Thoughts From Ephesians 2 - Part 6

  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.  Eph. 2:21,22

           Have you ever heard, "The church is a hospital for sinners"? Doesn't that seem like a defeatist attitude? Here Paul is saying that we are an organically growing temple rising from the ground, joined together in unity, built on the rock of Jesus Christ, standing on the shoulders of saints before us in which the God of the universe dwells. This assumes a few things.

        The Church should be visible. We should be known as Christ followers. We should be out there in the community serving, not just inward hiding out. My wife went to a book club in the new neighborhood for this express purpose. The 8 women were totally different from her, focused on wealth, standing in society, intellectual and career achievements and not Christ followers. When they shared around the circle what they did (they never discussed the book), she said I teach a lot at church, volunteer at the rescue ministry, cook for the homeless, and am CEO of our household, she was letting her light shine. She was being visible. My guess is that other Christians have attended in the past and found it not to be their scene, maybe once they saw the 6 bottles of wine, and retreated. She is going to keep going no matter how uncomfortable.

      Secondly, the Church should be Holy. I just saw a video on X of a football player praying with his "partner" of 2 years before each game on the sideline and how sweet that was. Who are they praying to? Christians don't have "partners". That's not God's design. That's not "Holy". "Holy" means "other". We are other than the world. The world acts one way - we act another because we follow Jesus and do what He says.

       Lastly, there should be a unity among believers. The world and Satan must love it when we are fighting among ourselves. Does that mean we should all be in one big church and not be separated into denominations? I used to think that, but I couldn't go to a church where everyone is speaking in tongues and giving prophecies. Yet I could fellowship with them on the outside and serve hand in hand with them and consider them my brothers and sisters. I met for prayer with the pastor of a Charismatic church once a week and one week he told me that he was preaching about the Daniel diet and how everyone should be following it. That was the day I realized that we need different churches because I couldn't sit under that, yet I could pray with him on a weekly basis.

      We are so much more than a Hospital for sinners. We are a light shining in a dark world. We are victors and overcomers not defeated losers. We are a unified force demonstrating the love and Holy lifestyle that a self-centered world needs.

Thoughts From Ephesians 2 - Part 5

  Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. Eph. 2:19-20

         I was playing Jenga with my three-year-old grandson today and surprisingly it was lasting 4 moves apiece until he made it fall. At one point I tried making it 4 blocks wide but quickly found out that the width of the block would only allow 3 wide. You see, the shape of the tower was determined by the first block I laid, or the cornerstone, so there could be only three on the bottom - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit if you will allow me to extrapolate. Every level had to mimic the first level and be directly on top and in line. Any deviation would make for a wobbly tower and eventually, as the layers or generations went on, the tower would topple.

      I've been making the analogy as I've been going, but the Church or the bride of Christ is built on Jesus. His words, His example, His life are to be what we copy our life to be like with the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The word "Christians" meant "little Christs" and was meant to be derogatory but actually we are supposed to look just like Him. The Church is to follow His words, and it is easy to slowly drift off mainline and pass that on to the next generation. Gradually we could drift so off the base that the Church could crumble into damnable heresy.

      My Dad was raised in the Dutch Reformed Church in Holland and years later after moving to America, being saved, joining an evangelical church, he would occasionally attend a Dutch Reformed Church with relatives. His takeaway was "they don't even know what it means to be saved." Even though they had a strong base, built on Christ and the apostles with the Heidelberg Confession trying to keep them doctrinally sound, they had drifted.

     Today doctrines like Penal Substitutionary Atonement are being challenged and the doctrines of the Catholic Church are gradually being accepted just because Catholics are our biggest allies against worldliness. That's just to name a couple beliefs trying to make us more "wobbly" but this is why I'm so hard headed about things like a complementarian's view of the sexes, Creation vs. Evolution, that Genesis 1-11 isn't just a poem, that male and female should wed before sex and any variation from that pattern is rebellion against God's plan, the scripture both Old and New Testament are inerrant and profitable and relevant, and other dogmatic views. Yes, you can adopt some hybrid views but are those going to pull us further from the foundation with each subsequent generation adopting those as standards and drifting from those standards until when Christ comes back, will He even find faith on this Earth?

Thoughts From Ephesians 2 - Part 4

 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.   Eph. 2:11-18

   

          I imagine in the early church that there was some kind of caste system where the Jews felt superior to everyone else who was grafted into the church. Paul even uses some language here to display it - far away from God vs. near to God, excluded from citizenship vs. citizens, uncircumcised vs. circumcised, foreigners to the covenants of the promise vs. possessing the covenants, without hope vs. having hope, and the big one - without God in the world vs. having God. The Jews actually were the only ones in the world who were worshipping the right God! This tracks today, also, because so many people think every religion is seeking God, they are just going up different sides of the mountain. Allah is not God, Brahman is not God, the Hawaiian gods Kane, Ku, Lono, Kanaloa are not God, Shakti, Vishu, Shiva, Wakan Taka, The Tao, Krishna, Eshwara, and Anima Mundi are not God. There is one God and He revealed Himself to the Jews. No wonder they felt like in the church they were first-class citizens and frankly, no wonder Satan stirs up the world with a spirit of anti-semitism.

        You ever walk into an airplane and look left and see first-class with chairs that swivel and turn into beds with tables for food and drinks and it's already full because they get to board and exit first? Then you walk to your seat, and you feel like a second-class citizen. I've always dreamed about being upgraded to first-class because my kids always seem to get upgraded and it finally happened yesterday. Unfortunately, it was on a 20 passenger 40-minute flight where the only difference was the front row vs. row 8 and cookies and water, but hey, it finally happened. Paul says that the church wasn't meant to have first and second class. The thing that put everyone at the same level was the cross and blood of Jesus. All those covenants, laws, and promises were fulfilled in Christ. He was the Passover lamb, the firstfruit from the dead. He took the leaven and the curse of unclean on His body on the cross. He became our Sabbath rest where we rest from our works and He did the work for us. We all became equal at the foot of the cross.

       If your church, or mine, treats anyone as more important by nature of income, skin color, name, occupation, etc., that church is messing up. We are all equal. We are all Children of God if we are born again.

Thoughts From Ephesians 2 - Part 3

 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Eph. 2:10

         We were at an outdoor church service yesterday in Honolulu on the beach, and the pastor taught about fire insurance Christianity which was referring to getting saved just to get out of Hell. (I was impressed at the boldness to talk about Hell in a multidenominational outdoor open-air service) I refer to this as the Monopoly "Get out of jail free" card. People hear that they are headed to Hell without Christ so they "pray the prayer" and claim Romans 10:9,10 that they confessed with their mouth and believed in Jesus, and they are in Heaven and out of Hell in the future. What they miss is the part where it says in Romans 10:9,10 "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord". "Lord" means master. You are confessing with your mouth that Jesus is master over your life.

       We are told throughout the gospels that repentance is necessary for salvation. Repentance is a 180-degree turn - we were headed one way and now we are headed the opposite direction. I think a lot of people get this wrong when they think you need to turn from all your sins and live righteously. While that is certainly the target goal, I think that is more the process of sanctification than repentance. The 180 shift that repentance requires is submitting to a new master or Lord. Once we were led by self, now we are led by Jesus. Salvation is being born again by the Spirit who is given to enable us to transform our behavior. Without Him we can't so to ask an unsaved person to stop sinning is behavior modification not transformation.

       Getting back to Ephesians 2:10, once we submit to a new master, it's like going to your boss at a new job and saying, "What is my job description?" or "What did you hire me for?" God has a unique job for you to accomplish in the story that He is weaving commonly called HIStory. He is accomplishing His will on the Earth until He ends it all and He gives us the privilege of being part of that story based on the unique person you are, the spiritual gifts He has bestowed on you and your unique abilities and interests and background. So if you only were saved to get out of Hell, you really aren't saved. You haven't submitted to a new master and gotten your "job description" which by the way is more like a soundtrack to dance your life to. It's fun!

Thoughts From Ephesians 2 - Part 2

  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.  Eph. 2:4-9

      I would be remiss not to talk about the elephant in the room in chapter 1 and here early in chapter 2 and that is Calvinism. Chosen appears twice, predestined appears twice along with words such as dead being used to describe our pre-salvation condition along with here in verse 8, Calvinists say that faith is a gift is the interpretation. I had spent many years in a reformed church which held to the belief that regeneration precedes repentance because how can a dead person respond to the gospel without being brought back to life first. And if we say salvation requires our faith, isn't that a meritorious action on our part or a work and the Bible says we aren't saved by works? Sola Gratia implies only grace saves us and rules out us playing a part in our salvation, they would say.

      As to predestination, I believe in corporate predestination not individual meaning God chose a people in Israel and has chosen a bride for Christ, the Church. We all are invited to join, "whosoever will may come", but only a few will. God in his foreknowledge knows who will and opens their eyes to accept the good news although I believe everyone when they stand before the Lord will look back on a time where He opened their eyes and they chose to reject Him. I think of "dead" as being asleep which the Bible uses "asleep" to describe death over 70 times. The alarm clock of the gospel goes off and people have a choice; they can arise or they can turn it off and continue sleeping or hit the snooze button.

       My views come from the fact that to believe the doctrines of Calvinism takes away free will and dooms people to hell without ever standing a chance. God was so into free will that He put a tree in the garden so that we would choose to obey Him knowing it would cost Him His Son. Here in verse 8 Calvinists would say "this" refers to faith being a gift from God whereas I would interpret the "this" to be referring to "saved" - salvation is a gift from God, not faith. Romans 3:20-27, 4:5,16, Gal. 2:16, 3:2,5,6 all talk about faith not being a work. Our faith doesn't undermine grace, it establishes grace. Believing in Jesus is not a work, it is our response to the gospel, yet He gets all the glory because He accomplished salvation and has drawn us through the wooing of the Holy Spirit and opening our eyes to the truth without which we would "hit the snooze button". 

      When I work nights in Memphis, I have to change my ring tone on my phone to something loud and obnoxious because I would otherwise sleep through my notification sounds. In my life, the Holy Spirit brought the gospel to my sleeping soul with a blaring wake up ring that I couldn't sleep through. Did I make a choice to get up. Yes. Did He make me an offer I couldn't refuse? Yes. Both free will and predestination can be true in this scenario. And Ephesians 1 also makes the process of salvation clear in verse 13 - we hear the gospel, believe the gospel, then receive the Holy Spirit. That's repentance before regeneration and that's what I believe the Bible teaches.

Thoughts From Ephesians 2 - Part 1

  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath  Eph. 2:1-3

So, here I am with my wife and 11 grandchildren. Six of them have prayed to receive Christ, just like I did at their age. 5 of them are under the age of 4 and don't understand it yet but are certainly being taught about Jesus in their families. (see video below)

According to Paul, in the beginning of Chapter 2, the current state of these 5 is

1. Dead in their trespasses and sins                                     

2. Following the ways of the world                                    

3. Following the devil who is at work in them                   

4. Disobedient                                                                    

                                  5. Gratifying the cravings of the flesh                                                                 

                                      6. Following the flesh's desires and thoughts

                                      7. Objects of wrath

          Frankly, it's hard to believe that these sweet little kids have been born not into the family of God, but rather into the dark kingdom, the kingdom of the prince of the air and are currently doing his bidding. My son, Toby, did jokingly say about his youngest who I'm holding screaming in the picture because he did not want to do pictures, "He's the only one that needs Jesus." What he was saying is a reflection of how we feel. We think we are all basically good people who just need to get better. The fact is just the opposite; we are born sinners and dead to God and alive to sin and unless we are born again of the Spirit, doomed to a life and eternity with our ruler, Satan. That's a pretty dark view of reality isn't it? That, however, is the reality the Bible teaches.

         I've been talking about my grandchildren but let me personalize it here. I was born, too, in those 7 conditions and had it not been for the grace of God allowing the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to my condition and revealing to me the truth of the Gospel, I would still be following Satan. It's not like I would be going to Satanic rituals, but I would be pursuing a life that would be gratifying my flesh and not following or knowing God, which is all the Devil really cares about. He doesn't care if I worship him on Earth, he just doesn't want me worshipping God.

        The Gospel is the Good News. You can't appreciate good news until you know what the bad news is, and there are few better passages in the Bible explaining the bad news than Eph. 2:1-3. I've said to my kids before, "if you didn't receive Jesus into your life, it would have been better that we never brought you into this world." That sounds harsh but that is reality. 

Thoughts From Ephesians 1 - Part 3

  For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.  Eph. 1:15-23

                Last passage ended with the process of salvation - hearing, believing, receiving forgiveness and the Holy Spirit indwelling. You then become the Church - God's family here on Earth. Paul has heard that a number of people in Ephesus had become the Church by faith believing. How did he know it's genuine? Not by their knowledge of the scriptures - he was praying that would increase. Not by their power - he was praying they would understand the power they had. It wasn't that they got together and sang songs of Beulah land and the sweet by and by - he was praying that they would grasp that hope.

                  Paul knew that their faith was genuine by the love they had for all God's people. Love is the indication that we are transformed. Why love? Because love is considering others above yourself - putting their well-being above your own and the only way that is possible because the flesh serves self, is to be transformed by the Spirit.

                 When I was meditating on or rehearsing a future conversation to be had with a Muslim convincing her that Christianity is a superior religion and she needs to choose her religion not just follow it because her parents do, I was going over the reasons it is superior. For one it teaches that God is approachable and merciful not angry and capricious. Secondly it teaches that you can know that you are going to Heaven. Third it offers forgiveness of sins without works. Fourth it offers equality for all people - women and men are equal. And fifth it teaches love not hate - dying for your faith not killing for it. This last, most important one in our world today with all the hate in the world even caused by religion made me pause. Are Christians seen as loving today?

              Christians are seen in general as red. We are conservative, vote Republican, aligned with Trump, watch Fox, etc. You could say that the left is painting us unloving but I think we haven't needed any painting - we are unloving. I think it became magnified with CoVid and has continued on. We were faced with a disease that was killing tens of thousands and didn't know how to combat it so a number of strategies were proposed by infectious disease experts saying let's trust the science. Let's social distance and avoid large crowds. Christians rebelled and said the Government was trying to take away our right to go to Church and we still met and had concerts even. The scientists said wear masks and Christians rebelled saying you can't tell me what to do with my body (sounds familiar). Scientists developed a vaccine thinking it would stop the disease - long story short because CoVid mutated so rapidly it didn't but it did drastically decrease the severity of the disease when you got it- we named it the jab and didn't take it. I'm not saying science was right by any means but they were trying to combat something the likes of which I had never seen in my lifetime and to be frank, Christians came out of this as looking unloving. We were standing up for our rights not placing other's rights above ourselves and that's how the world saw us.

              Now we have ICE and Renee Good in Minnesota and Christians are once again looking unloving. We are reviewing the videos saying she is trying to run over the ICE agent rather than seeing her wheels are turned away from him. Whether you agree with me on that or not, it's not something that required lethal force - jump out of the way of a car moving less than 5 MPH! Even me as a 70-year-old could do that and then pull her over and arrest her. Come on - any other take on this is unloving. And then videos of ICE agents going into neighborhoods with screaming, crying families, pinning them to the ground and handcuffing them behind their backs? Do we look like the loving religion? I'm not saying we shouldn't deport illegals but with all the verses on love and care and sympathy for the aliens among us, it should be with tears in our eyes and compassionate treatment rather than high fived bravado.

         What I'm saying is that in my future conversation with this Muslim, I have to skip point 5 because I can't claim that Christianity is superior because of its love because she could build too strong of a case against that statement in today's culture. I'm not changing my political beliefs but come on Christians - let's be more loving! It is supposed to be in our new DNA.