Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Our dear Heavenly Father, you have extended yourself to us in ways far beyond what we deserve.
[00:00:15] You've loved us with an eternal love.
[00:00:20] You have forgiven us for the unforgivable.
[00:00:24] You've shown, shown us grace, mercy and peace.
[00:00:30] You've been good to us in ways we recognize and in ways that are far beyond our recognition.
[00:00:38] And so I pray because you have gone so far for us, that we may learn to walk in a manner worthy of our calling and Christ may be glorified in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:00:56] We're going to study through the book of the fourth chapter of Ephesians.
[00:01:03] So if you'd like to read that during your devotion time a couple of times, it probably would help.
[00:01:13] If you don't, I'll just tell you what's in it.
[00:01:19] Ah, last year I preached through the first chapter, but I want to remind you about the historical context of Ephesians.
[00:01:34] If we're not careful, the Bible loses its everyday grittiness and it becomes, ah, fairy tale, ish.
[00:01:51] Ah, but that it was never intended to be that way.
[00:01:57] Paul did three missionary trips from 48 to 58 AD.
[00:02:06] And these missionary trips all started in Antioch, Syria and they made their way west into the Roman Empire.
[00:02:17] On his third mission trip he spent three years in the city of Ephesus.
[00:02:26] Ephesus was a, it was, it was a grand place.
[00:02:33] It was a thriving economic center.
[00:02:37] It had the largest temple to Artemis in the ancient world.
[00:02:43] It had a three story library, a very, very fascinating place.
[00:02:52] And Paul spent three years there.
[00:02:56] When his third mission trip ended, he took a collection from these churches in the Roman Empire to help the church in Jerusalem because it was on hard times.
[00:03:10] And when he took the offering to Jerusalem, he was in the temple praying and got attacked by a mob of angry people.
[00:03:23] They drug him out of the temple, kicking him and punching him.
[00:03:28] And it was their intention to drag him out of the city and stone him to death.
[00:03:36] But the Roman tribune brought some Roman soldiers into the street and they literally had to pick Paul up and carry him on their shoulders to get him out of the riot.
[00:03:52] And so he was held in Roman custody in accessory of marentina for two years.
[00:04:02] At the end of that two years they put him on a boat and sent him to Rome because he, he didn't, he wasn't getting a fair trial in Israel.
[00:04:16] Luke tells us that he lived in a rented house for two years.
[00:04:23] And that gets us to about the year 62 or 63.
[00:04:31] The Romans didn't pay for jail, they just made a guard live with you and you paid for all your own stuff.
[00:04:44] And, and we believe that he probably wrote the book of Ephesians around 63.
[00:04:54] And you might be interested to know Nero killed him two years later.
[00:05:00] So the book of Ephesians is written toward the end of Paul's life where he has been very, very thoughtful about the things of God.
[00:05:13] And if you read the book, it kind of breaks into two sections.
[00:05:17] The first three chapters are about theology.
[00:05:21] Who is God and how does he relate to man.
[00:05:25] Chapters four, five and six, they're about how do I live a good life if God is who he says he is. So it's a half theological and half practical.
[00:05:42] And we're going to. Chapter four is the beginning of the practical.
[00:05:47] And this is what Paul wrote from Rome to his friends at the church in Ephesus.
[00:05:56] I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
[00:06:08] With all humility and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[00:06:23] There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call.
[00:06:31] One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is overall through all and in all.
[00:06:43] Paul starts out this passage by saying, ah.
[00:06:48] Ah.
[00:06:50] Being a Christian, being a follower of Christ comes with expectations.
[00:07:01] Ah.
[00:07:05] God has certain expectations of the people who say they are his followers.
[00:07:15] And I think that's altogether fair.
[00:07:18] If I'm going to claim the name of Christian, then God has the right to say I have these expectations of you.
[00:07:28] Ah.
[00:07:29] If God has blessed me beyond imagination, it's absolutely fair for him to say I have a basic expectation for you.
[00:07:40] The Christian life comes with expectations.
[00:07:44] We're not just out there winging it.
[00:07:48] We're saying, we're asking the Scriptures, ah, dear Lord, what do you expect of me?
[00:07:58] And Paul says, I want you to know these expectations that I've tried to live up to, they've cost me a lot.
[00:08:09] In fact, he says, I'm a prisoner today because I'm trying to live up to God's expectations for my life.
[00:08:17] I, ah.
[00:08:27] What is it costing you to live up to God's expectations of your life?
[00:08:37] I want to say this again.
[00:08:39] Christianity is not a hobby, it is a way of life.
[00:08:47] Christianity isn't something you do when you have extra time.
[00:08:55] Christianity is not like golfing with your buddy.
[00:08:59] It is a life expectation.
[00:09:04] It is a, it is a day to day striving to be pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:09:16] It is a life that requires faith in the goodness of God.
[00:09:24] Paul was in prison.
[00:09:28] He was attacked.
[00:09:30] I wish I could.
[00:09:31] I wish I had a better imagination to describe to you what it must have been like to be kneeling and praying in the temple when a dozen people rush at you, somebody sucker punches you, and they start dragging you through the streets and hundreds of people are trying to hit you and kick you.
[00:09:55] And their. Their. Their desperate aim is to get you to the place where they intended to stone you to death.
[00:10:03] Paul said. Paul said, I have paid a price to live up to the expectations of God.
[00:10:15] By the way, when he was on a boat going from Israel, from Cesarea Martina to Rome, the boat sunk.
[00:10:29] He was stranded on the island of Malta, got bit by a snake.
[00:10:34] Paul lived in adventure.
[00:10:39] He was under arrest, awaiting trial, and his judge was the absolute nut case. Nero.
[00:10:51] If you know anything about Nero, the man was a loony tune.
[00:11:03] We become Christians not because we figure God out, but because God calls us.
[00:11:10] I, therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.
[00:11:21] You are a Christian today because. Because at some point in your life, the Holy Spirit showed up and spoke to your inner self in a compelling way.
[00:11:32] Am I right? Some of you can remember what it was like when you felt a new inclination toward God.
[00:11:42] That wasn't you figuring things out. That was God extending himself to you and calling you to. To come to him in faith.
[00:11:54] Ah.
[00:11:56] Paul says, I'm not suggesting that you walk in a manner worthy of your calling.
[00:12:06] I'm not. I'm not.
[00:12:08] I'm not asking you to consider walking in a manner worthy of calling. This what he says, I urge you to.
[00:12:17] I compel you to.
[00:12:20] I put a little edge on this. This is not up for flipping the coin. I'll walk in a manner worthy of my calling today, but tomorrow I get a freebie. He's saying, I'm compelling you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling.
[00:12:40] And when I think about that, I ask myself these three questions.
[00:12:47] Am I living in a way that's acceptable to Christ?
[00:12:56] If Christ took me out for lunch today and I said to him, how do you think I'm doing?
[00:13:09] Would it be easy for him to say, I appreciate you. You're walking in a manner worthy of your calling.
[00:13:17] Or mighty say, hey, horse, I'm glad you asked that, because there's some things I'd like to talk to you about.
[00:13:28] There are some issues that I think we need to get out on the table.
[00:13:38] The second question I ask myself, is my daily life worthy of what Christ has done for me?
[00:13:49] If I compare what Christ has done for me, is my daily life worthy of what he's done?
[00:14:00] Or does Christ have to ask himself?
[00:14:04] Maybe I overspent on that guy.
[00:14:10] One more question.
[00:14:13] Is my daily life affirmed or challenged by the Holy Spirit?
[00:14:21] Do I hear, Do I hear the Holy Spirit affirming me more than I hear him saying, dude, you got to get this right.
[00:14:34] You're off track.
[00:14:39] I don't know what makes you think thinking like that is healthy.
[00:14:45] Are you listening to me? Church?
[00:14:48] No one can tell you if you're walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. That takes self examination.
[00:14:56] And the goal of walking in a manner worthy is to hear our Lord and Savior say, well done, good and faithful servant. That's the goal.
[00:15:09] The goal is to live worthy of Christ so that someday Christ looks at us and says, awesome, well done, good and faithful servant. I'm glad to hang around with a guy like you.
[00:15:26] Ah.
[00:15:29] And then Paul says, I want to tell you what walking worthy looks like.
[00:15:35] He said, I don't want you to have to guess, so I'm going to tell you some ways that you can walk in a manner worthy of your calling.
[00:15:44] And then he says, Verse 2. With all humble mindedness and gentleness, with patience, putting up with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[00:16:04] All right, let's look at these characteristics.
[00:16:08] The first way I walk worthy of the Lord is I practice a humble thought life that enriches relationships.
[00:16:20] Do you know the way you think affects the way you treat the people around you?
[00:16:28] We think we're hiding our thoughts. We aren't.
[00:16:33] My actions express my thoughts.
[00:16:39] So Paul says, if you're going to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, you got to start with how you're thinking.
[00:16:49] In the Roman world, humility was not a virtue.
[00:16:56] In the Roman world, humility was looked at as a weakness.
[00:17:04] I think we have become too much like the Romans.
[00:17:08] We, we are an arrogant culture and the more rude people treat us, the more famous they become.
[00:17:18] Church, listen.
[00:17:21] Paul says, I want you to walk in a manner worthy of your calling. And now this is what it looks like. You start out by taking control of your thought life and you teach yourself how to think in a more humble way.
[00:17:38] Church, we can't permit ourselves to look at other people and think arrogant thoughts.
[00:17:53] Jesus told about a Pharisee and a tax collector who went to church to pray.
[00:17:59] The the tax collector was ashamed and he stood in the back.
[00:18:04] The Pharisee walked up to the front of the church and he said this prayer.
[00:18:10] Dear God, I thank you that I'm not like other people.
[00:18:18] I thank you that I'm not like those disgusting people out there.
[00:18:25] He actually said, I'm glad. I thank you that I'm not like that Pharisee at the back of the room.
[00:18:33] And then he starts telling God what a good guy he is.
[00:18:38] I fast when I'm supposed to fast.
[00:18:41] I tithe the the vegetables in my garden. Aren't I a wonderful man?
[00:18:50] The tax collector in the back couldn't raise his head up and he just patted himself on a chest and all he could say was, God, be merciful to me a sinner.
[00:19:08] Jesus said the tax collector went home right with God, not the Pharisee.
[00:19:15] I see a humble mind in the tax collector.
[00:19:20] I see an arrogant mind in the Pharisee.
[00:19:26] And Paul says, we're going to live this Christian life the way it's supposed to be lived. We have to get serious about living a humble minded life that enriches the relationships that God gives us.
[00:19:40] The second thing he says is a gentle spirit that softens the harshness of life.
[00:19:49] Do you find that life can be harsh?
[00:19:52] Anyone?
[00:19:55] Do you find that life can be harsh?
[00:19:58] Ah, I find that I can be incredibly harsh with myself.
[00:20:07] Anyone else?
[00:20:09] Do you ever say ugly things to yourself in your head?
[00:20:15] I've called myself an idiot about a million times, you idiot.
[00:20:21] All right.
[00:20:24] Paul is saying if we're going to live this Christian life well, we have to have a gentle spirit that softens the harshness of life.
[00:20:39] A gentle spirit that softens the heart. The harshness that we can allow to rise up in our in our home.
[00:20:50] The harshness that we can allow to rise up in our relationships. The harshness that is the normal of an everyday work week.
[00:20:58] Paul says, you're going to live the Christian life and you're going to live it well.
[00:21:04] But you're going to have to soften and you're going to have to be more gentle and you're going to have to be one of the people I use to help people deal with the harshness of the world we live in.
[00:21:22] The third characteristic is a patient disposition that nurtures well being.
[00:21:31] Do you find the the more impatient you become, The more impatient you become.
[00:21:44] I let myself be this much impatient, but I'm not satisfied then.
[00:21:51] Well, now I let myself be this much impatient church and pretty soon I'm this much impatient.
[00:22:02] Ah, ah, ah.
[00:22:06] Impatience produces more impatience.
[00:22:11] So Paul says, to live this Christian life well, we have to develop a patience that nurtures well being.
[00:22:21] Here's something else. I find I'm more happy when I'm patient than when I'm impatient.
[00:22:30] Church.
[00:22:32] When I'm patient, I have more well being.
[00:22:37] When I allow myself to get impatient, then I start seeing everything I don't like.
[00:22:43] Huh.
[00:22:46] Look at that idiot. Where did they learn to drive? And here's another one.
[00:22:52] What are these people doing on the road?
[00:22:54] And look over here.
[00:22:56] All right. And pretty soon, on the inside, I got myself worked up.
[00:23:02] I'm wishing I was driving a bulldozer.
[00:23:07] Oh, Church. We broke ground on the west campus this week.
[00:23:18] She and I drove out there and watched them bulldozing dirt around, and we rejoiced in the Lord.
[00:23:29] The next characteristic, Paul could be direct. Sometimes, he said, sometimes you just have to put up with one another in love.
[00:23:50] A Christlike love that endures the unpleasant experiences because we're striving for a higher purpose.
[00:24:00] Do you know if you're going to give a. Live a good life, you can't be at war with the whole world.
[00:24:09] And sometimes you just have to put up with stuff.
[00:24:14] Can you hear me?
[00:24:16] There is a.
[00:24:18] There is a.
[00:24:20] There's a sad truth in the world that if you're going to live well, you're going to have to confront people who aren't living well and don't ever intend to live well.
[00:24:36] You can't change them.
[00:24:38] And so sometimes you just have to gut it up and endure.
[00:24:47] Can you hear that?
[00:24:49] Something goes wrong with Christianity when we become combative. I've known Christians who thought they had to correct everyone and everything.
[00:25:01] Of course, they were the only one who was totally right. And the rest of us, we weren't in the ball game. And their whole Christian faith was, that's wrong, that's wrong. Those people shouldn't be doing that. And they.
[00:25:17] They wanted to argue all the time about religion. Have you met people like that?
[00:25:23] Paul says, don't be that person.
[00:25:27] Ah.
[00:25:28] Sometimes you just have to take a deep breath or two or three and say, not getting into this.
[00:25:42] Can you hear this?
[00:25:43] There are some things that we endure. Now listen, I don't endure them in a begrudging way. I endure them in a spirit of love because I love Christ. I'm going to put up with this.
[00:26:01] Can you hear this?
[00:26:03] If you're walking in a manner worthy of Christ, there are some things that you put up with for the single reason that you love Christ.
[00:26:15] And then the last one he says, ah, be diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit.
[00:26:25] A personal diligent that goes the extra mile to keep unity.
[00:26:31] Not just external unity but a unity of the Spirit in the inner life.
[00:26:39] Ah.
[00:26:41] Ah.
[00:26:44] I often pray that God would grant me the grace to be easier to get along with.
[00:26:52] Ah.
[00:26:54] I like the idea of being eager to keep the unity.
[00:27:01] Church.
[00:27:03] I've gone to church my whole life.
[00:27:08] Gone to church. More than God.
[00:27:13] Listen, ah, I know a thing or two about church and I'm going to tell you this.
[00:27:21] The churches that are thriving are churches that care about unity and getting along.
[00:27:33] And the quickest way to kill a church is to break the unity of the Spirit.
[00:27:39] You see it the, the, the, the, the quickest way to damage what God is doing in this church is to permit yourself to be factious to break off in little splinter groups and set in judgment of others.
[00:28:02] Church.
[00:28:04] I've known people who wouldn't set in a certain section of the church because somebody they hated sat in that section.
[00:28:14] Can you imagine that? It's church.
[00:28:19] It's the house of God.
[00:28:22] But I hate you so much if you're sitting in that section. I'm not going to sit in that section.
[00:28:30] Church.
[00:28:31] Paul says let's live the Christian life well.
[00:28:36] And part of living the Christian life well is learning to live in unity with other people.
[00:28:45] Don't be too quick to judge someone.
[00:28:50] Don't be too quick to cut somebody off.
[00:28:54] Man. Some of you will cut people out of your life and never bat an eye.
[00:28:59] Maybe you ought to at least pray before you assign them to the purgatory of your world.
[00:29:06] Ah, Paul says we have to work at being unified and he says we have a partner in it. And that's the Holy Spirit at work on our Spirit, helping us to live in unity with other Christians.
[00:29:27] Now I want to. I talked about us. Now I want to talk about the big church, the universal church.
[00:29:34] There are churches that their services are very different than ours. You, some of you went to them. All right?
[00:29:44] Wherever people have put their faith in Christ, they're Christians no matter what the name on the sign is. Can we agree with that?
[00:29:53] Wherever people have put their faith in Christ, they're Christians no matter what their church sign says. All right.
[00:30:03] I want to live in unity with all Christians.
[00:30:09] I don't want to set in judgment of churches that practice their faith differently than we do.
[00:30:18] Church.
[00:30:20] I've been to Holy Roller churches where they're getting with it flag whooshing and, and dancing in the aisles and, and made me uncomfortable. Hey, but all right, and I've been to, I've been to high church mass.
[00:30:42] I, I, I've seen the spectrums. All right? And here's what I want to say.
[00:30:47] Anyone who is a believer in Jesus Christ is my Christian brother or sister.
[00:31:01] And I want to live in unity with them.
[00:31:04] I don't want to be the one. Critiques, critiques, critique, critique, critiques. Church. All right, now listen. Let's, let's, let's do this all again. Paul says, I want you to have concrete things to work on so you can keep pressing yourself to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.
[00:31:24] And he says, here, let me give you a short list.
[00:31:28] Work on a humble thought life that enriches relationships. Work on a gentle spirit that, that softens the harshness of life.
[00:31:38] We're going to patient disposition that nurtures well being does develop the ability to endure what you don't like because you love Jesus Christ and be diligent to keep unity.
[00:31:57] That's a good, that is a good start on how, how to walk in a manner that worthy of the Lord.
[00:32:05] Then he says, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
[00:32:09] I want to talk about the bond of peace a little bit.
[00:32:13] Ah, ah.
[00:32:18] So the word bond comes from the word, the word that we would say to bind or to tie up to.
[00:32:34] I'm trying to remember some of the other words that were.
[00:32:39] All right, let's just use tie up. It's graphic enough.
[00:32:44] Listen what he says.
[00:32:46] Tie yourselves together with peace.
[00:32:52] Is that a beautiful idea?
[00:32:55] Tie yourselves together with peace.
[00:32:58] What destroys peace?
[00:33:02] Pride.
[00:33:06] That proud feeling. I'm, I'm too good for you.
[00:33:09] You're not living up to.
[00:33:11] You're not one of us.
[00:33:14] Church.
[00:33:17] What destroys peace? Envy.
[00:33:21] Why do they have that when I don't have it?
[00:33:24] What destroys peace?
[00:33:26] Gossip.
[00:33:32] You don't have to repeat everything you hear.
[00:33:40] Some of you aren't listening to me. You just turned your radio down.
[00:33:47] You don't have to repeat everything you hear.
[00:33:50] And since I'm being obnoxious, It's even more disgusting to say I want to share a prayer request.
[00:34:03] And it's not a prayer request at all. It's a gossip.
[00:34:08] I want to share a prayer request.
[00:34:11] And then they proceed to tell you something terrible about someone. Church.
[00:34:16] That peace can't survive that.
[00:34:22] And another thing that destroys peace. Just neglect. I don't care enough one way or another to do anything.
[00:34:33] What binds Christians together in peace?
[00:34:37] Paul used this beautiful picture. He said There used to be a dividing wall between people and it divided ethnic groups and it divided religious groups and it divided a class and gender, he said. But when Christ came, he tore down the middle wall that separates us from each other.
[00:35:05] So at the core of us tying ourselves together with peace is Jesus Christ.
[00:35:13] The Holy Spirit maintains this peace by whispering to the human heart and saying, you can do better, you can do better.
[00:35:25] Ah.
[00:35:28] A healthy relationship to the Christian community is. Is part of God's expectation for us.
[00:35:36] Ah, I'm going to get email on this. I just see him coming in.
[00:35:49] Listen, I don't care what you tell me, I don't care what excuse you've made up.
[00:35:59] You can't live a healthy Christian life apart from the Christian community.
[00:36:07] Now let me tell you why.
[00:36:09] Listen what? Listen what Paul taught us.
[00:36:12] The church, the Christian community is like a body.
[00:36:19] And he says the ear can't say to the body, I'm not part of the body because I'm not the eye.
[00:36:28] He says, the body needs all its parts to function in a healthy way.
[00:36:34] If you think you can live a Christian life and not be part of the Christian community, you're the ear that's sitting all alone out there shriveling it up because you can't sustain life without the body.
[00:36:51] You get this.
[00:36:52] The idea is the Christian life was never designed to live alone.
[00:36:58] It was always meant to be a community activity.
[00:37:02] And so if I'm going to walk in a manner worthy of Christ, I have to have a relationship to the community in which Christ abides.
[00:37:12] Can you hear this?
[00:37:15] Yes.
[00:37:17] And so Paul launches in to these.
[00:37:24] Bullet statements.
[00:37:26] There is one body, one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is overall through all and in all. And of course, I can't let any of these go. So let's wade through.
[00:37:46] We are one body.
[00:37:48] The church is one body, and there are many members.
[00:37:52] If I'm going to live a healthy Christian life, if I'm going to walk in a manner worthy of my calling, I have to understand that I'm part of something bigger than myself.
[00:38:07] The church is one of the places that I express my love for God. The church is one of the places that I use my spiritual gifts. The church is one of the places that I mature spiritually.
[00:38:21] One Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
[00:38:26] Ah, The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, and he's the personhood of God that we sense when we sense God.
[00:38:39] Do you have a Feeling from time to time, you're sensing the presence of the Lord Church.
[00:38:50] What you're sensing is the indwelling Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
[00:38:57] When I have a sense of God, I'm sensing the Holy Spirit.
[00:39:03] And so Paul says, ah, what a beautiful thing it is that we all share one spirit.
[00:39:12] The spirit of the living God.
[00:39:15] The same spirit that whispers to your heart whispers to my heart.
[00:39:19] The same spirit that whispers to my heart whispers to a Christian's heart in Alabama.
[00:39:26] All right.
[00:39:29] Three. One hope.
[00:39:33] We are united by a hope.
[00:39:36] Listen, Christ, in you.
[00:39:39] The hope of glory.
[00:39:43] Do you share this hope that someday, because of Jesus Christ, you're going to be a perfectly glorious being?
[00:39:56] That's our destiny.
[00:39:59] One Lord.
[00:40:00] There is one Lord in the church, and his name is Jesus Christ.
[00:40:05] One faith. Faith in Christ is the same for all people, everywhere, at all times.
[00:40:12] Now, some of you grew up that in the Old Testament they were saved differently than in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, faith was killing animals and sprinkling blood everywhere. Paul says just the opposite.
[00:40:29] He says if killing animals would please God, then Christ didn't need to die.
[00:40:37] Abraham was saved the very same way you are saved. He put his faith in the coming Christ.
[00:40:44] We put our faith in the Christ who's already come. They put their faith in the Christ who is coming.
[00:40:50] One Lord Jesus Christ. One faith.
[00:40:55] One baptism.
[00:40:58] The Church has messed around with baptism, but the Bible teaches very clearly and we say it at every baptism.
[00:41:06] How about the other day, if 20 people were baptized? Was that awesome?
[00:41:14] One baptism.
[00:41:16] Buried in the likeness of his death, raised in the likeness of his resurrection.
[00:41:21] I don't believe in baptismal regeneration, that getting dipped underwater saved your soul. I believe that the one baptism is being dipped underwater is a public statement that I have died with Christ and I'm rising up to live new Christian life.
[00:41:45] One God and father of all.
[00:41:55] Nt wright connects this with the old testament shema.
[00:42:05] Deuteronomy 6.
[00:42:08] Shema is the Hebrew word for here.
[00:42:11] And Deuteronomy 6 says, Here, O Israel, the Lord, the Lord, our God is one.
[00:42:21] Here, O Israel, Yahweh.
[00:42:25] Yahweh. Our God is one.
[00:42:30] We believe in the Trinity.
[00:42:32] One essence, one divine essence and three persons. There aren't three gods. There is one God, and he exists in three persons.
[00:42:50] And then the last is really, really powerful.
[00:42:56] Who is overall through all. And in all, these.
[00:43:10] Three prepositional phrases tell us three things about God.
[00:43:17] The God of the church is the Lord.
[00:43:22] Overall, that means he's sovereign.
[00:43:27] He has the right to make the Final call Church.
[00:43:33] You are bombarded with the enlightenment, thinking, and you think somehow or another you have the right to make the final call in your own life. You are deceived.
[00:43:46] The final call belongs to the Creator.
[00:43:50] The final call belongs to the sovereign God.
[00:43:54] And by the way, he's smart enough and good enough to make better calls than we make.
[00:44:01] We live a quality Christian life. When we kneel before the Lord who is sovereign overall.
[00:44:12] Ah, the second phrase. He is Lord through all.
[00:44:20] This is the providence of God.
[00:44:22] God is not just a sovereign who sits on a throne somewhere far away.
[00:44:29] God is a God of providence who is at work in history day by day, accomplishing his eternal purpose.
[00:44:41] We live the Christian life well. When we're looking to the providential God and saying, would you meet me today?
[00:44:49] Would you help me today?
[00:44:51] I have this challenge that's greater than I am. Will you strengthen me for this? I don't understand what I should understand. Would you give me a wisdom I don't have? The providential God is the God of the church, the Lord in all.
[00:45:11] That's the omnipresence of God.
[00:45:14] God is everywhere.
[00:45:17] Wherever you go tomorrow, God is there.
[00:45:22] Wherever your heart is right now, God is there.
[00:45:28] He is a God who is sovereign overall. He is a God who is providentially at work in our lives. He is a God who is omnipotent. He is everywhere we need him to be and church.
[00:45:45] That's why he deserves for us to walk in a manner worthy of his calling.
[00:45:53] Our dear Heavenly Father, thank you for Paul, thank you for this great letter.
[00:46:00] I pray that these ideas would not slip by us.
[00:46:06] But I pray that some of them would take root in our heart and we might find ourselves more and more aware of trying to live in a manner worthy of our calling, trying to meet the fair expectations you have for us.
[00:46:27] Then I pray that your spirit would be at work in us, helping us to do that. And I ask it through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
