As we look at the life of Joseph, we learn several truths about forgiveness. We learn in the most practical manner what Christ’s forgiveness looks like and how we must maintain a spirit of forgiveness toward those who have hurt and betrayed us. Let me encourage you to take one truth with you from this message. You must forgive others as Christ has forgiven you.

Worship is an overflow of our knowledge of Christ. Our worship does not just flow forth in praise. Praise is the vertical expression of our worship. The horizontal expression of our worship is evangelism. We worship in missions when we are so captured by Christ's beautiful holiness that we find satisfaction and fulfillment as we speak to others of Him. We call this evangelism. When we speak of world evangelism, we speak of missions.

A godly home is so inestimably valuable; we could not overstate our case. The home is the foundation of every aspect of our lives. If the home is stable, the blessings are innumerable. Make no mistake. The only stable home is one in which Christ is first and foremost in each relationship. If the home is unstable, the effects are devastating. Our text does not just address the home. Paul also speaks to the work environment relationships. In today's society, the relationships are that of employer-employee, but in Paul's day the relationships were more often than not that of master-slave. We would not even dare to compare the slave to today's employee because the situations and positions in society are so radically different. Yet, Paul continues the thought of mutual submission among believers. If the church is to function properly, if the church is to be radically different than the world, it can only be so by Christ's prescription. What did Christ prescribe? He gives us the standard of His own life, ministry, and death. Christ's standard was submission. If you take one truth from this message, I want you to take the following: You must follow Christ's submissive pattern at home and at work.

According to God's Word, the home is a place in which Christ is made first and supreme. Allow me to use an illustration to make my point. Picture if you will a triangle. At the top of the triangle is Christ, and at the bottom two points of the triangle are the husband and wife. As the husband and wife individually draw closer to Christ, as they related to Him as their most important relationship, they naturally draw closer to each other. Only in this way can a marriage truly be what Christ has designed it to be. So, if you take one truth from this message, I want you to take the following: You must model your marriage after Christ's relationship to the Church.

Has the cross lost its power? No, it has not! Praise the Lord that the cross possesses the same power today as it did when we trusted in its redemptive work! The authority claimed by superficial religion possesses the power of a toothless lion or a paper tiger, and it cannot change the Cross' influence. The allurements of our depraved culture hold no sway over the cross of Christ. We ought to be encouraged that we serve a Christ who was willing to give Himself for us on the cross to break the power of our sins. We ought to be confident that the cross is not impotent to address the problems that we face in life. It was the cross which bridged the gap from the sorrow and bondage of sin to the joy and freedom of Christ. When you crossed the bridge spanning the gap between God and man, you experienced happiness which cannot compare to the shallow religion and joyless sins. It is the power of the cross to which we look in Psalm 2. As you gaze once more upon the cross, allow the power of the cross to strengthen you to live victoriously in this life. You must allow the cross to be your source of rejoicing.

The first line of Martin Luther's 95 Theses reads, “When our Lord Jesus said 'Repent' he meant that the whole of the Christian life should be repentance.” We could restate it in another way. Our redemption is not an event; it is a process. We learned last week that we cannot love Christ just a little bit. A healthy Christian is one who is growing. Paul illustrates this process in the Book of Ephesians with the putting off and putting on of clothing. As we put off the things that our flesh desires, we put on new, Christ-like desires. Now, Christ-likeness is not something that we can do for ourselves. It is a process that occurs as we submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit's authority in our lives. As you know, submitting is not an easy thing to do; it is a process of sometimes painful growth that occurs as we devote ourselves completely to Christ. If you take one truth from this message I want you to take the following: You must submit yourself to the Holy Spirit.

We are what we desire, and we must ask ourselves a thought-provoking question. What do I want most? You see, we prioritize our lives based upon what we want most. For example, an Olympic athlete wants most to win his event. So, he moves to an Olympic training center where he spends the vast majority of his free time training for his particular event. He is so focused on winning that he leaves home to train and to follow a rigid diet and exercise routine. Everything he does is to the single purpose of that Olympic event.

God created birds to train their young through a process known as imprinting. Biologists learned that, generally speaking, a newly hatched bird will pattern itself after the first thing it sees. In this way, a baby bird will learn how to act like a bird. We are called to follow God as our pattern, and this will only happen as we keep our focus on Him. Although Paul illustrated the change in our lifestyle with the putting on and off of clothing, Christianity is not something we can put aside while we go on summer vacation or when we get home from work. Christianity is not something which we can set aside when it is expedient to do so. Nor is Christianity something which we practice only on Sunday morning when we go to church. We have been included in every spiritual blessing in heavenly places according to chapter one, verse three. As such, we should walk worthy of our calling, according to chapter four, verse one. They way in which we walk worthy of our calling is a life that is patterned after God's character. So, if you take only one thing from our text, I want you to take the following: Pattern your life after Christ.

If we are to live with each other in the Christian community, we must be committed to each other with more than mere tolerance. Our church family must be bound together with a supernatural bond, a bond of kindness and forgiveness forged in the furnace of God's fiery wrath upon our sins in Christ on the Cross. This is the Gospel, and it effects change, not just in behavior but also in our relationships. Behavior and relationships go hand in hand. How we behave toward others reveals what we think of them.

Paul moves from explanation to application. The verbs he uses are in the imperative mood; he tells the people that they must act. The things he writes are not suggestions from God; his writing is more than good advice. God expects us to live a certain way because of the truths Paul explained. In what way does God expect us to live? God expects the believer, the church, to live in a way that is distinct because He is distinct. The illustration Paul uses is that of changing clothing. When I was in high school, I used to work on a chicken farm. By far, the worst job on the farm was scraping the boards. For the sake of politeness, we cleaned the manure from the chicken cages. It was a messy, disgusting, vile job. The stench was overpowering, and your clothing reeked. You couldn't wait to take off the dirty clothing and put on clean clothing. God wants us to put off the lifestyle and mindset which aligns itself with the unbelievers and to put on the likeness of Christ. You can only do this as you commit yourself to Christ-life. If you take one thing from this message, I want you to take the following: You must live the Christ-life.

Several years ago, I heard a humorous story which is a parable about our perspective of life. I cannot recall the source, so I certainly do not hope to plagiarize this story. I will try to relate the story as best as I can.

There was a king who had a best friend from childhood. The king and his friend spent much time together in the business of the kingdom as well as the pursuit of distractions from the stresses of leadership. The king’s friend had a very unique perspective of life. No matter what happened, whether it was good or bad, the friend would say...

Christ gave the blessings of His infinite grace to every believer, including you and to me, so every believer is a minister. We often think of the ministry as what the pastor does. So, we relegate ministry to the pastor. Unfortunately, some congregations do by proxy through the pastor what they do not want to do themselves. Now, Christ has given the gift of pastoral leadership to His Church, of which you and I are the body, but ministry is not to be monopolized by the pastor. Ministry is so much broader than preaching and visiting. Christ said in Mark 9.41, “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.” The simplest act done to reflect Christ's loving name is ministry. Christ's gift of pastoral leadership was to feed the flock through the preaching and teaching of His Word so that the flock would do the work of the ministry. So, if you take one truth from this message, I want you to take the following. You must be a minister of Christ.

We have all received gifts for which we had no use. Perhaps it was the third toaster from your wedding or the singing Big Mouth Billy Bass. When we received those gifts, we probably threw them in some drawer or closet or in the garage where they stayed for ten years until you either sold it at a yard sale for a quarter or threw it in the trash. As much as we like to say about gifts: 'It's the thought that counts', the person who gave us the gift either did not know us very well or they had a warped sense of humor. We read in Ephesians 4 that Christ has given gifts to the Church. Unlike the gifts we received for which we had no use, Christ's gifts are nothing but useful and good. Christ said in Matthew 7.11, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” The point Christ made was that God's gifts are infinitely better than any good gift man can give. As we read in the opening verse of the Book of Ephesians, every believer has already received every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.

An old Charlie Brown comic strip portrayed a scene with Lucy and Linus. Linus was watching the television when Lucy marched into the room, demanding to watch her show. Linus said, 'What makes you think you can walk in here and take over?' Lucy showed her fist to Linus, saying, 'These five fingers. Individually they're nothing but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.' The last frame of the comic strip shows Linus looking at his fist, saying, 'Why can't you guys get organized like that?' The comic strip humorously portrays the truth that strength is found in unity. An old World War II slogan promoting unity said, 'United we stand; divided we fall.' Paul teaches about the unity of doctrine and practice in the opening verses of chapter four.

Paul prays that the Church would be able to comprehend, understand, grasp, and appropriate the glory of God in their lives. He prays, asking that believers not be the spiritual paupers mentioned just a moment ago. If God can work a wonderful plan that lavishes His grace upon us, then that plan must be able to work in your life as well. If God cannot work in your life, He cannot work at all. So, how does God's omnipotent and predetermined plan manifest itself in your life? The answer lies in our understanding of God's plan. What is the goal of God's plan? It is to take glory for Himself. Let us look briefly at God's glory in the Book of Ephesians up to this point in our study. You will find God's glory in 1.6, 12, 14, 18; and 3.16, 21. Now, if I said something six times, you would get the idea that I was trying to emphasize something. Paul emphasizes God's glory. God's glory, the sum total of all of His perfections, character, works, and excellence, is the goal of all that God does. If we are to live the Christian life rightly, we must understand the truth that God's glory is the goal of all that He does, including your redemption and sanctification. If you take nothing from this message, I want you to take the following: You must comprehend God's glory.