HE HAS DONE GREAT THINGS - Part 1: A New Humanity | Pastor Phil Holcomb

Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is

an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,

with dozens of nationalities worshiping together.

We invite you to connect with us from wherever

you are through our website, ecb .asia, or our

mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed

by this week's sermon. Good morning. It's good

to see you all. Did you notice anything different

downstairs on your way in? Some things are a

little different than they normally are. Last

Sunday, I was standing downstairs with a guest

who was on his way just traveling through. And

he was standing there just kind of in awe, looking

around at what was happening with all the different

tongues, tribes, nations represented at ECB here.

And he just said, I have never seen something

like this before in a church. And I said, I wish

you could come back next week because it's represented

even more. So what a gift it is for us to be

able to gather like this right now. This is also

a time where we are celebrating and remembering

that ECB, our church, Evangelical Church of Bangkok,

was started 60 years ago. So we're taking a season

to recognize and celebrate and remember what?

The good things, the amazing things that God

has been doing in this time. And our vision statement

here is Jesus in all of life. And so we'd like

to take this season to celebrate Jesus in all

of life. And this morning is one of four different

celebrations that will end with a climactic Sunday

at the end of September to really be our anniversary

celebration at that point. So today we are looking

at one aspect of the fullness of what Christ

comes. So when Christ came, in John 10, 10, he

says, You know, there's a thief that comes to

steal, to kill and destroy. But then he said,

I came to give life and to give it to the full.

And so we want to unpack that fullness of life

that he came to give. And one of the things that

he does is he is our new humanity. Now that's

a little bit of a complicated statement. What

does it mean that Jesus is our new humanity?

And so we're going to unpack that looking at

the book of Ephesians where Paul coins this phrase.

He uses this phrase, Jesus is our new humanity.

So Father, may your will be done and your kingdom

come in and through this time that we have right

now. Jesus, our new humanity. I've got an invitation

then for you to participate in something right

from the beginning. When you think of Jesus,

what does he look like? So the first image that

pops into your head, when you think of Jesus,

what does he look like? You got it? Don't overthink

it. The most common... version of Jesus that

has been spread around the world is this one.

by a guy named Salman who in 1940, he was a North

American and he etched this out and he then painted

it and there's over half a billion representations

of this around. And I said in the first service,

I've been in churches in East Africa where I've

seen this. I've been in the Philippines and seen

it on the site of a jeepney. I've been in Egypt

and seen it down like alleyways and Coptic circles

in South America. This image is all over the

place. And what I can tell you this morning is

this is not what Jesus looks like. That I know.

I don't know what he looked like, but I know

he did not look like this. Ironically, this is

called Solomon's head, which the painter himself,

it's kind of indicating the fact that we like

to view Jesus in our own image or in some image

that has been celebrated to us. And the invitation

this morning through Ephesians is let's look

at, and allow him to define himself because that's

not what he looks like. And that's not necessarily

what he does. So we're going to consider the

fact that at the very beginning of history, when

Adam and Eve, the backstory to where we are in

Ephesians, they were in perfect union with God,

this perfect relationship. And in a rebellious

state, they decided to give their allegiance

to someone else. And what that did is that fragmented

everything. And what Paul is going to describe

as the result of that is that there's this mystery

that needed to be revealed, that God would end

up taking something, this fragmented reality

of what the world ended up becoming, and putting

it back together again. Here's what he says,

Paul says in Ephesians 2, verse 1. He says, as

Ephesians 2:1

for you, you were dead in your transgressions

and sins. This is talking about that rebellion.

So we were created to be in perfect relationship

with God. We decided to resist that, to rebel

against it. And because of that, what I am left

with, what you are left with is to create our

own significance in ourselves. So Paul continues

on and he says, in which you used to live when

you followed the ways of this world and of the

ruler of the kingdom of the air. Who is the ruler

of the kingdom of the air? It's God's adversary,

the one who is against him. And there's other

rulers that we can tell about from reading scripture

that have kind of dominion over different areas

and people groups and things like that. But this

is specifically talking about the main adversary,

the one who came to kill, steal, and destroy.

So Paul, from the very beginning, before he talks

about this new humanity, he wants you and I to

know what the problem is. And that problem was

that life was fragmented. So think about it like

that puzzle picture that I had at the beginning.

So you have all these pieces that are scattered

out on a table. And we look around and we think,

maybe I have some ideas what this is, but it

needs to come together, right? It needs to be

put together for me to know what the actual image

is going to portray here. What all these pieces

end up becoming is our identity. So I end up

looking at the green pieces and I think, well,

if I'm a green piece, I think those people have

it right. And if I'm a blue piece, I look at

the blue ones and I think, I think those people

have it right, right? Because what ends up happening

is I want to build up myself, but the trap is

that in building up myself, I end up pushing

somebody else down. And Jesus steps into this

that we're going to see from Paul. But before

Jesus gets into it, let me go back to a phrase,

divide and conquer. Have you heard this phrase

before? Divide and conquer? Now, the Romans were

the first ones to really make this phrase known.

And what it means is if I'm trying to conquer

a land, what I do is I step into it and I point

out differences among this group of people. I

highlight it like a caricature and I point out

these differences. Why? Because when people recognize

differences and there's a sense of shame and

threat, they turn against each other. And then

I can conquer them. So this idea of dividing

and conquering has been repeated again and again

and again by almost every empire in the world.

But we do this in our personal relationships

in different ways as well. You know what, though?

We didn't come up with this. We didn't invent

this. this was that adversary that had this idea.

And what he wants to do is he wants to divide

so that he can conquer. And by dividing, he's

isolating us. And the more isolated we are, the

more power that he has over you and over me.

And so we're left with a world that typically

ends up dividing itself into different groups.

And I remember a leader at one point was pushing

towards a certain agenda many years ago in an

institution I was working in. And he said, you

know what? Birds of a feather flock together.

You heard that saying? It's an American idiom

that is saying there. And basically it says that

those who are like each other end up being with

each other. And that's true, like in a puzzle.

If I'm putting it together, I want to actually

put the different colors together as I'm planning

how to build it out. But the problem is when

Satan comes in and he uses that as a way to cause

tension and friction and division against one

another. So evil turns God -given differences

into dividing lines. Here's what Paul then goes

on to say in Ephesians 2. He says, for he, he's

talking about Jesus himself, is our what? Our

peace. Now, this is actually pointing back to

a Hebrew word that is shalom. Shalom does not

mean the absence of conflict alone. Shalom actually

means things as they were always meant to be,

the wholeness, putting things together. So Jesus

is actually our shalom. He doesn't come just

to give shalom. He is our shalom. Then it says,

who has made the two groups one. and has destroyed

the barrier and the dividing wall of hostility.

What Paul is picturing here is that Jesus actually

comes into two groups that are opposed to one

another, and he actually brings peace between

them by helping them recognize their uniqueness

and their part in the bigger picture, their part

in the whole reality of what God is doing. And

Paul says this about Jesus. He says, by setting

aside in his flesh... The law with its commands

and regulations. This is going back to the Torah.

And this is recognizing the fact that when a

people group order themselves around traditions

and language and habits and things like that,

we end up saying we're in and you're out. That

just naturally will happen. But God's design

was never for that to be the reality. It was

for us to turn our attention towards him and

then welcome in the entire world. into his new

family, the new humanity. And so Jesus steps

into those dividing lines and he doesn't just

simply erase them. He actually becomes the glue

that puts us together. Colossians 1, 15, when

it's talking about the supremacy of Christ, it

says that all things are held together in Christ.

That's you and that's me in our relationships

with one another. Jesus steps into the middle

of that and he becomes the unity there. How does

that happen? Well, it goes back to that backstory,

right? If I'm finding my significance in the

fact that I am a male who was born in East Africa,

who has US citizenship, and I'm this 42 years

old and on and on and on, what I end up doing

is building some amount of significance in that.

Now, if I come into contact with you and you

are somebody vastly different from me, we're

both competing for significance. And who's to

say which one wins? The one who is more powerful.

Jesus doesn't come to divide and conquer. He

actually comes to give of himself to restore.

And he gifts his life so that we can be unified

once again with him. And then Paul says this

in Ephesians 3. For this reason, I... Paul, I'm

a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you

Gentiles. There's another backstory that's happening

here. When Paul was writing to the Ephesians,

where was he in? He was in prison. And he's writing

a letter in prison. Do you know why he was in

prison? Because he was preaching the gospel to

the people in Ephesus. And a riot ended up starting

because there was a rumor that somebody had entered

into a sacred space within the Jewish community.

And a riot takes place and Paul ends up being

the one who's in prison for it. So he's mimicking

what Jesus does. He gives of himself in order

that this community ends up having new life and

a new humanity. And that's the invitation. If

we want to be a diverse community that is unified,

we are also asked to give of ourselves. We're

going to participate that in a small way downstairs

as people, some of them stayed up all night long

preparing food that you'll get to enjoy, decorations

and all these things like that. This is a way

of gifting of ourselves so that we can be a unified

community together. Paul then goes on to say

that, God from the beginning was to, he was making

a plan to everyone to the administration of this

mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden

in God who created all things. So remember that

puzzle. There's this mystery and we're trying

to figure out, Lord, what are you doing? What

have you been working towards? And Paul says,

Jesus comes and reveals that mystery. And this

is what he says, that his intent was that now

through what? The church, us as people, what

is our job? to display the manifold wisdom of

God that it would be known. We are somehow in

our diversity supposed to reflect the manifold

wisdom of God. That word manifold is like multi

-diverse. It's like multi -multi -together. Does

it sound a little bit like ECB? We are meant

to reflect God to the nations as we just were

singing there. And so what we do is little pockets

of followers of Jesus come together and they

cross boundary lines that normally would not

be crossed. And they give of themselves in order

to have community together. And in and of that,

we begin to get a fuller picture. We get a little

more idea of what this picture is. Jesus at the

center of it. And what is it that he is building

here? Well, Paul goes on to say that we are actually

doing this as a reflection to who? To the rulers

and the authorities in the heavenly realms. The

primary witness of our church being diverse and

unified is to show an example to these heavenly

beings. Why? Because they think that dividing

and conquering is going to give them all the

power. But Jesus comes and he says, nope, I turned

that over. And actually I have a new plan. And

so in our diversity, in our unity and diversity,

we declare to Satan that he has no hold on what

Christ has already done. Paul goes on and he

says, according to his eternal purposes that

he accomplished in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Eternal

is a significant word. I mean, forever past,

forever future. God has been working things to

a certain end. And we're going to look at that.

here by saying that we want to celebrate Jesus

in all of what we are, all of who we are, submitting

every part of that to him and allowing him to

reshape it into what he decides is good, right,

true, and beautiful, and doing that in unity

together. And we begin to reflect that as we

will participate in in just a moment here through

the festival. There's a church in Jerusalem that

has the Lord's Prayer in 100 different languages.

So you can walk around this church. And I think

there's one up there that's, yeah, the brownish

one is Burmese. You have all these different

languages represented. So you can walk around

and explore and just experience the multilingual

reality. Remember in Revelation, every tribe,

tongue, and people group. This is a testament

to that, that's saying, hey, God's design from

the beginning was that all nations would be brought

into his. big global family, this new community.

For those of you who are helping me with the

Lord's Prayer, with reciting it to the community

here, would you go ahead and come up? What you're

going to get a taste of is the fact that different

nationalities here at ECB come together, and

often we are communicating in English, but there

are many different heart languages that are represented

here. And so I want to invite you to just listen

as these three wonderful brothers and sisters

are going to pray the Lord's Prayer in their

mother tongue. And you can close your eyes if

you want, or you can just listen. I'm going to

go grab the mic because I forgot it over here.

Thank you. Amen. I'm praying in Swahili. Thank

you. Amen. Amen. And all God's people said, Amen.

What this represents is that there is one father.

There's one Lord. There's one spirit. There's

one baptism. There's one faith. And we all get

to find a home in that. This new humanity that

Jesus has launched from the beginning. So Jesus

as our new humanity means that we need to bind

ourselves to him, which then binds ourselves

to one another in this global family. And we

begin to... put the picture back together slowly

by slowly with the intent that in the end, something

beautiful will happen. And in the book of Revelation,

it foretells what our new home will be, the new

heavens and the new earth. And I want to read

just a few verses describing what that home is

like. And before I read that, I want you to think

about where the nations and the cultures and

the people groups, does that show up in this

description of heaven? So here's what John says.

He says, and I saw no temple in the city for

its temple is the Lord God, the almighty and

the lamb. And he continues on and he says, and

the city has no need of sun or moon to shine

on it for the glory of God gives it its light

and its lamp is the lamb. By its light will the

nations walk and the kings of the earth will

bring their glory into it. not leave their glory

and their significance out of it, but actually

bring it in and find its place in the larger

picture. This is seeming to describe the fact

that heaven is not going to be monolingual or

monocultural. It is actually going to be a place

of all tribes, tongues, and nations worshiping

Jesus together. What a beautiful picture. And

he goes on and he says, and its gates will never

be shut by day and there will be no night there.

They will bring into it the glory and the honor

of the nations. Again, he repeats it in this

picture. There will be Japanese in heaven. There

will be Burmese in heaven. There will be Kiswahili

in heaven. There will be Thai in heaven and every

other language that is represented here, plus

so many more. And what is the picture? The picture

then gets put all back together and who God.

was intending to be all along. Could you go forward

one? The clicker's not, there you go. We're going

to get it eventually. It's a mystery. There we

go. This picture of all of God's people finding

their place. And you know what? The way God says

this is that each one of us has a unique spot

in his global family. Each one of us is needed.

When you put us all together, we begin to reflect

the manifold wisdom of who God is. When we only

stick with our group of people and people who

think like me and act like me and look like me,

I am only displaying one tiny aspect of who God

is. We get an invitation to step more fully into

God's eternal plan by knowing and being known

by each other. If you have been welcomed by Christ,

you are called to welcome others as Christ has

welcomed you. If you have been known by Christ,

you are called to be somebody who knows others

and lets them know you. You are called to be

somebody who brings in Christ -like belonging

to all spaces. I pray that us as followers of

Jesus would know the love of Christ that surpasses

knowledge so that we may be filled with all the

fullness of God. And now to him who, by the power

at work within us, is able to accomplish abundantly

far more than we can ask or imagine. To him be

glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all

generations forever and ever. Amen. If you are

looking for community or are in need of prayer,

we welcome you to engage by sending us an email

to office at ecb .asia. If God is calling you

to support our ministries, you will find giving

options on our website. And remember to join

us next week. God bless you. If God is calling

you to support our ministries, you will find

giving options on our website. And remember to

join us next week. God bless you. If God is calling

you to support our ministries, you will find

giving options on our website. And remember to

join us next week. God bless you.