Do your relationships make Heaven visible? /// Heaven & Earth: Part 5

We're so glad you've chosen to listen to our online experience! Here at Plum Creek, we’re all about changed lives, changing lives; and what that simply means is that what Christ has done in us is not just for us, but it’s for us to share with others in our community and around the world.

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If you're using this teaching for a Home Groups setting, we've included discussion prompts to help guide your conversation:

1. As you reflect on this message, what one principle or insight stands out as being particularly helpful or insightful?

2. Is there anything that stood out from this message that was challenging?

3. What did this message teach us about God?

4. What did this message teach us about ourselves?

5. If these verses were applied to our culture today, what would the implications be?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome to the Plum Creek Church Podcast. We're so thankful that you're listening along with us in this way. If you're a returning listener, welcome back. But if you're new or newish, we'd love to become part of your listening rotation. So be sure to subscribe and follow to be notified when new episodes are available. Now, before we get into the message, we want to remind you of one thing. We really believe that if Jesus is right about God, about life, about the soul, then it only makes sense to rearrange our lives around what he says is true. Because when you choose to follow Jesus like that, it really does change everything, including the lives around you. Okay. Let's posture our hearts for what God has in store, this message.

Message Start

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Good morning, Plum Creek. Thank you for being here. Good to see you. Greetings as well to those of you that are worshiping with us online today. Thanks for joining us. A couple of things before we jump into my message. First of all, if I could encourage you to come to the 8 o'clock service next week, that would be great. You might want to do that anyway, because I'm sure it's going to be full when we pull the Saturday crew into Sunday. So if you could help us with that, that would be wonderful. And then before I uh get into my message, I just want to pause for a second and we're going to pray here for those in Venezuela that are going through all that they are as a result of the earthquakes there. As a matter of fact, on Friday, when we were at the uh tailgate, uh one of the one of our Plum Creek families who's from Venezuela was sharing some of their experience and calling to make sure family and friends are safe and they have lost a dear friend of theirs. And we know that when we see these images on the screens, it weighs heavy on our hearts. When we have a conversation like that, it hits even harder. So we need to be praying about this. In addition, we have a ministry partner you've heard likely us talk about before. Uh, it's called Convoy of Hope. Within 14 hours of the earthquakes taking place, they were already deployed to head in to do relief work there. And uh the folks that run that, I know him, and the rep for this area is someone that I know very well. We did ministry years and years ago in Illinois together. And so he's been helping me, giving me feedback on what's taking place on the ground. And so we're gonna we're because of your generosity, we're gonna take some resource and send it to Convoy of Hope to help them with their relief efforts. In addition, if you would like to help us with that, there's a drop-down on our giving portal that you can find. And I would encourage you to do that so that we could uh send some resources to help. Um, the last I heard, they were pushing close to 1,500 people confirmed dead, and thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people still not accounted for. So can we bow our heads just real quick? Father, we uh our hearts are heavy today as we see the images from uh from all that's happening in Venezuela. Lord, I I thank you for the safety of uh Plum Creek family that was checking in on their loved ones and they are safe, but Lord, at the same time grieving the loss of friends. And we know that that's uh true for thousands of people today. And Lord, the relief workers are doing the very best they can. We are just asking that you would guide them uh if there's one person that's still alive, that you would help them to find them. Lord, we pray for our partner, Convoy of Hope. We thank you for what they do all over the world in in uh situations like this, that they deploy so quickly and they're just so efficient in bringing care and help uh to those that are in need. So we just pray that you would empower them. Use us even this morning to be part of uh their efforts to uh make a difference in Venezuela, there, Lord. So help the local church to rise up in a powerful way, to walk with people that are in such desperate need and are hurting so badly. We love you, we need you in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, Amen. Well, uh, we've been in a series this summer in the book of Ephesians, walking through chapter by chapter, uh, for the last this will be our fifth week, and there are one more chapter after this week to go. And uh, this about a week and a half ago, my wife Beth went to get her eyes checked. Has anyone ever been through that process before where you go and you get your eyes checked? And I knew what time her appointment was. A little bit after her appointment, she texted me this text. My vision has improved. My stigmatism in my left eye is better, and my prescription is less than last time. And I thought, wait, what? That is not what I was expecting. As we get older, right? We all anticipate the prescription's gonna need to get cranked up a little bit, right? Um, we always think things get worse, not better, but what struck me wasn't simply that her prescription had changed, it was that the things that she was looking at hadn't changed. The mountains are still the mountains, the trees are still the trees, the people are still the people, the screen on your phone is still the screen on your phone, but what got better was her eyes. She could see them, the ability to see had clearly changed. And that got me thinking about this series that we've been in where we've been working our way through Ephesians. Because what Tommy said in week one several weeks ago is this there's this thread that's woven all throughout the book of Ephesians. And what is it, what it's saying to us, and what Paul is trying to challenge the Church of Ephesus with is this the culture that you live in needs to see Jesus. And when the church does church the way God has called us to do church, we make Jesus visible. We begin to see his new creation here on earth taking place in the lives of those that are living this way. So if you've had an eye exam, you know the drill. They involve the same process where they fold this machine towards your face, right? And it's this contraption and it comes up so close to your face, and then the doctor starts saying things like lens one or lens two, right? If you're like me, you're like, wait, I've forgotten. Which lens can you show me again, right? Better or worse, clearer or blurrier? Can you see it now? And then eventually the right lens drops in front of you, and you're like, whoo, it's beautiful, I can see. And again, the image hasn't changed, right? The lens changed. The object never changes, reality never changes, the lens changed. And depending on the lens, what you're looking at either becomes more blurry or more clear. So if I said as I've sat with Ephesians 5 this week, I really felt this challenge that I want to bring to you based on Beth's text kind of helped me have this word picture for what Paul is trying to lay out for us in chapter 5. And that's this. Ready? Take a deep breath. You are the lens that the world sees Jesus through. Sorry. But it's true. And you know, here's the problem, right? You and I are pretty quick to identify the need of our world to see Jesus. Amen. Often we're like, boy, so if you're like my mom or dad, they would say it this way place is going to hell in a handbasket, kid, right? Well, we need to do something about that. We have a responsibility. Instead of just complaining, we need to live on mission. We need to see different the way that God is calling us to do this. And so oftentimes, my theme, my thinking is this we're part of the problem because we haven't put Jesus on display the way we should. So there's no compelling reason for people to want to know our Jesus because we're not living the way that puts Jesus on display properly. In chapter one, we discovered who we are in Christ. In chapter two and three, what God has done to create a brand new family. Eric reminded us of the thorough nature of God's grace and how he uses that to form us into his likeness. And that raises a very vitally important question. If God is really creating a new humanity, what is it that people should see? And in what ways will the lenses of your and my life help people see Jesus differently? Can they see evidence that heaven has already begun breaking through here on earth? And Paul's answer to this is a resounding absolutely yes. That is a hundred percent what should be happening. And he believes the church should become a visible demonstration of God's kingdom. He believes that the world should be able to look at God's people and see a better way. And honestly, I think that's exactly what our world is searching for. A world that desperately needs to see a different kind of way. The world is searching, please, everybody look at me here. They're looking for real evidence in my life and yours. Real evidence. I'll tell you what they don't need: an argument. They don't need outrage, they don't need politics, they don't need culture wars, and please help me, they don't need social posts. What we're talking about is true evidence that an authentic, visible demonstration that the gospel is legit and it changes lives. Because when they see that, you know what happens? Changed lives are changing lives. And here's why this matters so much. Depending on what lens we place in front of the world, Jesus either becomes clearer or blurrier. And the challenge is this too, the big sea church, you know what I mean when I say that, right? Like church in general, like we just take a broad brushstroke and say the church in general is oftentimes making Jesus harder to see. How is that happening? Well, we talk about grace, but yet we withhold grace. We talk about forgiveness, but we don't choose to forgive. We talk about unity, but we stay divided over all kinds of things. We talk about love and we treat people poorly. We weaponize Jesus against one another. And we become tribal when Jesus died, that we would be unified. We've often made the image of Jesus blurrier instead of clearer. And here's what I need to confess to you. Look at me. I'm to blame too. I've done this. I've had times in my life where I've made Jesus blurrier to the world around me. I've been thinking about that a lot this week as I've been preparing for this message. Not because I wanted to, but because I wasn't living intentionally. Because I wasn't living the Jesus way. There's a much bigger goal that Paul is talking about here, and the goal is more than just helping Christians look religious. Don't think that's his motivation. That's not it at all. His goal is to help the world see Jesus more clearly. The world should be able to see what we say we believe. And that's why Ephesians 5 matters. Now, I grew up in a pretty legalistic church back in the day. And it felt like religion was being used to modify my behavior a lot. And when you get to Ephesians 5, preachers that would preach that way would love Ephesians 5, unless you really know the motivation behind it all. When you see the heart of it, it completely changes. Because Paul's heart is, look, I'm gonna talk about some things that become a word picture or a lens to the world around us, and we need to remember the why behind it. The why is that we put Jesus as a clear image before the world around us. And with each lens that he's going to show us, he's gonna ask you and I, can they see Jesus in you this way? Can your family see Jesus more clearly? Can the world see Jesus more clearly? Because our world doesn't need a perfect church, there isn't one. But what our world does need is a visible Jesus. So before we move to the first lens, the goal of this uh eye exam isn't self-evaluation exclusively. It please remember the heart of Paul and my heart today, it's about visibility of Jesus. How do we put Jesus on display? Well, and if we're paying attention, there will absolutely be some self-evaluation along the way. In fact, I think there should be. There's gonna be some moments where you fear the Lord, where you feel the Lord just tapping you on the heart. Hey, pay attention here. The lens isn't as clear as it should be. And we need to respond to that. Um the Spirit of God might say that part has made me look kind of blurry, friend. Help me here. Uh or that part isn't looking much like Jesus, that lens needs to be changed out. And when it happens, let's just decide today that we're not gonna ignore it, we'll lean in. Sound good? Let's take a look at this. Paul's ultimate goal is bigger than self-improvement. He's asking us to consider what is visible outwardly to the world around us. The question isn't how do I see myself? Today the question is, how does the world see Jesus? Because of myself. The world should be able to see what we say we believe, because every one of these lenses is either going to sharpen the image of Jesus or blur the image of Jesus, gonna make it more clear or more blurry. So let me quickly talk about Ephesus. Paul planted this church and this town on purpose, strategic location, the fourth largest uh city in the Roman Empire. Many historians would say it could have been even up to 250,000 people. There was the worship of a foreign god there named Artemis, and the worship of this god had permeated their culture in significant ways, even a spot where people would pilgrimage to worship this idol. Okay? Eric's gonna talk about that some more next week. What Paul knew is if the church could literally live the Jesus way, putting Jesus on display in Ephesus, that it had the potential to change not just that city, but the world. Because it was a port city, and so there was lots of activity and movement, and it was a conglomerate of different nationalities and people. And if the gospel could take its place in this community in a powerful way, it had the chance to change the world. So let's take a look at the first lens that Paul places in front of us. It might be the most revealing lens of all. Our lives are a lens. The first lens is this our desires. Heaven becomes visible in our desires. Do you know that people see what you desire and you're pursuing with your life? They see that. They listen to your words, they see the things that you sacrifice for, they're paying attention to the things that are ultimately our desires. Look at uh Ephesians chapter 5, starting in verse 1. Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. Now let me do my best to explain what he just said there. If you've been around Plum Creek for a while, you will know this that uh my dad, Walter Miller, was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He went to high school there, he won two city championships playing football at Soldier Field. And he went to college in Chicago. He cared about Chicago a lot. Therefore, Chicago sports became my dad's uh my dad's teams. And so he was passionate about all things Chicago sports. And because I was his son, I became passionate about all things Chicago sports, right? Because I wanted to imitate my dad. I wanted to be like my dad. His influence changed the way that I, my fanship, right? Several years ago, when we were in the movie theater, some of you might have heard this story, uh, we took up our offering at the end of the service, and when the folks uh on the staff uh took care of the offering, there was a note in there that said, Would you please tell Pastor Doug to stop talking about the bears? And when he does and starts talking about the Broncos, I'll give in the offering. And they were like, How do you want us to handle that? I said, You tell him there's a lot of great churches in town, right? Because here's why, here's why this matters. The Chicago Bears are not a geographic thing to me, they're a dad thing to me. I follow them because my dad followed them. And we changed and moved to Castle Rock, our zip code changed. The mail comes to a house here, but that does not change the fact that I will be loyal to Chicago sports because of my father. Doesn't have to do with where I live. I wish it was that easy. Trust me, it's been a hard thing to be a Bears fan. Why? Why? Why? Because we want to be like dad. And that's where Paul starts here. Before he goes into the list of all the behaviors, he says, look, just remember your heart. Remember your heart, imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are what? His dear children. That is powerful. Now, Paul starts here on purpose. He doesn't start rules and behaviors or things to stop. He starts with identity, and that's important because we get to a place where we want to be like dad, okay? That's the motivation in our heart. And then Paul immediately moves into desire. What is it that we desire? What is it that drives us? What is it that our motivations in life? What is it? As his dear children, he says, now you're gonna think about and you're gonna look at life differently. Now look at how he lays it out. There will be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God's people. Obscene stories and foolish talk and coarse jokes, those aren't for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God. You can be sure that no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the kingdom of Christ and of God. For a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Verse 6 don't be fooled by those who try and excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him. Don't participate in the things these people do. Why? Why? Because you are his dear children. Do it like Jesus does. And again, what's the motivation in the heart behind it? So that the world can see our Jesus. That's why. And when we look at the things that Paul talked about here sexual immorality, impurity, and greed, these are all desire issues. Do you see that? They're the things that become the object of our heart if we're not careful. What do I want the most? What's driving me? What am I chasing? And what captures my heart? What story, friend, listen, what story do the desires of your life tell the world that's watching? Important question for us to ask. Because depending on the answer, Jesus either becomes clearer or more blurry to the world around us. And the world should be able to see what we say we believe. And the challenge is that for many, many people that call themselves Christ followers, you can't really see a distinction between those things that are our most passionate desires in life and the rest of the world around us. We chase the same success and comfort and status and accumulation and self-centered version of doing life. It's just that we sprinkle a little Jesus in there every once in a while. And so I wonder today if someone, if someone watched your life for a week, literally could walk with you, see everything you thought, watch every text and email you send, pay close attention with complete access to your bank account and your calendar, what would they say are the things that drive you the most? What would they conclude that you actually worship? Because whatever sits at the center of your life and your desires becomes visible in the way that we live. And that's where this lens becomes personal. This isn't exclusively a behavior question. This is a desire question. Whatever sits at the center becomes visible. And Jesus will become easier to see to the world around us when we pay close attention to what it is that we worship. So the first lens has to do with our desires. The second lens is our walk. What do I mean by that? Heaven becomes visible in how we live. And Paul drops this second lens in front of us, and he says, now pay attention to this. Pay attention to your everyday life, the ordinary places, the places where people will have opportunity to observe you. How we treat people, how we conduct ourselves, and how we move through the world. And look, he uses this beautiful word picture starting in verse 8 to help us understand how this is supposed to work. Look at verse 8. For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light. For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. Notice Paul doesn't say you used to be in darkness, he says you were full of darkness. And now not just found some light, you found the light, and it radiates from the way that you live. People will see it. Paul's describing a transformation, not just information that we know, but information that's transforming the way that we live. He's talking about being people who live different. We become something different. So that when people encounter us, they should experience, when people see you and people see me, and people see the collective us in this valley, they should see Jesus. That's the way Paul is telling us to live. This is not a new idea. This is this theme is all throughout scripture, starting in the Old Testament and working through the New Testament. Even hundreds of years before, uh, the prophet Isaiah looked forward to the day where God's people would become a light to the world around us. In other words, God has always wanted his people to live on mission, making him visible. Now, raise your hand if you're gonna preach a sermon this week. Is it just me? Just me, actually. Let me ask you again. How many of you believe your life is gonna preach a sermon this week? Yeah, and as a preacher, I could tell you people like to evaluate your sermons. How would you like if I could hang out and evaluate your sermon all week? Because you're preaching. You're preaching by the way you live. And you're going to go into places I can't go, and collectively we will have more influence than you can possibly imagine. When we live this the Jesus way, and we're intentionally living to help the world see Jesus through our lives. That's going to change. So Paul continues in verse 15 so be careful how you live. Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. He tells us, he says, live carefully, wisely, intentionally, and making the most of every opportunity. Wow. He's calling the church to do this differently, to live in a way that we are understanding that people are watching. And when people watch our lives, you're in mind, do they experience more darkness or do they experience more light? Because what does light do? What does light do? Helps people see. See what is the question we must ask. The prayer is that they will see Jesus. The first lens is our desires, the second one is our walk. The third one is our worship. Now, worship was very evident in Ephesus. That Artemis that I told you about, the worship of Artemis permeated into all different aspects of life. It was so visible in their community. And what Paul was saying is we need to plan a church that's going to put Jesus on display, not Artemis. And Artemis is going to change the way people behave in one way. Jesus will do something completely different. And so when he goes through this list of all of these different things that he's been talking about, these were all aspects of what was very commonplace in the culture in Ephesus. And when you study it at all, you'll see it is not that much different than the culture we live in. They had idols that were big and you could bow down and worship. And we have idols that we worship every day in our culture too. It might not be carved out of stone, right? The way that this religious system impacted that culture, Paul was saying we can impact our culture by the way we live too. So our worship, heaven becomes visible in what shapes us. And the whole metaphor that he uses here is really interesting and also very powerful. He begins to talk about influence and he's talking about our formation. What is it that's forming you? What is it that has influence on your life? What is it that's forming us into the men and women we are? What's shaping us into the people we're becoming? And Paul uses a very interesting analogy here, and you need to see it in verse 18. He says this don't be drunk with wine because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts, and give thanks for everything to God for the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And at first glance, doesn't it seem weird that he drops some wine talk in here? Like, what is he doing? But Paul keeps using these word pictures that are very familiar to the culture in Ephesus. And you know what? Very familiar in our culture right here today, too. What is he doing? Remember, Paul's primary concern is not alcohol, he's talking about what influences you. And that's interesting that that's kind of the mantra that he's using because we understand this because we say if someone's drank too much, they're under the influence. Under the influence of what? Alcohol. Alcohol is doing something to change them because something else was shaping their thinking, their speech, their reactions, and their behavior. And Paul says, don't live under the influence of wine, live under the influence of the spirit. And we've been talking about this a lot at Plum Creek lately. Every one of us is being influenced by something all the time. We just need to be very intentional about what we're allowing to influence us. Every day, the voices, the habits, the things that we give attention to, they're influencing us. And the question will never be, are you being influenced or are you being formed? It's what is and who is influencing you. Here's what's interesting: Paul contrasts being filled with the Spirit with being drunk with wine. Why? It's about influence. When you're under the influence of too much wine, what flows out? Raise your hand if you know. I'm just kidding. You know what flows out of that, right? Slurge speech and poor decision making, loss of control, embarrassment and regret. We could call this beer goggles, right? You just see the world differently when you're under the influence, right? Well, what does being under the influence of the Spirit of God look like? Well, Paul will lay that out a little later too. Love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and worship and gratitude and humility, healthy relationships. We will encourage different. See what happens? When we're under the influence of something, it begins to flow out of us. Paul says if the spirit is shaping you, heaven will become more visible. People will begin to see something different, and that's the point. The people should be able to see what we say we believe. And the world around us is so desperate to see this authentic gospel being lived out in front of them. And you and I have a responsibility here. Heaven becomes visible in how we love. So what has been shaping us internally is now seen externally through the relationships that we have. And now he turns to this place where all of these things eventually become visible. A lens to the world around us is how we do relationships. And so he starts in verse 21 as he turns to our relationships and he says this, and further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. I've used this passage of scripture in almost every wedding I've done for 30 years. Paul lays out some real good management of the tensions of marriage and men and women. But he always begins right here: submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Life in God's kingdom begins with humility. See, the old way of doing life, the non-Jesus way is, how can I get my way? But the Jesus way is, how can I serve? And that becomes the whole mantra as he uses the word picture of relationships now. And he says this in verse 25 for husbands, this means love your wives. Just as Christ loved the church and he gave himself, gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean and washed by the cleansing of God's word. He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or a wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault. This is probably one of the most discussed passages as it relates to marriage and how marriage works. And the thing that Paul is talking about here is that when we live the Jesus way in our relationships, it will look different than the world around us. If you study the history of Ephesus, you will see very clearly a very opposite way of doing marital relationships was the familiar way in Ephesus. Just like it is here in Castle Rock. Probably important for us to pay attention. Not probably, it is important. So for many of us, when we think about Ephesians, we think about these verses on marriage, and understandably so. And while those conversations matter deeply, the heart behind it all was not this marital thing. It was how the marital thing puts Jesus on display. Do you see? That's a different motivation. And then he quickly turns his attention from marriage to Christ. Christ loved the church. Christ gave himself up for her. Christ makes her holy. Paul's thoughts on marriage are so important, but the ultimate destination here that Paul is talking about is making Jesus visible to the world that we live in. How do we do that? By living different than the world around us. So marriage becomes the word picture. Jesus is the model. Jesus is the motivation, and ultimately Jesus is the destination. Look at verse 29. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church, and we are members of his body. This week I have read this so many times, and that one keeps jumping out to me. That cares is a progressive verb. It doesn't stop. He cared, he cares now, and he will care in the future. That's who our Jesus is. And it isn't a distant love, it's personal and present and faithful and sacrificial. So Paul reaches this exclamation point of this section. In verse 31, as the scriptures say, a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. This is, look, listen to his words, this is a great mystery. But this is what it's all about. This is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one. Did you catch that? That's the mystery. In other words, Paul's saying, don't misunderstand what I'm saying here. There's good things in here for those of us that are married, but the ultimate goal is Jesus and making Jesus visible to the world around us by the way we do our relationships. And we think about the kind of love that Paul is describing. It is not self-protecting, self-promoting, self-serving, or self-giving. That's how the world does relationships. It's different. Jesus didn't ask, what can I get here, guys? He always said, How can I serve? How can I serve? And Paul says that's what heaven looks like. And that's what people should begin to experience when they're encountering you and I, God's people, Christ's followers, when they're observing the way that we do relationships. 100% and with great certainty, that should be what is reflected in your marriage and mine. But not only in our marriage. This is also about our friendships and the way that we do friendships with one another. In our families, this is so critically important. In our workplaces, in our neighborhoods, in every relationship, and I chose this word carefully that God has entrusted to us. Whether that's at work or whether that's the neighbor that he's got next to you, or the other parents that are on your kids' sports teams, right? Your boss, your employees, your teammates, the people you work with and work for, entrusted to you. That we would put Jesus on display. Kind of would change the way you head in a Monday, wouldn't it? It better. Because now I see that God has put me in this place and entrusted me to these relationships where I have an opportunity to put Jesus on display. We become the lens through which people should see Jesus. And here's the question the lens asks Do they experience something that looks like Jesus? Paul says that's when the church is thriving. That's when the church is making a difference in a community. When people can see Jesus and the people that claim to be Jesus people. The way I handle conflict, can they see Jesus? Will they experience Jesus in the way that I love and forgive and care? Because every relationship becomes an opportunity, another lens that we put in front of the world around us, another chance to make Jesus easier to see. And Paul knew that the people in Ephesus, they had to understand this in order to make a difference in that community. And fast forward to today, Paul's words still matter to Plum Creek, to you and to me. Because this world, this valley that we live in needs to see Jesus. Would you agree? And we have a responsibility. And that's why this lens matters so much. So it kind of brings us back to where we started. Beth walked into her eye exam expecting what most of us would expect. That her vision would have slipped a little bit more, perhaps gotten a little worse. And instead, the doctor kept asking the questions that for all of us we've had when we went to the eye doctor. Is it worse? Or is it better? Can you see more clearly here? Or is it blurry? Can you see it now until finally the right lens is dropped in front of Beth's eyes and she can see what wasn't changing more clearly? And I wonder if that's not exactly what Paul has been doing throughout Ephesians 5, one lens after another, friends. You're gonna put this on display to the world around you this week. Paul isn't asking us to become better religious people. He's asking us to become people who make Jesus easier to see. And again, we see the desperate need around us. It's easy. Pound our fist on the table and stomp our feet. The place is going to hell in a handbasket. Well, what if it's ultimately on us? Because what we've created is a very blurry image of Jesus. And maybe the place is going to hell in a handbasket because they don't see Jesus in us. We cast no compelling image of what a life transformed by the power of Jesus looks like. Boy friends, that's a big deal. So can I ask you? When people see you, is Jesus clearer to see? Is it blurrier? Or is it clearer? How about your spouse? When your spouse sees you, is Jesus blurrier? Or is he clearer? Moms and dads, how about the people that we care about the most? Your children look at your life. They're observing, right? We know they are. They're watching. Is Jesus blurrier? Or clearer because of the way we live? And listen, this means something completely different to me today than it did sixteen months ago. About our grandkids. A little bang. I want him to see Jesus in you. Here's where I need your help. I want him to see Jesus in you too.

SPEAKER_00 37:05

Your coworkers. Blurrier or clearer.

SPEAKER_01 37:19

When we do this correctly, Jesus becomes visible in a completely different way. And then all of a sudden, what we say we believe becomes clear to the culture around us because they're seeing the transformative power of the gospel at work in your life and in mine. Will you stand to your feet? Father, we come before you today, and I'm just grateful for Paul's words, and we all have work to do, me too. And the motivation, Lord, will you just help us with the motivation of this? It's not to be religious and to follow rules and those kinds of things. Instead, it truthfully is about having this opportunity today to put Jesus on display. And Lord, we see how the world is just spinning out of control. And sometimes I wonder how responsible we are because we haven't taken this seriously. And so this week, will you just prompt us when we're doing things or saying things or behaving in a way that doesn't put Jesus on display? That you just tap us on the heart and say, hey, listen, please just put me on display. And not because we have the strength to do these things in our own effort, but because the power of the Holy Spirit is at work in us. Lord, will you help us to live the Jesus way? In our marriages and our relationships and our motivations and the things that we worship and all of these things, Lord, will you help us to just do it different this week? That we would have, as a result, an opportunity to tell someone about our Jesus. And all God's people said.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Thanks again for listening. Our prayer is that this message encouraged and challenged you in your journey to follow Jesus. If you'd like to learn more about our church, please check us out online at plumcreek.church or if you find yourself within driving distance of Castle Rock, Colorado, we would be honored to see you in person on a weekend. So until next time, grace and peace in the name of Jesus.