Post on 15-Jul-2015
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
15 For this reason, ever since I heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for all God’s people, 16 I have
not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers.
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may
give you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him
better.
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened in order that you may
know the hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his glorious inheritance
in his holy people,
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
19 and his incomparably great power for
us who believe. That power is the same
as the mighty strength 20 he exerted
when he raised Christ from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the
heavenly realms,
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
21 far above all rule and authority, power
and dominion, and every name that is
invoked, not only in the present age but
also in the one to come.
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
22 And God placed all things under his
feet and appointed him to be head over
everything for the church, 23 which is his
body, the fullness of him who fills
everything in every way.
EPHESIANS 1:15-23
15 For this reason, ever since I heard
about your faith in the Lord Jesus and
your love for all God’s people, 16 I have
not stopped giving thanks for you,
remembering you in my prayers.
VERBAL PLENARY INSPIRATION
It means is that God wrote the Bible through people, and so
though it’s Paul’s voice, it’s God’s words. He’s speaking to all of his
people, including us.
Sometimes what can happen is in our desire to give all glory to God, we don’t
allow others to appreciate us or we don’t appreciate others. Yes, the glory does
go to God, but the appreciation can go to his servants. You can do both.
Sometimes we can give all glory to God and not give appreciation and
thankfulness to people, and as a result, we could be actually discouraging
people when we should be encouraging them.
GRUMBLING is when you talk about people to other people.
PRAYING is when you talk to Jesus about people.
The key to overcoming your grumbling is to know that the Lord Jesus suffered for you, that the Lord Jesus loves you, that the Lord Jesus is generous toward you, and in any way that you are obedient to him, he sees,
he knows, he appreciates, and he’s thankful for you.
That allows you to stop grumbling because you know that you’re loved,
and cared for, and appreciated, and it allows you to start praying for the well-
being of others.
EPHESIANS 1:17-20
17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may
give you the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation, so that you may know him
better.
EPHESIANS 1:17-20
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may
be enlightened in order that you may
know the hope to which he has called
you, the riches of his glorious inheritance
in his holy people,
EPHESIANS 1:17-20
19 and his incomparably great power for
us who believe. That power is the same
as the mighty strength 20 he exerted
when he raised Christ from the dead and
seated him at his right hand in the
heavenly realms,
EPHESIANS 1:19-20
19 and his incomparably great power
for us who believe. That power is the
same as the mighty strength 20 he
exerted when he raised Christ from the
dead and seated him at his right hand in
the heavenly realms,
You know, if you have been obedient, if you have been generous, if you have
been serving, if you have been God says He never ceases to give thanks
for you.
You don’t have to grumble, you can pray. You don’t have to compete, you can celebrate. You don’t have to become
jealous of what other people are doing, you can rejoice at God’s grace in their life and rejoice at God’s grace in your life.
EPHESIANS 1:21-23
21 far above all rule and authority, power
and dominion, and every name that is
invoked, not only in the present age but
also in the one to come.
EPHESIANS 1:21-23
22 And God placed all things under his
feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, 23
which is his body, the fullness of him who
fills everything in every way.
When you think it’s about your name, you get bitter, but when you realize it’s about
Jesus’ name, you get thankful.
We really want you to love Jesus and love the church, and it’s not just so that we can
use you to grow a bigger church.
It’s in part so that we can guard your heart against bitterness, that you would give
your life to what Jesus gave his life to, the well-being of his people, and that you’d stop thinking it’s all about your name and your fame and it would be about his
name and his fame.
One of the keys to CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP is prayer, and soaking everything in prayer, and intersecting
everything with prayer.
Let me say this: the shortest distance between two people is prayer. You want
to make a stranger a friend? Pray. You want to make an enemy a friend? Pray.
Sometimes prayer moves the hand of God, but usually it changes us and it brings us
into alignment with God’s will.
We see that if you know that you’re appreciated by God, that he loves you, and he’s thankful for you, and he encourages
you, it opens your heart to talk to him all the time because he loves you.
People who don’t know that they’re appreciated, they have to brag about what
they’ve done, they have to exaggerate what they’ve done. They need to tell
everybody what they have done.
PERFORMANCE
• Done for the sight and approval of others
• Causes us to be enslaved to others’ opinions, unable to say no, and prone to being overworked
• Done knowing that God is watching and approving, whether or not anyone else is.
• Frees us to do what God wants, thereby saying no is needed
SERVICE
PERFORMANCE• Presses us towards
perfectionism, where we seek to do everything just right so that others will praise us
• Causes us to focus on the “big things” and only do what is highly visible or significant
• Allows us to do our best knowing that God’s appreciation of us is secure, regardless of our performance
• Allows us to do simple, humble, menial tasks, the “little things,” and God equally appreciates both
SERVICE
PERFORMANCE
• Where people are an audience and you want their praise
• It’s not enough because the audience isn’t big enough
• Where God is the audience
• It’s enough because the audience is One
SERVICE
Jesus says that he is a servant; he’s come not to be served but to serve.
That’s different than performing. You can see two people doing the same thing, and God sees the heart and sees that there
are very different motives between serving and performing.
What we can appreciate about the example of the Apostle Paul, again, he’s not
boasting, he’s encouraging. He’s not talking about all the things that he’s done, he talks about all the things that they’ve
done.
We want you to be very encouraged, we want you to appreciate who Jesus is and what he’s done, and I want you to know that the Lord Jesus appreciates you. If
you have served, Jesus says thank you. If you have given, Jesus says thank you. If
you have prayed, Jesus says thank you. If you are growing, Jesus says thank you.
And he wants to free you from the performance trap and let you enjoy the
serving like he did. No one got more done than Jesus, but it was not performance,
it was service.
When we criticize one another, we make withdrawals; when we
appreciate one another, we make deposits.
And then, as we need to correct or criticize, we realize we’re making
withdrawals, but let us seek, by the grace of God, like the Apostle Paul, to
be people who have far more deposits than we do withdrawals.