CHURCH                                                                                                                      

Last two weeks, we have been studying Ephesians chapter 1 and 2, specifically, about the love of God shown though Jesus Christ. We are chosen because God loves us (we are his children), wants us to be holy/blameless (to have relationship with God), according to his will (to build and expand God’s kingdom), and to praise His glorious grace. The main point was God wants to build and expand his kingdom through YOU, which means you are selected to be ambassadors of God to spread gospel to your non-Christian friends. And when you become the salt and the light of the world to expand the kingdom of God that is how God’s grace is praised and displayed.
 
What is kingdom? It is not a castle, or buildings, or regulations, or sets of rules… God’s kingdom is made of God’s people. Full of Christians, Christ followers.
So, where do we find this kingdom on this earth? Your local church. The church you attend. It is 밀알 church.
So, we are going to talk about the church. And interestingly enough, Paul is talking about the church from Ephesians 2: 11 to 3:13
 
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,[d] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by[e] the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:13~22)
 
Before we dive into what the God’s church is all about, there is important thing that we must understand: Jesus is our peace. (14) We will study what this mean from today’s scripture and how this truth propagates to the true idea of church.
 
If one of God’s main objectives are building and expanding God’s kingdom, what would our enemy (Satan) do? He would try to destroy and abolish the kingdom, which is church. What would be the main thing that breaks up God’s church? What would divide up the local church? Fights, different ideas, different belief, different preference, different background and cultures…
NOT having the unity breaks up the church.
 
I want to bring up two points from the scripture today:

1. Why should we deeply committed to the local church
2. How unity can be achieved within the church

 
Let’s go back to our scripture: In verse 11, Paul said we were gentiles and strangers. Verse 12, we were separated from Christ and alienated from the commonwealth of Israel. In old days, if you want to know God and love God, we had to convert and become Jews.
Jewish people, they still do that, if you want to marry a Jewish, you must have the Jewish wedding and you must be Jewish before you marry. They are so prude of being Jewish and the chosen nation.
The Ephesian Gentile Christians, just like the Korean American Christians, we WERE foreigners to God, without hope and without God in the world.
In verse 13, we are brought near to God by the blood of Christ
In verse 14, Jesus is our Peace and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility


There are 10 foot wall around the Jewish temple separating Jews to gentile. They separate the good from the bad, the clean from the unclean, and the safe from the unsafe…
 
Here, I just want to think about Paul who is writing these words at that time:

• Paul was Pharisee and spent more time in the temple than his house
• He knows what this wall truly meant for Jewish Christians. Jewish didn’t want the gentiles to lurking around the holy temple… like the workers in the vineyard in Matt 20, Jewish people were chosen first and serve God the longest since 8AM, then these gentiles came at 3PM and got paid the same amount… (same salvation)
•  That 10-foot wall was still there when Paul was writing these words
• And He is saying that that wall no longer exist!!

 
We have “walls” in our minds to separate the “right-kind-of-people” from the “wrong-ones”

• Racial difference: White, Black, Hispanics, Asian
• Education levels: college, no college
• Successful from the unsuccessful: money, no money
• Political walls: democrats, republicans
• Good family versus dysfunctional family
• Wall between good looking people and the nerds
• Whatever!! Who is your people? Who is your tribe?

 
I do want to be very careful what I say here. Because God created the different cultures and background for his glory.

• There is nothing wrong with these natural affinities!
• But because of our sinful nature, they end up erecting walls that put divisions within the church!
• Verse 14 says, Jesus tore down that wall!
• It is about coming together in front of God and coming in unity despite of different cultures and background because of the same belief and the same saving love of God.

 
When it comes to God, there was only one category of people: SINNERS, as far as God was concerned we were all on the outside of the wall.

• There is no good or bad people, no winners or losers, people who has money or no money, people have it together or dysfunctional people, there were only bad, dead, sinful, children of Satan, sons and daughters of disobedience. That was us
• But we are now chosen and saved.
• No matter what your background and cultures are we are united in Christ because Jesus tore down that Wall!

 
In verse 15, it says, He might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.

• Jesus was raise from the dead, not just for the Jews, not for gentiles, but raise as a completely new race of people
• This new kind of man results in peace.
• There is only one type of believer: alive in Christ, fully adapted into God’s family, partakers of God’s glorious inheritance.
• This is why we call Jesus, prince of peace

 
In verse 16 and 17, we are one body through the cross
In verse 18 and 19, we all have the same access to the Father in ONE Spirit, and we are all citizens and members of the household of God
 
In verse 20 to 22, Paul is describing what the church looks like:

• Jesus is being the foundation (cornerstone), Holy Spirit is building the whole structure, and God is the architect.
• So when it comes to church, entire member of Trinity is involved.
  
  

Let’s go back to the two main questions we had in the beginning:

1. Why do we need to be involved in Church?
   1. Each member of church is key part of building: 1st Peter 2:5 said you are living stone (precious stone) not bricks.
   2. God places the gifts of spirits into each one of us to do his work on earth
   3. Paul uses the analogy of body: It makes the idea so clear, I love it.
      • Jesus is my brain. And my left elbow is itches, it sends the signal to the brain.
      • My brain does not send a magic brain juice fix it. Instead, it sends a message to my right hand and right fingers, “go take care of your brother left elbow”
   4. In the same way, when you pray to God, God does not usually send some power straight down from heaven to fix things. God moves a member of his body to do his work.
   5. This means you CANNOT disconnect yourself from the church
      • You are disconnect yourself from the power of God
      • Again, church is not a building, it is a body of Christ. Your small group, your youth group, your bible study group..
        • Are you lost in your walking with God, go to church
        • You need direction in life, go to church
        • “I don’t understand God…” go to church
        • “God, I am lonely” Go to church
        • “Please God, work in my life”, Go to church!
      • If you want God to work in your life, be a part of CHURCH!
2. How does the unity in diversity achieved in church?

Ephesians chapter 3 points to the unified, multi-culture body of people

1. Let’s skip to Ephesians 3:10
   10 so that through the church the manifold (multi-faceted) wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
   • It is telling us that the best way to demonstrate the wisdom and power of God is through church that has unity-in-diversity
   • What is amazing about God’s church is there are many groups of people in God’s church who have very little in common except for a common experience of grace.
   • The Key is the Power of gospel that created the new man by the resurrection of Christ!
     • Examples in Jesus time
       • Simon the Zealot versus Matthew the Tax Collector … spicy conversation
       • Nicodemus (Pharisee leader) comes together with Woman caught in adultery
   • You might ask, How do these people come together and love each other?
     • If they could do that, could we come together and love one another in this small community of Korean American church called Mil-al and in this youth/EM groups?
     • This is how God’s wisdom and God’s mystery shown through Church: By coming together in Christ when different people have nothing in common.
     • Because JESUS is our peace
2. Obviously this unity in Christ is possible. But IT IS SO HARD.. WHY?
   • Pride:
     • Our core part of identity (racial, political, education,,) sets us apart from others. And we are proud of what we are.
     • Our pride become the dividing walls to achieve the unity-in-diversity
   • Preference:
     • We love our food (김치w/ pork, 갈비,비빔밥,짱아치..) But we love it. We do potluck and eat together. I’m sure some American people would hate walking into the smell.
     • When Jewish did potluck, and gentiles start bringing non-kosher food (blood sausage and pork intestine, or squirrel soufflé) I’m sure they freaked out!
     • Our preference became the source of dividing wall to achieve the unity-in diversity
   • Lack of empathy
     • Paul tells us that we should bear each other’s burdens
     • Having compassion towards others takes practice
       • Quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger (James)
       • Listen with open heart to have deeper understanding
       • Respond with Love
     • Do not only focus on the vertical relationship (with God) while we neglect the pain of your friends orbiting around you (horizontal)
       • Take care of those who are alone, weak, neglected
       • Be the bridge to those who are not getting along; be the peace maker!
   • Unforgiveness
     • Satan’s main strategy is to break the relationships between Christians.
     • I am really bad at this. I get mad fast, and hold grudge. This is not what God wants…
     • Must forgive quickly: there is no point to drag it. You drag it because:
       • Don’t make the forgiveness conditional:

i.If you do this, I will forgive…
ii.Only God is the judge, forgive and forget!

• You want people to know what they did wrong

i.You think you are helping by making them feel guilty
ii.Unless God intervenes, person will not change his way

• Holding grudge

i.Don’t bring up what’s been done before into a new issue

• Trust God to take care of it

i.Your internal/external damage will be compensated by God if you truly forgive and forget
ii.See with eyes of Jesus
No wonder society cannot do it!!
But what the law is unable to accomplish, the power of new life accomplishes in the gospel!
 
Conclusions:
I want to encourage you to move beyond mere awareness of importance of unity.
There are 4 stages:

1. Ignorance
2. Awareness
3. Intentionality
4. Gospel community

The gap between sympathy and integration is inconvenience
Many of you will walk away from this agreeing with everything that was said today.

1. Make clear intention to have relationship with someone who is not close to you, who is different than you.
2. Start perusing gospel community. Show the world that power of Christ is greater than any differences or preferences. 

By Grace, Through Faith                                                                               
​
2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
PRAYER:
After last week’s sermon, I know that many of you had many questions about predestination. And I told you it was all about the salvation of human race. At least, from Ephesian chapter 1, it was very clear that God chose you because GOD LOVES YOU and because YOU ARE CALLED TO BE HIS CHILDREN. Remember we had the writing on the screen in BOLD CAPITAL letter. Just like you are, sometimes, pain in the butt to your parents, they still love you.
Deuteronomy 7:8 said God Chose you because he loved you. I hope we made that very clear.
So what was not clear, or had many more questions about the predestination was:
Why doesn’t God save everyone if He loves us all? This is a great question. Before we can answer that, we need to know answer one important question:
What is God’s purpose of saving you? Other than obvious reason of God love you.

• 1:4 = Holy and blameless
  • SAVED, Christian
• 1:5 = According to his will
  • Build (and expand) his Kingdom
  • kingdom is not a building (would God Happy with a bigger church building)
  • What is God’s kingdom? It is Kingdom with full of saved people, who are holy and blameless
  • Just like the God’s church is not a building, but it is body of Christ (full of saved people)
• 1:6 = to praise his glorious grace (repeats on v12 and v14)
  • Let’s look at 2:10. It says you are his workmanship, a masterpiece.
  • Do you remember the little story I told a few weeks ago? Clay the rice bowl?
  • You are his masterpiece and you are used for God’s glory. You become the instrument or vessel, or tool to serve others, just like the rice bowls or plates or dishes that potter made and use it to serve wonderful food for others.
  • So you are being used for his glory if you are Christian. What is that mean? That means God wants to use you to serve others and bring other non-Christian friends to Christ.
  • Why? Because that is his will. His will to expand the kingdom of God, full of saved Christian people.
  • God’s grace is displayed through you when you serve others and bring them to Him to build his kingdom. That is why God chose you.
  • So, you should not ponder why God chose you and saved you. He chose you and saved you because of your non-Christian friends.

 
So let’s go back to why doesn’t God save you everyone? Well, He does! He wants to build a bigger kingdom THROUGH YOU. That is how God wants to save everyone.

• Parable of laborers in vineyard (Matt 20:1-16)
• Parable of banquet  (king’s wedding party, Matt 22:1-14)
• The points are:
  • All are invited, few came by his own choice, didn’t matter who came first, they all got what they came for and more (Salvation)

 
Today’s scripture says about our previous state before we believe God, (v 1~3) We were all dead in sin. Not only we were (spiritually) dead, we followed the course of the world and prince of the power of the air, Interesting choice of the words, it means Satan.

• Refrigerator meat gone bad. Shriracha sauce to mask the dead decaying small, that thing is good to go? No! dead is dead!
• We started death process when Adam sinned against God (aging process started)
• Rom 3:23 says we have all sinned and Rom 6:23 says we are all worthy of eternal punishment.
• Non-of-us are worthy of being saved, and God does not have to save everyone.

 
Why doesn’t God just forgive us anyway? HE is loving God after all..

• Then you might ask, why God doesn’t just come down and save everyone, because he is almighty and loving. Just forgive everyone and start over..
• OR wipe it clean and start all over again. Well, God tried that with Noah, but it didn’t work out so well after either, human still fell into sinful nature. We always have.
• So why doesn’t God just forgive us? Well, there is at least one reason I can think about.

 For example, let say, Christian borrowed my car. Chris was taking a joy ride and BAM. He totaled my car. Chris was so sorry and wanted my forgiveness. Well, what are my options? I could have him pay for it. Or he doesn’t want to pay for it then, I could take him to a court, make him work for it until it pays off or whatever.. But my other option is just forgive him. Right? What do I mean by forgiving him? It’s not like, “I am not mad, but you pay for it”. No, True forgiveness means I absorb the cost of damage. It does not change the fact that damage is fixed itself or go away. But Christian does not have to pay me back for the damage.
Chris, don’t borrow my car.
We broke the relationship with God and offended God with sins. But God himself absorb the cost of damage through Christ. So all we have to do is believe and receive Jesus Christ.
The key is to believe and receive Christ. That is our job, our choice, our decision.

• What God wants is very simple. HE wants to have relationship with us. And he wants us to love him back. That’s all he wants.
• IF God can order and make everyone to love God,
  Where is your freedom?
  Where is your free will?
  Where is love in that?
  Are we slaves?
  Are we robots? No, we are children of almighty God. We have freedom and free will.  We choose to love God. And we are the one that reject God. How do we reject God? We sin against him and we mock him with our actions and we do not follow His ways. Which comes down to really only one thing, LOVE GOD and LOVE others.
• So Let’s go back to our original question. Why doesn’t God save everyone? That is a wrong question. He wants to save everyone though you. And all human being has to do is to hear, believe, and receive.

 
(v 4~7) While we were dead, God made us alive with Christ by his Grace. And it says only by grace and God’s rich love we are saved. And what else does it say, God raised us with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.

• Jesus did not merely died for us. Jesus died instead of us. Jesus took our sins Instead of us.
• And God seated us with Christ in the heavenly places. God literally put me in Jesus’s seat!
• I am as sure of heaven as Jesus is. People might ask me “are you that righteous?” No, Jesus was that righteous and he paid my debt. We traded places and I am going to heaven in his account
• When we pray, when we approach God in prayer, we pray in Jesus name. So our prayer has the power of Jesus. That is the only way to approach God in prayer, though name of Jesus.

 

• I want to show you this picture
   
  Notice that Jesus is standing and knocking on your door?
  Is there anything weird about this door?
  There is no door knob! How do you open the door without doorknob?

You must open from inside.
This door is your heart. Only YOU can open the door for him.
As you can see, the choice is my our hand, whether to open the door or not.
And there are many people, telling Jesus to go away!
This world we live in right now. Name of Jesus is not welcomed.
But you would care enough and love Jesus enough to ask the question of “ why doesn’t God save everyone?”
That means you have the fire of Jesus inside of you.
Jesus is asking the same thing, “Why don’t you open the door? Let me save you, let me give you peace and strength you need to not just survive but to thrive this hostile world.” “Let me carry your burden, let me carry you though!”  Holy Spirit is calling you right now.
Will you receive Christ as your Lord and savior this morning. Just say Yes and let him in.

Chosen (Ephesians 1:3-14) 
Today, we will start the book of Ephesians. It will be a sermon series that will go right into the theme our youth summer retreat, which we are not revealing at this time.^^
As we go through this letter to Ephesians from the first chapters to the last, we might have in-depth understanding of what it means to be Christians in a very hostile world.
Here is a little bit of facts about Ephesus:

• It is considered to be Paul’s theological masterpiece: Paul packs everything essential for you to know about the Christian life in 6 short chapters.
• First 3 chapters are filled with the truth about who God is and what he has done in the gospel.
• The last 3 chapters offer some of the most practical instructions about forgiveness, conflict management, family, workplace, relationships and so on.
• Ephesus
  • Seaport right at the intersection of Europe and Asia, one of the main trade-hubs of the Roman Empire.
  • Cosmopolitan and multi-cultural. One of the largest libraries in the world at this time, and many prestigious scholars lived there
  • In terms of religions, Ephesus had 50 different temples, including the largest temple of the ancient world, dedicated to Artemis. (one of the 7 wonders of ancient world)
  • Ephesus was not a Christian-friendly place. Which is what makes this letter so timely and relevant for us Christians in a modern world (Christian values are constantly being attacked)
• So, let’s not treat this letter as a book of doctrine or practical guide for living. This letter is a GIFT from God for us to encourage and edify us. Think of it as survival manual for Christians in a very hostile environment.
• So let us dive into this book, because it will show us how we, not only merely to survive, but also to thrive in this hostile world that we live in.

 
Let us stand for the world we will receive today:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making know to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
It is a one, long sentence in Greek. It has 202 worlds that theologians love, but English teachers hate. One long, spirit-inspired, run-on sentence.
So, the first concept that he brings up in the beginning of this letter is “predestination”. We tried to talk about this before when Pastor David was here. Some of you are comfortable with the concept but I am sure for a lot of you, including myself, it is a difficult concept to understand and accept in my brain.
And then I was thinking, why Paul would use such a difficult concept of predestination to encourage or edifying the readers?
Ephesus was a big city with many things and buildings and other religions were so advanced. It is like we bring gospel to North Korea and try to encourage North Korean Christians. First thing you would say is predestination. It did not make whole lot of sense when I was first reading the Ephesians...^^ Believe me, It makes sense^^
So let’s dive in:
 
Paul says in verse 4, “God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”, In verse 5 “Predestined us for adaption” and verse 11 “Predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will”
 
First, let me give you a little ground rule: There will be some things that you will not fully understand about God (Deuteronomy 29:29, Secret things belong to the Lord, revealed things belong to us)
If I try to explain quantum mechanics to 7 year olds, or even to you (energy barrier, quantum shift, phase transitional methodology, and such), you will not fully understand. Imagine God is trying to explain things to you? We will not fully understand.
Just because we don’t understand, it does not mean it is not true. Right?
 
1.What is predestination about?
I will tell you what it is not about: bending your fingers, or picking your noise, or balling up and flicking to your friend next to you.. Or eating what for lunch, or which college I should go to, or what I should study, or which car or home I should buy.. Those fall into the area of wisdom.
What predestination about is YOUR SALVATION, how God loves so much that he would give only son to save you. In fact, the entire Bible is about the salvation and sanctification of human race.
So, let’s go back to our scripture: From vs. 3 when the process of our salvation begins to vs. 14 when it is over, God is taking all the actions!

• Told you it was one long 202-words sentence, which has 20 action sequences and 48 pronouns.
• Here is what God does for our salvation: (vs.3) he blesses us , (vs. 4) he chose us, (vs. 5) he predestined us, (vs. 6) he give us grace, (vs. 7) he forgives us, (vs. 8) he lavishes us, (vs. 9) he make us know his will and he sets forth in Christ, (vs. 10) he unite us in Christ, (vs. 11) he works all things for us, (vs. 13) Holy Spirit seals the promise for us, (vs. 14) he guarantees us our inheritance..
• What do we do? (vs.13) we listen, we believe, and (vs. 14) we acquire (receive)
• We did all the sinning, God did all the saving. So predestination is about your salvation!

1. So next obvious question would be: Why did he choose me?

• Was it because God saw I was good person and have teachable heart? NOT True
  • (Deuteronomy 9:6) God is not giving you good land because you are righteous, you are stubborn people. – Where is the goodness and teachable heart?
• I know, Was it my potential? “Kevin is going to be a great Christian leader, so I choose him”. Or “John so smart and funny that I have to have him in my team”, or “Jaehee has a great personality and strength and artistic, he will be a good use of my purpose” ALSO NOT TRUE
• Was it because I am still mostly loveable, Even though I am sinful? No.
  • In fact, CH2 says our sin made us God’s enemies
• So, why choose me??
  • Deut 7:7-8 says we are fewest and weakest people, but God set his love on you and chose you, because Lord loves you.
  • Is there any particular reason your parents love you? What would be the reason? Your potential? Your ability? You are so loveable? You are so good in their sight? NO!!!, they love you because you are their kids! God love us because WE ARE HIS KIDS!!
  • It does not matter if you are good or bad, it does not matter if you are smart or dumb, it does not matter if you are popular or not. It does not matter if you have fallen into sin and struggling to get out and feeling like a loser.
  • GOD LOVES YOU and chose you and called you to be his children

At this point, you may have a lot more questions about predestination. Such as:
 

1. What caused God to choose me?
2. How do you know you are chosen?
3. What was God purpose to choose us?

1. Why didn’t God choose everybody?

3.1 Why share Christ, if God already know who will be saved?
 
So many questions.. But lets get to that next week and I would like to leave you with promise of God that we find in Romans 8: 31-39
 
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be[i]against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.[j] 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 

[Announcements]
Youth Retreat will be held on 28-30 of July.