Kevin Dibbley - February 18, 2024
"Learning Jesus"
This message is called “Learning Jesus.” It is taken from Ephesians 4:17-24 where the apostle Paul is encouraging the Christians at Ephesus to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” The Ephesian Christians were once Gentiles walking in “the futility of their minds.” Futility really describes that downward spiral that the unbelieving world is in towards spiritual and moral catastrophe. The individual believes that he or she is completely fine and in control. They think that they know the way to life, to joy, to peace. In aviation, there is an error called a “graveyard spiral.” It happens when the pilot thinks he is flying with his wings level, but he or she is actually flying in a wide downward circle. Their altimeter and vertical speed indicator tell them that they are getting lower so they simply pull back on their control yoke. They grab the controls. What that does is actually tighten the circle of their descent towards a crash. It’s like water going down the drain. Sin does that. It leads us in an ever rapidly descent towards death and calamity. Our tendency sometimes is to grab the controls back from the Lord. This isn’t what we expected to happen and so we try to fix things in the flesh. The truth is that there is only one way out. It isn’t grabbing the controls back. It is giving up our control to Christ. It is looking to the One who alone leads us out of death and into life. One of the spiritual disciplines of the Christian is learning how to fix our eyes on Jesus who can lead us out of sin and death and towards that eternal rest for which our souls long. Do you feel like you are in a downward spiral in your personal life? Are you moving away from Christ? Are you seeing or sensing that you need to grab the control yoke and fix this yourself? Have you been handling difficulties in the flesh? Come this Sunday, as we study this passage and understand what Paul means when he talks about Christians having “learned Jesus.” Even as Christians, especially as Christians, we need to understand the wisdom and the way of “Learning Jesus.” This is absolutely vital so pray that we might learn and live God’s wisdom together.
Scripture References: Ephesians 4:17-24
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.
