jesus

A Community in Christ (pt 1)

https://youtu.be/dWa6iH7-LgY?si=bO2B1E0PyfOs5erT

A sense of community and belonging is a very powerful need for human beings; very important for our mental and physical health. It helps us to build a sound sense of self-identity. In healthy communities people are supported to grow and flourish as human beings, to find and develop their talents and skills and to live in healthy relationships. In healthy communities people feel valued. So we naturally build communities to foster the things that are important to us. Education, health, food production, the arts, politics, culture and religion all have their community support structures to facilitate their activities. And in times of difficulty or uncertainty it is often to our communities that we go for support and guidance.

People were no different in the Apostle Paul’s time and community support structures were just as important, particularly religious ones. But, the Christian church, which was in its infancy, was specifically targeted for persecution as an unacceptable new religion. Christians could, as Paul knew by experience, be beaten and imprisoned for their faith and martyrdom was a real threat. So Paul knew if the church was to not only going survive, but flourish and grow, it needed a very strong foundation, as a community, and for each of its individual believers.

So when we come to the book of Ephesians, which Paul wrote while imprisoned, we find not a letter dealing with sin and salvation, like Romans, or the pastoral issues a particular church was facing, but a letter addressed simply to all devoted believers. These then, are things that Paul thought it important for all Christians and their communities to know, so it follows we would likely benefit from knowing them too.

After his standard greetings Paul writes one really long opening sentence which in our English bibles is cut up into 11 verses and even more sentences. And it is in this one long sentence, which begins in verse 3, that Paul sets out the framework of understanding for the rest of the letter.

The poetic and rhythmic style of this long Greek sentence has lead some commentators to postulate it was an early hymn or creed but as there is no other evidence of this, it is also just as likely that Paul was so wrapped up in the beauty of the things he was describing that it naturally came out in a poetic-hymn style. There is so much in this one sentence that today we will just look at verses 3-7.

And in the Passion Translation verse 3 reads:

1:3 “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus—all because he sees us wrapped into Christ. This is why we celebrate him with all our hearts!”

As the commentator FF Bruce says,“Here the keynote of the Epistle to the Ephesians is struck at once. The writer and his readers are ‘in Christ’ – members of Christ, sharers of his resurrection life – and because Christ himself is now exalted in the heavenly realm, those who are ‘in him’ belong to that heavenly realm , too”

When we were living in Germany, in April 1986, we decided to go to Paris for a long weekend. To do so at that time, we required a visa. So we went to the nearest French consulate to get one. While waiting to get ours, we overheard some other people also trying to get visas to enter France. There was a Chinese man who had been invited to speak at a conference in Paris. Despite all the documentation he had that the invitation was real he was not believed and could not get a visa. A German man was also unable to get a visa for his Mexican wife, a permanent German resident, because she was still a Mexican citizen. And a Spanish man was grilled in detail about his intentions before reluctantly being given a 12 hour visa. In contrast, we simply handed over our passports, waited a little while and then were given them back with the standard visa stamped inside. No questions asked.

The more we travelled the clearer became just how much privilege there was attached to being a white Australian citizen. The origins of our birth put us in a very privileged class.

Likewise here in this beginning verse Paul is saying God has put us in an even more privileged class, a truly blessed community for..

“Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father”

God, our heavenly parent, our maker, has given us a love gift of all that He is and has. It is simply astounding to contemplate. All heaven’s blessing lavished upon us: all God’s love, holiness, righteousness, purity, power, joy, peace, authority and glory residing in us for us to embrace and live in and through. Can you believe it? What an extraordinary privilege! What a firm foundation for any person and community!

But how, you might say, how has God done this? Has it really happened? How could this possibly be achieved?

It is all, says Paul, because God sees us wrapped into Christ. From God’s perspective we are in Christ now. Already glorified residents of heaven. We are as much a part of God’s family as Jesus is, because we are a part of everything Jesus is. All His holiness, righteousness, purity, glory, power, joy and love is wrapped in and around us to make us just like Him, a beloved child of God, created in God’s image. Even as an idea it is probably far greater than anything we would imagine for ourselves, but it is not just an idea, it is a reality. And a reality we can choose to live from daily through the Holy Spirit’s personal ministry.

Is that not something worth celebrating again and again?

Imagine communities of people who are increasingly living ‘in Christ’, living in and from the love, compassion, holiness and integrity of Jesus – is that not what the world most needs now?

Now I am sure it won’t surprise you to know that some have questioned whether these heavenly blessings are ours now or only when we die and go to heaven. But Paul’s language in this passage is quite explicit. This has already happened and is a reality we can begin to experience now. How much can we experience now? It would seem the limits are in only in our beliefs and thinking. For Paul says every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift because

God has wrapped us into Christ.

And Paul continues in verse 4, explaining:

1:4a “And in love he [God] chose us before he laid the foundation of the universe!”

So the origins of us being ‘in Christ’ began in the love of God before this universe was even made, before we existed. God loved us and chose us in love when we were just an idea. And I can imagine the Trinity deciding it together. Seeing in their mind’s eye an extended family they could create, full of love, joy and and fellowship and choosing to create us in that. They chose us, not because we could earn such love but because they have such deep love and joy they want to share with us for eternity.

So as individual believers and as a Christian community we can rest in the fact that our existence ‘in Christ’ is and always has been God’s loving choice for us.

We are God’s Beloved, chosen in Christ

And verse 4 continues with

1:4b “Because of his great love, he [God] ordained us, so that we would be seen as holy in his eyes with an unstained innocence.”

When our current king was born to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip he was immediately recognised as the person who would inherit the British Throne from Elizabeth. The authority of the English law of succession degreed it and that made it so. By law he was ordained to be King on Elizabeths death, and indeed that is what happened.

Similarly, because of the greatness of His love for us, God established by His authority that we would be holy with an unstained innocence, entirely sanctified.

The word holy carries the meaning of being set apart, consecrated, or sanctified for sacred use. It underscores the moral and spiritual purity associated with holiness. The idea is that what God calls holy must be distinct in purpose and dedicated to His honour. This designation reflects not only a moral standard but also a transformative relationship with the God who is entirely separate from sin and imperfection.

God knew we would need holiness if we were to be in intimate relationship with Him, and He knew we could never be that without His help, so by His authority He gifted it to us. This is not just wishful thinking or future dreaming on God’s part because Paul makes it clear that for God, these things are true for us now.

We are God’s Beloved, chosen and holy in Christ

1:5-6 “For” Paul continues in verse 5 and 6, “it was always in his [God’s] perfect plan to adopt us as his delightful children, through our union with Jesus, the Anointed One, so that his tremendous love that cascades over us would glorify his grace —for the same love he has for the Beloved, Jesus, he has for us. And this unfolding plan brings him great pleasure!”

In the Roman Empire, as Paul and this letter’s recipients were, adoption was a far more formal and serious process than what we have now. In that time and society, fathers had complete control over their children ALL their life. As long as the father was alive, his children and their property were under the father’s complete control, no matter how old or powerful they were. He even had the right to kill them. And when the father died they inherited all his property and any debts. So when a child, normally a son, was adopted by a new family, there was quite an involved ceremony, in which the son was actually sold three times from his current to the new father. And when that sale was complete the new father now had complete control over the adopted son. The son was no longer answerable to his old father, and could no longer inherit either property or debts from his old father. In every sense the transfer of relationship was complete and the adopted son treated the same as a biological son of the new father.

Likewise, as FF Bruce put it in his commentary on Ephesians:“God marked us out in advance as those who were to receive a highly honoured status as His sons (and in this case sons is not meant to refer to a gender but children who fully inherit all the father has). This ‘adoption’ is more than our relationship to God as His children which is ours by the new birth; it embraces all the privileges and responsibilities which belong to those whom God has acknowledged as his freeborn, full grown [heirs]. It is a status which we receive in Christ .. through faith (Galatians 3:26; 4:5)”

When King Charles was first conceived, a potential king was alive. Yet as a newborn baby King Charles had no concept of his royal identity. But as he grew that changed and he learned of and was prepared for his future role as King in the belief it would happen. And now he is king.

Similarly, as believers, we only consciously begin to experience being united with Christ, being God’s beloved, when we believe in and accept God’s gift of salvation. Then the Holy Spirit guides and empowers us into learning to live as God’s children. But from God’s point of view we have always been the people of His eternal choice and that choice is so completely bound up with the person of Christ that we have been ‘in Christ’, in His Beloved, since before this world’s foundation. God put us ‘in Christ’ so our personal journey is one of coming into agreement with God.

And Paul in Romans 8 tell us our status as sons of God will be given full and universal recognition” when Christ returns and all of creation will then be freed from slavery to decay and share in our joy.

Our salvation is so much more that just a ticket to heaven! It is a very real loving community, wrapped in Christ, in unity with God, glorifying Him.

None of this is earned by us, not even when we believed the Gospel, for even that is a gift. It is all a gift of God’s love. For the same depth of love God has for Jesus he has for us! And this tremendous gift of love, poured out on us, glorifies God and the wonder of His grace in choosing us.

In Christ we are God’s Beloved holy heirs, glorifying Him.

But what about our sins? What has God done about all the times we have and will ignore Him, choosing other paths?

1:7 “Since we are now joined to Christ,” continues Paul in verse 7, “we have been given the treasures of redemption by his blood—the total cancellation of our sins—all because of the cascading riches of his grace.”

Travelling abroad as white Australians in the 1980s we found our authenticity, motives and past were never doubted or questioned. We were welcomed wherever we went. It was a great privilege, a gift of birth that in reality we basically took for granted.

But our union with Jesus is a much greater gift and privilege for it releases us from the debt of all our sin and births in us into a life of holiness as God’s Beloved holy children. God has given us freedom from sin to live as His holy children. And for God, the process of adopting us was so intimate and costly it was as if He crucified His very own heart. The cost to God was the life of His Beloved son, Jesus, yet He paid it willingly.

In Christ we are God’s beloved holy heirs, glorifying Him.

Because we are made in God’s image, God knows a sense of community and belonging is very important for our mental, physical and spiritual health. So He built the church in Christ. In Christ we are fully supported to grow and flourish as human beings, to find and develop our talents and skills and to live in healthy relationships. In Christ we can be filled with a sound sense of self-identity as we experience holiness and being deeply and eternally valued by God.

Being ‘in Christ’ is the firm foundation we need.

So let’s just stop here and take time to receive some of the blessings of being in Christ, Paul has mentioned thus far. Things which will help to anchor and secure us in the intimate knowledge that we are full members of God’s family.

Please remember these heavenly treasures are not things to be earned, nor any reflection on your current life situation or feelings, they simply come from a loving God who loves giving gifts.

So let’s pray.

Just make yourself comfortable and close your eyes

And in your mind see that Jesus is here.

Jesus is here, as He promised He would be.

Jesus is here, right now

Jesus is here, in and around you

The light of His Glory fills and surrounds you

Welcome Him

Worship Him

Jesus is here

Jesus is here

Jesus is here right now

Jesus is saying, “My child I love you.

Not as the world loves with conditions and strings attached

But as God loves me, we both love you

Deeply, unconditionally and eternally

I love being part of you

Living in you

Giving you all that I am and have

It was for the joy of being with you like this that I went to the cross

Knowing we were one

Knowing I could die with you and for you

To break the hold of sin and death over you

Erasing all record of your sin

And even better,

Knowing I could rise with you to the powerful new eternal life of Glory

That God planned for both of us

Hold my hands Beloved

See how My Presence

The fullness of who I am

Fills you to overflowing

My Holiness

My righteousness

My purity

My peace

My love

My joy

The very fullness of My glory

Is all yours

Flowing in you till you are overflowing with Me

You are in me as I am in you

Rest in me Beloved

In all I have done for you

Rejoice in me

And all we are together

You are God’s Beloved child

And in you He is WELL pleased.

Receive that now

Live in that today

For all of heaven’s blessings are yours now and forever.

In Me

(Pause)

Remember you can come to me for more of heaven’s blessings any time you like

For it brings me great joy to share them with you

Amen.

Be Transformed

Ezekiel 36:22-24, 25-27 TPT 
“Therefore, say to the people of Israel what I, Lord Yahweh, say: ‘I will not take action for your sake, people of Israel, but for the sake of the honour of my holy name, which you have caused to be slandered among the nations wherever you have gone. I am going to magnify the holiness of my great name, which you have greatly dishonoured before the eyes of foreign nations. And when I magnify my holiness in you before their eyes, the nations will know that I am Yahweh. I, Lord Yahweh, have spoken.’ I will sprinkle purifying water over you, and you will be cleansed from all the filth of your past. I will wash you clean from the defilement of worshiping false gods. I will graciously give you a new, tender heart and put a new, willing spirit inside you. I will remove your hard heart of stone and give you an obedient, responsive heart instead. I will put my Holy Spirit in you to empower you to keep my laws and to live by them.”

I want you to imagine that just yesterday you got married and you were now having breakfast with your new spouse. And as you finish you say to your new spouse “I am actually finding being with you too intimidating, too scary. Could you please give me book with a summary of your life up to now, your future plans and a list of your expectations of what a spouse of yours should do and be. It should have everything you think I need to know to be your spouse. And if you could post it to my minister’s house he will give it to me. Then we can go our separate ways now because then I will have all I need to know to act as your spouse.”

Can you imagine anyone saying that? Can you imagine a distance marriage relationship like that? Does that not seem crazy?

After God had freed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He led them to Mount Sinai. And there the elders of Israel recommitted the nation to follow God. Then God told them through Moses that He was coming to meet with them personally so they could hear Him speaking to Moses.

But when it came to the actual event, the people were so terrified by God’s Presence they said to Moses; “”You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19 NRSVUE) 

The upshot of this was that Israel remained at a distance and God dictated the Old Testament Law to Moses. Israel then committed to following the law.

And if you read the history of Israel in the Old Testament you can see this distanced relationship worked about as well as you might expect. 

Hence in Ezekiel 36:22 God told Israel they had slandered His Name in the way they lived.

And the prophet Isaiah said: “This is what the Lord says about these people: “They come near to me with hollow words and honour me superficially with their lips; all the while their hearts run far away from me! Their worship is nothing more than man-made rules.” Isaiah 29:13 TPT

But, before we are tempted to get critical of Israel, you should know that since the reformation of the Christian church in the mid 17th Century, much of the church has adopted and taught Cessationist theology. This teaching says, that now that Scripture is complete, all the supernatural expressions of God’s Personal Presence, like prophets, apostles, miracles, visions, speaking in tongues, and God speaking personally to people, have ceased. Now, most churches effectively teach that reading the Bible is the only way we can have a relationship with God. 

Hence, shortly after I became a Christian, when I asked one of my youth group leaders, “What happens next? How do you live the Christian life?” He answered, “You read the Bible and do what it says.” And I replied, “That’s it?” And he answered, “Yes”.

I knew my sins had been forgiven by God through Jesus death on the cross, because my church taught that, but living the Christian life was presented as obeying rules set down in the Bible, rules like the 10 Commandments, or women should not speak in Church. 

As for understanding most of the Bible or finding a relationship with God through it, I remained in the dark as to how to do that. There was so much that happened in the Bible that I never saw happening in church and so much that happened in my life for which the Bible seemed to have no answers. By the time I was in my mid thirties I was feeling my worship and my relationship with God had become simply a set of man-made rules. I felt very distant from God and was unhappy with that but could not see a way forward.

That was when God came to me in church and told me He wanted me to go to Bible College. I had no doubt it was Him because I recognised His Presence and I had not ever had the slightest thought of going to Bible college. I had trained as a scientist and that was where I expected to stay. So much so, that I thought I could obey God and yet get out of going to college by being honest with the college principal about where my spiritual life was at. I went to see her and told her how God had told me to come and then explained that I did not read my Bible or pray, except when I had to at Bible study group. I found those occupations to be of no use. And I expected her to tell me come back when I had sorted myself out. But instead she just smiled and said, “We can deal with that.” So I began a Bachelor of Theology. 

One of the first subjects I did was the basics of sermon preparation and our first assignment was to write down the preparatory information we needed for a sermon on Ezekiel chapter 37. And one of the first things we were told to do was read the chapters that went before and after it so I did. 

And in Ezekiel 36 (TPT) as I read verses 25-26: “I will graciously give you a new, tender heart and put a new, willing spirit inside you. I will remove your hard heart of stone and give you an obedient, responsive heart instead. I will put my Holy Spirit in you to empower you to keep my laws and to live by them,” those words were lit up in my mind as though they were displayed in Neon Lights. And I recognised God was making a personal offer to me of a new heart and a new spirit, joined to His Spirit. I knew my heart had hardened to God but recognised that this was the next step I had been looking for for 20 years. So I immediately said, “YES PLEASE!”

So, you might say, what does it actually mean? How does it happen?

The first thing that stands out in this passage is that it is ALL about what God is going to do. God is saying:

I AM going to cleanse you from all sin

I AM going to remove your old hardened heart and give you a new tender responsive heart

I AM going to put a new willing spirit inside you

I AM going to put My Holy Spirit in you to empower you to live as my holy people.

God is saying He will recreate His people from the inside out in a four part process: cleansing from sin, the gift of a new tender heart, the gift of a new responsive spirit and the gift of His Spirit living in us.

Now, if you have spent any time in a Christian church you have probably heard a lot about how Jesus death on the cross has cleansed and freed us from our sin and that is part of what the water baptism we practice represents. “For he  [Christ] died for us, sacrificing himself to make us holy and pure, cleansing us through the showering of the pure water of the Word of God.” Ephesians 5:25b-26 TPT

And this is where I was in terms of understanding when I was told to just read the Bible and do what it says. 

But if that is where we stop how do we become more like Jesus and have an intimate relationship with God? Does the responsibility for change rely solely on my willpower and my understanding of what the Bible teaches? Has Jesus saved me only so I can go on floundering about trying not to sin just like I did before I was a Christian?

Thankfully that is not where God stops in this passage. Just like a telemarketing add, God is promising more, much more than cleansing from sin.

Now when the Bible uses the word heart, it does not mean just our emotions. The word translated as heart is a word that is the name for the seat of the will, everything that goes into our decision making and actions. So it covers thinking, understanding, learning, experience and emotions, the core of who we are as humans. And God knows our hearts become hardened to Him, damaged through our actions and the actions of others which hurt us. 

So as well as cleansing from sin, He is offering to give us a brand new undamaged heart that is responsive to Him. A heart that is free to love God and others just like Jesus did.

Then He is offering to give us a new spiritual self that is also responsive to Him. 

It is an offer to remake us from the inside, to restore the image of God in us that has been broken by sin. 

And finally and most importantly, to seal the deal, to give us a permanent and intimate relationship with Him, and empower us to live His holiness He is offering to put His Holy Spirit in us, just like it is in Jesus. He is offering to seal us into the intimate relationship of the Holy Trinity! You can’t get closer or more empowered than that! This is how God wants to magnify His holiness in us.

And ALL this is His work!

So you might say, what happened next? Was it all done and dusted in the instant I said yes? What difference did it make?

When we went to live in Germany in the 1980s we really had no idea what it would be like, and though Steve had done German at school, I knew no German. It was a steep learning curve in how to live in a foreign country. It had never occurred to me that so many ordinary things in life could be done differently. For example when you rent an apartment there you are literally renting just that space in a building. There is no guarantee that it will contain light bulbs, floor coverings, cupboards or any built in kitchen or bathroom. We were lucky to find one with a kitchen sink, bathroom handbasin and bath. But gradually over time we learnt more of the language and culture and how things worked. And now when we go back there it feels like a second home. 

And learning to live in and use these gifts from God are like that. It is a process of discovering and absorbing God’s culture and God’s way of thinking and doing things.

The most important thing God has taught me since then is how to have conversations with Him and be confident I am hearing His voice. So now I know I can discuss Bible passages with Him and learn directly from Him. And because of this the Bible is no longer a dead book to me but a significant part of God’s communication with me.

Some times God will suggest things that I need to address. In a prayer time one day He told me He wanted me to forgive a person who had hurt me a great deal. I had not even thought about it, was not even aware of the need. And when He said it I replied, “No Way! She should’ve known better; She DID know better. I can’t do that.” And God replied, “I am not asking you to do it in your strength, I am asking you to let me forgive her through you.” And I replied, “OK. You can do that if you want but only if it requires no effort on my part!” And that was where that conversation ended and I thought no more about it. But a few months later I was sitting next to just that person in church when the minister was preaching on how God can restore relationships. And as she preached I felt as if a sword had been run right through the middle of me, releasing something and I knew the work of forgiveness had just been done by God. And not surprisingly it healed my relationship with that person. It also taught me the critical lesson that changing the way I think and act is God’s work and all I have to do is give Him permission to do it. That has been a very real relief and blessing.

So now I know I can ask for that sort of change in advance. For example I once had to confront a church leader about how they had been bullying someone in a public teaching session. And I knew my automatic response would be to just tell them they had been a bully and it was not acceptable. And I knew that that approach was rarely successful. So I asked God for a different approach and what came to mind was how a prophet used stories to confront King David about his adultery and murder. So when I finally spoke to the leader I said I simply wanted to describe how I had seen the meeting unfold. And when I finished she said, “It sounds like you think I was bullying him. No one has ever accused me of that.” “I replied, “That would be one way to describe it.” She then said she would have to think and pray about it and discuss it with the person involved. And we left it at that. There was no anger and nothing else I needed to do or say. And I left amazed and grateful to God at how gentle the process of confrontation could be.

So, yes the Bible is important, a critical tool through which God speaks, as He spoke to me in this passage in Ezekiel, but living as God wants us to, is SO much more than just reading the Bible and following laws. There is a journey God wants to take us on to know Him personally and intimately. To be empowered by Him to live His way. And it is tailored to individual needs so your journey will be different from mine. But it begins with accepting His gifts of cleansing from sin, a new heart and spirit, and His Spirit coming to live in us. His restoration of us from the inside. And then asking Him to teach us how to unpack, understand and live from those astounding gifts. It is our choice and His work. And I can honestly say it is a choice that has blessed me beyond what I ever thought possible. 

The freedom to live in intimate relationship with God and do life His way is an astounding gift of love and grace and it is available to everyone now.

As Paul wrote to the Ephesians 4:24 TPT
“be transformed as you embrace the glorious Christ-within as your new life and live in union with him! For God has re-created you all over again in his perfect righteousness, and you now belong to him in the realm of true holiness.”