The Power of Fellowship | Pastor William McDowell

i am sure that hopefully you are celebrating your mother in a great way whether she is living or not uh you should still celebrate and thank god for your mother and so we know uh that this is a great day of celebration for families and so we don't want to take too much of your time in this but we certainly want to dig into the scripture because the lord does have something he wants to say to us you know as we uh read the scripture we always stand so i want to invite you to stand as we read the word of the lord i'm just going to read a few verses here and with the help of the holy spirit connect some things together and hopefully we will go deeper you know what to do in the chat just say let's go deeper um we're gonna read ephesians chapter four uh starting with verse one you're probably like okay pastor we can't say let's go deeper for standing so you can get that out but then you can go ahead and stand we stand to honor the reading of the word of the lord because it is above all other things it is not like anything else so let's read ephesians chapter four verse one through six and then we will pray together therefore i a prisoner for serving the lord beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling for you have been called by god always be humble and gentle be patient with each other making allowance for each other's faults because of your love make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit binding yourselves together with peace for there is one body and one spirit just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future there is one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is over all in all and living through all let's pray together father i thank you for this time together i thank you father for the global deeper family both those who are in central florida and those who are family from literally around this nation and around the world father i thank you for your word there is nothing like your word i thank you for your presence there is no one like you and we honor you in this moment and we give you praise and thanks lord i pray for your presence and your anointing the power of your spirit to be evident as we proclaim the truth of your word and the power of what you have done father i pray as always as your son and your servant that i would make you proud unto the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart will be acceptable in thy sight o lord my strength and my redeemer but i pray that you would take these words as i speak them which is your word by the power of the holy spirit translate it to everyone who hears to hear exactly what you want them to hear by the power of your holy spirit and i also pray that because of your mercy and because of your goodness and because of your grace that you would save people today but i pray that those who have yet to come to the saving knowledge of who you are would be saved today because you reveal jesus to them lord bless us now as we hear your word may we be changed by it in jesus name amen well if you stood you can be seated you can be seated in the presence of the lord um we are going to dive right in we've been talking uh for the last number of weeks if you've been journeying with us on the revelation of koinonia and we've been doing this because the spirit of god has invited us into this and as we heard last week he's invited us into living this distinction we recognize that the world is in desperate need of the display of the church of god the church of jesus christ his body displaying the mystery of unity which we'll get to in just a moment it is something uh that the world themselves even though they may desire it cannot achieve without the holy spirit and so we have been given a unique assignment by the lord uh and and not just in our local church but the church universal has been giving you given a unique assignment in the earth to display a mystery that god held in his heart and so therefore we've been talking about the revelation of koinonia defining it and digging into it differently than maybe um just the basic definitions that we may have come up uh hearing and this is the kind of thing that the holy spirit is really inviting us to live it and not just think it not just look at it as an aspirational goal but to really live this thing out and so we've been talking about this specifically as a revelation and we've kind of begun to dig into several definitions and we've been repeating these things over and over because we want it to get into our heart not just as a concept but as a revelation and we're going to continue to do that today we have defined it as common ownership cornelia fellowship also common ownership we've said that koinonia is a revelation that demands continuous action until it becomes a new way of living koinonia or fellowship is the outward expression of an inward revelation i will deal with that a little bit today also that it demonstrates the power of the cross we are going to deal with that today as well and then for the last couple of weeks we've been dealing in this definition uh which not only defines koinonia but also the outworking of christianity which is that koinonia is the holy spirit empowering people to live like christ with each other in community so do they think like live like and love like christ with and towards each other now we also said last week that living this way produces a result and what is that result the result is that it sets us apart or more specifically than it draws distinction it draws distinction both from um darkness which is sin which we dealt with in first john last week but also from those who give lip service to christianity or what we what we said was pseudo-christianity and so living koinonia literally begins to draw a distinction we know that we are in a season of distinction in the earth we know that the people of god are are going through a time of distinction or a setting apart and this is part of living that distinction this is one of the reasons why it cannot be a concept to us the reason why it can't be a concept is because a concept then just becomes an aspirational goal to us and not a command for us koinonia is not an aspirational goal it is not only a command but it is a revelation that that requires an outworking because it is already this is an important uh revelation for us to begin to to walk throughout because without this revelation mankind defaults automatically to separation let me say it to you as he said to us again without the revelation of quinoneer the default position of all mankind is separation so all men live separation without the revelation of koinonia separation is the default of all mankind when when god created the heavens and the earth and specifically when god created man uh and then out of the rib of man uh created a woman the creation account begins with unity while uh there are some who trafficking in was what is called the gap theory between genesis 1 1 and 1 2 the reality of it is as it relates to the creative order and as it relates to relationship uh with the the triune godhead which was perfect coin in the air but also the man that he created which he also invited into that coin in here and so what we have is father son and spirit and perfect unity and then mankind also invited into the perfection of the unity of the spirit with god creation began in unity now what we see happen uh in the creation account of course we're talking about genesis now what we see happen is when the serpent came what the serpent did uh among a number of things is he sowed the seed of disunity when he sowed the seed of disunity uh sin entered into the earth and the result of sin was the disunity of mankind man not only lost their fellowship or their union or their koinonia with god but man also lost fellowship union and koinonia with each other which is now why because sin entered the earth while the default position of mankind is separation because the result of sin is separation not only from god but also from each other this is important for us to understand because we have been redeemed from this and i don't want to get too far ahead of myself but in being redeemed from the curse of sin and death not only are we restored to fellowship with god but restore the fellowship with one another this is the thing that mankind lost we see this uh play out in genesis chapter 3 verse 6-10 i know most of you know the creation account but i just want to point this out to us so that we can begin to see uh the effects of sin and what it does the bible says this to us in genesis chapter 3 verse 6 it says the woman was convinced this serpent is now talking to the woman she saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted the wisdom or so she thought wisdom that it would give her so she took some of the fruit and ate it then she gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it too at that moment their eyes were open and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness i want you to see what happens the moment that sin enters the picture so to shame and the moment that sent into the picture and shame into the picture they realized they were naked now look at the next thing that happened so they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves what was the first thing that happened when mankind sinned they hid from each other the first thing that took place when sin entered the earth is we hide from one another it is the same thing that happens with sin now people hide from one another this is one of the reasons why they gravitate to the darkness they believe that the darkness covers their shame now the interesting thing about the scripture as we'll continue to read it uh david writes so eloquently that to god even the darkness is light because in him as first john declares there is no darkness at all in other words there is no hiding from god yet man continues to try to hide from one another let's keep going here when the cool evening breezes were blowing the man and his wife heard the lord god walking about in the garden so they hid from the lord god among the trees they hid from each other and they hid from the presence of god it is one of the reasons why whenever people sin is their natural proclivity without the revelation of the mercy of god for those who have been saved to run from god it's the same thing that adam and eve did it's a natural proclivity of the flesh to run from god whenever you find yourself in sin so we run from each other and we run from god then the lord god called to the man where are you he replied i heard you walking in the garden so i hid i was afraid because i was naked we see now that without revelation the default position of man is separation not only from god but also from each other but there was something that took place in the heart of man even though man was sinful why because we are created for fellowship we are created for relationship and so as a result of our created nature of being created for fellowship and created for relationship and created desiring in our heart unity with god unity with each other um we mankind then begin to devise plans to try to to recreate this unity but without god and there's a problem with this we're going to see this in just a moment genesis chapter 11 uh makes this uh points this out to us what man tried to do without god in the new living translation of genesis chapter 11 starting with verse one it reads this way at one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words as the people migrated to the east they found a plane in the land of babylonia and settled there they began saying to each other let's make bricks and harden them with fire in this region bricks were used instead of stone and tar was used instead of mortar then they said come let us build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky this will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world but the lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building look he said the people are united and they all speak the same language after this nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them come let us go down and confuse the people with different languages then they won't be able to understand each other in that way the lord scattered them all over the world and they stopped building the city that is why the city is called babel because that is where the lord confused the people with different languages in this way he scattered them all over the world now you may look at that scripture and you say well hey aren't we talking about unity and doesn't it say right here that the people were united and so why would god now come down and confuse their language why would he scatter them if they're united if unity is what the goal was but i want you to see what they were united in uh the amplified bible brings this out uh very clearly in genesis chapter 11 verse 6 it says this and the lord said behold they are one unified people and they all have the same language this is only the beginning of what they will do in rebellion against me and now no evil thing that they imagine uh no evil thing they imagine or now no evil thing they imagine they can do will be impossible for them what we see now is it's not just unity it was unity in rebellion and sin and evil against god and so as a result what mankind was essentially trying to do after god had banished mankind from the garden what they were essentially trying to do now is say well you know what we can be powerful and we can make a name for ourselves and we can be famous without god and as a result mankind thinking that they could raise their fists to the heavens and say we don't need you discovered right away that they are powerless against an all-powerful god he came down surveyed what they were doing and confused them immediately with different languages and so what i want you to see on this path of scripture is that this was once again the enemy attempting to convince mankind that they don't need god just like he convinced adam and eve that they don't need god what babel shows us or what is known as the tower of babel or the city of babylonia or the city they are trying to build is that unity without god can only produce sin can i say it again unity without god can only produce sin i recognize that unity is a word that the world likes to use often they like to use it in politics they like to use it in relationships they like to use it in business but the reality of it is the only unity that is actually possible is possible through christ jesus apart from christ apart from the lord there is no possibility of unity that produces righteousness the possibility of unity without him only produces sin the other week we were on the prayer call and our co-youth director gabriel who is a son to me um made a statement as he was explaining genesis chapter 11 in the prayer call he did a marvelous job but one of the things that he said in this and i want to quote him directly as he said if the lord would say about a people who are unified in sin that nothing they set out to do would be impossible for them then imagine what would be done for a unified church this is important because because babel um from then on represented that any attempt of you of true unity without the holy spirit can only produce not only sin but confusion this is important for us family because that the root word for babel actually means confusion god sent down uh and and separated their languages and confused them and so truly what we see is that the unified attempt from of man to come together and do anything that that they believe is fruitful but we know as sin only produces confusion not peace god's desire for us is big god would not allow mankind to be united in sin and defiance however his plan for redemption included the restoration of fellowship and unity both with god and with each other mankind was trying to do it without god and they could not do it but in the heart of god and the mind of god was a desire to bring about the restoration of fellowship and unity or quinonea with god and with one another we see the desire of god play out in the prayer of jesus in john chapter 17 verse 20 when jesus is praying he says this i am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message meaning he's praying for the twelve and he's praying for you and i i pray that they will all be one just as you and i are one are you hearing the prayer of jesus he is praying he is praying for us to come into the unity of the faith he is praying for us to come into koinonia why because it is on the heart of the lord i pray that they will all be one just as you and i are one as you are in me father and i am in you and may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me what a powerful powerful passage i have given them the glory you have given me so they may be one as we are one i am in them and you are in me may they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love me love them just as much as you love me jesus was praying ahead of time for his disciples and every disciple after them to walk in unity to walk in ultimately what paul begins to describe as the word coinonia paul when writing about baptism declares to us the power of the cross and resurrection of jesus and the restoration of unity with christ when he's doing this he's he's doing this and letting us know that hey you're not just doing a physical act something spiritual is happening in the waters of baptism let's pick up his discussion in romans chapter six verse five we pick up his discussion in romans chapter six verse five i want us to see some things here he says since we have been united with him in his death we will also be raised to life as he was we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives we are no longer slaves to sin for when we died with christ we were set free from the power of sin and since we died with christ we know we will also live with him we are sure of this because christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again death no longer has any power over him when he died he died once to break the power of sin but now that he lives he lives for the glory of god so you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to god through christ jesus this is what is to happen this is the spiritual significance of baptism but it is also highlighting the power of the cross and the resurrection of jesus it restores our unity with christ it restores our unity with god now i want you to see something because we talked about what happens when sin entered the world the default position of man without the revelation of god without the revelation of cornelia the default position is separation because of sin but believer you who have placed your faith in jesus christ i want you to see what paul says to us happens when we place our faith in jesus christ and we make a public profession of our faith through baptism one of the things that takes place is that sin loses its power he jesus broke the power of sin and now we are to be dead to the power of sin now this is important for us to understand because you and i are no longer slaves or captive to sin we do not have to submit to the dictates of sin we do not have to do what we are invited to do we do not have to do what we are enticed to do we do not have to listen to the enemy we do not have to act on thoughts we do not have to do the things that we do not want to do we've been set free we've been empowered because christ broke the power of sin off of our life it has lost its power it has no power over him and because we are in him it has no power over us we are to consider ourselves according to ephesians excuse me to romans chapter 6 we are to consider ourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to god through christ jesus jesus did something incredibly powerful for us he completely set us free not only from the penalty but also from the power of sin this is important for us and in addition to that let me tell you how powerful what it was that he did in colossians chapter 2 verse 14 and 15 this was not just an act that that people don't know about it's not an act that the enemy doesn't know about no no no it was a public thing for the bible says this in colossians chapter 2 verse 14 he canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross you can stop right there and just say thank you jesus uh i know there was an old song that people used to laugh at when it said that jesus dropped the charges but the reality of it is whatever it is that you were guilty of and let me assure you you and i were guilty but the bible says that he canceled the record of the charges against us he took it away by nailing it to the cross and so i want you to know that satan which means accuse her whenever the accuser comes to accuse you you can go back to colossians chapter 2 verse 14 and say you know what this is how i know that you're a liar because he canceled the record and so it is what i did but i'm not guilty of it he canceled the record it has been expunged it's as if i never did it hallelujah you can you can stop right there and give god a mother's day praise right there it has nothing to do with a mother but the reality of it is because he canceled the record no matter what it is that you have done you are not guilty hallelujah and not only this look at what verse 15 says in this way he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities he shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross he disarmed spiritual rulers and authorities he shamed them publicly by his victory on the cross we look at this and we just think okay what exactly does this mean i'mma help you in just a moment because this is what the new living translation says the esv renders verse 15 this way he shamed the enemy publicly by his victory on the cross esv said it this way he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them and him i love that um the the csp says it this way he disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly he triumphed over them in him i need you to get this today i need you to get this today he he shamed them he brought them to open shame he disgraced them what does this really mean the amplified bible brings out the greek meaning of this in a powerful way because in our modern society we don't fully understand this maybe except for either those who are really really into uh world history and his old artifacts or maybe those who might watch certain movies you might have a picture of this but let me help you with what the bible is telling us the amplified brings this out uh beautifully colossians chapter 2 i'll start with verse 13 in the amplified it says this when you were dead in your sins and in the circum uncircumcision of your flesh which is worldliness in your manner of life god made you alive together with christ having freely forgiven us all our sins having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of legal demands which were enforced against us and which were hostile to us and this certificate he has set aside and completely removed by nailing it to the cross that's another place to say thank you jesus but now listen to this this beautifully now draws out the meaning of what it means to have disgraced shamed and openly shamed the enemy when he had disarmed the rulers and authorities those supernatural forces of evil operating against us he made a public example of them exhibiting them listen to this as captives in his triumphal procession having triumph over them through the cross family what i need you to see right here is that the idea of public display alludes to the roman custom of awarding victorious generals a victory parade behind the general as he rode and splendid through the city would follow in chains prisoners from the successful campaign just completed it is this activity of leading a triumphal procession and so literally what happened when jesus died on the cross every spiritual evil force that had opposed you and that it opposed mankind and opposed all who would believe in him not only were they shamed publicly but what he did was he had a victory parade and the devil and all his angels and every demon and every principality was following behind him in chains so that all creation could see who the victor was as darlene check wrote the song he wears the victor's crown paul wants to make it as clear as he can that god has removed any claim that the spiritual powers might have over us and he has done so clearly and he has done so publicly family regardless of what you feel right now this is the current reality that right now the devil his angels every demon every authority every ruler every power every spirit of darkness is in chains and they have no ability to get out jesus did this when he died on the cross and mankind was restored to fellowship with god but it didn't stop there he restored the fellowship of mankind but it also revealed a mystery now this is what i want to spend the balance of our time talking about the power of fellowship it revealed a mystery that's why it is a revelation literally a secret that god kept in his heart until the time that he chose to reveal it you and i what we do together has more power than you may recognize it has more power than you may recognize there is a revealed mystery that we are walking in it was a mystery until god chose to reveal it there are things there were things in the mind of god that were concealed from all of creation including the devil and every spirit and all the angels they were concealed in the heart of god there were things that he kept secret concealed from all of creation until he alone decided the time to reveal it we see this play out in the scripture and a lot of times because we look at the word mystery we like to try to pass over it and the reason why we try to pass over it now is because a lot of the mysteries of the scripture have been revealed now but we need to go back and see the genius and the wisdom of god in it romans chapter 16 verse 25 says this now all glory to god who is able to make you strong just as my good news says this message about jesus christ has revealed his plan for you gentiles a plan kept secret from the beginning of time that god has had a secret that he kept remember that revelation is when god remakes things known to man revelation is when god makes things known to man until then god has the right to keep secrets in his heart there are certain things in our lives family that we may not understand and they are a mystery until they are revealed some things will be revealed to us in this life some things will be revealed to us when we are with him this is one of the reasons why it's a futile exercise to question god you can ask him for wisdom but there is a reality that there are certain things that god keeps in his heart this scripture lets us know that the message about jesus christ has revealed his plans to gentiles who by the way in this context represents outsiders or sinners or you and i he kept that plan secret from the beginning of time which is to say he always knew what he was going to do he just didn't tell anybody why because he doesn't have to revelation what we call revelation is a mystery a secret or something that god chooses in his time to reveal to man ephesians chapter 1 verse 9 through 11 says it this way god has now revealed to us his mysterious will concerning christ which is to fulfill his own good plan and this is the plan at the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of christ everything in heaven and on earth furthermore because we are united with christ we have received an inheritance from god for he chose us in advance and makes everything work out according to his plan it was a mystery until he decided it no longer needed to be first peter chapter 1 verse 8 says this to us it says you love him even though you've never seen him though you do not see him now you trust him and you rejoice with the glorious inexpressible joy the reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls this salvation here this was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you they wondered what time or situation the spirit of christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about christ's suffering and his great glory afterwards they were told that their messages were not for themselves but for you and now this good news has been announced to you by those who preach in the power of the holy spirit sent from heaven it is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen why because god didn't tell creation he didn't tell celestial beings he didn't tell angels he kept it in his own heart and even when prophets were prophesying he didn't fully reveal it to them and they themselves while being obedient to the unction of the holy spirit did not know the time or when it would happen the bible says why because it was a mystery that he chose to reveal in his own time and this is what the bible says that the angels are watching it unfold the prophets were prophesying a mystery to them revealed by the holy spirit to us watched eagerly by the angels mysteries like colossians chapter 1 verse 24 through 27 when paul writes i am glad when i suffer for you in my body for i am participating in the sufferings of christ that continue for his body the church god has given me the responsibility of serving his church by proclaiming his entire message to you this message here we go was kept secret for centuries and generations past but has now been revealed to god's people for god wanted them to know that the riches and the glory of christ are for you gentiles too and this is the secret this is the mystery christ lives in you and gives you the assurance of sharing his glory what was the mystery christ in you the hope of glory no one could understand it no one could conceive it no mind could conceive it nobody could understand it even though they were prophesying it they didn't fully know it god kept it in his heart as a mystery that his intent was not only for jews but also for gentiles to have christ living in them and this is what gives us the assurance of glory the hope for glory is christ in you and until christ came lived died and was resurrected god kept it in his heart it was a mystery that was stewarded throughout all generations until the appropriate time of revelation which god chooses and there is another mystery that god kept in his heart even though man tried to do it without him they failed miserably because when man tries unity without god it only produces sin and confusion but the mystery that god had been keeping in his heart the entire time was what the bible calls the mystery of unity the mystery of unity god gave the apostle paul the ability the revelation the assignment the burden the calling of proclaiming the mystery of unity the interesting thing about the fact that god chose the vessel that he chose is because paul was a scholarly learned jew but yet he was made an apostle to the gentiles in order to proclaim the mystery of unity he's given the assignment of being this apostle to the gentiles and in his letter to the ephesians he outlines not only his call but reveals what he calls the mystery ephesians chapter 2 verse 14. stay with me ephesians chapter 2 verse 14 for christ himself has brought peace to us he united jews and gentiles into one people when in his own body on the cross he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us he did this by ending the system of the law with his commandments and regulations he made peace between jews and gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups the chosen and the outsiders the chosen and those considered to be the sinners one new group now they place their faith in christ together as one body christ reconciled both groups to god by means of his death on the cross and a hostility towards each other was put to death he brought this good news of peace to you gentiles who were far away from him and peace to the jews who were near now all of us can come to the father through the same holy spirit that's common ownership to the same holy spirit because of what christ has done so now you gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners you are citizens with god's holy with all of god's holy people you are members of god's family now we tend to think or look at the cross in terms of individualism that's how we we tend to look at i made this statement a few weeks ago i made this statement quite often but what ends up happening is when we tend to look at the cross we we tend to say he he shed his blood from me and he did and we said he did it just for me and he would have and if i was the only one he still would have come and he would have because that's how he loves he he leads the 99 for the one and we tend to look at it like my sins have been cleansing and i've been wasting we use a lot of personalist personalized uh adjectives or or terms to describe the power of the cross and there's nothing wrong with internalizing the personal nature of what he's done but you cannot just internalize a personal nature of what he's done because while he did it for you he also did it for everyone so we tend to look at the cross as individualism however the cross is not limited to an individual blessing the power of the cross is found in what it makes all individuals who believe in christ what does the cross do it makes all who place their faith in him one family you can't look at somebody else who saved and not see them as a brother or sister he he makes us all one family and this is what the devil hates because as we looked at in genesis chapter 11 as we looked at in genesis chapter 3 the reality of when sin entered the earth it separated people the cross united them the slavery of sin not only kept people apart from the holy perfect god in whom there is no darkness at all what it also did is it caused people in their shame to stay away from one another the cross not only reconciles with god but it took away our shame why did it take away our shame because when i look at you you are not a sinner when you look at me i am not a sinner i am seen through the shed blood of jesus i am seen through the grace of christ i am seen through the grace of god i am received by the mercy of god which means that every single day when since mercies are new every single day i get up again and i have the opportunity of restored fellowship with god and restored fellowship with my brothers and sisters the devil lost he wanted to keep us from god and each other this is why we see things like murder into the earth this is why we see things like envy into the earth this is why we see things like jealousy into the earth this is why we see all manner of evil entering the earth people doing things against people and ultimately offending god in the process what the mystery of unity because of the power of the cross does is it reminds the devil he lost that's why paul wrote something powerful to us in ephesians chapter three i'ma let the scripture speak for itself starting with verse one when i think of all this i paul a prisoner of christ jesus for the benefit of you gentiles assuming by the way that you know that god gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you gentiles as i briefly wrote earlier god himself revealed here's that word again his mysterious plan to me as you read what i've written you will understand my insight into this plan regarding christ god did not reveal it to previous generations but now by his spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets and this is god's plan he's now plainly stating the mystery both jews and gentiles who believe the good news share equally and the riches inherited by god's children this is important because at that time jews were the only ones who were to uh receive the inheritance but now gentiles those who are considered to be outsiders or those who are far away share equally in the riches inherited by god's children both are part of the same body and both enjoy the promises of blessings because they belong to christ jesus by god's grace and mighty power i have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this good news though i am the least deserving of all god's people he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in christ i was chosen to explain to everyone this mysterious plan that god the creator of all things had kept secret from the beginning verse 10 god's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom or his manifold wisdom and its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places this was his eternal plan which he carried out through christ jesus our lord family hear me the church the church universal the big c church the church specifically was designed by god to display the manifold wisdom of god who many of you would say to the world the world is the benefactor of the display but verse 10 lets us know that god's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in heavenly places these as you study it out are both the angelic beings but also demonic power god is using the church to display his wisdom to every demon that has been held captive [Laughter] these hostile supernatural enemies who try to thwart the purposes of god are put on notice that god has accomplished what he has set out to do despite their ongoing evil designs against all odds and in the most unlikely of ways the church exists and all of these rulers and authorities can do nothing but marvel at god's wisdom there is a commentary that brings it out this way and it's beautiful it says there is another facet to this truth that must be explained what are these evil angels or demonic powers learning from god's mystery what they are learning is that their leader satan doesn't have any wisdom satan knows the bible we saw that in the temptation of christ in the wilderness and he understood from the old testament scriptures that the savior would come when he would come how he would come and where he would come satan also understood why he would come as far as redemption is concerned he understood that but nowhere in the old testament would satan find any prophecies concerning the church the mystery of the jews and gentiles united in one body you can't find it satan could see unbelieving jews rejecting their messiah and he could see gentiles trusting the messiah but he could not see both believing jews and gentiles united in one body seated with christ in the heavenly places and completely victorious over satan couldn't see it had satan known the far-reaching results of the cross no doubt he would have altered his plans accordingly god hid this plan and his heart from the beginning of the world but now he wants the mystery to be known by his church what the church is displaying is not just the power of god but the wisdom of god all of creation knows the power of god because when he speaks it is and nothing can stop his power nothing can stop his will nothing can stop when he decides a thing nothing can stop when he speaks a thing so creation knew his power but they did not know his wisdom his wisdom is revealed when the church displays the wisdom of god just a few more scriptures here the wisdom of god first corinthians chapter 1 verse 18 the message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed to destruction but we who are being saved know that it is the very power of god as the scriptures say i will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent so where does this leave the philosophers the scholars and the world's brilliant debaters god has made the wisdom of this world look foolish since god and his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom he used our foolish preaching to save those who believe it is foolish to the jews who ask for signs from heaven and it is foolish to the greeks who seek human wisdom so when we preach that christ was crucified the jews are offended and the gentiles say it's all nonsense but to those called by god to salvation both jews and gentiles christ is the power of god and the wisdom of god the foolish plan of god is wider than wiser than the wisest of human plants and god's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength remember dear brothers and sisters that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when god called you instead god chose the things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise and he chose the things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful god chose the things despised by the world things counted as nothing at all and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important as a result no one can ever boast in the presence of god god has united you with christ jesus for our benefit god has made him to be wisdom itself christ has made us right with god he made us pure and holy he freed us from sin therefore as the scriptures say if you want to boast boasts only about the lord are you seeing this family in the scripture the wisdom of god is that he uses the things that the world considers to be foolish in order to shame those that think they're wise both the enemy and the people who are walking in darkness now here is what i want you to see because there's a key word right before wisdom in ephesians chapter 3 verse 10 uh in the original transcripts it is the word manifold which means multifaceted or the word or the root word itself speaks of multicolored or a tapestry what i want you to understand is not only is the manifold wisdom of god displayed through the church because jews and gentiles are one people and one body but because of the word manifold which means multifaceted or multicolored which is akin to the robe or the coat that joseph got which is a multi-colored coat what i want you to also understand is that one of the things that he uses to shame the enemy when it comes to the church is not only did he take two and make them one but now he takes multiple ethnicities and he takes a multi-colored tapestry and a multi-colored people and he brings him together and he says you are one this is one of the reasons why it is so ridiculous and ludicrous that people who are in the church who peter says are a chosen race of people would ever look down at another group of people and not understand them or not feel their pain or not walk with them because the manifold wisdom of god is that everybody who places faith in jesus christ is one body and one people and it is a manifold multifaceted multi-colored multi-ethnic wisdom the church is to display his power and his wisdom how then does the church display this how does the church display this we have talked about the fact that one of the definitions of koinonia is an inward revelation with an outward expression it's an inward revelation of unity with the outward expression the inward revelation of unity produces an outward expression it shows the power of the cross this is how does a church display the manifold wisdom of god through fellowship how does the church display the manifold wisdom of god through koinonia through fellowship this is why paul writes about the consistent posture that we must have towards each other this is also why the enemy messes with the church why does the enemy mess with the church because he's already defeated he cannot undo what has been done he can't reverse time he he he doesn't he doesn't have the the time stone like in the avengers there's no there's no thanos coming he doesn't get to reverse time and and do it all over again no no no what has been done has been done in fact when jesus was on the cross he uttered these words it is finished it cannot be revoked it cannot be undone you can't go back and undo it and what was done mankind was reconciled back to god and to each other and the enemy can't undo it so that's why he messes with the church so much because he's defeated so what he tries to do instead is to deceive people into believing that unity is not possible how does he do that by by trying to get us to undo it by not expressing unity through fellowship as galatians 5 would say to get us to bite and devour each other because he can't [Laughter] i wish you could get that today um we are we are not striving to get to something we don't make unity unity already is which means that the enemy can't undo it he can't make us disunified he has to get you to do it yourself not expressing the power of the cross by still living as slaves and prisoners to sin that's what he wants us to do especially towards one another can i tell you something when we walk and live out our distinction through fellowship we remind the powers of hell of their defeat i recognize that we have a a culture particularly in pentecostalism and and charismatic nature and everything else where everybody wants to exert their authority or their power over the devil by screaming calling the devil names contorting your face saying i rebuke you in the name of jesus you're under my feet we do all that kind of stuff and and and he's under he's under our feet yes because we are in christ and these things are true but can i tell you how you really put him in his place love each other i know that sounds so simplistic but it's bible if you really want to remind the enemy that he has no power over you if you really want to remind the devil that his power over you is broken that the power of sin is broken walk in fellowship walk in unity make a choice to love one another be humble be gentle be me when you do those things you are not only reminding the devil that he is defeated but you are showing the world that you are not in their system we remind the powers of hell the power the power of koinonia the power when i come together with my brother or my sister and i'm showing sacrificial love i am demonstrating the power of the cross and what is happening is i am allowing the parade that victory parade when christ held them captive when he parades them around and chained and showed that i have the victory when i'm sitting down with my brother and i'm choosing to love them sacrificially what am i doing i'm letting everybody in on the parade that is happening because the victor christ jesus is coming in and he is coming behind him with a bunch of defeated conquered foes who are the defeated conquered foes the ones who tried to mess with the unity of god's creation by messing with our relationship with him and messing with our relationship with one another every single time you and i display that kind of love what we are doing is we are revealing to the world the victory parade that is happening in the heavenlies that one day will be revealed on the earth hallelujah this is why i got to bring this to a close but this is why this is why the importance of the distinction that that john brought out that we were talking about last week in 1st john 1 and 2 and because it's sin that causes separation but those who live in the light have come out of darkness first peter 2 9 tells us this it is the power of sin that is broken and when the power of sin is broken unity is restored did you hear what i just said when the power of sin is broken unity is restored when the power of sin is broken people stop hiding from god and each other only those who live in the dark try to pollute unity the powers of darkness were embarrassed on the cross christ did something so powerful on the cross when we express that unity and fellowship we are displaying god's wisdom and reminding them of the open spectacle the disgrace and the shame that they had no wisdom if the rulers of this world had known they would have never crucified the lord of glory they did not know that they were sealing their fate this is why the enemy tries to infiltrate the church with false teaching and tries to get us to bite and devour devour one another he does this because he wants to try to pollute the unity that already is he's trying to mess with the revelation of unity so that the world will not see the power of the cross because the cross is not individual it's communal the cross says come one come on into a family you out there in a darkness looking for a family the cross says there's a family because your unity apart from the cross can only produce sin and confusion but if you'd come to jesus you would discover the power of relationship with god also restores you to relationship with one another that you no longer have to walk in shame which is why i started in ephesians 4. because ephesians 4 talks to us about how we live this how we live it we live from revelation gonna say it again how do we live this way we live from revelation what revelation here it is if you missed everything else i said at least get this we keep unity we don't make unity how do we live it we live from the revelation that everything we're doing we're doing to keep unity not make unity the world tried to make unity in genesis 11. it failed the cross made us one so every moment from then we live to keep what already is not to create what isn't we live it that's why we said that quinoneer is a revelation not a concept it's a revelation not a concept what is the revelation that we are living to keep what we have not create what we don't therefore i paul talking a prisoner for serving the lord beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling for you have been called by god always be humble and gentle be patient with each other making allowance for each other's faults because of your love make every effort to keep yourselves united in the spirit binding yourselves together with peace for there is one body one spirit just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future there is one lord one faith one baptism one god and father of all who is over all in all and living through all write this down we're landing this plane for sure three things that paul says right at the beginning if you will do this you will keep the unity it's already been given to you one be humble pride subverts unity number two be gentle number three be patient i want to give you a big long list are there a number of things that we can do to keep it absolutely but let's start here when it comes to fellowship with one another be humble be gentle be patient these things paul's writing foster unity among believers and what are we doing at that time we are proclaiming the power of the cross we are allowing an inward revelation to become an external expression which is one of our definitions for koinonia we are living distinction and this is the manner and how you carry this out give each other grace for when they don't do it which is why he says bearing with one another in love and making every effort to stay bound together literally saying make allowance for each other to mess up so you can keep this be humble be gentle be patient and make allowance for each other's faults because nobody's perfect so give people a chance when they stumble in these areas to get it right keep the bond of peace which means to be concerned about peace this allows us to work through differences family that i'm so committed to peace between you and i that i will make allowance for this this this is what allows us to work through differences not if you mess up that's it but no this is how this is how we live why because we have unity we have it now we're going to keep it let me give you quickly the reasons why we know we have unity it's also in the scripture this is very quickly let's write this down it's in the scripture as well these are the aspects of unity paul is saying this is what you have he says there's one body that is the church all believers together that's number one number two there's one spirit that is the holy spirit that enjoys the church this is how we know we have unity there's one body which is the church universal all believers together number two there is one spirit this is what we all have number three there's one hope which is the commoner same hope regarding our future with god number four there's one lord which is christ jesus the head of the church number five there is one faith which is our common salvation number six there is one baptism which is the public witness of our faith in our unity with christ's death and resurrection and water baptism and number seven there is one god and father of all which in the lord's prayer jesus invites us to pray our father he does not invite us to pray my father which is to speak to the father's relationship with all believers hear this because the same father would never put two of his children against each other this is how we know that we are one because we have one body one spirit one hope one lord one faith one baptism and one god and father of all because of this we are one there may be a number of secondary things that you may think about but the truth of the matter is this one thing is what makes us one these things and when we express it with one another we are showing the power of quanonia we are showing the power of fellowship so you don't have to scream and yell rebuke and all that stuff in order to prove that you have power over the enemy you want to prove that you have power over the enemy love your brother you want to prove that you have power over the enemy love your sister you want to prove that you have power over the enemy be humble you want to prove that you have power over the enemy be gentle you want to prove that you have power over the enemy be patient you want to prove that you have power over the enemy make allowance for each other's faults you will show more authority in that displaying the manifold wisdom of god than you ever will screaming at anybody or a devil let's live this distinction let's pray father i thank you that you have a people who desire and long to live the reality and the revelation of your word thank you for calling us into the group of people who are called to live out this assignment of displaying your manifold wisdom in its rich varieties to unseen rulers and authorities in heavenly places thank you for the power of the restoration of our relationship with you and with one another would you empower us by the holy spirit to live this out with one another and every single day that we do have the ability to proclaim to witness and to display the open spectacle of you capturing the powers of darkness putting them in chains forever thank you for the power of koinonia thank you for the power of fellowship continue to empower us to keep the bond of peace to keep this unity and displayed in jesus name amen family you may be watching and not recognize that you are a person who has longed for fellowship but you've been looking for it in the wrong places you've been trying to find it because of common affinity you've been trying to find it in people and relationships and when you couldn't find it you turned to anything you could because something in you was made for fellowship and you didn't know it you just kept looking and kept looking and kept looking i want you to know that it is god who made you for fellowship but the only satisfaction you'll ever find is surrendering to this fellowship that is given to us extended to us as an invitation on the cross of christ the cross of christ this good news it means that you and i when we were born we were born into sin we were born into a world that is marred by sin and controlled by sin and as a result you'd probably admit there's certain things that you do that you don't even want to do and so because of that you're guilty of sin but god knowing that you and i didn't have the ability to pay the ransom for our sin because the ransom for our sin is death the bible says to us that the wages of sin is death but the free gift of god is eternal life through christ jesus if we were to have to pay for our sins the truth of the matter is the cost of that is our life and if we die death was the final enemy there was no coming back from that until jesus came he who is the resurrection and the life the one who is able to lay down his life and take it up again because no one is able to take his life not even the devil god himself recognizing that you and i didn't have the ability to save ourselves send his only son to take on our penalty and to die not just for us but as us because he transferred all of our guilt onto christ and then imputed or gave us the righteousness that was on christ and put it on us just because we believe in him it's not based on what we do it's based on our faith what we believe this is why the bible says it's a free gift because it's not something that you earn it's something that is given to you but what you and i the only responsibility that we have is receiving this gift it's already been given it's not coming it already is and as a result the broken fellowship with god that which you've been trying to fill with everything else is restored you've been trying to fill it with relationships and people and sometimes when you're alone it's not just people it's substances and all sorts of devices that you use in order to soothe this longing in your heart what some people would call an emptiness but it's a god spot it's something that he makes you aware of so that you will find him the amazing thing about the term finding him is the fact that it's truly him that finds you it's when you decide to stop running from him turn around and run to him stop running from the thing you that's been chasing you all along which is god himself and say i recognize my need for god because i recognize my need for fellowship and i'm tired of living in the shame that sin has caused and i have the opportunity to come into a family not of people who are perfect but who are being perfected who are being mature who are endeavoring to please god and not grieve his spirit by loving beyond faults you have this opportunity this moment right here right now to stop running from god but to run to god and say from this moment forward i'm gonna accept this free gift by placing my faith in jesus christ by not trying to get it right myself not not hoping that someday one day maybe god might accept me you've been accepted when you place your faith in jesus it's a free gift for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life god did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that through him the world might be saved he did not come to condemn you friend he came to save you and now he sets before you life and death he sets before you an open door he sets before you an opportunity to enter into fellowship with him now the choice is yours your mother on this mother's day may have been praying for you to get here but your mother and her faith can't save you now it's you it's your faith your grandmother might have prayed you to this moment but you have to make the decision on your own but when you do you'll discover that you step into a large family not just a local church although you have the privilege of being a part of a local church but a global church and not just a global church alive now but every saint who's ever believed and gone on to die and every saint that ever will believe that's how big the family is you'll never be alone but i can guarantee you whether it's you alone now maybe you're the first generation first person ever to come to the place of making this decision or perhaps your mother your grandmother say the best mother's day gift you could ever give would be to be able to pick up that phone and send a text or a call and say mom guess what i did today i gave my life to jesus and if your mom's not saved you could say mom guess what i did today i gave my life to jesus and i think you should too because we can be restored to relationship with god so that's you and you're watching right now all over the world don't run from him run to him you want to be so bold just put in the chat i surrender i surrender what you're actually saying in that moment is i'm not running anymore here i am god here i am you can come as you are his love changes you you won't stay as you are he's not asking you to change first salvation does not work from the outside and it works on the inside out you get saved and from there he changes you you don't change and then get saved so for those of you who are saying i i'll get to it i just got to stop doing this stop doing that no no no i understand how it works receive his holy spirit empowers you to live right just say i surrender and that's you saying that i just want to pray with you perhaps you don't know how to pray just begin to talk to him maybe you don't have the words to say so let me help you it's not the words that you repeat that saves you it's your faith and jesus saying i believe in you and today i surrender or maybe you don't have the language so i want to help you just pray with me if you don't know what to pray just pray after me by repeating say father in the name of jesus i come to you just as i am i believe that you sent your son jesus to die for the sins of the world including mine but that he did not stay dead he rose again on the third day so that i could have new life in him and when he rose that gives me the promise of resurrection too so today i place my faith and my trust in you and i surrender completely to you and with your help i will live for you for the rest of my life in jesus name amen family if you've prayed that prayer and you meant it you just gave your life to jesus you surrendered you said i'm yours and that's amazing but we just don't want to leave you there not knowing what to do next now we trust the holy spirit knows how to keep all of those who have made commitment to him but we'd also love the opportunity to help you send you some materials not about deeper fellowship church or what to do with deeper fellowship traits but about the lord so if that's you and you just gave your life to jesus on this mother's day would you just make a public profession here be so bold about it because it's your family that wants to congratulate you just put hashtag imetjesus hashtag i met jesus and what you will discover is that all your new brothers and sisters are going to be saying welcome to the family welcome to the family welcome to the family hashtag i met jesus and you'll see people saying welcome to the family because that's exactly what you are because our relationship with god has been restored and our relationship with one another has been restored and now you get to join the generation of people who get to shine light on the parade that's happening the angels are rejoicing right now because of your decision and we're rejoicing with you welcome to the family well deeper family thank you so much for spending this time together on this very special mother's day i pray for all the mothers that you have an incredible incredible day that you are showered with the love that you deserve i want to say to our family what i say to our family every year on mother's day the best way to show your honor to your mother is not with flowers or dinner although you should do those things it's by living a life that's worthy of the call but until next time family we'll see each other next sunday be blessed family we love you not just in word but indeed

Channel: Deeper Fellowship Church

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Length: 83min 40sec (5020 seconds)

Published: Sun May 09 2021