The beauty of past tense blessings
I’ve been reading Ephesians 1 a lot lately. It’s encouraging to change it from plural to singular and read it over and over again. Read below and see what I mean:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus christ, who has blessed ME in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose ME in him before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and blameless before him.”
I love how personal such a simple change makes these verses. It reminds me that God is speaking to me through his word. Now I realize that the Bible is certainly not about me or you, Paul makes that abundantly clear throughout this epistle with the repeated phase, “…to the praise of his glorious grace” (1:6; 1:12; 2:7). However, it is encouraging to be reminded that our personal holiness and well-being are important to God.
I’m also thankful that this concern does not hinge on my obedience. Think about the tense of the following phrase found in verse 3: “…who has blessed us in Christ”. He has blessed us. Not, he will bless us if we love and obey him, he has blessed us in Christ. This blessing is a past action. I love that.
This means that although I may strive to walk with God and grow closer to him, the sad reality is that I fail everyday. Yet, even though I regularly fail, his blessing upon my life is never in danger. Never.
Why? My sin fails to endanger it because my life was never about me in the first place; it was, and always will be, about him. He “chose ME in him before the foundation of the world” not because I was holy or good, but because it worked in accordance with his purpose. Again, it’s not about me or you.
Truthfully, God adopted me as his son and blessed me so that I would be able to glorify him. And now he is constantly working to make me more like his Son Jesus. This is a grand endeavor and one that God does not take lightly. By this I mean that God doesn’t take risks with his glory.
That’s why the blessings Paul speaks of here are secured for the believer. God has a plan that began long before we existed and he is working in us to bring about all things for his glory and our good. To say it another way, God’s glory and plan hinges on him, not us. And God is always faithful, so thank him today for the beauty of past tense blessings.
Training young minds
“Training the mind is an essential responsibility of the home, the church, and the school. Unless evangelicals prod young people to disciplined thinking, they waste – even undermine one of Christianity’s most precious resources.”
Carl Henry
He expects a spiritually rich body – part 3
Rich in Giving
So if we are to be found by Christ as a spiritually rich body of believers upon his return we need to be rich in love for him and for others, but we also need to possess richness in our giving. As Jesus approached the end of his earthly life he intentionally drew attention to the gift of a poor widow.
Having watched her place two small copper coins in the treasury, he said: “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:3-4).
This poor widow challenges us because although she was materially poor, she was a spiritual millionaire. If Forbes had been compiling a list of spiritually rich people she would have ranked very highly. Giving is important to us as believers because it is at the heart of our faith.
We have been given so much: Life, breath, grace, hope, mercy, food, health, possessions, and certainly our salvation. Yet, we seem to give so little at times. Our brethren in Smyrna were givers. Christ says nothing of their material offerings, but they gave a great deal in the area of physical and emotional offerings. Suffering in prison at the hands of angry men is certainly being rich in giving and Christ praised them for their faith.
Rich in Faith
That thought leads us to another aspect of spiritual richness – faith. James wrote: “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (Jas 2:5). Again, what does it profit it a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul? The answer is obvious, nothing.
Jesus charged the believers in Smyrna to be “faithful unto death” and he would give them “the crown of life” (2:10). In other words, richness in faith is directly linked to eternity with Christ just as James taught. If our desire is to be with Christ for eternity and be pleasing unto him then our faith must develop a certain richness, a richness that can only be developed by laying roots in another place.
Rich in Heavenly Treasures
Jesus touched upon this truth in his Sermon on the Mount. There he said: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Mt 6:19-20).
The idea here is actually quite simple. As Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:21). From the time of the apostles down through the ages men and women have been able to give their lives for the glory of Christ because their treasures were not of this world. Sure they had homes and valuable possessions, but they were not their treasures. Their treasures were the souls of people who had heard the gospel because of their ministry. Their treasure was the glory God had received because of their faithfulness (John 15:1-8).
Rich in Joy
The last attribute we will consider (surely there are more) is that of joy. If we are to be the spiritually rich believers Christ has called us to be we must endeavor to find joy in him regardless of circumstance. Paul phrased it this way: “[S]orrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything” (2 Cor 6:10).
In the context of the Smyrneans we can say that they were humanly sorrowful about suffering, for it was not enjoyable. Yet, they rejoiced because they had been considered worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ (Acts 5:41). They were poor, which likely made life difficult, but through their faithful ministry and sacrifice others became rich as they were, rich in Christ that is. They had nothing materially speaking, but were partakers of eternity with Christ and had heaven to look forward to. Therefore, they were able to be rich in joy.
Coming to terms with these truths will enable us to “not fear what we are about to suffer”. It will give us the ability to stand with saints like Polycarp and call for the wild beasts to be turned lose on us and respond to the threats of the world with eternity in view. He said: “Thou threatenest that fire which burneth for a season and after a little while is quenched: for thou art ignorant of the fire of the future judgment and eternal punishment, which is reserved for the ungodly. But why delayest thou? Come, do what thou wilt.”[i]
Polycarp was spiritually rich. The church in Smyrna was spiritually rich. And if we truly desire to join them then we too must open our ears and listen to what Christ has to say to the churches – to us! If the church today will open its ears and humble its heart then just as Christ promised those in Smyrna, the one who conquers “will not be hurt by the second death” (2:11b). Instead, they will triumph in Christ and rejoice at the sound of the trumpet.
[i]Polycarp 11:1-2.
He expects a spiritually rich body – part 2
I’m not sure there is a better place to start than with the state of our love for God, for it is how we feel about him and what we think about him that truly says so much about who we are as individuals. Now I’m not seeking to strictly emotionalize our faith, but in the context of richness our love for God should be abundant and deep.
Martyrs don’t sacrifice their lives because they feel indecisive about Christ or because they see him as some sort of cosmic soul insurance plan. On the contrary, I’m convinced they see things much the way Paul saw them. Consider his words in Philippians:
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Phil 3:7-11).
Paul was a proud Jew, and in his own words a Hebrew of the Hebrews and blameless according to the law (Phil 3:1-6). Yet, here he confesses his decision to count all of it as loss. His pedigree no longer meant anything to him, it was rubbish. He no longer wanted to live for himself or his family or the notoriety of being a Pharisee.
After being humbled by Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) he wanted to let it all go “because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus”. This is the beauty of God’s grace. It had been poured out upon Paul and this once persecutor of the church was now in love with Christ and desired to sacrifice everything because of this great love.
He challenged the Philippians: “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:13-14).
We all need a richness of love for God which was characterized by Paul here and the church in Smyrna later. Our hearts need to be overflowing with a sense of longing for the presence of God. As we develop this richness of love for him we will be able to stand for him regardless of life circumstance and speak as Polycarp did:
“O Lord God Almighty…I bless Thee for that Thou hast granted me this day and hour, that I might receive a portion amongst the number of martyrs in the cup of [Thy] Christ unto resurrection of eternal life, both of soul and of body, in the incorruptibility of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among these in Thy presence this day, as a rich and acceptable sacrifice, as Thou didst prepare and reveal it beforehand, and hast accomplished it, Thou that art the faithful and true God.”[i] Superficiality doesn’t foster this depth of faith; however, a deep rooted love for God does.
Rich in Love for People
Along with a rich love for God our lives should be characterized by a rich love for our fellow man. I think of those in Smyrna who lived each day surrounded by people who hated them and the God they loved and served. Why did they stay? Could they not have left and sought refuge in a safer land?
For that matter, can we not ask the same question of modern Christians who choose to live in danger every day of their lives? Why do they stay? Although I cannot answer for every one of them, I believe there are two fundamental answers to this question. One, they have a rich love for their Savior and two; they have a rich love for people. They know what the Smyrneans knew. They know what Paul knew, that it is through the gospel of Jesus Christ that people are redeemed. But how will they hear if no one tells them? They won’t; therefore, they stay.
Paul captured this beautifully in one of his letters to the Corinthian church. He wrote: “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them” (1 Cor 9:19). When evangelizing the Jews he behaved as a Jew so that he might win them to Christ. When evangelizing those under the law he voluntarily placed himself under the law that he might win them to Christ.
Like Paul before them, the believers in Smyrna sacrificed their own liberty and safety for the sake of others. Jesus confessed to the church in Smyrna that he knew of their tribulation and poverty, but went on to praise them for their richness. I believe he saw a depth in their faith that drove them to love others as they loved themselves (Gal 5:14).
[i]Polycarp 14:2
He expects a spiritual rich body – part 1
Series: Christ’s Expectations of His Church
The word rich brings to mind many different images. If I were to randomly ask virtually any group of people what immediately comes to mind when they hear the word rich, I would likely get one of two answers. The dominant response would probably be that of money or possessions.
Take for example how we as a culture all too easily enjoy keeping tabs on who is the richest person in the world. I’ve heard that many take great pride in where they rank in the annual Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people. To say the least this is not a positive quality. A second response would come from people like me who have a genuine sweet tooth. I often hear comments like, “That cake is just too rich!” From my perspective that is simply impossible; the richer the better I say!
Of course, I suppose many would say the same about the former use of the word. Life is short right? You might as well make as much money as you can and enjoy it while you can. However, for Christians, there is a use for this word which completely overshadows these two common uses, and Jesus captured this use perfectly in his brief letter to the church in Smyrna.
Smyrna is said to have been a proud and beautiful city, built at the foot of Mt. Pagus in what is now Turkey.[i] It was a city with a strong connection to Rome and its many cultic influences. Temples to various gods existed and its inhabitants were largely anti-Christian. Therefore, we are not surprised to read of tribulation and persecution in Christ’s letter to the church there.
It seems the Christians in Smyrna were in the midst of a furnace of hate and prejudice and ignorance. It was a large city boasting a population of roughly 200,000 with coins describing it as “First of Asia in beauty and size.” I suppose we can safely assume how they would have responded to the word rich.
Yet, thankfully, from the words of Christ we know that not everyone in this pagan city worshiped at the altar of Rome. At the time of Christ’s letter in the book of Revelation, some sixty years had passed since Jesus’ death. Over that time many of the apostles had died along with a great multitude of other believers, many at the hands of the Romans.
Persecution was intense and brutal. Crucifixion, burning, beheading and being thrown to wild animals were common means employed to torture and kill unwavering Christians. We cannot be certain as to when this church was planted, but we do know that they were strong, spiritually rich individuals who established a strong foundation for those who followed.
Over the next half-century the persecution continued. Around 155 A.D., an elderly Bishop of Smyrna named Polycarp, found himself face-to-face with the same persecution Jesus spoke of in his letter.[ii] Having been sought after and arrested by the Roman police, Polycarp was dragged into a stadium filled with blood-thirsty anti-Christians. They roared as the aged Christian, well-known for his faith, entered the stadium and stood before the Roman Proconsul.
Now we may not have been there in the stadium with Polycarp, but we can safely believe that he was no fool. He knew enough history and certainly the present state of his own city to know what was about to happen. Thankfully, however, based upon his testimony and actions we also know that his faith in Christ was grounded deeply.
The proconsul demanded from him, “Swear by the genius of Caesar; repent and say, ‘Away with the atheists.’”[iii] Polycarp responded “with solemn countenance” as he “looked upon the whole multitude of lawless heathen that were in the stadium.” He then “waved his hand to them; and groaning and looking up to heaven he said, ‘Away with the atheists.’”
Realizing that he was being mocked the proconsul spoke more directly. He said, “Swear the oath, and I will release thee; revile the Christ.”[iv] Now listen to the faith, the richness in Polycarp’s response. “Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?’”
Christ’s words of affirmation to the church in Smyrna emphasized the fact that they were a spiritually rich church, but what does it mean to be spiritually rich? Are we to understand it as being too much of something as in the context of money or sweetness? Taken in that context could a person be too spiritual? Or perhaps our entire understanding and use of richness actually undermines our attempt to grasp what it means to be spiritually rich.
The believers in Smyrna did not seem to struggle with understanding richness; nor did Polycarp. So perhaps we are the ones missing something in our modern, fast-paced and all too often inwardly focused churches. Remember, Smyrna was one of only two out of the seven churches in Asia which Jesus made no negative comments about; clearly, he examined them and found them pleasing. That means we have something to learn from them.
If we are to develop the richness of faith necessary to withstand the world and all of its pleasures and enticements along with its tortuous cruelty we must relearn what it means to be rich. After all, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world but lose his own soul? (Matt 16:26)
We as Christians need to understand that spiritual richness is not about quantity, but quality. In other words, I believe that what Christ found pleasing about the believers in Smyrna was that they possessed a depth of faith that saw through the lies of this world and longed for that which is eternal. They weren’t persuaded by subtle pleas for political and social correctness, whatever that actually is.
They hadn’t fallen victim to the notion that salvation in Christ alone may be true for one person, but not for another. Rather, they had heard the gospel and simply believed it, living it out even in the face of deadly opposition. This is spiritual richness, and we can rest assured that upon his return, Jesus will want to find a church whose faith runs just as deep.
Although they experienced intense persecution, the believers in Smyrna were blessed in the sense that they lived very close to the era of Christ’s earthly ministry. Granted, he had long since ascended back to heaven by the time of this letter, but his apostles had continued his ministry and the Smyrneans were direct recipients of their ministry.
History even tells us that Polycarp studied under the Apostle John. I point this out not to delude us into thinking that this closeness to the actual ministry of Christ is what made them strong, but rather to challenge us to go back to the Bible and relearn what they clearly knew. If we are to be spiritually rich as they were, we need to refocus our attention on several characteristics.
ENDNOTES
[i]Mounce, 73.
[ii]Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity. Volume 1 (New York: Harper San Francisco, 1984), 43.
[iii]Polycarp 9:2. The letter of the Smyrneans or the Martyrdom of Polycarp. Translated by J.B. Lightfoot. Adapted and modified (ATHENA DATA PRODUCTS, 1990). Internet Article: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/martyrdompolycarp-lightfoot.html Accessed on December 22, 2009.
[iv]Polycarp 9:3.
He expects a loving body – part 3 of 3
Love for Fellow Believers
Our love for him should naturally carry over to the people around us who share our unity with Christ. This is exactly what Jesus said in John 13:34-35. As he poured his love for the Father and for us out on the cross, we should likewise be expressive in our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
We should care about the emotional, physical and spiritual well-being of our Christian family. Are they joyful in Christ? Are they hungry, destitute or lonely? Are they growing in their walk with Christ or are they stagnant? Jesus consistently concerned himself with these matters when it came to those around him. If we have a genuine love for him, then so too should we.
Love for the Unconverted
However, Christ demonstrated a love for more than the church. He cast his message of grace far and wide and called us to do the same. If we are truly the body of Christ then it seems fair to say that upon his return he expects to find a body of people who both possess and manifest a sincere love for those who have never experienced the redeeming grace of God.
Yet, for that to happen we as the church, the body of Christ on earth, must have within our hearts a love for all of God’s creation, including those who hate and curse him, those who neglect or deny him, and those who have simply never heard of him.
Responding to Indifference
The next words of Christ in this brief letter emphasize his gracious love towards his children, reminding us that we were saved with a distinct purpose in view. In short, we were created to love God and bring glory to him through sacrificial praise and service.
Jesus says to us as much as he did to the Ephesians: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (2:5a). With a profound economy of words Jesus articulated what our response to cold indifference should be: Remember, repent, and return.
Christ’s charge here is the same we discussed earlier. Take a moment once again and think back to the fire you once felt towards Christ. I recall the months following my conversion. I couldn’t wait to read the Bible and learn all that I could about my Savior.
There was such a sweet anticipation as I opened its pages; I wanted to know what would happen next. There was a desire within my soul to tell others about Jesus, a desire that unknowingly seemed so natural. I confess that over the years of my walk with Christ there have been many times were I have had to stop and intentionally remember what it was like to have such a holy fire in my bones. We would all do well to remember.
However, remembering is not enough and Jesus makes that clear to us. Upon remembering our first love we are then to repent, confessing our sin as we cry out to God, pleading with him to create in us a clean heart and renew within us a steadfast spirit (Ps 51:10-12).
With a freshly cleaned heart and renewed zeal for Christ we are then to lay aside the matters which distracted us from him and return to that newly redeemed person who was on fire for Christ. The exciting thing here is that we are not asked to forsake the lessons we learn in the valleys. Rather, Jesus is charging us to take with us what we learn in the trials and sin so that we will be all the more prepared the next time distraction and cold indifference attack our souls.
There is also a flatly worded warning in this letter. Jesus declares: “If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent” (2:5b). I pray that this word of warning stops you cold in your thoughts, for it is a statement designed to do so. He was not referring to his second coming here; instead he was promising to level judgment upon the Ephesian church if they did not repent of their sin and return to what they were founded and called to be.[i]
So with deafening clarity the Ephesian body of believers was told that their church itself might be dissolved if they failed to make Christ their focus and do what he had called them to do. They desperately needed to remember their first love.
Manifesting Love
If we are honest with ourselves, we too, like our Ephesian brethren, need to remember, repent, and return. We all face the same temptations they faced. We all struggle with the same human nature. And as believers in Christ we have been adopted into the family of God and made fellow heirs with Christ the same way they were (Rom 8:12-17). Therefore, we must take to heart Christ’s charge to them and search intently to see if we too are guilty of forgetting our first love.
So what do we look for in this inward search? While physical markers can be misleading, our inward love for Christ was from the very beginning intended to manifest itself outwardly. The Ephesians were praised for their hard labor for Christ, but it was apparently done out of a sense of duty rather than worship.
Just as God rejected Cain’s offering but accepted Abel’s (Gen 4:1-7), God either rejects or accepts our offerings because he knows the inner motivation of our hearts as we serve him in this world. With that in mind, let each of us search our hearts for the purpose behind our service and worship.
Meeting physical needs
Jesus clearly calls us to meet the physical needs of people (Matt 25:31-46). Yet, he also makes it clear that by ministering to the broken we are glorifying him: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (Matt 25:40). We need to ask ourselves if we have Christ’s renown in view while we serve or our own.
Bearing with one another
Another mark of love is found in our desire to bear with one another’s burdens. Paul teaches us that by doing so we “fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). James helps us to see that this “royal law” as he dubs it is defined by love (Jas 2:8). So by choosing to bear with our brothers through trials and failures and immaturity we are demonstrating the love of Christ in our lives and loving others as much as we love ourselves.
Obeying God’s word
If the fire for our first love is still burning bright then obedience to his word should still be something which characterizes us. John captures this thought best: “And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it” (2 John 6). Of course, this is not the mere following of the law, it is the joyful desire to obey God because we love him (John 14:15).
Sharing the good news
What about evangelism? As we search out the crevices of our soul do we find an inner desire to tell other people about our savior? If we genuinely have an abiding love for Christ in our hearts and believe that he is the only means of eternal life in the presence of God then the only rational response we can make is to find joy in telling others about him (Rom 1:16-17; John 14:6).
Enjoying God
Surely there are other benchmarks by which we can gage our affection for God, but honestly the most important one involves our level of joy in him. So we should ask ourselves: Do I enjoy my relationship with him? Is my soul happy because I know that whatever happens in life God is in control and he has my best interests in mind (Rom 8:28)?
Is there contentment in my soul regardless of circumstance because I know that God is holding me in his hands and is constantly at work with the goal of conforming me into the image of his son? Do I enjoy God?
Jesus is coming back. He promised to never leave us; he promised to prepare a place for us. So we can be certain that the day is coming, and I pray that it will be soon. However, in the mean time, we as the church still have time to correct our short-comings and become the people God designed us to be. We still have time to remember our first love, repent of our sin, and return to the fiery people we were when he initially redeemed us.
Let each recall the promise of Christ as we examine our own lives: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (2:7).
[i]John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 64.
He expects a loving body – part 2
In a pattern that typifies each of the seven letters, Christ addressed his comments to a particular body and then highlighted some aspect of his character important to that particular group. He then proceeded to praise their works (with the exception the Laodicean church), condemn their failures (with the exception of Smyrna and Philadelphia), charge them and finally provide them with a promise of either judgment or blessing depending upon their situation.
Regarding Ephesus, Christ reminded them that the words addressed to them originated from the one who “holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.” From the first chapter of Revelation we learn that the seven stars are the seven angels and the seven lampstands are the seven churches (Rev 1:20). Basically, Jesus’ point here was to remind the believers at Ephesus that he is the one in control. It is he who directs the angels[i] of these churches and walks among the body of his believers.
This is reminiscent of God’s word in Leviticus 26:12 where God declares: “I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.” So we are to understand by this statement that everything God was about to say to Ephesus (along with the other churches) comes from one who knows intimately what he is talking about. He was there with them; he knew their good deeds and bad deeds. He was not speculating or guessing; the words he shared were totally truthful and accurate. Therefore, there would be no denying or blame shifting on their part.
He began with praise. The body at Ephesus labored with a patient endurance. Rather than totally succumbing to the strain of serving in such a pagan culture, they worked hard to continue serving Christ.[ii] They were commended for refusing to tolerate those who lived wickedly, even testing those who claimed to be apostles.
Their endurance in spite of struggle was rewarded by Christ and surely they were words well received as this letter was read to them. However, as only one who genuinely knows the inward thoughts of a person can do, Christ quickly humbled them by exposing the secret reality of their faith. Sadly, it had lost its luster and grown cold.
He said quite bluntly to them: “But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first” (2:4). No doubt these words stung as they left the lips of the one reading aloud this letter and pierced the hearts of all those hearing them.
I can imagine the sagging heads and pale faces. One can almost hear the silence in the room as the thoughts of every person inwardly confessed the truth of Christ’s condemnation, for their once white-hot love for Christ had cooled considerably. We learn from Paul that at some point, perhaps forty years prior to this letter, the Ephesians had displayed a profound love toward all the saints (Eph 1:15), but for whatever reason that love had diminished.
Certainly there are several characteristics that we can focus on in this letter, but I believe they all hinge on the fact that the Ephesian believers had lost their first love. This is significant because love is perhaps the chief characteristic Christ is looking for in his church. Above virtually every other attribute, the church is to display love and ultimately be defined by it.
Jesus says quite plainly in John 13:34-35 that we are to love one another: “[J]ust as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” So from this short letter to the church at Ephesus we must come to terms with the fact that upon his return, Jesus is expecting to find a church that is characterized by love, not squabbling and dissension and unrest.
The sad reality, however, is that there are far too many churches in existence today that have joined the Ephesian church by losing their first love. Take a moment and think back to when you were first made new by Christ. Perhaps you were kneeling at an altar as a child or maybe you were sitting alone in your college dorm.
All of our journeys are different, but there should be one common denominator: An overwhelming sense of love in our hearts. As a new Christian there is a natural influx of love derived from our newfound relationship with Christ. His forgiving and gracious presence engulfs our souls and manifests itself in a multitude of ways. In ways never known before, we display a love for God, a love for fellow believers, and a love for the unconverted. When we ponder what Christ is looking for in his church, I believe each of these aspects were in view as he exposed the Ephesian church.
Love for God
Honestly, as the church this is where we need to begin an honest assessment of our spiritual state. Is there within our hearts an abiding love and affection for God Almighty? When we speak of a love for God we need to be clear that we have in view here the disposition of our heart.
In other words, we need to examine our hearts and discern whether we have a genuine affection for God or are we merely appreciative of what he did for us in Christ? To be certain there is a profound difference in the two approaches.
The former reflects a soul that has been made knew by God through the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit as the gospel separated marrow and bone. The latter reflects a soul that may have been made new and is currently in a deep valley of despair or it could reflect a person who has never actually been redeemed by God.
Without doubt we were made new with the purpose of loving and serving God (Ezek 11:19-20; 36:26; Jer 32:37-41). Therefore, if a genuine affection for God is absent from our lives then we must recognize it and confess that Christ will not be pleased with us upon his return. If we are his children – his church – then a love for him should characterize our lives. This is a love we dare not lose.
[i]There are various beliefs regarding exactly who the “angels” of the churches are. Some hold that they are the bishops while others consider them the “prevailing spirit” of each congregation (Mounce).
[ii]Merril C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2001. First published in 1957 by William B. Eerdmans), 56.
He expects a loving body – part 1
Series: Christ’s Expectations for His Church
Peter said, “The end of all things is at hand” (1 Pet 4:7). A simple statement to be sure, but they’re powerful words to live by. When it comes to the subject of Christ’s return there is a common thread throughout the New Testament summarized by Peter’s words in his first epistle. He obviously believed that the time of Christ’s return would come about in his lifetime.
The writer of Hebrews likewise believed the time was near: “For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay’” (Heb 10:37). The Apostle John believed that the “last hour” would occur in his own lifetime (1 John 2:18). Perhaps the best known biblical confession of a firm expectation of Christ’s imminent and soon-coming return is Paul’s words to the Thessalonians:
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord (1 Thess 4:15-17).
Clearly, Paul lived with a great expectation and full belief that the return of Jesus Christ was going to happen in his generation. Of course, we trust that Paul knew of Christ’s teaching regarding the hour of his return (Mt 24:36), the fact that no one but the Father knows of its timing, and no where did Paul convey that he knew of a promised date of Christ’s return.
Yet, through his convincing words we are forced to grapple with the faith of a man who was so enraptured by the person of Christ that he could imagine nothing better than Christ returning and consummating history as he knew it. He tried to capture this sentiment for Titus’ sake:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Tit 2:11-13).
Paul had experienced the grace of God in a powerful, liberating way on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). He had been taught to renounce his own ungodliness and worldly passions. He had learned from Christ how to live a self-controlled, upright and godly life in the midst of a pagan world. But more than anything, the grace of God had instilled within his soul a great hope; an impassioned hope of the glorious return of his God and Savior Jesus Christ. Paul left no room for doubt; he was actively looking for Christ’s physical return. Moreover, it seems fair to say that he was longing for it.
Personally, I’m convinced that this was at least part of Paul’s motivation for consistently calling the body of Christ to spiritual renewal.[i] He knew that Christ would return and that he would be expecting to find his church living and serving as he had called them to.
Having been called out of the darkness of sin and entrusted with the high calling of the apostolic ministry, Paul labored over the state of the church until his death. He bled over the church. He wept over the church. He lost sleep and suffered at the hands of both Jew and Gentile alike for the sake of the body of Christ, all so that it could be found as a spotless bride when the bride-groom returned.
Although two millennia have passed since the life and death of Paul, our desire for the return of Christ should be no less zealous than his. Furthermore, our desire for the health and purity of the body of Christ should be no less fervent.
We too should find ourselves contemplating just what Christ is going to find when he returns. Will he find the church he designed or an imposter? Will he find the vast multitude of individual groups labeled “churches” behaving properly and proclaiming the gospel faithfully? On a more personal level, we should all ask ourselves this question: Will he find me behaving properly and proclaiming the gospel faithfully?
This is actually the most important question for us because every church is composed of individual believers and the whole can only be as good as its parts. Thankfully we serve an all-knowing God. He knew that his children would face this question until his eventual return; therefore, he gave us a very clear answer.
While exiled on the island of Patmos because of his faith, the Apostle John received a revelation from God – The revelation of Jesus Christ. This book, the book we know as Revelation, has been studied and pondered and written about by countless men and women throughout the last two thousand years. With its symbolic language and references it has confused many (myself included), but when taken for what it was intended to be it has also provided a great deal of encouragement to many.
I recall one New Testament scholar summarizing the book of Revelation with these few words: In the end, God wins. Sure, we could argue that that is an oversimplification of this weighty book, but when I try to read Revelation from a first or second century persecuted Christian perspective, the fact that God is assured the victory in the end means more to me than understanding the significance of a multi-headed dragon.
Now I do believe that we should study Revelation intently and seek to understand all that God means to communicate through it, but I pray that we will always come back to the encouragement and hope that it was originally intended to foster. This book was meant to convict the church of sin and challenge them to remain faithful to Christ amidst persecution, knowing that he would triumph over their enemies in the end.
This is vital to us as believers because although our setting is quite different from our first-century counterparts, the same basic problems that plagued them still afflict us. Their love for Christ faded over time, so too does ours. Their tolerance for false teaching grew, so too does ours. The seductive cultural influences which surrounded them corrupted their lives, likewise we are permeated by godlessness and it corrupts us just as it did them. Their faith weakened, so too does ours. Their patience and hope grew faint over the years, so too does ours.
Being so similar, we should easily find both comfort and conviction in the words of Christ’s revelation, for his loving words of encouragement and promise along with his stern correction to the seven churches in Asia are just as important and applicable to us as it was to them. With that in mind, we will turn our attention to his words written to these seven churches, praying that through them we will discern exactly what he expects to find upon his return.
Through John, Christ communicated with seven distinct churches, churches that I believe to be real, but also typical of churches that have existed from the beginning. Therefore, every believer and subsequently every church can find words of correction and comfort in his critique.
The first on his list was the church at Ephesus. It was a city bustling with people and very important from a political perspective. Cultic influences permeated the people. It boasted temples built in honor of the Roman emperors Claudius, Hadrian, and Severus.[ii] It is likely that Priscilla and Aquila were the first missionaries to this city around A.D. 52 (Acts 18:24-28).
Ephesus was a city who had heard the gospel and been taught well. Paul himself proclaimed and taught the gospel to them, challenging them to abandon their old lives for newness in Christ (Acts 19-20). Clearly, much had been entrusted to them and with his letter to them it became equally clear that Christ expected a great deal from them.
ENDNOTES
[i]Consider a sample of Paul’s words to the church: Acts 14:19-23; 16:1-5; 20:17-38; Romans 12-15; and 1 Corinthians are just a few examples of his passion for the church to behave as God originally intended.
[ii]Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation. Revised. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1998. First Edition, 1977), 66-67.
The salty church – part 3
The Church’s Mission
So the church is a called-out body of redeemed individuals drawn together in Christ as one family. Surely there are more articulate definitions, but hopefully this one will serve us well and guide us throughout our study and more importantly our pursuit of establishing healthy churches for the glory of God. Yet, there is more we need to know.
Okay, we are a called-out body, but why were we “called out”? This is a good question, and it has answer. To word the question differently, we need to ask, “What is the mission of the church?” This is more important that many realize. I fear that a lot of Christians will respond to this question with a resounding rolling of their eyes, as if to say the answer to the question is obvious. However, the state of the church reveals that the church at large may not affectively grasp what the mission of the church actually entails. In fact, it is entirely possible that we have begun to place the proverbial cart before the horse.
David Bosch phrases it this way. Speaking of the early church, he writes: “Mission was understood as being derived from the very nature of God…Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world…a movement from God to the world…There is a church because there is a mission, not vice versa.”[1]
Did you catch that? The task God has set before us, which is to be his ambassador’s in this world, does not exist because there is a church needing something to do. No, the church exists because there is a mission that must be fulfilled. This is huge. Every Christian and therefore every church which exists needs to grasp this concept, for it provides a constant reminder of who we are and what we have been commissioned to do.
Life is not about us. Ministry is not about us. Worship is not about us. Eternity is not about us. It is all about him. We exist for the glory of God, not the other way around. Moreover, we exist for the good of humanity.
It’s was a preservative
One of the best ways for us to understand our mission as Christians and therefore the church is to give our full attention and obedience to Christ’s words to us from the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus tells us that we “are the salt of the earth” (Matt 5:13a).
The metaphor is clear. For centuries man has been using salt as a means of preserving meat. Prior to the advent of modern refrigeration, the only way to preserve meat was to rub a great deal of salt into the meat and allow the salt to extract the moisture from the meat, thereby working to prevent the growth of bacteria and ultimately the decay of the meat.
Much the same way, the church has been sent into the world with a mission. We are to act as a preservative for this wicked world. Earlier I mentioned the need for the church to be infused into the world; this metaphor is what I was referring to. Just as salt is rubbed into meat so as to prevent decay, so too the church is to be rubbed into the meat of this world with the goal of being used by God to draw out the sin and wickedness that is present. But how do we do this? How can we as sinful individuals be affectively used by God to identify sin in others and preserve them?
First, we must understand the gospel and embrace it as truth, for only through the gospel of Jesus Christ can the wicked be forgiven and justified before God. Apart from the piercing power of God’s word we have no weapon and no ability to draw out sin from anyone. I can yell from the rooftops that cohabitation is wrong and evil in the sight of God, but unless the power of God through gospel is presented I am accomplishing nothing of eternal significance. For the church to be salt it must embrace and unapologetically proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Second, as Christians we should also be living in such a way as to attract people to God. I say this because we all know that our lives, even on our best days, fall drastically short of God’s righteous standard (Isa 64:6). Therefore, our goal is to draw attention to God through lives that are selflessly devoted to him. This is an attribute the early church exemplified. Think of Paul as he spoke with the Athenians. Through his teaching and witness he left them wanting more of God.
They said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean” (Acts 17:19-20). What a great example of being salt in a decaying world.
However, Jesus knew that not every Christian and therefore every church would live out their design. So he aimed the rest of this metaphor at them. He continued, “…but if salt has lost its taste” (Matt 5:13b). Now scientifically we know that salt does not lose its saltiness, but it can however be adulterated or spoiled. That means that we must conclude that Jesus was referring to churches who were meant to be the salt of the earth, but because of compromise and indifference have become infused with the world.
Of these churches we ask: “Is there any discernable difference between you and the world?” Yes, we are to permeate this world with the message of Christ’s atoning death and the freedom it brings, but if we look no different than the world around us we have failed. This painful reality led Jesus to conclude his metaphor by saying, “…how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matt 5:13c).
These words should scare us, for Jesus says quite bluntly that if salt is corrupted it cannot be restored (naturally speaking of course). In fact, from a human perspective it has been rendered completely useless and therefore must be cast out and destroyed. This means that a saltless church is a worthless church. Okay, that sounds really harsh, but Jesus made his point didn’t he?
It should be clear that Jesus takes the health of his body so seriously that he is willing to speak the truth in love and shock his body into reality when necessary. Thankfully, although this is impossible with man, all things are possible with God (Matt 19:26). Any Christian or any church who finds themselves having lost its saltiness can be restored by returning to the source of their saltiness, and Christ is the source!
Anytime we cut through the haze of life and see that our lives have been spoiled because of an infusion with the world we must return to the fountain of living water and ask God to restore to us his original intent for our lives. Again, we may not be able to re-establish the saltiness, but God can.
It’s was a beacon
A concluding thought by Jesus on this matter came by way of another metaphor. This time he teaches us that in him we are beacons of truth in a truth-denying world. Yes, we are salt, but we are also “the light of the world” (Matt 5:14a). Again, we are his ambassadors sent into this world with the purpose of magnifying Christ so that this world will be unable to deny his existence and power.
We are like a great city built high and magnificent upon a hill. When the light of God’s glory shines brightly through us we cannot be hidden or cast aside as irrelevant. When God chose to cause the “light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” to shine within our souls and through our lives (2 Cor 4:6), he worked to use us to cast the light of his truth onto the sin of this world. Therefore, it is foolish and utterly inconsistent for us to claim the name of Jesus and then stick our lamp under a basket (Matt 5:15). It just doesn’t make any sense! Rather, we are to let our lights “shine before others, so that they may see [our] good works and give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matt 5:16).
Both of these metaphors are powerful. From the outset the church was meant to be a preservative for the world and a beacon to the world. In other words, we are to be in the world, living and interacting with others while doing all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31). Withdrawing from society and seeking seclusion amongst fellow believers is not what God envisioned for the church.
That means that we who have been made new by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ are to take the treasure of Christ – the gospel – which has been deposited into us and share it to others (Acts 1:8; 2 Tim 2:1-2). This is what it means to be the church of the living God here on earth.
The question is, however, are we doing that? Now I understand the various temptations here. Some of you may be tempted to start listing ministries and quickly draw the conclusion that we are salt and light based on a logical deduction. Meaning that because we have this program and this program we are therefore salt and light. This approach is somewhat of a mathematical approach: A + B = C; therefore, A = C – B.
Please don’t fall into this trap. Jesus was not giving us a formula with these two metaphors. Rather, he was exposing the natural tendency of the heart to grow complacent. We don’t set out to lose our saltiness our hide our lamp under a basket. Yet, it happens to Christians and to churches everyday. So as you prayerfully and humbly ponder your own life and daily workings of our church, ask yourself where your heart is. We’re not salt and light if we have to force it. Now that is not intended to be a dogmatic statement regarding our salvation, but it is meant to reveal that if we find ourselves in that situation it means that we are missing something vital to our walk with Christ.
Granted, the early church was not perfect, but taken as a whole and contrasted with the words of Christ we can definitely learn a great deal about what the church was meant to look, act, and feel like. The imagery of a body and a family are two characteristics that must be present and define a God-called group of individuals claiming to represent Christ. A preservative and a beacon, these are two components of our missional mandate from Christ that likewise must be present and define a God-called group of individuals claiming to represent Christ.
Now if only it were as easy as I just made it sound. Regardless of difficulty, however, if we want to be the salty church God intended, we must take time and search for reasons these attributes are so hard to maintain. This study, which I have entitled, Vital Issues Facing the Church Today, is meant to highlight several important concerns that when misunderstood or misapplied can have drastic affects upon the church. In the messages which follow we will be discussing the root of our joy, the sovereignty of God, worship, the gospel, unity, godliness, ministry and evangelism.
Yes, there are many more concerns, but these are some of the issues that I feel are extremely vital to the church. They are important issues that we must get right.
So the question now becomes this: Will we as a body prostrate ourselves before God and ask him to grant us the grace we need to lament our short-comings, the humility we need to praise him for our strengths, and the courage we need to become a church which honors God through faithful ministry and biblical character? I pray that we will.
[1]David Bosch, Transforming Mission, as quoted by Milfred Minatrea in Shaped by God’s Heart, xvi.
The salty church – part 2
Being well into the twenty-first century, it is time for the church to do a little self-examination. Yes, this will not necessarily be fun, but if churches will approach God’s word with humility and desire to assess themselves in light of revealed truth, I’m convinced that God will grant us the grace we need to lament our short-comings, the humility we need to praise him for our strengths, and the courage we need to become churches which honor God through faithful ministry and biblical character.
The Church’s Character
Having said all of that, we need to actually begin by defining what the church is. From a linguistic perspective, the church is a group of individuals called out from the world. The Greek word behind our English word “church” is ekklesia, which is formed by two Greek words. The first part is ek which means “out” and the second part is kaleo which means “to call”. So the literal rendering of ekklesia is the “called out ones” or something close to that.
Although originally used in more of a political sense, the word became associated with the church because it communicated something about the assembly of individuals known as Christians. As the first century church began to spread by fulfilling God’s intention for them, it became clear that they were a people called out and set apart by God. Although not an exhaustive description of the church, consider a few characteristics of the New Testament church.
It’s was a body
In his work with the early church and his many writings to them, the Apostle Paul draws our attention to a vital characteristic of the church: The church of Christ is a body of believers. The first Christians took seriously their adoption into the family of God (Eph 1). They no longer saw themselves strictly as individuals; they realized that in Christ they were the parts which produced the whole. Challenging the church to draw together in unity, Paul reminded them of how ridiculous disunity is for the church.
He wrote to the Ephesians, “we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (Ephesians 4:15-16). Just as a human body only works as designed if all its individual parts are properly functioning, so too the body of Christ needs all of its parts doing what they were designed to do if it is to be what God intended. Elsewhere Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 12:14-20 – “For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.”
From the outset the church has been seen as a group, a body. We were never meant to live for Christ on this earth in a solo or maverick fashion. On the contrary, God designed human beings to thrive in concert with other people. We were always meant to be a body of believers.
It’s was a fellowship
Another attribute of the early church was that of family, or fellowship. They were a body; therefore, they were close to one another. In fact, Luke records that along with devoting themselves to important matters such as the apostles’ doctrine, worship and evangelism, they also devoted themselves to fellowship (Acts 2:42). I take this to mean that they were deliberately in each others lives and that they genuinely enjoyed one another’s company.
We all know that human nature being what it is, there were certainly members of this early body that did not “click” or necessarily see eye-to-eye on everything, but there is more to fellowship than merely agreeing on everything, and there is more to fellowship than enjoying a meal together (although that can certainly contribute to fellowship).
Based on the New Testament is seems clear that we are a fellowship of Christ. This means that we are ultimately to find our identity in the person of Jesus Christ. The church, or the body of Christ, is a called out group of people who have been redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9). As individuals we have been declared righteous because of Christ’s sacrifice (Rom 3; 2 Cor 5:21) and given a heart that is no longer reigned by sin, but rather love for God.
This means that as the children of God in Christ we have a new identity, the old lone ranger mentality is to be gone because it has been replaced with a unified and loving bond between people who have been united in Christ (1 Cor 1:9; Heb 2:11).
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