Amen. It’s a good day to be in the house of the Lord. Anyone excited, fired up to be here today? Praise the Lord. Go ahead and open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 2 this morning. Revelation chapter 2. And I’ll meet you there in just a few moments. But I’m so glad that you made it to church today where we’re on mission to love God, to love people and to make disciples of all nations.
Today is kick off Sunday at Gospel City Church. We run our ministry year around here from September to August, and so today begins a new fiscal year for the church. New calendar year for the church, lots of new things kicking off at our church and new discipleship opportunities. Today we’re going to start a new series in the book of Ephesians. I told you a couple weeks ago. And we’re also going to give you a new theme that we’ll hang our hat on for the rest of the year, that we’ll encourage one another with, that we’ll look back to when life gets hard.
But at this point in your personal life, things are probably transitioning a little bit for you. Kids are back in school and high schoolers are back to high school. You’re really pumped about that. And moms, you’re probably giving your attention to the things that you do during the week and trying to get a new schedule together. Maybe you’re single and you’re like, you know, I’m trying to get off the summer routine and into a new routine and kind of get the disciplines back. Maybe you’re retired. You’re like, “I”m going to keep this summer schedule up. And as soon as I sniff snow I’m taking my talents to south Florida.” I respect that if that’s you.
But if you’re like my family you probably had some lofty ideas of how getting into the fall was going to go. You like did all the shopping. My wife got all the shoes, all the clothes, all the backpacks, packed the lunch boxes. We’re going to send our kids to school. And you had lofty goals of that going really smooth, and then it all crashed before you as it started. And you felt opposition and things undoubtedly didn’t go as smooth as you wanted them to. And there were probably tears, and maybe your kids got sick or maybe they just flat out told you, “I’m not going to school no matter what you say.” And dads, you were like, “I’m going to start the year with a ton of patience,” and on day one you failed. You lost it.
Let me just first encourage you that you’re going to find rhythm as you get into the new season. And let me also encourage you that you’re not alone. I’m seeing a lot of nodding heads, a lot of smiling faces. You’ll find rhythm. But my job this morning is not to encourage you so much with the finite things of this world. It’s my job to point you to God’s Word and encourage you for the season that is ahead of us, for what is in front of us as followers of Jesus Christ.
So let me remind you that as a believer, you are not just facing the rhythmic realities of a finite world and your humanity. If you are a human being here today, you are in a war. And you say, “Well I don’t like war. I wasn’t cut out for war. I don’t believe in war.” Tough! If you’re a human being, you are in a war. And the bad news is you don’t come into this world on the right side of the battle. You came into this world as an enemy of God and yet when God called you out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred you to the kingdom of light, the enemy put crosshairs on your back.
And you do not wrestle against flesh and blood, though it sometimes feels like it. But the book of Ephesians says that you are in a battle against the rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. If you are in Christ today, then you are in a spiritual battle. And the battle is absolutely real and the enemy will seek to kill you and destroy you. And the leader of the spiritual realm is who the book of Ephesians refers to as diabolos, which translates to “false accuser or slanderer.”
The enemy and leader of the cosmic forces is none other than Satan. The book of Revelation describes him in Revelation 12 that he stands before the throne of Jesus the Lamb and he accuses you day and night of things that you did not do, things that are not true of your stance before God. Some of his tools are bad theology, false teachers, worldly comforts that keep us distracted from holiness. Satan uses lies and accusations that keep you depressed and anxious or defeated.
He knows that he’s already been defeated and that his demise is written in eternity. But until that day he will prey on anyone that he can discourage, diminish and take out. The battle is absolutely real. Satan’s glory, his army’s glory, the comic glory is seen in a world that is rampant with sin and continues to turn toward ungodliness. And this will not get easier in this lifetime.
And that leads us to our ministry year theme for 2022/2023, the thing that we will continue to come back to, the thing that we will remind one another of are these words: be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the Lord. Let me say, “Be strong,” you say, “In the Lord.” Because that’s the most important part.
Be strong.
Congregation: In the Lord.
Micah: C’mon, say it with passion. Be strong.
Congregation: In the Lord.
In Ephesians 6:10-11 Paul writes this: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Now I told you that we were going to be in the book of Epheisans. You’re probably wondering why I asked you to turn to Revelation 2. It’ll all make sense in just a moment. But I wonder what your mind would think of if I asked you, “What do you know about the church at Ephesus?”
You know as Americans with lots of access to the Bible, I don’t think we always approach the Bible; the more mature we get in our faith we do. I don’t think we often approach the Bible understanding that these are real letters written to real people on behalf of God. They have historical context, literal meaning. I think often we approach the Bible with condemnation already on our shoulders because we feel like we don’t read it enough or we don’t understand it enough. And then we go and we try to find something to diagnose the problems that we are facing.
But if I asked you, “What do you know about the church at Ephesus?” Maybe you would say, “I would assume it’s a vibrant, great church because the book of Ephesisans has been just so impactful in my own personal life.” I’m sure it’s one of the most quoted books, most read books in your faith as you’ve grown up in the faith.
But maybe you think a little more literally. As we’ve gone through the book of Acts, it’s helpful. Maybe you think about Aquila and Priscilla. You remember in Acts chapter 18 as they left the sin city of Corinth to end Paul’s second missionary journey, Aquila and Priscilla, the hospitable couple who welcomed Paul and gave him a job of tent making. Paul drops them off in the city of Ephesus. And you’ve got to believe that they were the same hospitable couple there, opening their home to people.
And it was shortly after they find Apollos, and he was the gifted young man in the synagogue. He was preaching the message of Jesus, but he didn’t have the full story of Jesus. So Aquila and Priscilla go and they redirect his message. They lead him to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And then he goes back to Corinth to water what Paul had planted.
And then as Paul begins his third missionary journey, he stops in the city of Ephesus. Upon arrival he led some disciples, who seemed to believe like Apollos, to the Lord. Because they didn’t have hte full story. So this group immediately comes to saving knowledge of Christ. Paul begins to preach in the synagogue. He faces some opposition. But he’s able to find his own space in Ephesus. What a big deal!
He finds the hall of Tyranus and for two years day in, day out, he preaches the good news of the gospel. I mean, Paul was a busy guy right? He was going city to city to city to city and yet he stayed for two whole years, more than two years, in the city of Ephesus.
In Acts 19:10 it says, This continued, his teaching in the school of Tyranus for two years so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord both Jews and Greek. I mean that is some seriously fruitful ministry for the sake of the gospel happening in the city of Ephesus.
More than that, we see at the end of Acts 20 that he commissions what seems to be a large group of elders to pay careful attention to shepherd the flock of God that’s there in Ephesus and to watch out for wolves. We’re going to see that those are very important instructions to those who lead the church wherever the church is thriving, wherever the church is vibrant.
Paul also left a young protege largely in charge of the teaching and preaching and the building up of the saints through the Word there in Ephesus. You may not know this, but Timothy was left as the main leader, the pastor, in the city of Ephesus, to pastor the church in Ephesus. And when Paul is writing to Timothy, there always seems to be an urgency and a pleading for him to guard the good deposit, to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word, to not grow timid in his testimony. Because Ephesus was steeped in the occult. There was a lot of opposition against this message of faith, this message of Jesus that was going forth.
And as we see the darkness of Ephesus and Paul’s warning of wolves that would rise up, we see why Timothy could have gotten a little bit timid. Then Paul left, never to see them again. And he’s taken to Rome. He’s put in chains. That’s where we left off in the book of Acts. And it’s from his chains that he writes the letter to the Ephesian church.
And so we’ve seen a lot of mention of the church in Ephesus, but there’s one more place where the church of Ephesus is mentioned, and it’s in Revelation chapter 2. Let’s get our eyes there for a moment, and I want to read this over us this morning as we get into this ministry year.
Revelation 2:1. This is Jesus speaking. To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. So before I read on, seven golden lampstands represented seven first century churches. The church at Ephesus was one of those. Jesus walking among the lampstands signifies Jesus, His presence, being among these seven first century churches.
As Gospel City Church, we undoubtedly want the presence of Jesus in and among our church, don’t we? We’ve said from the beginning, from the moment this church was planted, we don’t want to take one step forward without the presence of Jesus, without the presence of God leading the way.
Jesus says this in Revelation 2:2: “I know your works.” ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ (Revelation 2:1-7)
Point number one this morning is this: We must be strong in the Lord lest we leave our first love. We must be strong in the Lord lest we leave our first love. Revelation chapter 2 should be a sobering example to us as the Body of believers gathered here today.
What makes this place called Gospel City so special? It’s definitely not the amenities that we have to offer as a church. It’s not the wonderful childcare or the children’s discipleship that we have. It’s not a rocking worship team that leads us in worship everytime we gather on this stage. It’s not that all your best friends and family found their way to this church and you get to come to church together. It’s not that there are plenty of programs and classes and groups to choose from. It can’t even be great leaders.
We have some gifted leaders, some prayerful leaders, some leaders who pay careful attention to you here. But the church at Ephesus is proof that you can have the best leaders and still lose sight of the main thing. What makes this place special is that among us and I pray it’s all of us, but among us God has called some and God has saved some. And God has begun a good work in some. And as He has called us, He has joined us to a Body with His perfect Son as the head.
And God is building up a Body here and all around the world, consisting of a people who will endure to the end, shining brightly that Jesus is chief, that Jesus is the chief object of our worship. People who will endure to the end, shining brightly that Jesus is preeminent in their hearts and in their lives and in their endeavors, shining brightly that Jesus is our first love. And the only thing that will make us as the gathered Body of believers worthwhile is if we endure to the end with Jesus as our first love.
And many of you are new to our church, but from the beginning of this church, the leadership has always been committed to some things. We’re still committed to some things. We’re committed to the bold preaching of God’s holy, inerrant Word, believing that God wrote a book and we open it. And if we pay careful attention to it, it will pierce the heart and it will convict the soul and it will move us toward righteousness.
We’re committed to the unashamed worship of Jesus Christ the Lamb who is worthy of His name. And that’s exactly what we did this morning. That’s where we ended at the feet of Jesus, not singing about our problems, not singing about what we bring to the table. We ended saying all that Christ is, Jesus, name above all names, worthy of all praise.
We’re committed to the fervent prayer, knowing that we’re nothing without abiding in Christ Jesus. You must be attached to the vine.
We’re committed to the clear proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the only hope of salvation for all who will repent and believe. But you’d better believe that Satan and his army will work overtime to distract you from believing these things. He’ll distract us from staying true to these things. Satan will do anything he can to make your first love anything but Jesus. And while we can come and put on a front, God already sees and knows every heart that steps into this place every single week, every heart that steps into any church anywhere in the world, God already knows and God has the power to give His presence or to remove His presence.
Look at Revelation 2:2. I want you to imagine if Jesus was writing to us. Just the first phrase should cause you to tremble. Gospel City, I know your works. Jesus knows your works. Jesus knows the good things that you put your hand to. Jesus knows the bad things that you put your hand to. Jesus knows what you did last week. Jesus knows what you’ll do next week. He’s able to forgive all of your iniquities. Jesus knows your works.
Gospel City, Jesus says, “I know your toil.” I know the things that you strive for. I see your meaningless striving. I see the great things that you run after for the sake of the kingdom of God. I see the things that you put your hand to that have no spiritual value at all.
He says, “Gospel City, I know your patient endurance.” That’s an encouragement. Some of you are like, Man, the battle is so strong and there seems to be so much opposition. And sometimes I just feel like I’m failing. Sometimes all of life I just want release from this pain, and yet I’m just trying to endure. Jesus knows your patient endurance.
Gospel City, I know that you’ve stayed away from evil. What a great thing about the church in Ephesus. They were staying away from evil. They were keeping watch.
Gospel City, I know you’ve tested those who call themselves apostles and are not. That’s like Him saying to us, “I’ve seen how you’re committed to deep doctrine as a church. I’ve seen how you’re relentless about the right message as a church. I’ve seen how you put a massive emphasis on deep discipleship as a church. I’ve seen all the good that you have done but Gospel City, I have this against you.” What a sad statement to the church at Ephesus. I have something against you. The God of glory, Jesus the Lamb.
And what if Jesus said to us, “This is what I have against you. Even with all of that good, your heart has been wrapped up in lesser things.” What if Jesus said, “Even with all of that good, I have not been your first love”?
And to the church at Ephesus, Jesus says, “Remember from where you have fallen.” To us as a Body today Jesus says don’t forget how you got here. Don’t forget how you got in that seat. Don’t forget where you came from. Don’t forget that you were dead in your trespasses but God made you alive in Christ Jesus. Don’t forget that Jesus is who He says He is. He must be our first love if we desire His presence to lead us home to glory.
And that leads us to the book of Ephesians. You can go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter 1. And we’ll just look at verses 1 and 2 today and get sort of an overview of this great book that is going to deepen us together as a church. But point number one was we must be strong in the Lord lest we leave our first love.
Point number two this morning is this: We must be strong in the Lord so that we can walk worthy of our wealth in Christ. We must be strong in the Lord if we want to even come close to walking worthy of the massive wealth that we have in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So let’s talk about why Ephesians is so important. Ephesians is all about the identity of a believer. Ephesians is about our position with God and the riches available to all of those who are in Christ. Ephesians speaks more highly of you than you probably feel. Because Ephesians tells us that we are everything to God if we are in Christ. And yet often you probably feel so much lesser than in this life.
Ephesians helps us see that true believers are already positionally perfect with God, but becoming all that we are this side of Christ before He establishes a new kingdom. It says that you’re already positionally perfect with God. All of the victories of heaven are already yours. They’ve been imputed to you. All of God’s righteousness is in you. You are positively perfect and yet you’re very aware that the sin of this world is constantly knocking at your door. And often you wake up and do the things that you don’t want to do.
If I’m positively perfect, if I’m all of these things in Christ Jesus, why do I still struggle with sin so much? It’s truly helping us see the already but not yet, that Christ has already defeated all of our sin and all that we will have in eternity, and yet He is coming again to defeat Satan, to lock up Satan and his army.
They are seeking to devour. They are seeking to distract. They are seeking to steal our first love. And yet they have zero power over you if you are in Christ Jesus. Ephesians is about a new society of people claimed at the cross, being sanctified here on earth, and fighting faithfully until Christ comes to unify all things to Himself. So we must be strong in the Lord.
Paul actually begins the letter with a lot of identity indicators. Go ahead and look at verses 1 and 2. And as he starts, he starts in a traditional way that you would have wrote a letter. But he wasn’t writing to Caesar. He wasn’t writing to a political power. He wasn’t writing to the synagogue. He was writing to the believers at the local church in Ephesus, so the believers in Ephesus, on behalf of God. And this is what he writes.
Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2)
Paul begins the letter with this confident identity that’s fully rooted in God and not himself. He says, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” I think there’s three kinds of indicators that we can pull out of that, ok?
He first gives his Greek name. At this point he’s known as Paul in the city of Ephesus, but we weren’t first introduced to him as Pual. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He had studied under Gamaliel. He was persecuting the church. Remember in Acts 8 and the end of Acts 7 with Stephen. And he wanted to stamp out the name of Jesus. He would do anything he can. He had a lot of zeal to stop Christianity.
And yet one day on the road to Damascus a bright light shone. It wasn’t just a bright light; it was Jesus Himself revealing Himself to sinful Saul. And Saul fell onto the ground and he called Him Lord and his life was changed forever. At that very moment his sin was in the past, his sin had been defeated at the cross, and he was now a holy, chosen instrument of the God of glory.
First called Saul, but after his encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus he was sent by the church in Antioch in Acts chapter 13 and they begin to call him Paul, because his mission was now to the Gentiles, to us, to those who are not Jews, so that the gospel could spread throughout the world.
But more importantly than that, secondly, he identifies himself as an apostle of Christ Jesus. Paul was amidst a special few. See, an apostle of Christ was unique in that they had seen Jesus in person and they had been commissioned by Jesus. Paul was kind of a unique apostle. Jesus had twelve apostles, twelve disciples. Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas walked away. It shows you can have proximity to Jesus and still not give Him your heart, still not allow Him to be the first love in your life.
And then they replaced Judas with Matthias. Remember, right before the Holy Spirit came in Acts chapter 2, we saw that. And then God does something very unique. He appears to Saul on the road to Damascus to make him a specific apostle to the Gentiles. And so you could say there are thirteen apostles in history who built the foundation of the church so that we could sit here today and continue to grow in our faith by the shepherds and teachers that God has put in place.
So he identifies as an apostle of Christ. And then thirdly, he says that his authority and identity is by the will of God. Paul’s message in life was not on his own initiative. He lived and he moved and he preached by the will of God on his life. Paul’s authority and this bold letter to the church at Ephesus was the will of God through him and not his own lofty ideas, wisdom or speech. Even in the first sentence Paul models that his strength is in the Lord alone.
Let me ask you a question. Was Paul strong by the world’s standards? Would you say, “Man, that is a picture of strength and power right there?” I mean by the world’s standards the dude is in prison, he’s in chains. He’s been beaten senseless more than anyone in history. Like every city that he went into beaten with rods, thrown rocks at him, drug out of the city dead. He’s constantly unliked. He’s constantly pushed out. He’s constantly under arrest, constantly hiding for his life. Paul, don’t get involved in that riot here in Ephesus. We’ll hide you away.
By the world’s standards he didn’t seem to have a lot of victories. He didn’t seem to come out on top a whole lot. But when you consider what he accomplished for the Lord through the beatings and the suffering and the persecution and the arrests, I don’t think there’s any better way to describe him than strong in the Lord. And just like his introduction in Ephesians 1:1, it had everything to do with his position in Christ and nothing to do with what he brought to the table.
I mean, the man brought so much to the table when it came to his Jewish status. God did away with all of it and made him a messenger of Jesus Christ. As he became weak, God became strong through Paul. And He does the same for us as he addresses those in Ephesus.
SPLIT HERE
Look at verse 1. It goes on. Paul, after identifying himself with those three things, he identifies us. He says, “I’m writing to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.” Paul is not writing to random people. He’s not writing to everyone. He’s not writing to the masses. He’s not writing to those who could take their first step in the faith. He is writing to a church that has already been established in the community of Ephesus. He is writing to saints.
And in the Bible a saint is anyone who is a believer. Anyone who is a follower of Jesus is a saint. If you’re here today and you are truly in Christ Jesus, you are a saint according to the Bible. You’re like, “I don’t feel like a saint because I woke up this morning and I definitely didn’t do very saintly things.” And the truth is that’s the already but not yet taking place. But you are a saint if you are in Christ.
The Catholic tradition uses this word for dead people or people who had like a specific holiness or virtuous lifestyle, maybe like a priest. But according to the Bible, Paul was writing to people who are very much alive. They’re not dead. And according to Peter, those who are saints are very much called to be holy and set apart.
If Jesus is calling you a saint, then you have a responsibility to live a holy life! You have a responsibility to live a virtuous life. And it happens by following what Chirst has said in His Word. So as Paul directs his message, he directs to those who identify as God’s chosen, holy and set apart saints.
Not only does he call them saints but he calls them those who are faithful in Christ Jesus. “In Christ Jesus” is a key phrase that speaks of our positional perfection with God because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Very important phrase that we’re going to see so much in the first three chapters of Ephesians.
This phrase is of massive importance because the emphasis through the book of Ephesians is not on what the human being brings to the equation but on what God brings to the new society that He is building up. You might be strong, but without “in the Lord,” your strength is weak.
And same here. Paul writes to the faithful in Christ. You might be faithful to something, but if you’re not faithful “in Christ” then your life is meaningless, it is fleeting, and you’re on the wrong side of the war. Only those who are in Christ will make it to the kingdom of God, but you’ve already received the riches of the kingdom of God.
So with Paul’s identity rooted in his position with God, he writes to saints who are positioned in Christ. And only because of this can he offer what he does in verse 2. Look at verse 2. He says this. The first thing that he gives to the church at Ephesus: “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Could there be anything greater to offer anyone in the world than grace with God and His Messiah Jesus Christ? Let me ask you this. Can you offer grace with God and peace with the Lord to anyone on your own? Can you offer grace and peace to anybody? Can you offer grace? Can you change someone’s life with the grace of God by your own omission?
Paul certainly couldn’t have offered it on his own accord. Paul could only offer what was unmerited and freely given to him in the strength that his position in Christ alone could legitimize. Paul was an apostle of Christ Jesus. Paul was a faithful messenger in Christ Jesus. Paul was strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. And like Paul, if Jesus is our first love, we will receive the grace to become all that we are made possible by having peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
I mean let me just tell you about the sections that we’ll look at as we get into the book of Ephesians. We’re going to take the fall right now and look at chapters 1-3, which are rich with the doctrine of your salvation, with your positional perfection in Christ.
One commentator divides up the book of Ephesians as our wealth in Christ, our walk with Christ and our warfare with Christ. Our wealth, our walk and our warfare. I love that. And that’s why we’re saying that we need to be strong in the Lord this year. We’re going to first recognize that we have so much wealth in Christ, that your bank account, your spiritual bank account, is as full as it will ever be. That ATM machine will never read “bankrupt” because God has imputed to you all of the perfections, the inheritance of His grace. It’s all there.
And yet when we fail to walk in a manner worthy of our calling, it’s because we’ve gotten our eyes off of our wealth and onto our walk. And sometimes that just shows us that we don’t have what it takes in our own strength. That’s why we must be strong in the Lord. And you can be strong in the Lord because He’s accounted to you everything that you need to do so.
In chapter 4 verse 1 that’s Paul’s prayer. I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. Chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians will talk about our walk. That’s where it gets really practical. That’s where it gets to you walking out your lifestyle with one another as the church, in your relationships, in your marriage, with your children, with your bosses, all of these things. Those are where we want to go often because we want to diagnose behavior.
God wants to first diagnose your heart. And Paul helps us with that by frontloading the book of Ephesians with all of this rich doctrine to show us who we are in Christ so that we can walk in a manner worthy. And then in chapter 6 we get to our warfare in Chrsit Jesus.
So why is “Be strong in the Lord” our theme? After all of that, after our wealth and walk and he gets to our warfare, after Paul defines the wealth of the believer, Paul says in Ephesians 6:10, finally. After all that rich truth, after all of that that you’ve just read and you’ve just taken in and you’ve just seen that God has done for you. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
Our only hope is in the Lord, Gospel City Church. Our only strength is in the Lord. And that leads us to point number three this morning. It’s this. We must be strong in the Lord because we are nothing apart from Christ and His cross. Don’t forget it. We are nothing apart from Jesus Christ and His cross. We are desperately in need of Christ and His power.
And like trying to plan your transition from summer to fall and it going wrong, it doesn’t matter how much you know or how confident you are in the Lord or how effective you are at walking out the way of the Lord, the battle is real and if you’re a believer you’re undoubtedly in the crosshairs of the enemy. And while the enemy has already been defeated by Jesus, he’s still waiting for you to get your eyes off of your wealth and position in Christ Jesus and he aims to accuse you and to wear you down and to make those who are rich with worth feel absolutely worthless.
How can I have this rich wealth in Christ and feel so worthless, so beat down, so discouraged? It’s because the enemy is trying to distract you from your first and what you can already put your eyes on. So you need to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
It’s when you think that you’re strong that you will get your eyes off of the source of your strength. It’s when you think that you’re strong that you’ll focus too much on the work rather than your position and wealth. It’s when you think that you’re strong that you’ll lose your first love. And this is what the enemy is always waiting for.
The life of the believer is one of dependence on God. The true believer knows that true freedom comes from dependence on God, not independence in our individuality. It’s why we must be strong in the Lord, not our individuality. God gets the most glory out of a unified Body that He is building up, not necessarily a glorified individual or an independent individual.
We are at a crucial stage at our church here in Michiana, Gospel City Church. We are fresh into our teenage years as a church. The Lord has carried us through a year of transition in leadership and there are still things getting moved around. The Lord carried us through a year of Covid, through political polarization, and through a world that continues to run into the darkness, which I told you is going to continue to get worse.
The Lord has provided this facility and a place for us to come and to worship as the family of God. The Lord has provided financially for us so that we can give all of our efforts to glorifying God and making disciples.
But with all of that good, we could forget that it is all of His strength. And Psalm 121 reminds us that our strength as the people of God comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. And this reminder and exhortation to be strong in the Lord is all through the Bible. It’s really been the diagnosis since sin came into the world that man would be dependent on God, find his strength from God and not himself.
And you probably have so many things in your personal life that feel daunting to you when it comes to your walk with Christ. Maybe it’s leading your children to the Lord. Many of you have teenagers. You’re in a stage of life ahead of me and you’re just like, “Lord, I can’t do this. I want them to have the grace of God and the peace with God. But I can’t do it on my own. What can I do more?” You’ve got to be strong in the Lord.
Maybe it’s going against the grain in a massive high school when you’re surrounded by people who are celebrating and taking pride in sinful things. High schoolers, you need to be strong in the Lord. No greater time in your life than to go against the grain, than to go against the flow, to walk and delight in the way of the Lord rather than sit in the seat of scoffers, as we learned in Psalm chapter 1.
Maybe you’re facing the death of a loved one or caring for a loved one through their sickness. Maybe you’re simply waiting on the Lord to meet a deep desire of your heart. In your strength, you do not have what it takes. But if you will be strong in the Lord in Christ you have everything that you need to patiently endure to the end with Jesus as your first love.
And in Christ you are joined to a Body, and so you are not alone. You don’t have to walk this alone. But man, we tend to say, as followers of Christ, we tend to get our eyes on what we bring to the table. And then we say to God, “How could you use me? How could you do anything more through me?”
And God says, “Quit looking at what you bring to the table. Look at what I’ve already done at the cross. Focus on what I’ve brought to the table and be strong in me. For when you are weak, I will be strong.”
It reminds me of Joshua. I’ve gotta just point you to the Old Testament Joshua for a moment. And you know, I told you. Be strong in the Lord, it’s been the diagnosis for man’s sinfulness all throughout history. Can you imagine Joshua having to step in and take over for Moses? I mean Moses was a legend, a security blanket for the people of Israel. He was a legend. He had brought them out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, everyone sang his praises until Jesus came. The Israelites, I mean the Jews, still are like infatuated with Moses even though Jesus is a greater rescuer and a greater Moses.
But as Joshua steps in, no doubt he looked up to Moses and looked down on himself. And yet in Joshua chapter 1, in verse 3, Jesus says this, or God says this. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you just as I promised with Moses.
The only way forward for Joshua was one step forward, landing on the promises of God every single time. That’s where his strength had to come from. In Joshua 1:5, No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
Not only could Joshua step forward on the promises of God, but he could step forward knowing that the presence of God was going to be with him wherever he would go. God was with him, so why should he fear?
And just as God was with Moses, He would be with Joshua. And the uniqueness was not with Moses; it was in the Lord. It was in God. In Joshua 1:9, a verse that you’ve probably memorized, a verse that you’ve probably read to your children, Have I not commanded you? To Joshua then, to the church now. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
God told Joshua all that he had on his side and basically that he could never experience defeat if he did things God’s way. And that’s exactly what Ephesians does for us as believers who are a part of God’s new society. Just as God was with Abraham, just as God was with Moses and Joshua and David, our God is with us and in even more real and sufficient ways because Jesus was God’s ultimate warrior.
And Jesus laid down His life on a cross. He died on a cross in our place so that He could crush the head of Satan and his army and so that he could bound him up for all of eternity. And though a third of the angels descended from heaven and are raging against you and seeking to destroy you and they’re accusing you and they’re trying to get you down, they stand no chance and they know they stand no chance against Jesus Christ and His army that will one day come again and resurrect His Body unto righteousness.
The enemy is waiting for us to get complacent. The enemy is lurking in the darkness of the shadows of this world waiting for the Church to let down her guard and to get too comfortable and to forget that the power belongs to Christ and not ourselves.
The enemy wants you every day as a believer to take counsel from your fears. He wants you to forget the promises of the rich wealth that you have in Christ. The enemy wants you so focused on your finite abilities that you feel crippled by what the Lord has asked you to face.
The enemy wants you so comfortable that you forget that your first love is Jeus Christ. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve attained here on earth. It doesn’t matter how much is in your worldly bank account. It doesn’t matter what feels good, what brings you pleasure. Jesus must be your first love, and all that this world has to offer must fade into the background as you stare into the Savior’s face.
We desperately need the Lord, desperately need the Lord as a church. We need Christ and His power to be our strength for the battle that’s at hand. You’re in the battle. Wake up. Get aware. You’re in the battle.
And it’s not often that your comforts will remind you that you need your first love. It’s often the trials. It’s often the suffering. It’s often the persecution that will remind you that you need to be strong in the Lord. Or they will deter you and cause you to look to lesser things. When you don’t armor up every day, you’re living on yesterday’s victory. And we don’t worship the victory. We worship the God of the victory. And so every day is an opportunity to be strong in the Lord.
Let me invite you to stand to your feet. Just bow your heads for a moment. Would you lay down your fears? Lay down your cares? Confess to the Lord that when you came in this morning, you were so much more focused on lesser things than on Jesus who should be your first love. Praise Him for His grace. Praise Him for the peace that is offered through the gospel of Jesus Chrsit. Peace with God. Could there be anything greater in all of the world?
And I just pray over us right now. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians chapter 3 he says, For this reason I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. That you being rooted and grounded in love may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
And that sounds too good to be true, but Paul says, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Lift up a shout of praise to the Lord. amen. He is worthy.
