Ephesians: Powerful Motivation [Sermon Notes]

Ephesians500x500Ephesians: Powerful Motivation
Series: Ephesians
Dave Bartlett
Orchard Hill Church
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What was your week like? It’s been an interesting week! Crazy weather but Spring is on the way. Girls State Basketball going on. There is a lot happening.

The reason I ask how you’re doing is because Chapter 5 of Ephesians speaks to you where you’re at today.

Ephesians 1 – A good picture of what Jesus has done for us.
Ephesians 2 – The walls of hostility have been brought down.
Ephesians 3 – In God’s Kingdom, enemies come together as friends.
Ephesians 4 – We are called to be one.

Ephesians 4:1 NIV 
As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.

Kevin, you don’t have Brett’s calling.
And, Kevin, you don’t have Sue’s calling.
If you try to live out someone else’s calling, it’s like a bad Elvis impression.

Ephesians 5:1-2 NIV 
Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

We are going to live as we are dearly loved. We all know that children who grow up and are cared for operate healthy. It can be harmful if we are not dearly loved.

Illustration: Grandpa of 11 grandkids

  • Our newest grand baby is a girl, Carolyn.
  • She was born in trauma. Swollen brain, bad blood, collapsed lung, kidneys not working
  • But she is doing well and we anticipate that she’s going to be a healthy little girl.
  • In the first week, the only part of her body you could touch was her head.
  • The moment I touched her head, she went from being an idea to being a person.
  • The picture of being dearly loved, for Carolyn, is being able to touch her head. Still, that’s powerful.

Illustration: Playing with grandpa

  • My wife, Linda, has been gone to help with Carolyn.
  • On Friday night, the grandkids wanted to play outside (even though it is cold and snowing)
  • Later on, I looked out the window and didn’t know where the girls were
  • They were in the tree! Up high!
  • (Uh-oh)
  • Just then Ben (my son) drives in. (It always happens that way, huh?)
  • In that moment, Ben begins directing and helping the kids get down from the tree.
  • Some of you, today, find yourself up a tree. But God is at the bottom instructing you.

It’s so interesting that Paul references the “dearly loved child.”

These are pictures of love:

  • Giving gifts
  • Snow blowing a neighbor’s driveway
  • Cooking
  • Helping a neighbor in need

Jesus met the needs of people and gave them time and space to respond.

Illustration: The movie “Son of God.” The movie showed how Jesus was about his business but always stopped to help people.

How do I respond as a dearly loved child? How can you imitate God by loving others

Ephesians 5:15-16 NIV 
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

“Evil” could be translated as short/brief/few

Illustration: Talking with my 87 year-old dad

  • I want to learn from him. Certainly he knows things at 87 than I do at 64
  • “Nothing” is what he usually says.
  • The other day, he told me, “I’m learning to value every single day more.”

What are my careless time wasters?

What “dumb stuff” do you wast your time on? TV, internet, video games? There are too many things that are important that we don’t want to spend time on things that aren’t important.

Often, when I ask people how they are, they tell me that they are busy. Let’s not be busy.

“Making the most of every opportunity” is also important in these verses. There are many opportunities that we have to encourage or care for another person.

Illustration: College community assembling AIDS kids

  • They raised money and assembled 100 AIDS kits for Africa
  • This is a great picture of making the most of an opportunity
  • There are plenty of other things they could have done on that Friday night

Ephesians 5:21 NIV 
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

This means that we are to put each other first.

Illustration: Officiating weddings

  • Pre-marital counseling for couples.
  • Twice in the last twelve months a bride to-be has said that they don’t want the “wives submit to your husbands” verse.
  • I always like when that comes up because then we have the opportunity to see what that actually means.
  • First, we submit to each other (men and women). This means that each of us has a part to submit to each other.
  • A husband needs to “die to himself daily” in love and service for their wife.

Illustration: CFO cleaning the building

  • The CEO didn’t like that the CFO was cleaning the kitchenette
  • “Don’t you know how much money you cost us?”
  • The CFO said that he wanted to serve the staff.

My wife and I are opposite when it comes to body temperature. She’s always hot and I’m always cold. This presents problems. Also, she’s a planner to the T while I’m more spontaneous.

We must submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, no matter the setting.

Illustration: The Board Meeting

  • We have 10 elders on the Board.
  • There was a four hour meeting the other night;
  • I saw them listen to each other for a long time.
  • Some of them listened to a person they didn’t agree with
  • I saw them submit to each other

Who should I submit to better?

Be imitators of God and love others. Be careful how you live, the days are few. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

We do this because of Jesus. He was born, he lived, and he allowed himself to be killed for you.

Christianity is the only faith that doesn’t need to do good to receive the creator’s love. We do good because when we didn’t deserve it, he loved us anyway. That’s the difference! You don’t have to work for God’s love, you receive it with open hands and then you do the good work. We must get the order right, otherwise you feel resentment. We must understand that God loved first.

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