Ephesians 4 (part 1)

The Transactional View of Christian Obedience

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Certainly every Christian wants to obey the Lord Jesus, they�d like to live a holy life, but is it possible? The question would be, why should we even obey? Sadly, we live in a transactional world. If you do this, I will do that.

And it sneaks into our life before our triune God. If I do this, God will love me more. If I read my Bible, God will be happy with me. If I obey, if I have a ministry, if I pray, if I�m a good Christian, God will keep loving me.

Is that the right way to think? Jerry Bridges said, �To the degree that we live with an abiding sense of His love for us in Christ, to that degree we will love God with all our heart and soul and mind.

You see, for the Christian, we don�t relate to God transactionally. If we do this, God will do that. We relate to Him a different way, and we�ll find out that way today. Turn your Bibles, please, to Ephesians chapter 4, a great New Testament epistle or letter, Ephesians chapter 4.

We are saved by grace and grace alone, and we live by grace and by grace alone. Paul will not let us forget that. We certainly have an action responding to God, but it�s not a transaction. It�s not, if God does this, if I do this, God will do that.

It�s what has God done, and how must I respond? We come to the book of Ephesians, and as you know, we�ve been going through it half a chapter a week, and so we are up to chapter 4. We�re going to cover today chapter 4, verses 1 through 16.

I don�t know how we�ll do it, but there�s no football games on. I have all day. It�s the Lord�s day. I try to preach, by the way, around 45, 48 minutes. Something like that. In the old days, you thought you were really cool if you could preach 60 minutes, 80 minutes, something like that, but I think right about 45, 50 minutes, we can give you at least an overview of this passage so that you say, �Do you know what?

I understand it better. The next time I read it, I think I can grasp it better, and I maybe want to study a little bit more because I wish Mike would have talked a little bit more about that particular passage.

Today we�re going to talk about the response to God�s sanctifying work. Technically speaking, God alone is the sanctifier. We don�t sanctify ourselves. We don�t co-sanctify, but God sanctifies by grace, supernaturally, sovereignly, and we respond.

That�s the action. The direction is going, God is sanctifying us, teaching us to say no to sin, teaching us to say yes to righteousness, and then we respond. We�re coming to that hinge point in Ephesians where I think for 56 verses, there hasn�t been any commands except for one.

And now, what does God require from us as a response to His great triune love? And you see it in chapter 4 verse 1, �I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called.

That�s one of those great therefores that you see in lots of places in the Bible, especially in Romans and Ephesians. Remember chapter 1? Can you imagine? God, in eternity past, chose you. He didn�t have to choose you, but He chose you.

Can you believe that, Christian? That�s amazing. He actually sent His Son, the sinless one, to go die for you. The death that we should have died, Jesus died for you. To make sure that you couldn�t mess it up, He gives you the Spirit of God to keep you to the day of your salvation.

And then all of a sudden, Paul responds with, �This has to be grace. It has to be with kindness. It has to be with love. It has to be with a sovereign initiative. And since God has done all that for you, the transaction isn�t, �God, I think I�ll do this so you keep loving me.

No, God has loved you. How do we respond? There is a response to grace. It�s motivated by grace, yes, but there is a response. And here we have really the missing link. We have doctrine in the first three chapters, and now we have duty, right?

You�ve heard this before. There�s a creed, what we believe. Now there�s conduct. There�s a, let�s see, I have to throw in Latin every once in a while, there�s a credenda, what we believe, and then an agenda, what we do.

And now we�re coming to that response to the great grace of God. God�s truth has consequences. And one of the great things about doing this two sermons, a chapter, is we�re not going to forget about who the Lord is, so we don�t think Christianity is simply law, simply conduct.

What we have to do, chapter four, don�t lie, tell the truth, work hard, don�t steal, don�t be bitter, forgive. Those are true, but that�s not the essence of Christianity. The essence of Christianity is Christ Jesus himself, and we want to respond with obedience.

Remember the song? Here would be a good description of Ephesians 1 to 3, and then 4 to 6. This lyric, �Love so amazing, so divine that�s Ephesians 1, 2, and 3, �demands my soul, my life, my all. If God has done this, how do I respond?

I�m so guilty, I�ve been so graced, I want to respond with gratitude, and thanksgiving, and obedience. One man wrote, �Many how-to books are published for Christians today. Christians rightly want to know how to honor God with their lives.

Many times, however, these how-to books for the Christian life fail to appreciate that how we live the Christian life flows out of how we think about Jesus Christ and the great salvation he has won by his life, death, and resurrection.

And when Ian Hamilton wrote that in the last ten years, it was nothing new, because this is the doctrine of Scripture. So for our outline today in Ephesians 4, 1 to 16, let me give you three questions designed to motivate you to respond to God�s great grace with thankfulness, and gratitude, and obedience.

Three questions. I�ll give you the three questions up front. Since God has called you by grace, how should you respond? Number two, since God has united the church at his own expense, how should you respond?

And question three, since God has gifted the church and equipped it, how should you respond? Three reminders in the form of questions. So let�s go to number one, the first question found in verses one and two.

Humility, Gentleness, Patience, and Bearing With One Another

Since God called you, dear Christian, by grace and love, first three chapters, how should you respond? Now, let�s take a look at verse one to set the context and set the table. �I therefore, Ephesians 4, 1, a prisoner for the Lord, probably in Rome, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

The first thing Paul says here in chapter four in this kind of hinge going from doctrine to duty is, and I�ve done this many times and you�re probably tired of me doing it, but if there are scales here that you would weigh things on, chapters one, two, and three, there�s a lot of heavy things there, wonderful things, gravitas, doctrine, glory of God, the heavy weight of the glory of God is on this side of the scale.

And now by the Spirit�s power, we begin to live out the Christian life and our desire is to have our doctrine match up to our duty. It will never be true perfectly until glory, but it�s our desire to balance out the scale of our lives by the Spirit�s power.

He�s urging you to go past doctrine. It�s not enough to just think rightly about the triune God. It is mandatory, but there�s something more. You can know all about the Lord and then just know all about the Lord.

As a matter of fact, did you know in Ephesians, I think there were twenty times the word Lord used in verses, in chapters four, five, and six, and only six times it�s used in the first three chapters.

In other words, you think about Christ when it comes to doctrine, in Paul�s thinking here, and Lord when it comes to ethics. If Jesus is your Lord, then you want to respond with obedience, certainly not sheer brute force or willpower only.

He wants you to conduct yourselves, Philippians 1, in a manner worthy of the Gospel. You ever see somebody that doesn�t know how to match their clothes? They kind of have the color clash. Maybe some of you are here today, or maybe I�m here today.

Remember back in the old days, you had granimals? Remember a granimal? If a mom didn�t know how to match an infant�s top and bottom, they could look at the granimal and it saw this animal, and you mix the two animals together and it worked.

I thought if a mom doesn�t know how to match a kid�s clothes, I don�t know what that�s going to say about her husband, but that�s another story. Colors that clash, you can�t wear that. You can�t wear certain things like that, and it�s almost like for a Christian, what he wears or what she wears in terms of Gospel obedience, it clashes when it doesn�t flow out of grace and respond to what the Lord has done.

Did you notice in chapter 4, how many times do you see the word �call� or �called� in verse 1? Of the calling to which you�ve been called. Verse 4, that belongs to your call. Here�s the point. God calls people to believe.

We would call that a general call. If you�re not a believer here today, here�s a general call. I give you a sincere offer from God Himself, that if you�ll simply trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, and believe that He died for your sins and was raised from the dead, you shall be saved.

Now some people say no to that call, but there�s another kind of call, what Paul is talking about here, it�s called the effectual call, the internal call. When the Spirit of God takes the words from a preacher and says you must believe, and then makes you alive, you believe.

You are called. This is not like being a pastor is my calling, this is somebody preached the word to me and the Spirit of God regenerated me through that preaching and He called me. That�s what he�s talking about here.

And the calling is God�s work and God�s alone. This gracious act of God that He changes powerfully from the inside. So if God, here�s the point, if God so called you, dear Christian, and changed you and did everything for you, how do you respond?

Answer? Pridefully. Answer? I got it going on. Answer? I�m better than you. No, no, if we are the recipients of salvation, the divine call, that puts us all on the same playing field and how do we respond?

That�s question number one. How do we respond? Question number one, verse two? With all humility. Doesn�t that make sense? This is kind of, any person who had any thinking would say, if I just contribute sin, if I just am supposed to go to hell and God calls me and quickens me and makes me alive, I think I should be the most humble person on the planet.

Now you�re thinking rightly. With all humility, lowliness, I mean the world is self-esteem, self-aggregation, forget it, self-assertion. I mean Augustine when he was asked, what�s the chief Christian grace?

He said, �Humilitas, humilitas, humilitas. If God so did all the saving, God alone monergistically what was done to us and how do we respond? With humility. Stott says, �Pride lurks behind all discord, while the greatest single secret of concord is humility.

One man said, �Humility is something we should constantly pray for, yet never thank God that we have. �I don�t mind being treated like a servant says humility. �I don�t have to thrive off of other people�s praise says humility.

�I don�t have to be recognized for my behind-the-scenes ministry says humility. �There�s no ministry below me says humility. �I�m content with the gifts God has given me says humility. George Washington Carver was a scientist.

Remember what he was famous for studying? A peanut, yes. Here�s what he said in his biography, �When I was young, I said to God, �God, tell me the mystery of the. Then God said, �Well, George, that�s more nearly your size.

No wonder Paul writes elsewhere, �Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each one of you regard one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also look out for the interests of others.

Have this attitude in yourselves, which is also in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count a quality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant.

Being born in the likeness of man and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient. Well, not only that, if God did all the calling, how do we respond? Not with just humility, but what does Paul say in gentleness?

Not harshness or rudeness. Proverbs 16 says, �He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who captures a city. This harsh kind of bravado is opposite of the Lord Jesus, who was gentle and lowly, who had self-control.

Well, not only that, Paul goes on, �God did everything for us. How do we respond? With humility and gentleness and also, what, patience. Long-tempered takes a long time. It should take a long time for somebody to rile you up and make you want to pay back and fight.

We know this, dear Christians, do we not, that we are prone very much so to disappoint one another, sin against one another, fail each other. Think about that in marriage. You think about that in body life, and so he says, �I just want you to put up with difficult people.

Remember, God saved you. God did all the work. What do you get? How do you respond? Love, 1 Corinthians 15, does not take into an account a wrong suffered. How long is your list of your spouse's complaints?

Well, understanding doctrine, we should just say, �You know, that's not how we should act. You see what he says in verse 2? God did all the calling. God did all the saving, bearing with one another in love.

I mean, all this doctrine about unconditional election and redemption and forgiveness and sealing and bringing the church together by the blood of Christ, God sending Paul the apostle to tell us the mysteries of the gospel and to preach to the Gentiles, how should that make us respond?

I mean, as I say these things about humility, don't you think of Jesus? I do. Gentleness, I think of the Lord Jesus, bearing with one another in love. That's how we're to respond. You know the old slogan, �To dwell above with saints we love, oh, that will be glory.

But to live below with saints we know, well, that's another story. In a church like this, a growing church, different sizes and different sizes of people, no, that's not what I meant. That's not what I was saying.

But that's true. Different backgrounds. I mean, what holds us together? Only the Lord Jesus. And so when you see him, then some of the differences and issues and sins against one another, we just think, okay, I bear with that.

I was loved with undeserved love. I will love them back over and over and over. We're a family, in other words. Jesus said, �By this all will know they are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

So with all doctrine, with all holy living, God is sanctifying us and he's the one moving and we respond. So if God calls, he calls, he calls three times, well, then how do we respond? Certainly with not some kind of bravado, but with Christlike response.

Unity in the One Body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, and One Father

Not only that, verses three through six, question two, since God has unified the church at his own expense, how should you respond? Verses three, four, five, and six. A lot goes into church unity from the triune God's perspective.

The response should be, hmm, verse three, we should be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. This is not our church. If God is concerned about unity, dear Christian, you should be concerned about unity.

Not church generally, but Bethlehem Bible church. Since God has brought Gentiles that are far off and Jews who are close together, made one body broken down, broke down in his flesh, the dividing wall of hostility, we both have access to God, we should be concerned about church unity.

The unity of the spirit is important and Jesus prayed for this and it is true and then we come along as a response to keep unity as a priority. Jesus said, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.

Look again at the passage, eager to maintain the unity. That's with diligence. This should be at the top of your list on things, okay, what about church? What's going on at church? I need to make sure I put some effort into that.

Somebody's wronged me and I need to put effort into making sure there's no breach in the body. Something's going on and there's a little group over here, a little factions, I don't really want to deal with it, but I must because I have to be eager to do that.

And to show you how important unity is, Paul uses seven objective unifying facts in verses 4, 5 and 6. Seven words preceded by the English word, one. Not unity at any price, but look at the things that we all have in common.

Verse 4, there is one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. Every Christian here has those in common. You say, well, you know, we look so different, we're different ages and everything else and backgrounds.

Is there a unifying reality? Yes, we all have these things in common. Should we not be able to get along? What does he say there first in verse 4? One body. This is 1 Corinthians 12 language, even as the body is one and yet has many members.

If Christ is the head, we're the body, we should be unified. Not Christ as head and two bodies or three bodies. Of course, the mouth can't say to the knee, you're done or the finger to the ear, that's it.

Our relationship is over or I to the hand, I've had it with you. Every part of the body is essential and we're part of one body. I've met people before in my office and they'll say, well, I need some help.

Please come in. How can I help you? And they'll say, I'm a cutter. I mutilate myself. I cut myself. Of course, that is wrong on a number of reasons. Image bearing and other things, but they have one body.

It would be wrong for us to do physically how much more so with Jesus's body. He goes on. There's another unifying agent for all of us. Everybody at Bethlehem Bible Church, you might be a little more Arminian or Calvinistic or charismatic or cessationist or complementarian or egalitarian or whatever our differences might be.

You have one body and one spirit, capital S, Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that indwells us, the Holy Spirit that convicts us and encourages us and illuminates the scripture. Talked about in Ephesians 1 .13, sealed with him, in him with the Holy Spirit of promise.

Everything that happens here, the Spirit of God is doing and working. There's also verse 4, one hope. A decrease of unity is when we're all looking at self, we're all looking at the news, we're all looking at current events, we're all looking at other people, but when you keep your eyes focused on the hope of the upward prize of the call of Christ Jesus of heaven, we're all looking the same direction then.

We're hopeful of who's going to return. Would today be a good day for the Lord Jesus to return? I think today would be a good day. If we're looking all around, well, we could be not unified, but looking with hope, all going the same direction.

That's what he's after. All looking at the same person. 1 John 3, beloved, we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is.

And everyone who has had this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure. Verse 5, there's one Lord. What unifies the church? Lots of things do. Here's another one. One Lord. Christianity is about Christ.

One Lord. We no longer say Caesar is Lord. I am Lord. Other people are Lord. Jesus is Lord. There's one mediator, the Lord. One risen Savior, the Lord. There's also one faith that unifies us. There's one object of faith.

When I say faith, I don't mean faith in general. I don't mean faith in faith. I mean the object of faith. When I hear things like the just shall live by faith, that's shorthand for the just shall live by faith in the risen Savior who loved me and gave himself for me.

We all have the same object of faith. There's objective truth to be believed about that object, the Lord Jesus. The faith delivered once to the saints. Well, what else unifies us? This is kind of interesting.

Baptism? I thought that was a divider. I mean, are you sprinkled? Are you dunked? Are you splashed? Are you triple dunked? I remember one time I went to a church in Los Angeles, and they had like this big pool, and they said, I baptize you in the name of the Father.

And they threw the person in, pulled him out, and in the name of the Son, threw him in. I thought, I know what's coming next. This same church, by the way, had two offerings, the general offering, and then the pastor said he had a need, a personal need.

So he stood down here with a little bucket, and it looked like a little trick-or-treat orange bucket, like a pumpkin. And we were supposed to get up row by row and go put something from our wallet in that man's little bucket for his own personal problem offering.

I didn't put any money in. What does that have to do with anything? Nothing, but we're just taking a little breath here. There's a lot of doctrine in life, and we can't live without doctrine. But doctrine changes you.

When you look, just like 1 John 3, at the Lord Jesus, you're purified. You are changing. You're doing different things. And Paul from the get-go says, listen, you're called. We respond with humility and forbearance and loving one another.

But also, if God is so involved with the unity of the church, that ought to be at the top of our list. And by the way, we might be Jews and Gentiles, but we have lots in common, including verse 5, baptism.

Not baptismal regeneration, where somehow you're saved. If you would like to argue, is this your personal baptism, because you would all have that to be in a local church, or probably what it is is a spiritual baptism.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 10, for I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and passed through the sea. And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud, united. This is the language of 1 Corinthians 12, for by one spirit we were all baptized into one body.

This is the language of Galatians 3, for all of you were baptized into Christ, have clothed yourself with Christ. Without this baptism being placed in the body, it doesn't matter if you're sprinkled, dumped, a child, an adult.

It doesn't matter. So whether you want to refer this to your own personal baptism, or probably more likely the spirit baptism, we all believe this. And then number 7, verse 6, the 7th unifying factor is we have one Father.

Right? We're all part of a family. We're all children of the same Father, and one God and Father of all. And then Paul does this a lot. He just begins to praise. He speaks of a member, he speaks of a person of the Trinity, and then he just praises.

Who's over all, through all, and in all. Isn't there anything more close than a family? There shouldn't be. God has designed it that way. And then a church family, we all have one Father. We all are children of that Father.

1 Corinthians 8, yet there is but one God, the Father from whom all things exist. And so, dear Christian, whether we're Jews or barbarians, circumcised, uncircumcised, free or slaves, church unity should be important.

Factiousness, divisions, groups, cliques, we're part of the body. Question 3, well, when you know God calls you, you respond with humility. You know if God's concerned about church unity, we should be.

And then now, verses 7 through 16, since God gifted the church and equipped it, how should you respond? And here's what you're going to see. I should respond with thankfulness. I should respond with ministry.

I should respond with service. Speaking the truth in love, work. Well, let's start back at verse 7, Ephesians 4, 7, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Now, sometimes we use the word grace for forgiveness.

You're graced by God and now you're forgiven. That's true. Sometimes the word grace is used for a spiritual gift to serve other Christians. That's what this is here. There's a saving grace. We all have the same saving grace because of the Lord Jesus.

But there's a serving grace, and we're different. There's a unity to the body, but we have some diversity. These are called grace gifts, and it's where we get the word charis, charismatics, charismatics, truly, biblically speaking from Ephesians 4, 7, are people that have a spiritual gift.

It's now been used of people that speak in tongues and other things. But here, this is a common word for a spiritual gift, and you notice what happened? It is given. The spiritual gifts are given. You, Christian, were given a specific capacity via a spiritual gift to serve God's people.

It's supernatural. It's undeserved. It's for others. You say, well, I don't even know what it is. Well, you hear phrases like this. We don't decide our spiritual gift, we discover. We don't request a spiritual gift, we recognize.

And doesn't it make sense if Ephesians 1 says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places? Wouldn't that mean more than just getting to heaven, but also serving?

I mean, doesn't it make sense when the Bible says, he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? If he'd so lathered, so lavished love, wouldn't he give us something to help the church with unity and service?

By the way, if you're a Christian, you have a spiritual gift. See it again in verse 7, to each one. We don't have the haves and have nots, to each one. First Corinthians 12, to each one. Romans 12, grace given to me to every man among you.

First Peter chapter 4, each one has received a spiritual gift. As commentator O 'Brien said, no one misses out on Christ's bounty. Every one of you has a spiritual gift. We're different, there's diversity, but we're all unified.

You should be confident you have at least one spiritual gift. And you say, well, I don't know what it is. Well, maybe you say to yourself, this particular area I like serving and I get joy and satisfaction from that.

That would be a good litmus test. Other people recognize when I do certain things that I, not in my own strength, but I'm good at it. And other people recognize that's a good way to figure it out. Just help where there's an opportunity needed.

And people will come alongside. Sometimes you think, well, I have a propensity naturally for music and then it matches the spiritual gift. That happens too. Here's what I see though sometimes in a church like ours.

Sometimes we think, you know what, we have to be at this level of spiritual growth to serve. I have to have a perfect marriage and a perfect life and a perfect this and a perfect that. Then I'm able to serve.

Who would serve then? Then Moses said to the Lord, please, Lord, I've never been eloquent, neither recently nor in times past, nor since you have spoken to your servant. I'm slow of speech, slow of tongue.

Who's made man's mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go and I, even I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say. Yes, we're weak vessels, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.

Jesus, matter of fact, handpicked your gift. That's what verse seven says, according to the measure of Christ Jesus. Can you imagine perfectly picked out by Jesus? Here's your gift. I mean, Jesus has all authority to do whatever he wants in heaven and earth, and he picks out this perfect gift with the perfect wisdom that he has for his perfect serving in this local church, with imperfect Kenny Loggins music.

First Corinthians 12, but one in the same spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as he wills. He picks it out. Never fall for the trick. Well, you know, you want to have the spiritual gift, just pray for it.

Just start speaking in tongues and you'll get it. No, no. I mean, we can develop our spiritual gifts, kindle afresh, Paul said to Timothy, the gift of God which is in you. But here we have a triune God, the father, the son and the spirit all working together and he gives you a gift.

And now we come to the section that I've been waiting for. Here comes Ephesians four, eight, and it is awesome. This Jesus has the right to give you whatever he wants because he is exalted Ephesians four, eight.

Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men in saying he ascended. What does it mean? But that he'd also descended into the lower regions, the earth.

He would descended as the one who ascended far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, the shepherds and teachers. Now if you're reading your Bible carefully, you realize this is from Psalm 68, right?

Psalm 68, you see a little indentation, maybe capital with a new American standard. I'll tell you what's happening and then we'll look at it in more detail. Back in the day in Rome, if you had a great general and he conquered the lands, he would go back to Rome and he would tell the senators outside the city, do you see all these things that I brought from this conquered land?

I have conquered generals, I have conquered people, I have elephants, horses, food, paintings, slaves. This is what I brought back. I've ransacked this other country and I've conquered them and I think it deserves a celebration.

The senators would say, well, does this deserve a triumph or does it not? A procession or does it not? And if it was great enough and wonderful enough, the whole city would be there lined up as you would have these great soldiers of Rome coming back for a triumph with all kinds of people in handcuffs and chains, getting ready to be slain over the temple.

What does Jesus do with this same triumphant language? Jesus, the eternal son, adds human nature, assumes human nature and he comes to earth and he conquers through the resurrection and he's coming back with all kinds of slaves and enemies and traitors and rebels.

And instead of slaying them at the temple of the false gods, he regenerates them, equips them and gives them to the church. That's what's going on here. You say, what's going on? What's going on is this great triumph happens and instead of God just obliterating enemies like Paul, what do you think Jesus did on that road to Damascus with Paul, Saul?

He should have just obliterated Saul, that Christian killer, that Pharisee, that law keeper, that destroyer of grace. And what does God do to Paul? I'll tell you what he does. When God ascended on high, he led a host of captives, including Paul, and he gave gifts to men.

What kind of gifts? Verse 10, verse 11, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers. Paul is rescued and redeemed, should have been slain up at the temple of the false gods as a sacrifice to these false gods, as it were, and instead what does God do?

There's no false gods. Jesus was sacrificed for Paul and for every other Christian and now God gives Paul to the church as a gift. That's amazing. That's wonderful. The huge parade, you ever been to a parade?

I think the first huge parade I went to, well I went to a small one in Iowa town of about 600 and they had, I don't know, they have things like, you know, motorcycles driving up over cars, they have that one in Santa Cruz too.

They had a couple like local businesses go by in the parade and like the people that sell outhouses, they drove by, like wow, parade. Now I'm going to get to New England here in a second, but I remember then going to the Lakers parade.