Christ in Ephesians

I grew up as a Christian, but I sort of had a coming alive moment when I was about 20 years old.

And I read the New Testament for the first time, and I remember reading Ephesians, and I was, I remember so distinctly thinking, this is where the preachers get all their good stuff from.

Ephesians is just an epic letter, an epic book of the Bible, and so jam-packed with great truth. We only have one week in it, so it's a challenge for us all to cover so much ground, certainly a challenge for the preacher. Let's pray and ask for help.

Lord Jesus, we have sung songs to you and prayed to you and been in your, we are in your presence right now. We want to say that we're grateful.

We are grateful for your word in our hands, and I pray that you would make manifest in me the spiritual gifts required to teach, clearly, that you might be glorified, and that we might be encouraged and challenged.

Come Holy Spirit and do the work that you're called to do by the Father in Jesus' name. Amen. A few months ago, I used a great sermon illustration.

It was set in England. There was a wealthy man who had died and he was having, there was an auction for his estate. And so if you imagine an English auction, lots of people there, a huge estate, lots of valuable things being sold.

And the first item brought up by the auctioneer was a small unknown portrait of the wealthy man's son. He asked for bids, there were no bids. And then finally, one person gave a bid and it was going once, twice, thrice, gone to this person.

And they won the portrait of the son. And then strangely, the auctioneer said, and that concludes our auction for today.

And everyone was shocked and he said, well, it was the wealthy man, the father's last will and testament that whoever took the son received everything. And so the whole estate was given to the son. The illustration is simple.

And yet, profoundly true when it comes to understanding the Christian gospel. She or he who receives the son gets everything. Hallelujah.

We get everything. We become a child as though we were Christ. Forgiveness, reconciliation, eternal life.

In fact, Ephesians says, we're blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. We're in this Christ in Scripture project at the moment.

We're working through, it was up on the screen before, all the books of the Bible and we are now in Ephesians. I've named this message today, The Christ Manifesto. A manifesto is a public declaration of intent, identity, and allegiance.

It's a call to live and believe something in order to see a particular outcome. Ephesians boldly declares what Christ has achieved and how Christ impacts the life of a believer by faith. It's all about Christ.

I wonder which book of the New Testament do you think has the most occurrences of the title Christ? Any guesses? It is Romans.

It is Romans. What about per chapter? The most use of the word, the title Christ per chapter.

Sorry? You'd think it was Ephesians. I was hoping it would be, but it's not.

It's actually Philippians, but the second one is Ephesians. The second most uses of the word, the title Christ is in this letter to the church at Ephesus. Christ, Christ in scripture.

The title means Messiah, chosen one, the chosen one of God. Christ implies both Lordship and Saviourship. In the book of Ephesians, Paul uses the title Christ in all sorts of ways and for many different reasons.

He refers to being in Christ, under Christ, to live with Christ, learning of Christ. He talks about imitating as Christ and finally calls us to live for Christ. Ephesians has been called a mini Romans because it's just so dense.

It's so filled with enormously valuable theological truth. It is a letter written to a church that Paul had established. It took him about two years.

He taught in Ephesus, which is a city on the southwestern side of modern day Turkey. And he started a church there. Has anyone visited the archaeological ruins of Ephesus?

Lots of us. If you've ever traveled to the parts of antiquity in first century particular times and parts of the world, it's one of the best discovered cities that you could find in archaeological digs. It's just amazing.

It's Acts 19 that we read about this establishment of the church at Ephesus. It was a very significant city. It had the second biggest library in the world.

It was a place of learning, of academia. John, the Apostle John ministered there. Patmos, where he wrote Revelation, is not too far from Ephesus.

And also Timothy was the pastor of the church here for quite a long period of time. It was known as the biggest church in the world for some time. It's a very significant city and place where there was a church.

And Paul writes from Rome to encourage the believers, really to teach them again, what Christ has done in establishing their Christian faith. And then the importance of living by his grace and a certain way that would represent him.

So first of all, Paul establishes the importance of in Christ.

I'd like to read the first 14 verses for you. And I'd like you to count how many times it says in Christ or in him, in Christ or in him. Paul, an apostle of Christ, Jesus, by the will of God.

To God's holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

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. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance with his pleasure and will. To the praise of his glorious grace which he has freely given us in the one he loves.

In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us.

With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times reached their fulfilment.

To bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him, we were also chosen having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption

of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory. How many? Nine. It's a clear theme, isn't it, of this first portion of the letter, in Christ, in him.

Christianity is uniquely all about God and his plan regarding how he would interact with humanity. I'm stating the obvious, of course. God decided that his grand story would be all about his son.

His son would be glorified and through his son, the chosen one, the Messiah, he would fix the problem of sin and bless the entire world. Romans calls him Christ, the second Adam. So because it's all about him, history is about him.

Life on this planet is ultimately about Jesus. Because of this, blessing and favour, good things from God get channeled in this system that God designed through Jesus to the world. We learned about this in May, didn't we?

That God is a God who wants to pour his favour out on the world. But he doesn't just do it to everyone, he wants to do it through a conduit. Do you remember?

God is a God who blesses, but he wants to bless through a conduit. It was originally the people of Israel. They did it somewhat, but certainly failed it to a large degree.

But his plan was always that he would pour his blessing through one, his son, his perfect son, the perfect human Jesus Christ. This is what it means to be in Christ.

His process, his perfect wisdom decided he would bless the son, include the son, choose the son so that everyone who by faith would believe in Christ would get everything the son got, like the painting of the man's child's son.

That is the way God intended it to be. Last week we saw in Galatians that we die so that Christ lives in us. Here it's flipped, isn't it?

Christ in us, but it's so important that we understand we are in Christ. Now, this is an enormously important theological concept.

If you just read the first 14 verses and you didn't understand that God's plan was always to package up all of his blessing and goodness, and put it in and on his son, and through the son blessed the world, you would think maybe as a classic

Calvinistic idea that God just predestined some. He chooses some to live forever with him, and others, if you extrapolate that, he chooses to not be with him forever and miss out on his goodness.

But I think it's clear if you just read it and listen for the idea of in Christ, who gets predestined in this world we live in? It's those who are in Christ, right? It's those who have put their faith, by the grace of God, in Christ.

They work out then, oh, I'm one of the chosen. Does that make sense? The chosen are the church.

The chosen are predestined because they believed in the Son. So, if you are wondering, am I one of the chosen? Am I one of the predestined to live forever?

Well, the only way to know is you find yourself where? In Christ. It's a wonderful thing to be found in him by faith.

Psalm 103 says, forget not all his benefits. Forget not all his benefits. And there are enormous benefits to being in Christ.

We are blessed in Christ. Paul says, chosen in Christ, redeemed in Christ, sealed in Christ, made alive in Christ. There's nothing like being in Christ.

Hallelujah. In Christ. Lord, forgive us for that terrible affirmation of hallelujah.

I know you mean more with more gusto. Yes, hallelujah. Praise God.

He also in his Christ manifesto says, all things are under Christ.

Ephesians 1 verse 9.

He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times reached their fulfillment, to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

I'd also like to read from what we heard read before.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, Paul writes, in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in

the present age, but also in the one to come. And God placed all the things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, who fills everything in every way under Christ.

In Acts 19, Paul came to Ephesus. It was a very occult dominated city. The goddess Diana or Artemis, there was a huge 119 pillar temple.

It was one of the wonders of the world to this goddess.

And so when he came and he started talking about the authority of Jesus, that every power came under the power of Jesus, of Christ, there was a riot that occurred because many people knew that if this is true, they're going to lose their livelihood

in selling things used for the worship of Artemis. Acts says in chapter 19, in this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. The powers were brought under his authority.

I enjoyed going to Ephesus and visiting the Temple of Artemis of the Ephesians, and out of 119 pillars, do you know how many are left? One. Artemis is not the one who has authority.

Amen. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you in Christ today?

Are you under his authority? I think we have to remember what we talked about last week in Galatians 2.20. Paul says, the life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The life, daily, daily, we have to remember. Who am I under? Am I under Christ?

Am I under his Lordship and his authority and his power? Paul says to the church at Ephesus, we are in Christ by faith, we are under Christ. And thirdly, we are with Christ.

There's a lot of scripture today and it's wonderful. Let me read from verse one. As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.

This is chapter two. In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air. The spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. And when we were dead in transgressions, it's by grace you have been saved.

And God raised us up with Christ and seeded us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. In order that in the coming ages, he might show the incomparable riches of his grace expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

With Christ, an important concept. Have you heard this idea about dogs and cats? A dog thinks you feed me, shelter me, care for me and love me, you must be God.

The Baptist Master, you feed me, shelter me, care for me, you love me, you must be God. You remember what a cat thinks? You feed me, shelter me, care for me and love me, I must be God.

Now, I know I'm not going to get into a war between the cat lovers and the dog lovers, but it's probably more commonly agreed that dogs are the classic animal that wants to be with their master.

You can give the dog a warm bed and a full bowl and a safe place to live, but when the master leaves, often it's there at the door waiting.

And I was reminded as I thought about dogs that they are a beautiful picture of how we relate to Christ, I think. Sorry if you don't like dogs, but they're just, master, aren't they? Master, I just want to be with you.

Like the cattle dog in the yurt with the worker, just I want to be with you. I thought, gee, that's just a beautiful picture of what Paul is describing, that we need to be with Christ.

Of course, in this context, he's talking about a spiritual resurrection that we have, that we celebrate in baptism. As Christ rose from the grave, we are with him when we have faith in him.

That is the truth that he's saying, but I think the most simple understanding of the word with is also equally true. The master plan of God is that he would share his son with the world, and when he came to the world, he hung out with people.

He was with them. Paul says we are in Christ, under Christ, with Christ, and we are of Christ. We do have a lot of scripture today, but this is, I think, a really important way to deal with the book.

He tells us the mystery of Christ. Let me read from Chapter 4.

In reading this, then you'll be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations, as it has been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.

This mystery is this, this idea that the gospel would go to the whole world, that through the gospel, the Gentiles are heirs together with Christ, members together of one body and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

He wants them to know about the mystery of Christ and also the riches of Christ. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.

Although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the ministration of this mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God who

created all things. There's a mystery that we should understand and there are riches. And we need to understand the love of Christ.

He writes, I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

And to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of the fullness of God. The fullness of Christ.

Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service.

So that the body of Christ may be built up until we reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Now, I have intentionally chosen in this sermon to read out a lot of Scripture, because I feel like this idea of the Christ manifesto is so powerfully evident. It's just there.

I was getting a medical scan done this week, and I had to get there early. I was getting prepared, and there was a woman preparing me. She said, what are you doing today?

I said, I'm working today. What do you do? I said, I'm a pastor.

I've got to go home, and I've got to talk to finish writing. This talk. My mind's going, don't ask me that.

So she says, what is your talk on? And I'm like, I feel like saying, how to have a great marriage. How to deal with anger.

How to use money well to honor God and serve your community. I said, I'm not going to say the Christ manifesto, but I said, we're studying the Book of Ephesians, and I'm talking about what the Apostle Paul taught about Jesus.

I said, oh, well, very good, very good. And I thought, note to self, make sermons more practical. But having said that, we've got to acknowledge that Christ, the Word, is Christian jargon.

It is. Yet, and it's hard to explain it in one sentence to an unbeliever, to a seeker. It sounds very theological, and yet learning about Christ is awesome.

Amen. It's heartwarming and life giving. The chosen one was called to give his life so that God's grace could extend beyond Israel to the world.

This is a glorious mystery. This mystery is so rich because it tells us of how human beings live forever. It's rich.

It's a mystery. It's what God has done through Christ. And the love of Christ is so broad, Paul's writing, that it reaches everyone.

Do you get that? It's wide, but it's high and low, and the low is like, it's right up to the edge of the gates of hell. It's for people who feel like I'm almost in there.

You know, it's the person who says, I couldn't go to church because the church would burn down if I walked in because I'm closer to hell. It's like, no, no, you can't go so far deep that you can get out of his reach. Amen.

That's the love of Christ. And Paul writes, Christ gives full life, a life that is better. It's filled with life.

And it is for a great good, as we sang in one of the songs earlier on, to know the power of the of Christ's. Two to go.

Paul teaches the Ephesians about the as Christ's. He speaks about as Christ's when he challenges the Ephesians about how they are meant to live.

Now, this book, if you look up the Bible project, if you're not familiar with the Bible project, I just commend it to you as one of the greatest teaching tools ever created by God and his spirit in the church for the last 2000 years.

The Bible project, it's just fantastic.

And the Bible project will say, first three chapters of Ephesians, what Christ has done, what it means to be a Christian, how it happens, and in the last three chapters, what you meant to do in imitating Christ.

Very theological, the first three, very much practical, the last three chapters.

Ephesians 5 says, follow God's example therefore as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love just as Christ, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Follow God's example.

Husbands, chapter 524, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. One of the enduring highlights of Christianity is Christ showed us the way. Isn't it?

Aren't you proud of that? The Christ didn't say, do as I say, not what I do. He is the perfect human.

He came and said, no, I do exactly as I do. I'll come and live with you. I found this lovely illustration and I thought it's really worth sharing.

A little boy is watching his dad shave. And the dad is doing it old school with the soap and foam. And he's shaving off the whiskers.

And then dad goes away and mum comes in and finds the little boy. He's got soap all over his face and he's got a little ruler. And he's shaving, shaving away.

And she says, what are you doing? He says, I'm shaving just like dad. And she says, yeah, but you don't have any whiskers.

And he says, but I will one day and I'm getting ready. And I thought, that's a beautiful little picture of the fact of what discipleship is. We imitate Christ, not because we've got it all together.

The boy didn't have the whiskers, but one day he will. And we want to imitate Christ as Christ loved the church. We give ourselves to love others in servant-hearted humility.

The Christ Manifesto. Paul teaches, in Christ, we're sealed by the Spirit and we have this inheritance like children, in Christ. Under Christ, we're called to be servants of our great Master.

He's the authority. With Christ, we're partners working with the Lord. Of Christ, we're learners of the truths of the kingdom.

As Christ, we're disciples imitating that gold standard. By grace through faith, we follow and imitate Christ. And then finally, for Christ.

He calls the Ephesian Christians to be worshipers. Firstly, children, then partners, learners, disciples, imitators and worshipers. Ephesians 521 says, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

For Christ. It's a powerful two word sentence, isn't it? For Christ.

He suffered so much for Christ, the Apostle Paul. Missionary CT. Studd, who started the World Evangelization Crusade, WEC, had this great quote, Only one life will soon be passed.

Only what's done for Christ will last. Is the overall aroma of your life for Christ? For Christ.

For Christ is the language of allegiance, isn't it? For Christ, it's for his pleasure. My life for Christ, an audience of one.

For Christ, because he is worth it, like Mary pouring out the expensive bottle of perfume worth a year's wages. For Christ, he's the end, not the means to an end, isn't he? For Christ, it's all for him.

He's the reason for everything. That's what we said at the start. That's the project.

That's the plan that God the Father had. I'm going to bless my son. And if you take my son, believe in my son, you're found in him.

You get everything. You get everything. The Christ in Scripture project, I think, hits a pretty lofty high in Ephesians.

Don't you think? There are books in the Bible that you've got to squint your eyes and, you know, go hunting, get some dirt under your fingernails to find Christ. We'll go back to them in a few months in the Old Testament, but not so here.

We don't have to look very hard to find Christ. The Ephesians lived in a multicultural metropolis, well-educated, and spiritually oppressed. Can you think of anywhere else that would be like that?

I think we can relate to the Ephesians. Multicultural, well-educated, spiritually oppressed. Let me pray for us with a blessing to finish.

May you find the joy and benefit of being in Christ. May you gladly embrace the place of being under Christ. May you step up in partnership and responsibility with Christ.

May you appreciate the wonders of Christ. May you follow and learn to live as Christ. May you offer your life in worship for Christ.

Lord Jesus, may that be our heart's cry that we can achieve all of those aspects of calling by your grace and for your pleasure. In your name we pray. Amen.