Bells And Mirrors Are Not Works

Bells and Mirrors are not Works

Ephesians 2:4-10 Monte T. Brown

9/26/2004 Sunday Morning

First Baptist Riverton

Introduction

If you were to spend the mornings with me as I go through the mail and read from Christian papers, you would notice that there are a number of programs that claim to help in the growth of your church.

There are companies selling signs, furniture, bulletins, music, videos, flyers, banners, and many other items, that all claim to increase your attendance and help church growth.

If we would turn on our televisions we find that there are advertisements that their product will make you more popular, richer, stronger, leaner, smarter, and younger.

There are companies that claim they can make you more successful with less work. The great market of getting rich and gaining great success!

However they are nothing more than Bells and Mirrors.

Turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians 2:4-10.

Please stand with me this morning as we read from God Holy Scriptures.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,

[5] even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

[6] and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

[7] that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,

[9] not of works, lest anyone should boast.

[10] For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:4-10

Tell the story of a man getting a great deal on a talking parrot at a pet store for only $500.00.

1. First he buys the parrot and a cage. (Parrot doesn¡¦t talk goes back to the pet store and complains.)

Storeowner says, you mean the parrot didn¡¦t sit on it perch and talk? Well he has to have a perch to sit on before he will talk.

2. Buy¡¦s a perch. (Needs a perch before it will talk.) (Parrot doesn¡¦t talk goes back to the pet store and complains.)

Storeowner says, you mean the parrot didn¡¦t climb up and down the ladder and then sit on it perch and talk? Well he has to have a ladder for him to climb up and down on before he will talk.

3. Buy¡¦s a ladder. (Needs a ladder before it will talk.) (Parrot doesn¡¦t talk goes back to the pet store and complains.)

Storeowner says, you mean the parrot didn¡¦t climb up and down the ladder, ring the bell and then sit on it perch and talk? Well he has to have a bell for him to ring before he will talk.

4. Buy¡¦s a bell. (Needs a bell before it will talk.) (Parrot doesn¡¦t talk goes back to the pet store and complains.)

Storeowner says, you mean the parrot didn¡¦t climb up and down the ladder, ring the bell, look into the mirror, and then sit on it perch and talk? Well he has to have a mirror to look into before he will talk.

5. Buy¡¦s a mirror. (Needs a mirror before it will talk.) (Parrot doesn¡¦t talk goes back to the pet store and complains.)

6. Parrot doesn¡¦t talk goes back to the pet store and complains that the parrot died.

Storeowner says, you mean the parrot didn¡¦t climb up and down the ladder, ring the bell, look into the mirror, go back down the ladder eat some food, and then sit on it perch and talk? Well he has to have a mirror to look into before he will talk.

What was missing in the parrot¡¦s life?

Why wasn¡¦t he performing?

There wasn¡¦t a desire to perform, because the parrot¡¦s stomach was empty.

You see as a Christian we are sometimes like that parrot.

We think we need bells and mirrors to perform.

These bells and mirrors represent metaphors like;

„h Sunday School

„h Enrolling in a witnessing class

„h A Bible study

„h Going to prayer meetings

„h Having revivals

„h Having gospel singings

„h Or going to a Christian retreat

The sad thing about this is that going to church or participating in one of these functions is not a bad thing but does not necessarily fulfill our purpose in life.

They are the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

We need to go deeper into the service of God if we are going to perform for the Lord.

All of the programs and functions that we have in church can be nothing more than perches, ladders, bells, and mirrors unless we find out the purpose in life and we perform for the Lord.