2002-01-01
Good Morning Dear Ones,
We continue our examination of EPH 2 today, with God using me to remind us all of the blessings He gives us which help us to be fully prepared to be successful in spiritual warfare. The fact that the first three chapters of Ephesians is filled with reminders of these blessings gives us insight into just how much God cares for us. The second three chapters are instructions on what we should do with those blessings. Yesterday, we looked at EPH 2: 1-10, which deal with going from death to life. Today, God prompts me to write about EPH 2: 11-22, which is about being one with Christ.
EPH 2: 11-12 remind the Gentiles of the early church of the past life from which they had emerged. They were not part of God's covenant people, His chosen. More importantly, they lived without hope. Remember what God taught us about the city of Ephesus and how the people who were pagans there lived without hope. That is what brought them to engaging in all those occult practices and witchcraft that God so abhors. Paul reminds the Gentiles of the early church that this hopelessness was eradicated when they came to faith in Christ. EPH 2: 13-14, "But now, in union with Christ Jesus you, who used to be far away have been brought near by the death of Christ. For Christ Himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With His own body He broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies." Oh, how I wish that today's traditional Jews could know this precious truth! While this message was being written for the early church in Ephesus, it is certainly salient for us today. That is why Christ's words to us in JN 13: 34-35 are so important. "And now I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. If you have love for one another, then everyone will know that you are My disciples." As I have said before, Christ has put His wisdom on an old message often repeated in both the OT and NT (LV 19: 18 & RO 13: 9-10, for example).
Breaking down the barriers of prejudice is no easy thing to do. One need only try to convince a traditional Jew or someone who practices witchcraft that Christ is His Savior to know that. The early church was a mixture of converts to Christ from both Judaism and from paganism. That meant that there were cultural differences between these people that needed to be bridged. While many groups in the past who exacted their prejudice against the Jews and tried to assimilate Jews into their culture, it was never God's intent for the Jews to see their culture disappear. It is only His intent to see Jews leave their old legalistic approach to worship and know that salvation is available through faith in Christ. JN 14: 6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one goes to the Father except by Me," Christ asserted. Before Paul's ministry, this truth had not really been made available to Gentiles, but now it was God's will that it should be. It has always been God's will that the occult practices of the adversary should be stamped out of as many people's lives as would listen to the truth. The wickedness of the Evil One and his followers must be dealt with by our willingness to endure in the faith and to fight spiritual battle with them.
The edification and unity of the church, the Body of Christ, is a main goal of God's will for us. Breaking down barriers of prejudice is a big part of that. Doing so with love is essential. RO 13: 11 reminds us that we should not postpone doing this. "You must do this, because you know that the time has come for you to wake up from your sleep. For the moment when we will be saved is closer now than it was when we first believed." EPH 2: 18 is a vital reminder of an important truth. "It is through Christ that all of us, Jews and Gentiles, are able to come in the one Spirit into the presence of the Father." That is why Gentiles in the church are no longer foreigners or strangers. They are "fellow citizens with God's people and members of the family of God" [EPH 2: 19]. The metaphor of the church as a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord is used in EPH 2: 20-22. "You too, are built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, the Cornerstone being Christ Jesus Himself. He is the One Who holds the whole building together and makes it grow into a sacred temple dedicated to the Lord. In union with Him you too are being built together with all the others into a place where God lives through His Spirit." We must bear this in mind the next time that we encounter someone who offers opposition, has questions about, or seems inappropriate to us to become believing members of the church. We are being asked to put any prejudice we might have aside permanently and replace it with the love Christ has taught us to live by.
PRAYER: O Lord, with the death of Your Son on the cross, You took an enormous step in Your plan of salvation. People who come from different cultures would begin to come together in the faith of Your Son, to join You in Your work and to enable You to move them forward in their sanctification. RO 12: 2 speaks of Your wonderful ability to "transform us by the renewal of our minds." No one else can do that as You can. We are told in that same verse to not "conform to the standards of this world, but to let God transform you inwardly by the renewal of your mind." This enables us to know Your will and what is pleasing and acceptable to You. When You created us, You did so with giving us the ability to know that You exist and to observe what You have created. That is why we are called not to waste the opportunity for salvation that You have given us or to keep anyone else from taking advantage of it. Sadly, the adversary gives us ideas that we can judge who is eligible to be in the church and who isn't. This is part of his wicked influence on some people. We must guard against that and never keep the Holy Spirit from His work of bringing lost souls to faith in You. That means that we must confess our own sins, present ourselves to You, and ask that the Holy Spirit fill us whenever we have a task that You have asked us to do. We must put any prejudice we have aside in favor of being obedient to You and must acknowledge that Christ alone has the authority to judge a person or a group. Our job is to make ourselves available to You and to do so mirroring the love that You and the Son show us every day. We dedicate ourselves in humility to this and to offering You the adoration, worship, loyalty, glory, honor, trust, obedience, praise, and thanksgiving that You so richly deserve. In Christ's name, amen.
EPH 3 is another chapter which reminds us of more blessings that God gives us to prepare us for successful spiritual warfare. It is divided into EPH 3: 1-13, which deals with Paul' work for the Gentiles and EPH 3: 14-21, which deals with the love of Christ. These topics will be next on our agenda in tomorrow's message. No matter how cold our Minnesota climate gets, each believer here is wrapped in the warmth of God's love for him. The same is true no matter what state you live in. God is always there with us to keep us company, guide us when we are lost, encourage us when we are challenged by the adversary, and to be the best Friend anyone has ever had. His will for us is eternal life of joy and fellowship with Him. That is the ultimate manifestation of love anywhere in the universe. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn