Gems of the Gospel

Good morning, my name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here at Renovation Church! Well, how great is this? We are so excited to be back at our church home. We still have 6 more months of construction to go, and lots to do (chairs to arrive, parking lots to pave), but it’s amazing to see the progress already, and just be back here, honestly. Thank you to so many of you that were here this week, serving, cleaning, and preparing, so this day could happen. God is good. I want you to imagine this morning that you are at home this upcoming week, and your kid (or grandkid), or neighbor kid, comes running into your home… …and says, “Look at this!” And they dump a bunch of little rocks on your counter. And you say, “Oh…wow…that’s…um…great! Thanks!” But, because you’re nice you keep their found rocks on display for a month, but otherwise you don’t think much of them. Until one day, you have a friend over for dinner, who also happens to be a bit of rock expert in their spare time. And right before dinner, they notice your pile of little rocks, and they say, “Friend, I don’t know if you know this, but I think these are precious gems!” And so you go over to your junk drawer, and you find a magnifying glass…which of course you have that in your junk drawer. And you both start to examine the rocks and they say, “look, it’s a gem! It’s a precious stone! This could be worth so much!” Now, what I want to show you in the Bible this morning, is similar to this scenario. I think for many of us, the Gospel (and I’ll say that word a lot this morning) Here’s what it means if you’re unfamiliar with that word: The Gospel = The Good News that Jesus died for us so that we can be forgiven and more! But for many of us as Christians, the Gospel has become like random rocks on a counter. It’s there…but when we hear Gospel Truths like, “You’re forgiven by God,” and they don’t seem to move us a lot more than words like “It rained a lot this week” And didn’t rain a ton?! And see what just happened there….even, the rain can move us more than the Gospel. And that’s happening to us, in part, because we haven’t looked close enough at the Gospel. We haven’t gotten out the magnifying glass enough to really study how amazing it truly is. And that’s what I want to do with you this morning as we start a new book of the Bible! We are excited to begin studying the Letter of Ephesians today! Before we open it up, let me say a few things about the context of Ephesians since we’re in our first week. (Show Ephesians Info Slides) Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul , one of the early Christian leaders It was written in the year 60 AD , roughly 30 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection Paul wrote it while he was in prison in Rome Prior to his arrest, Paul had visited & ministered in Ephesus a couple of times, once for longer than 2 years…which was longer than any other city on his many journeys. And so Paul is writing to these Christian friends at Ephesus, And it’s helpful to understand that they live in a tough city to be a Christian. For one, it was huge. It was the 4th largest city in the Roman Empire And it was famous, in part, for its idolatry. So much so that one of the 7 wonders of the world was there…the temple of Artemis In fact, you can read in Acts 19 how Paul’s preaching in Ephesus almost caused a riot amongst the followers of Artemis All right, so let’s grab a Bible and check this letter out. Ephesians 1:1 3 Page 798 We’re so excited to have Bibles again under our chairs after 4 months away! We are going to divide Ephesians in half, into 2 different series. This Fall, our first series will be chapters 1 – 3, which are filled with amazing truths about just how Remarkable God’s Redemption of us. And then, the second series, will be chapters 4 6, which contains some of the most practical advice you’ll find anywhere in the Bible (on marriage, forgiveness, conflict management, workplace interactions, and so on) And we’ll get to that in early 2024. Let’s read: (Ephesians 1:1 3) – NIV Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Title Slide) Verses 1 2 are a typical introduction from Paul, and then in verse 3, he says Praise God because He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And then, over the next several verses, Paul lists some of those blessings. And the more you look closely at these blessings (these rocks of truth), the more you will discover what gems they truly are. And the more you see that… the more you will “Praise God” with your life as Paul said. It reminds me of C.S. Lewis’ 2nd book in the Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian. In the first book, Lucy, had great faith in the Christ figure in the story, the lion, Aslan. But when Lucy sees the lion again in the 2nd book, after not seeing him for a while, she says, “Aslan, you’re bigger!” And he says, “That’s because you’ve grown.” And she says, “Not because you have?” And he says, “Every year you grow, you will find me bigger.” When we dive deeper into who God is, He gets bigger, and more remarkable in our eyes. Charles Spurgeon puts it this way: “If you think little of what God has done for you, you will do very little for him; but if you have a great notion of his great mercy to you, you will be greatly grateful to your gracious God.” – Charles Spurgeon So if you want to be passionate about God, and you want to see God glorified with your life… …then it starts with understanding the beauty (the gems) of his Gospel…that is…what He did for you. #1: HE CHOSE YOU So we’re going to see 4 gems of the Gospel in our passage today. Let’s read the first one. It’s in verse 4 (Ephesians 1:4a) NIV 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. Here’s the 1st Gem: 4 GEMS OF THE GOSPEL #1: He chose you It says, before the creation of the world even, God chose you. In fact, in the next verse, the language is even stronger. We’re going to see that, Christians, he predestined you to become a part of his family. Now, one of the things that happens for some of you when you read these verses is your theological alarm bells go off. And they go, “BEEP BEEP BEEP!! Whoa! That’s predestination, or some sort of determinism, or Calvinism!” And we say, “And it looks like God is doing the choosing instead of us,” and some of you say, “And I don’t like that.” Now, I want you to come back next week because next week this topic is actually going to come up in next week’s passage again, so we’re going to a bit of a deeper dive into this age old debate. We’ll talk the two major theological frameworks for this, called Calvinism and Arminianism, and I’ll tell you which one is right. Just kidding. Maybe? But, for now, to hold us over for 7 days…let me say this. When you come to a verse in the Bible, and it seems to challenge your theology…that is your view of who you believe God to be. Be very careful to not bend God’s Word to fit your theology (whatever it is). Instead, you always want to be open to what the Word of God says. Even if it feels a bit uncomfortable. So what does it say? It says that God CHOSE You Before the earth was even created, God saw you, and chose you. And don’t just intellectually interact with that. Let your heart interact with that. It’s like if you had a 4 year old daughter… And when you were tucking her in, you said, “Honey, did you know, if all the little girls in the whole world were lined up, and I could only choose one…I’d choose you.” What are you doing? You’re communicating your heart for her. And my friends, it matters that we look closer at this Gospel Gem. Because if you’re struggling in your faith, or in sin, and you’re wondering, “How could God possibly still love me in the mess that I’m in now?” But He does! But how do I know? Because, what does it say? He already chose you before the world began… So trust me, nothing you’ve got yourself into now, can undo that. He’s got you! Do you see the beauty of that? It’s a Gospel Gem. #2: HE ADOPTED YOU Let’s read the next verse and see the second gem. …I’ll start two words before verse 5. (Ephesians 1:4b 5) – NIV In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— This is the 2nd Gospel Gem 4 GEMS OF THE GOSPEL #1: He chose you #2: He adopted you Adoption shows us that God didn’t just choose you to be forgiven. But when you believed in faith in Jesus Christ, that God ADOPTED you into His family. Paul’s readers in Ephesus were a part of the Roman Empire at the time, and in the Roman Empire, when a person was adopted into another family… …they became essentially a new person. They were given all of the rights (the name, the dignity, the wealth, the inheritance)…of their new family. And so the imagery here is that you and I were street kids… But the King spotted us…and adopted us into the castle…into His Family. But not just that… As adopted children, we now have all the rights of His Name. We can say to our enemy the devil, “You shut your mouth now, I’m a child of the King” As adopted children, our new inheritance is unparalleled We will spend forever, FOREVER, in paradise with the King. As adopted children, God isn’t just some figure out “there” He’s now our Father…and He wants to talk with us…and know us. This is amazing! So how often do you get this Gospel Gem of Adoption out and turn it over and look closely at it? Or is it just a rock on your counter? #3: HE FREELY GAVE YOU GRACE All right, let’s keep reading. There’s more. (Ephesians 1:6) – NIV to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. This is the 3rd Gospel Gem. 4 GEMS OF THE GOSPEL #1: He chose you #2: He adopted you #3: He freely gave you grace And he did that by sending His son Jesus to die for our sins…in our place. And grace…means undeserved favor. And we need to look closer at this particular rock of truth. Let me explain: If someone told you that your neighbor came by and paid you bill, and thus you should be very grateful. I guess you would want to know which bill. Was it the $10 you owe? I mean, that’s a little weird, but, “Thanks??” Or did they pay the $300,000 you still owe on your mortgage? Your reaction is going to be different based on what they paid for you. And see, I believe that people react differently to God based on how much they think He paid for them. Many of us aren’t all that excited or passionate about God, in part because we think He didn’t really have to die for that many of our sins. …we think, “I’m not that bad of a person” “…kind of a small bill to pay” This is why in Luke 18, Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the Tax collector at the temple The author Luke, introduces the story by saying, “To some who were confident of their own righteousness (their own goodness), Jesus told this parable” In the story, the Pharisees comes up and prays about all of the good things he’s done. And the tax collector just beats his breast, and says, “God have mercy on me, a sinner” And who does God justify? Who does God use? The tax collector. Because he rightly sees God, and rightly sees Himself. And listen, the Gospel will never be a glorious gem to you, and thus you will never develop a passion for God…until you first realize that God had to lavishly pour out his grace on you (as verse 8 says) I mean…we were on death row. Can you imagine what that would feel like? Death row? And let’s say you knew you were guilty. And you KNEW there was no evidence that could overturn your conviction. But at the last moment, you were pardoned. And you were set free. How would you feel? How grateful would you feel to the one set you free and showed you grace…that you didn’t deserve?! The truth is, we were basically sitting on death row, and all the evidence said, “that we deserved the eternal death penalty” Death by a fire that never ends. And Jesus, not because of our goodness, not because we deserved it, but because of His grace, came and took the death penalty for us, on the cross. That is a gloriously beautiful gem of truth! HE REDEEMED YOU But there’s even more. Let’s look at one more here. (Ephesians 1:7 8) – NIV 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, Here’s the 4th Gospel Gem 4 GEMS OF THE GOSPEL #1: He chose you #2: He adopted you #3: He freely gave you grace #4: He redeemed you Again, the imagery is from the Roman World that the Ephesian Christians lived in. And in that world, unfortunately, slavery was all too common. But if you wanted, you could redeem a slave. But it would cost something. And actually, that word redemption always implies that a price needs to be paid to secure something, in this case, freedom. That’s the imagery for us. We are sinners…who are living in bondage, chained to sin.” Unable to really change our life.” But our redemption, freedom, is paid by Jesus, through his Blood on the cross. His death…in the place of ours. And so what sets you free therefore, is your faith in the death of Jesus on the cross...a faith in Him as Your Savior, your Leader. And that faith, brings a redemption much like a freed slave would have experienced. Really there are 2 parts to this. For one, when a slave is redeemed, that slave is now set free from the bondage and suffering of their old life. And secondly, they now have a better future in front of them. And that’s what happens when you accept Christ as your Savior & Leader, and let Him redeem you. He sets you free from the bondage of your old life. And some of you are just stuck right now. Maybe you’re stuck in alcohol, or drugs…or depression, or anything. But Jesus can set you free, He can change your life right here and now. I’ve watched him do it with hundreds of people at our church who’ve made decisions to turn their live over to Jesus. And He can change more than just your present, He can change your future. Because when you put your faith in Him and you believe that He died in your place…no longer are you destined to pay for your sins in hell…but you can go to heaven. …because Jesus will have paid for your sins on the cross, You will be seen as not guilty in God’s eyes. And that makes you: A chosen Heir. An adopted child. One covered by Grace. Redeemed by Jesus. Do you see the beauty of the Gospel? One of the things I want to challenge you to do this week is to pick up your spiritual magnifying glass In your quiet times with God this week, pick one of these 4 gems and journal on one of them. Write a letter to God (just type it on your phone if you don’t like to journal), and thank Him for adopting you. Talk to Him about it. Or thank Him for redeeming you…write it out…look closer at this beautiful gospel gem. And if you’ve never really understood these truths before, and they’re just hitting you now, that’s wonderful And if you’ve never before said, “Jesus, I believe you can redeem me…that you died for me …and I want to follow you and be in your forever family” I can not urge you enough to make that decision today. We have people make this decision basically every week, and I want you to make this decision today. So, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go into a time of worship now. And to the Christians in the room, I urge you, not just to sing, but to take these songs, and stare deeply at the gems of the Gospel…and worship from your heart. And to those of you that are ready to make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and Leader for the first time…to receive all of these great things… At any time during these last two songs, I want you to scoot out of your row, and walk through that door. And before you go through the 2nd door to the lobby, I, or someone from our follow up team will meet you, and we’ll get you started, in walking out a relationship with God. I can’t urge you enough to surrender to Him and trust Him today. Let me pray.