Who Controls Your Circumstances?

Ephesians 6:14b

Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O’Neill

And it is Ephesians, that famous prayer of Paul’s in Ephesians 1:15. “For this reason, because I
have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to
give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having
the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,
what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable
greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he
accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the
heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that
is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under
his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fulness of
him who fills all in all.”

I wrote that little email to you if you remember, “Set your mind on things above where Christ is
seated at the right hand, and not on the things of the earth.” And I wrote it because it came home
to me in the middle of the night sometime there in London, that we all battle the downness that
comes with just the things around us. And that is why I said that the reason for setting our mind
on things above where Christ is seated at God’s right hand, was so that his Spirit would be able to
prevent us having the seed of Jesus within us choked by – and you remember the sower that sowed the
seed. “And some fell by the wayside, some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.”
[from Matthew 13:4-7] And they were the cares of this world. And that is what came home to me. It
seems often it is the stupid little preoccupations we have that keep us tied to earth and keep us
from flying high where we really have been placed in Jesus.

And it is such a – I think the word seductive is over used, and I don’t like it too much because it
has a sexy kind of connection. But it is almost seductive the way things around us, the wretched
computer that is not working properly. And it is very easy — I think all of you have had the
experience – it is very easy to get drawn into being preoccupied with that. Sometimes it is
ridiculous, because you actually could do without the computer at that time, but there is something
in you that says, “Everything should be working properly.” And so you keep on at it. Or the car,
or some other little thing that you have to do. And I just thought, it is true that often the cares
of this world, not even the big cares, not even the big thing of where am I going to live next year,
or what am I going do for my car when I need it replaced, not even the big cares, but the little
cares. What is that phrase about the little foxes? The idea that the little foxes do all the
damage, “the little foxes, that spoil the vines.” It seems to me they are the ones that eat things
up. And it is the little cares of the world that keep us held down from the right hand of God. And
our real position is where God has placed us, at God’s right hand in Jesus. And that is really
where we are.

That’s what that piece in Ephesians is full of, in 2:6 that “God has raised us up and has made us
sit with him in the heavenly places, that in the coming ages he might show forth the riches of his
grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.” And so it is perfectly reasonable to believe that
that is where we are and that is where we should place our thoughts. And I think if you don’t place

the there the little foxes take hold of them and run with them. The cares of this world grow up and
you get preoccupied, even with due respect to all you great sales people, even, “What is the next
customer?” It is important to take care of things, but it is certainly important not to have your
mind utterly and completely taken and possessed by those. It seems to me when you do that, then
the cares of this world choke the rising Spirit of Jesus.

The seed – don’t you think when the sower sows seed he sows the Word of God and the living Word of
God is Jesus. And so Jesus is in each one of us. And that is really what it all comes to. I mean
we just cannot believe it. We cannot believe that here, we have the Queen of England right in our
hearts and we’re just ignoring her. Forget the Queen of England; we have the King of the universe
inside us. And yet we so often are taken up with the cares of this world. They have to be taken
care of. We have to pay the bills; you have to do certain things, but it seems to me that our minds
get preoccupied with those things. And instead of doing them and having done with it, and then
getting back to the important thing of setting our minds on the things above where Christ is seated
at God’s right hand.

But often you must admit, we think of that as a holiday time, and an unusual experience that maybe
we have at our prayer time in the evening or in the morning, but not the norm. And it seems to me
it is the norm. We are meant to live on that level dropping down when we need to, to lift this care
and that care, but in fact probably not allowing it to become a care. Isn’t that it? “Cast your
care upon the Lord for he careth for you.” And actually, you are not meant to ‘care’ about those
things. You are meant to take care of them, to do them, and then to let your mind go up to the
Father.

So you might think about it when we start to pray now. I think it will touch on a little of what we
will talk about.

Shall we pray?