Janine: As Jai said, we're looking at Ephesians four and verses one to seven. As a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle. Be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
Tim Anderson: Hi, everybody. How are you going? Sorry, what? Hello, how are you going? Alright, yes.
When I first came in here, there was hardly anybody here and it's not actually filled up nicely. So thank you for everybody coming into church because we're gonna be talking about church tonight. Just a couple of things beforehand. If you've got Ephesians chapter four bookmarked because we'll be going backwards and forwards to Ephesians chapter four, some in and some in chapter two as well, but we are gonna be looking at, the lens, which is the lens we're looking through, is Ephesians, and the the sermon tonight is called the Holy Catholic Church. But before we start, just gonna pray quickly and then I'll get into it.
So thank you father for bringing that hearts have been prepared to hear your message and that you will speak to us individually through your holy spirit. In Jesus name, amen. So tonight, as I said, this is called the Holy Catholic Church, which is the next one of the series, looking at the Apostles' Creed, and I'm just gonna give you a bit of a background to my experience of church. Some of it you may relate to, some of it might be quite strange to you. So as a young boy, I grew up at a church called Saint Peter's Church of England, as it was then, in Wynnum, which is in Brisbane, and church for us was a bit of a weekly event.
My mom was head of Mother's Union, so I don't think anybody knows anything about Mother's Union here, but it was pretty big back in the day. My mother was quite young, but she was head of Mother's Union for the church, so she had a reasonable standing amongst the community. Our priests, we had a priest, they called them priests back then, his name was Father Smith, and he didn't give sermons, he gave homilies. So a homily is a fifteen minute talk, read from a sheet of paper, and they just get up there and he'd just read it, and it's finished, and then he'd walk walk away. So not like you get tonight, you get the full service.
This was like just getting the entree, I felt, with the homilies. And as part of this whole process, there would be a liturgical procession with deacons. Father Smith would walk in his full robes, and there would be smoke coming through, which represented the prayers of the saints. The bible was on a stand in the middle of this procession, and at a certain point, the gospel, everybody would stand and they would read the gospel, and they would say peace be with you, and they would respond, also with you. So some of us remember that.
And I was not that old at this time, hopefully, I didn't tell you what year it was, and I'd get in trouble a lot for slouching and talking during prayers, and Father Smith used to look at me quite severely. He was a bit of a severe sort of bloke, and he'd I think if he was allowed to, would have given me a smack, but I think they were allowed to, but he just never did, but yes, I used to get in trouble with that. So that was church for me when I was very young. Then my parents moved to Sydney, and we started at a church that we've had a bit of a connection with here in Soul Revival, and that's at St Andrew's at Cronulla. It's also the church that we actually, that Jen, my wife, and me got married at.
It's a place that I believe I became a Christian through confirmation class, actually. So I have a fond memory of the church. In fact, when we were, helping out at Cronulla and going regularly, there were orange, burnt orange chairs from the late seventies that I used to sit on as a young boy that was still there, so that says something about how forward Saint Andrews has moved. But we we didn't have a preach back then. We had a minister, and the first minister I met, his name was Roy Gray.
Some of you may know him as the Reverend Kennan Roy Gray, and one of the houses from Dane Bank was called Gray after him, actually, so he was quite a famous man in the Anglican community. He was also a police chaplain for the Southern Deanery for years, about ten years, and a famous cricketer. So he actually converted Booth to bat, so if anybody knows that story, he was actually the person who gave the gospel to Mr. Booth, and he played for Australia. So there's a bit of a link there.
He was an older guy, and at the time when I knew him, he was a World War II veteran, so he'd been in Papua New Guinea, same place that my grandfather had been. He'd been on the Kokoda Track, and he had a handshake like a vice, and that was, I don't know if you remember that, those days, but the minister would sit out in front of the church, as you and as you would leave, you would shake his hand as he as you walked out the door, and he had a handshake literally like a vice, and my dad loved that because he wasn't a Christian, but it was a manly handshake. It wasn't like a fish handshake. He wore he wore robes, but there wasn't any smoke. There was no procession, and he gave sermons, but funnily enough, they all went for twenty five minutes, so let's hope I can get and stay to that standard tonight.
But yeah, twenty five minute sermons, not fifteen minute homilies, and he's we still used the prayer book back then, but most of the formality was gone. There wasn't smoke, there wasn't processions. So it was strange to me, in the sense that I I didn't get in trouble for slouching anymore, so I wasn't like leaning, and some of you actually can actually lean forward and pray. This should be a kneeling bench for you, or in this row potentially. That's where I used to get in trouble, but I did get in trouble for talking during prayers.
So some things change, some things stay the same. So maybe I did learn something because I don't talk during prayers anymore. Now I'm speaking to you from a building where there isn't there's almost no formality. No smoke, no robes, the church isn't even named after a saint. You know?
Who would have thought? Well, why am I telling you this? Because all these expressions, we call church. At least these were experiences or an expression of an experience of church, all different but still refers referred to as churches. So whilst this is a sermon, it isn't about the Roman Catholic church, but it is about the holy Catholic church.
So what do the words holy, Catholic, and church actually mean? So I don't don't know if you've actually ever thought about that. I didn't really think about it until I looked at this sermon, but I think it's important when we start using terms like that, that we actually think about what does it actually mean? Well firstly, well what does holy mean? Don't know about you, but when I was growing up, people used to talk about being holy and all the rest of it.
I don't really know what that meant, I just thought it meant being good, or, you know, like Swiss cheese was holy, but I wasn't holy, I knew that. But what I found out, that it actually means to be separated from the world and dedicated to God. So there's a process of being separate from the world and being dedicated to God. So that's the word holy. Paul talks about this a lot, but we're gonna look at Ephesians chapter four twenty two to 24.
So you were taught with regard to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires to be made new in the attitude of your minds and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. See, there's some action there which we'll come back to. Secondly, what does Catholic mean? Well, Catholic in the formal sense, we are familiar with the Roman Catholic church, but the word Catholic means universal. So that means universal church across time and space.
In fact, the church wasn't even revealed until we got into Ephesians. It was actually hidden. People didn't know it existed. In Ephesians, I mean, Paul actually talks about the secret that was hidden, and what was hidden was the church, and the church is the body of all believers standing, sorry, sitting under the headship of Christ. So across time and space, the whole, that's the concept of Catholic, and the church means is a group of believing Christians that sit under biblical authority and the headship of Christ.
So that gives you a couple of different ideas. What holy means, what universal, well, the Catholic means, what church means. And so Paul's letter to the Ephesian, particularly in, through through chapters one through to four, where the apostle lays out our spiritual reality of the church, states clearly it's not an institution of brick and mortar, nor merely a gathering of like minded people, but it's a living, breathing body of Christ set apart for God's holy purpose. It's all about the believers. That's why we call Kiriwi the what do we call it here?
The factory. Why do we call it the factory? And it's not it isn't particularly special. It doesn't have great liturgical dressings. There's not pictures of saints.
It's just a safe place to meet. And church is the people in the factory, not the factory. Alright? So sometimes we think about the word we use the word church when we talk about buildings, and we think that the church is a building, but no, it's the people in the church. So God sets apart people, not buildings for his glory.
With all our imperfections, our contradictions in our flaws. We are the church, and we are the ones who are called to love those around us. So it is us collectively, not just you and the leadership team, and how we live, everybody here, matters, and how the world sees us is a reflection of us as members of the church. And I could give you, and I'm not going to do it, but I could give you eight sermons on the first chapter of Ephesians, but I'm not gonna do that, and I hear some sighs of relief, but there's so much rich content in that, and I would really encourage you to dig into it yourself and in your groups to find out a bit more about this stuff. But I've only got today.
So I've decided to focus on some very practical advice. Chapter four is where I'm gonna focus, that gives us in terms of what the church should be like. So there are three key things Paul is trying to teach us about what a good church looks like. These are that there's unity in the church, people use their gifts to build up the church, and there's a new way of living that requires action from all of us if we wanna have a great church. So unity in the church, from Ephesians chapter four verses one to six.
As a parishioner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and patient and gentle, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body, one spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called, one lord, one faith, one baptism, one god, and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Verse one quite regularly runs around in my head.
Tim, you need to be worthy of the calling you have received. So let me say it occurs more often than I'd like and mostly when I need to hear it. Am I worthy of this calling that I've been called to? I offer this to you, as a practical way to help you with your personal holiness. If you read this verse and memorize it, I guarantee it's gonna bounce around in your head, when you most need to hear it.
So read that, take that, take that into your heart, because God put that into my heart, and so I'm gonna share that with you today. So working on your personal holiness will also help with church unity. If you are prayerfully and sincerely seeking to be worthy of your calling, I guarantee you this, God will answer that prayer. People who humbly seek to improve their personal holiness are people you wanna be around. People of a common mind and heart are unified people.
Later in chapter four, we receive some more practical ideas to help with that, but it all starts with the heart and your willingness to sit under Christ's authority and love no matter no matter your personal circumstances or situation. It doesn't matter whether it starts with the heart. It always does. Starts with the heart. So different gifts that build the church.
So this is from Ephesians four seven to 16. But to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says, when he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people. What does he ascended mean except that he also descended to the lower earthly regions? He who descends is the very one who ascends higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors, the teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body may be built up until all reach unity in the faith in the knowledge of the son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every kind wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speak the truth and love. We will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ. From him, the whole body joined and held together by supporting ligament grows and builds itself in love as each part does its work.
What Paul is doing here is setting the example for the church. He tells us that we all have access to grace. We all have different gifts. The purpose of those gifts is to build up the body. Finally, if we speak the truth and love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is Christ.
So much there, but to help, I'm gonna pull out two things I think are helpful. Firstly, is the apportionment of grace to each believer, every single one of you. Paul is very specific here, but to each one of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. Everyone has been given grace freely, every single one of you if you're a believer. Some more and some less, but you've all been apportioned it according to what Christ has determined that you should be given.
But be in no doubt, if you are a believing Christian, whether you feel it or you don't, you have been apportioned grace. Think about that. For those who haven't made the step to faith yet, grace is there for you. So let me just put it this. This I'm talking to the Christians Christians about being a push if you're not a believer tonight, don't worry, we can fix that, because God's already speaking to you tonight.
And if you wanna come and accept Jesus, come and speak to one of the team or to me afterwards, and we'd love to pray with you. So but keep your ears open because I think there's some good things to hear about what it's like to be in the church that's got Christ at the head. So the first one was about grace. The second is a promise. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is ahead, that is Christ.
So did you catch that? There's a promise there. Speaking the truth in love leads to a mature church. It's not a guarantee that a church will become mature, but it's a goal that we wanna strive towards. The idea is is very understandable, but the implementation is it's difficult.
It's hard. But what things that are easy are as worthwhile as things that are hard? So we should think about that. If something is hard, we shouldn't be shying away from that. We should be walking towards it.
Because if you get something easy, you don't appreciate it, but if it's hard to get, it's something that you will hold onto and value. So if your heartfelt desire is to love someone well, then when you speak to them, you will not sacrifice the truth either. Truth and love. Remember, we talk about speak to them. Truth and love.
But in loving them, you will choose your words carefully, seeking the best for them. It may takes maturity and skill to deliver a well formed message. That's true. But with a prayerful and contrite heart and a Christ like view of the other person, over time, this will happen. We should not expect the church to be perfect because it's got people in it.
Right? People like me. And let's just face it, it's only by the grace of God that any of us are here. But because of God's grace, we are here. And because it won't be perfect this side of heaven, we still need to reflect on the fact that we wanna strive to to make a great church.
We want a church where people speak truth and love, where there is grace abounding amongst us, and where we use gentleness when we speak to each other, and think of the other person as we move along. So I just wanna go back to verse 14. Then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching, and by the cunning craftiness of people in their deceitful schemings. So we heard the uplifting bit, but now we have to hear the sobering bit. We all need to recognize the reality of the world and where we are.
Not everyone who comes to church comes to add to the body. An immature church, in fact, any church, can suffer from the work, as Paul puts it, of the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. There will be people from time to time who are not here to uplift but to pull down. Churches are groups of people, and that means we get everybody because everybody's welcome. But don't be naive about that.
Satan doesn't want churches to flourish because that goes against what he wants, and his plans are not for your goodness. So I've just changed something here just to keep keep this in your mind. So be aware, but don't despair. Paul has already outlined how we limit their influence in chapter four. We work through grace.
We use our spiritual gifts to uplift, not pull down. We seek unity in the faith and the knowledge of the son of God, and we speak the truth in love. This is a formula that we will see our church grow together towards maturity in Christ. Coming to a new way of living, which is my next point. So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord, this is from chapter four seventeen to 24, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do.
In their futility of their thinking, they are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to their hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned. When you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus, you were taught with regard to your former life, way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your mind, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true holiness, righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must first put off falsehood, speak truthfully to your neighbor.
We are all members of one body. In your anger, do not sin, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must not steal, no longer, but must work doing something useful with their hands that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let out any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up others according to their needs that it may benefit those who listen, and do not grieve the holy spirit of God with whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander among along with every form of malice.
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as Christ forgave you. Verse 17 to 32 give you some very wise advice on how you should live in the church. And then we're talking about a new self. You were taught with regards to your former way of life to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires, to be made new in the attitude of your mind, and to put on a new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. You cannot lead a truly godly life if your heart is unreformed.
You have to take off the old self, and you need to put on the new self. Isaiah sixty four six puts it this way. All of us has become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. We all shrivel up like a leaf and let the wind and like the wind, our sins sweep us away. You cannot have live an unclean life.
God regards the acts of a person with an unreformed heart as filthy rags. So we've gotta have a new language. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, and we are all members of one body. In your anger, do not sin, do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Here he exalts us to change how we speak to each other.
We can no longer speak falsely to our neighbors. We should instead speak the truth in love gently and carefully. If we get angry, don't sin, which means you can have a righteous anger just as Jesus did with the money changers in the temple, but Paul doesn't want us to sin. We must control our anger and seek to resolve problems. We don't wanna let them fester because we know what that looks like.
Some people have been in churches where that has happened, and we don't want to have that here. One of the things that I wanted to bring with you is this concept about not letting and this is from Ephesians two, not letting the sun go down while you were still angry. And that's been a key part of our marriage. It's one of the things that we built, one of the rocks that we built our marriage on. I can only think of one occasion when that might have happened, but we did reconcile the next morning, but we remembered and practiced this principle for all our married life.
It works. It works. And if you're not practicing this principle, something that I urge you to take up and think about practicing. To practice this means someone has to be humble enough to be the first person to seek peace. So think about that.
It takes an active and conscious effort to do that. If you wait too long for the other person, then the sun might go down on your on the anger, So we don't want that to happen. And trust me, this is sound, solid advice. It works, and it's the key to having a relationship that you wanna keep going to. Alright?
Very important. Think about that as something you might wanna adopt. Unresolved, because unresolved anger leads to bitterness and resentment, and nothing good comes from that. Nothing good comes from that. Paul urges us to change completely how we speak to each other.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who who would listen. Benefit the people you are speaking with. Also, always be an example to those who are listening because you don't know who's listening when you're talking to others. Your kids listen to everything. Even if you're not in the same room, they've got radar ears.
They'll hear everything. So just remember that, how you speak to others, and trust me, I'm coming from a person who has not done everything perfectly, I'm way less than perfect, so this is not, no fingers pointing, because when you do that, there's three of them pointing back at you, so this is not pointing at anybody. But just remember, and it's it's to sober us to remember that how we speak to each other, people watching how we speak to each other, has deep impact on both the person you're speaking and the people who are listening. Proverbs 15 puts it this way, a gentle answer Proverbs fifteen one, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. And I put a bit of an Ephesians four twist on it, and I said this.
I said, a gentle word at the right time lifts the heart, and a corrective word at the right time saves the soul. How we speak to each other matters, but this is not some pharisaical political correct language code. It's actually all about the heart. It's all about your heart. Ezekiel thirty six twenty six says this, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.
I will remove from you your heart of stone, and I will give you a heart of flesh. A stone heart is a dead heart, but a heart of flesh is a living heart. Paul talks about this in Ephesians two one to five. As for you, you were dead in your duress and sin, in which you used to live, when you followed the ways of this world and the rulers of the kingdoms of the air, the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions. It is by grace that you have been saved. Now we who are saved have a heart of flesh, not one of stone, because the God who we worship in his mercy made us alive in Christ. Can you think of anything more amazing than that? The God of the universe chose to make you one of his children and to make you alive in Christ.
So let's just talk about a new life. Ephesians four thirty one to 32. Get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and brawling and slander. Along with every form of malice, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in in Christ, God forgave you. Now I know if you have been in churches long enough, you will see things that disappoint.
It's just what it is, sadly. Words that you would have heard words that tear down and don't build up. Thankfully, that's just for a season a season. Because in a Christ centered church, you'll find just you'll find your feet again. Because if Christ is your is your head and you're following Christ, he's faithful and just and loving and kind, and he will he will bring that church back to himself if that's a church that truly seeks to follow him.
So what we have here is a simple but powerful exhortation from the apostle to the Ephesians about but also to us here in Kirowee. To heal and to prosper, we have to embrace the new life. We need to guard our hearts with these words as as a reminder where you have come from and where we all need to go. The God we worship is slow to anger and abounding in love for his peoples. So I've got four points to finish up on, things I want you to take away, some practical ideas from scripture that will help make soul revival a truly holy Catholic church.
The first one comes from the apostle James. Be quick to listen and slow to speak. So James one to 19. My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this. Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
The second one, which we just heard about, is don't let the sun go down on your anger, from Ephesians four twenty six, for those who wanna make notes. In your anger, do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Number three, be humble, gentle, and patient, from Ephesians four two. Be completely humble and gentle.
Be patient bearing with one another in love. Bearing with one another in love. Not in annoyance, not in grumpiness, but in love. Bearing one another in love. And finally, this one that I mentioned before, living a life worthy of your calling.
As a prisoner for the Lord, then I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. If you're a Christian here, you've received that calling. Live a life worthy of it. Whilst there are no guarantees in life, if we have a heart of flesh committed to love God and others and sincerely to seek to practice some of these things that are really hard but really practical ideas on how to make a church, what a church this could be. What a great church this could be.
In fact, it's a pretty good church anyway, but I want you to think and reflect on that. Think and reflect on these four points that I have for you. Just take them away, pray over them, think about them. How can you build up our church with your love and your gifts and your calling? So it's not just to be a church member, but to be an active church member, contributing not just hearing, but practicing what Ephesians four tells us about the church.
That's all I have today. So I'm just gonna pray and just thank you thank you to everybody who's listening. I just want to encourage you that the god we worship loves you, and he loves everyone here. And sometimes you hear you we hear things, we're not sure what they mean. Don't worry.
The spirit will help you understand what he's trying to teach you tonight. So let's pray. Father, in your in your great mercy, you have given us Jesus as our savior, as our example to turn our hearts from stone to flesh so that we may truly be living sacrifices and live a life worthy of our calling through Jesus Christ, our lord. Amen.