It must have been hard being a Christian in Ephesus in the 1st cent.  You didn't have a religious pedigree… you had lived most your life living in all kinds of immorality. The Jewish Christians you go to church with now… are still somewhat cold to you, even though they have reluctantly accepted you as brethren they still don't know about treating you as family. And so just like in many of today's churches… you're labeled… People don't actually put stickers on you, but many do in their mind.

Stickers like "divorced", "sings like a dying mule", "dresses like a red neck", "doesn't come to Bible class", "can't preach his way out of a paper bag". Or it could be right the opposite we may label people like: "Makes lots of money", "Wears nice clothes", "sings like a bird", "drives a nice car", "has a nice house", "can preach better than Peter". No doubt the Gentile Christians of Ephesus had been labeled in some way by someone…

Either other Christians or former friends who were still living as the pagans did…And before Paul ends this part of the letter and moves on to telling them how they need to act and behave as Christians , He's going to boost them one more time by telling them one more awesome thing about God the Father… There are two possible bad consequences of labeling people or being labeled by people

But before we mention them I want to read you a story

This story is from the children's book "You are Special" by Max Lucado, minister for the Oak Hills Church of Christ in San Antonio, Texas. This is one of Blake's favorite books…

READ STORY 

1. YOU ARE SPECIAL TO GOD

Punchinello wasn't special to his maker because of what Punchinello did. Punchinello was special to Eli because he was made by Eli. He wasn't special because he could jump high or sing well. Eli said "you're special because you are mine. That's why you matter to me". Punchinello couldn't believe that Eli knew his name but he did and Eli told Punchinello he was perfect… because Eli didn't make mistakes.

The Ephesians were Gentiles. To the Jews that had a hard time doubting God's grace, it may have seemed crazy that the Gentiles could be special to God but Paul reminds them how special they are to God. God chose them, adopted them, predestined them, raised them with Christ, seated them with Christ in heavenly realms. God doesn't make mistakes. He has made me perfect in Christ Jesus yes I may have some rough edges from falling down  I may have some paint chips from bad decisions made in the past… but those are external. God has saved me and made me perfect in Christ… and God doesn't make mistakes. I'm special to God because I'm his. You are special to God regardless of what others may think of you and God can and will make you perfect in Christ… and God doesn't make mistakes…


2. YOUR MAKER WANTS YOU TO KNOW HIM

Punchinello was fearful of going to see Eli but when he finally did, Eli told him… I've been waiting for you to come and see me. He wanted Punchinello to come every day to visit  because the more he came to know Eli and trusted him the less it would matter what the other Wemmicks thought. 

As we've already seen the gentile Ephesians were separated from Christ and without hope, they were foreigners to the covenant and aliens to citizenship with Israel. But God, and aren't those the 2 most beautiful words, But God, brought them near through the blood of Christ now they were fellow citizens and members of God's household through the gospel they were heirs together with Israel members together of one body and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus 3:6 and Paul told the Ephesians in 3:12 IN HIM AND THROUGH FAITH WE MAY APPROACH GOD WITH FREEDOM AND CONFIDENCE

God wants us to know Him so much he has done away with all the barriers that separated us from him. He wants us to visit him daily and come to trust his love. He knows my name!!!! He even put part of himself in me. 2:22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. God is where he always has been…………….waiting for us to come and see him…. to visit him…. To come to know him…..

3. SHARING YOUR MAKER

Lucia told Punchinello about Eli. she had a relationship with her maker. She shared Eli with Punchinello

Paul said it was by the gift of God's grace had been given the commission of making known the mystery of God to the Gentiles this was a mysterious mystery… but more of a secret that through the ages God had intended to bring the Gentiles into his family. Paul also says that God's intent was that "Now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms." (3:10) but we can't make known what we don't know ourselves. How can we tell others who are hurting and need God if we ourselves are more concerned with what others think rather than trust God's grace. We can lead people to freedom…not freedom to sin, but freedom to become what God wants them to be

4. WE AREN'T SAVED BY OTHER'S JUDGMENTS.

We Are saved by the grace of God. The Wemmicks went around judging each other with stars and dots. It's so easy to fall into the trap of caring what others think to the degree that their opinions dictate our attitude and behavior. All someone has to do is label us, and if we are more concerned with what they think rather than what God thinks… we will cave into the pressure they've put on us and in doing so… we may give up our freedom in Christ.

Paul told us to stand firm in the liberty we have in Christ. There were those who came in to the church at Galatia and tried to take away there freedoms in Christ like Eli said to Punchinello "the more you trust my love the less you care about stickers". What our Heavenly father thinks matters more than what others think we aren't saved by what others think of us. The Ephesian Gentile .

I mentioned at the outset that there were 2 possibly devastating consequences of allowing yourself to be labeled

*YOU'LL BECOME WORKS ORIENTED

Some Wemmicks had stars all over them! Every time they got a star it made them feel so good! It made them what to do something else and get another star. Paul reminds the Ephesians in 2:8-9 "you are saved by grace through faith and this is not from yourselves… it is the gift of God…not by works, so that no one can boast…". If we're so concerned about what others think rather than God we can become trapped and not even know it. We can become so busy doing things, good things, for the wrong reason. If we sin, we feel we have to make up for it somehow…. "I'll visit someone", I'll send a card, I'll go to bible class this week… on and on if I just work harder God won't feel so bad about what I've done, he want feel so bad when I ask for forgiveness… or we'll become like the Pharisees… everything they do, they do to be seen by men. Don't tell me this doesn't happen, it happens every day in the lives of Christians. I know, been there done that. Listen because here is where we get so confused on works and good deeds. Make no mistake God created us to do good works. But We aren't special to God because we can jump high and sing well. We aren't special because of the things we do. We do what we do to the glory of God…… because we are special to him. We aren't special to God because we teach, or sing, or preach, or visit…. We teach, preach, sing, whatever because we are special. Blake isn't special to me because he can drive a golf ball almost 40 yards… He's special just as all my kids are, because he's mine. 

The 2nd consequence of allowing others to stick labels on us is...

 *WE'LL GIVE UP!

After a while he had so many dots that he didn't want to go outside. He was afraid he would do something dumb such as forget his hat or step in the water and then the people would give him another dot.  "He deserves lots of dots, he's not a good wooden person." After a while Punchinello believed them. I'm not a good Wemmick he would say. The few times he went outside he hung around other Wemmicks who had a lot of dots. He felt better around them.

What's the point of trying if every time we make a mistake we are going to be criticized and labeled or we've made so many mistakes in the past that people naturally assume we are going to make more. They label us and tell us "we are no good" I can't sing, I can't teach, I don't use the right church of Christ words, I've been unfaithful, I've been divorced, I got drunk, I did drugs, I did this, I did that, I tried hard, I'm not a good Christian. I might as well hang around others who aren't good either…


CONCLUSION:

So, as children of God and citizens of His kingdom we are ever trying to become more like our maker. To depend on and trust him more. But we can't do that if we don't know him. Our Father wants us to know him and have a relationship with him so that we won't let other's opinions and labels dictate our behavior

Paul tried to let the Ephesians know 

1. THEY WERE SPECIAL TO GOD

2. THAT THEIR MAKER WANTED THEM TO KNOW HIM

3. THAT THEY NEEDED TO SHARE THEIR MAKER WITH OTHERS

4. AND THAT THEY WEREN'T SAVED BY OTHER'S JUDGMENTS, THEY WERE SAVED BY GOD'S GRACE

Now that Paul has confirmed their relationship with God, he can focus on their change in behavior. I don't care who you are or what you've done…. 

1. You are special to God.

2. He longs for you to come to know him and have a relationship with him.

3. When you do, you will want to share him with others.

4. Come to trust him and his love and the more you do that the less you will worry about what others think. We are saved by grace, not by other's judgments. What about you? Have you allowed other's judgments to determine your behavior? Have you been influenced to act a certain way based on other's opinions?

Do you feel you are no good because of some mistakes you've made or because you aren't as talented as others?

Let go of all that and trust your maker!

Your maker who is waiting for you to come to Him…

He knows your name

He wants you to be part of His family…

To be united with his Son

To know that even if because of bad choices you have some chipped paint or you're rough around the edges…

He can make you perfect…. And you're special to him because you belong to Him.