Faith, Love – Hope. Ephesians

Ephesians 1:7-10 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (8) which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight (9) making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ (10) as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

We Christians are very aware of forgiveness by his grace. We sing about it and even argue about the nuances of how it works out. Unfortunately we sometimes fail to follow through with the implications of this gracious redemption. There is a plan. The plan is driven by the mysterious will of God. However, in Christ, the mysterious is made manifest. What are told is that the plan is to unite everything in heaven and earth. Instead of dissonance, there will be harmony. Christ, the promised Jewish Messiah King, is the one who is the head of this unification. Christ-ians, people who declare loyalty (faith) in him are adopted into his family and part of his work of uniting all in heaven and earth.

Ephesians 1:15-19 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, (16) I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, (17) 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, (18) 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, (19) and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…

Because of this great uniting of heaven and earth, Paul prays for those who have faith in the Lord who unites, and love for those who have been united. What he then asks in prayer for is them to get a clear vision of the hope that is good and real. The hope is good (true riches) and it is real (great power to bring it about, the same power exerted when the Lord Jesus was raised to life over death).

What unfolds in the letter is a back and forth of living in the murkiness of the world contrasted with living an informed life of productive purpose. What Paul explains is the superiority of God in all of this, the reality of the spiritual realm of rebellion (demonic) and very practically, the explanation of why we live in a world that can be mean and weird. The more those united in Christ understand what the hope is, the more they can participate in living it out. So what is the hope?

Ephesians 2:4-10 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, (5) even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- (6) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

We lived in the murkiness of a world without purpose and fell into the selfish, consumerist trap of indulging our minds and bodies in anything that was temporarily pleasing. We were resigned to the kingdom of death (eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!). BUT GOD, mercifully loved us and gave us life in spite of us. His grace, which we received by faith, was part of the plan to allow us to display the glory of God by living like we were created to live. We were created to live under God's leadership as loving leaders over creation. When our fellowship with God was lost through rebellion, our hope was lost. Now we do not have to live for short term gratification. We have been miraculously brought back into the plan of God to have heaven and earth united in purpose and fellowship so that life is as it ought to be.

How do we get there? In chapter 3 Paul explains why he is involved, and in chapter 4 he shows that the pattern is that God uses people to help people.

Ephesians 4:11-16 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, (12) to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, (13) until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, (14) so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. (15) Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, (16) from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The imagery is of the adopted child growing up to be like the Father who has given the child his surname. Though the natural way of the world we live in is to be tossed about in confusion and foolishness, the hope in Christ is genuine and appropriate love, to God as father and to others as family is the future.

Since the HOPE is mature and healthy love, why wait? We are urged to stop acting like drunken buffoons indulging in vain and foolish things. We are urged to have every aspect of our being invaded and ruled by the spirit of God. The way that looks is someone who is genuinely joyful and grateful, one who looks to serve rather than using others, one who has healthy relationships with their husband or wife, with their children, parents, bosses and employees. Essentially, it is a hope of what will one day be everywhere.

The problem is that we are establishing the future Kingdom of love and light in a world of selfishness and darkness. That is why Paul urges those pursuing the hope of a world under the loving and powerful wisdom of Christ to stand against the rulers of the world of chaos and cruelty:

Ephesians 6:10-12 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (12) For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

 

So what is the hope? It is what comes from faith that Jesus is in fact Lord of heaven and earth and that there is a growing community defined by genuine love. It is a sense of confidence in what the future will in fact be and a purposeful pursuit to invest in it now by living wisely in the power and love of God, right here, right now.

Karla’s Clever Summation

Karla has a thing about numbers. We have to monitor her to make sure she does not slip into numerology J

Here is her latest application of… special thinking. Unfortunately, her unusual procedures don't come too far off the mark of what we have been looking for: a short overview of the argument made in Ephesians.

The verse 10's of Ephesians

1:10 And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. 2:10 For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. 3:10 God's purpose in all this was to use the church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 4:10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself. 5:10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 6:10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Ephesians 2 Peace on the Construction Site

The way things were	Dead in rebellion
Used to 'walk'	World path
Leader	Prince of the power of the air
Who is that?	Spirit in people who by nature are disobedient
We all were those	Driven by physical and mental desires
God's general response?	Wrath and our anti-life with typical humanity
God's specific response?	Loved us and gave us love that gives life
How are we saved from deadly world/path?	Resurrection with Christ, and act of grace
Where does that put us?	Seated with Christ on the throne from which the Father's will is executed
Why?	We will be a display of God's amazing goodness towards us in times to come
How do we show his goodness?	Grace of God which shows up in us trusting him (faith) that results in us living well
What does this salvation NOT do?	Give us an excuse to brag or to be lazy
What does God have as our destiny	We and the things we do are good works
So remember	One an outsider, now an insider by the victory of Christ
And remember	Christ is our peace, more of him means more real peace (take the time to learn and live this)
How do we have this peace???	We are included in THE project. We are the community in which God will dwell more and more (and the door is open for more)

Ephesians 2 How we got adopted into God’s family

Ephesians 2:1-22 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins (2) in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- (3) among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (4) But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, (5) even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- (6) and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (9) not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (10) For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.     (11) Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- (12) 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. (13) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.     (14) For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility (15) by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, (16) and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. (17) And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.     (18) For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. (19) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, (20) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, (21) in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. (22) In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Before adoption into family of life and holiness, we were in the family of death and disobedience (of the spirit) obeying a massive range of physical impulses.     Out of control body functions are not pleasant. Our dead spirit meant we were, well, sorta like chickens with their heads cut off. Flapping around randomly.     But God picked us up out of our satanic anarchy and gave us a place, graciously sitting right up there with Jesus     Why? He has a lot of kindness to show us.     So we can't boast about him being so kind to us, his grace saved us from such a pathetic sub-life (certainly not because of our flapping). Now we can get focused and live out good works through Christ, our God ordained purpose.     So, REMEMBER! You used to be hopelessly outside of any claim to anything from God. Even though you were far now you are brought close through Messianic sacrifice.                     We have peace with God and the people expressing who God is because of Christ. Now we are one family when we are in Christ.                                 In Christ we are in the Spirit who grants us access to the father. He knows us and we belong to his Kingdom and family.     The temple building is made of people who were taught by Christ and now teach us. We grow together to be a committed place for God to be.

 

Ephesians 1:15-23

Ephesians 1:15-23 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, (16) I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, (17) 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, (18) 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, (19) and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might (20) that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, (21) 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 the one to come. (22) And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, (23) which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

 

Argument is like this:

1:1-14    God is ultimately going to put everything under Christ's authority. He has placed you in Christ by the Spirit. You are part of his original plan of making his glory known everywhere.

1:15-23    So, since you have faith in the Lord and love for others I pray you will know the hope of your destination. Essentially when your faith, love and hope work together you will be able to fully participate in the reordering of creation.

Basically: God has always planned to make a glorious world by using redeemed people indwelt with himself such that creation gets filled with his glory. Paul sees this in general and writes to Christians saying you are specific participants in this great plan so I pray you will see that and get on board!

The whole book of Ephesians is about a revolution of Creator over creation. The fall was creation over and against Creator. The absurdity is that creation is not self-existent. God is self-existent. That means he does not get life from elsewhere, he is life. When creation (people etc.) separate from the Creator, we necessarily separate from life. The fallen world is the world in separation from the live giving God. That is why death is the way of the fallen world.

The demonic enjoy the highest status in a God rejecting world. They foster a regime of creation as supreme mindset because it brings them glory and power and honor. What this book will explain is how rebellious man, under the rebel authority(powers and principalities) gets won over to the Creator of creation side. By this grace we are empowered to become counter-revolutionaries. First in ourselves and secondly in the world around us, we have love and life and purity overcome confusion, death and separation.

What is the goal of our counter-revolution? What is our hope?

Our HOPE is loyal (faithful) and powerful participation in the unification of creation under the Triune Creator. God has gifted us individually and communally to get on with that. Like Paul prayed in this passage, I sure ask him to give you the wisdom and unveiling in your spiritual self to see this as the goal so you will confidently apply yourself!!!

Receive the prayer for this and share the prayer. Understand what you are called to and pray that others see this too!.

Enemies and Gravity; What Keeps us from Walking Forward?

We love having enemies. They are extremely handy. Enemies allow us to have an external reason for failure and frustration. That is much more useful than having to look inside at our own shortcomings. "If it weren't for them I would be healthy and productive!" But what happens when there is a lull in conflict and no improvement? We get exposed. Others are much less of our problem than we would like to think. So what is our problem?

Mainly our problem is that we live in a world with upside down gravity. This world is physical first, mental second, spiritual last.

The Fallen Way	The Renewed Way
CREATION AS ULTIMATE	CREATOR AS ULTIMATE
BODY	SPIRIT/WILL
MIND	MIND
SPIRIT/WILL	BODY

 

This shows up in a number of ways in the New Testament. In the Sermon on the Mount, this is why Jesus argues not to be focus on fixating on the problems of others. In Matthew 5 he gives the admonition to demonstrate love regardless of how unkind the other person may be. Essentially his argument is that your task is to be loving and you do not let enemies have the power to change your commission. They may insult, accuse, abuse etc., but whatever else we do in response we must not allow them to knock us of our course of growing in love.

In Matthew 7 Jesus is giving advice on how to actually go about living out the vision of life he described in chapter 5. Part of his advice for making progress in living the renewed way is not to focus on others as objects of your judgment. He exhorts that the problem is not just avoid being negative (don't poke around for little specks, you have your own problems). He also says don't be pushing pearls of positive exhortation on people who aren't asking for them. It frustrates you and them.

So where do you go for progress? God. Ask, seek, knock. Getting realigned with God as ultimate, instead of acting as if everyone else were the issue, gets the focus on the Creator not the creation (the essential problem of fallen-ness).

In Romans 12 Paul highlights some practical steps:

Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (2) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

 

The renewal is getting our bodies back in line. My body should serve my mind, and my mind should serve my spirit/will, and my will should serve God's will. The biggest problem with living out God's will is not specifically other people. Too often the problem is that my body makes excuse which my mind helps rationalize and my will activates such that I am able to avoid the hard work of meaningful change. My body receives rewards via coping mechanisms which are only activated when my mind is convinced that I deserve whatever the coping mechanism is. Common coping mechanism include comfort foods, extra napping, or more dramatically indulgent carnal rewards like seething in anger or in sexual perversion, both of which generate adrenaline which is a real treat for the body. Being 'hard done by' is an important ingredient in rationalized sensuality. If we don't have excuses like "But they…", then we have to just admit that we like being carnal. We would much prefer to think that we are essential spiritually noble, its just that we need a little stress release due to how unfairly life has been treating us.

So, how does this get moving? Essentially, there has to be a rejection of the whole system. Physically I need to offer my body as a living sacrifice. It exists to serve my spirit/will, not the other way around. My mind should likewise focus on what my spirit/will says, not on what my body says. But my own spirit/will is not so reliable. That is why I need to submit to my creator and submit my will to his, because his is good and perfect (telos, mature, complete).

Virtue of Housework (from Christianity Today)

Peterson's interpretation of housework is deeply scriptural. Keeping House is organized around what Peterson identifies as three crucial imperatives in the Bible—the injunctions to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and shelter the homeless. Those three activities are at the heart of Jesus' words to the disciples in Matthew 25, and they are at the heart of housekeeping. In Peterson's hands, rather mundane tasks like cooking, washing clothes, and changing the sheets become crucial, transformative acts of love. Insofar as housework is creative, incarnational, physical, and sacramental, exposing the ways the material and the spiritual come together to remind us that "the provision of home is a central aspect of God's creative and redemptive activity," housework allows us to participate in life with the God who called the very dust mites into being.

 
 

Inserted from <http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/004/11.14.html>

Why 'The Story'?

Hearing Falling Trees
We exist regardless of why we THINK we exist. Reality precedes perception. The sound waves come from a falling tree regardless of whether one is there to hear it. Likewise, the failure of a person standing in the woods to rightly interpret the sound as a tree falling does not affect whatever might have the misfortune to be in the path of that tumbled tree.

Something is. I am a subset of that which IS, as are you. The question that is ultimate, is more or less: "Why is there something instead of nothing, and what is it about this something which IS that I should know"?

We hear the reverberating sound of unfolding existence and sometimes ask, "what is that?". It should not be accepted that everyone's guess is as good as everyone else's. Though we do not want to dictate what one might believe the sound was, we are certainly not bound by wisdom to say that every guess is as accurate as every other guess.

If one says it is a troll coming to get us, another says there was no sound and a third says it was a tree falling, are they simultaneously equally true? They certainly have a right to voice their opinion (hmmm, where does that idea come from?) but does that mean that there is a troll, is a tree, is not a troll, is not a tree and nothing all at the same time?

So it is with seeking to understanding the roar of life. "What is that?" is variously answered with, "That is God!", "That is a dream...", , "That is a sound.", all the way down to "huh?" Though it is great to hear the options, I sense the need to listen carefully. I really am interested in the question: "What is that?!" and I am even more interested in the answer.

Hope Matrix

	REALISTIC	DELUDED
NEGATIVE	CYNICAL REALISTS	MORBID WEIRDOS
POSITIVE	AGENTS OF HOPE	HAPPY SHINY PEOPLE

 

What is it that makes us struggle with being consistent? In part it is the fact that our thoughts and experiences don't come at us consistently. Life is genuinely complex. When we try to simplify it we can end up with some odd distortions that are obvious and irritating to others who don't screen out things the same way.

Cynical realists, for example, see that life is complicated and full of problems and to deny it is unhealthy. Life is dukkha (Buddhist term) and then you die! So, just find stuff you like, do it, don't explain it, and avoid dramatic people.

Morbid weirdos, on the other hand, are those who observe the dark side of life and try and exult in it. They are not 'matter of fact' about the problem of evil, they are immersed in it. It is their anti-hope.

Happy Shiny People freak everyone else out except some other Happy Shiny People. These are people who insist they have it all figured out and they are on the right side and you could be happy and shiny if you would just join up with them.

So who are the agents of hope? God only knows!! Not being God, I can only say what I perceive to be the case (Lord save me from slipping into delusion here). Agents of hope are people who do not pretend that everything is solved if you follow their 7 step method and buy their insider t-shirts and trinkets. Agents of hope see that life is full of mystery, pain, suffering and confusion. Yet they do not embrace the problem of evil, nor shrug at it. What they do is humbly seek the most reasonable response to the problems of life and seek to be a realistic part of the solution.

In the Christian community we should be aiming for the AGENTS of HOPE category, but we often veer off course in one of two ruts while ranting against the last option (morbid weirdness). The fact is most Christians are not just barely hanging on against the temptation to become Satanists or such. The danger for most Christians is becoming deluded with exaggerated experiences and arrogance of being on the INSIDE pitying all those on the OUTSIDE. The other ditch we run into, while listening to wild warnings about becoming a morbid weirdo, is the collapse of hope. Not wanting to be a plastic religion freak we become susceptible to every case of unjustified hope and faith and end up doubting everything. Most sad Christian stories are of these two varieties. Stretched faced nifty people or doubt drenched recovering ex-religionists.

So what can we do to have a living faith? Jesus exhorts avoiding a couple of things. 1) do not do your works of righteousness for people to see you and praise you! 2) do not be so shallow as to fail to see the source of beauty, love and inspiration echoing throughout this troubled world. Soberly see the hurting confusion but humbly seek the transcendent hope. And then? Seek to live in that Kingdom here in this world, for the good of all and the glory of One.

Ephesians 1:1-14

Ephesians 1:1-14 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: (2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, (4) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love (5) he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, (6) to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (7) In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, (8) which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight (9) making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ (10) as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (11) In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, (12) so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (13) In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, (14) who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

 
 

We are blessed to be adopted as real children with real security and a real purpose. We are forgiven for living against God's purposes so that we can live according to his purposes. His purpose is that we live out the blessings of his grace making his glory known.

 

What does that seem like today? Life in Christ is a start, but there is more than just being forgiven. We have the full assurance of where we are headed, but not the full experience. The best is yet to come!