Ephesians 5:21-33
Paul is continuing his instruction on how to live as children of the light. The heading of this section of his instructions would be: submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. He then gives three practical examples of how this mutual submission should be seen in everyday relationships (at least everyday for that time): wife/husband, child/parent, slave/master. In each case Paul gives his first instruction to the traditionally submissive role which might seem odd because they are already expected to be submitting. Paul is likely addressing their attitude: outwardly they may be submissive but their attitudes could be rebellious and proud.
I am struck by the connection to Christ that Paul makes: submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, submit to your husbands as to the Lord, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Paul is very aware that our "earthly" relationships have a profound impact on and are a good barometer of our relationship with Christ. As a male, it easy for me to disconnect the two but God makes it clear through His Word that my relationship with my wife has a major impact on my relationship with Christ. To live otherwise is to live as a hypocrite.
I am convicted by how I emphasize the instructions to the wife and basically ignore the instructions to the husband. Paul doesn't say: "Husbands, you are the head of the house so demand your place." Besides the fact that I think there are some deep cultural biases in Paul's instructions on gender roles, he never tells me to assert myself as head of the house. What he tells me to do (and what I need to focus on) is to love my wife by giving my whole life to and for her. I need to stop demanding respect (let's face it, I might never say it out loud but I am good at playing the selfish game) and instead focus my energy on serving her needs and desires. My goal is to make her radiate. And, if I get to wash her from time to time... well, that would make this a pg blog!
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
kick at the darkness...
Ephesians 5:8-20
Paul changes his metaphor from clothes or uniforms to darkness and light and contrasts what it means to live as a child of the light with living as a child of darkness. He includes a quote that could be part of an early hymn. The thesis statement for this section is: "live as children of the light". A child of light has nothing to do with the darkness except to expose with the light of Christ to bring life to it. A child of light is wise in the way she lives. A child of light makes the most of every opportunity. A child of light avoids drunkeness, submits to the Spirit and has a thankful attitude.
The first thing that really stands out to me is that we are not just supposed to remain pure but we are also supposed to expose the evil in our world. We've developed the monastic type of Christanity without actually building monastaries because we've focused so much on the remaining pure. So we send our kids to Christian schools, publish a directory of Christian businesses, only develop friendships with other Christians, etc. Part of our role is to shine the light of Christ into the darkness so that it can also become light. It reminds me of the Barenaked Ladies' cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" (I could have just said Bruce Cockburn but then I wouldn't have been able to have the words barenaked ladies in my blevo!): You've got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight. Our job is not just to be pure but to shine the light of Christ into the darkness to create life and light where there was once only darkness. I think if Paul were alive today he would have used a nuclear analogy: we are radioactive and part of our job is to maintain the glow in our selves but the other part of our job is to "contaminate" the darkness so it begins to glow as well.
Ok, this is getting long but I'm pretty passionate about this. We can't just hide out in our bomb shelters and admire each other's light. We need to take that light back into the darkness! However, there is a time for us to shine our lights for each other in order to encourage each other. Paul says that children of light sing to one another in hymns, etc. Our worship today is individualistic even when it is corporate: we close our eyes and shut out everyone else because I am worshiping God. Paul has a different idea - that my worship encourages others to worship and their's encourages mine. Instead of shutting our eyes and closing everyone out, I should be worshiping in community for the glory of God and the edification of my fellow disciples.
Paul changes his metaphor from clothes or uniforms to darkness and light and contrasts what it means to live as a child of the light with living as a child of darkness. He includes a quote that could be part of an early hymn. The thesis statement for this section is: "live as children of the light". A child of light has nothing to do with the darkness except to expose with the light of Christ to bring life to it. A child of light is wise in the way she lives. A child of light makes the most of every opportunity. A child of light avoids drunkeness, submits to the Spirit and has a thankful attitude.
The first thing that really stands out to me is that we are not just supposed to remain pure but we are also supposed to expose the evil in our world. We've developed the monastic type of Christanity without actually building monastaries because we've focused so much on the remaining pure. So we send our kids to Christian schools, publish a directory of Christian businesses, only develop friendships with other Christians, etc. Part of our role is to shine the light of Christ into the darkness so that it can also become light. It reminds me of the Barenaked Ladies' cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" (I could have just said Bruce Cockburn but then I wouldn't have been able to have the words barenaked ladies in my blevo!): You've got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight. Our job is not just to be pure but to shine the light of Christ into the darkness to create life and light where there was once only darkness. I think if Paul were alive today he would have used a nuclear analogy: we are radioactive and part of our job is to maintain the glow in our selves but the other part of our job is to "contaminate" the darkness so it begins to glow as well.
Ok, this is getting long but I'm pretty passionate about this. We can't just hide out in our bomb shelters and admire each other's light. We need to take that light back into the darkness! However, there is a time for us to shine our lights for each other in order to encourage each other. Paul says that children of light sing to one another in hymns, etc. Our worship today is individualistic even when it is corporate: we close our eyes and shut out everyone else because I am worshiping God. Paul has a different idea - that my worship encourages others to worship and their's encourages mine. Instead of shutting our eyes and closing everyone out, I should be worshiping in community for the glory of God and the edification of my fellow disciples.
Monday, March 17, 2008
not even a hint
Ephesians 5:3-7
Paul is continuing his list of "old clothes": take off sexual immorality, impurity and greed (he doesn't provide a contrasting piece of the new uniform for these. Perhaps because it would have been very obvious to his audience that they should replace these with purity, faithfulness and contentment); take off foolish talk, obscenity and coarse joking and replace them with thanksgiving.
Then Paul lays out a very scary warning: those who have these things as part of their uniform will not inherit the kingdom of Christ. The good news is that by placing my faith in Christ, the old uniform is done away with and while, at times I still act as if I belong to the old team, my salvation is secure because it depends on Christ's work, not mine.
The phrase that really stands out to me is "there must not be even a hint..." I know that there are times that I have dabbled around the edges and even crossed over into impurity. I know that if impurity was like a campfire that it wouldn't be hard to catch a whiff of smoke on my clothes because I've gotten too close (and sometimes so close that I've blistered up). I think that we (as the Church in North America - and maybe even beyond that) have lost sight of this standard of holiness - not just in the area of sexual immorality but also in areas of integrity, of business ethics, in materialism, in pride, in greed, etc. We justify that we are not sinning because we are not as bad as those who don't know Jesus (not sure that statistics would support that but I think we say it anyway) or that our sin isn't such a big deal in the scheme of things or that it is a matter of personal conviction or preference. Later in Ephesians 5 we'll learn that Jesus gave himself up for the Church to present her as pure, holy, radiant, spotless bride. Help us to live up that!
Paul is continuing his list of "old clothes": take off sexual immorality, impurity and greed (he doesn't provide a contrasting piece of the new uniform for these. Perhaps because it would have been very obvious to his audience that they should replace these with purity, faithfulness and contentment); take off foolish talk, obscenity and coarse joking and replace them with thanksgiving.
Then Paul lays out a very scary warning: those who have these things as part of their uniform will not inherit the kingdom of Christ. The good news is that by placing my faith in Christ, the old uniform is done away with and while, at times I still act as if I belong to the old team, my salvation is secure because it depends on Christ's work, not mine.
The phrase that really stands out to me is "there must not be even a hint..." I know that there are times that I have dabbled around the edges and even crossed over into impurity. I know that if impurity was like a campfire that it wouldn't be hard to catch a whiff of smoke on my clothes because I've gotten too close (and sometimes so close that I've blistered up). I think that we (as the Church in North America - and maybe even beyond that) have lost sight of this standard of holiness - not just in the area of sexual immorality but also in areas of integrity, of business ethics, in materialism, in pride, in greed, etc. We justify that we are not sinning because we are not as bad as those who don't know Jesus (not sure that statistics would support that but I think we say it anyway) or that our sin isn't such a big deal in the scheme of things or that it is a matter of personal conviction or preference. Later in Ephesians 5 we'll learn that Jesus gave himself up for the Church to present her as pure, holy, radiant, spotless bride. Help us to live up that!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
put off this... put on that...
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
This passage ties directely to the previous couple of verses where Paul reminds his audience that they were taught to put of their former way of living, to be made new in their thinking and to put on their new identity which was created to be like God (pure and holy). Here Paul gives some specific examples: put off lies and put on truth, put off unrighteous anger and put on peacemaking, put off stealing and put on honest working, put off unwholesome speaking and put on talk that builds others up, put off bitterness, rage and malice and put on kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
I resonate with this teaching - you can't just stop doing something, you have to replace it with something else and, at least according to Paul, the best thing to replace it with is the opposite (falsehood vs. truth, etc.). This makes sense to me and is hugely practical (which I love! I'm always asking the question "How?").
There are a couple of phrases that are challenging to me in this passage. The first is not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In the context I think what this means is that he is prompting us to take off the bad and put on the good plus he is offering us his help to do it and when I refuse, I greive him. This is because his goal is to bring glory to Christ and when my behaviour does not, he has been prevented (at least temporarily) from doing his job in my life and that grieves him.
The second is "follow God's example." I know that this is impossible to for me to do. I can't love in the self-sacrificing way that Christ loved me. I can't forgive in the completely selfless way that God forgave me. I am too proud, too selfish, too oriented around self-preservation. The only way that I can follow God's example is if the Holy Spirit changes my attitude and mindset (which, according to v.22-24, he has done or is in the process of doing) so that I have the desire to love and forgive, etc. AND if he gives me the strength to do the impossible (which, from the rest of the Bible, I know that he can). So, Holy Spirit, come and renew me and empower me!
This passage ties directely to the previous couple of verses where Paul reminds his audience that they were taught to put of their former way of living, to be made new in their thinking and to put on their new identity which was created to be like God (pure and holy). Here Paul gives some specific examples: put off lies and put on truth, put off unrighteous anger and put on peacemaking, put off stealing and put on honest working, put off unwholesome speaking and put on talk that builds others up, put off bitterness, rage and malice and put on kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
I resonate with this teaching - you can't just stop doing something, you have to replace it with something else and, at least according to Paul, the best thing to replace it with is the opposite (falsehood vs. truth, etc.). This makes sense to me and is hugely practical (which I love! I'm always asking the question "How?").
There are a couple of phrases that are challenging to me in this passage. The first is not to grieve the Holy Spirit. In the context I think what this means is that he is prompting us to take off the bad and put on the good plus he is offering us his help to do it and when I refuse, I greive him. This is because his goal is to bring glory to Christ and when my behaviour does not, he has been prevented (at least temporarily) from doing his job in my life and that grieves him.
The second is "follow God's example." I know that this is impossible to for me to do. I can't love in the self-sacrificing way that Christ loved me. I can't forgive in the completely selfless way that God forgave me. I am too proud, too selfish, too oriented around self-preservation. The only way that I can follow God's example is if the Holy Spirit changes my attitude and mindset (which, according to v.22-24, he has done or is in the process of doing) so that I have the desire to love and forgive, etc. AND if he gives me the strength to do the impossible (which, from the rest of the Bible, I know that he can). So, Holy Spirit, come and renew me and empower me!
Friday, March 14, 2008
you're wearing that?!
Ephesians 4:17-24
Paul contrasts the way of the Gentiles who are separated from God to the way of the disciple. He uses a word picture of clothing or of a uniform: take of the uniform of the sinner and put on the uniform of the righteous. The loss of sensitivity of the godless is due to their futile thinking, ignorance and darkened understanding. This is consistent with Paul's view that right living and right believing comes from right thinking (for example, Romans 12 - be transformed by thinking in a new way).
There are a couple of interesting phrases: "insist on it in the Lord" is pretty strong language for Paul to use and indicates the importance of what follows. "Lost all sensitivity" really captures the sort of life the godless are living - completely unaware of the pain and destruction they are bringing on the people they love and on themselves. "Given themselves over" contains the idea of complete abandonment to the sensual, selfish life they are living - they know no other way of living.
I am convicted of my own selfish living - maybe not to the level of corruption that Paul describes here (I don't think I'm indulging in every kind of impurity) but I am definitely full of greed. I think of myself constantly and whine (mostly internally) about how unfair things are. When I am able to step back and gain perspective, I know that I have been blessed and that my whining is pure self-centeredness and selfishness. I know that the world does not and should not revolve around me (it would be a very crappy world if it did!). I know that this is not the life that I learned when I heard about Christ and was taught in him in accordance with truth that is in Jesus. The problem is that I like my old clothes, my old uniform too much. It is very comfortable and I am scared of what it will mean to take it off and to put on the uniform that Christ offers me. I like to be self-centered. Lord, change my desire to pursue you and your glory rather than me and mine.
Paul contrasts the way of the Gentiles who are separated from God to the way of the disciple. He uses a word picture of clothing or of a uniform: take of the uniform of the sinner and put on the uniform of the righteous. The loss of sensitivity of the godless is due to their futile thinking, ignorance and darkened understanding. This is consistent with Paul's view that right living and right believing comes from right thinking (for example, Romans 12 - be transformed by thinking in a new way).
There are a couple of interesting phrases: "insist on it in the Lord" is pretty strong language for Paul to use and indicates the importance of what follows. "Lost all sensitivity" really captures the sort of life the godless are living - completely unaware of the pain and destruction they are bringing on the people they love and on themselves. "Given themselves over" contains the idea of complete abandonment to the sensual, selfish life they are living - they know no other way of living.
I am convicted of my own selfish living - maybe not to the level of corruption that Paul describes here (I don't think I'm indulging in every kind of impurity) but I am definitely full of greed. I think of myself constantly and whine (mostly internally) about how unfair things are. When I am able to step back and gain perspective, I know that I have been blessed and that my whining is pure self-centeredness and selfishness. I know that the world does not and should not revolve around me (it would be a very crappy world if it did!). I know that this is not the life that I learned when I heard about Christ and was taught in him in accordance with truth that is in Jesus. The problem is that I like my old clothes, my old uniform too much. It is very comfortable and I am scared of what it will mean to take it off and to put on the uniform that Christ offers me. I like to be self-centered. Lord, change my desire to pursue you and your glory rather than me and mine.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
growing up
Ephesians 4:7-16
The key words and ideas in this passage are: growing up, maturing, and building up. Paul uses a whole bunch of images: a body made up of members whose whole role is the maturing of the other members of the body, an infant who has no power to carry out his will, a stormy sea that invokes its will on a powerless object.
The main point is that Christ has given each one of his followers gifts and the purpose of those gifts is to build up the rest of the body of Christ until it reaches unity and maturity. This will prevent the Church from being overly affected by every new method, philosophy, doctrine or teaching that comes along. There will be a maturity and a depth to what the Church teaches and does as it speaks the truth in love. It will reflect the character of Jesus who is the head of the Body.
Paul returns to an idea that keeps popping up through the whole letter: the church attains the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Again, my imagination is captured by that phrase and yet it plays just beyond the horizon of my comprehension. I can't grasp this except that I think it is the same idea as at the end of chapter 2 where the Church is the dwelling of God. As God dwells in us and fills us and as the Church reflects the character of Christ, it radiates with the fullness of Christ. I still can't quite picture it because I haven't really seen anything close to it before.
The key words and ideas in this passage are: growing up, maturing, and building up. Paul uses a whole bunch of images: a body made up of members whose whole role is the maturing of the other members of the body, an infant who has no power to carry out his will, a stormy sea that invokes its will on a powerless object.
The main point is that Christ has given each one of his followers gifts and the purpose of those gifts is to build up the rest of the body of Christ until it reaches unity and maturity. This will prevent the Church from being overly affected by every new method, philosophy, doctrine or teaching that comes along. There will be a maturity and a depth to what the Church teaches and does as it speaks the truth in love. It will reflect the character of Jesus who is the head of the Body.
Paul returns to an idea that keeps popping up through the whole letter: the church attains the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Again, my imagination is captured by that phrase and yet it plays just beyond the horizon of my comprehension. I can't grasp this except that I think it is the same idea as at the end of chapter 2 where the Church is the dwelling of God. As God dwells in us and fills us and as the Church reflects the character of Christ, it radiates with the fullness of Christ. I still can't quite picture it because I haven't really seen anything close to it before.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
1
Ephesians 4:1-6
The key word in this passage is repeated over and over: one. Paul lists all the things we have unity around: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. This sums up the theme of the letter - there aren't Jewish believers and Gentile believers, there are no upper and lower classes, no categories of Christians. We all belong to God through Jesus Christ and we are one.
The phrase that sticks out to me is "live a life worthy of the calling you have received." That's a big order! In this context, the calling that Paul is talking about is the calling to be united (he goes on to give some instruction on how to live out that calling: be humble and patient, bear with one another in live, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit). I'm trying to figure out what this means in this present time because there is not a huge division between Jews and Gentiles (especially Western Gentiles) in the Christian family. However, I think there are still people groups that we see as "second class Christians": maybe natives (although I don't view them as such), evangelicals see people from liturgical churches (like Anglicans, Catholics and Lutherans) as second class (and vice-versa I'm guessing), etc. The big one that comes to mind is Arab Christians. In the western world, we are so pro-Israeli that we forget that when the send their troops into Lebanon that thousands of our brothers and sisters are being displaced and when they fire their rockets into Palestine, they are killing fellow Christians. However, the western Church sees the Arabs as bad and the Israelis (because they are God's chosen people) as being unable to do anything wrong. Maybe this is the people group that we need to bring into the "one body". That might be living a life worthy of the calling I received...
The key word in this passage is repeated over and over: one. Paul lists all the things we have unity around: one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. This sums up the theme of the letter - there aren't Jewish believers and Gentile believers, there are no upper and lower classes, no categories of Christians. We all belong to God through Jesus Christ and we are one.
The phrase that sticks out to me is "live a life worthy of the calling you have received." That's a big order! In this context, the calling that Paul is talking about is the calling to be united (he goes on to give some instruction on how to live out that calling: be humble and patient, bear with one another in live, make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit). I'm trying to figure out what this means in this present time because there is not a huge division between Jews and Gentiles (especially Western Gentiles) in the Christian family. However, I think there are still people groups that we see as "second class Christians": maybe natives (although I don't view them as such), evangelicals see people from liturgical churches (like Anglicans, Catholics and Lutherans) as second class (and vice-versa I'm guessing), etc. The big one that comes to mind is Arab Christians. In the western world, we are so pro-Israeli that we forget that when the send their troops into Lebanon that thousands of our brothers and sisters are being displaced and when they fire their rockets into Palestine, they are killing fellow Christians. However, the western Church sees the Arabs as bad and the Israelis (because they are God's chosen people) as being unable to do anything wrong. Maybe this is the people group that we need to bring into the "one body". That might be living a life worthy of the calling I received...
Monday, March 10, 2008
this is my prayer (the sequel)
Ephesians 3:14-21
Paul's request for the Ephesian church: that they would be strengthened with power, that Christ may dwell in their hearts, that they would have the capacity to understand the dimensions of Christ's love and experience that love, that they would be filled to all the fullness of the measure of God.
There are a couple of phrases that I have questions about: First, what does it mean that every family in heaven and on earth derives its name from the Father? Second, is the meaning of being filled with all the fullness of the measure of God really what it seems to mean?
I don't think that Paul is praying that the individual Christian would be filled with the fullness of God. This is a corporate letter written to a church body so I think that it's the church body that gets filled in this way. This also fits better with the tone of the rest of the letter: the church is the fullnes of him who fills all things in all ways (1:23) and the church unified shows the wisdom of God to the rulers of the spiritual realm (3:10).
I also have confidence that this prayer will be answered based on Paul's next statement: God can do more than we can ask or imagine for his glory. Christ brought glory to God and now, according to this prayer and other passages of Scripture, the Church's role is to bring glory to God. In the context of this letter, we do that when we are unified.
Paul's request for the Ephesian church: that they would be strengthened with power, that Christ may dwell in their hearts, that they would have the capacity to understand the dimensions of Christ's love and experience that love, that they would be filled to all the fullness of the measure of God.
There are a couple of phrases that I have questions about: First, what does it mean that every family in heaven and on earth derives its name from the Father? Second, is the meaning of being filled with all the fullness of the measure of God really what it seems to mean?
I don't think that Paul is praying that the individual Christian would be filled with the fullness of God. This is a corporate letter written to a church body so I think that it's the church body that gets filled in this way. This also fits better with the tone of the rest of the letter: the church is the fullnes of him who fills all things in all ways (1:23) and the church unified shows the wisdom of God to the rulers of the spiritual realm (3:10).
I also have confidence that this prayer will be answered based on Paul's next statement: God can do more than we can ask or imagine for his glory. Christ brought glory to God and now, according to this prayer and other passages of Scripture, the Church's role is to bring glory to God. In the context of this letter, we do that when we are unified.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
we're making God's wisdom known
Ephesians 3:7-13
The mystery in this paragraph is explained in the previous paragraph: Gentiles and Jews are equal heirs through the good news of Jesus. Paul's specific role was to bring the Gentiles into the family of God by taking this good news message and revealing this mystery to the Gentiles.
If you were to ask me how God reveals his wisdom (before I read this passage) I would probably say something about through Jesus or through his divine providence, possibly through history or even through the Word. Never in a million years would I say that God reveals his manifold (I like that word!) wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms through the church. Paul is clear: the rulers and authorities look to the unity between Jew and Gentile in the Church to find evidence of God's wisdom. Wow! I still can't fathom it - that the rulers and authorities are struck by how wise God is when they look at the church. The next verse goes on to say that the unity between Jews and Gentiles in the Church was his eternal purpose which he accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ. This means that before time began, God determined that he would prove his wisdom to the angels and demons by bringing Jews and Gentiles together into one body.
So here's the question for me: am I helping to accomplish the eternal purpose of God? Am I helping my local expression of the Body of Christ to testify to God's wisdom or do I cause the spiritual realm to scoff at God's idea of unity? The point that is driven home to me is that the Church is God's idea, God's plan and reveals God's glory. I can either get on board in pointing to the glory of God by joining him in building his Church or I better get out of the way.
The mystery in this paragraph is explained in the previous paragraph: Gentiles and Jews are equal heirs through the good news of Jesus. Paul's specific role was to bring the Gentiles into the family of God by taking this good news message and revealing this mystery to the Gentiles.
If you were to ask me how God reveals his wisdom (before I read this passage) I would probably say something about through Jesus or through his divine providence, possibly through history or even through the Word. Never in a million years would I say that God reveals his manifold (I like that word!) wisdom to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms through the church. Paul is clear: the rulers and authorities look to the unity between Jew and Gentile in the Church to find evidence of God's wisdom. Wow! I still can't fathom it - that the rulers and authorities are struck by how wise God is when they look at the church. The next verse goes on to say that the unity between Jews and Gentiles in the Church was his eternal purpose which he accomplished in the work of Jesus Christ. This means that before time began, God determined that he would prove his wisdom to the angels and demons by bringing Jews and Gentiles together into one body.
So here's the question for me: am I helping to accomplish the eternal purpose of God? Am I helping my local expression of the Body of Christ to testify to God's wisdom or do I cause the spiritual realm to scoff at God's idea of unity? The point that is driven home to me is that the Church is God's idea, God's plan and reveals God's glory. I can either get on board in pointing to the glory of God by joining him in building his Church or I better get out of the way.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Mystery Solved
Ephesians 3:1-6
The key word in this passage is mystery. The mystery is not a puzzle to be figured out our a problem to be solved (like a mystery novel) but indicates that the truth that Paul shares in this passage, hidden to past generations, is revealed in Christ but still beyond our ability to fully comprehend and explain it. The mysterious truth revealed in this passage is that the Gentiles and the Jews are co-heirs, belong to the same body and share together in the promise of God. Again, this union is in Christ.
I don't think we, as western Christians, fully understand the impact of this mystery. I feel like I've always been a part of the body and a "sharer" of the promise ofGod. I can trace my spiritual heritage through generations (actually, I can't because I don't know it much beyond my great-grandparents but I know that I could if I did the work to dig into my family's history). It's almost like we've flipped it: Gentiles are in and Jew are out. In Paul's day, this mystery would have blown the minds of the Jews and those who understood anything of the Jewish religion. Gentiles were clearly outside of the promises given to the Jews but now, through Jesus, they have free and equal access to the blessing and promises.
This clearly speaks of God's grace. The Gentiles did nothing to earn their way to the "inside". God granted them access through the death and resurrection of Jesus. No wonder the Judaizers (Jewish Christians who tried to impose the ceremonial law on Gentile Christians) tried to keep the barriers up! It wasn't fair that these dirty barbarians got equal access without doing any of the work that the Jews had done for centuries (at least in their eyes): carefully keeping the laws and observing the ceremonial feasts and holidays, etc.
It's human nature: once I'm in I want the club to be elite and so I work hard to create rules and barriers to keep others out. The question that the Scripture is asking me this morning is: who am I working to keep outside the promises of God? Are their individuals? Are there whole people groups?
God, please let me be a conduit of your grace and not a dam that keeps it from flowing to the people who need it. Help me to remove barriers to your promises and not erect obstacles that would prevent people from becoming your children, just as I have.
The key word in this passage is mystery. The mystery is not a puzzle to be figured out our a problem to be solved (like a mystery novel) but indicates that the truth that Paul shares in this passage, hidden to past generations, is revealed in Christ but still beyond our ability to fully comprehend and explain it. The mysterious truth revealed in this passage is that the Gentiles and the Jews are co-heirs, belong to the same body and share together in the promise of God. Again, this union is in Christ.
I don't think we, as western Christians, fully understand the impact of this mystery. I feel like I've always been a part of the body and a "sharer" of the promise ofGod. I can trace my spiritual heritage through generations (actually, I can't because I don't know it much beyond my great-grandparents but I know that I could if I did the work to dig into my family's history). It's almost like we've flipped it: Gentiles are in and Jew are out. In Paul's day, this mystery would have blown the minds of the Jews and those who understood anything of the Jewish religion. Gentiles were clearly outside of the promises given to the Jews but now, through Jesus, they have free and equal access to the blessing and promises.
This clearly speaks of God's grace. The Gentiles did nothing to earn their way to the "inside". God granted them access through the death and resurrection of Jesus. No wonder the Judaizers (Jewish Christians who tried to impose the ceremonial law on Gentile Christians) tried to keep the barriers up! It wasn't fair that these dirty barbarians got equal access without doing any of the work that the Jews had done for centuries (at least in their eyes): carefully keeping the laws and observing the ceremonial feasts and holidays, etc.
It's human nature: once I'm in I want the club to be elite and so I work hard to create rules and barriers to keep others out. The question that the Scripture is asking me this morning is: who am I working to keep outside the promises of God? Are their individuals? Are there whole people groups?
God, please let me be a conduit of your grace and not a dam that keeps it from flowing to the people who need it. Help me to remove barriers to your promises and not erect obstacles that would prevent people from becoming your children, just as I have.
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