Sermon for Sunday July 12th, 2009

BUT BECAUSE by Bruce Ball

Ephesians 2:1-2:4


The last two weeks, I have talked about how much God has blessed this nation; giving America more blessings than any other nation in the history of the world – including Israel.

And I talked about how we now have a responsibility to do what we can to keep these blessings flowing for our children and our children’s children. We must realize that with every blessing comes a duty; a duty to keep those blessings. And this does not just apply to our nation, but it also applies to each one of us on an individual basis.

Today, I want to talk about how, as Christians, we receive personal blessings from the Lord. One of the best blessings I have ever received in the world, is the blessing of having Diana as my wife.

She is in Florida this week. Her father is not in the best of health, and we decided it would be a good time for her to visit with him. And, I would be remiss if I didn’t confess that I really miss her. I miss her being here to make sure I am sticking to my doctors orders, but what I miss most of all is just her presence. She is a part of me, and when I look around our home and know she is gone, I know that part of me is gone, too.

In the past, I have gone traveling with her. I like that a lot better! Once, we went back to Ohio and stayed with one of her aunts. While we were there, we had the awesome opportunity to teach her aunt about the Lord’s Supper, and how powerful that can be in a Christian’s life.

And we have encountered many wonderful and different things throughout the years. On another occasion, we went to Ohio to visit family and friends. We both grew up there, so we still know people back there. And while we were there the last time, we met a woman at a local Christian bookstore in a place called Coshocton, Ohio. It turns out she went to school with Diana and remembered her.

Now, I will probably get in trouble for this, but we able to attend Diana’s 35th high school reunion and saw more of her high school friends. And because we took the time to rest, we were restored. And through this restoration, God touched our hearts even more. He also led us to some mighty interesting places.

One of the places we went to was also one of the most unique things I had ever seen. It was out in the country, on a bare hillside near Warsaw, Ohio. Way up on top of this beautiful hill was a round tent. We drove up the gravel path to get to it and found that the tent was about 150’ across and about 45’ or so high.

The roof and the walls were made from very heavy vinyl, supported by huge metal beams, and sat on a round concrete floor that had water pipes in it to keep it warm during the winter. The tent had six sets of doors around it, and over each door was a symbol of each of the 12 tribes of Israel. We entered through the Easter Gate.

We talked to the owner, a Reverend Paris. He said it is a place of prayer that is free to everyone, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. People come to pray; to sing praises; to hold group meetings and to hold church services. The place is so incredible I do not have the words to describe it properly.

Reverend Paris was given a vision in the mid 1990’s. He built a big house in Kentucky for prayer, and was then given a vision to do it again in Ohio using a tent. He and his team had a vision, or a calling from God, and they recognized that as a calling from God, and their faith in God allowed them to step out in blind faith, following God just as surely as Abraham did, and that faith allowed them to be successful.

They knew what they were supposed to do and they did it. I wonder how many people today ask God what their purpose is, and then refuse to follow when God shows them. Reverend Paris has proven the words to the song; ‘Lead me, Lord, I will follow.’

We already have everything we need to be great successes in God’s kingdom, but most of us are rendered incapable of doing such because we do are not aware that we have them! We have at our command, the entire blessings of the Almighty’s power, and we don’t even know it.

During the Great Depression, there was a man named Yates who ran a sheep farm in Texas. Times were very hard, and he was quickly going under. Things got so bad that he finally had to go on welfare just to feed his wife and children.

Just about the time he was thinking of packing up and walking off his land, a team of geologists contacted him and told him that they thought oil might be under his property. They said that if he would give them permission to dig, they would give him a percentage of any oil they found. Mr. Yates may have been poor as old Texas dirt, but the man was not stupid. He knew he had nothing to lose, and maybe everything to gain, so he gave them the legal permission to dig on his land.

They finally got all set up and began to drill. They went down 500’ and no oil; 800’ and no oil; 1000’ and no oil. They had decided that they would drill once more and then if they did not find any oil, they would close shop and leave.

The next day, they started drilling, and when they reached 1100’, they found the second largest oil reserve in the state of Texas. Overnight, the family Yates went from being destitute and hungry to being one of the richest families in Texas.

Let me ask you a question. Before they found the oil, was Mr. Yates sitting on millions of dollars? Yes he was, but since he did not have any knowledge of it, it did him no good at all. It’s kind of like having millions in a Swiss bank account, but not knowing the account number to access it.

Have you ever known anyone who was spoiled? Maybe it was a child whose parents gave him everything he wanted, or maybe it was a young teenage girl whose boyfriend wooed her by buying her the gifts of love that only a teenage boy could buy. Or, maybe it is a husband like me, whose wife goes out of the way to make sure I have everything I need so that I can focus on and do the things I do for our Lord.

How would you like to have someone like that? Someone who loved you so much they want to give you everything they have. Actually, we already have that. That person is God. God loves us so much that He gives us every blessing He has, but we do not use it because we are not aware that we have them.

Turn with me to the book of EPHESIANS 1:1-7

‘Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God. To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world – to be holy and blameless in His sight.

‘In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons, through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will; to the praise of His glorious grace which He has freely given us in the One He loves.

‘In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.’

This small passage is chock full of information, that I used to miss every time I read it. Let me quickly share some knowledge with you.

In VERSE 1, Paul says he is an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. That means that Paul is aware that God has called him to purpose. Paul was chosen by God to be an apostle of Christ.

The verse goes on to say that Paul is writing to the saints in Ephesus, which are the faithful in Jesus Christ. Now, be aware that Paul is not writing to all of those in Ephesus that go to church regularly, or those that sit in the sanctuary wearing their very best clothes with their noses so high in self-adoration it looks like they are looking at the ceiling. Quite the contrary, Paul is writing to those who are truly faithful in their hearts to Jesus.

In VERSE 2, Paul wishes then grace and peace in the name of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That testifies to the deity of Jesus, or to the fact that Jesus is also God.

In VERSE 3, we see what I said a moment ago about our having all the blessings of God. It says He has blessed ‘us’. Who is ‘us’? ‘Us’ is the faithful in Jesus Christ. We are His sons and daughters.

Can you remember ever being chosen for something? I remember in grade school we would go out onto the playground and choose up sides to play softball.

Now, I was pretty good at softball, but when they drew up sides, a little girl by the name of Irene Brooks would always get chosen before me. I HATED THAT! I would always get mad and start to pout, but finally, I would get picked. Of course, my mood always turned towards the better at that point. (And, let me admit the truth right here. Irene was a very good ball player. She deserved to get chosen first.)

In VERSE 4, we find that we have all been chosen, and the chooser was God Himself. He chose us before He even made the world. Now, if that doesn’t make a person feel very special, nothing will.

In VERSE 5, we find that He actually adopted us into His heavenly family. We are joint heirs to the kingdom of God along with Christ Jesus who sits on the right hand side of God.

Let me explain adoption to you. During the time that the New Testament was written, when a family adopted a child there was no immediate big celebration of that adoption. But, when that child reached the proper age, there was a celebration, and at that time, the child was given every single legal standing as every other member of that family. In other words, once adopted, that child became a full member of that family, along with receiving inheritable rights.

God has adopted us, and now we have every legal right to the kingdom of Heaven – if we would only know it. Most Christians do not have a clue as to how much they really have through Christ Jesus. And, just like the Yates family, if they do not know it, they certainly cannot use it for their good or for God’s good.

VERSE 6 says we have been given these things because of God’s glorious grace. But it also says how we can receive them; and that place is ONLY through the One He loves, which is Jesus Christ, the Son.

In VERSE 7, we see that Christ redeemed us. That means we have been bought back by the blood Jesus shed on the cross. Because of that blood, God has given us forgiveness of our sins through His grace.

We talk a lot about grace and mercy. Let me tell you what those two words mean.

MERCY = Not getting what we should get. (God’s wrath & punishment)

GRACE = Getting what we shouldn’t get. (God’s love & forgiveness.)

EPHESIANS 2:19 tells us that we are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens and members of God’s household. Now, if we are members of His household, do you think there are any duties we might have?

Every member of every household I know has some kind of duties. When I was a child, one of my duties was to take the garbage cans out every week. Man, I can remember that like it was yesterday, but I cannot remember just why it was that I hated that job so much! Looking back on it, that job doesn’t seem like much, but I sure did dread doing it.

If you were to ask Diana and me over to your house for dinner tomorrow, one of the first things you would do is make sure all the dirty socks were picked up, right? You would go out of your way to make sure that your house was clean so we would not see your mess.

Don’t you think, then, that as members of God’s household we should ask Jesus to fill our hearts? If we are going to ask Jesus to come into our hearts, don’t you think one of your first duties would be to make sure all your dirty laundry and garbage ahs been taken out so that Jesus would find a nice place to live in?

What are some of the things in your heart that you know you should get rid of before Jesus moves in? You know what they are, don’t you? He does too, and He wants you to start cleansing your heart and preparing it for Him.

How many of you think your body has a spirit? Raise your hands. I have some news for you. We are not bodies that have a spirit. We are spirits that happen to have a body! It will not be our bodies that are gathered up to Jesus; it will be our spirits. Our bodies will soon die and turn to dust. It is our spirits that will live forever.

In 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23, says that God Himself will sanctify us through and through. The words ‘sanctify’ means to be ‘set apart’ from the rest. We are set apart from the world because we have been sanctified in Christ. The verse goes on to say that may our spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of Jesus. Our spirits are first named, because – why? Because our spirits are we, and our spirits just happen to have a body that it lives in while we are on this earth.

In EPHESIANS 2:1-2, we find that before we had Christ in us, we were dead in our sins because we followed the disobedience of the world and not God.

In VERSE 4, it starts off by saying, ’But because ...’

It is because of God’s great love for us that we have been saved from the eternal torment of hell. It is because of God’s great love for us, extended to us through Jesus Christ, that we have been saved, and not because of anything we have done or said or thought.

But because. That is the most beautiful phrase in existence. Abram would have died an old man who had no inheritance; BUT BECAUSE God loved Him, Abraham became the father of many nations.

Moses would have died a stuttering sheepherder, BUT BECAUSE God loved Him, he became the deliverer to God’s chosen people.

We would have all died miserable unhappy sinners, BUT BECAUSE God loves us, He has allowed us to be adopted into His family – with all the rights that Jesus Christ has in Heaven.

BUT BECAUSE God loves us, He has given us every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realm.

‘BUT BECAUSE’ – what a wonderful phrase to praise God for!

When I look into the mirror and see my earthly body getting older and starting to fail, I remember that I would have nothing more, BUT BECAUSE God loves me, I have a spirit and that spirit praises God that I have a purpose for God’s kingdom.

A few minutes ago, I told you we were chosen by God. That is wonderful, but being chosen, by itself, does not help us much. That is only the first step. After God chooses us, there is something that we must do. We must accept it. Let me explain about being chosen and then accepting that choice.

Let’s say that I am at home, sitting in my favorite chair and Diana comes in and puts her hands out. In her hands, is a beautiful watch that she says she has purchased for me.

Now, what would happen if I yelled at her in anger and said for her to get it away from me and to never do such a thing again? That would break her heart and end up with my having no gift at all, wouldn’t it?

What would happen if she handed me that watch and I looked at it and then put it on the table behind a picture, saying I didn’t want it now, but “maybe someday” I’d wear it? That would break her heart, too, wouldn’t it? And if I did that, I wouldn’t end up with the gift either.

Now, let’s say that she handed me that watch and I said I didn’t want her to give it to me, but I would love to have it so I would pay for it? That doesn’t even make sense.

Now, what does that watch have to do with the message of God? It has everything to do with it. Many people yell at Christians and persecute them all because they do not want the gift. Still others see that it is worth having, but they don’t want to stop having worldly fun right now, so they decide they will get salvation “someday”.

Still others think that the gift of salvation can only be obtained by good works. This is like trying to buy salvation, but, salvation is something that we cannot buy or earn. It is a gift. The only way possible to get salvation is to accept it through Jesus Christ. There is no other way to receive it.

How many of you have ever canned food? When I was a child, we lived on a farm in the Appalachia Mountains of Virginia, and my parents canned all kinds of food. If they just put it in the jar without sealing it, the outside air would get in it and ruin the food. By sealing it, they kept the outside from getting in and this way they kept the food good for the day of consumption.

In EPHESIANS 4:30, we are told that we have been sealed in the Holy Spirit, and we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit. That means that by being sealed in the Holy Spirit, the outside cannot force its way in and ruin us. We are kept sealed and holy for the day of redemption. If we were to turn away from the teachings of Jesus, we would grieve the Holy Spirit, because we would be breaking the seal and letting the outside get into our hearts, and that would ruin us.

There was a young boy who went to church with his father and mother. When they entered the sanctuary, the little boy looked up and saw a cross on the wall. He looked at his father and said, “Look, Daddy! A plus sign!”

The cross would have only been a place of persecution, BUT BECAUSE God loved us so much, the cross became a place that we find redemption and blessings.

Do you really know that you have all the blessings of Heaven? In EPHESIANS 1:3, it says that God has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Heaven. That is past tense, but that blessing is like the old Timex. It is a gift that just keeps on a giving. And, if we have been blessed, that means we are members of God’s household.

And, if we are members of His household, we have a divine purpose. Do you know what your purpose is? Would you like to find out what your purpose is so that you can access all of your blessings?

I began this message by telling you that Diana is a part of me and when I look around our home and see that she is gone, I feel as if a part of me is gone, too. And that is true. But that is how I view my relationship with the Lord, Jesus, too.

He is part of me, and His presence is so profound in my life that when I look around I expect to see Him. And when I stop to look around in my life and do not readily see His commanding presence, I feel empty and completely at a loss. That is because I love Him, and I miss Him.

That is when I instantly go into prayer, praising Him for loving me enough to be with me and asking Him to let me see His presence. And He always comes through and lets me see His influence, or lets me feel His love. And then everything is okay again.

Do you have that same type of relationship with Him today? Do you have this absolute need to be with Him? If you don’t, you have no idea just how much you have been missing! And He is giving you yet another chance right now to respond to Him and He will respond to you. The Bible says that if we draw closer to God, He will draw closer to us. And that is what we need to do this morning – draw our hearts closer to Him and expect His heart to be drawing closer to us.

Let us close our eyes and bow our heads, as we go into this time of personal interaction with the Lord. Let us open our hearts and invite Him in.