Kevin Dibbley - February 25, 2024
"Become What You Are"
One of the biggest challenges that we face as Christians is understanding and then truly believing that while we live in a fallen world, a new day has dawned. When Jesus began his ministry, he announced that with his arrival the kingdom of God had literally come to earth. With his death and resurrection, Jesus had defeated sin and death and Satan, and He ushered in a new age. With his ascension into heaven, He was given all authority in heaven and on earth. Paul says earlier in Ephesians that God exalted Jesus “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age to come.” Then, the Father gave the Son “as head over all things to the church” (Ephesians 1:20-23). We live in the age of the reign of Jesus. Paul tells us that what that means is that sin and Satan no longer have dominion over us (Ephesians 2:1-5). We are called to live a new life because we have been given a new life. We are to put off the old. We are to be renewed in our minds. We are to put on the new. This message is called “Become What You Are”. It is really practical instruction for living the new life God has given us in the power of Christ. Let’s pray that the Spirit of God would use the Word of God to do a fresh work of God in each of us this week. Let’s become who we are. If you want to read the passage that we are studying, it is Ephesians 4:25-32.
Scripture References: Ephesians 4:25-32
From Series: "Ephesians: One In Christ"
We are beginning a sermon series focusing upon the New Testament letter of Ephesians. Our series is called “One in Christ”. In Japan, there is a form of artwork called Kintsugi art. Kin means gold. Tsugi means to mend. In Kintsugi art, an artist will take, for example, a piece of ceramic teaware that has been broken during an earthquake or something like that. Instead of repairing it to make it look like the original plate or teacup, the artist will instead use Japanese lacquer and gold to actually highlight the fractures. Out of the broken vessel comes a brand new piece that is considered more beautiful and more valuable than the original. The apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians that God in Christ has chosen to take our lives broken and alienated from God and each other by sin and make one new community. John Stott writes “Through Christ and in Christ, we are nothing less than God’s new society, the single new humanity which he is creating and includes Jews and Gentiles on equal terms. We are the family of God the Father, the body of Jesus Christ his Son, and the temple and dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.” Our hope and prayer is that over the next several months, we would get a vision of the church as God’s new creation, His masterpiece, which is just the beginning of what God intends to do throughout all eternity and throughout the entire heavens and on earth. Out of his brokenness, we become one. Pray that together we would become in real relationships what we are in positionally through the gospel – One in Christ.
