The following is our menu for the Wednesday evening fellowship meal on July 8th.
Hamburger steak with onions
Baked apples
Black-eye peas
Mashed potatoes
Roll
Dessert
The meal will begin at 5:30 in the fellowship hall. Those unable to attend can still come at 6:15 for the prayer time and Bible study.
Cost for meals is $5.00 per adult or $3.00 per child.
This Saturday our nation celebrates her independence day. We will celebrate our freedoms as citizens in a republic, a representative democracy which ideally serves the will of the people rather than the other way around. We will also celebrate our freedom to worship as conscience dictates rather than by national mandate.
As Christians there is a greater independence day we need to celebrate. We also recognize this day once a year but we should celebrate it every day. It is the freedom we have as believers through the work of Jesus Christ. It is the work of Jesus that gives us true liberty, his death, burial, and resurrection.
Freedoms on earth can be taken away. Tyrants come and go. Laws change. Nations become more repressive or more free. Governments change. But the liberty we have in Christ will never change. Because of the work of Jesus we do not have to try to earn our salvation. Because of his work we are forgiven. Because of him we have everlasting life with God, the greatest treasure we could seek. If you put your hope and trust in a nation you will be disappointed. Put it in God, you will never be let down.
As you celebrate this nation’s birth and the liberty we enjoy, be sure to remember the One who blesses us and gives us the greatest kind of liberty.
The trip to Georgia has been cancelled. There was not enough interest to merit taking the bus.
There seems to be enough interest in both trips for October. One to Orlando the 12-14 for the Sensational Mature Adult Celebration. The next is the Williamsburg trip the 19-24, to include the Billy Graham Museum in Charlotte, N.C.
The information is on the bulletin board for both trips. Itineraries are available for the Williamsburg trip – ask me for one. The information for the Orlando trip will be let out soon.
Our July luncheon meeting will be July 14. This will be a patriotic meeting with special guests. We have not had a mission ministry lately so let’s bring items for the Seafarer’s Ministry at Port Panama. They need items to include razors, toothbrushes, lip balm, and sample sizes of shampoo, toothpaste and hand lotion. Just bring them to the meeting on the 14th.
Stay involved!
Martha
The following is our menu for the Wednesday evening fellowship meal on July 1st.
Roast beef
Mashed potatoes
Lima beans
Corn
Roll
Dessert
The meal will begin at 5:30 in the fellowship hall. Those unable to attend can still come at 6:15 for the prayer time and Bible study.
Cost for meals is $5.00 per adult or $3.00 per child.
Join us for a fellowship time with homemade ice cream following the evening service on Sunday, July 05. All the food will be provided by the church.
Remember to let me know if you are interested in a trip to Georgia to get peaches. The date is July 16 and 17. More information later when I find out your interest.
There are two trips in the making for October. One to Orlando the 12-14 for the Sensational Mature Adult Celebration. The next is the Williamsburg trip the 19-24, to include the Billy Graham museum in Charlotte, N.C.
I have put information for both trips on the bulletin board. Itineraries are available for the Williamsburg trip – ask me for one. The information for the Orlando trip will be let out soon.
Our July luncheon meeting will be July 14. We have not had a mission ministry lately so let’s bring items for the Seafarer’s Ministry at Port Panama. They need items to include razors, toothbrushes, lip balm, and sample sizes of shampoo, toothpaste, and hand lotion. Just bring them to the meeting on the 14th.
Stay involved!
Martha
This week we start our Scripture memorization work. I want to once again encourage each of you to work at this. I know many of our members have memories that like to let go rather than hold on so I don’t want to overly burden you with this. Do what you can, work at it, read the memory verse several times each day, but if it won’t stick then it won’t stick. Just move on to the next one. Even this process will help you to stay focused on one significant passage of Scripture each week. Don’t be surprised if more of it sinks in than you expect!
To guide our selection of memory verses I will be following The Gideon Scripture Memory Course (Thanks Bob!). In our weekly newsletter we will provide the Bible reference along with the passage from the English Standard Version. Feel free to use any translation you favor. Some will want to use the ESV, some the KJV, some the NIV, some something else. Use what you are comfortable with.
Read the Bible. Study the Bible. Know the Bible. Let’s grow together in God’s Word.
In Psalm 119:11 David writes as a prayer, I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. When times of testing or temptation came along David did not have to go looking for ammunition against the Devil, it was stored in his heart ready for use. When he had a choice to make, needing Godly council, he did not have to wait until he got home to grab his Bible, the Bible was already a part of him.
Jesus gave a similar example. When he was tempted in the wilderness he did not have scripture with him, nor did he have a concordance or a Bible program to quickly look up clever texts to use against the Devil. What he had was a mind that delighted to know the words of his Father. He knew Scripture and used Scripture against the Devil.
There is something amazing about this. Scripture is the word of God, but even God the Son thought it necessary to know and use the Bible. We are his servants. Is the servant greater than the master? Like Jesus, we need to memorize and use the Bible.
Next week we will have a new addition to the newsletter. Each week we will print a small passage that we will memorize together as a church. Many of you have been following our Scripture reading plan, now we will be able to memorize together as well! I recommend that everyone participating find someone to help with accountability. Men, find a man you can call every Friday and quiz him and let him quiz you. Women, find another lady in the church and hold each other accountable. Let’s help one another grow in our knowledge of Scripture.
1 Samuel 9-31, 1 Chronicles 9:35-10:14
This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the evening service on June 28, 2009. No audio is available for this service.
The following resources are also available from this service:
Handout
Presentation notes
Ephesians 3:1-13
This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on Sunday, June 28, 2009.
For the last few weeks we have been seeing that God has taken Jews and gentiles and brought them together in one body, one people of God now known as the church. For the Jews this news would have been shocking. For the gentiles, surprising. In today’s passage, Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul is going to explain to the gentile Ephesians that this new body was not an afterthought, a last minute change, or some sort of plan B but was part of God’s plan for humanity and the church since before the creation of the world.
Ephesians 3:1-13
Since we are tackling thirteen verses this morning we will not be able to look at the passage with the same sort of scrutiny I usually prefer. Close examination is good – we are dealing with the words given to us from God and it serves us well to know as much about the meaning of the whole as we can. We cannot know the whole unless we know the parts. I want to know as much about every verse of the Bible as I can, and I want to help you know it as well. That is what I have been called to do.
But time will not allow a close look this morning. I’ve chosen to take a passage this large because of the nature of the passage. There are three things at work in this text:
Paul is once again teaching the believers about their unity in Christ.
Paul is telling believers more about his ministry as an apostle, including the divine source of his message.
Paul is instructing believers on the eternal, unchanging nature of God’s plans.
The first of these is a summary of what we have spent the last few weeks looking at. The second one, the nature of Paul’s ministry, is something we will come back to later and don’t have to focus on now. The third one is our focus this morning and to best understand Paul’s meaning we would do well to just work through the passage as a whole.
Paul’s focus is on a mystery. In verse 6 he tells us what the mystery is: 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. The mystery is that in Christ Jews and gentiles have been united, gentiles given all of the benefits of the people of God.
Paul calls this a mystery since for most of human history no one knew that God would someday do things this way. Throughout the Old Testament there are hints that God would one day welcome the nations in, but Jews would have assumed they would first have to adopt Jewish ways and customs.
It is hard for us to understand just how shocking it would be for the Jews to find out that the doors had been thrown open to the gentiles. Two thousand years after Jesus we just assume a setting where God welcomes all people into his kingdom. But for most of history the Jews had enjoyed an exclusive relationship with God and they thought things would always be this way. This Hebrew expectation is foreign to us. The closest we could get is to remember desegregation and integration in the 1960’s. One race felt superior to others and forced others into inferior circumstances. When the courts ordered a change, many reacted with shock. Many with violence. Just as the Jews reacted to the news that God had given himself for all people.
The gentiles would have also had difficulty with the new situation. They were used to Jews looking down on them and on the whole gentiles were content to return the favor. Jews were mocked and oppressed for their peculiar customs, hated because of their superior attitude. Many gentiles did not want to be on equal standing with Jews. But God has brought people together.
So God has done something no one expected. Why doesn’t Paul call it a surprise? He says it is a mystery. It sounds like a surprise. A sudden turn of events. An unexpected change in God’s plan. But a mystery?
Mystery in this sense refers to something that was unknown, something that had been kept quiet. It was a hidden secret. Your husband buys you flowers and you don’t know about it until he gives them to you. Your husband knew. He was aware of his plans but did not let you know everything about what he was doing. There was a mystery, a secret, something unknown to you. There might have been hints but the secret was not revealed until the flowers were given to you. This is similar to the mystery of the gospel.
Paul wants us to know that God’s plans did not change. From a human perspective God changed directions. He changed his mind. He made a last minute alteration. Perhaps because the Jews kept rejecting the gospel God decided to go with plan B and open the kingdom to the gentiles. I have heard Christians say things very similar to this, seeing gentile inclusion in the kingdom as an alternative to God’s main plan. But Paul wants us to live in the knowledge of Psalm 33:11, that the counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. His counsel, his plans, do not change but stand firm, unconquered and unaltered, from age to age.
Listen to the words Paul uses to describe this part of God’s plan: the mystery of Christ; it was not made known to the sons of men in other generations; the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God; and the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus.
Look at that second one, found in verses 4-5: When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. The mystery was around even before Christ. It existed from generation to generation. The secret was there but it was not revealed until now. God included the gentiles not because the Jews rejected Jesus but because even before Jesus came God had planned to include them.
Verse 11 settles the issue. Paul says, This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord… How long before the coming of the Son did the trinity plan to include the gentiles? Eternally before. For all eternity God has had a plan, a purpose. He has always known what he would do with humanity. There is no Plan B with God because nothing can happen that is not already part of his plan. He has always been unfolding his plan and unfolding it in a way that guarantees his eternal purpose will be accomplished. Jews and gentiles are united in the body of Christ because that is part of the eternal purpose of God.
Believer, what is your comfort when you go through trials? How do you deal with a world moving out from under your feet? What is your hope in sorrow, your foundation in suffering? When a spouse dies or a parent loses a child, how do you keep on going? However hard our circumstances may be we can know with certainty that nothing interrupts God’s plans, nothing causes him to turn to plan B, nothing is meaningless. God’s eternal purposes for creation will be accomplished and your suffering will be redeemed for good. There are many mysteries in God’s will. Someday we will know, we will really know, that everything we endured works out for good. For now we have to trust God with those mysteries and rejoice that he is sovereign, in control over his creation, and nothing can overcome his will.
Back to the mystery, how is it made known? When we normally hear about a mystery it brings to mind clues and puzzles, something that you have to collect enough data about so you can figure it out. This mystery is different and isn’t something anyone could reason out for himself. In verse 3 Paul says the mystery was made known to me by revelation… In verses 4-5 Paul has said the Ephesians would be able to perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ which has been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. Knowledge of this mystery could never come by perception or pondering. It comes only by revelation from God.
Paul learned of this mystery when God through the Holy Spirit revealed it to him. His insight did not come from intellectual abilities but because it was revealed… by the Spirit. Theologians have spoken about two aspects of God’s will. There is his revealed will and his secret will. His revealed will would be those things spoken to us, the things we find in Scripture. It is what he has made known to us. His secret will are those things he has not made known to us. Job knew God called him to be faithful. Job didn’t know God would use him to encourage thousands of years of believers. Abraham knew he was to sacrifice his son Isaac. There are many other examples in Scripture and in our own lives. The only way we can learn things about God’s secret will is if he reveals them to us. We can never figure them out on our own. God is not a bashful lover, wanting you to figure things out about him on your own. What he wants you to know he has revealed. What you don’t need to know, he has not revealed. That doesn’t mean everything is easy to grasp. We often have to work hard to understand Scripture. But the revelation is there for us.
If he has not revealed something to us we need to be careful when we are tempted to speculate. It is not wrong to speculate about God, but it can be risky. Deuteronomy 29:29 says the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. This tells us two things: First, the things that God reveals are for us forever. They do not grow outdated or pass away. They are always for our use. Second, the secret things belong to the Lord. If he had wanted us to know those things he would have revealed them. This goes for big things, such as why God permits tragedy, to personal things, such as career or marriage decisions. God does have a plan for your life but he is not obligated and has not promised to reveal that plan. What he has given is sufficient – wisdom through his Word and the Holy Spirit so that we know how to live and act in ways pleasing to him.
But in the case of the unity of Jews and gentiles, the secret has been made known. It was revealed to Paul by the Holy Spirit and from Paul and others it is proclaimed and written down. Through preaching the secret things can be made known. Paul says in verses 8-9: To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. Through preaching these mysteries can be brought to light. That is what I am here to do. That is what other preachers are to do. Not so much to entertain or help people feel better but to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God. We will say more about this in chapter 4.
There is a third way this mystery is revealed: by the example of the church. The audience in this case is somewhat surprising. In verse 10 Paul writes: so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Through the church God is showing heavenly beings the full range of his wisdom. This reminds us of what we saw back in Ephesians 2:7: so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. We are God’s trophy room, on display to show the grace and glory and kindness and wisdom of God.
In his first letter Peter is explaining to the reader a few things about salvation, including the fact that God has now revealed things that were previously a secret. These are things the angels can only watch from a distance. He writes in 1 Peter 1:12: It was revealed to them [that is, to the Old Testament prophets] that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. These matters about salvation, angels long to look into them. Through the church God allows the angels to look. By these things God’s glory is revealed. You are the demonstration of God’s glory. How are you representing him? How are you helping the church shine his glory all the more?
Finally, with the mystery revealed, what will you do with it. Divine sovereignty does not negate human responsibility. How will you respond to the words that have been spoken today and others you have heard about grace and sin, judgment and salvation? These secrets have been made known. You have no excuse except your own rebellion and hardness of heart. Christian, stop serving the world. Display the glory of the Lord! Put off your sin. Follow Christ. Unbeliever, do not delay salvation any longer. Cling to Christ and be washed by his blood.
