Embraced and Empowered (5 of 9)
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 3:1-13
Big Idea: Faith in Jesus gives us the power to bend.
I. Introduction
[Peanuts illustration?]
You know what it takes to get from here ([fingers straight out] to here [fist]? What it takes to come together as God's people? Bending.
But we're not so good at bending, are we?
- There are estimated to be approximately 33,000 distinct Christian denominations in this country.
- And yet, the vast majority of these distinct groups have nearly indistinguishable doctrine. So why so much division? Because we're not good at bending...and because we don't bend, we don't come together and because we don't come together...some very important things get left undone...
II. Main Body
A. Catch up
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-(Eph 3:1)
What reason? What we saw last week: that God calls us together so he can show up through us in power.
Now, here's a slightly strange thing: Paul starts to say something here that he doesn't actually say until verse 14. He starts to say ''because of this, I want to tell you that...'' but then he goes off on a bit of a tangent, so he doesn't tell us what he started to tell us until verse 14.
Which makes verses 2-13 a kind of interruption. But, don't think that makes verses 2-13 either accidental or incidental. Ephesians is actually one of the most carefully organized books in the whole Bible, so this ''interruption'' is very intentional. And the reason Paul has intentionally interrupted his own thought is because what he's saying here is so important. Let's be clear: this is very deliberate. So what does he interrupt himself to say?
B. The Mystery
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to ...
Series: Identity Theft
Craig Smith
Ephesians 3:1-13
Big Idea: Faith in Jesus gives us the power to bend.
I. Introduction
[Peanuts illustration?]
You know what it takes to get from here ([fingers straight out] to here [fist]? What it takes to come together as God's people? Bending.
But we're not so good at bending, are we?
- There are estimated to be approximately 33,000 distinct Christian denominations in this country.
- And yet, the vast majority of these distinct groups have nearly indistinguishable doctrine. So why so much division? Because we're not good at bending...and because we don't bend, we don't come together and because we don't come together...some very important things get left undone...
II. Main Body
A. Catch up
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles-(Eph 3:1)
What reason? What we saw last week: that God calls us together so he can show up through us in power.
Now, here's a slightly strange thing: Paul starts to say something here that he doesn't actually say until verse 14. He starts to say ''because of this, I want to tell you that...'' but then he goes off on a bit of a tangent, so he doesn't tell us what he started to tell us until verse 14.
Which makes verses 2-13 a kind of interruption. But, don't think that makes verses 2-13 either accidental or incidental. Ephesians is actually one of the most carefully organized books in the whole Bible, so this ''interruption'' is very intentional. And the reason Paul has intentionally interrupted his own thought is because what he's saying here is so important. Let's be clear: this is very deliberate. So what does he interrupt himself to say?
B. The Mystery
2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. 4 In reading this, then, you will be able to ...
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