8/2/26 Eph. 4:1-16 “For the Best Life Possible!”

30 Jul 8/2/26 Eph. 4:1-16 “For the Best Life Possible!”

8/2/26   Eph. 4:1-16        “For the Best Life Possible!”

I don’t think that I am alone in thinking that I can do certain things and all will be ok. Here is what I mean.  I remember once when I bought my first computer desk.  It was a dandy.  It had two wings and a central station.  There was only one problem with this.  There was some assembly required.  As far as I was concerned, there was total assembly required.  Anyway, you know the story.  I did so much by the directions that soon I thought I knew where they were going so, I just breezed along, skipping a few steps.  I got close to done and I realized my mistake.  I had to take most of it all apart again and follow the directions.  I have made this mistake many times in my lifetime.  Only once when I was putting together an exercise bike did I find that they had not sent the right parts.  I’m sure many of you have similar stories.  The point I’m trying to make here is that many times in life we have to follow directions or we will not get things done right.  And this advice is not just for building things that we use.  We need to follow directions in order to have a good life.  That is what our Bibles are for.  They are God’s directions for you to have a better life.  That is one of the main things He wants for you.  That is where we are today.  We are to realize that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves that we really cannot describe it.  Let’s see if we can learn a couple of things from this passage.

Here is a story from Brian Harvison called “All for the Loss of One Nail.”  During a battle many years ago, a soldier was sent to deliver a message to the king. The soldier’s horse lost a nail in one of the shoes. With that one nail gone, the shoe eventually fell off. The horse eventually went lame, and the soldier was forced to walk. The enemy came along and the soldier couldn’t get away.  He was killed by the enemy, and the important message was lost.  The enemy eventually attacked the castle, and the king lost his kingdom.  All because one horseshoe nail was lost!  Folks…you never know what effect you might cause when you fall out of formation here. We all have work to do.  Like it or not, we are all part of the same machine.

This is where we are to start today.  Paul tells us that whether you like it or not, you are a prisoner for the Lord.  Many of the people of this time period who were Jews, lived a very hard life.  They were surrounded by many pagan religions and practices.  Mostly they were rather on the poor side.  They owed tremendous amounts of money for taxes to the Romans.  Every direction they looked, it appeared to be an uphill journey.  If you remember there were no doctors for the common folks.  There were no welfare systems of any kind.  If you happened to be down and out, then you had to find your own way out or die.  That is what this early society was like and the people were hard up just to make a living.

Then along comes Paul.  As he always did, Paul first went to the Jews where he was usually rejected.  Then he went to the Gentiles who were just as bad off as the Jews or maybe a little worse.  Paul comes in preaching Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior as we know Him today.  Paul was not afraid of the ruling religious leaders or political leaders.  Paul came and preached the truth so these people could understand the message.  He was so persuasive with the message that there were many new believers in Ephesus.

This did not mean that the troubles for the Ephesians were over.  There is no where in the Bible that tells us that Jesus will save everyone from their troubles.  But He was there for these people just like He is there for us today.  That is the one thing that these people needed the most, hope.  They were learning that if they followed just as Paul talked about, then their loads would be lessened because of hope.  They realized that they would have to be banded together to achieve this.  I do not mean for this to sound socialist in any way.  They banded together so that they could survive.  If they had not done this, they might not have survived.

This is why Jesus talks so much about the body of Christ.  We are all the body of Christ.  This body changes with the culture where it is.  But one thing remains.  We are to be together so that we can fend off any evil that comes our way.  These early people were surrounded by evil.  It was everywhere just like today.  I have told you before that by ourselves, we do not have a chance against the devil.  But if we band together, our chances get better.  And if we band together with Jesus, then that old devil has no chance.

And we are to try to keep this unity through all situations.  This might not be that easy.  But it can be accomplished through gentleness, humbleness, patience and love just to name a few of the fruits of the spirit.  We are especially to keep with the Spirit of God when we are together.  We do this by knowing that everyone who is in the body of Christ has a gift to help us all glorify God.  Every week we gather together to show this love that we have for Jesus.  When we are in a state of continual practice, then when we get out into the world of unbeliever’s, we will be ready to behave and live like Jesus.  You see this is not that hard.  All you have to do it try to be like Jesus.  Try to be nice.  Try to be loving.  Soon it will all fall into place.

Here is a way to try to remember this.  In all probability, there are not many who can stand up here and do what I do and that is ok.  Just like only some have the gift of prophecy.  I’m not that good at prophecy.  I definitely do not have the gift of administration or the gift of hospitality like some do.  There are many things that you do that I cannot do and you do them well.  These are the things that you should be trying where ever you are.  I guess what I’m trying to say here is that we are all bound together with the common thread of Jesus Christ, but we are at the same time very different from each other.  This is very good.  Don’t be jealous of what others have.  Just go out and do what you have.

Many times, we will be in church or someplace with fellow Christians.  Someone new will come and join the group.  We sometimes have a hard time accepting them because of who they are or who they were.  We find it hard to forget what they have been in the past.  I think that I can safely say that there is not one person here or listening today who has not been terribly tarnished by sin.  We are all sinners who fall short of the glory of God.  About a year ago or so, I was talking to a good Lutheran woman who became absolutely irate at me because she told me that she was not a sinner.  Can you believe it?  We are all sinners.  But praise the Lord that He has the grace to forgive us of our sins.  We are saved by grace and grace alone.  There is not one thing in the world that can save us except the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He saved us by grace so that we could do jobs to further the Kingdom of God.

There are many people who think that all they have to do to be saved is to confess, repent and ask Jesus to live in their hearts as Lord and Savior.  That is all you have to do but it is just the beginning of the journey, a glorious journey.  Jesus will talk to you when you are in prayer and He will tell you what He wants from you.  He will have gifted you accordingly.  And I guarantee that whatever gift He gives you, you will be able to do it without much problem.

Some He gifts to be apostles who will go out and serve Him in the world.  This is totally different from the ones He gifts as prophets.  These people tell of the future.  I’m a prophet to a certain degree in that I guarantee that if you don’t invite Jesus to live in your heart, you will not get to heaven.  Others will be evangelists.  They will be going out trying to win people for Jesus.  This is not to be confused with being a pastor.  Pastors are charged with taking care of the whole flock.  Teachers are responsible for teaching everyone about Jesus Christa and what is expected from everyone.  Then there is the gift of faith.  You may have this if your faith in Jesus Christ is absolutely unshakeable.  There are gifts of service where you just do things for Jesus and you probably never need to be asked.  The list goes on and on.  When you are doing one of the gifts that Jesus has given you, then it will seem like you are not working at all.  He will make it that easy for you because you are helping every other Christian in the world.

This stuff is very important to all of us because we all have different gifts.  Even if we have the same gift, we would probably have different ways of using it.  It is important because we do not know when our lives in this world will end.  I have listened to many preachers over the years and many of them are poor at best.  You need a preacher who will ask the question, point blank.  Do you know Jesus and is He living in your heart?  Most pastors will not ask that question for various reasons.  The one that really bowls me over is “I just don’t feel comfortable asking.”  Why is this person even a pastor if he or she will not invite people to the most important lifestyle that there can be?  Now please get this firmly in your mind.  If a pastor will not do this, then he or she should be fired.  People do not come to Jesus uninvited, usually.

Now let us take this a step further.  If you have a gift from God, then why are you not using it?  You should be using it as much as possible.  I’m not real sure of this but I believe there are around 20 gifts from God.  Think about that for a minute.  What would happen if everyone used their gifts as much as they could?  I will tell you what would happen?  We would soon find ourselves living in a far, far better world.  Jesus has always wanted you to have the best life possible.  That is all He has ever wanted.  All you have to do is obey.  Someone once said that Christianity is the best religion that no one has tried.  I could not agree more.  Go out this week and use your gift somewhere.  I would love to hear the results.

I’m going to tie all of this together as we look at this last part.  If you follow Jesus, then you will soon no longer be an infant.  You will be able to tackle more and more things within your realm of gifts.  If you tell me that you don’t know your gift, or that you don’t have one, then I would be forced to think that maybe you are not a Christian or an infant Christian.  This brings us right back to the flow chart.  Confess your sins, repent and ask Jesus to be Lord and Savior of your life.  If you are an infant, and there is nothing wrong with this because we all started this way, then there are steps to help you grow.

First you need daily food.  This is found by you reading your Bible and meditating on it.  Next you need fresh air.  You need to pray often.  Prayer is the oxygen for the soul.  Then you need regular exercise.  This is putting God’s word into action.  This is the taking of your gift and using it.  Next, you need adequate rest.  This means that you learn to rely on Jesus for anything and everything.  With all this you need clean surroundings.  This means to avoid evil company and things that will weaken you spiritually.  You know what these are and they are different for everyone but they are all evil.  Then you need loving care.  This means that you need a church where they have a pastor who will help you on your journey with Jesus.  They will help you to follow Jesus for the best life possible.  And finally, you need regular checkups.  You need to self-examine to so you know where you are standing with Jesus.  Once again, this is not that hard but it is necessary.

You need to hold fast to Jesus so that you can reject all the false teachings that are out there.  You can do this when you are no longer an infant.  Go back and make sure you are growing beyond an infant.  When you meet these false teachers, and they might even be pastors, you can defend yourself and Jesus by telling the truth from the Bible.  You can stand strong with the sword of the spirit.  And by doing this, you helping everyone who is a Christian.  We are all in this together and we all need each other and our gifts.

Your salvation is a big deal.  Don’t ever think that it isn’t and it is not hard to attain.  But do you know what is even bigger?  The salvation of your children and grandchildren is even a bigger deal.  They are the future and I see the future as being quite dim.  This is because we have raised a generation of lukewarm Christians at best.  We have many, many pastors who should not be in the pulpit.  It is time to take a stand with Jesus on these subjects.

It all begins when you decide that it is time to try to help remedy these situations.  It is time to start to you to use your gift or gifts as much as possible.  It is time to put Jesus into the number 1 slot in your life.  He is the best thing that you will ever meet.  Follow Him to the best life possible.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.