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Nov 14, 2010

Resistence Force

Passage: Ephesians 3:1-13

Preacher: John Repsold

Series: Postcards from the Front: A Wartime Romance

Category: Ephesians

Keywords: resistance force, the gospel, witnessing, grace, mystery

Summary:

God's people are like the underground resistence movements of WWII, living "behind enemy lines" with a clear mission: to bring the whole world the Gospel of Christ in the midst of a spiritual battle. Paul speaks of the mystery of the whole world being reconciled through Christ to God and the grace God gives to every true child of God to then take that Good News to every person in their sphere of influence.

Detail:

Resistance Force

#8 in the series “Postcards from the Front:  A Wartime Romance”

November 14, 2010

Ephesians 3:1-13

Opening Video Clip:  The Great Escape—scene of gunning down of 3 Nazi officers in an outside bar by the French Resistance Movement. 

That was a scene from the classic 1963 war movie The Great Escape staring Steve McQueen and James Garner.  If you’re not familiar with the plot, it revolves around the escape of some 250 POWs from a POW camp inside Germany.  As might be expected, the underground resistance movements in surrounding countries play a role in helping these POWs in their escape attempts.  That’s what you just observed—the underground resistance pulling off one of their assassinations of some Gestapo officers.

In a very real way, the people of God, the church in the world today, is part of a spiritual world-wide resistance force.  We don’t go around shooting up the enemy.  But we are living as people who are in spiritually occupied territory.  Our deepest allegiances are not to any nation or culture of this world but to Christ’s kingdom which is today sometimes tolerated, often persecuted and always at-odds with the Prince of this world who wages war against our Lord and God. 

Just last weekend I started reading Tom Brokaw’s book “The Greatest Generation.” It’s a bunch of snapshots of different WWII veterans, spouses and family members.  Every chapter filled with stories of heroism, patriotism, love, suffering, perseverance and triumph. It’s helping me understand my own parent’s generation better, for that was their generation.  And it’s been a refreshing look into truly one of the greatest generations our nation has ever produced—the WWII generation. 

I think one of the greatest generations of the church of Jesus Christ in the last 2,000 years has to have been that 1st generation of believers in the 1st century A.D.  Like any war-time generation, they endured a lot.  They suffered much.  Yet that suffering bonded them together like nothing else can do.  Together they became the veterans who fought, triumphed and sometimes died alongside each other in order to see the greatest kingdom ever break free from the confines of a little nation in a little corner of the world to become the first truly world-wide spiritual movement in human history. 

But the truth of the matter is that the battle has only intensified and broadened in the past 2,000 years.  More Christians are killed for their faith every year in our world than at any other time in the history of the church.  More governments and religions are hostile to the Christian faith than at any other time in world history.  And more people than ever before in our own American culture are hostile to the Christian faith in general and the Christian church in particular.  It’s time we came to grips with a war-time mindset in the church.

Here in chapter 3, Paul is about to launch into a further explanation of how he prays for the Ephesian church when, all of a sudden, he seems to get sidetracked with a particular war-time rabbit-trail.  He starts in Ephesians 3:1 saying, “1 When I think of all this, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the benefit of you Gentiles…”  He gets back to that same phrase in vs. 14 and finishes that thought by telling them what he prays. 

      But in vs. 2 of chapter 3, he goes down this “rabbit trail” that has a very personal and timely challenge for each of us as soldiers of Jesus Christ living “behind enemy lines in the culture of our day.

Rather than download all my “fine pearls of wisdom” about this text this morning, I want to do something different today.  I want YOU to do some chewing on this “meat of the word” today.  After all, doesn’t just about everyone here prefer a wonderful green salad to a jar of Gerber vegetables?   Is there really anyone here who would prefer Gerber’s blender-beef for babies to a nice juicy, char-broiled 8 oz. T-bone steak?  So get out your steak knives and help each other cut a little of this spiritual meat today. 

Here’s what I want you to do.

  • Make groups of about 4-6 people. 
  • Find answers to the following 3 questions from this text:
  1. How does Paul describe himself in this passage, Ephesians 3:1-13?
  2. What is this “mystery” he keeps talking about in this passage?
  3. The word “grace” occurs 3 times in this passage (3:2,7,8).  What was the effect or result of God pouring out his grace into Paul’s life?

Take about 5 or 6 minutes to chew on that.  GO!

____________________-

So, what did you find out about how Paul describes himself in this passage?

  • Prisoner of Christ for the sake of others—3:1
  • Recipient of God’s grace—3:2, 7, 8
  • Insightful about God’s mystery—3:3
  • Servant of the gospel—3:7
  • Less than the least of all God’s people—3:8 (I Cor. 15:9)

How did Paul start this chapter?  “…I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles—“ 

Where was Paul when he wrote this?  (In prison in Rome.)

      If you and I had been writing this line, how would it have read?  “Paul, a prisoner of the stink’en Romans, stuck in this rat-hole in Rome, unjustly sent here by the malicious and false attacks of a bunch of jealous Jews.” 

      Not Paul.  He saw this prison stint as a divine assignment.  He saw himself as incarcerated only by Christ himself.  No whining.  No railing against the system.  No sense of injustice or hating of the assignment.  Paul had learned, according to Philippians 4:11-13, how to “be content whatever the circumstances….”  He had learned to do, live, experience and triumph over everything through his ongoing relationship with Jesus Christ. 

      Whether God assigned Paul to make tents for a period of time, Paul was good with that.  When he told him to go be a full-time missionary, Paul was fine with that.  When he was traveling freely about the world preaching Christ, Paul was good with that.  And when he was chained in a prison in some foreign city, Paul was good with that. 

I think Paul had really mastered something many of us haven’t yet.  He really saw himself as a man on a mission.  That mission was to bring the good news of life in Jesus Christ to as many people as he could.  The profession, the occupation, the place, the residence—none of that mattered.  He knew he was a part of the “underground resistance” in this world, a man from another kingdom, fighting for the souls of people behind enemy lines.  His “cover” if you will could be as a tent-maker, a prisoner or a church leader.  It didn’t matter.  The calling stayed the same; the cover changed from day to day.

APP:  Is there something you may feel has been imposed upon you that you wish you could change in life right now?  Maybe you feel stuck as a student?  Feel imprisoned as a homemaker?  Feel trapped as a truck-driver or teacher or technician?  ?  What’s the “cover” God’s got you in right now? 

      The problem is not WHERE we are; it’s WHO we are in that place.  If Paul, passionate as he was to get the Gospel of Christ out to the world, could be at peace in a prison and truly consider himself a “prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of” others, could it be that we can learn to be content where God has us right now?  Could it be that God is asking us, not to switch jobs or schools or neighborhoods, but to change our attitude? 

      No matter where we are or what we look like we are doing on the outside, our calling never changes—to be servants of Christ who live in this world like residents behind enemy lines, dedicated to liberating as many people as possible from the tyranny of sin and Satan. 

Paul saw himself as a “prisoner of Christ Jesus.”  When you see yourself in that kind of subordinate position with Christ, it really won’t matter whether he assigns you to a “cell” in the city or the country, in poverty or in wealth, in this family or that one, in this marriage or that one, in this town or another, in this neighborhood or that one.  Paul saw prison as a temporary assignment where he could work out God’s call to be a herald of the Gospel of Christ to the Gentile world. 

APP: 

  • Where does God have you on assignment right now? 
  • Can you believe that you are there as His servant, His “prisoner”??? 
  • Can you be faithful in that place to bring the life and heart of God to those people? 

PERSONAL APP:  The way God is speaking to me about this in...

  1.  This neighborhood—tell about the experience of meeting one of the building managers this week.
  2. My neighborhood off of 42nd—Alpha.
  3. This fellowship—actually shepherding everyone God brings us until he takes them elsewhere.

Are you ready to be the servant of Christ right where God has you?  

O.K.  How about question #2:  What is this “mystery” he keeps talking about in this passage?

Vs. 6—that Jews and Gentile together should make up the people of God.

  • It was a mystery to the Jewish people.  ILL:  NPR story about how the Jews in Israel are having a big fight about people who want to become Jewish.  The Orthodox Jews can’t agree with the “moderate” Jews about what makes a person a “real Jew.”  Sixty-five years after the Holocaust, people who want to become Jews are being told they aren’t Jewish enough to join the chosen people! 
  • Is it any wonder that the Jews of Paul’s day had a hard time fathoming that God wanted to include people from every tribe, language and nation into His family?  Any wonder they didn’t see God’s heart for a world-wide family despite the sacred historical stories of foreigners like Rahab the Harlot from Jericho or Ruth the Moabites or the whole Assyrian city of Nineveh joining God’s chosen people?  
  • It was certainly a mystery to Satan—he got blindsided at the cross.  He couldn’t have seen what a disaster Jesus’ death was going to be to his kingdom of darkness.  Vss. 10 & 11 even tell us that the church caught the entire angelic and demonic realm (“rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms”) by surprise.  God has, for 2,000 years, been “showing off” his wisdom by displaying his world-wide church—people who have joined his eternal family from all over this world, not just from the Jews.

This “mystery” is the Gospel of salvation for all in Jesus Christ. Do we know the gospel well enough to tell it to someone in 20 or 60 seconds?  From one or two verses? 

GROUPS:  Let’s do that with one verse probably everyone here knows, John 3:16.

What are the CORE TRUTHS that this verse presents that a person needs to know and act upon IF they are to understand the “mystery” of the Gospel?  What is the CORE of the Gospel we could tell someone if they asked, “Why do I need Jesus?”

  • God is a loving god who wants an eternal relationship with everyone in this world.
  • Our sin has separated us from our Creator, the living God.
  • Unless we solve that separation we will forever be separated from God (“perish”).  There is ultimate justice in this universe.  All sin/human evil must be punished.
  • God gave Jesus Christ to reconcile us to himself forever.
  • Exercising trust and belief in Jesus Christ is what moves us from alienation from God to reconciliation with God.  (Rm. 5:10; Col. 1:22)

APP: Are you a “believer” in Jesus Christ?  If not, would you like to go from being God’s enemy to his son/daughter?

3.   Last major point from this passage:  The word “grace” occurs 3 times in this passage (3:2,7,8).  What was the effect or result of God pouring out his grace into Paul’s life?

Answer:  to “administer” God’s mystery to the Gentiles (vs. 2); to become a “servant of this gospel” (vs. 7); to “preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery….” (vss. 8-9).

Let’s look at it in the New Living Translation. (See handout.)

Vs. 2—“God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles.”

Vs. 7—“By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News.”

Vs. 8-9—“…He [God] graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ. 9 I was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan…”   

What was the effect or result of God pouring out his unmerited favor/grace on Paul? 

      Paul became a “sharer”/a transmitter/a messenger of the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ for everyone, particularly non-Jews/Gentiles. 

Q:   WHO shared the Good News of Christ Jesus with you in a way that helped you become a Christ-follower? 

Q:  Where would you be…WHO would you be today without that person caring enough to share Christ with you?  

STORY:  In his book The Righteous—The Unsung Heroes of the Holocaust, Martin Gilbert tells the story of a Polish Jew who was being hunted down by the Nazi Gestapo. 

      Poland, at the start of WWII, had been partitioned between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia.  During the war, 1/5th of Poles would die, about 6 million people. Of those 6 million, 3 million were Jews.  Whole villages, whole neighborhoods, sometimes tens of thousands of Jews were killed at a time.  If you were a Polish non-Jewish citizen found to be harboring a Jew, you and your family were shot on site.  Often your neighbors were shot as well and sometimes whole villages murdered. 

      Despite this horrific practice by the Nazis, Poland had one of the lowest rates of collaboration with the Nazis of any European country, less than .1% of the population. And they had the highest rate of people hiding Jews. 

      Gilbert tells the story of a Polish Jew by the name of David Prital.  Prital, having to leave the safety of one family in the city, was told to make contact with a group of Polish Baptist peasants.  (Baptists were considered a despised minority sect of Christians themselves in Russian Orthodox-dominated Poland.) 

      Finding a couple of Jews in hiding in the granary of a Polish country peasant, Gilbert was directed to a typical house by the other Jews in hiding. “In this house,” they said, “lives one of the Baptists, but you should be careful because in the adjacent house lives his brother who will kill you without any hesitation.” 

      So that evening, Gilbert left the granary and walked in the direction of the house that was covered with straw. He recounted, “I walked in the path between two fields, and my heart was full of anxiety and apprehension.  Suddenly I saw a figure of a Ukrainian peasant walking peacefully in the fields.  My instincts, which served me well in many dangerous situations, told me that I didn’t have to be afraid of this meeting. He approached me and immediately understood who I was.  With tears in his eyes, he comforted me and he invited me to his house.  Together we entered his house and I understood instantly that I had met a wonderful person. 

      This man told his wife, “God brought an important guest to our house.  We should thank God for this blessing.”  Gilbert remembers that they knelt down and prayed a “wonderful prayer…out of their pure and simple hearts, not written in a single prayer book.  I heard a song addressed to God, thanking God for the opportunity to meet a son of Israel in these crazy days.  They asked God to help those who managed to stay alive hiding in the fields and in the woods.  Was it a dream?  Was it possible that such people still existed in this world?  Why then didn’t I think about them while I was still in the ghetto?  With their help and proper planning we could [have] save[d] many people!”

      “They stopped praying and we sat down at the table for a meal, which was enjoyable.  The peasant’s wife gave us milk and potatoes.  Before the meal, the master of the house read a chapter from the Bible.  Here it is, I thought, this is the big secret.  It is this eternal book that raised their morality to such unbelievable heights.  It is this very book that filled their hearts with love for the Jews.”

      “After the meal, I started to talk to them.  ‘Look, I, too, am a Jew,’ he said.  I was shocked.  In what world were we?  ‘I am a Jew in spirit,’ he continued.  ‘This encounter with you gives me more food for more thought and confirms the words of the prophets that the remnants of Jews will be saved.’”

Unfortunately, because of a neighbor of this family who was known for his hatred of Jews, Gilbert had to be relocated to other safe-houses.  During one such move, one of the Baptist peasants said to him, “Normally, we trust our people.  But a person’s real nature can only be tested in times of trouble.  Tonight we ask you to go to a certain peasant and ask for refuge.  He is not aware of your staying in the village and his attitude to you will be a real test of his devotion and…loyalty [to God].  There is no personal danger for you.  If he refuses to let you in, it will be a source of information about…”  the depths of his belief.

      Gilbert recounts, “Having received instructions on how to get to this peasant’s house, I finally went there late at night, and after midnight I reached the house that corresponded to the description I was given—tin roof, a granary, a kennel, etc.  I knocked on the door, and I heard the frightened voices of the family members.  ‘Who is there?’  I said, “A homeless person is asking for a shelter for a few days.”  Inside, they started to argue.  The wife implored her husband not to open the door.  I realized that these good people were indeed subjected to a strenuous trial.  In 9143, every night could turn into a night of killings and conflagrations.  I heard a voice saying, ‘We don’t open the door at night.’  I said, ‘What a time has come when a Jew asking for shelter does not receive it.’  The master of the house turned to his wife:  ‘This is a Jew, and how can we refuse him?’  The door opened and the hearts of those good people opened, too, and I spent several days in this house.’”  [Martin Gilbert, The Righteous—The Unsung Heroes of the Holocust, Holt & Co., New York, 2003, pp. 13-14.]

Do you see the parallel to the war we are engaged in…behind enemy lines…to rescue the lives and eternal souls of other sinners just like us who are in danger of eternal death?

       That, I believe, is God’s plan for EVERY single follower of Jesus.  God has entrusted this Gospel, this “Good News”, to all of us.  He wants every one of us to become messengers and communicators of this life-changing Good News.  If we’ve received this unearned gift of Christ from God then God intends for each of us to pass it along.  Give other people an opportunity to embrace Jesus Christ by faith.  Announce this great news to everyone God has put in our path, whether friends, neighbors, work associates, clients, family, even strangers. 

Anyone else find that a challenge…to share the Gospel with others?  I do.  For each of us, the challenge may come in a different way.  For me, it’s hardest to share one-on-one and easiest to share in a group.  For you it may be the opposite.

      Don’t think it was a piece of cake for even the Apostle Paul.  In fact, if you go to the end of the book of Ephesians you will find him asking the whole Ephesian church to pray for him to be able to share this mystery of the Gospel without fear.  Listen.

      Ephesians 6:19-20--19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

      Boy, I find that a much needed prayer for my life.  How about you?

However it is for you, the truth is that God has given us his grace so that we pass it on in the form of the Good News of Jesus Christ to others. 

  • That’s why you and I need to know the Gospel message enough to share it with other people.
  • That’s why we need to be offering it to people in as many ways as we can think of.

This is one of the main reasons Mosaic Fellowship exists in the downtown core.  There are a number of ministries that target the physical or emotional or social needs of people downtown.  We need more that also are deeply committed to targeting the spiritual needs of people.

  • This is why we are going to be hosting the Alpha Course repeatedly in this space and in our homes for years to come.
  • This is why we are encouraging you to take the course yourself and invite as many people as you know to join you for the course—so they can really understand and experience the Good News through ongoing contact with God’s word and God’s people.
  • This is why we will be doing events like Christmas Eve both here (3 & 5pm) and at The A-Club 7-10pm downtown.
  • This is why we hope to have Bible Studies in every block around us in the days to come.
  • This is why we sponsor Relationship Seminars for the public several times a year.
  • This is why we are making plans to hold musical events and art shows that connect us with people who don’t yet know God by faith in Jesus Christ.

APP:  On the post-it-notes in your bulletin, write the names of people you know in Spokane who you think need to either be introduced to Jesus Christ or need to be encouraged to get back in touch with Him or closer to Him.  These are people you will pray for and potentially invite to a Christmas Eve service or an Alpha Course or something in future days that will allow them to hear the Good News of relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

  • Make 2 identical notes with first names on them.
  • Put one of the notes/list on the big mosaic heart in the back as you leave.

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