Final Greetings

If you knew death  was near and had the opportunity to write one last letter, who would you write to and what would you say?

 

Ephesians was written towards the end of Paul's life while he was in prison in Rome. He didn't know how long he had left and captured the most important things he felt he needed to say to the Church at Ephesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, in one short letter.

As we’ve studied Ephesians together we've been reminded of God's overarching purpose - for everything to be united under Christ. That's God's bigger picture here.  He chose people to be holy and blameless and adopted them into his family from the very beginning. We have a great hope because God accepts Jesus taking the death we deserve and makes us alive. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection he built one united people - our differences have been made secondary, because our primary identity is in Christ and to be known as his.

With that in mind, Paul reminds us about how we are to live differently. To be play our part in the local church, to reflect Christ in our important relationships, and to fight every day in a spiritual war that Christ has already won, equipped by God with everything we need to enjoy that victory.

All that in one letter!

It's still a wonderfully personal letter from a man who had a deep love and concern for those he's writing to. He wants to encourage them, but also requires their support. So what were Paul’s final instructions regarding unity in the Church?

Paul wanted them to pray, in all situations, for God’s people. Prayer for each other was to be a constant in their lives but Paul also wanted them to pray for him. Here we don’t find the severe and harsh Paul, or the almost-divine Paul that opposing camps sometimes claim him to be. Yes, he’s been chosen to serve God in a particular way, but he’s just a man and is as dependent on the Holy Spirit as any of us. If Paul needed the prayers of others then so do we, and so do the leaders of our Churches.

He also knew that we don’t do well on our own, and that as Christians we’re better together. Paul recognises that in isolation we’re likely to grow cold to the good news of Jesus. That goes for all of us. But it’s not just about what we gain. We’re to be united to serve each other in the Church and to serve. Church isn’t a consumer product – we don’t take it or leave it as and when it suits our needs. We’re committed to being a part, and playing our part in the life of the Christian community.

Finally, Paul’s biggest ambition for the Church at Ephesus was that they might know peace and love, through grace. A deep-centred peace  - the removal of conflict between ourselves and God.  It's a gift through faith in Jesus, which God gave when he chose us before creation. A gift we accepted when we were adopted into God's family solely through his underserved kindness towards us - not because we earned it.

Ephesians reminds us of immense blessings in Christ. Let's use all that we've learnt from this letter to ensure that our lives and this church reflect God's love and peace. That we will be equipped to stand firm, and reflect our undying love for Christ.

Standing firm

So far in Ephesians 4-6 Paul has encouraged us to no longer live like the world, but what difference has it made to us studying here in Rochester, or to you, reading this blog?

Because there’s no doubt about it, the Christian life is tough. Of course, we’ve always known that haven’t we? Or have we been so comfortably living like the world that the challenge of Paul’s words and the reality of living differently haven’t caused us any trouble at all?

But Paul knows it’s tough. Here in Ephesians 6:10-18 he reminds us that we’re in a battle; every Christian is serving on the frontline – it’s not just for a select few - and we are to stand firm.

In the middle of a spiritual warzone, Paul wants us to remember where our strength comes from. Ever thought the Bible was a self-help book? Walk into a bookshop and find me another self-help book that tells you that you’re in a mess, heading for disaster, and can’t do anything to save yourself. Paul is clear here that the power and strength to support us in this battle isn’t from us. As we try to protect unity in the Church, live wisely, retain sexual purity, and do all of the things Paul tells us should be setting us apart from the world, we do it through a lifetime of reliance on the risen and victorious Jesus.

Yes - the victorious Jesus – because the enemy (and make no mistake, there is an enemy) has already been defeated. However, even though Satan has lost, he’s trying to cause as much collateral damage on God’s people as possible, and he won’t give up.

That’s why it’s important that we wear our armour and fight. The armour of God is an enduring picture that’s stayed with me since childhood, but I probably thought it was a bit pick-and-mix. No, says Paul – you need it all. You need to put things on – clothe yourself with a knowledge of the truth of God, an attitude to live differently and a readiness to make peace. You need to take up a certainty that you can’t be separated from God, and to fill your mind with God and what he’s achieved through Jesus. And don’t forget your only weapon: the word of God that gave Jesus the answers he needed to rebuff Satan, and can do the same for us.

Slaves and Masters

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve looked at how Paul wants that ‘difference’ in our lives to impact on some of the closest relationships we have – the dynamics of family life as husband and wife, but also parents and children.

Now in Ephesians 6:5-9 he turns to a particular situation that was a normal part of life for the first-century church in Ephesus he was writing to: slavery.

Slavery in the Roman Empire at this time could be brutal: slaves were possessions, with few rights and no way out.  Some question why Paul didn’t attack the concept of slavery in his letter.  We need to remember that Christians at the time were a small group with no political or social clout – direct action was out of the question.  Instead, Paul is trying to give the Christians practical advice on how to live in, what was for them, the real world. 

Paul called for a bigger view of life – the need to see what when the slaves worked, they worked for God, and what they did was an offering of their best to Him, regardless of the situation they were in.  And the masters were to act in justice and fairness, knowing that God, who does not play favourites and does not care for social status, was watching.  God would reward the work and management that was done well.

This has a big impact on how we approach our work today – it’s the situation where we most closely face the actions of serving and management that would have been experienced by the slaves and masters.

As employees we often face harsh and unjust managers.  We need to remember that we work for God, and do our best accordingly.  This gives meaning to our work regardless of how it is treated by those further up the management chain.  And if we are in positions of management, we need to remember that God, who is just and fair, is watching our actions.  Are we happy with what he is seeing us do, how we are treating people?

Paul’s words to those early Christians brought God’s truth into a situation as repulsive as slavery, potentially transforming the everyday lives of those caught up in it by giving them a big view of the world as it truly is.  We need to embrace that same big view in our everyday lives here and now.

We could do cute...

click to zoom

Okilly-dokilly, let's look at parenting...

In our last post we looked at what Paul teaches about marriage, and specific instructions he gives to husbands and wives.
 

Now if there’s one thing that will rankle people more than taking instruction about marriage, it’s giving them advice on how to raise their kids, but Paul’s not shying away from that in Ephesians 6:1-4.

Remember Paul’s key theme through this latter part of his letter to the Ephesians, summed up in Ephesians 4:17 is that Christians should play their part in, and be part of the local Church, and that involves making changes in the way they live and behave which reflects the changes God has made in them.
 

If Paul’s advice last time was about marriage reflecting Christ, this time it’s about the family reflecting Christ.

What does that mean? When we look at a Christian family, are we looking for the real life Ned, Maude, Rod and Todd Flanders?

To a degree – yes - but before you panic and run screaming for the hills, let me explain.

Paul urges parents, in the way they choose to raise their kids, to identify what’s of primary importance and to let that shine through in the priorities and goals we set for ourselves. It starts with parents, because kids learn from what we teach them, but also how they see us live when we’re behind closed doors.

What's of primary importance? Paul gives us a hint by quoting directly from Deuteronomy 5:16, where the Israelites are ready to take possession of the promised land and Moses is teaching them about the land, the Lord, and the promise which was for generations to come.

Paul’s applying that to us today, living under God’s new promise that he’ll accept Jesus’ perfect life and blameless death on our behalf that we can be part of a grander promise that’s yet to come – the new heaven and earth that’s described in the last book of the Bible – Revelation.

If we follow Paul’s logic, the result of living in the light of this promise and all of the changes it makes to the way we think, speak and behave, is that children obey their parents because they recognise that their parents love them and want to help them understand that promise for themselves.

But, that happens when parents don’t exasperate their children, when we don’t put things in the way that prevent them from learning; when we’re not so full-on and dictatorial about every minute aspect of their lives that they zone out and stop listening when we try to talk about the importance of our life-changing saviour. And when I write parents, let’s make no bones about who Paul says has the primary responsibility here – Fathers, it’s you. It’s your job to teach your kids about God – not the Church, not youth leaders, not Sunday school teachers – you.

Thankfully there are some great resources to help us do that, and you can find some of them in our bookshop. But remember, teaching materials will say far less than your attitude, behaviour and priorities ever could.

So, back to good old Ned and Maude Flanders – a couple who wear their faith on their sleeve and live it out for the kids, and the world to see what Jesus means to them. Doesn’t sound so bad after all, does it?

Orson, you won't believe what they're saying about marriage...

I'm old enough to remember Mork and Mindy. Mork, an alien from the planet Ork has been assigned to observe human behaviour, by Orson - his mostly unseen and long-suffering superior.

(For the record my favourite alien growing up was Marvin the Martian, but his mission to blow up Earth because it blocked his view of Venus didn't quite fit the intro of this post).

How would Mork describe marriage?

In 2015 the likelihood is that his report would be confused, because we're bombarded with contradictory messages about it on an almost daily basis. Some people think it's great, so great in fact that the UK has redefined its laws so that more people can get married. Others think it's atrocious and waste of time and money - it's a piece of paper which is pretty meaningless and they can live without it. Somewhere in the middle are the people that think it's great, but enter into married life on the assumption that it won't last and 'protect' themselves against loss by entering into prenuptial agreements.

In Ephesians 5:22-33 Paul outlines God's view of marriage. Often taken out of context, Paul's description of marriage often comes in for a fair bit of criticism, and some brush it off as being culturally irrelevant and not something we need to concern ourselves with. Wives submitting to husbands? Husbands loving wives sacrificially? Come now Paul - it might have been acceptable nearly 2000 years ago but not now?

Zoom back a bit and put this passage into the context of Ephesians, where we're no longer to live like the world; where we're to stand out as careful, wise and filled with the Holy Spirit. Paul's encouraging us to follow God's blueprint for marriage - fixed and unchanging - a marked contrast from society at large.

But how do we square this idea of submission and sacrifice - surely that's not right for today?

Again, look at the bigger picture. Paul is describing two relationships here - husband and wife, and Christ and the church. The two relationships are totally interweaved and inseparable in this passage. Therefore, when we look at God's design for Christ and the church, we see what marriage should look like. Marriage, as a result, should reflect the relationship between Christ and the church. Rather than a societal tool to stop us getting lonely, the Bible presents marriage as a visual aid that puts the good news about Jesus on display for the world to see.

In that context, submission isn't a negative or emotive word - it's an expression of how the Church submits to the headship Christ. It's the order of things that God stamped on the world but it doesn't mean that wives are doormats; it doesn't give men a right to disregard the worth of their wives. The instruction to prevent that happening is right here in this passage too - a husband should love his wife as Christ loved the Church- perfectly, sacrificially, willingly putting her before himself. Jesus gave everything, including his very life, for the Church - that's the standard to which husbands must love their wives. And guys, remember that in God's order you don't just lead your and love your wife - one day God will call you to account for her, and for the quality and integrity of your family life, just like Adam was called to account for Eve. Still need convincing you need to take this seriously?

So God's design for marriage sets a challenge for both men and women, as they become "one flesh" - a complete union, but don't forget the bigger picture: since the start of this letter to the Ephesians Paul has honed in on the unity of the Church - and the perfect union the Church will have with Christ.

Care and attention in all the right places.

If you took a straw poll of your friends and family, would they describe you as a careful person? Would your colleagues say that you're 'risk averse'?  Are you one those people who strives to get things right first time? Do you take time to think through your options and their likely consequences? When you make a mistake, do you scrap what you've done and start again?

I'm that kind of person - you wouldn't believe how many times I've started trying to write this post!

Paul gives us a summary of everything he's written to the Ephesians so far in 5:15-21, so if you're new to these posts you might want to look back and track our progress through the letter. How does he pull it all together?

"Be careful to be wise". After all of the calls to live differently, to play our part in the Church, and to let the whole world see the wonderful gift that God gave to us in Jesus, Paul knows that for unity in the Church
we need to be careful to be wise.

What does that mean? Well, throughout chapters 4 and 5 we can see what God's expectations are of a living in a wise way. Among the examples we have, we need to be wise to live in truth (4:25), to resolve arguments (4:26), to speak positively (4:29) and to avoid sexual immorality (5:3). Now that's not going to be easy, especially when the days are evil (5:16), but we need to live a life that's strongly dovetailed to the will of God - we're not what we used to be and we're to be taking every opportunity (5:16) to make the most of our time.

We also need to be clear about God's will (v17). That doesn't mean using ourselves at the starting point and only thinking about how God's will relates to 'me'. This isn't about that moment of crisis or indecision when we look to God for answers. No, this is about being clear about God's blueprint for humanity - it involves 'me', but it's so much greater than that.

As mysterious as God's will is, Paul states quite clearly that ultimately it is to unite all things in heaven and earth under Christ (1:9). Now our part of that is to be part of a new and united people, together in a relationship with God under Jesus. God's will isn't about making our lives better - that can happen as a result of living according to his will, but it's not the primary purpose of it.

Paul urges us to be controlled by the Spirit (v18-21). We'll have to explore the nature and person of the Holy Spirit another time, but Paul's point here is that being filled with the Spirit helps us to submit to one another - to put others before ourselves, and the needs of others before our own, and to put ourselves to one side to build up others.

There's a lot to be said for being careful.

What are you most careful about? Think about your answer to that, because it reveals a lot about what you value the most.