Relationship Dynamics

 This past Sunday at Lord of Life, we focused on adopting a lifestyle of submission to the good of others. We see this dynamic at work in the relationship between Jesus and the Church, where mutual submission for the good of the other is at the heart of all that each does for the other. This then extends into the relationships we have with each other, as Paul points out in the last part of Ephesians 5 and the first part of chapter 6.

Today I would like to focus a lot on the last part of this brief selection, specifically Ephesians 6:5-9. Now, the wording that you likely find in there is sure to raise a few eyebrows in our day and age. After all, we simply do not talk that way, and it makes us think back to a part of American history that is not viewed in a positive light. While that may be the case, what Paul is talking about here is the dynamic of the worker and the person over the worker. For the sake of clarity, I will simply use employer and employee, though there are many nuances to this relationship.

What would it look like if your employer were submitting to your good in order to make your work environment the best it could possibly be for you and others? I encourage you to think about that for a moment before proceeding on. Even write it out on paper. (Here is where you pause to do that!) You have ideas for what would make a vibrant workplace, don't you? You have things that would make going to work something that you look forward to on a day by day basis. It would be great if your employer did that for you, right?

So, suppose you took that picture and went up to your employer and demanded such a work environment. How would those in charge react to such a demand? While there might be some value that they would take from the picture you paint, the fact that you are demanding might cause them to raise their walls of defense. They might look instead to show you why they do the things that they do now, rather than looking at the picture you are painting. In general, demanding that things be done the way you envision likely will not lead to ready adoption.

Now, consider this. What if you demonstrate that you are looking to do good for your employer? Not that you cross boundaries of work and home, or overwork yourself, but that you simply show that you dedicate yourself to your work and to the good of your employer as you should. If you prove to be an employee who is looking out for the good of your employer, you are likely to gain an audience when you have suggestions. Rather than demanding, you can show them the benefit of the changes they could make to encourage people such as yourself to work in similar fashion. 

Looking to the good of others is a lifestyle that mimics what God did for you in Jesus. That applies to your work environment as well. Whether you are employee or employer, God would have you work for the good of your work environment, but even more, especially for your coworkers and their good. God has redeemed you for such an outlook, and believe it or not, such an approach is likely going to stand out in your workplace. Don't be surprised when it is viewed both with suspicion (people wondering what you're trying to gain for yourself) and with disdain (at people who just don't like seeing others doing what they are unwilling to do). After all, Jesus simply did what the Father had sent Him to do, and it resulted in your redemption and salvation. It might not amount to the same in your workplace, but you just never know what doors might be opened when you look to the good of others there.

So what is appropriate?

 "Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving." Ephesians 5:4

I love the phrase Paul includes in here, "which are out of place." As he considered what it meant to be one of God's people, he knew that God has set apart His people for a different way of life. God had redeemed them and given them new purpose. Being re-created in Jesus, they would have the design for which God had created them as their new walk.

One of the realities of those who are God's people is that we are set apart. We are HOLY, and that word bears a bit of explanation. In its bare meaning, the word holy means to be set apart. If you have a recipe for mashed potatoes that you only use at Thanksgiving, that recipe is holy. It is set apart. And such is the same for God's people. We are purchased by God through Jesus, made new through His sacrifice and resurrection, and are now set apart. We are holy people.

Being holy, being set apart, means that there are simply things that God has set us apart to do, and things that God has set us apart that we will not do. There are things that are simply out of place for us to engage in. In the verse above, Paul lists out filthiness (more than just being dirty, but rather having a mindset that looks to degrade the dignity of being God's special creation), foolish talk and crude joking. These are just not appropriate for God's people.

I'm going to jump on a soapbox for a moment that may challenge a few of you reading. It is inappropriate for God's people to speak sarcastically. Sarcasm is always hurtful. We might think that we are only joking, or that we shouldn't be taken so seriously, but the very nature of a sarcastic remark is to hurt, to damage. It is condescending to others. It doesn't look to build them up, which is what God designed our speech to do. Being fluent in sarcasm may very well be an indicator that we have some spiritual soul-searching to do when it comes to our attitudes toward others.

That's why we ask ourselves a simple question. As God's set-apart people, is what I am about to say appropriate? Is this what God has set me apart to do, or to say? If you cannot reasonably come up with an answer in the positive, then it likely means that it is inappropriate. My hope and prayer is that God guards our thoughts and our tongues from the inappropriate, and instead tunes them to thanksgiving and building up.

Walking as One

 As we consider the first half of chapter four in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, we start to realize that there is a lot of content in the first 16 verses. At Lord of Life, we covered a few things, mostly dealing with maturity and our growth into Jesus as the head, but the reality is, we barely touched some of the other parts of this meaty chapter. So today we're going to dive in to a bit of this that we didn't touch earlier.

As Paul concludes his opening thought in chapter four, we have this statement. "...eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit--just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call--one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." As you read this statement, a particular word likely stands out: one.

Paul makes a great emphasis here on unity and being one. As Christians, we are brought into one body through the work of the one Lord, our Lord Jesus. As God claims His people, His one Spirit resides in those who are His people. This claiming finds its origin in baptism, which is a connection to the one primary baptism, that of Jesus, and now we are connected to Jesus through that one baptism (read the first part of Romans 6 to get a good idea of how this happens). 

In that same way, we aren't brought into the one body because of a bunch of different beliefs, but because we put our hope and trust in one thing, God the Father, His Son Jesus, who is our Lord, and the one Spirit that the Father and Son give to His people. We are joined in the one body because we have a common belief that Jesus has done what is needed to restore us to God and to give us the hope and promise of being made new. 

Paul points this out because there are a lot of things out there that try to tell us that the specifics of what you believe don't matter, that you simply have to believe in something, and that all roads lead to the same place. It was no different in Ephesus some 2,000 years ago, and it's the reality we find ourselves in today. If you try to say that there is one Lord, one Savior, and one hope, at best you might be looked at as naive or misguided. There is a strong push to simply coexist with others, not to be specific, but to speak generically about beliefs. 

Yet, that has never been God's design. He points to Himself as the one true God, the only one who actually exists. (As an aside, the name of God that He spoke to Moses and that is indicated by the word LORD in the Old Testament is actually the root of the verb, to be. In other words, God's name is "The One who actually is." Pretty cool, eh?) All others are human creations, intended to submit to our will and design, rather than have a claim on our lives. 

As Christians, that one faith in one Lord through one baptism stands out. It makes us different, and that means that we will find ourselves standing out from others because of it. As difficult as we may find that to be at times, we still have the hope and comfort of the one God who has rescued us through His one Son, that we share a common life with Him that will never end. 

Inner Strength

 If you listen for it, you can hear a lot out there in our current society talking about inner strength. Phrases like "you got this" seem to abound. The message behind them is that you are stronger than you think you are. All you have to do is dig a little deeper and you'll find that you already have what you need inside of you. It's basically a message saying that you are your own master, and you don't need to rely on anyone else. You just have to focus, dig deeper, and find that strength and commitment within yourself.

That all sounds really good in our ears. After all, who doesn't want to think that we have everything we need, and we just have to look inside ourselves to find it. Then we don't have to depend on anyone else. We are sufficient for ourselves. Sure, we may need cheerleaders along the way to help us find it, and perhaps coaches or therapists to give us a little assistance. But we don't have to rely on them. We have all we need.

As you read through those two paragraphs, you'll notice that the attention and focus is on the self. So it sounds really strange to hear something like what Paul wrote to the Ephesians when he wrote, I bow my knees before the Father...that...he may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being (Ephesians 3:16-17). It sounds like we need God the Father to strengthen us with his Spirit. It sounds like we aren't the source of the strength or power. It comes from somewhere outside of us.

The reality is that Paul is hitting on something we'd rather not be the case. We simply do not have strength or inner power in ourselves. If that were the case, then why aren't we all super-disciplined people who are able to solve our problems easily? If it's inside of us, then why hasn't someone shown us the trick to unlocking all that power? Doing so would seem to eliminate a lot of the problems we see in this world.

But then, if you keep reading, you find it even stranger. What is the strength and inner power that Paul is asking that the Father would give? It's that you would know the love of God in Jesus. It's that you would be rooted in Jesus. Essentially Paul is saying that God gives us power and inner strength to be rooted in the love that God has for us in Jesus. God gives us power so that we will know how much God cares for us, and so that we will be firmly planted in God's grace toward us through Jesus, his life, death and resurrection for us.

That sounds like a strange way of looking at power and inner strength. It comes from outside of us, and it is utilized by God to grow us in knowing what we mean to God and what God has done for us in Jesus. And yet, that is where strength and power is found. When we know that we are God's, that God has made us His own in Jesus, we have the strength of knowing who we are. We have the inner power to know that God has a sacrificial care for us that He has shown in Jesus. 

God gives us the power and inner strength to know Him, to know Jesus, and to know what God has done to give us an identity and make us His own people. That identity is then a source of strength as we face the world in which we live. That gives us strength when hard times happen. It keeps us grounded in our identity in Jesus when good comes our way. When the unexpected comes up, we have the security and strength of knowing that we have our grounding in the God who knows all things and is working for our good in them all. That is inner strength worth having. 

Talking Stewardship

 ...assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you... Ephesians 3:2

Many Christians may cringe when they hear the word Stewardship raised. It brings up thoughts of things such as a congregational treasurer (who would rather not be in the situation to begin with) standing in front of the assembly to show the numbers required for ministry and to ask for people to support the congregation through their gifts and offerings. A few typical bible texts get pulled out, we hear that God loves a cheerful giver, and everyone hopes that the talk is over fairly quickly.

That may be something of what you think when you hear the word stewardship. And if so, I am truly sorry for that. Today in reading and discussion I have already come across the word stewardship at least two or three times, and it has not been in the realm of the scenario described above. I was reading a book about being faithfully connected in the digital world, and the author wrote about the stewardship of being aware of sharing things like credit card and social security numbers, as well as stewardship of what you are considering as a purchase. In a conversation, a colleague and I were talking about the stewardship of overseeing ministry matters, seeing to it that things are done in a good order and being aware of our responsibilities to do so.

For Lord of Life, this past Sunday we heard the verse above from Paul's third chapter to the Ephesian Christians. Paul also speaks of stewardship, the stewardship of God's grace. Paul was given responsibility to see that God's grace was administered to the Ephesians. Such an administration, such a stewardship, was for the good of the Ephesians. It means that Paul was responsible for stewarding the good news of Jesus to the Ephesians, as well as helping them to see how to grow as a response to that grace from God in Jesus. Paul had stewardship of something marvelous.

One of my contentions for quite a few years has been that we too narrowly restrict stewardship talk to money and offerings. Our whole life as a Christian, including our possessions, our families, and even our mindsets, are to be seen as part of our stewardship. My words are part of my stewardship, and so I have a responsibility to use them wisely. My actions are part of my stewardship, and so I have a responsibility to be aware of my actions and how others see me. How I spend my time is part of my stewardship, and so how I allot my time is something to be aware of. 

The reality then comes to the forefront. Everything we have is something given to us by God. That calls for responsible stewardship. It's not just money, though money is part of what we are responsible for. Even how we share the good news of Jesus is part of our stewardship. God gives this stewardship to us because He wants us to be a part of His working in this world. This is truly something to be thankful for, even as we see that it calls for responsibility on our part. 

Knowing Wisdom from God

 ...so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. Ephesians 3:10

I have a LOT of books on my bookshelves. In fact, since I recently moved I discovered that the number of bookshelves in my new office aren't actually enough to hold all the books I have in my possession. Sure, you could say I have too many books, but the thing I have discovered over the years is that there is a lot of godly wisdom out there in the world and, for me at least, books are a great way to find that wisdom and learn it.

Before I dive too deeply into our topic today, I want to make one important distinction, the difference between knowledge and wisdom. My working definition of the two words is that knowledge consists of the facts of what we see and observe. Wisdom is how we apply that knowledge to our life. As a quick example, I know how traffic lights work, with green and red and yellow lights. Wisdom teaches me to plan trips around making right hand turns more often than left.

God created this world according to His wisdom, and He planned it so that His wisdom would be found in the world. There are many matters of this world that fall under God's wisdom, more than we can ever know. And yet, there are also those elements of God's wisdom that either seem hidden, or that run counter to how things seem to work in the world.

Jesus is God's prime example of His wisdom that is hidden and that runs counter to the ways of the world. The fullness of God lives in Jesus, and yet that fullness was so hidden that God's own people handed Jesus over to be crucified. Jesus likewise shows us that God's way of working in this world tends to be the opposite of what might seem best. Those who want to lead best do so by making sure that they are taking really good care of those who work under them. The best way to receive love from another is to set aside your desire to be loved and instead to love that other person and serve them. The best way to be honored is to look to honor others and build them up, rather than trying to do things that simply impress others.

In our verse above, Paul states that God's wisdom is revealed through the church, through God's people in Jesus. It's not going to be obvious to people who do not know God's grace and God's design. That wisdom is also known and shown in a couple of different ways. First, it is known because we realize that wisdom ultimately comes from God and we seek to pattern our lives according to His wisdom. We love others even at the expense of ourselves. We look to do good even when others don't do good to us. We talk of others well even when they speak poorly of us.

God's wisdom is also known and shown because we are a people who find our identity in God's wisdom. God's wisdom was to forgive and renew, and so we know and show God's love because we are a people who acknowledge that we are not perfect. We ask for forgiveness because we are forgiven by God through Jesus. We care for others because God has cared for us in Jesus. We serve others because our God has served us, especially through the cross and resurrection of Jesus. We have a new identity, which was God's wisdom to grant to us, and in our lives, we find our identity in the God who has done this work for us.

God's wisdom shines as His word goes forth through His Church, and as His Church looks to be defined by His wisdom. Our prayer is that others see God's wisdom at work when they see the manner of our lives, and that they are then drawn to that wisdom which defies the way the rest of the world works. 

Building a Mystery

 Generally speaking, as people we like mysteries. We like something that challenges us to figure out who did "it". One of my favorite movies is an old one simply called "Clue", and it plays out much like the board game of the same name. In it, you try to figure out who did the crime and with which instrument.

When you read Ephesians 3:1-13, you come across the word mystery a few times. Now I will admit, figuring out what Paul means by some of the words he uses is not always the easiest of things. His sentences are not typically as grammatically correct so as to be easy to understand. However, in this case he makes it pretty clear what the mystery is. The mystery that had been hidden for ages past was that God intended for the Gentiles and the Jews to both receive His promise of entry into His kingdom that never ends. 

So that's it. Mystery solved, right? Well, not so fast, my friend. Yes, God's intent that all people would receive His inheritance is something that can be seen throughout the Old Testament. However, the means by which this would be accomplished was a bit more hidden. The sacrifice and resurrection of God's own Son, the Messiah, was spoken of, but was a bit more challenging to discern. At the same time, figuring out exactly who that would be also proved challenging, as pretty much everyone missed it when Jesus was born and then ministered. (Think of it, if people had really, really known that Jesus was the Son of God and Rule of all Things, would they really have crucified Him? They missed it, just as you and I likely would have missed it too.)

The other part of the mystery is figuring out what it looks like for Gentiles and Jews to both receive the inheritance that Jesus came to bring to light. Do Gentiles have to become Jews first? That was a question that the earliest Christians wrestled with. Another one that made its rounds while I was at the seminary studying to become a pastor was the question of just what exactly do you need to believe in order to receive the inheritance. Are there particular teachings that are "necessary" to believe? (To be honest, I'm not sure that any of us human beings know God's mind enough to be able to definitively say we know even the bare minimum, but that is a discussion for another day.)

So the mystery persists. How could the sacrifice of one individual on a cross outside Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago win an inheritance for all people of all time? It's still a mystery in many respects, and simply calls for us to say that God has spoken and told us what He did and how He did it in Jesus, and that is sufficient for us. 

Alienation and Separation

 Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. Ephesians 2:12

As we think back on the past year plus, one thing that we see is what it means to be separated. COVID caused us to be separated from each other in drastic ways that were previously unfamiliar to us. We had to stand six feet or more apart from each other. We had to wear masks. For a vast majority of people, we were even told to work from home if at all possible. In other words, be separate from each other. 

That led to alienation. Think about just the past few months. As we have started to get back to a place where we can be in contact with each other, there has been a great deal of uncertainty. Mask or no mask? Do we shake hands and hug, or not? Can we sit beside someone at a table, or do we still keep distance? We still feel alienated, and in some respects, we need to learn how to interact again.

Paul paints an even greater alienation in the verse above. God had a people that He had chosen to be His people, and they were to be a blessing to all families on earth (see Genesis 12:3). However, they had not accomplished that task. Instead, walls of separation and hostility had been built up between them and the rest of the world, a division Paul highlights between the Jews and the Gentiles. Those on the outside were alienated from God's people and thus were separated from Christ.

It's no fun to be alienated or separated. Ask the kid at school who is off by himself or herself. Or think about the person at your work that most people avoid. Alienation hurts. Separation is painful. When we think of separation in a family or marriage, there is usually a great deal of pain involved. Even more so when it comes to the God who created and redeemed all things.

Jesus took God's wrath at us building up sinful walls of separation and alienation. When Jesus' body was broken on the cross, so also were the walls that separate us from each other and alienate. Now Jesus is our peace, as Paul wrote two verses later. Jesus restored that which was never to be separated. Jesus brought back those who were never intended to be alienated. His death on the cross and resurrection to new life created a new oneness between those who were separate and alienated from each other.

As you think about those from whom you are separated and alienated, consider how those walls of division have been broken down by Jesus. Are there ways that you can work to bring those walls down, so that others may know the peace that is theirs in Jesus? What is the first step you will take in breaking down those walls? When will you do that? May God's Spirit give you wisdom and guidance as you look to share that new creation in Jesus with others. 

Run-on sentences

 Continuing our journey through Paul's letter to the Christians in Ephesus long ago, we venture into the latter part of what is numbered chapter one. In some of the research I have been doing for our look at this book, I came across a very interesting point. In Ephesians 1, we have the two longest sentences in the entire New Testament. The first one, verses 3-14, consists of over 200 words in Greek! Can you imagine writing a sentence with 200 words? The second longest is verses 15-23, with 169 words in Greek. That is just staggering to think about, or at least for someone like me. Of course, I am a bit of a grammar person and find such things as that fascinating.

What I also find fascinating is how focused Paul is on God and His work in Jesus. When you read through chapter one, you find Paul almost exclusively talking about what God has done, what Jesus has done, and for the Ephesian Christians to know God's work and how that is meant for them. After having Jesus personally confront him on the road to Damascus and re-orient his life to serve Jesus, Paul seems to devote everything to pointing to Jesus. He wants everyone to know the same thing that he came to see: Jesus can take even the most hardened of people against Him and turn them to Him in grace.

It's easy for us to think that Paul had it kind of nice. He got to see Jesus personally after His resurrection and ascension. "If only Jesus would appear to me, then I wouldn't doubt anymore. Then I would be more sure of how I live my life or do what God wants me to do." Such thoughts are easy to intrude, and I would suggest that we should look at such thoughts critically. When Jesus went out of His way to reveal Himself to someone, He usually had a task for them that required a great sacrifice from who they were and what they were previously doing. It also meant that they stopped looking to their own good, and instead looked to the good of others almost to extremes. Think about that for a moment next time you have one of those moments where you wish Jesus would just show Himself to you.

Still, that doesn't take away those momentary doubts that pop up from time to time. We still would like a bit more certainty about what we believe. After all, we believe a dead man came back to life and His death covered everything that is wrong with the world. That is a fairly unbelievable kind of thing, and in fact, it is unbelievable without God's Spirit inspiring faith within us. We only come to believe by God's grace. Humbling, right?

That calls for thankfulness on our part. I'm planning to do another blog post about thankfulness and prayer, and hope that it proves helpful as you read it. For now, though, I encourage you to take a few moments to calm yourself and talk to God, thanking Him that He has called you as His own child in Jesus. 

Kicking off Ephesians

 This summer, I am working on a series of messages on Paul's letter to the Ephesians. For this post, I want to focus on a few interesting items from the letter overall. Future posts will look a little more deeply at different parts of this letter, in an effort to help us grasp the different things that Paul was trying to communicate to the Ephesians about their faith in God and in the grace of God demonstrated in Jesus.

A common theme throughout this letter is how God brings all people who put their faith in Jesus into one body, with Jesus as the Head and the Church (the whole community of those who come to believe in Jesus and His sacrifice and resurrection for them) as Jesus' body. There is a significant unity and togetherness that he makes a big deal out of throughout this letter, and we would be wise to consider what that means for our lives together as Christians. If God is so concerned about our lives together in unity in Jesus, then perhaps that means we should open up our ears to hear what He has to say on it.

One interesting thing about the Ephesian Christians is that they seem to have been Gentiles, or non-Jewish people, primarily. The astonishing thing that Paul writes about is that the promise of God to them is just the same as it is to the Jewish people. At that time, that was an astounding thing to consider. But the grace of God in Jesus meant that God was making all people into one in Christ Jesus, with Jesus at the heart of that unity.

Since that is what God has done for all people, then that means that we have to consider the conduct of our lives. What we do, what we say, how we interact with others, all of these are impacted when we realize that we are included in Jesus' body along with all these other people. There is no place for some of our sinful tendencies, and even when we find ourselves engaging in those tendencies, we respond with grace and kindness and forgiveness, even as we are corrected.

Life together in the body means that we look to place the good of others in just as significant of a place as we do our own. Paul uses a word that we tend not to like a lot, the word submit. As Christians, our whole life is one of submitting to the good of others. Yes, we are still called to be responsible with our own lives, but we are to expand our outlook beyond our own selves, and see what we can do in grace for others.

Because that is such a challenge for us, God gives us significant defenses to equip us for living this kind of life. We are clothed in armor to protect us, and this armor is given by God. 

Since we will be looking over this all summer, we will be diving much deeper into these sections in future weeks. Hopefully this brief summary helps prepare the way for our journey together.