Your True Self, Purpose, Battle - Ephesian Series Wrap-up

Well hello and good morning. Good morning balcony. Thank you. My name is Mark. I'm one of the TLC pastors. I want to welcome all of you here live and on our live stream. We are so glad that you are with us today on this Labor Day weekend. I hope you've got some good things in store.

If you've been with us for a while, at least even a couple weeks, you know that we've been partnering with a sister church in Maui called Hope Chapel for fire relief efforts. And just a couple days ago, their pastor Ben reached out to René and said, "René, would you come and preach the weekend services? Would you lead our staff meetings?" Because quite frankly, we're exhausted. I mean three weeks of just nonstop outreach to fire victims. And so that's where René is today. And yeah, I'm glad he is.

Ben and René wanted to record a special message for you all. So watch this. Aloha Twin Lakes Church. I hope you recognize this guy right here. We do love this weekend, but we can't thank you enough. The prayers, the generosity, the support and encouragement, René, that your church means to us here in Maui. We're dealing with just incredible and overwhelming tragedy and pain, but just the hope and healing of Christ that we're able to offer with your support.

And René, with you being here this weekend, it means so much to us. We have to let you know we've already served over 2,200 people that have been displaced because of the fire. We're providing grocery cards, supplies, clothing, monetary gifts, prayer, counseling, grief counseling, and your prayers and your giving there are making a big difference here. So thank you so much.

And Ben, let me just ask you, how are you and the staff doing? How can we pray for you guys? Yeah, we will take all the prayer we can get. We are not natural disaster experts. This is our first go around and we so appreciate the prayers and the support, but we're praying for each one that we interact with. Not only they will receive physical help, but they will receive the spiritual nourishment they need in Christ and their lives.

And we've seen some people come to Christ already just when they come to pick up a check, which is amazing. And we need the strength of God and the wisdom of God as we navigate. You know, I told the church it's this isn't a sprint. It's not a marathon. It's a triathlon and we've never done one of those before. And so we're committed to be here at the hands and feet of Jesus until Christ returns. And so we covet your prayers and your partnership in the gospel.

Well, you got them and we are partners and twin lakes. Before I go, I appreciate your prayer right now because I'll be speaking in the three weekend services here at Hope. And please pray that I'd be able to bring some real encouragement to everybody here. And I want to thank Mark for stepping in for me. They're at Twin Lakes Church at the last minute. God bless you guys. And I'll see you next week. Aloha. Thank you.

Well, two things. First of all, our assistance goes through our disaster relief fund, which you can check out at tlc.org/relief. But through this fund, we are able to assist churches around the world at times such like this. And it wouldn't be possible without your generous participation. So thank you so much.

And then also, as you just heard, Van and René both asked us for prayer. So let's do that right now. Heavenly Father, we want to lift up our brothers and sisters at Hope Chapel and in the larger community in Maui around this terrible, terrible tragedy. And I pray, Lord, that you would give them strength and endurance and wisdom and encouragement, resources.

Lord, may their impact have a legacy that goes even beyond this fire and that people would come to Christ and that this community, as it rebuilds, there would be something different, something that is the Spirit of Christ in the midst of this community in a way that is more powerful than ever. And we pray for our dear brother René. Lord, I ask that you would just make him massively encouraging to all the folks at Hope Chapel and everyone that he interacts with. And we pray this in the name of Jesus Christ and all God's people said, amen.

Well, once again, we're so glad you're with us. And since April, we have been going verse by verse through the New Testament letter to the Ephesians. And today we are drawing it to a close. And I don't know about you. This has been a rich journey for me. And so it's kind of like, you know, you're dropping your kid off at college and turning the page. But we're going to recap today. And I want to begin with this story.

Let me ask you, does the name Matt White ring a bell for anybody? Okay, I'll give you a clue. Matt White was a major league baseball pitcher. Anyone? Nobody. I expected that. Because Matt White pitched in all of two major league games. His record was O-N-2. And his ERA was 16.76. Now for those of you not familiar with baseball, let's just say those are not good numbers.

But while Matt White was mostly not pitching, he managed to purchase a 50-acre parcel in Massachusetts, paid $50,000 for it. And while he's clearing an area for a new home, he notices that there's these rock ledges in the ground. And so he's curious enough to call a geologist to come out and check it out. Well, it turns out that this property is packed with these slabs of rock called Goshenstone.

Goshenstone is used for decorative sidewalks, for facing buildings, for walls, all that kind of stuff. And at the time of discovery, Goshenstone was valued at $100 a ton. And it was estimated that there was at least 24 million tons on Matt White's property, which meant that he was standing directly on top of $2.4 billion. Yeah. How would you like to think, you know, that career didn't go so well. I'm not doing so great. And suddenly you have a treasure that is beyond your imagination.

Well, you know, it could happen today when you go home and get those rocks in your yard checked out. No. It will happen today when you plant your feet on the rock of Jesus Christ and you take hold of the treasure that you have in Him. It is beyond compare. In fact, when you do, you will possess things that money simply cannot buy. Because have you noticed? There's no shortage of people who spend their entire lives asking the question, "Who am I? What's my purpose?" Day after day wondering these things.

In fact, you can spend your entire life trying to figure out the reason for your existence. And maybe that's where you find yourself today. Still trying to figure it out. But I want you to know you're not alone. In fact, pick just about any movie from It's a Wonderful Life to The Little Mermaid to Paul Atreides of Dune or even Barbie, which by the way, thank you Kyle for filling me in on all the details of that movie. I really appreciate that.

But all these stories and so many more where the lead characters, they struggle to discover, you know, "Who am I? What's my purpose? What is the battle or the challenge that I must face?" And our culture is deeply invested in these questions. But what Paul has shown us is that you can know your true self. You can know your true purpose. You can know your true battle. And today we are going to zero in on these three things.

And so first of all, if I want to live out and discover my true self, the first thing that you and I need to do, you need to find your true battle in Christ. Find your true battle in Christ. Now much of how we innately think of ourselves begins with our family of origin. Was it a loving family? Was it a healthy family? Was it not so much of those things? These things will form ways that we think about ourselves all the way into your current role, your husband, wife, dad or mom, sibling, child.

These things both form and inform how we think about ourselves. But not only that, so will your job. In our society, what you do and how well you do it defines who you are. How people see you. And along with that can come a lot of pressure to live up to those types of expectations. In fact, there was a former competitive gymnast. Her name is Rachel Denhollander. She wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times recently, and she says this, "Professional athletes aren't the only ones who face overwhelming pressure to perform on someone else's terms, to define ourselves by what we achieve instead of who we truly are."

The same pressure is felt by teachers. It's felt by carpenters, tech workers. It's felt by stay-at-home parents because who you are gets conflated with what you do. And so you have these dynamics of both family, you have the dynamics of work, and then there are also the dynamics of things outside of work, your interests in hobbies. And so, for example, in a place like Santa Cruz where there's access to waves, it's pretty much true wherever that is true.

It's not that you just might like to surf. There's a whole identity to being a surfer, okay? How you dress, how you talk, you know? Dude, that's how sweat was pumping. Got some nuggets out there, bro, right? There's an identity to this. And of course, there's all sorts of other variables from abilities, income, community, my beliefs, politics, gender, sexuality, and more. And again, our culture, I think it's fair to say, is obsessed with these issues.

And the bottom line is this. The bottom line is be yourself. Whatever you may perceive that to be, be yourself. This is a core assumption in Western culture. Now the problem is if your identity is built entirely on what you perceive to be your true self, then you will end up with what Tim Keller calls an unstable identity, unstable identity because so many of these factors from family, friends, interests, desires, job, income, achievements, they change over time. You change over time.

And so in the midst of all this flux, this instability, how do you know who you truly are over the course of your life? Well, back to Tim Keller. He says rather a stable identity is something you receive, not something you achieve. You ride this ride all your life and it's just going to be a bumpy ride. But there is an identity that we can receive. And so it's no surprise that right out of the gate in Ephesians 1 starting at verse 3, Paul says this, "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."

If you're taking notes, circle or underline, "in Christ," because in the letter to the Ephesians, Paul uses that term 13 times. Thirteen times. You think that Paul is trying to tell us something. And it's that when you are in Christ, when you find your identity, the core of your identity of in Christ, you will find your true identity. Just in his introduction, look what he says about my identity in Christ, just 14 verses.

"I am infinitely blessed. I'm chosen by God. I'm loved by God, holy and blameless in His sight. I am a child of God, but not only that, I am lavishly given grace. I'm redeemed and forgiven, part of His eternal plan. I am sealed with the Holy Spirit. I am guaranteed an inheritance." And none of these things are things that you can earn. It's only by God's grace that we receive all of these things. They will never change. They will never perish. They will never fade. They are part of the treasure that God gives each of us in Christ. Wow, amen.

And that's why Paul will continue at verse 18 when he 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 in His holy people." Now bear in mind, Paul is writing all of this to Christians, and yet he feels compelled that they will be enlightened, that we will, that our eyes will be wide open to the glorious riches that we already have in Christ.

But listen, just because you are aware of these things is no guarantee that you will live in the daily awareness of these things. You know what I'm saying? In fact, there's a story about a man named Arnold Fishback. Arnold, after his wife died, she always wanted to go on a cruise. They never did. And so he decides to go on a cruise, never been on one before. He didn't have a lot of money, and so he bought the cheapest ticket that he could find for a Caribbean cruise. Bare-bones cabin, no windows.

And Arnold was so price-conscious that he actually smuggled a hot plate and some canned food, some...don't get ahead of me here...and some instant meals in his luggage so he could prepare his own meals. And so first night he makes himself a humble little dinner, and then he goes up on the deck, and he's walking around taking in the sea air and the night sky. And one of the crew members sees him and says, "Hey, how are you? Welcome to our cruise. Are you going to see one of the shows tonight?" Arnold says, "No, I didn't buy a ticket to any of the shows."

The crew member says, "You don't need a ticket. It's included in the cruise." And so Arnold goes to the show. He really likes the show. In fact, he goes every night, sometimes multiple times. He's like, "This is a great benefit." And then on the last day, he hears a knock on his cabin door, and it's one of the uniformed members of the crew. He's standing there with a clipboard in his hands. He says, "Good morning, sir. I just wanted to check in on your cruise experience. How's it been?"

And Arnold's like, "Wow, it's been great. It's better than I ever expected." In fact, I have to say I really have enjoyed the shows especially. It's been great. He says, "Oh, okay, wonderful. I'm so glad to know that. And how about the food? Has it been to your satisfaction?" And it's the last day. And so Arnold figures, "Well, I may as well come clean about, you know, cooking meals in my cabin." And so he says, "Well, I didn't buy any of the food in your restaurants. I brought my own food." And the crew member goes, "Wait a minute. What do you mean you didn't pay for any of the food, the meals? They're all complementary."

And this is when the color just drains out of Arnold's face. And he says, "You mean all of the foods that I saw people eating, all of that was free? I could have been feasting on steak and lobster all week long." The crew member says, "Yes, sir. That's how cruises work." Ouch. You know, reminds me of the words of that great theologian Homer Simpson when he just says, "Dope!" You know, it was one of those moments when it was very sad.

But let me ask you, what are you feeding your identity? The meager rations that you prepare? Or feasting on the lavish grace, love, inheritance that you already have in Christ. It's included in the cruise. And so Paul says again in chapter 3, he says, "And I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ."

So, and I don't know what you may think of yourself, what you...you've got a healthy identity or not. But here's what I do know. In Christ, God loves you so much. Even before you were in Christ, He loved you so much, He offered His Son on a cross so you could be His child forever. Wow. May we never just get like, you know, accustomed to that. You know what I'm saying?

And so pray that you will see yourself as God sees you find your true self in Christ. Not only when you do this will this shape your identity by the way, your true identity, but will also promote this second thing in your life. It will result in the opportunity for you to fulfill your true purpose in Christ. It will propel you in this direction.

And if you recall the first half of Ephesians, chapters 1 through 3 are about who we are in Christ. The second half, 4 through 6, how we live in light of those things. And so right at chapter 4, verse 1, Paul says, "As a prisoner for the Lord then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Paul's saying essentially, "Now that you're all a family, this is how we roll. This is how we roll as a family."

And one of the things that we learn is that we are all created to live for purposes that are bigger than ourselves, God's purposes. And it's not just pastors that have a calling, so do you. And to help us live this out to discover and live it out in real life, he says this at verse 11, "So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers to equip His people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

So you know what this means? It means for one, the work of a pastor is never done. I was kidding. Actually, it's really true of all of us because here's the thing, you can retire from your job, but you can never retire from your purpose, right? You can lose your job. You can lose your spouse. You can lose whatever, but you will never lose the yearning for purpose and meaning in life to keep growing and maturing and experiencing all that God created you to be.

Or as Paul says, "attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." What Paul's saying here is that God doesn't want you to miss a single bit of it, but the full measure of what you have in Christ. And I have to say, while it's not limited to church involvement, you can do this anywhere, but one of the things about fellowship and service with other believers is that this is how we discover our unique giftings and callings. The body of Christ affirms this in us.

And so if you want to know how God has uniquely created and wired you to serve His purposes, if not already, start serving and see where the Lord takes you. In fact, next weekend we're going to have Connect Expo. You can find out all sorts of different opportunities because here's the truth. What happens in this room three times every weekend, and next door in TLC and Espanyol, it's just the tip of the iceberg. I mean, it really is.

Because 24/7, well, seven days a week, let's not overexaggerate here, but seven days a week, people are meeting in small group Bible studies. They're serving in the food pantry. They're rolling up their sleeves for disaster relief, praying over hundreds of needs, and then going out physically meeting those needs in practical ways. I mean, right now there are some saints that are right over here outside on the other side of that door watching babies, caring for them so that their parents can have an hour to take in a service. God bless them.

Yeah. And right now there are others that are just down these other buildings teaching kids, caring for them, loving them, influencing teens, doing all sorts of things that are part of God's purposes. And the list just goes on and on, and it is by no means limited to this campus. And I want to say if you need help figuring out where do I even start? Well, first of all, we're going to have a class on October 22nd called "Find Your Fit." How are you wired to serve? They're going to try to help you understand that.

And you can get more, you can sign up actually by going to tlc.org/fit. It's not an exercise class. Don't worry about that. You're there to find out how God has wired you to serve. And then really the first step before that it starts when I make myself available, when I say, "Here I am, God. Use me. I want to live out my true purpose."

It reminds me of a story you may have seen in the news just this week, but there was a semi-truck hauling hundreds of bee boxes outside of Toronto, and then the driver of the truck has to make a sudden swerve which launches the bee boxes off the truck and onto the road. Yeah, you can see them all there. And in seconds, there are five million angry bees swarming the area, which happens to be right next to a residential area. Fire and police show up. They don't even get out of their vehicles. You know, they're like, "Hey, I'm not trained for this." And who can blame them, right?

Instead, a call goes out for all of the beekeepers in the area to come and help with this problem. In fact, one of them, her name is Terri Filoni. She gets a call from her mom who's watching this on the news. She says, "There's a bee emergency. You got to get down there right now." And here's Terri Filoni on scene. I mean, she's like, "Bee suit? He needs, who needs that? Come on." That's pretty studly if you ask me.

But what Terri's doing here is she's scooping up a queen bee. Some of the beekeepers went around and found the queens. Others repaired the boxes and put them back either on the side of the road or on the truck. And once the queens got back into the boxes, this cloud of 5 million bees reduces down to 50,000 and then 5,000 and then mission accomplished. Isn't that cool? You know, some of these beekeepers drove over an hour to do what only they can do, right? And this was their moment.

So let me ask you, what is the thing that only you can do? What's the unique role calling that God has specifically given to you? I'm not saying that other people don't do similar things, but you are doing it in your own unique way and there's only one of you. One of the beekeepers was quoted afterwards. He said with a smile on his face, "We all swarm to help, bee pun intended." And I love this because sometimes we're called to swarm, like with disaster relief, right? Where we need the power of a swarm.

But more often than not, this actually plays out in ordinary ways, day after day, where you simply fulfill your purpose and calling on behalf of God's purposes and others. And it happens in classrooms, it happens in offices, it happens in a laundry room, it happens when people open up their toolboxes. As Paul says in Colossians 3, starting at verse 23, "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for men, it is the Lord Christ you are serving."

You know what this means? This is the ingredient for a fulfilled life right here. You want to have a fulfilled life? Yeah, memorize this. Live it. Embrace it. Because whatever you do, you're not just serving, it's not just stuff. You're serving the King of heaven, Jesus Christ, in those moments. And that is part of your true purpose because when you serve God's purposes, everything you do will have purpose. It all counts. Amen.

And so again, this is also why how we live matters. And so with this in view, Paul says this in chapter 5, starting at verse 8, "For you were once darkness." Okay? "Before you were in Christ, you were darkness. But now you are light in the Lord, live as children of the light. For the fruit of light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth, and find out what pleases the Lord."

I love that little phrase. "Find out what pleases the Lord." Yeah. What a cool thing to start the day and say, "Lord, what would please you today? Would you show me what that is? And I would really love to live that out." And so, find your true self in Christ, fulfill your true purpose in Christ, and finally, fight your true battle in Christ.

If you recall, Paul is writing Ephesians from a prison cell. He's literally in chains. But have you noticed he never complains about the guards. He doesn't even seem to bear grudge against the authorities that put him in prison in the first place. And why is that? Well, Paul has told us, "That's not my true battle. We don't battle against flesh and blood. We battle against those spiritual forces that were manipulating these guys, influencing these guys."

And so he says in chapter 6, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, not if, but when it comes, you may be able to stand your ground." Now first of all, he's affirming, "You're safe in the mighty power of God." You're safe. Our enemy can only take the ground that we give him. And so that's why he tempts us, tries to deceive us, you know, in silly arguments, divisions, bitterness, pride, lust, apathy, you name it. This is where the battle is fought, right here.

Because Satan can't force you to do any of these things. He can only entice you. You should be saying when I was a kid, Flip Wilson, some of you people like me over 50, remember Flip Wilson, famous line, "What? What was it? The devil made me do it." No, he didn't. He might have, you know, put the wax on your skis, but you're the ones that pointed him down the hill. It was a choice. It's always is.

Because Jesus has put limits on the enemy's power and sway. It's kind of like this. Every year we take our seventh graders from Twin Lakes Christian School on a week-long mission trip to Baja, California. And the very first year we went, we don't go the same area anymore, but the very first year we went to this little place outside of Tikate. And we were walking through a little neighborhood one day. And I look up the street and I see our principal Meg Immel at a distance.

She's walking along a row of houses, kind of coming down the hill towards me, and suddenly I see this dog just rush out from one of those houses and he's just coming right at her. Now if you know Meg, she's a petite person, okay? So this dog, he's at least 80 pounds, 80 percent of her weight. No doubt about it. And yet he is just barreling down on her like a missile. And I'm good 100 yards away. I'm seeing this unfold. There's nothing I can do. I'm just struck with alarm.

I see Meg turn towards this dog as it's about to hit her like a Mack truck. And then suddenly hits the end of his chain, which I couldn't see. And in the process, I mean, talk about full stop. I mean, it was just like doing. And his feet leave the ground. They just kind of fling out. He does this 180 in the air. And now he's like this, just feet from Meg. And she's like, "You shall not pass." Okay, she didn't say that, but it would have been really cool.

Come to think of it, I don't know. Maybe Meg had words with those dogs, and if she did, or that dog, and if she did, I probably wouldn't be able to repeat them. But I digress. I have a point. And here it is. Jesus defeated our enemy through his death and resurrection, which means Satan has a chain around his neck. Amen. But even so, stay out of his yard. You know what I'm saying? Stand firm. Stand your ground.

Because God has given you everything you need to fight this battle. And so in Christ, fight deception with truth and righteousness. Fight division with the gospel of peace. Fight discouragement with faith and despair with the hope of your salvation. And instead of being fixated on the devil's teeth, take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Amen, church. Amen.

All right. Let's wrap this up. Your true self purpose battle. How is it going in those three areas of your life? I've been asking that of myself the last couple of days. How is that going? Perhaps you're here today and honestly, you struggle with just that question. Who am I? Well, I want to remind you today that in Christ, you are a beloved child of God. Amen, indeed.

And you have a treasury that is beyond compare, a future that is just so marvelous we can't even begin to imagine what it's going to be like. And maybe you're here and again, you're like, what's my purpose? He just feels kind of stuck or bored or whatever. In Christ, the God of the universe, the God who created everything, invites you to participate with Him in what He's doing in this world right now.

And not only that, but when He recreates this world, it continues on from there. And we get to participate in just the glorious plans of God. That's true for you in Christ. And then some of you, maybe you're here and quite honestly, you feel trapped, you feel beaten down because there's an issue, a habitual behavior, sin, whatever the case might be. And you just feel trapped. You can't imagine yourself living any other way.

And I want to remind you today, my friend, that in Christ, there's forgiveness, there's healing, there's recovery, there is power to change and to attain the fullness of what it means to be in Christ. That's what we're going to be affirming in communion in just a moment. But whatever your burden, whatever your question, Jesus invites you to bring that to Him in this moment.

As Paul says in his final instructions to us from Ephesians, "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests." That's our invitation. And so let's do that right now as we prepare ourselves for the grace that we have in Christ. Join me as we pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank You. We praise You. We love You for Your goodness and grace, compassion and mercy. We thank You, Lord, that our lives can be infused with truth and hope and expectation. And so, Lord, I pray that these things that we've seen during the course of our series in Ephesians and even up and through this moment, Lord, that they would gain deep purchase into our hearts, our souls, our imaginations, and we would live out in ways practical, in ways some seem most not, but we would live out the potential that You have given us as Your creations. We'd lean into it.

So I pray this for my brothers and sisters today. Pray for any who that just seems like a distant hope, Lord. Would You encourage them? Would You draw them near? Would You assure them through the presence of Your Spirit and that still small voice that reminds them, "I love You. You're my son. You're my daughter." And that will never change. And, Lord, we could only pray these things because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. And so, Lord, as we enter into a time where we remember His death, His sacrificial death for us, Lord, we just pray that You would bless this time. You'd nourish our souls. We pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ, all God's people said, "Amen. Amen." Amen, amen.