Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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If you're able to remain standing,
please do so and turn your attention now
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to Ephesians and one of Paul's letters
in the New Testament. A tonight we're
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reading from Ephesians, Chapter Four,
verses seven through sixteen. Let's give our
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attention to the reading of God's word. But grace was given to each one
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of us according to the measure of
Christ's gift. Therefore, it says when
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he ascended on high, he led
a host of captives and he gave gifts
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to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he
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had also descended into the lower regions
the earth? He who descended is the
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one who also ascended far above all
the heavens, that he might fill all
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things. And he gave the Apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the
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shepherds and teachers to equip the saints
for the work of Ministry, for the
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building up of the body of Christ, until we all attained to the unity
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of the faith and of the knowledge
of the son of God, to mature
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manhood, to the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ, so
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that we may no longer beat children
tossed to and fro by the waves and
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carried about by every wind of doctrine
and by human cunning, by craftiness and
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deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth
and love. We are to grow up
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in every way into him who is
the head, into Christ, from whom
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the whole body, joined and held
together by every joint with which it is
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equipped with, when each part is
working properly, makes the body grow so
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that it builds itself up in love. You may be seated well the book
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of Ephesians. It's very much about
what God is doing in this world in
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relation to the world that is to
come, the way in which the age
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to come, the Kingdom of God, is breaking into the world, and
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he's talked about this in a number
of ways already. One you remember was
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in regards the temple. Back at
the end of chapter two, he described
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the church as a temple. We
are being built up on the foundation of
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the Apostles and prophets, with Christ, Jesus himself, being the cornerstone,
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built up into a place in which
God dwells. Now he's using another analogy,
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another metaphor, and that is the
body of Christ. He says that
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we, as the church, in
accordance with the things that God has done,
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are being brought together as a body
and there is, as we focused
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on last time, a great unity
to that. Do you remember, if
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you look back at verse for well, that whole, for all those verses
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one through six, but verse four, there is one body and one spirit,
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just as you were called to,
the one hope that belongs to your
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call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father
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of all, who is overall and
through all and in all. But this
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unity, he goes on to describe
in more detail, is not expressed in
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an exact sameness from person to person
to person. We have this unity in
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Christ, but we don't lose our
individuality, we don't lose the ways in
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which God has made us. On
the one hand, we remain who we
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are. We are, we become. God uses us and according to the
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gifts he is given to us.
As he says in Verse Seven, grace
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was given to each one of us
according to the measure of Christ's gifts.
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He talks about that again later at
the end of this passage. Our unity
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is not an all becoming the exact
same person, but being brought together,
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as in in to one body.
So an ear is not a finger,
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is not a toe, is not
a tongue, is not an elbow,
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but yet all together they are one
body and function a together. We're going
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to think about this along the lines
that Paul gives to us here in chapter
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four, but before he gets to
that point, he wants to remind us
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why that is, how it is
that we are functioning together, how it
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is all brought together and why it
is all brought together. And this is
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important for a number of reasons.
One is that, as we think about
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who we are as a church,
why do you come to church every sundated
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worship God with this particular group of
people? Why do we do the things
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we do? Why do we do
them in the way we do them?
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Well, they're not random, they're
not accidental, they're relying on the very
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promises and acts of God as we
read here. So let's consider it.
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Let's consider who we are and as
a church and how that relates to the
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work of God in the world.
What he says in Verse Seven is that
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grace was given to each one of
us according to the measure of Christ's gifts
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or Christ's gift. Therefore, it
says, when he ascended on high,
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he led a host of captives and
he gave gifts to men. And then
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there's a parenthetical comment on that,
sort of arguing that point in verses nine
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and ten, which will come to
in a second. So what's The apostle
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saying here? Well, the first
thing to note is that he is quoting
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from Psalm Sixty eight, psalm sixty
eight, verse eighteen in particular, and
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in that Psalm you will read as
you read, the whole context of the
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Psalm is this great victory song.
It's all about the Lord going out into
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battle and just decimating his enemies,
conquering in power and in my and then
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ascending up to victory. You'd have. I won't read it tonight for the
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sake of time, but I would
encourage you to do that. All kinds
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of ways in which that is expressed. They are the great victory of the
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Lord ascending on high and leading a
host of captives. But there's an interesting
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thing that happens in the psalm.
It says and he receives gifts, whereas
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Paul says here and he gave gifts. There's another interesting thing that happens is
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Paul quotes this text that I'll draw
your attention to, and that's the word
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at the beginning of Verse Eight.
Therefore, now maybe you scratch your Chin
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at that a little bit and as
you as you read that, because Psalm
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Sixty eight, as you know,
was written well before Paul's letter of the
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Ephesians. So why would Paul say? Jesus Christ, God gave in Jesus
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Christ these gifts to you. Therefore, it says back here in Psalm Sixty
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eight, when he ascended on high, he led hosts, a host of
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captives. Now commentators struggle with this
in all sorts of ways and try to
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figure out why does he do it? Most people simply ignore the fact that
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it says therefore. But what we
have in fact is Paul doing something that
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we read throughout the New Testament,
and that is this that the Old Testament
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was not written, though it was, I should put it this way,
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though, was written before the New
Testament, it was written in the light
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of the New Testament. Now that
would, of course, be impossible if
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it were not for the fact that
God is the author of both. But
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the things planned in the old were
anticipating the things in the new in such
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a way that they were speaking of
things to come. If you would,
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you could turn to turn back to
Galatians for an important expression of this principle,
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and glacians chapter three, verse eight. We read this. I'll give
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you a second to turn there,
glaciers three, verse eight. Paul writes
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this, and the scripture, foreseeing
that God would justify the gentiles by faith,
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preached the Gospel Beforehand to Abraham,
saying in you shall all the nations
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be blessed. So then those who
are of faith are blessed along with Abraham,
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the man of faith. Isn't that
interesting? Scripture is personified here as
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foreseeing something that would happen in the
future and therefore speaks in this way.
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Paul says that what you read in
Genesis is preaching the Gospel of Christ.
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The author of Hebrews says this a
number of ways as well. One example
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is when we read about Moses,
who gave up the treasures and knowledge of
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Egypt for the sake of Christ,
for the sake of our savior. Many
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times and throughout the passages of scripture
of the New Testament, you read this
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a kind of looking back that sees
the way in which, at that time,
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not just sort of reading something back
into the Bible. That's not what
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it says, but at that time
scripture for saw the things to come and
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therefore preached the Gospel. Well,
Paul is operating on that principle here,
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and that's why he talks in the
way that he does, because of this
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thing Christ did. Now, therefore, back then, the Bible says this.
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Is that amazing and it reminds us
how we ought to all be reading
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our bibles. Paul is not doing
some kind of funky exegesis that only belongs
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to apostles. He's doing apostolic exegesis
that we all should do all the time,
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and in that then he is free
to paraphrase the scripture that he quotes,
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and that's why he feels free to
a change of these words. Instead
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of saying he receives gifts, I'm
he gave gifts to men. Right.
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Instead of saying it he receives gifts, he says, therefore, it says
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when he ascended on high and let
a host of captives, he gave gifts
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to men. Now, when we
quote things in our day and age,
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we are often very, very finicky
about how we do this. At least
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at least on paper, but,
as anyone will tell you who studied a
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little bit of copyright law and things
like that, it's it's really confusing and
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it's not all quite as black and
white as you would hope. In addition
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to that, there's a lot of
instances where it would seem to you would
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be able to quote something fairly and
and yet there are a various obstacles and
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difficulties. Well, Paul here is
not merely quoting the exact words, he's
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quoting it in light of the New
Testament. That's what he's doing here,
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and you see various examples of this
throughout a scripture. I won't read it
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now, but you can write down, if you like, Hebrews ten,
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four through five as an example of
that. Wells we come to all of
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this, then, the main point
is this, is that Paul is interpreting
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the Old Testament in light of the
new and Paul is not only interpreting it
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that way, he's saying that this
is what was intended from the very beginning.
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Something that we see and clearly perceive
now that yes, the Yah way
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receives these gifts to men, but
his giving is receiving as also a giving
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and that's what we have here in
Christ. Now we go on to versus
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nine and ten. Now, in
verses nine and ten we have the basis
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for saying why he says what he
says. It's a little bit of an
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argument. In other words, he's
saying that when Jesus Christ ascended into heaven,
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just like yeah way did and and
in Psalm Sixty eight, and then
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and and and, there was this
sort of train of glory and victory and
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establishing of a kingdom as a result
of that victory. Same thing is happening
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here. How do you know that? Well, he makes kind of this
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common sense argument in verses nine and
ten in saying he ascended, what does
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it mean but that he also descended? In other words, it's impossible for
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God to go up unless he's already
come down. That's what he's saying here.
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That's what he says, for example, in verse ten. He who
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descended is the same one, the
same one. He who descended is the
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same one who also ascended far above
all the heavens that he might fill all
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things. Now, there are some
other tricky things here to interpret in this
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passage. One is this question about
what does it mean that he had descended
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into the lower regions of the earth. I won't get into the details of
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it now, but I think the
best interpretation of it is to talk is
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that it's a reference to death,
the Lord's intercarnation ultimately leading to his death.
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This death that he went into was
ultimately, we read, the victory
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that he achieved, a victory was
that that was then vindicated as he ascended
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into the heavenly places. So if
we can take all that together, then
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Paul is essentially saying, beloved,
this thing has happened in history. God
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has come into the world. He
has come into the world, he has
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descended into the lower regions of the
earth, even to death itself. He
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has accomplished something great. He is
now ascended on too high and in those
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same terms of psalm sixty eight,
he is now victorious. He is a
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stablishing a kingdom. Now where do
we go from here? What is the
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effect this has? What is it
that Jesus does as he continues his work
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in the world? Well, he
pours out gifts. He's like a king
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who, having gone into battle,
having now been victorious, gives out gifts
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to those who accompanied him on that
way. Only it's a little bit different
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with Jesus, isn't it? Because
we didn't stand alongside him in his victory,
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fighting for him along the way,
and then he rewards us for all
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of our good battles. No,
Jesus ascends alone, but with us in
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him, not adding to his work
but beer benefiting it, in it by
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grace, as he says in Verse
Seven, grace was given to each one
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of us according to the measure of
Christ's gift. He pours out these rewards
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of his own victory on us,
not because we stood VI valiantly by his
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side, but because we were his
beloved whom he has chosen to save.
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Jesus, Christ didn't descend into the
world and raise up into the heavenly places
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for himself alone. He did it
for us, and the evidence of that
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is obvious. As he says,
he pours out his gifts on us and
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establishes his kingdom. So what are
those gifts? How is the Kingdom of
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God established? Well, it is, as we say, or as we
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see here, it is established through
his word, the servants of his word.
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Continuing on in our exposition of this
passage, verse eleven. What did
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he give? He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the
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shepherds and the teachers. Again,
as with almost every verse in this passage,
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there are a whole host of various
kind of exegetical questions, a difficult
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things that scholars have argued over.
If you have any particular questions, come
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talk to me and I'll do what
I can, which will mostly involve me
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pointing you to smarter people than me, but nevertheless I can tell you a
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few things here that I'm certain of. One is that what we have here
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is a list of of those that
are centered on this, on a word,
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based a ministry. Jesus is going
to establish his body, he's going
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to strengthen his body, and how
will he do that? He will do
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that through his word, first through
the apostles and prophets that were in that
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first generation of the church, as
we read, that foundation of the temple,
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and then continuing on in the evangelists
and these shepherds or, sometimes translated,
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pastors and teachers. The evangelists are
those like Timothy, who were called
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to go out into the world and
preach the Gospel and found and established new
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churches. Shepherds, or those that
were called to come in afterwards and serve
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in these flocks and minister according to
God's word, as we read in Scriptures.
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It was in the scriptures, it
was prophesied by it was prophesied by
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the prophets, the word of the
Lord. Quote, and I will give
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you shepherds after my own heart who
will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
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That's how these shepherds are going to
work. That's there the food that they
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give. That is how they watch
over the sheep. And then, finally,
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teachers, those that are specially dedicated
to studying and learning and expositing God's
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word for the benefit of the church. These are our professors in our seminaries
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and the Oh in the OPC and
the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, are professors,
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are called by our presbyteries to be
ministers of the Gospel, as these teachers,
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or sometimes we call them doctors of
the church. That's what's going on
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here. Now, why, what
is God going to do with these gifts
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that he pours out on his church, these apostles and prophets and evangelists and
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shepherds and teachers? Three things to
equip the saints for the work of Ministry,
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for the building up of the body
of Christ. This threefold expression of
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their work is again another kind of
debated point in in in scholarship on Ephesians.
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Here some people want to take want
to take it to say this,
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that he gave these various officers and
their offices to equip the saints for the
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work of Ministry. In other words, he gives them to equip these saints
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in order that the saints might then
go do that work of ministry. It's
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better, however, to take it
as of the thing which the evangelists and
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shepherds and teachers are called to do. There's a few reasons for that.
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One is that there are these parallels
that are going on throughout this passage,
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where there are is this rhetorical device
called accumulation sizes, not that fancy of
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a thing. It's just building up
right in which he teases out a particular
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truth. So he sort of states
it and then says and this, this
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and this. Another thing that's being
used here as a tool, another rhetorical
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trul called a Sindoton. It's just
a fancy word meaning you take out the
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conjunctions, no butts and those kinds
of things. And so what we have
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here is this building up of things. In fact, you see it two
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other times here in this passage.
It's it's easier to see in the Greek
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but you can see it here in
your English bibles too. So, for
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example, can immediately continuing this parallel
of three things. In verse thirteen we
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have another three, so it says, until we all attain one to the
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unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the sun, to to mature
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manhood, three, to the measure
of the stature, of the fullness of
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Christ. Then again in fourteen,
the same thing, another set of three,
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the third set of three, so
that we may no longer be children
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tossed to and fro by the waves
and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
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to by human cunning, three by
craftiness and deceitful schemes. Paul actually
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does this in other places throughout Ephesians
as well, and we see him doing
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this very tight and it's very tight
spot here. He's building these things up
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one after another. And so when
we come back to this and ask all
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right, what is he saying?
Well, this is what he's saying.
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He is giving the evangelists and the
shepherds and the teachers to equip the saints.
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That's the the purpose behind it,
that's the reason for it, or
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that's to prepare them. And then
the the larger purpose in which this is
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under is for the work of ministry
and for the building up of the body
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of Christ. Now, if you're
worried that this might take away the general
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office of the believer, that all
of a sudden the saints have nothing to
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do and it's just a sort of
passive receiving of knowledge, don't worry,
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because Paul obviously doesn't say that.
As he goes on, he they are
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to equip the saints. Well,
there to be equipped for something. Right,
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they are to be prepared and he
tells us what there to be prepared
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for, which will get to a
moment. We also read and versus in
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fifteen and sixteen, that this whole
body is not standing there just having this
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sort of brain dump of knowledge,
waiting Sunday after Sunday, as they are
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being blessed in some way by these
shepherds and evangelists and teachers. Know what's
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happening. Well, they are growing
in every way and to him who is
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the head into Christ and in Verse
Sixteen, from whom the whole body,
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joined and held together by every joint
with which it is equipped. When each
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part is working properly, makes the
body grow so that it builds itself up
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in love. Right, there's lots
of activity going on here and, as
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we thought about earlier today and Sunday
school, and as we've thought about other
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in other places, we are to
be an active body, a body that
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is serving and loving and strengthening one
another. Later he will talk about us
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a singing to one another. He
talks about a serving, serving one another,
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many other, many other things.
But in order for that to happen,
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these evangelists and shepherds and teachers need
to be busy at their work.
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That's how the church grows, by
hearing the word of God. Odd and
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here's why there are dangers. We
can remain toddlers. You might translate verse
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fourteen so that with this happens,
so that we may no longer be children.
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That word child describes someone who is
not a nursing infant and yet is
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still drinking a lot of milk.
Okay, so that we aren't toddlers.
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That's the that's the sort of state
of childhood here, tossed to and fro
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by the waves and carried about by
every wind of doctrine, by human cunning,
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by craftiness and deceitful to schemes.
Jesus Christ, when he ascends to
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the Father in heaven and leaves us
in the world, knows that there are
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dangers here. He is more than
aware of that fact. He's not only
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aware of it, but that's why
he sends these ministers of the Gospel to
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equip us, to establish us and
strengthen us so that we don't wander along
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getting pushed around by every big wind
that comes our way. But of course,
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when we don't hear the word or
we aren't blessed in receiving it,
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Christians sometimes remain a long time in
this toddler stage, and it's a sad
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thing. How do we grow up, though? How do we come into
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maturity, to being strong, to
growing up, as he says in Verse
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Fifteen, into him who is the
head, or verse thirteen, into mature
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manhood, the measure of the stature, of the fullness of Christ? Write
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this image of Christ standing strong and
firm. How do we become like that?
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We have to know his word.
We have to because that is how
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he feeds us. Remember the shepherds
will feed us with knowledge and with understanding.
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This is how we grow up into
a hit, into the head,
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through a Ministry of the word.
Now, this is not a bare truth,
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this is not angry truth or half
truths we read in Verse Fifteen.
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It is speaking the truth in love
and by speaking that truth and love,
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a love that reflects the love of
the word of God and is true to
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his mission and the things that he
says. What does it result in?
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It results in a body that builds
itself up in love. All of this
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is made possible because of our savior. John Thirteen says no one has ascended
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into heaven except he who descended from
heaven, namely the son of Man,
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and Paul's point is the same thing. Without this work of God, we
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just be a bunch of people in
a room. But with the work of
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God, and in the Work of
God, he unites us into God,
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he unites us into Christ Jesus,
Our Lord and Savior, into his body
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and he makes us members of him. And as the Ministry of the word
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is at work among us, he
blesses that, he grows it and makes
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us stronger and stronger as individuals and
as a body. If we were to
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just grow as individuals, we would
be of this. I don't know.
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We're going to be grotesque kind of
thing. Right and arm over here getting
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big and ear over here, flopping
around on the ground. God is a
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god of Wisdom, a god of
order and beauty. He desires us to,
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as he says, be working properly, to be working together, to
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growing, be a growing together,
as he says in Colossians, to be
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being knit together in the bond of
peace and in the bond of love.
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So this answers all kinds of questions
for us about how we ought to live
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our life in the church. What
ought to be central to the ministry,
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that of the Church, what is
important and most important in our lives,
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who we are to be and how
we are to grow. But then it
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we also have this wonderful expression of
God's love and grace, and we can't
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forget that here is not, first
and foremost an expression of a bunch of
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rules abstracted from anything that God has
done. Now, all the rules and
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the applications of the passage that we
have here is flowing from the fact that
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God has united us to himself through
the death of Christ, through him who
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has descended, I'm descended, into
this world, being obedient as a servant,
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dying even on a cross, so
that he might knit us together in
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love and raise us up in glory. So, Church Covenant, let us
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be built up. Let us build
ourselves up, not by ourselves, but
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in him and through him and for
him. These are the blessings that he
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gives to us. Let's receive them
by faith. Let us pray
