What's in a Name?

 Read Ephesians 3

Paul is not illiterate.  He is skilled in the written word.  He uses literary tools.  He could write in a terse voice as he did to the Galatians or with pleasant, grateful prose as was the case in much of his letter to the church in Ephesus. 

He wraps up this section with something of a prayer, but it begins with some food for thought.

Every family in heaven and on earth derives its name from God.

It could just be that everything created came from God to include our names or we could consider our the nature of our names.  When someone asks, “What is your name,” or “How are you to be called,” we would answer, “I am and our name.”

I am is the name that God told Moses to tell his people when Moses asked what if they want to know who sent me. When we answer with our name, we precede it with the name of God.

Paul’s prayer petitions God and encourages the Ephesian believers.  How so?

That out of his glorious riches, God strengthens you with power through his Holy Spirit. Why? So that Christ may dwell in your hearts.

Do you remember I am crucified with Christ.  Christ lives in me.

What’s the preexisting condition?  Why, the glorious riches of God are that condition.  What’s the outflow? Strength and power and Christ living in us.

How about another preexisting condition, this time in the Ephesian believers?  Try this on for size:  Being rooted and established in love.

What’s that mean.  It means that love is the whole deal.  Your life is rooted in love.  Your lifestyle is established by love.  Your geography is love.  Your destination is love.  

What proceeds from this love is knowing how great God’s love for us is? How wide and long, high and deep God’s love for us is.

Paul says that this love surpasses knowledge.  It’s more than we can understand.  Yes, it’s like the peace that surpasses all understanding. It should be comforting to us to know that there are aspects of our God that we just can’t comprehend.

If we could fully comprehend God, we might try to make ourselves gods.  That dog don’t hunt.

Paul said that there was some mystery here and that mystery is revealed in Christ and his church. The church must be at work in the world today being God’s love.  The world is lost without God’s love.  The church seems to have a knack for condemnation, but if Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, then we should stick to our assigned mission:  Love and good news.

We can be spectators and armchair quarterbacks or we can be the church.  I coined the term Christian Tourist a few years ago.  It’s someone who checks out the sights of Christianity but decides that discipleship doesn’t fit into their comfort zone.

We can point fingers or we can reach out with our hands and arms.  We can’t do both and we are called to be the church and take God’s love to the world.

I will conclude this short message as Paul concluded the chapter.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Amen.

Leading those governed by rules to the richness of love

 Read Ephesians 3

 

The church in Ephesus received a lot of first-century attention.  They were trying to stay the course and press on towards the goal.  They were trying to grow in grace.  Part of that growth would come through Paul’s long-distance counsel.

It’s interesting to note that this church was also the recipient of one of the letters in Revelation, noting they had lost their first love. They were counseled to consider how far they had fallen and repent. The church to whom Paul wrote, still seemed to be living in the love of Christ and seeking his kingdom.

In its original form, the first half of this letter to the Ephesians, after the salutation, might have been one long run-on sentence. The language is more formal, yet softer than what Paul wrote to the Galatians. Listen to this first part as Paul expounds on the richness of blessings that we have in Christ—in Him.

What Paul gave you in the narrative, I offer in Kiplinger style.

In Christ, we:

Are blessed with spiritual blessings

Are chosen before the beginning of the world to be holy and blameless

Are predestined to be adopted as sons

Are to live according to his will and bring glory to God

Are given grace

Are redeemed through his blood

Are forgiven of our sins

Are granted wisdom and understanding

Have eyes to see the mystery of God’s will revealed

Are part of the plan

Are marked in him

Are sealed with the Holy Spirit

Have the guarantee of an inheritance

Are part of God’s perfect timing

We are blessed because God gave us life and he loves us.  He loved us so much that he gave his Son for our redemption and fullness of life.

In Christ we are blessed beyond measure.

That’s how Paul begins his letter.  As you navigated the second chapter, you probably recalled some words from Paul’s letter to the Romans:  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  That’s a true statement and the fruit of that condition is death.  We were dead in our sins.

At one point, Satan could claim us as his own.  We gratified the flesh. We followed the ways of this world.  We were disobedient.

Death should have been our destiny—domed by our sin and carnal desires; yet here we are living with the promise of more life to come.  We seek more than survival.  We seek abundant life.

We were dead in our sins but because of the great love of God, we are alive in Christ.  We live because God loves us!

We deserved the wrath of God but he gave us mercy and grace instead.  We are not only saved from the condemnation that we deserved.  We are raised up to be with Christ.  We are not just surviving wrath.  We are celebrating life and life abundant and life eternal because of what God has done for us through Christ Jesus.

Jesus paid it all.  All to him I owe.  Here’s how Paul put it.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast

God did everything for us.  We are in right standing with him.  Our own works had nothing to do with our salvation.  It’s all about the love of God.

Paul adds so that no one can boast.  Think about our human nature.  If we had just a little bit to do with our salvation, our human thinking would take over.

Yeah, I did my one percent and God did ninety-nine percent.  God’s love is awesome.

A year later, we might be saying, Yeah, I did ten percent.  God did ninety percent.  That’s a really good deal.

In two years, our human nature would have us saying, I did my half.  God did his half.  It’s like a matching 401K—still a good deal.

Not much farther down the road we would be saying, I did ninety percent of the work needed for my salvation.  God threw in his ten percent for good measure.  I mean I did slip up once or twice, but otherwise, I earned my way to heaven.

Paul said get this and get it good:  You are saved by grace through faith so we know that we had no part in our own salvation.  We simply received the best gift ever and we did it by faith.

You might wonder, shouldn’t we have been required to do at least a minimum amount of good?  Shouldn’t there have been a minimum standard?  How will people know that we follow Jesus if there was no test to pass?

Consider more of Paul’s words.

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

Paul is telling us that we were created to do all sorts of good and great things.  We do them in response to this wonderful gift that we know as grace.  We finally get to live up to the life that God made us to live.

Do we need good works for salvation?  No.  Our good works proceed from our salvation.  They are the fruit of our salvation.

Our good works could never get us to salvation but they should abound in our salvation. People should know that we follow Jesus.  We should be loving one another like no one else on the planet.

God loves us so much that he didn’t make us get fixed in order to receive his salvation.  His love did all of that for us, but now that we have received this gift, we should truly be a light unto the world so people can see our good deeds and bring glory to God.

God designed us special.  We are made to do good works.  God made us a list of things to do even before we knew that we would get to do them.

We were destined by God to do these good works and we get to do them because God loves us so much.

We are saved by grace through faith.  Our salvation is all from God and not by our own works.

Now that we are saved, let our good works be known to all so that they may bring glory to God.

As we venture through the third chapter of this letter, Paul notes that God’s will has been a mystery to us.  God desires that none perish.  He desires his whole creation to be reconciled to him.

The act of atonement was the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  The work of this age has been given to the church.

Those who still wrestle with rules fail to understand the boundless riches of Christ.  There is a mindset among many Christians that somebody has to go to hell.  For us to enjoy heaven, somebody has to be roasting in hell.  The hotter the temperature, the more we can enjoy heaven.

It's only fair, right?

If God did what was fair, we might all find a miserable eternity.  Do we forget so quickly that we are saved by God’s mercy and grace?  We did not and do not deserve to be saved from sin and death and hell.  Only the love of God saves us from destruction and damnation.

We should have eyes to see the boundless riches of Christ.  We should have eyes to see grace that extends far beyond our transgressions.

We should have eyes to see that God desires a relationship with us where we come to him as Father, Abba, Daddy. 

There’s a meme of sorts going around with this being the gist of it.

I can’t believe I did that.  That was so stupid.  I hope my dad doesn’t find out.

That’s one side of it.  Here’s the other.

I can’t believe I did that.  That was so stupid.  I have to go talk to my dad.

God wants the second one for us.  He wants us to come freely and with confidence when we talk with him.  The mystery that is revealed is just how much God loves us. 

He will never stop loving us.  He loves us with an everlasting love.  Our relationship with God is a relationship of love not rules. Listen to Paul’s words.

His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence

We are to be governed by love not rules.  This is a big step for most people.  This takes most people out of their comfort zones. 

People like standard consequences and sequels.  People like if A, then B scenarios.  People like to know what it will cost them to do things their way.  People like to count and measure.

It will take some work to get people from rules-based thinking to living by love.  God should have had a plan as to how to do this.

He did and he does.  It is the church that is charged to lead the world to knowing God by his love.  The church will move heaven and earth to accomplish its mission.  We have been given the greatest job ever.  Lead people to God by our love.

Change people’s perception of God from an angry old man with lightning bolts at the ready to a father with open arms.  Is God’s wrath something to be avoided at all costs? Absolutely, but it is love not wrath that drives this story.

It is love not rules that lead us to bring glory to God in response to our salvation.

God’s love is for all.  Our job as believers, as the church, is to take that message to the world.

God desires none to perish.  It is our job as the church to take that message to the world.

Amen.

Wisdom of God Made Known

Read Ephesians 3

Deep and wide, deep and wide; there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.  It is a song that most of us sang as children, most always with hand gestures became more difficult the faster you sang the song.  And you always sang the song faster, then sometimes slowed down.

Deep and wide is the only verse.  You can hum in place of words, but deep and wide is the only verse, but it is enough.  You can hum it on the way home if you want.  Let the words accompany you all week.

There is a joy that perhaps only preachers know, maybe a few others.  It is a joy that few would venture into knowingly.  It is a place where all that I can say is that I am in over my head.

That place is the mystery of God.  I can preach predestination and generally make sense of this intangible and sometimes controversial topic. 

I can talk about being one in Christ and sing “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand,” and know that what I couldn’t convey in my message, the words of the song will complete.  Throw in Blest Be the Tie That Binds and They’ll Know We Are Christians and I might not even need to preach at all.  The words and melody bring the message.

But to venture into the mystery and revelations of God is another matter.  We dabbled a little bit into this last week:  For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

We have accepted this wonderful thing called grace as the gift of God in which we do not even make a modicum of contribution; but do we also understand that God gave each of us a measure of faith so that even our belief is a gift from God.

That does not make sense to our human minds.  God gave each of us faith, really?

He gives us the gift and the belief by which we receive the gift—are you kidding me?

Salvation and the faith to believe and receive the gift all come from God?  Who does he think he is to do all of this?

There is an enemy in the world that so wants to leverage our human nature and discount the immeasurable love that comes in the divine nature of God that we know in Christ.  We must not listen to him.

For God’s love that we know in Christ Jesus is longer and higher, deeper and wider than we can imagine, much less comprehend.

In Christ and in faith in Christ we may come before God.

How?  Because Christ himself lives in our hearts!  We have let go of everything that we think we must control and let Christ himself take our lives as his own.

That’s not a bad exchange considering that he gave his life for us, so now he lives in us.  Christ is elsewhere described as the firstborn among us, his brothers and sisters.

But how can God and sinful man be friends much less siblings?  Only by letting Christ be our new nature.           

                   

But can that really happen while we live in these carnal vessels?  While we walk this earth can Christ fully live in us?

Welcome to mystery and revelation.  Welcome to living in between God’s thoughtsand ways being higher than ours but having been given the mind of Christ.

How are we supposed to navigate those waters?

Paul says rooted and established in love, his prayer is that the Ephesians— and we—can grasp how truly incomprehensible that God’s love is.  Understand that Paul is praying for us to take an irresolvable dichotomy and make it a paradox of assurance.

Paul incrementally brings us to this point.  First, through the gospel all peoples of the world may join God’s chosen people.  God is desiring all to know his love.

Next the apostle wants us to realize what he calls the unsearchable riches of Christ.  That man should know the heart of God may have seem only philosophy to this point, but we are called to know this as truth.  It is the universal truth that God longs to share his heart with us.

Finally, Paul writes that now through the church the all encompassing wisdom of God will be known to all in heaven and on earth.  The church is working here on earth but its work proclaims the glory and wisdom of God to all.

Paul then prays for the Ephesians in the context of this letter.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Deep and wide, deep and wide; there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.

Come thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing they grace; steams of mercy, never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.

Our music knows the mystery of God.  Our music reveals to our hearts what sometimes our minds resist.

There is neither height nor depth that is beyond the reach of God’s love.  There is no distance too far for the love of God to grasp.  There is no expiration date on God’s love.

There is nothing that we have done that God cannot take away.  There is no stain too tough for him to remove.  There is no heart to hardened for him to melt with his mercy.

God wants you to live in his presence, as his child, as a brother or sister to Christ.

The revelation of God is that his love is for all and the church is the means by which not only those on earth but all with power and authority anywhere will know that God is love.

God loves us.

Knowing this, and being filled with this richness of love that we have in Christ, we are charged to make known the wisdom of God.

Wisdom that says, “Love wins.”

Wisdom that says, “Love conquers all."

Wisdom that says, “The greatest of these is love.”

Wisdom that says you were created to live in and enjoy the presence of God.  God wants you to enjoy him very much.

Wisdom that gives you eyes to see the world.

God is not an old man with a lightning bolt waiting to zap you the next time you do something wrong.  God is love and his reach extends beyond anything that he has created.  You cannot outrun the love of God.

You cannot sink to such depths that God cannot rescue you.

You cannot travel such a distance that God’s love will not restore you.

Even in an expanding universe, you cannot get away from the love of God.  Did you ever stop to think that if the universe is expanding, just what is it expanding into?  Now there’s a mystery for you.

The mystery of God that is revealed to us in Christ is no surprise.  He has never stopped loving us and never will.

Now that is a message of assurance for sure, but we are his disciples and it’s not all about us.  So what are we to do?

Is there a call to action included in this message?  I think so.

We who know God through Christ and are filled with his glorious riches are to go into the world and meet people where they are.  The wisdom of God is to be made known by the church.

This message that we have received and that we rejoice in is to be shared with the world, no matter how far from God anyone seems to be.

Now you might get rejected or laughed at or yelled at, but absent putting yourself in physical danger; we are to take this good news to those who are lost.

Some might even be called to ignore that part about physical danger.  Those directions will come directly from the Lord and not from me.

And even when we are rejected with our message of good news, we know that the love of God reaches places that we cannot touch.

We know the depth and breadth of God’s love goes beyond our reach, but we are called to make known the wisdom of God that we know in the gospel.

This is the call and the mission of the church through every generation of this age.  This is how we bring glory to God and the truth to the world.

This is how we live between mystery and revelation; proclaiming the good news and knowing that God’s love has no limits.

Deep and wide, deep and wide; there’s a fountain flowing deep and wide.

Amen.