You and I have unhindered access to the powerful presence of God. What kind of boldness would that give you if you were confident in this truth?
In Ephesians 3:8 – 13 Paul says…
8 To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.
#1. You don’t have to be an important or impressive person to carry out a big responsibility.
We have a tendency to attach big responsibilities to impressive resumes and important titles. We tend to be impressed by people with lists of accomplishments. We say things like “that’s above my pay grade” or “that seems like too much responsibility for me”. We think we have to be important or impressive to be entrusted with big responsibilities.
But if you examine the grand story of Scripture you’ll quickly find that God gives big responsibilities to extremely unimportant and unimpressive people. Murderers like Moses, uneducated people like the disciples, womanizers like David, liars like Jacob, thieves like Zachaeus and terrorists like Paul all make the cut and get jobs with massive responsibilities in the kingdom of God. Not to mention, Paul didn’t even have a pay grade for the responsibilities of his ministry.
Paul says that he is an unimportant or unimpressive person. “I am the very least of all the saints.” Paul was an unimportant man with a big responsibility. He says, I have a huge responsibility of eternal proportions but I’m not impressive and I’m not important. Paul could list all sorts of resume qualifications. Best college. Accomplished in his career. Smarter than most. But to Paul, these accomplishments meant nothing in relation to his calling. Paul didn’t need titles or certificates or accolades to accept the big task set before him with steadfast confidence. All Paul needed was a deep understanding of who he used to be and who he was becoming in light of who had saved him and called him.
#2. You have unhindered access to the powerful presence of God.
Think about what could happen if you began to live like you had unrestricted, unhindered and unlimited access to unlimited resources.We know conceptually in our minds that we have unhindered access to limitless resources in the powerful presence of God. But what happens to that knowledge when you are struggling with the rebellious kid? Or when there’s tension in your marriage? Or when you are facing physical illness? Or feeling lonely in your singleness? What happens to that knowledge of your unhindered access to unlimited resources then?
The word confidence is synonymous with words like trust, belief, faith, conviction, reliance, assurance, certainty and intimacy. We don’t just lack confidence in ourselves. We lack the confidence to trust or to be intimate with God because we struggle to believe who God is and who he says we are. What would happen if you if you latched onto this truth that you have complete unhindered access to the powerful and unrestricted and unlimited presence of God in the cross of Christ?
#3. You can walk confidently and call others to walk confidently too.
Isn’t it interesting how obedience is a confidence issue and confidence is an obedience issue? For instance, when we are lacking in our confidence in Christ we begin to live disobediently to God. And when we begin to live disobediently to God we begin to lack in our confidence in Christ’s sufficiency. In other words, we project our weakness and lack of confidence onto God. He must be weak because we are weak. He’s not big enough to overcome that problem in front of us.
At the center of our problem with obedience and confidence is the heart. We lose heart when the heart grows cold and hard. Sin makes the heart grow cold and hard. And do you know what the most fertile circumstances are for sin to grow in? Suffering. Suffering can easily cause a man or a woman to sin. Cause a man to suffer a little and you’ll see what he’s really made of.
It’s the kind of head held high, full of joy amidst suffering kind of confidence that we see in Christ at the cross on our behalf. Jesus “for the joy set before him” went to the cross for us when we were his enemy. This is the kind of joyful, confident, obedience that comes out of you when you see God for who he is, see yourself for who God says you are and then begin to live like the child of God he calls you to be.
Discussion Questions
- What did you hear in the sermon or read on this discussion guide that caught your attention?
- When was the last time you saw your responsibility to live and walk obediently to God as a grace given to you?
- Do you see how your view of God affects your view of yourself, which in turn affects the way you live?
- You and I have unhindered access to the powerful presence of God. What kind of boldness would that give you if you were confident in this truth?
- Take some time to pray for each other.