This is the first Sunday of the month, so it's communion Sunday, and that's been our pattern to have joint services on communion Sunday, and Before we look at Ephesians, which is what we've been studying now for a number of weeks. I'm going to read the words of Institution for communion from 1 Corinthians 11. You're familiar with this. I'm sure I Receive from the Lord what I've passed on to you. The Lord Jesus on the night. He was betrayed took bread and When he had given thanks he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way After supper he took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup You proclaim the Lord's death until he comes Jesus was about to give his life and yet his attention Was on his disciples and what they needed and They needed to be blessed by his presence and they needed to understand the significance of his death The most important thing that Jesus did Was to die for us Jesus doesn't simply show us a better way to live Jesus gave his life and died for us and took our place because that's the death that we deserve And so as we come to the Lord's table today we don't come as good people who deserve to be here we come as sinners Who need Christ to forgive us all over again and to bless us with his presence And that's that's what unites us. That's what makes us the people of God
You saw four individuals be baptized this morning Two of them joined the church for the first time today So they're qualified to come to the Lord's table But if you're a member of an evangelical church Whether it's a Presbyterian church or a Baptist church or Lutheran church or whatever it is This is not the Presbyterian table. It's the Lord's table and we want you to come and participate with us if you're not a member of any church Come talk to me come talk to Tom We'd like to explain to you more about what it means to be part of the body of Christ Now in Ephesians 3 If you'll turn there with me. I'm going to read verse 7
In Ephesians 3 from verse 7 through verse 13 This is a fantastic passage Paul writes I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's gift given me through the working of his power Although I'm less than the least of all God's people This grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles The unsearchable riches of Christ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery Which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things His intent was that now Through the church the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities In the heavenly realms according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence I ask you therefore Not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you Which are your glory? Amen How many of you have heard the term Rosetta stone Okay, if you're in high school if you've taken some kind of foreign language There's a I'm told I haven't used it, but there's a wonderful Computer program called Rosetta stone you can learn to speak Spanish or you can learn to speak French or you can learn to speak English or Italian or German or whatever it is But you may not know what the Rosetta stone is There's a computer program called Rosetta stone, but The Rosetta stone is actually a black piece of granite With a message in three different languages that dates all the way back to King Ptolemy the fifth Uh Of Egypt it dates back to the date of 196 BC So the Rosetta stone the actual Rosetta stone that they get the computer Program named from it's a black piece of granite and it's on the top It has a message. It's written in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and the middle of it has the same message in Egyptian script and the bottom part of it is in Greek and it's the same message in three languages And the when the Rosetta stone was discovered Archaeologists for the first time began understanding how to translate hieroglyphics They saw Egyptian hieroglyphics and they could make no sense of it But when the with the discovery of the Rosetta stone they began to understand More about hieroglyphics now Do you know who we are indebted to for the discovery of the Rosetta stone? Anybody know this will amaze you Napoleon Bonaparte No kidding Napoleon Bonaparte no he didn't discover it But Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 began part of his conquest was to try and occupy Egypt And he was unsuccessful in that but he was there in Egypt about three years his army was and while his troops were there a Frenchman named Boussant discovered the Rosetta stone about 30 miles from Alexandria Egypt And that is has been the key to unlocking the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics The Rosetta stone is about 45 inches tall It's about 28 inches wide and it's 11 inches thick It weighs over 1700 pounds now The Rosetta stone has been the key to unlocking the mystery of Egyptian hieroglyphics But what we looked at last week and what we're considering again today Was is the key to unlocking the mystery of the Old Testament And the mystery of the Old Testament is this that Gentiles are heirs together and members together and shareers together In the covenant promises that God gave to Abraham and to the Jews The mystery of the Old Testament is that the Gentiles are heirs together members together and shareers together Those are the three three phrases we looked at last week in the covenant promises given to Abraham Now the title of the sermon today is Does Christianity work?
Have you ever wondered that? Have you ever wondered? God do you know what you're doing?
Because I gave my heart to you, I gave my life to you and life is not gone very well Usually when we think does Christianity really work? There's been some sort of surprise and crisis in our lives
A big crisis came for me in On January the first 1992 My best friend from seminary Mike Sartel Was killed along with his six-year-old son and a traffic accident near Memphis, Tennessee
I was devastated I mean really devastated we were close friends We studied together stacey and I kept their children on numerous occasions It was family Mike was 40 years old and I thought This can't be right and I'll just have to tell you I was angry. I was angry with God. God this must be this can't be your will Mike and Nate Nate was only six, but Mike was serving you he had his best years in the ministry ahead of him Maybe you've thought words like that as a result of a divorce Or maybe for you it's been a traffic accident Or maybe for you you lost your job Or your spouse had an affair Or your business collapsed with the downturn in the economy or the doctor came in and said I'm sorry to tell you that you have cancer Or maybe you had to go to an attorney and declare bankruptcy and you just thought God do you know what you're doing? Does Christianity work? Not bad. Everybody here has faced some kind of crisis in which you've had similar thoughts to that So many of you know the kind of things that I'm talking about and you just want to say God Where were you when this was happening and how could you allow this? Yes I don't know who said this, but a famous skeptic said this you know God would have a whole lot more followers if he treated him better You ever thought that God I'd be a lot more devoted to you if you treated me better Sometimes we do feel that way even though we might be ashamed to admit it does Christianity work First point today is I want you to consider the gift of grace The gift of grace not works Grace Finish this statement it's gonna be on the screen God will bless me when I blank Now just answer that question to yourself silently god will bless me when I I'm not gonna embarrass you But if we took a poll or if you wrote down your answer I bet 75 or 80 percent would probably think God will bless me when I obey That's what we naturally think God will bless me when I have been obedient enough God will bless me because I have kept his law Now please understand and once since that's true and that's good theology God will bless you when you obey But let me just ask you who hear obeys Anybody I'm not putting my hand up Anybody here obey I mean to really obey To really be blessed for God to bless you when you obey you don't just have to obey a little bit you have to obey perfectly Because God is a holy God he doesn't accept anything less than perfection So in one sense it's true God will bless you when you obey But who hear a base who here keeps the law Jesus was asked What's the law what's the greatest commandment what did he say He said this the love the Lord your God With all your heart And with all your mind With all your strength And to love your neighbor as yourself that's the law That's what it means to obey you by here want to hold up your hand you by here done that No me either me either But that's what the Pharisees thought and that's what the Pharisees taught God will bless you when you obey Now go back with me with a little bit of Old Testament history the nation of Israel And the Old Testament was disobedient to God Their worship got polluted it was shallow. They didn't care for widows and orphans. They didn't care about the commandments and so forth They began to engage in sexual perversion And so God took the nation of Israel and he sent them off to captivity Took the promised land away from you did twice They were taken off to Babylon. They were taken off to Assyria God said look you have no regard for me Babylon in Assyria you're going into captivity captivity and during that time The elders of Israel understood correctly We have been sent into captivity because we didn't keep the law We didn't obey They were correct in that the problem was They when they began to emphasize the law they actually twisted the law They emphasize the law and in a way that twisted it and perverted it. This is what the Pharisees taught You have to take God's law seriously You must keep these rules you can only walk 400 steps on the Sabbath You must follow the dietary customs you must do all the washings you must do all the tithing And they talk God will send the Messiah from the community that keeps the law the best You're in captivity Because of disobedience We all want a Messiah God's going to send the Messiah from the community from the hometown that keeps the law the best Jesus said about the Pharisees You've heard it said but I say to you The Pharisees taught you shall not commit adultery but I tell you anyone who looks upon a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her in his heart See the Pharisees wanted to make the law Something that they could do and earn God's blessing and keep it But they didn't take it far enough and Jesus said it's not just what you do with your body. It's what you do with your mind and your heart Jesus said you've heard it said you shall not commit murder Well that's true But I tell you everyone who is angry with his brother in his heart has already killed him See the Pharisees were trying to use the law to feel good about themselves And Jesus said that's not the purpose of the law Jesus began to use the law to expose the sins of the Pharisees and man they weren't gonna have it they hated it That's why they crucified it Jesus said of the Pharisees They do all their deeds to be seen by men. They love places of honor at feasts and greetings in the market They love being called rabbi They love being important and then he said in Matthew 23 Whoa to use scribes Pharisees for you shot the kingdom of heaven You don't enter the kingdom of heaven and you prevent others from entering it Now here were the scribes and Pharisees the teachers of the law and Jesus said of them You're shutting the kingdom of heaven They were shutting the kingdom of heaven by teaching the law in a legalistic way so that people felt good about themselves They perverted it They twisted it People thought well if I keep the law good enough then God will bless me. God will bless me when I obey Here's how easy it is to fall in a mentality of works I went to seminary 1974 through 78 Most people spent three years in seminary. I spent four wasn't because I was dumb I took extra courses and I made my best grades in the hardest courses I made my best grades not in high school, not in college I met made my best grades in seminary when it was absolutely the hardest whether it was Greek or Hebrew I'm not begging But I felt real good about myself because of all the things that I had learned And so I got out of seminary and went into the ministry and I can remember celebrating communion for the first time and I saw communion as an opportunity to do better Because after all we announced communion the week the Sunday before next week is communion prepare your hearts and so forth and you know how I prepared myself for communion I tried to be real good tried to be real good to be a really good husband to really be a really good father to not lose my temper and Not halt my horn at rude drivers and you know, I saw communion as an opportunity to do to do better And if I lived an outwardly good good life the week before communion then I felt worthy about coming to the Lord's table Oh, I went to four years of seminary And that's what I thought about communion Let me tell you is plainly as I can If you think you were good enough this week and obedient enough to earn God's blessing and to come to the Lord's table Stay away That's deadly You know why because it's faith in yourself It's faith in your record It's faith in your reputation your works is not faith in Jesus. It's looking to your own efforts for God to bless you Not his death People naturally think this I trusted Christ I gave him my heart I joined the church It was the right thing to do and now I'm God's child and he will bless me And life is going to go smoothly And my marriage will work and I will get that raise my children will succeed. I'm going to be happy and fulfilled That's how Christianity works You give yourself to God Join the church and thanks go better Oh Really the Apostle Paul Was beheaded for his faith in Christ According to church tradition in history Peter's wife Was crucified at a couple months after that when Peter was crucified He has to be crucified upside down because he wasn't worthy Of the crucifixion of the others he saw himself as that biggest center Not just them All of the Apostles except for the Apostle John died Violent deaths I trusted Christ and now God will bless me and life will go smoothly
Tell that to K-Bauer band Tell that to Eileen Usher Tell that to my Rosadir field Tell that to a black lady in the Ivory Coast named Alama Whose husband gave her AIDS And she died a few years ago Tell that to Andy Whitener who lost his job a few years ago Tell that to Ben Terrell and Elizabeth Love and Dick Baxter Who've all struggled with cancer
Just because you've come a Christian And quote done the right thing Doesn't mean that you have earned God's blessing in some way There's a school of theology that says If you just do the right things you can get God to bless you He has to Don't say anything negatives Don't think anything negative have only positive thoughts and because anything you speak anything you believe Will come true as you want it And they say what you do will command God to act and bless you What you want and do will command God to act and bless you Let me tell you it's a lie It's a life in the pit of hell You know why Because that's just works That's what I mean first of all by the gift of grace But second I want you to think with me about the aim of grace Paul says here in Ephesians 3.8 The aim of grace in his life was to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches in Christ Now get this Paul's in prison He's chained to a Roman guard for his faith He writes four letters from this particular imprisonment And all he can think about is how blessed he is Huh He's chained to a prison guard and all he can think about is how blessed he is Paul saying here what a privilege I'm the most undeserving unlikely sinner that God ever condescended to use And notice he doesn't just say I was a bad sinner. He says I'm still the worst And let me just ask why isn't Paul throwing a little pity party for himself I mean He trusted Christ trying to serve Christ gets thrown in prison ultimately he got beheaded Why isn't Paul throwing a pity party? You know why? Because Paul understand understood God's incredible grace
Paul is not preaching and serving Jesus because He turned over a new leaf and began to act nice and began to act better Paul understood the power of the gospel and the aim of grace You won't know this man until you meet him in heaven, but his name was George Catherine I think I buried him 13 to 14 years ago He was a pretty quiet man was never an officer in the church He was early 80s When he was hospitalized and I can remember the doctor coming in and saying I'm sorry mr. Catherine you have Terminal cancer. It's very aggressive. You've probably got a couple of months to live Of course his family was devastated But after the doctor went out though I would probably be devastated and you might be George Catherine saw it as an opportunity true story Five minutes after that visitors and nurses came into his room and this man's face Beamed and he said these words Guess what? I'm going to have a few weeks I'm going to see Jesus I am so excited He said that for the next two months just about to everybody he met I'm excited to see Jesus. Are you going to heaven This is the man he was never a deacon or an elder as far as I know Never knew that knew him to take a course in evangelism He may have shared his faith on occasion. I never heard about it and yet God gave him insight About his cancer at that particular moment and he used it as an opportunity To preach the unsearchable riches of Christ for two months Listen, I don't know where you are spiritually, but I know this right now You're exactly where God wants you to be God wants to use you Your situation your story For telling of the majesty and glory of Jesus The gospel is not God will give me enough The gospel is this Jesus is enough Jesus is enough If I lose my health My wealth My possessions My family if I lose my life I still have Enough Because I have Jesus That's the good news That's the good news December 29th 1992 Jesus City, Mississippi, my friend Mike Sartel Taught the senior high youth on a Sunday night He taught him about heaven He taught him about the glory of heaven and what the Bible said in various places Particularly in the book of Revelation, I understand He talked about Going to heaven, seeing Jesus Touching the nail prints True story, my God so excited He said words If this is not a quote, it's very close Can't you just see it? Can't you just see it? I'm ready I'm ready I'm ready How about you? Three days later, he died On interstate 55 near Memphis
He's not sorry He's not sorry I was one of his Paul Bears Mike Sartel understands the aim of God's grace To preach the unsearchable riches of Christ in unexpected ways It's my understanding I can't prove it At several of the youth of the church in Yazoo City that night gave their hearts to Christ He had the largest funeral in the history of Yazoo County, Mississippi There were over 1200 people They filled the largest two churches in town There was a closed circuit telecast to both churches People heard the gospel that day that Mike Sartel believed And one day we may meet others in heaven who believed that day That's the aim of grace To preach to the Gentiles To preach to unreached people the unsearchable riches of Christ And then quickly number three The demonstration of God's grace This is really key The demonstration of God's grace Verse 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery Which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things His intent was it now through the church The manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm According to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord In him and through him we may approach God with freedom and confidence I thus ask you therefore not to be discouraged of my sufferings which are your glory In that day People felt like this Jews Gentiles Together One church One family Can't be done Two radical They're two different It just won't work And today some people would tell you Anglos Hispanics Blacks In one church Are you kidding? People from different socio-economic backgrounds people different languages Can't be done two different Paul says here in Ephesians 3 that it's in it says if God is saying Watch this angels verse 10 His intent was that now through the church The manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms You know who the rulers and authorities are in the heavenly realms angels in heaven And Satan's angel followers who are in hell and God is saying watch this angels Watch this Principle of these in powers See those Jews and Gentiles that hate one another see those different nationalities see the different skin colors There's suspicious of one another and want to keep to themselves look at those nations that have fought each other for centuries Look at those people who have nothing in common. They're from different sides of the track Look at those husbands and wives that hate each other And watch my wisdom My power my justice my love my goodness my righteousness. It work You watch me as I bear my holy arm and nail my son to the cross and raise him from the dead to save them And to unite them into one kingdom one family my church Watch angels not even the gates of hell will prevail against my my powerful gospel
Today as you come to the Lord's table Confessing your sins and looking in Christ looking to Christ along with your brothers and sisters From the nations You and I are preaching To the angels themselves We're preaching to God's heavenly hosts and the Satan's demonic horde of the wondrous power of God Saving people and changing people and remaking people by the power of the cross God will bless me Because I obey now God will bless me because Jesus obeyed And took my shame And took my death and accepted my punishment and so God will bless me when I repent and believe oh To see my name Written in your wounds For through your suffering I am free Death is crushed to death Life is mine to live One through your selfless love This the power of the cross Son of God Slain for us What a love What a cost we stand for given at The cross
Does Christianity work You bet it does You bet it does Let's pray and now Jesus we pray that your gospel would work in us We need grace And mercy and forgiveness We thank you for the power of the cross of Jesus To forgive us To change us To remake us Into one body Your church We pray in your name. Amen