REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 10
FEBRUARY 2002: MORNING SERVICE
Our help is in the Name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
AMEN.
Psalm of praise: 25:1,3.
Nicene Creed
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of
the Father before all the worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God
of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the
Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was
incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and
was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was
buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;
and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father;
and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who
proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.
And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one
baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of
the dead, and the life of the world to come. AMEN
The Law : Ex. 20:1-17
Psalm 5:1,2,3.
Prayer
Psalm 86:5.
Scripture reading: Ephesians 3
Text: Ephesians 3:16-17
...
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith ...
All believers - also in our congregation - must live prayerfully with
the Lord. In this process we must grow in faith:
- This happens by our living a life of daily repentance in the full
grace of the presence of God the Holy Spirit.
- In addition, we must continually reach out to one another in
faith.
By doing so, we will, as a congregation, offer to the supreme and only
God and Lord all honour and reverence. This we must do unceasingly -
now, and always.
Arising from the passage we have read together, we will consider the
following matters in this sermon:
1. Revelation and prayer.
2. Revelation and rebirth (spiritual
regeneration)
1. Revelation and prayer.
This prayer of Paul's proceeds from what he wrote in chapter 2, namely
that the Lord saved us by His grace and renewed our lives after freeing
us from sin. In connection with this indescribably great act of grace
by the Lord, Paul now deals with various matters:
- Firstly he writes that the Gentiles must appreciate it that the
Lord has delivered them from the death of being utterly lost in their
sins, and that they must seek the peace of Jesus Christ.
- He then writes that proclaiming the gospel necessarily results in
people experiencing tribulations - that is why he is in prison.
- But the believers in Ephesus should not be distressed on this
account. He considers it an honour to suffer for Jesus Christ.
- Then follows the closing portion of the passage: Every person who
realizes what it means that Jesus Christ died so that we could be saved
through grace alone to be admitted to life everlasting, can but bow his
knees forthwith and worship and give thanks to God.
In this way the Lord reveals through Paul's pen the greatness of the
salvation which believers receive in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- Gentiles, who were utterly lost and in the darkness completely
outside the kingdom of God, are saved through His boundless grace.
- The effect of this on Paul was that he bowed his knees before the
Lord and prayed for these who were saved in this way.
How many of us, serving in the offices of elders, ministers and
deacons, pray, because we feel the need to do so - while we are so
filled with respect and reverence for the great wisdom and grace of God
- for the church members He has entrusted to our care? There is
something in this action of Paul's which we ought to emulate. We must
also come to the point where the realization of the unimaginable
greatness of God's salvation for us sinners brings us to our knees
before our Lord God.
It is perhaps strange for us to envisage people - and sometimes an
entire con-gregation - on their knees in prayer, but in the Old
Testament and in Paul's day this was quite common.
- The Lord told Isaiah that every knee would bow before Him in
worship (Isaiah 45:23).
- In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus knelt and prayed all night long
before His betrayal (Luke 22:41).
- Later Paul and the elders of Ephesus knelt and prayed together on
one occasion, and on another occasion the women and children
accompanied them to the beach and there all knelt and prayed together.
Compare the following passages of Scripture:
- Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!"
Having said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:60)
- When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them
all. (Acts 20:36)
- When our days there were ended, we left and started on our
journey, while they all, with wives and children, escorted us until we
were out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach and praying, we
said farewell to one another. (Acts 21:5)
Paul directs his prayer specifically to the Father of Jesus Christ. It
is a usage which became customary among Christians following the
example set in the Our Father, where Jesus taught us to address God as
Father.
This prayer reveals something of great importance about the Father:
- Every generation in heaven and on earth received their names from
Him.
- These words depict the Lord in His ministry as Redeemer or
Saviour.
- In our language much of this goes unperceived, but in the Greek
text it is quite clear that there is a strong connection between the
words "Father" and "generation". Both terms comprise the same root
word, but in different forms.
- The word translated by "generation" usually means: generation,
people, family. But in this sense it signifies that this generation is
of the Father. They have Him to thank for their existence and for what
they are.
The giving of names and Fathership are also related.
- The name received indicates specifically that the believers bear
the name signifying that they belong to the Lord - they are His
children.
- For that reason they address Him as Father.
- There is a reference here to believers who are already in heaven.
- Possibly the angels are included in these generations who are
in heaven.
- We know that the angels have no family relationship with one
another, and also that they do not marry, but nevertheless it is stated
in Job 1:6; 2:1 and 38:7 that they are sons of God.
- Because of this, the angels are included among those who
received their names from the Father, for they also have God as their
Father.
- The immeasurable greatness of God is thus manifested in the
generations in the heavens and on the earth who bear His Name.
We must bear in mind that a name in the Old Testament was not merely a
combination of sounds identifying a person. It revealed the nature of
the person concerned.
- In this instance, the fact that God the Father gave us a name
reveals that we are His childen and His property.
- The glory of the Lord is thus in a certain sense manifested in us
too, because through the Father we share in His majesty and honour.
Revelation and rebirth (spiritual regeneration)
The aim and content of the prayer is in turn focussed upon in verse 16v:
...
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be
strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being
rooted and grounded in love ...
Paul's prayer deals with and is intended for people who have just been
converted from heathendom.
- Up to that point they have had very little of the holiness of God
in them.
- But now they are redeemed and changed (2:1-10).
- The prayer is now a plea that the work of salvation and spiritual
regeneration may now continue in these redeemed people.
The problem is: How will this growth and change be accomplished in
these people in practice?
The answer is: Through the work of the Holy Spirit: Believers derive
all their abilities and competences from God the Holy Spirit.
Let us consider some of the instances where this is revealed in the
Bible:
- It is stated in 1 Corinthians 12:4 that there are varieties of
gifts which are one and all bestowed by the same Spirit.
- In Romans 5:5 the Lord states that the love of God has been
poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
We must only remember that everything so far quoted from Scripture
describes the Lord's working with and in us.
- But we also have a responsibility to fulfil.
- There must be a certain growth in ourselves, namely that we
attain such a degree of maturity and strength that we can resist and
prevail over everything which pertains to sin.
- In Ephesians 4:24 it is written:
- and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been
created in righteousness and holiness of the truth ..."
- We must therefore change inwardly and clothe ourselves in the new
self, as one puts on new clothes, as this passage teaches.
The ability to do so comes specifically from God the Holy Spirit.
- In chapter 2:8 it is already stated that we have been saved by
grace alone, through faith, and that this is a gift of God.
- Chapter 2:18 emphasizes that we have our access to the Father in
one Spirit: the Holy Spirit.
- Chapter 3:5 gain expands on this and teaches that Paul
specifically obtained his insight into the mystery of Christ through
the Holy Spirit -just as the holy prophets and apostles obtained also
their insight through the same Holy Spirit.
This teaches that the inner person must be strengthened and equipped by
the Spirit of God so that, amongst other things, through conversion (a
turning of the spirit to God) all weakness may disappear and the
struggle to achieve and maintain faith may become a victory march
against the devil.
Eventually this prayer of Paul's holds true for all believers, for even
those who have long been of the covenant bear this weighty burden of
the pollution of sin clinging to them. We must all be regenerated by
the Lord to grow out of this to perfection.
The result of the influence of God the Holy Spirit is that Jesus Christ
now lives in faith in the hearts of such believers (v.17). This is
reflected in two matters:
- On the one hand it refers to the inworking of the Lord upon our
hearts.
- On the other hand it refers to our own works which now proceed
from this inworking of God the Holy Spirit.
How does it become clear that God the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ live
in someone?
- Such a person's inner life is directed by a true faith and by
true love, which is manifested in their words and works.
- It is furthermore clear from their understanding of everything
revealed by God.
A person in whom these signs are lacking, darkens the relationship
between himself and the Lord. For that reason Paul prays that the
redeemed may enjoy the enduring immanence of Jesus Christ and God the
Holy Spirit, so that there will be no relapsing in their spiritual
lives.
- No believer travels this road alone. Believers in fact need one
another in their worship of the Supreme God and Lord.
- That is why the Lord says here that all the saints together must
grasp what the purpose is of the redeeming ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
The true believers must live with one another in true love and true
spiritual warmth. It must support them like a foundation which cannot
be plucked from under them.
- The inward guidance of the Holy Spirit must be revealed in the
faith of the redeemed, in that they prevail over sin - proudly, firmly
and with strength.
The Apostle furthermore prays that these redeemed persons will grow to
eventually share fully in complete fellowship with the Lord.
- The prayer asks that the Holy Spirit may make such a powerful and
lasting impression on the understanding of the believers that their
minds will in all respects be governed by their worship of and
thankfulness towards the Lord.
- The understanding of the believers must encompass the whole of
the grace and glory of God as it is revealed in the redemptive ministry
of Jesus Christ.
- The Bible speaks here of the "breadth and length and height and
depth", but this is merely to emphasize the immeasurable extent in all
directions of the boundless atonement accomplished by Jesus.
Faith naturally has two aspects:
- The intellectual aspect, because we must have a true knowledge of
God and His Word.
- But the emotional aspect is not excluded:
- The love of Christ, in which He so wonderfully manifested
Himself to us, must also become a living reality in our lives.
- Paul says here that the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge.
It is true that the love of Christ surpasses all knowledge, for who is
able to grasp and understand the reality, in all its dimensions of
greatness and gloriousness, that Jesus Christ gave Himself over unto
death for our sakes?
- When this love and grace are a part of our being, then only
do we share in the fullness of God.
- It is as if the Bible teaches that we can only share in the
fullness of God when this stamp has been impressed upon our character
and personality.
In wonderment this section closes with a doxology to the glory of Lord.
- The purpose of the doxology is of course in the first place to
glorify and praise God.
- In the second place it is intended to strengthen us: we must
understand that there is nothing too great to ask of God, and there is
also nothing which forbids us to ask it, because God is infinite in His
omnipotence.
- The omnipotence of the Lord transcends everything - it exceeds
everything that we can conceive or pray for.
- He works in us with this supreme power of God.
- This gives us some idea of the heights which could be within
our reach if we submit to the guidance of God the Holy Spirit.
The doxology closes with the words:
"... to Him be the glory in the church and in Jesus Christ to all
generations forever and ever."
- Something is emphasized very strongly: "... in the church ..."
and "... to all generations forever and ever."
- The church is indeed the place where the Lord reveals most
perfectly His redemptive grace, because the church consists of those
redeemed by the blood of Christ.
- Because the church consists of people, it has existed and will
exist for century after century, as one generation follows upon another
- until eternity dawns.
- The Head of this church is Jesus Christ. When John received the
revelation on Patmos, he saw Jesus among the churches - the seven
lampstands were the symbol of these churches.
The doxology ends with AMEN.
That affirms that everything is absolutely true.
- Come, let us as a congregation also live so prayerfully and with
repentance in the full grace of the presence of God the Holy Spirit.
- Let us continually reach out to one another in faith.
- And let us give to the supreme and only God and Lord all honour
and reverence - now and for evermore.
Amen.
Closing prayer.
Closing Psalm: 128:1,4.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
Amen.
Rev. Dr.M.J. du Plessis
Reformed Church, Bellville
10 February 2002.
Scripture quoted from NASB.