Paul's Prayer for the Firstfruits

Tim Pebworth - Paul's Prayer for the Firstfruits - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy8VTB0eOZY

Transcript:
(00:00) Uh I have uh sort of in my introduction to my sermon something maybe a little heavier but stay with me. Uh there is uh hope through this which is uh what I want to talk about today. Uh you know there are times in our lives where we remember exactly where we were right right down to where the furniture was in the room.
(00:24) And uh I've had different times, perhaps you've had different times in your life where you have that moment where things just freeze. And I had one of those moments about five years ago. Uh it was uh six o'clock in the morning on a Sunday morning. I was actually traveling. I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo and I got a call from my wife telling me that my mother had died of a heart attack just a few hours earlier.
(00:50) uh she actually was in church and right after church she uh she had a heart attack. And you know the pain of being in that hotel room by myself that morning uh is really it's just it's it's just indescribable unless you've you've lived it. And I was reminded of this moment uh the other day as I was reading an article by an author named Rebecca Sofur who specializes in grief counseling.
(01:18) uh and she describes what is called the long arc of grief. It's basically living with loss is what it is. Uh it it's always there and it can just come back like that. And it was an article about uh how um her father had died of a heart attack 18 years earlier and she said, "My grief is 18 years old.
(01:42) My grief is old enough it can drive." Right? That's how long I've had my grief. It just is always there. Right. And so I was reminded of this because uh of of that experience and others. And um if you turn with me to Ephesians 5:15 to1 17, it reminded me of the scripture. And it, you know, the book of Ephesians is such is such an amazing book.
(02:04) And we're going to spend some time in the book of Ephesians today. And this is towards the end of his letter to the Ephesians here. He says in Ephesians 5:15 to1 17. And again, if you turn there, we're going to we're going to spend some time in Ephesians, and you can if you've got a little placeholder, you can kind of keep a placeholder there.
(02:21) We're going to keep going back to the book of Ephesians. He says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil." And if you've been through these experiences, you you you know what that means. They're just they're just bad days. They're just bad days.
(02:44) And of course he can speak of of of course the the times around us as well. But he says, "Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Understand what the will of the Lord is. And today we celebrate the third of the annual festivals ordained by God. the day of Pentecost as has been described I think at length the day that God poured out his Holy Spirit on those gathered in Jerusalem.
(03:13) We celebrate God's gift of the spirit and the fact that we have this gift that allows us to see things differently. a gift that helps us to live with loss as a part of our life and to see the joy in the little things and sometimes the big things although sometimes we have to be content with the little things and that's what I want to talk about today.
(03:40) I want to talk about something the Apostle Paul wrote earlier in this letter to the Ephesians that I think uh he would have had in mind as he wrote these words about redeeming the time, about walking circumspectly, about not being unwise, about understanding what the will of the Lord is presumably for us individually. That's kind of the implication, right? Not just kind of a global will, but God, what do you want me to do now? And I'd like you to just turn back with me just a couple pages to the first chapter of Ephesians in verse 17 and 19. And I'm
(04:14) going to read verse 17 to 19 just as as it's here. And as I read it, I want to see if you can connect with this because sometimes these words are are so abstract. Sometimes we read it quickly. Sometimes the punctuation and the grammar and the translation out of Greek into English can can kind of get in the way of understanding it.
(04:37) But let's just read it and then we're going to unpack it. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling. What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance and the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power? Now, I cut right into the middle of a very long sentence. And sometimes, if I can just
(05:16) be very blunt, some of these words can kind of sound like blah blah. If I can just be blunt, there's a lot of a lot of big concepts in there, but there are three things in there that the Apostle Paul wanted for the Ephesians. And in my opinion, three things that God wants for me and for you as we go through the ups and yes, the downs of our life.
(05:44) And I think these three things, as abstract as they may be when we first read them like this, are fundamentally why we're here today. At least I know that's why I'm here. Some of you may have heard about the death of United Church of God Elder Ray Cohen, London, Kentucky. One of 19 people killed in a tornado swept through the town two weeks ago.
(06:13) How did these things happen? At times like these, I think the words of the epistle here to the Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians about God's power working in me and in you can give us some hope. And so today, I want to unpack these verses that we just read. There's actually three points in here. I'm going to hit them a little more clearly in a moment.
(06:34) I want to unpack this, talk about the context, and hopefully at the end you'll see fundamentally this is why we're here. The title of today's sermon is Paul's prayer for the first fruits. Paul's prayer for the first fruits because this is a prayer that he said for the church in Ephesus. So, let's let's dig in and let's see if we can understand a little bit more about what he's actually saying.
(06:59) Let's let's get the context here. Uh, starting in verse 13, let's just back up to verse 13 and see if we can get a little bit of context. We're going to start at the beginning of a sentence. That makes it a little bit easier. In him you also trusted. It says after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
(07:29) Sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. It says in my Bible who there's different things regarding which actually is in my margin. which is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. Again, the language here follows closely the original Greek and it can be a little bit hard to follow.
(07:52) Let me read it to you in the NIV. I find this a little bit easier. 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 promise, the promised Holy Spirit, which is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession to the praise of his glory.
(08:22) And so what Paul is saying here is explaining to the church of Ephesus that believers in God's church have been sealed. They've been sealed with the Holy Spirit, which is what we're talking about today. They've been marked. they've been identified. Now, this concept of a seal, we don't have in the same way today. It was a much more vivid imagery.
(08:45) If any of you have seen a film, let's say about uh, you know, Louis the the the 14th or maybe about Napoleon, maybe you've seen the time where they've got a signant ring and some wax, right? And they put that thing in there. Um, you don't have to turn there, but you can note Esther 3:12.
(09:04) Uh that's an example where the king sealed his proclamation with the signant ring right there. And that once that once that was sealed with that ring, that seal was a stamp to show that the document was officially identified as being with and under the authority of the person with whom the signant ring belongs.
(09:29) typically the king or it could be a lord or some some uh person of high birth and like I said you can see that in films we don't use that as much today but we understand that that what that means is that we have been sealed we've been identified we've been marked as belonging to God and that mark is that Holy Spirit sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise and thus the day of Pentecost when When the Holy Spirit comes, when we receive God's spirit, it serves as a link, a bridge as it were, between Jesus Christ's sacrifice at the Passover and then the
(10:10) days of unleven bread that follow and the return of Jesus Christ, which begins at the feast of trumpets and then on into the millennium in the feast of tabernacles. It's it's that this is that link and this Holy Spirit is that ceiling. It's as it says a guarantee of our inheritance.
(10:34) It's a it's a it's a down payment is used in another in another term in another way. And so Christ's sacrifice gives us forgiveness that so that we are can now as first fruits receive that down payment from the kingdom a pledge in the form of the Holy Spirit. And so verse 14 speaks of redemption, of being sealed, of having received that down payment.
(10:55) And that sets the context then for what Paul is about to tell us in verse 15. Let's read in verse 15. Therefore, because of this, because of what he just described after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, he's speaking mostly to Gentiles, by the way, there in Ephesus, modern day Turkey.
(11:17) after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. Um he says,"I do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." And what is he praying then? that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him that and now here's the first point well that excuse me knowledge of him the eyes of your understanding be opened that here's the first point verse 18 you may know what is the hope of his calling you may know
(11:58) what the hope of his calling is that's number one number two what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints and number three what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe. These are the three things that he described and there's a lot of other things because the sentence begins in verse 15 and it doesn't end until verse 21.
(12:22) This is very long sentence that Paul was very known for that created some challenges even for the as Paul as Peter describes even for the uh New Testament church. Paul wants us to understand that we fundamentally have hope and inheritance and power. Fundamentally, that's what he's saying. Hope, inheritance, and power through this guarantee that is God's spirit that gives us an ability to live today and prepare for tomorrow.
(12:56) So, let's talk about these three things. The first one is the hope of our calling. What is the hope of our calling? I hope you could answer that. Sometimes I think we should need to have like a little quiz like write down 60 seconds in your own words. What's the hope of your calling? Right? Because that's that's why we're here, right? Like why are we here? Well, I have a hope. I have a calling.
(13:21) Well, what is that hope of our calling? Turn with me to second Peter 1:3. I've got two things I'll share with you. We could have a lengthy discussion about your different views on this. 2 Peter 1:3. Fundamentally, what I'd say is we receive the understanding and the tools and a connection to our creator to succeed in this life right now. To succeed in this life right now.
(13:46) Second Peter 1:3, we'll start in verse two. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and our and and of Jesus our Lord as his divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. All things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything we need to make it through in this life right now, God gives us through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue.
(14:23) Basically, if you look around, everybody's trying to figure it out. You can walk, you go to Tacoma, you go to Olympia, you go, you walk down the street, everybody's just trying to figure out how to make it through life, right? It it it it's what's the term I heard the other day? Adultting, I think is the term sometimes is used.
(14:41) Like where it requires so much effort just to be mediocre at most of the things in your life, right? And if you don't put in that effort, you know, just things start falling apart everywhere. People are basically trying to figure it out. And I'm not saying that everyone in this room I'm not saying I've got this figured out, but what I what this verse says is that it's possible.
(15:04) It's possible as we apply ourselves to understanding as it says here, the knowledge of God of Jesus Christ, understanding what's in the book, having God's spirit help us understand what's in this book. We've said this many ways in many different times. God's way works. That's that's what second Peter 1:3 is saying. It's not a formula.
(15:33) It's not that we demand something from God, but God's way and instruction give us the tools we need to succeed. That's one thing we could say about the hope of our calling. Yeah, we've got some way of trying to figure this out. What's another way? Well, before we go to another way, let's go to Luke 24. I just want to see I want to go give you one other example here. Luke 24:45.
(16:00) Luke 24:45. This is an example where Christ taught his disciples. And when he taught them, suddenly they had understanding that they didn't have before. Luke 24:45 it says, "And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures." That would say that they did not have a certain understanding of the scriptures before.
(16:31) And of course, these scriptures would be the Old Testament scriptures, wouldn't they? Different prophecies. Then he said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to offer to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
(16:50) " And you are witnesses of these things. And we're witnesses of these things. We're witnesses. Jesus had something special in mind for his disciples. And he opened their understanding to God's word. And Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit would come, it would guide us into all understanding. It's the same idea.
(17:15) As Jesus opened the opened the mind of his disciples to the scriptures, so the Holy Spirit opens our mind to understand what these things say. And if you've had this experience, right, where you've read something and you have a certain understanding and then you come back to that same scripture 10 years later and something else just comes right out like, I never saw that in there before.
(17:38) Question is, do we believe that God has something special in mind for us? We're called, which means he's got a plan for us. Reading the scriptures will reveal things about God's plan for us. For me personally, I saw the dysfunctions of the world around me when I was growing up and I wanted to know how to avoid them. That's, you know, my dad wasn't in the church. My mom was.
(18:12) Maybe some of you have been in those situations. Which way you going to go? Which way you're going to go? They're both vying for it, you know. And I looked around. I said, 'You know, I I don't I don't want the troubles over there. I don't want those troubles. I see something that works over here. I got answers.
(18:29) And for those of you who are called right now who really see it, perhaps you've seen those answers, too. The second thing I want to share here about the hope of our calling is in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13. If you go over there, 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 13, what is the hope of our calling? Well, it's the resurrection. It's the resurrection.
(18:57) 1 Thessalonians 4:13, it says uh here, "But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope." We have hope. We have hope that many others don't have. That doesn't mean that I'm not grieving. That doesn't mean that that doesn't mean that I'm not grieving my mom or my dad or the things that I've lost. It doesn't mean that Mr.
(19:35) Cowan's family is not grieving. But it does mean that we are not left without hope. My mother sleeps. Mr. Cowan sleeps. Each of us in our turn will sleep perhaps if we're lucky enough to be at this moment. Maybe not. Let's continue. Verse 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
(20:07) For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
(20:27) Comfort one another with these words. It's not reincarnation, right? It's not it's not talking about just being transformed and then looking down at the poor mortals down here, you know, from heaven think, "Oh, it's too bad for them." And no, this is a resurrection to life. This is a resurrection to life. And so in short, if you've ever heard this phrase, help for today, hope for tomorrow.
(20:56) That was a tagline, Beyond Today television. Help for today, hope for tomorrow. That's the first point. That's the hope of our calling. I hope you can take some some strength in that that we have what we need to be successful today and we have a hope for something in the future. Let's turn back to Ephesians. Let's read that second point.
(21:23) Ephesians 1 verse 18. Excuse me. Ver Yes, verse 18. The next part is what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? What are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? We don't use the word glory very often, but I want to have you turn with me to Revelation 5:8. And I want you to think about this term glory because I think this is what's being described here in Revelation 5:8.
(22:03) This is our inheritance. This is an inheritance that is planned for us. I want you to imagine I want you to imagine being there, being in this moment. Revelation 5:8. Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints, and they sang a new song.
(22:35) They sang a new song, saying, "You are worthy to take the scroll, to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood." There is that redemption concept again. Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, we are united by this disciples from many lands, many languages, many nations and all the angels saying, you are worthy.
(23:10) In verse 10, and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth. Another translation says, "A kingdom of priests." And in verse 11, it says, "And then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands.
(23:44) That's a party. This is a party." and we're invited. And how big is this party? How big is this party? Well, in mathematical terms, you know, how many zeros after the one are we talking about here? Now, it says 10,000* 10,000. So, you can 100 million. I don't think so. I think this is just intended to give an idea of an enormous number because it says 10 times 10,000 times 10 thousands and thousands and thousands.
(24:22) Right? This is how I think this is intended. In 1920, the famous mathematician Edward Kasner asked his nine-year-old nephew for a suggestion for naming a very, very large number. The number would be the number one with 100 zeros behind it. Now you think about it, right? You have a thousand, that's three zeros, right? And then you have a million. Then you have a billion.
(24:51) You have a trillion. People know after that, right? Keep. So a trillion is one with 12 zeros after it. So what's the name for a number with a hundred zeros after it? So he asked his nephew for this name. Um, and so the the name uh of one with 100 zeros was first listed in 1940 in Dr. Kasner's book.
(25:18) And every single one of you in this room knows the name of that number. How many people know the name of that number? Every single one of you. The name of that number is a Google. That's the name of that number. That's right. and Sergey Brin and Larry Paige when they were PhD students at Stanford they chose that name because they wanted to come get something across that was very big and so they chose that now they didn't spell it the same way but uh anyway they chose the name Google but as big as a Google is Dr. Casner wanted to go one number
(25:57) bigger than a Google. And so he created something called a Google Plex, which is a Google to the multiple of a Google. A Google Plex according to Dr. Carl Sean is so big that if you try to write a Google Plex on a piece of paper, right? Number one, zero zero zero. The universe would not be large enough to contain the paper. That's how big a Google plex is.
(26:39) In fact, there are fewer atoms in the universe than a Googlelex. I think that's what's being described here in Revelation 5. This is a big party. This is an unimaginable party. Now, I'm an accountant and kind of a geek on numbers. Some of you may not relate to that in the same way. It's a big party and I think it's a glorious party and I think even with God's spirit it's hard to grasp the richness of this glory.
(27:19) It's hard to imagine what this means. Let's continue in verse 12. saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. That is glory.
(28:02) That is riches. That is our inheritance to be there at that moment. That is more amazing than anything we can imagine. The inheritance of the children of Israel was the promised land. Do you know the promised land is so small that you can't even write the word Israel on top of it. Okay.
(28:30) The word is too big to fit in the country. That was the promise to our physical ancestors in that way. And you know, today the conflicts and wars over Jerusalem just do not stop. Our promises are much better, much greater. We have been called to reign with God in the new Jerusalem, not the Jerusalem of today. Turn with me to First John 3.
(29:03) 1 John 3:1 for you non-number people out there. Okay, this is for you. 1 John 3. This is our inheritance, the riches of glory. Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore, the world does not know us because it did not know him. Beloved, now we are children of God.
(29:42) Now, now we are present tense children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Our destiny, our heritage is to be like God. our inheritance. And you know that's what everybody wants today. Everybody today wants to be like God.
(30:12) They want to live forever. They want to be free from oppression. They want to control everything. Generally not in a good way. That's what people want today. Fundamentally. That's what people are striving to be. They're trying to be like quote unquote a God. But this is our inheritance to be like God. We're promised a seat at the table.
(30:34) a seat at the table and we have a down payment, a pledge in the form of God's spirit which is poured out today. I ask myself I if I can grasp the reality of this promise when I become discouraged with grief because we do when we're at a weak point and we're beginning to think about compromising the values of God and his kingdom.
(31:02) Paul prayed for the Ephesians for this reason, I believe, because he knew that there were ups and downs in life. And he wanted to say, "Look, you've got an incredible inheritance, riches, and power and glory and honor and all these things. Don't become discouraged." Let's go back to Ephesians and let's look at the third thing that Paul talked about.
(31:36) And finally, he says, "What is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe?" He prayed that we would have our eyes open to understand that we have an incredible power available to us. Now this word power is the word in Greek dynamos which is where we get dynamite. That's that's that's violent, isn't it? That's that's powerful dynamite.
(32:11) That's the kind of power we're talking about. And Paul says to the Ephesians that the power given to us is the same power that raised Christ from the grave. Let's keep reading. Which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places. We heard about that in the prayer.
(32:36) Far above all principality and power and might and dominion that is of this world. and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. And he put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, who fills all in all.
(33:04) Paul spent a lot of time putting a lot of adjectives and adverbs and modifiers on this word power. He's trying to get across that the power that we have been given through God's Holy Spirit is the same power that did all these other things. And honestly, oftentimes we can feel powerless. We can feel quite powerless. I grew up in Southern California and um my my mom and my dad, my parents were divorced.
(33:37) We kind of went to the we went to the beach separately. Um, but my parents took me to the beach a lot and so I learned how to body surf from a very young age. I love go out there and body surf in the waves. And you know, sometimes you catch a wave and it feels so good. You know what I'm talking about? You catch that wave, it feels so good.
(34:02) And sometimes that wave catches you and it crushes you, right? It just t it just, you know, you barely breathe. And uh I have to admit, I'm a little bit addicted to those reels on waves. If anybody see those wheels, those reels, they they um they show the surfer going down and then he falls and then it's just, you know, and you know, a lot of times that's how I feel.
(34:25) And they call it the washing machine effect. And you just have to go through the washing machine because it's just and you and and you just you just keep holding your breath and you just relax. You try to and then eventually you come up for air and then there's another wave, right? And you go back down, right? So that's that's how I feel a lot of times.
(34:46) I feel like I'm in that washing machine. But God has given me strength and power to go through those things. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 1, one of my favorite scriptures. Uh 2 Timothy 1. Did you read this already this morning? Okay. Got to read this at least once on the day of atonement. Second Timothy 1 uh verses 6 and 7.
(35:16) Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, Paul says to Timothy, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power. First term, a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind. I have to be reminded of this. We have to be reminded of this. Our adversary, Satan, would have us believe we are all alone.
(35:55) We're trying to do this by ourselves. We're weak. We're tired. Maybe we didn't get enough sleep. Maybe we're not eating well. He wants us to think we're powerless. But God has given us power so that we can have the strength and courage to live richly this Christian life. You know, Joshua asked that the sun stand still.
(36:24) I'm sorry, but there's some serious gravitational physical things that don't work with that. Do you believe that happened? I do. In fact, I had an eighth grade science teacher in West Texas. This is back in the day when, you know, eighth grade science teachers were like pounding Bible waving Christians, right? And she was explaining how this could have been.
(36:47) Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. That's the ultimate cellular regeneration. Jesus walked on water. Defies the laws of physics. Jesus fed 5,000 people with a few loaves of bread. He created matter out of nothing. That's the kind of power that is in me and in you. Now, it not maybe it's not our time to do miracles like that right now.
(37:20) But if you've seen a miracle in your life, you know what I'm talking about. It doesn't make sense in the laws of physics. We have that same power, the spirit of God to discern the way out of different types of dependency, to create plans, to be guided through those plans, to overcome whatever sin, whatever pride, whatever fortress has been built in us in our past.
(37:48) And it's our turn now to tap into that power to overcome those things. Not by our own might, but by God's power as we seek advice, as we look and humble ourselves to get help. I'd like to finish by sharing a story of a courageous family who faced great difficulties. I'm not saying they were called into God's church at this time, but this family did some things that no one had done before because that family had a vision of a different world.
(38:22) And I think we have a vision of a different world and we're called to be courageous. And so I hope this story is helpful. A few years ago, Maurice and I had the opportunity to attend a dinner in honor of a woman named Ruby Bridges. Probably not many of you have heard of Ruby Bridges. Anybody heard of Ruby Bridges? Ah, some of you. Okay.
(38:43) Her story was immortalized by Norman Rockwell in 1964 in one of his most famous prints entitled The Problem We All Live With. It shows a little black girl walking to school flanked by four federal agents protecting her. Some of you may Google it now on your phone. I don't know. Don't be too distracted.
(39:09) Ruby Bridges was the first African-American girl to attend an all-white school in New Orleans in 1960. In 1955, a very famous court case desegregated schools across the United States. And by 1960, it was time for the New Orleans school to be desegregated. a film and book uh film been done about her life, about this experience. You can read her story.
(39:37) You can see images of this six-year-old little black girl escorted by four agents to school. And at the dinner, Mrs. Bridges shared with us that at the time, she really didn't know or understand what was going on. Her mother had simply told her, "Ruby, you're going to a new school today and you're going to have to behave." That's all she said.
(40:06) And so Ruby went to school, passed a picket line, escorted every day for a year. Day after day, people protesting the entire school year. One day they even brought a coffin and put a little black doll, little doll, a little black girl doll inside the coffin, carried it in front of her, make sure she would see it.
(40:42) At first, she didn't really know what was going on. She didn't understand. She she she said she thought it was Martyra because it was New Orleans, right? She thought it was Marty Gro. And on the first day of school, when she entered the school and she went into her classroom, she discovered there was no there were no children there.
(41:02) There were no children in the classroom. That's because the white parents of the other children demanded that their children be withdrawn from the school rather than their children be allowed to be in class with a six-year-old little black girl. For the parents who had sent their children to school at the same time as Ruby, school principal had arranged for these children to stay in another classroom and be taught by another teacher so that Ruby would have no contact at all with them.
(41:36) However, over time and under pressure from Ruby's teacher, Mrs. Bridges explained, "The principal agreed to let the other children stay in her class so that she could have other children around her when she was taught." Ruby recounted at dinner that one of the little children told her that she couldn't play with her because her mom had told her not to.
(41:58) And Ruby said, "Well, I didn't blame her because she was just obeying her parents." And among the parents who let their children go to school with Ruby, some lost their jobs because their white employers fired them in retaliation. Others had crosses burned on their front yards just for allowing their children to go to school with Ruby.
(42:28) And so over time, Ruby began to realize that these people across the street from her were angry and upset with her. But she added that while she didn't really understand what was going on, her parents did. Her parents understood what was going on, but they were really the ones that had the courage to send their little girl into a dangerous situation each day because her parents knew that these first steps into a different world had to be taken and they had to be taken by their little girl.
(43:05) God the Father sometimes allows his children to have difficulties, to suffer so that they can be the first fruits, so that they can be the first to overcome and learn what it is to rely and trust in God. She was among the first black children who could attend a school for whites because her parents could imagine a different world and they wanted to be part of that different world.
(43:41) They were the first to be willing to make sacrifices for what they sought in the future. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood before 250,000 people in Washington DC and he spoke the now famous words, "I had a dream. Dr. King is not perfect. Neither is Ruby Bridges. Neither are you or I. But Dr. King and Mrs. Bridg's parents had a vision of a different world and they acted accordingly.
(44:09) For them to do anything contrary to that vision would be unthinkable. Succumbing to the pressure of the evil they saw around them was not an option. God the Father has a vision of a different world. And we are his children. And God and Jesus Christ let us go through trials, sometimes even terrifying ones, so that we can be first fruits, pioneers of a different world. Did Dr.
(44:40) King give into the pressure? Did Ruby Bridges collapse in fear before the crowd, demonstrating in front of her school every day for a year? No. They based their actions on the principles by which they lived. And in the same way, we don't base our lives on anything other than the principles of God, his scripture, his kingdom, his word, and of course, his spirit living in us.
(45:07) On a spiritual level, can we have our eyes opened to this? Can we be convicted by the spirit of God and the word of truth that our inheritance is so great it's greater than anything we might go through? That there's a plan for us. There's a purpose in what we're going through. Christ died to redee to redeem us to the father so that we might have an inheritance in a kingdom infinitely greater than anything we could imagine filled with unimaginable joy.
(45:46) And we've received a pledge, a guarantee, a deposit of his kingdom through his spirit. the spirit of God providing these promises in the highs and yes in the lows of our life in times of grief as we're working our way down that arc. We have precious promises to fall back on. Paul prayed that the Ephesians would understand these things in order to be instruments in God's hands now and in the kingdom.
(46:20) Let's go back to Ephesians and let's read it from verse 15 and hopefully it'll make a little more sense. He says, "Therefore," Ephesians 1:15, "I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, did not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that you may know what is
(47:03) the hope of his calling, what are the riches of his glory, of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his mighty power which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. I hope we can digest it.
(47:38) I hope we can understand it. And I hope we can move forward with an understanding that we have a hope. We have an inheritance. And we have been given the power to see it.