Well, the words to which I'd like to draw your attention to today come to us from the first chapter of the book of Ephesians. So as we turn there to Ephesians 1, chapter, Ephesians 1, verse 15 through 23, I invite you to stand for the reading of God's holy and perfect word. Again, as we turn here to Ephesians 1, verses 15 through 23. Here's the word of the Lord. Therefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him. in all, amen. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, as you give us these words on this day about your providence, we do pray that you would encourage and strengthen us by your word, that you would challenge us through the work of your Holy Spirit that we might be at rest in you, both this day and forevermore, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Please be seated. Well, here in the month of November, we are going to be talking about the church. Now, there's a sense in which we talk about the church every week, because every sermon, if it's given properly, and I don't always accomplish that, but if it's given properly, it should deal with the life of the church, with the needs of the church, with the blessings of the church, with the reminder of what the church is. We live, and I don't need to tell you this, but it's my job to repeat myself. The nature of the time we live in is we live in a day where it's every man for himself. We live in a day of individualism, of every man pulling himself up by his bootstraps. We live in a day where it is truly not about us, but about I. And, of course, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not immune to such a disease. We are a people who live in the culture in which we live. And a lot of times it's hard for us, kind of like how it's hard for the fish to understand that it's wet, what it is to be something other than an individual. Of course, it hasn't always been like that. It hasn't always been the nature of the world to see yourself and your identity only about you, in the singular sense of that word. In fact, for most of human history, if I asked you who you were, your first answer would not be your personal name. It would have been either your family group or your ethnic group or your national identity. That would have been who you were. And you didn't understand yourself, again, to just be a singular plant in the midst of a field. You considered yourself to be a part of that whole field. If you were a corn plant out in the middle of Iowa, well, you weren't a singular piece of corn out there. You were part, again, of this whole matter. And it's hard for us, I think, especially in this day and age, to really think of ourselves as more than just as individuals. But the calling that we see here in the book of Ephesians particularly in this particular passage and the reason why we're going to go over this today is because we're not individuals. We're not identified by our family groups. We're not identified by our last name. We're identified by our identity in Jesus Christ. You see the people at Ephesus were not Ephesians. Now, our Bibles have come down to us, telling us they're Ephesians, and of course there's a sense in which they're Ephesians, but that's not who they were. And that's part of how, again, Paul opens up the passage before us. Notice again what he says, Therefore also after I heard of your faith in who? In the Lord Jesus. And your love for who? All the saints. Do not cease to what? Give thanks, for what? For you, plural. Making mention of what? You, plural. In my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you, plural, the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. You see, the focus of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ must always be the Lord Jesus Christ. because that is where our identity is. That is who we are. We are Christians who are members, as it says in this passage, of the body of Christ. Again, in his letter to the people at Colossae, he says something similar to this in the nature of how they are to think of themselves at the beginning of chapter three. He says, if then you were raised with Christ, Seek those things which are above. Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things in the earth. For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also appear with Him in glory. Now again, You know, I hopefully I don't need to repeat myself, but every time the you shows up there, it's not talking about you individually. But it is talking about the church, about the body of Christ. Again, that our identity is in the one who has raised us from the dead. The one who has laid down his life for us. The one who has ordained all things that come to pass for us. as a covenant people of the living God. In the Old Testament, how was the church known? The church was known as Israelites. Now, the Israelites, of course, were broken down into family groups. You had the people of Naphtali, you had the people of Judah, you had the people of Benjamin, you had the people of Asher, you had the people of, you know, Dan, right? You had these family groups, but again, what was the purpose of the family groups? The purpose of the family group was to recognize that their father was not Asher, Naphtali, and Dan, but that their father was Israel, and that they were united together in Israel, and that if Naphtali had need, Dan was there to help. Again, we understand something about the nature of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In that as Paul is opening up this testimony, the first thing that he commends the people at Ephesus about is that they do not care about Ephesus alone. That their concern is not about the individuals at Ephesus. But what have they been found doing? Again, notice what he says there. Therefore, I also have to have heard of your faith, Lord Jesus, and your love for all the saints. You see, the people at Ephesus were known for their love, not love for themselves, not the love that they had for their needs, but their love for all the brothers and sisters in Christ they had throughout the whole world. This is part of the point that Jesus is making when his mother and his brothers come to help. You remember in that scene, what's going on? Jesus is out preaching and teaching, going on, telling people about the kingdom, to repent, for the kingdom of heaven it is at hand, and his mom is kind of concerned about her little boy. And the brothers, of course, are concerned about their brother. Why? Because they're kind of embarrassing them. If people hear about Jesus of Nazareth and it's gotten back to Mary and the brothers and he's out running around doing all this stuff. I'm sure we all have family members like that that we probably need to go get a hold of and ask some questions about, you know, so we can sympathize a little bit with what we see going on there. But when they come, what does Jesus do, right? The disciples come to Him and say, hey, your mom and your brothers are here to get you. They're here because they're worried about you. And what does Jesus tell the crowds? Who are my mother and who are my brothers? Those who do the will of my Father who art in heaven. Because there's a real sense in which, as Christians, we have to remember that our faith is thicker than blood. That our faith is more important than blood. That our faith is who we are as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ because God has not died for families, He has died for the church. That the Lord Jesus Christ has laid down His life that you might be drawn out of the world and into the kingdom of His Son. Again, this is such a vital point to understand in the nature of who we are as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because what is the purpose of the church? And as Paul sees it here in Ephesians, as he's writing to this body of believers in this city, what does he say? Again, the first thing that he tells us that the church is for is for mutual blessing through prayer. That's the first responsibility the church has. In Galatians 6 verse 10, Paul there talking to the people of Galatia tells them that their primary concern should be the care of their brothers and sisters in Christ. That should be their primary motivation every day of every month of every year as long as they're on this earth. Because God has changed how His people look at the world. God has changed how His people understand the world. God has changed everything about who we are as individuals as He brings us into His kingdom. Because remember, what does Jesus say unto those who ask Him about this, who assume that He's here to rule an earthly kingdom? He says unto them, My kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is of a better world. A world not made with the hands of men, but a world made with the grace and mercy and love of the living God. And as we change how we look at the world and how we understand the world, again, the nature of how we treat one another changes as well. Because who are we to prioritize above all? Those saved by the blood of the Lamb. Those who are closer to us. than those who are united to us in blood. Because the nature of the kingdom of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is that we, again, hearing the word that God gave unto His disciples in Matthew 28, right, the Great Commission testifies that what are we supposed to do? We're to go out unto all the world, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. You see, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is given a commission to go out and to grow the kingdom that God has put His Son at the head of. Because what do we want those nations to be? We want those nations to be more than just foreign policy friends. You see, we want the nations of this world to be like Ephesus and Galatia. We want the nations of this world to be like these brothers and sisters whom we care about. Those who rise above all of the wickedness and the sin of this world, who testify to us again that they are brought together in this kingdom by the work of the Holy Spirit, who are united to us in the same body, who are no longer enemies. but are now friends in the Lord Jesus. Again, this is the nature, again, of how God has ordered his church. We hear a lot here lately, and it's sad that it has taken so long for this to get in the ears of normal people, but we hear a lot about the persecution going on in Nigeria. Of course, that persecution's been going on for 1,000 years at this point. And what is it about that news that draws us low, that causes us pain and anguish in our soul? Because those things are not happening to Nigerians. They're happening to Christians, brothers and sisters in Christ. Again, we have more in common with a Nigerian believer than we do with an American who lives across the street from us and does not believe in the Lord. Because at the end of the day, when Jesus comes again, is those civil boundaries going to make a hill of beans of difference in the eternal kingdom of the Lord? No. How are we going to be known on the Day of Judgment? Again, you read the testimony of the Day of Judgment in Matthew 25, and what do we hear? That there's going to be two kingdoms There's going to be two peoples. There's going to be two nations in the day of judgment. There's going to be the nation of the sheep and the nation of the goats. And where's that nation going to go? Does it allot itself with Antichrist? Does it allot itself with wickedness? Allot itself with the worldly things? Well, they are going to receive their reward. They're going to go down into the depths of hell forever with their king who is the devil. But those who are united to Christ by faith, those who have had their identities changed, their nationhood changed, how will they be known? They will be known as the sheep who walk with their shepherds. the sheep who receive the blessings of their shepherd, the sheep who are brought into the kingdom by the shepherd. You know, again, one of the things we're going to do this month is we are going to talk about the duties and responsibilities of ministers, elders, and deacons. And one of the ways that we see the duties laid out for us, for example, in the book of Acts, is exactly in this way. Again, in Acts 20, as Paul is again speaking to the Ephesian elders, what does he say to them? He says in Acts 20, verse 28, Therefore, take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. Again, that is the calling that God has given to elders, right? They're under shepherds of the great shepherd. And they are to watch over the flock that God has given to them. Which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Again, we'll talk some more about what that means. But in a nutshell, what that means is, is that nobody should be a minister, an elder, and a deacon whom the Holy Spirit has not called to that office. Again, the witness here is that the order of the church is far more important than the order of the world. We take what we can get sometimes out in the world, but the church should never seek to do the lowest common denominator. Again, we should value ourselves more in that way. I mean, that's one of the reasons why it's so vitally important that as we look out and we see these young men in our congregation, whether they be nine months old or whether they be 18, that we be investing in them, raising them up in the knowledge of God, preparing them to be leaders in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is a vital part of our mission as a church. And we should be raising up these young men in church. And how do we do that? Again, notice what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 1, verses 15 through 23. Again, the first way we do that is through prayer. Again, when you're engaged in your private times of devotion, when you're praying unto the Lord, how many times do you pray for the sitting elders, deacons, and minister event? I'm sure you do regularly pray for the elders, ministers, and deacons here. But I want to encourage you that you pray for those deacons, elders, and ministers you're going to have in the future. I encourage you to not only be praying for them, but pray for them by name. Generic prayers are fine, but God likes specifics. And we should be praying for our little young men in the congregation, that they would grow up to be mature Christians, that they would be ready to shepherd the Lord's church when that time comes. And preparation is 90% of life. You think about the preparation that we put in to the civil world around us. And we make sure that our young boys can read, can write, and do math at some level. We make sure that they know how to fix things, to drive machines, to drive cars, do all these things. How much time do we spend with these same young men teaching them the things of the Lord? Again, that's a primary responsibility we have as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, not just the young men who need raised up and taught these things. But it's particularly then because who has God given to be the leaders in the church? And we must take seriously these callings that we have as believers. Because again, the future of the church requires these things. One of the saddest realities of the book of Ephesians is that can you, and I don't necessarily do this right now, but can you get on Google right now and tell me how the church of Ephesus is doing right now? Where is the church of Ephesus right now? Well, again, I don't want to spoil your afternoon, but there is no church of Ephesus. Now some of that is because the city of Ephesus was destroyed, but why do you think the city of Ephesus was destroyed? Part of the judgment of God upon that church. Remember? What did Jesus warn the church of Ephesus about in the book of Ephesians? Again, the church in Ephesus is warned in the letters that Jesus writes that they have forgot their first love. that outwardly they're doing everything right, right? They've got all the mechanics correct, they've got all the order correct, but they're dead inside. And one of the reasons why they're dead inside is what have they not focused their energy on? On doing the work that God had called them to do. Not only to raise one another up in faith, to pray for one another, but they had forgotten Jesus. And as we see here in this passage in Ephesians chapter one, what is the most important thing for the church to do? It is to remember Jesus. Because what do we hear at the end of this passage? And he put all things under his feet and gave him to be head over all things. The church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Again, this is what it is we are here to do today. to recognize and to submit ourselves unto the King of heaven, the one who is the head of the church over all things. Because as Christians, our identity is again in Him, in Him alone. That's who we are as human beings. We're not identified by all the things that go on in this world. We're identified by that promise and that hope and that peace that we have from the One above. The One who has ordered all things in according with His glory. The One who has established Himself and been established by His Heavenly Father. Remember, when Jesus is being tempted in the wilderness, what's one of the things that Satan tempts Him with? That if you bow down unto Me that I will make you king over the nations. Of course, you know, Satan, for all his wisdom, he's pretty eager. Because Satan, if he'd read his Bible, like he probably should have been, what did the Old Testament testify? You can go back to the promises that we see in Genesis 49. What is promised will come out of the tribe of Judah, but the Lion of Judah, the King, will come from Judah. And we see portions of that, of course, in the days of David. But what is the promise that God makes unto Israel in the days of David and 2 Samuel, in that covenant which is made, that there will not cease to be a day that there is King over Israel? Now we understand again, as Peter applies that passage in the book of Acts, that he's talking about Jesus. Jesus is the king of the church. He is the king of the nations. He is the king of this earth. And we ought to live like we believe it. And that starts, again, in the house of the Lord. And that starts in this house. Again, the calling that we see here in Ephesians chapter 1, again, could not be more clear. But it's one of the hardest things that we have to do. The reason why it's hard is because we don't want to. Because just like the young man who was sitting afraid of the army surrounding Dothan, he doesn't really believe what he says he believes. Elisha prays and his eyes are open and he sees. There's a sense in which Elisha shouldn't have needed to have done that. Same reason why David shouldn't have had to come and remind his brothers about the king of Israel versus the king of Goliath. You know, David comes and he's kind of like bewildered. Y'all, do you not remember who your God is? He's the one who not only brought you out of bondage and slavery in Egypt, but He's already given you victories over these nations. Do you not remember what is said in the book of Joshua? Do you not remember the covenant that you made at Shechem? Do you not remember the promises that were given unto you about the nature of who your God is? And that's the challenge for us today is to ask ourselves that question. Again, do we believe in what God has said? Do we believe in the identity that we have received from Him above? And Paul in his sermon in the book of Hebrews reminds us of this. He says in Hebrews 10, 24 through 25, and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. Now, there's one of these passages in the Bible that has a twofold meaning. You heard both in Acts 20 and in Ephesians 1 about the day which is to come. You heard about the end which is to come. And we understand that that day is ultimately the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But as we talked about last week and from Hebrews chapter 4, that day also means today. the Sabbath day that God's given to us. Again, this is the day that God has made clear and holy that we might set aside all of our worldly labors and do the things that we're supposed to do as Christians. And again, as you think about what it is we're supposed to do as Christians, I want to repeat what I said last week, but the primary thing that we do when we gather together here in the house of the Lord is pray for one another. I've said before that during the pastoral prayer, it is not time for us to catch up on what we missed out last night. The pastoral prayer is an activity that all of us are engaged in. You should be praying during the pastoral prayer. Now, we're not Pentecostals, and 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14 makes it clear that not all of us are supposed to talk out loud during the prayer, but You should be lifting up things unto the Lord. You should be, in a sense, repeating what I'm saying during a pastoral prayer. Or if I mention something particular in a pastoral prayer, you should leave your heart and go unto the Lord. Because again, I'm not a priest of the Old Testament. I'm not a priest of the New Testament. I'm a minister of the living God. I don't have special access unto heaven. There's nothing about my prayer that has more power than your prayer. Now God has called me again to lead, to shepherd in that way. But again, you have been given this testimony of the living God. And you have heard the blessings and you've heard the needs. Again, we are to build one another up in faith. We are to build one another up in hope. We are to build one another up in the joy of the Holy Spirit. Again, we can't do that if we're all sitting here staring at other people. Because our hearts and our minds and our souls should be focused upon the heavenly places. It should be focused upon the Lord Jesus Christ. It should be focused upon what Jesus has done for us. It should be focused upon the glory of our living God. When you enter these walls on the Sabbath day, whatever problems you have with people in this room should disappear. Because we're not here to do that. We are here, as we see in Ephesians chapter one, to love one another in prayer, to love one another in Jesus Christ, to love one another in the hope of the eternal life that we share together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Again, this is the calling of the church. This is the foundation of the body of believers. This is what we should be showing to the world around us. That we don't bicker and moan and groan like the world does. That we are united together in that hope which we have received from above. Proverbs 10, 12, hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sin. Leviticus 19.18, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbors as yourself. I am the Lord. Romans 13.8, owe no one anything except to love one another for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 12.10, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another. Again, I could probably read 40 other passages which testify to that same principle. But again, the testimony we see in Ephesians 1, the very heartbeat of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, again, is given to us. The mission of the church is given to us. Again, therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not seek to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, He's Him. The Lord Jesus is Him. He is the heartbeat of our soul. He is the heartbeat of our identity. And what then again shall we do? But love one another. Love one another enough to pray for one another. Love one another to seek out one another. Love one another that if a soul is not here on the Lord's day, they should hear about it. Not checking in on them to scare them and try to find out what they're really doing or whatever. But because you have a heart that loves your brother. A heart that loves a fellow sheep. One who loves the fellow who needs the presence of God. And that is not the job of me. At least not according to Ephesians 1. I mean, it is my job. But it's not my job alone, is it? Because what do the people at Ephesus, what are they known by? The fact that they love the saints, that they seek out the saints. And of course it doesn't end there. Part of the witness we have in Matthew 28 and also given here in Ephesians 1 is the fact that we should desire that all men might become as we are. That all men might come to know the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. That all men might come to know the true hope which alone rests in the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior. Again, when we leave this place on Sunday, and we go and we see unbelievers, our hearts should melt. We should be in tears for those who are lost. Because their end is death. And yet we have in ourselves the light which is from above. The light which is from heaven. The light which we receive not by the works of the flesh, but by the pure, unmitigated grace of Jesus Christ. That is the love that we must show as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Or we will have our lampstand removed and we will be a synagogue of Satan. Just like this. And that should cause us to fear a little bit, if not a lot. Because what do you have if the world doesn't have it? You have Jesus. You have the hope of the gospel. You have the God who has surrounded you with the chariots of fire. Again, what does Jesus promise us in John chapter 10? If we are united to Christ by faith, then we are in the arms of God the Father, and Satan himself cannot pull us out. Is that what you believe? Is that what you understand about your salvation? Is that what you understand about your place in the kingdom? If it's not, then you do not believe in Jesus. Because what does John say? If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? For love and let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him I thought we loved God, but he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. This is who we are. This is our identity. This is who we are today, tomorrow, and forever, because our Lord Jesus is the head of the church for all things. that we might rest in him, that the body, the fullness of him might fill all in all. Amen. Let us pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we give thanks again for this word and this day. We give thanks once more for the glory that is your name, for the hope that is your truth, and for the assurance that we alone have in Jesus Christ, who is the author and finish of our faith, the one who has given unto us all things. we might rest in him forever and ever. Amen. Let us stand now as we come to sing our closing Bible song, Bible song number 204. Let us stand as we sing it together. And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, O come, all ye faithful, to Bethlehem. O come, all ye faithful, to Bethlehem. To worship, to worship, to worship, to worship. And again, as the Lord has called us onto this day to give thanks for his glory, before I give the benediction, let me go ahead and pray for the luncheon and for the food. Again, we invite everybody as we enjoy this time of celebrating the Jubilee birthday on this day. Let us go ahead and pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we give thanks again for your goodness unto us, your goodness unto the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we hear and as we see the work that you have done in the past and that you continue to do through your body, we ask your blessings upon it, and we also ask your blessings upon the food and the hands that prepared it, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Again, let's hear the benediction today from Isaiah 62, verses 10 through 12. Hear the word of the Lord. Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, build up, build up the highway, take out the stones, lift up a banner for the peoples. Indeed, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the world, saying to the daughter of Zion, surely your salvation is coming. Behold, his reward is with him and his work before him. And they shall call them the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord.