Our Unending Enrichment in Christ

Take your Bibles if you would please and turn to the book of Ephesians. My summary statement in studying Ephesians is this. This is the summary statement that I've come to conclude after spending much time and trying to get a grasp on this rich book. Our unending enrichment in Christ. Our unending enrichment in Christ. This is a treasure chest of spiritual blessings for which would perhaps take beyond our lifetime to comprehend what's in this great prison epistle. And I invite you to start this journey with me and stick with me perhaps for a good long time. I pray that perhaps we would finish this maybe in two or three or four years. But I don't know what the Lord has in store. But I want to get all that we can out of this wonderful book and go through it not just verse by verse but thought for thought the best that we possibly can.

Our unending enrichment is something that I would like to speak to you today in the subject of being in Christ as the main theme of this great book. And so Ephesians chapter 1, I'll read the first seven verses just so that we can get introduced to the idea of the richness that is in Christ in this book that's available to us. Ephesians is a treasure house. It is a treasure house of spiritual blessings for which we need to get better acquainted with. And we're just going to kind of peek open that idea today. It's a spiritual bank, so to say. And it is unending because the source is Christ and Christ alone.

And so Ephesians chapter 1 in verses 1 to 7 says this, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God to the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace which He freely bestowed upon us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace."

And yes, we'll just stop there mid-sentence. That sentence in the Greek goes all the way to verse 14. From verse 3 to verse 14 is one sentence. I love run-on sentences, don't you? Some of you do, some of you are like, "Uh-uh." Well, if you speak like me, half English and half Appalachian, you may love those type of run-on sentences and we'll dive into it.

But first of all, I want you to know that these riches in the Greek speak to moral richness, spiritual richness that's from His grace. An example of this is that His saving grace is our riches in Him and our steadfast hope. The ability to have steadfastness of hope when there may be no hope abroad is the rich source that you've tapped into in Christ. And so when there is no logical reason for you to be steadfast and hopeful, but yet you are, it's because of Christ in you as the hope of glory — it's none of yourself. You have an optimistic perspective and a reality from a biblical worldview that is in Christ. And so saving grace, steadfast hope, and then also a source of this richness would be His true knowledge and enduring in suffering and assurance of salvation and freedom from guilt. This is just an ounce of Ephesians and all of its enrichment. So be prepared to be built up in Christ and enriched by His glorious precepts here.

And so in verse 7, chapter 1 verse 7, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace." And so His riches are unending. And so our unending enrichment in Christ is what we're going to be discovering. And so in chapter 3 verse 8 it talks about how these riches are unfathomable. And so I look forward to trying to discover, to the extent of which our limited minds can comprehend, these unfathomable or these unsearchable riches. Read with me in chapter 3 verse 8, "To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ." These unfathomable riches of Christ are just amazing.

And then also in chapter 3, look with me in verse 16. Verse 16 says this, "That He would grant to you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with all power through His Spirit in the inner man." And so these blessings, these spiritual enrichments are not external by way of becoming rich financially. These are far more valuable than that. They are inner riches that are hardly exhaustible. And so I would like to say that Ephesians is tapping into these riches and helping you to see how rich inwardly you are in Christ.

And Paul here is helping to shift the mindset from the rich and wealthy city of Ephesus to becoming more rich in Christ. And in Christ is a mystery. God is revealing His riches, which are a spiritual blessing in Christ, which has been for a long time a mystery. Look with me in chapter 1 verse 9. See that this richness in Christ has been a mystery. Chapter 1 verse 9 says this, "He made known to us the mystery of His will according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him." And so this idea of being in Christ has been a mystery but now it is being revealed. These rich spiritual blessings are being revealed now to these people on how they are rich in Christ.

And this mystery was also spoken to in chapter 3 and verse 3. Chapter 3 verse 3, "By the revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief," referring in verse 4 to this: "when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ." This mystery is now being revealed and so Ephesians is a rich mystery revealed. This is amazing. We get to embark upon a rich journey here of God revealing His rich blessings.

And so we started this rich book study last year by simply reading through the entire book straight through out loud just like what had been done in the first century, as if we were the recipients of this letter. And I'll give you a little study tip. If you were to put yourself in the position of the audience — and so you have an author and then an audience — when the author is writing to the audience that is the intended meaning. When you put yourself in the place of the Ephesians and you do a background study on all of the topography, on all of the economics, on all of the deities and demons and churches and all this, all the aura, the zenith of the day, when you find out what it is to be an Ephesian and you put yourself there and say what would it be to be an Ephesian and have this letter come to you as one who was attending in that day, then all of a sudden you're digging into some really cool background information.

The first thing that would have happened was that the faithful ones would have stood and read the entire scroll from start to finish for the congregation. And that's what we did last week, and many of you felt that it was a rich blessing to hear God's word simply read from start to finish, the whole book of Ephesians. That was wonderful. And I would encourage the fathers to also read Scripture to your family because the Word of God is such a sufficient and wonderful blessing just to hear it read.

I would encourage the fathers to read Scripture out loud to their families and just simply say, hey, I want to have some Scripture reading time, perhaps some prayer time, and even maybe it will overflow into some worship time. But reading the Scriptures out loud in your homes does this — it puts in the hearts of your family members. You are putting Scripture in them. And the Bible says to hide God's word in your heart. And so fathers, I would encourage you — and if you are a single mother and you have a family, do that. Read the Scriptures out loud and fill your house with Scripture so that Christ may dwell in their hearts.

Read with me in chapter 3 verse 17. This is wonderful. If you want Christ in your family members and the Word of God in their hearts, chapter 3 verses 17 to 19 says this, "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the height and the depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God." Do you want that for your family? I do, and when you read God's Word amazing things happen. And that happened for us last week and I'm just simply bragging on Jesus and Jesus alone.

So in regards to Ephesians and the richness of this book, the riches are available here in Ephesus for those who are seeking gold or profit. That's what Ephesus is known as — a maritime town, one that is a port city for those who have trade. They have trade coming from China all the way to Africa, from China all the way to South America. The trade port of Ephesus was right in the middle of these two huge continents and they had at their fingertips all of what the world had to offer.

And here in Paul's letter it is striking at the very heart of who they are. They think to themselves that we are rich Ephesians. We live in Ephesus and I've learned a trade and I am now rich, I'm wealthy. And so the riches that are available there in Ephesus is perhaps comparable to the California gold rush and how people were fleeing where they lived to go to California to become wealthy. And those in Ephesus were given to wanting wealth. They also worshiped at this temple of Diana, which was also known as Artemis. They worshiped there and all of their lusts and all of their fleshly desires were approved and affirmed at this grotesque demonic temple, and then they would go out in their everyday life and make money and make money and make money.

And so Paul's letter here is talking about how our true wealth is in Christ, not in Ephesus, and so Paul is shifting their outward pursuits to becoming more of an inner wealth in Christ, and so the overall message is that true wealth is in Christ, not in Ephesus. A splendorous outward beauty of Diana's temple is nothing compared to the inner splendors of obtaining Christ in you, the hope of glory, which he said in Colossians chapter 1 verse 27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." That splendor, that glory, that richness, those spiritual blessings, that wealth far exceeds any material gain here on earth.

And so if you are in a position to seek Christ in your life and not be a slave to making money, blessed are you my friend. Do not worry about your earthly occupation. Be blessed to be able to pursue Christ and to know what these blessings are and enjoy your relationship, your rich relationship in Christ.

So though this letter is full of all of the Asian churches, it's circulatory in nature. It started at Ephesus and it would have been spread around to all the churches that are mentioned in Revelation — the church at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. This letter was intended for them. And if you compare this letter to the other letters for which Paul wrote, you may notice that the greeting is a little bit shorter in nature. It's not as personable and you ask yourself a question, why? If Paul spent three years at this church in particular and he had personal relationships there, why did he write such an impersonal greeting? Well, this was a circulatory letter that started at Ephesus.

I would like to read to you some of the results of this church and bring a warning to you out of Revelation chapter 2. Turn if you would to Revelation chapter 2 and read the first seven verses and see where the church of Ephesus ended up. And a warning to us is that you may have the word of God preached to you, you may align yourselves with the word of God, but our spiritual legacy could be derailed if we are not truly on with the most important things. And so this church at Ephesus left its first love of Christ and loving Christ, but it ended up losing that love.

Now Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 says this, "To the angel," or perhaps an elder or a pastor there, "of the church in Ephesus write, the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands says this, I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance and that you cannot tolerate evil men." Now right here you know that there were evil men there trying to get inside of the church at Ephesus and they were addressed in the book of 1 Timothy. And so these guys perhaps were even elders and had to be called out publicly. So evil men tried to take over the church — just nothing new.

"And you put to the test those who call themselves apostles." That's a good thing, to test men. "And they are not, and you found them to be false." Verse 3, "And you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake and have not grown weary, but I have this against you that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen and repent and do the deeds you did at first, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent. Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans which I also hate."

Now you know that Romans 12:9 says to hate what is evil and to cling to what is good. And so for Christians there should be an abhorrence for evil. We should hate the evil — perhaps not the person, but the evil that's working through evil people, okay? We need to evangelize the persons. But the Nicolaitans approved of making money in Jesus's name. They were like your modern-day prosperity gospel preachers. They championed this idea that they could take a movement, harness it, pervert it, and gain profit off of it. The Pergamum church allowed the Nicolaitans as well.

But here, the first part of the word "Nicolaitans" — "nico" means conquest over others. And so the conquest or the controlling of others is what the Nicolaitans tried to do as they penetrated the church, and their pursuit was money. And this is the same thing that Ephesus was known for — wealth and the pursuit of money. It kind of went hand in hand. And so now these Nicolaitans were introducing the name of Jesus in order to gain money and to control people. Obviously God hates His name being used for personal profit here on earth. He hates that. And the Ephesian church did well to call it out and to excommunicate them. And so that was good.

But on the flip side, they somehow left their first love in verse 4. And so I would say to us, we need to be very careful not to lose our first love and loving the Lord Jesus. Turn with me if you would to Matthew chapter 22 and verse 36. This is the entire word summarized in Jesus' estimation. Matthew 22:36 and 37. The question is asked, "Teacher, which is the great commandment of the law? Which is the great commandment?" And then in verse 37, "And He said to them, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all your mind.'" This is the great and foremost commandment. That's Matthew 22 verses 36–38.

Ephesus was a town given to wealth, and within this they had this church. And this church was doing great but they lost the very main thing. If you were to receive this encouragement from Christ, and not to leave Him, then you would pursue Christ first above all things. And here in America we have a plague, where fathers feel like it's their only job is to bring home the bacon and to make the money. And they have no engagement in regards to spiritual things and no engagement in educating their children and no engagement at all. We have what I've kind of dubbed as a drop-off mentality. They feel like they're doing right by just dropping off their kids to school and dropping off their kids to church and dropping off their kids to sports and dropping off their kids for whatever, you name it. And so we have this drop-off mentality where the mama's minivan is just running up the miles dropping the kids off at everything. They are discipling your children. Seriously, you have all of these entities discipling your children. God teaches us to disciple.

And so we have our little learners here at Beulah Baptist Church, whom we are regaining the primary role of teachers as parents to teach them the word of God. And so we're combating these things, because we are not given to the American dream to try and have a two-story house with white picket fence and two brand-new cars and be financed until the next generation, the next generation. We have this as our goal — to simplify our lives to be simple and biblical to the best that we can, to open up room in your life to be able to love Christ, to learn His word, to serve in the church and to be all that Christ has created you to be. You will tap into His riches, His spiritual blessings, if you make room for Christ. But if you schedule your life to where you're too busy, then you're too busy.

If you do not have time to pray, time to read the word of God, time to go beyond the average reading of God's word to the study of His word — you have to study God's word. Did you know that's a command? 2 Timothy 2:15, you have to be able to rightly divide the word of God. You'll learn how to do that in our 3D Bible study groups. And on Wednesday nights, we have these 3D sheets so that you can dig into God's word — devote, pray, dig into the word, document what you find. This is a simple way to do that. And you can take one paragraph and dig into it. And I guarantee you will be there for three hours. Some of you may be four or five, staying up all night, just engrossed in the love of God.

This true knowledge, these true blessings are found through digging. That's the reason why we use the word "dig" — because digging takes a little bit of effort, a little bit of time. And if you would dig into God's word, then you would be able to tap into these rich and wonderful blessings. We like to say it like this: if you skim the surface, you get leaves. But if you dig deep, you get diamonds, and those rich and wonderful diamond-like truths are found by digging into the word of God. But you must do what the Bible says — love Christ with all of your heart. And what does that mean except to make time with Him and put into practice what God's word actually says.

And so the splendorous outward beauty of all of what Ephesus and the city had to offer — it was like the capital city, everybody wanted to go there. It was a tourist attraction. Everybody wanted to have been able to check it off the list. It's kind of like for those who are around the world who see Mickey Mouse town, Walt Disney World, as a place to go — they're going to check it off their list. And people would save. It used to be $10,000 to be able to come for a week here to central Florida. Now it's probably close to $30,000 just to be able to come for a week and go to Disney World. That is not the goal.

The world — they wanted to go to Ephesus and see this world wonder, this temple of Artemis, which was becoming the temple of Diana, and the worst grotesque things happened there — not proper to even say inside of the church. I'm telling you, that is not our goal. Whatever the world is pursuing and they deem as what is to do, it needs to be discerned as whether it's worldly or of the word of God. And that is what we live in, and if you have a biblical worldview, you would realign the desires of your heart with the word of God and it will be a blessed endeavor.

Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Let me explain that to you. If the Ephesians would listen to Paul and delight themselves in the Lord, in Christ, and be of Christ — they delight themselves in the Lord — then God gives them their desires. So whatever you may desire now, that may be of some worldly pursuit that you value, that changes when you delight yourself in the Lord. When you study God's Word and delight yourself in Him, He gives you the desires of your heart, and those desires are the desires that now rule and reign in your heart. And those desires are not worldly desires — those desires are spiritual blessing desires. All of a sudden you just can't wait to study God's Word. You just can't wait to serve in the local church. You just can't wait to study and teach and preach. You just can't wait to be a part of God's number one plan, the local church. You cannot wait to be able to spread the gospel and make disciples. He puts in you desires when you seek His word.

Psalm 37:4: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I hate the desires in me that do not aim at pleasing Christ. I hate them. And when I seek God, He gives me new desires so that visiting one of you guys, talking about the word of God or studying the word of God or serving — whatever — becomes now my greatest joy. Seeing a disciple comprehend more of Christ becomes way more enjoyable than anything that this world could offer. You can waste your money on all kinds of hobbies, you can waste your time on all these types of things — they do not add up to what life in Christ and the spiritual blessings and richness that is Christ equals.

John the Apostle said in 3 John verse 4, "I have no greater joy than to see my children walking in the truth." And you too can tap into no greater joy. There's no greater joy — that is Scripture. There's no greater joy. I don't care how fast the jet ski or four-wheeler or sports car goes, there's no greater thrill and there's no greater joy than life in Christ. That is the theme of Ephesians, and I'm whetting your appetite to study all that you can — read ahead, dig ahead, do all that you can in the book of Ephesians as we learn what it is to experience life in Christ. To know Him is mind-blowing, heart-shaping, life-altering in all kinds of wonderful ways.

And so this circulatory letter is intended for all of these churches, and Paul is redirecting people's carnal hearts, okay? He's redirecting their purposes, especially in Ephesus, as they would be given to wanting to get wealth. He's redirecting it from an outward wealth to an inward wealth. He is shifting what they are searching for. He is taking them from futility to fullness in Christ. Paul is taking them from the commercial economy from which they live in — and that's all they think about, is how to make another dollar — and he's taking them from a commercial economy to a Christ economy. Not of this world. We work as unto Him, right? Not unto men. That's what the Bible says in Colossians 3:23. When you get a biblical worldview, all of a sudden everything changes.

Do you think America needs this message today? Yeah. I think America and industrial revolution and everybody coming to America is this one big distraction. The success that America represents is not richness in Christ — it's material wealth that stays here when you die. But life in Christ. Ephesus was a maritime city, which means that it was connected to all this commercial trade. There's millions and billions to be made at this port city. All the industry, military and travel through Ephesus made it known around the region. It was a capital city under Roman rule, and as a province in Rome the splendor of the temple of Artemis was a draw such that all the people in the pagan land would come there. It is better known as the temple of Diana, and it was a world wonder. But guess what — too bad. Herostratus burned it to the ground in 356 BC. All of what this worldly wealth built up was burned to the ground in 356, and then Greece rebuilt it again, and then after the life of Christ the Goths came in and utterly destroyed Ephesus again.

May I just add — America doesn't have to be here, right? This place — it's temporary. Your body, temporary. Your occupation, temporary. But life in Christ is eternal, and you can spend the rest of your life getting to know these spiritual blessings. We need to learn what it is to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And it comes faster for those who stop the pursuit of money, because that causes you to lose your love for Christ.

You have a reason why you work — because you don't want to be worse than a non-believer who can't provide for his family. You have a purpose for why you work, as unto God. You have a theological and doctrinal reason why you work, because from the garden God gave it to men and women to be workers. Proverbs 31 explains how women can work and make money and do well, and men as well are providers. We have a theology of work. But that needs not to usurp Christ. In fact, if you work with the right purposes in your life, it is wonderful. If you have ideologies in your mind backwards, it's a burden, and perhaps you are like one who is in Ephesus who needs to be realigned with the Word of God and hear what the Apostle Paul was saying — that money is the wrong motive. Get out from underneath this world's evil domination of money being God. Maybe you should hear this: maturity in Christ is priceless. The unlimited riches that are in Christ are priceless, but the money and the things of this world are so temporary it's almost like, who cares?

When you put it that way — maturity in Christ is priceless — then you hear 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 3 afresh and anew, and it says, "For it is God's will that you are sanctified." Don't worry about what God's will is for your life. God's will is already prescribed in His word: to be sanctified. Be being sanctified. Be being sanctified. Keep coming to church and being refined in your Christianity, keep studying the Bible, keep reading, keep praying, keep pursuing. Continue in the word. John 8:31 says, "Continue in the word," and you will align yourself from the worldly worldviews of this world into a biblical worldview and you will be just fine, I promise.

And so making money is alluring but it's deceiving. And then as well we also see the manipulators try to creep into the church and gain control for the sake of money — there's nothing new here. And so money needs to be not your motive. Ephesus was a rich port city. People came there because of all of its allurements. People came there because of all the riches. People came there because they wanted to make money. People came there because it was free living — they could do all that they simply wanted to do by way of the flesh and be celebrated. That is not who we are as Christians.

Paul in Ephesians says that he is not of Ephesus, he is of Jesus Christ. And as we start to land this plane — which is the introduction; I've had a lot more to go — what chapter 1 verse 1 says is this: "Paul, an apostle of Christ." What does it mean to be of Christ? Well, in John chapter 17 verse 16, Jesus in His high priestly prayer said that "they are not of this world." Okay. Paul here is saying I am of Christ, and we'll talk about these words word for word in future sermons, but today I want to kind of press in with this idea of Paul saying that he is of Christ.

And that means three things. It means that he is indicating, number one, that he belongs to Christ. Number two, that Paul has been sent by Christ. And number three, that Christ defines his ministry. To be of Christ means that he belongs to Christ, he's been sent by Christ, and Christ defines what he does and who he is. And that is what it means to be of Christ, these three things.

And so interpretively, if you would follow beyond just observation to interpreting what this means — Paul viewed himself nothing more and nothing less than a blood-bought and paid-for slave of Jesus Christ. He has been purchased by the blood of Christ. A slave master who owns another person — in this day, keeping in mind that the Bible never condemns slavery, it was a means of economics at this time; a third of the people in Rome were slaves, it's just simply employer-employee relationships; the poor treatment of people is condemned in the Bible — but here Paul is saying, I'm a slave of God and I am of Him, have been bought by Him, I'm owned by Him.

And as one who has been purchased, as a slave who has a job description, God then defines what I do and I stick to that. I don't have liberty to do things that I want to do, I don't do them the way I want to do them — I do what Christ has told me to do, because He bought me with His priceless and precious blood. And now His job description for what I do, Paul would be saying, is what I am going to discipline myself to do, knowing that there's all kinds of opposition. And Paul no longer views himself as of Tarsus, okay? He no longer views himself as one who is of the tribe of Benjamin — these are very significant things. But he comes right out of the gates and he says I am of Christ. He does not say anything else of where he is from or where he is going or what his purpose is. He says: I am of Christ.

Now, I would say to us — people cordially say when you meet one another for the first time, "Hey, where you from?" as an icebreaker, right? But perhaps we can politely reply to someone who asks where we are from and add to it, "Well, where I am from is not nearly as important as where I'm going. My identity is no longer wrapped up in my family heritage. I love where I'm from, but that's not what defines me. Where I am born doesn't define me. I am of Christ, I'm in Christ." You have an opportunity to share the gospel the next time someone asks you where you're from. Where I'm from makes no bearing on my life anymore. I used to think more highly of where I'm from, but now I think more highly of who I am in Christ and where I'm going and what He has for me to do. I belong to Him. He has sent me to spread Christianity and now He has redefined my life. I used to do these things, I used to value these things, but now I have new desires in Christ. My life is absolutely amazing because I'm on this journey of discovering what it is to be in Christ. These spiritual blessings are amazing.

And so Christians likewise have been bought. 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "You were bought with a price." I will never forget when my son was in fifth grade and when I asked him what it meant to be a disciple who was bought by the precious blood of Jesus Christ — the full price of Jesus's blood — and he said, "Nobody likes a rip-off." I had to think about that for a moment. So okay, I just taught you what it is to understand the cost of being a disciple and that Jesus's blood is priceless, and you just replied to me, "Nobody likes a rip-off." "Could you explain that to me?" And my son said, "Well, when you pay full price for something and you find out that you don't get all that you paid for, you got ripped off." I said, "Son, you understand what it is to be bought by Jesus Christ." And when we do not serve Him accordingly, we are ripping off Christ. We've been bought with the full price — He didn't pay half price for you, a discounted rate. You've been bought, and now you are of Christ, learning what it is to be in Christ. To be of Christ is to have been bought, sent, and now as you follow Him, He defines what you do.

So Christ is everything. Today, if you take anything home, remember that we have unsearchable, incomprehensible riches in Christ and we're going to be discovering what it is to be in Christ, to gain Christ. I conclude with Philippians — turn with me there if you would. Philippians chapter 3, where Paul talks about how all of his accomplishments are but rubbish in comparison to gaining Christ. Christ is everything. Philippians 3:8 says, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, my master, my king, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things." I count them — listen — all of what the Ephesians could have built up by way of worldly wealth, all of that wealth, all of what the Philippians might have had, all of that, all of what Paul had accomplished in this world as a top-rated, highly educated Pharisee — status, money, clout, power — all of that he counted as but rubbish. Maybe your translation says dung, manure. In the Greek it's excrement, skubalon — the worst, most repulsive thing: excrement. That's what all of this worldly accomplishment adds up to. And you're going to live for that? Is that your motive? Is your pursuit worldly aspirations and worldly accomplishments? Skubalon — excrement. I mean, Paul is pretty accurate here when he says that's what it is. And so if you think that value is here in this world, you're on a futile road.

But if you think that all of that stuff just is what it is, and I'd rather place my heart and my motives and my mission in Christ and view this world for what it is, then you will do what you have to do with the right motives, and you will be now redefined in Christ. You will serve and you will work with a new motive. If you are around wretched people who make you frustrated and angry, well, God has placed those people in there to refine you so that you can be more glorious to Him. They are polishing your patience. They are helping you to shine, because you are forced to be patient in their presence, because you're a Christian — you've been bought and paid for.

If your occupation is drudgery, change your mind. You're in Christ. Is God not ruling and reigning over this whole world? Does not the whole world belong to Him, and everything in it? Everything that happens, God is sovereignly orchestrating. We do it as unto Him. And so we do what we do here because that's what God has for us. But greater than our occupations, greater than making wealth, greater than all these things, is life in Christ.

Today I implore you to really make a division in your mind between the pursuit of worldly things and the pursuit of being in Christ, becoming more like Him, knowing what it is to gain Christ. So here's what the remainder of the verse says: "The surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things," these worldly things, whatever, "and count them but as rubbish, that I may" — do what? — "gain Christ." And the beautiful truth about that is that He dwells in you, but you can only comprehend all of what you already have in increments. It's kind of like putting a porterhouse steak in a baby's mouth that doesn't even have his teeth yet — he can't even take it. We can't even comprehend or accept all that is within us. It's going to take some bite-sized increments here for us as people to discover the riches of this letter, the richness of Christ, the wealth that we have internally. And in order to do that, I pray that you would move the external motives of money aside and place yourself and give yourself to the internal understanding of what it is to gain Christ, as one who has been fully bought and paid for. Let's pray together.

God, it was sobering to me to see that the Apostle Paul comes right out of the gates and he says that I am of Christ, and I thank You for this idea. I pray, God, that if anyone here is given more to valuing their last name or their family heritage or any type of worldly tradition, that You would place Your ever so tender Spirit upon that and bring this dear flock into more of an alignment and understanding that they are primarily of You, not of this world. I thank God for our heritage and I pray, Lord, that we can protect our Christian values. But that, Lord, is awesome — but beyond all things we are of You and in You, and this letter opens up the spiritual blessings. I can't wait to dive, dive into them and divulge all that what Your letter has.

Father, if this message today has come upon ears who think it's strange, I pray, Lord, that they first of all would listen to me clearly now, in that if this is incomprehensible and perhaps they are unregenerate — they have not been saved, they have not been given the ability to understand spiritual concepts because they are not yet of Christ — and if anyone here has not repented of their sin and truly reflected upon what it means to be sorrowful at the point of our sins being paid for by You, the innocent One upon an old rugged cross who was tortured and battered and bruised, crucified as a payment for our sin — our sin had a cost and You paid that cost, that You were punished in our place — God, if anyone here is unregenerate and they do not know for sure that they have truly become a Christian by placing their faith in You, I pray that You would help them to repent of their sin. And by that I mean utilize that faith that You've given them to exercise and say, "God, I believe that You died on the cross and rose again for my sins." God, I pray by the power of Your Holy Spirit that You would draw lost souls unto You, that they may be saved for Your glory, that they may be able to truly comprehend what it is to be in Christ. Give us this grace, dear God. Give us this time. Thank You for setting us aside this day to worship You in truth and in spirit. I pray that the saints here would be edified, the lost would be saved, and that we would continue in Your word. In Christ's name, that we do pray, and all of God's people said, amen.