A PASTORAL LETTER | Pastor Johnnie Simpson Jr.

Ephesians 1:15-23 (NIV)

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ 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. ¹⁸ 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 in his holy people,¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

People don't really write letters as much as they used to. Letter-writing has been primarily replaced by email, texts and direct messages, DMs for short. But letters are powerful and important. The September 2017 issue of The Atlantic magazine had a list of what they thought were the most important letters in history. They  had a wide range of types of letters on this list.

Queen Atossa of Persia is credited for writing the very first handwritten letter in 500 B.C. She "established the genre," according to history professor Brid McGrath, "and made letters the most normal, effective form of long-distance communication for millennia." 

Abraham Lincoln wrote five public letters during the Civil War. In one of those letters Lincoln says "I am naturally anti-slavery," "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong."

In 1939, Albert Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt, suggesting that an atomic bomb was possible. Six years later, the United States dropped nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote "Letter from Birmingham Jail," It became the 20th century's most influential essay on civil disobedience, and inspired major civil-rights legislation. I like it personally because he called out the moderates who tried to stay on the fence during the civil rights movement and not get involved because they agreed with what MLK was protesting but not how he was protesting.

As for the "Golden Record" sent into space on the Voyager spacecraft in 1977, it will probably never be read or answered. But it contains a record of who we are as human beings.

But of the letters written that are important to humanity, I would say that some of the letters the Apostle Paul wrote are just as important. It is with those letters we have our guidelines for the church.  In today's scripture reading Paul has written a letter to  a church in Ephesus, this was an ancient Greek city, today it would be Turkey.

Acts 18 tells us that Paul went to Ephesus after leaving Corinth and eventually planted a church there.

This is a Deutero-Pauline letter written to the congregation of the Church at Ephesus, Ephesians is about Jews and Gentiles coming together to form the church. Written around 60 CE. Something interesting about Ephesians is that it talks a lot about how the church is supposed to act never talks about a building. During those times the believers gathered in houses to worship and fellowship, but they don't mention that in Ephesians, why? The church is the people, not where they meet. Paul said that this church has a reputation. The born and bred church people coming together with those who did not grow up in a church and they did it in a hostile environment.

This church was in a city that was popular for three things, commercial trade, governmental oppression, and pagan religions. While in Ephesus Paul spoke truth to power about what was going on there and when he did, enough people stopped worshiping other gods. Reading Acts 19, lets us know that people were buying pagan books and once Paul started teaching, they burned them and didn't buy any more, and didn't go to the shrines anymore. A man of God preaching the word of God upset the economy, other religions, and the government all at once and now a church dedicated to what that man of God was preaching is still in the city. The people of God caring more about what God says instead of political leaders, the people of God caring more about the people than the economy, the people of God focused on their religion instead of conforming to those around them. I recall Paul saying something in Romans 12 about not conforming to the world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind. This Ephesian church had its act together.

THE CONSECRATION OF THIS BODY (1:15-23): Paul prays that God will allow his church to understand four things about himself.

A. Concerning his person (1:15-17): "So that you might grow in your knowledge of God."

Paul has heard about this church,  their reputation has spread. People know of this church they are not just a social club, they are out an about making change in their area. Paul says he has heard of their faith in the Lord, he knows that they are believers, that they love God, and Paul says in that same verse, their love toward the saints. They Love God and Love people and the people know about it. Paul goes on to say that even though they have a good reputation, they love God, they love people, the Ephesian church is  supposed to still grow in wisdom and revelation. The church doesn't have it all figured out, there is still work to do.

B. Concerning his promise (1:18): "So that you can understand the wonderful future he has

promised to those he called." Some translations say hope, something to hope for. Paul wants the church to open their eyes, open their hearts, and take in what is really important. Some translations say the glorious inheritance among the saints.

C. Concerning his power (1:19-20a): "That you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of

his power.... This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead." The same power that rose Christ from the dead is the same power working in you. The same power that got Christ out the grave is the power that will help you and keep you during this pandemic.

D. Concerning his position (1:20b-23)

1. Christ's position in heaven (1:20b-21): He occupies the exalted place at the right hand of the Father himself.

2. Christ's position on earth (1:22-23): He has been appointed head of the church.

Christ is above all things, all dominion, all authorities, all powers, all presidents, all governors, all mayors, all elections and elected officials, all political parties, all companies. You name it, Christ is above it. Christ is above all. There is nothing that should come between you and God, nothing that should come between you and Jesus Christ, even if you think that person is God's chosen one, the created thing cannot be above the creator.

Paul is using present tense in this language the victory is already won. Christ is already sitting at the right hand of the father and if he is sitting at the right hand already the battle is already over. 

Change Your Perspective July 31, 2016

The True Philosophy - July 24, 2016

It's Actually Pretty Simple

We can make a lot of things too complicated in an effort to solve them, the Colossian Church included. Paul had to tell them it is pretty simple...Jesus. Lets get back to focusing on the basics.

Dealing With the Contradictions (Romans 7:14-25)

Human behavior is something we all strive to understand, we offer degrees in psychology and sociology, those who work well with others or are likable seem to go further in life, we spend time trying to be with and to better understand our mates. We spend a great deal of our time trying to figure out why and how somebody did something. We spend so much time trying to figure these things out because the stuff that we want to do, we sometimes don’t, and the things that we don’t want to do, we sometimes find ourselves doing. We become this walking talking mass of contradictions. I know I should work out a whole lot more than I do, but I’m still working on it, I know I need to drink less sugary drinks, but I am working on it.

Michel de Montaigne (Renaissance Author) said:

‘I write to keep from going mad from the contradictions I find among mankind - and to work some of those contradictions out for myself.”

Thomas Merton(Catholic Monk) said:

“The very contradictions in my life are in some ways signs of God's mercy to me.”

During the time of this writing you had Pious Jews in the area that believed in strict observance of the law, the lived every day scared that they were going to break it. You also had pious early Christians out there struggling to observe the rules as well. This life becomes a struggle of the flesh and the spirit.

Paul doesn’t minimize his struggle and neither should we; yes we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and the apple of God’s eye but we still have our struggles. The Apostle Paul exercises some self-examination if you will, he takes a “selfie” without the camera. As I was researching for this sermon, one of the commentaries I read said that some scholars don’t want to believe that the Apostle Paul was speaking on his own struggles, that he didn’t have any. They go so far as to say even though he is writing IN FIRST PERSON, using terms like ‘I’ and ‘me’ he did that just to relate to the readers of the epistle, but didn’t really have any struggles to talk about.

That is why a lot of the secular world doesn’t want anything to do with Christians because some of us walk around like we are perfect, and the higher “rank” you think you have in the Body of Christ, the worse off it seems to be. Don’t be on the Trustee board, or a Baptist Deacon, elder, or mother of the church. Then you are really big stuff, but the men and women of the cloth seem to be just as bad. I am in a few Facebook groups and there are people in there who will get mad if you don’t address them by their titles when responding to their posts in the groups. You want me to call you Chief Apostle, Archbishop Primate, Presiding Prelate or whatever and have the nerve to say something about it every time someone doesn’t do so. Why? I am not one to despise small beginnings but if I had 10 names in my title, and only 2 members in your congregation, maybe I would be a little short on honorifics, pomp, and circumstance and little longer on some ministry. We all struggle, there is no use trying to pretend that we don’t, the bible says

Romans 3:23New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

We cannot think of ourselves as perfect, if we did, I think it would be hard for us to see the God in others.

So what do we do about it?

1. It won’t be effortless

Verse 17 – Paul can speak on the flesh and “nothing good, that dwells within me” because God gave him an understanding of Donald Lawrence’s song before he wrote it, we are not natural beings having a spiritual experience, but we are spiritual beings living a natural experience. And in this natural experience we will always have a way out.

1 Corinthians 10:13New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

13 No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

2. Expect to encounter enemies

Verse 21 – When I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.

A man with no enemies is a man with no character.

Quoted in Paul Newman: A Life in Pictures, ed. Yann-Brice Dherbier and Pierre-Henri Verlhac (2006), p. 120

Variant: If you don't have enemies, you don't have character.

As quoted in Words of Wisdom : From the Greatest Minds of All Time (2004) by Mick Farren

Simply put, all the greats are hated on.

If you are in a position where everybody likes you all the time, you might want to take a look at some of your values. Does that mean you need to get into a fight everyday, no, but you cannot please all the people all the time without lying to somebody.

Furthermore it will not be easy, success takes a lot of hard work, they say you need 10,000 hours of practice at any given skill before you become proficient at it. I was watching the movie Rocky II at home on Friday and Rocky’s trainer a character named Mickey was talking Rocky and he said to be able to last in the ring 45 minutes you need to train for 45,000 minutes, now that is a 1,000 of practice for every minute he needed to last in the ring.

We have become this culture with a microwave mentality to the point that we expect success to come without much time and without much effort. I have seen it in the way we treat our athletes. Now I am not the biggest Lebron James fan, I will be the first to admit it, but the man has a tremendous amount of pressure on him, everybody is expecting him to be the next Michael Jordan to the point that if he does not lead his team, and I say lead as in start, and contribute the most not like some of the others who just happen to be in the right place at the right time on winning teams; but I digress, if he does not lead his team, whatever team it is, to 6 or more championships, he will be viewed as a failure. There is video out, someone edited it together Michael Jordan’s “Maybe” video with Lebron James’ “Rise.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEVCjUG1Mww

The video shows Lebron and Jordan talking in voice over’s and Jordan says, “maybe its my fault, maybe I led you to believe it was easy when it wasn’t, maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free-throw line and not in the gym.” Repetition is the mother of skill, we need to find time to fill our time with the things of God.

3. Expect to call upon your extraction

Full Definition of EXTRACTION

1:  the act or process of extracting something

2:  ancestry, origin  - This is the definition I am focusing on

3:  something extracted

Verses 24-25 – the way we deal with it is practice, by ourselves we are wretched, but with the help of the lord we are the righteousness of God. Our daughter Elle Bea has a toy she likes to play with, a doll by the name of Caillou, nice looking toy, but the head comes off, often. The first time the doll’s head came off; Elle Bea could not be consoled, even after I put the head back on, she was still crying for a little bit, now the head comes off and she calmly walks over to me, hands be the doll and just says ‘Daddy’ she has had practice turning her problems over to her father because she knows that he can fix it. 

The bible says

Matthew 18:3-5New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

We ought to spend more time handing over our broken things to our Heavenly Father, he has the know-how to put things back together. That is why I appreciate some of the traditional  Gospel songs, they tell us we can’t make it on our own.

Jesus, keep me near the cross,
There a precious fountain—
Free to all, a healing stream—
Flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.

Refrain:
In the cross, in the cross,
Be my glory ever;
Till my raptured soul shall find
Rest beyond the river.

We need Jesus to keep us near the cross

I serve a risen Savior
  He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living,
  Whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy;
  I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him
  He’s always near. He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives?
    He lives within my heart.

Verse 1
I've had many tears and sorrows,
I've had questions for tomorrow,
there's been times I didn't know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consolation,
that my trials come to only make me strong.

Chorus
Through it all,
through it all,
I've learned to trust in Jesus,
I've learned to trust in God.

Through it all,
through it all,
I've learned to depend upon His Word.

I’m a testimony
Look at me, I'm a testimony,
I didn't make it on my own,
I'm not standing here all alone.
It is Jesus who gave me this opportunity,
look at me, I'm a testimony.

Verse:
(It's Jesus) who made me a possibility,
(nobody but Jesus), who never gave up on me.
(Jesus), who put all His trust in me,
(Jesus), found me, fixed me, and decided to use me;
look at me, I'm a testimony.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

7 even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep[a] me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.[b] 8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, 9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power[c] is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

Isaiah 40:28-31King James Version (KJV)

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

That is how we deal with the contradictions, we call for help, we cannot make it on our own, in out weakness God makes us strong. God keeps us putting one foot in front of the other, keeps giving us grace and mercy which are new every morning. God gives us the ability to carry on.

What are we here for? (Ephesians 1:11-23)

What are we here for? That is the big question, one often posed when big philosophical questions about the meaning of life, and when asking not so philosophical questions about the purpose of a meeting. For our time together, I want to talk a little bit about why the Church at Ephesus, and the church in general is here. The church at Ephesus seems to be at peace, but there is a battle going on, not the flesh and blood kind. The spiritual kind for Ephesians 6:12 says: 

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Ephesians is here to tell us we have won the battle through Christ. My seminary professors drilled it into me that Christ is not a person, Christ is a title, and that Jesus became the Christ after rising from the dead. After suffering on that old rugged cross. 

The cross was a humiliating item used to dispose of the common criminal. The cross was not for necklaces, expensive jewelry, or a decorative item for your wall during these biblical times. The sign of the cross is meant to shame, to embarrass, but Jesus took something meant to be bad and make it good. So much so, that the author of this Book is able to write it from jail in chains.  And in writing in chains, he talks about setting our hope on Christ. That is a good thing to hope for Amen, Christ will never leave you nor forsake you. Christ will be there for you thick and thin, good times and bad, Jesus is a true friend indeed. 

Reason 1 Possessions 

Full Definition of INHERITANCE

1

a :  the act of inheriting property

b :  the reception of genetic qualities by transmission from parent to offspring

c :  the acquisition of a possession, condition, or trait from past generations

2

:  something that is or may be inherited

3

a :  tradition

b :  a valuable possession that is a common heritage from nature

4 :  possession

What are we possessing, through Christ suffering, death, and resurrection? We get possession to spiritual blessings, the Holy Spirit, and salvation.  You know, I have been hearing a few things about salvation. I hear a lot of things regarding what man says about salvation, but I would rather go to the Word and see what it says about salvation. What does the Bible say about salvation?

Romans 10:1-17

New King James Version (NKJV)

10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” 6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”(that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’”(that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”(that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,

Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We possess salvation as Christians, and it is our duty to share the Gospel with all mankind. Then there is that word pledge: 

pledge

  noun \ˈplej\

: a serious promise or agreement

: a promise to give money

: something that you leave with another person as a way to show that you will keep your promise

The Holy Spirit is that something left with us to show that God will keep His promise. 

Numbers 23:19

New King James Version (NKJV)

19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

God does not go back on His word, and the Holy Spirit is here as a pledge to remind us of what God says, and will do. That is what we can take comfort in.

Reason 2 prayer

Even though he commends them on their faith and love, he still prays for them to grow in it. “ I have heard of your Faith in the Lord Jesus and your love. 

The prayer is continual. 

Philippians 4:6

New King James Version (NKJV)

6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

1 Thessalonians 5:15-18

New King James Version (NKJV)

15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Ephesians 6:18

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

I can’t go to the gym one time and declare that I am in shape, I can’t cook one meal and demand you all start calling me Chef Simpson, everything requires work, so should our faith walk. They have books out on business and personal success about something called the 10,000-hour rule, the point of the rule is that people say to be good at any given task; it takes 10,000 hours of practice. 

They say that once you have practiced something for that long, music, athletics, public speaking or preaching, practicing medicine, practicing law, singing, advanced mathematics, what ever you chose as a profession, around 10,000 or 5 years at 8 hours a day, your mind and body begin to groove together in accomplishing the task, everything is not a blur, the game slows down for you so you are able to function well at a particular task. Some argue, that if you are genetically gifted, or predisposed to particular skill set it may take 8000 hours, or 5000 hours. T The point that is being made is that it takes practice; it takes time to grow at any given thing. You cannot just roll out of bed, start something new, then get mad that its not working to your satisfaction the next week. Success leaves clues, and success takes time. So we could all spend a little more time praying, but not just praying, studying, worshiping, fasting, giving, and every other thing that could be classified as Christian behavior, and not just on Sunday.

Reason 3 His Power

The last point is power let the church say Power. God has put everything under His feet, everything, your problems, you sickness, your disease, everything. It may not be done the way you want it to be done, but God will take care of it in due time. If everything was done the way you wanted it to be done, what would be the purpose of God? And he not only rules this age, but the ages to come. He has put all things under his feet. 

1 Corinthians 15:25-26

New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

When one uses the term “head and shoulders above the rest.” That person or that thing is clearly superior to anything else you can put up against it. Some would even say there is no competition. If there is no competition when something is head and shoulders above the rest, how much greater is our God if everything is under his feet? When Christ rose from the dead, the ultimate victory was proclaimed, the power was proclaimed. This also made Christ the head of the Church, for now and forever. Just like when we sing the end of the Gloria Patri, world without end, Amen, Amen. Christ is in charge and this thing is not going to end. The final victory has already been proclaimed we just need to realize it, take our possessions, keep praying, and realize the power.