Sermon Preached by Pastor Larry. C. Brincefield on 12/8/04 at Belleview COTN
Title: What Warms Your Pastor’s Heart (part 1)
Text: Ephesians 1:15-16
Introduction
1. Being a pastor is a wonderful thing!
I love being your pastor!!
Sometimes pastoring can be a challenge…
Sometimes it is difficult…
But I have never ever been tempted to leave the pastorate.
Beyond the fact that God has called me to be a pastor…
And that’s certainly good enough for me…
There are many fringe benefits…
For one thing, I get paid to read the Bible and pray!!
I get to read Bible commentaries and Bible dictionaries…
And it is “work”!!
2. There are many things about being a Pastor that I enjoy…
But there are a few things that truly warm a pastor’s heart.
I’m sure that these are things that are fairly universal…
Pastors of all denominations in all places of all times…
Find themselves strangely warmed by the same thing.
In fact, we find them in our text.
Paul was a traveling missionary on his 3rd missionary journey when he stopped in Ephesus and ended up staying there for almost 3 years.
Later, after he left, he found himself under house arrest in Rome.
But he found time and energy to write letters to several people and churches.
One of those letters is Ephesians.
And in our text Paul expresses some things to the Ephesians…
That you can tell are very meaningful to him.
Let’s stand together as we read…
Ephesians 1:15-16
As we study our text, we will find 2 things that really warm Paul’s heart…
And we also find Paul’s response.
1. The First thing that Paul mentions that really warms his heart…
He says, “I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus”
A. We don’t know the details of HOW Paul heard about their faith…
But, somehow, even under house arrest…
word came to him that the people in the church at Ephesus had a deep faith in the Lord Jesus Christ…
And not only did they have faith…
But their faith had evidently been having an impact outside the church…
Because the word was being spread about the people in that church.
Which might only seem mildy interesting in our day of instant communications…
Email…
Air flight…
And so forth…
But, when you realize that Rome was about 800 miles from Ephesus, as the crow flies…
And that people in Paul’s day certainly couldn’t take a direct flight…
By boat, it would be over 1,000 miles…
And by land, it would be even longer.
And somehow, under the constraints of distance…
And time,
And difficulty in travel…
And being under house arrest…
Paul heard something that really warmed his heart about the church in Ephesus…
He heard about their faith in Jesus Christ…
He knew that they were being faithful to Christ…
He knew that they were living out their faith in such a way that it was having a deep impact in that area…
And the news of that somehow reached Paul in Rome…
And how it must have warmed his heart!
In fact, it was likely this is the very thing that motivated Paul to write this letter to the Ephesians in the first place.
And as we continue to study the book of Ephesians in the weeks and months ahead…
We will find that Paul DIDN’T write them to address some sort of problem in the church…
As he did in some of his other letters…
But it is a letter that is positive, uplifting and encouraging….
Written to a church that was excited about Jesus Christ and wasn’t afraid to show it.
B. I can sort of identify with Paul in a small way…
I’m certainly not far removed from my church…
Thankfully I’m not under house arrest…
But, as I live in this community…
And as I interact with people…
And people find out that I’m the pastor of the people at Belleview Church of the Nazarene…
Many times, people will say, “do you know ‘so and so’ who goes to that church”?...
And if they are referring to someone who is coming to our church since I have been your pastor…
I’ll say, “sure”…
And they will go on to tell me about how wonderful that person is…
They will go into some detail to let me know about what a find Christian that person is….
And what that person did to help them personally.
And I can tell you that it really warms this pastor’s heart to hear that!!
What a blessing to have the realization that my people aren’t living one way on Sunday…
And then going out during their interactions with the community and acting differently…
Their Christianity is a part of how they act all week long…
It affects how they do business…
And how they do recreation and hobbies…
C. It warmed Paul’s heart to hear about the faith of the church in Ephesus…
And it warms my heart when I hear about the faith of the people at Belleview Church of the Nazarene.
2. Paul goes on to say, “I heard about…your love for all the saints”.
A. While Paul was under house arrest…
he had the opportunity to hear about how the people in the Ephesus First Church of the Nazarene loved each other…
He didn’t get the word that they were fighting…
He didn’t hear about contentious and willful church members…
He heard that they had a deep love one for another.
So much so, that people took notice…
It was obvious to people when they came to visit the Ephesus Church that the people loved each other…
And when Paul heard that…I’m sure it warmed his heart…
B. As a parent, I can tell you that nothing gives me more pleasure to see my children all getting along and loving each other…
Playing nicely together…
Working together to perform some task…
The kindness and love that they have for one another…
It is a real blessing…
Well, as a Pastor, the same thing is true…
I’ve had people who visit our church…
When I go visit them in their home…
They tell me how much they enjoyed visiting our church…
They tell me how friendly everyone was…
They tell me how they could sense the love and friendship that people have one for another.
And when I hear those kinds of things…
It certainly warms this pastor’s heart!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it or not…
But these 1st two points go right along with our mission statement…Loving God…Reaching Families…Making Friends.
Loving God…goes to the faith in Jesus Christ…
And loving all the saints, goes to reaching families and making friends.
And it warms my heart to realize that we are fulfilling the mission that God has given us.
3. Well, Paul’s heart was so warmed by what he had heard…
That he immediately sets out to write a letter in response…
A. And in that letter, he lets them know how much he appreciates what he is hearing about…
He tells them in verse 16, “I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers”…
Paul offers up his prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord…
about the faithfulness and love that is so evident in the Ephesian church.
B. Well, tonight, I don’t think I will write it in a letter…
but I have an advantage over Paul…
because I can tell you in person…
I praise the Lord for your faithfulness to Him…
I praise the Lord for your love one for another…
It warms my heart to know that you love the Lord…
And that you love each other…
And that you love your pastor!
And I make sure that I thank the Lord for allowing me to be your pastor…
And I continue to pray that the Lord will continue to work in such a positive way in your lives and in our church.
Conclusion
1. Well, there are a few things that warms a pastor’s heart…
And nothing warms a pastor’s heart more than hearing about how the people of his church love and serve the Lord…
And how they love and serve each other.
It warmed Paul’s heart about the church in Ephesus…
And it warms my heart about you…
The wonderful people of Belleview Church of the Nazarene!!
