We are studying Ephesians 3:1 – 13. In verse 13, Paul says “don’t lose heart when you see me suffering for you”. He’s in a prison cell waiting for his death sentence and he knows that his listeners will be tempted and tried from every side to cave into the pressures of Satan, sin and the world. So where does Paul’s confidence come from?
Read Ephesians 3:6-7
This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power.
God will make us into the people he’s designed us to be through the promise of the gospel.
1. Paul found confidence in the promise of the gospel.
No person is more special than the next. Regardless of your past sin, your current struggle or your future failure, every person who has trusted in Christ can remain confident in the truth that God will make us into the people he’s designed us to be.
God does not discontinue the work he begins in his people until we are finished. He doesn’t save us to leave us in our mess. God doesn’t say “come belong to my family just as you are so that you can be the same person tomorrow.” God says “come be a part of my family just as you are so that I can change you into the person I designed you to be.” God has promised to make us into new creations in Christ Jesus.
He has promised that in Christ we can become sons and daughters of the king instead of enemies of the king. He has promised us the inheritance of Heaven where there will be no more pain and no more suffering and no more sin. The promises of God are a sure foundation for our confidence.
So many people get caught up in the lie that we can mess up God’s plan. They live their lives in fear that they might say or do something that will ruin what God wants to do. The truth is, that’s impossible. The challenge is to believe and trust in God’s constant sovereignty.
2.Paul found confidence in being a gospel-made man.
At one time Paul was a self-made man who was made into a selfish man by a religious system of oppression and violence. But all of that changed the day Jesus knocked him off his high horse. Paul was transformed into a gospel-made man who was made into a real man by the hand of his enemy. This is why Paul says, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power.” Paul was no longer an enemy of Christ. He was now a minister of the gospel. All of Paul’s self-made power was stripped away by the powerful work of Christ at the cross. Paul’s confidence was now rooted in being a gospel-made man by the power of the gift of God’s grace.
Where do you find your confidence? When you think about the dreams and the desires you have for your life. When you think about what you want the most. When your security is threatened. When your hopes get squashed. When all of your hard work, regardless of how good or bad it is, goes up in smoke. Where do you go to find confidence?
The only place to find true confidence is at the foot of the cross. In the shadow of the cross, self-made people die to themselves and become new people who are being recreated into the reflection of their Savior. The cross of Christ changes your reflection. As you follow Jesus, you simultaneously become more aware of your sin and more aware of the grace of God in the cross of Christ. True confidence is rooted in trusting that God will make you into the person that he designed you to be through the power of the gospel.
Application Questions and Prayer
- What caught your attention as you listened to this sermon and read this study guide?
- How has God changed your heart to make you into the man/woman he wants you to
be? - How can we hold each other to the standard of the person God wants us to be?
- Do you find it easier to look to yourself for confidence? The world? The desires of your
flesh? Or the promise given by the cross of Christ? Why? - Spend some time in prayer for each other.