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Embrace Your Sin to Heal it (Ephesians 4:31-32)

By Jeremy Myers
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Embrace Your Sin to Heal it (Ephesians 4:31-32)
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John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. He was rich and successful, and not surprisingly, demanded high performance from his company executives.

One day, one of these executives made a two million dollar mistakeโ€”a small little error that cost the company two million dollars.

News of this manโ€™s error spread rapidly throughout the executive offices, and they all were scared of Rockefellerโ€™s reaction, and so every executive made himself scarce. They didnโ€™t want to be the one who received the brunt of Rockefellerโ€™s wrath.

But one executive had an appointment already scheduled. He couldnโ€™t cancel it. He couldnโ€™t back out. So when the time came, he squared his shoulders, tightened his belt, took a deep breath, and walked into Rockefellerโ€™s office.

As he approached the oil monarchโ€™s desk, Rockefeller looked up from the piece of paper he was writing on. โ€œI guess youโ€™ve heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made,โ€ he said abruptly.

โ€œYes,โ€ said the executive, expecting Rockefeller to explode.

โ€œWell, Iโ€™ve been sitting here listing all of our friendโ€™s good qualities on this sheet of paper, and Iโ€™ve discovered that in the past, he has made this company many more times the amount of money he lost today in his mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, donโ€™t you?โ€[1]

And that is what happened, the man who made the mistake was forgiven two million dollars.

Now thatโ€™s a true story. But letโ€™s go a bit further. Let us imagine that this man who made the mistake went home that day, and discovered while going through his paperwork that a neighbor friend of his had forgotten to pay him one thousand dollars.

So he calls the friend and demands the thousand dollars immediately. Well, the neighbor had just had some medical problems, and lost his job, and didnโ€™t have the money. This enraged the executive, so he decided to sue the man for the money, and that is what he did.

Now letโ€™s say that Rockefeller heard what his executive had done. What do you think Rockefeller would do?

We can be certain that he would call this executive into his office, and say something to him along the lines of, โ€œYou wicked man! I forgave you the two million dollar mistake that you made, and yet you would not forgive a man one thousand dollars who wasnโ€™t able to pay it back to you. For that, I will now force you to pay back to me the two million dollars which you owe me.โ€

Does this story sound familiar to you? It should. It comes straight out of Matthew 18 and Jesusโ€™ instruction regarding forgiveness. And Jesus says there that if we do not forgive others when they sin against us, we will not be forgiven when we sin against God.

In the past couple of weeks, we have been looking at the final section of Ephesians 4, and we have seen four sins which are particularly deadly in the life of the Christian.

We looked at lying, anger, stealing and corrupt speech. All of these hinder our love, our fellowship, and our relationships. But Paul is not done. He has one more issue to deal with in Ephesians 4:31-32. And it is a wonderful item to end this list with.

In Ephesians 4:29-30, Paul wrote against the sin of speaking evil. Ephesians 4:31 is still about the sin of speaking evil, but Paul transitions to a different topic. So Ephesians 4:31 a hinge verse. Though Paul is still warning against the sins of the tongue, he has specific types of evil speaking in mind, namely, malice and bitterness toward others. He is going to show that instead of speaking with bitterness, it is better to forgive others.

As with the previous four sins, this fifth prohibition against sin follows the same pattern. There is first a negative command to not sin. This is found in Ephesians 4:31, where we are told to not speak with bitterness and malice. Then there is a positive command in Ephesians 4:32a, which is to be forgiving instead. Then Paul provides the motivation in Ephesians 4:32b, which is that we should forgive because we have been forgiven by God in Jesus Christ.

Let us begin with the negative command in Ephesians 4:31.

Negative Command: Donโ€™t be Bitter (Ephesians 4:31)

Ephesians 4:31. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

Paul lists several aspects of bitterness here. First, he lists bitterness itself. Bitterness is spite that keeps a record of wrongs and develops a general attitude of resentment. Bitterness is revealed in jealous anger, and sarcastic, biting remarks about other people. Do you have lists of wrong things people have done to you or said to you? If so, you are bitter and need to confess this before God.

Then he mentions wrath. The word here is thumon. Itโ€™s a stirring of the emotions which ultimately results in a verbal explosion. Wrath is sort of the inward feeling of wanting revenge on someone.

Anger is similar, but tends to be more active and outward. We saw the dangerous results of anger previously when we looked at Ephesians 4:26-27. James also talks about the disastrous results of anger in James 4:1-2, saying that it results in murder.

Then clamor. This is just pure noise. Some people talk, not because they have anything to say, but because they simply like to talk. This is meaningless talk. These people would do well to remember an old proverb that says, โ€œIt is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open oneโ€™s mouth and remove all doubt.โ€ It has also been said that โ€œThere are two kinds of people who donโ€™t say much: Those who are quiet โ€ฆ and those who talk a lot.โ€ Thatโ€™s clamor.

Clamor also refers to people who resort to raising their voices and shouting and screaming at each other when in a disagreement. Raising your voice always causes more problems in an argument.

Next, evil speaking. The Greek word used here is blasphamia. It is where we get our word blasphemy. Did you know that you could blaspheme another person? We often think that we can only blaspheme God, but we blaspheme others whenever we talk negatively about them, or say evil things about them. This word can also be translated as slander, and we maybe could include all forms of gossip here. Gossip is when you say something about another personโ€”even if itโ€™s trueโ€”with the end result that it tears them down in the eyes and minds of other people.

We often hide gossip under a mask by saying things like, โ€œI think we should pray for so and so, because he did this or she said that.โ€ Or, we might call someone and say, โ€œI need to ask your advice about how to handle this certain person who did this or said that.โ€

Gossip and slander tear down unity and love faster than anything else, and they must be rooted out of our lives. Paul says here that such things are evil speaking, blasphemous.

Finally, in verse 31, Paul mentions malice. The Greek word is kakia, and means hateful feelings, trouble, worry. You will notice that Paul puts malice in a special position, and connects it with the rest of the words by using the preposition with. What he is saying is that malice is the source from which those other kinds of negative talk flow.

Malice is the fountain head from which evil speaking flows. When you speak with bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor or slander about another person, it is because of malice within your heart. Not love.

Now those are the ones Paul lists here, and all of them are serious roadblocks to fellowship, unity and love within the church.

All of these are indications of bitterness, malice, and hatred toward others. All of these types of attitudes toward others fail to edify and encourage others, and therefore tear down the body of Christ rather than build it up. All of these, according to Ephesians 4:31 need to be put away from you. This is an imperative in the Greek. Itโ€™s not optional, itโ€™s a command.

So thatโ€™s the negative command. The positive command is found in the first part of Ephesians 4:32. Rather than be full of bitterness and malice toward others, we must forgive them instead.

Forgiven and forgiveness

Positive Command: Forgive One Another (Ephesians 4:32a)

Ephesians 4:32a. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another โ€ฆ

In this verse, Paul uses three phrases to describe forgiveness.

He first says be kind to one another.

The word Paul uses here is chreยญstos, and because the Greek word for Christ is Christos, Christians from the very beginning saw its appropriateness.[2] To be kind, chrestos, to others is to treat others as Christ would treat them.

This word is also used in 1 Corinthians 13:4 as one of the ways love revels itself. Love is kind.

It is a word in Romans 2:4 concerning the patience, goodness and kindness God has toward us so that we will turn to Him.

Kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

And kindness is what God will show to us for an eternity in heaven. We saw this back in Ephesians 2:7.

Sometimes, we only want to be kind toward those who are kind to us. But again, this same exact word is the word Jesus uses in Luke 6:35 for how God treats the ungrateful and the wicked. He is kind toward them, even though they are in rebellion against Him and are therefore His enemies.

We are not simply to be kind toward those we like, but even kind toward our enemies. Even toward those we donโ€™t like.

The second phrase is tenderhearted. This word is used only here and in 1 Peter 3:8. The word comes from two Greek words, eu, which means good, and splagchnos, which means affectionโ€”or bowels, intestines.

Greek people thought that the bowels were the seat of emotions. We talk about emotions like love coming from the heart, but the Greeks said they came from the stomachโ€”or the splagchnosโ€”the bowels. The prophet Jeremiah cries out in Jeremiah 4:19, โ€œMy bowels, my bowels!โ€ Today, we would say, โ€œOh my aching heart!โ€

So although our version here reads, tenderhearted, they would have understood it to be tenderboweled.

Now personally, I would rather be tenderhearted, than tenderboweled. The thought of being tenderboweled raises the image of spending a lot of time in the bathroom โ€ฆ but thatโ€™s what the word really means. However, since we today think about emotions coming from the heart, it is fine for our Bibles to use the word tenderhearted instead.

Regardless, the point is clear. Paul wants his readers to have concern and consideration for others. To care about the needs and desires of others, more than they care for themselves.[3] Those who are tenderhearted look out for the needs of others.

forgiven forgiveness

And one of those needs, according to the next phrase in Ephesians 4:32 is forgiveness.

As I have frequently mentioned before, there are two words in the Bible for forgiveness. The first is aphiemi. It is a conditional type of forgiveness, which requires various steps and actions. It might be better translated as โ€œrelease.โ€

The second type of forgiveness is charizomai. It comes from the root word charis, which is the word for grace, and so charizomai means to deal graciously with someone, to give freely. This type of forgiveness if freely offered by God to all people for all their sins, past, present, and future. There are no conditions of any kind for this type of forgiveness. This kind of forgiveness could be defined as graciously overlooking or letting go of an offense.

What type of forgiveness is Paul referring to here? It is the second type, charizomai forgiveness.

And this type of forgiveness doesnโ€™t just come from God. As Paul indicates here, we are to extend this free, unconditional forgiveness toward others as well. Why? Because it is important for unity and love in the family of God. We are told in 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 that a lack of forgiveness allows the devil a foothold in our relationships.

If we fail to forgive someone, or refuse to forgive them, it becomes a wedge in the relationship which just serves to drive you further apart. Where there is no forgiveness there is resentment and animosity.

When there is disagreement, the ball is in your court. True forgiveness is not saying, โ€œWell, Iโ€™ll forgive them if they say theyโ€™re sorry first.โ€ No, charizomai is freely given forgiveness. You take the first step as God did for us. There are no strings attached, no conditions, no requirements. We are to forgive the other person even if they never ask for it, even if they keep sinning against us, and even if they never change their behavior or recognize that what they are doing is wrong.

Paul commands us here to completely and freely forgive one another. Rather than have malice, anger, and bitterness toward others, we are to freely forgive them.

So thatโ€™s the command. Now we come to the motivation. You should forgive, because God forgave you.

forgiveness of God

Motivation: God forgave You (Ephesians 4:32b)

Ephesians 4:32b. โ€ฆ even as God in Christ forgave you.

There are generally two types of people in the world when it comes to being forgiven. First are those who donโ€™t think they need to be forgiven.

This first type, when they read this verse, see the word โ€œyouโ€ but immediately think of other people. When they first read this verse, the idea that immediately pops into their mind is, โ€œWow. Godโ€™s grace is so great, it could have covered over the vast multitude of sins of a man like my neighbor.โ€

Do you see how easy and subtle that is? The text says, even as God in Christ forgave you, and some people read, even as God in Christ forgave everybody else.

No, the point is YOU. ME. I. You see, some of us think that everybody else is a pretty bad person and needs forgiveness, but not me. Yeah, sure, weโ€™ve done a few things bad, but what about that man down the street. Watch out for him! Forgiving him would really crack the bank.

We are all experts at judging others, but blind when it comes to judging ourselves.

We see people live so foolishly, we wonder if they have any brains. We see all the faults of other people. All of their sins. All of their shortcomings. All of their failures. All of their bad attitudes and improper motives.

And God sees all of this as well. But He sees something more. He sees a person we never see.

And that person is ourselves.

Most people think they know themselves pretty well, but the truth is that we are mostly blind to our own faults and shortcomings. Most of us are mostly ignorant of our true nature and character. We are blind to our pride and our arrogance.

In the TV Series, โ€œThe Crown,โ€ which is based on the early years of Queen Elizabethโ€™s reign, there is an episode (Season 1 Episode 9, โ€œAssassinsโ€) where Winston Churchill is having his portrait painted by Graham Sutherland. They have a discussion about whether the portrait will be true to life or hide some of the details of Churchillโ€™s age and weight. After Sutherland begins painting, they have this exchange:

Churchill: Am I to be allowed a peek?

Sutherland: No.

Churchill: Well, why not? I could give you advice. After all, I know this face better than you do. If youโ€™ve made the neck too thick or the arms too long, I can tell you.

Sutherland: I find in general people have very little understanding of who they are. One has to turn a blind eye to so much of oneself in order to get through life.

Sutherland is exactly right. We think we know ourselves, but we are actually the one person we are most ignorant about. The psychologist Carl Jung said that the most important purpose we have in life is to get to know ourselves. And most people know far less about themselves than they think.

Jung pointed out that all of us have a shadow side that we hide and ignore. We donโ€™t want others to see and we refuse to look at it ourselves. Jung taught that we cannot become a complete person, we cannot become who we are meant to be, unless we see our shadow, understand it, and integrate it into our life.

He said that all the negative traits that appear in our life are indications of where our shadow is controlling us without our knowledge. Anger, jealousy, bitterness, wrath, malice, all the things that Pual mentions here in Ephesians 4:31-32, are part of our hidden interior that need to be recognized and dealt with.

The problem, said Jung, is that most of us try to deal with these negative traits by shoving them down deeper. By trying to control them and hide them. But that never works. He said that we need to bring these things to the surface, bring them up to our attention, and then integrate them in our life by redirecting the negative traits toward something positive.

Jealousy can lead us to a greater drive to work hard.

Anger and wrath can be channeled into passion for a cause or to change something wrong with the world.

Fear can lead us to prudence and making wise choices.

We should stop trying to eliminate our flaws, and instead work to transform, redirect, and integrate them into who God made us to be.

Now, regardless of what you think about Carl Jung, he was simply saying what Paul is already teaching here. All of us have negative traits, and we need to recognize those traits and โ€ฆ forgive them! Accept them as part of us! Only in this way can we redirect those negative traits toward something positive.

Itโ€™s not good enough to say, in some general, vague sort of way, โ€œOh, I know I have my faults too.โ€ We all are fatally flawed and have traits that destroy our fellowship with God and are foolishness in the eyes of men. We are most often ignorant about them.

โ€œBut,โ€ you say, โ€œIf thatโ€™s true, how come nobody has ever told me?โ€ Believe me, they have tried. They have tried over and over again, but you just couldnโ€™t take it. Perhaps a great deal of what you call โ€œnaggingโ€ or โ€œbad temperโ€ is really their efforts to make you see the truth.

So we must learn to see ourselves as God sees us โ€ฆ but before we can do that, we must first come to recognize that even though God sees our true selves, He continues to forgive us for all our faults. Only when we come to understand that we are fully and completely forgiven will we have the courage to allow God to reveal our true selves to us.

And then once we allow Him to reveal ourselves to ourselves, and we see how much He has forgiven us for, it is then that we find the freedom to forgive others also, as we have been forgiven.

So God sees everything negative we see in other people, and He sees everything negative in us which we do not see. Yet He loves us still. He goes on loving. He goes on forgiving.[4] We will not personally realize this forgiveness until we see that we too are sinners and in need of the forgiveness of God.

Now, there are some people who do recognize how much they need to be forgiven. Not all people are completely blind to their own faults and failures. Some realize how truly sinful and wretched they are. But the danger here is that these people often think that they are so bad, nobodyโ€”let alone Godโ€”could ever forgive them. When they hear this verse, and it says, even as God in Christ forgave you, they think, โ€œNo, you donโ€™t know what Iโ€™ve done. God could never forgive me.โ€

forgiveness aphesis release

These types of people try to live a good life so they can โ€œwork offโ€ their guilt. I donโ€™t know if youโ€™ve seen the movie called โ€œThe Missionโ€ but the main character is of this sort. He is involved in the South American slaving business, but after a while realizes the wretchedness of such a trade, and so he becomes a priest and tries to work off his guilt.

Now in one sense, such work does make you feel better, but in all honesty, most of these kinds of people can never shake the guilt. Sometimes the guilt gets so bad, it causes severe depression and mental anguish so that the people get put into psychiatric wards.

Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, says that if he could convince the patients in his psychiatric hospitals that their sins are forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day.[5]

Some people, although forgiven, cannot forgive themselves or believe that they have been forgiven.

They need to be shown the vast and eternal forgiveness and grace of God as presented in Godโ€™s Word. They need to be shown that although they have sinned, the penalty has already been paid for them on the cross of Christ.

God has forgiven you. If you donโ€™t think you are a sinner, or have done anything really bad, ask God to show you how sinful you really are. It will send you to your knees. Or, on the other hand, if you know how sinful you are, but donโ€™t believe God could ever forgive you, ask God to reveal to you the depth and length of His love and mercy toward you. God has forgiven you.

That is what the text says. Even as God in Christ forgave you.

Notice that it doesnโ€™t simply say โ€œGod forgave youโ€ but rather, God in Christ forgave you.

Some people think this means that God could not have forgiven us unless Jesus died on the cross. In other words, some people teach that God wanted to forgive us, but He first needed to be paid for the sins of the world, which is what Jesus accomplished through His death on the cross, so that now God can forgive us.

But think about what this view is saying. It is saying that God doesnโ€™t actually forgive at all โ€ฆ instead, He gets paid off.

If you have a car loan or a house mortgage, and you send in your final payment to the bank, are they then going to send you a letter which says, โ€œCongratulations! We have just forgiven your loan!โ€ No. They did not forgive your loan; they got paid. Once the debt is paid off, forgiveness is no longer an option.

So you see, forgiveness and the payment of a debt are mutually exclusive. One can either forgive a debt or be paid for a debt, but you cannot do both. Itโ€™s the same with God. God can either forgive us for our sins, or He can be paid off for our debt of sins. But He cannot do both.

Scripture reveals that He did the former. He freely forgives us for our sins. He does not get paid off by the death of Jesus. The blood of Jesus does not buy forgiveness of sins from God, because forgiveness of a debt, by definition, cannot be bought.

So when Paul writes that God forgave us in Christ, what does He mean? He means that in Jesus Christ, we were shown how God freely forgives us for all our sins. How do we see this?

Jesus came as the incarnate son of God. He was God in the flesh. And He did no wrong. He committed no sins. He lived a perfect life, and did not thing that deserved punishment or death. But we took Him, condemned Him, and killed Him anyway. We murdered God.

But on the cross, what did Jesus say? He said, โ€œFather, forgiven them, for they know not what they do.โ€

In this way, Jesus revealed what God has always been doing. Just as Jesus freely forgave us from the cross, so also, God has always been freely forgiving us from heaven. Since Jesus perfectly reveals God to us, and since Jesus freely forgives us when we are committing the worst sin possible, we know that God freely forgives us of all our sins as well.

God forgives all the sins of all people. Thatโ€™s how great and vast the forgiveness of God is. (Yes, I am aware of the unpardonable sin in Matthew 12:31-32, and have written a book on the topic. What is most important about that text, however, is that the forgiveness in view in Matthew 12 is the aphesis forgiveness; not charizomai. My book explains why this is significant.)

But if God freely forgives all the sins of all people, does that mean that everybody has eternal life?

No. Why not? Because eternal life is not given simply because someone has been forgiven for all their sins. Eternal life is not received when a person has their sins forgiven. Eternal life is received when a person gain the righteousness of God. There is a difference between having your sins wiped away and gaining the positive righteousness of God. To gain eternal life, we need more than just forgiveness; we need the life of God in us.[6]

But how do we get that?

By faith in Jesus Christ. When we believe in Jesus for eternal life, we are justified. That is, we are โ€œdeclared righteousโ€ by God. Before, we were only forgiven. Through faith, we are declared righteous and fit for entrance into heaven.

Have you believed in Jesus Christ for eternal life? Nothing you can do can get God to bring you to heaven. You cannot work hard enough. You cannot do enough good.

It is simply faith alone that will give the necessary righteousness for eternal life and entrance into heaven.

But that is not where we should stop, as we are seeing today in Ephesians 4:32. There is more to life than getting to heaven. There are relationships. Relationships with God and with one another.

And Paul is telling us today that a lack of forgiveness in the life of the Christian will damage those relationships.

Look at it this way. We are all sinners. Each one of us struggles in different ways with different things. One person may struggle with anger. Another with stealing. Another with lying. Another with controlling their tongue.

One person may have difficulty with lust โ€“ their thought life. Thatโ€™s not a problem for someone else, but maybe they are tempted by drunkenness.

All of us need to realize that we all struggle with different things, and what I struggle with may not be the least bit tempting for you and vice-versa. Therefore, we need to show a little grace and kindness and forgiveness toward one another.

God did not wait until we had our act cleaned up before He forgave us and decided to love us. He loved us while we were still sinners. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And He continues to forgive us, because none of us are without sin.

This is our example to follow. We have been forgiven much by God. Therefore, when someone sins against us, it is a small matter for us to forgive them.

Now let me say three things in closing about forgiveness.

Silhouette of bird flying and broken chains at beautiful mountain and sky autumn sunset background

Forgiveness is Unlimited.

Sometimes, forgiveness comes around to haunt us. It seems like those we forgive just keep taking advantage of us. The person keeps failing, and we keep forgiving. So some people have a forgiveness limit. They say things like, โ€œWell, OK, Iโ€™ll forgive you this once, but donโ€™t do that again.โ€

Two little boys named Charles and James got into a fight. Charles ended up hitting James on the head with a stick, and when their mom came to sort it all out, she told Charles to apologize to James and told James to forgive Charles.

Charles apologized and asked for forgiveness, but James said, โ€œOh alright. Iโ€™ll forgive you tonight, but youโ€™d better watch out in the morning!โ€[7]

Thatโ€™s not true forgiveness. But that is the kind of forgiveness some people have. Iโ€™ll forgive you this once, but you better watch out.

Some people have a โ€œthree strikes and youโ€™re outโ€ mentality. The Pharisees in Jesus day were of this sort. They taught that if a person kept sinning against you, or failing you, you only had to forgive them three times.

But then the apostle Peter came along. And he wanted to be super spiritual, so he took those three times that the Pharisees taught, multiplied it by two, and then added one more for good measure. He went to Christ and said, โ€œHow many times should I forgive my neighbor, seven times?โ€

But Jesus said, โ€œNo. Not seven, but seventy times seven.โ€ Now, some people multiply that out, and so โ€œOh, ok, so I only have to forgive them 490 timesโ€ but thatโ€™s not the point Jesus was making. He was saying, let your forgiveness be unlimited. Counting how many times you forgive someone is not genuine forgiveness.

But thereโ€™s balance here. While your forgiveness can be unlimited, God did give us wisdom and common sense. Which brings us to the second miscellaneous point about forgiveness.

forgiveness

Forgiveness is not Forgetting

Some try to include the idea of forgetting with forgiveness. They says, โ€œForgive and forget.โ€ I used to do that as well. I used to look at verses like Psalm 103:12 which says he has removed our sin as far from us as the east is from the west and Hebrews 10:17 where it says God remembers our sins no more, and say, โ€œSee? True forgiveness forgets.โ€

But I donโ€™t think my understanding of these verse was correct, and so neither was my application. Psalm 103:12 says nothing more than that he removes our sin from us. It doesnโ€™t say anything about Him forgetting our sin.

And Hebrews 10:17, in context, is saying that in regard to our salvation, our sins are no longer an issue with God. Though we may forgive others and be forgiven, there are still consequences and results of sin.[8]

If someone borrows some money from you, and they squander it, and then are not able to pay you back, that may be an opportunity to forgive them. But forgiveness does not mean that you must give them money the next time they ask for some.

Sin has consequences even though it has been forgiven. Forgiveness does not include enabling the sin to continue. People have character flaws and the purpose of forgiveness is to help them work to improve their character in an atmosphere of love and kindness, not to enable them to continue in their sinful habits.

A Christian man I know owned a business, and he discovered that one of his employees was embezzling thousands of dollars. Did he forgive the man? Yes. But he didnโ€™t forget and he didnโ€™t keep the man as an employee. That would have been foolish.

You see, there are consequences to sin, and forgiveness does not always mean the removal of consequences. Let me give you some other examples.

It is unwise to have a child molester work with children, even though you forgive him. Parents, if your children have a habit of lying to you, you may continue to forgive them, but you will withhold privileges until they show themselves to be trustworthy.

Forgiveness does not always include forgetting. The balance in this is that true forgiveness does forget in the sense that it does not always drag up the past to throw it in someoneโ€™s face.

This is key to being a forgiving person.

A man was complaining to his friend that whenever he gets into an argument with his wife, she gets historical.

His fried tried to correct him, โ€œYou mean hysterical, donโ€™t you?โ€

โ€œNo,โ€ he said, โ€œI mean historical. She always brings up my past mistakes.โ€

That is not forgiveness. Forgiveness does not throw the past in peopleโ€™s faces. It means letting go of the offense, not carrying around a grudge, but also learning from those mistakes so that you do not enable a person to sin further in the future.

So, while there is a sense in which we should forgive and forget, we must not allow our forgetting to cause us to make foolish decisions in the future.

you are forgiven

Forgive to be Forgiven

Finally, something should be said about the various texts in Scripture which indicate that we will not be forgiven by God if we donโ€™t forgive others. Matthew 18:35 is one such text. Jesus tells a parable about a man who was forgiven much, and when he did not forgive someone else, the forgiveness that had been offered to him was taken back. Some say that if you donโ€™t forgive, this proves you never had eternal life to begin with.[9]

The key to these sorts of texts is to recognize that they refer to aphesis forgiveness. The conditional forgiveness which gives us release from our addiction and bondage to sin. We can be freely forgiven by God, but still struggle with sin in our lives.

Passages like Matthew 18 (cf. also Matt. 6:12), are not about whether or not we have eternal life and go to heaven when die. Instead, they are about how to have good relationships with people here and now, while on this earth. If you want to have good relationships with other people, you need to own up to your mistakes and ask for forgiveness, while also forgiving others when they ask it of you.

As long as we harbor unforgiveness in our hearts toward others, we will live in bitterness and malice toward others, which hurts and harms us more than it hurts and harms them.

So this brings us full circle back to what Paul is writing here in Ephesians 4. Itโ€™s all about love and unity in the church, and if we live with anger, wrath, malice, and bitterness toward others, the church will never be a safe place of harmony and love.

To create the freedom and unity that Jesus wants and desires for us, we must first of all freely forgive others, and this will allow us to break free from the chains of bitterness that hold us back and keep us separated and divided from others.

Donโ€™t let a lack of forgiveness get in the way of all that God wants you to know and experience. Forgive one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Do you want to be a forgiving person? If so, remember how much Jesus Christ has forgiven you. And then, stop focusing on the faults of others. Whenever thoughts about the sins of others come into your mind, simply push them away, and think on oneโ€™s own faults instead.

For it is there alone that you can make a difference. Of all the sinful people you interact with on a daily basis, there is only one whom you can improve very much.[10] Do you want to be forgiven? Then forgive as God has forgiven you. It is then that we will become like God. As someone once said, โ€œWe are most like beasts when we kill. We are most like men when we judge. We are most like God when we forgive.โ€[11]

In this section of Ephesians, Paul has listed five specific issues and sins that destroy our fellowship with God and with other people. Paul did not list these so that we can point the finger at other people and judge or condemn them for their faults and failures. No, Paul wrote these so that each of us can take a good look into our own hearts to see where we fall short and where we have these problems in our own life.

Where and how do you lie?

What are ways that anger gets the best of you?

How do you steal from others and take what doesnโ€™t belong to you?

Who do you talk negatively about?

What are you bitter about?

Donโ€™t try to hide these failings from yourself. Donโ€™t try to ignore them or push them down. Bring them to the surface. Recognize that you have them. Own up to the. Admit, agree, confess that you have them.

And then forgive yourself. Learning to forgive, just as God in Christ has forgiven you, is the only way to liberate and free yourself from these damaging and destructive behaviors that control you. Acceptance and forgiveness will also help you redirect these behaviors into healthy and beneficial ways.

Elara had always been a people-pleaser, eager to fit into her familyโ€™s expectations and societal norms. She pursued a career path chosen more for its security than her passion, and her social life revolved around maintaining harmony, often at the expense of her own desires.

She read her Bible. She prayed. She tried to follow God and do what was right.

However, a nagging feeling of dissatisfaction began to grow within her. She had a longing for something more, a sense of purpose and meaning. She started to feel jealous that even though she worked so hard, other people seemed to get what she wanted and worked for, but they did it with far less work and effort.

She found that often, when she was stressed or tired, she would have outbursts of anger and frustration and her family or coworkers.

Occasionally, she found that she was binge-eating as a way to feel better about life and the hand she had been dealt. But as she gained weight, she started to criticize those who were heavier than her for having less self-control than her, but she also criticized those who were more fit than her because they were not really enjoying the good things in life and wasted all their time in the gym.

She also found herself buying more clothing and jewelry than she needed. And she started to feel dissatisfied with her car, and her house, and the fact that she couldnโ€™t go on very many vacations. It was frustrating that she worked so hard but couldnโ€™t buy everything she wanted.

Sometimes she would recognize that these traits were hurtful. Her greed and jealousy and anger caused life to lose some joy and damaged some of her relationships. So she tried to stifle the emotions and feelings and push them down deeper inside her and not let them out.

But the more she did this, the worse they became.

One day, Elara decided to try something different. She realized she was not becoming a better person, but bitter. The more she tried to control her negative traits, the more they controlled her. So she stopped fighting them. She embraced them. She recognized them for what they were.

Elara began journaling, reflecting on her thoughts and feelings. She started to uncover hidden aspects of herself, including creative passions she had suppressed and a desire to challenge beliefs she had previously accepted without question, including several beliefs about God and the Bible.

She gradually learned to embrace parts of herself she had previously deemed โ€œbadโ€ or โ€œunworthy.โ€ She forgave herself and accepted herself for who she was. Through this challenging but transformative process, she integrated these aspects into herself. And slowly, life began to regain its color, joy, and peacefulness. The negative traits that used to pull her down were transformed and redeemed into traits that spurred her on, inspired her, lifted her up, and encouraged and supported others.

She began making choices that aligned with her values and interests, rather than seeking external validation. She explored new hobbies, pursued a different career path that resonated with her, and nurtured authentic connections with others.

Through this process, Elara didnโ€™t become a different person, but rather, she uncovered her true essence and learned to live authentically. She found a deeper sense of self-acceptance and purpose, living a life that was true to her core essence.

And it all began with self-knowledge and forgiveness. Know yourself and forgive yourself, just as you are fully known and fully forgiven by God. Only then will you enter into the life God has for you.

Forgive our Sins

Notes on Ephesians 4:31-32

[1] Dale Galloway, You Can Win With Love.

[2] Stott, 190.

[3] Remember, hard-heartedness is the way we once were โ€“ in the old self, being past feeling (4:19).

[4] C.S. Lewis, 142-154.

[5] Michael Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching, #524.

[6] Zane Hodges, Harmony With God, (Dallas: Redencion Viva, 2001), 67-69.

[7] 1001 Humorous Illustrations, #385.

[8] Bob Wilkin, โ€œAn Enormous Debt Forgiven: Parts 1 and 2โ€ Grace In Focus Newsletter, Jan/Feb, May/June 2002 newsletters. See also, Robertson McQuilkin, Two Sides of Forgiveness, in Nelsonโ€™s book of Illustrations, p. 317. See also Snodgrass, 264-265.

[9] cf. Robert H. Mounce, Matthew, NIBC (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1991), 178.

[10] C.S. Lewis, 154.

[11] William Arthur Ward, Thoughts of a Christian Optimist.

God is Bible Sermons, Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: Ephesians 4:31-32, forgive, forgiveness, Redeeming God podcast, sin

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The Best Model for Church Growth (Ephesians 4:13)

By Jeremy Myers
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The Best Model for Church Growth (Ephesians 4:13)
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1332042286-redeeminggod-the-best-model-for-church-growth-ephesians-413.mp3

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Note: This study is from my book,ย (#AmazonAdLink) Godโ€™s Blueprints for Church Growth.

The Model for Church Growth (Ephesians 4:13)

โ€ฆ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ โ€ฆ (Ephesians 4:13)

Myย  brother is an architect, and several years ago, the firm he works for was hired to design an addition to the largest church in town. During that time, I remember stopping into his office when the planning process was in its final stages. He was working on putting together a miniature chipboard model of what the church building would look like with the expansion.

He was almost done with the model at the time, and I remember looking at it in awe. He had cut out all the windows. He had made topographical contour lines and inserted little trees here and there on the model grounds. When I expressed my amazement at the details, he told me that while he didnโ€™t include them on this model, he sometimes adds little cars and people.

Upon seeing the incredible detail, I asked him how much time such a model takes. He told me that while the length of time depends on the complexity of the model. This particular model took a couple hundred hours and cost several thousand dollars.

A couple hundred hours and several thousand dollars? I wanted to gag. What this mega-church spent on a model could have supported my struggling little church for several months. Aside from that, it seemed like a terrible waste of the architectโ€™s time. But I had seen other construction models of this sort before, and so I asked my brother why churches and companies spent money to have these models built. The reason, he told me, was that models help generate interest in the building project. Models help with fundraising and vision-casting. People like to see what the end result will be before they get on board to donate money. Statistics show that money spent on the model generates more money for the actual project.

As I left his office that day, it occurred to me that God also provided a model for His church. God, as the Architect of the church, in His endeavors to expand the church, created a model for us. But Godโ€™s model was not for the purpose of raising funds, but was provided to inspire and show us what the church will look like. Godโ€™s model helps generate interest in the building project so that we serve in the church as God intends. As we continue to look at Godโ€™s Blueprints for Church Growth, we see in Ephesians 4:13, the model for the church. Ephesians 4:13 says this: โ€œโ€ฆ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.โ€

Ephesians 4:13 contains three aspects, or three dimensions to the Model God seeks for His church.[1] Just as all architectural models are made in three dimensions, width, depth and height, Godโ€™s model also has three dimensions. The width of Godโ€™s model is the unity among Christians. The depth of Godโ€™s model is the maturity we develop. The height of the model is our growth into Christ-likeness.

Width: Unity

The first dimension, unity, is found in Ephesians 4:13. This text continues from Ephesians 4:11-12, which inform us that the Foremen equip the Crew to serve in the church until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

This makes sense considering the context and structure of the book of Ephesians. Ephesians 4โ€“6 makes up the practical application section of Paulโ€™s letter based on the truths he taught in Ephesians 1โ€“3. Paul begins chapter 4 by instructing his readers to walk in unity. This is what the first 16 verses are all about. He wrote in Ephesians 4:3 that Christians should endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit, and now, in Ephesians 4:13, he writes that the first dimension of the church model is unity.[2] In other words, unity is what should characterize the church.

church unityYet too often, churches are more likely to be characterized by strife, division, and personal differences of opinion. Churches are divided over theology, politics, leadership, music style, finances, ministry opportunities, community involvement, what is and isnโ€™t sin, and numerous other issues. It sometimes seems there is nothing the church will not argue about.

This is why unity is the first dimension of the church that God wants to build. Since division and strife is the default position of most of the world, a church that is known for its love and unity will be a light in the darkness, showing the world how to live in peace.

When unity develops in the church, it allows all people to work together for the common purpose to which we are called. But this doesnโ€™t mean we are all clones. We do not all work in the same way on the same projects. To the contrary, biblical peace enables us to live in our own unique way and with our own unique contribution, allowing others to offer their unique insights and contributions as well. Unity occurs when everybody does what he or she is best able to do in order to serve others. Unity comes when all share a common goal, a common purpose, a common vision, and a common direction, but within a framework of letting everyone be unique.

This is how it works with any building. A building consists of a wide diversity of pieces and parts, yet everything is put together with a unified purpose. Not everything is a window or door, but all the piecesโ€”including the windows and doors, as well as the nails, wires, pipes, beams, paintโ€”work together to make the building functional. Where there is no common purpose or unity of theme and goal, the building will not be functional or safe for those who use it.

Several years ago, I worked as a caretaker at a summer Bible camp. One week I was told that the camp needed a storage rack for the life-jackets and canoe paddles, and I was asked to build one. The person who asked me to build a rack never bothered to ask if I knew much about construction, and I didnโ€™t bother to tell them that I was a complete novice in such matters. In hindsight, I should have asked for a quick introductory tutorial.

Prior to this, I had never really built anything, but I figured that it couldnโ€™t be too hard to build a little rack for paddles and lifejackets. So without any sort of plan or preparation except for some vague idea in my head of what I wanted to build, I started throwing 2x4s together. I didnโ€™t really do any measuring, but just took some scrap lumber lying around that looked โ€œabout the right sizeโ€ and nailed them to some trees. I then decided that since the life jackets were outside, it might be nice to protect them from the rain, so maybe I should put a roof over them. Once again, I nailed a few pieces of lumber together and then fastened some plywood on top, then found some scrap metal roofing to finish things off.

As a result of my lack of planning and knowledge, the โ€œshackโ€ I constructed was anything but unified. It was about eight feet square and five feet high. Yet even this was overkill, since all it had to do was store about twenty lifejackets and ten paddles. It had no foundation except a tree root and two cinder blocks. Since I knew nothing about construction, I was unaware that the 2×4 framing studs for the ceiling needed to be spaced to match the 48-inch sheets of plywood. So the plywood pieces I nailed to the ceiling overhung the 2×4 frame by about 10 inches on each side. To make matters worse, I had failed to measure the metal roofing, so that when I went to screw the metal roofing pieces to the plywood, the pieces were too long. I dealt with this by getting out the tin snips to cut them down to size, leaving sharp jagged edges. Furthermore, when I screwed the metal roofing to the roof, I used the wrong size of screw, and many of the screws punched through the plywood to the underside of the roof.

The end result of my attempt at construction was a building that was not only ugly and rickety, but also quite dangerous. The edges of the jagged metal roofing were at face level so that anyone approaching the shack had to be careful they didnโ€™t cut their face. But the danger didnโ€™t end there. If they ducked their head to get a life jacket or paddle from the shack, they had to watch out for the sharp screws sticking through the roof.

But it was the first thing I had ever built, and initially, I was quite proud of that shack. Ironically, we had a master carpenter at the Bible camp who was constructing an actual building, and so I, in my ignorance, called him over to assess my work. He had spent weeks so far on his building, but I had put mine together in a few hours and wanted to show off my little pile of scrap lumber to the master carpenter.

He was very kind. He looked at my newly-built shack, and said, โ€œHmm โ€ฆ Well โ€ฆ Itโ€™ll work. All we need it to do is store the life jackets and paddles.โ€ Then he went back to constructing his building.

The primary difference between our two buildings came down to one thing: Unity of purpose and planning. I did not build my shack with all the pieces and purposes in mind. I used the same studs, plywood, and sheet metal roofing that the other carpenter used, but he put his together according to a set of blueprints that showed how all the pieces fit together as a unified whole. I had no unified plan or purpose.

Later that summer, a storm blew my shack over and it got hauled away to the burn pile. Last time I was at the camp, his building was still standing, fifteen years after it was constructed. And by all appearances, it should stand for at least another fifty.

This story of two buildings, one with a unified plan and purpose and one without, represents the two ways that the church can grow and develop. Where there is no unity, the church will crumble into chaos and conflict until the first stiff breeze blows it over. But when the church is built according to the unified model that God lays out in Ephesians 4, the church will grow strong and sturdy so that it stands the test of time.

The great problem with unity however, is that few can agree with what unity looks like. Just as Christians argue and debate about everything from creeds to carpet color, so also, Christians argue and debate about how to be unified. Everybody agrees that unity is important, but few agree on how this unity is to be achieved. For example, some Christian groups seem to think that unity can only be achieved when everybody thinks like them, talks like them, dresses like them, and behaves like them. They want everyone to sign on the dotted line, color within the lines, and toe the party line.

Rally to Restore UnityBut is this true unity? Unity is not necessarily the same thing as uniformity. We do not all have to be identical in order to live in unity. God is not interested in cloning Christians. Instead, we can learn what true unity looks like by seeing how God designed unity in creation. All of creation works and functions together toward a common divine purpose and goal, and yet it does this with incredible diversity. Each part of Godโ€™s creation allows each other part to function as designed and intended. This is the only way Godโ€™s creation works.

This is also the only way Godโ€™s church works. True church unity is achieved when each person recognizes that all other people have different tastes, desires, interests, and abilities, and rather than see these differences in others as weaknesses to be exploited or flaws to be fixed, this diversity is celebrated and enjoyed as part of Godโ€™s plan and purpose for the church. So rather than seek uniformity, true unity celebrates diversity, letting others be who God made them to be, just as we want them to let us be who God made us to be. Unity is not when we love others in spite of their differences, but in light of them.

This means that we donโ€™t all need to be in agreement on everything or act in identical ways, in order to live together in unity. The church can be as diverse as creation and yet still serve God. Nevertheless, there are a few essentials about which all should agree. Paul lists two of these in Ephesians 3:13. He says he wants us all to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.

The Faith

The first item a unified church needs to be in agreement on is the faith. As I discuss in my Gospel Dictionary online course in the lesson on the word “faith”, and in my book, (#AmazonAdLink) What is Faith?, the noun faith is primarily used in two ways throughout the New Testament. The first way is the way we most often think of it, as a synonym for belief. Faith is typically defined as a belief, reliance upon, confidence in, or persuasion about the truth of some claim. Therefore, to talk about faith in Jesus Christ for eternal life is to say that we believe that Jesus is speaking the truth when He says that He gives eternal life to those who believe in Him for it (John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47; etc.). We can also believe, or have faith, in the truth claims that God exists, that Jesus died and rose again, and that the Bible can be trusted. This form of the word faith is the most prominent way the word is used in the Bible.

However, there is a second way the word is used as well. At several places in Scripture, the word โ€œfaithโ€ is preceded by the articleโ€”the word โ€œtheโ€โ€”as Paul uses it here in Ephesians 4:13. In these cases, โ€œthe faithโ€ does not refer to believing or being persuaded that something is true. Instead, โ€œthe faithโ€ refers to the body of common Christian beliefs or the essentials of Christian life and practice (cf. Acts 6:7; 13:8; 14:22; 16:5; 1 Cor 16:33; 2 Cor 13:5; Gal 1:23; 6:10; Php 1:25; Col 1:23; 1 Tim 1:2; 4:1; 5:8; 6:10, 21).

We use the phrase โ€œthe faithโ€ similarly in our own language when we refer to other religions. For example, we might talk about the Mormon faith, the Jewish faith, or the Islamic faith. We could also speak of the Christian faith. In all of these cases, we are referring to the whole system of beliefs and practices which differentiate one system from the others. The Bible uses the term similarly. When the Bible speaks of โ€œthe faithโ€ it is speaking of the doctrines and practices which separate followers of Jesus from those who follow something or someone other than Jesus.

So while โ€œfaithโ€ by itself refers to being convinced or persuaded that something is true, the phrase โ€œthe faithโ€ refers to the set of beliefs and practices that are common to all Christians.ย  This difference is seen when a person is asked about when they became a Christian, and how long they have been a Christian. In the first case, the question could be phrased, โ€œWhen did you first place faith in Jesus Christ?โ€ In the second case, the question is sometimes phrased, โ€œHow long have you been in the faith?โ€

Therefore, when Paul writes that God wants Christians to come to unity of the faith, he is giving instructions for Christians to agree on the basic non-negotiables of Christian life and practices. But of course, this is where the problems start, for what are the basics? What are the non-negotiables? I wish Paul would have laid out a few, for this statement of his has created much disunity in the church as we all try to figure out what the central beliefs actually are. If you ask one hundred pastors to name the top 10 core essential beliefs of Christianity, you will likely receive one hundred different top ten lists.

Nevertheless, if we could all sit down and talk things over, maybe we would come up with a few basic fundamentals of the faith. We would, of course, agree that there is a God. There should probably also be a statement about the authority of Scripture (even if we didnโ€™t necessarily all agree on the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture). There would absolutely have to be a statement about the nature and character of Jesus Christ as God incarnate, since He is, after all, the foundation and center of Christianity. Finally, it would also be important to mention one of the main things that separates us from all other religions and cults, which is the foundational Christian teaching that eternal life is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone, apart from works. Without this final truth, Christianity is nothing more than just another works-based religion.

Beyond these non-negotiables, there are other things which Christians might want to include. From a historical standpoint, we could probably do no better than to simply point to the Apostleโ€™s Creed or Nicene Creed, which uphold God as the creator of the universe, the Godhead as existing eternally in three persons, the dual nature of Jesus Christ, the virgin birth, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, the reign and return of Christ, and the person and work of the Holy Spirit.

There may be others that we should all agree on if we are going to become unified, but those are just a few examples of the essential beliefs of the faith which Paul mentions here in Ephesians 4:13.

faithBut as was mentioned above, โ€œthe faithโ€ includes more than just doctrine; it is more than just a set of beliefs. โ€œThe faithโ€ also includes how Christians behave and act toward one another. If church members are going to get along, they might need to agree on a few basic ideas on how to live and act in this world and with each another.

Yet here we must be extremely careful. One generationโ€™s morality issues can lead to sin in a later generation. For example, Paulโ€™s admonition in Ephesians 6:9 for masters to treat their slaves well, was used by a later generation as permission for slave ownership.

This is why we must be careful. We must make sure we do not go as far as some churches and denominations do, in having written dress codes, along with rules about drinking, smoking, movies, music, dancing, and cards. Most of these issues are modern parallels to the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols which Paul writes about in Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 10. On such issues, we would be wise to remember Paulโ€™s final admonition in Romans 14:5-14 that we are not to judge each other in these matters. God has given some people freedom to do things which others do not have. The fact that each one will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of himself to God (2 Cor 5:10) should be enough of a reminder for us to abide by our own conscience and let others do the same. Operating in this way will greatly increase the unity we have with one another.

Therefore, when it comes to issues of morality, it seems that the only rule which should govern our behavior is the rule of love. Love is the guiding principle and ethic of the person who follows Jesus. As we live and exist within relationships with other people, we do so, not with a list of Dos and Donโ€™ts, but with a desire for love. We are to love others and live in a way that invites them to love us. Issues of morality, therefore, are determined with the whole community of Christians in mind and can shift and change from one generation to another, or from one geographic location to another. There are only two ways to live: by law or by love. The Christian way is love.

So these are some of the Christian beliefs and behaviors which will help Christians grow in unity with each other. In a later letter to the young pastor, Timothy, Paul invited him to watch his life and doctrine closely (1 Tim 4:16). Paulโ€™s admonishment to Timothy very closely reflects Paulโ€™s instructions here to the Ephesians. How Christians live and what Christians believe is what makes up โ€œthe faith.โ€ The church grows in unity when it agrees on what to believe and how to live in love for one another. But unity in โ€œthe faithโ€ is not the only aspect to growing in unity. Unity is also developed as we grow in the knowledge of Christ, which Paul mentions next.

Knowledge of Christ

The second area which allows Christians to grow in unity with one other is the knowledge of Christ. For growth in unity, there is nothing better than gaining a deeper knowledge of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. But we must understand that the knowledge Paul has in view here is not just a superficial knowledge of Christ. Paul is not just talking about โ€œbook knowledge.โ€ The normal word for knowledge is gnลsis, but Paul uses the word epignลsis, which is similar, but means something closer to โ€œknowledge upon knowledge.โ€ It is used throughout Scripture as a full, complete, and detailed knowledge (Rom 3:20; 10:2; Eph 1:17; Php 1:9; Col 1:9-10; 2:2; 3:10; 1 Tim 2:4.; 2 Tim 2:25; 3:7). It is to know something exactly, completely, through and through. It is a certain and sure knowledge. It is this kind of knowledge we are to have of Jesus Christ, and which will lead us into Christian unity.

Yet is this kind of knowledge even possible? No; not in this life. Earlier, Paul wrote that he wanted the Ephesian Christians to know that which cannot be known, namely, the love of Christ (Eph 3:18-19). But how can we know that which cannot be known? How is it that we can gain a full, detailed, and complete knowledge of Jesus Christ? How can we have knowledge upon knowledge?

The answer is to recognize that since we can never fully know or comprehend Jesus Christ, we are to do two things. First, we are to add to the knowledge of Christ that we already have. Since epignลsis could be translated as โ€œknowledge upon knowledge,โ€ it could be understood to mean that we are to be constantly adding knowledge to the knowledge we already have. We are to build on our knowledge of Jesus Christ. We do this, of course, through study, prayer, and following Jesus wherever He goes.

But this constant pursuit of the knowledge of Jesus Christ is dangerous if we do not also incorporate the second element of gaining this knowledge, which is humility. Since we can never fully know Jesus Christ, this means that our knowledge of Him is never full or complete. And therefore, we are ignorant of some things regarding Jesus, and flat-out wrong about others. Anybody who has been a Christian for any length of time can think back to a day when they believed something wrong about Jesus. But through study and growth as a Christian, you grew in your knowledge of Jesus Christ, and came to believe something different today. That experience should always keep you humble about what you currently believe today. For it is only a humble student who will always be a learning student, and it is only a humble and learning Christian who will recognize that they donโ€™t know it all, and therefore, they can seek out and learn from other Christians who might have different perspectives or ideas about Jesus Christ and how to follow Him in this world.

So yes, study and learn from Scripture, while putting into practice what you learn. This will slowly and resolutely conform you to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, which will help you grow in unity with others. But as this process unfolds over time, make sure you also remain humble, allowing the convicting and illuminating work of the Holy Spirit and the sharpening influence of other Christians to teach you ever more about Jesus. This too will help you grow in unity with God, and with other members of His church.

Unity is the first dimension to the model that God has provided for His church. It is something we are to strive for and seek after, especially as we grow in unity in the faith and in knowledge of the Son of God. As we do this, we will also be begin to develop in the second dimension of the church model, which is Christian maturity.

Depth: Maturity

The second dimension of the model that we are seeking to attain is Maturity. This is found in the next part of Ephesians 4:13: to a perfect man. The Foremen of verse 11 train the Crew in verse 12. As the Crew learns to use their God-given gifts for ministry, each one grows into maturity, and the church as a whole becomes perfect.

This does not mean that any one of us will become perfect or sinless this side of heaven. The word Paul uses here for perfect is teleios, which refers to arriving at the end, or goal, for which you were created. It is not so much about arriving at the destination, but about journeying toward it. The quest for Christian maturity is an ongoing journey as we seek to become more and more like Jesus with each passing day.

So Paulโ€™s invitation for the church to become perfect is an invitation to grow into maturity. We know this is what he means because he elaborates further in verse 14 where he writes โ€œthat we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,โ€

An immature Christian, a baby Christian, is someone who is not biblically and doctrinally grounded. They are not yet able to tell the difference between good theology and false theology, or good teaching and bad teaching. Baby Christians think that as long as Scripture is quotedโ€”the teaching must be okay. Baby Christians think that as long as the pastor or the teacher has some Bible school training, some letters after or before their name, or some pastoral experience, what they are saying must be okay. Baby Christians think that as long as a teacher or a pastor has a few books published or is broadcast on the radio or television they must be correct in what they say. Baby Christians are easily swayed by fine-sounding arguments. Baby Christian do not search the Scriptures to see if what they are being taught is true.

The good news is that a baby Christian can grow up. A spiritual baby can mature just like a physical baby. Human babies mature physically as they eat healthy meals, get enough rest, receive discipline, and are trained to be physically, emotionally and socially responsible. Similarly, a baby Christian can mature by eating a healthy diet of Scripture reading and listening to sound Bible teaching. They can discipline their minds to pray and their wallets to give. A maturing Christian can get involved with other believers so they can learn to serve others. In these ways, the Christian will mature, and the church as a whole will also develop toward its goal and end.

This idea of guarding and guiding Christians will be considered more in the next chapter where we look at Ephesians 4:13. For now, it is important to recognize that Christian maturity is the second dimension of the model for the church. We are to strive toward our goal, or end, for which we were created, the perfect man, the mature Body of Christ, which is what Paul describes next.

Height: Christ-Likeness

The third and final dimension, found at the end of Ephesians 4:13, is Christ-likeness. Paul writes that we are to grow into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Previously, in Ephesians 4:13, he told us to gain as much knowledge about Christ as we possibly could. Now he tells us to become as much like Christ as we possibly can. One follows the other. Before you can be like Christ, you need to know what Christ is like. Many people think that Bible reading and Bible study is a waste of time, but we are only able to become more like Jesus as we learn more about Him through Scripture. โ€œWe get no deeper into Christ than we allow Him to get into us.โ€[3] We do this according to His measure, stature and fullness. Letโ€™s look at these one at a time.

Measure

The first way to become like Christ is in His measure. The word measure comes from the Greek metron, which is where we get our word metric. So Paul is saying, โ€œGo to great lengths to become like Jesus Christ in every way. From the smallest little bit to the largest part.โ€ Become like Christ in His measure.

Stature

Christlike GodThe word stature frequently refers to age, or number of years. But Jesus only lived to be 33 years old, so Paul cannot be saying then that all we have to do is live to be 33. Instead, the word can also refer to the reputation one gains for themselves as they grow older. In Luke 2:52, when Jesus is said to be growing in wisdom and in stature, we also see that He was beginning to gain a good reputation with other people. As Jesus aged, He gained stature, or a positive reputation, among others.

This is the way it is with all great men and women in history. Nobody knows who the great men and women are when they are first born. Nobody knew George Washington or Clara Barton when they were first born. But as they grew older and matured, they served courageously and self-sacrificially, and as a result, gained a good reputation before others. This is what it means to gain stature.

Sadly, much of Christianity has bad stature. In recent decades, survey after survey and study after study has shown that the average non-Christian has a low view of the average Christian. Christians do not have a good reputation, but are instead known for being judgmental, rude, arrogant, and hypocritical. But we can work to reverse this stigma if we do the things Paul writes about in Ephesians 4:13. If we live in unity with one another and strive to become mature Christians, we will gain a good reputation among outsiders. We will, like Christ, grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.

Fullness

Finally, we are to become like Christ in His fullness. This means that we become like Him in every way. We cannot pick and choose which parts of Jesus Christ we want to imitate. We are to become like Him in His fullness. God wants every aspect of the church to be like every aspect of Jesus Christ. Whenever you trying to decide how to act, talk, or behave, it is wise to stop and ask yourself which words or actions look most like Jesus. When we ask ourselves this question and live as Jesus lived, we will develop into the fullness of Jesus Christ.

Christ-likeness involves becoming like Him in His measure, stature, and fullness. Although weโ€™ve seen the three dimensions of the model church which God the architect is buildingโ€”unity, maturity, and Christ-likenessโ€”when we really get down to what the model looks like, it is this last statement from Ephesians 4:13 that is most prominent. The churchโ€™s model is Jesus Christ. If you want to know how you should live, think, and act, all you have to do is look at Jesus. If you want to know what the church should look like, what the church should be doing, and how the church should actโ€”all you have to do is look at Jesus Christ.

Back in Ephesians 1:22-23, Paul wrote that โ€œ[God] put all things under [Christโ€™s] feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.โ€ Note the word fullness again. The church is the fullness of Christ. The church is Christ to the world. If people in the world want to see and know Jesus Christ, they should be able to look at the church as the reflection of Jesus. Since Jesus perfectly reveals God to us, we are to reveal Jesus to others, so that by looking at us, they see Jesus, and therefore, God in us.

So Jesus Christ is our model. Everything we do, think, and say as individuals and as a church should be patterned after what Jesus did, what Jesus thought, and what Jesus said. And as we pattern ourselves after the model of Jesus Christ, we ourselves become a model of Jesus for the world to see.

Conclusion

When my brother built a model for the church expansion, he said that the model helped people see what the end product would look like, which in turn helped people get excited about where the building was going. God too, has laid out a model for us in Scripture. If we want to know what weโ€™re going to look like, if we want to get excited about our future, then we need to develop a complete and thorough knowledge of Jesus Christ, and then seek to live, love, and serve like Jesus.

Only when we all do this will we all come to a unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Only then will we become like our Model, Jesus. How are you and your church doing in living like this Model and revealing Him to the world?

NOTES:

[1] In the Greek, eis is repeated three times, showing that there are three aspects listed here.

[2] These two times are the only times this word for unity (henoites) is used in all of the New Testament.

[3] (#AmazonAdLink) Springs in the Valley, May 21, 147.

God is Redeeming Church, Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: church growth, Ephesians 4:13, peace, Redeeming God podcast, unity

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To Love Your Enemies, Know You are Loved (Ephesians 3:18-21)

By Jeremy Myers
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To Love Your Enemies, Know You are Loved (Ephesians 3:18-21)
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Have you ever tried to actually love your enemies? It’s next to impossible, isn’t it? In Ephesians 3:18-21, Paul provides two ways that we can learn to love our enemies. These seem impossible as well, until we understand what Paul is actually saying about how to love our enemies.

But before we look at Ephesians 3:19-21, I want to answer a question from a reader about Matthew 10:28 where Jesus says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Question from a Reader

One of the members of my online discipleship group is taking my online course about hell, and had a question regarding Matthew 10:28. Here is what he wrote:

Jeremy, I loved this course and it helped me out immensely, but Iโ€™m trying to figure out Matthew 10:28 with this new understanding of hell. Would you be able to explain this passage?

Matthew 10:28 says this:

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

(#AmazonAdLink) What is hell bookI have written about this text previously in connection with the parallel passage in Luke 12:5.

There are several translation issues about this verse which creates some deep divisions in Christianity regarding the meaning of what Jesus says here. The primary question about this text is in regards toย whomย Jesus is referring when He says “fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Who is the “him”? The NKJV version has the “him” capitalized, which shows that they think the pronoun is referring to God. However, there are many Christian leaders who think the pronoun is referring to Satan.

However, a third option might be that the “him” is referring to other human beings.

The Greek word used for hell in Matthew 10:28 is the word gehenna.ย This word does not refer to some horrible afterlife experience, but to an experience inย this lifeย where all that you hold dear and all that is valuable and important toย  you gets destroyed.

In my book (#AmazonAdLink) “What is Hell?” and the online course that goes with it, I says this about gehenna:

When the various texts are considered (cf. Matt 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28; 18:8-9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43-47; Luke 12:5; Jas 3:6), Jesus speaks of gehenna, or the Valley of Hinnom in a symbolic way … not to teach about what happens to some people in the afterlife, but rather to teach about what can happen to some people in this life. People who are sent to the Valley of Hinnom (usually because of crime or leprosy) lose their friends and family, and face a life filled with horror, decay, and destruction.

The warnings about gehenna are given by Jesus so that we do not destroy our health, life, family, friendships, and reputation in this life. Rather than live in the Valley of Death, God want us to enjoy everything He has given to us in this life.

In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says that being killed is not as big of a deal as having your life destroyed. If you die with your morals and values intact, and with your loved ones and friends thinking highly of you, the only thing you lose is your life. And since we know that life goes on for eternity, being killed for our beliefs is nothing more than a step from one life into an even better life.

What is much worse, however, is to have your life destroyed while you are still alive. That is, to lose your friends, your family, your health. To lose respect and honor from others. To lose your morals, values, beliefs, and convictions. To lose all that makes youย you.ย 

That is what we should seek to avoid at all costs.

It is far better to be killed for your beliefs than to abandon your beliefs and convictions.

Jesus is saying this: Don’t fear the one who can kill you, because death is not the end for us. But do fear those who can threaten and steal your values, morals, convictions, integrity, dreams, hopes, friends, family, job, health, and everything else of value in this life. That is who you should fear. That is who you should avoid.

This view of Matthew 10:28 and Luke 12:5 fits perfectly with my proposal in my book about hell that hell is not an afterlife experience of suffering and torture, but is rather an experience in this life of living contrary to everything that God wants and desires for us. In these verses, Jesus is warning us against those (including ourselves!) who can lead us into a hellish existence in this life.

You Cannot Love Your Enemies Until You Know You are Fully Loved (Ephesians 3:18-21)

Paul wants the church to lead the world into the way of peace. We are to be an example to the world of how to live in peace with our enemies. In Ephesians 2, Paul showed us how Jesus has done this. In Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul showed how he himself is doing this. And now, in Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul writes about how he prayers for his readers to do the impossible, namely, to love our enemies.

If it seems impossible to love our enemies, we need to know that in Jesus Christ, we can do what cannot be done. We can do the impossible. This is what we looked at last time when we studied Ephesians 3:14-17. Now, in Ephesians 3:18-21, Paul continues to write about what he prays for his readers, and he has two more impossible prayer requests, which are only possible through Jesus Christ.

Let me put these final two prayer requests in a bit of context for you.

Have you ever been told to get along with someone you canโ€™t get along with? Was there ever someone at church whom you avoid Sunday after Sunday? If so, then you understand what the Ephesians were thinking here. Paul tells them in Ephesians 2 to live at peace with each other, and they are thinking, โ€œBut Paul, you donโ€™t know what you are asking! I canโ€™t get along with them. Itโ€™s โ€ฆ impossible! You donโ€™t know whatโ€™s between us! You donโ€™t know that he believes! You donโ€™t know what sheโ€™s done! You donโ€™t know what they said about me! I canโ€™t live at peace with them! Itโ€™s impossible!โ€

So Paul prays for them here at the end of Ephesians 3. He says, โ€œI know itโ€™s impossible for you. So my first prayer request is that God will give you power to do what Iโ€™m asking you to do.โ€ Thatโ€™s the first prayer request. The request we saw previously in Ephesians 3:16-17. Prayer for power to do the impossible. Prayer for power to be at peace with those people youโ€™d rather hate. A prayer request to do what you cannot do. That was the first prayer request. The second prayer request in Ephesians 3:18-19 is a prayer for knowledge.

powerful prayer for the impossible Ephesians 3:18-21

C. Prayer for Knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Ephesians 3:18-19. … [that you] may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height โ€“ to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;

This prayer of Paul is not a โ€œho-humโ€ prayer! In Ephesians 3:16-17, Paul prayed that we would do what we cannot do, in Ephesians 3:18-19 he prays that we will know what we cannot know! He prays that you will be ableโ€ฆto know the love of Christ which passes knowledge. In other words, to know what cannot be known. To know what is impossible to know!

Paul is praying that we would know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge โ€“ which cannot be known. He somewhat describes this love back in Ephesians 3:18. He says that you may be able to comprehend โ€“ that means know โ€“ what is the width โ€“ thatโ€™s how wide it is โ€“ the length โ€“ thatโ€™s how long it is โ€“ the depth โ€“ thatโ€™s how deep it goes โ€“ and the height โ€“ thatโ€™s how high it rises. By using these terms, Paul is saying that the love of Christ is eternal, itโ€™s infinite. Itโ€™s without beginning or end. It cannot be measured or contained. When Paul says width, he means it is wider than the universe. When he says length, he means it is farther than the east is from the west. The depth of Christโ€™s love โ€“ itโ€™s deeper than the ocean. The height of Godโ€™s love is higher than Godโ€™s Word is above manโ€™s word.

The vastness of Godโ€™s love is so difficult to explain โ€“ I think thatโ€™s why Paul cuts off what he was saying and says in verse 19 that this love cannot be known. How are you supposed to know what is infinite? Yet Paul prays that we would know it anyway. Paul has now prayed for two impossible things. Power to do what we cannot do and knowledge to know what we cannot know. Weโ€™re seeing a pattern, and the third request upholds this pattern.

D. Prayer for Filling (Ephesians 3:19b)

Ephesians 3:19b. โ€ฆ that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

How big is God? If you know some theology, you know that God is omnipresent. If we break this word down into two words. No matter where you are in the universe, God is there. He is everywhere. In fact, even when you get to the edge of the universe โ€“ where time and matter cease to exist, God does not stop there. He keeps going. Thatโ€™s how big God is.

How great is God? How powerful is He? Again, in theological terms, He is omnipotent. He has all power. With a mere thought, He could obliterate the universe. With another mere thought, He could recreate it. He can do whatever He wants, wherever He wants, whenever He wants, however He wants. (Thank goodness heโ€™s a loving and merciful God โ€“ this kind of power would be terrible in the hands of a tyrant).

So with Godโ€™s omnipresence and omnipotence in mind, think of what Paul is praying for here in v. 19! He prays that you, as a teeny, tiny speck of flesh and bones, with life that is but a breath, made from dust, dying, decaying, sinful, insignificant piece of the vast universe, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God! The word fullness is the wordย pleroma, and it means fullness! When used of God, it means all of His divine attributes and perfection. Every bit of Him.

It is the term used of Christ in Colossians 2:9. Christ was completely God, right? Colossians 2:9 says that in Christ dwelt the fullness of God in bodily form! Fullness means fullness. Paul prays here for us to be filled with all the fullness of God. Try taking something bigger than the universe, something so big it is infinite, something so big it cannot be measured, and stuffing it into a space five or six feet tall, eighteen inches wide, and about a foot deep. Some of us have slightly different dimensions, but thatโ€™s not the point. How is something infinite supposed to fit into us? Itโ€™s impossible!

Even if the structure were much larger, it is still impossible to hold God in it. When King Solomon built the first temple, he too prayed a prayer on the day the temple was dedicated (found in 1 Kings 8), and he prayed:

O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below โ€“ you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father, with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it โ€“ as it is today โ€“ but will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

Solomon, the wisest man who has ever lived saw the truth that God could not be contained in any sort of building or structure. Yet somehow, God was. And that is what Paul prays here. That we may be filled with all the fullness of God. That is Paulโ€™s third prayer request. An impossible request. We have seen three requests. All of them impossible. He prayed that we would do what we cannot do, that we would know what we cannot know, and that we would be filled with what we cannot be filled. Those are the three things Paul prays for.

Putting the Three Prayer Requests in Context

But these impossible prayer requests are the key to doing what Paul asks us to do … namely, love our enemies.

The truth of the matter is that we cannot begin to love our enemies … until we know that we are loved.

Have you ever realized that we were the enemies of God? When Adam and Eve rebelled in the Garden of Eden by choosing to go their own way, they took all of humanity with them into rebellion against God, thereby joining up with Satan in a rebellion against God. We are the enemies of God.

Yet God never stopped loving us. And while we were yet sinners, that is, while we were still the enemies of God, Jesus Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). That was the entire point of Ephesians 2:1-4.

So the first step in doing what cannot be done … namely, loving our enemies … is to know what cannot be known, that is, that we are fully and truly loved by God.

Why can it not be known? Because the love of God is infinite. It is without depth, height, width, or length. But we can begin to know the love of God. We can begin to experience the love of God. And only after we begin to know that which cannot ever be fully known, namely, how much God’s love us, will we begin to have love for our enemies.

Sadly, the love of God is something most Christians think they know and understand, but really don’t. We all pay lip service to the idea that God loves us, but few of us really believe it.

Most Christians think God only loves us as long as we are faithful and obedience. As long as we keep from sin. As long as we regularly read our Bibles and pray. As long as we have pure thoughts and stay away from temptation, and do all the things that good Christians are supposed to do.

But when we stray, well, God turns His back on us. He stops loving us. He turns away from us in shame and disgust. … This is what most Christians seem to think about the love of God.

Which just goes to show that most Christian know nothing of God’s love.

The truth about God’s love is that He loves you no matter what. God forgives youย no matter what. Honestly, you could become Hitler and God will still love and forgive you. I know that statement is a shock to many people, but it’s true. And the fact that it’s a shocking just goes to show that we don’t know anything about the love of God.

No matter what you do or don’t do, God will never stop loving you. He will never turn away from you. He will never hide His face from you in shame. He will always be withย  you, will always forgive you, will always embrace and accept you. Until you begin to understand this, you will never understand God and will also never be able to show love for your enemies.

You can only begin to love once you know you are fully loved.

Two books I highly recommend about the love of God are (#AmazonAdLink) He Loves Me! by Wayne Jacobson and (#AmazonAdLink) The Misunderstood God by Darin Hufford. Both books will present the true, radical nature of God’s love to you, which is essential for you to start loving others.

And of course, even when we begin to know the love of God, love for our enemies still doesn’t come from ourselves. Love for our enemies is not within our power. This is why the third prayer request is so important, to be filled with all the fullness of God. When we love others, it is God loving them through us. When we love others, this love for others is the love of God working in and through us toward others.

This is the great secret and mystery of the church, that we are the hand, feet, and voice of Jesus. Jesus as Jesus is the incarnation of God, so also the church is the incarnation of Jesus. The love of Jesus is shown to a dying world through the church that if filled with the fullness of God’s love for the world (Cf. Ephesians 1:23).

So those are the three prayer requests of Paul…. He prays that we can do what cannot be done (love our enemies) by knowing what cannot be known (the love of God for us) and being filled with what we cannot be filled (the loving power and presence of God).

Does all of this sound impossible? If so, that is why Paul closes out Ephesians 3 with some final words of encouragement.

prayer for filling with God E. The Encouragement (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Ephesians 3:20-21. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Paul has prayed for three seemingly impossible things. To do what we cannot do. To know what we cannot know. To be filled with what we cannot be filled. But Paul remembered what Jesus told His disciples โ€“ with man, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible (Matt 19:26).

So Paul says in Ephesians 3:20, โ€œYou think Iโ€™ve asked for impossible things? I havenโ€™t even scratched the surface of what God is able to do.โ€ He is โ€“ v. 20 โ€“ able to do exceedingly abundantly more. That phrase exceedingly abundantly comes from one Greek word, which is a double compound adverb. A double compound adverb is a very rare construction. This particular construction begins with a root word. The root word here isย perissos. It means abundant, over and above, more than enough. In John 10:10, Jesus says that he came so that we might have life, and have itย perissovย โ€“ more abundantly. But then, Paul takes this word,ย perissos, which already means abundance, and adds not one,โ€ฆbut two words on top of it to make it a double compound adverb.

prayer is powerful Ephesians 3He has had three prayer requests for the impossible, and then says God can not only do it, he can double do it โ€“ He can triple do it. He can run circles around it. He can do it with his eyes closed, and one hand tied behind his back. He can do exceedingly abundantly above all. If thatโ€™s not enough, look at the rest of verse 20. He can do above all that we ask or think! Paul says, God can do this and more. He says, if I can ask it, God can do it. If I can think it โ€“ or imagine it โ€“ God can do that too. In fact, God can do things I canโ€™t even imagine! God can do things I canโ€™t even think about!

Ephesians 3:21. โ€ฆto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

All of this is done by the church, through the church, and in the church so that God will get the glory to all generations.

This is a concluding remark for the point Paul began all the way back at the end of Ephesians 1. After telling us about all the riches of our inheritance in Jesus Christ, Paul called us to be the fullness of God in every way in this world (Ephesians 1:22-23), so that we might be a witness to the principalities and powers of this world (Ephesians 1:21) to show the world a better way to live.

And now, through Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 3, Paul has shown us exactly how to do this. We are to follow the example of Jesus in loving our enemies, and even dying for them if necessary. As we do this, we show the world a better way to peace. We show the world the way of God in loving our enemies. This is the glory of God. This is the glory of the church. And this is how the love of God is manifested to the world.

It’s a revolutionary call, but Paul is not done. He will go on in Ephesians 4-6 to show more specifically how this calling is carried out by the church. We will pick up next time with the first verses of Ephesians 4 to see how Paul continues to call us peace, unity, and love for one another, so that that the world can learn from us and live in peace and unity as well.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: Ephesians 3:18-21, gehenna, hell, love your enemies, Luke 12:5, Matthew 10:28, peace, prayer, prayer requests, Redeeming God podcast

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Is it Impossible to Love our Enemies? (Ephesians 3:14-17)

By Jeremy Myers
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Is it Impossible to Love our Enemies? (Ephesians 3:14-17)
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In Ephesians, Paul has instructed his readers to live at peace with people they used to hate, and to begin loving their enemies instead. This is much easier said than done, so in Ephesians 3, Paul shows how he himself is doing this, and how his readers can follow in his example in loving their enemies, just as Jesus did. This is what we begin to learn in Ephesians 3:14-17.

In Ephesians 3:14-17, Paul instructs his readers to do the impossible by loving their enemies. This is much easier said than done, so Paul provides three resources that God has provided to help us do the impossible.

But first, we have two question from a reader about Jesus as the elect one, and how Jesus was morally perfect.

Question from a Reader

Here are two questions submitted by a reader named Michael Spina.

I have a couple of questions that I hope youโ€™d be able to clear up for me; hopefully once and for all, because these questions have always creeped in throughout my spiritual journey. First, Iโ€™ll ask the question, and then Iโ€™ll express my thoughts behind each question so you have an idea of where Iโ€™m coming from. Please forgive any trespasses if any of my expressed thoughts cause offense.

1) If Jesus is the chosen one by God, and Jesus is God incarnate, then wouldnโ€™t it make more sense to say that God reincarnated Himself into a man to redeem what has been lost, and those who believe and trust in Him will be elected to service? Wouldnโ€™t that be more consistent to Jesusโ€™ character/personhood?

Every time I read or hear that Jesus is the chosen one by God, I always tend to think โ€œequal opportunityโ€ – Why Jesus and not you or me or anyone else? It is the kind of statement that might cause the flaring up of jealous and/or resentful feelings. But wait a minute; Jesus is God incarnate! Of COURSE no one else, because we are not God. So if we are to be saved, only one of those among the God Head can be elected for the role as savior as opposed to one of us humans, right? Because we didnโ€™t create ourselves. Only the creator of something has the real power to repair that something. But then of course thereโ€™s the fact that God knew all of us before He created us, and we all have our own purpose and shouldnโ€™t compare ourselves to each other. So just as I canโ€™t compare myself to other people, I shouldnโ€™t compare myself to Jesus either. So Iโ€™m confused. Is Jesus God incarnate or isnโ€™t He? If so, then how can we say that Jesus is chosen by God? We almost make it sound like theyโ€™re mutually exclusive. I just donโ€™t know. Iโ€™m all over the place with this. I could use some biblical perspective from someone who I feel truly understands and embodies the spirit of Jesus (yes, I believe that to be you, Jeremy. No pressure of courseโ˜บ๏ธ)

2) It is said that Jesus was the only perfect human that ever lived. But perfect at what exactly? Arenโ€™t there a lot of things to be perfect at?

I once heard someone say somewhere along the lines that there was no single human being who was perfect except for Jesus, and Jesus was the only perfect human being that ever lived. But I find such statements to be vague. I mean, what is perfect? Is it never making a single mistake at anything in your life? If so, then Jesus never had to learn any life skills. He knew them and did them perfectly without slip or fall. Lets look at walking for example. It takes many falls before a child can make his or her first successful step. Was Jesus able to walk right after birth. I sincerely doubt it, because otherwise I would find that as a worthy miracle to record on the gospels. Also, would a perfect person have any struggles in life? Would a perfect person always get his or her way? Would a perfect person always be on everyoneโ€™s good side?

Thank you Jeremy for everything you do and the time you give myself and everyone else. I am truly grateful.

First of all, thanks for asking the questions. I have NEVER yet had a question that causes offense! I believe that all questions are good questions.

On your first question, I would not use the term “reincarnated” as that does not describe what happened to Jesus. Reincarnation is the view that a human died and then came back at a later time as someone (or something) else. It is not the same as resurrection either, since they come back as someone else … But that wasn’t really what your question was about. It was primarily about Jesus as the primary elect person of God.

(#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of GodMy answer is that yes, Jesus is the incarnation of God to redeem in humanity what was lost and broken. And yes, ALL who believe in Jesus for eternal life are chosen and elect in Him. There are some people in history who are chosen or elect but are not regenerate believers (such as Pharaoh in Exodus), but this is because they were chosen to perform a task. That’s all it means to be elect.

As I explain in my book (#AmazonAdLink) The Re-Justification of God, which you can get on Amazon, we are elect to service, not to eternal life. Since Jesus is elect, all who are in Him are also elect. That is, since Jesus was chosen to perform an important task, all who are in Him are also chosen to perform that same task … the redemption and reconciliation of the world. This is what discipleship is all about … following in the footsteps of Jesus to carry out the task that He started.

As to your second question, when people talk about the perfection of Jesus, they are referring primarily to the fact that Jesus was morally perfect. He never sinned.

I don’t think Jesus was the perfect tennis player, or had a perfect singing voice, or was perfect at math. Maybe some would disagree with me, but I tend to think that there are humans throughout history who were better than Jesus at such things. You know, Andre Agassi could have beaten Jesus at tennis. And according to Rolling Stones magazine, Aretha Franklin has the greatest voice of all time. I’m not sure I agree, but she did have a great voice, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say she probably had a better singing voice than Jesus. The same goes for difficult math problems. We don’t know how good Jesus was a math, but we can be certain that since Jesus would have had to learn math just like the rest of us, Jesus would have made math mistakes in the process of learning.

Remember, while Jesus is fully divine, He is also fully human, and as part of His humanity, He emptied Himself of certain characteristics of His divinity, which means He was not perfect in every conceivable way, but only the ways that mattered for Him to complete His mission of being the Savior of the world.ย So when we speak of the perfection of Jesus, we are referring only to moral perfection, so that Jesus could be sinless.

Interestingly, even when it came to moral perfection, Jesus still sinned when it came to certain moral standards of the religious leaders of His day. According to certain religious leaders of His day, Jesus hung out with the wrong people, ate the wrong foods … both of which were sinful … and spoke regularly against Moses and the temple. What this shows us that is just because religious leaders say something is sinful, this doesn’t mean it is sinful. Jesus truly was morally perfect from God’s perspective, but was a sinner and a blasphemer from the religious perspective, which is one reason they killed Him.

A little food for thought there…

Why It’s Not Impossible to Love our Enemies (Ephesians 3:14-17)

In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul tells his readers that he is praying for them, and he tells them he has three specific prayer requests. We will look at this prayer over the course of two studies, but you should know that, at first glance, all three requests are for something impossible. Paul wants his readers to do what cannot be done, to know what cannot be known, and to be filled with that which they cannot be filled.

We will talk about all three of these as we study this prayer of Paul, but all three impossible prayer requests come down to one main point. It is the main point Paul has been writing about through all of Ephesians 2 and Ephesians 3. Paul wants the Ephesian Christians to live at peace with each other, and especially with those people that they used to hate. Paul wants his readers to love their enemies.

We all know that Jesus instructed us to love our enemies (Matt 5:43-48), but have you ever really tried it? If you ever have tried to actually show care and love for people who hate you and want to do harm to you, you know that it is impossible to even “get along” with them, much less love them.

But that’s what Paul wants us to do. Ephesians 2 was all about how Jesus loved His enemies, and so we should too. And in the first half of Ephesians 3, Paul is showing how he is seeking to love his enemies. And now, in Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul says that he is praying that his readers, which includes us, also learn to love our enemies.

As we will see, if we are going to do the impossible, namely, love our enemies,ย trulyย love them, … in other words, do what cannot be done (Eph 3:14-17) … then we need to know what cannot be known (Eph 3:17-18) and be filled with that which we cannot be filled (Eph 3:18-19).

Thankfully, we serve a God who relishes in doing the impossible. In fact, God can do far more than we ask, think, or even imagine (Eph 3:20-21).

The first step toward the impossible task of living at peace with others is to know that we are loved, and that God Himself is filling us to show this love to the world.ย  That is what Paul explains in Ephesians 3:14-19. In this study we are looking at Ephesians 3:14-17, where Paul says he is praying that his readers can do what is impossible to do.

Let’s begin with Ephesians 3:14.

Ephesians 3:14. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

The term I bow my knees is an idiom, or a special way of saying, โ€œI kneel.โ€ So that is why some of your translations have made it more readable by writing, โ€œFor this reason I kneel before the Father.โ€

It is interesting that Paul uses this phrase though, because Jewish prayers were usually offered standing up. The only time Jews knelt was when they were in the presence of their King. Greeks did the same (Lk. 18:11-13). So Paulโ€™s kneeling here is a sign that He sees God as His King, His Sovereign.

Paul kneels when he prays to Father. I am not saying this is the posture we must be in to pray. You donโ€™t have to be kneeling to pray. Part of the wonder of prayer is that you can come to God in prayer anywhere, anytime, in any posture. There is no command in Scripture to physically kneel when you pray, but it should be the posture of our hearts.

Ephesians 3:15. โ€ฆ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Paul is enjoying a little word play here. In Greek, the word for Father isย pater,ย and the word for family isย patria.ย So Paul is saying that we, the family, orย patria of God is named after God the Father, theย Pater.ย 

But the significance of this is more important than the word play. Paul is going to write that he wants us to do the impossible, namely, to love those we don’t want to love. And right here in Ephesians 3:15 is the first bit of foreshadowing of how to do this.

One key to loving our enemies is to realize that they are not our enemies, but instead, are part of our family. We are all one family under God. In my podcast study on Genesis 4:8, I made the point that the first time sin is mentioned in the Bible, it is mentioned in context of one brother murdering another. This means that all violence against other humans is, in essence, violence against one of our brothers or sisters. We are all part of the same family, and so any violence or hatred against another human being is against a family member.

This is why Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that our struggle is not against flesh and blood. Our struggle is not against one another, for we are all part of the same family.

With this in mind then, Paul mentions three prayer requests in Ephesians 3:15-19 that he prays for. The first is in Ephesians 3:16-17. It is a prayer for power to do what cannot be done.

power prayer

Prayer for Power (Ephesians 3:16-17)

Ephesians 3:16-17. … that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

This is a very poor translation. It makes it appear that there are three separate requests here when in fact there is only one. A better translation would be

That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith, being rooted and grounded in love.

The prayer request, in outline form is as follows:

I pray for that God would strengthen you with power
-according to the riches of His glory (God provided)
-through the Spirit in your inner man (Spirit enabled)
-with Christ dwelling in your hearts through faith (Christ directed)
-being rooted and grounded in love (people focused)

This is Paulโ€™s second prayer in this letter to the Ephesians. It is interesting that in both prayers, he prays for power. The first time is in Ephesians 1:19. Here is the second time. Paul prays that his readers would be strengthened with power. And in verses 16 and 17, he says that this will happen in four ways. He tells us where the power comes from (from God), how the power is used (by the Spirit), who directs the use of this power (Christ), and what the power is to be used for (love for others). This is a prayer for God enabled, Spirit empowered, Christ directed, other focused power. Letโ€™s look at each in turn.

1. God Provided

The first thing is this power is provided by God. He says that it isย according to the riches of His glory.ย This power comes from the riches of Godโ€™s glory. The word according means โ€œin proportion to.โ€ Paul is not praying here for a small portion of Godโ€™s power, but power in proportion to the riches of Godโ€™s glory. But How great is Godโ€™s glory? It is vast! So also, is the power that Paul wants us to have from God.

If I am a billionaire and I give you 10 dollars, that is โ€œout ofโ€ my riches. But if I give you 100 million dollars now, and if you spend that, give you whatever you need later, that is in โ€œproportionโ€ to my riches. This is not a perfect illustration because a billion dollars in limited whereas Godโ€™s riches are not, but you get the idea. God gives us power in direct proportion to the riches of His glory. The source of the power then is God. This power is provided by God.

We cannot love our enemies when we are trying to do so with our own power. But God has made His power available to us, and we already know that it is possible for God to love His enemies, because we have seen Him do so in Jesus Christ. That same power is in work in us.

2. Spirit Enabled

The use of the power is by theย Spirit in the inner man.ย The Spirit empowers us to use this power. Remember Acts 1:8? โ€œBut you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon youโ€ฆโ€ This strengthening that he does, however, is not outward strength. Heโ€™s not going to make us strong like Samson or Arnold Schwarzenegger. No, this strengthening is not for the outward man, but for the inner man โ€“ our innermost being (cf. 2 Cor. 4:16 for the contrast).

Scripture tells us that our inner man can see (Ps. 119:18), hear (Mt. 13:9), taste (Ps. 34:8), feel, (Acts 17:27), and must be exercised (1 Tim. 4:7-8), cleansed (Ps. 51:7), washed (Eph. 5:26), fed daily (Mt. 4:4, Ex. 16:15ff), and renewed (2 Cor. 4:16). The inner man for the Christian, is more real than this outer physical shell which we pay so much attention to. We would all be better off if we spent more time caring for our inner man.

And in order to help us with that, Paul prays for Godโ€™s power. You could call this steroids of the spirit. This strengthening comes from the Spirit and is for our spirit. The purpose of this power is to strengthen our Spirit.

Ephesians 3:17 explains how this power is to be used. It comes from God, we are able to use it by the Spirit, but Christ is the one who directs us how and where to use it. It is Christ directed.

Ephesians 3 prayer

3. Christ Directed

Ephesians 3:17. Christ [dwelling] in your hearts through faith.

The word dwell isย katoikeo, and means to โ€œsettle down, be at ease, to be comfortable.โ€ For some of you men, a dwelling place for you is having a lazy boy, a bag a chips, a soda and the remote. That is where you are most comfortable, where you can settle down โ€“ and sometimes, as this verse also says โ€“ take root. Sometimes your wives wonder if you are ever going to get up. They might even start dusting you. But youโ€™re comfortable, right?

Christ wants to dwell in our heart. In other words, to be at ease in our life. He wants to be at home there. He wants to know that the roof will leak on him when he sits on your couch. He wants to know that all the rooms have been vacuumed and dusted. He wants to know that the garbage has been taken out. He wants to know that there is not mold in the walls, or mildew in the shower. He wants to know that the foundation is not crumbling.

Your life is like a house, which Christ wants to dwell comfortably in. He knows itโ€™s not perfect, that there are flaws and things that need fixing. But He is the master carpenter and he knows a master plumber and a master electrician. And guess what, if you are willing, the Three of Them will refinish your entire house for free. They will make your crumbling shack into a sparkling mansion โ€“ so that Christ can comfortably dwell in it.

And when He is dwelling in your heart, when he is in control of your innermost being, He directs you to live the way He lived. He used the power God provided, which is enabled by the Holy Spirit, to live the Christ-like life. God enables. The Holy Spirit empowers. Christ directs. And in the last part of verse 17, Paul tells us what this God directed, Spirit empowered, Christ directed life will look like. We will live a life of love for other people, which is the ultimate point and purpose.

4. People Focused

โ€ฆ being rooted and grounded in love,

Paul has spent two chapters talking about how Jews and Gentiles are now one in Christ, and how they are to get along now. For some, this might seem like an impossible task. Some Gentiles would be thinking, โ€œYou mean I have to love that annoying Jewish neighbor of mine? Thereโ€™s no way! Heโ€™s always judging me by his standards of living and acting โ€œholier than thou.โ€ I canโ€™t love him. I canโ€™t fellowship with him.

prayer for powerSome of the Jews were thinking, โ€œYou mean I have to go over to that Gentileโ€™s house when he invites me over for dinner? I canโ€™t do that! He might serve meat sacrificed to idols! He might not be following the strict cleanliness laws. I might become ceremonially unclean! Paul canโ€™t be serious. Thereโ€™s no way I can get along with them.โ€

Paul is saying here, โ€œHey look. I know you canโ€™t do these things I am asking by your own power. So I am praying that God will give you His power to do what He asks. That He will give you the power to do what you don’t think you can do.โ€

The final phrase in this verse โ€“ being rooted and grounded in love โ€“ is what Christ wants to do with the power from God through the Spirit. Christ wants to root and ground us in love. Rooted brings to mind trees. A tree must have itโ€™s roots deep in good soil and with lots of water in order to be healthy and strong (cf. Ps. 1 and Jer. 17:5-8). From what or whom are your roots getting nourishment?โ€

God, with His mighty power, out of the riches of His glory, wants to remake your inner man through the help of the Holy Spirit so that Christ can dwell comfortably and in style in your life, so that you can do what cannot be done, namely, show love to people that you used to hate.

This is Paulโ€™s first prayer request.

Itโ€™s a big one, isnโ€™t it? Are there people you have trouble loving? God has given you the power, the Spirit is enabling you to use it, and Christ is directing you where, when and how to use it. Together, all three of them want you to love those who you normally would hate. The power of God helps us love the unlovable.

We will look next time at the final two prayer requests of Paul, which are also impossible prayer requests. But we will see that, once again, they also are related to loving our enemies.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: election, Ephesians 3:14-17, love your enemies, peace, Redeeming God podcast

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How to Fix the World (Ephesians 3:8-13)

By Jeremy Myers
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How to Fix the World (Ephesians 3:8-13)
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/1162751206-redeeminggod-how-to-fix-the-world-ephesians-38-13.mp3

Are you happy with the current state of the world? Do you wish things could change? Do you want the world to improve? Do you want to fix the world? In this study of Ephesians 3:8-13, we discover Paul’s solution for how to fix the world. It’s a shocking, challenging proposal, but it is the plan that God has put in place since the beginning of time, and it is the only plan that God has. There is no Plan B.

Before we consider God’s Plan for How to Fix the World, we consider a question from a reader about Pentecostalism.

Question from a Reader

A new member of my discipleship group named John Redic recently sent in the following question.

What is your analysis of Pentecostalism? How should the Azusa Street Revival and Movement be assessed and interpreted?

I am not a fan of Pentecostalism.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Pentecostals. I love their passion for Jesus and their desire to see God move in their life in a meaningful and powerful way. We all want this, and I love how Pentecostals are calling for people to have a REAL experience of God in their life, rather than the dead and stiff religiosity that is so common in some forms of Christianity.

However, there is great danger in the Pentecostalism that forms the foundational theology of many Pentecostals.

I’m not going to get into the history of Pentecostalism, which the Azuza Street revivals and some of the subsequent revivals, except to say that these revivals did happen, and as with any historical revival, there was some good and some bad that came from them, but the worst thing we can do is put them on a pedestal as an experience that we should try to copy or replicate today. Whenever we try to emulate, replicate, or copy a past, historical movement of God, we end up ignoring and even missing what fresh thing God is trying to do in our own day.

But if you are not familiar with the Azuza Street revivals or Pentecostalism in general, let me just say that they were attempts by some Christians to restore to the church the powerful and supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit to the everyday lives of Christians. They wanted to experience all that the Holy Spirit has to offer.

And this is a good thing. We should all want everything that the Holy Spirit wants for us, including the knowledge and experience of all the spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit has given to us. However, I think that many dangers and problems have come along with Pentecostalism.

(#AmazonAdLink) While I do believe that all the spiritual gifts are in use today (I have an online course available on the Spiritual Gifts if you want to learn more about my views on this … and (#AmazonAdLink) a book as well), I think that many Pentecostals put a higher degree of authority on personal experience than on careful study and explanation of Scripture. This is quite dangerous.

And while I can never deny the validity of someone’s experience, we must recognize that ecstatic experiences are not exclusive to Christianity. Many people in many other religious have similar ecstatic experiences when they are worshipping their own god(s). If Christian ecstatic experiences “prove” that the ecstatic experiences come directly from Jesus through the Holy Spirit, then what do the non-Christian ecstatic experiences prove?

So I place a great emphasis on the careful and prayerful study of Scripture as interpreted through the lens of Jesus Christ, and place all other forms of revelation beneath the authority of this study of Scripture. Any other approach makes divine revelation highly subjective, which leads to all sorts of problems.

How to Fix the World (Ephesians 3:8-13)

Ephesians 3:8-13 is a continuation of Paul’s point in Ephesians 3:1-7, which in turn is a follow-up point from everything Paul wrote in Ephesians 2.

In Ephesians 2, Paul encouraged the Ephesians Christians to live in peace with each other so that they might show the world how to live in peace. Jesus showed us this way to peace when He died on the cross for His enemies and, rather than exacting revenge upon them, He forgave them. So Paul tells the Ephesian Christians to do the same thing, to love and forgive and be at peace with those who used to be our enemies.

This is, of course, much easier said than done. So in Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul is showing the Ephesian Christians that he lives by example. Paul is in prison because he chose peace rather than violence. And while in prison, Paul continues to work toward peace with those who are his captors. In this way, Paul is an example to the Ephesian Christians about how to live in peace with others, and what the consequences might be.

But the cost is worth it, for, as Paul now explains in Ephesians 3:8-13, the powers and rulers of this world are watching, and if Christians can show this world a better way to live, then they might follow our example as well.

Ephesians 3

We pick back up with this idea in Ephesians 3:8.

Ephesians 3:8. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given,

In Ephesians 3:7, Paul said he was a minister, a servant running through the dust. Here, he says that he is the least of all the saints. The term least could also be translated very small, quite unimportant, or insignificant.[3] The best translation is exactly what we have here in the NKJV. It is not just that he was the least of all the saints, but he was less than the least.

He wasn’t just saying this; this wasn’t false humility. Paul really believed it. In 1 Timothy 1:15 he states a similar idea when he calls himself the chief of all sinners. In 1 Corinthians 15:9, he is the least of the apostles.

I don’t think Paul was one of those who was proud of his humility. He wasn’t the type to brag about his humility. He said things like this, because he was convinced of how great a sinner he was. He remembered all that he had done to persecute and destroy the church in his former years, and it weighed on him. Yes, he knew that he was forgiven and that all of his sins were washed away, but he knew that he didn’t deserve it.

A lot of Christians think that the more mature you become and the closer to God you get, the less you sin. While this is true, it seems to me that the closer we get to God, the more aware we become of how sinful we really are. It’s like light โ€“ since God is light. The closer you get to a light, the brighter the light becomes, and the more flaws the light reveals.

Ephesians 3:1-6 mystery

This is why assurance of salvation should never and can never be based on your works. Assurance of salvation is based on Christ and what He has done for us, not on ourselves and what we have to do. If you are basing assurance on your works, you will never have it because as you mature in your Christian walk, if you are honest, you will only think you are getting more and more sinful. This is what we see with Paul here. He calls himself the least of all the saints โ€“ because he is convinced of his sinfulness.

Nevertheless, Paul accomplished quite a bit, didn’t he? So what separates us from Paul? In my opinion, nothing except willingness. You know, if the truth were to be known, I think Christians today have greater opportunity and greater possibility to serve God than Paul did. I have heard some Christians, when confronted with their lack of activity and dedication say, “Well, I’m not Paul.” That’s exactly right. You’re not Paul. The difference between him and you is that you have more opportunities and more resources than he ever had.

The reason God used Paul so much is because Paul was willing to do what he could. He says he was the least of the saints and the chief of sinners, but we see how God used him anyway. If God can use Paul, God can definitely use you โ€“ if you are only willing and ready. The rest of Ephesians 3:8 and on into Ephesians 3:9 tells us what ministry God gave Paul.

Ephesians 3:8-9. … that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery,

Paul’s God given task was to preach. These verses show the two things he was to preach. First in Ephesians 3:8, he was to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. This is the truth found in chapter 1 of Ephesians. Second, in Ephesians 3:9, he was to preach about the fellowship of the mystery which is the truth found in Ephesians 2. So this statement by Paul is a brief summary of Ephesians 1-2.

inheritanceThe word unsearchable means that these riches of Christ are so great that they cannot adequately be explained or even understood. They are beyond finding out. They are without explanation or definition. You cannot fully explore them. You cannot delineate them. They are beyond description. They are beyond enumeration. You cannot catalog them. You cannot create in inventory list.

Let me put it another way. How many waves are on the ocean? The answer is that there are an infinite number of waves, because they just keep on coming. It is the same with the riches that we have in Christ. We cannot number them because they just keep on coming. You think the Duracell battery never stops? Just think about the riches in Christ. They truly are without end.

Paul mentioned some of the riches we have in Christ in Ephesians 1, but when compared with what Christ still has for us, Ephesians 1 is like a single snowflake in comparison to all the snowflakes that have ever fallen and ever will fall.

The unsearchable riches of Christ was the first thing he preached, the second, as we saw in Ephesians 3:9 is the fellowship of the mystery.

Remember Ephesians 2? Even though we were sinners and separated from God and each other, Christ came and brought us all together into one unified body. This is what Paul preached.

Since Paul preached it, does this mean that Paul made it up? No. The rest of Ephesians 3:9 says that this message originated with God when He created the universe.

Ephesians 3:9. … which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

Remember, according to Ephesians 3:5, this mystery was hidden for ages and generations, but was made known by the Holy Spirit to God’s apostles and prophets. Paul here in Ephesians 3:9, wants to make sure that we realize that this mystery was NOT an invention of Paul’s, nor was it a sudden decision by God. It was God’s plan from the very beginning of the ages. It was hidden in God, meaning we didn’t know it, but God had it planned from creation.[4]

Many things are for God to know and his creatures to find out (Prov 25:2). But when he does reveal things to us, as he did here to Paul, it is our responsibility to shout them from the rooftops, to share it with all who will hear. This is how the Gospel message should be for us. God did not give us the Gospel of Salvation so we could hoard it and hide it, but so that we could share it and shout it.

That is what Paul did here with the mystery revealed to him. Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, was revealed the plan of the mystery and as a result he preached about this mystery to all. Paul’s God-given task was to preach to the Gentiles the mystery revealed to him in Christ.

And what was this mystery? We have discussed this before. The mystery is that all people are welcome into God’s family, the church, regardless of race, background, morality, sex, age, or anything else that tends to divide humans. With God there is no “inner group.” No favorites. No “us vs. them.” With God, all are “in.” All are accepted. All are forgiven. All are welcome.

And God has formed His new people into the church. This is the mystery that God has known, and been seeking to reveal since the beginning, and which the prophets and apostles wrote about in Scripture, but which few really understood until Jesus fully revealed the truth of mystery through His ministry, life, death, and resurrection. And now Paul has become a messenger of this mystery, making it known to the rest of the world.

Now why did God do this? What is the purpose of bringing diverse groups of people into one body, the church? Paul explains why in Ephesians 3:10-11.

The Purpose of the Mystery (Ephesians 3:10-11)

Ephesians 3:10-11. to the intent (another word for intent is purpose, so here we have the purpose of the mystery) that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places …

What does that mean? Well first, we need to know who or what the principalities and powers in the heavenly places are. A lot of people think that the terms “principalities and powers” refer to angels and demons. But this is not true.

Principalities is the Greek word archais, and it means rulers, princes, or chiefs. We briefly discussed this term in Ephesians 1:21 and will look at it in greater detail in Ephesians 6:12 (cf. also Col 1:16; 2:10, 15; 1 Cor 15:24; Rom 8:38).

The word for powers is not dunamis, the power of God which we saw in Ephesians 3:7. Here, the Greek word is exousias. It also refers to rulers and authorities (Eph 1:21; Col 1:16; 2:10, 15; 1 Pet 3:22; 1 Cor 15:24). Together, the terms refer to earthly rulers, nations, institutions, and powers that dominate this world (cf. Dan 4:35, 10:13). Yes, there is a spiritual dimension behind these earthly powers, but this spiritual dimension reveals itself through earthly rulers, powers, and authorities that seek to control, dominate, and bring tyranny upon this world. We are seeing the powers at work right now as those in authority seek to use their positions to enrich themselves and control everybody else through tyranny.

This, of course, is not a new problem. It has always been a problem. This is why Paul was writing about it in his day. The Roman Empire sought to dominate and control as well.

And Christians who desire freedom, liberty, and peace, have always wondered what to do about it.

Paul’s answer here is as shocking today as it was then.

Paul is saying that the mystery of the gospel directly challenges the powers of this world, and even seeks to correct the abuses of the powers by showing them a different and better way to live.

In other words, the church is God’s solution to the problem of abusive earthly powers.ย 

Why does the church exist? Why did God decided to unite Jews and Gentiles into one body in Christ? The reason, according to Ephesians 3:10 is to teach and correct the principalities and powers of this world.

Ephesians 3 mystery

And this is not a new plan of God. Ephesians 3:11 shows that this has always been God’s plan.

Ephesians 3:11. … according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,

In Ephesians 3:9, God’s plan of the mystery was from the beginning of the ages, that is, from the beginning of time, or from the beginning of creation. Here in Ephesians 3:11, God’s plan to teach the earthly powers was according to the eternal purpose of God.

Do you want to know what this means? This verse tells us that the church is the central goal of history. The church is the eternal purpose of God for human history. The church is the reason the universe was created![9] Think about that. What level of importance do you place on the church? If you were to make a list of your top ten priorities for this week, where would church come in on the list? Would church even be on your list?

On God’s list of priorities, the church is number 1. God’s reason for creating the universe was to create the church โ€“ the mystery kept hidden for ages and generations. And the purpose of the church was to teach the world how to behave.

When we see the world falling part, and we complain about all the problems in the world, guess whose fault it is? It’s the fault of the church. When the world falls apart, it is because the church is doing a poor job of showing the world how to behave. Jesus showed us how to behave so we can show the world how to behave. This is Paul’s point in Ephesians 3:12-13.

Ephesians 3:12. … in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.

I know it sound challenging. We have to show the world how to properly live? Well, guess what? We’re not doing it alone. Jesus is leading the way. Jesus has led the way. All we have to do is follow His example. Paul is following the example of Jesus, and so should we.

And since we have the perfect example in Jesus (Ephesians 2), and since we have access to the riches and power of Jesus (Ephesians 1), we can follow Jesus with boldness. We can access our riches and inheritance with confidence through faith in Him.

In Ephesians 3:13 Paul says this is what he has done, and so this is what the Ephesians Christians can do as well.

Ephesians 3:13. Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Remember, he began in Ephesians 3:1 by talking about how he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ for the sake of the Gentiles. That might be a troubling thought for them, so he has spent several verses assuring them that what he is going through is not a bad thing, but it is exactly what God wants.

Therefore, Paul asks them not to lose heart because of his tribulations, his trials, his troubles, because, he says, they are for your glory. He’s saying, “Yes, I am a prisoner, but I am a prisoner because I did what God wanted me to do โ€“ namely, share the Gospel with you.” And though Paul doesn’t say it here, Paul’s goal is to also share the gospel with the people in Rome, and potentially even to the greatest human power of all, Caesar.

All of us who follow Jesus want the world to change for the better. But few of us understand how to change the world. Yes, we can vote, and contact politicians, and support causes and organizations we believe in, but according to Paul, the best way to fix the world is to follow the example of Jesus by living in peace with one another. As Christians live in peace with each other, we give an example to the world of how peace can be achieved.

Jesus is the perfect example to us of how this works, and Paul was an example to the Ephesian Christians, and now we can follow their example and live in peace with one another as well. Indeed, this is the exact point Paul goes on to make in the rest of Ephesians 3. We will pick up with Ephesians 3:14 next time.

Footnotes for the Study on Ephesians 3:8-13

[3] McCalley, 30.

[4] This is an excellent verse in defense of Molinism (The Middle Knowledge of God). This verse does not say that this was God’s plan from before creation, it just says that it was God’s plan from creation. Prior to creation, there were innumerable worlds which God could have created. He scanned the possibilities, picked one he liked, and created it. It is this moment of picking to the logical next step of creating that verse 9 is talking about. See The Only Wise God by William Lane Craig.

[9] Stott, 129.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture, z Bible & Theology Topics: Ephesians 3:8-14, peace, Redeeming God podcast, world peace

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