We've all been hurt.
We all carry scars.
We can all overcome these things and be healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Let's build that relationship together right here.
Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the sanctuary.
So good to have you with us as always.
And for those of you who are tuning in for the very first time, let me just say welcome.
Now the past few months, really the last year, we've been learning about so much.
And undoubtedly you notice that while there have been a lot of messages of hope, there
is a lot in the series of things that we've been covering that have also been pretty dark.
There's a lot of dark things in the Bible.
So this week, as we continue to celebrate the great things God has blessed us with and
we're going down that road towards Christmas, we're going to change things up a bit.
We're going to change gears and we're going to spend some time in the book of Ephesians.
Now this is one of the more upbeat books in the Bible.
And when Paul wrote it, as we're going to see, it wasn't to deal with any issues that
were arising in early church.
It wasn't dealing with hypocrisy.
It wasn't calling people out or anything like that.
You know, it wasn't there as a tool of correction.
Instead, this was written to strengthen and encourage and empower the church.
And as we're going to see, it's also going to strengthen our faith by explaining the
very nature of what the church is supposed to be as the body of Christ.
Okay.
All right, forgive me, I still have a little bit of a cough here.
So I'm going to keep it mute here every time I cough.
So if it seems like there's a long pause, that's usually what it is.
I'm trying not to blow your ears out over here.
So as we get started here, I'm going to ask a question.
I'd like for everyone to just take a moment to reflect on it.
What do you see when you go out into the world?
Now I'm going to narrow this down a little bit.
I'm talking about those places where people gather together.
Work, school, sports, clubs, even in places of worship and beyond.
Let's face it.
People come in all types, all sorts, tall, small, big, dainty, some dressed to impress,
others are looking for comfort, others are just working with what they got.
And while we're all looking around, we're typically looking for people who look and
sound like ourselves.
The group that we fit in with.
Now a lot of places, including places of worship, a lot of people, even pastors go wrong here
because of their cookie cutter expectations.
The fact of the matter is it comes natural.
It does.
It's natural.
It's part of the human state, no matter how much you think you don't do this.
This is something we all gravitate towards 100% each and every one of us.
Now once you're aware of it, that's when you can work to try to change that.
Now let's face it.
It's a lot easier to talk to someone when you already know you have common ground.
It really is.
However as Paul is going to tell us as we go through this book, we need to take a look
at ourselves and remove anything and everything that we use to separate us from other Christians.
Because we can't continue to live in a broken house.
It's time to unify and the only way to do it right is in Christ.
So as we get in here, let me give you a good example.
It sounds like, what do you mean break down the walls?
I saw this in the military.
I also saw this, as many of you know, I went to a military school.
And one of the very first things I noticed that made it so much different than a regular
school of course are the uniforms, the haircuts.
We had certain standards.
And you see the exact same thing in the military when you go to boot camp.
You have your uniforms.
Everybody is getting their hair cut a certain way.
Everybody is shaving a certain way.
Everybody is there for a certain purpose.
So you can't just look at somebody and be like, you know what, I don't like them.
Or, I don't know, they need to stay away from me.
Or, I don't know, we're not going to get along.
We're too different.
Or anything like that.
All the things that we look at are gone.
So one thing I learned quickly, and those of us who have served have learned quickly,
when somebody is in uniform and you're meeting them for the first time, other than the fact
that they're in that uniform, you don't know anything else about them.
So you have to actually talk to them to get to know them.
And you build a relationship.
Because sometimes those relationships are amazing and surprising.
Very very surprising.
So turn with me now before I go down any more rabbit trails.
We're going to go to the book of Ephesians.
If you're not sure where it's at, it's in your New Testament.
And of course, I've already given a little bit of background.
I'm going to give you a little more here.
It was written by Paul right around 60 AD while he was in prison in Rome.
And we can see more about that in Acts chapter 28.
And its purpose again is directed at building up and maintaining the unity of the church.
And as we'll see, Paul doesn't greet anyone specific here.
This was a letter that was sent to the church in Ephesus and then circulated around throughout
the area afterwards to other neighboring churches.
And at this point, Paul, he'd been a Christian for right around 30 years.
He'd been on missionary trips to include Ephesus.
As a matter of fact, he'd been there for a couple of years.
So he was well established.
He was well known.
He was respected.
He was a point of authority within the church at this point.
Now starting in verses one and two, the Bible says.
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God's holy people in Ephesus, the
faithful in Christ Jesus.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
So again, he's not calling out anyone specific here.
It's not like other books or other letters that we see in the Bible.
Instead, what we do see is that it's addressed to the faithful.
In other words, Christians, he's calling out a certain loyalty even, if you would.
And we can see that this is being done as praise.
He's given praise.
He could have just elected it.
God's holy people.
And let's face it, that says a lot right there, right?
But instead he goes on to call out the faithful, which is quite a distinction.
It points to being a light in their communities.
And we're no different.
We're called to be the same.
When people look at Christians, they should see that we live differently.
We treat people differently.
We act differently.
We talk differently.
Everything about us, we live differently in respect to how we go about our lives.
We don't look down on people, but rather we're there to extend a hand and offer to pick them
up and empower them to live better lives by knowing Jesus.
They should be able to look at you.
They should be able to look at me and see God's light in our lives.
All right, continuing on now, verses three through six, the Bible says, praise be to
the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms
with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his
sight.
In love, he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ in accordance
with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given
us and the one he loves.
Praise be.
Praise be indeed.
Starting everything by bringing praise to the father.
This is always a good thing.
We should always have God at the front and center of our lives.
We don't praise him because of a position like kingship.
Let's face it, he's much beyond that.
Not only that, people have bent the knee to several rulers out of fear and threats of
death, threats against their families and loved ones or property over the centuries.
Instead, as Christians, we do it out of respect.
We recognize that he's not just the creator, but we do it because of everything he's done
in our lives.
From our very being to the blessing since and to come.
Literally, from our creation, our birth and everything in our lives and everything to
come.
And the fact that we have a relationship with Jesus, we know that we're adopted into God's
family and forgiven of our various sins.
It's important to note here where it says heavenly realms.
This points to the fact that our blessings are not earthly, they're heavenly, meaning
they come from the realm of God.
And it's emphasized here when he talks about us being blameless in God's sight.
This is showing that our salvation comes from on high.
We know there is nothing we can do to earn it, nothing.
There's no act, there are no words, there's no sacrifice we can offer, there is nothing
that we can give to God in order to earn it.
It is a gift, plain and simple, and it points directly to how loved we are as His children.
We don't deserve it, yet we are saved by Him and in accordance with His plan and His
will for us.
God didn't have to accept us.
However, in this sacrifice and the blood of Jesus Christ, we are blameless in His sight.
He no longer sees our sin but Jesus in us.
Which takes us to verse 5.
Now, the word predestined is a word that a lot of people get hung up on, as if it meant
that we were going to be Christians no matter what.
It's not saying that, it's not saying that God's like, hey, you know what, I'm going
to create these guys, these guys are going to be mine, and I'm going to make these guys,
and well, we're just going to throw them in a pit later on.
That was not the intention, and that's not what it's saying.
What it's talking about is the fact that He knew that He would adopt us into His family
once we accepted, or in other terms, once we chose to follow Jesus, and therefore the
Father in our hearts.
The fact that we know Jesus means that we know God because God's in Him.
Again, it's because of Jesus' sacrifice, His covering of our sins in His very blood,
that the Father doesn't see our sin.
It's camouflaged, it's hidden, it's gone.
It's covered by the blood of Jesus, it's wiped out.
Now, note where it says adoption to sonship.
I love this, I love this.
Matter of fact, I would highlight or underline this, make some kind of a note even, maybe
put a star next to it, I don't know.
You see, in Greek, this is the legal term that refers to the full legal standing of
an adopted male heir in Roman culture.
You see, in Roman law, once someone was adopted, they were seen as accepted as if they had
always been a blood relative.
It didn't matter where they came from, they could have been a slave prior to being adopted.
Once they were adopted, all of that was gone, all of their past was gone as a clean slate.
They were a family member with all the rights, privileges, benefits that came with that.
This phrasing is important to know because it's used to demonstrate the same thing that
happens to each and every one of us when we become Christians, when we take on the blood
of Christ.
It's also important to remember when you hear someone say that we're all God's children,
referring to everyone on earth, because as you now know, we're not.
It's not until we come to know Jesus and begin following Him as Christians that we are adopted
into God's family.
Knowing this makes it a lot easier for each and every one of us to see not only how great
it is for us as individuals, but how great it is for each and every person who's adopted
into our family.
This is why it's important that we are careful not to let walls build up and cliques to form
that separate us from other Christians.
We need to know our family.
We need to know them.
That's a blessing in itself.
If you've ever been separated from any part of your family, you know how hard that is.
And for those of you who haven't had to deal with that, that's a blessing in itself.
Let's go back to our reading, Ephesians 1 verses 7 through 10.
The Bible says, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins
in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us.
With all wisdom and understanding He made known to us the mystery of His will according
to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times
reached their fulfillment to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
You know, it's hard to talk about Jesus without talking about His death.
However, in doing so, we also get to talk about two of the greatest gifts that we've
been blessed with.
Redemption and forgiveness.
So let's start with redemption.
Redemption is the price paid for freedom.
As we all know from John chapter 8 verse 36, the Bible says, Therefore if the Son makes
you free, you shall be free indeed.
That's redemption.
And that payment is to free a slave.
And let's face it, we were all slaves to sin before the Father set us free.
All of us.
Now I should remind you that in biblical times, slavery wasn't the same as the narrow scope,
that small gauge that's used to look at it today.
And let's face it, today it is a very, very narrow gauge.
So back then, in those days, people would actually volunteer to be slaves for a number
of reasons.
One of the most common was repaying debt.
As a matter of fact, if we were to go back to Leviticus chapter 25 and look at verses
44 through 54.
So Leviticus 25 verses 44 through 54, we could see some of what the Bible has to say about
owning slaves.
Things about treating them fairly, granting them their freedom.
Under Hebrew laws, slaves were treated differently than how they were in other countries.
The point was, they weren't cattle.
They weren't just property.
They weren't just something to use and abuse.
They weren't trophies or things to show off.
They were humans.
They were recognized.
They were human beings.
And they still needed to be treated with respect and with dignity.
Even being allowed to participate in the various festivals and to rest during the Sabbath.
And it's things like this.
This is why it's so important that we actually study not only the Bible, but history to understand
what really happened, what was going on, and not this garbage rhetoric that's being spun
into a horrific tale that so many people take at face value these days.
Let's face it, it's out there a lot.
It's out there a lot.
And that's what happens when uneducated people start spinning things.
That's part of our society's downfall right there, isn't it?
Because not only do we not try to educate, but we don't expect it.
We don't encourage people to learn.
That's not something we need to work on, isn't it?
So it's important that we understand the whys and the hows that drove people and what made
them go to these points that they were making these sacrifices for themselves and for their
families.
To a point you can almost look at it as a dentured servitude.
Kind of like with certain positions, like, hey, you know what, you're going, we'll pay
for this, and then once that's done, you agree to work for us for X amount of time, right?
Very similar, very similar.
Also puts Jesus' sacrifice for our redemption into that much more perspective as well, doesn't
it?
So with that said, let's take a look at forgiveness.
Back in the days of the Old Testament, it was based on the shedding of an animal's blood.
We can see this in various points of scripture, where it talks about the temples and all that
kind of stuff.
But more specifically, if we go to Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11, in which the Bible says,
for the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement
for yourselves on the altar.
It is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
See, a sacrifice was a really big deal back then.
It wasn't just a bloodletting.
You know, for one, livestock was part of livelihood.
It was part of your wealth.
Even today, even today, having animals and caring for them, it's not cheap.
Ask anyone that's ever had to take an animal to a veterinarian.
To even make a vow in those days was tremendous.
Tremendous.
What would happen is they would take an animal and this animal would be torn in half.
The person would walk around it and then through the halves to say, an outward proclamation
even, saying that, if I don't honor my word, may I be ripped apart like this animal.
It was nothing to take lightly.
We're a far cry from that today, aren't we?
Now thinking of that, thinking of how important the blood Jesus shed for us as a final and
perfect sacrifice so that we could be free.
Think of that importance to be bought and paid for in the blood of Jesus.
That should have new meaning to everyone now knowing this.
The blood of the Lamb.
Praise the Lord for buying our freedom.
Praise Jesus.
We're paying for the very freedom that we don't deserve, yet he's granted it in his
grace and in his mercy because he loves all of us that he saves.
He loves everyone that he saves.
These are gifts that only God can give to each and every one of us.
Turning back to Ephesians 1 verses 11 through 14.
Ephesians 1 verses 11 through 14.
The Bible says, in him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan
of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will and ordered that
we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, when you believed you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy
Spirit who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's
possession to the praise of his glory.
Praise be.
In choosing to become Christians and forming a relationship with Jesus, we gain everything.
It's not a reward.
We don't get a trophy.
We don't earn things by doing this.
Rather everything that he has for us is already being stored up for us.
It's already ours.
It's just waiting for the day that we join him in heaven.
In the Sermon on the Mount, we go to Matthew 6 verses 19 through 21.
Matthew 6 verses 19 through 21.
Jesus said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin
destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where moths and vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.
You see, we already have these things.
It's when we turn our backs on them.
When we turn our backs on God and we walk the way, when we're lost to the world.
That's when we lost everything.
Right?
It wasn't even so much that we lost it.
It's that we walked away from it.
I like the story of the prodigal son, right?
So in saying that we are also chosen, the word is also saying that we are heirs.
So who are heirs?
Well, family are.
As much as I hate the word entitled, the very definition of an heir is a person who is legally
entitled to property or rank of another.
Alright?
So we already have all these great things.
They're stored up for us in heaven and we're heirs to everything as family of God.
In addition to this, we see that we're marked with the seal.
God has a plan.
He's in control.
And when we make that choice to follow him, we're sealed as his.
Now, I know some of you are wondering, what's the seal?
Well, the Bible just told us it's the Holy Spirit.
In giving us the Holy Spirit, God confirms that we are his.
Because only Christians, we're the only ones that have the Holy Spirit within us, right?
Think of it this way.
Think of the old days of royalty.
They had a decree or a letter or something that they were sending out or orders to the
military, whatever.
They had to have a way to make sure that they knew who it was coming from.
So what did they do?
They'd warm some wax, they'd pour a little bit of other document, and then that person,
usually like the king, would press down on it with the royal seal, which typically was
held in a ring that they would wear, right?
Sometimes there's another marker that would have that crest that they would use, but typically
it was in a ring.
And they'd press down on it and it would seal it and leave that little press on there.
And it was a marker that only that person or that family bore.
And the Holy Spirit, that's God's way of doing the same with us.
That's his marker.
And people can see when his light is within you.
And people should see when his light is within you.
That's his seal.
Moving along.
So Ephesians 1 verses 15 through 17.
The Bible says, For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus
and your love for all God's people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you.
Remembering you in my prayers, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know
Him better.
How awesome is that?
How awesome is this prayer?
Paul's literally praying that everyone gets to know God.
And not only that, but for those who know him to grow in a better relationship with
him.
He's praying for all of our relationships with the Father.
It's another blessing for sure.
Now how does this happen?
Does it happen by listening to someone talk about God or simply reading the Bible?
You know, hearing a sermon?
Well, yes and no.
So let's bring it into our society, for instance, right?
Take us whole lebrity.
Now you can listen to their interviews.
You can read all about them.
Let's face it, the paparazzi does a good job of making sure you know what's going on in
everyone's daily life these days, don't they?
But even with that, watching all these things, hearing all these things, reading all these
things, does that mean that you know them?
No.
You read their biography, doesn't mean that you know them.
Not in the slightest.
It actually kind of drives me nuts because you know, when a celebrity comes around, they
helped me out when I was in a dark place.
Really?
Did they?
You know, it's like because you don't know them.
In order to know someone, you need to talk to them.
You need to talk to them in order to get to know them.
You need that with any relationship.
Hearing about them is one thing.
Talking to them and having a relationship with them is different.
It's the whole do you know God or do you know of God, right?
Coming to know God is no different.
You can hear a sermon, you can hear someone give their testimony, you can read books,
and these are all great ways to learn about God.
And the Bible is the best way to learn about God.
However, each and every one of us needs to take the time to actually talk to Him.
That's what prayer is.
Remember, I've talked about this before.
We're not just chanting little things, you know, or little ditties or little rhymes or
any of that kind of stuff.
Prayer is the time that we take to actually talk to God.
It's a blessing that we have that we can go directly to Him in prayer.
And the more you do this, the better your relationship will be with Him.
You should be talking about the good, the bad, the ugly, the in-between, the insecurities,
everything.
It's like, hey, you know, I got this going on.
I think this is the way I'm going to go, but I'm just not sure, you know, all that kind
of stuff.
Yeah, God knows, but He wants to hear it from us.
That's part of having a relationship.
He didn't create us to talk about Him.
He created us to talk to Him, right?
Would you rather have friends that talk to you or about you?
I don't know about you.
I'd rather have friends that talk to me.
That's what friendship is, right?
That's what a relationship is.
Same with family.
You want family that talks about you or family that talks to you.
If all they do is talk about you, that's not much family, is it?
All right, we're in the homestretch here, people.
I promise.
So moving into Ephesians 1, verses 18 through 21.
So verses 18 through 21, the Bible says, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened
in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you.
The riches of His glorious inheritance and His holy people and His incomparably great
power for us who believe.
That power is the same as the mighty strength He exerted when He raised Christ from the
dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms.
Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked.
Not only in the present age, but in the one to come.
Paul's prayer here is for everyone's heart to be opened to just how great God is and
what awaits us in heaven.
It's not a promise of a great life here on earth.
It's not that promise of a great life now.
That whole name and claim it, oh, you want it?
Just reach out and claim it.
No, that's bogus.
That's false doctrine.
That's not what it is.
What it is a promise of is a wonderful future when we are together with Him in heaven.
Bible tells us life's going to be anything but easy.
However, when the Father calls us home, that's a different story.
Think about it.
People watch athletes, they watch athletic feats and all, mechanical feats that continually
push the limits of our known understanding of how things work.
They're amazing, right?
Just 50 years ago, heck 40 years ago, we still had rooms that were filled with equipment,
filled top to bottom, these huge rooms just to do simple computing on the most basic level.
And now we have a computer more than 100 times greater along with the camera and so many
other features in our phones that we carry around wirelessly in our pockets and bags,
right?
We get excited about these things.
And think about it.
We watch videos on all these different services and stuff and it's like, whoa, check this
out, right?
Paul is reminding us that as great as these marvels we see are, they pale in comparison
to how great our God is.
They pale in comparison to the one who created everything down to the minute details that
we still cannot even imagine and haven't even discovered.
And yet he's given us hope that we'll be right there alongside him one day.
Ephesians 1, 22 and 23.
The Bible says, and God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head
over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything
in every way.
It's a fullness that comes from Jesus filling the church, the church being us, his people.
And he fills us with his gifts and his blessings.
Jesus is the head of the body, right?
And each of us are the body.
All of us are following.
We're all parts of the body.
Think about it this way.
The body can't live without a head, right?
Cut the head off, what happens?
It's done.
It's gone.
Even just the brain, right?
And I know it seems like some people challenge that statement regularly, right?
However, I'm talking about the literal sense.
If the brain dies, so does the body.
Yeah, sure.
We have all these little gizmos and stuff that can sustain it temporarily.
But once that plug is pulled, that body is done for without the brain, without the head
telling it what to do, right?
We're no different without Jesus.
Without Jesus, we're dead.
Without His direction, we flounder and we die.
Coming back to where we started today, this is also why it's important that we connect
with our Christian brothers and sisters.
Everyone serves a purpose, none of them being the same.
The right foot might be similar to the left, but it's still different.
It still operates independently.
Same with the hands.
The lungs serve a completely different purpose from the kidneys, and so on.
But they're also important, right?
Lose one of those things and see how it changes your life.
And that's the blessing of the Church.
When we remove the cliques and we come together with Jesus at the head, we form something
absolutely amazing.
It's tremendous.
And as we're seeing in the season of Thanksgiving and good tidings moving towards Christmas,
these are all things for us to keep in mind, which is why when we reach out to people that
would normally be ignored and brushed aside, when we reach out, we show them love.
We get to know them.
See the human.
Think back to what I was saying earlier about slaves.
They weren't just cattle.
They were human beings.
And that's how we need to see others as well.
We've already encountered the greatest love in our lives in Jesus.
And it's important, so important, that we break the barriers within our own buildings.
That we dissolve the cliques and reach out to our neighbors.
And that we share that love of Jesus with others so that they can come to know Him as
well.
We all have so much to be thankful for.
Let's make sure others know that they do as well.
Remember, you are loved and you are a blessing.
Now go and be the church.
Thank you all for joining us here today at Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
Please like, subscribe, and share our podcast on any platform it is that you tune into us
on.
If you do have any questions, any prayer requests, or would like to know more about our ministry,
you can find us on our website at BeTheLightSanctuary.org or on Facebook at BeTheLightSanctuary.
You can also find how to contact us there, whether it's direct message or email.
We look forward to hearing from you all.
God bless.