SPEAKER_04 0:00

The Lord be with you. Thank you so much. It's a gift to be with you today. I'm always eager to preach on a Sunday morning, but I'm especially eager today because I get to preach with some friends, which means it's going to be exceptionally long. This is my friend John Opgenort. John is the president of Words of Hope, an organization we partner with that helps equip us to be global Christians, which is a remarkable gift to us. And for residents and fellows who are a part of the Pillar community who double as students at Western Theological Seminary, Liv and Lacey, Seth and Peter, I would highly recommend that you take them out for coffee by show of hands. It looks like you have my dad. My dad. Or buy them lunch. Hear their stories. It is sacred ground. For our part, what we're gonna do is offer you the book of Ephesians. We thought, what what better place to go for the remainder of Easter tide than the warm waters of Ephesians? Just a couple of things before you listen. One, we're nervous. I'm nervous. This could go really poorly. We're probably gonna stumble, you know, like forget a couple verses or like pause unnecessarily long. It's not for dramatic effect. We might skip whole chapters. We are gonna be fine. God is definitely fine, and I think you'll be okay too. Uh so just take a deep breath. It's gonna be fine. Uh secondly, this is not like dramatic theater. You know, you did not pay$17 a ticket to be here, though there is a give link on Pillar Church. Uh we entered a spiritual exercise of interiorizing the book of Ephesians together so that maybe we could offer this spiritual opportunity for you to hear it. When was the last time you sat and listened to the book of Ephesians? To allow the words of the book to jump off the page and land somewhere in the matrix of your being. And wherever that is, and whenever it happens, I want you to listen very carefully. Some of the things you'll hear will be comforting and encouraging, I'm sure of it. I hope. Some of them will be hard. The book of Ephesians can come at us with some edges, and sometimes they cut. Resist the temptation to dismiss it. Just sit with it. Hold it. Listen. And if you have questions about it, shoot any one of us an email. We'll get together. Here's the last thing, and then we'll get after it. If we wanted you to read along, we would have handed it out to you. And all the Bibles go like this. We want you to listen. We want you to listen like those first Christians, way before Gutenberg. In a town called Ephesus, in the harsh realities of the first century Roman Empire. These Christians trying to make their way in light of the resurrection. So you just you just listen, uh, you can find it. It'll be there later this afternoon. Does that sound okay? So here's what I want you to do. I want you to listen carefully. And listen well.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

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, even as he chose us in him before the creation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us to himself as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, 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. In him 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, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ Jesus might be for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

SPEAKER_04 6:17

I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and of your love for all the saints. For this reason, I don't cease to give thanks for you every time I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the immeasurable riches of his inheritance for the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of that great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, whether in this age or in the age to come, and he put all things under his feet and made him head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses. And we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else, but God, who is rich in mercy out of the great love with which he has loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved, and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show his immeasurable grace through the kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. By grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not the result of work, so that no one may boast. Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we may walk in them.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called the uncircumcision, by those who were called the circumcision, at circumcision made in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he's our peace. In his flesh he has made both into one, and has broken down the dividing wall that is the hostility between us, abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, putting to death the hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who are far off, and peace to those who are near. For both of us have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you're no longer strangers and aliens, but fellow citizens with the saints, and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

SPEAKER_04 10:56

This is the reason that I, Paul, am a prisoner for Christ for the sake of you Gentiles. For surely you've heard of the commission of God's grace that was given to me for you. And the mystery that was made known to me by revelation, as I've written above in a few words, a reading of which will enable you to understand my understanding of the mystery of Christ. That is, in former generations, it wasn't made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed in the holy apostles and the prophets, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, sharers in the promises in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

SPEAKER_05 12:01

Of this gospel, I have become a servant by the gift of grace that was given to me by the working of God's power. Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to make known the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the wisdom of God and its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in confidence and boldness through faith in him. Therefore, I pray that you may not lose heart over my sufferings for you.

SPEAKER_01 12:58

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family on heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that according to the riches of his glory, that you may be granted to be strengthened in your inner being through the power of his spirit. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. For you are being rooted and grounded in love. I would pray that you might have the power with all the saints to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

SPEAKER_03 13:52

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

SPEAKER_04 14:10

I, therefore, a prisoner in the Lord, beg you to live your lives in a manner worthy of the calling to which you were called, with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There's one body and one spirit. Just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it is said.

SPEAKER_02 16:09

We must no longer be children tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, in whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament by which it is made. As each part is working properly, it promotes the body's growth and building itself up in love.

SPEAKER_05 16:47

Now, this I affirm and insist on in the Lord. You must no longer live as the Gentiles live in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their insecurity and hardness of heart. They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. That is not the way you learned Christ. For surely you have heard of him and were taught in him as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, the old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

So then, by putting away all falsehood, let each of you tell the truth to one another, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

And do not make room for the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hand, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no unwholesome speech come out of your mouth, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, together with all malice.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other as God has forgiven you.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

SPEAKER_02 19:25

But sexual immorality and impurity of any kind or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among the saints. Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, or vulgar talk, but rather let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no sexually immoral person or one who is greedy, that is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

Let no one deceive you with empty words. For God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Do not be associated with them. For once you were darkness, and now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light. For the fruit of the light is everything that's good and right and true. Try to do what's pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it's shameful to even mention what such people do in secret. For everything that's exposed to the light becomes visible, and everything that becomes visible is light.

SPEAKER_05 20:53

Therefore, it says, Sleeper, awake, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Be careful then how you live. Not as unwise people, but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil. Do not be foolish, but know what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk off of wine, for that is debauchery. But be filled with the Spirit as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody of the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

SPEAKER_03 22:01

Wives be subject in everything to your own husbands. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. And now, as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives should be subject in everything to their husbands.

SPEAKER_04 22:21

Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order that she might be holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor. Without spot or wrinkle or anything of that kind. Yes, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands love your wives as you do your own body. For anyone who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates their own body, but nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does the church. And we are members of his body. For this reason, a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. I'm speaking of a great mystery and applying it to Christ and the church. Each of you, however, must love his wife as himself. And a wife should respect her husband.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother. This is the first commandment with the promise, so that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but instead bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as you obey Christ, not to be watched in order to please, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Let service be rendered with enthusiasm, not for the sake of men and women. Knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive again from the Lord, whether slaves or free, and masters, do the same to them. Stop threatening them. For you know you have the same master in heaven in whom there is no partiality.

SPEAKER_05 24:51

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

SPEAKER_01 24:57

Put on the whole armor of God so that you may stand against all the wiles of the devil.

SPEAKER_03 25:05

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

Put on the whole armor of God, so on that evil day you may be able to withstand, and having done everything to stand firm.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth, and put on the breastplate of righteousness, and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. With all these, take the shield of faith with which you will quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Pray in the Spirit at all times, in every prayer and supplication, to that end. Keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

SPEAKER_04 26:09

Pray also for me as I speak, that a message may be given to me to proclaim with boldness the gospel of Christ, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it with boldness, as I must speak.

SPEAKER_05 26:35

So that you may know how I am and what I am doing. Tychekis will tell you everything.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

He is a dear friend and a faithful minister to the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 26:46

I am sending him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts.

SPEAKER_04 26:53

Peace be with the whole community and uh love with faith.

SPEAKER_00 27:01

From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_03 27:10

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Hallelujah. It's a privilege to share just a few moments after Paul has already preached to us this great letter. After the 8 a.m. service, a gentleman stopped me and said, I was just in Ephesus last week on an antiquities tour. How cool is that? And it's so good to be able to share a few words about it. Our pastors will be speaking during Eastertide through this book. It follows the narrative lectionary, I'm guessing, and uh it's a great book. It's a book I've come to know in my work as a great missionary text. Juan Wegenneveld of Multiplication Network was talking before with me that it's a great church planting book, maybe along with the book of Acts. But it's all here. John Kelvin called it his favorite book of the Bible. James Tyler Robinson, an 18th-century or 19th-century British poet, calls it the Queen of the Epistles. And I hope something of what happened to John McKay happens to us as we read it again. John McKay was the Princeton, president of Princeton Seminary a century ago, and in his biography writes that at 14, a boy in the Scottish Highlands, he read through the book and he experienced a boyish rapture. He fell prostrating himself before God, and he says, Jesus Christ became the center of all things. May it be so of us. Paul builds in this text the first three chapters to that great text in his prayer that Lacey shared with us from chapter three, that we may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. It's incredible. For the first three chapters, Paul is building to that, plumbing the topography of God's grace from top to bottom and left to right, how we are blessed immensely beyond measure in Christ and all his gifts. And how Christ is weaving together this thing called the body of Christ. And chapters four, five, and six tell how to live it out. I have come to understand four words more significantly than any other as they've landed on me. I'm sure different words will land on you. For me, it's those four words with all the saints. And I think if we if we let it linger in us, we'll taste some of what pillar is and aspires to be. We're a church where your name is, your story is, and your questions are honored. It's right there. And your story being heard and your and your life being, your questions honored and your name known. It's more than just about you having a sense of belonging. Your name and your story have something that informs all of us, that strengthens all of our faith. In fact, it's true the world over. I love how John Stopp puts it in his commentary on the epistle of the great Anglican from England. We shall have power to comprehend these dimensions of Christ's love, Paul adds, only with all the saints. The isolated Christian can indeed know something of the love of Jesus, but his or her grasp of it is bound to be limited by their limited experience. It needs the whole people of God to understand the whole love of God, all the saints together with all their varied background and experiences. It's true the world over. We need the world of Christians around the world to inform us. Six weeks ago, last night, I was on the rim of a pool in a European hotel which was lined with 42 Iranians. A 43rd Iranian named Gazelle was standing in the water. Next to her was a woman named Reverend Nancy Booty, who attends the warehouse service with her husband Evan. Nancy was with us to be one of our teachers at a conference, and the night before we had heard the story of Gazelle's testimony, how she came to faith in Christ, and how in the month of January she had joined the protest in Tehran and then fled as bullets whizzed all around them. Some that were near her did not make it home. And there was something in her story that my faith needed to hear. And as she was dipped into the waters of baptism, she identified with Christ in his death, so somehow to identify with him in his resurrection. Our faith needs the stories of one another. And so, an invitation this morning and during Easter time, as you come to the aisle or wherever you receive the Lord's Supper, think about two things. The great love of God for us in Jesus Christ and all the blessings that are ours. And then, second, look around. Whose story do you need to hear to strengthen your faith in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?