Pastor Shaun Marksbury

This world is fractured along many lines due to sin.  Christians, however, because they walk in repentance, do not need to dwell with the same separations, whether they be racial or otherwise.  The unity experienced between the Jews and Gentiles in the mystery of the Christian church is our guide. Peter O'Brien in his commentary notes, "The believers’ unity is described rather surprisingly. It is the unity of the Spirit, that is, a unity which God’s Spirit creates, and is not the readers’ own achievement. It already exists, hence the admonition to ‘maintain’ it. Believers certainly do not create it, but are responsible to keep it." Peter Thomas O’Brien, The Letter to the Ephesians,  The Pillar New Testament Commentary  (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1999), 64. We need to simply believe and maintain the unity that we already have in the gospel.  We don't need to create a false sense of unity by, for instance, taking a census of the racial

When the Lord warns of false converts, He predicts that they will claim great acts of service.  In Matthew 7:22-23, He says, "Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ " Many people are under the false impression that service of any kind pleases the Lord.  Yet, as Isaiah 64:6 says, even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.  No one will be saved by their good works (Eph 2:8-9). Still, the Lord has created believers for good works (Eph 2:10).  Interestingly, the good works He prepares in Christians are not always banner or newsworthy, contra the false converts in Matthew 7.  Consider the kind of ministry Jesus speaks of in Matthew 25:31–46. Giving food to a hungry believer. Giving drink to a thirsty believer. Being hospitable to a believer we haven’t met

As I prepare the sermon for Sunday, I'm choosing to give brief overviews of a number of topics, including that of leadership in the church.  Churches should be governed by a plurality of biblically-qualified elders, ruling independently from others, dependently upon the grace and power of God, and subordinately to His Word and each other. Some may find discomfort in some of the terminology, not liking “elder” or terms like “overseer” (1 Tm 3:1) or “rule” (5:17).  Here, an elder’s care for the church is likened to managing a household, keeping “children under control with all dignity” (3:4).   This means that elders have authority— the question is what it looks like.  a)                Note the Authority the Bible grants to elders Elders must oversee God’s people.   That’s the term used here, and in Acts 20:28, Paul told the elders that “the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.”  In 1 Peter 5:1–2, we read that elders are to be “exercising oversight,” meaning “t