of what he has done for you -- the communion we celebrated today. Think of the life that he lived, the blood that he spilled; he knew we were not ready to choose him on our own. In fact, Romans says no one ever does that (Romans 3:10-11). And this is all in chapter one. Verse 14 says he's “the guarantee [that is the Holy Spirit is the guarantee, of this promise of salvation, until when?] until we acquire possession of it.” That's why we say you can't lose your salvation. If you're sealed by the Holy Spirit, then you're going to receive that salvation one day.

That is cause for rejoicing! Because we all know how sinful we are, instead of putting off the old man (which Paul talks about later in Ephesians) and putting on the new self, which is created in righteousness and holiness and truth, we'd like to drag the dead man around with us (the old self) and go, “Oh, I'm gonna … just a minute. I'll be back.” Right? And we indulge in sin, and then we come back and present ourselves as though, you know, we're going to worship God. And we've got, you know, sin dripping from ourselves.

But it's “to the praise of his glory.” You cannot lose your salvation, if indeed you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, until you acquire possession of it. That doesn't mean you just get to start the race and have a seat. No true Christian ever does that, as you'll see. But this theology -- I don't want us to be afraid of it. We shouldn't look down on other people who might not see all of these verses the way we do, or other passages in Scripture. But we do need to remember that the focus here is Christ. And the focus is his will and his purpose and his design. “Oh, I need a little more explanation.” Well, praise God, Paul wrote chapter two.

Turn to chapter two. And this is still part of our calling. And I know a lot of you probably have this section memorized. Ephesians 2:1-3: “And you are dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked [how alive were you before Christ spiritually? fully dead, fully dead, okay], following the course of this world,” You are active in your sin. You and I follow the course of this world. We followed, as it goes on, “following the prince of the power of the air [that's Satan], the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience -- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath [and just in case you think it's not you], like the rest of mankind.”

There was no fuller way to say that everyone is fully dead in their sin, incapable, incapable of choosing God on your own. Dead people don't do anything; they don't respond anything. They're just dead. So, Paul uses this understanding to give us an idea of our spiritual capability before Christ. And we all did walk in sin. And you cannot fully understand the magnitude of chapter one -- or the faith that you use to believe in chapter two, verse eight -- until you understand chapter two, verses one to three. And if you fully come to the understanding of chapter two, verses one to three, you will begin to understand just how great and marvelous salvation and election is in Jesus Christ. If you don't think you're dead in sin, you will have huge problems with chapter one. Because in reality, we think, “Well, Jesus died for everybody.” That's what we think. And we think that everybody gets to choose all on their own.

We don't like the verses that say no one chooses God, no, not one; no one seeks after God (Romans 3:10-11). We don't like the verses in John, chapter six, which talk about, “no one can come to me unless I draw him.” “No one on their own can come to me.” So, I think if you're really struggling with this type of thing, I understand. And please talk with myself, or with Adam (our other elder), about these things and ask questions, theological questions; I would love to walk through this with you. I was blessed to have other people walk through this with me. But you cannot say that you can do this on your own. That is not a position Scripture gives. Why? You're dead in sin, dead in sin.

And this is really what makes the mercy of God so amazing. Look in chapter two, verse four. “But God [there's the contrast, but God], being rich in mercy [rich in mercy], because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved [that's what grace means] -- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that [there's your purpose statement, verse seven], so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

If we didn't need the grace of God, then our faith would reckon to us something we deserve. But we don't deserve salvation. And that doesn't just mean that you are bad. We all understand that at some point that we're not perfect, and we get told that a lot. I know I do. Right? We're not perfect people. And we realize that, but this is so much beyond that, that we are incapable of choosing God on our own. And that's why Paul starts out chapter one so much about where this choosing comes from. It comes from the most loving being ever. It's not a result of works. There is no such thing as works that get credited to your account. There are incredibly large systems of religion out there, if not all of them, that teach some measure of earning your salvation. But why would, in verse nine, Scripture so clearly say it's not a result of works? If it were, you would have room for boasting. But in other scriptures, Paul says there is no room for boasting. Friends, this is cause for rejoicing, because we have no good things to offer. And when other people tell us we have no good things to offer, we should say we agree with them. It's okay. I don't have to carry that burden. And the more you and I are prideful, and think we have to carry the burden, the more we're going to attack others who point out our flaws -- what Scripture calls sin.

When it says, “and this is not your own doing,” what is it talking about in verse eight? What is not your own doing? Is it being saved by grace? Does it include faith? This word group here can be taken as a whole. And Scripture here then clearly says, saved by grace through faith is not your own doing. How is saved by grace through faith, not your own doing? Back to chapter one. Back to chapter two verses one to three. Both the grace to be saved and the faith to receive it are not our own doing. Yes, it appears like we are choosing God, and we are because we're responding to his grace. We must exercise our faith, we must -- the faith that was given to us.

You know, sometimes when the ambulance is called: a person's heart stops, and somebody may do some type of CPR on them. Or if the ambulance is there, they've got the shock paddles. And they turn it up, and put the paddles on, and the little sound goes and says “clear.” The person starts breathing again, and their heart starts beating again. What did the person do to start their heart again? Nothing. What did the person do to start breathing again? Nothing. Did they start breathing? Yes, they did. But not on their own power. Spiritually, we get shock paddles that bring us to new life. And not only that, we are created and made new, which if we had another couple hours here in Ephesians, we could go over, but we're barely into chapter two.

Paul understands that this could cause us to think that maybe we're special. That maybe, because we're chosen, that we're better than other people. We're privileged. So, he writes a little bit to that mentality in chapter two starting in verse 11. “Remember, therefore, that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands -- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Now, if it's all a 100% decision from someone, how does that make sense that an entire group of people have no hope? You see, the rationale is trying to take out the idea that we are just intellectually superior, recognizing our need to others, that we are somehow special, that the Gentiles have now recognized this may be from Paul's teaching, and so maybe they think they're special; or the Jews think “We're the commonwealth of Israel. We were the protectors of God's truth, so we're special.” And he's saying, “No, you were without hope in the world.”

Everyone comes to salvation the same way. Verse 13, chapter two: “But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been [what? have been successful at praying your prayer as a seven-year-old? been there done that. no], you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” Do you have to believe? Yes. Is your salvation a gift? Yes, it is. Do your works at anything? No. Is your faith somehow deserving of what you receive in Christ? No. We've been brought near by the blood of Christ. That's what this little thing represents.

And this was a mystery to them. Verse six, chapter three. See how much time we gained there. Look in Ephesians three, six. “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs.” He goes through this lengthy discussion to explain to them how the Gentiles could be now seen as equal heirs. Heirs receive an inheritance. Remember, the Holy Spirit brings the inheritance. Anyone who is saved gets the Holy Spirit, when? When they believe. So, everyone who has The Holy Spirit has believed, and they receive the same inheritance.

And this is a mystery to the Jews. It's now revealed that every one of all time since Christ has made his sacrifice available to all, this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. Through what? Through the gospel, praise God. Muslims can be saved, but they are not saved without Christ -- Jews, Buddhists, priests. I want to decide how many letters I want to get this week, to see how many categories I should mention here: churches who accept the gay agenda (they’re in this town); anyone who makes up their own way of salvation, whatever you think your way of salvation is apart from Christ, apart from the blessings of Christ, apart from believing in Christ by his grace through faith; anybody who has something added to that to believe in for their salvation; or anybody who has something less than that? Not saved.

And this takes a lot of love on our part. The Jews hated the Gentiles for a long time, a long time. That's why, in Acts, they write about even the Samaritans are getting saved. Like, this is incredible stuff. Right? Why? Because they didn't like them. They left their traditions; they married other races and cultures and didn't just mix races, they mixed theological ideas and left the God that led them out of Egypt. It takes a lot of love to think about those other people in the world that are created in God's image every bit as much as you and I are, and to think I'm supposed to love them enough to give the gospel to them.

My Muslim friends, my friends who are part of other religions, who just say “Ah, everybody's gonna be fine. Just say the name Jesus a zillion times and ask God to help you. Don't worry about what the Bible actually says.” And so, Paul here begins, as I said earlier, to talk about love more and more and more, because this kind of living takes a lot of love. And that's just what he prays for in chapter three, verses 14 to 21, that they may know the love of Christ, the depth and just how amazing it is. So, to summarize chapters one through three, we are chosen and blessed in Christ, that's chapter one. We are saved by grace, that's chapter two. And we are united with all believers. That Muslim on the other side of the world who puts their faith and trust in Christ, they are fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Anyone who turns to the living God, truthfully and fully, are brothers and sisters in Christ.

And now that we know our position in Christ, how should we conduct ourselves? Well, that's the second half of Ephesians. And this is going to be a little bit quicker overview. Look in Ephesians chapter four, one through three. Notice what he says: “I therefore [in other words, because of chapters one through three], a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” He just unloaded some amazing theology. And then he says be humble, be loving, bear with one another in love.

But the unity of the Spirit is the unity that is described in Scripture. It is not a tolerance of everyone. It is not a unity with everyone. It is not a unity with those outside the church -- that's impossible. And you will frustrate yourself to no end if you try and be unified with the world who doesn't believe Jesus is the only way of salvation. You will wake up anxious; you will go to bed anxious; you'll be nervous; you will not have true peace and rest. But if you work to strive towards unity of the Spirit, that is the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace, the peace that comes with knowing Jesus Christ, you will sleep well. We are called the walk worthy of our calling, not any calling. We are called to walk worthy of our position in Christ, the blessings and the salvation that Paul just described. And because of that, he says to walk worthy of this calling. Not just to know it, but let us walk worthy of it, maintaining the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.

We are not the same as Mormons, or Jehovah's Witnesses, or Muslims, or anyone who claims that God just has a bunch of different names. And that's where all the world religions came from. That is not what Scripture says. If they don't have the Holy Spirit of God, there is no unity with them. None. And this is talking about spiritual unity. Notice he just said to be gentle, and kind, right, humble, all those things. So, we need to go out of our way to be loving to people who do not believe these things and who shout these contrary truths in giant rallies with great posters, and protests the Supreme Court and whatever, and maybe your neighbors too. and the whole gay community. We don't have to be mean to them. We should be the nicest people they know, with a different view; that does say they have no unity with us, at all, in Christ, but we can be a kind neighbor; we can be loving to them.

Somebody was asking how do we treat those people? I was just talking with a dear family in the church. And you know, how do we treat people who, you know, think they're gay and saved? Or think that path, apropos in this month -- that is just called June -- that we should have some kind of misnomer like, “Oh, no, there's one of them. I don't know how to treat them.” I'll tell you what to do. Go up, hug them, tell them you love them in Christ, and tell them that God loves them enough to kill his son for them. But you can't do that when there's 10,000 of them at a rally? It’s probably not the reception you're looking for. So, we need to be wise about how we deliver the truth.

I mean, Jesus delivered the truth to crowds. And then he had to miraculously what? Hide himself from them, so they wouldn't throw him off the cliff. Paul gave the truth to the crowds. He got stoned, right, stones thrown at him. He got stones thrown at him. He got beaten, he was shipwrecked. I mean, it looked like, wow, Gods rejected him. But no -- he has suffered for the Name. So, we need to be wise about how we speak to people. But by no means should we allow people to think that there isn't a singular truth that needs to be known, understood, agreed with, and lived to be saved. The Jews needed to hear this. And it's not just that God did this and then left us on our own.

And Ephesians 4:11-15 is the foundation of how the church operates today. The church is not a hunger-food society. Although if there's somebody hungry, give them food. It’s not a shell-out-money society, but if you can help somebody, help them. We are here to worship Christ, to speak the truth in love (verse 15 of chapter four), and to grow up into what -- into Christ. And the body does that; it builds itself up in what -- in love. The mission of the church isn't new. We don't have to go search for it. It's very clear. We preach Christ, and we make disciples: disciples who love people, share the gospel with them; we live as lights in this world, and we live under a unity of faith, that is only a unity with those who understand the true gospel.

In chapter five, he continues to call us to this worthy walk, and to imitate God. In verses three through six (in case you thought I was just making all that up and bringing it into the sermon to charge the sermon, and, you know, get a few clicks on our website or whatever), there it is, in chapter five, verses three to six, talking about putting all these things aside -- the sexual immorality (notice, it says that they have, at the end of verse five, “no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.”) So those people who say that you can be gay and a Christian are dead wrong. There's just no way around it. Theologically, it's impossible. If you want to leave that lifestyle and come to Christ, then such were some of you. You've been washed, you've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and you've been made new (1 Corinthians 6:11).

We all have things that we need to get rid of. Notice, he even says who is covetous. I mean, that alone, is very condemning, especially in the United States, where we work to get more so we can spend more on ourselves. Right? So, let's not think that it's just that category of sin that God says has no inheritance. If you live for your paycheck, you might want to check who you're trusting in for salvation. It should not be the stock market. Anyone who disagrees, verse six says, has “empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” You don't get saved through obedience, but you can recognize who isn't saved by their disobedience. Are they okay with their disobedience? Or are they remorseful and repentant? Right? We all sin. Saved people confess their sin, their regular sin, and they turned from it by the grace of God. That's the difference. There is so much more here.

Skipping up to chapter six. If you need marriage help, read the rest of chapter five. If you need to know how to parent your kids, read Ephesians 6:1-4. “Children obey your parents in Lord for this is right” was my favorite verse growing up -- not growing up -- was my favorite verse as a young parent, growing as a parent, like “what do you need to do? Just obey? Obey me.” Right? “What's our favorite verse, kids?” “Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” They all had it. Right? And then, “fathers, don’t exasperate your children.” Right? Okay, maybe I'm taking this a little too far. So, there's a whole wealth of information in the first four verses there, on how to parent your children.

And then you get to this section. I am sorry, I know some of you love, love, love, love this section: chapter six, verses 10 and following. And it's really tempting to just keep going, but I want to keep all the eyes up here, not staring at your feet. So, he puts this section at the end. To not say, “Ignore everything I've just said.” Right? We can't understand this as “our only battle is spiritual.” Right? He's not saying that. You have to fight. You have to train yourself to make your body submit to the Holy Spirit. Right? The flesh is contrary to the spirit; there is a war going on there. So, it's not just a battle against evil. It is, as he said (which we skipped those verses), put on the new self. You have to fight to do that.

In verse 10 -- now that we've understood the theology, the call of the church, the conduct of the church, how we are to walk worthy of this calling -- he says, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.” You see, we think the fight against the world is the hardest one. But when he's talking about the big fight -- putting on the armor -- you cannot come against the evil powers of this world, just showing up. Remember what Jesus said to Peter: “Peter, Satan's demanded to sift you like wheat.” (Luke 22:31) In other words, just one word of permission -- and everything you know, all the power you had to heal, all the miracles that you've done, everything that you are, Peter -- is no match if I just give permission to Satan for a millisecond.

You need to put on the armor of God. This includes, in summary: truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, security of our salvation, and prayer. Truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, security of our salvation in prayer; and those are in those verses there, in chapter six, verses 14 to 18. Those are the defensive weapons, so to speak, the weapons that we have innately as believers. We should not set those aside as though we're not putting on the new self. They are ours in Christ Jesus. This is the theology of chapters one through three. But in verse 17, it says, take up the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” This is the one weapon you do not want to keep hidden. You want to learn how to wield it, to use it effectively. And yes, it's probably like a short dagger kind of thing. But the point is, is that this is your combat.

When you are attacked, and to say, “Well, you don't love me because you don't accept me for the way I am.” That's fine. Jesus said, “You have to be born again.” (John 3:7) Right? So, “I was born this way.” Have you ever heard that? Just say, “That's great, be born again.” That's what Scripture says. “I don't understand Scripture the way you do.” Well, it doesn't matter what you and I think; it's got a meaning, and we need to find out what it actually means. And so, we use the word of God, in gentleness when we can, and in humbleness, and with kindness, and we walk in love. But we do use it, to fight against error, not to go out and destroy others who need the hope of the gospel which we have. No, to defend ourselves.

Paul ends where he started. Remember, in chapter one, he identified himself. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ. That is who he is. That's his identity. He calls himself an ambassador in change for the Lord. Even being in prison is for the Lord. And here, in verse 20, he says, “I am an ambassador in chains.” Friends, you and I need to keep in focus who we are in this life. And that will help us know how to live. We are ambassadors for our wonderful, kind, Lord Jesus Christ. Your life is his. Your job is given to you so that you can represent him. Your blessed neighbors have been given to you to represent Christ. All of the world, that needs to see the light of the gospel, God gave us to the world to represent him. To those in your family who may not know the Lord Jesus, he has blessed them with the ability to hear the gospel through you. Your Children are a gift from him, not to build you up, but so you can share the gospel with them. Your free time is his. Your thoughts are his. Our church is his. Church, let us walk worthy of our calling for Christ and the church.

Let's pray. Father God, this is one letter that could be read in 15 minutes, yet it's so packed with amazing truth and hard truth, and just describing who we are and our calling, our conduct, and all these things. And, Lord, I just pray that you would give us wisdom. Help us to know you and have the courage to live for you. Lord God, I pray that if there's someone here who doesn't know you, that they would give their lives to Jesus Christ right now. That we might not go around with our own agenda, but that we might always be ready to share the loving gospel of Christ with all who would hear. And I pray that if someone doesn't know you, or they claim to know you but don't live it out, I pray that they would truly come to faith today. Friends, let's just take a few moments right now in silent prayer, to ask God to help us to live worthy of the calling. Lord God, we praise you. We love you. And we pray that our lives would bring you glory. Amen.