I lis­tened to a ser­mon yes­ter­day by Tim Keller in which he joked that when he is pre­pared for a ser­mon he quotes from many peo­ple and when he is not pre­pared he only quotes from CS Lewis. Because he has spent so much time read­ing Lewis (and he added George White­field), he knows not just what they said but how they thought and how they would have viewed a par­tic­u­lar sce­nario. His point was that know­ing some­one well means that their char­ac­ter becomes intrin­sic to the point that you are able to make appli­ca­tion based on their per­spec­tives. Because he knows the works of Lewis and White­field so well, when he speaks extem­po­ra­ne­ously that is what comes out in his speech. He con­tem­plated what it would be like for us if we knew Jesus as well and had his per­spec­tive so read­ily acces­si­ble in all of our applications.

It made me won­der what, or who, comes out most con­sis­tently when I speak. There was a time in my life when I had devoted many hours to the TV show Sein­feld. Dur­ing that time and for some time after, I used to mar­vel at how many basic, mun­dane obser­va­tions of life reminded me of a Sein­feld episode. I’d say, “That reminds me of when George and Kramer…” and on I would go in thought if not in words. Though the show has been off the air for 12 years now, except for syn­di­cated reruns which I have rarely seen, I can still not just quote cer­tain episodes, but even think of how a per­son or sit­u­a­tion might remind me of a char­ac­ter in that show. Though decreas­ing in scope, this real­iza­tion of its effect on me was sober­ing and chal­leng­ing, but also promis­ing. It is sober­ing in that I am reminded of how eas­ily worldly triv­i­al­i­ties can occupy my affec­tions. (The show was famously known as the “show about noth­ing”). It is chal­leng­ing because I see that I have the capac­ity, as do we all, to recall and apply spe­cific con­tent to my daily life. Anal­ogy and com­par­i­son are cham­pi­ons of appli­ca­tion. Now if only it could be con­sis­tently the Word of God that I am sat­u­rated with in that way. Lastly, it is promis­ing because I know that it does not rely on me to have the abil­ity to recall or apply these things, but I have the surety of the Holy Spirit, who con­victs of sin and right­eous­ness alike. He is the appli­ca­tor of my affec­tions, which include the con­tent I con­sume and how it relates to my Chris­t­ian life. He is will­ing and able to bring change in our hearts beyond our ini­tial repen­tance that leads to vis­i­ble stead­fast­ness worth modeling.

Charles Spur­geon said this of John Bun­yan, “Why, this man is a liv­ing Bible!  Prick him any­where; and you will find that his blood is Bib­line, the very essence of the Bible flows from him.  He can­not speak with­out quot­ing a text, for his soul is full of the Word of God.

So, ask your­self along with me today, “what comes out when I speak?” What analo­gies form in my mind based on what I have read or watched? How do these things serve me well in my pur­suit of under­stand­ing who God is and know­ing Him? What comes out when I am under pres­sure? This is not a call to con­dem­na­tion but a chal­lenge for us as believ­ers to see that God has given us all great minds, but more impor­tantly, the Holy Spirit, to bring to mind what and how we are to think, speak, and act. May we, by His grace, be a peo­ple marked by speak­ing words of edi­fi­ca­tion and life to one another, even using seem­ingly triv­ial things to relate greater truths to our hearts for the exal­ta­tion of God.

In Psalm 112:7, we find, “He [the right­eous per­son] is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trust­ing in the LORD.”  Why is the right­eous per­son unafraid of bad news?  It is because he or she trusts in God.

Last night we noted that God’s right­eous­ness pro­duces fear and delight, bless­ing and honor, and godly char­ac­ter.  If we fear God, then we won’t fear bad news.  Fear­ing God is the most free­ing thing in the world.  If I fear God, then I don’t have to fear peo­ple and what they can do to me.  I don’t have to fear get­ting a dis­ease or dying at a rel­a­tively young age.  I don’t have to fear some­thing hap­pen­ing to my chil­dren.  If I fear God, then I am fear­ing the One who can destroy both body and soul in Hell (Matt. 10:28) – who is the same One who sent His Son to die for me and to rise from the dead so that I would enjoy eter­nal life with Him (Rom. 5:8–10)!  If I fear God, I don’t have to fear bad news.

Maybe you are a per­son who is con­stantly in fear of bad news.  You are anx­ious and afraid because you fear bad news, and you fear bad news because you don’t fear God enough.  Quit read­ing about the next cat­a­strophic event that is going to end the world.  Give up spend­ing hours on the web read­ing blogs about the lat­est finan­cial or polit­i­cal cri­sis.  Stop indulging your Chris­t­ian friend every time he or she wants to walk through worst-case sce­nar­ios with you.

Instead, believe the Gospel.  Trust that because God sent his Son to live and die and rise for you, He will with­hold no good thing from you.  Call oth­ers to believe that same glo­ri­ous Gospel.  Let’s be men and women who are unafraid of bad news because our hearts trust in the Lord.

This evening we have the won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity to study Psalm 112 and con­sider the effects God’s right­eous­ness.  In this Psalm, we will learn that God’s right­eous­ness pro­duces fear and delight, bless­ing and honor, and godly character.

Many pro­fess­ing Chris­tians have com­part­men­tal­ized their lives.  This means they do not ori­ent their lives around fol­low­ing Jesus, but con­tent them­selves with merely doing “Chris­t­ian” activ­i­ties.  Psalm 112 will chal­lenge us to allow God’s right­eous­ness to impact every area of our lives.  We hope to see you tonight at 5 pm!

Last week in Eph­esians 3:1–13, Paul revealed the mys­tery of the Gospel – that God had received Gen­tiles into His king­dom through faith in Christ.  And this mys­tery is amaz­ing.  The Gen­tiles had the same stand­ing as the Jews before God; they too could come before him in bold­ness because of Christ’s work on their behalf.  It is here we pick up with 3:14–21 – Paul’s prayer for the church.

Verses 14–19

Paul says he bows his knees before God the Father, from whom every fam­ily is named.  This is sig­nif­i­cant because Paul was just argu­ing that the Gen­tiles had the same stand­ing as the Jews.  Every fam­ily descended from God, which means that all believ­ers are broth­ers and sis­ters in Christ.  There is unity in Jesus, and there should be unity in and among all true churches.

He asks God, accord­ing to the riches of God’s glory, that the Eph­esians would be strength­ened with power in their inner being.  We are in the midst of a spir­i­tual bat­tle every sin­gle day.  That is why Paul will tell them in chap­ter six to put on the full armor of God (6:18ff).  We need God’s power to and God’s strength to do God’s work.  Too many of us are try­ing to do God’s work with­out God’s strength – a sin I am often guilty of myself.  We need to seek God for His power, who has lim­it­less power to give to those who ask.

Paul desires that Christ dwell in their hearts through faith, and that they would under­stand the bound­less love of Christ that sur­passes knowl­edge and be filled with the full­ness of God.  I believe that many believ­ers strug­gle because they do not pray this prayer for them­selves or oth­ers.  They do not have strength to com­pre­hend the bound­less love of Christ.  As a result, they con­tinue to work to try to please God, even though God is already and always and only pleased with Jesus.  These believ­ers do not under­stand the love of God, which can­not be earned, and so they seek to earn it every day through right works, right repen­tance, and so on.  Are you one of these believ­ers?  I pray that God would show you His bound­less love and con­vince you that Jesus has done every­thing so that you would be set free to work from love, not for it.

Verses 20–21

Paul closes with a beau­ti­ful bene­dic­tion:  “Now to Him who is able to do far more abun­dantly than all that we ask or think, accord­ing to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus through­out all gen­er­a­tions, for­ever and ever. Amen.”

Have you stopped to con­sider that God can do far more abun­dantly than all we ask or think?  That truth gen­er­ates two thoughts in me:  1) Even in my great­est thoughts of God and what He can do, He can do infi­nitely more; and 2) I don’t ask or think very much of God.  James says that we do not have because we do not ask.  Remem­ber that, in the Gospel, God has given us all things and with­held no good thing from us.  So, is there some­thing you want that you believe will bring God glory?  Ask for it!  And keep on ask­ing!  And then ask some more!  God will either grant your request or He won’t, and either way His choice is for your good.  I am con­victed that I do not ask enough of God or per­sist enough in prayer.  What about you?

Next week we will delve into the sec­ond half of the book, where Paul will give the impli­ca­tions for the Chris­t­ian life of the the­ol­ogy he has laid out in chap­ters 1–3.