Series: Ephesians
Title: Rejoice When Persecuted for the Gospel
Text: Ephesians 3: 1, 13
Date: December 5, 2013
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
Ephesians 3: 13: Wherefore I desire that ye
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Years
before this, the apostle Paul had preached the gospel in Ephesus. Christ called out many of his redeemed saints
in Ephesus. They loved Paul for the
gospel he preached unto them. Most of
those members were older now. Many new
member had never met Paul.
The
last time those older believers saw Paul he was going up to Jerusalem. Imagine
their heartbread when the news came that Paul was now in prison. False rumors spread through the churches. Paul was accused of, “teach[ing] all men
everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought
Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place.” (Acts 21: 28)
It was because of the message Paul preached.
Imagine
if I travelled to preach somewhere else. Word came to you that your pastor was in
jail. Men said, he is preaching against
God’s people, he is preaching against the law of God, against the place where
we worship and he has taken up with rebels against God and has polluted
everything we regard as holy.
If you
had not heard from me, personally, that would cause great confusion in your
minds. It would greatly discourage many. Some would have their faith shaken. Without
hearing from me, personally, you really would not know what to think.
That
was the situation between the apostle Paul and the church at Ephesus. Paul is
writing this letter to set the record straight—to assure them his persecution was
reason to rejoice, rather than faint. To
assure them, in spite of the persecution and scandal, this was for their good
and Christ’s glory.
Ephesians 3: 13: Wherefore I desire that ye
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Proposition:
When we, as believers, behold God’s preachers, suffer persecution, rejection or
false accusations from men, never become discourage, but rather rejoice and
continue steadfast believing Christ.
Title:
Rejoice When Persecuted for the Gospel
We have
reason to rejoice in persecution when it is because of the gospel of Christ
which we preach and believe and by which we are saved.
You
would think after reading the first two chapters, the statement would be, “For
this cause, I Paul, was received gladly for the gospel sake.” Instead, we read
Eph 3: 1: For this cause I
Paul, the prisoner…
Why are
men offended at the gospel of Christ?
Sinners are just as offended today by the gospel as they were in the
apostle Paul’s day. Why is that? What would cause men to imprison, beat and
kill believers for the sake of the gospel?
We will take the four things they accused Paul of as our outline. This is why men are offended at the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
I. FIRST, MEN ARE OFFENDED AND ACCUSE US AS
THEY ACCUSED PAUL SAYING HE PREACHES AGAINST THE PEOPLE.
They
meant against the earthly Israel, the natural sons of Abraham. In our day, men think the same thing--that we are preaching against them, their father’s, mothers, preachers
and brethren who believe another gospel--when
they hear the gospel of Christ. It is because the gospel
declares God’s holy nation, his house, his church and kingdom, is not earthly
but spiritual.
Our Natural State is Sin
Every
sinner’s natural born state is sinful. Nothing about our natural born condition
contributes to our salvation: not even if you were a direct son of Abraham himself—Ishamel
was cast out; not even if you were born in natural Israel; not even if you were
of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee of Pharisee’s. Paul was all that before being born of God. Paul
said, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ…And do
count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” (Philippians 3: 7-8)
God’s Holy Nation is Spiritual
God’s
holy nation is spiritual. Made up of God’s elect chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world—elect Gentiles, as well as elect Jews. We are redeemed out of every nation into his
holy nation by the blood of Christ Jesus. God’s people are freeborn into his
holy nation—of God the Holy Spirit by Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2: 17: [Christ] came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18: For through him we both
have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Please
understand, to say any natural thing contributes to our salvation—even to say God
will call sinners in Israel because they are natural sons of Abraham—is to
attribute salvation to the sinner. Salvation is by God’s grace. Salvation is
not because of anything natural about us.
God is a Spirit
The woman
at the well was a Samaritan, a heathen woman.
She worshipped idol gods at an earthly mountain separate from earthly
Jerusalem in earthly Mt. Zion in earthly Israel. But she was a chosen child of
God, about to be born again by the Holy Spirit, through the gospel Christ
declared to her. So he said to her,
John 4: 22: Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye
shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22: Ye
worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
By “Jew”
he meant, not natural-born Jews, but as Paul said in Romans 2:
Romans 2: 22: He is not a Jew which is one outwardly,
neither is circumcision outward in the flesh, But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.
John 4: 23: But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father
seeketh such to worship him. 24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him
must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Paul
declared this clearly in the first two chapters of Ephesians so he writes here in:
Ephesians 3: 3: How that by revelation he
made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4: Whereby,
when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5: Which
in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed
unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6: That the Gentiles should
be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by
the gospel:…11: According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord:
So when
Paul preached that God elected his people, regenerates and gives faith, makes
us one by Christ’s body, it offended those whose confidence was in their flesh,
in natural, earthy things.
Today, naturally
religious men are offended when they hear nothing natural about them makes a
difference in their salvation. They may not imprison you but they will separate
themselves from the gospel. The gospel strip away his false refuge.
This is
the cause for which Paul was in prison. So
he says in Ephesians 3:13: Wherefore I
desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
II. SECONDLY, MEN ARE OFFENDED AND ACCUSE US,
AS THEY DID PAUL, SAYING WE PREACH AGAINST THE LAW.
Christ is our Righteousness
They accused
Paul of preaching against the law because Paul preached what he wrote in Ephesians
2, that Christ alone fulfilled the law on behalf of God’s elect thus breaking
down the middle wall of partition between us, making us one with God and each
other, by the body and blood of Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2: 13:
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are
made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 : For
he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall
of partition between us; 15: Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making
peace;
Why is
this offensive to men? It is because men who are trusting in their law-keeping are
going about to establish their own righteousness. Therefore, they hate to hear,
Romans 10: 4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one
that believeth.
The law
is holy and just so it must be and can only be fulfilled by one who is holy and
righteous and that one is Christ Jesus the GodMan Mediator between God and his
people.
Christ is our Sanctification
Also, they
claim they grow in sanctification by their law-keeping. The gospel declares we
are sanctified through the Spirit, the flesh profits nothing.
Philippians 3:3: For we are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh.
See, the
gospel takes away the cloke—the disguise—which men use to cover their sins.
This is why they crucified Christ and why they would crucify us if they could.
Paul says my suffering is for this cause, for preaching the gospel of Christ
and him crucified. So Paul says in Ephesians 3: 13: Wherefore I desire that ye
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
III. THIRDLY, MEN ARE OFFENDED AND ACCUSE US
AS THEY DID PAUL SAYING WE PREACH AGAINST THEIR PLACE.
They
accused Paul of preaching against this place, meaning, their earthly city
Jerusalem and their earthly temple. In our day, when men hear the gospel of
Christ they hear the gospel speaking against their denomination, their
tradition, and so on.
Fellowcitizens and of the Household of God
Paul
declared all God’s saints are fellowcitizens of a greater city than earthly
Jerusalem. We are fellowcitizens of heavenly Jerusalem. Paul declared all God’s saints are of a
better temple. The LORD God Almighty and the Lamb is our temple. Believers are
a holy temple in the Lord, a habitation of God through the Spirit. (Eph 2: 19-21)
Ephesians 2: 19: Now therefore ye are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of
God; 20: And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21: In whom all the
building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22: In
whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Today, men
are just as offended. Naturally
religious sinners are of the earth so they want earthy things they can see and
do: touch not, taste not, handle not, an earthly kingdom, an earthly nation, an
earthly city, an earthly temple, an earthly priesthood, offering up earthly
sacrifices. Paul called that “Elements of the world”, “weak and beggarly
elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage.” (Gal 4: 3, 9) He called
it a “vain show” that no way mortifies the flesh! So called fleshly mortification
which is of the flesh actually puffs up the flesh. Men are proud of it! So Paul said to believers,
Colossians 2: 20: Wherefore, if ye be dead with Christ
from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye
subject to ordinances, 21: (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22: Which all are
to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?
No Spiritual Discernment
Why do
men love earthy things, rather than the truth that our city is in heaven, our
temple is God our Savior, our worship is spiritual? It is because the earthly
man has no discernment of spiritual things.
1 Corinthians 2: 12: Now we have received, not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things
that are freely given to us of God. 13: Which things also we speak, not in the
words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. 14: But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I
encourage everyone in this place to use a King James Bible because that is what
I am teaching you from. I can assure you that you won’t believe the gospel by a
modern translation, neither by my words, my arguments or my illustrations. God has to give you spiritual discernment. Then you will have an unction from the Holy
One and ye will know all things. (1 Jn 2: 20)
They rejected Paul because their affection was on the earthy, rather
than things above.
Romans 8:5: For they that are after the flesh do mind the
things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the
Spirit.
So Paul
says, “For this cause, for the gospel’s sake, I Paul, am a prisoner.” Therefore, Paul writes to his Ephesian brethren
saying, in Ephesians 3: 13: Wherefore I
desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
IV. LASTLY, THEY ARE OFFENDED AND ACCUSE US,
AS THEY DID PAUL, FINDING FAULT WITH OUR BRETHREN.
Judging by Looking at the Flesh
They
accused Paul of polluting their earthly place because he was seen in fellowship
with Gentiles who they judged to be unclean simply because they were uncircumcised
in the flesh. In our day, earthly religious men only judge earthly judgment and
so reject Christ’s saints, because they do not see us measuring up to their
standards. Christ said,
John 8: 15: Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
We No Longer Judge by Looking at the Flesh
2 Corinthians 5: 16: Wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the
flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 17: Therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new. 18: And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation;
The
believer given a new spirit, knows the flesh profits nothing so he no longer
judges after the flesh: old confidences, old prejudices, old standards are all passed
away. He sees all things new. We still have that old fleshly man that God must
mortify through the Spirit but now we know in our inward man, being made a new
creature by the blood of Christ, by his Spirit creating us anew, that this is
how we are saved.
Yet, the
only judgment the fleshly man judges with is fleshly judgment. Before being
born of God, Paul did the same so he imprisoned men and consented to their
death. After being born of God, he ceased fleshly, vain judging and began
preaching the gospel of Christ and waiting on God to put a difference between
his people and the world. So his former
religious friends now imprisoned him and treated him like fleshly men do.
So Paul
says, Ephesians 3: 1: For this cause, I
Paul, [am] the prisoner. Yet, he
would have his brethren remember, it is by this same gospel that we suffer, we
are saved. Therefore, we must persevere trusting Christ to preserve us. So Paul
says, v13: Wherefore I desire that ye
faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Amen!