I wasn't really planning to blog this week since we have a break, but Bill had a conversation I want to relate to you. He has coffee every week with the guy who lead him to belief in Christ after VietNam, during college. This week they were joined by the man who lead their campus group those very many years ago.
Hal Miller is like a storybook hero in the annuls of Campus Bible Fellowship and for good reason. His giftedness in evangelism and commitment to ministry are inspiring. Since his very late retirement, he has settled in Colorado and is involved in Prison Ministry there. [Bill turned 70 last week....this guy has to be close to 90. He's in great shape but his legs are shot from so many years on the basketball court connecting with college guys. His mind is still way sharper than yours or mine.]
He was talking about the prison ministry and lamenting the common occurance of people who come to the Lord through some program specifically evangelistic and eventually go back to the life they were living before. It's a very large factor IN THE PRISON CULTURE THAT HE MINISTERS IN, he said. Many, many had salvation experiences when they were young. Many had conversions when they first started getting into trouble. But they went back to living, as Ephesians 2 says, "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience."
Bill had to ask, because these guys are straight edged Baptists, if Hal thought they were truly saved. "There's no question about their salvation," Hal replied. "But there's no discipleship out there."
This is a big piece of the answer to the can of worms Sarah opened on Tuesday. It doesn't explain all. It doesn't cover people like Jenny's friend. It isn't scripture.
But as we learn about the church through the book of Ephesians, we have to notice that the goal is mature Christians. The job... is mature Christians. I think we will see that clearly as we work our way through the book.
So I'm going to recommend going back, over this break in our study, to that hard to understand, seemingly nebulous chapter 1 so that we all in our own lives have a heart understanding of the amazing blessing of being chosen by God. That our whole being is enlightened and we know God; know the hope of His calling, the riches of His inheritance and the surpassing greatness of His power.
Look at chapter 2 again and begin to understand the impact of being taken off that futile Thomas the train track and raised up into the Heavenlies with Christ. Make sure you know your salvation is not of yourselves. And begin to wonder what work God has planned for you, his precious masterpiece, to accomplish for Him in the Church.
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Redo prayer #1
I apologize that I failed to ask the right questions to get us to the heart of the matter in Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church yesterday. Paul has a very clear idea of what God has done for us and what He wants for us. You could almost look at Ephesians chapter one in those very terms; our first lesson was what God has done for us, our second lesson what He wants for us.
So what does He want? We can see the big ideas [the details come later in the book] in what Paul prays for them. He is asking God to reveal to the readers of the letter the very most important things that they need to know.
First, God wants us to know Him. Paul wants first and foremost for us to know God. 1:17 says "so that you might grow in your knowledge of God." At any point of our Christian life we can say we know God. What a blessing to know Him! But there is always more to know. Paul's first prayer for this church is that they will have the spiritual wisdom and insight to know Him more. In fact, that spiritual wisdom and insight, any revelation of who He is, is a gift from God so Paul is praying that God would give them the wisdom and understanding to know Him.
Verses 18 and 19 list three other important things for us to know, and Paul again asks God for insight and illumination in the people he's writing to, for the Spirit to reveal these things to them.
1) understanding of our hope for the future, and I would say two things about that. The hope is certain and the future begins now. The Christians hope, as Sharon said yesterday, is not like hoping I can get a new car. Christian hope is the most sure thing in the universe. Hebrews 6:18 and 19 say, "So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls."
2) realization of the richness of our inheritance. Remember we talked about this last week in 1:14, that the Holy Spirit in our lives is the pledge or guarantee of our inheritance. It's just a taste. The experience of the Holy Spirit in our lives now gives us a tiny glimpse of what living with Him for all eternity will be like. Kristen shared 1 Peter 1:4 with us yesterday. "For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It's kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay."
3) understanding the incredible greatness of His power, and not just that He is powerful, but that He makes that resurrection power available to us. Paul explains that power in great detail in the following verses.
Those are transformational truths. I hope you'll spend the time looking a these verses or at other verses that make our hope, our inheritance, and His power in us clear to you. It will change your life. Paul is going to ask us to grow and change in the rest of the book of Ephesians. He's going to ask us as people and he's going to ask us as churches. We will be able to change not because we are spiritual people, or good people or strong people; not because we will try very hard. We will be able to change as we understand and believe what God has done in us and what he is doing in the world. That's why Paul takes the entire first chapter of Ephesians to communicate these big truths. It's worth our time to make sure that we know them.
So what does He want? We can see the big ideas [the details come later in the book] in what Paul prays for them. He is asking God to reveal to the readers of the letter the very most important things that they need to know.
First, God wants us to know Him. Paul wants first and foremost for us to know God. 1:17 says "so that you might grow in your knowledge of God." At any point of our Christian life we can say we know God. What a blessing to know Him! But there is always more to know. Paul's first prayer for this church is that they will have the spiritual wisdom and insight to know Him more. In fact, that spiritual wisdom and insight, any revelation of who He is, is a gift from God so Paul is praying that God would give them the wisdom and understanding to know Him.
Verses 18 and 19 list three other important things for us to know, and Paul again asks God for insight and illumination in the people he's writing to, for the Spirit to reveal these things to them.
1) understanding of our hope for the future, and I would say two things about that. The hope is certain and the future begins now. The Christians hope, as Sharon said yesterday, is not like hoping I can get a new car. Christian hope is the most sure thing in the universe. Hebrews 6:18 and 19 say, "So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls."
2) realization of the richness of our inheritance. Remember we talked about this last week in 1:14, that the Holy Spirit in our lives is the pledge or guarantee of our inheritance. It's just a taste. The experience of the Holy Spirit in our lives now gives us a tiny glimpse of what living with Him for all eternity will be like. Kristen shared 1 Peter 1:4 with us yesterday. "For God has reserved a priceless inheritance for his children. It's kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay."
3) understanding the incredible greatness of His power, and not just that He is powerful, but that He makes that resurrection power available to us. Paul explains that power in great detail in the following verses.
Those are transformational truths. I hope you'll spend the time looking a these verses or at other verses that make our hope, our inheritance, and His power in us clear to you. It will change your life. Paul is going to ask us to grow and change in the rest of the book of Ephesians. He's going to ask us as people and he's going to ask us as churches. We will be able to change not because we are spiritual people, or good people or strong people; not because we will try very hard. We will be able to change as we understand and believe what God has done in us and what he is doing in the world. That's why Paul takes the entire first chapter of Ephesians to communicate these big truths. It's worth our time to make sure that we know them.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Prayer #1; to know Him
Verses 15 and 16 of chapter 1 have some interesting ideas about Paul's prayer life. I wonder if Paul had actually achieved that amazing expectation: pray without ceasing. These verses give me a sense that as Paul was hanging out with God, conversing with him, he (Paul) remembered to mention the church at Ephesus or reminded God about the church. He also never stopped giving thanks for them. He remembered them to God. It would be pretty interesting sometime to study Paul's prayer life.
But this week, we're studying Paul's prayer, in fact the first of his two prayers for the Ephesian church that are recorded in the book of Ephesians. It seems like anything Paul prayed about would be pretty significant. So most of our focus this week will be what he prayed for and if we have time we'll try to understand why he thought whatever he was asking for was so important.
Paul prays for two things. Remember my English teacher way of reading the Bible. There are two ideas.
1) I keep asking....that you may know Him better.
2) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.
Those are the two requests.
Request number two has some clarification. Paul says he is praying for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened so that you will know these three things and he spells them out.
1) the hope to which He has called you
2) the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints
3) the incomparably great power for us who believe
The rest of verse 19 to the end of the chapter talks about that great power, which is pretty exciting too.
Do we know what Paul is asking God for? Do we know what Paul thinks is crucial for the church to grasp? And if we can make those requests concrete ideas in our minds, can we think through why these specific things were so significant in Paul's mind?
That's what we'll be trying to think through tomorrow. We will need to put our heads together!!
But this week, we're studying Paul's prayer, in fact the first of his two prayers for the Ephesian church that are recorded in the book of Ephesians. It seems like anything Paul prayed about would be pretty significant. So most of our focus this week will be what he prayed for and if we have time we'll try to understand why he thought whatever he was asking for was so important.
Paul prays for two things. Remember my English teacher way of reading the Bible. There are two ideas.
1) I keep asking....that you may know Him better.
2) I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened.
Those are the two requests.
Request number two has some clarification. Paul says he is praying for the eyes of your heart to be enlightened so that you will know these three things and he spells them out.
1) the hope to which He has called you
2) the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints
3) the incomparably great power for us who believe
The rest of verse 19 to the end of the chapter talks about that great power, which is pretty exciting too.
Do we know what Paul is asking God for? Do we know what Paul thinks is crucial for the church to grasp? And if we can make those requests concrete ideas in our minds, can we think through why these specific things were so significant in Paul's mind?
That's what we'll be trying to think through tomorrow. We will need to put our heads together!!
Thursday, September 14, 2017
New year, new women, new Book
September is always exciting. After Labor Day, our Women's Bible Study starts up again. I can't even remember how long this has been anchoring the rhythm of my life, but anchor it does. I love women's Bible studies. And this year, as always, I have a group of really bright women who are going to keep me on my toes; seeing things I didn't see, asking things I don't know, experiencing God in their own intimate way that I can learn from.
So Ephesians! I've been anxious to teach Ephesians this fall. I know it will help us all to grow.
The story of my early attempts at Christian growth has been shared many times. I'm a "How" and "Why" person who grew up in a just do as your told church. I'm not a good pretender. Every struggle in my young life was answered with read the Bible more and pray more. Good advice as far as it goes. If I still pursued help [I can hardly believe that I did!] I was encouraged to rededicate my life to Christ. I may be the most re-dedicated person around.
I often compare it with those soccer games where kids on the field... you know, the cute ones with t-shirts hanging past their knee pads... are running their little hearts out. But they don't know what to do. We used to call it "swarm soccer" as they players would converge and swell like bees. Sweaty faces, gasping for air; all they knew was to try to get to the ball.
And on the sidelines the coach, sweaty and red faced as the players, persistently yells throughout the game; "try harder!"
I felt like those kids so many times. I was trying as hard as I could, but I didn't know what to do!
Ephesians gets us well started on what to do. But it starts out, in chapters 1-3 with why we do it. Specifically in the verses we introduced the book with, 1:1-14 it starts out with what God has done. And the way Paul writes these introductory verses we are able to see the all encompassing plan of God being accomplished. All that has happened in the spiritual realm has been according to His will; His plan from beginning to end.
The most amazing thing about this plan of His is that He has adopted us into it. Imagine! He made us His children, His friends and His instruments to accomplish the rest of the plan.
This passage reminds me so much of Jesus' last discourse to the disciples in John 15. "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made know to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last." [vs. 15-16]
God has entrusted His plan for eternity to us...not individually but as His church. In Ephesians Paul is spelling out that plan to us; those chosen to carry it out. He was given the unveiling of the mystery of the church. He will go on to tell us how Jews and Gentiles are one in this undertaking. It certainly took a revelation from God before anyone saw that one coming. He will tell us what we should know about God. He'll tell us how we should live. What a relief to know those things!
The most beautiful outline I've ever seen of Ephesians was taught by a Chinese believer,
Watchman Nee, and printed in a book called Sit, Walk, Stand. First Paul wants us to see ourselves seated in the heavens with Christ, because that is where we are. The things accomplished in the spiritual realm are reality we can live by on earth. When we see what God has done and who we are, we're to walk in a manner worthy of those amazing truths. Then the final illustration of Ephesians exhorts of to be strong! To stand and stand firm! And we can do that living in the truth of chapters 1-3 according to the skills taught us in 4-6.
I'm excited to study Ephesians. It is a book that can take us from where we are, no matter where on some imaginary spiritual slide rule we believe that to be, to higher. "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight." [Ephesians 1:4]
So Ephesians! I've been anxious to teach Ephesians this fall. I know it will help us all to grow.
The story of my early attempts at Christian growth has been shared many times. I'm a "How" and "Why" person who grew up in a just do as your told church. I'm not a good pretender. Every struggle in my young life was answered with read the Bible more and pray more. Good advice as far as it goes. If I still pursued help [I can hardly believe that I did!] I was encouraged to rededicate my life to Christ. I may be the most re-dedicated person around.
I often compare it with those soccer games where kids on the field... you know, the cute ones with t-shirts hanging past their knee pads... are running their little hearts out. But they don't know what to do. We used to call it "swarm soccer" as they players would converge and swell like bees. Sweaty faces, gasping for air; all they knew was to try to get to the ball.
And on the sidelines the coach, sweaty and red faced as the players, persistently yells throughout the game; "try harder!"
I felt like those kids so many times. I was trying as hard as I could, but I didn't know what to do!
Ephesians gets us well started on what to do. But it starts out, in chapters 1-3 with why we do it. Specifically in the verses we introduced the book with, 1:1-14 it starts out with what God has done. And the way Paul writes these introductory verses we are able to see the all encompassing plan of God being accomplished. All that has happened in the spiritual realm has been according to His will; His plan from beginning to end.
The most amazing thing about this plan of His is that He has adopted us into it. Imagine! He made us His children, His friends and His instruments to accomplish the rest of the plan.
This passage reminds me so much of Jesus' last discourse to the disciples in John 15. "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made know to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last." [vs. 15-16]
God has entrusted His plan for eternity to us...not individually but as His church. In Ephesians Paul is spelling out that plan to us; those chosen to carry it out. He was given the unveiling of the mystery of the church. He will go on to tell us how Jews and Gentiles are one in this undertaking. It certainly took a revelation from God before anyone saw that one coming. He will tell us what we should know about God. He'll tell us how we should live. What a relief to know those things!
The most beautiful outline I've ever seen of Ephesians was taught by a Chinese believer,
Watchman Nee, and printed in a book called Sit, Walk, Stand. First Paul wants us to see ourselves seated in the heavens with Christ, because that is where we are. The things accomplished in the spiritual realm are reality we can live by on earth. When we see what God has done and who we are, we're to walk in a manner worthy of those amazing truths. Then the final illustration of Ephesians exhorts of to be strong! To stand and stand firm! And we can do that living in the truth of chapters 1-3 according to the skills taught us in 4-6.
I'm excited to study Ephesians. It is a book that can take us from where we are, no matter where on some imaginary spiritual slide rule we believe that to be, to higher. "For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight." [Ephesians 1:4]
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