True Longings

Father, we ask that you would fan into flame within us

the true longings and yearnings that are in us as human beings.

Father, our yearnings are too weak.

We often do not recognize them,

but we ask that you would fan into flame within us

the longings and yearnings of our heart.

And as you fan into flame, Father,

the longings and yearnings of our heart,

help us, Father, to take comfort in the gospel

and to read your word,

as seen in it,

the end of our longings and our yearnings.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

Just recently, China celebrated being in existence for 70 years.

One of the things that I don't think it was talked about very much

in the different news reports about China

is that almost from day one,

China has persecuted Christians.

At some points in time, very, very, very severely.

Other times, not quite as much.

And in fact, right now,

there's a growing persecution of Christians in China.

And one of the things which is behind

the persecution of Christians in China

is the desire of the Chinese government,

or the party, I should say.

Government gives the wrong impression.

The Chinese Communist Party

is that they want to make China more Chinese

and sort of exclusively Chinese

as it's understood by the Chinese communists.

And so any type of outside influence

or anything which doesn't seem to be Chinese,

they want to have to put to death.

It's not as well known,

it's even less well known in Canada

that there is, in fact,

growing persecution of Christians in India.

Mission organizations have been forced

to leave the country,

and not all of them, but many of them.

And part of what is at work there

is a type of Hindu nationalism

with a desire to have foreign,

non-Indian, non-Hindu influences

removed from the country

and to have India become more Indian

and more Hindu.

And it isn't reported very much

in the press in Canada,

but it's something which has been developing

over the last few years or longer.

Now, I just want to share that

and hold that in sort of a bit of a tension

or a bit of a difference

to one thing that happened to me very recently.

I was in one of my favorite coffee shops,

and, you know,

I used to always have my Bible open

when I was working on my sermon.

True Confessions,

other than one day of the week,

I've gotten so used to using

an electronic version of the Bible

that I, you know,

I use that silly little phone

because at my fingertips,

I have like dozens and dozens of versions

and all that type of stuff.

So I realized I wasn't having

as many conversations as I used to.

So now, whenever I'm working,

on my sermon,

or just when I'm working,

I'll have a Christian book out open.

And this particular time,

I had a book by C.S. Lewis on the Psalms,

and I was working on my sermon.

And an Asian couple came into the coffee shop,

and I wasn't really,

I wasn't paying any attention to them.

All of a sudden,

the man said,

excuse me.

And I looked up,

and he said,

you're reading C.S. Lewis.

And I said, yes.

And then he looked at me,

and he said,

are you a brother?

And I said, yes.

And he reached out his hand,

shook my hand.

Good to meet a brother.

And it made me think afterwards,

as I was going home at a time

a couple of years ago

when I was in Chicago,

at the airport in Chicago,

and I had been at a conference,

a Christian conference,

and I happened to be on the same plane

with somebody from the conference.

They were flying to Toronto from Chicago,

and I was flying to Ottawa.

But we had time,

and so we went to a place

to have supper,

not a very healthy supper,

I think,

you know,

one of those,

you know,

two billion calorie hamburgers

with fries.

And we ordered our meal,

and there was no ketchup

on the table.

We asked,

and the waitress said,

do you want ketchup?

We said, yes.

But as she was going to get

the ketchup,

we bowed our heads,

and we prayed grace.

Prayed grace.

And with our eyes closed.

And then we realized

that she had come back,

and I wish I could imitate her.

She didn't have a Chicago accent.

She had some pleasant

southern accent.

I wish I could imitate it.

And she said,

it's so nice to see brothers

unashamed of praying

in the Chicago airport.

This African-American woman

in Chicago

from somewhere

in the deep south.

And that's how she spoke

to two white guys.

And it just feels so right,

doesn't it?

So how,

you know,

why is it that there'd be

many people in our country,

and not only in our country,

but many places around the world,

who have a sense

that there's just something

not right

about a country

just wanting to be

more American,

or more Chinese,

or more Canadian,

or more white,

or more black,

or more whatever.

That there's something

just somehow right

about the races,

and the cultures,

and the ethnicities

somehow being in harmony.

And the Bible text

that Laurier read

that we're going to look at

actually speaks very powerfully

into this situation.

So it'd be a great help

to me,

and a great benefit to you,

if you were to get

your Bibles out

and look.

It's really,

you know,

we're going to have

the scripture text

up on the screen,

but it's a really good thing

to be able to have

your own Bibles with you,

that you can make

some notes on them,

and all of that type of stuff,

maybe something you want

to memorize

or look at later on.

But we also have the text

up here on the screen,

and here's how it begins.

It begins like this.

It's Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Ephesians chapter 3,

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

and we're going to be looking

at verses 1 to 13,

but we're going to

obviously start at verse 1.

Not obviously.

We will start at verse 1

of going through Ephesians 3 to 1.

We're preaching through

the book of Ephesians.

That's why we're looking

at this text,

and here's how it begins.

For this reason,

I, Paul,

a prisoner for Christ Jesus

on behalf of you Gentiles,

and just sort of pause.

One of the things

which is really interesting

about this letter

is that Paul begins

to say one thing,

and then something

pops into his head,

and he's going to actually

spend verses 2 to 13

on this other thing

that pops into his head,

which is what we're going

to look at this week,

and next week,

we get to verse 14.

He says,

oh yeah,

I was going to say,

get back on track, Paul,

and he goes right back

to what he was going

to originally talk about,

which is this spectacularly

beautiful and powerful,

mind-blowing prayer,

which we're going to look

at next week.

But Paul is going

to talk about one thing,

and all of a sudden,

something pops into his head,

and what really pops

into his head

is sort of connected

to several things.

I've said over the different weeks

that Paul is writing this

from jail.

This is why I know

that he's writing it

from jail,

because he talks about

being in prison,

and from a variety

of other things,

he's in jail in Rome,

and from a variety

of other things,

if you look at the book of Acts,

and you put things together,

interestingly enough,

one of the reasons,

there's two reasons

he's in jail.

One of the reasons

he's in jail

is because he's a Christian.

The other reason

is because he understands

the Christian faith

to mean that God

is making a multiracial,

multicultural,

multi-ethnic new society,

and he is willing

to go to jail

over that proclamation.

And the word Gentiles

is a bit of an unusual word

if you're a guest here

this morning,

and for the Jewish people

at the time

that Paul was writing this,

it's around the year 60.

Basically,

for Jewish people,

the word was very simple.

There were Jewish,

and there was everybody

who wasn't Jewish,

and if you weren't Jewish,

you were a Gentile.

And in those days,

basically,

it meant you were a pagan

as well,

because that's basically

the only options,

fundamentally,

was being a Jew

who believed in the one God

and pagans who,

I know there's a little bit

of things about Zoroastrianism,

but fundamentally,

just Jews and pagans.

And that's who he's talking about.

He's in jail

because of the pagans,

because of everybody

other than Jews.

And he pauses,

and he's going to sort of explain

why it is he's in jail.

So look at what comes next.

He's going to explain

why he's in jail.

Look at verses 2 and following.

Assuming that you have heard

of the stewardship

of God's grace

that was given to me

for you.

So he's in jail

because of God's grace

was given to him,

and God's grace

was given to him

not just to puff himself up,

but for other people,

for them.

And then in verse 3,

how the mystery

was made known to me

by revelation,

as I have written briefly.

That's earlier on

in Ephesians.

When you read this,

you can perceive

my insight

into the mystery

of Christ,

which was not made known

to the sons of men

or the daughters of men

in other generations,

as it has now been revealed

to his holy apostles

and prophets

by the Holy Spirit.

Now just sort of pause

there for a second.

This sounds very proud

and exclusive,

doesn't it?

I, Paul,

know things,

a mystery

which has been hidden

to all other human beings,

and I know it.

And it sounds actually

very proud.

In fact,

many Canadians,

when they hear

something like this,

it strikes them

as a very proud claim,

an arrogant type of claim

that will make you

more and more proud

and make you

more and more arrogant.

But it's actually

the complete opposite.

When we think

that we're mishearing

and misunderstanding

what's going on.

the other night,

two weeks ago,

I was trying to describe,

I teach a course

in preaching,

and I was trying

to describe

sort of how the gospel

works and how it

changes lives.

And one of the things

I was trying to get

people to understand

is that there's a default

way of human beings

thinking.

And the gospel

goes against that

default way of human

thinking.

And I'm not going to go

into the specific thing,

but there's the same

thing here.

There's a default way

of human beings thinking.

And so,

because we have

this default way

of thinking,

when we hear claims

like this,

we just interpret it

within our default

way of thinking.

But Paul actually here

is saying something

which is profoundly

anti-proud.

It's profoundly

humbling.

I'm going to put it

up here in terms

of the form of a point.

And the point is this,

that the true

and living God

stooped down

to Paul

to reveal

some of what

he is thinking

and doing.

The true and living

God stooped

down to Paul

to reveal

some of what

he is thinking

and doing.

This is connected

to the blog

that I've written

this week,

which is in the bulletin

and it's also online,

which is

the default thing

of the human mind,

the human being,

is that there's ways

for us to ascend

to God,

to know God

and what he's thinking

and what he's planning.

It's a default

of almost every

single human being.

If there's some way

for you or me

to do this,

it might be

through meditation,

it might be

through rituals,

it might be

through science

or philosophy,

it might be

through poetry,

it might be

through developing

your mental powers

or your emotional powers.

It might be just

that everybody

in the culture,

like time out,

on the electronic

version of the blog,

if you look it up

later on,

I've added a little

two sentences

that it's not there yet,

it'll be there on Monday.

Basically,

all progressives' thoughts,

even though

most progressives

don't believe

there is a God

that exists,

in fact,

at the heart

of all progressive thought

in a secular form

is the belief

that they know

the future

and they know

how things are moving

towards the future

and they know

that the future

is good

and all of those things

are things

that only God

could know

and only God

could do

and so hidden

within all claims

of progressive thought

is a claim

to know

the mind of God

and as I talk

about in the blog

and I'll share

with you right now

because you don't

have to read my blog,

like why read my blog?

here's the thing,

I'll use a different

example from in the blog,

what am I thinking

of right now?

Okay,

I don't know

how many of you

guessed that I was

thinking about the fact

that I have two

grandchildren being born

in January.

Anybody guess that?

You'd guess it,

you wouldn't know it,

right?

So here's the thing,

if you human beings

can't figure out

what another human being

is thinking,

why on earth

would you think

you can think

what God,

know what God

is thinking?

If you are completely

and utterly dependent

upon me as a human being

to tell you

what I'm thinking,

why is it we think

any human being,

any human being

could ever know

what God is thinking?

Unless God tells us,

you can't know.

And so what Paul

is saying here

is Paul is saying here

there's mysteries

that only God knows

and he's not saying,

and by the way,

because of my rituals,

because of the power

of my intellect,

because of the

spectacular,

sophisticated,

way of my emotions

and my poetic sensibilities

and just,

and because of my

physical regimen

and my diet

and all of that stuff,

I, no, no,

he's not saying that

and later on

he's even going to mention

I'm the least of the least

of the least of the least

of the apostles.

Paul is just making a claim

that unworthy as he is,

those of you who know

a little bit about Paul,

why would he say

on and on and on

throughout his life

that he was unworthy?

He would say

on and on and on

throughout his entire life

that he was unworthy

is because he so thought

that Jesus was a dangerous

faker,

that he conspired

with others

in positions of power

and authority

to put Christians

in jail

and to have them killed.

That's why.

And he's saying

as worthy as he is,

God

stooped down

to Paul

to reveal some,

not everything,

obviously,

of what

God is thinking

and doing.

and that's all

that Paul did.

He just communicates

something

that he humbly received.

You see,

it's so hard

for us to think

that human beings

aren't making this claim

of knowing what God thinks,

which is absurd.

That when we read

something in the Bible

like this,

we put it within

our categories

and don't understand

that God's making

a very,

Paul,

the Bible here

is making a very,

very,

very,

very different claim.

Now,

some of you might say,

why on earth

should we believe

such a claim?

And that's a very,

very good example.

I have a friend

I talk to regularly

and he regularly tells me,

you know,

every religion

makes some types

of claims like this

and I actually

have to keep telling him,

actually,

they don't all make

the same type of claim,

by the way.

They make actually

very,

very different claims.

But why should we

believe this?

And I'm not going

to go into a long,

a long thing about it

other than just to say this,

that if you know

anything at all

about Paul from history,

you know that he went

from being a person

who thought that Jesus

was a dangerous fake

to being a person

who saw Jesus

after he had risen

from the dead.

And he,

in fact,

is an eyewitness

to the truth

that Jesus died

and tasted everything

there is to taste

of death

and on the third day

he emerged

on the far side

of death,

having defeated death,

that he was resurrected.

And Paul

is an eyewitness

of this truth

and he will eventually

die a martyr's death

maintaining that

right till the end

when all he had to do

to get out of suffering

and to get out of death

was to say,

no, no,

just made it up.

Just made it up.

Goes to his death.

Goes to his death.

But I want to challenge you

with something else

because we're going to look

at a sense

of what Paul is claiming.

What Paul is actually

going to claim.

You see,

part of the problem

we have with the Christian faith

is of the mind.

We have different objections

to it.

But part of it

is of the heart.

And sometimes,

many times,

we don't want

certain things

in Christianity

to be true.

But what if

what Paul is about

to reveal,

like,

what if it's true?

Like,

I'm going to suggest

to you

that if

if it's true,

don't you want

it to be true?

Like,

what Paul is about

to say,

if we're honest,

we want something

very much like

that

to be true.

Well,

some of you might say

don't believe things

just because of

wish fulfillment.

I agree with you,

but we're going

to walk towards

what he says

and we're going

to just think

about it

as well as

some of the reasons

as to what's going

on and why

it's important.

Look at verse 6.

If you're following

along in your own

Bibles,

what I've done here,

if you're using

the ESV,

which is usually

what I have up

on the screen,

I've translated

this a little bit

different.

Just trust me,

I'm not like

some Christian authors

who go looking

for a translation

of the Bible

to fit what

they want to say.

It's actually

bringing out

what the original

language says

very clearly,

which is a bit

more awkward

in English.

So my translation

is a bit more

awkward,

but it's capturing

what is actually

there in the original

language,

and that's this,

verse 6.

This mystery

is that the pagans,

the Gentiles,

are co-heirs,

co-members

of the same body,

co-partakers

of the promise

in Christ Jesus.

This mystery

is that the Gentiles

are co-heirs,

co-members

of the same body,

co-partakers

of the promise

in Christ Jesus.

See,

if you've been here

or if you go back

and you read Ephesians,

you'll see there's

many powerful images

of what happened.

Jesus died on a cross.

I mean,

he lived a human life.

All the records are

that he lived

an exemplary human life,

and Christians claim

that he lived a life

always in obedience

to God

with no type of sin.

He dies on a cross,

and his death

upon the cross

is not just a,

it's not a tragedy.

It's actually

everything in his life

was moving towards

him dying upon the cross,

and because he's,

he's in a sense

the perfect man,

the second Adam,

and also God's son,

what happens

on the cross

is something

that can actually stand

or have a bearing

for everyone.

I shared a couple

of weeks ago

about how,

if you think about it

for a second,

because he's God's son

as well as a human being,

that what happens

in history

at one time

in one place

just outside

of the gates

and the walls

of Jerusalem

is a man dying

a death

by crucifixion.

But at the same time,

because of who he is,

in a sense,

it's something

which is happening

in eternity,

outside of time,

and by being outside

of time

and for all eternity

and something

that can touch

every human being.

And so what's going on

with the death

of Jesus

and the cross

and his resurrection

is this profound

substitution

and exchange

and transaction

that God does

for us human beings

because we cannot

do it for ourselves,

whereby,

in a sense,

all of our alienation,

all of our shame,

all of our wrongdoing,

all of the accusations

that could be made

against us,

all of these

fall upon him.

And his great goodness

and his destiny

is given to us.

And I've given the image

over several weeks.

It's as if

when we call out

to Christ

to be our Savior,

it's as if he comes

and wraps his arms

around you.

And there is this

profound

act of uniting.

I mean,

he's still him

and you're still you,

but there's this

profound act

of uniting

where it turns out

because

Jesus is,

Christ is outside of time

but he died in time

that on that cross,

even though it was

2,000 years ago

for me,

I died on that cross

with him

and I am raised

with him

and I am ascended

with him.

And now Paul

is going even farther

than this

because he describes

how in a sense

what I've just described

is not just

what happens to me,

it's what happens

to you

and to you

and to you

and to you

and to you.

It means that

this morning

if there is

a person

who's the head

of an LGBTQ plus

chapter,

a lesbian,

and she

gives herself

to Christ,

Christ embraces

her

and is united

with her

and she dies

with Christ

and is raised

with Christ

and becomes

a new person

in Christ.

And if this,

and if today

there is somebody

in Kenya

in Nairobi

who's a lawyer

and he gives himself

to Christ today,

that same thing

is happening

to that man

in Nairobi.

and we could

go on and on

and on and on

in the underground

church in Iran

if sometime today

some person

bows the knee

and asks Jesus

to come into their life,

Jesus comes

and so hugs

and is united

to him

or to her

that they die

with Jesus

and are raised

with Jesus

and that there

is now

a new

type of human

on the planet

not by works,

not by pride,

not by arrogance,

not by accomplishment,

but the lesbian,

the Chinese,

the straight old guy,

that's me,

that waitress

from the deep south,

African American,

the Asian couple,

each of us,

although Asian

and African

and American,

we all individually

are a new human

and God

doesn't just

make new humans,

he creates

a new society

that all of us

become members of

by adoption

and grace

and so whether

it is that lesbian

that I described

or the Kenyan lawyer

or somebody

in the underground

church in Iran

or somebody

in post-modern,

post-capitalist

Ottawa today,

each of us

together

become co-heirs

of the new heaven

and the new earth

through Jesus

and both of us,

all of us

are equally members

of the same body

and each of us

equally

and fully

are partakers

of the same promise

and reality,

partakers

of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit

and the love

that exists between them

that will go on

for all eternity

and one day

become the new heaven

and the new earth.

And Paul is saying

that is what is happening,

what God

in his grace

and mercy

is doing.

That is the mystery

that God

who made

all human beings

equally,

whether you are

from China

or Kenya

or South America

or Iran

or Canada,

French or English,

whatever language,

from India,

he made all

human beings

equally

to bear

his image

and his likeness.

and through

our desire

to be God

ourselves,

that which

should be

a wonderful

tapestry

of beauty,

the beauty

of languages

and the beauty

of culture

and the beauty

of old

and young

and tall

and short

and of colors

and this beautiful

manifold

tapestry

of beauty

that God

had created

the human race

to be

became a source

of pride

and anger

and envy

and racism

and prejudice

and hatred

and war.

But that is not

how God designed it.

And it is not

the end of the story.

The end of the story

is in a far

greater garden

than my Kenyan brother

and my same-sex

attracted sister.

And my Chinese

sister

and I

will be in the garden

together

walking with our

Heavenly Father

in the cool of the evening.

That is the end

of the story.

Through the gospel

ordinary people

of every race

and culture

become co-heirs

co-members

of the same body

and co-partakers

of the promise

of God.

I just want to

pause for a second.

Why is it

that human beings

have any longings

or yearnings

at all?

Like,

why do we have

any?

Like,

unless,

I mean,

there may be some people

who don't recognize

longings and yearnings,

but I think

most human beings

recognize these,

that there are longings

and yearnings.

Maybe it is

you have gone

on a canoe trip

and you're with

your best friends

or your family

and you've had

a wonderful day

of canoeing,

you've had a wonderful meal,

you're sitting around

the campfire,

there's a nice breeze

so there's no bugs,

and you're full

and you're joking

and you're just

with each other

and the stars

and it just looks

so beautiful

and you just think,

this is just somehow

not just something earthly,

but something

transcendent,

touching on

something more

and surely

there's even more

to this

and it's a type of

enjoyment

and longing

which we view

as a high point

in maybe our week

or month

or year.

or maybe it's just

on a beautiful,

beautiful,

beautiful spring day,

the snow's melting

and it's just

the perfect temperature

and you can feel

the new life coming

and you're feeling healthy

and there's no pain

in your body

or maybe there's

a little bit of pain

in your body

but you just look around

and say,

this is just so

touching on

something

transcendent,

something bigger,

than experience

and at the same time

that we have this sense

of it's just

so right

that we have a sense

that there must

be more.

Why does any human being

have any experience

like that ever?

Like if you think about it,

we shouldn't have them.

We just happen by evolution

and when we die,

that's it.

There's nothing transcendent,

there's just the next meal

if you want to be

brutally honest.

But we human beings

know that there's something

that's longings

and yearnings

and why is it?

Why is it that human beings

long?

Why is it that if we see

something,

maybe it's a YouTube video,

maybe we're just walking

down the street

and we see a park

and we see kids

of every race

and culture,

not all maybe

even able to speak English

and we just see them

all playing together

on a beautiful day

and it just looks

so beautiful

and we say to ourselves,

that's just so right.

Why is it that that's right

and what China and India

wants to do is wrong?

Like why is it that

that's right

and being racist

is just wrong?

Like where do these things

come from

and how on earth

can they possibly

be grounded?

Where does it come from

and can it be true?

As I've shared,

the Bible says

that the story

that Canada tells

about who we are

is just wrong.

We are created

in the image of God.

We are fallen

and because we are created,

God has continued

to put within us

and allow to have within us

some hints

that there is more

to this life,

that there is in fact

a God that exists,

that there is in fact

a way that he intended

and we long for it

and I suggest to you

that if you follow

the longings

and yearnings

of your heart,

it will lead you to God.

It will lead you

to understand

what Paul is revealing

in the gospel.

It will clarify it

and ground it.

See, I began by saying

what if this picture

is true?

And on one level,

isn't that exactly

what we long to be true?

What Paul is announcing

that God originally did

and what he is doing

and has done in Christ

and what will in fact

be the very, very end

of the story

and Paul is saying this

not because he's proud,

not because he's arrogant,

he is the least

of the least

of the least

of the least

of the saints.

It has been revealed

to him

what God

has done

and is doing

in the person

of his son

as he died upon the cross

and rose from the dead.

Now we need to wrap this up.

The big question

that often comes

to people

when they think

about stuff like this,

when I talk about things

even remotely like this

in a coffee shop,

is once again,

how is our mind hardwired?

Usually when people

make a claim like that,

it means the next thing is,

that's why I should be in power.

Or in our case,

that's why we should be in power.

Is that what Paul does next?

Not at all.

Look how he moves.

This is very, very important.

Look at verses 7 to 9.

Of this gospel,

I was made a minister

and the word for minister

is the word for servant.

So of this gospel,

I was made a servant

according to the gift

of God's grace,

which was given to me

by the working of his power.

To me,

though I am

the very least

of all the saints.

And in the original language,

you could actually say

the least of the least

of the least

of the least

of the least

of the least.

To me,

though I am

the very least

of all the saints,

this grace was given.

What?

To rule?

To have authority?

To be an elite?

To look down your nose

at other people?

No!

A servant!

To preach?

To proclaim?

To every people group?

The unsearchable riches of Christ?

The gospel makes no one poorer.

Do you believe this?

Do you believe that to come

to know Jesus as your Savior and Lord

will only make you richer?

Will only make me richer?

Could you pray for me

that that will be

the habit of how I think

as I go through my day?

That for any person

that I get to share the gospel with,

if they come to a faith in Christ,

they are coming to faith

in the one whose riches

are untraceable,

unsearchable,

will never,

ever,

ever,

ever come to an end.

Every human being

will only be richer

when they come to faith

in Jesus.

Do you believe that?

Can we pray for each other

that we will believe it

as a habit of being,

as a habit of how we think?

By the grace of God,

you are called to be

a servant who proclaims,

one of a servant

who proclaims to the nations

the unsearchable riches

of Christ.

You see,

what I would say

is for those of us

who walk by

on a beautiful fall day

and see a playground

and see a whole pile

of unbelievably adorable

three-year-olds

playing together

of all the colors

of the rainbow

and of different ethnicities

and not even maybe

being able to speak English

to each other.

They're speaking

their own languages,

but they're just playing

and they are having

a great time

and their parents

are standing around.

Whether they're talking or not,

they're just all

enjoying the day

and enjoying their kids.

And we see that

and we have a sense

that that is somehow

how things should be.

No matter how secular

or atheist you are

and you have a sense,

maybe even a sense

of longing or yearning

that that is the way

that that should be.

That which you know

but don't know

why it should be

other than that you think

it should be,

the gospel proclaims to you

because that is how God

created things to be.

That is what he is

redeeming things to be.

That is what he does

through the gospel.

That is what he desires

to do through the church.

And that is what

the new heaven

and the new earth

will be like.

And it can be only achieved

and entered into

by faith and trust

in Jesus

as Savior and Lord.

The Bible doesn't kill

your longings and yearnings

but helps you

to understand them

and interpret them

to kill the ones

which are fell and evil

and to walk towards those

which are rooted in creation

redeemed in redemption

and will be true

for all eternity.

I just want to wrap up.

There is something

which comes next

in verse 10.

I am just going to

put it up there.

It just,

it blows my mind.

I don't know how

to communicate it.

I just have to show you

because you probably

missed it when you were

reading it.

Look at what verse 10 says

as we just wrap this up.

Remember he said

how what God is doing,

the mystery is

is that when you put

our faith in Christ

whether it is

whoever it is

you become a new humanity

in Christ

and he's creating

this new society

that is multiracial,

multicultural,

multilinguistic,

multiethnic

but one society,

one reality.

And then look at

what he says

in verse 10.

So that through the church

the manifold wisdom

of God

might now be made known

to the rulers

and authorities

in the heavenlies.

And whether that just means

different ranks of angels,

and whether it means

different ranks of angels,

the heavens,

that's a better way

to put it.

There's no real simple

English word

for this idea

that above

whatever is physical

that there is a realm,

a realm,

a real realm

of spiritual beings

of both angels

and demons

and ranks upon ranks

of both.

And the Bible is saying

that what God is doing

through the church

as hard it is

for us to believe

because we are lowly

and weak

is a graduate school

seminar that angels

and demons

are studying.

I don't know

how to communicate that.

And how can anybody

communicate that

other than that's

what the Bible says?

only God

could use

lowly

local

gospel churches

to make known

His manifold

wisdom

to the rulers

and authorities

in the heavens.

We are weak

and from a Canadian

point of view

irrelevant.

In fact,

maybe even dangerous.

But that is not

the truth.

This should encourage

us to pray.

Let's just finish

and then we will pray.

This was according

to the eternal purpose,

verse 11,

that He is 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.

To be gripped

by the gospel

and gripped

by the scripture

is to know

that we have

access to God

and we can be

bold in prayer.

I invite you all

to stand.

Thank you.

If you have not yet

given your life

to Christ,

there is no better

time right now

than to say,

Lord,

I have fears

about you.

I have fears

about what you

will do in my life

but I know

that you are

the end of my

longings

and the end

of my yearnings

and that

what you have

done for me

in Jesus

is what I need

to make me

right with you

and one,

with all that

you are doing,

Father,

there is no other

way than by faith

in Jesus

and so,

Father,

I ask that

Jesus would

come into my life,

that he would

be my Savior

and that he would

be my Lord

and I know

that he will

never let me go

and so,

Father,

I give myself

to him.

Please take me,

all of me,

with nothing left over

from this day forward

to all eternity.

I give myself to you.

There is no better

time than right now

to call out to him.

For those of us

who are weary

and broken down

by our lowliness,

there is no better

time than right now

to call out to the Lord

and say,

Father,

thank you so much

for your word.

Use my lowliness

for your glory.

Fan in the flame

within me

deeper longings

and yearnings,

true longings

and yearnings.

And grow within me

a deeper sense

of how even

in our lowliness

you are doing

things which have

eternal significance.

There is no better

time than now

to call out to him

for that.

Father,

pour out the Holy Spirit

upon us.

Pour out the Holy Spirit

upon us.

Pour out the Holy Spirit

upon us.

Jesus,

pour out the Holy Spirit

upon us.

Make us disciples

of Jesus

who are gripped

by the gospel.

Learning

to live

for your glory.

Learning

to winsomely

and quietly

share who Jesus is

and what he has done

is doing

and will do.

Help us,

Father,

not to say

people's no for them

or to think of ourselves

as the world

thinks of us,

but,

Father,

make us disciples

of Jesus

who are gripped

by the gospel.

Understanding

who we are

from who Jesus is

and what you have

revealed in your word.

And make us

servants,

Father,

make us servants

for your glory

and for people's good.

And all God's people

said,

Amen.