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Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees
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The video above is a clip from the first message in our Ephesians series. My goal was to illustrate the Apostle Paul’s intention to help us see the “big picture” of God’s purpose for the Church and the rich spiritual blessings believers enjoy in Christ. And here is a quote from John Stott that sums up the message of Ephesians:
The letter focuses on what God did through the historical work of Jesus Christ and does through his Spirit today, in order to build his new society in the midst of the old.
It tells how Jesus Christ shed his blood in a sacrificial death for sin, was then raised from death by the power of God and has been exalted above all competitors to the supreme place in both the universe and the church. More than that, we who are ‘in Christ,’ organically united to him by faith, have ourselves shared in these great events. We have been raised from spiritual death, exalted to heaven and seated with him there. We have also been reconciled to God and to each other. As a result, through Christ and in Christ, we are nothing less than God’s new society, the single new humanity which he is creating and which includes Jews and Gentiles on equal terms. We are the family of God the Father, the body of Jesus Christ his Son and the temple or dwelling place of the Holy Spirit
Therefore we are to demonstrate plainly and visibly by our new life the reality of this new thing which God has done: first by the unity an diversity of our common life, secondly by the purity and love of our everyday behavior, next by the mutual submissiveness and care of our relationships at home, and lastly by our stability in the fight against the principalities and powers of evil. Then in the fullness of time God’s purpose of unification will be brought to completion under the headship of Christ.
—From The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Ephesians
Josh,
By Peter Giglio on 09/16/2008Your comment about “not seeing the forest for the trees” and your question “When was the last time you said wow about something God has done” provoked me to realize how big God is and how he is doing so much more than we think if we only look beyond ourselves. Thanks for the challenge.
Hey Josh,
By seth remsnyder on 09/17/2008I wanted to encourage you more specifically on your intro sermon on Ephesians. I was so grateful for the theological depth of the sermon, in particular, a sermon merely on Paul’s greeting! This provoked my wife and I to read our Bibles with eyes that view each word of our Bibles as truly “living and active.” I think such a sermon will provoke others to do the same. Through a simple, but deep sermon an a greeting to a letter we were reminded of God’s free,unfailing grace and the subsequent peace that we now have with God through Christ Jesus and our hearts were warmed. I wonder if we will ever read Paul’s greetings the same. Thanks for your commitment to expositional preaching, your love for grace and the God from whom it flows. All of this was evident in your sermon and we are thankful to God for it.
Sincerely,
Seth Remsnyder
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