Léonce Crump – Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Atlanta, GA
In this series, we will hear from various pastors across the country as they encourage Hope Community Church by explaining how we are part of a bigger picture. We are not alone. Rather, we are in a movement of God that has been growing for thousands of years beyond ethnicity, beyond generation and beyond location.
Introduction: Big God. Big Church.
Reimagine the Church.
Ephesians 3:1-13
We conceive of the Church as a (mostly) necessary afterthought.
God’s great dream is the Church.
Exposition
Ephesians 3:1
Ephesians 3:2
Ephesians 3:3-4
Paul has “written briefly” on this mystery previously.
Ephesians 3:5
Ephesians 3:6
Paul presents three compound adjectives: co-heirs, co-bodied and co-partners.
In Jesus, belonging to the family of God is no longer ethnically determined but determined by belief.
Ephesians 3:7
Ephesians 3:8
There is no end to the wealth of God’s grace.
Ephesians 3:9-10
What God is doing in the world is the Church!
Jon Stott said, “…the church is God’s new community…conceived in a past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity…”
Ephesians
3:11-12
God’s church is the fulfillment of an eternal Dream for intimate people who
would reveal His wisdom even to heavenly hosts.
Ephesians
3:13Why does this matter?
Reimagine the Church as God’s Great Dream.
We cannot say we love Jesus if we do not love His Church.
We cannot truly love God but despise His Dream.
A love for God necessitates that we build up His beloved Church.
Respond
Ask God to make your heart alive with His Divine Dream.
Ask God to help you reimagine His Church.
Ask God to give you a great love for His Church.
Ask God (with me) to forgive you for the ways you have despised, diminished or disregarded His Church.