Daily Devotions: Bride of Christ

Ephesians 5:32           This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church.

It seems so old fashioned now, but I can remember a time when the title “Mother Church” was constantly used. It referred to the place where we were spiritually nurtured, either as a child or as a new Christian. In my lifetime, there are two places that I would call my “Mother Church.”

The first was a mission hall situated at the heart of one of Glasgow’s toughest and most deprived areas. As I picture it now, I can still see the barbed wire at the top of its steel fence and some of the graffiti that was constantly spray painted on the outside walls. Inside the hall were a couple of classrooms and a sanctuary that could seat about sixty people. The pews were stained with a dark lacquer which would stick to your clothes on a wet day. As churches go, it was as run down as the surrounding area, but it was in that hall that I first really came to hear and know about Jesus as a child.

My second nurturing church couldn’t have been anymore different. It was a huge Gothic church in the center of town. It was about three hundred years old and could seat at least a thousand people. Sadly, when I went there, the congregation numbered about sixty on Sunday mornings.

The sanctuary was magnificent and the stained glass windows were absolutely beautiful. Each time I went there, I was mesmerized. The church organ was one of the finest musical instruments in the city and the organist was a professor of music from Glasgow University.

The Ramshorn Church, as it was called, was surrounded by a cemetery that went back to the seventeenth century. It also had a downstairs Fellowship Hall with a crypt beside it where famous Cotton Merchants and Tobacco Lords were buried. And it was there in that fellowship hall, one Wednesday night in June 1977, that I gave my heart to Jesus. I was reborn and my spirit was nurtured in that church for over five years.

Perhaps today, we might all take time to think about our ‘Mother Churches,’ and give thanks to God for their importance in our lives. Some people think that churches are outdated, old fashioned, and archaic, but Christ has used them successfully as His vehicle for bringing people closer to God for almost two thousand years. The Church is the Bride of Christ, so do we honestly believe that He is going to abandon her after all these centuries? So long as Time remains, so will Christ’s Bride.

Prayer:                        Lord Jesus, thank You for the churches that have nurtured our spirits and brought us closer to You. Thank You for the congregations that have mothered us and shown us the way to God’s Kingdom. Continue to bless our present churches and help them to nurture young people and new Christians. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to comment on today’s message, please send him an email to pastor@erinpresbyterian.org.

Daily Devotions: Children of Light

In the midst of a dark and fearful world, Christ's message is a light of hope for all of us. As Christians, we are called to be children of Christ's Light in our community.

Podcast version here

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.

Recent events have displayed a lot of darkness and fear in the world, but it’s not any different from Paul’s time. The technology may be far more advanced, but the same anxiety that pervaded much of the ancient world is still with us today. No matter how far we travel or how much progress we make as a species, we are still fragile and frail, fearful and finite.

I see a society where a lot of people are struggling with who they are and what their purpose is in life. Some of them are broken by injustice; others are wrestling with relationships; and still others are fighting illnesses. All of us depend upon each other at times. We are not islands of isolation; we are all connected as human creatures who struggle with life’s problems.

This is where I believe that the Christian message, above all other faiths and spiritual traditions, has the most hope for people who are helpless and hopeless. Jesus Christ has come into our dark world to show us the light that leads to God. We are no longer left scrambling in the darkness trying to get through each day. He stands beside us, bidding us to follow Him, and asking us to trust Him. We are not alone on a planet that is swirling through space. We are placed on earth because God has a purpose for our lives and through Jesus we can effectively change the world that we live in.

Paul’s calls us to be “children of the light.” In his world, total darkness at nighttime was very common. People didn’t have electric switches, lights or power to use at night time. Lamps and candles were precious possessions and were not to be used frivolously. They were kept for emergencies and treated as essential items. When the Gospel was first being preached, people knew exactly what Paul was talking about when he called his people “children of the light.” Christians lit up the world with their love of one another, their compassion for the community, and their courage in the face of death. They had nothing to fear because the darkness could not overshadow them.

Let’s continue that ministry of Christ in our own lives and our own wee world. Let us all seek to be “children of light” to all that we meet today.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You truly are the Light of the world and we feel privileged to be Your servants. Empower us this day with hearts of love and compassion, so that we may reflect and express Your influence over our lives. May we become children of Your light to those around us. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Feedback Question: How can we be children of light to our communities?

John Stuart is the Scottish pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee

Erin Church Sunday Sermon: Where Do we Grow from here?

Where Do We Grow from Here?

Ephesians 6:24 Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.

We have come to the end of a five month journey that we began way back in June. At that time, I told you that we were on a mission to find a new path, a new direction for our church. In my heart, I felt that God was beginning to move us as a church to start thinking about how we could make an impact for Christ in our community.

When I was pondering over what our church should do, I felt led by the Spirit to take us through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians because they were also a church that knew the Lord, but needed to be pointed in the right direction. Today we complete our journey and I hope and pray that this has been something that has drawn all of us closer to Christ and ready for whatever he is asking us to do as a Presbyterian church in this part of Knoxville.

As Paul finishes his letter, he reminds the good folks at Ephesus that he is a prisoner for Christ. He is held captive, whilst the Ephesians are free. He is under house arrest or perhaps in jail. The Ephesians Christians still walk about in their own community, free to serve the Lord, free to worship together, free to do their own thing.

So apostle signs off with these beautiful words of faith: ‘Grace to all who love our lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.’ Paul is doing two things here: he’s finishing his letter with words of encouragement, prayer, and peace. He wants the Ephesian congregation to feel good about their faith, and to be strengthened by his positive words. But Paul is also doing something which is very important: when he gives the blessing to those who love Jesus with an undying love, he’s actually passing the torch of faith to the next generation.

We did something similar this morning when we recognized our young worship graduates. We showed them how pleased we were with their work and asked God to bless them as they graduate into worshipping with us throughout the service. As well thanking them for the work that they and their teachers have done, we were also setting them off on anew voyage of discovery where faith is more than Sunday School classes and Enrichment times – it’s a lifestyle choice of worshipping God and praising Christ. So, in effect were saying to these our precious young people – Grace to you who love the Lord with an undying love. In other words, become the torchbearers of faith for your generation.

Throughout the summer, I’ve talked about what previous generations of Erinites have done for God and Christ’s Kingdom and how their perseverance, sense of duty, and loyalty to Jesus has given us this church that we worship in today. It’s now our turn to continue that 130 year journey of faith and lead our church into its 14th decade. It’s our privilege to be a crossroads generation where the decisions we take and the sacrifices we make are going to enhance, expand, and increase Christ’s work in this community. The love that Erin Church has for Christ is an undying love, and one that we should all be rightly proud of undertaking, achieving, and accomplishing.


Revelation 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

The story of the church at Ephesus does not end with Paul’s letter. It continues for many centuries producing some of the greatest teachers and leaders that the church has known. Paul’s protégé Timothy, to whom Paul writes two very personal letters becomes the bishop of Ephesus. And John the Apostle, the youngest of Christ’s disciples, lives in Ephesus with Christ’s mother, Mary, where both of them die and were buried.

But there comes a time in the church’s life when their faith began to cool and their passionate allegiance to the Gospel started to dissipate. When John writes the Book of Revelation, he lists the church of Ephesus as one of the seven stars held in Christ’s hand. The church is applauded for its perseverance, but it has one fatal flaw: the congregation has forgotten its first love.

Remember, Paul talked about Ephesus having a undying love for Christ, and yet about 25 years later, in John the Apostle’s vision, Christ accuses it of having lost that love. Churches go through cycles of being passionate for Christ and then they become comfortable and cozy, institutionalized and indifferent. Congregations can rest on the laurels of the past and individual Christians can coast along with their faith until they lose that love of Jesus, which meant so much to them.

Many years ago, when I first became a Christian, I had two friends who were also named John. One of them was an ambitious civil servant, whose zeal for the Lord was wonderful. The other was an electrician who was part of a youth group that used to visit the Gospel Club that both Evelyn and I attended. I was the third member of thee group – a recovering alcoholic who was trying to straighten out his life and make a real commitment to Christ. All three of us gave our hearts to Jesus. Each one of us was zealous for the work of the Lord.

John the civil servant wanted to learn administration skills so that he could one day be the CEO of a religious charity organization. He wanted to serve the Lord in that capacity and make important decisions that would save the lives of thousands of people. John the electrician wanted to have his own business, be happily married, and serve the Lord by using his business to help people who couldn’t afford to pay for his services. As for me, I just wanted to remain sober and to tell others about Jesus.

But as the years sped by, we all lost our love of the Lord. I went to university to become a minister, but found it difficult to keep my simple faith when the theological professors and biblical lecturers tried to tear it apart. They wanted me to believe in their research and study, their conclusions and opinions, their words and ways. There were times when I wanted to give everything up and I felt as though I was in a spiritual wilderness. And then one of the saints in the Divinity faculty, my Old Testament professor, who knew I was struggling told me this: John, it’s not our grasp of God that is important; it is God’s grasp of us that is all important. You don’t need to hold on to God – you just need to let Him hold on to you.”

At the same time, civil servant John was given some great promotions, which eventually led him to becoming a chief advisor to the Prime Minister in Britain. But it cost him his faith. As he climbed the ladder of success, he used his talents to better his life and build up his esteem and renown in the British Civil service. He eventually stopped going to church, believing that he could get along with organized religion and look after his own spirituality in his own way. In other words, he lost his love of Jesus and replaced it with love of self.

And what about John the electrician? I hadn’t seen him for a while and met him at a disco party for someone’s birthday. Yes, I said disco – that shows you how long ago this all took place! I had managed to stop drinking entirely and he was quite agitated by this. In the middle of the celebration, he came up and asked me as strange question: He asked: “And how is your soul? Are you still looking after it?” I didn’t know what to say, because John was drunk. There was a sad expression on his face and emptiness in his eyes.

He worked hard as an electrician, but he married the wrong person. His wife was immature and highly strung. She reminded me of a character in David Copperfield. John couldn’t handle the strain and one dark night he went absolutely crazy, smashed all the windows of his apartment, and jumped off from the ledge of the fourteenth storey to his death. I was in total shock when I heard the news.

Losing our love of Jesus can take us down paths that lead to dead ends and empty lives. John the Apostle was warning the Ephesus Church that they were in danger of losing the reason they were established: to love Christ first and to serve Him faithfully. They were on a ledge of losing everything that Paul had established and of letting go of the Holy Spirit who founded the church. They were at a crossroads of faith. Depending on how they responded to John’s vision of Christ, they would either go onward and upward, or fall backward and downward into death.

Revelation 2:7b To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Thankfully, the Ephesian Church chose the upward path. They corrected their course and rediscovered their first love. They went through a time of revival and three hundred and fifty years later, an important Council of all the churches in Christendom gathered at Ephesus in 451AD to make a decision that Christ was both human and divine, that He was Lord of heaven and earth, and that He was the Son of God and the Savior of the world. They overcame and were given that beautiful blessing of life which God promises to those churches that are faithful to Him and His precious Son.

So, where do we grow from here? Are we ready to rediscover that love of Christ which brought us to church in the first place? Are we prepared to express our undying love to Him and let the community around us see that love through our deeds? Are we set in place to commence a journey of faith and revival that will honor the Erinites of the past and prepare the way for the undying lovers of Christ in the generations to come?

I believe that we are and I know that we can do this. Where do we grow from here…to all the places and people that Christ is leading us. To Him be the glory and power. Amen!

Sunday Sermon: Preparing God's People

Preparing God’s People – how has God accomplished this?

Ephesians 4:11, 12, 13 It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (NIV)

Isaiah 61:6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. (NIV)

Throughout the summer, we‘ve been exploring Paul’s ministry to the Ephesian church and the response has been amazing. God seems to be working amongst us and I have never known a more exciting time of expectancy and enthusiasm in this wee church than what we are experiencing now. As the Church year is set to begin again in September with all our programs and projects in full swing, there is a deep sense of commitment, purpose, and direction that we have not known in a long time. God has been preparing us for this moment in our church’s history and I am so glad to be a part of the revival that is going on.

Today’s message is about preparation and how Christ positions His people in different places and times, in order to accomplish His ministry and mission. He did this in the mighty seaport of Ephesus when he called Paul to minister there for a couple of years. The people were ready to do something new and beautiful for God. Paul was merely the catalyst that Christ used to get the people moving.

Six generations ago, God positioned our church in this beautiful area that we call Bearden. Whether there was an actual den of Black or Grizzly bears in this region, I do not know, but I have come to love the name. Where I grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, my brothers and I used to hike twelve miles during the summer to visit a small town called Bearsden, which even existed when the Romans of Paul’s time occupied Scotland! It is a bonnie wee place and one dear to my heart – which is why I often refer to our church as being a bonnie wee place, too.

For some mysterious reason, God positioned our church here in this area 130 years ago and the great thing is this: Bearden is undergoing renewal, expansion and growth. I’ve been amazed at how much this whole area has been transformed. It’s become a commercial Klondike as a bounty of businesses develops this area. New houses are being built all over the place, which really excites me. This means that there is a new population here just waiting to be contacted, encouraged, and supported. In fact, at the last Outreach meeting, Tracy suggested that we begin to contact the people living in the surrounding apartments that are literally on our doorstep. I think that is a fantastic idea and one that we need to follow through.

But there are also booming new businesses in this area. A couple of years ago, a hairdressing salon was built across from our parking lot. In the first week of business, the owners came to visit our church and sent us some chocolates, coffee, and mugs. It was the start of a great relationship and friendship, for those business people were none other than Mary Alice, Don, Jose and Tonio, who are now part of our church family. God prepared us to be here for them, but He also moved their hearts to reach out to us first! And think of the great ministries and missions that have been born out of that connection, especially to the school in Guatemala!

It has made me think. There are new businesses opening in our area every year. Wouldn’t it be great if we could take a welcome basket from the church wishing them every blessing for the future? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if our church was known for its prayers and support to business men and women in this area? They are investing their lives in this part of our lovely city. Why shouldn’t we let them know that God has invested us here, too? God positions the church to fulfill His mission. He makes us Ephesian Christians in a sea of commerce to advance the work of the Gospel.

But as well as positioning His people, God is constantly readying His congregations for missions that matter. The Ephesians people were amongst the biggest idolaters in the Mediterranean region, yet Christ planted a church there. He was going to use the Ephesians enthusiasm for organized religion and turn it into a great gift of evangelization across the region. Many Christians in the first couple of centuries after Christ would be thankful for the faith that was expressed and sent out from Ephesus. Its bishops would be revered for generations and in the history of the church, some of the greatest thinkers and theologians emerged from Ephesus.

But what about us here at Erin? What have we done in our history that has made any impact for the Christian church in the world? Well, let me give you three current examples.

Yesterday I received this email from Samuel Lawrence in Canada:

Dear Mr. Stuart:
This past summer, I spent six-weeks in China as a volunteer English
Teacher. The program was hosted by China Christian Council, and my local
sponsor is the United Church of Canada. Our students were young
ministers, lecturers from theological seminaries and other church
workers. We had a team of four teachers--two from Canada and two from
the USA. It was an awesome experience!!!. Now, daily I am forwarding my
"Daily Devotion" to about 35 students, who came to learn English from
all over China--from Inner Mongolia to Hanan Island in the South. All my
students love receiving "Daily Devotion". It is very valuable to them
for Devotion and continuous learning of English language.

I wish to thank all the devoted writers to "Daily Devotion", it has
become a part of my global ministry.

Cheers!!
Keep on writing
Samuel Lawrence

Part of the ministry that you allow me to do here is writing daily devotionals which connect with many people in our congregation. Over 120 of them have been used by the Presbyterian Church of Canada’s daily devotion series…and now they are influencing the hearts and minds of people in China! That’s how we are an Ephesian church!

Secondly, we received a phone call this week from a young mother in Cookeville, TN. She wants to start up a MOPS group in her church and she heard that ours was one of the best in this area. That means that the ministry which young moms set up here and have continued throughout the years is having a bigger impact than we ever dreamed of. This is Erin being an Ephesian Church!

Thirdly, in October, when Evelyn and I are away for a weekend to go and visit Lynsey in Blacksburg, I’ve arranged for a missionary to come and lead the service. He has worked in Africa for decades, setting up a seminary to train pastors in Kenya. The seminary has graduated hundreds of pastors, who in turn have led thousands of churches, which in turn are full of hundreds of thousands of Africans hungry for the Gospel and sharing the Good news. What has all of this to do with Erin, I hear you ask?

The missionary is Myron Goodwin, who was baptized in this church many years ago, who grew up amongst us and when he was in Youth group, he gave his heart to the Lord! That’s what an Ephesian Christian church can do! And that’s what our wee church has been doing and will continue to do in the future.

When Christ calls us to be Ephesians servants at Erin, He wants us to be equipped in a unity of faith that will be displayed through our service to the community. But how do we equip people for Christian service at Erin?

Well, take today for instance. It’s stacked full of opportunities to be equipped in faith and to serve the Lord. We gathered for Rally Day to give everyone the opportunity to sign up for Sunday School Classes. We cater to all age groups from newborns to people in their nineties. We offer different classes with different themes. We all come in here to share worship together, teaching the faith to our kids, commissioning our teachers, and preaching the Word. We have an opportunity to cheerfully give to the Church so that we can enhance Christ’s work through the resources of the congregation.

After worship, we’re holding a Family Council to discus our current needs and to work on our future areas of growth. This afternoon, we have a funeral with the Brasher & Huber families – giving us an opportunity to offer them our support, our love, and our prayers. And tonight, our young people of Such is the Kingdom meet to practice singing for an event at Farragut Presbyterian Church in October; our youth groups meet to worship and discuss current issues, and then at the end of the evening, Glenfinnan are practicing for an all day Scottish concert that’s being held in Dandridge in September. All in one day – all for one purpose – to serve Christ within and beyond the walls of this church.

But it gets even better because wherever you go this week – to your work, place of business, to your school, to neighborhood clubs and societies – wherever you are, you are called to be ambassadors for Christ, ministers of God, and servants of the Kingdom. God has brought you here today to be equipped in faith, hope, and love, so that you can go out from this building to share the Gospel through your words, choices and deeds throughout this week until we gather here once more. We are all priests with a purpose and pastors with a passion for proclaiming the word and praising God’s name. We are all Ephesian Christians, equipped for service in the world, growing and building this church, this bonnie wee place called Erin to the glory of God and the exaltation of Christ’s Name!

One day, one glorious day, when we are all gathered in Heaven, Christ will show us what our wee church has done throughout its history. Six, sixteen or even sixty generations of Erin people will be standing together and feel proud of the faith we share, the hopes we have born, and the love we have shown…and then Jesus will show us even more people from all over the world – myriads of people who came to Christ through being treated by Christian nurses in Pakistan that we support – hundreds of children in Guatemala whose lives were touched and transformed through the missions we have financed – thousands of Chinese who have been taught the faith by students learning English using our daily devotions – and hundreds of thousands of Africans whose pastors have been trained by a missionary leader who gave his heart to the Lord as a teenager in this bonnie wee place called Erin.

And if you think that is wonderful, well to quote Al Jolson – You ain’t seen nothing yet! Glory to God and Halleujah!

Sunday Sermon - Freely & Confidently

Ephesians 3:7-13

7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.

I once played a butler in a play called “Shall We Join the Ladies?” written by J.M Barrie, the author of Peter Pan. It’s a murder mystery set in the dining room of a country manor. The guests all have a connection to the victim and they try to elicit clues from one another as they talk at the dinner table. The butler does not say a word in the play and must be attentive to each of the guests by bringing and removing silverware, plates and glasses. It’s only a one act play, but it’s one of the most intense murder mysteries I have been involved in and being the butler I had to fully concentrate on what was being said, done and expressed by the whole cast.

I literally had to become a servant to all of the other actors on the set to make the plot work.

Paul does the same when he’s writing to the Ephesians. The plot of the Gospel is to save the entire world and the mystery is how God accomplishes this through grace. When Paul declares himself to be the servant of the gospel, he’s letting the Ephesians knows that his life is dedicated to serving God’s purpose, attending to Christ’s demands, and fulfilling the tasks that are set before him. Paul doesn’t leave it to someone else to get things done – he’s on a mission for God and that mission is to spread the Gospel, preach the Kingdom, and glorify Christ all over the Mediterranean.

The Ephesians understood what it meant to be servants; after all, they had served Diana, their goddess, for hundreds of years. Their culture, their economy, their reason to exist was built upon serving the Great Temple of Diana, one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World, and devoting their energy, gifts and resources to maintaining her relevance in the civilized world. Without Diana, Ephesus would have been bypassed long ago. Without the temple, the Ephesians would just have been just another small Mediterranean town.

So they understood service and being servants, which is why Paul emphasizes his own servitude to Christ. He wants to link with their experiences and relate his faith to their life style. He wants to match his purpose with theirs. He is looking for ways to make faith in Christ attractive and acceptable to the Ephesians by meeting them on their own terms, in their own cultural ways. He is finding a way to tear down the walls of being a Jew in a Gentile world. Paul is making inroads with his Gospel message by using the culture to convey his beliefs.

This is something that our own church did nearly 130 years ago. Out of all the names that we could have been known by, our spiritual forefathers and foremothers chose the name “Erin.” It was the name of this district a long time before it became known as Bearden, but when we were established we could have easily been called Bearden Presbyterian Church. So why did the charter members choose the name “Erin?” It all had to do with cultural relevance and Missional outreach to the surrounding community.

Erin is the ancient Gaelic name for Ireland and it means “the beautiful island.” It’s a poetic and lyrical name for the old country. Anyone who was a Scots-Irish Protestant in this area would have been drawn to the church by the old Gaelic name. We were established to serve God by serving as a spiritual home for the Scots-Irish in this area. It’s part of our heritage. It’s a wonderful part of our history. And if you have a look at the church register for the last 130 years, you’ll see that Scots-Irish names still make up the majority of those written in its pages.

So, in order to be culturally relevant, the original charter families chose the name “Erin.” For Paul to be culturally relevant to the Ephesians, he used the term ‘servant’ to describe membership in God’s Kingdom through Christ.

8 Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Some servants are more important than others. In Victorian households, the butler was the chief manservant who organized all the servants below him. He acted as concierge and confidante to the family; he saw to it that all the duties assigned to the household servants were accomplished. His role was chief servant and steward to the entire household. He ensured that all the family’s resources for domestic purposes were not squandered or wasted.

In Paul’s time, there was a also chief servant attached to every successful household. His duties as overseer were practically the same, so the Ephesians would have understood that with service and servant hood, there was some sort of order and hierarchy. So they expected Paul, as preacher and teacher to their church, to be the chief servant – but Paul would not accept that mantel of esteem. In Christ’s kingdom, all servants are equal because all are preachers, teachers, ministers and priests for the sake of the Gospel. No one servant lords it over another. There is only One Lord – Jesus – and all of His followers are servants.

That’s why I love being a Presbyterian. We don’t have a hierarchy in our denomination or church. Ministers of the word and sacrament are set apart, not set above the people, when they are ordained. Elders are chosen by the congregation, as is the pastor, so that all the people have a say in the shaping of the church, the direction it is headed in, and the vision for the future. We don’t have bishops, cardinals, or popes who individually decide things for us. We are all servants of God here; we are all called to do Christ’s bidding.

In recent years, our denomination has encouraged members of local churches to think about becoming commissioned lay pastors. Instead of going to seminary, those members in our midst, who have served at least three years as an elder, are given the opportunity to serve the church in a wider capacity as lay pastors. I’m delighted to tell you that both Charles Snodgrass and Katina Stair from our own wee congregation. In years to come, their service to our presbytery and church may be crucial for the PCUSA in this area. As servants of Christ, they will have opportunities to minister in specialized areas of our church’s life, work, and ministry. And I am hoping that they are the first among a whole group of Erin elders who will undertake, endure, and accomplish this special training.


9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. 10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.


When Paul was writing to the Ephesians about being servants, they must have asked themselves what that serving entailed. It’s easy to accept serving God, after all the Ephesians had served Diana for generations – all they had to do was transfer their devotion from one deity to another – but what was their purpose as servants, what was God calling them to do?

Paul is ahead of them with regard to this question – he states what service to God is all about – the church’s purpose is to make God known in the world and to let their community know that Jesus Christ is Lord of life. That’s the Gospel in a nutshell – that’s the message reduced to its most simplistic form. Where I come from in Glasgow, Scotland, my city has this motto: “Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the Word and the praising of God’s Name.” It’s the exact same message that Paul was expressing to the Ephesians in his letter – serving God meant preaching the Word; being servants involved the praising of God’s Name.

Perhaps we could adopt something similar as a new mission statement for Erin, something like: “We are called to be servants of Jesus, growing in God’s Wisdom and praising Christ’s Holy Name.”

And talking about service for Christ at Erin, in the next couple of minutes, we are going to welcoming new members into our church. They have expressed a desire to join with our congregation and we are absolutely delighted that they have chosen to do this. But how can we help them become servants of the Lord, as well as members of our church? What experiences, ministries and missions can we offer them to enhance their connection to God and their relationship with Jesus? Are we content just to let them worship with us on Sundays, or are we going to make it our intent to invite and include them in our classes, our studies, our fellowship, our teams, our programs, and our plans? They have reached out to us: how are we going to reach out to them, to learn their names, to know of their gifts, to encourage and support them in their walk with God? We are all servants here – let us therefore serve one another by reaching out to these new members with our hearts and hopes, our faith and friendship, our laughter and love.


12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Finally, Paul writes to the Ephesians about why service to Christ in God’s Kingdom is important. They knew what to do and how to serve, but why were they called to serve Christ?

Almost every religion in the world has this common theme: that one day, every person who has ever lived on earth, will stand before God and be held accountable for every thought, word, deed, misdeed, and mistake that they made during their existence on earth. In most faiths it’s called the Time of Reckoning and Christianity is no different from many others on this point. People worship God, or gods, or goddesses to preserve and protect them from the trials and snares that this life imposes upon them. They also devote themselves and serve their God, gods or goddesses, in order to placate, appease and please them.

Just the other day, a devout Hindu in India, sought to win favor from his goddess Kali by making a sacrifice. The sacrifice he chose was to cut off his right hand. He’s now in hospital undergoing emergency surgery. But if he was a Christian, if he served Christ, he wouldn’t have to fear his God. We serve Christ because He has sacrificed Himself for us, so there is no greater sacrifice that God would ask of us. We can freely and confidently, as Paul writes, approach God and be in his presence without fear of reproach, retribution or reckoning. Our everlasting destiny has already been prepared when we decided to become Christ’s servants. We look forward to a moment in glory when we will be united with Christ through the unsearchable riches of His grace. We have nothing to fear… and this is why we are called to be servants of the Lord, so that others who fear death, punishment, and eternal separation may hear, know, and accept the Gospel – which tells us that we are not doomed to death and destruction, but that we are made for light and everlasting love.

Our calling as a church, as a congregation called Erin is to be that beautiful island of faith that everyone needs in their lives. Our task is to maintain the infrastructure of the Gospel, so that a bridge between heaven and earth can be experienced by as many people in our community that we know. And if we accept this calling of our hearts to serve Jesus, then one glorious day we will step forward, confidently and freely in the holy presence of our Almighty God to receive His eternal blessing and everlasting love. We will truly be Ephesian people, Erin Church members, and Christian servants, both now and always. Amen.

Sunday Sermon - Mysterious Promises

(Based on Ephesians 3:1-6)

Last weekend, Harry Potter was all the rage and many people lined up for hours at various stores all over the world, so that they could purchase the latest and last book about this modern young magician. For the past decade, millions of these books have been sold making the author JK Rowling one of the richest people in the world. Her own rags to riches story is in itself an example of how hard work, determination, and imagination can bring about well deserved fame and success. Seven books ago, JK Rowling was an unemployed single mom writing a story in her brother’s coffee house in Edinburgh, Scotland – today, she has even more wealth than her monarch Queen Elizabeth.

I guess mostly everyone got caught up in the Harry Potter craze. I even did a quiz on the internet to see which character I am most like. As I waited for the results to come in, I worried that I would end up being Siruis Black, the notorious prisoner of Azjekeban, or Severus Snape, the teacher of the Black Arts, or worst still, little Ginny Weasley, who has a crush on Harry Potter – but in the end my test results came back with a resounding 90% that my Harry Potter alter-ego is actually Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts school that Harry attends. I guess that’s what I get for having a grey beard, teaching Sunday school and wearing robes!

But why is Harry Potter so successful? What has caught the hearts and minds of so many millions of people on the earth? Well, I think it’s because of several things. The books contain elements of magic, mystery and suspense – three ingredients that have sustained writers of books and religious communities for generations. When I was a teenager, Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Scooby Doo nourished my mind with magic and mystery. Dick Tracy, Batman, and Superman satisfied the generations before mine. And if you go back far enough, Tom Swift, Tom Sawyer, and Sherlock Holmes intrigued millions of readers with their own adventures, mysteries, and magic. It’s a formula that has worked since people were drawing in caves and telling stories around the tribal fires – it’s all about good versus evil with magic and mystery thrown in to make up a great story.

The element of mystery has always intrigued us. As human beings, the great unknown has always attracted us. Why else did Columbus set off in 1492? He wanted to explore the great unknown of his age, of what lay beyond the western horizon of the Atlantic Ocean. Why else did pioneers head out on the Oregon Trail in their wagons to settle on the other side of this continent? They wanted to begin a new life, in a new place, and explore the possibility of being successful. And why else did President Eisenhower sing the Space Act on this day in 1958 in order to establish NASA? He wanted America to explore the final frontier of space – that great unknown of which we still hardly know anything, and in which we are only making small steps.

Mysteries are what make us who we are. We are attracted to them – why else do you think that Adam and Eve succumbed to temptation in the Garden of Eden? Curiosity got the better of them – the tree of knowledge was a mystery to them and they just had to experience it. They were attracted to a mystery and they were tempted by the great unknown. They wanted something they couldn’t have, and they were frustrated by it. They needed to possess the fruit and eat it because they felt incomplete, insecure, and inconsolable without it. They wanted to solve the mystery, so they stole the fruit and set humanity on a course of unending curiosity, exploration, and wanderlust that will be with us until humankind returns to the dust from which we came.

Mysteries get the better of us. They become our obsessions, our longings, and our desires. We want to know how things will turn out, which is why millions of people queued up for hours last weekend trying to get their hands on a book. They wanted to be amongst the first to read all of the 760 pages to discover how it all turned out – and if you want to know, then don’t ask a Harry Potter fan – they’re good at keeping secrets – you’ll just have to buy it yourself, or wait for the movie version to come out in 2010.

Mysteries were a way of life for the people of Ephesus, which is why Paul mentions the word here in today’s Bible passage three times. The Ephesians lived in a place that was built upon magic, superstition, and mystery. The temple of Diana was a mysterious place where ancient rituals were carried out. Sacred secrets about the temple were passed from generation to generation amongst the priests. It was a place where people came to make pledges and sacrifices, to look for blessings and benevolence, to express their love of Diana their goddess, and to ward off the wrath of other Greek gods.

You see life was a mystery to the Ephesians and the people of that time. Disease, pestilence, famine, and war were rampant throughout the region. A person could be healthy one hour and dead the next. Infant mortality was high and life expectancy was low. People felt insecure all of the time, so they clung to mystery and magic, superstition and secrets as the means to ward off evil, to escape disaster, and to prolong their lives.

There were even mystery cults all over the region that people participated in. Most of these cults involved the use of drums and music, hallucinations and visions, virgins and temple prostitutes to placate the gods and bless their devotees. In other words, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’roll were as popular then, as they are today. People believed that if they could learn the secrets of these mystery religions, then they could guarantee long life, wealth, health and fame. Penetrating the Mystery was the means of discovering the real secrets about eternal life.

And we still are like this today – think about it. Famous people and ordinary people are looking for the secret of success, the secret of acquiring wealth, the secret of staying young and keeping fit. We all want to ward of death and dying, disease and discomfort, insecurity and inferiority. We all want to be something special, do something great, complete something that will change the world. We want to know that our lives have made a difference and that our time, our talents, and our treasures have been used to the best of our abilities, to reward ourselves and take care of our loved ones. That’s why books like The Secret, or the Da Vinci Code, or the Purpose Driven Life appeal to us – we all want to feel that we’ve solved the mystery of life and why we exist in the first place. That’s why people like Madonna are drawn to the Kabbalah – old Hebrew wisdom with hidden secrets in the Bible text – or Tom Cruise is drawn to scientology – a higher wisdom and greater spiritual plane than anyone else – or even Shirley McLaine and Reba who feast upon New Age ideas in order to cast aside their insecurities and put themselves at the center of the universe. It’s all the same stuff that’s been tried for thousands of years. It’s all the same old tested and tried ways of finding the meaning of life, the universe and everything that was even ancient history to the Ephesians two thousand years ago.

But Paul touches their hearts and minds; he penetrates their souls and spirits when he uses the word mystery and links it to Christ. He tells the people that the mystery they are longing to solve can only be found in Jesus. The purpose that they are yearning to find for their lives can only be discovered in Christ. The reason for their existence in the entire world can only be revealed through Jesus Christ for, as the scriptures say, there is no other name under heaven, given to humankind, through which we can be saved.

Life was a mystery way back then. Life is till a mystery today. We cannot hope to understand everything about life, but we have a Guide who has experienced life at its best and worst who can, if we are willing, lead us through this journey of existence and bring us to the shores of eternity. As Paul himself writes,

this mystery “has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. “

In other words, what was once given to the Jewish people almost four thousand years ago, has now been given to the entire world. The magic of life and the mystery of existence are rolled into one. We live because God loves us. We exist because God wants us to love His Son. It’s as simple as that. As the old question from the catechism once put it: what is the chief purpose of man? To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

So, what have we learned this morning?
That we all love mysteries and seek to solve them.

That we are part of a mystery called life and each of us is on a unique and personal quest.

That we can look in all the wrong places and never be satisfied with anything.

That we can look to Jesus and discover that He is the key to unlocking this mystery. He is indeed the great magic of life, the universe, and everything.

Prayer:
There's Just Something About That Name

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus;
There's just something about that name!
Master, Savior, Jesus,
Like the fragrance after the rain;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,
Let all heaven and earth proclaim;
Kings and kingdoms will all pass away,
But there's something about that name!