We are His House (Eph 2v19-22) pdf file

On my return from sabbatical I had a word that last year was about alignment and this year was about confidence for us as a church.  We need to be a confident people stepping into what we are called to be, for the purpose we are called for.

Eph 2:19-22 - So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.

It’s a family matter! (v19)

We have a need and desire to belong to something.  We are created to be in family and be a part, not as isolated people.

The kingdom of God makes people who think they are misfits ..fit in.  Outcasts become insiders… in short the kingdom of God should make us belong!

We were once second class we have been upgraded, to kingdom class, we have a new nationality, we are citizens, as the people of God we hold a new passport.

We get built into a family. Family is the best model for church, when we operate in a different model we leave ourselves open to abuses.  The OT concept of national citizenship and identity is found in the way they organised themselves nation – tribe – family.

The dwelling of God is built on the basis of a family, a people, a group who are connected in heart and mind.  He calls us his children, his family.

Paul quotes Hosea (2:23, 1:10) in the book of Romans 9:25-26 to say

“You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

If we have the Spirit then we are His children (Rom 8:14), which enables us to be intimate and call him daddy (Gal 4:6), and as His children we become heirs (Rom 8:17).  We are disciplined because of the love of the father (Heb 12:8), we want to live a different sort of life without sin because we are His children (1 John 3:9).  To be his kid you just have to believe in Jesus and love the Father (1 John 5:1).

It is vital in spiritual terms to understand the nature of the family that we are part of, the kingdom doesn’t make much sense except from within the family unit.  Church, should be the expression of family, it brings protection, place & provision, it is from this that you find your purpose.

House Builders (v20)

We are His house, notice “together” … The Christian walk can not be individual, only together can we do this.  There is much that would tempt us to do church as a solitary exercise, or on our own terms.  We get dishillusioned with the hype or the promises that are never delivered, but there is no biblical basis to go on your own.

So we are building a house, together.  This picture is of us as Peter describes as ‘living stones’ (1 Pet 2:5), thats us, the bricks and stones that make up this building.  Paul uses the body metaphor to describe what we all do (1 Cor 12), all wonderfully joined spiritually.

Foundational

However, this building has foundations, they are the apostles and prophets.  Much confusion has reigned over these terms.

Eph 4:11 describes them as offices of the church, gifts to the church for the building and equipping of what God wants to do.

1 Cor 12:28 describes first apostles and second prophets.

These gifts are in operation today.  In recent years we have shielded away from using the names apostle and prophet in case it seems arrogant or presumptious, but actually they are gifts that are essential for the successful building of the church into what it should be.

If I am building a house to live in I want the professional services of an architect and a builder and I want them to know that’s what they are.  The apostle is a builder, (1 Cor 3:10) one that handles structure, knows what to do, a strategist, even a kingdom entrepreneur.  They should be a Father to the church, based from the church, but will have a wider mandate than just local church.

note : in Rev 21:14 the city has 12 foundation stones, the Apostles!

The word ‘apostle’ originally means an official delegate sent by a ruler, like an ambassador, carrying the authority of their king.

Abuses of the role in the past have made the apostle into a controlling person or the big boss, yes they carry authority but it is paramount that they operate with the attitude of a servant.

The prophet has a particular gift to hear and see in the spirit, to articulate the plans and purposes of God.  They give voice to the will of God.  Prophets should carry weight and authority.  Their focus is God ward rather than the apostle who seeks to put into reality what they see and hear.

These two carry authority, and are needed in the church.

Here Paul describes the very basis on which we should build the church is the apostolic-prophetic foundation.  They are literally seers and hearers of the plans of heaven releasing the plans on earth.

An apostle or prophet exert no authority unless they are recognised and welcomed in the role/function in which they operate.  Some are itinerant, some are local church based.

We are building this church on these foundations.  By looking to those that carry apostolic and prophetic gifting that can bless and help us, also by operating in these giftings from within.

Cornerstone

“Cornerstone” is not really the foundation stone, although it is of course appropriate to describe Jesus as foundational to all that we do (Is 28:16, and in 2 Tim 2:19 the ‘truth’ is described as foundational), rather he is the one that holds it all together, more like a capstone on an arch way, (Zechariah 4:7; 1 Pet 2:6-8), without the cornerstone the whole thing falls apart.

Zechariah 4:7

Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will become a level plain before him! And when Zerubbabel sets the final stone of the Temple in place, the people will shout: ‘May God bless it! May God bless it!’

This gives a bit of a picture, we are all living stones joined together (1pet 2:4-5), build upon the foundational ministries of the apostles and prophets and held together by Christ, this becomes something truly wonderful!

God’s Living Room (v21-22)

So what is it that we are building?  The house of God, his temple!

Temple by definition is the place where God lives.  In the OT this was represented by

• Garden of Eden where he freely operated
• After sin entered the world we meet him at the altar of sacrifice
• Moses meets God at the burning bush, a fire that doesn’t consume
• The permanent presence of God is confined to the ark of Covenant
• The people travel with his presence the tabernacle
• David sees the permanence of the presence and Solomon builds the Temple

In each case it is God’s desire to dwell with man.  There is something much more alive bursting to get into the scene.

• It gets redefined in Ezekiels dream into a new spiritual construction
• Which is personified by Jesus arrival on earth
• And manifest throughout the earth by the church filled with the spirit in each of us
• To one day a garden city where physical matter and spiritual reality once again flow easily together.

The OT story of Jacob’s encounter with heaven (Gen 28:16-17), describes the place where he encounters heaven as “house of God” the “gateway to heaven”.  What a stunning illustration of church interpreted in the light of the NT, the ‘joined’ people of God the very gateway to heaven!

The church expressed in gathered form is supposed to be an open heaven to receive the riches of heaven, made manifest the nature of God.

So the people who were outcasts get to be the place where God lives!  Now thats worth building.

It would be a biblical error to think that church is the building, although like a home, a building sets a security for families.  It would be also a biblical error to think that church is just hanging out with friends without any sense of commitment to each other, although authentic friendship is essential to church.  I would have a problem with “breakaway” churches without any sense of the foundations of apostles and prophets, you can’t really just wake up and decide to be a church with your mates, this is a holy constructed spiritual building.

Remember that church is a joining of the universal church together (1 Cor 3:16-17) but expressed in local units of varied and diverse sizes.

At first glance these two social doctrines seem to be very Christian, they are desirable and make for a more friendly society.  However, although they make for apparent social cohesion, they are actually dangerous words, they are just not powerful enough.  Against what do we measure equality and toleration?  Should we tolerate all behaviour, or just behaviour that the law makers find acceptable? Should all people really be equal, don’t we deny equality to offenders of the social code?

Just at the moment in secular Britain it seems that we should tolerate all views but if you want to promote a Christian view with any confidence then that will not be tolerated.  We will only tolerate Christians if they promise not to promote their outdated moral standpoint on human relationships, don’t advertise the fact that their God can heal, don’t wear any offensive jewellery, in fact would the Christians just crawl back into their buildings and keep their irrelevant beliefs to themselves.  Society will tolerate an anaemic version of Christianity, a version that will not change anyone or challenge belief structures. It will tolerate a ‘good works’ type of Christianity as long as we don’t talk about the reason for the good works.

I don’t think that I am advocating ‘intolerance’, it is possible to disagree with someones lifestyle or views and still express love.  Now there’s a word, love isn’t about being tolerant, sometimes the expression of love is intolerant. If I see someone in the grip of addiction love is expressed in attempting to intervene! Christians follow a fairly radical leader who expressed love but was not always tolerant!  Please don’t try water down love to be wishy washy counterfeit called ‘toleration’, that is just a parody of true love.

Now if your blood is boiling with rage at this blog, please just show me some toleration!

pdf file of Masterplan of Grace – Peace (Eph 2 v8-18)

The Gift of Grace

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God’s Grace Gift (v8)

When we get given a birthday present it is normally because of who we are not because of what we have done.  To understand grace you must comprehend that it is not about what you have done to deserve grace, in-fact from the earlier part of this passage it is entirely about what we have done not to deserve grace!

“The character of God is revealed through His mercy (cf. vv. 4–6). Believers are the trophies of His love. Grace is best defined as the unmerited, undeserved love of God. It flows from God’s nature through Christ and is irrespective of the worth or merit of the one loved.”  R Utley

Belief or faith is the means by which we access this grace.  We are not saved by our faith, no only by grace.  Without the belief that we have received grace it is not possible to grasp grace.  Sounds very simple really, just believe!  But so much about our rational existence wars against simple belief.  That’s why Jesus tells us to be like children (Mt 18:13) when it comes to matters of faith, being all grown up seems to stop us from accessing the kingdom of God!  You don’t need much faith, just a tiny seed of it (Mt 17:20).

Gift not Reward (v9)

Its either a gift or a reward.  We really have to get the idea that our effort makes no difference to the love that God has for us.  Our effort or works plays no part in our receipt of grace, it is entirely a gift from God.  In fact if it has works in it then it can’t really be grace.

If our effort played a part then we would find some excuse to parade it, to show off, to take some of the credit.  No that’s why this is a plan conceived by God, executed by God and is continued by God!

“People do not contribute to their rebirth and more than they do their natural birth…salvation and new life are God’s work, and human beings are recipients, not causative agents” Kyle Snodgrass

Masterpiece for Masterplan (v10)

Grace makes us into a masterpiece or ‘God’s workmanship’, we are part of a new order or new creation (2 Cor 5:17), we are on display as grace works of art.  But don’t be fooled into thinking that this landscape of life has no activity attached to it, far from it!  Now that we are masterpieces of his grace, we can put into effect the masterplan of his grace.

If we are given a gift by a relative, we have to open it and use it not just keep it protected in its wrapping paper!  The gift of grace must find its fulfillment in the “good things that he planned for us long ago”.

‘Salvation is not from works, but it surely is for woks, that is, living obediently and productively’ Kyle Snodgrass

‘Good works are indispensible to salvation – not as its ground or means… but as its consequence and evidence’ John Stott

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. James 2:17

Outsiders

Eph 2:8-13: Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.

Now lets see what this master plan of grace is all about!

Paul says to the Ephesians (gentiles) not to take for granted the huge gift of grace, it was only yesterday that they were total ‘outsiders’ to God.  The Jews would consider all gentiles ‘uncircumcised heathens’, but the NT re-imagines circumcision as a heart thing and not a physical thing.  A Jewish man would daily thank God that he was not created a Gentile (closely followed by a prayer of thanks that he was not created a woman), such was the sense of the exclusive relationship with God that they felt.

A Jewish man would put a huge emphasis on the external sign of the connection between him and God, this was the seal of the covenant that was made between Abraham (the father of the faith) and God (Gen 17:9-14). Paul (a Jewish theologian) goes into lots of detail about the defunct state of circumcision, it is no longer necessary to prove your faith (Rom 2:28-29; Col 2:11); the true circumcision of the believer is of the heart in the spirit, it is an inner seal of the covenant God makes with us. I wonder how much we put an emphasis on the externals of our covenant rather than the internal reality?  Christians who  are seen to go to church emphasise the external appearance of spirituality rather than meeting with the saints on a Sunday to express the heart felt seeking of God!

Thankfully the “grace” order makes the circumcision of the heart available to all, Jew and Gentile, man and woman.

The Message and NLT translates the gentile as “outsiders” … “It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God’s ways had no idea of any of this, didn’t know the first thing about the way God works, hadn’t the faintest idea of Christ”. But the outsider has be given a way to the inside.

Cut off (v12)

The unbeliever, gentile, lives apart from the love of God, they could not say that they were ‘in Christ’, they had no knowledge of the covenant and blessing of God to his people.  They live in the world without the covenant of God, which is described by Paul as having ‘no hope’.  The verses describe this separation as follows

1. separate from Christ (no relationship)

2. excluded from citizenship (not a part of the people)

3. foreigners to the covenants of promise (no access to the huge blessings)

4. without hope (hopeless)

5. without God (Greek word is ‘atheists’)

6. in the world (in contrast to belonging to the commonwealth of God)

The people of God, Jews, are described as a part of a ‘commonwealth’, a great word to describe the NT idea of kingdom expressed in church, they have ‘citizenship’ as the people of God.  The privileges inherited by the Jews were substantial. Not only were they ‘entrusted with the oracles of God’ (Rom 3:2), but as Paul emphasises in Rom 9:4-5 ‘to them [Jews] belong sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, in in Christ’ (FF Bruce)

The redeemed believer whether Jew or Gentile is part of this new commonwealth of God.  We hold a different passport!

Brought near (v13)

We were once cut off from the blessing of God but now because of Jesus we have been brought near, “you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything” (mess).  This nearness promise is for all that are far off, Peter preached this in his inaugural message (Acts 2:39) and Paul was directly commissioned by God with this message (Acts 22:21)

The blood of Christ is the means of redemption (Eph 1:7) and reconciliation (Col 1:20-22), it is the blood that makes it possible to draw near. In Hebrews 10:19-22 believers are encouraged to draw near

‘The blood of Christ was a sacrificial metaphor (cf. Lev. 1–2) for the life of the Messiah. John the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (cf. John 1:29). Jesus came to die (cf. Gen. 3:15; Isa. 53; Mark 15:53; 10:45)’ (R Utley)

Peace

Eph 2:14-18 : For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.

Part of this masterplan of grace to bring peace, Jesus was not just a peacemaker but embodied peace, he is in himself our peace.  The essential role of peace was between God and Mankind (Jn 14:27; 16:33; Rom 5:1-11; Phil 4:7-9) and this is demonstrated in the action of bringing peace between separate factions noteably the Jew and Gentile (Gal 3:28; Col 3:11).  So peace is both vertical and horizontal, perhaps the presence of peace with God enables peace between us! Jesus was called Prince of Peace (Is 9:6) and so there must be something of the mandate of the kingdom on this idea of bringing peace.

“Christ is our peace, makes peace and proclaims peace…peace is not merely the cessation of hostility; it is a comprehensive term for salvation and life with God..(shalom).. which covers wholeness, physical well being, prosperity, security, good relations and integrity.  …shalom..refers to the way life should be and is a gift of God that is received only through his presence” (Kyle Snodgrass)

The ‘middle wall of separation’ is the stone divider that separated the outer court from the holy place.  The spiritual separation that existed was manifested in this physical space, but now it has been torn down.

Separation continues today.  Where we see it there is a kingdom mandate to be bringers of peace.  We are not talking about a state of no conflict or cross words, part of the effect of bringing peace is the creation of conflict, it is not about smoothing something over, rather it is establishing a greater permanent state of peace, long lasting. This may cause short term conflict to gain permanent peace.

New Order (v15-16)

It was in the very body of Jesus that the war between flesh and spirit was sorted out, peace comes to the spiritual and the physical.  In his physical act of dying all the requirements of the physical law are fulfilled so that we can gain not just physical peace but eternal spiritual peace.

A new order of man was created from the two.  The scripture here seems to be an implication that there is a whole new order of humanity, one which brings the peace of heaven to earth.  No more enmity or division but rather unity in one type of man.  As a new creation we are supposed to be able to flow easily between spirit and physical, there is now no longer a confusing divide between the physical and the spiritual

“creating in himself one new people” or ‘one new man” v15 This Greek term means “new” in kind, not time. The people of God are not Jews, not Gentiles, but Christians! The Church is a new entity, in and through and for Christ (cf. Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:16; Heb. 2:10) - R Utley

v16 The two divisions are made into one body, does this mean the body of Jesus on the cross or the body of Jesus manifested as the church? Actually they are the same thing spiritually, the body that we represent together is spiritually the very body of Jesus!

‘reconciled’ v16 is the act of being a heavenly peacemaker, bringing together where there is conflict into unity.  Reconciliation is not the act of compromise, although compromise is not always wrong.  In our interactions with each other we can take up rather bigotted and judgemental positions where we need to compromise.  Reconciliation is not really about compromise rather it is about alignment to the truth of heaven.  A modern interpretation of reconciliation is ‘toleration’, which has been twisted to mean acceptance of anything or ‘you cant impose your views on me’.  Toleration is based on the secularised version of truth called ‘equality’, rather than biblical reconciliation that is about being reconciled with heavenly truth.  We are not reconciled into my version of the truth we are reconciled into Jesus!

Rom 5:10-11 – reconciliation between god and sinners

2 Cor 5:18-21 – God reconciles us to himself and gives us the ministry of reconciliation

Col 1:20-21 – God reconciles all things on earth and heaven to himself

Eph 2:16 – reconciliation between God and humanity and Jew/gentile

“by means of his death the cross” v16 The Jewish leaders meant Christ’s cross to be a curse (cf. Deut. 21:23). God used it as a means of redemption (cf. Isa. 53). Jesus became “the curse” for us (cf. Gal. 3:13)! It became His victory chariot (cf. Col. 2:14–15), giving believers victory over (1) the OT curse, (2) the evil powers and (3) the enmity between Jew and Gentile. (R Utley)

Far off now near (v17-18)

This final verses summarise the gist of the previous verses.

Those that are “far off” from God have good news there is a way to be near to God, and those that are already ‘near’ can experience the peace of God!  We have a mandate to take some good news to people who are a long way from the gates of the kingdom, and we ourselves get to experience the daily measure of peace in God.

A great description of the trinity in the final verse (v18), because of what Jesus has done we get to have access to the Father through the means of the Holy Spirit.  The focus and destination is the Father, the door is Jesus and the corridor leading to the Father is the Holy Spirit.

Our modern world finds such talk of sin very hard to comprehend let alone accept. We live increasingly in a world where tolerance and equality are paraded as paramount virtues. However, attitudes and lifestyles that would once have been considered sinful by our fathers are now embraced fully because tolerance and equality seem to trump truth and righteousness.

A sinful world that provokes an angry response from God is whitewashed out of our vocabulary. We face a conundrum, how do we lead people to the saviour of the world if we do not want to be saved from our sinful state? How do we talk about sin in a world that accepts sin as normal behaviour? How do we lovingly challenge sin when we seem to be forbidden by society from even calling sin sin? Truth and righteousness may be right for you and not for me.

By removing God from the picture, our personal choices become the guiding standard by which we live, being true to ourselves and following our desires becomes our moral compass. Rather than being true to God and following His desires!

“Love is not the opposite of wrath, as difficult as it may be to conceive, the wrath of God is an expression of his love and deep attachment to his people” – Kyle Snodgrass

I’ve no idea whether the journalist is a believer or not but he has hit the nail on the head, there is a spiritual battle raging at the moment.  What we are seeing at the moment is the surging back and forward, Christians get a supportive politician or an advance, and then there is a knock back, this is what happens in battle.  Actually Christianity fares better when it has a cause to rally around, passivity is not good for followers of Jesus, we need a degree of opposition to work out what is important.

The debate raging about marriage is the latest battleground, what is at stake is a God world view, so are the followers of Jesus going to take their stand?

Telegraph article

Actually if we strip away the spin around the word sin, we get to understand that sin is like the rebellious or careless stupidity of a car driving the wrong way up the motorway. When we operate by the rules of the road then we are safe and get to our destination, when we defy the rules of the road because we don’t care or don’t know them, then we almost certainly will cause death to happen!

Without a true understanding of sin in our society we will not be able to navigate towards a saviour, without a concept of sin how will Jesus be the answer… answer to what?  So the dilemma for the believer is to communicate the nature of sin to a nation that doesn’t accept the existence of any moral constraint on its behaviour!

Message Sunday 1st April 2012 at BCC

I have used some quotes in this but the footnotes have not come out, they are on the pdf

Ephesians 2:1-10 from NLT

The Landscape of Death

1 Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

Note : Verses 1-7 (or 10) form one sentence in greek, so it is all one argument, the focus of the passage is both death and sin as well as life in faith by grace. It is important not to dwell on the death section in separation from the good news of the life bit!

Spiritual Death (v1)

Death is the absence of communication with the living, so in a spiritual sense it is the cutting off from the source of life, separation from God (Is 59:2). Death is the “tyrant that dominates unredeemed humanity” caused by the rebellious nature of sinful man.

“Disobedience” or “transgressions” (paraptōmasin) means “false steps” or “falling aside”; (Eph. 1:7; 2:5) and “sins” (hamartia) are “acts of missing the mark”. So we could say that spiritual death comes upon humanity because we choose to take steps down paths that are not at all good for us and tend to miss our destination where we find life!

Sin is often defined by something of great pleasure that is wrong, as if God is a killjoy and wants to rob us of pleasure! We get hijacked in our thinking by a media gloss on the idea of sin, it is made out to be ‘naughty but nice’, sensual and desirable.

Actually if we strip away the spin around the word sin, it is the rebellious or careless stupidity of a car driving the wrong way up the motorway. When we operate by the rules of the road then we are safe and get to our destination, when we defy the rules of the road because we don’t care or don’t know, then we almost certainly will cause death to happen!

Note : The Bible speaks of three stages of death: (1) spiritual death (cf. Gen. 2:17; 3; Isa. 59:2; Rom. 7; 10–11; James 1:15); (2) physical death (cf. Gen. 5); and (3) eternal death, called “the second death” (cf. Rev. 2:11; 20:6, 14; 21:8).

Lets not kid around with the consequence of sin, all sin leads to death (Rom 3:23; 6:23), spiritual, physical and final.

Sin Lock Down (v2)

With sin we can trace the problem back to one source, the commander of the air! This passage tracks our spiritual death to the general direction of the earth, which is heavily seduced and influenced by the principality of darkness, who is at work deceiving people to disobey, so completing the spiral of sin, locking us into the inevitability of sin. He has locked down the earth in a sin pattern.

The sin pattern..

1.We used to be spiritually dead as a result of sin

2.We used to “live in sin like the rest” of the people on earth or “followed” (ESV) the general direction of the earth

3.The earth was “following” or “obeying” the spiritual power commander of the air

4.The same commander is still at work in the “sons of disobedience” or people who ‘refuse to obey God’

‘just like the rest of this world’ or ‘course of this world’ (NKJV) – the greek is “aion” of the “kosmos”, means age or time frame rather than direction. Possibly a better translation is ‘this world-age’. The world age is used in Eph 1:21 to describe the current and coming age, and also in 2:7 to describe the coming age of grace.

Note : There was a god ‘aion’ that would perhaps have been known to the Ephesians and has a meaning of magical powers, perhaps this link helps us understand the nature of the direction of the world caught in the spell of the commander of the air!

‘commander of the powers of the unseen world’ or ‘prince of the power of the air’ (NKJV) There is an authority at work, ‘archon’ means chief not necessarily royalty, “power of the air” is the word ‘exousia’ meaning authority rather than dynamis power, ‘air’ is very much a metaphor for the heavenly or spirit realms.

We get an insight into the governing powers that are at work in the world. Up until this point in Ephesians we have been presented with a picture of the flow of heavenly rule onto the earthly domain, but here we see for the first time the things that are set against us in our pursuit. The time frame on earth is set on a direction that enforces death and rebellion! Without Jesus the general thrust of life on earth is division, disunity and disobedience, that is where the authority base of the unseen ruler is rooted.

It is worth thinking as well about how much emphasis Christians put on the devil, he is not in anyway equal to God. Often our attention is focussed on how powerful the demonic is rather than the emphasis of this passage which is the superiority of Christ. Actually the responsibility for our actions is left with us, we have to get a grip on our lusts not blame the devil!

“refuse to obey God” or “sons of disobedience”(NKJV) you can either be a child of God or a child of rebellion. Spirit, whether dark or Holy, gets its authority to manoevre within the human spirit. The commander of the air works through the sons of disobedience and the Holy Spirit works through the children of God. We empower the spiritual realm through our lives.

God’s Angry with Sin? (v3)

All believers in Jesus were once totally subjected to the same air chief at work in their own lives. We were also ‘sons of disobedience’, unbelievers that walked away from God. We followed ‘the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature’ (listed in Gal 5:19-20) which can only be satisfied by living in the power of the Spirit (Gal 5:16).

‘By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else’ or we are ‘by nature children of wrath’ (NKJ) . The futility of this world age is that we are born into an inevitable condition which brings with it judgement from God, ‘this dreadful predicament has been inherited’ unless something happens to sort it out.

We may need to ask ourselves, who is God angry with? Is it me? All through the narrative of the OT God gets angry but restrains himself from acting on his anger, “he cares deeply, and his anger is both an expression of his love and the context in which his love is demonstrated”. It is fairly amazing that even with all this depravity God finds something worth loving.

Our modern world finds such talk of sin very hard to comprehend let alone accept. We live increasingly in a world where tolerance and equality are paraded as paramount virtues, and there is something very Christian about tolerance and equality. However, attitudes and lifestyles that would once have been considered sinful by our fathers are now embraced fully because tolerance and equality trump truth and righteousness. A sinful world that provokes an angry response from God is whitewashed out of our vocabulary. We face a conundrum, how do we lead people to the saviour of the world if we do not want to be saved from our sinful state? How do we talk about sin in a world that accepts sin as normal behaviour? How do we lovingly challenge sin when we seem to be forbidden by society from even calling it sin?

By removing God from the picture, our personal choices become the guiding standard by which we live, being true to ourselves and following our desires becomes our moral compass. Rather than being true to God and following His desires!

“Love is not the opposite of wrath, as difficult as it may be to conceive, the wrath of God is an expression of his love and deep attachment to his people”

The Landscape of Life

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 7 So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

Rich in Mercy & Love (v4)

The God that is angered by sin is also full of mercy and love. We are not dealing with two different characters but rather one God. The God of the OT is often characatured as wrathful, but He is still a merciful God! (Ex 34:6; Ps 103:8; Jon 4:2; Mic 7:18). His anger for sin provoked him into action, it was because of his anger that his heart of love broke into earth with Jesus.

‘Mercy and love are revelations of God’s being, not a response to something that merits love in the individual. God acts in mercy because he is that kind of God’

His great love has done three things for us made us alive with Christ (v5), raised us up (v6) and seated us in heavenly places (v6)

“love” (agapē) comes from the verb agapaō that means “to seek the highest good in the one loved.”

Saved by Grace (v5)

“It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us” Message

The love of God goes to work on our behalf in the mission of Jesus. The condition of mankind is desperate, we are locked in a cell on death row when the Grace God breaks into the prison block, pays the death price with his life and engineers the great escape! You deserved nothing, you did nothing, it cost you nothing.

By diluting the terrible condition of mankind and removing sin from our consciousness as a society, we loose the full measure of Grace.

There are two main dangers for he believer with regards to grace, we buy into our societal view downplay sin and so cheapen the concept of grace, we continue to live as we please because we have a “get out of jail card” called grace. The other danger is we wallow in our sinfulness and unworthiness believing that God could not possibly love me, we then try to earn his affection or prove ourselves.

No grace is all one sided, when he declares you saved that is your reality…saved by his grace.

New Landscape (v6)

In this great escape from the landscape of death he positions us in a new landscape. With His resurrection from the dead comes our resurrection from death. With his elevation to the throne room comes our elevation to sit with him in heavenly places.

“It can best be understood as a statement of God’s purpose for his people – a purpose which is so sure of fulfillment that it can be spoken of as having already taken place”

We need to get a handle on our position, the community we belong to is heavenly in origin, character and destiny, we have a clear and active life in the spiritual realms although we are engaged in action on the physical arena. We need to be more spiritually aware of what is going on around us.

The spiritual realm is where the church declares the revelation of God to the powers (Eph 3:10) and where battle is done with evil forces for us (Eph 6:12). We need to be awake to the reality of God at work in the spiritual, ‘the heavenly realms are not separated from this world, on the contrary they are determinative for this world’

When Paul talks about being “in Christ” he is describing that sphere of influence over our lives, you are either influenced by sin’s sphere or influenced by Christ’s sphere, we transfer our allegiance from death to life! We are set free by Christ, transferred to the landscape of heaven by Christ, so I want to carry the name of Christ.

Examples of Grace (v7)

Biblically time has two divisions the present age and the ‘future ages” or the ‘ages to come’, when the future age comes will you be on display as a trophy of grace?

‘Throughout time and in eternity the church, this society of pardoned rebels, is designed by God to be the masterpiece of his goodness’, we are part of the revelation of the character of God throughout eternity. This character of God exudes favour and grace to mankind, ‘the primary evidence of his grace and kindness are the people who have received life in Christ Jesus’.

‘For some reason unknown to us, but which is rooted in his nature, God gives himself to us, attaches himself to us, and acts to rescue us… if grace is God’s giving himself to us, this text underscores that grace connects us to Christ’

The Gift of Grace

8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

God’s Grace Gift (v8)

When we get given something it is normally because of who we are not because of what we have done. To understand grace you must comprehend that it is not about what you have done to deserve grace, in-fact from the earlier part of this passage it is entirely about what we have done not to deserve grace!

“The character of God is revealed through His mercy (cf. vv. 4–6). Believers are the trophies of His love. Grace is best defined as the unmerited, undeserved love of God. It flows from God’s nature through Christ and is irrespective of the worth or merit of the one loved.”

Belief or faith is the means by which we access this grace. We are not saved by our faith, no only by grace. Without the belief that we have received grace it is not possible to grasp grace. Sounds very simple really, just believe! But so much about our rational existence wars against simple belief. That’s why Jesus tells us to be like children (Mt 18:13) when it comes to matters of faith, being all grown up seems to stop us from accessing the kingdom of God! You don’t need much faith, just a tiny seed of it (Mt 17:20)

Gift not Reward (v9)

Its either a gift or a reward. We really have to get the idea that our effort makes no difference to the love that God has for us. Our effort or works plays no part in our receipt of grace, it is entirely a gift from God. In fact if it has works in it then it can’t really be grace.

If our effort played a part then we would find some excuse to parade it, to show off, to take some of the credit. No that’s why this is a plan conceived by God, executed by God and is continued by God!

“People do not contribute to their rebirth and more than they do their natural birth…salvation and new life are God’s work, and human beings are recipients, not causative agents”

Masterpiece for Masterplan (v10)

Grace makes us into a masterpiece or ‘God’s workmanship’, we are part of a new order or new creation (2 Cor 5:17), we are on display as grace works of art. But don’t be fooled into thinking that this landscape of life has no activity attached to it, far from it! Now that we are masterpieces of his grace, we can put into effect the masterplan of his grace.

If we are given a gift by a relative, we have to open it and use it not just keep it protected in its wrapping paper! The gift of grace must find its fulfillment in the “good things that he planned for us long ago”.

‘Salvation is not from works, but it surely is for woks, that is, living obediently and productively’

‘Good works are indispensible to salvation – not as its ground or means… but as its consequence and evidence’

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless. James 2:17

The result is not exactly a knock out blow for the leader of Britain’s atheist assault on society, rather a slight chink in the armour of British atheism.  Dawkins admitted that he could not actually prove the non-existence of God, so that makes him an agnostic.

I’m not sure who is the leader of British Agnostics is, but watch out, Dawkins is after your job… or has he got another book up his sleeve, “The God Delusion Possibly”.

I’m sure for any woman abortion is a pretty horrific choice, the debate about the rights and wrongs of abortion are not really the context of this blog. However, the practice of aborting a child on the premise that they are not the sex that you want is not only illegal but morally indefensible. China for many years have practiced a one child family policy, the social consequence is the killing of millions of girls, as boys are preferable in that society. As a father of four fabulously gorgeous girls I am incredulous that such a practice would be countenanced in our country. We can’t turn a blind eye to this Nazi-esque social engineering.

The moral scar of abortion is bad enough, but the idea that clinics in leafy English suburbia are terminating babies because the parents have already decorated the nursery blue or pink is sickening!

Telegraph Article

We are now being told that it is up to the great British Public “the people” to decide what marriage actually means, so does someone want to actually ask us?

Christians have not exactly managed the “gay debate” very well, we have painted ourselves or been painted as gay bashing and incredibly judgmental, the Jesus I follow was very clear that he offered acceptance and love to anyone and everyone regardless of their lifestyle.  However, that apart, I don’t actually understand why gay people feel that they need the title marriage?  Why do they feel that they need to redefine the definition of a word to get acceptance?  They have full legal rights, they can legalise their partnership, why do they need the word marriage?  Why is it discriminatory or unequal to define marriage as between a man and a woman!

I don’t think that the church, state or people own the word marriage, it is what it is, over thousands of years it has meant what it means – the union of a man and a woman.  Biblically marriage is a union to describe God and his Church, it is a prophetic action to reflect a spiritual truth.

No matter how much government redefine marriage it will still be what it is and it will always be,  a man and a woman in a covenant of union.  You can make it illegal to refer to marriage in this way but that will not make it so.  It is a bit like trying to rewrite history, or burn books that you don’t like, it doesn’t actually change the truth.

Lets not be fooled, Churches will eventually be forced to marry anyone, what will happen is that the Church will refuse and so marriage becomes a secular activity with nothing legal about what happens in a church… that’s why we need to make a voice on this one if we want to see marriage legally celebrated in the context of God’s community.

An appeal to Christians, find a way to express the incredible love of Father God to people that feel marginalised and ostracised by us.

An appeal to the Gay community, don’t try to make everything an issue or confront people’s deeply felt beliefs, we may not actually be judging you as you suspect, we may just disagree with you.

Telegraph Article