Reading from Ephesians 2 : 1-10
by Pastor Ken Armstrong
This is a letter about God and his glory. God creates the world with a view to displaying his glory.
Museums and art gallery’s arrange exhibitions of various kinds. The public are invited to walk round and admire the artist’s skill or the talent of the particular period or the beauty of the craftsman.
But its not quite as simple as that.
There is a brand of art that likes to display the dark side of life.
Tracy Emin had an exhibition in Edinburgh this summer.
It contained her unmade bed. An untidy bed covered in all the detritus of life.
Tubular lights formed into sentences full of four letter words.
Little dark scribbly drawings depicting abortion with pages of writing describing the artists first hand experience.
You don’t emerge from that experience really loving the artist. One critic wrote of it: “Not so much a retrospective more a cry for help”
The world is a bit like a Tracy Emin exhibition. That is not to say there are no good things going on but what is relentlessly put on display is the dark side.
Switch on the news and you will be confronted with scenes of hatred and violence. The image of the blazing jeep crashed into the front of Glasgow Airport. The scene of the shooting of Rhys Jones in a Liverpool pub car park caught up in a gang feud. Car bombs in Pakistan. It’s a predatory world where for much of the time the law of the jungle holds sway. It doesn’t make you love the artist or the creator.
You don’t have to think very long before you realise the problem is relational. The enmity described in Genesis 3 begins to work through the whole system. It affects families and societies and ultimately works itself out in full scale war between nations.
The work of the enemy is directed at relationships – they tell another story. They reflect badly on the creator.
None of this takes God by surprise. God in Genesis 3 is not like the householder who thinks he might have heard a suspicious noise in the garden and goes to investigate only to discover the vandals have wrecked the place.
God knows what he will find.
God knows what he will do.
In fact God created the world with a new creation in view. And Isaiah tells us that one of the chief characteristics of this world that coming is – the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat… the infant will play near the hole of the cobra…. They will neither harm nor destroy.
Let me bring this back to the present. In this world which is dominated by the Tracy Emin approach to art, where what is put on display is more often than not the dark side of life, among all the conflict and unhappiness an alternative exhibition is hosted – its called the church. And the church is the place where God has determined to showcase his glory. It contains wonderful examples of his skill in restoration. It provides a preview of the world to come. But it doesn’t happen automatically. Its hard to be a church that really reflects Gods new order of existence, its no small thing to be a community of people who operate and exist to reflect the glory of God. So what will it take?
1. We will only reveal the glory if we have grasped the depth of mercy.
V4,5
These verses speak of Gods great love and his rich mercy.
Have you ever had to be shown extra-ordinary mercy?
We live in a culture that invites us to be pre-occupied with our rights. Our mind set is adjusted to make sure we are getting what we deserve.
Incidents where our shortcomings are overlooked or someone else steps in to cover up our failings are not likely to be at the forefront of our minds.
How do you read the OT?
Perhaps the grumbling about the lack of meat or their discontent with Moses leadership. Ever thought to yourself I don’t know why God bothers with them?
A number of you have hosted members of Teen Challenge this week. Most of them are ex-drug addicts whose pasts are dark places: criminality, abusing those who care for them, living rough.
And yet here they are Christians.
It really is pretty remarkable that God should bother with such people
How would you react to this situation?
Let me tell you the story of the rat.
I guess we would all have opinions on what should be done with the love rat. He is a complete waster. She should get rid of him.
The bible presents us as the love rat.
Our plight was worse than any drug addict
And Israel’s ingratitude is the least of our problems
It is set out in v1-3
It describes us as those who followed the ways of the world.
There is a lot of debate about bankers who have indulged in reckless lending. They have incurred toxic debt for their companies and they ought to face the music. They are not entitled to any sympathy, they certainly shouldn’t benefit personally from these rescue packages. This is way beyond the behaviour of bankers.
It describes us as those who seek to gratify the desires of our sinful nature. The trouble starts when I don’t get what I want. That’s when you are likely to see my true colours. You are likely to see which side I am on. This is not trivial – in short we belong to the realm that is ruled over by Satan.
(Terry Waite, John McCarthy) Brian Keenan one of the Beruit hostages kidnapped and held by Hezbollah for 5 years entitled his account “An Evil Cradling” It sums up his view of that period – it was like being nursed by Satan, watched over by the Devil. It conveys his utter helplessness and terrible plight. That’s the picture here except its not Beruit its Doncaster or Sheffield.
And yet God has chosen to show me mercy. And he has done so by bringing me under the care of his son.
The drama played out in the garden of Gethsemane was not over quickly. Jesus goes to pray, the disciples fall asleep; he wakes them and asks why they cant stay awake for one hour. He goes off and prays again. You get the impression of these slumbering followers, men who are far from perfect and yet as they sleep the Lord Jesus watches over them. What rich mercy, what fierce love – nothing is going to be allowed to harm his people. They have moved out of one realm and now they exist in another realm where they are under the care of King Jesus. They might be surrounded by enemies but they are utterly secure – in fact they wouldn’t be any more secure if they were airlifted to heaven, because that in a sense is where they are. (6)
That’s what it means to belong to the church. We move from that situation where we are helplessly under the thraldom of Satan and enter that place where we are watched over by the one who neither slumbers nor sleeps and its all mercy.
2. We will only reveal the glory if we understand the plan.
Gods mercy is not the end of the story.
Becoming a Christian is not the end of the story.
Even getting to heaven is not the end of the story.
V7 is the end of the story.
Its striking what God wants to exhibit – not his power or his wisdom but his kindness on display in the lives of these people who make up the church.
The rich mercy of God produces this community of incomparable grace. It goes without saying that this is not simply a group of people who behave fairly politely towards one another.
We live in a world of division.
Listen to these words: sectarianism, racism, nationalism, sexism.
They are all words that describe people at one another’s throats because they belong to a different group.
And they are the product of pride and ego.
People want to talk up their differences and emphasise their supposed superiority and find subtle ways to make the point they are not like one of them.
And the church is full of potential for division. Our divisions are a product of our pride and are maintained for the sake of our ego’s
Two things strike you about Paul.
He really does love people – people who come from a different racial or religious or intellectual group to him
He really does have a small view of himself.
3:8 less than the least of all Gods people
The practical implication is nothing is beneath this man. He will serve anyone, anywhere, anytime – he will even go to prison for them. (3:1)
(ref to the Macedonian churches 2 Cor 8 ?)
But what makes this not just feasible but desirable is he is under the care of merciful King Jesus. He is beyond the reach of real harm – from one angle he may be chained up in prison but from God’s perspective he has been raised with Christ and seated with him in the heavenly places. And his king is the one who is calling the shots
But none of this is meant to produce inertia or indifference.
V10
One of the comments that is made about Jesus: he went about doing good. Mark gives us a glimpse of a day in the life of the Son of God. It begins by him praying, seeking his father face, finding out what his father wants. Time is precious but he is not driven by the demands of people. He contents himself with the good works that have been assigned to that day. No he wont return to Capernaum to continue his healing ministry he will go to other towns to preach the gospel.
A little later in Ephesians you get this.
5:15- 21
Be careful, make the most of the opportunity, discern Gods will – its not that we should over indulge ourselves but rather that we should serve others.
Speak to one another…sing to one another. The song we are to sing is the song of grace. (The Odyssey ).speak to one another in such a way that you do their faith some good. Seize the opportunity to do this
Give thanks to God
Submit to one another – Jesus submitted to his Father who instructed him to wash his disciples feet including the feet of the betrayer. Husbands submit to Christ’s model of leadership – its part of your God given programme of good works.
Slaves submit to your masters – why because you are serving the Lord and not men and the Lord will reward everyone for the good he does. (7)
None of this is intended to make us proud. Indeed when you look back from eternity on your life you will see that the whole thing was set up in advance.
But what a fantastic reason to get up in the morning –
To be rescued from a life of disobedience and selfishness heading for Gods wrath to being part of the church called to showcase the rich mercy and the glorious grace and immense kindness that constitutes the glory of God.
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