Christ Church Washington D.C.

Our sermon text this morning comes from Ephesians 6, 21 through 24. It says this,
Let us pray.
Amen. We’re wrapping up today the book of Ephesians. This is the conclusion of Paul’s letter to the church of Ephesus. Ephesus, just to remind you, I don’t know if the other pastors have gone through the context. I assume they might have. But just to remind us and reorient us to the text this morning, Ephesus was a chief city of commerce and paganism in the ancient world. And the Ephesians were,
the Ephesian church was there worshiping God in the midst of a very rich, affluent town in which paganism was rampant. The city’s economy itself was heavily dependent on idol worship, particularly the idol of Artemis, or some translations might have Diana. So much so that when Paul preached in Ephesus, at the inception of this church, which this letter is written to, a riot broke out in the city as those who worship false gods became enraged
and they started chanting, great is Artemis of the Ephesians. We see this in Acts 19. A silversmith who was there, who made idols, said that Paul was teaching that they are not gods which are made with hands. In other words, Paul was directly going after their false worship in preaching the gospel. Their false worship and economy was being undermined by the gospel ministry of Paul. And I think all ministers should aspire to have such a ministry.
We would preach in such a way that a riot might break out because we’re so clear on the gospel. That we’re attacking false worship and false ideology. Today, a practical example might be if you attack the false worship and false ideology of feminism and abortion. These two things go together. And if you were to attack that anywhere in the United States, you’re going to have some protesters out front. You’re going to have some people that are going to show up and be very angry about that.
And so here, at the conclusion of this letter, Paul aims to encourage and bless the Ephesian church. He has just wrapped up, to bring us back up to speed, he has just wrapped up writing about household codes, going through husbands and wives, parents and children, and other such matters. He has also emphasized the importance of putting on the armor of God, a wonderful passage. It was a final charge, so to speak, telling them of the importance to put on this armor as they
stand against the forces of darkness, that they would withstand evil and stand firm, that they should give themselves to prayer and supplication as they persevere, and they should pray for Paul, and he calls himself an ambassador in chains for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and he intends there as an ambassador in chains to proclaim the gospel boldly. And so you can think of this, and it’s often used as a benediction at the end of a letter, which is very common for Paul’s writings. We do it as Christians at the end of our worship. For this
reason, we are sent out with a blessing and a commission. This happens in Aaron’s blessing in number six. It happens in Leviticus. There’s a blessing from the high priest after they make sacrifices, and in the gospels themselves, we see this pattern. Jesus himself gives us the great commission, a benediction, a blessing to send his disciples out, and so this is why we conclude on the Lord’s day with a commission. Now, Paul is sending Tychicus, and you don’t really hear the name Tychicus anymore. It’s really a shame. I’m hopeful that after we say Tychicus
this morning, some of the mothers will be inspired, and that we can hear the name Tychicus in future years. I actually have a friend named Tymon. It’s a great Bible name. Most of us have never heard the name Tymon. Same with Tychicus. And when you encounter these names, you’re like, where did that name come from? It’s a Bible name. Bible names are great names. So I would love to see some more Tychicuses in our world. But Tychicus is actually an important person in the Bible. He’s a
We also see this in Colossians 4, 7-8. Paul has sent Tychicus to Titus. We see this reference in Titus 3.12. Tychicus was also sent to Ephesus after this letter was written, and this is referenced in 2 Timothy 4.12. And so we don’t know exactly the office that Tychicus had
Paul’s ministry. He was kind of a journeyman with Paul. He might have been a deacon or a pastor of some sort, but you can see this pattern that this is the man that Paul sends to people to bless them, to encourage them, to exhort them, to give ministry reports, all of this kind of stuff. And the desire for Paul for the church of Ephesus in this case is for them to know how Paul and his friends are doing because they’re in prison, they’re suffering, they’re persecuted. Not a great situation, but Paul is joyful in Christ.
When you hear the testimony of other Christians who have suffered throughout the ages in church history or now today, you yourself are encouraged. Your faith is built up. Think of the testimonies of the faithful Christians who are standing firm in the grace and mercy of God under persecution. For example, we prayed just now.
About the Christians in Nigeria who are being attacked by Muslims. Some reports say that 80% of the violence worldwide against Christians occurs in that one country of Nigeria. Christians are being targeted, hunted, and killed. Churches burned down. And over the last decade, tens of thousands of Christians have been killed for their faith. And yet, the church continues. And you hear reports of these Christians continuing to worship the living God. And this brings us great comfort and inspiration.
Of course, we offer our prayers, and we ask God to intervene. But those Christians continue in worship, and it serves as a testimony to us. And if I may, I would like to serve as a type of Tychicus here this morning, because I’m coming to you from a different place. I’m coming to you from the well-known liberal enclave of Boulder, Colorado, which is locally known as the People’s Republic of Boulder. It’s not exactly a place known for the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
We planted a church there back in 2011, knowing that it was a place of false worship. We were under no illusion that this was a God-fearing town, right? This was a place of false worship. But our ambition has been to share the gospel and minister faithfully so that Boulder might one day be known as a place that worships Jesus. I mean, can you imagine a future in which people hear the name Boulder or another town, Berkeley, or these towns, and people think, that’s a Christian town. That’s a God-fearing town. Those people love Jesus.
And that has been our ambition all along. And I assume you have similar desires for your city, for Washington, D.C., and your nation. All Christians want their towns, cities, states, and nations to be known for the worship of the one true God. And by God’s grace, over the last 14 years in our ministry context, we’ve planted five churches out of our church, so I’m very familiar with preaching at church plants.
We’ve had five people in a room before, and that’s all fine. That’s part of starting a church. And just this last year, God and His providence gave us a permanent facility in the heart of Boulder, a building that we could worship in. This has never been done to anyone’s knowledge since the 19th century when the pioneers moved to Boulder and built First Baptist and First Methodist and First Congregational. It’s never been done that a church plant has come in and renovated, taken over, bought, and existing church property is what it was. That hasn’t happened there.
It’s really unique, but I’m setting all the good stuff first. It’s been very difficult. We have experienced trials and tribulations. We have received death threats. We have not received all the protesters that you have here, but maybe after I’ve preached here, they’ll catch wind that I’m out in Boulder. But, you know, like when we bought our building, we bought our building four years ago, and we were going to renovate it, and when it came out in the local newspaper that our church is buying this church building,
and people broke in and spray-painted on the building, all sorts of blasphemous things, and we’ve endured many hardships, and I think what I want to encourage you with this morning, if I can be a ticket kiss to you, is that, you know, it is one thing to endure hardship and persecution from the world, you know, and it’s easy to walk, it’s fairly easy to walk by people who are kind of crazy and yelling at you, you can kind of laugh it off, and you kind of expect this, you know, as we stand for Christ,
difficult when you’re part of that kind of project with a church that loves God, is kind of grappling with the tension of loving a city, loving a place, wanting other people to love God, and walking in obedience, and then that city, that place, those people not receiving that love. In fact, they don’t really like you. They might even hate you. Other Christians, in fact, can hate you for belonging to a project such as this, or in our context, we’ve had Christians who kind of give us the side eye, like,
what are you doing? Why are you doing this way? And they can question you. I’ve talked with many ministers in our context who look at us and are like, you guys are kind of crazy. And we’re like, yeah, we’re fine with that. That’s okay. But it can be a little discouraging, right? It can be discouraging for church members when they know that being associated with our church, if it’s found out they go to our church, that could be dangerous for their career. That could be dangerous for their friendships, for their vocation. And it can be hard for them.
And so I want to encourage you to stand fast and stand firm. Our church is growing. It’s, by God’s grace, it’s been very blessed. And what you’re doing here is a very, very good thing. And you’re part of a wonderful community of saints doing wonderful work. And this is why Paul is sending Tychicus to Ephesus. He wants to give this kind of report to them. He wants to encourage them and bless them, to remind them of the gospel. And so what does he do next?
This love and peace comes from the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not kind of a sentiment. This is not just a saying. It’s reality. It’s what we’ve been offered in Christ. This is why during Advent we discussed such matters as love and peace. The Son of God, born of a virgin, came to bring love and peace. These are Christian terms. God defines these terms.
They are not just vague platitudes that you might put on a sign in your house. They are reality. Jesus Christ brings peace by reconciling us to the Father, taking our sins upon himself and giving us his righteousness. Where there was hostility between God and man, it has ceased. Christ has made peace himself. He is the peacemaker. And all this is done in love because God is love. He is the perfection of love. And on the cross, his perfect love was poured out.
God the Father sent his only begotten Son into the world to save sinners. He has ransomed us and purchased us with his own blood. This blessing of peace is extended to us as we have been washed clean from our sins in Christ. And now we become agents of reconciliation for the kingdom. We become peacemakers who are called children of God. And what we do is we don’t just strive in this peace that’s offered to the church of Ephesus and to all Christians. We don’t strive for a peace that’s like an absence of hostility.
Many people hear the word peace. They think if war stops, if we just didn’t have hostility, all would be well. But that’s not true peace. True peace also comes with a prospering. It’s an absence of hostility and a prospering of all relationships and everything else. It’s blessing. This is how God’s word defines peace. Typically, you’ll hear the word shalom from the Hebrew in the Old Testament. It’s a both and, right? It’s an absence of hostility and a prospering and a blessing.
He further connects the blessing as being rooted from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ as all blessings should be because God is the source of all good. This peace and love comes from God who has secured redemption for us. And if you have never heard this good news, the gospel message here today,
You must obey the call of Christ to repent and believe the gospel, confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord. You can experience the peace and love that is offered to you in Jesus, and you can turn away from your sins and turn to Christ. And if you do anything this Christmas season, find Christ, submit your life to him, and receive the gift of salvation offered by God.
Grace, grace to all, and it’s offered to those, particularly those who love the Lord Jesus with what? A sincere heart, a sincere love. There is a specific grace in this blessing for those who love Jesus with sincerity. The love that we have for Jesus is one that has been born in our hearts because he first loved us by dying on the cross for our sins. And this grace, what is this grace? This grace coming from the Greek word charis, of course, is benefit and favor.
Grace is to be blessed. This is what we desire for all Christians is more grace for them. Not simply the grace that comes from the cross, the mercy that comes from the cross, but grace abounding, grace poured out in all of life. And this is for those who love Jesus in sincerity. The ESV translates this phrase, love incorruptible. This is a pure love, undefiled. Think, if you will, of a substance that is like 100% pure, unfiltered, not watered down.
Like honey. In Colorado, we have bees. If you go to a farmer’s market, a local market, they’ll have the bee honey that’s sitting there. It’s raw. It’s unfiltered. It’s natural. And it’s delicious. And they say, of course, I’m assuming you guys have this out here as well. They say that it’s supposed to help with seasonal allergies. That has not been true for me. I still take Flonase. But, you know, it’s delicious. So I use it. It’s all natural. It’s wonderful stuff. Or maybe think of like water.
100% pure water. Without all the pollutants. We don’t know what’s in there. What are they putting in the water? We don’t know. And so we want to get filters. I have people in my church who have these carbon filters. I have guys in my church who got their PhD in environmental engineering. And they can tell you all the pollutants that are going in the water. And so they’re telling our elders, you’ve got to get this. You’ve got to get the carbon filter. You’ve got to get the Berkey. You’ve got to get all this stuff. You’ve got to get the pollutants out of the water. We all want this kind of stuff. We live in an age where people are pursuing this kind of purity.
Sincerity. The real deal. They want things that are unpolluted. And if people want this, if we want this, how much more does God desire this from us? A love that is pure. A love that is undefiled. Well, then the question becomes, how can we have this love that’s sincere? Well, it’s only through Jesus Christ who sanctifies our loves. And this sincere love is proved out as we walk in obedience to all that he has commanded.
So the question we must ask is, do we have a sincere love for Jesus? How can I have a sincere love for Jesus? Well, you must put away your sins and put your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. We love God because he first loved us. He is the object of our love. He is the source of love. And when we are found in Christ, unified with him, our love is purified. That means you’re not trusting in your own personal assessment of your love.
You’re not looking at your own emotional temperature to evaluate the purity of your love, but you’re looking at the source of love himself being pure love. God is love. Now, we should strive and aim, because that’s the theological reality, is that our loves are sanctified and purified by God, who gives us a sincere love for him, but we also have a responsibility to not dilute and pollute that love that we have for God, so that we’re not tossed to and fro by the world. We should not be unstable.
In our love, but we should aim to be rooted in Christ and connected to him in such a way that we can perfectly love him and magnify him in everything we do. Do you want to switch? Is the mic working back there? We’re good? Okay. This kind of love does not decay. It’s incorruptible. It persists even when challenged, even when hard-pressed, even when persecuted. This sincere love is connected to God, and God’s love cannot be taken away.
So when the believers in Ephesus, or we today, are hard-pressed, and we seek to love those around us, but we’re rejected, maligned, slandered, that is a test that reveals the sincerity of our love. Because after all, are we doing this for the approval of man, or are we doing this for the approval of God? That’s revealing the sincerity of our love. We are called to have a sincere, pure, undefiled, incorruptible love for Jesus.
We can believe it up here, we can have the right doctrine that yes, it’s Christ’s love that sanctifies our love, but also we’re called to take responsibility, and we don’t just wait around like some Cupid is going to hit us with a love arrow for Jesus. That’s not how this works. We are going to position ourselves and pattern our lives in order to cultivate more love for God. We’re going to read and meditate upon Scripture, we’re going to devote ourselves to prayer and fellowship, we’re going to join the saints.
For worship, we’re going to put ourselves in the best possible position so that sincere love for Jesus may increase in our life and in the world. So that we can work out our faith, our salvation with fear and trembling, receiving the grace and mercy of the Lord. Let’s consider the opposite for a second. I think we could all imagine the opposite. If I wanted to pollute my love, it would be fairly easy to do. Think about a marriage. If I wanted to corrupt my love for my wife, there are a variety of ways,
to do that. I could corrode that love. I would never be home. I wouldn’t speak tenderly to my wife. I would neglect my duties as a husband. I wouldn’t protect or provide. I would indulge in sin. I wouldn’t care about her life, her spiritual well-being, or otherwise. But if I wanted to love my wife with sincerity, then I would do things to cultivate that love for her. I would buy her flowers, and I would get the good flowers, not the ones I used to get her, the ones she likes, because I know what flowers she likes.
Similarly with Jesus, there are things you can do to corrupt your love, namely sin. But the good news about the covenant God has made with his people is that he washes us clean and forgives us of all unrighteousness, so that we can come before him with a sincere love. This is the good news of the gospel. So in the book of Ephesians, Paul has reminded the church of Ephesus of the beauty of the gospel. He has praised God who saves and encouraged them to walk
in obedience, putting away unrighteousness, putting on the armor of God, and applying his word to all of life. A phrase I think you’re familiar with, all of Christ for all of life. And here he concludes by offering peace and love through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so we ourselves stand in this faith that has been handed down, the faith that comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And today that means we are a people who now can turn and bless others. As people here of Christ Church DC and the faithfulness
they themselves are encouraged and comforted and inspired. We strive and aim to stand fast and endure against evil and under persecution and our testimony in this serves as a comfort and encouragement to Christians everywhere. This church, Christ Church in Washington DC is a light in the darkness, a testimony to God’s goodness and a blessing to all. May God increase your love and peace giving you grace to endure and to stand fast. It’s such a blessing to be with you all. It’s such a delight.
To be here and worship with you. You are doing a great work by God’s mercy and grace. And if you can imagine, imagine for many, many years to come that another faithful church, Christ Church here, is continuing to disciple and bless a faithful church in the heart of our nation. What a privilege. And as you aspire to walk in this and have this testimony and have the light shine upon Capitol Hill, continue to walk according to Christ’s words.
Putting your faith in him alone for salvation. Aspiring to have a sincere love. Patterning your life after Christ. Let me pray. Father God, thank you for your word. May we live lives of honor and your glory to your praise. Grant us grace and peace as we strive to walk in these commands. Purify our hearts and strengthen us for the task at hand. Be our strong tower, our defender, our deliverer as we are attacked for our faith.
And we praise you for your love and the mercy of Jesus Christ. Grant us the peace and love that can only come from you so that we may be comforted. And we pray in the words that Jesus taught us to pray, singing the Lord’s Prayer.