Light

Light

Ephesians 5:6-14 Nobody should deceive you with stupid ideas. God’s anger comes down on those who are disobedient because of this kind of thing. So you shouldn’t have anything to do with them. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord, so live your life as children of light. Light produces fruit that consists of every sort of goodness, justice, and truth. Therefore, test everything to see what’s pleasing to the Lord, and don’t participate in the unfruitful actions of darkness. Instead, you should reveal the truth about them. It’s embarrassing to even talk about what certain persons do in secret. But everything exposed to the light is revealed by the light. Everything that is revealed by the light is light. Therefore, it says, Wake up, sleeper! Get up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Have you ever felt like you were just going through the motions in life and did not really know where you were going? That is kind of like what Paul is talking about here. He is writing this letter to show people the life in Christ that is waiting for everyone. We can all live in such a way that would embarrass other people and even fill us with guilt. Paul is reminding the readers that Christ came to extinguish the former way of life and move us into this new life that looks so different from how everyone else in the world wants us to live.

Light and darkness are a key theme throughout the New Testament, and one of the things I have thought about is how much of a difference light makes. When the light shines, we can see the path we should be on and see obstacles that are in the path that are trying to trip us up and cause us to change course. But when we trust that Christ is guiding us, our entire life is different and has a different purpose – life has an incredible purpose!

I love how Paul brings to light the life that is dark, that is going away from Christ. This kind of dark life leads us astray and we only think about ourselves and what we want and how we’re going to get it. But Christ, invites us to a new way of life that encompasses the entirety of humanity and desires us to bring more people into the light. This kind of life, where we embrace the life Christ gives, produces more fruit (lasting rewards) than anything we could do solely by living for ourselves.

When we walk in ways of darkness (see the end of Ephesians 4 and the beginning of chapter 5), it is like our soul is dead and sleeping and we cannot see or experience the life that Christ has to offer. But Christ comes along and shouts to our sleeping souls, “Wake up sleeper! Get up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” This life is not always easy, but it is definitely rewarding and worth everything to have Christ shine his light on us so we can reflect his glory where ever we are and whatever we do.

#TheGospelChangesUs

Imitate

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Ephesians 5:1-5 Therefore, imitate God like dearly loved children. Live your life with love, following the example of Christ, who loved us and gave himself for us. He was a sacrificial offering that smelled sweet to God. Sexual immorality, and any kind of impurity or greed, shouldn’t even be mentioned among you, which is right for holy persons. Obscene language, silly talk, or vulgar jokes aren’t acceptable for believers. Instead, there should be thanksgiving. Because you know for sure that persons who are sexually immoral, impure, or greedy—which happens when things become gods—those persons won’t inherit the kingdom of Christ and God. 

Paul has been talking and teaching about the old life versus the new life. This is something that is of utmost importance because our faith in Christ is supposed to change us from the inside out. The power of the gospel is not just to show people heaven and bring people into the Kingdom of God; the power of the gospel is that it transforms and recreates us into new creations to live a life that is holy before God and we can bring people to faith through our life.

We are supposed to live like Christ; he was and is our example of how to live. How can we know how Christ lived? I would recommend reading the gospel accounts. Start with the Gospel of Luke to see the compassion of Christ, then go to the Gospel of John to see the divinity of Christ and the new life that comes from him. After that, go to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. Reading all of the gospel accounts will give a great picture of who Jesus is and how we should imitate him in our life.

The first thing that Paul speaks against is sexual immorality. We live in a culture that is obsessed with this and the truth is we do not realize how much this has control over us. It is important that we do not live in a way that immorality does not live in us because we should view each and every person as a child of God and a beautiful creation of the creator. People are made in the image of God, we just help them realize that fact to guide them to faith in Christ. If we look at people with the wrong set of eyes, we end up devaluing them and it is much more difficult to express the love of God though Jesus Christ when they are hearing a different message from immorality.

Paul then goes on to teach about how we speak to each other. Our words have much more power than we sometimes remember. Our words can bring hope and joy, and then the very next minute bring devastation and fear. Instead of talking down to another person, what if our language, jokes, and communication exuded love yet truth? This is a much more effective way to bring people to faith because they feel as if they are truly valued enough to become who they are made to be.

Finally, Paul warns that sexual immoral, impure or greedy are actually serving other gods, which is idolatry. The first and second commandments God gave Moses was “You must have no other gods before me,” and “Do not make an idol for yourself.” (Exodus 20:3-4) Idols are anything that distract us from the One God. We may or may not have idols in statue form today; but we do have idols in our life: money, sex, power, and anything else that forces our attention off of God. For us to embrace all that God has to give us, we should be of singular focus and see the Creator working all around us and in us.

God does not want us to acknowledge Him some of the time; He wants it all of the time. We do this when we treat others as the precious creations they are and help them see their value, not only to us, but to the Creator of the universe. Our entire lives (attitudes, thoughts, actions, words, etc) should reflect Christ to all we encounter and show that we are changed. That is an incredible power of the gospel.

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Old vs New Part 4

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Ephesians 4:29-32 Don’t let any foul words come out of your mouth. Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say. Don’t make the Holy Spirit of God unhappy—you were sealed by him for the day of redemption. Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ. 

This is where I feel Paul is really stepping on my toes. How can he write this and expect that people live like this? It almost seems too difficult. After all, don’t the people around us make us do the things that we do? Aren’t we obligated to speak what we want to say and “need to say” so the other person knows how they are in the wrong? Paul is finishing this chapter with this seemingly negative command. It can almost seem like he is in your face and telling you directly that you and I are the ones in the wrong and he is proving it to us. But, this is not what Paul is talking about. For the past few days, we have been looking at the differences between the “old” way of life and the “new” way of life.

So, why should we desire to live this way? What’s in it for us? The truth is that we should live this way because it is God who forgave us and is compassionate toward us. How bad is it when you give a gift and the person you gave it to treated everyone else as poor? This is the same kind of thing. God has shown us grace, forgiveness and mercy, why shouldn’t we freely give as we have been given?

Jesus said the greatest commandments are to love God and love people. Even if someone treats us wrong, we should look at our response. We like to justify our actions and show people why they are the ones in the wrong; but we are all asked to live to a higher standard. This means loving our enemies, feeding them, turning the other cheek, not judging, etc (see Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount). This kind of life is not easy with out Christ. For, when we lean on Christ and trust in Christ, we can see the value in other people and live lives of humility and patience toward all people. God has freely given us grace and forgiveness, how can we pass this on to others so they too know God’s grace and love personally?

Tomorrow, we journey into Ephesians 5!

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Old vs New Part 3

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Ephesians 4:25-28 Therefore, after you have gotten rid of lying, Each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor because we are parts of each other in the same body.  Be angry without sinning. Don’t let the sun set on your anger. Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil. Thieves should no longer steal. Instead, they should go to work, using their hands to do good so that they will have something to share with whoever is in need. 

This is a passage that seems to hit me right between the eyes. There are many times I feel scripture is actually trying to tell me something and is directly in my face about it.

“Be angry without sinning.” Ouch! How many times have I personally allowed feelings of anger to lead me to say things I do not really want to or act a way that I do not want to (Romans 7 is a great passage about this). How easy it is to just react and not think about the consequences. But there is a difference is anger. There is righteous anger and there is anger that is just plain wrong.

We all have been angry at some point in time. Some people even hold on to their anger and cannot see past the cloud that had formed. Righteous anger, on the other hand, is okay. Righteous anger is what Jesus displayed and set an example for. So, what is righteous anger? This is the anger that moves us to want a change in society. To work towards ending prejudices and unjust treatment of people. This is the anger that shows us that every person is valued by God and has been made in the image of God.

When we display this anger, we do have to be careful not to just focus on the issue at hand and try to change people’s minds. Change happens when we point people to Christ and allow him to change hearts. We must work toward changing the hearts of people and not just their attitudes. This means we should be passionate about directing people to Jesus and helping them see him. Righteous anger, can and should point people to the live that God is calling each of us to live which will point people to God Himself.

Jesus works to recreate us and to make us “new creations.” I pray we all can remember this and live in a manner that brings people to faith because of our actions, attitudes, thoughts and words. Christ is calling us to live differently and the power of the gospel is that it changes us from the inside out.

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Old vs New Part 2

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Ephesians 4:20-24 But you didn’t learn that sort of thing from Christ. Since you really listened to him and you were taught how the truth is in Jesus, change the former way of life that was part of the person you once were, corrupted by deceitful desires. Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God’s image in justice and true holiness. 

Since we are in the section of discussing “old” way of life versus “new” way of life, we have to ask, “how do we learn how to live in a new way?” Paul shows the answer is Jesus Christ. He is the source of life and the focal point. His example of living and his presence among us today still guides and empowers people to be who they need to be.

We often allow culture and those around us to try to shape us without asking “why?” or “how is this really going to help me live life?” We do this because we like to fit in and feel a need to be part of a crowd. But, what if, the crowd is actually leading us astray? What if the crowd we want to belong to is the loudest voice and the most influential, but it is actually a path that leads us away from true joy and peace?

Instead of following the crowd and living a life that turns people away from Christ, Paul is showing that it is Christ that we should be learning from. It is Christ who can and does renew our minds. When we allow Christ is renew and transform us, we are “clothed” in a new way. Colossians 3 says it well, “Therefore, as God’s choice, holy and loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” This is what it would look like to renew our minds. People would notice we are different from everyone else.

The “new person” we would become would also produce more fruit in life. We would be able to develop and grow fruit that is sustainable and more powerful than anything; but we need Christ to help the fruit grow. What kind of fruit are we talking about? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, self-control. Imagine the possibilities and impact that would be made to transform the world if these were the qualities we were striving for.

Christ is our teacher. We should spend time with him daily. The Gospel message of Jesus Christ is so powerful that it changes who we are.

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Old vs. New Part 1

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Ephesians 4:17-19 So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts. They are people who lack all sense of right and wrong, and who have turned themselves over to doing whatever feels good and to practicing every sort of corruption along with greed. 

The rest of chapter 4, Paul is talking about attitudes and lifestyles that cause division among believers. Today, we look at the first thing that Paul wants to address: pointless thinking. How many times do we go through our day and look back only to realize we spent the majority of our time thinking about things that really did not matter or had no consequential effect to what went on throughout the day? Where does your mind go when you want to be right? Where does my mind go when I think that my way is not wrong?

We can keep this mindset; but what will happen is that we end up allowing these thoughts, these paradigms to control, not only our thinking, but our actions and attitudes about other people. Paul is addressing the difference life can make in Jesus Christ. As I read through Galatians, last month, it dawned on me that we are completely free in Jesus Christ and we do not have to let our minds and other people control how we act and what we think. We are free to be the people God calls us to be. We are free to love, free to give, free to serve, free to forgive, free to empower people, and the list goes on and on.

This is the difference between the “old way of life” and the “new way of life.” We do not need to allow pointless thinking, which actually drives us away from loving God and loving other people, to control our lives. When we keep our eyes and heart on Jesus Christ, we can see the true beauty and the redemption that God is doing today, in and through us.

Pointless thinking means that we spend so much time thinking about things that are wrong that we can forget to look at the things that are good. We do not need to live in any kind of fear or control, except through the control of love, which actually gives us even more freedom. Disconnection happens when we forget to see how God is moving in other people’s lives.

How can you, how can I, allow the Gospel of Jesus Christ is change and shape us to live a life that is “worthy” of our calling and bring people to faith in Christ because of our actions and words?

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Body Builders

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Ephesians 4:11-16  He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. As a result, we aren’t supposed to be infants any longer who can be tossed and blown around by every wind that comes from teaching with deceitful scheming and the tricks people play to deliberately mislead others. Instead, by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ, who is the head. The whole body grows from him, as it is joined and held together by all the supporting ligaments. The body makes itself grow in that it builds itself up with love as each one does its part. 

I have read this passage many times and each time I have read it, for some reason, I have always thought it said that it was the pastor, prophet, evangelist, teacher’s job to build up the body of Christ. Then one day I was reading this again and I noticed that the verse really says that it is Christ’s purpose to equip God’s people to serve and build up the body of Christ. So, as I am reading this, I am reminded that it is Christ who does the filling of our spirit; and it is through the filling of our spirit that we are equipped to build the body of Christ, the church.

As we are working with Christ to build up the church, we are also working o help people develop and mature in their faith. If someone were to ask you, “how are you in your faith with Jesus Christ?”, what would you say? Would you and I be able to show growth from the past to now? How about from last year to this year? How about from yesterday to today? We should always be on a path that will help us grow in our faith and come to know Christ on a more intimate level so our relationship with God becomes more real and more central in our lives.

How can we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ and move towards maturity in the faith? It starts with Christ, himself. We have to be willing to spend time with him in order for him to fill our spirit. This means incorporating spiritual disciplines, means of grace, in our daily lives. Now, we should not do these because we want something from God. We should start, or continue, spiritual disciplines in order to learn more about God and allow the time to change us.

This is how unity can begin because we are interested in loving God and loving people; all of the other things that seem differentiate us can actually be seen as compliments and also help us remember that each person has a part to play within the body of Jesus Christ. This kind of mindset could help us establish deeper relationships with people. As each person grows stronger in their walk with Christ, the body of Christ actually becomes stronger and healthier. Working out of love builds up the church and each person is empowered to live into the gifts they have been given and to do the part that God desires them to play.

All of this is possible because of Jesus Christ.

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Christ Among Us

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Ephesians 4:7-10 God has given his grace to each one of us measured out by the gift that is given by Christ. That’s why scripture says, When he climbed up to the heights, he captured prisoners, and he gave gifts to people. What does the phrase “he climbed up” mean if it doesn’t mean that he had first gone down into the lower regions, the earth? The one who went down is the same one who climbed up above all the heavens so that he might fill everything. 

There are a couple things that stand out to me and give me even more hope in Christ. First of all, Paul reminds us that each person has been given the gift of grace because of Jesus Christ. This means that we all have been given the same amount of God’s grace. No one has more of Christ than anyone else. As we go through our life, we can remember this truth: everyone is equal in the eyes of Christ. He loves and reaches out to each person; and this is what we should do. Because God first loved us, we love other people. Because God pursued and continues to pursue us, we go out and pursue people for Christ with the Holy Spirit directing us in our steps.

The second thing Paul reminds us is that Christ ascended into heaven, a subtle reminder that Christ was resurrected and is with God. But even more than that truth, Paul is reminding the people of the other part of the gospel message: Christ came down to earth and lived as a human among us. This is the aspect of the gospel message that we can sometimes overlook. Christ’s death and resurrection is the pivotal point of the message; but Christ also lived among us so he could show people how much God really cares.

If you ever get to a place where we doubt that God is for us, we can remember that God, in human form, Jesus Christ, walked among us. As it says in the book of Hebrews, “he was tempted in every way yet was without sin.” His life was an example for us to show us what life should look like. The same person who is in heaven right now is the same person who walked among us and who walks among us today.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so impactful to our us that if we allow it, the message will change us.

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Worthy Life

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Ephesians 4:1-6 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all. 

“But you don’t know what this person did to me!” “How can I treat them with gentleness and patience when they are the ones clearly in the wrong?” I have heard people say many times, “I wish everyone would just follow the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated).” As I heard the person say this, I remembered how they bad mouthed another person right before that.

Living in humility, gentleness and patience in this world is not easy. This kind of life is so against how everyone else wants us to live. We walk around wanting to get revenge, or even hold back forgiveness. But, in reality, who is holding back forgiveness and plotting revenge really hurting? See we want to have justice done, but we forget how damaging attitudes like that actually are to our soul. We become calloused and do not see people as God sees them. We’ll focus on the brokenness and become blinded to any amount of goodness in another person. There is no one too far away from God to come close and know God. We can be the people to show others this incredible grace by our words, actions, and even thoughts.

Our attitudes are the most important thing that people will remember about us after we have an encounter with them. This realization struck me several years ago when I found myself not wanting to offer forgiveness to a person who hurt me. Somehow, God brought healing into my heart and I was able to forgive. This doesn’t mean I condone or tolerate what the person did; instead I released the control that negative attitude had on my life.

Though I am far from being a very humble person, I ask God daily to show me the qualities in people He desires me to see. When I look at people, I am in awe at how God is moving in their life, even when they can’t see it for themselves. We are all called to show and teach people about the Kingdom of God and God’s grace. People will be turned away if we have, even the slightest hint of, a feeling we think we’re better than them. Jesus Christ has made it so that everyone is equal in the eyes of God. “There is no slave or free, Jew or Gentile….all are one in Christ Jesus.” This is the spirit we should work with because the Spirit of God is residing in us.

God is working in all people, in some way. He has also called us to a live of serving and loving those around us, even the difficult ones (add your own phrase); but God still desires we live in humility, peace and gentleness with each other. This does not come easily to us; in fact it goes against our basic instincts. But, this means we have the chance to call on God and allow His Spirit to work through us.

God is calling, and has called, you and me to change the world with Him by proclaiming Jesus Christ in all aspects of our lives; and to make us a “city on a hill whose light cannot be hidden.”

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Changed From The Inside Out

Ephesians 3:14-21 This is why I kneel before the Father. Every ethnic group in heaven or on earth is recognized by him. I ask that he will strengthen you in your inner selves from the riches of his glory through the Spirit. I ask that Christ will live in your hearts through faith. As a result of having strong roots in love, I ask that you’ll have the power to grasp love’s width and length, height and depth, together with all believers. I ask that you’ll know the love of Christ that is beyond knowledge so that you will be filled entirely with the fullness of God. Glory to God, who is able to do far beyond all that we could ask or imagine by his power at work within us; glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus for all generations, forever and always. Amen. 

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Paul is saying something really interesting in this passage. He is asking God to strengthen the people in their spirits from the riches of his glory. Why would Paul be asking this? I believe this has something to teach us today. We often look to the physical appearance of people and do not pay as much attention to the person on the inside; but God is more concerned with the heart. So, if we were strengthened from the inside out, we would be able to handle life on the outside.

So what is something we should be strengthened with on the inside? Love. When we are strengthened with love, we know Christ in our hearts, and we can begin to see just how big love is. We want to downplay love as a simple emotion; but love is so much more than that. Love has to do with actions, attitudes, thoughts. It is something that changes us from the inside out. This is what should ground us in our life.

God is love. When we know God, we can know love. As we allow Christ to live in our hearts, we will know how to see people with soft hearts and show them the love and grace of God through Jesus Christ. Paul is asking his people that they know the love of Jesus Christ; but he says that Christ’s love is too far beyond knowledge. This is something for us to think about today also. We should not want to make love as something easy to explain. Not should we make love as a check-list to fill out. The fullness of Christ lives in us, who know him, and this is what connects us together.

Every person and ethnic group is recognized by God. When we have love governing us, God gets the glory. Because the glory of God is so incredible, we cannot even fathom the incredible power he has. This is the same power that lives inside us when we accept love. The gospel of Jesus Christ is so powerful and life changing that we are changed from the inside out. Our challenge is to allow this love of God to change us.

Tomorrow we begin Ephesians 4.

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