Ephesians

Beware the Snare

“God, I thank You that I am not like other men.”

“God, be merciful to me a sinner” Luke 18:11& 13.

This parable was spoken by Jesus of a man who sincerely believed that he was living a life that pleased God. He kept the commandments with regard to morality, ritual and especially spiritual exercises. He went daily to the temple to pray, fasted twice each week and tithed all his possessions. He did not extort money or possessions from others and neither was he unjust toward others. He was faithful in his relationships. He was certainly faithful to his Jewishness and was thankful for his exalted position in the temple and community. This was a righteous man that the population would have looked up to and sought to follow as a role model.

There was nothing outwardly wrong with the things that he did. However Jesus points out a flaw in his motive. He saw himself as different from others with regard to righteousness. In his mind he had achieved this level of righteousness by his own effort and that God blessed him because he pleased God by his life. This is why he looked down upon one who did not have all the advantages he had.

We can fall into the snare of having the wrong motive. We may want to prove to Jesus that we are worthy of His name by disciplining ourselves to live a morally righteous life with all the right spiritual exercises. We may feel that we have to prove to Jesus that we are worthy of His love. We may want to prove to other Christians that we have advantages because we are worthy of them. This is the working of pride. The fact is we are not at all worthy.

We know we have this attitude when we become critical of others (like the Pharisee in the parable) who we consider don’t measure up. What we are doing is despising them as unworthy of Christ’ love and kingdom. In a personal context Paul writes concerning this attitude, “What things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ” (Philippians 3:7).

Jesus ends this parable by telling us that it is the one despised who went home justified. He came to the temple to pray but he knew he had no basis for God to show him favour or to even hear him. His only prayer was for God’s mercy toward an undeserving helpless sinner. Praise God that Jesus said that he went home justified or who could be saved?

Those of us who have had the advantage in life of coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour ought never forget that we were no different to others who are yet to receive Him (1 Corinthians 6:11; Ephesians 2:3). Those advantages were not because we were better or more deserving than others (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8). They are the outworking of God’s grace of which we are stewards and for which we should be very thankful. Jesus said, “The Son of man has come to seek and save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10) and that is our mission as well. It is not to look down upon others as the Pharisees did but to show mercy by lifting them into the presence of Jesus Christ just as another faithful servant once did for us.

Please, Take a Seat

“Be filled with the Spirit” Ephesians 5:18

Every couple of months I take time to have my hair cut. In preparation I wash my hair within twenty four hours of going. When I arrive, I sit in the seat and let the hairdresser go about cutting my hair. The first few times I visited this hairdresser I explained what I expected the end product to look like. When it is all over I make a quick inspection to see if he has fulfilled my expectations.

There are parallels with having a hair cut and being filled with the Spirit. Paul expresses this as a commandment in Ephesians 5:18. Further, the grammar used means that we are to be continually submitting to being filled with the Spirit and also that it is not something we do. How can it be a commandment to believers if they can’t do it?

When I was conscripted into the army one of the first commands I received was to have a hair cut. I didn’t cut my own hair. The hairdresser did it. Being filled with the Spirit is similar in that we are commanded to be filled but it is not we who do the filling. It is God who does the filling. Our part is to ensure that we are in the right place spiritually and ready to receive this Gift of God.

The Holy Spirit can only “fill” a clean and holy vessel. We may be able to wash our hair before going to the hairdresser but only the blood of Jesus can cleanse us in the way necessary for the Holy Spirit to fill us. This requires confession of particular sins, not generalisations about being a sinner (1 John 1:9). What is the end product we desire? For a true disciple of Jesus the end product is to be just like Jesus. The New Testament writers express that in several ways (Romans 12:1, 2; 1 Peter 1:8, 9; 1 John 3:2, 3). At the hairdresser there is a mirror so that we can observe progress to see that the hairdresser is conforming to our desire. Likewise we have the Bible as a mirror so that we can see how we are progressing in becoming Christ-like.

With the hairdresser we have no more assurance than past experience that he will achieve the goal. However, with Jesus Christ we have God’s Word that guarantees that He is working all He can to complete the task (Philippians 2:12, 13). The main obstruction to His getting the job done right is how well we submit to His working. If we squirm in the chair or turn our head, the hairdresser may make a mistake. It won’t be his fault but ours.

We are inclined to be “stiff-necked” and resist the working of the Holy Spirit but James gives us the remedy – if we will accept it. “Submit to God … Draw near to God … Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord … For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6-10).

Death Comes Before Life

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20)

In the above verse Paul is writing of his personal experience and testimony concerning resurrection life. Resurrection life by definition demands that death has first taken place. Jesus could not rise from the dead if He did not first die and we cannot experience resurrection life unless we first die to ourselves. When a person says they are “trying” to live the Christian life it may be that they do not realise that they must first die. It may also be that some of us presume that we are living resurrection life just because we are Christians.

In the above verse it is clear that Paul is not saying that he has experienced bodily death and bodily resurrection and neither is he speaking merely of identification. Further, he is not speaking solely of a past experience. He is speaking of a present reality.

When a person comes to Jesus for salvation there are two essential aspects that occur. On our part we must die and God’s part is to give life. The life that Jesus gives, which I have called resurrection life, is a continuance of those aspects. Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

He also said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). To take up one’s cross is a deliberate act from choice to die to my ambitions and all things self-centred. This is not a once off act but obviously there is a starting point. It is a continuous choice that is reasonable and logical flowing out of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Resurrection life is one of absolute surrender to Jesus Christ to do with me as He pleases. The imagery of the Potter and the clay comes to mind. The clay has no idea of the process or end product that the potter has in mind. In connection with this Paul wrote, “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Who can live the Christian life? The only Person who is able to live the Christian life is Jesus Christ. This is why Paul wrote “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), John wrote, “This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:11, 12) and Jesus said, “Without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Prior to the cross Jesus said to the Father, “not as I will but as You will” and in the model prayer that He gave to His disciples He said to pray, “Your will be done.” When we can say from a fully surrendered heart, “Your will be done,” with no reservations or conditions, then we are experiencing resurrection life. Resurrection life is Jesus living His life through us with our voluntary, continuous and willing consent. It is another way of expressing “being filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), “fellowship” with Christ (1 John 1:3, 6) and “abiding” in the Christ (John 15:4).

True to Kind

“This is a faithful saying … If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself”  2 Timothy 2:11, 13

Paul encourages Timothy and all of us to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (v 1) through faith in who Jesus is. There will be reward for remaining faithful. Paul gives the examples of a soldier, an athlete and a farmer to show that God is faithful. But even if we are not faithful God remains faithful. Why is this? It is because God and all His creatures are true to kind. God cannot act contrary to who He is and that is a foundation stone of true Christian faith.

The Bible reveals two things that God cannot do: God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) and God cannot act contrary to His Divine Nature (2 Timothy 2:13).

In an attempt to reduce penalty or even avoid penalty the defence of an accused may call witnesses to demonstrate that the actions of the accused were “out of character”. This is wholly untrue. All of God’s creatures act absolutely according to what they are. We all act exactly according to what we are. The natural person is always in rebellion against God and can do nothing but sin. The problem is not what we do but what we are. What we do is the outworking of what we are. A person may be able to suppress behaviour but they cannot change what they are. “There is none righteous, no not one” (Romans 3:10).

Sinful thoughts, words and deeds are the symptoms of what we are. As in the case of one before a judge we may try to escape penalty by claiming otherwise but God will not be deceived. We are sinners and there is no remedy until we admit that we are sinners by nature. We cannot change what we are. At best we may be able to change some aspects of our behaviour but that will never make us compatible with God.

God is holy; God is undefiled; God is without sin; God is love; God is righteous and just; God cannot deny who He is and if we are to come into His presence and have communion with Him then what we are must be changed. We cannot change what we are. This is why Jesus makes the emphatic statement that “you must be born again” (John 3:3). This is not a command but a statement of fact. To have communion with God we must have the same nature. This is only possible by way of a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 6:15) through which we are made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

When Jesus died on the cross He took our sin nature to death as well as the penalty for sin acts. In His resurrection He opened the door for a new life (Ephesians 2:10). The Gospel of Christ reveals God’s remedy for the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23) but also the remedy for what we are. Jesus’ resurrection necessitated His death on the cross; for us to live the resurrection life we must die to self.

God cannot change who and what He is. He is holy and without sin. If anyone is to come into His presence it is they who must be changed. Only Jesus Christ is able to do that for He alone bore our sin and rose again.

The Truth Revealed

“You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe – and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:19, 20

God has given us the planetary system for several very useful purposes and one of them is to note the passing of time. Most of us know our age and could readily state it if asked. Some may be inclined to be less than honest in their answer. The passing of years is also helpful to remind us that we are not going to be on this earth forever and we would do well to reflect on the direction our lives are taking and the ultimate destiny at which we will arrive.

James makes it very clear in his letter that what we do is the outworking of what we believe. That being the case, reflection will reveal what we really believe and what we are. It is very easy to say we believe certain things but our actions and attitudes, our likes and dislikes, will reveal the truth of the matter. What we may say may be proven to be a lie by what we do; or it may confirm that belief.

The Bible states in many ways that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and it also states that such faith will bring about certain attitudes and behaviours in accord with that faith. James throws out the challenge to show faith without works knowing full well that it is impossible (v 18). It isn’t that good attitude, behaviour or works merits salvation, but that genuine salvation will produce good works. The evidence that a dead person has been raised is that they express the attributes of life. Among other things, they will move, speak, eat and sleep so that we can see they are alive. The same is true of one dead in trespasses and sins whom God has made alive to God (Ephesians 2:4-10).

While the passing from one year to another is no different from any other day passing to the next we can use this marker of the orbit of earth around the sun to measure not just the passing of time but also our growth in faith in Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul often spoke in terms of pressing on toward Christ and knowing Him more intimately (Philippians 3:10). When taking time for reflection we will come to a more reliable evaluation provided we do not look only into our intellectual belief but at what our attitudes have been and the kind of behaviour they produce. Do they indicate that we have been drawing ever nearer to Jesus, that we have been serving His interests or that we have been serving our interests?  In reflection does our life match the direction that John the Baptist made his aim, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30)?

It is interesting that in his letter James poses this as a question rather than as a statement. “But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” It may be that the pride in us would rather not know that the lack of godly expression in our attitudes and behaviour reveals the lack of Jesus Christ in our lives.