From Restricted to Unrestricted: Our Bold Access to God Through Christ - Eph 3:11-13

Good morning. Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, our goal is to help us all

learn the Word of God so that we can grow as disciples of our Lord and Master,

Jesus Christ, together.

My name is Pastor Simon, and welcome to the preaching ministry of Dillingham Moravian Church.

In September of 2005, President Obama came to Dillingham. For two weeks before

the president's arrival, Secret Service and Marines were sent ahead to Dillingham

to make sure that there were no threats to the president.

On the day of the president's arrival, black helicopters circled above the town.

Military and Secret Service personnel were everywhere.

When the president's vehicle drove down Main Street towards the school where

he had a scheduled function, his vehicle was one of three identical dark-tinted,

bulletproof SUVs where no one knew which vehicle the president was in.

Once the president got to the assembly at the school, Secret Service surrounded

him, and only those who were invited to be in that gym were there.

My point with this illustration is that access to the president was highly restricted

and still is highly restricted by the Secret Service.

Only the privileged few are able to be in the presence, present.

Before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, only a very select few were

allowed into the presence of Almighty God.

And even then, those privileged ones were not allowed into the full presence of God.

Due to the death and resurrection of Christ, we who have responded to the grace

of God in faith in Christ have now unrestricted spiritual access into the presence of God.

And one day, we, you and I, will be able to be in His presence forever.

Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful for Your love, the mercy of which You

have overwhelmingly bestowed on us in Your Son, Jesus Christ,

and in His resurrection,

that you have broken the power of sin and death.

And now we are able to be in your presence. So we have access to you now,

Father. Thank you, Lord.

Use us, Lord, today. Speak to us. Open up our hearts and minds so that we may

understand your word and live according to your word.

I, your spirit, we praise you. We bless you in your son's most precious name, Jesus Christ.

I pray this. Amen. Here at Dillingham Moravian Church, we have been studying Paul's

letter to the Ephesians.

The focus of this letter is the unity of God displayed through the Church of Jesus Christ.

The last time we studied in Ephesians chapter 3, God using Paul taught us three

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

reasons why God gave us His marvelous matchless grace.

And those three purposes were grace is given to believers in Christ to proclaim

the unfathomable riches of God's grace to the world.

God's grace is also granted to make known the once-hidden mystery of God,

which is the unity of Jew and Gentile Christians in one body of Christ.

And lastly, using the God-centered unity in Christ's church,

the purpose of God's grace is to display to the authorities and rulers in the

heavenly realms that God was

wise in uniting Jew and Gentile Christ believers as one in Christ's body.

God has given you and I so much undeserved favor in Christ, not only in our

personal salvation, but corporately to live in unity with one another,

together with God, like the persons of the Holy Trinity are with each other.

We as believers in the matchless grace of God are displays of the wisdom of

God, not only to the heavenly realms, but to the world around us.

That God so loved the world that he sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

And this is where we come to our passage today. In Ephesians 3,

Ephesians 3:11–13

verse 11-13, where Paul instructed the Ephesians.

In verse 11, "this was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried

out in Christ Jesus our Lord, and whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory."

As we study this passage this morning,

I want to point out to you three fundamental truths of God's Word.

The first truth is that the unity of Christ's church was in accordance with

God's eternal purposes.

One Thursday night at Bible Sing, we attempted to sing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah.

Now, to be totally fair to all of us who were there, none of us had practiced this song together.

Even professional choirs and orchestras need many hours of practice to be able

to get all the notes right and be in unity with each other.

But we made a joyful praise unto the Lord, didn't we? And it was a lot of fun to try.

I'm sharing this story with you to explain that in a choir or singing in a group,

if you don't have unity and the voices harmonizing with the right timing and

every single person doing their part, then the effect can come out sounding

rather tragic than beautiful.

This is similar to what it means to be in the body of Christ,

whom God has created in Christ and united together.

All parts of Christ's church must be in unity with God's eternal purpose for His people.

Paul in Ephesians 3, verse 11 instructed the Ephesians, "This was in accordance

Ephesians 3:11

with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord."

As we look at verse 11, we need to ask the question, what was it that was in

accordance with the eternal purpose which God carried out in Christ?

To answer this question, we need to refer to two passages in Ephesians chapter 3.

Ephesians 3 · chapter mention

Let's look at Ephesians chapter 3, verse 4 through 6, where Paul wrote,

Ephesians 3:4–6

"by referring to this, when you read,

you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations

was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy

apostles and prophets in the Spirit.

To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the

body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel."

The second scripture I want you to read is from Ephesians 3, verse 9-10.

Ephesians 3:9–10

"And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery,

which for ages has been hidden in God who has created all things so that the

manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers

and authorities in the heavenly places."

The word that Paul used for eternal purpose literally meant "the purpose of the ages,"

meaning that a great part of the purpose of the ages or of all of history for

all time was that the nations would be united with Israel through faith in Jesus Christ,

and that the gospel would be shared to all the nations.

You see, Christ didn't die on the cross and rose from the dead for just the

Jews to be forgiven and be brought into relationship with God so that the power

of death and sin would be broken over Israel alone.

No, Christ died and rose again so that all people everywhere could be saved

through faith in Jesus Christ.

That was always God's plan from before the beginning of creation.

And one of the reasons why there was so much tension between the Jewish believers

and Gentile believers in the early church was because the Judaizers were telling

everyone that Israel was the real chosen nation and that to be fully saved in Christ,

the Gentiles had to be circumcised and followed the dietary and sacrificial laws of Israel.

In a real sense, the Judaizers were telling the Gentile believers that they

had to become Jews to be saved in Christ.

Paul's response to that heresy was to explain that the uniting of Jew and Gentile

into the family of God had always been God's plan.

What then can we learn from this verse? As non-Jewish Christians,

it is essential that we know and trust the truth that the salvation of both

Jewish believers and non-Jewish believers in Christ is not something that was

just added on to the original plan of God. Not at all.

Saving the world by the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ through faith in

Christ Jesus has always been plan A.

You and I are not afterthoughts. We are loved beyond imagining by God.

So much so that God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ,

to die on that cross so that all people, including you and I,

can have the opportunity to put our faith in Jesus Christ and be saved by the grace of God alone.

It has always been God's plan to extend to you the mercy and grace of God in Jesus Christ.

It has always been God's plan for us as Christ's church to share the grace and

mercy of Jesus Christ to the farthest reaches of the earth.

And I want to encourage you today that God's grace is not meant to be kept to

ourselves, but it's always, always to be given out to others everywhere we go.

The second timeless truth that I believe God, through Paul, is wanting to teach

us today is that we have bold and confident access to God through faith in Christ.

Since this is one of Paul's famous run-on sentences, let's look at Ephesians 3, verse 11-12.

Ephesians 3:11–12

And then we'll go on to our present verse.

This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ

Jesus our Lord, and here's where we are now, verse 12, in whom we have boldness

and confident access through faith in him.

What Paul was teaching the Ephesian congregation was that in Christ,

they had been given the amazing opportunity to be shown into the presence of God Almighty.

I also want you to see that as believers in Christ, the Ephesians and all Christ

believers have premier access to the throne room of God.

This is not the access of a lowly junior clerk in a royal palace.

No, this is the access of the most beloved children of the Most High King.

This is why Paul taught the Ephesians that Christians can have bold and confident access to God.

So, what does it mean for us as children of God to come into the presence of

God boldly and confidently.

To understand how we can do this, let's look at what boldness and confidence mean.

The word for boldness referred to the trait of being willing to undertake activities

that involve risk or danger, especially

that involve being honest and straightforward in attitude and speech.

Remember that the priest had to tie a rope around the high priest when he went

into the Holy of Holies, so that if God killed the high priest,

then the other priest could pull out his body without having to enter God's presence themselves.

Child of God can now run boldly and without fear into the presence of God where

for everyone else it means certain death.

We can be honest and straightforward to God in prayer because God is our precious Father.

This is the boldness of a child who excitedly runs to his or her father's lap

and is welcomed to sit with their father.

Now, it's important that we make clear that our access to God does not give

us the right to be arrogant or disrespectful or irreverent to God.

That is plain dangerous to do at any time!!

We must never lose sight of who God is!!

Paul also used the word confidence, which meant a state of confident hopefulness

in someone or something.

We can approach God with confident hope in God that He will answer our prayers.

But even more importantly, we can know for certain that we have been granted

access into the Father's presence because of the precious shed blood of Christ Jesus.

However, I want to show you something else from this verse that is essential

to our access to God the Father.

We can now enter God's presence because of the grace of God in Christ.

But unless we live by faith in Christ ...

we will not actually enter into God's presence. This principle has two sides to it.

First of all, we cannot receive the salvation of Christ granted to us by the

grace of God unless we believe in Christ as our only Savior and Lord.

It's through faith in Christ that we can be made a child of God and have access to the Father.

Ephesians 2, verse 8 explains this, "For by grace you have been saved through

Ephesians 2:8

faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God."

The second aspect of our access to God is that within our spirit life with Christ,

it is only possible for us to stay in God's presence and make our home with

God by trusting in Christ and His love.

If you're today and you've never put your faith and trust in Christ,

or you're listening to this message.

And you have never surrendered your life to Christ as your only Lord,

then I strongly encourage you to do so, even right now as you are listening to me.

I'm encouraging you to do so because without surrendering your life to Christ

in faith, you will not receive the salvation that Christ died and rose again to buy for you.

I encourage you strongly, repent of your sins, trust Christ,

and you will receive the salvation that God has in store for you.

Secondly, if you are a believer in Christ, know that for you and I to stay in

relationship with God and to be continually in His presence,

we must do so in faith in Christ Jesus as our Lord.

Are our prayers those of respectfully, bold, and confidently hopeful in Christ?

Not saying that we need to be self-focused in our prayers, expecting that God

will answer and give us everything that we ask for.

Yet we are to come into His presence boldly and confidently because we trust Christ.

We trust that God has His good in mind for us, and God's good for us is absolutely

the best, even if it's different than we expect it to be.

We also trust God because we know that He is our source of physical and spiritual

life as our Heavenly Father.

The third point that I want to bring to your attention is that when Christians

suffer persecution, it is for the glory of other Christ followers.

David B. Barrett, who was a missionary to Africa, a professor and research specialist

for the Anglican Church and for the Southern Baptist Church,

spent his life accumulating Christian statistics.

A seminary professor wrote an article about Barrett's saying this,

"David Barrett pioneered the quantitative study of martyrdom.

He died last year at age 83. Barrett told me the story of when he was invited

to speak to a group of wealthy industrialists.

They asked him what the most effective means of evangelism was so that they

could invest their money to hurry up the evangelism of the world.

He responded, We have been engaged in in-depth research on this subject,

and we think that the most effective means must be Christian martyrdom.

There was an awkward silence until one industrialist screwed up the courage and asked, Dr.

Barrett, could you tell us the second most effective means of evangelism?"

Now, we may not like it, but the most effective method of evangelism the world

has ever seen is discipleship amidst suffering and martyrdom for Christ.

This concept of evangelism through suffering was what Paul was instructing the

churches throughout the city of Ephesus.

Ephesians 3, verse 13, Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations

Ephesians 3:13

on your behalf, for they are for your glory.

In the light of God incorporating the Christ-believing Gentiles into the family

of God so that believers can enter with confident boldness into God's presence,

Paul urged the Thessalonian believers not to lose heart at the persecutions that Paul was enduring.

Then Paul went on to say something very strange. Paul wrote that his tribulations

were for the Thessalonians' glory.

This is crazy! This is radical!

The question is, what was Paul actually saying?

The word that Paul used for glory referred to the "state of being in the next life ...

thus described as participation in the radiance or glory, to promote your glory."

One Bible commentator taught, "if Paul had not dispensed to the Gentiles the

stewardship of God's grace, then Jews would not have been hostile to him and

he would not have been imprisoned.

His preaching brought salvation to the Gentiles, but incurred the wrath of many Jews on him.

However, many others became members of the church, Christ's body,

and this was their glory."

We do not have much in the way of statistics of the early church,

but it would be interesting to know how many people came to Christ as a result

of Paul's example in teaching amidst persecution versus the amount of people

who came to Christ in his peaceful times without tribulation.

What I mean by this is that I am not sure there was a time that Paul did not

endure persecution of some sort, and through that suffering, Paul emulated Christ.

So many people came to Christ through Paul, not just because of his teaching,

that he did so with love and grace through great suffering and finally his martyrdom.

The amount of faith that it takes to continue living for Christ while enduring

great suffering is such a powerful witness to the truth claims that Jesus is God.

This is why in the regions where the church is persecuted the most is where

Christ's church is growing the most.

I want to impress upon you that, like John Piper often says,

"there is a peculiar kind of glory that comes from suffering."

Jesus taught in Matthew 5, verse 12, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in

Matthew 5:12

heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

As we suffer for Christ, glory is given to us by God, held for us by God in heaven.

But also, as we suffer for Christ, the Holy Spirit uses our suffering to attract people to Christ.

They get saved in and by Christ, and then those believers accrue reward, a glory in heaven.

And I believe this is what Paul was saying to the Thessalonians,

that through Paul's example of Christlikeness, through suffering,

people were led by the Spirit to be saved and receive the glory of an inheritance from God.

And believers are given courage and boldness to be more effective witnesses

for Christ and His gospel.

And those believers also are given more glory in heaven.

A key takeaway that you and I can learn is that our faithfulness to Christ through

suffering produces glory for those who have been transformed by God through our faithful witness.

For example, I admire many of the faithful Christ believers that have gone on

before us, especially John Huss and Wycliffe,

who boldly stood up for the truth and sovereignty of the Word of God right through

their imprisonment and torturous deaths for their stance on God's Word.

Additionally, modern Christians like Joni Erikson Tada, who is a paraplegic,

lives every day in pain and completely at the mercy and dependence of others,

yet tirelessly works to expand the kingdom of God with her talents and gifts.

Joni's affliction causes her to continually surrender control over to God,

and as a result of her faith, she is the most joyful person that I've ever seen.

Her joyful witness through suffering has continually boistered me to want to

follow Christ more and more.

We may not have great physical suffering in this country yet,

but I want to encourage us all to continue trusting Christ and be faithful in

witnessing to others by verbally sharing the gospel and acting in the love of God.

And as we do so, especially through suffering, the Holy Spirit will use our

witness to bring people to salvation and strengthen believers to be more effective

in their own Christian life.

I want to remind us that there are three valuable lessons to learn from our passage today.

First off, it has always been part of God's eternal purpose that the nations

be united with Israel through faith in Jesus Christ, and that the gospel of

Christ would be shared to all the nations.

Secondly, through the death and resurrection of Christ, believers now have the

wondrous privilege to boldly and confidently enter into God's presence through

putting our faith in Christ, and as we live by faith in Christ.

The last key takeaway that you and I can learn is that our faithfulness to Christ

through suffering produces glory for those who have been transformed by God

through our faithful witness.

These verses in Ephesians 3 are great encouragements to live with confident

faith before God as we faithfully be witnesses for Christ in whatever the circumstances that God puts us in.

We have been granted the tremendous honor of

being in His presence at all times may we

live at all times before god and others with

confident faith in Christ. Let us pray. "Heavenly Father, we are so eminently grateful

for Your Word and Your Truth that guides us shapes us molds us by Your Spirit

into the image of your Son. Thank you, Lord.

And I pray, Lord, for all of our churches in the Southwest Alaska and Alaska,

and around the world, that first of all, we would truly live by faith in your

Son, Jesus Christ, Father,

guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

But also, Lord, that we would live by Your power, whereby in faith in You,

in unity with each other, that we be clinging to You together as one body,

as one family in Christ. I pray for that, Lord.

May Your will be done in us. Use us, Lord, for Your majestic glory.

In Your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen."

I leave you with this blessing from Romans 15, 5-6. May the God of endurance

and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and accord

with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you.