Summary of Grace, the Gospel & you
Preamble
Brent does a public service announcement about the recurring theme of grace that many of the messages have had in the series on Ephesians. He jokes that isn’t because they are repeat messages. Brent explains that Paul, the author of Ephesians, is that he focuses on it over and over.
Ephesians 3:7-8, grace leads to humility
Paul refers to himself as “the least qualified of any of the available Christians. God saw to it that I was equipped” (MSG). When we understand that God has lavished blessing on us and that we don’t need to compete for God’s attention we will become more humble. Grace leads us into humility.
Grace implores you into action, makes you a servant and gives you a “call”
Brent reminds us of Paul’s amazing transformation from a man who hated Christians to a man who passionately preached about Jesus. He immediately went out and basically says, “I was wrong about Jesus, he is the saviour!” Paul became a servant of God because of the grace he was shown.
Being a servant
A servant executes the tasks as requested by the authority. We currently experience this all the time in our jobs. And we must think about this when it comes to our relationship with God. God is the authority, we are his servants.
We are in the search for significance
According to Jesus, true significance is brought through serving people! Being a servant is our true calling. We often get upset at our circumstances because we feel we lack significance. Paul says, “I am the prisoner of Jesus Christ.” We can take example and apply it to our own lives.
- “I am in a low level job for Jesus”
- “I am having a health crisis for Jesus.”
- “I am frustrated in my job for Jesus.”
Our call: make known the mystery of salvation to the world
1 Corinthians 7:17 – “Don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you.” We can’t make excuses about our situation. God has a purpose for us in every situation. We can’t ignore God’s call on our lives because we can’t see the situation in a positive perspective. We must constantly ask ourselves how God wants to use us in the current circumstance.
In everytime…
- …I flip a burger in my fast food job, I do it for Jesus
- …I make a financial decision, I do it for Jesus
- …I serve the miserable customer, I do it for Jesus
We experience the same amazing power that transformed Paul
We can’t forget that the amazing power that affected Paul — which caused his amazing 180 degree transformation — is the same power that can (and will) affect our lives. It is only the power of God that can transform lives. And those of us who have experienced this power must not forget our calling to be a servant!
Easy ways to be a servant
- Be a servant this October 2016 and go on the mission trip to Haiti
- Have a spiritual conversation with your co-workers
- Have a spiritual conversation with your neighbor
- Be a servant through baptism!
About this Message Series
This is a message in a series called Ephesians. The goal of this series is to discuss the topics and themes that arise from the New Testament book Ephesians. The book of Ephesians is a letter that Paul wrote while in prison. Sometimes it is called a Prison Epistle. It was written to encourage believers. He was encouraging other faithful followers of Jesus to serve in unity and love in the midst of persecution. This series was started in January 2016.
About the Speaker
Brent is the lead pastor here at SouthRidge. He and his wife Pam were part of the original church plant.