How the Church Displays the Wisdom of God

If you have your Bible with you, and I hope you do, turn to Ephesians chapter 3. We are continuing
our study through the book of Ephesians, and we're going to be focusing this morning on a word that
is found in our text, a single word in this passage that is a word that we use often and a word
that we take for granted, that we know what it means and what it's all about. But it's a word As I
said, it's at the heart of this passage. It's a word that doesn't show up in the Bible until Jesus
uses this word in talking to his disciples. It's a word describing something new and something
unexpected. The word I'm talking about is the word church. It's a word that,
again, is a common word for all of us. It's in our name. We are Redeemer Community Church. Most
churches have church in their name. But just so we're clear, a church in the Bible,
It's not a building. It's not a worship service. We come to a building for a worship service and we
say we're going to church. But in the Bible, the church is talking about something different than
that. Let me give you a little background on this word. In the original language, in the Greek, the
word is ekklesia. And outside of the Bible, the Greeks used it to describe a formal gathering or an
assembly of people in a community for a common purpose. So when they would have a town meeting,
they would have an ecclesia. The group would get together. That's what they called it. Literally,
the word means called out ones. Those who have been summoned by a herald to come and gather for
some purpose. So the Greeks used this for public meetings.
A herald would come out and call the town to an assembly, and they would gather together for their
ecclesia. In the Old Testament, there are times when the word ecclesia is brought into the Old
Testament to talk about solemn assemblies or the assembly of the congregation is how it's often
translated in the Old Testament. But when you get to the New Testament and the life of Jesus, this
word is introduced in a new way. Jesus in Matthew 16 is having this conversation with his
disciples. And he says, who do people say that I am? And they say, well, some think you're...
person, some think you're John the Baptist. And he says, well, who do you guys think I am? And
Peter speaks up and says, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus says, flesh and
blood has not revealed this to you. My father has revealed it to you. And then he says, and you are
Peter. And upon this confession you have just made, the confession of my deity,
I will build my called out ones, my assembly,
my church. And when he said that, we have to imagine that his disciples were all nodding and
saying, you know what he's talking about? I don't know what he's talking about. Right? Because this
was a whole new thing. He's building what? And it wasn't until Acts chapter 2 on the day of
Pentecost when they began to see what was going on. God's spirit fell. Men and women were hearing
Peter declare who Jesus was and the fact that he had been put to death,
but God had raised him from the dead. He was calling them now to form this new community.
And that's the day when the church begins to take shape. That's when Jesus begins building his
church. But back in Matthew 16, the disciples are going, do you understand this assembly thing,
this called out? So now we jump to where we are in the book of Ephesians. And here Paul is writing
to a group of called out people, a community in Ephesus. And he's explaining this new thing,
this new community of God, how it has been God's plan from the beginning to form this community.
This is not something new. It's been hidden, but now it's being revealed. It's been a mystery.
It's now being exposed. God is indeed building a brand new community.
A community made up of men and women. In the Jewish culture, women weren't included.
A community made of slave and free. A community made of Greeks and Jews.
All coming together. to find their oneness in Christ. This assembly of the called out ones is what
is known as the church. And Paul has been going from city to city, calling out men and women to
come join the assembly and be a part of this community that is bound together not by ethnic
heritage, not by national allegiance, but by a common commitment and a loyalty and a devotion to
God and to Christ. This is the part of the mystery that's being revealed here.
You see, for 2,000 years, God had revealed himself to a small tribe of people in the Middle East,
the Jews. They shared a common ethnic background. They shared a common national allegiance.
They shared common... practices in worship and devotion to God. And that's how it was in Jesus'
day. Most tribes had their own gods and worshiped their own gods. The Jews had Yahweh,
but the other tribes had their own gods. But here's what's happening in the first century, and it's
unprecedented. Now Jews and Gentiles are coming together to worship the same God.
Yahweh, the God of Israel, is being worshipped not just in Israel, not just by the Jews,
but now by people throughout Israel. In fact, most of the Jews have now turned away from Yahweh
because they rejected his son. And so it's this new community of some Jews and a growing number of
Gentiles that make up this. church. They're pledging themselves to the God who made the heavens and
the earth, the God who is the God of Jacob, the God of the Israelites, pledging themselves to him
in the face of persecution and death. They're not pledging themselves to him because it's going to
get them greater social status. In fact, it won't. They're not pledging themselves to him because
it will make them more popular in the community. It won't. They're pledging themselves to him
because they believe that the revelation is true. God has opened their hearts to hear it and
respond to it. And the church is being formed. And here's the big idea in the verses that we're
going to be looking at this morning. Listen carefully here. God ordained and designed his church.
to be a living testimony of his wisdom and his glory to all who would see it.
That means his plan for his church is to function in such a way that when people see the church,
they say, what a great God these people serve. They should see by our love for one another.
how we serve one another, how we love our neighbors, how we serve our neighbors, how we love our
community. They should look at us and be able to say, these people don't love each other because
they have the same ethnic background or because they have the same heritage or life experiences or
even because they support the same candidates. They love each other because they love the same God.
What a great and wise God he must be. And that's the mystery that's being talked about in these
verses that's now being resolved, being exposed, being put on display. Jews and Gentiles coming
together, united to serve Christ. And here's what that means for you and me.
It means that our engagement with one another, our love for one another, how we serve one another,
this matters a lot to God. His reputation is at stake.
how we function as the church. What we're doing here this morning is not a once a week social
gathering or a motivational meeting. We have come together to worship God together as one people
and to renew our commitment to Him and our commitment to one another week in and week out.
All for His glory. I started preaching. We haven't even gotten the text yet. So let's pull back.
Let's read these verses together. Let me pray before we do. Father, we need your spirit now to be
the one who provides illumination for this text. Give us eyes to see and hearts willing to obey.
We ask this in your name. Amen. I'm going to ask you to stand again as we read the scriptures.
This is the word of God for the people of God. Ephesians 3, I'm going to start in verse 1. We're
going to read through verse 13, and our focus will be on the last part of this passage. Hear the
word of God. For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus,
on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was
given to me for you, how this mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written
briefly, 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. 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.
Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by
the working of his power. 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, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made
known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal
purpose that he had realized in Christ Jesus our Lord. in whom we have boldness and access with
confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for
you, which is your glory. You may be seated. May God bless this reading of his word.
The grass withers and the flower fades. The word of our God will stand forever. Now this passage
lays out for us a number of truths. related to the manifold wisdom of God being put on display,
being made manifest in the formation of the church. When God formed the church, he was putting on
display his wisdom in the church. So the manifold wisdom of God is put on display,
and it's put on display for everyone to see, including the unseen world. We'll look at that this
morning. I also want you to see that according to this text, this was not a plan B. This was not
God's workaround because plan A didn't work. This is his unchanged plan from the beginning of time.
We're also going to see that through the church, we now have heretofore unimaginable access to
fellowship with God. And finally, This text talks about how God in the church will bring peace in
the midst of trials. So that's what we're going to be looking at as we work through this text this
morning. So back to verse 10. And let me just say, verse 10 begins with a so that.
We're right in the middle of a sentence where we pick this up. So we have to look back and say...
the so that talking about? Verse eight, Paul says, God has called me and given me an assignment by
his grace to bring the message of the gospel, the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles.
That's my assignment. And verse nine, he says, and my assignment, I am revealing what has been
hidden throughout the ages until now. So that's what he's leading up. He says,
and I'm doing this so that The purpose of my doing this is what's going to be revealed in these
verses. And by the way, God's plan is and has always been to unite humanity together as one people
in Christ. The mystery that is being revealed through Paul's ministry is, you have to pull back,
this is mind-blowing for the Apostle Paul.
It's a total paradigm shift for him. He did not grow up thinking this is how God was going to
function or God was going to work. He did not see this coming. As I said in the newsletter, this
was not on his or anybody's bingo card. God's going to bring Jew and Gentile together to form a new
people. This is a totally new idea. And Paul says,
I was called to reveal this mystery, first of all, to understand it myself, and then to reveal it
to the Gentiles so that, for this purpose, so that through the church,
the manifold wisdom of God might be made known. And just say that word manifold is a word that
means multicolored. It's the word in the Old Testament that was used to describe the coat that
Jacob gave to Joseph, the multicolored coat. The wisdom of God is multicolored,
multifaceted. You see something new every time you look at it. It's rich with imagery.
And what's happening in the church as it's being birthed and formed and established is that God's
plan for people is going from black and white to technicolor.
In 1939, there were 500 Hollywood films made that year.
And about 10% of them were in color. 90% were black and white.
And then there's that one movie that came out in 1939 that I'm trusting all of you have seen where
the first 22 minutes of the film are in black and white until Dorothy wakes up in Oz.
And when she wakes up in Oz, she steps out and we, as the viewers, the world looks different.
Everything's changed. It's in color now. And it's vibrant colors. So this is how Paul...
presumably all of the early church disciples are seeing the formation of the church.
They had seen the plan of God on display through the nation of Israel, but what God is doing now is
blowing their paradigms and giving them a picture of his manifold,
multicolored witness. And the wisdom of God, it was on display throughout the Old Testament,
but salvation, the plan of salvation remained a mystery. Remember what the Jews had expected.
They had expected here's how God was going to bring salvation to the world. God would raise up a
king like David. He would sit on the throne in Israel. Israel would become the conquering nation.
They would conquer all of their enemies. They would become the new Rome. It would now be the Jewish
empire. and their king would be the king over the whole earth, and everyone would come to Jerusalem
and would worship their god in the same way that people were now going to Rome and worshiping the
Roman gods because they thought that would bring them favor. But God's plan was always different
than that. The Jews were thinking wrongly. God's plan was not that people would go to Israel to
worship the king, but that people would go out from Israel to take the news of the king and herald
it throughout the world. Instead of a new king coming and ruling and reigning from a throne in
Israel, this king... rule and reign over a kingdom that is not of this world,
has no geographical boundaries, no national identity, and no military force. Paul is seeing a new
vision of God's plan unfolding in technicolor. He's seeing how this plan of God is so much better
than the one that he had imagined. He is seeing the manifold wisdom of God on display in the
formation of the church. And it's interesting in verse 10, he says,
it's not just me who's seeing this. It's not just us who are seeing this. It is the rulers and
authorities in the heavenly places who are seeing this. Paul says that the manifold wisdom and
formation of the church is on display in front of the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
places. Now, what's he talking about? Who are the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places?
Well, you know, the Bible describes an unseen world. It says that we live in a physical, tangible
world. We can see one another, but there is an unseen world where there are spiritual beings alive
and functioning even right now. You know, at some point in the history of the universe,
there was actually a rebellion among those angelic beings. So when God created the universe and
created the angels, they were all serving him. They were all aligned with him until one day,
one of those angels. An angel named Lucifer said, I think I'd make a better God than God.
And he convinced a number of his angel buddies to launch a coup and to try to overthrow God.
Of course, that was a foolish idea. And God cast those angels down and pronounced judgment on them.
The cosmic battle between the angels and Satan and his demons began and continues to this day.
But the Bible says it's very clear that battle will end one day with God judging those demonic
spirits and Satan and consigning them to hell. Well,
here in chapter 3, the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places who are seeing the formation
of the church are these unseen beings. And there's a lot of debate among scholars, is he talking
about holy angels? Is he talking about demonic angels? I think he's talking about both. I think the
formation of the church is making a statement to all of the unseen beings.
He's not specific here. I mean, in chapter six, he gets specific. He talks about the rulers and
authorities, the spiritual forces of darkness in heavenly places. Here he doesn't say that.
So I think he's talking about... of the angelic beings and the demonic beings seeing the church
being formed and beginning to see the wisdom of God in what he's doing. Now follow me on this.
When Satan rebelled against God and the other angels were cast out, there was no opportunity for
any of those angels to come back, repent, and be restored.
That was not God. God judged them and there was no opportunity for repentance.
Their fate was sealed. But when the first man and the first woman fell to temptation and they
rebelled against God, God took them out of Eden,
set up a guard at the door, but he made this statement. He said, there's going to come one who is
going to be your deliverer, who's going to bring deliverance.
And when the angels and the demons heard that, they looked at one another and said,
who are these people? I mean, when we rebelled, The opportunity for restoration was taken away.
Why do these people get that opportunity? What is it about these people that God would do that?
What's going on here? But the angels also realized in that moment when God said,
yes, you've sinned, yes, you deserve death, but I'm going to send a deliverer. The angels realized
that God is a God of justice and that he could not simply say to them,
oh, it doesn't matter. that's okay. What you did, we'll just let it go. Couldn't do that because
then he would cease to be a God of justice. So they're scratching their heads and saying,
how is the God of justice going to deliver sinful, rebellious people? How's this going to work? And
they don't know the answer to that and did not know the answer to that throughout the Old
Testament. They know he's just, but they don't have any idea how he will deliver his people.
They're not omniscient. And God has not read in the angels on, here's my plan. He didn't get
together to have a team meeting and say, let me explain to you how this is going to work. So the
angels are watching history unfold throughout history. They see God call Abram out of Ur,
and they go, what's going on here? He's forming a new nation, a special nation that will have his
attention and affection.
They're watching all of the events of the Old Testament history. occur and they're trying to piece
it all together. You know how sometimes you go to a movie and you don't understand everything
that's going on and you see that, what's that mean? And you're piecing it together while you watch
the movie. And by the end, hopefully it's all been revealed to you. Well, that's how the angels are
watching the redemptive story. They're saying, okay, it's something about Abram and his people.
God has special attention for them. God's doing, oh, he's raised up a king. Maybe this is
something. They're observing it. just the way human beings are observing it. And then they see God
send his son to these people. I wish I could have been around when that got on Twitter in the
angelic atmosphere. And they go, did you see God sent his son to earth?
Maybe this must be the point. He must be the rescuer. He must be the deliverer. How's this going to
work? And then they watch how it works and they see God allowing his son to be beaten,
tortured. and nailed to a cross, and they can't figure it out.
And then they see his son resurrected. There's a plot twist for you.
Didn't see that coming. So now they see the resurrection of Jesus, and they say,
This is something we've never seen before. Something's going on here. Everything's about to change.
They see men and women repenting and having their sins forgiven. And they see God forming this new
nation, this new community, this new group of people called the church. And they're going, look at
what's happening. These people are being transformed.
They are turning away from their sin and turning to God. They love one another. They worship and
glorify God. And then they go, God had this planned all along.
How wise he is. This is perfect. We never could have imagined a plan like this.
Peter talks about this same thing in 1 Peter chapter 1. He says, concerning this salvation,
the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully,
inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the
sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. prophets were sitting and going okay we see a
little bit we we think this is coming but we're not sure how it's going to work then it says it was
revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you in the things that have now been
announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the holy spirit sent from heaven
things into which angels long to look
Paul is saying that the formation and proper functioning of the church is a declaration and a
demonstration to the angelic beings, both the holy angels and the fallen angels of the manifold
wisdom of God in bringing salvation to his people. He did it. He rescued these people and preserved
his justice in the process through the sacrifice of his son. And not only did he rescue them,
but now they see him remaking these people into the image of his son. They see the transformation
happening in the lives of these people. They see him forming a new community of men and women who
are doing what they were created to do in the first place, loving and serving God instead of doing
their own thing.
When we, when you and I function as we are intended to function as the people of God,
individually and corporately, we are validating the wisdom of god's perfect plan of redemption when
you live out your faith you're making a testimony in the seen world and the unseen world of the
manifold wisdom of god and when we function rightly as a church we're doing the same thing here's
how pastor ian hamilton says it He says, in and by Christ's church,
Satan and his kingdom of darkness are to be brought face to face with the transforming power of the
gospel. Not just Satan, but the holy angels and all your friends and neighbors.
In Christ's church, functioning as God designed for it to function, there's a transforming power of
the gospel that's being put on display. Let me just make this clear. The plan of God for redemption
is both personal and corporate. God rescues sinners and restores us to Christ individually so that
we can reflect His glory, but He also brings us together, knits us together. When we are saved, He
brings us into His family, into the body of Christ. He calls us together as brothers and sisters in
Christ corporately so that corporately we can reflect His glory. I think it was Augustine who said,
a man cannot have God as his father who does not also have the church as his mother. You can't be a
Christian apart from the church because God has called you both to new life in Christ as an
individual but also you're now a member of a family it's like being born and saying to your parents
I don't want to have anything to do with this family I'll be on my own it doesn't work like that
you need the family and the family needs you you need the church and the church needs you
both The individual and corporate aspects of our salvation are essential for God's plan.
That's why us functioning properly as the body of Christ, as brothers and sisters,
walking in unity is just as important to God as your personal walk with him is.
It's not one or the other, it's both and. You're called to walk in righteousness and holiness.
Personally, you're called to live together in unity and function as a member of the body of Christ
corporately. And as I said, the manifold wisdom of God is on display and the understanding of this
plan of God is on display in the church. And back to the point we made earlier,
this is not God's plan B. We see that in verse 11. It's not that plan A didn't work and God had to
come up with a plan B. This was according to the eternal purpose that he realized in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. And we already saw in the first chapter of Ephesians that all who are in Christ were
chosen in him before the foundation of the world. It was his eternal purpose to call some to
himself in eternity past. And just as he planned and ordained our salvation in eternity past,
his plan for the resurrection of Christ and the good news that would be spread abroad to open the
eyes of the Gentiles and to... bring them into the kingdom, that plan was formed in eternity past
as well.
When military leaders are involved in a conflict as our military leaders are now with the conflict
in Iran, when they are thinking through a plan, a battle plan, a military plan,
they have to be thinking about contingencies. Well, if the enemy does this,
we're going to do this. And if the enemy does that, we're going to do this. And so we talk about
sophisticated military leaders as playing 3D chess. They're thinking, well, if I do this, they'll
do that or that or that. And they've got all the plans mapped out. They're thinking six moves ahead
on the chessboard. God has never had to do that.
God does not have to think ahead about contingency plans. He knows the end from the beginning
because he has ordained the end from the beginning. The Bible says this, Psalm 33 says,
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.
Job, at the end of his conversation with God, says, I know that you can do all things,
and no purpose of yours can be thwarted. And then Isaiah 46,
I love this passage. Isaiah says, Remember this and stand firm. Recall it to mind,
you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other.
I am God, there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things
not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish my purpose.
I hope when you read this and recognize that the plan of God that we are seeing unfold in the
church and the events of history These are plans that God has been preparing from the foundation of
the world. He anticipates every move and he knows what's next. And I hope that gives you confidence
in the events of your life. I hope when you face hardship or trials come or when you wake up and
go, I don't understand what's happening here. I hope you understand God does. He's mapped this out
from the beginning. He has ordained whatsoever comes to pass. You are safe and secure because what
he has ordained is for your good and for his glory. We say that often. We may be going through what
the Bible describes as light and momentary afflictions. And when we're in the middle of them, they
don't feel light or momentary to us. They feel heavy and they feel hard. But we will go through
these afflictions and God has ordained these afflictions for our lives because it's for our good
and for his glory. The knowledge that God's purposes cannot be thwarted and his plan is eternal
should give you confidence and boldness in the midst of the afflictions that you're facing.
In fact, those two words show up next in verse 12. Because we're in Christ Jesus through the
church, we have unhindered access to God. Verse 12,
we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.
saw Paul talking about this a few verses earlier back in the end of chapter 2 in verse 18 he says
for through him we both Jew and Gentile have access in one spirit to the father and we saw there
that our access to God is the same kind of access that a citizen has before his king to come and
make petition it's the same kind of an access a child has before a father to come into his presence
and to be hugged by his father it's the same kind of access that we have as participants in the
living temple as living stones.
We are invited to come boldly and confidently before his throne.
Now let me just say, boldness does not mean arrogance. You don't come arrogantly before the throne.
Boldness, the original word means to be able to speak with freedom or honesty or openness without
fear of rejection or condemnation. You can come before God and you can speak What's on your heart
without fear of being cast out or being rejected? He's not going to shame you.
He's not going to cast you out. In fact, I love the hymn that we sing sometimes that says that. He
will not cast you out. Whoever enters in will forever dwell with him.
Draw near, faint heart, draw near. Love still bids you welcome here. This is the boldness and
confidence we have in him. We can draw near without fear. or without hesitation.
And the reason we can is because the invitation is an invitation of grace.
Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
James says, draw near to God, he will draw near to you. Bring your burdens,
cast your cares on him. The writer of Hebrews says, let us then with confidence draw near to the
throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace and help to help in times of need.
In his manifold wisdom, God has opened the door that was once closed to give us a new and living
way to draw near to him. With boldness and confidence, we can approach the throne.
Let me just ask you, do you make it your practice to draw near regularly?
Does your sin ever cause you to shrink back and think, oh, I can't go to God?
Do you ever try to hide because of your sin? Do you just unplug,
pull out, say, I can't do this. God won't welcome me. He knows what I've done. You ever feel that
way? In Christ, you can put that aside. You can come with boldness and with confidence.
This is a part of God's wise plan for all who are His.
Here's the last thing I'll show you in this passage. In verse 13, Paul ends this letter by saying,
I ask you not to lose heart, or ends this portion of the letter. I ask you not to lose heart over
what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Paul recognizes that what he's going through is
designed to bring comfort in the midst of trials. Remember, Paul is writing this under house arrest
in Rome. And he's recognizing, he understands that these Ephesians might be tempted to pull back,
to shrink back, to lose heart because they believed Paul and look where it got him.
He's in jail. Is that going to happen to us if we keep following him? Did I really follow the right
guy? He's in jail now. People are saying really bad things about him. It's hard to stay loyal when
your team is losing. We Razorback fans understand that principle, don't we? It's also harder.
To stay loyal, if you think that what Paul is going to deal with might happen to you.
But Paul knows that the manifold wisdom of God will be on display through his suffering.
And he knows that his suffering will have a purifying and fortifying impact, not only on him,
but on this new church. He knows that his suffering is for their good, that God will bring good out
of it. The superficial followers, will fade away when they see the suffering of Paul.
And those who remain will experience the benefits that come with suffering.
Did you know there are benefits that come with trials and suffering? Nobody here this morning is
thinking, give me some of that. I want some more suffering. But when God takes you through a season
of suffering, There are benefits that come with the suffering. Here's what Paul said writing to the
Romans in Romans 5. He said, we rejoice in our sufferings.
Just take that in for a second. Is that your experience? Do you rejoice in your sufferings?
We rejoice knowing that suffering produces endurance. Endurance produces character.
Character produces hope.
There's good that comes with suffering. Paul knows that, and he goes, I don't want you to shrink
back because you see me suffering. My suffering is going to bring good to the church. Don't lose
heart. God ordained what I'm going through, and he ordained it for the good of the church.
I had a text exchange with a friend this week who's going through a season of suffering, and I told
my friend about this verse. Verse 13, chapter 3. So I've been studying this and meditating on it.
And I said to my friend, I'm glad that you have chosen in the midst of your suffering to press into
the hard.
I said, as I've been working on my message for this Sunday, I've been reading commentaries,
speaking to Ephesians 3.13, where Paul says, I ask you not to lose heart over what I'm suffering
for you, which is your glory. And I shared a couple of the commentary passages. Ian Hamilton,
again, one of the commentaries I read, said, if we choose to avoid tribulations for the sake of
Christ, we give lie to the claim to be joint heirs with Christ. God has inextricably joined
suffering to glory. You cannot have one without the other. The servant is not greater than his
master. You can't have joy without suffering. It's by God's design that we will go through this.
Rick Phillips, in his commentary, says this, do you realize that this is the purpose of our lives,
to display the wisdom of God? Do you realize that when God shows that he can hold our allegiance,
even amidst flames, despite the heaviest attacks our enemies can deliver,
that we can bring glory to the only wise God?
I said to my friend, I forget who it was, but someone I was reading noted that our typical
response, and this is my typical response, when I hear about a friend who's going through a season
of suffering, is to pray and ask God to deliver my friend from that season of suffering. But in the
New Testament, more often than not, the prayer was not deliver them, but Lord,
would you bring glory to yourself in the midst of that suffering?
Caused me to start to think differently about embracing these seasons of suffering.
I encourage my friend to persevere in weakness. I said, I'm praying that in your weakness, you will
be made strong and God's power and grace will be seen and magnified as you go through your
suffering. I think when Paul says, do not lose heart, That's what he's saying.
Paul knew that it was part of the manifold wisdom of God for him to experience the trial he was
facing. all-wise God was at work in his life, but was also accomplishing his purposes in creating
the church and preparing the church for what would come. And that's true for whatever trials you
are facing in your life. We often talk about trials being for our good and his glory,
but let me just recognize trials are there not just for our good, but for the good of our brothers
and sisters in the church. When you go through a trial, we all benefit.
Now that sounds odd, doesn't it? But here's how this works. When you face a trial in isolation,
you prevent the community of faith from being able to experience the spiritual benefits that come
as we bear one another's burdens together. If you don't allow me to bear your burden with you,
you are depriving me of the spiritual benefit that can come my way in doing that. The spiritual
benefit that can come as we comfort one another. or as we serve one another, as we learn from one
another, as we bless one another.
But we have to be willing to let others in on the challenges we're facing in the journey God has us
on. You may think to yourself, I don't want to burden somebody else with my problem. You may
actually be keeping a blessing from them by keeping them from having a chance to bless you and do
what God's called them to do in serving you. This is the mystery of God making us all family,
a diverse family. And it's back to where we started this morning. Our engagement with one another
is part of a local church family. To love one another, serve one another, all of this matters to
God. And because it matters to Him, it should matter to us. This morning after we take communion,
we are going to celebrate together baptisms. We're going to hear testimonies from five people who
want to publicly declare their faith in Christ. And we're going to rejoice and share a meal
together and fellowship and just spend time enjoying the glory of God on display in this service.
And by the way, you're all welcome to stay and join with us this morning. But I just want to ask as
we close this part of our service,
being a part of the family of God involves taking that first step of faith to draw near to God.
And I just want to make sure you've done that.
The first step comes. When you first see the reality of who God is,
his glory, which is on display in creation, which is something we know is true in our conscience,
we see the glory of God. And then we also see the mess we've made of our lives.
We see what our sin has done, how it's left us broken. And we've seen how when we insist on our
way, it leads to destruction. We want our agenda to be at the center of our lives,
and that just makes a mess of things. And then we see, like the angel saw, that God sent his son to
be the deliverer to bring us out of darkness into light, to bring us from death to life.
When you see all of that, how great God is, the brokenness of your sin, what God has done for you
in Christ, you respond by saying, I give up, I surrender. You turn from a self-directed life,
to a God-directed life, and you begin to follow Jesus. And if you've not done that,
if you've not taken that first step to draw near to God, you can do it this morning.
I can help you with that. Anybody in the church can help you with that. The friends who brought you
can help you with that. Come talk to me or talk to somebody you know who's a part of our church.
Let us help you begin that spiritual journey so that you can be brought into this organism,
this body, this... the broader body of Christ, and be a part of putting the manifold wisdom of God
on display for the world and for the universe. Let's pray together.
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what this passage teaches us about the
importance of the church. I know there's much more for us to learn in this book about that, and I
just pray that you would give all of us wisdom as we seek to understand your purposes and your
manifold wisdom. Lord, I pray for any here this morning who maybe don't know you,
who have never taken that first step to draw near. I thank you for those we're going to hear from
this morning who are going to share their testimony. And I pray for any who are here who need to
hear those testimonies and need to have a testimony of their own. Lord, I ask that your spirit
would do the work that only he can do. to draw them to you, and that they would draw near.
I ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.