Blueprints for the Church: God’s Eternal Purpose
Blueprint for the Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Notes:
Notes:
As a kid…
These people don’t mix like water and oil
“Jew and Gentile”
New Term:
Water and Oil
emulsifier
Something that bonds them together
Soap:
Hydrophilic Component: Greek for Water-Lover: Sticks to water
Hydrophobic Component: Sticks to Water-Fearing Liquids: Stick to Oil
Blood of Jesus is like an emulsifier!
Jew and Gentile: Didn’t go together
Jesus Blood is the bridge between these two
The gospel includes the POWER in Jesus blood to save us from our sins, but it’s more than that!
The gospel also includes the BONDING POWER OF JESUS BLOOD TO UNIFY
“13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”
Binding Power of the Gospel on Paul
Paul was uniquely called to preach to the Gentiles and to give them the Good News that the Blood of Jesus has brought them
This bonding power of the Gospel is something God has uniquely called Paul to announce to the WORLD!
“What was far for you Christ has brought near.”
Bound to Jesus
“For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus”
Prisoner of Christ (versus prisoner of Nero!) “I, Paul, I AM”
Political Statement
Political Statement: Lord Christ verses Lord Nero
Stott: “in spite of the fact that he was the very least of all the saints (verse 8), or ‘the meanest member of the holy people’. It is a very striking expression. He takes the superlative (elachistos, ‘least’ or ‘smallest’) and does what is impossible linguistically but possible theologically; he turns it into a comparative (elachistoteros, ‘leaster’ or ‘less than the least’). Perhaps he was deliberately playing on the meaning of his name. For his Roman surname ‘Paulus’ is Latin for ‘little’ or ‘small’, and tradition says he was a little man. ‘I am little,’ he may be saying, ‘little by name, little in stature, and morally and spiritually littler than the littlest of all Christians.’ In affirming this he is neither indulging in hypocrisy nor grovelling in self-depreciation. He means it. He is deeply conscious both of his own unworthiness because he ‘formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted’ Jesus Christ and of Christ’s overflowing mercy towards him. A good indication that his modesty was neither sham nor morbid is that it did not hinder him from taking responsibility as an apostle. On the contrary, in this very passage he twice uses the self-conscious apostolic egō ‘I’ (3:1; 4:1). Thus, he combined personal humility with apostolic authority. Indeed, while ‘minimizing himself he magnified his office’.”
Bound to his Preaching
Steward and Minister of the Gospel to the Gentiles
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—
Paul as Revealer of the Mystery
Double Union: Jew/Gentile and God in Christ
O’Brien: “In essence the same point is affirmed in the concluding doxology of Romans (16:25–27), where Paul’s gospel is said to be ‘the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages’, and in Colossians 1:25–27, where ‘the word of God’ which the apostle is to complete is ‘the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations’.’
O’Brien: “The manner in which that purpose would come to fruition—by incorporation of both Jews and Gentiles into the body of Christ—was not made known. This had remained a mystery until the time of its fulfilment, and Paul, as the apostle to the Gentiles and first steward of this mystery, has the privilege of unfolding its wonder to his readers.”
v. 9: To Enlighten “bring to light” for everyone what is the plan of the mystery
Not merely proclaiming truth
About inspiration!
This is about helping people come out of darkness to light
“Manifold Wisdom of God might now be made known”
Technicolor Wisdom of God!
What is it communicating?
You don’t hold a stick to the power of God!
“Multi-coloured”=Flowers, crowns, woven carpets.
“The church as a multi-racial, multi-cultural community is like a beautiful tapestry.” Stott
“To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly place.”
Comfort to the Ephesians: Powers have nothing!
We don’t know what this means:
The Gospel explosion even surprised the angels?
The ‘rulers’ and authorities’ heard about it through the church.
The messengers didn’t know the full extent of the message.
They watched while God enacted his eternal decrees through the CHURCH.
Bound to Become More Like Jesus
v. 8: Humility
“Unsearchable”:
Stott: “Translators and commentators compete with one another in their attempt to find a dynamic equivalent in English. The riches of Christ, they say, are ‘unsearchable’, ‘inexplorable’, ‘untraceable’, ‘unfathomable’, ‘inexhaustible’, ‘illimitable’, ‘inscrutable’ and ‘incalculable’. Perhaps ‘infinite’ is the simplest”
Not merely an individual experience, it’s a community experience as well!
Part II: Binding Power of the Gospel on the Church
Blood of Jesus Binds a New Society
6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
v. 6 :The Power of “WITH” with 3x
Fellow-Heirs
Fellow-members of the same body: O’Brien: “Compound term found nowhere else in the New Testament.”
Promise/Covenant
vv.11-13: This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
We can Grow in Confidence
Comfort
Boldness and Access with Confidence through our Faith in Him
SO, don’t lose heart.
Look closely at Lily
She’s a mess
But she doesn’t care!
Be bold!
Our One-ness with Christ changes our whole perspective on Life!
Church is God’s Plan A:
Church is not a check-list, a To-Do List, and agenda or check-in.
Church is not a secret society, a social club, or a something to follow.
Church is
Church is not
Church is not a casual visit, or Easter and Christmas.
Church is not a list
Church does not a school or political state.
Church is a third kind of thing:
Church has no qualifiers.
We may have labels like Protestant, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox, but those labels are not eternal.
If there’ s anything church history has taught us, is that labels will change, but the church will not!
We may be part of the Presbyterian Church in America, but the Church will outlast this name, folks!
Church is not of this world.
John Stott says Paul is describing a NEW SOCIETY.
It’s a society within culture but not of culture.
It’s a society not defined by who you will vote for, but how longer you’ve been a member, by your age, your mental condition, your physical challenges, or you sin.
Our Identity
We are Masters of distinctions!
Race:
Critical Race Theory: Oppressed and Oppressor
Apartheid: Total Distinction
Stott’s Takeaways:
The Centrality of the Church
Church is not an add-on to life. It is CENTRAL TO HISTORY.
Stott: “The Bible concentrates rather on a group it calls ‘the saints’, often little people, insignificant people, unimportant people, who are however at the same time God’s people—and for that reason are both ‘unknown (to the world) and yet well-known (to God)’.”
Stott: “The living God is the God of all the nations of the world, yet within the universal human community there exists a ‘covenant community’, his own new society, the beginning of his new creation. It is to this people only that he has pledged himself with the everlasting promise: ‘I will be their God, and they shall be my people.’”
The Church is Central to the Gospel:
Stott: “The gospel is good news of a new society as well as of a new life.”
The Church is Central to Christian Living:
