Thank You

Thank You

1 Corinthians 1:4, says “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ”. We clearly see gratitude for the grace believers received through Jesus Christ capsulated in this first thought. God is appreciated for his generosity.

Philippians 1:3, says, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you”. There are expressions of joy and thankfulness to God for believers whenever they are regarded or thought about; their actions provoke others to give God thanks and appreciation.

Like yourself, I have multiplied reasons and motivations to thank God for the wonderful gifts of precious individuals he has enriched my life with. In a summary kind of way, I want to not only thank God for them but also appreciate them and their obedience to Christ Jesus.

So, I simply wish to say, “Thank you.”

Thank you for your hard work, keenness, devotion, enthusiasm, and perseverance! The grit and discipline you exemplified, motivated and encouraged the rest of us on more than a few occasions. I know it is a bit clichéd, but your exertions have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated. Others deeply appreciate you as well. It is remarkable that you could ever be taken for granted at times, but it does happen…even when you are operating in your ‘extraordinary zone.’ Not to our credit, but your extraordinary has become what we simply expect of you. It is just you and how you roll. But I intentionally want to be careful to say, thank you for doing more…for going the extra mile.  

Most people don’t see you working early…staying late or during the weekends…when you are legitimately worn out for extended periods. In many cases your sacrifices, adjustments, changes, redirections, irritations, and frustrations goes completely unnoticed…. Many folks do not witness the work you do internally before the Lord…the hard steps you take alone to realize substantial growth…the humility of admitting before God weaknesses, needs, failures, and at times desperation. We unfortunately assume our circumstances are normal and pervasive. But you are not average…. However, I wish to fully recognize that you make a real difference every single day, at times I experience it and inwardly celebrate you…your thoughtfulness, kindness…and selflessness. You can repeatedly be counted on…you always come through in the clutch…you consistently show up. It’s the unspoken expectation…never realizing there is a real cost to you for what we so richly benefit from. God sees YOU! Remember, He knows. Thank you for being so faithful to our Lord.

Your commitment levels are an inspiration to us all. You make us want to be even more faithful to the Lord also. I must honestly say, I am grateful for your exceptional work…the incredible person you are. Real character still matters in a day of sound bites, calculated photos, and disingenuous false press. You literally are inspiration in ‘shoe leather.’ Thank you for influencing our “lives” to shine so brightly...so often. Yes, it is partly your fault our existence is astonishing to some. Thank you for that and have another typical day!

The Particulars of Christ's Amazing Love

Ephesians 3:14–21 

Subject: Love for our Church Family

Relevance:  The Spirit makes continuous and genuine Christian expression possible by enabling us for supernatural Christian living, loving, and laboring so that our Father is glorified.

Theme: We need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural strengthening for Christlike loving to the credit of our Father. Beloved, this is a prayer for strength to love each other.

Introduction: Paul had been affirming the unity of a local church made up of many differing individuals. Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be strong inwardly through Christ's Spirit.

QUOTE: “This deeper experience will enable them to "apprehend" (get hold of) God's great love, which will result in their being "filled unto all the fullness of God." So, then, Paul is praying for strength, depth, apprehension, and fullness.”— (The Bible Exposition Commentary) 

Message:

I.               The Particulars of Christ’s Love (Eph. 3:17-19)

A.    Dwelling (Eph. 3:17)

                                                    i.     What are the hallmarks of our church when we each build our lives on love, as Paul prayed?  (Eph. 3:17)

                                                  ii.     Deepening Fellowship with Christ, “Dwell.” The result of this strengthening is that this faith in Christ may dwell in believers’ hearts, our whole personalities. “Dwell” is not to the beginning of Christ’s indwelling at the moment of conversion, but to Christ being at home in, the very center of and deeply rooted in, our lives. We must let Christ’s loving character become the dominating factor in our attitudes and conduct.

                                                iii.     Quote: “this is a request that He might have full access to every room and closet; that He might not be grieved by sinful words, thoughts, motives, and deeds; that He might enjoy unbroken fellowship with the believer. The Christian heart thus becomes the home of Christ, the place where He loves to be—like the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. The heart, of course, means the center of the spiritual life; it controls every aspect of behavior. In effect, the apostle prays that the lordship of Christ might extend to the books we read, the work we do, the food we eat, the money we spend, the words we speak—in short, the minutest details of our lives.”^[1]

                                                iv.     Paul is praying for a deeper experience between Christ and His people. He yearns for Christ to settle down and feel at home in their hearts - not a surface relationship, but an ever-deepening fellowship.

B.    Rooted (Eph. 3:17)

                                                    i.     Nourished, Supported, and Stabilized by Christ’s love, “Rooted.” Now we move into the plant world.

                                                  ii.     The tree must get its roots deep into the soil if it is to have both nourishment, support, and stability, and the Christian must have his spiritual roots deep into the love of God.

                                                iii.     Ps 1:1-3, describes this reality, and Jer. 17:5-8, further comments on it. So, "From what do I draw my nourishment and my stability?" If there is to be power in the Christian life, then there must be depth. The roots must go deeper and deeper into the love of Christ.

C.    Grounded (Eph. 3:17)

                                                    i.     Built upon the best foundation (2Tim 2:19; Heb. 11:10; Rev. 21:19), “Grounded.” Grounded is an architectural term referring to the foundations on which we build.

                                                  ii.     ILLUSTRATION: “In the first two churches I pastored, we were privileged to construct new buildings, and in both projects it seemed we would never get out of the ground. In my second building program, we had to spend several thousand dollars taking soil tests because we were building over an old lake bed. For weeks, the men were laying out and pouring the footings. One day I complained to the architect, and he replied, "Pastor, the most important part of this building is the foundation. If you don't go deep, you can't go high." That sentence has been a sermon to me ever since.”  —W. W. Wiersbe

                                                iii.     Quote: “To be rooted and grounded in love is to be established in love as a way of life. The life of love is a life of kindness, selflessness, brokenness, and meekness. It is the life of Christ finding expression in the believer (see 1 Cor. 13:4–7).”^[2]

                                                iv.     The trials of life test the depth of our experience. If two roommates have a falling out, they may seek new roommates, for after all, living with a roommate is a passing experience. But if a church member, who loves the fellowship, has a disagreement, the trial could deepen their love as they seek to resolve the problems. The storm that blows reveals the strength of the roots. Jesus told the story about the two builders, one of whom did not go deep enough for his foundation (Matt 7:24-29). Paul prayed that the believer might have a deeper experience with Christ because only a deep experience could sustain them during the severe trials of life.

D.    Experiential (Eph. 3:18-19)

                                                    i.     In this manner, spiritual growth and transformation, we can “know” Christ’s love, even though we don’t fully understand it (Eph. 3:18-19)!

                                                  ii.     The purpose is to have power (“have inherent strength”), together “with” all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is. These measurements most likely describe not the thoroughness of comprehension but the immensity of the thing to be comprehended.

                                                iii.     Comprehensively we are to “know” experientially the love of Christ that supersedes all knowledge (see Phil. 4:7). The more a Christian knows about Christ, the more amazed he is at Christ’s love for him.

                                                 iv.     Paul prayed that it might be experientially realized in each person (cf. Eph. 4:13). Experiencing God’s moral excellence and perfection causes fellow believers to love each other. Positionally, we are one in Christ; experientially we are to love each other as one in Him.

                                                  v.     But, what about our differences? Professional differences? Social differences? Social Media differences? Collegiate differences? Political differences? Team differences? Ethnic differences? Occupational differences? We can dilute Christ power in our experience if we elevate these things above loving each other with Christlike love!

 

Conclusion:

All this is possible only because God is more than able to do immeasurably more than all we could pray for or even imagine possible, because it is according to His power that is at work within us as believers.

The Lord Jesus was a master at communicating love and personal acceptance. He did so when He blessed and held … little children. But another time His sensitivity to touch someone was even more graphic. This was when Jesus met a grown man's need for meaningful touch, a man who was barred by law from ever touching anyone again.…

To touch a leper was unthinkable. Banishing lepers from society, people would not get within a stone's throw of them. (In fact, they would throw stones at them if they did come close!) … With their open sores and dirty bandages, lepers were the last persons anyone would want to touch. Yet the first thing Christ did for this man was touch him.

Even before Jesus spoke to him, He reached out His hand and touched him. Can you imagine what that scene must have looked like? Think how this man must have longed for someone to touch him, not throw stones at him to drive him away. Jesus could have healed him first and then touched him. But recognizing his deepest need, Jesus stretched out His hand even before He spoke words of physical and spiritual healing.  — (From The Gift of the Blessing by Gary Smalley and John Trent)

Please keep uppermost in mind that this concerns our perception of God’s love, not whether he loves us or not. While the choices we make will affect that perception, there is nothing a believer can do to remove themselves from it. Romans 8:35–39 reminds us that nothing, absolutely nothing, in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God.

How can we live our lives so that we are most likely to experience the love of Christ?

Pray daily: We’re not perfect, Father, but we are yours…the throne of our heart belongs to you. We acknowledge your salvation and your grace, and your great love. We ask you to make us every day into the image of Jesus Christ…including Christlike love. Manifest your love through us in the form of kindness, selflessness, brokenness, and meekness. May the life of Christ find expression in us habitually. Help us to live with our church in love every day as you do. We are amazed at such love and mercy that forgive us time and time again. Help us to live this way towards each other. Thank you.

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^[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1930.

^[2] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1930.

The Power of Christ's Amazing Love

 

Ephesians 3:14–21

 

Subject: Love for our Church Family

Relevance: The Spirit helps us experience God as the potent demonstration of the indwelling Christ as we submit to Him. He makes continuous and genuine Christian expression possible by enabling us for supernatural Christian living, loving, and laboring so that our Father is glorified.

Theme: We need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural strengthening for Christlike loving to the credit of our Father. Beloved, this is a prayer for strength to love each other.

Introduction: 

Noting that positionally the Gentile and Jewish believers are “one new man” as the body of Christ in Ephesus (Eph. 2:15), Paul now prayed that they may be united experientially. Paul had been affirming the unity of this local church prayed that the Ephesians would be strong inwardly through Christ's Spirit.

Message:

I.               The Power of Christ’s Love (Eph. 3:16)

A.    Fortified—“Strengthened” (Eph. 3:16)

                                                    i.     Paul prayed for the Ephesians to be “strengthened” by the Spirit, indwelt by Christ, and filled with all the “fullness” of God’s uniting love.  What “love” are we to be “rooted and grounded” in?  No, it is not the love of God, or even love for God. It is love for one another as fellow members of the family of God! It is in the context of loving relationships within the church family that we experience, through one another, the depths of God’s love.  It is through such commitment that we understand and grow in the fullness of Christ’s love.  We likewise must desire that we might genuinely know and experience Christ’s love and thus exhibit it toward each other.

B.    Force—“Might” (Eph. 3:16)

                                                    i.     The Holy Spirit (a person) provides power for a lifelong process to make us more like Christ (2 Cor 3:17-18). When we receive Christ by faith, we begin an immediate personal relationship with God. The Holy Spirit works in us to help us become like Christ. He aids in prayer (Rom 8:26-27; Eph 2:18; 6:18); he inspires us to worship (Eph 5:18; Phil 3:3); he shapes our character (Gal 5:22-23).

                                                  ii.     Furthermore, the Spirit unites the Christian community in Christ (Eph 2:19-22). He can be experienced by every believer, and he works through all (1 Cor 12:11; Eph 4:4). As such, the Spirit constantly provides us with the moral power to stand for Christ and to serve him. We access this power through prayer, worship, and yielding.

C.    Focus—"Inner Man” (Eph. 3:16)

                                                    i.     Spiritually strong and empowered in “the inner man”. This spiritual part of man is where God dwells and works. Christians have a regenerated inner being that can be renewed and strengthened day by day with power through his Spirit (2Cor. 4:16).  It is this inner power that makes him succeed.

                                                  ii.     Our spiritual faculties can be controlled by God, and we must exercise them and grow in the Word (Heb. 5:12-14). When we yield to the Spirit letting Him control the inner man we succeed in living to the glory of God. This means feeding the inner man the Word of God, praying and worshiping, keeping clean, and exercising the senses by loving obedience. Certainly, our best interactions should be with each other!

                                                iii.     Spiritually energized to live morally, to be a witness, and to remain unified with other believers is the task! We get strength from the powerful Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead (Eph. 1:19-20). We are energized for ministry (Eph. 3:7), and to defeat Satan in battle (Eph. 6:10-11). How do we gain access to this power? Christ returned to glory and sent the Spirit from heaven to indwell and empower His people. It is not necessary for us to "work something up." The power must be sent down. We gain power in prayer. If you want power to live, make prayer a greater priority. When you pray, you will experience God’s renovating power.

Conclusion:

All this is possible only because God is more than able to do immeasurably more than all we could pray for or even imagine possible, because it is according to His power that is at work within us as believers.

Please keep uppermost in mind that this concerns our perception of God’s love, not whether he loves us or not. While the choices we make will affect that perception, there is nothing a believer can do to remove themselves from it. Romans 8:35–39 reminds us that nothing, absolutely nothing, in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God.

Preparation for Christ’s Amazing Love

 

Ephesians 3:14–21

 

Subject: Love for our Church Family

Relevance:  Christ avails to us the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us to enable, equip, and help us lead an abundant, victorious, and empowered life to the glory of God. The Spirit helps us experience God as the potent demonstration of the indwelling Christ as we submit to Him. He makes continuous and genuine Christian expression possible by enabling us for supernatural Christian living, loving, and laboring so that our Father is glorified. 

Theme: We need the Holy Spirit’s supernatural strengthening for Christlike loving to the credit of our Father. Beloved, this is a prayer for strength to love each other. 

Introduction:

Caring For Family’s Killer

In 1946, Czeslaw Godlewski was a member of a young gang that roamed and sacked the German countryside. On an isolated farm they gunned down ten members of the Wilhelm Hamelmann family. Nine of the victims died, but Hamelmann himself survived his four bullet wounds.

Godlewski recently completed a twenty-year prison term for his crimes, but the state would not release him because he had nowhere to go. When Hamelmann learned of the situation, he asked the authorities to release Godlewski to his custody. He wrote in his request, “Christ died for my sins and forgave me. Should I not then forgive this man?”—Gospel Herald

Noting that positionally the Gentile and Jewish believers are “one new man” as a local assembly (Eph. 2:15), which is the body of Christ in Ephesus, Paul now prayed that they may be united experientially. To understand his request, we must note the context: it comes in a section in which Paul had been affirming the unity of a local church made up of many differing individuals. Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be strong inwardly through Christ's Spirit.

QUOTE: “There are four requests in Paul's prayer, but they must not be looked on as isolated, individual petitions. These four requests are more like four parts to a telescope. One request leads into the next one, and so on. He prays that the inner man might have spiritual strength, which will, in turn, lead to a deeper experience with Christ. This deeper experience will enable them to "apprehend" (get hold of) God's great love, which will result in their being "filled unto all the fullness of God." So, then, Paul is praying for strength, depth, apprehension, and fullness.”— (The Bible Exposition Commentary)

Message:

I.               The Preparation for Christ’s Love (Eph. 3:14-15)

A.    Prayer (Eph. 3:14) “For this cause I bow my knees….”

                                                    i.     Therefore, the words, … refer back to chapter 2 with its description of what the Gentiles had been by nature and what they had become through union with Christ. Their astonishing rise from poverty and death to riches and glory drives Paul to pray they will always live in the practical enjoyment of their exalted position.^[1]

                                                  ii.     So, in what way does the whole family of God in heaven and earth get their true name from God?

                                                iii.     “Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth.”  That is, the whole family of the redeemed—those who have gone before and those who are still alive here on earth—are under the one Father, who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 4:6; 6:10: 1Jn. 3:1). Those who belong to the family of believers, God’s household or children by believing in Christ; thus, all are related (Eph 2:19). The Christian family extends far beyond the walls of a particular church or the limits of a particular denomination to include all true believers.

                                                iv.     Thus, the whole family of God (Eph. 2:19–“household of God”) derives its “name,” or exists as a family with a loving Father, because of Him.  According to ancient practices we all share a basic character–love in this instance.  All the saved in Heaven and on earth look to Him as the Head of the Family of God.  Since we have a common LOVING Father, we should be able to live together in the Lord’s church (Jn. 14:20-21-26; 15:8-17; 17:25-26; 1Jn. 4:7-5:3).

B.    Purpose (Eph. 3:14-15, 20-21)

                                                    i.     How can we be sure God’s power is working through us rather than our own strength?  (Eph. 3:20-21)

                                                  ii.     We can praise God who is able to do far more than we could pray for or imagine, according to the standard of His power (dynamin; cf. v. 16; 1:19) that is at work (Eph. 1:19) within us. No person or angelic being (cf. 3:10) would ever think that we could function together in one body. But with God’s power of love in each believer’s life, we are confident that any church member regardless of ethnicity can function and love one another. Spiritual unity is astounding and though it is not naturally possible, God can indeed do this!

                                                iii.     Beloved, this is our supreme, “Why.” The achievement of glorifying God is what drives us!  Beyond our families, friends, co-workers, or associations we are hyper motivated internally to pursue God’s praise, honor, glory, approval, credit, and worship.

C.    Praise (Eph. 3:21).

                                                    i.     We should ascribe to God “glory” for manifesting love in the church by Christ Jesus, who made this union of believers possible. Such loving unity in a local fellowship is truly a “God thing,” and he rightly deserves all the glory and praise for such an accomplishment!

                                                  ii.     Praise unto Almighty God for this triumph in and through our lives; it will continue throughout eternity (see Rom. 11:36; 2 Tim. 4:18). How fitting these instructions are.

Conclusion:

All this is possible only because God is more than able to do immeasurably more than all we could pray for or even imagine possible, because it is according to His power that is at work within us as believers.

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^[1] William MacDonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary: Old and New Testaments, ed. Arthur Farstad (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1929.