Getting Moved "In"

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Getting Moved "In"</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="21"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id407.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Its Who You Know"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>"Getting Moved 'In,'" </B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Eph+1:1-14" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Ephesians 1:1-14</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, September 21, 2003</B></div> <bR> <div>      Do you ever find that worshiping God on any given Sunday or any given day depends on your circumstances that day? Martin Rinkart was a pastor in Germany. In 1636 it is said that he buried 5000 of his parishioners; it was during the Thirty Years War. His parish was ravaged by war, death, and economic disaster. In the heart of that darkness, with cries of fear outside his window, he sat down and wrote this table grace for his children: Now thank we all our God / With heart and hands and voices / Who wondrous things hath done, / In whom his world rejoices. / Who from our mother's arms / Hath led us on our way / With countless gifts of love / And still is our today.</div> <div>      That may sound absurd, but our worship of God is supposed to transcend our earthly circumstances. We have a tendency to find ourselves focusing on our circumstances. We may worship God if circumstances are right, if we are having a good day, if we like the music and sermon when we come to church, if we just received a lot of money, if we don't have any obvious needs or problems.</div> <div>      Paul is in prison because of his faith in Christ. He writes a letter to churches and it begins with worship - it is like a worship service in a letter! Rather than worshiping God based on our circumstances at any given moment, we must be motivated to worship  by the reality of who God is, and who we are and what we have in Christ.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. [Paul is reflecting on:] The benefits of being "in Christ" (Ephesians 1:1-14).</B></div> <div>      These things are true regardless of our present circumstances. Believers exist in a new location, "in Christ," "in the heavenly realms" (vs. 3). The phrase or idea "in Christ" appears several times throughout these verses. It is an unseen reality, like the air we breathe.  It is our most important realm of existence. It is becoming a citizen of heaven, of the family of God. "Christ is the `place' in whom believers are and in whom salvation is" (Best, in Lincoln, p. 21).  This new location gives us a new perspective on our circumstances.</div> <div> Here are the three main benefits of being "in Christ":</div> <div> A. God has chosen us and prepared us to belong to his family (vss. 3-6).</div> <div>      He chose us to be holy and blameless before him (vs. 4). It involves positional and progressive holiness (we are already seen as holy before him judicially, and at the same time we are progressing in the practical holiness of living). He causes us to be acceptable in his sight, because we could not become acceptable on our own. On this basis, he made us part of his family, with all the privileges of the inheritance (vss. 5-6).</div> <div> B. We have been given the riches of God's grace (vss. 7-8).</div> <div>      It  includes liberation / deliverance from sin and forgiveness (vs. 7). It also includes being given wisdom and insight into spiritual things (vs. 8).</div> <div> C. We have been guaranteed a secure future (vss. 9-14).</div> <div>      One day everything in the universe will be brought together under Christ - he will rule and reign (vss. 9-10). God chose us to be part of his family forever, and he has given us the Holy Spirit, who is the down payment, the guarantee that all of this will be fully granted (vss. 11-14).</div> <bR> <div>      What would your life be like without Jesus? All you would have to live for is this life alone. You would be without hope, without help, without the assurance of the complete and total forgiveness of the sins which have plagued you since the day you were born. All the money, fame, pleasure, possessions and comforts of life cannot compare to being "in Christ."</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. [Paul models:] The appropriate responses.</B></div> <div> A. Accept the riches of God's grace as your own.</div> <div>      If you have never entered a relationship with Jesus Christ by faith, come to him now and receive the riches of salvation and eternal life he offers to you.</div> <div> B. Worship him.</div> <div>      Note the invitation to "praise" (vs. 3), and the repetition of the phrase, "to the praise of his glory" (vss. 6, 12, 14). To worship God is to reflect on who and what he is and what he has done. It is to express thanks and appreciation back to him. It is to let him know how great you think he is. And it doesn't have to wait until you are in church! When you get a sense of what God has done for you in Christ, it is hard to contain it to one hour a week!</div> <div> C. Obey him.</div> <div>      Obedience naturally flows out of worship and appreciation of who God is and what he has done for us (vs. 4). Maybe one of the reasons we continue to struggle with sins is because we so easily forget what God has done for us and what he expects us to be because of it.</div> <bR> <div>      English historian Thomas Carlyle had a very devoted wife who sacrificed everything for his sake, but he never gave her a single expression of appreciation for which her heart yearned. She came to regard herself as the most miserable woman in London and evidently died of heart hunger. After her death, Carlyle, reading her diary, realized the truth. A friend found him at her grave suffering intense remorse and exclaiming, "If I had only known!" (Dr. Charles F. Asked, Homemade, Vol. 11, No. 7, Bible.org, "Appreciation"). Now, God is not going to have nervous breakdown because you don't acknowledge him, but his heart longs for your worship of him. Every day he gives and gives and forgives and forgives. Appreciate him. Worship him. Reflect on the great things he has done for you and tell him how great you think he is.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2003, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>